Chapter 155: Seeking Help
Liu Wu Niang's parents only have her as a daughter. Aunt Liu San has four daughters and two sons, but her husband passed away early, so the two families lived together.
Liu Wuniang fainted due to excessive grief. Liu Dalang went to the county to find a doctor, who prescribed medicine for her. She drank it and did not wake up until the evening.
Jiang Shuyi, who was told by Aunt Liu to "take good care of your mother at night," breathed a sigh of relief and waved her hand in front of her eyes: "Are you awake? Are you feeling unwell?"
Liu Wuniang shook her head and sat up.
She wanted to get out of bed, but Jiang Shuyi quickly stopped her: "What are you doing? Just lie down properly."
Liu Wuniang: "I'll go make a clean bed for you."
Jiang Shuyi pushed her back: "Aunt San said that there is only one bed, so let me sleep on it with you."
Liu Wuniang shook her head: "She doesn't know who I am. You nobles love cleanliness. Even the maids who serve you personally cannot use the bedding at home when they return home, let alone things that someone like me has touched."
Jiang Shuyi did hate places like brothels, and she was a little disgusted with Liu Wuniang at first, but that was before Liu Wuniang saved her with a brick.
She pressed the wooden bed to make sure it could bear the weight of two people, then sat on it.
She thought about lying down and taking a rest. After all, she had been walking for several days in a row and her bones were almost falling apart. However, as soon as she touched the pillow, she faintly smelled a smell.
She was unsure and wanted to get closer to smell it, but when she saw the moldy spots, she was so scared that she jumped off the bed.
“It’s moldy!”
Jiang Shuyi pointed at the pillow, and the hair on her body stood up.
Liu Wuniang took a look and said indifferently: "This pillow has been stored for a long time, it is probably a little damp. Our family is poor, and you will live here in the future, so you will inevitably see rats and bugs. It's considered good if it gets moldy."
Jiang Shuyi doesn't want to live here!
She was just thinking about comforting Liu Wuniang, but now she wanted to cry. She stamped her feet and said, "I'm so tired, I want to sleep, I can't stand your bed, go buy me a new one!"
Liu Wuniang had a headache: "If we were in Manchunlou, you would be beaten for doing this."
Jiang Shuyi's eyes were red: "If you find it annoying, just send me back to the capital. I miss my husband. I miss him so much. He can buy things for me and give you a lot of money!"
Liu Wuniang lay back down, turned over and said with her back to her: "I'll go to the county to rent a house for you tomorrow."
She also has to find a job to support herself and not just live off of others.
When Jiang Shuyi heard about going to the county, she immediately shut up.
In this way, can she find the local county magistrate to help her return to Beijing?
Jiang Shuyi became much more obedient and sat back on the stool. Afraid that Liu Wuniang would become suspicious, she tried her best to find a topic to divert her attention: "Who is the rich man who bought you? Did he let you run Manchunlou for so many years? Tell me, I might know him."
Liu Wuniang didn't want to talk about that past: "Your husband is an official in the court, so he must know him, but even if he is a high-ranking official, he dare not touch him."
Jiang Shuyi snorted with disdain.
Liu Wuniang said nothing more.
Jiang Shuyi sat on the stool all night.
She wanted to take a nap on her knees, but mosquitoes were flying everywhere and she couldn't hide from their bites.
If she couldn't escape to the county tomorrow, she would have collapsed.
They finally made it to dawn, when Liu Wu Niang went to burn incense for her parents and then took her on a ox cart to the county.
It was early market time in the county.
Jiang Shuyi really couldn't eat the Liu family's lumpy porridge. It made her feel nauseous just by looking at it, so she came out on an empty stomach. Liu Wuniang bought her a bun.
Jiang Shuyi bit a bun and followed Liu Wuniang who was asking around for a vacant room.
There were cheap ones, but Jiang Shuyi disliked them all. She reluctantly chose a house with two entrances, but the owner wanted a minimum two-year rent, and Liu Wuniang didn't have that much money.
In the end, Liu Wuniang simply opened an inn and let Jiang Shuyi live there first. She went to find a job, paid Jiang Shuyi one month's wages on credit, and then rented a house.
As soon as Jiang Shuyi left, her mind became active.
She stood by the window, looking in the direction Liu Wuniang was going, feeling her heart beating like a drum, and knew that the opportunity had come.
"Tsui Er, do you listen to me?"
Cui Er was making the bed. She was startled when she heard this and turned back in confusion: "Did this servant do anything wrong? I have always been very obedient."
Jiang Shuyi knew that this little girl was stupid, so she didn't bother to talk too much, and said as calmly as possible: "Don't bother to clean up, just come with me, and I'll let you eat meat every meal from now on."
Cui'er was puzzled, but she wanted to eat meat, so she obeyed.
Jiang Shuyi took Cui'er downstairs.
There were a few men drinking in the hall on the first floor. They took a quick glance and saw a beauty they had never seen before, and their eyes were immediately fixed on her.
They were laughing and talking about dirty things, as if they wanted to attract Jiang Shuyi's attention.
Jiang Shuyi gritted her teeth secretly.
Just wait, when she returns to the capital, let Pei Yan kill them.
The shopkeeper was cleaning his abacus when he saw the young lady coming over. He quickly asked, "Is there anything you want? We have food and drinks here."
Jiang Shuyi was penniless, so naturally she couldn't give a reward, so she could only ask, "Where is the county government office?"
The shopkeeper looked her over and asked, "What are you doing at the county government office, young lady?"
Jiang Shuyi could sense the dirty looks falling on her from behind, and deliberately raised her voice and said, "My cousin works in the county government, I want to go find him."
The shopkeeper suddenly realized: "Go east and walk to the end. Then go north for less than two miles and you will reach the county government office."
Jiang Shuyi thanked them and took Cui'er out of the inn.
Cui'er could tell the directions clearly. The county town was not big, and she quickly found the gate of the county government following the directions of the shopkeeper.
Coincidentally, an official sedan chair also came slowly towards this side at this time. There were yamen runners on both sides of the sedan chair, and it was obvious who was sitting inside.
This saves a lot of effort.
Jiang Shuyi walked forward, but was discovered by the yamen runners within two steps. They shouted at her, "Stop! Who dares to disturb the county magistrate?"
Jiang Shuyi did not dare to say directly that she was a noble concubine. She estimated that the county magistrate would not believe it, so she continued to say to Liu Wuniang: "My husband is an official in Beijing. I was lured here. Please ask the county magistrate to send someone to send me back to Beijing. My husband will reward me handsomely!"
The bailiff glanced at her, then bent down and knocked respectfully on the wall of the sedan chair.
After a while, the curtain of the sedan chair was lifted by a thin white hand. The county magistrate looked out from the window and saw a handsome young man in his twenties.
He raised his eyebrows, looked Jiang Shuyi up and down, and asked slowly, "From the capital?"
Jiang Shuyi was anxious to ask for help, and didn't care to find out why he was offended by her gaze: "Yes!"
The county magistrate laughed and asked: "What official position does your husband hold?"
Jiang Shuyi was afraid that he would not believe her if she told him too much, so she could only tell him something smaller: "My husband is a fourth-rank official, serving under Chu Ang, the commander of the Beijing Camp. If you don't believe it, please send someone to Beijing to ask Chu Ang whether his confidant has lost his wife."
The county magistrate looked at Jiang Shuyi again, this time his smile faded a little, and he shook his head, with some regret in his voice: "The official is a bit high-ranking, it's not easy to handle."
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