Chapter 82 Ah Fei

Shopkeeper Tang woke up after being unconscious for two days. He looked extremely haggard. The rough man had red eyes. The first time he saw Si Li, he stood up and knelt down to apologize to her, "It's all my fault. I didn't see the face of that evil beast clearly, and I also implicated the shopkeeper..."

Avoiding his leaning body, the royal court and the palace guards who followed him pushed Tang back together. The medical officer checked and confirmed that Tang was not seriously injured. Si Li poured him a glass of water and winked playfully, "Why thank me? You should thank the prince. It's all thanks to his capable men who saved your life. I waived the money for your milk tea in the future. You can't regret it now."

"Ahem..." Shopkeeper Tang was in a state of turmoil. "Jiang Lang" did not follow him, so he could only be more respectful to the palace guards. After hearing what Si Li said, he bowed to the palace guards beside him and shook his head, saying, "The prince saved my life, but the shopkeeper also saved my life. How can I thank him and not thank you? Old man, if I had known this would happen, I should have listened to you and hired someone outside to sign the contract. How could this happen?"

He was deeply hurt by his nephew and felt disheartened. He seemed to still be thinking about the old relationship and wanted to cover it up. After waking up, he didn't ask a single question about his nephew or the whereabouts of the family's money.

Si Li was reluctant to mention it, but the guard leader Hulu saw that he had calmed down and spoke up, "Your nephew has been found and is now in jail. The land deed and several other deeds have also been recovered. Only a dozen taels of the hundred taels of silver you saved are left. Logically, he should be asked to pay, but because he is your family relative, your brother and sister-in-law have come to look for him several times. It's up to you whether you want them to pay the money back or let the government try him for theft."

According to Daning law, if a relative hurts someone, he will be sentenced severely. However, stealing money is more serious than stealing money from outsiders. If the owner of the money is willing to report it to the government, the family will not be prosecuted. Anyway, Tang's nephew is already in prison, so adding another crime is a piece of cake.

Hulu mentioned this to encourage Tang the shopkeeper to report it. However, Tang the shopkeeper was stunned for a moment, lowered his head and smiled bitterly, "I didn't know people well. I just want to teach him a lesson. He... is my eldest brother's only son after all."

Just as he said this, three people rushed in from outside like a tornado, crying and shouting so loudly that not only the patient Tang, but even Si Li had a headache. The old woman in the lead was wearing a bright red dress, but her face was pale. She sat on the bed and slapped the bed with one hand, with snot and tears streaming down her face. "You cruel boy, how can we live if something happens? I raised you with great effort, and you just ignore me like this..."

"Auntie, Auntie..." Shopkeeper Tang was startled and held the old woman's shoulders, "I'm fine, aren't I?"

"You're fine? I thought you had lost your conscience. Why did you send our Ah Da to jail?!" The old woman's face suddenly changed. "He has been running around you since he was a child, calling you uncle all the time. He also followed you to the city and squeezed in. He gets up earlier than chickens and goes to bed later than dogs every day. Tell me, who did you do this for? I thought you would just give him a small salary for a family, but how could you do such a thing!"

Seeing the fierce sound, those who didn't know would think that it was Tang Da who was injured instead of Tang the shopkeeper. Si Li pressed her eyebrows. Tang Da was caught on the first day that Tang the shopkeeper was unconscious. He had just finished gambling and went home to sleep without any guilt. He was directly dragged out of his home by the imperial guards of the Eastern Palace and thrown into the prison. Since that day, the Tang family has been squatting outside the sugar water shop. They originally wanted to occupy the front hall and refused to leave. They were so naughty and rolled around that they were scolded by the guards of the palace and became obedient. Now that they saw Tang the shopkeeper woke up, they started to make trouble again.

Shopkeeper Tang was scolded by his aunt who raised him. He looked at his cousin, whom he had called his elder brother for more than 20 years, helplessly and blankly. Brother Tang, wearing a long gown, supported his wife who was crying bitterly, with disappointment and reluctance in his eyes, "Brother, I have always given in to you since you were a child, but Da is my only son, and he is in prison. As his uncle, why don't you bail him out? Why do you want to add insult to injury? You treat him like this, aren't you tearing my heart out?"

"I..." Shopkeeper Tang's lips moved but he was unable to speak for a long time.

Tang's sister-in-law broke free from her husband's hand, and pleaded to the bedside of Tang the shopkeeper, crying, "Uncle, please, please, please, please help me! You only bring in a few dozen taels of silver a day, how can you afford what he spends?"

"What did you say?" Mrs. Tang was about to continue crying, but suddenly she heard her uncle ask coldly.

Shopkeeper Tang stared at the three tearful people, his last relatives in this world. The three of them could afford to wear silk and powder, and although they looked a little haggard, they still had healthy rosy cheeks. His elder brother, who had studied for nearly twenty years but failed the entrance exam, had the temperament of a rich man in his middle age, and his sister-in-law was also very beautiful. They were good in every way, but it seemed that they were not a family related by blood.

They thought about their Ah Da suffering in prison, but they didn't consider that he was also a member of the family, and they didn't even ask about his injuries from beginning to end.

"You guys go now." Shopkeeper Tang sighed, as if he had aged a few years in an instant. After all, he could not say a harsh word to his aunt and her family who had raised him after his parents passed away. "Ada hurt me, and the government will punish him. I don't care how much money he took, just consider it as my repayment to you. Go now."

He thought he had compromised, but his aunt glared at him, "Are you crazy? Are you going to chase me away?"

"Why are you so petty? You don't have any descendants, so you have to rely on A Da for things like breaking pots. Have you thought it over? Do you really want to let your nephew do hard labor?" This is Mrs. Tang.

Brother Tang also frowned, "Second brother, what are you so angry about? You can't lose your temper with Ah Da's life."

Aunt Tang was originally sitting close to him. Seeing that Shopkeeper Tang was just smiling bitterly, she became angry and slapped him in the face, "Why are you so arrogant! Your brother helped you open the shop back then. It would be fine if he didn't ask you to pay it back, but you're going to make such a fuss just because Ah Da took some money?!"

She missed the target with her first slap, and Shopkeeper Tang dodged and was hit on the shoulder. He should have rested on the wound on his head, but his emotional fluctuations caused him to move again, and Shopkeeper Tang only felt a dull pain in his head. Aunt Tang was about to hit him a second time, but Hulu, who had almost watched the show, grabbed her wrist.

"Thank you." Shopkeeper Tang thanked them with difficulty. He looked at the three people opposite him and felt very unfamiliar. His shop did borrow ten taels from his elder brother when it opened a few years ago, but he later paid back the principal and interest, and gave him generous holiday gifts every year. He could not be said to be in debt. But after saying this, Shopkeeper Tang did not have the energy to argue anymore. He picked up the remaining silver ingots from Tang Dahua that Hulu had sent to him from his pillow and threw them out, "You, get out!"

The three men were in a hurry to get the silver and there was a lot of commotion. Shopkeeper Tang expressed his opinion and the palace guards who were sent to help carried the three men out one by one.

Si Li, who had been silent, looked at the shopkeeper Tang. The rough man was crying heartbrokenly, with snot and tears. When he saw her coming, he choked and said, "Shopkeeper, from now on, there is only Wanglaiju. I, Tang, am yours in life and in death! No matter where you go, I will take care of Wanglaiju for you! I really, really regret not going to the tea party last time!"

Si Li didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he heard this. She handed him a towel and said, "Uncle Tang, take a rest."

"I didn't lie." Shopkeeper Tang wiped his face. "I know myself. We have been together for so many years. If they keep crying and making a fuss, maybe I will soften my heart one day. If I am chased out and starve to death on the street, no one will care about me. I might as well be an old master under you. As long as you don't mind, you can provide me with food and drink and give me some money."

"Okay." Si Li saw that he was tired despite his serious expression. He was also very tired after all the trouble, so he just dealt with it. Just after comforting him to lie down, Manager Tang stuffed the deed into his palm, "Take it first. When I can get up in two days, I will go to the government office to use the seal. And that beast Ada..."

The sound became quieter and quieter, but he fell asleep. Si Li shook her head and put the deed back on the pillow of Shopkeeper Tang. It was good to have something given for free, but if she really accepted it, what difference would it make between her and the Tang family members who came to rob? Shopkeeper Tang might not care about it for a year or two, but after ten or twenty years, he might have resentment. It would be better to wait until he got better, and then we could talk about cooperation or other things.

Walking around the dessert shop, Si Li saw someone rushing over from the back alley, shouting "Miss" in a neither loud nor soft voice. The hairs on her back stood up and she quickly slipped into her own yard. The person was also stopped by the palace guards hiding everywhere.

Entering the courtyard, the scene of the brother and sister playing chess and reading books was as beautiful as a painting, and the crackling sound of the oil pan beside them was like a fairyland and the human world. Si Li couldn't help laughing and took two steps forward, "Shizhi helped me so much, I have nothing but a spatula, why don't I make a new dish to reward him?"

As for the inappropriate issues that I had considered before, having something to eat is better than having nothing to eat. She can't possibly repay me with her body.

Jiang Hengyun raised his eyes to look at her, then turned his gaze away. Si Li followed his gaze and saw that a round-bellied porcelain jar as big as the chessboard had appeared next to the chessboard. The white porcelain glaze was painted with fish, insects and lotus leaves, which was quite interesting.

"What is this?"

Si Li squatted down and before she opened the lid of the jar, she heard a thin voice saying, "Shrimp. You. Want. To. Find."

So he had heard what she and Wang Ting had said before, and had come here specially? Si Li touched her ears, which were a little hot, and took off the lid to see that the porcelain jar filled with water was densely packed with green-backed shrimps. As soon as they saw the light, they struggled to crawl out.

Fortunately, she didn't have trypophobia, so Si Li closed the lid without changing her expression. The shrimps inside were probably only enough for two servings. Fish and shrimps were hard to find in winter, so collecting so many was already a rare sight.

"I'll give you one portion to take away, free of charge." Si Li smiled and rolled up the sleeves that were fluttering when Princess Jinhe was talking to her, and put them back on her knees. "Can Princess eat spicy food? Or sweet and sour?"

"Ah, Fei." Jiang Rufei stared at the chessboard, and spoke seriously before the chess piece fell. Si Li looked at this girl with pity. She couldn't even pronounce her own name correctly, like a babbling child.

Si Li said softly, "Can I? Then, A Fei, you can call me Yingzhou or Xiao Si."

"Ah, Fei."

"Yeah, A Fei." Si Li responded. Her hands were itchy and she wanted to rub her head like she was rubbing Wang Xiaochong's.

Jiang Rufei fell silent. Ah Sheng, who was doing business in the front hall, ran in. Seeing Si Li next to the two nobles, he subconsciously lowered his voice, "Boss, someone is looking for you! They said it's someone from Guan Ji, and they brought a lunch box. Do you want to take it?"

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The author has something to say:

House fights and intrigues are just incidental, Lili won't get too involved. April will be over soon, and next month there will be one or two updates a day. Comments and favorites can be exchanged for quick updates (?). Thank you, my little cuties, for following along the way (kneeling on the ground.jpg). There will be red envelopes for commenting on May 1st.