Although she hasn't bought any alcohol recently, Liang Hongyu comes to buy braised food from time to time, and they often chat for a while, so they've become quite familiar with each other.
But he's clearly not here to buy braised food; he's here specifically to chat with her.
Cheng Yue stood at the door and greeted her with a smile, "Sister Liang, what brings you here at this hour?"
Liang Hongyu looked behind her, then pulled Cheng Yue aside and frowned, saying, "I came here specifically because I saw those two just leave."
Cheng Yue had a feeling that Liang Hongyu had something to say, so she led her into the lobby and asked, "Sister Liang, do you know them?"
Liang Hongyu said, "How could I not recognize them? The one who just left was the madam of Xiaoxiang Pavilion, and the one in front of her was from Yichun Courtyard. Both of these establishments have partnerships with our liquor store."
"But we stopped serving alcohol at Yichun Brothel a long time ago; that madam isn't good enough!"
After saying that, he sneered at the door with a look of disgust on his face.
It was like a godsend; she was just wondering who to ask when Liang Hongyu arrived. She'd even collaborated with the brothel before, which sounded like they'd had some unpleasantness.
Cheng Yue said, "Sister Liang, to be honest, they came here to discuss business. I've already reached an agreement with Xiaoxiang Pavilion, but I'd like to inquire about Yichun Courtyard a bit more."
Liang Hongyu clapped her hands and said, "I guessed it, that's why I came here. There's nothing wrong with Xiaoxiang Pavilion. It's relatively clean, and the madam is nice. Business is still good."
The brothel wasn't so clean. The madam there wasn't a good person; she took in all sorts of people and was overly greedy. I certainly didn't like her.
A few years ago, someone in her family was involved in a murder case; who knows if they were forced into prostitution! Anyway, it's best to stay away.
Even though it's a brothel, forcing women into prostitution is illegal, and causing death is even more serious. Cheng Yue asked, "Doesn't the government care?"
Liang Hongyu shook her head and said in a low voice, "Our Magistrate Xu is indeed an upright official, but Yichun Courtyard is not something that can be managed as one pleases. It's hard to say that they have connections in higher places, so who would dare to interfere?"
To be honest, if it weren't for my husband's cousin being quite capable, we wouldn't have been able to get out of business.
In short, stay away from places like this. We ordinary folks should just do our business peacefully and avoid getting involved with these kinds of people.
Brothels are the perfect place to gather information, as everyone there has a powerful backer.
How to do business and what kind of business to do are all decided by the people behind the scenes.
Who knows what they're doing behind the scenes?
Cheng Yue nodded and replied, "Sister Liang, thank you, but I won't do this business."
Mother Qin's attitude was still polite, and Cheng Yue thought about it and guessed that it was because of Master Chen and his group.
Since that's the case, there's no harm in refusing.
Liang Hongyu patted Cheng Yue's hand and smiled, "That's good. If there's anything you don't understand in the future, just ask me. Although we don't have any great skills, we've been doing business in the county for a long time, so we know a lot of things."
They all do business on the same street, so they look out for each other when they can. She's not the kind of petty person who can't stand seeing others do well.
Most importantly, she could tell that Cheng Yue was a person worth befriending. If she were the kind of person with ulterior motives, she definitely wouldn't have come to her door to say anything.
"Okay, I definitely won't be polite to you if I need anything in the future, Sister Liang. I'll go get some braised food for you as a thank you gift. Wait for me for a moment."
They were kind-hearted and willing to come to her door to tell her, which saved her a lot of trouble. Otherwise, she wouldn't know who to ask. She definitely needs to thank them.
Liang Hongyu waved her hand, "No, no, you keep it to sell for money, I'll buy it myself if I want to eat it!"
With that, he dashed back to the wine shop.
Cheng Yue couldn't stop her, so she simply packed a portion herself and had Chen Lin deliver it to her.
If she were to deliver it, she might be tied up for ages and not be able to come back.
Just as Chen Lin returned, Liu Dazhuang arrived in his oxcart, hurriedly saying, "Sister Cheng, I'm late today. I'm so sorry to have bothered you..."
Cheng Yue looked over and saw that Liu Dazhuang's feet were covered in yellow mud, so much so that his shoes were no longer visible, and his trouser sleeves were also filthy.
He then said, "It's not a problem. The road was difficult to travel today, and we arrived late. Did you fall?"
Liu Dazhuang scratched his head and said nonchalantly, "I did fall, but I'm tough and it didn't hurt! You guys have to be careful on your way home."
"Miss Cheng, the goods have been delivered, I'll be going now, I have to rush to deliver to other places."
If it weren't for helping an elderly couple, he would never have fallen off the oxcart if he had just been holding it properly. But it was such a small favor, he didn't even bother to mention it.
Cheng Yue told Liu Dazhuang that she would send him a few more chickens and ducks later, and Liu Dazhuang agreed with a smile and left.
"Xiaolin, Shaowen, Changyong, you guys move the chickens and ducks to the backyard to butcher them first. I'll clean up here. Let's hurry up and finish so we can go home early."
Seeing that the braised food was sold out, Cheng Yue told the three of them to go and butcher the chickens and ducks. The road was difficult to travel today, and they had already wasted time. If they got home late and couldn't see the road clearly, it would be dangerous.
"Okay!" The three of them knew they couldn't delay, so they responded and immediately got to work.
Cheng Yue picked up a rag and wiped the table. After tidying up, she went into the kitchen to prepare a stew.
There were few people today, and she didn't want to waste time cooking several dishes. She would just do whatever was convenient, stewing the vegetables and then steaming a basket of white flour buns.
While the stew was cooking, the three of them finished preparing the chicken and duck. Cheng Yue then started another stove to braise them before eating.
After the braised food was ready in the afternoon, Cheng Yue and the others rushed home.
Unfortunately, the weather turned bad and it started raining halfway there. Luckily, the rain wasn't heavy, and I had brought a raincoat this morning.
Only Da Niu got soaked in the rain, which made Chen Lin feel sorry for him all the way home. He kept saying that when they got home, he would make Da Niu a raincoat to wear.
The weather was bad, and there was no one chatting at the village entrance today, which made Cheng Yue feel a little uncomfortable.
"Listen, isn't someone crying?"
Zhao Changyong frowned, feeling a faint, persistent sobbing sound coming from the village.
When he said that, everyone held their breath. The pattering rain was quite loud; you really couldn't hear it unless you listened carefully.
Zhang Shaowen put his hand to his ear, listened for a while, and said, "It seems so, but I can't hear clearly. It shouldn't be coming from the village entrance."
Cheng Yue also heard it, but couldn't tell what kind of crying it was, so she had no choice but to drive the oxcart back to the village.
The closer they got to the end of the village, the louder the crying became. It was faintly audible that it was a child crying. Cheng Yue felt uneasy, and her intuition told her that it was not a good thing.
Zhao Changyong's heart was in his throat. His house was at the end of the village, and the crying was coming from his home!
It rained so hard this morning, could something have happened at home? Thinking this, Zhao Changyong couldn't sit still any longer and said anxiously, "Sister-in-law Cheng Yue, I'll go check on things!"
He jumped off the oxcart and limped quickly home.
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