Chapter 5 Is it inappropriate for a lone man and woman to ride together? ...

Xie Yushu wasn't in a hurry to exchange the 1 point of green hat value; he might be able to earn a few more later.

She guessed that Cangshu had come to repay the debt, and that he was waiting at the back gate without entering the mansion. He even requested to see only her, which most likely meant that his master, Prime Minister Song, had also come.

Last night, he truly touched and saw his "Jia Ning". Even after Cang Shu told him it was Xie Yushu when he woke up, he still wanted to come and confirm it.

Since the target customer has come to "inspect", she naturally has to demonstrate the core value to completely win over the customer.

This time, she didn't do the "Xie Jianing look" from last night. She only slightly lowered the corners of her eyes to highlight her eyes, kept the mole on her nose, casually styled her hair in a regular bun, and wore a simple light blue casual outfit.

Make yourself look more "ordinary" so that customers can feel a sense of authenticity.

Xie Yushu left with Jin Ye and Yin Ya with satisfaction. Pei Shilin followed behind her as soon as they left the courtyard, looking like he was going to keep an eye on her.

She pretended not to see anything, rubbed her aching head, and went to the back door; she had stayed up too late last night.

※

As dawn broke, the first rays of sunlight shone through, illuminating the raindrops on the branches.

A carriage was parked in a quiet back alley. Cangshu stood beside the carriage, keeping an eye on the movements inside, afraid that the person inside might fall ill and faint again.

When the back gate of the Pei residence was pushed open, the apricot blossoms that had just finished blooming inside the wall fell from the branches.

Cangshu heard someone call his name with a laugh: "Cangshu".

He looked up and saw Xie Yushu walking towards him amidst the fallen flowers. Today she was wearing a light blue dress, her black hair was loosely tied up, and her face was free of makeup. Her eyebrows were lightly curved and hung on her dewy eyes, like an unreal misty rain. As she approached, she brought a fragrant breeze, and a small mole on the tip of her nose dazzled him.

The carriage suddenly moved slightly, as if the people inside had sat up in surprise.

"You got hit?" Her delicately arched eyebrows furrowed slightly as she looked at Cang Shu's face in surprise and asked, "Who hit you?"

Her gaze was too direct; Cangshu dared not meet her eyes and hurriedly lowered his head, but the small mole on the tip of her nose still lingered in his mind's eye. "No."

"Why are you hiding if there's nothing wrong with you?" Xie Yushu looked at his obviously swollen face, then glanced at the carriage, and said intentionally, "Raise your head so I can see you."

Cangshu's heart pounded at her fragrance and tone of voice, and he lowered his head, unsure of what to say.

A soft cough came from inside the carriage.

Cangshu's heart skipped a beat, and he took a half step back, bowing his head as he said, "Thank you for your concern, Madam Pei. I've come to deliver the silver."

Behind the bamboo curtain of the carriage, a pair of eyes peered over him and stared at Xie Yushu.

It's so similar... Why does it look so much like Jia Ning? The nose and lips are different... But the moment this face appeared, he almost thought he was dreaming, dreaming that Jia Ning was walking over from under the apricot tree.

Song Jie clutched the front of his shirt, enduring the piercing cold and suppressing a cough, staring intently at the face. Was it her last night? Was the warm cheek he was holding in his palm hers?

How could he mistake Xie Yushu, whom he despises the most, for Jia Ning?

Jia Ning has no mole on the tip of her nose, and the corners of her lips are upturned...

"Was it Prime Minister Song who did it?" She suddenly looked up and peered into the carriage.

Song Jie met her gaze through the bamboo curtain, and felt as if he had been struck hard; those eyes were so much like Jia Ning's.

She handed Cang Shu a note, but wouldn't let go of it once he grasped it. She looked at him with concern and asked, "Why did he hit you?"

Just like the tone of Jia Ning when she stood up for him.

Song Jie couldn't help but cough again. Even though he knew she was Xie Yushu, he was still annoyed when she looked at other men with those eyes and that expression.

"Prime Minister." Cang Shu hurriedly withdrew his hand and turned to look inside the carriage.

※

Prime Minister?

Hiding behind the door, Pei Shilin frowned in surprise. Song Jie had actually come? How could that be…

But then he clearly heard Song Jie, suppressing a cough, say from inside the carriage: "Cang Shu, please ask Miss Xie to get in the carriage. I have something to say to her."

Pei Shilin couldn't hold back any longer and stepped out, saying coldly, "What does Your Excellency want to say to my wife? Why don't we go inside and talk?"

Oh ho.

Xie Yushu heard a pleasant system voice in his mind: "Congratulations, host, you have gained 1 point of cuckold value and 1 point of heartthrob value."

The pop-up system interface showed that both of these points came from Pei Shilin, truly a useful gold leek.

She stood still, watching the two leeks compete.

As soon as Pei Shilin reached the carriage, Song Jie inside uttered a vicious remark: "Pei Shilin, if you don't want to die, get inside."

What a blunt and harsh remark! Xie Yushu saw Pei Shilin's face turn pale and then red, his ears turning completely red. He was so embarrassed that he couldn't back down, and he didn't know whether to leave or get angry.

Fortunately, Song Jie was not feeling well, and after he finished speaking, he coughed violently.

Cangshu dared not delay and immediately invited Xie Yushu into the carriage, whispering, "Madam Pei, the Prime Minister will not do anything to you."

Xie Yushu knew this, of course, but she was a person of principle, and her principle was: payment was required.

So she walked to the carriage and, through the bamboo curtain, said to Song Jie, who was coughing so hard he could barely breathe, "Your Excellency, please say what you have to say here. It is improper for a man and a woman to be alone in a carriage."

Song Jie stared at her from inside the car. Was it improper for a man and a woman to be alone in a car? Was it improper for her to be alone with him in a room late at night? Or was it proper because she had been paid?

But he was too lazy to waste words with her, so he turned his attention to Pei Shilin, telling him to go inside while he asked Xie Yushu a question alone.

Pei Shilin was furious, only managing to utter half a sentence: "Your Excellency, please don't push your luck..."

He was forced back to his residence by Cangshu.

The back door was slammed shut by Cangshu. Pei Shilin was furious and wanted to smash the door, but was stopped by his mother, Li Huixian, who rushed over.

"Calm down, bear with it for a moment. For your brother's sake, you have to endure it for your future." Li Huixian stopped her son and said in a low voice, "Once your brother is rescued, you can beat this unfaithful slut if you want, or divorce her if you want!"

Pei Shilin slapped her hand away and punched the blue brick wall. If he kept putting up with it, he would really be cuckolded!

※

"Congratulations, host, you have gained 1 point of cuckold value." The system reminded you again: "Your cuckold value is now 3 points."

Xie Yushu wanted to laugh; Pei Shilin, that good-for-nothing, still had some value.

"Xie Yushu." Song Jie called her by her full name from inside the car, and asked weakly, "Where did you get the title '[Little Taoist Priest]'?"

Oh, so that's what you wanted to ask.

Xie Yushu casually made up a story: "From the Taoist temple, aren't all the Taoist priests in the temple called 'little Taoist priest'?"

The bamboo curtain was lifted in front of her, and Song Jie's pale face looked at her angrily. "Xie Yushu, you know that's not what I'm asking."

He still had his black hair loose, and even his lips were bloodless, but his eyebrows and eyes were really beautiful, like a cold and alluring ghost.

"Why do you call me Little Taoist Priest?" Song Jie's gaze lingered on her eyes. She looked at him with a smile, her eyes full of teasing laughter, like Jia Ning yet unlike her. Jia Ning wouldn't deliberately tease him. "How much do you know about me and Jia Ning?"

Know the whole plot.

Xie Yushu winked deliberately, replacing the teasing in her eyes with a carefree smile, and her voice became sweet: "Why do you ask that? Don't you like me calling you Little Taoist Priest?"

Song Jie froze, his eyes and ears ringing as if he had been transported back to early summer a few years ago, when Jia Ning stood under the apricot tree, holding a handful of lotus pods, and said to him, "If I don't call you Little Taoist Priest, what should I call you? Brother Song? No, I just like calling you Little Taoist Priest."

But when the wind blew and raindrops fell from the trees, she stopped smiling and, as if changing her expression, pulled him back to reality with a cold voice: "I don't know anything about Prime Minister Song and Miss Jia Ning. I just said it casually. Prime Minister Song doesn't need to come and ask."

Song Jie felt as if he had been struck by a thunderbolt; his entire body was devoid of warmth. He couldn't believe that he had just been bewitched again, seeing Jia Ning in her...

Was she doing it on purpose? Was she deliberately imitating Jia Ning's voice? Her expression? Every single word? But how did she know about him and Jia Ning?

He had too many questions, but Xie Yushu seemed to have lost his patience and said, "If Prime Minister Song has nothing else to say, I'll go back now."

After saying that, he turned to leave.

"Stop." Song Jie reached out to grab her, but the cold wind chilled him to the bone. He huddled under the bamboo curtain, coughing and shivering.

Cangshu hurried over and immediately pulled the fox fur coat around him, saying, "Prime Minister, please take care of yourself."

Song Jie clutched her fox fur coat tightly, and with a painful effort, looked up again. Xie Yushu was gone, leaving only two tightly closed doors. She didn't even pause for a moment...

※

"The host is just leaving like this?" The system couldn't help but ask Xie Yushu, "Now that Song Jie is about to have another relapse, shouldn't the host take advantage of the situation and take care of him? Maybe you can get some cuckold points and heartthrob points."

No rush. Song Jie takes seven days to recover from each episode. Today is his fourth day. She will wait for Song Jie to pay on his own initiative before providing the stand-in service.

Besides, she hasn't had breakfast yet.

Xie Yushu converted all 3 points of newly acquired "green hat" value and 1 point of "popularity" value into health points.

Adding the previous 30 days, her life points immediately increased to 70 days.

The tightness in Xie Yushu's chest and the headache he had when he woke up that morning vanished instantly.

The system congratulated her: "When your life points reach 1000 days, you will have a healthy body and will no longer need to exchange for life points."

So many? Looks like you haven't been cuckolding hard enough.

Xie Yushu, with Jinye and Yinya, did not return to his own courtyard. Instead, he circled around and left the Pei residence through the back gate, hailing a carriage and instructing the driver to go to the most famous Fanlou.

"Doesn't Madam have breakfast at home?" Yinya asked in surprise. "Shouldn't you be serving the old lady breakfast since you just married into the family?"

"Madam just wants to avoid the old lady and young master, right?" Jin Ye blinked at her.

Xie Yushu smiled as she looked at the two young girls. They were a bit slow-witted, but they were good children who listened to her wholeheartedly. "I've served enough people. From today onwards, I won't serve anyone anymore."

She could imagine that the Pei family mother and son were sitting upright in the main room with stern faces, waiting to punish and torment her.

Want her to continue to suffer? Dream on. From now on, Xie Yushu will no longer care about anyone's attitude.

The system suddenly beeped, and the interface unfolded: "Congratulations, host, you have started the main quest of [Xie Yushu's Happy Life]."

As a result of an unexpected turn of events, she suddenly understood how to accomplish the task of achieving the ending of "Xie Yushu's Happy Life".

The goal is to let Xie Yushu live a carefree and comfortable life, like a human being.

She took the two thousand taels of silver notes and exchanged them for several smaller denomination notes and some loose silver coins that were easy to carry. She then handed the loose silver coins and the smaller denomination notes to Jinye and Yinya.

The two little girls had never seen so much money before, and they were so frightened that their hands trembled, and they dared not take it.

Xie Yushu forced the money on them, saying, "Take it, there's still a mountain of gold and silver to come."

This money is meant to make Xie Yushu live a comfortable life.

She walked confidently into Fanlou with two young maids, ignoring the stares that were directed at her. She handed the manager a two-hundred-tael silver note and instructed him to order the best private room and have his signature dishes prepared for the meal.

Seeing that she was a stranger but generous, the shopkeeper dared not be negligent and hurriedly said that it would not cost more than two hundred taels of silver.

She didn't take it back, saying, "Write down my name, and leave the rest of the silver in my account. I'll be coming back often in the future."

She felt incredibly pleased with herself after saying that. In modern times, she lived a frugal life, and now she could finally put on a show.

The shopkeeper immediately beamed and personally wrote down her name on a piece of paper, then invited her to the Guanjiang Pavilion on the third floor.

Guanjiang Pavilion not only overlooks the river, but also offers a distant view of the palace's eaves and roof ridges when you open the window.

Xie Yushu ordered several dishes, had two maids order a few more, and then instructed them to make two more portions of what she ordered. One portion was to be sent to the Yongyi Earl's Mansion for a nanny named Xizhi, and the other portion was to be sent to Mao'er Hutong for Qiao Bao'er, who lived there.

"Who is Qiao Bao'er?" Yin Ya asked excitedly, touching this and that.

“It’s my mother,” Xie Yushu said.

"Isn't the lady's mother the Marquis's wife?" Yin Ya blurted out, only to be kicked by Jin Ye. She cried out in pain, not knowing what she had said wrong.

Xie Yushu smiled and asked them to sit down, "Qiao Bao'er is my biological mother."

Yinya then realized that the lady was referring to the mistress, and her face immediately turned red, and she dared not speak.

Xie Yushu handed a 1,000-tael silver note to Jin Ye and said, "After you finish eating, go to Mao'er Hutong and give this silver note to my mother. Tell her not to worry about me, to take good care of herself, and that I will go back to see her in a couple of days."

Jin Ye took it in her hand, feeling a little like crying, and whispered to her, "This servant will take care of it and won't let anyone else know."

Jin Ye was clever; she knew that neither the Marquis's nor the Pei family allowed Xie Yushu to see that concubine, let alone secretly subsidize her.

"Go openly and honestly." Xie Yushu didn't want to hide it anymore. Looking at the river outside the window, he said, "It doesn't matter who knows. What's wrong with using my own money to support my own mother?"

She wanted to make up for the regrets in the original play for Xie Yushu, and she wanted all those who truly cared for Xie Yushu to live a good life.

"Congratulations, host." The system interface refreshed: "[A Lifetime of Happiness: 5%]"

※

Fanlou's errand runners were very professional, delivering hot meals to Earl Yongyi's mansion in just 15 minutes.

The gatekeeper hurriedly went in to report to Pei Shilin.

Pei Shilin and his mother, Li Huixian, were arguing in the main room and hadn't eaten much breakfast.

Li Huixian urged her son to eat more while scolding Xie Yushu. She had originally planned to teach Xie Yushu a lesson, but she waited in the room for almost half an hour and still didn't see Xie Yushu return.

After asking around, I learned that Xie Yushu had slipped away through the back door.

“How could she not come back?” Li Huixian comforted her son: “Where else could she go if she didn’t come back? The Yong’an Marquis’s mansion has long been unable to accommodate her, otherwise they wouldn’t have sent her back on the day of her homecoming. She has nowhere to go.”

Pei Shilin was extremely annoyed. She used to have nowhere to go, but that might not be the case now. He looked up and ordered his attendant, "Send her lame nanny to go find her."

Before the words were finished, the gatekeeper came in and reported, "Madam, young master, Fanlou has sent over a table of food and drink, saying that... it's for a nanny named Xizhi in our household..."

"What?" Li Huixian almost thought she had misheard: Xie Yushu, at Fanlou, ordered a banquet for that lame old woman?! Where did she get the money! Could it be that she charged their Yongyi Earl's Mansion's bill?!

Pei Shilin was so angry he was dizzy. His face turned green as he laughed, "Very well, very well indeed! My wife is becoming more and more capable every day!"

A note from the author:

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I'm sending out red envelopes again today! [shy]