Chapter 128: Appointment
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Mei Niang walked out of the room and saw that the corridor was empty. Bao Ju was sitting far away on the right railing, holding a dagger and a piece of wood in his hands, carving something. The maid who was originally standing on duty in the corridor was driven away by him. Cui Xi and Cui Lian stood opposite him, and the four eyes stared at him together. He was busy with his own things and ignored the two maids.
Mei Niang called out "Cui Xi", and Cui Xi and Cui Lian looked over at the same time. Bao Ju also stood up quickly. Cui Xi and Cui Lian walked quickly to Mei Niang and bowed. Cui Lian complained angrily:
"Reporting to Grandma, we heard Grandma calling for help, and Baoju is blocking us from entering!"
Mei Niang glanced at Bao Ju, who lowered his head and leaned forward to say, "Please forgive me, Grandma, I am on official business, and outsiders are not allowed to approach... You can only enter after I give the order!"
Mei Niang smiled and nodded. Cui Lian was not convinced: "We are outsiders? Here..."
Mei Niang quickly continued: "There are indeed too many idle people here, so it's not very suitable for working. Well, Baoju has worked hard, and Hou Ye is also tired, let him rest for a while. I'm going out for a while, Cui Xi will come with me, Cui Lian, you stay at home and watch, where are Cui Si and mom?"
"Mom has been walking all morning and her legs are a little sore. After lunch, Cui Si took her back to her room and massaged her legs," said Cui Xi.
Mei Niang sighed, "Mom is so stubborn. She won't listen to me if I tell her not to move. Let Cui Si take good care of her. Make some medicine for her to soak her feet and coax her to sleep. Cui Xi, let's go!"
Cui Lian said hurriedly: "Cui Si is at home, grandma, take me there!"
Mei Niang looked at her and said, "Cui Si will take care of mom, you can look after the house and take Cheng'er and Ping'er to do needlework in the side room..."
Cuilian said, "Cuisi can look after the house together. Cheng'er and Ping'er will help her. It would be better for grandma to have two people to follow her!"
Mei Niang smiled helplessly: "There are already two of them now. If you want to go too, that would be... Forget it, go ahead. One day, take Orange and Apple with you too. I'll just take you for sightseeing!"
Cui Lian smiled happily and bowed quickly: "Thank you, grandma!"
When the group reached the gate of the courtyard, Zhan was already waiting there. Mei Niang looked at him and said, "You are quite capable. Have you investigated me thoroughly? Tell me, and I will fill in the blanks for you if there is anything I missed!"
Zhan lowered his head deeply: "Please forgive me, Grandma! I am following your orders... I am afraid that something might happen to you!"
Mei Niang sneered, "You have to understand, your master and I are husband and wife, we are a family, I can't do anything that is bad for him, he asked you to follow me, he was just afraid that I would meet bad people outside, you just need to be a good guard, if you dare to say something and stir up trouble in front of him, and ruin our relationship, you will be punished!"
Zhan was stunned for a moment, his face turned pale: "I dare not... dare not stir up trouble!"
"Let's go, where's the car?"
Zhan hurriedly said, "Reply to Grandma: The carriage is at the left door, please come this way!"
"Let's go to Cen's residence in East City first, the sooner the better!"
"Yes! I'll drive the car and take the shortcut. We'll be there in a quarter of an hour at most!"
Mei Niang said to Cui Xi, "Let's let Lin Amao work as a errand boy at Xiankelai. He has a young child and his wife is about to give birth to another one. If he has a more stable job, he will be able to take good care of the family sooner or later!"
Cui Xi nodded: "I've got it in mind. I'll arrange it today!"
Zhan's driving skills were indeed much better than Lin Amao's. He drove faster, more steadily, and more boldly than Lin Amao. Lin Amao usually only drove around on the public streets, but Zhan didn't care about that. He even dared to drive into the private alleys of the mansions of dukes and wealthy families. Sometimes, when he flew past people's gates, he could vaguely hear people shouting and trying to stop him, but Zhan shouted louder than them:
"It's an urgent business trip. Don't get in the way!"
No one dared to stop him, and he ran madly like this, and in a short while he arrived at Cen's house in East City.
Lin Runan had been waiting at the door for a long time. He pulled Mei Niang inside and asked her what happened last night. Mei Niang excluded the fact that she was a fake and told her the general situation. Lin Runan said:
"He has married a new wife, so it's good enough that he lets you go, but he's also willing to let you take Heng'er with you? It's a bit unbelievable!"
Mei Niang asked, "Why is it unbelievable? He and cousin Lan have been childhood sweethearts, and cousin Lan loves him dearly. If they have a son, they will definitely try to establish him in the world. They have always looked down on me for my humble background. Heng'er is my son, so no matter how outstanding he is, he will not be valued by them!"
There are other reasons that cannot be told. Heng'er is not Xu Junying's biological child. If he keeps her in Hou Mansion and has to be watched over every day, it will cause trouble every day. If she is allowed to take him away, out of sight, out of mind, everyone will be happy.
Lin Runan pondered, "Oh, forget it, it's good that you can get out. According to what you said, that house is not suitable for you to live in. Xu Junying has a wife and a concubine, and now he has married a concubine. Just wait and see, he will marry more in the future. I have seen many people like this! It is the right thing to do to leave the place of trouble. Make plans after you get out. It is up to you to marry or not."
Mei Niang glanced at her and said with a smile: "Why do you sound so old-fashioned? You sound almost like my sister-in-law!"
Lin Runan was startled, then her face turned slightly red, and she suddenly bit her lip and said, "If... my father hadn't done that, I really want to be your sister-in-law!"
Mei Niang opened her eyes wide: "No way, you...you like my brother?"
“Go!” Lin Runan pushed her away: “I just had that thought. I think your brother is a good person… I also knew that he was engaged at that time, so I didn’t dare to do anything to him.”
"You..." Mei Niang was overjoyed: "What a pity! If you were a good match for my brother, it would be a match made in heaven... But now it's not possible. Don't think about him. Although my sister-in-law is not as talented as you, she is a good woman and deserves my brother's true love!"
Lin Runan's face turned even redder: "Who missed him? I said it was just a thought... I have forgotten about it a long time ago. I am talking too much. Why did I tell you about it?"
Mei Niang smiled and said, "Why not tell me about it? It doesn't matter. There are people as good as my brother. I'll find one for you. We, Xiankelai..."
"Stop, stop! Those people who live in Xiankelai are all stupid and sour. They are annoying to see. Who likes them?"
"Oh, so you went to see it secretly without telling me!" Mei Niang pointed at her.
Lin Runan said, "Do I need to do it secretly? During the days when you were hiding in the Hou Mansion, the King of Qi came to our house every day to harass us, saying that he was crazy but not stupid. He insisted on seeing where you lived. He took him to my room and asked me where I lived. I said we lived together. Do you want to hear what he said? He said that we were not allowed to live together in the future and had to live separately! I was so mad that he wanted to control me! He couldn't wait for you to come back, and he wanted me to take you to the 'relatives' house to pick you up. I refused to go, saying that it was rude. Then he wanted me to follow him to the Xiankelai every day to watch singing and dancing, and to watch those candidates who came to take the exam..."
Mei Niang laughed: "He did help me do this unintentionally. He took you to see him... By the way, who was sitting in the private room yesterday? You were so scared!"
Lin Runan snorted contemptuously, "Who else could it be? His playthings! Four male favorites, each of them looks like a flower. The tone of voice when talking to him gives me goose bumps. I stay away from him. He always makes fun of me and even says that if you don't show up again, he will give me two handsome men and let them serve me well. Do you think he is vicious? I heard that those handsome men were given to him by Princess Sude when she brought them back from her fiefdom."
Mei Niang frowned: "Is there such a thing? Princess Su De, is this good for him?"
"Children of the emperor's family, can't they play as they please? This kind of thing is common! Come on, change your clothes and go over, he's already here. You should teach him a lesson quickly, I can't stand this guy! He's torturing me to death!"
Lin Runan usually wears men's clothes, but Mei Niang wants to change clothes. Lin Runan pulls her to the closet, opens it and shows her. It is full of men's robes in all colors, made of high-quality materials and with fine workmanship. Mei Niang is stunned for a moment and says:
"We make so many men's clothes, but we only wear them occasionally."
Lin Runan smiled and said, "I didn't make this. The King of Qi gave it to me personally. He told you to change into it!"
Mei Niang snorted, "Am I his male favorite? I want him to give me clothes, but I threw them aside! I'm still wearing the one I usually wear - I wore the red one home yesterday, so let's go with the royal blue one!"
She called Cui Xi and Cui Lian in, helped them change their clothes, comb their hair, and tidy up. Then, she and Lin Runan walked through the flower corridor, passed the mahogany door, and entered Suochun Courtyard. They saw King Qi sitting in front of the drum stand, carefully reading the music score written by Li Qiuge.
Before Mei Niang and Lin Runan came close, King Qi had already noticed them. He raised his head, slightly raised the corners of his lips, and revealed a rare smile without any impurities.
After the two of them finished their greetings, the King of Qi looked at Mei Niang and said, "Don't you like the clothes I brought? Why don't you wear them?"
"I don't wear things that others give me. I have to buy them myself to be comfortable!"
The King of Qi snorted, "It's not a gift, it's compensation for you. Last time I soiled your clothes, and your scarf!"
He stretched out his hand, and immediately a servant came running over and handed him a brocade box. He handed it to Mei Niang and said, "I'll compensate you with this today!"
A big red brocade box was handed to her, and Mei Niang had no choice but to take it with both hands. At the signal of the King of Qi, she opened the brocade box. Inside were neatly stacked white silk scarves. She didn't know how many there were. They were a beautiful and pure snow cherry color, soft and thin. They felt warm and smooth to the touch. If she tied them around her body, it would definitely be very comfortable.
The King of Qi smiled and said, "This is carefully woven with silk from the heavenly silkworm. You will definitely like it!"
Mei Niang really liked him, but found it hard to accept. Even in modern society, men and women would only give each other personal items, such as scarves and ties, when they had an ambiguous relationship. Of course, she understood that the King of Qi regarded her as Jian Yu's shadow, and she felt uncomfortable at the thought. However, he was of noble status and it was not easy to offend him. There was no other way except to endure and carefully avoid him.
She closed the brocade box, and with an embarrassed expression, she handed it back to the King of Qi with both hands: "Your Highness, I have many silk scarves. This silk is very valuable. Please..."
The King of Qi put away his smile and his face turned ugly: "I said, this is compensation to you. What I give you, no matter how valuable it is, is naturally better than yours... If you like it, wear it. If you don't like it, just burn it!"
After saying that, he turned around and walked away, quickly walked to the drum stand, picked up the drumsticks, and said coldly: "Start playing!"
Li Qiuge led the musicians in playing "Farewell Poem". The King of Qi beat the drums and actually cooperated smoothly without missing the beat. Mei Niang could not help but admire his intelligence and extraordinary musical talent. Although he complained a lot when his "master" hadn't come for a few days, he actually practiced hard. It's just that he was eccentric and acted differently from others, so others couldn't tell that he was putting his heart into it.
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