Chapter 10 The Amazing Lychee Garden (01) You're becoming increasingly disobedient. ...

When Xiao Jin woke up, she was a timid girl. She looked at Jiu Li but didn't dare to speak, just huddled against the wall in the corner of the bed. She looked even younger than Jiu Li, about fourteen or fifteen years old. The sunlight streaming in through the window made her complexion look slightly better, but she was still like a pear blossom under the sun, unable to withstand the wind.

Rouge looked at her and nudged Jiuli's arm. "Look at you, so pathetic. You're just a girl from a humble family, afraid of strangers." She then said to Xiao Ajin, "This is the young lady from Doctor Yu's family. Doctor Yu is your savior. Hurry up and greet him."

Little Ajin hurriedly threw off the covers and kowtowed to Jiuli on the bed. Jiuli had never received a bow from anyone before, so he rushed to help her up. Seeing that she was weak and listless with a somewhat frightened expression, he couldn't bear it and turned to Rouge, suggesting, "Eating a bowl of fish porridge won't do much good. My family's shop has some pills that my uncle makes himself, which are excellent for replenishing qi and blood. I'll ask someone to go home and get two of them."

I'd heard of these pills before; patients who could afford them would buy them after recovering and be back to their energetic selves within days. But who could easily afford two pills for one tael of silver?

Rouge meant well, but not to the point of being overly kind. Her expression changed, and she stood up. "I'm not a rich man. I earn a limited amount of money. Giving her a good meal is an act of kindness. What, does she want to take advantage of me?"

He opened the door, slammed it shut, and went into the main room to wait for the doctor to come and take his pulse.

Jiuli thought she had misunderstood. Since it was her suggestion, why would she take her money? She sat on the bed with a smile, looking at Xiao Ajin with her eyes askance, "Don't worry, I'll go ask my uncle for some for you to eat, it's free."

Yu Qi often said that there is one kind of good deed one should not do in this world: giving things away for free. Things given away for free are the least valuable and will only arouse more greed. Although she had not experienced it herself, she kept this principle in mind, fearing that others would find out and cause trouble, and that scene would surely be unsightly. So she also instructed, "But you must keep it quiet and not tell anyone."

Xiao Ajin nodded repeatedly, glancing out the window. "Miss, don't be angry with Sister Rouge. She's a good person, just a bit short-tempered and speaks harshly."

Jiuli fluttered her eyelashes. "Why would I be angry with her? She's always been the one taking care of you."

"Yes, my family is poor, and I can't eat or sleep well here. It's all thanks to her that I moved into this room to sleep with her. She shares some of what she eats with me, and we eat better than at home. It's just that we're not always full."

Jiuli overheard from the kitchen that Rouge's meals were usually taken care of by a man surnamed Guan. It seemed that he only took care of her portion, so she naturally gave less to Xiao Ajin.

What a coincidence! I heard that someone surnamed Guan lives next door to Lin Mo. Could it be the same person? Jiu Li asked, "Do you know a young master Guan who lived in the courtyard of the deceased Lin Mo?"

Xiao Ajin blushed, lowered her head and nodded, "I know, he's not a good person. Miss, you should stay away from him if you see him."

Why are you leaving?

"He's a lecherous man." Little Ajin peeked at her, her expression somewhat shy. "With your good looks, Miss, you'd be at a disadvantage if you met him."

So, just like Lin Mo, he's influenced by his surroundings. No wonder they're neighbors. Jiu Li smiled nonchalantly, "It doesn't matter. I'm not afraid of him. It's not like I have nine heads and six arms."

"No, that's not true. It's just that he's good with money. One of the managers of the garden used to take his money and use it to coax pretty women to serve him."

"Why don't you just not go?"

Xiao Ajin secretly shook her head. Even though she was young and naive, she never expected that this young lady was even more naive than her. "Not going may not do anything to you on the surface, but those yamen runners will definitely make you suffer in private. Besides, there are people who are willing to go, and they can make money."

Jiuli pouted, "You're afraid of him? I suppose he's made you serve him before?"

Little Ajin nodded with a blush. "When I first came in, I bumped into him. He wanted me to be a maid to serve him and offered me money, but I didn't want to go. Although my family is poor, I've never been a maid before and don't know how to serve people. The head servant couldn't coax me, so he threatened to ride his horse and trample my family's land. Later, Sister Rouge went in my place, and Guan Xiaoguan didn't ask me about it anymore."

Speaking of Rouge, she's really righteous. Jiuli admires her even more. "Hey, judging from Rouge's complexion, she seems to be much better now. Why isn't she going home? Are the doctors preventing her from leaving?"

Xiao Ajin paused for a moment, then said with difficulty, "Her home is in Quzhong. She had contracted an epidemic and was afraid that her family would dislike her if she went back, so she deliberately stayed away from home."

"Everything's already fine, why are you still complaining about her?"

“Outsiders don’t know, they think this disease will kill you once you get it. Even if you get better, they’ll stay far away. Besides, Quzhong is a place with a lot of people coming and going, but it’s the most heartless place.”

"What kind of place is Quzhong?"

Xiao Ajin refused to speak further, feeling it was like gossiping behind someone's back. Besides, Rouge had been kind to her; how could she discuss her shortcomings in private? Jiuli couldn't bear to put her in such a difficult position and thought of going back to ask Yu Qi and Du Zhong. But she forgot about it again, only remembering it at lunch the next day.

Someone moved a round table with peeling paint into Yu Qi's room. It was still usable. There were four dishes on the table, including fish and shrimp, and an extra bowl of soup made with ginseng and black chicken.

Halfway through her meal, Jiuli asked about Qu Zhong, but before she could even open her mouth, Yu Qi put down his bowl and frowned, while Du Zhong secretly chuckled to himself. Seeing the situation was turning sour, she glared at him, put down her bowl, and smacked her lips, "What, is there something we can't ask about this place? Little Ajin won't tell, and neither will you. It's not like it's a forbidden palace."

Yu Qi asked, "Why did you suddenly ask that?"

Jiuli then told him what had happened that morning, and then said, "Sister Rouge's home is in Quzhong, and she said it's not easy to go back. Is there such a thing as not being able to go back home? It's better than suffering the wrath of that young master Guan here. He's not eating for nothing."

This reminded Yu Qi, who frowned and asked, "You mean Rouge and Guan Zhan—" He didn't want to reveal that they were in the sex trade, for fear that Jiu Li would want to find out. She shouldn't have heard those filthy words; she shouldn't have been involved in this filthy world at all. If necessary, he was willing to keep her confined forever, sheltered from the wind and rain.

As she grew older, she inevitably developed a curiosity about everything in the world.

He swallowed hard and changed his question: "They have dealings?"

"His name is Guan Zhan? I don't know. I only heard from the cook and Xiao Ajin that Sister Rouge's meals are taken care of by that man surnamed Guan."

It is said that Guan Zhan is a womanizer. Even when he is ill and enters the garden, as long as he can move, he will try every means to seek pleasure, even more so than Lin Mo. The garden does not allow healthy family members to enter, so he finds people in the garden to serve him in his room. However, his family background is better than Lin Mo's, and he is slightly better raised. He never coerces, but only entices.

As the saying goes, "A great reward will surely bring forth brave men," and some women, attracted by his good looks and also hoping to earn some money, were willing to follow him. However, he was a man who craved novelty, changing women every day. He had affairs with almost every woman in the garden, and although he was confined to the lychee garden, he still indulged in revelry every night.

But on the night Lin Mo died, he wasn't in his room, claiming he stayed at another friend's house. This would normally be normal, but their testimonies stated that only the two of them were drinking and merry that night, without any women present. This seemed out of character for Guan Zhan; wasn't it too quiet?

Originally, Yu Qi didn't want to get involved in the affairs of the government, but since it concerned the innocence of Jiu Li and Du Zhong, and there had been no progress from the government in the past two days, he was afraid that if he didn't ask, the people in the government would also be lazy and not ask.

After a moment's thought, he got up and instructed Du Zhong, "After you finish eating, go and invite Magistrate Qi here. I have something to ask him." He then went to the east room, turned back under the green gauze curtain, and told Jiu Li, "From now on, don't talk to these shady people."

Jiuli was unconvinced and muttered, "I think Sister Rouge has a chivalrous spirit and is not some shady character."

Yu Qi, with his hands tied behind his back under the door, laughed angrily, "You're becoming more and more unruly. You don't listen to anything I say?"

She didn't dare look at him, fearing that seeing his expression would make her involuntarily obey. So she rolled her eyes around and said, "You have a prejudice against Sister Rouge, and you must have heard a lot of gossip about her. Humph, you don't understand her at all."

"I don't need to get to know people who are irrelevant to me."

"How can it be unrelated? She's one of your patients."

Yu Qi swept in, leaving behind the words, "You still know she's one of my patients? Humph, I can cure her, or I can ruin her."

That's what he said, but Jiu Li knew that he might not be able to bring himself to harm a weak woman; it was just a harsh threat to blackmail her.

So she didn't take it seriously, and watched him go in with her back bent. Hearing the rustling sound, she saw him picking up paper and pen again, clearly not taking the matter to heart.

A note from the author:

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Thank you for reading.