Chapter 41 Mother-of-Pearl Incense (Part 4) May I sleep in your room? ...
This Chen Guojiu is the eldest brother of the current Imperial Concubine Chen. Imperial Concubine Chen also has a second brother. The brothers are collectively known as the "Two Chens." The two currently reside in the capital, holding high-ranking official positions and receiving generous salaries. However, they are not content with this and continue to form cliques and engage in corrupt practices in various prefectures and territories, cultivating relationships with officials and local gentry.
Clearly, this Lord Wang is one of his men. On such a day, how could Lord Wang not show respect? This birthday tribute must be priceless, otherwise, he wouldn't have hired a battle-hardened soldier to escort it.
Yu Qi never commented on the long-standing malpractices of officialdom, so he just laughed it off and asked, "Both of you are imperial brothers-in-law, and you hold high positions of power. It is only right that Lord Wang sends a congratulatory gift since it is the birthday of the Imperial Brother-in-law of the Great Chen Dynasty this summer. Why didn't Lord Qi send one?"
"Lord Qi has prepared an original painting by an ancient master. It is small, so there is no need for anyone to escort it. He can simply send his servants to make a trip to the capital."
"Lord Wang is so generous with his gifts, while Lord Qi only gave a painting. Isn't he afraid that the Emperor's brother-in-law will be suspicious?"
"Hey, the Qi family has already lost power. Giving gifts is just because of the old friendship between Old Master Qi and Chen Guojiu when they served in the same court. As long as it's superficial, that's enough. Besides, Lord Qi is an upright man. If he wanted to get promoted by currying favor, the Qi family would have already found a way to do so with all their old connections in the capital. Moreover, the Emperor still remembers Old Master Qi's advice from back then and still has a grudge against him. No one can help him, so why waste that money?" After Zhang Da finished speaking, he chuckled meaningfully, as if he had thought of something.
Yu Qi asked, "Judging from your appearance, it seems like you've had some good news lately?"
“It’s not that I have any happy news. I have worked with you, sir, and although you are unwilling to condescend to treat me as a friend, I truly admire your talent. It is that you have a happy occasion in your family, and I am happy for you.”
"Is there some good news in my family? How come I didn't know? Tell me about it."
Zhang Da moved to a chair next to him and said, “Today, Lord Qi asked Lord Wang for three days off, saying that he had important guests to invite and needed to stay home for two days. I heard from the servants of the Qi family that the guests to be invited are none other than your family, sir. Such a solemn occasion means that the two ladies of the Qi family have taken a liking to our Miss Yu’er. Isn’t this something to be happy about?”
Yu Qi paused for a moment, then sneered softly, "What's so great about the Qi family taking a liking to Yu'er? Whether my Yu family even looks up to Qi Xubai is another matter."
Although he was always arrogant and had some family wealth, in terms of social standing, the Qi family's threshold was still much higher. Zhang Da wondered what he could possibly look down on Xu Bai for. He glanced at him but didn't dare to ask any further questions.
Yu Qi was already impatient and stood up to dismiss him, saying, "You're busy with official business, so I won't keep you from your important matters. I won't see you out."
Zhang Da had no choice but to awkwardly follow her out, greeted her at the counter, and then went out onto the street. Jiu Li noticed that Yu Qi's face was somewhat cold, and was about to ask him what he had said to Zhang Da in the inner room when Yu Qing came to call her for dinner, interrupting her.
The next morning, Xiuzhi brought her valuables to work. Yuqing settled her in the east wing of the front yard. Next door was their bedroom. Across the west wing were two rooms. One was used as a medicine storeroom, and the other, it was said, had hired a helper from the pharmacy. She would move in a couple of days later to start work.
As Yuqing led her around the rooms, she waved her embroidered handkerchief and said, "Hey, actually, our family is the easiest. You don't need to worry about the old lady and master's rooms. You just need to tidy up Yu'er and Zhong'er's rooms. They've been used to being carefree since they were little, unlike the young masters and ladies of wealthy families. They do many things themselves and won't bother you with everything. It's just that the master wants someone to look after Yu'er. That girl is used to being wild in the countryside, so you have to keep an eye on her to prevent her from getting into trouble. Also, when you have free time, just help me with some chores in the kitchen. The work is miscellaneous, but not tiring. I'm also a very easy person to talk to."
Just by looking at the room assigned to her, Xiuzhi could tell that the Yu family didn't really distinguish between superiors and inferiors. Apart from Yu Qi, everyone, regardless of rank, was chatting and laughing. They had just eaten lunch together at the same table, and the old lady was also a very easy-going person.
She breathed a sigh of relief and agreed to follow Yuqing into Jiuli's room. After exchanging a few words, Yuqing went to the kitchen to busy herself, leaving her to tidy up Jiuli's room.
Jiuli, worried that she might not be familiar with the furnishings in the room, led her to look at everything one by one, finally turning to the dressing table. "Most of those bottles and jars on the table aren't worth much, but they look nice. Don't worry if they accidentally fall or break, I won't make you pay for them. Here, the most valuable things in my room are these, some jewelry and such. I don't like wearing them, so I just leave them here. You can dust them off for me when you have time."
Before Xiuzhi could even see the jewelry and headdresses inside the dressing case, she exclaimed in amazement at a small lacquered box inlaid with mother-of-pearl next to it, "This box is so beautiful, is it made with mother-of-pearl inlay in Yangzhou?"
Jiuli handed the box to her for a closer look. "I only knew it was mother-of-pearl inlaid with gold, but I didn't know it was from Yangzhou. Do you recognize it, sister-in-law?"
“I used to do odd jobs here and there, and I’ve seen such exquisite objects. Only the snail shells from Yangzhou are so colorful, and the snail shells they use are mostly luminous.” She held it in her hands and examined it. “However, no matter how exquisite a small box is, it’s not as valuable as furniture made from it, and it’s not very useful.”
Suddenly, a sound flashed past her ear, like a woman's laughter passing by, or perhaps a cat's sharp meow. Xiuzhi turned around abruptly, but there was no one behind her. Only the wind whipped the blue curtains hanging on both sides of the screen, slapping them heavily against the screen with a soft thud.
It seemed a downpour was imminent, as the doors and windows flapped back and forth, plunging the room into darkness. Suddenly, a strong wind arose, as if dark clouds were pressing down on the city, threatening to crush it. The papers on the table were scattered all over the floor. Jiuli hurriedly picked them up, weighed them down with a paperweight, and closed the window in front of the table. When she came back, she saw Xiuzhi with a strange expression, who was also glancing into the air. "Sister-in-law, did you see something?"
Xiuzhi gradually came to her senses. "What?"
"I've seen it too."
"What do you see?"
Jiuli cautiously raised her eyes, looked around the room, and then pulled her to sit on the bed. "Let me tell you, I once saw a strange woman in the mirror, but she disappeared when I turned around. I thought I was seeing things. Did you see her too?"
Xiuzhi immediately got goosebumps and hurriedly rubbed her arms together. "I didn't see anything just now, but I vaguely thought I heard someone laugh behind me. Maybe it was the wind."
Jiuli nodded in thought, "That's true. I don't believe in ghosts and gods. Last time they said Liyuan was haunted, but in the end it came out that it was all done by humans."
Even so, she still remembered the scene she had seen in the mirror. There was clearly a woman standing in the corner of the screen, wearing a black jacket and skirt, her face ashen and bluish, like the color of someone who had died. So she was still doubtful, her eyes still darting around.
“I haven’t stayed in this house for long. I only stayed for about ten days when I first came to Nanjing, and then I moved to Liyuan. Sister-in-law, do you think this house might be unclean?”
Xiuzhi jumped up hurriedly, "Oh dear, don't scare me, I'm easily frightened. Let me rub it on first and look around for you."
The house was thoroughly swept and washed, but nothing unclean was found, not even a dead rat. The two had no choice but to give up, assuming they had seen or heard wrong. Xiuzhi then went to clean the house next door, where Du Zhong was staying.
It was pouring rain outside, and there were no customers in the shop. There wasn't a soul in sight on the street either. So everyone went to bed early today, and after dinner, before dawn, they all went back to their rooms to rest.
Jiuli changed her clothes but couldn't sleep. The rain falling on the tiles was too noisy, so she lit a lamp and curled up in bed to read. Of all the things she could read, she ended up reading a collection of strange tales. She read about a scholar who stayed at a roadside inn. Suddenly, a heavy rainstorm broke out in the night, and a clap of thunder startled the scholar, who sat bolt upright in his bed. In the darkness, he seemed to see a long shadow hanging from the rafters—it was a hanged ghost!
Just then, the window was blown open by the wind with a snap, the candle went out, and Jiuli was startled. She quickly put down her book and sat up. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck, illuminating a woman standing in the corner of the screen!
Terrified, she couldn't even scream. Seeing a light on in the window of the east wing across the way, she scrambled out of bed and ran frantically towards the door.
Fortunately, Yu Qi hadn't bolted the door. She burst in, ran straight to his bed, threw off the covers, and burrowed inside. Yu Qi was looking at account books in the other cubicle when the commotion startled him so much that he jumped up. Standing behind his desk, he wondered if she was up to her usual playful self again, trying to trick him late at night.
He strolled out of the study, first closing the door to the outer room, then walking towards the screen behind him. "What kind of fun are you thinking of now?"
Jiuli sat on the bed without saying a word, shivering under the covers. Yu Qi looked down at the floor and saw a row of footprints leading from the door, as if she hadn't been wearing shoes.
He frowned and sat down on the bed. "What's wrong?"
She stretched a hand out from under the covers and pointed tremblingly towards the window across the street, "There's a ghost!"
Yu Qi noticed that her throat was trembling, which didn't seem like a joke, so he went over and pushed open the window on the couch, looking into her room across the street. He could only vaguely see two windows open, and it was pitch black inside, so he couldn't see anything clearly.
"Where are the ghosts?"
"Standing in the corner!"
"You're mistaken, there are no ghosts in this world." Yu Qi gently pulled down the blanket covering her head, but as soon as she peeked out, she buried her face in his chest.
His heart skipped a beat, and he raised his arms, unsure whether to hug her or not. He touched her arm and found it damp, probably from the rain she had picked up while running.
He told himself that he was holding her because he was afraid she would catch a cold, and finally wrapped one arm around her. "Don't be afraid, where would a ghost come from? It's probably just the wind blowing the curtains, you're mistaken."
Fortunately, there was a layer of blankets piled up in the middle, otherwise I was afraid she would hear his panic.
She wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, hid her head in his chest for a while, and then slowly raised it. She hesitated for a moment, "Could it be a curtain? But the curtains in my room are bamboo green, and the female ghost was dressed in black."
“In the dark, everything looks black.” He noticed a few water droplets on her face, unsure whether she had been crying from fright or if they were from the rain. He smiled and reached out to wipe them away for her. “You’ve never been afraid of ghosts, have you? You even dared to catch ‘ghosts’ in Liyuan.”
After he said that, she dispelled most of her doubts. Yes, the rumors about Liyuan being haunted were just people pretending.
She wanted to straighten up, but then she realized she was in his arms and couldn't bear to leave. So she continued to be "weak." "That's because I guessed someone was up to something, but this is our home. Who would play tricks on me?" she said, pressing her face against his chest and refusing to let go.
Yu Qi looked down at her and saw that she was puffing out her cheeks as if she was sulking, so he didn't push her away. Instead, he reached into the quilt and touched her cold feet. Sure enough, she wasn't wearing shoes or socks. Fortunately, she had wiped the rainwater off her feet on his bed.
The foot seemed to flinch in his hand, and he immediately withdrew his hand, pulling the blanket over her shoulder. At least with this layer of protection, both of them were still safe.
He chuckled and said, "Are you reading those supernatural and bizarre books again?"
"No, I'm already asleep."
He didn't believe it, though; the light in her room had been on a moment earlier. But he didn't say it, lest she think he was spying on her.
"Watch less of those things; watching too much will make you suspicious and paranoid."
She muttered, "I already said no."
He didn't know what time it was; there were no stars or moon, and even several lanterns under the eaves had been blown out. However, the rain seemed to have lessened a bit, and Yu Qi suspected that the light, drizzling sound could no longer mask his increasingly heavy breathing. After all, holding him like this for so long wasn't a solution, and he couldn't help but think of something else.
He lowered his arms from her back and looked down at her. "Shall I take you back to your room to sleep?"
Jiuli shook her head, "Don't go back." Whether she was truly afraid or not, she was getting confused. Anyway, she thought it was rare to be so close to him. The last time she slept in his room was the day she first arrived at Liyuan. What a coincidence, it was raining there too.
She looked up at him pleadingly, "Can I sleep in your room?"
"Then where will I sleep?" He was reluctant, but he couldn't resist her pleading eyes.
“You can sleep on the couch.” She pointed to the opposite side, then remembered that he was doing accounts in the other room when she ran in, so she said, “Since you’re not going to sleep right away, you can do accounts on the couch. Just like when we were kids, when we lived in the inn, I could sleep very soundly listening to you doing the abacus.”
Yu Qi's smile faltered slightly. "You still remember what happened back then?"
She shook her head again, "I remember only bits and pieces, it's like a dream."
He went over to get the account books and abacus. "What do you remember?"
Jiuli dangled her head off the bed. "I think I had a wet nurse, didn't I? I can't remember what she looked like, and my mother, I only remember a vague image of them."
His anxiety subsided, "You were not even three years old then, so it's normal that you can't remember."
She watched him return with his things, then straightened her head and smiled. "But I remember more about the year we spent wandering the roads together. We traveled all over the place, and it took us a long time to get back home. Right, why didn't you take me all the way back to Suzhou back then?"
"Because we don't have money."
Leaving my hometown was out of necessity, but when I wanted to go back, I felt I should return in glory, fearing that my old lady would be disappointed if I returned in a destitute state.
"How did you make that much money later? I remember after we returned to Suzhou, you rented a hilltop and hired people to grow medicinal herbs. In just two or three years, our house was built."
He laughed and said, "It wasn't earned. That money was nearly five hundred taels, which my master had saved up. In the past, I followed him around to practice medicine, and he stored all the money we earned in his house in his hometown. His hometown is in Shanxi, so back then, when I took you around, it was to go to Shanxi to retrieve that silver."
Jiuli rarely saw him smile like that, as if it carried a youthful spirit. She suddenly remembered that it was indeed the case. That day, he was digging a hole in the backyard of an old house, sweating profusely. She squatted by the yellow earthen hole watching him, and tremblingly poured a bowl of water and handed it to him. He didn't take it, and gave her an impatient look.
Later, he took a heavy bundle out of the pit, and quite unusually, he lifted her up by both arms, raising her to the sky, and said to her with great pride, "Little Fish, from now on you will never have to worry about cheese to eat every day!"
She received this name from that moment on, and she was overwhelmed with joy. She laughed along with him in the sky, and at that moment the sky seemed so close that she could reach out and grab a cloud.
Later, based on this nickname, he was given the formal name "Jiu Li".
She lay down on his pillow, filled with longing. Outside the window, the wind and rain had stopped, and it was exceptionally cool.
The next day, when the old lady woke up, she learned that Jiuli had slept in Yuqi's room. When she asked why, she was convinced that her room was unclean. The old lady believed in this, so she hurriedly ordered Yuqing to go to the street and invite a Taoist priest to perform a ritual. After the Taoist priest left, Xiuzhi came to tidy up the room and suddenly discovered that the dressing table and the mother-of-pearl inlaid lacquer box were both missing.
Amazing! Those ordinary headdresses and jewelry were one thing, but there was also a bracelet that Yu Qi had given them in the box! The two searched everywhere. Jiu Li had initially suspected that the Taoist priest who performed the ritual at noon might have stolen it, but then she suddenly noticed a few muddy shoe prints in front of the dressing table. It wasn't the Taoist priest; he had only performed a few fancy tricks in the courtyard and hadn't gone inside.
She quickly squatted down to look, and saw it was a man's foot. Just then, Du Zhong came in, thinking she was watching something interesting, and squatted down beside her. "Are you watching ants moving house?" he asked.
She took the opportunity to glance at his black suede boots, pushed him to the ground, and lifted his foot to match the footprint. It wasn't his foot; the footprint on the ground was heavier at the front and lighter at the back, indicating that he had walked on tiptoe.
"My house has been burgled!"
Du Zhong looked astonished. "What's missing?"
Xiuzhi grew anxious. "We don't know about the other rooms, but some jewelry and ornaments have gone missing from this room, Miss. Go back to your room and check them first, then I'll go ask them!"
He ran out and alerted everyone to come into the house. Yu Qi also came from the shop and asked what was missing as soon as he entered.
Jiuli pouted and sat on the edge of the bed with a disappointed look on her face. "It doesn't matter about anything else, but the red agate bracelet you gave me, which I put in the box that Aunt Guan gave me, has now been taken away by that little thief!"
The old lady patted her chest, "Thank goodness you weren't sleeping inside last night, otherwise, I can't even imagine what would have happened if that thief had broken in!"
Yu Qi walked to the dressing table, squatted down to examine the footprints, and stood up after a while. "It was a short man who probably climbed over the wall to get in."
Fengqiao nodded repeatedly, "The walls of our house are a bit low. I'll find some bricklayers to build them higher later."
Jiuli glanced at everyone and asked, "Have you lost anything?"
Everyone shook their heads. Yu Qi looked at her with a half-smile and said, "You didn't close the door when you ran out last night, so when you sneaked in, you naturally took the opportunity to enter your room."
She pouted, "I was so scared back then, I didn't even think about closing the door!"
Seeing her with a pained expression, Yu Qi came to the bedside and softened his voice to coax her, "It's just a few pieces of jewelry that you've lost. You can just buy new ones later."
She glared at him, still feeling uneasy. After thinking it over, she suddenly remembered someone. "That's right, yesterday when I was helping to get medicine at the shop, there was a man who looked shifty and was also thin. Could it be him?"
Yu Qi didn't remember such a person, but Feng Qiao's eyebrows twitched and he stepped forward, "Is this the person Manager Zhou mentioned?"
Before he finished speaking, Yuqing grabbed his ear and twisted it hard. "Who is Manager Zhou talking about?"
Fengqiao hurriedly smiled and begged for forgiveness, rubbing his ear and saying, "She said that person is a notorious scoundrel on this street. I didn't ask for his name. Should I go and ask her here?"
Yu Qing glared at him fiercely, "You want to go? Dream on! I'm going!"
Before long, Yuqing invited Manager Zhou over. Manager Zhou sat down and said, "I told you he wouldn't come here for anything good. Would he be willing to spend money on medicine? People like that just endure minor illnesses and injuries. I think he probably came to scout things out yesterday. You've had a lot of customers since you opened these past two days. He saw that your business was good and started to have his own ideas."
Jiuli leaned forward on the stool and asked, "What's his name? Where does he live?"
“His name is Tang Chengguan. He lives in Taibao Lane at the front. If you want to find him, hurry up and go find him. If he has pawned or sold his things, you can beat him to death and he still won’t be able to pay them back.”
Taibao Lane is not far from Liuli Street. When the old lady heard that they were going to catch a thief, she was a little scared and advised Jiuli to let it go. Jiuli was still angry, but she really couldn't bear to part with the red agate bracelet, so she insisted on going. Yu Qi had no choice but to accompany her.
Thinking about it, many of her jewelry and ornaments were gifts from him. He often went to Suzhou and knew master craftsmen who were excellent at making gold and silver jewelry. He would occasionally have a piece made for her, but he didn't understand why she couldn't let go of that red agate bracelet. Besides, she had asked him for that bracelet on a whim.
Jiuli glanced at him, then muttered with her head down, "The day you brought the bracelet back, it was raining heavily. The carriage overturned on the road, and the bracelet rolled down the cliff. You climbed down to look for it, and your leg got a long cut on the rocks. Have you forgotten?"
Because he had bled for this bracelet, he felt it was different from the others. She didn't want those headdresses and jewelry to wear, but mostly for the satisfaction she felt when he readily agreed.
Upon arriving at Tang Chengguan's house, a glance from the courtyard wall revealed that half of the roof was tilted, with incomplete tiles, exposing the front ridge. A thin woman of about thirty years old opened the door, but her face remained turned towards the cramped courtyard, muttering curses, presumably scolding the children inside.
Turning around, he saw Jiu Li and his eyes lit up. When he saw Yu Qi behind Jiu Li, his eyes lit up even more, and he immediately put on a fawning smile. "Oh my! Where did this distinguished guest come from!"
Jiuli asked angrily, "Is Tang Chengguan home?"
The woman's expression turned impatient again. "No, she went out after lunch."
When will he be back?
"How would I know?" The woman raised her hand and flicked her nails, her eyes fixed on her own hand. "He's never on a fixed schedule when he goes out; he might come back around dinnertime, or he might come back in three or five days. You never know. What do you want with him?"
Jiuli looked from her hands to her head, and then saw a silk flower from her own dressing case behind her temple. She became even more indignant, put her hands on her hips, and said, "Why do you want to see him? He's a thief! He broke into my house at night and stole my things. The stolen goods are right there on your head! Give them back to me!"
The woman also put her hands on her hips and turned her neck to deny it, "What stolen goods? You're really something, girl. You come to people's houses in the middle of the day and say they stole your things. I don't even recognize you!"
As she spoke, she leaned closer, pressing against Jiu Li step by step, "Go find whoever you call a thief, why are you making things difficult for a mere woman? Do you think I'm easy to bully because I'm the only woman at home?"
Jiuli stepped back, making way for Yu Qi. The woman then pressed herself against Yu Qi, puffing out her chest even more, her fierce demeanor laced with seductive charm. "You even brought a man with you. Do you think you can do whatever you want with my man not at home? Humph, I know men like you all too well. You look respectable and noble, but you're full of wicked schemes. Have you been eyeing me for a while? What about stealing things from your house? I bet you're just using this as an excuse to come here and harass me."
This forced Yu Qi to take two steps back, and he and Jiu Li retreated into the alley.
The woman winked at him, then turned and went inside, slamming the door shut behind her.
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Author's note: Thank you for reading.
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