Chapter 58 If we conspire, then let’s go together.
Song Jin returned to Shi Ding Lou, but he had already lost his position as the shopkeeper and completely became a kitchen servant, even lower than the two maids. But Song Jin had to endure this until Hong Xing brought out a bag of broken porcelain slag.
It was a Dehua white-glazed tea set that Song Jin once treasured, but it was accidentally broken when the servants came to search for silver.
That was Song Jin's dream, a short dream about a beloved and freedom, which has now been shattered.
She squatted beside the bed, holding the crumbs and crying for a long time before getting up and going to the kitchen.
That night, Song Jin had a dream in which sticks fell on her again and again. However, the location was not the Bai family's firewood room, but a brick house from the 20th century.
Some memories buried deep inside will become Song Jin's nightmare again with just a slight touch.
Song Jin was beaten, and the Chai family invited a medical officer for Bao Bao's sake. Before leaving, Mrs. Chai showed mercy and gave all the medicine and prescription to Song Jin. Others were not so lucky.
A Rong and his two assistants were beaten, but they endured it until Song Jin came back and gave them the medicine.
Later, the medicine that Song Jin brought back was finished, and the silver was gone, so there was no more medicine. Instead, A Rong took out some copper coins to buy medicine.
In this way, several people took medicine while working, and Quan Rui and Hong Yun did not allow them to rest.
The bruises on his body were not serious. Song Jin only felt some pain in his thigh bone. He could neither rest nor see a doctor, so he ended up limping.
Chunyun and Baobao had an appointment and went to Chai's house every few days. Every time, Song Jin would prepare snacks and teach her how to tell stories in advance before watching her go.
Baobao likes Chunyun's story very much.
Everything went according to plan, except for one unexpected incident.
That morning, someone suddenly came to the store and said he wanted to see the store owner, Wen.
Song Jin walked out wondering, she hadn't been the shopkeeper for some time, who was looking for her?
When I went out to take a look, it turned out to be a servant of Ji Shubai.
"Shopkeeper Wen, my master wants some snacks."
Song Jin said in a low voice: "I am no longer the shopkeeper of Shi Ding Lou. As for the dim sum your master wants, may I ask what kind of dim sum he wants?"
"My master said that any kind of snacks are fine, but he just wants to eat the snacks made by the shopkeeper. From now on, please ask the shopkeeper to personally deliver them to the government office at 3 p.m. every day."
Song Jin scratched his palm with his fingers, thinking carefully about the reason. The servant just emphasized that the snacks would be delivered personally at 3 p.m. every day, no matter what kind.
After this was said, everyone understood that sending snacks was fake, and letting Song Jin go over was real.
Even if Quan Rui and Hong Yun understood, they were powerless to stop it. Ji Shubai, a class of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, had suppressed them countless times.
This time Song Jin did not do anything weird. He brewed a cup of milk tea that was not too strong, sealed it in a ceramic pot, held it in the palm of his hand, while it was still hot, and limped over to the customer.
Fortunately, the government office was not far away, and the milk tea was still warm, so they arrived.
Ji Shubai was sitting in a small study in the government office, concentrating on writing something. The servant led her in and then left, so she had to stand there and wait.
After a while, Ji Shubai finally stopped writing and looked up. Seeing Song Jin still standing, he said, "Put your things down and sit down."
Song Jin was a little difficult to adapt to the sudden change.
"Master Ji asked me to come here, is there something?"
Ji Shubai sat on an armchair, motioned to Song Jin to put the milk tea on the square table, and asked someone to bring cups. When pouring the milk tea, he gave a cup to Song Jin and asked her to sit down and drink tea with him.
Song Jin was a little flattered and didn't know what Ji Shubai was planning.
"Your milk tea is good. It makes me feel refreshed." Ji Shubai took a sip and chatted while holding the cup: "I just don't know how long I will stay awake tonight."
Song Jin knew that he found this milk tea very refreshing, and hurriedly explained: "In fact, the tea soup was a little thick last time, so it is much lighter this time. It won't keep you awake."
Ji Shubai said nonchalantly: "In fact, I hope it can refresh my mind. It's the end of the year, and many things need to be done this year. I have to be more energetic. It can help me."
Ji Shubai shook the cup, and Song Jin just smiled and said nothing.
She has become much more restrained.
"Come to think of it, your milk tea is pretty new. Who did you learn it from?"
It sounded like he was asking, or just casually, but Song Jin knew that his identity as a servant had been exposed, and it was no longer acceptable to use the excuse of being an old slave from Guangdong.
But this time she didn't lie, she just kept her mouth shut.
Ji Shubai saw her embarrassment and stopped asking questions, but just changed the subject.
"Chai Heng has already told me about your situation, but I really can't help you..."
"I know, Master Ji," Song Jin said, stopping Ji Shubai from defending himself, and defended him: "To me, my suffering is real, but to you, I am just one of the millions of servants. All the suffering I have experienced is just a microcosm. You can't help me, just like you can't help those millions of people. It's easy to save one person, but difficult to save millions of people. If you open this door, I'm afraid that countless people will come to you for help in the future. I understand, so you don't have to feel guilty about it."
Ji Shubai lowered his eyes, neither admitting nor denying, and only added: "You shouldn't have taken advantage of Bao Bao, she is still young and very innocent, and shouldn't have been involved."
He could accept that Song Jin lied to him, but it was hard for him to accept that he used Bao Bao to escape from citizenship.
People always have to have a bottom line.
Song Jin did not argue and tacitly accepted the accusation.
After drinking the milk tea, Song Jin stood up to say goodbye. It was only at this moment that Ji Shubai saw Song Jin's limping leg.
"What's wrong with your leg?" Ji Shubai understood as soon as he finished asking: "There is a doctor in the government office. I'll ask him to take a look."
Song Jin returned to his usual calm demeanor and said with a polite smile, "Thank you, Master Ji. It's just a minor injury. It's nothing serious. It will heal naturally after some time."
After saying that, he walked towards the door. When he reached the door, he turned back and asked Ji Shubai as if to confirm: "My Lord said that he would ask me to bring snacks every day from now on. You won't change your mind, right?"
"No, just deliver it. I'll ask someone to settle the bill on time."
Song Jin smiled and walked out the door.
Life went on as usual. Chunyun would go to the Chai family from time to time, and Song Jin would go to the government office every afternoon. Sometimes they would chat for a while, and sometimes they would not see each other. It was unexpectedly peaceful and quiet.
Once, Ji Shubai asked her how she was doing now that she was no longer the shopkeeper. Song Jin smiled and answered him that with his business, she could get by no matter how bad her life was.
Ji Shubai seemed very satisfied with this answer because she saw the corners of his mouth curled up.
The days passed quickly. Since the twelfth lunar month, the whole Suzhou became bustling with activity. Every household put up door gods, hung lanterns, and worshipped the Kitchen God, while Song Jin was always busy in the kitchen.
Even though she cooks the most dishes, she is absolutely not allowed to touch the Kitchen God offering.
Not only her, but all women are not allowed to do so.
This twelfth lunar month did not bring her any joy, but became even busier. On the day of the Little New Year, Quan Rui and Hong Yun returned to the Wen family. Chun Yun whispered to Song Jin that she would take her to a "secluded" place to find silver.
Song Jin followed Chunyun and soon arrived at that "secluded" place.
This "secluded" place is not secluded at all. It is located in a toilet not far from Shiding Building.
It turned out that Chunyun felt uneasy after seeing Song Jin leave that day, and kept looking out the door. Then she found the servants of the Bai family coming towards her aggressively, and she knew that something had happened to Song Jin.
So he quickly went back to the house, took out the box, slipped out through the corner door of the backyard, and decisively threw it into the pit.
Song Jin said that silver is silver no matter where it comes from, but when she was really faced with a pool of feces and urine, she was in trouble again.
"How about... we find two ruffians to help us fish it out?"
That's all we can do.
In order to fish out the box of silver, Song Jin spent two cents of silver.
Stinky silver is still silver and it is especially useful.
The two men poured water over the box, took out the silver inside and stuffed it into their clothes. Fortunately, Song Jin walked in a strange posture and no one noticed anything.
In this way, the silver that was originally thought to be lost returned to Song Jin's hands.
This time she chose to dig a hole under the bed in the room and bury the silver directly in it. It was all mud anyway and easy to dig.
Song Jin was digging hard under the bed when Hong Xing Cai Wei suddenly came in and was shocked to see the scene.
"My little aunt, what are you doing?" Caiwei walked over and asked, and Hongxing turned around and closed the door.
"Digging a hole."
Song Jin spoke briefly and without stopping, while Caiwei lay on the edge of the bed and said, "Aunt, you can do whatever you want, but please don't drag us down, okay? Wasn't the trouble you caused last time enough? If you come again, will everyone be dead?"
Caiwei was right. Several people were beaten because of her. It was totally an unprovoked disaster.
But Song Jin...
Song Jin crawled out from under the bed, his face showing an unusually determined expression: "This time it will definitely work, not only can I go, but we can all go together."
"Are you crazy?" Hong Xing also came over to stop her: "Grandmother hates you and would rather torture you than let you go."
Song Jin said: "Don't worry, I will do this. Even if it fails, it shouldn't implicate you. If you want to leave, just come with me."
Hong Xing Cai Wei was stunned. What kind of words were these?
"This isn't an easy matter. Should we invite A-Rong and the others to discuss this together?"
Hong Xing asked tentatively, and Song Jin agreed.
Song Jin, Caiwei, Hongxing and Chunyun, together with Arong and two of their assistants, huddled together to discuss how to leave their citizenship and their future plans.
Caiwei said: "I should have been married at my age. If I could stay in the house, maybe I could find someone to marry. Here, my life is over."
Hong Xing said, "It would be great if I could get rid of my citizenship and go home, but...if I go back, I'm afraid it won't be a good solution."
Song Jin knew that she was sold by her father in the first place, and if she went back and sold her again, it would be all in vain.
When it was Arong's turn, he didn't say anything, but asked Song Jin first: "Did you see Du Juan when you went home last time?"
Song Jin suddenly remembered that loud slap.
"Yes."
The voice was a little low, and Ah Rong noticed it: "But the situation is not good?"
Song Jin lowered his head and said nothing, which was considered as his agreement.
Ah Rong sighed: "I originally agreed with Du Juan that I would marry her in the future, but now that things are going on, I don't know if it will still work out."
Ah Rong started to cry as she spoke: "She was serving Grandmother well, and I was doing well in the mansion, but now this has happened. Grandmother being angry is a small matter, but what if she refuses to marry Dujuan to me?"
Song Jin herself is a dull person. In her previous life, she was extremely slow to react to gossip around her, and she had never been in love. She didn't expect that when she came to this world, the first couple she met would be right next to her, but she was completely unaware.
"If I leave and Du Juan stays in the Chai family, won't I have even less hope?"
Song Jin understood that the nobles and the common people could not marry each other, so they had to either renounce their citizenship together or stay together. However, even if they stayed together, they might not be able to be together.
From the way she treated Ye Wenfu, it was clear that Wen Ya was a person with a strong sense of revenge and would never let them get their way easily.
"Then let's go together."
Everyone was stunned: "Do you think you are a god? How can we walk together?"
Hong Xing reminded her: "If you go out, how will you live?"
Song Jin threw the bag of silver on the table and said, "I will take care of the denaturalization. If it succeeds, we can all go together. If it fails, I will bear the responsibility alone and will not drag anyone down. If we can get out, this bag of silver will give us confidence. We can rent a shop and open a restaurant, and we will be able to support ourselves."
Everyone was looking at the bag of silver. Everything could be fake, except the silver.
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