"No!" I happily went to his side: "Do you know who was making a fuss just now? It was that idiot from the restaurant yesterday."
"What's there to be happy about seeing him?" Xie Yuancheng prepared the dipping sauce for me: "Ying'er, try it quickly, it's a new dish recently, see if you like it."
The aroma alone was enough to make me focus on the new pastries: "They're so delicious! Is this fried meat? Otherwise, how can they be so crispy?"
"Yes, this is a recipe I made for Ying'er. You always like to eat out~"
"No way, it's just that you've taken such good care of me that I wanted to go out and have a look around." I leaned against Xie Yuancheng and handed him a cup of milk tea.
Xie Yuancheng had just taken a small sip, and I hadn't even sat down at the table yet, when there was a knock on the door.
I was getting a little annoyed. I put the milk tea on the table and said in a somewhat unfriendly tone, "Who are you? Male or female? If you have nothing to say, get lost!"
"Young master, would you like a handkerchief?" It was that girl named Ye Ye again, and my tone became even more unpleasant.
"I have hundreds of embroiderers at home, and countless silks and satins waiting for me to choose from. Who do you think you are, daring to come here to sell handkerchiefs? Are your waiters useless? How could I let you in here and bring bad luck upon yourself? Aren't you afraid of ruining your business?"
I turned away to the other side, still angry. Xie Yuancheng leaned on my shoulder and comforted me, "Ying'er, don't be angry. I'll punish them properly later."
"Hmph! How annoying! Nobody ever used to come into the building to sell things. Her handkerchief is poorly embroidered; she's probably just pretending to be pitiful. She's so blind!"
"Yes, he angered my wife. I'll have the manager come up here."
I grabbed his hand and shook my head: "No, if we go out we'll see beggars with stinky feet sticking out! It'll be an eyesore! Disgusting!"
Ye Ye definitely did it on purpose. We were far away just now, so why would she be selling handkerchiefs here? She should have known better than last time when she deliberately used her smelly feet to attract attention at the restaurant.
Just like others have said, she's shameless. She tries to seduce people like others, but she doesn't even bother to wash her stinky feet properly. They're smelly and filthy, making people want to vomit.
"Waaah~" There was crying outside, but she was quickly taken away. Ye Ye cried and said that she was so pitiful, and that she had sold her handkerchiefs to buy groceries and so on. I felt even more disgusted when I heard this.
Holding a bowl of water, I was about to open the door and go out when Xie Yuancheng stopped me, saying, "Ying'er, you were just telling me not to go out, and now you hear crying and you still want to bring me water?"
"I'm going to splash water. Yesterday I was swinging my stinky feet around, looking like a hapless guy. If you want to be a prostitute, just say so. But even if you sell yourself, nobody wants you!"
"Alright~ You are the wife of a marquis, the daughter of a great general, and the beloved daughter of an imperial concubine. You can't let these people make you lose your composure~"
Xie Yuancheng started talking to me, but I was still furious. Was this family making a living by fraud, or were they just shamelessly playing the victim?
“The more you ignore some people, the more they get into it. I don’t even look at Uncle Cui’s daughter, who is known as the most beautiful woman in the capital. I wouldn’t even give a second glance to people like them who are not respectable and only know how to leech off others to gain sympathy.”
Xie Yuancheng leaned against me, his slender fingers tightly holding my hand: "I only need Ying'er, that's enough for me."
I smiled then, put the bowl on the table, and gently stroked his head. His hair was so smooth; it was frizzy just a few months ago.
There was complete silence outside. The shopkeeper knocked on the door: "My Lord."
"Come in." Xie Yuancheng probably wanted to know too, so I helped him sit down, and the shopkeeper came in.
"My lord, the interrogation has been completed. The girl suffered greatly at her parents' home, and her husband is mentally challenged and needs to be taken care of at all times, which is why she came to the brothel to cause trouble. We just had her take a bath and change into clean clothes, saying she came to apologize to you in person."
"No need. Just have her apologize to everyone in the building. Besides, Zuifenglou is the most famous restaurant in Linyang. If you don't guard the entrance properly, you might ruin its reputation."
"Yes, I will be careful."
"My wife and I are leaving in a little while, so please don't let us see her."
"Yes, yes, yes." The shopkeeper was sweating profusely. I laughed beside her. The shopkeeper was so kind, even giving her a bath.
I reckon even three buckets of water wouldn't be enough to clean her properly. She'll also know how to coax people, putting on a pitiful act; I bet she'll charm all the guys in the building.
"Yuancheng, let's go back." I'd only eaten half of the snacks on the table, and I'd lost my appetite because of Ye Ye's anger. I figured we should just go back to the manor for dinner.
"Okay." Xie Yuancheng told the shopkeeper what happened yesterday, reminding him not to let her eat him out of house and home and ruin his reputation, before leaving.
As soon as we mounted our horses, we saw the innkeeper throw Ye Ye out and have the staff rinse her. She was only wearing a cloth, looking both disheveled and comical.
I heard her weak, pleading voice, and saw her deliberately removed undergarment, revealing her filthy, smelly buttocks. The shopkeeper shouted for everyone to come and see the female swindler, warning them not to be fooled by such a person.
I spurred my horse and rode off. Her desperate attempt to get close to Xie Yuancheng was simply because she coveted his status and wealth, dreaming of marrying into wealth and power.
She feeds her silly husband in front of everyone, looking timid, just to tell everyone that she will be a good wife in the future and will not despise him for his failure.
However, she's ambitious; she doesn't even wash her stinky feet before trying to seduce men, seriously underestimating wealthy men. She was seen through right away, but pretended to be aggrieved—I wonder who taught her that.
We arrived at the door quickly, and as soon as we got off the horse, Teacher came out. "Have you seen that brat who claims to be a child bride these past two days? She's a key figure in this whole mess."
"Teacher, is the pseudonym 'Ye Ye'?" Xie Yuancheng pulled me over and asked.
“I have this alias. Where did I see it? I’ll send someone to arrest it.”
"When we came back just now, we were ridiculed on the spot by the manager of Zuifenglou. Do you want me to help take some people there?"
"Don't show your face. Those brats will try to take off their clothes and hug your legs whenever they see you. They're capable of anything. I'll go and catch them and question them. They can't have gone far."
The teacher also had a fiery temper and left in a flash. I asked Xie Yuancheng what happened, and Xie Yuancheng said that there were a few people from Linyang who brought a brat who was up to no good.
They were all quite young, and without someone guiding them and helping them through the process, they wouldn't have been able to come to Linyang in such a large group.
"But didn't she say she hadn't taken a bath in more than six months? She also ate honey for the first time at her husband's house, and her mother-in-law gave her eggs and other things."
"I don't know, let's ask the teacher. I've entrusted this matter to Lingwu. Now that Lu Fengjun has abducted him, the teacher's burden has become heavier."
Lu Fengjun is quite something; he managed to coax Ling Wu away. When he arrives in Linyang, he'll definitely get a beating.
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