Chapter 39: Hasty Marriage "He also said that after marrying me, he would give...
"Sister Chu is getting married? I haven't heard about this yet."
Qi Yu glanced at her and added calmly, "It should be three days later."
Liu Yeshu felt a flicker of doubt upon hearing this. Such haste must be a strange thing. As she pondered this, she heard Qi Yu say, "I'll go to the military camp this afternoon."
Liu Yeshu understood that this meant giving her half a day off, and said softly, "Thank you for your consideration, General."
In the afternoon, Liu Yeshu returned to the backyard and told Chun Xing to take back the wolf skins that were hanging to dry in advance.
Liu Yeshu looked up at the horizon and saw dark clouds gradually gathering. The low-hanging clouds were leaden grey in color. The distant mountains were shrouded in a layer of haze, and the air was filled with the dampness of impending rain.
"Look at the sky, it's going to rain."
He took a basket of food he had made and walked towards the Chu family.
Liu Yeshu prepared some homemade food and headed for the Chu residence with her basket. The door was open, and Father Chu was sitting in the hall, enthusiastically counting the betrothal gifts piled high on the table. Although the sky was gloomy, the gold, silver, and jewelry gleamed in the dim sunlight, brightening the entire room.
"Miss Liu?"
"Uncle Chu, this is..."
Father Chu's face was beaming with pride, his tone full of pride: "Yu Rou is going to marry into the County Magistrate's Mansion! County Magistrate Tang's people just delivered the betrothal gifts and have just left."
"Who's here?" Liu's mother coughed in the inner room, followed by the sound of a teacup falling to the ground and breaking.
Father Chu ignored him, carefully admiring the pattern on the gold bracelet in his hand. He said, "Are you here to see Yurou? She's trying on clothes in her room. Go find her and talk to her."
Liu Yeshu nodded in agreement. Just as she was about to leave, Father Chu called her back, "Miss Liu, after Yurou gets married, you must teach her how to manage the household. She'll need to learn how to serve others in the future."
"Sister Chu is very lucky. The county magistrate's mansion has a lot of maids, so she doesn't need to serve anyone."
Father Liu was originally sarcastic, but now that his goal had been achieved, he looked delighted.
Liu Yeshu suppressed the disgust in her heart and left quickly.
When Chu Yurou opened her door, she was seen with her head bowed, holding a silk wedding dress in her hands, a hint of sadness between her brows. When she looked up and saw Liu Yeshu coming in, her eyes seemed to have a glimmer of light, and her tense expression relaxed a little. She forced a smile and whispered, "Sister Liu, you're here."
Liu Yeshu walked forward and noticed that she was not in the right mood, so she asked, "Sister Yurou, I have never heard you mention such a sudden marriage before. What happened?"
Chu Yurou sighed and said slowly: "It really happened suddenly. I didn't expect everything to happen so quickly."
She paused, as if considering her explanation, then continued, "A few months ago, I ran into County Magistrate Tang. He happened to be passing by and saw me arguing with a peddler, so he stepped forward to help me."
"Argument? Did the peddler give you a hard time?"
"There were a lot of people that day, and the herbal peddler was dishonest. After I reprimanded him, he turned around and accused me of seducing him and hanging around him every day." Chu Yurou sighed, "Sigh... If his herbs weren't much cheaper than the doctor's, why would I come to him every day to buy them?"
After hearing this, Liu Yeshu took out a few herbs from the basket and asked, "Are these the ones you want to buy?"
Chu Yurou took it, identified it carefully and said it was correct.
"The general's mansion has a lot of these herbs. I can send them to you every three days. I wanted to prepare the pills before giving them to you..."
Chuchu Yurou chuckled softly, her expression a bit emotional. "I appreciate Sister Liu's kindness, but I'm going to marry into the county magistrate's mansion, and the county magistrate promised to hire a doctor to take care of my mother's illness." She lowered her head and gently fiddled with the hem of her wedding dress. Her voice was slightly low. "He also said that after marrying me, he would free my whole family from slavery."
Liu Yeshu wasn't surprised; she had thought of this possibility before coming. She was just afraid that Chu Yurou was forced to do so in order to escape from her citizenship, but now it seemed more like a relationship.
After a moment of silence, his eyes fell on Chu Yurou's face, and Liu Yeshu asked, "Yurou, what do you think of the county magistrate? Will his family... make things difficult for you?"
Chu Yurou was slightly startled, lowered her head and thought for a moment, finally speaking slowly: "The county magistrate is a refined man, gentle and polite, not unpleasant at all." She looked up at Liu Yeshu and forced a smile: "I heard that the county magistrate's wife is in poor health and is bedridden all day. I went there and took good care of her. I don't think she would be too harsh on me."
In this era, concubines had a low status and could even be sold. Liu Yeshu looked at Chu Yurou's smile and felt heavy in her heart. She said, "I brought some homemade food. Please try it."
Chu Yurou put the wedding dress aside, took the basket, and said with a smile, "What you brought makes me happier than this table full of betrothal gifts. The sky outside is already gloomy, I'm afraid it's going to rain, and the road will be difficult to walk on. You should go back quickly."
*
Liu Yeshu held an umbrella and walked back to the general's mansion as the weather became colder and colder. She was thinking about Chu Yurou's marriage, and a sense of nameless anxiety arose in her heart. Before she knew it, she had arrived at the noodle shop owned by the Mo family's brother-in-law in the East Market.
It wasn't lunchtime yet, so the shop was deserted and almost empty. She folded her umbrella and walked into the shop. Mo's brother-in-law was standing behind the counter, checking the accounts. Seeing Liu Yeshu come in, he greeted her with a pleasant smile: "Miss Liu? Long time no see. Would you like a bowl of noodles?"
Liu Yeshu sat down casually: "Please give me a bowl of clear soup noodles."
In just a moment, steaming hot noodles were served, their aroma filling the air. The Mo family's brother-in-law smiled and said, "Miss Liu, has everything been okay since that last incident? It was truly thrilling." His tone was relaxed, as if he were just chatting casually.
His tone was relaxed, as if he was chatting, but Liu Yeshu didn't intend to beat around the bush today.
However, Liu Yeshu was preoccupied today and didn't intend to beat around the bush. She raised her eyes, her gaze calm, and went straight to the point: "Manager Mo, I just want to ask, why did you report me to the authorities behind my back?"
When these words came out, the Mo family's brother-in-law was stunned for a moment, his expression was confused at first, and then he showed a bit of surprise: "Report? Miss Liu, where did you get this from? I have never done such a thing!"
Liu Yeshu locked eyes with him, carefully observing his expression. The Mo family's brother-in-law's expression didn't seem fake. A thunderclap split the sky, and the Mo family's brother-in-law shuddered in shock. Then his expression straightened, and he patted his chest and vowed, "If it's really me who stabbed you in the back, I'll have the next thunderclap strike me straight on, and I'll die a miserable death!"
After hearing this, Liu Yeshu's brows relaxed slightly. After pondering for a moment, he finally said, "If that's the case, why do the government insist it's your family?"
The Mo family's brother-in-law frowned, and after a moment he seemed to suddenly remember something and said, "I'll go home and ask."
Liu Yeshu nodded, finished a bowl of noodles, and drank the hot soup. Only then did she feel much better. When she went out, the rain had stopped.
Back in the backyard, Chun Xing was busy cooking dinner in the kitchen. The charcoal fire was burning on the stove, and the flames cast a warm and bright light into the house. Liu Yeshu rolled up her sleeves, revealing a slender wrist. She wanted to make some sausages. The weather was getting colder every day, which was perfect for making this kind of long-lasting food.
The pork was finely minced, the knife rising and falling with a rhythmic "dong dong" sound. She then mixed the lard with the chopped lean meat and stirred it evenly. The sausage casings, previously rinsed repeatedly with salt water, were clean and odorless. She stuffed them into the sausages one by one, then tied them tightly with string, gently kneading the sausages to ensure the meat filling was firmly packed. After a busy period, the sausages were neatly hung on the beams in the backyard to dry.
At dawn the next day, Liu Yeshu walked to the backyard, looked up and counted the sausages hanging on the wall. She frowned, as if one was missing. As she was lost in thought, Chun Xing's voice came from behind her: "Miss Liu, what are you looking at?"
Liu Yeshu turned around and looked at the sausage hanging on the beam with a missing piece. She pointed and said, "Chun Xing, look, there's a piece of sausage missing."
Chun Xing took a closer look, a look of surprise on her face: "Oh, why is the sausage gone? Could it be that a mouse stole it?" She paused, as if remembering something, and added: "A few days ago, I saw dark shadows scurrying around in the yard. It might be a mouse. Logically, there shouldn't be mice in the general's mansion. It's usually kept clean."
Liu Yeshu frowned slightly, and Chun Xing continued, "The last time I saw that shadow, I was frightened, but I didn't catch it because it ran too fast!"
Liu Yeshu nodded: "Then I'll think of a way."
In the afternoon, she went home to find Liu Di and asked, "How are you doing with Old Man Wang lately? Can you make a mousetrap?"
After hearing this, Liu Di immediately became excited and started to work. He first built a cage-like frame with wood, and then installed a highly elastic bamboo piece at one end of the frame as a trigger for the mouse to step on.
"Sister, this plate is connected to a spring mechanism and secured with a thin rope. When the mouse steps on the trigger plate, it pulls the rope, releasing the elastic force of the bamboo strip." Liu Di warned seriously, "Be careful not to get yourself caught. Although my clamp is not that powerful, it is enough to catch the mouse."
Liu Yeshu took it carefully and returned to the general's mansion. She deliberately placed a bitten piece of sausage in the corner of the backyard and placed the mousetrap next to the sausage.
The next morning, Liu Yeshu couldn't help putting on his clothes and went to the backyard to check.
From a distance, she saw something on the mousetrap struggling violently, with a little rapid panting. She quickened her pace, got closer, and was stunned.
The thing struggling in the mousetrap was not a mouse as she thought, but a little orange kitten.
It seemed to be only a few months old, with a sparse but soft layer of golden hairs standing on top of its normal orange fur. It was twisting its body desperately, trying to break free from the mousetrap, with a hint of panic in its eyes.
Liu Yeshu didn't know whether to cry or laugh for a moment. It was quite clever and actually sneaked into the general's mansion.
When the orange cat saw her approaching, it struggled even harder and made a series of rapid meows.
"Don't move. The more you move, the more it hurts." Liu Yeshu sighed, walked forward, gently untied the mousetrap, and rescued it from it. Just as Liu Di said, the mousetrap was not very strong, and the orange cat only suffered some minor skin injuries.
After the orange cat regained its freedom, it first looked at her warily, then squatted there without running away.
"What? You still want to scam me?" Liu Yeshu squatted down and said softly, reaching out to touch it.
The orange cat looked at her, tilted its head, and didn't seem to have much hostility towards her. It stuck out its butt and yawned.
Liu Yeshu smiled helplessly and went to the kitchen to get it a small bowl of leftovers, but it just sniffed it.
"Why, have you become a picky eater after eating sausages?"
The little orange cat then reluctantly lowered its head and took a few bites.
Chun Xing came over, and exclaimed, "Ah!" in surprise, "Whose cat is this? It's so cute." She squatted down and tentatively touched the orange cat's head, but was breathed on by it. She didn't get angry, but raised her head and asked expectantly, "Miss Liu, shall we keep it? It can catch mice when it grows up!"
Liu Yeshu wanted to say, didn't you say before that there were no mice in the general's mansion? But seeing Chun Xing so happy, she smiled and said yes, and then said, "Are the cloaks and blankets ready to dry? I'll send them to the general later."
Arriving at Qi Yu's study, Liu Yeshu knocked on the door and said softly, "General Qi, the blanket and cloak are ready."
Qi Yu looked up at her, his gaze settling on the neatly folded cloak and blanket in her hands. His fingers gently stroked the soft fabric, as if feeling its warmth and texture. He nodded slightly. "This cloak is well made, thick and warm." He glanced at the blanket again and added casually, "But I already have quite a few blankets. I made a few blankets from hunting wolves in my early years."
The attendant beside him laughed and interjected, "It wasn't just a few wolves; the entire pack was wiped out! That wolf was like a calf. Many of us didn't dare to approach it, and it was only the general who shot an arrow into its heart."
Qi Yu did not interrupt and gave the attendant an approving look.
Liu Yeshu was surprised and asked, "The whole wolf pack?"
"Wolves hold grudges and are very vindictive. If we don't eradicate them, they will definitely come back one day. There were many women and children where we lived back then, and we wouldn't be able to handle the wolves if they came again." Qi Yu looked at Liu Yeshu, "I don't need so many blankets, so I'll leave one for you to use during the winter."
Liu Yeshu was stunned when she heard this, then her heart warmed. She smiled and said, "Then I won't be polite. I'll keep a small one for myself." She unconsciously stroked the fur on the small blanket, happily thinking that sleeping in the bed this winter would be much warmer. She was most afraid of the cold.
The attendant watched from the side, with a hint of envy on his face - in the past, if the general had any extra wolf skins from the wolves he killed, he would often give them as rewards to his subordinates.
Liu Yeshu continued, "I also ground the wolf bones into powder and used it to make medicinal wine. It can treat cold and dampness, so you can keep some at home. Wolf meat doesn't taste very good, so I asked Chun Xing to use it to make a big pot of rice."
Qi Yu nodded and said, "I don't eat wolf meat." Just as he finished speaking, he suddenly remembered something and waved to the attendant beside him, signaling him to bring something over. The attendant immediately stepped forward, holding an exquisite brocade box, and respectfully handed it to Liu Yeshu. "By the way, I have something for you."
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