Chapter 35: She cried because she was catching ghosts. Would he laugh at her? ...

On the second day after Yusha bid farewell, Liu Rutang knocked on the door of Zhu's house.

It was late at night and candles were lit in the inner courtyard for the guests.

Liu Rutang has looked very haggard recently. Although she has makeup on her face, the dark circles under her eyes are hard to hide.

Zhu Hao still remembers that when she first met Liu Rutang some time ago, her voice was always high-pitched and clear, but today it was particularly dull, like an oriole about to die.

The reason why she was so haggard had to start from this morning.

Although Qiao Mei is a well-known courtesan in Huaicheng, he is not always the most popular. After all, it costs a lot of money to dominate the music for a whole day. Until recently, Qiao Mei was unable to play music due to a hand injury, and everyone couldn't help but talk about it. If Qiao Mei's hand injury did not heal, he would have to become a prostitute to receive customers in the future.

Given this, how could the young masters who had always coveted Qiao Mei restrain themselves? Those who had seen Qiao Mei's true face were fine, but those who had never seen her would naturally rush to pay for a glimpse. If Qiao Mei was truly as ethereal as the rumors said, why not redeem her and bring her to his own home before she was degraded into a prostitute and allowed to be toyed with by others? Even the most delicious things become tasteless once the number of people interested increases. And the silver for the entire day has never been fixed; it has always gone to the highest bidder.

Baihualou made a fortune today. Lu Jue, the young master of the Qizhou prefecture, came all the way to Huaicheng just to see the real face of Le Kui. Before anyone could make a move, Lu Jue threw a thousand taels of silver in the face of the brothel owner.

Given this, how could the young master at the back dare to continue throwing silver? Putting aside Lu Jue's noble status, who here could rival him in wealth? Looking across Huaicheng, perhaps only the You family could rival Lu Jue's wealth. But then again, You Heng, the head of the You family, was a true gentleman. How could he possibly indulge in brothels?

Everyone sighed. If Qiao Mei could please Lu Jue today, and if she really became a prostitute in the future, the first customer she would receive would undoubtedly be Lu Jue. In other words, the person who redeemed her would also be Lu Jue.

How could Liu Rutang sit still? Just who was this Lu Jue? Qizhou's most renowned mischievous devil! At only seventeen, he possessed enough concubines to fill a mahjong table. Furthermore, Lu Jue spent his days gambling away at Qianjinlou, his father completely powerless to discipline him. While Lu Jue's two half-brothers weren't as outrageous as him, they weren't much better.

Liu Rutang and Qiao Mei hatched a plan. When Qiao Mei met Lu Jue, she would smear a pox on her beautiful face. As expected, Qiao Mei removed her veil, causing Lu Jue to look grave. Qiao Mei, delighted at her success, was met with a complication. Whether intentional or not, the young man's bottle of liquor suddenly dropped from his hands, tumbling onto the table and splashing onto Qiao Mei's cheeks, ruining the rouge-covered pox.

Pretending to disfigure her was a good idea, and perhaps it could reduce the ransom. However, this incident arose, and when the madam of Baihualou learned about it, she reportedly gave Qiao Mei a severe beating. Afterwards, Baihualou had to keep Lu Jue, the big Buddha, stable.

Although the prefect was only a fourth-rank local official, Lu Jue's aunt was the imperial concubine who was favored by the emperor. The worst outcome would be that the brothel owner would simply give Qiao Mei to Lu Jue as an apology.

Therefore, Liu Rutang put aside his pride and went to discuss things with Zhu Hao.

"I am willing to cooperate with Shopkeeper Zhu, and I don't need the four hundred taels of gold that Shopkeeper Zhu promised me. I only ask Shopkeeper Zhu to let your husband pay the money to redeem Qiao Qiao from the brothel first. Once Qiao Qiao is safe and sound, I can transfer the name of this building in Qiongyifang to Shopkeeper Zhu!"

Liu Rutang added, "To prevent competitors from stealing our business, Baihualou has accepted the offer of redemption from the female customer. However, I have been confined to this small shop for many years, and Qiaoqiao is my only wish. Apart from merchants, I have rarely interacted with men. It is difficult to even find someone trustworthy. If I hire her for a small sum of money, how can I, as her mother, rest assured that Qiaoqiao, with her extraordinary beauty, will leave her alone?"

She seemed to be considering, "If your husband is free, could you ask him to come over?"

Liu Rutang thought that if Zhu Hao's husband agreed to lend her three thousand taels of silver, it would mean that he really loved Zhu Hao. Besides, Zhu Hao was so beautiful, and her husband ate so well, so he would probably not want to do anything that would let his wife down.

Zhu Hao hesitated for a moment, "Let me think about this matter."

Upon hearing this, Liu Rutang's face darkened. She tried her best to suppress her dissatisfaction and asked, "When will Manager Zhu come up with this plan?"

"Let's talk about it after I catch the 'ghost'."

Liu Rutang was completely bewildered by Zhu Hao's inexplicable words. She listened as Zhu Hao continued, "If I agree to this, then Shopkeeper Liu doesn't have to transfer Qiong Yi Fang to my name. However, it's far from enough for Shopkeeper Liu to simply agree to cooperate with me. Six months ago, your shoddy workmanship earned the disdain of Qiong Yi Fang's regular customers. Although Shopkeeper Liu has already refunded the money to all the young ladies, if we reopen the shop, Qiong Yi Fang's former regular customers will still be the main customers. Therefore, the refund is a small gesture. Shopkeeper Liu still needs to resolve this difficult situation and attract new customers."

"Also, there are only ten days left until the Huaixian Parade, and there won't be enough time to make new clothes. By then, I'll simply move Fu Yunshang's ready-made clothes to Qiongyifang, and all Shopkeeper Liu needs to do is draft a plan for opening a new shop. If Shopkeeper Liu and I collaborate on reopening, the new shop will open eight days from now."

"This way, young ladies who plan to wear new dresses to parade around the streets or visit temples can choose their clothes in advance."

Liu Rutang opened her mouth, sorting out the details of what Zhu Hao had said, and said, "You are greedy. Madam Zhu and I haven't officially cooperated yet, but you have listed such matters in advance."

Zhu Hao smiled and said, "My husband has said the same thing."

…

Zhu Hao sent Liu Rutang away. Miaoli, the girl, went to bed early recently, so she had to extinguish the candles in the inner courtyard by herself. Although the matter was done, Zhu Hao did not return to her house to rest, but went into the pavilion, which she called her study.

Zhu Hao lit the candlestick. She was sitting at the desk, embroidering with a red fine linen satin needle in her hands.

It was the wedding dress that Li Yuan had asked for.

The night was endless, and the occasional frog croaking filled her ears. Zhu Hao's eyes felt sore, and she inevitably thought of the wedding dress left to her by her parents. Unfortunately, although she was much better off than last year, when Zhu Hao returned to the pawnshop to redeem the wedding dress with butterfly patterns embroidered by her parents, it had already been bought by someone else.

She had asked the pawnshop manager and the servant, but no one had left any record.

A drop of water rolled down the cloth. Zhu Haoxin felt something was wrong, so she raised her sleeve to wipe it away. However, the tears in her eyes slid down her cheeks one by one like pearls from a broken string.

Zhu Hao had to put the cloth aside for the time being.

The room was warm and cozy because of the candlelight. A book was lying open in a corner of the long desk. The windows were all closed. Suddenly, a strange wind came from nowhere and blew a page off the book.

Zhu Hao quickly wiped away his tears, acting as if nothing had happened.

…

Ever since Song Xieqing realized that the curse buried in his body due to heavenly punishment would grow rapidly if he left Zhu Hao's side, he has been hiding in this house with the art of invisibility. Song Xieqing mostly lies on the rocking chair in the inner courtyard, and he can see the young lady coming in and out frequently every day. She sometimes smiles, and sometimes cries and wipes away tears.

She was quite smart and should have noticed him long ago, so Zhu Hao was in a hurry to wipe away her tears at this moment.

However, Song Xieqing never intended to conceal it deliberately. He just felt that the little girl in her yard was extremely irritable. If he were to be in her true self, he would inevitably talk nonsense.

Song Xieqing was resting on the eaves tonight, but as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw that the lights in the pavilion were on. A hundred years ago, he also sat alone in the pavilion to handle affairs, but a hundred years later, it was his nominal wife who sat in the pavilion. There was no wind tonight, and the only sounds in his ears were the croaking and gurgling of frogs, and the intermittent sobbing of the young lady.

He somehow passed through the wall and saw Zhu Hao sitting at the desk, wiping her tears. Of course, she couldn't see him.

Song Xieqing accidentally glanced at the open book on the desk. He walked closer and raised his finger to turn a page.

His name was on the first line of the paper, and it was particularly eye-catching.

It was because someone had circled the words "Song Lang" with a red pen and drawn an ugly turtle on the side...

Song Xieqing frowned and looked at Zhu Hao. They looked at each other, but she couldn't see him. Song Xieqing stared at Zhu Hao for a long time. The young lady's eyelashes were stained with tears and the corners of her eyes were red. In order to hold back her sobs, she bit her lower lip.

If she cried, he would laugh at her. The way she was trying so hard to hold back her tears was even funnier.

Song Xieqing shifted his gaze and continued to look through the Huaixianlu on the table. The Dexian Pavilion was clearly used as a study, but there was not only this one book on the first floor. Was it the one Zhu Hao read every day, or were there old books related to him?

Suddenly, Song Xieqing pointed and glanced at a short sentence on the page: Song Lang was favored by Emperor Bo Mingci, and the court executed the good general Yu Shu.

What caught him by surprise wasn't the presumptuous statement itself, but the annotation below: "How much better is the reputation of the Mingci Emperor than that of Song Lang?" He was a revered ruler, yet he spent his days indulging in the harem. Song Lang, a prominent imperial tutor, had been granted no real power since entering the government, whether by the previous emperor or the Mingci Emperor. Could it be that they had killed a capable general to grant him power for the tyrant? If Song Lang thought so, he was truly foolish. Besides, the Mingci Emperor was already notorious; why would he need the Song Dynasty as a scapegoat? Why, with his country on the verge of collapse, was he worried about his future in history?

Zhu Hao was a good speaker, but her handwriting was like a ghost's scribbles. Not only was the arrangement crooked, but the strokes were also flying around. There were one or two scattered characters that could only be identified by the previous words. Song Xie was so shocked that he wondered if she had ever practiced calligraphy seriously with a teacher when she was young.

Thinking of this, Song Xieqing looked at Zhu Hao. She still stared at where he was standing with her moist eyes, but she was no longer as sad as before.

Song Xieqing continued to scroll down.

Song Lang and the usurper slaughtered the people, leaving millions of corpses in Changjing and blood flowing everywhere.

Annotation below: Did Song ever suffer from madness? The people are the foundation of a nation! They are the lifeblood of a country! Why would he join the usurper in slaughtering the people? Did he have nothing better to do? How is this different from shooting himself in the foot? Furthermore, the founding emperor of Dacheng was clearly a wise ruler! The only scandal in his history is that he and the Song Dynasty slaughtered the people, but this is completely unreasonable! You who compiled this book, you are the ones who say that Song flattered Emperor Mingci, and you are the ones who say that Song and the founding emperor of Dacheng slaughtered the people. You are the ones who say what you want! You are the ones who say what you want! All based on your pen! There is no basis for any evidence! No wonder no one reads this book, it is simply a poisonous waste of words.

Song Xieqing couldn't help laughing.

He supported his chin with one hand and turned the pages with the other.

Emperor Mingci arranged a marriage between Song Lang and Princess Suiping, but because Song Lang had a bad character and was notorious for his evil deeds, the princess disobeyed the order.

She deliberately bolded the text, and wrote: Finally, a normal person has come. Princess Suiping has good taste. The tyrant emperor is worthy of being a tyrant emperor. Knowing that Song Lang has a bad character, why did he marry his sister to him? Fortunately, the little princess was born with a pair of discerning eyes.

Song Xieqing's fingertips repeatedly stroked the four big words "Good vision". He looked at her deeply and wished her well, then smiled silently.

He then turned to the next page and paused.

The paper was coated with ink in advance, and Song Xieqing's two fingers were pressed right here. Then, he heard Zhu Hao's laughter.

Zhu Hao couldn't look at him, but smeared ink on the paper, thinking that he would touch the book when he saw her name and the ugly turtle. Now, since she saw that most of the ink on the paper had been rubbed off, she could be sure that he was in the cabinet.

Seeing the young lady, Song Xieqing said proudly, "We caught a ghost."

-----------------------

The author has something to say: Xiao Song didn’t say anything on the surface, but in fact, he was secretly happy to see his wife speaking up for him ()

The young master of the prefect's family in the copy also appeared in a lively manner (wipe sweat)

Who knows? I was browsing Xiaohongshu today and saw some good tweets from readers.

It was super cold before, and it’s still cold now, but luckily I have you guys.

Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or provided me with nutrient solution between 2024-08-20 02:17:26 and 2024-08-22 00:41:49~

Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: 30 bottles of Nangong; 1 bottle of NANA Little Bear;

Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!