Chapter 48 Lamb Soup

"No, no." Knowing who was in front of him, Xiao Que naturally didn't look happy and responded impatiently.

The moment he saw Si Tang's carriage, Wang Ting slipped away to the backyard, leaving Xiao Que alone to deal with it. Wang Lai Ju had just closed in the morning, and Xiao Que was cleaning the table. When she looked up after dealing with it, she was startled by Si Tang's tears. She threw away the rag and stepped back, "What are you doing? I didn't touch you, don't try to make trouble for me."

Si Tang dodged the greasy rag in a somewhat wolfish manner and held back his tears. "I have something to ask your shopkeeper."

"I said I'm gone, and it's the same if you tell me."

Who do you think you are! She was sent to clean up the house and her father found out and put her in solitary confinement for three days. This morning, he forced her to apologize and admit her fault. She felt wronged even when she apologized to a store owner, let alone such a rude employee?!

Si Tang gritted his teeth, turned around and looked pitifully at his father's personal servant in the carriage, but received only an expressionless look in return, which immediately chilled his heart.

Her father's words that day resurfaced in her mind. It was too late when she came out of the ancestral hall. Her mother was shouting at the top of her lungs that he would destroy her, but her father just said calmly, "She destroyed herself."

He told her to come and apologize to the merchant, his expression was weary and indifferent, not scolding or asking, but telling her that he didn't care. The sharpness and courage that people had heard of him in the court did not exist at all. She had never thought that her father, who had always treated her mother with respect, would take off his warm mask and leave her with only indifference.

For a moment, Si Tang doubted whether she was her father's biological daughter. After ordering her to apologize, her father went to court as if nothing had happened, leaving only the servant to look after her. But what is a servant? Even if he is valued by his father, he is just a servant!

After today, she is afraid that she will lose face in the capital.

Thinking of what his mother had said when he came here, that the Prince of Yue and the Crown Prince had been in and out of the Qiyun Tower next door, Si Tang gritted his teeth and said in a sad voice, "I'm not coming here for no reason. The owner of your inn was implicated by the mischief caused by the servants at home. Today I'm here to apologize to the shopkeeper on their behalf. I hope he won't bear grudges against me..."

With just a few words, she managed to clear herself of the blame, and passers-by thought of her as a considerate and approachable girl.

Xiao Que grabbed the rag in her hand, her eyes widened, her voice instantly louder than Si Tang's, and she threw the rag at him again, "Do you still know that you are a mean person? I said I'm not here, so just wait for your sincere apology! Don't get in the way, I can't even clean the table!"

There was a constant banging sound in the backyard. The diners who knew that Wanglaiju was temporarily closed for renovations were attracted by the sudden show and stood on the street to watch the excitement. Si Tang dodged the rag thrown by the wild girl. The passers-by behind her did not speak for her as she thought, and the servant on the carriage was still cold and indifferent, which made her feel dilemma for a while.

Thinking of what his mother had said before about the Prince of Yue and the Crown Prince having appeared in Qiyun Tower, Si Tang suddenly became angry and simply fell to the side in the direction he was avoiding. He sat in front of the door of Qiyun Tower, covered his face and cried, "I am also a student who knows etiquette and shame. My servants at home behaved badly, so I came all the way here to apologize and give compensation. Why do you treat me like this?"

In the backyard of Qiyun Building, Jiang Lang, who had brought his sister Rufei to watch the demolition of the wall, got bored after a while. Thinking of the snacks in Wanglaiju next door mentioned by his friends, he was moved. "A Fei, I'll buy you some fries. Can you wait for me here with Ruying for a while?"

Jiang Rufei stared in a daze at the wall that was slowly being smashed in half, not saying either yes or no. In Jiang Lang's eyes, this was considered an agreement. After instructing Lin Ruying not to let her get close, he opened the door of Qiyun Tower and went out.

I was startled when I opened the door.

Why is there someone sitting at the door crying?!

The smile on Jiang Lang's face immediately disappeared, and he managed to hold back from kicking him, "What are you doing?!"

Si Tang, who had collapsed in front of the Qiyun Tower, stopped crying and looked up with tears in her eyes. The apricot blossoms were covered with dew and her sorrow was like rain. It must be said that she looked very attractive and I wanted to take good care of her. She choked up and said, "I blocked your way, it's really..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Xiao Que, who was standing beside her, stood with her hands on her hips and started to speak a string of words like a machine gun, "What did I do to you? You blocked me from wiping the table and you think you're right? I didn't push you!" Ever since Meng Taotao and Si Li corrected Xiao Que's accent, and with the subsequent daily hawking, Xiao Que can now speak Mandarin quickly and well.

Some people who were watching the excitement were touched by Si Tang's misty eyes. On one side was the delicate girl, and on the other side was Hedong Lion. They immediately stood up to smooth things over, "Let's talk about it nicely. It's not intentional."

After Si Tang raised her head, Jiang Lang finally recognized who it was. His heart softened for a moment and he slowed down his voice, "Why is Miss Si here?"

Although she felt a little regretful that it was the Prince of Yue instead of the Crown Prince who showed up, it was enough for Si Tang to use this opportunity to extricate herself. She pressed her eyes, stood up and bowed tenderly. Just as she was about to speak, she saw a veiled figure slowly walking out from behind Jiang Lang, and she was immediately stunned.

The princess is here, is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince here too?

After thinking about the words, Si Tang said in a coquettish voice, "Si Tang has met the prince." As for helping, she never mentioned it again. Everyone knows that the prince hates people who cling to him. Although she has never had close contact with him, she doesn't want to become a problem in the eyes of the prince.

Jiang Lang naturally heard the noise behind him, turned around and asked in surprise, "Why did Ah Fei come out?"

Jiang Rufei walked past him and went straight to the residence. Xiao Que stood outside the residence and saw the strange girl she had seen that day. She also knew that the construction in her backyard was related to her, so she stepped forward to stop her and said, "Miss, it's really unfortunate that the shopkeeper is not here today and the food is sold out."

If others heard this hard rejection, they would be upset, but Jiang Rufei was indifferent. Jiang Lang didn't care about Miss Si either, and seeing that Si Tang seemed to be fine, he nodded slightly and chased after Jiang Rufei.

Before Si Li left, she told Xiao Que to close the restaurant and thank the customers after selling the food. However, the guests from Qiyunlou next door were now their big customers. Xiao Que was torn between whether to hurry them away or not, and finally gave up thinking about it.

Si Tang, who was standing stupidly on the side of the road and no one was paying attention to her, couldn't believe her eyes. She stared at Wanglaiju with red eyes. Xiao Que just saw her unfriendly look and made a face at her, "It's not a festival, what's the big deal?"

In a few moments, the excitement faded and passers-by went about their business. The carriage of the Si Mansion slowly drove over. The servant sitting in the carriage looked down at her with no respect for her at all. He announced in a serious tone, "Since the master's order cannot be fulfilled, come back tomorrow."

Do it again?!

Si Tang took a step back and shook her head, "I'll wait here." She was unwilling to throw away the advantage of weakness she had already gained. Moreover, in a secret corner of her heart, she was secretly expecting someone to stand on the top floor of Qiyun Tower and notice her uneasiness.

It was a cold day in early winter, and the girl, who was only wearing a thin cotton skirt, soon began to shiver. A carriage passed by the opposite bank of the lake, and the woman in the carriage with the word "Jian" painted on it lifted the curtain and suddenly frowned, "Old Jian, is that the second son of the Si family?"

Jian Bingde was dozing off when he was suddenly woken up by his wife. He looked out with sleepy eyes and frowned, "Why is Atang here?"

The carriage circled the lake and stopped in front of Wanglaiju. It was already dark, and Si Tang's face had turned a little pale, making him look even more pitiful.

The servant sitting in the carriage beside them showed respect when he saw the two people from the Jian family. He jumped down and bowed, "Uncle, Madam."

Mrs. Jian sat there without moving. Jian Bingde hurriedly got out of the car with a hand warmer and stuffed it into Si Tang's hands. "How could this child freeze himself like this?"

"Uncle." Si Tang looked at him timidly, "I, the servant in the house, did something wrong. I, I came to pay compensation and apologize to the shopkeeper of Wanglai Ju, but I don't know why, she is not here..."

Mrs. Jian turned away in annoyance, not wanting to guess who had offended whom. But she was stunned when she heard the name of Wanglaiju. She still remembered the name of the stall she had eaten at the Buddhist conference before. The young owner who dared to use potatoes to cook left a deep impression on her, not to mention that her two children liked the snacks at Wanglaiju very much.

It was a small stall before, but now it has moved to Beijing?

Jian Bingde looked at Si Tang's expression of grievance and almost crying, and it would be a lie to say that he didn't feel distressed. His sister had passed away for so many years, and although his brother-in-law had remarried, he was very close to and respected him as his uncle, and did not exclude him because of his business. Even the children born after the remarriage followed Ah Li and called him uncle. After more than ten years of getting along, although he was not as good as Ah Li, he also loved Si Tang very much.

The little girl has always been a delicate girl held in the palm of his hand. When Jian Bingde saw Si Tang being wronged, he couldn't help but think of Ah Li's aggrieved look, and his heart melted into a pool of water. If Si Baifu dared to let Ah Li freeze in this cold weather, he would fight him to the death!

After listening to Si Tang's few short sentences, the image of a female merchant who deliberately gave up on the young girl was imprinted in his mind.

Jian Bingde held Si Tang's shoulders and pushed her to his own carriage. "It doesn't matter if she's not here. Uncle still has some face among the merchants in Beijing. Let's find a suitable day to go out and have a chat. We are both young girls, what can't we get into trouble for? It's freezing cold in the winter, don't get yourself into trouble. Let's go home with uncle and drink mutton soup!"

With Jian Bingde's promise, Si Tang finally breathed a sigh of relief and no longer insisted on staying in front of Wanglaiju. He nodded softly, "Thank you, uncle. Atang will listen to you."

The Jian family's carriage was in front, and the Si family's carriage was behind. After driving slowly, the outline of a carriage approaching from the East Market Street appeared in the back.

Si Li let down the car curtain, a little speechless about the grand invitation she just heard. Seeing how close he was to Si Tang, if he was not mistaken, this was the BBQ pork uncle who didn't want his own niece but insisted on being attentive to Si Tang. I don't know what he was thinking, it was really hard to understand.

Si Tang still had mutton soup to drink, but his niece was sleeping forever in the autumn that had already ended. Even her last wish was to make others admit that she had not brought shame to her parents.

It's really... pitiful.

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The author has something to say:

Spoiler alert in advance to avoid the uncle getting scolded. He has absolutely no idea how to get along with his niece, and was taken advantage of by the naughty sister. He was quite innocent, and later he came to his senses and stood on Lili's side.