Chapter 46: Make me cry hard.
The mistress still brought her to a private room in the restaurant.
It will be just a few days later.
In the twelfth lunar month, there are almost no rainy days in the north; it's all snowy.
From the initial soft, light snow that wouldn't linger on the ground, to the current heavy, fluffy snow that blankets everything in white.
The heavy snow had lasted for three days. As usual, the old lady was supposed to return yesterday after going to the temple on the mountain to pray for blessings. However, this year, due to the snow, the mountain road was blocked, and the mountain steps were covered with snow, making it difficult to descend the mountain. She could only wait for the weather to clear the mountain path before she could go down.
Fortunately, she couldn't return to the Qu residence on time, which gave Li Yue'er the opportunity to plot.
Otherwise, she would be learning household chores from Madam Wu right now, and wouldn't even have the freedom to leave the house.
Even the mistress said she was lucky, and that even the heavens were on her side, giving her a good snowfall these past few days.
As noon approached, the restaurant's business became increasingly bustling, with people coming and going. The steps at the restaurant entrance didn't need the waiters to sweep them; people stepped on them one after another, and even the largest snowflakes were hard to accumulate on the stone pavement.
Outside, it was freezing cold, but inside the restaurant, it was warm and cozy.
As the largest and most popular restaurant in the area, Yingkelai is the busiest place in terms of its floor lamps. Even in each private room, there are bouquets of blooming flowers placed in exquisite vases, truly creating a warm and cozy springtime atmosphere for the guests.
Even when her family was at its wealthiest, Li Yue'er didn't have enough money to sit in a private room at a restaurant. So when she came up with her mistress, she was quite dignified and proper. But once the door was closed and only the two of them were left, Li Yue'er immediately lifted her long robe and looked around curiously.
They even bent down and gently touched the petals in the vase, secretly plucked the leaves to see if they were real flowers and leaves.
Until the mistress raised her hand to her lips and coughed softly behind her back.
Li Yue'er bit her lip and turned her head back to look, her face flushed with embarrassment.
She hadn't really seen many good things before; she was just curious for a moment.
Both the mistress and she were dressed in men's clothing today. The mistress's long hair was tied up in a neat black scholar's cap, and to show her status as a son of a wealthy family, a piece of warm jade the size of a thumbnail was inlaid in the center of the cap.
She was both understated and elegant, and her scholarly attire would not make the staff neglect her.
The mistress's face was almost bare and clean today, without any makeup. In order to obscure her gender and avoid being recognized, she only applied makeup to the red beauty mark at the corner of her eye.
With the only vibrant color on her face concealed, the mistress's already cold and indifferent face appeared even more aloof, distant, and devoid of human warmth.
If she didn't speak and just stood there with one hand behind her back, she would look exactly like a refined but arrogant and aloof young nobleman from a country family.
Li Yue'er couldn't learn these skills, so she had to pretend to be a servant, following her mistress with her chest hunched, shoulders down, and head bowed.
The face was still the same face, and the person was still the same person, but the mistress dressed as a man made Li Yue'er feel restrained and unfamiliar, and also vaguely uncomfortable and repulsed.
The mistress sat in her armchair, looked up at her with a puzzled expression, and asked, "Why are you so far away?"
They were a full five steps apart.
Li Yue'er took out a handkerchief and leaned over, bending down and gently wiping away the makeup from the mistress's eyes, revealing the red beauty mark that resembled a carp's tear.
The mistress glanced at her but said nothing, only lowering her eyelashes and quietly letting her do as she pleased.
After wiping off the makeup, Li Yue'er smiled and kissed the corner of her mistress's eye. "I feel much better now."
Otherwise, she would always feel awkward.
The mistress frowned at her.
Seeing that her mistress was so easy to talk to, Li Yue'er bit her lower lip and smiled, finally reaching out to remove the Confucian headscarf from her mistress's head.
Her full head of black hair, hidden inside the hat, cascaded down her head like a waterfall, falling over her shoulders like silk.
The mistress said, "...He's making a scene again."
Li Yue'er placed the scholar's cap on the small table beside her and hummed softly in a good mood, "I'll put it back on for you when we leave later."
Today, only the two of them went upstairs, and even walked all the way from the back gate of the Qu residence, leaving the carriage in the backyard. Everyone in the house assumed that it was snowing heavily today and that the mistress and Miss Yue'er were in their room; no one knew that the two of them had come out in disguise.
To make the play more realistic, Teng Huang is dressed as Li Yue'er today, and Dan Sha is dressed as the mistress. At this moment, the two are probably busy doing accounts in the room while looking forward to their return. Even the clothes they are wearing are theirs.
Li Yue'er placed the scholar's cap casually; if she didn't need it later, she would have preferred to quietly throw it outside.
Qu Rong glanced at her sideways and saw that Li Yue'er seemed to reject the Confucian turban from the bottom of her heart. She pursed her lips and ultimately did not remind Li Yue'er of the value of the warm jade on it.
In fact, when Li Yue'er was a child, she felt that the most intimate object in the world was the scholar's cap.
Because she was raised freely in the academy, all the uncles, elders and brothers who played with her wore Confucian headscarves. In particular, her maternal grandfather and father were also Confucian scholars. She lived freely in this world of Confucian headscarves and was very familiar with and fond of them.
Until his maternal grandfather passed away, his worn-out scholar's cap was buried with him in the coffin. In less than two years, his biological father seemed to have turned from a human into a beast, wearing a human skin while doing the deeds of a beast.
Later, Li Yue'er huddled in the corner of the cabinet with her one-year-old sister in her arms, covering her sister's ears with her hands. When she saw him attacking her mother, all she could see in her blurred vision was the scholar's cap on his head.
The two ribbons floating behind her were like the hands of a demon, trying to entangle and drag her, her mother, and her sister down to hell.
From that time on, she felt a sense of aversion and instinctive fear towards Confucian scholars' caps.
The Confucian scholar who loved her dearly has been buried in an underground coffin. Now, all she can see is the Confucian scholar, which brings her only pain and hatred.
She knew she shouldn't blame things, but as long as Li Juren was alive, she found it hard to look directly at the scholar's cap.
However, Li Yue'er did not tell her mistress any of this; she did not even tell her why she was determined to kill Li Juren.
Li Yue'er walked to the table and, like a sensible servant, made tea for her mistress.
Everything was on the table: a hot water kettle and a small stove, truly fitting the atmosphere of gathering around a stove to brew tea on this snowy day.
She didn't understand the value of the items in the private room, but she still remembered how her grandfather taught her to brew tea.
Li Yue'er knelt on the soft cushion and beckoned her mistress to sit down, "Try it."
The window of the private room was open, and delicate fresh flowers were placed by the window, making the room feel like springtime. Outside the window, snow was falling heavily. The two knelt around the wooden table and small stove, holding warm teacups in their hands. Turning their heads, they saw the snow-covered scenery. It was truly a pleasant experience.
However, the mistress brought her here today not to play, but for serious business.
The two had barely sat down when the voice of a middle-aged man, exchanging pleasantries and laughing loudly, came from the corridor outside.
"Why didn't Master Zheng hold a grand celebration at home today for his birthday?"
The next to speak was Master Zheng and his son, Zheng Er, who said, "There are too many people and too much to do in the mansion. It's not as elegant and quiet as welcoming guests here. Let's have a good drink here at noon, and then have another drink at the Zheng family's house tonight."
The birthday banquet held at the Zheng residence was only suitable for casual conversation, but the private room, where people were invited to drink on their birthday, was actually a place to discuss important matters.
The sound gradually faded and disappeared into the distance, followed by the soft opening and closing of the door to the private room next door.
The private room where Zheng Er hosted the dinner was right next to the two of them.
Li Yue'er's eyes lit up, her ears stood up higher than a donkey's, and she even leaned forward to listen.
Unfortunately, the soundproofing in the private room was so good that she didn't hear a single word of the conversation after entering, except for the two sentences in the corridor. The only sound in the room was the boiling water in the teapot, which, like her current mood, was churning and bubbling, revealing her impatience.
"Otherwise, do you think the reason Yingkelai is so popular is because they burned the floor heating and put up fresh flowers?"
Li Yue'er, "..."
That's really what she thought.
Li Yue'er puffed out her cheeks, lowered her eyes, and pouted.
Her playful gestures while dressed as a man seemed out of place, but her face was so beautiful, and her eyes were so gentle and moist, that even when she was dressed as a servant and made some girlish expressions, she was still incredibly beautiful and charming.
Qu Rong glanced at her, then glanced at her again. Seeing that she had composed herself, she lowered her eyes and slowly sipped her tea.
Li Yue'er asked, "Then you couldn't hear what they were talking about, so you came all this way for nothing?"
Qu Rong watched Li Yue'er brew tea for her with her delicate hands and slowly said, "It wasn't a wasted trip."
Li Yue'er blinked and looked at her.
Qu Rong said, "...They were mostly discussing how to take over the Qu family's business, and how to take advantage of the chaotic year to trip me up in business."
With the South in chaos, it has become even more difficult for the Zheng family to find Qu Ming there.
If they can't find Qu Ming, can't they find Qu Rong?
Once the Qu family is gone, what difference does it make whether Qu Ming lives or dies? By the time Qu Ming finds out something, the world will be in chaos, and what use will the imperial laws be to the Zheng family?
Only in times of peace and prosperity do laws act as chains and shackles. When the world is in chaos, laws become mere scraps of paper.
What they need to do now is to take over the Qu family's business.
Li Yue'er looked at her mistress with admiration in her eyes, and poured tea for her with both hands, sighing softly, "I still have so much to learn."
The real reason for the booming business of Yingkelai is not only to understand the thoughts of its competitors, but also to gain the upper hand by figuring out their ideas.
She's currently only learning housekeeping and accounting from Su Rou; she's still a long way from learning these skills.
Seeing that her bright eyes looked listless, Qu Rong smiled gently and said, "It's alright. I'll teach you these things slowly in the future. You can learn them gradually."
Even if the mistress didn't mean anything by saying those words, Li Yue'er still felt a sweet warmth in her heart, like honey mixed into tea, sweet from the tip of her tongue to the bottom of her heart.
She would add more tea leaves if the tea was too sweet, so the more the mistress tasted the tea, the more indescribable her expression became.
Qu Rong silently held the teacup, refusing to drink.
Fortunately, not long after, a familiar voice came from the corridor; it was Li Juren.
Li Yue'er's face instantly darkened.
Qu Rong looked up at her.
Li, the scholar, didn't know which private room Master Zheng was in, and he was too embarrassed to knock on doors and ask one by one.
Although he was walking down the corridor, he was inwardly complaining about how inconsiderate the Zheng family was. Why did they only tell him the location but not send a servant to greet and guide him in advance?
In his opinion, a merchant is a merchant, and no matter how rich he is, he will always be of a lowly status, so his actions are always so unseemly.
It was clearly a good thing for the two families to get along, but the way it was done made him feel uncomfortable.
If the world weren't so unstable, how could a scholar like him possibly give a kind look to someone like Zheng Er, who reeks of money? Even if they were begging him, it would be an honor for him to even glance at them, let alone deign to have a meal and drinks with them.
On the second floor, a waiter from the restaurant came to greet him. Upon seeing the familiar face of Li, the scholar, he instinctively assumed that Li was also a guest of honor of Master Zheng today, since Li often came to the restaurant with other merchants and gentlemen for banquets.
So he raised his hand and called out, "Scholar Li, over here!"
That's a scholar who passed the imperial examination, a rare figure in Chenhe County. Although times are tough, no one will look down on scholars. What if he seizes the opportunity and rises to prominence?
It wasn't easy for someone of his status to know Li, the scholar, and it was even more remarkable to be able to exchange a few words with him.
Bathed in the envious glances of his colleagues, the waiter's vanity reached its peak. Holding the tray, he smiled and said, "You've come at the perfect time; the food and drinks have just been served."
Li, the scholar, initially didn't want to pay attention to the waiter, but upon hearing what the waiter said, he instantly understood—
The Zheng family had contacted the restaurant in advance and sent a waiter to give him directions.
To give the Zheng family face, Li, the scholar, greeted the shop assistant with a smile, gave a perfunctory bow, and shook his head with a sigh, saying, "The road was difficult, which is why I'm a little late."
He was still wearing that scholar's robe and turban, looking like a refined scholar, a breath of fresh air in the filth of the world, different from the merchants even when standing among them.
The waiter knocked gently on the door and said inside, "Master Zheng, your guest has arrived."
Everyone at the table turned to look at Zheng Er, glancing around. "Could it be that we've been invited more than just this group today?"
Zheng Er was also puzzled. He had personally invited all the guests who were supposed to come in at the door, so where were the other guests?
He remained calm, reassuring everyone with his eyes, and said, "Come in."
The door opened, revealing Li, the scholar, standing behind the waiter.
The moment they saw him, everyone suddenly understood why Zheng Er had invited him. It turned out that Zheng Er, who looked down on scholars the most, was actually quite fond of "pretending to be cultured."
Li, the scholar, has been quite active in their circle lately. Several people at the banquet had even privately invited him to drink. Now that they met, and considering that the other party might be a guest invited by Zheng Er, they stood up and greeted him with a cupped-hand salute.
Since more than half of the people knew him, Zheng Er, though puzzled as to why Scholar Li hadn't come by invitation, didn't want to offend them. He stood up with a smile, gestured for them to come in, and said, "It's an honor for us that Scholar Li would grace us with his presence in this weather. Please, have a seat."
Li, the scholar, was not stupid. Seeing Zheng Er's attitude, although he was suspicious that Zheng Er had actually invited him today, he thought again that it was indeed not appropriate to talk about the way he had made connections with the Zheng family in front of everyone. Therefore, Zheng Er pretended to "coincidentally" invite him in.
Li, the scholar, pretended to decline, but couldn't resist the enthusiastic invitations of everyone, so he reluctantly entered the private room to join the banquet.
He is an outsider.
Regardless of how the people at the table privately invited him to dinner and drinks, to Zheng Er's banquet today, he was an outsider, and one they looked down upon from the bottom of their hearts.
We were all from the same place. Before his death, Master Ming was no nobody in Chenhe County. Although merchants and scholars were like mud and clouds, even when the road was blocked and they didn't get any benefits, they still had some respect for Master Ming, a true scholar, and naturally knew about the things between Li Juren and the Ming family.
If Li Juren were a decent person, they might have looked at him with more respect because of his status as a Juren, and even if they didn't have any respect for him, they wouldn't deliberately make things difficult for him. Unfortunately, Li Juren was really a scoundrel.
Wearing the scholar's robes they despise most, doing things they consider low-class, and yet looking down on their merchant background just because he is a scholar with a decent reputation—it's truly disgusting.
So while they addressed him as "Master Li" to his face, they secretly thought he was like a pig—a beast that could actually devour people but looked harmless.
In front of Li, the scholar, Zheng Er naturally wouldn't talk about serious matters anymore. So the group exchanged a knowing glance and tacitly turned what was supposed to be a business meeting into a real banquet.
Zheng Er loathed scholars the most. He could have pretended not to, but he insisted on giving himself away, even deliberately having the waiter prepare a separate set of bowls, chopsticks, and wine cups.
“How can the things that Scholar Li uses be the same as ours? Quickly bring us new, clean things that don’t smell of money. Only then will they be worthy of his status.”
Several people chimed in, "Yes, yes, yes, quickly prepare a new one for Scholar Li."
Li, the scholar, felt as if he had swallowed a fly; he couldn't swallow it down, nor could he spit it out.
He felt that Zheng Er and the others had invited him over to humiliate him! But when he was about to get up and leave, they warmly urged him to stay.
This contradictory approach led Li, a scholar, to console himself by attributing their behavior to "merchants who are just so ignorant of etiquette." He believed they were poor communicators, lacking manners and manners, and thus unintentionally offended him in their words.
Li Juren still wanted to integrate into the merchant community, especially since Zheng Er was sitting at the table today. If he turned his back on Zheng Er and left without giving him face, all his previous plans would be in vain.
Li, the scholar, gritted his teeth and endured it.
The waiter went to get new bowls and chopsticks, but when he returned, he learned that someone had already delivered the items to him. He was instantly furious and stood in the kitchen, one hand on his hip, yelling and cursing.
Who serves you so eagerly!
Although Zheng Er and his men were merchants, they always gave generous tips. Because of this, people would always vie to entertain them. So the waiter just vented his anger by cursing and didn't bother to find out who it was, since what happened today was nothing unusual.
When the wine cup reached Li, the scholar, Zheng Er personally poured him the wine.
The people at the table kept urging each other to drink, their flattery mixed with contempt. It tasted like a nauseating, sour, and rotten pastry; swallowing it made one choke and feel nauseous, and even if one spat it out, one's mouth was covered with dry crumbs.
Today is Zheng Er's forty-fifth birthday. The birthday banquet is not just the one at noon. In fact, when he came to greet the guests, the Zheng family was already holding a grand birthday banquet for him at home, and many guests had already arrived in the afternoon.
Even though Li Juren was his honored guest at the time, he did not invite him to a banquet at Zheng's residence that evening.
After finishing the drinks, Zheng Er smiled and cupped his hands in greeting to everyone, saying, "See you tonight."
Everyone said, "See you tonight."
Li, the scholar, also got up with the crowd, but he seemed a little stunned and confused, not understanding what "see you tonight" meant or why he wasn't included.
Zheng Er raised his hand, smiled, and patted Li Juren's shoulder twice. Then, as if suddenly realizing what he had done, he quickly blew on the spot where his fingers had patted him, and lightly brushed off any non-existent dirt with his fingers. He said with annoyance, "Oh dear, I've been drinking too much and confused. My dirty hands have touched your clean robe."
Li, the scholar, finally couldn't hold back any longer and asked coldly, "What exactly does Master Zheng mean today?"
It was Zheng Er who invited him, and it was Zheng Er who disgusted him.
Zheng Er laughed, "It's nothing, nothing. Scholar Li is overthinking it."
He gave a perfunctory reply and left the table, saying, "I have a lot of things to do at home, so I'll go back first. We'll continue drinking tonight."
After saying that, Zheng Er didn't even look at Li Juren and went straight out of the private room. Before getting into the carriage at the door, he spat. Although the matter wasn't finished today, he felt much better after disgusting Li Juren.
After Zheng Er left, the other merchants smiled and talked to Li Juren about Zheng Er's birthday.
This infuriated Li, the scholar, who smashed the wine cup beside him. "I kindly invited you to drink with me, and you treat me like this?"
The others didn't take it seriously. Instead, they said to him, "That's just how Master Zheng is. Don't overthink it. We're not the same kind of people, so our ways of treating guests are bound to be different. There's no such thing as playing games or not. You scholars are just overthinking things."
The remaining merchants also bowed and left one after another, announcing before they left, "The meal has been paid, Mr. Li, please make yourself at home."
What do you mean? Are you saying he's here to freeload?!
If it weren't for the fact that Li was a scholar who had passed the imperial examinations, he wouldn't have just smashed his wine cup; he would have overturned the entire table.
No wonder they treated him specially, even preparing separate bowls and chopsticks for him, treating him like a beggar to disgust him!
Everyone else had left, and the waiter came in with a broom to sweep up the debris, keeping his head down and not daring to speak, since he was the one who had led the people in.
Scholar Li kicked away the broken pieces of the wine cup, causing the already shattered cup to roll around a few more times, getting covered in the snow and mud from his shoes.
The waiter was displeased and before he could even speak, Li Juren glared at him fiercely and stormed off.
The further he walked, the more he felt a fire burning in his chest. He was so angry that his whole body felt hot, as if his internal organs were on fire from the inside out, which made him instinctively loosen his clothes to cool down.
In the dead of winter, after three days of heavy snow, no one swept the alleyways. The snow piled up layer upon layer, and when you stepped on it, it was up to your calves.
Li Juren took off his clothes one by one, and only when he was almost naked and lying on the snow did he feel comfortable all over.
Welcome to the private room on the second floor. Li Yue'er, who was pretending to be a waiter to deliver wine cups, had already washed her hands clean. "There is no poison in the wine cups, just a layer of something on them."
The powder becomes colorless and odorless when mixed with alcohol, maximizing the effects of the alcohol.
After drinking, a person may appear relatively sober and rational, but in reality, they are already drunk. Only drunk people don't feel cold and can silently freeze to death in the alley.
He blamed all his mistakes on being drunk, so let him get truly drunk this once.
The private room was warm, but Li Yue'er's fingertips trembled incessantly.
Qu Rong reached out and enveloped her slightly cool fingertips in her warm palm. "Shall we go take a look?"
Li Yue'er looked up at her, wanting to go but afraid of getting into trouble.
Qu Rong said, "It's no big deal to take a look from afar."
How can one feel at ease killing their enemy without witnessing their death?
The beatings and suffering I've endured over the years can't just be let go so easily. I have to see him struggle, see him sober up, and see him die in agony before I can truly feel relieved.
Li Yue'er knelt behind the mistress and slowly gathered the mistress's long hair, which was hanging down to the prayer mat, with her clean hands.
As she got up to fetch her scholar's cap, the mistress spoke slowly, looked up at her, and said with a smile, "That jade on top, thirty taels."
Thirty taels!
Li Yue'er's eyes widened, she gasped, and immediately changed from holding it with one hand to cradling it with both hands.
It's so expensive, why don't you just rob someone!
"Why didn't you say so sooner?" She threw it so carelessly; if it had broken even a little bit, thirty taels would have been gone.
The mistress was clearly trying to appease her, and said slowly, "If you don't like it, it's worthless."
Li Yue'er answered without hesitation, "I like it! I like it."
Thirty taels? She'd have to pretend to not like it.
The object is innocent, and the scholar's cap is even more innocent.
Li Yue'er held the mistress's Confucian handkerchief in her arms, walked behind the mistress, bent down, lowered her eyes, and looked down at her.
Although he didn't say anything, the word "greed" was clearly written in his eyes.
Qu Rong chuckled softly, and though she was kneeling, she raised her head and gently pinched her cheek.
That means you've agreed.
Li Yue'er smiled and lowered her head to kiss her forehead.
The mistress's nose brushed against her eyebrows and eyes, her warm fingers slid down her cheek to behind her ear, and her palm gently tapped her servant's hat as she tilted her head back to deepen the kiss.
Li Yue'er was moved by her kiss, but with her lips still on her mistress's, she fluttered her eyelashes and didn't continue.
She could leave Li Juren behind and enjoy herself in the private room, but the mistress's period hadn't ended yet, so it was impossible today.
The mistress clearly remembered this as well, her brows furrowing slightly as she slid her fingers down to gently pinch and twist her earlobe. "You're causing trouble again."
He knew she was impotent, yet he still seduced her.
For the sake of thirty taels, Li Yue'er softly hummed, "Isn't it because I missed you?"
She tilted her head and gently bit her mistress's earlobe, "I hope that after today, you can make me cry badly tonight."
Because she was afraid she would have to go home to observe mourning for the next few days and wouldn't be able to do it.
Qu Rong, "..."
The mistress ignored her, but her ears turned slightly red. Although she didn't explicitly nod, she definitely didn't verbally refuse.
————————
Moon: Just tell me if you want to or not! [heart emoji]
Mistress: ...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com