Chapter 30 Ah Bao Goes to Steal the Letter!
Zhang's face turned cold: "You are the head of the household, managing a house and two shops, how come you can't even afford fifty taels of silver?"
Lu Zhaoruo bowed respectfully and said, "If Aunt doesn't believe me, you can ask Uncle. He knows the shop's accounts best..."
Shen Qingshu stood up and said, "You two can discuss this yourselves."
He left after saying that.
"presumptuous!"
Zhang slammed the teacup on the table over, spilling tea onto Lu Zhaoruo's skirt. "Are you mocking me for being illiterate?"
Lu Zhaoruo then lowered her head and said meekly, "Your daughter-in-law wouldn't dare."
Suddenly, Zhang said, "I remember you kept two strings of cash in your dowry, didn't you?"
A sarcastic smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "Besides, your loom must be covered in dust, right? Just make sure to finish ten or so bolts of silk overnight. During the New Year holidays, a bolt of silk can sell for five strings of cash."
Lu Zhaoruo recalled how, in her past life, her fingers were chafed raw by the shuttle while weaving silk, and how sitting for long periods caused her severe lower back pain...
She lowered her eyes and said, "These days, my daughter-in-law has to manage the household affairs and look after the shop, and on top of that, she hasn't recovered from her cold, it's really..."
Zhang interrupted her, "Stop pretending! I've never seen you so pampered before! You do all the laundry, cooking, and cleaning—you do it all yourself."
That's so confidently stated!
Lu Zhaoruo curtsied and said, "Since you are in such a hurry to rebuild the golden statue, I will borrow fifty taels for you."
Zhang smiled smugly.
Since he's in charge of the Shen family, isn't he a pushover to be manipulated at will?
She sighed with feigned kindness, "It's kind of you to have such filial piety. Go now."
As Lu Zhaoruo turned around, she glanced at Zhang's sleeve and vaguely saw a corner of the letter.
She guessed that Zhang was planning to hide the letter behind the Buddha statue after she left.
After all, last time she hid the letter in a hidden compartment in her dressing table in her bedroom, but Li Chunyan peeked at it, so she would never dare to hide it in the dressing table again this time.
But Li Chunyan never actually read her letter.
A barely perceptible smile flickered across Lu Zhaoruo's lips, which quickly transformed into a submissive expression: "Then, daughter-in-law takes her leave."
In her previous life, Madam Shen never allowed her to approach the Buddhist hall, let alone sweep or clean it.
Twenty years later, after Shen passed away, Lu Zhaoruo was thinking of rebuilding the Buddhist hall when she unexpectedly discovered a hidden compartment in the lotus base of the Buddha statue. When she opened it, she found a stack of letters neatly arranged inside.
At this moment.
Just as she reached for it, Shen Lingyi suddenly rushed over, her face changing drastically. She snatched the stack of letters away, forcing herself to remain calm, and said, "These are all my personal belongings. What do you want?"
Later, Shen Lingyi burned all the letters.
At that time, Shen Lingyi had an affair with a monk from Jingci Temple. Lu Zhaoruo assumed it was just letters exchanged between the two secretly and didn't think much of it.
Back in the courtyard.
Upon hearing this, Dongrou anxiously wrung out the handkerchief in her hand: "Does Madam really want to lend her fifty taels of silver?"
Lu Zhaoruo ran her fingertips over the dust accumulated on the loom, a faint smile curving her lips: "Of course I'll give it to you."
She picked up a loose strand of silk thread and gently wrapped it around her fingers. "Not only do I have to give it, but I also have to be even more humble these days..." She tapped her fingertips lightly on the crossbeam of the loom. "The more humble I am, the more I can entice that old hag to write me as weak and vulnerable in her letters."
Dongrou asked in confusion, "What's wrong, Madam...?"
Lu Zhaoruo smiled slightly, turned to Abao who was eating candied peas and said, "Abao, I have a task for you tonight."
Late at night, in the Buddhist temple.
Abao leaped lightly onto the windowsill without making a sound, his paws gleaming with a green glow in the darkness, like two eerie will-o'-the-wisps.
It deftly slipped through the window crack and landed silently on the floor tiles of the Buddhist hall.
Based on her memories from her previous life, Lu Zhaoruo told Abao that there was a mechanism on the lotus base of the Buddha statue.
After teaching it how to open the mechanism, I said, "What you need to do is take out the letter and bring it back to your mother."
...
Ah Bao held his breath and focused intently, moving with the steps of a cat as he approached the Buddha statue.
Zhang slept directly on the meditation bed in the Buddhist hall, wrapped in a black robe and pretending to sleep, her snores coming and going.
She was greedy and superstitious, believing that writing was sacred and that burning it would bring bad luck. She also insisted on keeping the envelopes as proof of reply.
That's why it was hidden.
Ah Bao leaped onto the offering table, his claws catching the overturned bronze chime.
"when--"
Startled, it immediately scurried up the side pillar of the shrine.
"Bad maid!"
"What a despicable thing! How dare you peek at my son's letter!"
Zhang suddenly roared.
Abao was so nervous that the tip of his tail stiffened.
Oh no, I made a noise and woke her up!
Ah Bao is sorry, Mother!
However, the expected footsteps did not come; instead, a series of sawing snores rang out: "Huff... Gah... Huff... Gah..."
Ah Bao patted her chest with her little paws, "You scared me to death!"
She peeked out half her head again, her cat eyes wide open, her mustache trembling with anger, thinking to herself, "That old hag, her snoring is louder than mine, like the old man selling pancakes at the market stall working the bellows."
After complaining, it squeezed into the gap between the Buddha statue and the niche wall, and as Lu Zhaoruo had instructed, it used its head to press against the back of the Buddha statue, while its front paws took the opportunity to insert into the gap of the third layer of lotus petals.
"Click!"
With a soft sound, a hidden compartment popped out from the bottom of the lotus platform.
It gently parted the letter with its paw, and the first line read: "Lin family fishermen of Tianshui Well, Yuliao'ao, Guiyu Island."
Its cat pupils narrowed slightly as it scanned the main points of the letter. Although it did not understand the deeper meaning of the words, it memorized all the contents of the letter.
Finally, the letter was put back into the hidden compartment untouched.
It jumped down and, as it passed by Zhang's house, it happened to see Zhang's crooked sleeping posture, drool dripping from the corner of her mouth, and her yellow teeth grinding together with a squeaking sound.
"Pah! Dreaming of eating mountains of gold? Aren't you afraid of breaking your old teeth!"
Having said that, it leaped onto the windowsill, the moonlight illuminating the tip of its upturned tail: "With me on the case, what can't I accomplish?"
"squeak……"
A mouse squeak rang out.
Abao's fur suddenly stood on end, and a fat gray rat suddenly darted past its paws, its tail even brushing against its whiskers!
"Meow……!"
Po covered his mouth tightly with his front paws, swallowing his scream as a whisper.
The meditation couch behind him creaked.
The old hag woke up!
escape!
With a push from the windowsill, it shot like an arrow toward the courtyard wall.
"Which damned bastard is it?"
Zhang threw off the quilt and cursed.
Suddenly, she remembered the letter inside the Buddha statue, her face filled with panic, and she rushed barefoot toward the shrine.
She pried open the hidden compartment of the lotus seat, and only when she touched the texture of the letter did she let out a sigh of relief through gritted teeth: "You scared me to death."
Hearing the noise, she thought someone was trying to steal the letter!
"Squeak!"
The gray rat scurried onto the offering table, picked up a crumb of cake, and glanced at her sideways with its beady black eyes.
"You damned beast!"
Zhang picked up her prayer beads and threw them.
The mouse darted away and disappeared in an instant.
...
When Abao darted back into the house, his fur was still standing on end.
Lu Zhaoruo quickly wrapped it in a newly sewn brocade quilt and asked, "Abao, where's the letter? Didn't you get it?"
After a moment, Abao said, "Mother, Abao didn't bring the letter back."
Lu Zhaoruo rubbed its little head: "Then forget it, Mother will think of another way."
Ah Bao asked in confusion, "Isn't Mother angry with me?"
Lu Zhaoruo smiled gently: "Why should I blame you?"
Suddenly, Abao stood up, his two front paws crossed like a student bowing: "Turtle Island Fishermen's Lodge, Sweet Water Well, Lin Family Fishermen..."
His pronunciation was clear and articulate, like that of a young student in a private school.
Lu Zhaoruo was stunned.
The cat tilted its head: "Mother, I've been with you for thirty years, so I can read now. There's no need to bring the letter back. Bringing it back would be risky, so I'll just keep it in my heart."
Lu Zhaoruo was shocked and somewhat incredulous: "Abao, you can already read?"
Ah Bao lowered his voice and imitated an old scholar, shaking his head and saying, "Meow! Fish is what I desire. If a friend comes from afar, will you bring some dried fish?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
