Chapter 23 Louwailou
Song Yuzhu was startled by her and quickly stood up and asked, "Who are you? What happened?"
"Please save me!" The woman knelt down and kowtowed, her eyes full of despair.
"You get up first." Song Yuzhu stood up to support her, but suddenly heard a noisy sound of footsteps outside. She quickly pulled her up and hid behind the counter.
"Shh, don't make any noise."
The woman covered her mouth and nodded in horror.
The pursuers outside kicked open the door and walked in: "Wasn't there a woman in red clothes running in just now?"
Song Yuzhu shook her head: "No one came in, did you see it wrong?"
The soldier behind said, "That's impossible. I saw her run in with my own eyes!"
The leading soldier squinted his eyes and looked Song Yuzhu up and down, spat a mouthful of sticky phlegm and said: "You kid, don't be so ungrateful! You want to be a hero and save the beauty, but don't you know your own weight?" Several people laughed and said dirty words.
Song Yuzhu remained calm and said, "There really are no women coming in. Why don't you go look somewhere else?"
These people had been arrogant and domineering since they entered the city yesterday. How could they listen to him? They rushed in without saying a word and started rummaging and smashing things everywhere.
The woman hiding below was shaking with fear, and was blocked by Song Yuzhu.
Seeing that the search was about to reach the counter, Song Yuzhu shouted, "Military officers, let's talk it over nicely. Is there any law for breaking in and destroying things like this?"
"The law is the law!"
Zhao Xiao came out after hearing the noise, and saw those people struggling with Song Yuzhu, so he jumped directly from the second floor!
He ran up to the soldiers and kicked the leading soldier. He used 70% of his strength to kick the soldier, who lay on the ground with his eyes rolled up. It is estimated that several ribs were broken.
"Who the hell gave you permission to come here and do this?"
Several soldiers were about to get angry, but when they saw Zhao Xiao was wearing a captain's uniform with the Chinese character "qing" on it, they quickly withdrew their hands: "You, why did you hit someone for no reason?"
Zhao Xiao sneered: "If you come to my store to cause trouble, who else should I beat?!"
The soldiers quickly explained: "A dancer just escaped from the palace. She killed Zhang Shoubei last night. We saw her running into this restaurant. She didn't mean to cause trouble..."
Zhao Xiao said coldly: "I have never seen any dancers. Go find them somewhere else! If you dare to make trouble again, don't blame me for being rude!"
Several people were frightened by Zhao Xiao's devilish temper and ran away with their tails between their legs.
After everyone left, Song Yuzhu moved aside and released the woman hiding under the counter. Seeing that her clothes were disheveled, he put his newly changed military uniform on her.
The woman knelt down and kowtowed: "Thank you two gentlemen for saving my life!"
Song Yuzhu helped her up and said, "Hurry up and get up. They just said that you killed someone in the palace. Is it true?"
The woman looked at Zhao Xiao, then at Song Yuzhu, and nodded resignedly: "Yes, I did kill an officer who bullied me."
She was originally a dancer in the Fourth Prince's Palace named Yunuer. When the army invaded the city yesterday, Yang Yuanqing captured them all and ordered them to take off their clothes and dance in the hall for the entertainment of the soldiers.
Although these women were of low status, they had never been humiliated like this. Her elder sister Jin Nuer hit the pillar in anger, and her body was dragged away to be fed to the bear.
Yunuer did not have the courage of her sister, and was even more afraid that she would not die completely and be eaten alive by the bear. She endured the humiliation, took off her clothes and danced with the other dancers.
They danced until late at night, and then Yang Yuanqing gave her to a military officer, and she was taken to a small room next door.
This military officer was injured in the war and could not move. He actually tried to put the candlestick into Yu Nuer's body. She was so scared that she grabbed the copper incense burner next to her and smashed it on the military officer's head. Unexpectedly, she killed him in one hit...
She stayed in the room in fear all night, and the next morning when no one was outside, she sneaked out. However, she was discovered not long after she ran away, and was chased all the way here.
After hearing what she said, Song Yuzhu was so angry that her teeth itched and said, "Well done! Don't be afraid, young lady. We are different from them. We have never bullied the people in the city."
Yu Nuer nodded and said, "I know. If you two hadn't helped me just now, I would have been killed by the sword."
"Now that you are being hunted, do you have anywhere to go?"
Yu Nuer bit her lip and shook her head: "I was sold to the music house when I was young, and my sister is the only relative around me. Now that my sister is dead, I am also going to find a deserted place to end my life. I came clean and I leave cleanly."
Song Yuzhu said quickly: "If you have nowhere to go, then stay here with me. It just so happens that our restaurant is still short of a shopkeeper!"
Yu Nuer quickly knelt down and kowtowed again: "Young Master, you are so kind, Yu Nuer will never forget it! I am just afraid that I have killed someone, and staying here will cause trouble for you."
"Would you like to change your appearance?"
Yu Nuer stroked her cheek and said, "Change your appearance?"
"That's right."
Yu Nuer pulled off the golden hairpin on her head and was about to scratch her face with it!
Song Yuzhu said in horror: "No!"
Zhao Xiao hurried forward to stop her.
Yu Nu'er was a little afraid of Zhao Xiao. She pulled her arm away and took two steps back, saying resolutely, "Since you want me to stay, I am willing to destroy my appearance and let you use me!"
Song Yuzhu said, "They won't recognize you even if you don't disfigure yourself. You just need to change into clean and decent clothes, change your hairstyle, and put on some heavy makeup. No one will recognize you." The cosmetics used by women in this dynasty were no less than those in modern times. Take his mother Jiang, for example. In addition to the perfume she used daily, she also had all kinds of rouge and powder for her face.
The army entered the city late last night. Although candles were lit in the palace, they were not as bright as modern lamps. In addition, the clothes worn by these dancers were similar, so Song Yuzhu didn't believe that they could remember Yu Nuer's appearance.
Yu Nuer said: "I can also eat some weight. I think my facial features will be stretched out and it will be more difficult for others to recognize me." As geishas, they cannot eat a full meal in order to maintain their figure. They can only eat two meals a day, and each meal is no more than the size of a child's fist.
After making up his mind, Song Yuzhu asked her to hide in the backyard, and after she was settled, he would go to the clothing shop to buy clothes for her.
Zhao Xiao said, "It's time for me to go too. The army is setting up camp today. I was just promoted to a captain, so I have to go and check the troops."
"Go, don't forget to bring those two people to me."
Zhao Xiao walked up to Song Yuzhu and casually picked a fallen leaf from the tip of his hair: "I can't forget it."
Song Yuzhu's heartbeat quickened, and she didn't come to her senses until the people walked away. She muttered, "Did this kid do it on purpose or is he gifted?"
"Ah!!!" A scream suddenly came from the backyard.
"What happened?!"
Song Yuzhu hurriedly ran to the back and saw Yu Nuer's face was ashen, she was trembling all over and pointed at the kitchen and said, "There's...a dead person in there!"
Song Yuzhu pushed open the kitchen door and saw a middle-aged man lying inside. His face was ashen and he didn't know whether he was breathing or not. Next to him was a smoking charcoal basin.
"I wanted to go to the kitchen to get some water to drink, but when I opened the door, I saw this inside..." Yu Nuer said fearfully while hiding behind Song Yuzhu.
"Don't be afraid, go help me open the kitchen window so I can see how he is." Song Yuzhu walked in, covering her nose, and checked the man's pulse and breathing.
"He's not dead yet, help me pull him out!"
Yu Nuer came over to help, and the two of them dragged the man to the open space in the backyard. Song Yuzhu scooped a basin of water from the kitchen and poured it on the man's head. After a while, the man woke up faintly.
“Cough cough cough…”
"Am I... am I already dead?" The man looked at the two handsome men standing next to him, closed his eyes and said, "I think I am dead."
Yu Nuer kicked him and said, "You're not dead yet, but you almost scared me to death!"
Song Yuzhu looked at Yunuer beside her in surprise. The pitiful Lin Daiyu just now had turned into the fierce Feng Lazi.
Come to think of it, if he wasn't so aggressive, how could he have killed someone? This is a good character! As a shopkeeper, he should not suffer any loss.
The man struggled to sit up from the ground, and said with tears in his eyes: "Why did you two save me? Just let me die!"
Song Yuzhu said helplessly: "You can't die in my shop."
"Did they change the store? I'm sorry to offend you, but I'm leaving now." Probably because of carbon monoxide poisoning, he felt dizzy and couldn't stand up after trying several times.
Song Yuzhu squatted beside him and asked, "Why are you seeking death for no reason?"
"For no reason?" The man's eyes were red, and he choked with sobs, "Who would want to commit suicide for no reason? My wife and young son died at the hands of those beasts! Now I'm the only one left alive, I might as well just follow them."
Song Yuzhu sighed, it turned out that he was also a poor man.
Yu Nuer walked up to the man and suddenly raised her hand to slap him: "Waste! You are a man of seven feet tall, but you don't want to avenge your wife and children, but you want to die? It's because of spineless people like you that Xuzhou City allows women and children in the city to be humiliated!"
The man was stunned. He covered his face for a long time before saying, "Of course I want revenge...but I can't do anything except cooking..." It turned out that he was the chef of this restaurant. When the army entered the city, he escaped because he stayed in the restaurant, but his wife and children at home were not so lucky. When he returned, his body was cold.
He hated himself for being incompetent and not having the courage to run back to protect his wife and children. He also hated the Qing army for their evil deeds. He was so depressed that he burned himself by charcoal.
Song Yuzhu stretched out her hand and pulled him up: "If you don't want to die, stay here. One day I will avenge them."
The man knelt down and said, "Thank you both for saving me! I, Sun Mao, cannot repay you for your kindness. I am willing to serve you like a cow or a horse!"
Now the restaurant has a proprietress and a cook, so he can be a cashier and collect bills. All he needs is two waiters.
In the afternoon, Zhao Xiao sent the two soldiers over, one was Lin Dayong and the other was Tian Xiaobo. One was tall, the other was short, one was fat, and the other was thin. They looked quite funny standing together.
The restaurant was going to reopen, and Song Yuzhu was planning to change its name. Since he was aiming to take over the empire, he decided to open up the space and change the name of the restaurant to: Louwailou.
"There are green mountains beyond the mountains and buildings beyond the buildings. When will the singing and dancing in West Lake end?" He wanted to see when this corrupt court would end!
(End of this chapter)
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