Chapter 42 She doesn't need his things.
As soon as she returned to the shop, Tao's mother rushed up to her anxiously, "Tao'er! You're finally back."
Tao Tao smiled and asked in confusion, "What's wrong, Mother? Has some big business come in?"
She quickly stopped her daughter from talking nonsense, because a high-ranking official had indeed arrived and specifically requested to see her daughter. Although he didn't seem to be there to cause trouble, he treated her with utmost respect.
I don't know what their purpose was. They just run a small funeral shop and are lucky if they aren't disliked by others. What makes them worthy of the attention of high-ranking officials and nobles?
Tao Tao was both amused and exasperated. "Who is it, anyway..."
"Greetings, Miss Tao."
A man in his thirties, wearing a curved-collar, wide-sleeved shirt and a headscarf, bowed to her.
Isn't this the city gate official?
Bowing to her, an ordinary citizen? What's going on?
She was somewhat confused, but she quickly stepped forward and bowed, saying, "My lord, what brings you to me?"
Suddenly, passersby turned their heads and stared at them with curiosity and surprise, whispering among themselves.
Clearly, they were all wondering why the court officials were bowing to her. Could it be that a high-ranking official had taken a fancy to this young lady from the Tao family? But the Tao family ran a funeral shop. Putting aside their background as merchants, just the fact that they dealt with the dead meant that ordinary, respectable families would never have their eyes on them.
In their minds, this kind of woman is destined to never get married.
But now that officials have come knocking on their door, they all agree it must be because of business.
But quite a few busybodies stopped to watch the spectacle.
Tao's mother was also very surprised and looked back and forth between the two of them.
Noticing the gazes around him, Ye Chengxian looked up and glanced around, then smiled and said, "My name is Ye Chengxian. I was formerly a gatekeeper at Ding'an City, and now I am a clerk in the Privy Council's Beijing office, serving as..."
"Wait a moment!"
Tao Tao suddenly interrupted him, "Please come inside, sir, so we can talk."
Upon hearing the words "Privy Council," she immediately became alert. Just now, that fellow had asked her to repay a debt of gratitude, and she had given him a perfunctory reply before sending someone to her home.
It seems this is really not a good thing. If it's not a good thing, you can't say it on the street. Her family's funeral shop is already bad enough, and if they get fined or something, it'll be hard for others not to take the opportunity to kick them while they're down and laugh at them.
Ye Chengxian was stunned for a moment, but still followed her inside.
"Sir, please speak frankly."
She took a deep breath silently.
Seeing her looking like she was facing a formidable enemy, he smiled kindly and said, "Oh, you've misunderstood. I'm not here to cause you any trouble."
As he spoke, he took out a delicate, light black porcelain bottle from his sleeve and presented it to her with both hands.
"This is medicine that our Commander Duan specially instructed me to bring to you. It's for treating the wound on your hand. Our Commander Duan cares about you a lot, so he scolded me quite a bit when you got injured at the city gate."
"If it weren't for your kindness, sir, I would have been doomed."
"Wait, did I hear that right?"
Tao Tao touched her forehead; she didn't have a fever. She recognized each individual word, so why couldn't she understand it when they were put together?
While she was still in a daze, Tao's mother reacted first and quickly smiled respectfully, "Thank you... thank you for the medicine, sir. It is truly my daughter's great fortune to have your favor."
He then turned around and playfully patted her, saying, "Aren't you going to accept it and thank me?"
I'm so lucky... what a load of rubbish!
She reached out and took it, giving a dry laugh: "Thank you so much for your great kindness."
He secretly rolled his eyes as he lowered his head.
Ye Chengxian stared blankly at the two tightly wrapped hands in front of him, a slight smile playing on his lips.
"Miss Tao, if you need anything, you can come to the Privy Council to find me, and I will do my best to help you."
ah?
Tao Tao looked at him with a strange and puzzled expression.
Seeing her gaze, Ye Chengxian immediately guessed that she had misunderstood again, and hurriedly said, "I didn't mean anything by it. It's just that you are sometimes too busy with official duties to see me all the time. There are some small things that I should do to help you."
Daring to steal a woman from an adult, isn't he courting death?
"I only hope that when you meet the Generalissimo, you can give him some pointers. I would be extremely grateful."
"Oh... I'll try if I have the chance."
She figured out what was going on; this person mistakenly thought she had a connection with that evil spirit, a ghostly connection—yes, it really was a ghostly connection.
They met because of a dead person, so that makes sense.
After seeing the official off, she casually put the porcelain vase aside, then leaned back in her recliner, placing her two hands, wrapped like a mummy, on either side of the armrest.
"How could it be so serious?!"
Tao's mother looked nervous and quickly stepped forward, taking one of her hands to examine it.
"Does it hurt?"
She withdrew her hand and comforted her, "Mother, it's alright, the medicine has been applied."
When the topic of medicine came up, her gaze fell on the porcelain bottle on the small table beside her, and she curled her lip, revealing a hint of disgust.
She thought to herself that it would be strange if this person was really that kind; maybe they put some medicine in it that would make her wound fester, and she definitely wouldn't use it.
Suddenly she remembered her purpose, raised her head slightly to look at her, and asked, "Mother, you've known Madam Liu for so long, what kind of person is she? Has she argued with anyone recently? Or offended anyone?"
"Madam Liu..."
Tao's mother paused in her folding of gold ingots, sighed, "She has a cheerful and generous personality, and she's quite adept at both business and making tofu."
“Your father passed away then. I wasn’t very good at business, and I often said the wrong thing and offended people. I also knew nothing about prices. It was Mrs. Liu who didn’t mind and avoided our family’s paper offerings and helped me sell them.”
"She speaks politely and acts decisively, which helped me sell a lot of things."
"She was a good person, but heaven didn't give her a child. If she had a child, Liu Niangzi would have been fulfilled, and she wouldn't have fallen into the water because of the child."
Upon hearing the last sentence, she was startled awake as she lay there with her eyes closed, seemingly resting.
"Mother, who told you that Madam Liu accidentally fell into the water?"
Tao's mother looked at her in confusion: "Everyone's saying that, hasn't the government already closed the case?"
"Did the authorities close the case so quickly?"
"What's wrong, Peach?"
"Nothing, Mother. Has she had any arguments with anyone? Or does she have any particular preferences?"
Tao's mother thought for a moment and then suddenly remembered: "Oh right, the day before Liu Niangzi disappeared, she had a quarrel with the owner of the butcher's pork shop, presumably over something about shortchanging customers."
"As for her preferences... does her liking chestnut cake count? Before, to thank her for her help, Mother often sent her chestnut cakes from Lin's Pastry Shop on North Street."
"The steamed sugar-coated cheese you like is from their shop. It's reasonably priced and tastes great..."
Tao Tao suddenly stood up, said, "Mother, I'm going out for a bit," and then quickly left.
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