Chapter 8 The Amazing Lychee Garden (08) Her hair tickled his face...
"Master has not been very happy these past two days."
Early in the morning, Du Zhong, carrying a basket, slipped into the east wing and said this. Why did he need to say it? Didn't Jiu Li already know? Although Yu Qi was always so taciturn, whether happy or unhappy, outsiders couldn't see through it, but family members understood immediately. However, for some reason, no one dared to ask him.
She casually tossed the broken comb onto the dressing table, got up, and walked towards the bed, a hint of annoyance on her face. "Did he insult you?"
“He said the tea I brewed was bad, that I put in too much tea leaves and it was bitter.” Du Zhong moved the candlestick aside and put breakfast on the kang table. “I advise you to be honest. Whenever Master gets angry, it’s mostly because of you.”
"Did I cause this?" Her hair was disheveled and she shifted her position on the couch. "Since I came here, I haven't made a fuss about leaving or complained about anything. Why are you still being so disobedient? I think you're the one who caused this. Did you over-boil the medicine again? Or did you misjudge my pulse again?"
Du Zhong held a plate and pondered, "No, those old bastards have been saying these past two days that I'm a criminal and shouldn't be seen treating patients, so they won't let me take their pulses."
As Jiuli helped take the bowls and plates from the basket, she gloated, "Even if you're not the murderer, if you were to treat someone and administer medicine, you'd probably be charged with manslaughter."
"Go away!" Du Zhong glared at her angrily. "I think it's either because of the case. There's no progress from the yamen. Are they going to keep us locked up forever? Master is probably angry about this."
That must be the reason. They've been here for two days, and haven't found any new suspects. Those constables look fierce, but they're really useless. They've questioned everyone in the garden, and these two are still the most suspicious.
Fortunately, being labeled a "suspect" didn't make things too unpleasant for them. The room was furnished with a bed and mats, and there was food and drink. Apart from the gossip, there were no other worries. However, they heard that the aggrieved Lin family was in a hurry outside and was urging the magistrate to bring the two of them to court for torture. Yu Qi naturally refused and was currently in a silent struggle with the yamen. In the end, it was the two of them who caused the trouble.
Feeling guilty, Jiuli lost her appetite. She glanced at Du Zhong, who was happily eating, and couldn't help but shake her head and sigh, "He's like a bodhisattva in a temple—all he knows is how to eat."
Du Zhong, holding his bowl, mumbled, "What am I supposed to do if I don't eat? It's breakfast time!"
"Enough, enough, shut your mouth. Don't you know that you shouldn't talk while eating or sleeping?" Saying this, she got off the bed. "You eat, I'm going to see my uncle."
She hadn't changed her clothes yet, only wearing a light, dark purple silk long gown. When she went to the corridor, the wind blew, and the gown and skirt clung to her body, making her slender waist even more noticeable.
It was a bit cold, so she rubbed her arms as she went into the room. The outer room was empty, with a dim yellow light shining through the gauze curtains. A half-lit lamp on the desk reflected the hazy sky, making it impossible to tell whether it was morning or evening.
Yu Qi sat behind his desk drinking tea, half of his face bathed in the soft yellow light of the candlelight. His stubble on his chin was clean-shaven, making him look as young as before. He hadn't shaved when he moved to Liyuan that day, and it was unclear when he shaved it.
Jiuli was still used to him being like this; you couldn't tell his age. Anyone who met him for the first time was only amazed by his youth and achievements. She secretly hoped that he would never grow old. Perhaps this is how younger generations always see their elders—afraid that they will grow old, afraid that they will die.
The aroma of tea filled the air. He always drank a cup of tea early in the morning, skipping breakfast. This was a habit he picked up during their year of wandering. Back then, whenever they had a little money, they would prioritize feeding Jiuli. She herself didn't know why, but she seemed to have been very picky about food ever since she could remember.
Feeling a little embarrassed, she lowered her head and leaned against the door frame of the gauze-covered wardrobe, not daring to go inside.
Yu Qi was reading with his head down. Before he even saw her, he could smell her fragrance. Women are really strange; they are born with fragrances of all kinds.
He slowly raised one corner of his mouth, then belatedly wiped away the smile and looked up to see her standing there, seemingly sulking, her long hair loose in front of her, overly refined, lacking her usual spoiled and willful spirit. He frowned slightly, "Why didn't you put your hair up when you got up?"
"The comb broke." She said, seemingly with a hint of coquettishness.
He continued to bury his head in his book, fiddling with a small paper cutter on the table. "Isn't that young master Qi Xubai very polite to you? He has so many people under him, why don't you ask them to buy you a new one?" The knife looked gleaming, and he twirled it between his fingers, but it never managed to cut his hand.
His words sounded like he was offering advice, but his tone was indifferent, with a hint of sarcasm. He was a man of authority, yet he added the word "minor" before his name, as if he looked down on others. In any case, he disliked officials; he probably wouldn't even give the emperor a second glance.
She looked up at the sky, twisting a strand of hair between her fingers as she came in. "I didn't say much to him. That day he asked me about my parents, and I said that my parents died young, and you and Dad are brothers."
He chuckled, "You're quite clever."
"I won't tell everyone everything."
She walked over to him, bent down to see what he was reading—an ancient medical book, tattered beyond recognition. Her hair fell straight down to his chest, the strands tickling his face, so he brushed the book aside and glanced at her sideways.
She had just woken up, her face flushed, as if still warm from the blankets. He looked her up and down, thinking that the fabric of her clothes was incredibly soft, and that a gentle breeze could reveal her exquisite curves.
He looked away somewhat awkwardly. "You don't tie your hair up or change your clothes. This isn't home; you can't just do whatever you want here."
Jiuli stood up straight and tugged at her shirt. "Isn't this all neatly dressed? A shirt is a shirt, a skirt is a skirt, and it even covers the feet. What's there to be afraid of? You're just unhappy and picking on us!"
"When have you ever seen me unhappy?" Her voice softened considerably.
Jiuli knew he wasn't angry anymore, so she bent down again, grinned, and smiled at his face. "I was in a hurry to make you tea and didn't have time to change my clothes. But when I came over, I found that Du Zhong had already made it. He's always so good at playing tricks; he doesn't even give me a chance to be cute!"
He rolled up the book and turned slightly to the side, saying, "Then hurry back to your room and change your clothes."
"Then what about the combs? Those clumsy yamen runners don't know anything about these things, and they can't buy the right ones anyway."
He casually opened a box on the desk, took out a small ingot of silver and gave it to her, "Take this to the kitchen and give it to the cooks who come in and out to buy groceries, and ask them to buy it for you. Also, let them know what you want to eat."
"Isn't what we eat every day a set rule set by the government? I think we've been eating quite well these past two days."
He glanced at her, shook his head and laughed, “You really don’t know the cost of firewood and rice until you’re in charge of the household. There are nearly three hundred people in the entire Liyuan, including patients, doctors, yamen runners and waiters. At the rate you’ve been eating these past two days, how much grain has the imperial court been paying for it? The yamen’s rations are nothing but coarse chaff and rotten vegetables. If you’re willing to eat them, then let them eat them.”
Jiuli paced around the table, calculating carefully. "Didn't you say that when the plague broke out last year, it coincided with the little prince's first birthday? The Imperial Concubine, to accumulate merit and pray for her son's well-being, personally raised 50,000 taels of silver for the treatment of the plague in Nanjing? The imperial court also allocated 50,000 taels, making a total of 100,000 taels. After deducting consultation fees, the bulk of the cost was medicine. Of course, we didn't use expensive medicines like ginseng; we found cheaper alternatives with similar effects. In the past ten days or so, the medicine cost over 50,000 to 60,000 taels. The rest was for food. We couldn't afford delicacies, but we could always afford ordinary coarse grains and vegetables. Why would we eat bran?"
"You've miscalculated."
She protested, "How could you have miscalculated? I may not know the exact price, but I do know the approximate price."
The candlelight illuminated half of Yu Qi's cold face. "Ten thousand taels of silver is just a number. If even half of it actually ends up in Nanjing, that would be a stroke of luck. And you haven't even factored in the hard-earned expenses for the officials at all levels in Nanjing."
Jiuli was shocked. "At this rate, when will these patients recover? Don't you always say that illness is 50% medical treatment and 50% recuperation? They can't even get enough to eat, how can they be recuperated?"
“That’s why your illness has been so long and difficult to cure.” Yu Qi looked at her for a moment, then his smile faded. “It’s none of your business. Go and call Zhong’er. It’s time for his consultation.”
She went back to her room to call Du Zhong, and coincidentally, several doctors living in the back also came out from the doorway in the left corner of the corridor and came to meet her in front of Yu Qi's door. When they saw that Du Zhong was going with them today, they started to complain. Jiu Li changed her clothes and listened in from under the corridor. It turned out that they were still complaining that Du Zhong was a "murderer".
Among them, Doctor Xu Qing spoke the most rudely, deliberately chuckling to everyone, "Is it fair to send a murderer to treat someone? I've never heard of a ghost coming to a sickbed to save a life instead of doing its job."
Comparing Eucommia ulmoides to a ghostly messenger who takes souls implies that Yu Qi is none other than Yama, the King of Hell.
Everyone laughed and agreed, but Jiu Li couldn't stand it. He cursed "old thief" under his breath and walked along the east corridor. "Uncle Xu, you're so energetic this early in the morning? Tsk tsk, you're really vigorous for your age. You must be sixty years old this year, right? I can't believe it. I think you're only fifty-five at most."
Xu Qing's expression changed, and she glared at him, "I'm only forty-three this year!"
"Oh dear, forty-three?" She feigned a look of regret and disbelief, sizing him up and down before her expression softened into a cheerful one. "Then why are you arguing with us juniors? Anyone with a bit of sense knows that the government's detention of my brother and me here is just for show. People say a broad mind leads to a plump body. You've worked so hard selling medicine by the ounce to get this big belly, it's big enough to hold a boat, how could it not accommodate a little Eucommia ulmoides?"
Since Xu Qing stopped growing taller, he has only gained weight, getting fatter year by year, until now he can't see his toes when he stands up straight. Officials dislike obesity, and so do pharmacists. People say that the medicine sold in his shop is the most unfair. Some even say that when the epidemic first broke out, he secretly colluded with the county magistrate, having the government announce that his medicine was good. He made a lot of money and then split the profits with the magistrate, which is why the epidemic has been delayed until now.
This was an open secret in the industry, so he felt guilty when people said he was fat. He coughed twice and turned to look at Yu Qi, "Mr. Yu, your young lady is really—it doesn't matter if she offends us, we won't hold it against the little girl. But there are many government officials coming and going in the garden, so don't offend them. For the sake of your Yu family's safety, you should discipline her. Look at her, a young lady like her, not even combing her hair in the morning."
Unexpectedly, Yu Qi showed no politeness whatsoever, saying indifferently, "The affairs of my Yu family are none of the concern of outsiders, and the people of my Yu family are not to be instructed by outsiders. Please, everyone, if you wish to linger here, you may simply return to your rooms to rest, and you need not seek medical attention today."
This was an official task, so how could anyone dare to openly shirk their duties? They had no choice but to ask him to leave.
The courtyard was deserted for a while. Jiuli had nothing to do after returning to her room, so she took the money and went to the kitchen to ask someone to buy her a comb.
As they walked, the sky grew brighter and the sun rose. The spring shade was still thin, and the shadows of the flowers were dappled. This garden was truly well-maintained, but it lacked a gardener to tend to it, and the branches and leaves were overgrown. Now that a murder had occurred, those who had recovered were not allowed to leave the garden for the time being, and those who were slightly better did not dare to go out. The streets were deserted and desolate, with only a few yamen runners and people delivering things moving about, creating a great sense of desolation.
In the kitchen, the servants were still brewing medicine. Upon seeing Jiu Li, they could tell from her eyes that she was the same servant Yu who had sneaked into the garden last time. They also knew that she was actually a young lady from the Yu family in disguise, and that she was being held here as a suspect.
However, most of the people had changed their previous anger and crowded around. One of them walked backwards in front, picked a flower from somewhere, and handed it to her solicitously, saying, "Miss hasn't combed her hair yet this morning. Perfect timing, I just picked this flower in the garden for you to wear."
Jiuli took it. "You still recognize me?"
"Of course I recognize you! We've even spoken before!"
Her expression changed, she threw the flowers at him, and glared angrily at everyone, "So you're the ones who told the officials that Du Zhong and I killed someone?"
Those people hurriedly defended themselves, "It wasn't us! We only said that you had delivered medicine to Master Lin, we didn't say anything else!" As they spoke, they pointed to the opposite corridor, "It was him, he was a servant of the Xu family, he muttered a few more words."
Jiuli glanced at the waiter from afar, raised her chin, and said, "Forget it, you're all telling the truth anyway, so I don't blame you. But we didn't kill anyone. Killing people takes too much effort, and I'm too lazy to do it."
"That's right, that's right. How could someone as delicate as Miss possibly wield a knife and kill someone? Don't be afraid, Miss. The authorities will be able to investigate and find out the truth in a few days."
Amidst the commotion, a woman suddenly appeared from the kitchen, grabbed Jiu Li, and shooed the group away, yelling, "Get out of here, you bunch of little monkeys! Circling around a girl like that, aren't you afraid of scaring her?!"
It turned out to be Aunt Wu, who was in charge of purchasing for the kitchen. She was plump and nearly forty years old. She was a kind-hearted person. Moreover, in the past, people in the garden would give money to add vegetables. Apart from a few patients from wealthy families, the Yu family gave the most. She earned a lot of money from the Yu family, so she naturally treated Jiu Li differently.
A note from the author:
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Thank you for reading.
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