Cold Year (4)
Chapter 19 Cold Years (4)
Jiedu Mansion, Qili Hall.
Li Qi squatted on the cushion and played the piano.
The konghou she played was different from other qin instruments; she had to squat and raise her hands. After talking in this position for too long, her arms and back were sore.
Several times she was almost unable to play, but she gritted her teeth and held on. However, her fingers were inevitably stiff and numb, and the music she played was broken and out of tune. She looked at Wei Ming at the top seat with a guilty conscience. He was hugging three or five beauties on his left and right, drinking the wine they fed him with their mouths, enjoying himself with an intoxicated look. He seemed not to notice, but still had no intention of asking her to stop.
She breathed a sigh of relief and was about to quietly adjust her sitting position when Wei Ming, who had just been living a life of luxury, suddenly stared at her and asked, "Li Leren, didn't you practice after going downstairs? Listen, what are you playing?"
Li Qi lowered her head nervously: "It's too cold. My hands are numb from the cold. Please forgive me, sir."
"Are you blaming me for letting you play for too long?" Wei Ming was dissatisfied. He sat up straight and stared at her with his drunken red eyes.
He had been an official for many years, and even when he was drunk, his eyes were still full of intimidation.
"I dare not." Li Qi replied with her eyes lowered, quietly adjusted her sitting position, and forced herself to continue playing.
The fragrance of the beauties' cosmetics mixed with the smell of wine filled the Qili Hall and lingered in her nostrils, making her head dizzy. In addition, she had not slept all night and had been playing the piano, so she was in a trance and felt as if she was floating in the air.
The winter sun pierced through the dark clouds and slanted down, shining on the window lattices of Qili Hall, reflecting a dazzling golden light. Li Qi's eyes were stung by the pain, and her hand slipped, and she played the wrong note with a bang. When she recovered and squinted her eyes to look, she found that a string was broken.
"What are you doing?" Wei Ming put his hand into the beauty's clothes and rubbed them around, while asking Li Qi impatiently.
He seemed to be rubbing the woman uncomfortably, so he slapped her in the face with his backhand, frowning and shouting, "You come to serve me, yet you wear such tight clothes? If you're so chaste, why don't you go and do a proper job instead of becoming a prostitute? Since you've entered this profession, and you don't have the skills of Li Qi who only performs, then you should just do your duty for me!"
The beauty was so frightened that she knelt before him, quickly untied her belt and undressed, begging for mercy: "It's all my fault, my Lord, please forgive me this time..."
Wei Ming was about to lose his temper when the tightly closed door was suddenly pushed open with force. Li Qi was blinded by the stronger sunlight that came in. She squinted her eyes and saw it was Wang Mo.
Wang Mo said anxiously, "My Lord, this is bad! Li Leren's brother is coming in with a sword!"
Li Qi's spirits immediately tensed up upon hearing this. She suddenly looked up at Wei Ming and said, "Sir, Lin Che is young and ignorant..."
Wei Ming snorted and interrupted her: "You've come just in time, I'll clean it up together!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Dong Linche's childish but resolute voice rang out from outside: "Old dog Wei, come out! Let my sister go!"
Li Qi quickly stood up and in her haste she knocked over her guzheng, breaking all its strings without a care. She rushed out of Qili Hall and saw Dong Linche, dressed in green, holding a long sword and pointing it directly at Wei Ming who had followed her out. His young face flushed red with anger:
"I've been learning martial arts from my father since I was a child. Don't underestimate me!"
"Dong Linche!" Li Qi roared angrily and was about to step forward to grab the knife, but Wei Ming grabbed his elbow.
Wei Ming snorted and chuckled as he approached Dong Linche. He circled around him, sizing him up, his eyes filled with disdain as he looked at his small frame. "Your youthful courage is admirable, but do you know what this will do to your sister?"
"I don't care! I only know that you've been asking my sister to play the piano since last night. It's already dawn, and you still won't let her go. My father said that even oxen that plow the fields have to rest day and night, and have two busy seasons in spring and autumn. Besides, we're not oxen, so why don't you let her go home?"
Dong Linche said, swung his sword, and placed it across Wei Ming's neck: "Let my sister go home!"
Wei Ming sneered, pushed the sword away with his bare hands, and then glared at Wang Mo: "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and catch this little bastard!"
Wang Mo nodded repeatedly and ordered people to arrest Dong Linche.
Dong Linche swung his sword in resistance, but he was still young, so he was subdued after just a few swings. He was grabbed from both sides and pinned to the ground, his childish face pressed against the snow as he gritted his teeth in defiance, "What's your skill in recruiting people? Challenge me if you dare! Let my sister go!"
Wei Ming laughed out loud when he heard this. He was indeed a child, and the words he said were so funny.
He put his hands behind his back, walked to Dong Linche's side, raised his foot, and stepped hard on Dong Linche's hand with his long boots embroidered with gold thread. Dong Linche screamed in pain, and hot tears rolled out of his eyes.
"Lin Che!" Li Qi's heart clenched. She wanted to pull Wei Ming back, but Wei Ming shouted, "Don't move! Hold her down for me!"
His beauties all grabbed Li Qi and prevented her from moving.
Wei Ming then lowered his head and said to Dong Linche, "Do you know how much your sister owes me? When you first came to Qianzhou, you couldn't even afford to eat. It was your sister who entered the Qunfang Tower to play the piano that kept you alive.
"The owner of Qunfang Tower, seeing her beauty, broke their agreement and forced her to work as a prostitute. She came to me begging for help, and it was because of my protection that she didn't have to be a lowly prostitute and could now be a musician. Thanks to me, everyone in Qianzhou City would give her some respect and respectfully call her Li Le Ren when they see her. But you, kid, are blaming me!"
Dong Linche didn't understand the difference between a prostitute and a musician, nor did he know how much debt his sister owed. He only knew that people outside called his sister a shameless mistress, and that she often complained about her fingers hurting from playing the piano. He often saw her secretly applying medicine to her fingers under the nightlight.
She came to play the piano tonight, but she still hadn't returned by dawn. He was worried that she would be bullied. He couldn't sit still and didn't want to think about anything else. He just wanted to save his sister and get her out of this devil's den.
He looked at Wei Ming's foot, and the stench of the shoe sole mixed with the smell of alcohol on his body hit him in the face. Sister plays the piano facing such a person every day?
Qin Ben was elegant. He didn't believe someone like Wei Ming could understand. His sister must be enduring hardship every day. The hand that wasn't stepped on slowly tightened into a fist. He said, "I'll pay back what she owes you. From now on, I'll be your slave for the rest of my life. I only ask you to let her go home!"
Wei Ming put his hands on his hips and laughed loudly. After a long while, he bent down to look Dong Linche in the eye and said, "You are just a small fry. You can't even carry a few pounds of food. What can I do with you?"
He let go of Dong Linche and walked towards Qili Hall, ordering Wang Mo: "This is an assassination attempt on an official. Put him in jail!"
Hearing this, Li Qi struggled to break free from the two beauties holding her and grabbed Wei Ming's sleeve: "Sir, I beg you to let him go."
Wei Ming turned around, took her hand in his palm and rubbed it slowly, revealing a lewd and cunning smile: "It's not impossible, unless..."
The touch under my hands was smooth and delicate, like jade. I couldn't imagine how seductive her body must be beneath her clothes. In the past, whenever I touched her, she would retreat as if she had received an electric shock. Now, I could finally touch her properly.
Wei Ming perked up, slowly slipping his hand into her sleeve, and said with a smile, "If you agree to be my concubine, I'll let him go. Not only that, I'll give you a basket of gold, so you don't have to live in that shabby place called Tingzhuyuan anymore!"
Li Qi endured the disgusting feeling in her sleeve, thinking it was a poisonous insect crawling on her. She said in a bitter voice, "I promise you."
"Sister! You let them kill me!" Dong Linche's eyes widened as he tried to break free from the shackles, but he couldn't. Pressed to the ground, his body twisted in humiliation like a lizard, and he yelled at Wei Ming, "Kill me, kill me!"
Wei Ming ignored him and happily hugged Li Qi tightly, then touched her face and said with a smile, "I'll go and prepare things and bring you into the mansion tonight. You don't have to pay for the guzheng you just broke, I'm sure you can't afford it."
Li Qi lowered her head and hummed.
"I'll have someone send you back!" Wei Ming said with a grin. He had someone release Dong Linche and, fearing he might cause trouble, took away his sword. He started yelling and kicking frantically, "That's the sword my father left me. Give it back to me, you bastard!"
Li Qi walked a few steps closer to him, raised her hand and slapped him: "Shut up!"
Dong Linche's face was hit and tilted to one side. He didn't dare to speak anymore and tears fell down.
She looked at him coldly, took his hand and walked out of the house. There was a rustling sound of snow being trampled in front of her. She subconsciously wanted to avoid the person who was coming, but the person blocked her way.
She looked up and saw the official from Kyoto whom she had rescued yesterday.
She frowned: "Master Feng?"
"Who are you talking about?" Wei Ming, who had not yet entered Qilitang, shouted from behind her. She turned sideways and got out of her sight.
Wei Ming opened his eyes wide when he saw Feng Siji. He had heard from Wang Mo that Li Qi rescued him yesterday, but he felt that Feng Siji's case was not serious, so he did not ask any further questions.
I didn't expect to find it back. I'm really not afraid of death.
He walked down the steps of Qili Hall and came to Feng Siji: "How dare you come here?"
Feng Siji looked at him for a moment, then took out a token from his pocket and said, "Sir, how do you think I managed to survive all the way from Kyoto?"
Li Qi carefully examined the token, but she had never been to Kyoto and didn't recognize what it was. On the contrary, Wei Ming's face turned extremely ugly after seeing it, and his tone became suppressed: "What do you want to do?"
"Even if you let them go, she won't be your concubine."
Wei Ming's brows were furrowed tightly, and the resentment in his eyes was so intense that it could suffuse him with poison. After a long while, he suppressed his anger and said in a harsh voice, "Feng Siji, this token given by His Majesty is worth one yuan. If you use it this time, you will really have no amulet in Qianzhou from now on."
"I don't need that kind of thing."
Feng Siji's voice was very calm, and there was no expression on his stern face. Li Qi stared at him quietly. She had never seen anyone like him. Although he was dressed in rags and was a prisoner, he still had a cold and clear temperament like a pine tree, like snow in the mountains, like the moon in the forest.
He threw the golden order into Wei Ming's arms and said in a deep voice, "I'll take the person away."
Li Qi followed him and tried to leave, but Wei Ming clutched the token tightly and flew into a rage, "Where's the konghou? I spent a fortune buying that konghou, and she broke it for me! You have to pay for it!"
The duck that was in his hand flew away. Wei Ming was so angry that his teeth were itching. He stared at Feng Siji's back and the urge to kill him came to his mind. He gritted his teeth in anger.
But the man didn't even look at him or turn his head, and just said, "I will compensate you tomorrow."
After saying that, he led Li Qi and Dong Linche away.
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