Who is this, so arrogant, making Jiang's fist so hard?
"Meow meow meow~~"
"Meow meow meow~~"
In the stillness of the night, Ye Qingzhou held the letter, engrossed in reading it. The sound of a cat meowing made her right eyelid twitch incessantly, as if something bad was about to happen.
"What kind of shabby inn is this? Where did this stray cat come from? What's it meowing for? It's so noisy." Chonghua was awakened from her sweet dream and yawned.
"Meow meow meow... Meow meow meow..."
The cat is meowing again. It's still staying by the door and won't leave.
"Annoying!" Chonghua stomped his foot in frustration.
"Why get angry with a cat? Just ignore it, it'll be gone in a bit." Ye Qingzhou took out a calligraphy brush and opened the inkstone.
He agreed to redraw the painting, got up, and went to grind the ink and prepare the paper.
Ye Qingzhou's brushstrokes flowed smoothly.
"aim!---"
For some reason, the cat suddenly let out a loud croak, startling Ye Qingzhou so much that her hand trembled. A blot of ink was left next to the delicate handwriting.
"That wretched cat! It deserves a beating, doesn't it?" Chonghua put down the ink block, rolled up his sleeves, and went to open the door.
Looking at the ruined paper, Ye Qingzhou had no choice but to put down his pen: "Strange, did someone step on the cat? Why is it meowing so loudly? But I didn't hear any footsteps passing by."
There's no one around, so why is the cat suddenly meowing like that?
This is the second floor, and the corridor is right outside.
"Stop! Don't move!" Ye Qingzhou suddenly stood up and shouted at Chonghua.
Chonghua had already reached the door and had slightly loosened the latch.
Upon hearing this, she bolted the door shut again. The door wobbled briefly before closing again.
The surroundings quieted down.
Ye Qingzhou heard what sounded like a very faint breathing sound outside the door.
It was like a sigh.
It seemed like they were regretting something.
Chonghua, who was closer to the door, heard it too. She leaned closer to listen, but there was nothing there. If she couldn't open the door, surely she could peek inside?
He stretched out his little finger and poked a hole in the paper on the wooden door.
She bent down, ready to peek outside and see what was going on.
"ah!"
Behind them, there were two hands pulling Chonghua backward.
"Pfft!"
At the same time, a dagger, gleaming with a silvery-white light, suddenly stabbed through the small hole that had just been poked.
Thump thump thump thump! The heart pounded fiercely in his chest. Looking at the dagger that was only half an arm's length away, Chonghua's legs went weak.
The owner of the dagger missed, then twirled the dagger and stabbed wildly.
That was terrifying! Chonghua clung to Ye Qingzhou tightly, refusing to let go. If the girl hadn't pulled her away, that knife would have blinded her.
Ye Qingzhou held Chonghua protectively in his arms and shouted towards the next room, "Thief! That thief is carrying a knife!"
This startled the thief, who, as expected, fled like a frightened rabbit, sheathing his knife and running away.
There was a loud banging from next door. In the blink of an eye, Pumpkin and Li Qi came over with their tools and started banging on the door.
Ye Qingzhou then opened the door and looked outside. Thanks to her shout, the lights in the two rooms next door were also turned on.
Pumpkin spotted the hole in the door at a glance, her face turned pale, and she circled Ye Qingzhou and Chonghua twice. Only after confirming that no one was hurt did she breathe a sigh of relief and carefully ask Chonghua what had happened.
Li Qi had a stick tucked into his waistband, and he was supporting Ye Qingzhou.
He sat down, served tea and water, and was practically begging for a leg massage: "Good heavens! If you need anything, boss, what should we say to Boss Jiang?"
Upon hearing this, Ye Qingzhou smiled, then, as if remembering something, folded up the letter on the table.
The waiter downstairs came over with an oil lamp and asked what had happened.
He went on and on, cursing the heartless man repeatedly.
The waiter went downstairs to find the man. Pumpkin immediately followed.
"Brother Li Qi, why don't you go take a look too? If you can't find him, you can check the woodshed," Ye Qingzhou said.
Li Qi also went downstairs.
The other guests in the rooms also peeked in. Several female guests, wearing coats, knocked on the door one after another, asking what was going on.
As the group was talking, a series of lively footsteps grew closer. Pumpkin called out from outside the door, "Boss, we've caught them! It's Yu Xi and Lao Jiu. Seventh Brother is downstairs with Lao Jiu. Yu Xi insists on seeing you."
"Call him son-in-law!" It was Yu Xi's voice.
“You have already married Liu Yan’er, and our boss is also engaged to Boss Jiang. You are not,” Pumpkin said.
"I won't see him. Send him to the authorities." Ye Qingzhou didn't want to see Yu Xi.
"Ye Qingzhou! Even a day as husband and wife is worth a hundred days of kindness, how can you be so heartless?" Yu Xi shouted indignantly.
"After ten years of marriage, I truly regret marrying you. What did you do? You poisoned me, beat me to death, and pushed me into the water. Do you even have the humanity to do this?" Ye Qingzhou stood up in anger as she spoke.
It's mentally and physically exhausting, and getting angry is bad for your health. She kept rubbing her stomach to relieve the discomfort.
"Young lady, please sit down," several female guests urged.
“You always say how much money I’ve spent on you. Don’t you owe me anything?” Yu Xi shouted from outside the door.
Ye Qingzhou put down her teacup and sneered, "Really? You've got it backwards."
“Over the years, every year during the Lunar New Year, I gave our daughter Qingqing a lucky money gift of six copper coins. Isn’t that true? Now that Qingqing is with you, you have to pay her back,” Yu Xi said emphatically.
"Hmph! I've spent more than six hundred taels of silver on your family's expenses. Not to mention the headaches and fevers, the social obligations, or the money you took from the shop. You owe me money." Ye Qingzhou was so angry that her head was throbbing.
"Tsk tsk tsk, where did you find this man? Did you pick him up from a stinky ditch?"
"Thank goodness we got divorced, otherwise I would have been furious sooner or later."
Several female guests were whispering and talking amongst themselves.
"Give the pumpkin to the officials," Ye Qingzhou ordered crisply.
"Wait a minute." Yu Xi refused to leave and insisted on speaking to the closed door again: "Sima Mo will get us out soon. Qingzhou, you have offended Sima Mo. He has put a bad word about you to Master Liu. Master Liu will not see you."
No wonder, after waiting for two days, the Liu family only said they didn't know where the master had gone. Ye Qingzhou's heart sank even further.
"Qingzhou, let me give you some advice. Even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake. You can't beat Sima Mo. Sima Mo said that as long as you admit your mistake to him and listen to him, he will reward you." Yu Xi spoke so sincerely that she even believed herself.
The door opened.
Ye Qingzhou came out, his anger turning into a laugh.
Yu Xi was bound hand and foot and forced to kneel on the ground. He looked at Ye Qingzhou; her face was still flawless, beautiful and captivating, seemingly unchanged. Her pregnancy was beginning to show, her figure perfectly proportioned, and she seemed to radiate a glow. A growing, unconscious infatuation slowly crept into Yu Xi's eyes.
Finally, I met her. She also…
"Smack!"
Ye Qingzhou slapped him.
The female guests watching the play in the room cheered.
Yu Xi looked at Ye Qingzhou in disbelief. He wasn't in pain, but he hadn't expected Ye Qingzhou to show him no mercy in front of so many people.
Yu Xi finally shut up. Pumpkin and his assistant gagged him and dragged him away to meet up with Li Qi and the others downstairs.
After such a lively night, the next morning, Ye Qingzhou sent Li Qi to inquire about Master Liu's whereabouts.
Li Qi went off cheerfully, but returned dejectedly: "The steward said that he and his wife went to the temple outside the city. I don't know when they will be back."
Ye Qingzhou then instructed Li Qi to wait for Master Liu at the city gate.
As soon as Li Qi left, Pumpkin ran back, covered in sweat: "Master, the gatekeeper said that Master Liu won't let Miss Liu go out."
Ye Qingzhou took out a letter and gave it to him: "Miss Liu said that she has a younger brother, who is about seven or eight years old. Please take this letter to someone and give it to her brother."
After Nan Gua left, Ye Qingzhou gave a few instructions on redrawing, then began to brew tea and change his clothes.
Half an hour later, the Liu family's carriage arrived at the inn. Leaving her younger brother to wait in the carriage, Miss Liu took the letter and hurried upstairs.
The door opened.
Miss Liu stared at the person before her, momentarily stunned. She even dropped the letter.
A pair of hands picked up the letter and pulled her inside.
Two days later, Jiang Jinghong received the letter while passing through a post station on his journey. After finishing his work, he opened the letter on horseback. He took out a thick stack of papers and began to read them one by one, puzzled.
Jiang Yuan spurred the horse's belly, and it quickened its pace. He leaned over to Jiang Jinghong, craning his neck to look: "Hey, what on earth is this wordless book? How can you understand it?"
Jiang Jinghong looked unwell, and her brows furrowed.
As the horse moved, Jiang Yuan swayed along with it. He strained to look at it a few times, then pointed to the sheet and asked, "Why is there a big blot of ink in that square? Did he make a mistake? Why didn't he rewrite it? There's a person drawn next to it, what does that mean?"
Jiang Jinghong glanced left and then right, then stuffed the stack of papers into Jiang Yuan's hand. He then pulled on the reins, and with a whoosh, the horse stopped.
"Let's take a break," Jiang Yuan said to the grain team.
Jiang Jinghong remained silent and pulled a pile of letters from the bundle behind her. The handwriting on the letters was delicate and beautiful, clearly the work of a woman.
Jiang Jinghong carefully went through each of the recent letters, one by one. She couldn't find any letter with ink blots.
"What happened? Your precious treasure, which you cherished like your own eyes, is lost?" Jiang Yuan asked.
Lost? Then, who picked it up? In other words, if Ye Qingzhou's letter wasn't for him, then who was it for? And who exactly was that person?
Jiang Jinghong seemed to remember something and took the stack of papers from Jiang Yuan's hand. On the papers, within the square with the ink blot, there were still a few strokes.
Jiang Jinghong turned the paper over and over to look at it. Those few strokes seemed to form the character "木" (wood).
Wood? Who is that?
Qingzhou, I already told you I'd be with you as soon as possible. You promised, so you won't lie to me, right?
Qingzhou, I believe in you.
Jiang Jinghong gritted his teeth, swallowing his anger. Those sweet words still clutched in his hand, vividly written on paper, and those fragrant memories of the past... the sweetness and fragrance gradually turned bitter, suddenly choking him.
Who is this, so arrogant, making Jiang's fist so hard? Seeing Jiang Jinghong's fist clenched white, Jiang Yuan, holding the water bottle, couldn't help but move away from him.
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