Chapter 43 On April 16th, heavy rain caused water to surge, signifying a surge of wealth...

This pomegranate-flower-shaped sachet is bright and flamboyant, perhaps not very suitable for an elderly person to wear. Meng Yurou's words were not wrong, but Old Madam Meng was no ordinary old lady.

Jiang Yunshang and Granny Wu both knew that Meng Yutong must have carefully selected this sachet with this particular pattern before sending it to them.

Someone as meticulous and intelligent as her would naturally know what gift to give to someone who would appreciate it.

After Meng Yurou finished making those sarcastic remarks, the inner room of Songfeng Courtyard remained silent for a long time.

The sound of rain outside the window seemed to have lessened, and the rain hitting the roof and the ground left only a lingering patter.

But for some reason, it sounded even more noisy now than the torrential rain just now.

Jiang Yunshang slowly turned her head, the old scar on her left cheek facing Meng Yurou. Although the dim light from the glass lamp on the table in the room softened it a bit, it did not change the deep and sharp underlying tone.

Feeling a little guilty under her gaze, Meng Yurou forced a smile that revealed a hint of blatant flattery.

"Oh?" she uttered softly, drawing out the word, her gaze sweeping coldly across Meng Yurou's face, a hint of mockery in her expression: "Do you think I'm too old to wear such bright colors?"

"Granddaughter...Granddaughter didn't mean that!" Meng Yurou felt a pang of panic at that gaze, realizing she had said the wrong thing again. The forced smile on her face instantly crumbled, and she hurriedly lowered her head. "Granddaughter just...just felt that eldest sister...she wasn't trying hard enough..." Her voice trailed off, filled with barely concealed panic.

She wasn't very good at speaking, and she couldn't keep her mouth shut, saying whatever came to mind, and she was always afraid of her grandmother's authority.

If her mother hadn't insisted that she come, she would have been the least willing to come to Songfeng Courtyard.

Every time I come here, I feel like I'm sitting on pins and needles.

Seeing the tense atmosphere in the room, Granny Wu picked up the neglected letter and handed it to Jiang Yunshang with both hands, changing the subject with a smile: "Madam, please calm down and take a look at this. This was specially asked by the eldest young lady to be handed over by this old servant. She said it was the first day's accounts of the clinic's opening yesterday, and asked you to take a look."

Jiang Yunshang's gaze finally shifted from Meng Yurou to the thin sheet of paper. The handwriting on the paper was elegant and graceful, with a strong and refined style; it was the delicate, small regular script she had personally trained, undoubtedly written by Meng Yutong.

She took the paper, her eyes scanning the clearly inked entries:

A brief record of income and expenditure of Zhaoyutang on the first day: April 15th, Dingmao day.

I sold fifty-three calming sachets (including two given away) and received seven taels and eight hundred and fifty cash.

I treated one patient, Mr. Sun, who had accidentally ingested croton seeds, which damaged his spleen and stomach. I prescribed one dose of Lizhong Decoction and charged him for more than a month of treatment. The consultation fee and medicine cost a total of one thousand cash.

Selling medicine sporadically: two ounces of Panax notoginseng powder for sixty cash; half a pound of Angelica sinensis slices for forty cash; three mugwort sachets for ninety cash.

Total income: eight taels and forty cash.

"Hmph!" Jiang Yunshang snorted coldly, her fingertip slamming heavily on the words "one thousand coins," and scolded the account book: "What arrogance! She dares to charge a thousand coins for treating a minor ailment of food poisoning and indigestion? Does she think she's the head of the Imperial Hospital? And what's the price of these calming sachets? More than fifty of them sold for seven taels? Who are these suckers who dare to buy her sachets? With such ignorance, I think she should just rob people on the street instead of opening a clinic!"

As he spoke, he slammed the paper onto the table with a "thud," causing the teacups on the table to tremble slightly.

Startled by the noise, Meng Yurou shrank back. She was still confused by their conversation, but she mustered her courage and asked timidly, "Grandmother, does my eldest sister... open a clinic?"

Upon seeing Wu Mama nod in confirmation, Meng Yurou felt a tightness in her throat, and her vision seemed to go black for a moment.

Meng Yutong…has she gone mad? Giving up such a wealthy and prestigious marriage with the Ji family to open some ridiculous clinic? What is she trying to do? Is she willingly degrading herself?!

No wonder Meng Yutong has been elusive these days. I tried twice to go to Xingtao Courtyard to inquire about the details of the annulment, but each time I came up empty-handed. Turns out she's gone off to open some kind of clinic!

Amidst the astonishment, a subtle, indescribable sense of elation quietly rose within me.

Meng Yutong grew up with her grandmother, so her relationship with her grandmother was naturally closer than with herself.

But the more unconventional and self-destructive Meng Yutong is, the more it makes Meng Yurou seem quiet, sensible, and well-behaved.

With a grandmother as intelligent as her, she'll eventually see who the real hope for the Meng family is! By then, it will be too late for Meng Yutong to regret it!

"Sigh," she sighed, her face clearly beaming with joy, but feigning concern as she shook her head, her tone carrying a hint of feigned heartache, "Big sister is such a worry!"

Meng Yurou seems to possess a peculiar innate ability; whenever she speaks, it's as if she hasn't thought it through, leaving listeners speechless.

At this moment, after she finished speaking, the room fell silent again, with only the fading sound of rain outside the window, which made the silence even more distinct.

Granny Wu's eyes twitched. She really didn't know how to respond to those words, so she could only lower her head and pretend to stare at the floor.

After a while, Jiang Yunshang seemed extremely tired. She raised her hand to rub her temples and looked at Meng Yurou with a weary gaze: "Yurou, don't you have any serious things to do?"

Meng Yurou immediately put on a gentle and proper smile, as if she did not understand the deeper meaning of the words at all, and said earnestly, "Grandmother, I don't have anything important to do. I just want to stay here with you, to keep you company, and to do my filial duty."

As she spoke, she leaned closer.

"I need to go to the shop to check the accounts in a bit," Jiang Yunshang said coldly, her voice tinged with a hint of helplessness.

Meng Yurou quickly chimed in, "Then I'll go with you! It'll be a good opportunity for me to learn how to manage accounts and household affairs from my grandmother!"

"Enough," Jiang Yunshang finally lost her last bit of patience, making no attempt to hide her impatience, and directly waved her hand to interrupt her, "Although the rain outside has lessened, the road is still muddy and difficult to walk on. With your delicate and precious body, if you get your skirt and shoes wet in a moment, you'll come back crying and making a fuss, which will only cause trouble for nothing. I've already paid my respects today, and I know about your filial piety, so go back to your Begonia Courtyard as soon as possible and let me have a moment of peace."

Meng Yurou wanted to express her determination again, but Jiang Yunshang had already closed her eyes, waved wearily, and didn't even want to look at her again.

Wu Mama understood and stepped forward: "Second Miss, please, this old servant will see you out."

Meng Yurou had no choice but to get up reluctantly and follow Granny Wu outside.

Stepping out of the room and through the covered corridor, she couldn't help but lower her voice and ask, "Granny Wu, where does eldest sister get the money to run this clinic?"

Granny Wu kept walking and knew what she was thinking as soon as she heard it. "Don't worry, Second Miss, Eldest Miss didn't touch a single copper coin from the public funds, nor did she ask the Old Madam for anything. She used all her own private money."

"Oh..." Meng Yurou suddenly realized, and sneered inwardly: What private money? It must be squandering the dowry left by her mother, Liu.

Good, let's see what she'll have left to maintain appearances after she's squandered all that money! Trying to squeeze more silver from the Meng family coffers then? No way!

Looking at her, a girl who has nothing of value and spends all her time in public, what kind of good family can she possibly marry into in the future?

After Granny Wu escorted her to the entrance of Songfeng Courtyard, she casually asked, "Is the clinic yours, elder sister, called 'Zhaoyutang'?"

Granny Wu stopped inside the moon gate and simply nodded: "That's the name. Second Miss, please take care."

Having said that, he turned and left without saying another word.

As soon as Granny Wu walked away, Meng Yurou stepped out of the moon gate, lifted her skirt, and hurriedly ran towards the Begonia Courtyard. She had to tell her aunt this "great news" as soon as possible!

Inside the Begonia Courtyard, Aunt Qin was leaning on the couch reading a book when she saw Meng Yurou rushing back in a hurry. She quickly sat up and asked her what had happened.

After hearing Meng Yurou finish speaking breathlessly, Aunt Qin was first stunned, then burst into laughter, her body shaking with mirth: "Open a clinic? Meng Yutong? Hahaha! Is she possessed or bewitched? What kind of medical skills does she know? Don't let her acupuncture kill someone. Her mother is gone, and in the end, the old lady will have to clean up her mess."

After laughing, she suddenly sat up straight, as if she had suddenly thought of something. Her smile vanished instantly, and she slapped her thigh and stamped her foot, saying, "What a spendthrift! That little bit of money she has is her mother's dowry! The old lady is getting senile, actually letting her run wild. Such a large sum of money, left in the hands of a young girl like her, how could it possibly stay? If it were with me... with me..."

The more she thought about it, the more heartbroken she became, as if the gleaming silver was slipping through her fingers, circling the house several times, sighing repeatedly, her heart aching so much that her liver trembled.

Meng Yurou stepped forward and asked, puzzled, "Auntie, what do you think she's after? She broke off a perfectly good engagement, spent a lot of dowry money, just to open a run-down clinic?"

"Who cares what she's after!" Aunt Qin turned around, grabbed her daughter's hand, her eyes gleaming, and said in a low voice, "The more crazy she is, the better. This is your chance! These days, you must go to Songfeng Courtyard every day without fail to pay your respects, keep the old lady company and keep her company, so she can see who is the kind and considerate granddaughter who truly cares about her feelings."

"Let the old lady know that the only person this family can count on is my Rou'er! Once the old lady has completely lost interest in her, if the Ji family still has any intention of arranging a marriage..."

She drew out the words meaningfully and patted Meng Yurou's hand, "This immense wealth and honor, how could it possibly fall into the hands of someone else? When the time comes, it will be our Rou'er's glory!"

Meng Yurou's heart warmed upon hearing this, and she nodded vigorously, "Don't worry, Aunt, I will definitely work even harder and serve Grandmother every day so that Grandmother will like me from the bottom of her heart!"

The mother and daughter huddled together, whispering something to each other, with bursts of light laughter coming from inside the room, sounding very cheerful.

The rain outside the window intensified, with large raindrops pattering on the green tiles, gradually drowning out the sounds of people inside the Begonia Courtyard.

After several hours, the rain finally subsided completely, and the entire city of Lin'an seemed to have been soaked in water, becoming moist and refreshing.

Fine raindrops fell gently into the flowing water under Wangxian Bridge, creating faint ripples.

It was mid-afternoon, and a group of well-dressed, chatting and laughing noblemen had arrived at the elegant private room on the second floor of Qingfeng Tea House.

The group ordered the finest tea and several exquisite snacks from the teahouse, sat by the window, leaned against the railing and listened to the rain, displaying a somewhat affected air of refinement.

Nowadays, scholars and literati admire the "Four Arts": reading, calligraphy, painting, and tea brewing.

Li Jing and his group were illiterate in literature and art, and their skills were not up to par with the previous categories. The only thing they could manage to do well was to "taste tea."

When there's nothing to do, people gather at Qingfeng Tea House, order a pot of good tea, and chat about everything under the sun, thus considering themselves refined individuals.

On a day with a light drizzle, listening to the rain and sipping tea in a teahouse is considered a rare and elegant pastime.

Birds of a feather flock together.

Those who could get along with the Prince Rong's son were mostly spoiled brats who relied on their ancestors' influence and spent their days in cockfighting, horse racing, and indulging in a life of debauchery.

However, not all of these people were simply wasting their lives. Dou Zhijie, the son of the Minister of Rites, was an exception. He held a minor post in the Imperial Kitchen.

The Court of Imperial Sacrifices was in charge of the imperial meals, sacrificial ceremonies, and banquets. The Department of Delicacies was in charge of purchasing and offering all kinds of rare ingredients. Although it was not a central government position, it was a lucrative and leisurely job.

Such a position is difficult to attain without being favored by the emperor or having a powerful background. Dou Zhijie's ability to secure one demonstrates his illustrious family background and shrewd methods.

Aside from Dou Zhijie, Li Jing was actually considered "promising" among this group of cronies.

At least his family had gone to the trouble of securing him a sinecure at the Imperial Medical Academy, where he would occasionally show up to handle some minor tasks. He still had some semblance of dignity and wasn't a complete waste of space.

The rest were truly idle, only knowing how to eat, drink, and enjoy themselves. Therefore, when this group went out, they always followed the lead of Dou Zhijie and Li Jing.

Inside the private room, the aroma of tea wafted through the air. He Haochuan was already familiar with these generous regulars, and as usual, he stepped forward, greeting them with a beaming smile.

The exquisitely embroidered sachet with a refreshing medicinal fragrance at his waist was quite eye-catching. It was immediately noticed by someone at the table, who pointed at it and asked with a smile what it was.

He Haochuan immediately perked up and began to speak eloquently about the wonders of the calming sachet: how excellent the ingredients were, how carefully the formula was made, how significant its calming and sleep-aiding effects were, and so on.

He had said these words at least ten times, and he knew them by heart. Now, he could praise the wonders of the calming sachet to the skies with his eyes closed.

After listening to him, and seeing that he spoke so logically, the crowd actually showed some interest.

A young man dressed in a royal blue brocade robe with gold trim, fair-skinned and with sharp features, was none other than Dou Zhijie. He clapped his hands and laughed, "Sounds like a good thing! If I drink a couple of cups of tea during the day, I toss and turn like a pancake at night, and I wake up the next day feeling listless. My mother always suspects that I'm out partying in the middle of the night, and I can't explain myself no matter what!"

“The price isn’t too expensive,” another person chimed in. “Since we have nothing else to do, why don’t we go to Zhaoyutang in a bit? If it really works, we might as well buy a few.”

Everyone echoed his sentiments, but Li Jing sat quietly to the side, silently sipping tea from one cup after another.

“Brother Mingyuan,” Dou Zhijie tapped the table with his folding fan and asked in surprise, “Why are you acting like a saw-mouthed gourd today? This is not like your usual self!”

Li Jing shook his head, his voice somewhat muffled: "You can go ahead, I won't go, I'm not interested."

He turned his gaze to the window, and through the misty rain, he saw a pale purple figure talking to a maid beside him in front of Zhaoyu Hall.

The misty rain obscured the figures, making them difficult to see clearly, yet a strange heat rose on his face, and an indescribable sense of shame, indignation, and frustration surged within him.

After leaving Zhaoyutang in a disheveled state yesterday, he went straight to Bazhenfang and grabbed the waiter, Achang.

With Zheng Hui absent, Ah Chang, after a slight stern threat, spilled the beans, recounting in detail how the group of traveling merchants from Qinzhou had been tricked by Zheng Hui into signing a yin-yang contract, and how they had been forced to devise a plan to retrieve the contract and flee overnight.

Only then did he realize that what the two dark-faced, rough men in Zhaoyu Hall had said was true.

He always believed that it was a group of unscrupulous merchants from other places who had set a trap to swindle his Li family's business, and that Meng Yutong was also a cunning and despicable person who had colluded with them.

But the truth is, Li Jing was the one who bullied others and aided and abetted evil!

He was the heir of Prince Rong, and although he had been absurd throughout his life, he had never deliberately bullied the weak, especially women.

Looking back on the past few days, the troubles I've caused Meng Yutong and the evil deeds I've condoned Zheng Hui's actions... each and every one of them is utterly outrageous!

He felt a little guilty and even more ashamed to face Meng Yutong again.

Can you ask him to admit his mistake? That's absolutely impossible.

After much thought, the only way he could save his pitiful face was to avoid Zhaoyutang and Meng Yutong in the future and treat them as strangers.

"Really not going?" The others who came with him were still unwilling to give up and tried their best to persuade him.

Li Jing is generous and has always been their "god of wealth." He usually pays for their food, drinks, and entertainment. If he doesn't go today, wouldn't they be missing out on a sucker?

Annoyed by their noise, Li Jing waved his hand impatiently: "I said I'm not going! Buy whatever you want, and put it in my name!"

Upon hearing this, everyone beamed and stopped pressing the matter. After sitting and drinking tea for a while, they got up with chuckles and headed straight for Zhaoyu Hall across the street.

Just before heading downstairs, Li Jing seemed to suddenly remember something and called out to the backs of the group, "Hey! Those... those sachets, bring one back for me too!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he felt embarrassed and quickly turned his face away, pretending to be focused on appreciating the rain.

Li Jing was the only one left in the private room. He moved to a seat facing the window, his gaze involuntarily following the figures of his group of cronies.

They entered Zhaoyu Hall and didn't come out for quite a while. Meng Yutong personally escorted them to the door. Each of them held two or three sachets in their hands, and their faces were beaming with undisguised satisfaction. Even through the rain, you could feel their joy.

Li Jing subconsciously craned his neck, his gaze passing over the crowd and landing on that pale purple figure.

The misty rain blurred her features, making her appear like a hazy, ethereal wisp of smoke in a traditional Chinese ink painting. She seemed to be smiling, a smile that was indistinct through the rain curtain, yet inexplicably made him want to see her more clearly.

What kind of woman was she?

At first, I thought she was a vulgar woman who was trying to curry favor with the powerful and wealthy, but she decisively broke off the marriage with the Ji family that others would love.

He later concluded that she was a scheming, treacherous woman who colluded with unscrupulous merchants, but the truth was far from that; he was completely wrong.

Looking at her from afar now, she has a beautiful face, acts decisively, is fearless in the face of danger, and remains calm in the face of change... She is a rare and extraordinary woman with courage and wisdom.

Li Jing was startled by the sudden thoughts that popped into his mind. He abruptly stood up from his seat and, feeling troubled, went to the railing for some fresh air.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he stood still, his gaze unexpectedly met that of Meng Yutong, who was about to turn around and go back to the building downstairs!

Li Jing sprang away almost instantly, rushing down the stairs in a panic, plunging headlong into the noisy crowd on the first floor of the teahouse, his heart pounding wildly.

Just then, the group of companions who had gone to buy sachets returned, laughing and joking. Seeing him come down, Dou Zhijie tossed a dark green sachet into Li Jing's arms.

"Mingyuan! Isn't that a good brother?" Dou Zhijie said with a mischievous smile. "I specifically told Manager Meng that our esteemed Prince Li wanted to choose a sachet, and asked her to bring out the best one in the shop!"

"Who told you to blurt out that I wanted it!" Li Jing's face flushed even more. He scolded her, but his hand instinctively caught the sachet, and a strange sense of anticipation flickered in his heart.

He lowered his head, his fingers unconsciously stroking the smooth brocade, and turned the sachet over to examine it closely.

On the dark green background, a cute turtle was embroidered with golden brown and ochre threads.

The tortoise was stretching its neck, its round little head tilted slightly, its bean-like eyes curiously looking left and right, and its four short little legs were sticking out clumsily, as if it was about to slowly crawl away at any moment. It really was a silly little thing.

Li Jing stared at the "dumb thing" in his sleeve, his face darkening slightly.

Could it be that she deliberately chose this sachet to indirectly insult him as a "bastard"?

A turtle?!

A nameless anger suddenly surged in his heart, and he clenched the sachet in his palm.

This Meng Yutong is truly vindictive and has absolutely no sense of the gentleness and magnanimity that a young lady should have!

"Tsk," he curled his lip, tossed the sachet onto the table, and deliberately spoke with utter disdain, "You were just bragging about it so much, but now it looks like nothing special, just plain ordinary."

Seeing this, his companion immediately reached out to snatch it, saying, "Brother Mingyuan, since you don't like it, why don't you give it to me?"

Seeing this, Li Jing reacted quickly, slapping the hand away and snatching the sachet back into his own. He said irritably, "Go away! I paid for this!"

Before he finished speaking, he had already quickly stuffed the dark green brocade pouch into his sleeve.

After a round of laughter and banter, seeing that he wasn't responding, they lost interest and went upstairs to continue enjoying their tea.

Li Jing remained standing there in a daze for a long time before he finally came to his senses. Seeing that the others had all gone upstairs, he took out the sachet from his sleeve again, turned it over and over and examined it carefully, still complaining, "This woman is really strange. I've never seen anyone embroider turtles on sachets."

His brows and eyes relaxed unnaturally, making him look somewhat happy.

Seeing that he hadn't come up for a long time, Dou Zhijie leaned down from the stairs and called out to him, "Brother Mingyuan, why aren't you here yet?"

Li Jing's brow twitched, and he quickly tucked the sachet into his sleeve, turning around as if nothing had happened: "What's the rush! I'm coming!"

Dou Zhijie's gaze swept across his sleeve from a distance, and seeing him respond and walk back, he waited for him a few steps before the two of them returned to the private room and sat down together.

After sitting down, Li Jing seemed somewhat absent-minded, his gaze constantly drifting towards the window.

Dou Zhijie raised his head thoughtfully, his gaze sweeping into the distance, following the direction Li Jing was looking.

That direction, seemingly northwest, is... the location of Zhaoyutang.

Author's note: Bai Zhi: Family members, the turtle sachet that nobody wanted has finally been sold!

Wu Ming: Wow! I made money again today!