Chapter 27 "He treats you so well!"...
After resting for two or three days, Hengbo was back to her usual lively self, and could even help Granny Lü with chores like chopping wood and carrying water. However, it wasn't a good idea for her, an outsider, to stay at the Shen family's house indefinitely. With that in mind, she went to Shen Guitang to say goodbye.
Shen Guitang, who was painting at his desk, thought for a moment after learning her purpose and said, "Very well, but I have spent a lot of money getting medicine for you, Miss Cuihua, these past few days. Considering that you are Er Gou's friend, I will give you a discount."
Hengbo nodded, already feeling very embarrassed by their kindness, and naturally she should pay for the medicine. Besides, she had a hundred taels of silver on her, so she wasn't short of money for the time being.
Seeing that she agreed, Shen Guitang pulled out an abacus from somewhere, fiddled with it for a while, and then nodded in satisfaction: "I will give you three hundred taels."
Hengbo, who was about to take out his money, was stunned. He subconsciously touched his ear, wondering if he had misheard.
Shen Guitang, who hadn't missed her series of subtle movements, curled up a sly smile. "The herbs for treating the heart meridian are extremely precious, so naturally they're expensive. So you heard me right, it's three hundred taels."
Hengbo:……
Hengbo emptied his purse and finally pulled out five more copper coins.
After thinking for a moment, she first stuffed a whole hundred taels of silver into Shen Guitang's hand, indicating that this was all the silver she had at the moment, and that she could repay him later.
Shen Guitang didn't seem to mind. He slowly accepted the hundred taels of silver and said, "Although you are Er Gou's friend, Cuihua, you are not familiar with me. It is not my style to give two hundred taels on credit to someone I don't know well."
Seeing that Hengbo's expression gradually became serious, Shen Guitang knew that the foreshadowing had been sufficient.
He put down his pen and took out the speech he had prepared beforehand: "Well then, I'm not comfortable letting you leave now, young lady. Why don't you continue to stay at my house? Granny Green is getting old, so you can help her out. I can give you two taels of silver a month."
"Of course, young lady, you can leave whenever you have saved up two hundred taels."
Hengbo's brows furrowed and relaxed. Although it sounded like she was working as a maid, the Shen family only had a few people, and Granny Lü was unwilling to delegate most of the work to others. Therefore, all she could do was physical labor such as chopping wood and boiling water.
Furthermore, even if she sold all her belongings to pay off the two hundred taels, she wouldn't have much money left. And since she'd likely be staying in Yujing for quite some time, staying in inns indefinitely wasn't a good solution; she should find a place to stay as soon as possible.
Hengbo couldn't help but feel annoyed. She should have known better than to refuse when the young master wanted to pick out more jewelry for her.
This was the first time she had thought of the young master since arriving in Yujing. She wondered what the young master, who talked about Hengbo almost every day, would think if he knew about this.
Thinking about it this way, the suggestion made by this young master Shen actually solved her current predicament, so what else was there for her to hesitate about?
With Hengbo's consent, Shen Guitang immediately drafted a contract in great detail, and had her press her fingerprint on it after confirming that it was correct.
Although Hengbo felt that everything was progressing a bit too fast, he couldn't find any mistakes for the time being, so he had to suppress his doubts and leave his bright red handprint.
Satisfied, Shen Guitang carefully put away the newly concluded contract and, without any formalities, immediately instructed her, "There's nothing else to do right now, so you can serve me the pen and ink."
If this happened to anyone else, they would surely find the image of a beautiful woman adding fragrance to someone's life too ambiguous. However, with these two, the atmosphere was completely silent. All afternoon, one was focused on painting, while the other was either grinding ink or staring blankly out the window.
And so, Hengbo's first task as a maid was to serve Shen Guitang as he painted free-range chickens for an entire afternoon.
As darkness fell, Shen Guitang finally put down his pen, stood up, and clipped the drawing paper to a thin string that had been tied beforehand. He stretched his slightly stiff wrists, took a step back, and admired his masterpiece, the result of his hard work all afternoon.
Hengbo's numb eyes finally came alive again, and his gaze fell on the rooster painting hanging there, with its feathers clearly defined, and he felt a strange sense of accomplishment.
Look, this chicken is so beautiful! It was painted with ink she ground herself!
He noticed her bright, sparkling eyes out of the corner of his eye, and Shen Guitang's mood improved as well. "What do you think of my painting, Miss Cuihua?"
Hengbo was surprised that he would ask her, but she didn't hold back her praise at all, gesturing to him: "It's so lifelike, it looks delicious!"
Beautiful and delicious?
The curve of Shen Guitang's lips froze, the smile on his face slowly disappeared, and his tone became dangerous: "In your opinion, what did I draw?"
Hengbo raised an eyebrow in surprise: ? Isn't it a rooster?
Shen Guitang: ...
He gave a cold laugh, even his gaze was chilling. "It seems Miss Cuihua hasn't had chicken in a long time and is craving it so much that she mistook my phoenix painting for a chicken. It seems I have been negligent. I will go and tell the kitchen to prepare it."
Having said that, he lost all interest in admiring his masterpiece and left the room with a flick of his sleeve. He left Hengbo alone in the room, staring blankly at the "rooster" picture. Was this a phoenix?
Hengbo sensed that Shen Guitang's mood seemed a bit off, but she felt very innocent and wronged, after all, she had never seen a phoenix before!
As she walked slowly back, Er Gou, panting heavily, caught up with her from behind: "Sister Cuihua, where did you go all afternoon? You scared me to death! I thought you left without saying goodbye."
Thinking of the huge debt of two hundred taels that she had suddenly saddled with, and that creditor who was really unpredictable, Hengbo sighed heavily. She regretted it; she should have left without saying goodbye back then.
Fortunately, Er Gou has probably been trained by Granny Green these past few days, and his sign language skills have improved by leaps and bounds. Heng Bo was finally able to explain his afternoon experience to her without stumbling.
Surprisingly, Er Gou looked incredulous after learning the truth. "So, you were just tricked into becoming a maid?"
Hengbo narrowed his eyes: Liar?
Er Gou's eyes darted around, and he stammered, "No, no. What I mean is, you went to be his maid so easily?"
Hengbo wasn't about to be fooled so easily. He didn't answer her question and just stared at her suspiciously.
Er Gou felt her hair stand on end from her stare and turned to run, but before she could take two steps, she was blocked by an unsheathed sword.
She gritted her teeth, turned around and ran in the other direction, but Hengbo seemed to live in her mind, always managing to stop her with his sword just before she took her next step.
Er Gou, surrounded by a sword: ...
She simply closed her eyes, steeled her resolve, squatted down, hugged Hengbo's legs, and wailed, "My dear sister, please let me go!"
Hengbo, however, remained unmoved by any of her attempts to charm or coax him.
Er Gou, at a loss, trembled for a long time before finally stammering out, "Thirty taels..."
Hengbo:! ! !
She was utterly shocked: He actually embezzled thirty taels of my money?!
Er Gou: ? ? ?
When Er Gou saw that she understood, he almost went up to explain, but fortunately she reacted immediately, nodded hesitantly, and after a long while said decisively, "That's right, he asked you for thirty more taels."
Hengbo was furious and was about to turn back to find Shen Guitang to demand an explanation, but he stopped halfway there.
Forget it, what's the difference between owing two hundred taels and owing one hundred and seventy taels? Why should I suffer the cold shoulder from that Mr. Shen for just thirty taels?
Hengbo pondered for a moment and finally decided that thirty taels was not worth it.
Seeing Hengbo turn back, Ergou cautiously asked, "Sister Cuihua, aren't you going to find him?"
Hengbo nodded sadly, then shook his head.
Although she didn't say anything, Er Gou felt a deep empathy for her, and his words carried a sense of shared misfortune: "Right? My cousin is a bit too difficult to deal with. We should avoid provoking him if possible."
“However,” Er Gou said, slightly puzzled, “he’s a little different from usual today.”
"You may not know, but the most unusual thing about my cousin is that while others compose poems and paint when they are in the mood, he does the opposite. That's why we never dare to get close to him when he's painting."
Hengbo had a thoughtful expression on his face. No wonder the man surnamed Shen was so angry today.
Er Gou was still agonizing over his own thoughts: "That shouldn't be the case. Could it be that his temper has actually improved in just six months?"
When Hengbo heard her praise the man surnamed Shen for his good temper, his expression turned serious, and he patted her shoulder with a pained look: Child, wake up!
Er Gou, however, felt that she didn't know how lucky she was. Back then, when she was young and naive, she had gone to see Shen Guitang when he was painting...
Shen Guitang offered to paint her portrait, citing a lack of inspiration. Unaware of the wickedness of human nature, she readily agreed. However, after enduring a contorted posture for most of the day, her body aching all over, she finally received what she called a small portrait—a piglet covered in mud!
As a child, she was so upset about this that she couldn't eat for several days until one day Black Wind learned the reason for her loss of appetite.
I still remember the comfort Hei Feng Cangsang gave me: "I didn't know he had such a habit until one day he made me jump into the sea nearly a thousand times that day because he wanted to draw the posture of a person jumping into the sea."
Thinking of this, Er Gou's gaze toward Heng Bo became even more peculiar, and his tone even carried a hint of bitterness: "He treats you so well!"
Hengbo looked at Er Gou as if he had seen a ghost in broad daylight, the kind of person who would believe he had stolen thirty taels of silver from her.
When the topic of thirty taels was mentioned, Er Gou fell silent again, feeling guilty, and dared not continue the conversation.
That evening, after seeing the dishes on the dinner table—chicken stir-fried with mushrooms, sticky rice chicken, hibiscus chicken, Kung Pao chicken, matsutake chicken soup—Hengbo became even more convinced of her thoughts: the man surnamed Shen was extremely difficult to please and held a deep grudge.
Sensing the complexity on the transverse surface, Shen Guitang finally felt a little better and even personally poured her a bowl of chicken soup: "Miss Cuihua, please don't be shy. Tonight's dishes were specially arranged for you by me. If you can't finish them, it will break my heart."
He spoke humbly and politely, but when Hengbo looked at the large table of chickens in front of him, he felt that there was nothing in the world colder than his heart.
She picked up a piece of Kung Pao Chicken with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth. The seasoning was just right, and the taste was surprisingly good. It seemed that the man surnamed Shen wasn't so heartless as to destroy her entirely.
However, seeing that everyone at the table had put down their chopsticks, and that almost half of the food was still left on the table...
Hengbo: Is it possible that my entrepreneurial journey will end prematurely, just like the one I was born?
Seeing Hengbo's distressed expression as she faced the table full of leftovers, Shen Guitang left with the words, "Miss Cuihua, please enjoy your meal. I'll take my leave now."
As soon as he left, the rest of the people got up, except for Er Gou, who still had some compassion and stayed to help her.
However, after Hengbo ate another half plate of food, no matter how reluctant Hengbo was to leave, Ergou could only say "Take care" to her.
Yokoha: Sigh!
...
That night, Shen Guitang was sitting at his desk in his study replying to a letter when Hei Feng suddenly appeared: "Young Master, I just saw Miss Hengbo secretly pouring out her food."
Shen Guitang didn't even raise his head, but his thin lips slightly curved up: "I didn't really want her to overeat."
Black Wind thought to himself: But you really did make me jump into the sea nearly a thousand times back then...
However, Hei Feng dared not condemn him to his face, and could only continue to complain about Heng Bo: "Miss Heng Bo also threatened me that if I told you about this, she would hang me on the tree all night."
Shen Guitang finally raised his head and pondered, "It's not impossible. Why don't I go and tell her that you've already informed me of this matter?"
Black Wind: ...
"I have other matters to attend to, so I will take my leave now."
He finally understood that his position in Shen Guitang's heart was probably not even as important as the leftovers Hengbo threw away tonight.
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Author's Note: Quiz with Prize: How much discount did Shen Guitang actually give Hengbo?
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