Chapter 128 My old master didn’t say he wanted to marry me.
Ji Shubai escorted Song Jin back to the stall. It happened that several people were there. Seeing him coming back, he politely invited him to drink milk tea. Ji Shubai didn't mind. He stood by the roadside holding a bowl of milk tea, drinking and chatting with everyone. He didn't leave until he finished drinking.
"Remember to wait until the weather warms up so we can go on a spring outing together."
He instructed Song Jin like this, and Song Jin agreed.
Things sold well during the Lantern Festival, especially hot milk tea and double skin milk on a freezing night. Song Jin specially prepared small portions that could be tasted for just one or two copper coins. Rather than selling for money, it was more like promotion, and he planned to sell them from the day the lanterns were turned on to the day they were turned off.
Now that the things in his carrying pole were almost sold out, Song Jin no longer had the mood to hang around, so he decided to go back first.
The journey was not short, so after the two servants had packed up, they picked up their loads and went back with Song Jin and the others.
The group of people were chattering as they had been when they first came, but Song Jin didn't say much.
She still felt uneasy.
"Where is your lantern?" Chunyun couldn't help asking when she saw that her hands were empty.
"I accidentally broke it, Master Ji, please help me get it fixed."
"What a pity! By the time you finish repairing it, the first month of the lunar year will have passed and the lanterns will no longer be fresh."
Song Jin forced a smile. She didn't care whether the lanterns appeared in accordance with the season or not. She just secretly hoped that Ji Shubai would help her fix it, just like fixing her mood tonight.
During the Lantern Festival, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse. Song Jin was annoyed by the people around her, so she looked up to see the moonlight. However, Chunyun's hand holding hers suddenly tightened, and she kept shaking her and stopped walking.
"What's wrong?" Song Jin asked in confusion.
Du Juan on the other side also came over, winked at her, and told her to look ahead.
Wen Ya, dressed in brocade and with her hair adorned with pearls and jade, walked over surrounded by a group of maids and servants, and Wen Xin followed beside her.
"Oh, isn't this the little slave Mancao? I haven't seen her for a few months and she's almost unrecognizable." Wen Xin started to say something unkind: "Aunt, you see, I told you she had a lot of tricks to get close to people in the government. Last time I heard that many people came to Ji Tongzhi's house and specially invited her over. I don't know what they talked about. I'm afraid those people may not know that she used to be our little slave."
When Song Jin mentioned the little servant, his heart sank.
Wen Ya had a cold face and let Wen Xin gossip in her ear. After he finished speaking, he walked in front of Song Jin.
Dujuan, Chunyun and others all bowed to Wenya, except Song Jin, who remained motionless.
"Humph! You are still as unruly as ever. I am guilty of my duty."
Wen Ya said with a familiar fake smile: "You know that once you become a slave, you will be lowly for life. Even if you are freed from slavery and meet your former master, you will still be inferior to others."
Song Jin couldn't stand this anger: "This is your family's rule, what does it have to do with me? My Lu Jin's household registration is not registered under your Bai family's name, don't tell me your family's rules."
"Your words are as annoying as before. You don't really think that you have become fearless now that you have been stripped of your citizenship, do you? You just had dinner and chatted with Master Ji. Do you think he will take you seriously? If he really likes you, he should come to propose marriage instead of dating you in such an unclear way while you are wearing men's clothes. I think you look so ugly that you can even be a concubine."
"Stop scolding my daughter!"
Before Song Jin could say anything, a figure suddenly jumped up from behind him and pushed Wen Ya backwards. If the maid and servant behind him had not caught her quickly, she would have rolled to the ground.
"When my daughter was sick at your house, you refused to call a doctor for her, and you refused to let me take her away. You harmed her! You harmed her!"
Mrs. Chen suddenly started howling, rushed over and started beating and scolding. Everyone was shocked for a moment.
A woman who was usually taciturn suddenly went crazy and no one could stop her. Wen Xin walked to the front to stop her, but Mrs. Chen slapped her loudly.
By the time everyone finally managed to separate the two groups, it was already chaos.
There were bright red palm prints on Wen Xin's face, Wen Ya's clothes were torn, and the servants and maids blocking the way in front were even more miserable. Song Jin's side was not much better, with her hair disheveled and her hairpins falling off. No one got away with anything.
"Well, you actually dared to attack your former master. This is outrageous. Just wait for me. All of you, just wait for me!"
Wen Ya had never been so humiliated before, even in the street. She uttered a few harsh words, and walked away angrily with the help of her servants, leaving Song Jin and others sitting there paralyzed.
Mrs. Chen burst into tears, shouting, "My son—"
Song Jin didn't know how to comfort her.
It was already late at night when they returned home. The door of the shop was half closed and half open. When they walked in, they saw Arong sitting in the hall waiting.
"You guys are finally back. What's going on? Why is it so messed up?"
Song Jin didn't have time to answer for a moment, so he just asked him to help carry the crying Mrs. Chen into the house.
Old Lu drank a lot that night and was already dizzy. He asked A Rong to help him into the house and went to bed early. At this moment, Song Jin and others came in and made a noise, and the crying of Mrs. Chen woke him up.
"It's a big festival, why are you crying? Don't you think it's unlucky?"
Old Lu turned over in bed and continued to sleep impatiently. Mrs. Chen leaned over the table and sobbed quietly. She refused to say anything no matter who asked her. Only Song Jin pretended to be confused in front of everyone even though he knew the truth.
At that moment, she felt like an outsider, even like a fly.
In the past, she lived quietly and comfortably in this deserted corner. However, as her fame grew and her life became better and better, she thought she could walk out with honor, but suddenly she was slapped in the face, which taught her to recognize who she is.
She was just a house slave, and even if she was freed from her civil service she would still be a good servant. The word "slave" was imprinted on Song Jin's face like a brand, and she could not get rid of it.
But she was unwilling to give in and she just wanted to fight for it.
Wen Ya was tricked by Song Jin and was angry. Song Jin was even angrier. He said that even when meeting her former master she had to be inferior to him, but she refused to follow that rule.
No one was at peace that night, everyone was worried, and Song Jin was even more confused. It was supposed to be a festive holiday, but it turned out like this.
Dujuan and Chunyun were busy fetching water and took Song Jin to wash together. When she was taking off her clothes, it was Chunyun who helped her check carefully to see if the clothes were damaged. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found that they were not torn.
"Fortunately, the clothes are not torn. If there was a hole, it would be a pity. We don't have the material to mend it."
Song Jin was not in the mood to pay attention to that dress today. She missed Ji Shubai a little.
She wondered, if he had been standing by her side today, would they still dare to do this to her?
Definitely not.
She slipped into bed, silent. She began to wonder whether she was thinking about Ji Shubai so much because of him as a person, or because of the power under his official hat.
But his home seemed to be in chaos. His wife didn't seem like a good person, and he didn't know how Pei Danyang would view him.
This world is a mess.
Chunyun acted like a little adult, blew out the lights, got into bed, tucked in the quilt for her, and then slept next to her.
She was very well behaved and knew that Song Jin didn't want to talk. She was extremely quiet at the moment, but in the darkness, Song Jin asked her a question.
"Chunyun, what do you think of Master Ji?"
"Yes, of course."
"Then marrying Master Ji wouldn't be a bad idea, would it?"
"Are you going to marry Master Ji?"
In the darkness, she heard Song Jin sneer, "He didn't say he wanted to marry me."
Chunyun didn't say anything else. She asked again, "What are the rules for our marriage?"
"Getting married? Of course, there needs to be a matchmaker, exchange of marriage certificates, and dowry. It's quite a lot of work."
"Do they meet often?"
"I heard that some people have seen it, and some people haven't. You can only see the person after you lift the veil in the bridal chamber."
Song Jin blinked in the darkness but could see nothing.
For her and Ji Shubai, this should be very unruly, right? It's okay for her to be unruly, but why is Ji Shubai also so unruly?
This was quite different from her impression of Ji Shubai. She felt as if she had never really known Ji Shubai.
A sleepless night.
Song Jin will go to the Chai family to teach Bao Bao next month, and now he is handing over all matters in the store.
The shop is not big and there are not many diners, but the supply of milk tea in the government office is on the agenda again, so Song Jin took the waiter to order milk. From then on, all matters here were left to the waiter, and she only came back regularly every month to check the accounts.
That afternoon, the runners from the yamen came to take away the milk tea, so Song Jin took Meng Qi to order some milk, and then went to buy duck eggs. She had to teach him in detail how to make preserved eggs. She wanted to make more in the spring. After all, they would go bad easily if she made them in the summer, so she had to prepare them in advance so that when the weather got hot, she could sell cold preserved eggs in the shop.
Next is the mugwort, which also needs to be planted. I have to inform the Chai family about this first, and then go to the field.
In short, she was busy, very busy, so busy that she had to put on men's clothes again and run around with her servants.
I don’t know if it was because of the snow that fell last winter, but the ducks ate the snow and didn’t lay many eggs. Song Jin didn’t buy many duck eggs that day. The two of them walked back each carrying half a box of duck eggs.
While Song Jin was explaining to Meng Qi how to make the preserved egg, he walked forward and suddenly saw a familiar face in the crowd. Before he could remember who that person was, the person started shouting.
"Creeper?"
Song Jin froze there, watching Mo Hongfu approaching with ill intentions: "Isn't this the girl from the Lu family? Why is she running around on the street in men's clothes? This old Lu family has no rules. Come on, I'll teach you the rules."
After saying that, he didn't care about Song Jin's reaction, he grabbed her hand and pulled her forward. Song Jin didn't struggle for a moment, and the basket in her hand fell to the ground, and the clear and yellow egg liquid flowed all over the floor, making it dirty.
"What are you doing?"
Song Jin struggled desperately, and Meng Qi came to help from behind: "Why are you pulling my shopkeeper?"
"Shopkeeper? What a joke! This is the first time I've seen a shopkeeper dressed as a man. Who knows what kind of business you do in your shop? I'm afraid it's a shameful business. Come on, follow me to the government office to see the officials. I want to sue you for dressing as a man. It's immoral. Come on!"
Song Jin's wrist was pinched so hard that it hurt, but he couldn't struggle. Meng Qi came over and stood between the two of them.
"Which article of the Ming Dynasty law stipulates that women cannot be shopkeepers? Who stipulates that women cannot dress up as men? What right do you have to drag our shopkeeper to see the official?"
"It's not your turn to speak here. If you have the guts, go speak to the government."
After that, he started pushing and shoving Meng Qi, attracting a crowd of people to watch. Mo Hongfu started yelling:
"Come and see, everyone, come and see, there is a woman dressed as a man and hanging out with men, everyone, come and see!"
"Isn't this the shopkeeper of Lu's Food Store?"
"Yes, I've seen him before. He can tell stories."
"Is it a girl?"
"Who knows?"
......
Song Jin was caught by Mo Hongfu and couldn't break free. She saw the crowd surrounding her, but she didn't know whether it was a crime for a woman to dress as a man to do business in the Ming Dynasty.
"Get out of the way! What are you all doing here?"
A group of government officials gathered around, and Mo Hongfu said quickly, "Sir, come and see, I caught a woman who was dressed as a man and was having sex with a man."
After hearing this, the officer glanced at Song Jin and said, "Take him away."
"Sir, who said that a woman dressed as a man should be taken away?"
A slap hit Meng Qi's face.
"Do I need to give you an explanation for what I did? Get lost!"
Meng Qi was stunned by the slap, and Song Jin was even more stunned. A group of officers surrounded him and pushed Song Jin forward without knowing the truth.
It was like a flood or a mudslide, rushing over without warning in broad daylight. Song Jin didn't even have the chance to shout. She was pushed forward and stumbled forward. It was not until the drum outside the government office was struck that she woke up from her dream.
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