Master's Wife

"Drink? What to drink?"

Qi Liyuan stood in the hall, bewildered. Suddenly, he saw Cui Zhijun's face turn green. Seeing this, Tai Shi Zheng hurried forward and spoke, "What else can we drink? Dad naturally wants everyone to have tea—"

Taishi Zheng picked up the teapot on the table, poured a cup of tea, and handed it to Qi Liyuan. "Here, this is for you, Tenth Brother." But when she turned her head and touched the teacup, it felt a little cold. She said, "Such a fine thing, my father must have prepared it for an honored guest. My dear, please don't drink it."

Cui Zhiyun didn't say anything.

In his opinion, whether to drink tea or not is not important...

At this time, Taishi Zhengjiang came to the center, looked at the people standing and joked, "Hahaha, we don't charge for the stools, why are you all standing? Sit down, please, sir—"

But no one wanted to pay attention to him, so he had to sit down as if nothing had happened.

Qi Liyuan, holding the teacup that Taishi Zheng had personally handed him, and which had no place for Cui Zhijun, was smug. He thought that since he had the only one, he was the one who mattered most to Zheng. But when Qi Liyuan touched the cup, he couldn't help but ask, "Zheng, why is this tea cold?"

"Because... this is herbal tea." Tai Shi Zheng answered without hesitation.

Qi Liyuan was even more confused, "Why drink cold tea in the middle of winter?"

Seeing him like this, Tai Shi Zheng deliberately reached out to snatch the teacup from his hand, "Tenth Brother, do you want to drink it or not? If not, I'll take it away."

"Drink, drink, drink. This is what my uncle prepared for me, and you poured it for me personally, Zheng. Some people want to drink it but can't even get it—" Qi Liyuan was really controlled by Zheng. Without thinking, he drank the tea that had been left out for who knows how long and was so cold that it was icy on the teeth.

As soon as he drank the tea, he cried out to himself:

Bah, bah, bah,

This is clearly cold Maojian!

But Qi Liyuan didn't dare to pretend to be disgusted. He was afraid that Tai Shi Zheng would dislike him, so he gritted his teeth and praised: "Good tea, good tea. This herbal tea is good, it's really a good cold tea."

Zheng looked at Qi Liyuan and smiled, "Alright, Brother Ten, please sit down."

Qi Liyuan nodded and turned to walk towards the seat of honor. Zheng also turned around and walked over to Cui Zhijun and sat down with him.

Unexpectedly, before Qi Liyuan's butt had even landed, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach, even a feeling of "about to burst out." Could it be because of that damned cup of herbal tea just now? No, he couldn't embarrass himself at this time.

Qi Liyuan didn't know what he was stubbornly resisting; he wouldn't let Taishi Zheng and Cui Zhijun out of his sight. But how could his restless stomach be disturbed by his thoughts? Qi Liyuan's stubborn patience brought cold sweat to his forehead.

The people in the hall were silent, and no one knew what to say.

It wasn't until Taishi Zheng inadvertently looked up that he saw Qi Liyuan's twisted face, "Tenth brother, what are you doing..."

"I..." Qi Liyuan stammered.

Everyone turned their eyes to him, and Qi Liyuan was too embarrassed to answer.

Qi Liyuan was finally forced into a corner and could only wave his hand towards Taishi Zhengjiang and whisper a few words into his ear. Taishi Zhengjiang then suddenly realized what was going on, stood up with a bang, and led the people to the backyard, "This matter is urgent, Your Majesty, please follow me quickly——"

The uncle and nephew hurried away from the young couple's sight. Zheng felt strange and looked back at Cui Zhijun and said, "What are they doing?"

Cui Zhijun replied, "I don't know."

Not long after, Dad returned from the backyard alone, but Qi Liyuan was nowhere to be seen. Tai Shi Zheng felt strange and asked, "Dad, why are you back alone? Where's Brother Ten? Did you really feed him a bowl of mushroom soup?"

Taishi Zhengjiang waved his hands upon hearing this. "How could that be? The little ancestor had a stomachache, so I took him to the East Office. But now it's all good. It looks like the situation will take some time! Otherwise, my daughter has a solution, so I can save myself from talking nonsense. My daughter, take your son-in-law away quickly. When the little ancestor comes out later, I will tell him that the Bo Mansion needs you for something, so you can leave first. I'm sure the little ancestor won't be able to say anything."

"Stomach upset? Is there a solution?" Tai Shi Zheng hesitated and looked at the teapot on the table. She seemed to recall something, "Dad, when did we brew this tea..."

"Not long ago, maybe last night." Taishi Zhengjiang stroked his beard and didn't pay much attention.

What? Last night!

Tai Shi Zheng thought that the tea was cooling down quickly just because of the cold weather.

Who knows, it could be last night’s overnight tea.

This old man is really careless. He didn't even remind me when he handed me the tea just now.

However, in this way, Taishi Zheng unexpectedly achieved something beneficial and naturally got rid of Qi Liyuan.

Although this method was indeed somewhat immoral, since things had come to this, she thought it would be best to take the opportunity to escape. Zheng quickly turned around, looking shocked, and pulled Cui Zhijun up, shouting, "This is terrible, my dear, hurry up and leave."

Cui Zhijun didn't even have time to say goodbye to his father-in-law before Tai Shi Zheng dragged him out of the house in one breath.

Standing outside the gate, Cui Zhijun looked back at the deep courtyard and felt a chill run down his spine. The tall gate seemed to grow wider and wider. He thought to himself how Taishi Zhengjiang had treated him with a bowl of mushroom soup some time ago, and how Taishi Zheng had now swindled the emperor with a bowl of cold tea. Cui Zhijun thought the father and daughter were truly "unparalleled," but he still asked, "Madam, is it inappropriate for us to leave like this?"

Tai Shi Zheng had already gotten into the carriage.

She replied, "What's wrong with that? Just leave it to Dad. In fact, going forward, Tenth Brother is the one who's most afraid of him."

Between staying and leaving, Cui Zhijun will definitely choose the latter.

He didn't want to stay here any longer, for he was afraid that he would be the next one to be swallowed.

The young couple took advantage of the gap and left quickly.

By the time Qi Liyuan finally came out of the East Division, the place was already cold...

Qi Liyuan stared at the empty front hall, then looked at Taishi Zhengjiang woodenly, asking in disbelief, "Uncle, where are they?"

"Oh, Zheng asked me to tell you, Your Majesty, that they have something to do at home, so they have to leave first. I hope Your Majesty can forgive me. So, Your Majesty, do you think you would like to stay here for dinner today, or..." Tai Shi Zhengjiang pretended to be polite, but was actually trying to drive the guest away.

Qi Liyuan shuddered again. He pointed in the direction of the backyard and said, "Uncle, can I…"

Taishi Zhengjiang immediately understood what he meant and bowed to invite the people to go to the backyard. "Your Majesty, please do as you please. Do you know the way? You don't need me to lead you there——"

Qi Liyuan waved his hand. Unexpectedly, he took a few steps and turned back, pointing at the teapot on the table and asking, "Uncle, are you sure this is herbal tea?"

Upon hearing this, Tai Shi Zhengjiang looked in the direction of his finger, feeling a little guilty, "Yes... yes, it's herbal tea..." This was exactly what Qi Liyuan wanted him to say. After Tai Shi Zhengjiang finished speaking, he quickly walked away and headed straight for the East Office.

Then, the front hall was silent.

Taishi Zhengjiang stepped forward and picked up the teapot, muttering, "It's cold tea." As he spoke, he casually poured the cold tea into the corridor. In this way, the culprit who caused Qi Liyuan's diarrhea disappeared without a trace.

-

There are only two streets between Sangjiawazi and Taishi's house.

While Qi Liyuan was running to the East Office, Taishi Zheng and Cui Zhijun had already arrived at the entrance of the Sang family's tile house on the south side of Panlou Street. It was only the afternoon of the 5th hour, but the tile house was already bustling with people, cheering and hawking, like waves overflowing from the tent.

Tai Shi Zheng tilted her head and looked inside. She could no longer suppress her restless heart and just wanted to go in quickly.

But when he turned around and looked at Cui Zhijun again, why did this man look so uninterested?

Zheng then quietly approached him and said to him in a teasing manner: "My dear, I wonder if I would be lucky enough to travel with you today? If you are willing to travel with me, I will cover all the expenses, including yours~"

Zheng said this and took out her bulging purse from her sleeve and held it in her palm with a smile on her face.

Fu Yuanzi was a money-hungry guy. Before Cui Zhijun could even speak, she came forward and said, "What about me? What about me? Madam, I'm cheaper than you, madam. Please keep me."

Why are there still people trying to steal my job?

Zheng pursed her lips and pulled out a heavy silver ingot from her purse, placing it in Fu Yuanzi's outstretched palm and dismissing him, saying, "There's nothing for you to do. Go and have some fun."

"Okay." The solid weight of the silver ingot pressed on his palm, and Fu Yuanzi immediately left the scene tactfully.

Finally, no one could disturb them anymore.

Taishi Zheng then cast his fiery gaze towards Cui Zhijun again. But Cui Zhijun, looking at the tile house where many scholars and literati came and went, suddenly retreated for some reason and said, "Why don't you go with Fu Yuanzi? I'll wait for you in the carriage."

What did this man mean? He was the one who suggested coming here, and he had agreed to it. How could he go back on his word when it came to this? Tai Shi Zheng's face immediately changed when he heard him say this, and he called out angrily, "Cui Zhijun!"

Cui Zhijun remained silent when the person in front of him called him by his name.

Zheng said angrily: "Didn't your Confucius tell you that one must keep his word and fulfill his promise? You are such a mean person! Cui Zhijun, you mean person! It's hard for me to want to go out with you two and offend Tenth Brother. You should know that I should have dragged Tenth Brother along! In this case, what are you waiting for me for! Don't worry about me, just go back home by yourself, I can play by myself as long as I want--"

After scolding the person who spoiled the fun, Tai Shi Zheng left angrily with his purse.

Cui Zhijun stood there in a daze. Even if he had his reasons, he shouldn't have spoiled the fun like this. The other zheng seemed to be getting angrier and angrier. She turned around and stomped on Cui Zhijun's foot before stalking off again with a hum.

Cui Zhijun hissed, but didn't dare to speak loudly.

He just watched the person in front of him gradually walk away, and only at this moment did Cui Zhijun realize that he might have done something wrong.

Tai Shi Zheng walked into the Sang family's theater alone, feeling disappointed. After scanning the various performance tents around him, he deliberately chose the one with the most people and sat down.

What? She can't have fun without Choi Shik-jun? She refuses to do that. She wants to have fun!

Unexpectedly, she had just sat down and asked a slacker to run an errand for her to buy a can of tangmei when she saw someone limping and sitting next to her. Zheng didn't even look at the person, but just said, "Why are you sitting next to me when there are so many empty seats next to you?"

But the man flattered his face and said, "I wonder if the lady can still hire someone else..."

It was really shameful for Cui Zhijun to say these words. He lowered his eyes and sat beside Taishi Zheng, wanting to apologize but not knowing how to start.

Tai Shi Zheng looked back with a resentful look.

She stared at Cui Zhijun. Although he turned back in time, her anger wouldn't subside easily. Zheng stuffed her purse into her sleeve and said angrily, "No, I've changed my mind. I'm not interested in you anymore."

Seeing this, Cui Zhijun took out his purse and gently placed it on the table. "Why don't I spend the money?"

Tai Shi Zheng still refused to pay attention.

At that time, the couple was arguing and deadlocked, but they were noticed by several groups of plain-clothed students in the distance. After seeing Cui Zhijun, these teenagers started to discuss...

"Hey, is this our Dr. Cui?"

…

"It looks like it, but how is that possible? Doesn't Dr. Cui hate places like this the most?"

…

"It's him! So he's even here in this place Dr. Cui calls a place of despair! Come on, come on, we haven't seen each other for a few days. Let's go up and say hello."

After a few people made a plan, they rushed forward.

Cui Zhijun had been hiding all the way, fearing that he would be discovered by his fellow disciples. Unexpectedly, the thing he was most worried about happened. A few young men stood in a row in front of Yu Taishizheng and Cui Zhijun's desks, bowing and greeting them: "Students greet the master, and wish the master well—"

After these words were spoken, Cui Zhijun, who had his back to the row of people, froze and dared not look back.

Tai Shi Zheng looked around confused, only to receive the same polite greetings: "Ah, this is the master's newly married wife, right? I pay my respects to the master and wish her well—"

Thus, this mistress, who looked about the same age as the boy, quickly spat out the name Dangmei after receiving everyone's greetings, raised her hand awkwardly and replied, "You...you...hello. I'm your master's newly married wife...oh, not mistress..."