Cake Fragrance (V)
The Gao Mansion was horribly luxurious. If one was not used to living there, it would be a rare thing not to get lost in these endless winding corridors.
Gao Qing is dressed in tattered clothes, not even as good as the servants in the Gao family. Just by looking at her clothes, who can tell that she is the benefactor of the Gao family?
Naturally, with their master so majestic, the servants held their heads high. Their attitude towards Gao Qing was no different from that towards beggars – they were afraid of dirtying their hands if they touched him, and afraid of polluting their eyes if they looked at him.
Gao Qing kept wandering in front of the door. She secretly observed the actions of everyone here, but still had no clue.
Everyone here behaves just like ordinary people, but she still can't understand why the Gao family is the only wealthy family in such a huge Yunchong City?
As I walked, I somehow ended up in the kitchen.
At this moment, it seemed that some porridge was being cooked in the kitchen. The sweet fragrance of flowers overflowed from the boiler, mixed with a faint smell of rice that hit me in the face. Just smelling it made me salivate.
Unable to resist the wonderful fragrance, Gao Qing stepped in involuntarily. He looked around and saw that there was no one there, so he immediately walked towards the big pot that was emitting the fragrance.
She licked the corner of her mouth, rubbed her palms together, lifted the heavy wooden lid of the pot, and the steaming hot steam immediately enveloped her entire head.
She took a deep breath, picked up the soup spoon that was turned upside down next to the pot, and wanted to scoop out a spoonful to try.
"If you want to eat, take a bowl and serve it!"
The sudden sound scared Gao Qing so much that her hand trembled and the wooden spoon fell to the ground with a clang.
Zhang Huang turned around and saw that all Gao Qing saw was a woman standing at the door smiling at him.
The woman was plump, with a face as big as a disc, a few pockmarks on it, and a few obvious furrows on her forehead. However, her jet-black hair was neatly tied up at the back of her head, and she looked honest and simple.
What was different from the others in the mansion was that she was not wearing high-quality linen, but extremely ordinary, or even lower-quality, cloth, which even had a few eye-catching patches on it.
This made Gao Qing very puzzled.
"Who are you……"
Gao Qing had never seen this person before. Of course, this was understandable. She had only been there for a day and there were new faces everywhere.
The woman touched her apron, walked to the east shelf with a smile on her face, and took out a bowl and a small spoon from it.
Contrary to her appearance, the woman walked very briskly and before she knew it, she was right in front of Gao Qing.
She gently scooped a bowl of hot porridge and handed it to Gao Qing: "Take it!"
Gao Qing slowly stretched out his trembling hand to take the bowl, took a sip carefully, and started chatting with the woman.
"You can call me Aunt Ma. They all call me that. I'm the cook in this house."
"Are you from this mansion?" Gao Qing blew away the hot steam from the porridge. "Then why are you wearing..."
"I don't like these things. I always feel that gold and silver are dirty. I remember that the master often criticized me for dressing like a refugee. But I am just a rough man and I am not used to wearing such clothes."
Gao Qing's eyes flickered, and he continued, "But Master Gao still acquiesced."
"Yes, after he tried to persuade me many times without success, he followed me." Aunt Ma said calmly, without any concerns about her life.
It's rare to say. Gao Qing originally thought that the servants in this mansion were all bullies who relied on their superiors for power, but he didn't expect that there was still such a clear stream.
"Help me!" Aunt Ma deftly placed the small bowls of porridge on a tray and handed them to Gao Qing. "There's a chicken stewing in the stove. I need to watch over it and can't leave right now. Could you please help me take these two bowls of porridge?"
Gao Qing took it without saying a word.
Before leaving, Aunt Ma repeatedly reminded her: "One bowl for the young lady, and one bowl for the lady!"
Gao Qing nodded rapidly and immediately ran to Madam Gao's bedroom.
Ever since Gao Hui was taken away by Madam Gao, Gao Qing hasn't seen her again. Now, he wonders if she has settled down.
After delivering the porridge to Mrs. Gao, Gao Qing wanted to go to Gao Hui's residence immediately to reunite with her, but because he was in a hurry, he forgot to ask Gao Hui's residence, and after searching for a long time, he got lost.
She wanted to ask the servants, but no one was willing to pay attention to her along the way.
What should I do?
Gao Qing found a deserted place, put the plate on the ground, and slowly sat down.
She rested her chin on one hand, the other hand dangling between her legs, and recalled Gao Hui's appearance from memory, trying to figure out what she might have done in her daily life.
White skin, but very rough and dull, short stature, small bones, looks malnourished...
Wait! Doesn't Gao Hui's appearance resemble a condition characterized by years of lack of sunlight? Is she sensitive to sunlight? Then her boudoir must face north.
But this is just speculation and cannot be confirmed.
What could I do? I'm not a doctor, so I can only guess, maybe it's a lucky gamble.
Thinking of this, Gao Qing dusted off the dust on his body, picked up the slightly cool porridge, and walked straight to the north of Gao Mansion.
When we arrived at the northern part of the mansion, there happened to be a large courtyard, which should be Gao Hui's boudoir.
Gao Qing wiped his hands on himself and took out a dry and hard pancake from his arms.
In her eyes, this pancake was a rare delicacy, but facing the rice porridge in front of her, she hesitated for a moment and put it back.
As soon as I pulled my hand out, the door in front of me opened.
"Sister Qing? How...how did you know I was here?"
Gao Qing raised the corner of his mouth, frowned playfully, and replied with a look of disdain, "I won't ask your servants, right?"
Gao Qing strode towards Gao Hui with his head held high, carrying porridge. He pretended to clear his throat and pointed his chin at Gao Hui with a noble expression: "Gao Hui, why don't you quickly obey my orders?"
Gao Hui was shocked at first, but then she smiled.
She snatched the bowl from Gao Qing's hand with one hand and held her arm with the other: "What orders are you following? Be careful if someone sees you and you get beaten! Stop pretending in front of me and come in to eat together!"
Gao Qing was pulled by Gao Hui like this and lost his balance. He stumbled and spilled some porridge on himself. His embarrassing look made Gao Hui laugh uncontrollably, and Gao Qing couldn't help laughing when he saw her laughing so hard.
Inside the house, the two opened their hearts to each other for the first time. During the conversation, Gao Qing told Gao Hui a lot about her past, which was so innocent and naive that Gao Hui laughed out loud.
The laughter of the two unconsciously attracted the moon. As the night deepened, the sky was covered with thicker ink. The spots of light on the ground reflected by the moonlight floated in the wind, gently emitting light spots.
In such a quiet night, Gao Hui's bright smile is as dazzling as a firefly.
As I sipped the slightly cool porridge, my heart felt warm.
Then, quietly and slowly, the sky began to rain...
---
After the rain, the sky cleared up and the cold sunlight shone through the window onto the ground. The air was still mixed with a bit of the night chill that took a long time to dissipate. Gao Hui, who was sleeping soundly in her quilt, curled up into a ball, but the winter chill still mercilessly woke her up.
A chill set in her back, and she rubbed her hazy eyes, then wrapped the quilt around her body and rubbed it.
"Hmm? Where's Sister Qing..."
In fact, Gao Qing went out when it was still dawn.
She always felt that something was wrong in the city and she had to escape as soon as possible, but how could she abandon Gao Hui and flee from danger alone?
Since this is the case, the most urgent task now is to find evidence to convince Gao Hui so that she will voluntarily leave with her.
But the servants in Gao's house were all like dumb people, and it was extremely difficult to get any clues from them.
So she decided to go out for a walk and see if the people in the city knew anything.
Gao Qing was walking on the street, surrounded by endless shouting. If it weren't for her shabby clothes, the street vendors would have pestered her long ago.
Walking along the street, there were shops everywhere, each using different gimmicks to attract customers. Gao Qing was bored and didn't want to take a second look.
Instead, her ease was interrupted by a burst of tea aroma.
"Strange, where does the tea fragrance come from? It's so strong?" Gao Qing said to himself.
From then on, her eyes were fixed on the door of a shop on the street that was crowded with customers.
Full of curiosity, she walked forward.
The shop's signboard had the characters "Liu Xiang Ju" clearly written on it.
In fact, since arriving in Yunchong yesterday, Xiao Lin and Mu You were forced by Chu Mo to wear servants' uniforms. Without giving them any time to relax, they were dragged away to help.
Xiao Lin also didn't understand why Liu Xiangju could attract such good business even in a small town like Yunchong?
Business was so good that Xiao Lin felt sore all over after just half a day's work that he fell asleep without even having time to wash up.
If Mu You hadn't forced himself to say he wasn't sleepy every night and hadn't massaged her shoulders and back, she would have probably passed out long ago.
But it was not a solution to trouble Mu You every day. Once she felt that Mu You's fingertips were a little lighter, she would inevitably stop him out of heartache. No matter how stubborn he was, she would not let him continue.
Today, we also "get up at the crack of dawn" and start serving tea and water to the guests as soon as the sun rises.
It had been nearly an hour since they had been busy, and Xiao Lin had never had a chance to rest. She wished she had three heads and six arms so that she could serve tea faster.
After all, she already owed Chu Mo five hundred coins. If she accidentally broke a few more teacups, it would be even more difficult for her and Mu You to pay back the money.
It was precisely because of his busy schedule that Xiao Lin was completely unaware of Gao Qing's arrival, his mind full of trivial matters at hand.
However, Gao Qing was short, and even if he stood on tiptoe behind the crowd, it would be difficult for him to see the interior of Liuxiangju.
After trying many times without success, she simply gave up and did not see Xiao Lin.
"Such a strong tea aroma, it must be good tea. Next time when I have time, I will bring my brothers and sisters here to blackmail Master Gao."
Now that we've had enough fun, it's time to get down to business.
People on the street were in a hurry, as if they all had their own destinations, so it would be extremely difficult to stop someone to ask something. Therefore, Gao Qing secretly thought in his heart that since he couldn't ask passers-by, he might as well go to the notice board and ask the idle people.
There are a lot of onlookers in front of the notice board, and with so many people talking, maybe we can really get something out of it.
So Gao Qing rushed towards the city gate, fearing that he would miss the opportunity.
On the way, she bumped into some passers-by, but she didn't say sorry. She just rushed straight to the city gate. She was anxious and her steps became faster and faster. Her body was bent lower and lower, and she almost fell over.
The colorful thread of sunlight, along with the attic and the sky, splashed all over Gao Qing's body, and warmth suddenly rose.
Breathing heavily, Gao Qing finally ran to the notice.
There was an old man who was sighing and worried as he squeezed out of the crowd. Gao Qing immediately stopped him and asked about his current situation.
Gao Qing greeted the old man and politely asked, "Old man, what does the notice say?"
"Ah..." The old man suddenly complained even more, his clothes ripped from where his hands had been gripping. He looked helpless. "The government has increased taxes again, it's been like this every year. I really don't understand why the emperor would build such beautiful houses in this city when we ordinary people can't even get enough to eat every day."
How strange! The current emperor puts the people first and advocates frugality. Why does this old man say this?
"No." Gao Qing licked his lips. "Isn't frugality popular nowadays? How could this be?"
"Hey, little girl, you're from out of town, right? Everyone here knows this kind of decadent atmosphere has been going on in the city for fifteen years. With taxes getting increasingly heavy, what are we, the common people, supposed to do?"
"how……"
Before Gao Qing finished speaking, the old man ignored him and left with his hands behind his back, looking worried.
Looking at his hunched figure walking away, Gao Qing felt secretly sad.
She sighed before turning back to the notice board.
Fortunately, she could read a little, so she saw the following words clearly written on it: Every adult male must pay 44 feet of cloth and 5 catties of hemp every year.
So much! She was also shocked by the huge amount.
The tax collection was appalling. Were they really all handed over to the imperial court?
But the tax burden of this city is twice that of other small cities. After paying such a large amount of money, why did the officials of the Ministry of Revenue register it so carelessly?
Ridiculous, really ridiculous.
Or perhaps, this heavy tax was not all paid to the court, but was pocketed by someone?
As soon as the thought came to his mind, Gao Qing immediately rushed back to Gao Mansion, hoping that Gao Chang, who was in the court, could find out something.
However, as soon as she stepped onto the bluestone slab in front of Gao's house, a scene of panic was projected from the crack of the door, as if everyone was busy with something.
Gao Qing stepped over the threshold with brisk steps and gradually approached where the crowd gathered.
Only the sound of crying could be heard throughout the courtyard, striking at everyone's heartstrings.
Confused for a moment, he walked closer and saw a corpse lying in the middle of the open space.
The outline of the corpse was clear, except for a hint of bloody red at the corner of the mouth, which contrasted with the pale face, like a cold plum blossom adorned with snow, sad and beautiful yet terrifying.
Gao Qing took another closer look, his face filled with fear, and he couldn't help but stagger—
It’s Mrs. Gao!
How could this happen? Who did this in just such a short time?
Gao Qing was thrown into disarray for a moment. The main culprit in the strange city case had not yet been found, and now another murder had occurred!
This...what should I do!
She clenched her fingertips into her palm, almost drawing blood.
Just when everyone thought that the only thing she could do now was to stay by Gao Hui's side, she did not step back. Instead, she squatted down resolutely, intending to look over Mrs. Gao's body.
Suddenly, Gao Hui reached out and grabbed the most inconspicuous girl in the crowd: "Sister Qing, what are you doing?"
Gao Qing sighed and pushed Gao Hui's hand away: "There's no time to cry anymore. Someone has to go find clues first."
After hearing this, Gao Hui cried even harder, tears rolling down her face like pearls falling from a broken string.
At noon, the beams of light shine through the quilt-like clouds. The sunlight is cold, but it burns the two hearts.
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