Chapter 26 Meeting a Guest: Save Me, Save Me, Save Me

Lu Nong led Qing Duo away from the neighbor's house. Qing Duo grumbled unwillingly, "If you don't prepare food for me when I'm doing chores in the future, I'm not coming!"

"Alright, alright," Lu Nong handed her the sugar painting and coaxed, "Next time I will definitely prepare a banquet and invite Miss Tang to visit my humble abode again."

“That’s more like it.” The young lady nodded in satisfaction. She took the sugar painting and saw that the crystal-clear sugar threads outlined a dragon pattern. She placed the wooden stick in her palms and rubbed it back and forth. The dragon seemed to come to life, as if it were about to ride the clouds and soar away.

Zhu Yi followed Lu Nong into the kitchen. He had just put everything down when he turned around and saw Qing Duo spinning the sugar painting. He tiptoed up behind her and snatched it away when she wasn't looking.

"Give it back!"

He held the sugar painting up high, raised an eyebrow, and said, "Greedy girl, if you can reach it, I'll give it to you."

Qingduo jumped and skipped around him, raising her arms high, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't even touch his arms. Zhu Yi said smugly, "Why don't you come and take it? Why don't you come?"

Qingduo glared at him. "Hmph," she thought, "the height difference is too great; I'll have to outsmart him." She called out towards the kitchen, "Sister Lu Nong—"

"Here, here, here, here!" Zhu Yi hurriedly shoved the candy back into her hand. "I was just teasing you, why are you yelling!"

"What's wrong?" Lu Nong leaned out when she heard the voice.

"It's nothing!" Zhu Yi said in a panic, pressing his large hand to rub Qingduo's head. "I was just playing around with little Qingduo!"

Take your paws away! Qingduo grabbed his arm in disgust and threw it aside, then patted her hair with both hands in turn, as if trying to remove the stains from his touch.

She glared angrily at Zhu Yi, wondering where his stinky hands were touching. Fang Qing had just applied jasmine oil to her that morning!

Lu Nong smiled and went back to the kitchen to keep busy. Zhu Yi breathed a sigh of relief, glanced at Qing Duo, and complained disdainfully, "If you hadn't eaten the neighbor's cured meat, Miss Lu Nong wouldn't have given away the roast chicken! That's a chicken from Fuyuanju! I specially queued up to buy it for her!"

"Not only did she do you a favor, but she also specially bought you a sugar painting. Humph, I got nothing!"

Qingduo rolled her eyes. If Sister Lu Nong smiles at you again, won't you start reciting love poems to her endlessly?

Then Zhu Yi sadly murmured, "The sugar painting cost twenty coins. She specially chose the auspicious dragon pattern for you. Sigh, she could have just bought me a regular one!"

Qingduo strutted around arrogantly, as if showing off a trophy, licking the sugar painting one bite at a time, glancing sideways at Zhu Yi. There was nothing more amusing than seeing a grown man acting all sour; even the sugar on her tongue seemed sweeter. She was about to say "Delicious, delicious" to provoke him when she suddenly noticed something. She stared in shock at the sugar painting in her hand—this tiny sugar painting actually cost twenty coins?

The erotic pictures she used to sell usually cost only ten or twenty coins, and sometimes only twenty or thirty! She's not even as good as someone who sells sugar paintings?

Zhu Yi was still muttering to himself when Qing Duo suddenly shoved the sugar painting into his hand and said expressionlessly, "Here, have some!" She ran into the house, where the apricot tree painting she had brought that morning was still on Lu Nong's table. She grabbed it and ran out, leaving Zhu Yi's anger behind.

"Don't you have any sense of propriety? You licked it before giving it to me!"

*

The moon was already setting in the west when Zeng Zhengqing stepped into the courtyard. Every few steps, he would encounter several apricot trees, where maids and servants would noisily pick the fruit. Liu Ke, carrying a scroll, followed behind him and said with a smile, "Yuanbai, your servants are so diligent, taking such good care of the garden late at night."

Zeng Zhengqing also found it strange, but since marrying Qingduo, he had seen many strange things and was no longer bothered by them. He led Liu Ke directly to the study and asked someone to invite Qingduo over. Turning back, he saw Liu Ke holding the painting scroll tightly, and teased, "Is Gongzhi afraid it will run away?"

Liu Ke gently stroked the scroll, his movements like soothing a baby to sleep. He said with a look of affection, "You don't know, ever since I brought him home, I don't even cuddle with my wife when I sleep. I always cuddle with him. Even if my wife kicks me out to sleep alone in the study, I'm happy to do it. Ah! We're an old married couple, and it's good for me to be alone with him occasionally."

He glanced at Zeng Zhengqing and said meaningfully, "You can't understand. You two are newlyweds, living in blissful bliss, how could you bear to let go of each other!"

After Liu Ke finished speaking, Zeng Zhengqing remained silent, only drinking his tea. Liu Ke assumed his friend was simply too serious to smile easily, so he laughed it off and didn't bring it up again. The two sat facing each other, drinking tea and chatting quietly, but instead of Qingduo, a young maidservant arrived.

She said, "The young mistress said she is currently unavailable and would like to ask the young master to come over to discuss something."

Zeng Zhengqing was taken aback and asked, "What is she busy with?"

The girl mumbled, "Um...drawing. Young master, you'll see when you go and take a look."

Zeng Zhengqing and Liu Ke exchanged a glance. Liu Ke said with great interest, "Your sister-in-law is a student of her father. She must have been exposed to the art from a young age and received direct instruction. Her writing skills must be extraordinary. I was absolutely right to come here." He stood up and urged, "Yuanbai, let's go quickly!"

Zeng Zhengqing noticed the girl's hesitant expression and sensed something was amiss. He advised, "Actually, she has only recently started learning painting from your father-in-law. Although she has made some progress, she still needs to hone her skills diligently. I hope you won't be too eager for her."

Liu Ke didn't take it seriously: "How could a disciple taught by Master Tang fall into the trap of the mundane?"

He urged them on repeatedly, eager to see the painting. The two had barely approached the courtyard when they heard deafening shouts from inside: "Dragon! Dragon! Dragon!"

Zeng Zhengqing and Liu Ke looked at each other in bewilderment and hurriedly entered the courtyard. The courtyard was filled with maids and old women, blocking the way completely. They all craned their necks to look ahead, and the two of them could not see anything in front of them.

Zeng Zhengqing glanced around; each of them was carrying or holding a bamboo basket of apricots, which only increased her surprise and suspicion. Just then, a series of sighs came from ahead, followed by Qingduo's regretful remark: "It's a pity they aren't, but it doesn't matter, butterflies are beautiful too!"

"What are you doing?" Zeng Zhengqing asked, frowning.

The servants in front then realized that their master was right behind them, and they all stepped aside and bowed, saying, "Young Master!"

Zeng Zhengqing pushed his way through the crowd to the front and found Qingduo sitting at the table, holding an iron spoon. When she saw him, she immediately beamed and said, "Qingqing! What did you want to see me about? Wait for me a moment, let me finish drawing the butterfly for Xiaohui first!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Fang Qing handed over a copper pot filled with amber-colored syrup. Qing Duo scooped up a spoonful, tilted her wrist slightly, and the syrup flowed onto the iron plate. With a flick of her wrist, the sugar thread drew an arc on the iron plate, outlining the entire butterfly body. She pulled the sugar thread left and right to draw the butterfly wing patterns and placed a bamboo stick to fix it in place.

Zeng Zhengqing thought she had finished drawing and was about to speak when he saw her put the butterfly aside, then scoop up another spoonful and draw another butterfly. Unlike the previous one, this butterfly had a tail and antennae. She then gently pushed the right wing of another butterfly with a spatula, making it stand up. She poured sugar syrup in the middle of the new butterfly, lifted the bamboo stick, and tilted it to the side, joining the two butterflies together. The whole butterfly seemed to be infused with life, its translucent wings dangling in the air, as if it were about to dance gracefully among the crowd.

Qingduo picked up the sugar painting, smiled, and handed it to Xiaohui, saying, "Look, isn't the butterfly pretty too!"

"Beautiful, beautiful, thank you, young mistress!" Xiao Hui thanked her repeatedly, overjoyed. She picked up a basket of apricots and handed it over. Fang Qing accepted it for Qing Duo, who waved her hand and said generously, "No need to be polite, come again next time!"

Even though Zeng Zhengqing had seen many things, he still stood there dumbfounded, a thousand words stuck on his tongue, unable to utter a sound.

He was once Zhengqing's wife, drawing sugar for the servants.

Judging from what she just did, she could have traded a basket of apricots for a sugar painting, so what did she want so many apricots for? Sugar painting, apricots… he couldn’t tell which one gave him a bigger headache. He closed his eyes, sighed deeply, and ordered, “All of you, get out!”

When only the three of them remained in the courtyard, Zeng Zhengqing tried his best to calmly introduce them: "Madam, this is my good friend, Liu Ke, Liu Gongzhi."

Qingduo quickly stood up, bowed, and called out, "Brother Liu."

Liu Ke smiled and returned the greeting, saying, "I had hoped to see my sister-in-law's exquisite painting skills, but I didn't expect you to paint a sugar painting. However, this 'butterfly' is so lifelike and quite unique!"

Qingduo said happily, "Brother Liu, you like it? Quick, you spin one too, I'll finish drawing it and give it to you!" She pointed, and the two of them noticed a spinning wheel on the right, with squares of different sizes, each labeled with an animal such as rat, ox, tiger, and rabbit. The rat square was the largest, while the dragon square was only the width of an index finger.

Zeng Zhengqing was about to get down to business when Liu Ke rolled up his sleeves and said, "I'll give it a try." The words he hadn't yet spoken stuck in his throat.

Liu Ke drew the "horse" and, together with Qing Duo, urged Zeng Zhengqing to "turn the wheel." Unable to bear it any longer, he reminded him, "Gongzhi, do you still remember the purpose of your trip?"

"It won't take any time, it's so much fun! Don't worry, I'll just stay a little longer and leave later. Hurry up and spin the wheel, let's see how your luck is!" Liu Ke pulled Zeng Zhengqing to the roulette wheel and urged, "Spin it quickly, we're waiting for you!"

Zeng Zhengqing had no choice but to casually flick the switch without even looking at it. Then he heard Liu Ke exclaim in surprise, "Huh? You actually won!"

Zeng Zhengqing glanced down and saw that the pointer was firmly in the "Dragon" area. He looked up at Qingduo and saw that her eyes were wide open, as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.

Qingduo bit her lip hard, her face full of worry. Sigh, she had clearly drawn the "dragon" square to the smallest size, and no one had been able to draw it all afternoon. How come Qingqing just randomly drew it and drew it all at once?

It's fine that he drew it, but the "dragon" is so complicated, he doesn't know how to draw it!

It would be fine if he were alone; he could just act cute and get away with it. But his friends are here too. If he can't draw it, wouldn't he be making a fool of himself?

Liu Ke said, "I suppose the dragon pattern is very difficult to draw. Thanks to you, I am able to see it for the first time."

Good heavens! Not only does he not help, but he's also killing me! Despite having big, white eyes, she couldn't see the contours of her face. Qingduo could only look pitifully at Zeng Zhengqing with pleading eyes.

Just then, Zeng Zhengqing met her gaze, and she desperately tried to convey a message by making winks and gestures.

He opened his eyes wide, shook his head slightly, wore a bitter expression, and gave a humble smile. The translation is:

My lord! I can't! Help me! Please!

Qingduo saw Zeng Zhengqing lower his eyes and nod with hope, thinking that the matter was in the bag. She had just breathed a sigh of relief when she heard him say, "This is the first time I have known that Madam has such exquisite skills. There's no time like the present, so please show us your skills, Madam!"

!!

The ingratiating smile froze on her face, and Qingduo opened her mouth wide, standing there motionless.

A gust of cold wind blew by, chilling her to the bone.

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Author's Note: Qingduo: Seeking help from outside the arena, what should I do if my husband betrayed me?