Chapter 54 A blessing in disguise
Xiumei nodded, speaking for the first time in a hoarse voice: "Yes."
Li Xiaoxiao said, "Actually, in Madam's eyes, you and Baoqin are quite similar. If Yu Dayong and Baoqin were truly in love, he would have told Madam when she spoke up that he wanted to marry Baoqin, instead of having Madam designate him. So at least before Madam arranged your marriage, he had no interest in Baoqin. But after we went out and came back, he immediately fell in love with Baoqin. Don't you find that strange?"
A glimmer of light appeared in Xiumei's eyes. After Li Xiaoxiao's analysis, it did seem to make some sense.
Li Xiaoxiao said, "I think his sudden interest in Baoqin might be related to Miss."
Xiumei was taken aback: "Is it related to the young lady?"
Li Xiaoxiao nodded: "Liu Zhi said that when we went to the countryside, Madam bought a lot of clothes and jewelry for the eldest young lady. Including what she bought when she went to attend Madam Zheng's birthday banquet a while ago, it probably cost a hundred or two hundred taels. Baoqin happens to be in charge of the eldest young lady's trunks. What if Yu Dayong's target is not Baoqin, but these clothes and jewelry? Then you can understand why he took Baoqin instead of you, right?"
Xiumei sat up excitedly and grabbed Li Xiaoxiao's hand: "Are you telling the truth?"
Li Xiaoxiao thought to herself, "I don't care if it's true or not. Anyway, he's disappeared. Even if I wronged him, he can't just come back and confront me, can he? As long as you're willing to believe me, I can make a lie sound true." So she nodded very sincerely, "It's true!"
To make her argument more convincing, she added, "This was told to me by the young master! He's a scholar, and next year he'll be a provincial graduate. If you don't believe me, don't you believe him?"
It was the young master who saw through Yu Dayong's scheme! It turns out that Yu Dayong ran away because he wanted money and took Baoqin with him. Poor Baoqin thought she had found a loving husband, but little did she know that she was harmed by this greedy villain!
Xiu Mei's eyes blazed with hatred: "I never imagined he was this kind of person. Luckily, luckily I didn't..." Tears streamed down her face as she hugged Li Xiaoxiao tightly, sobbing, "My dear sister, being humiliated like this by him is unbearable... I lost both my parents before I was five, and was sold to a brokerage firm by my uncle when I was six. Having a home was my lifelong dream, so when Madam betrothed me to Yu Dayong, I genuinely wanted to live a good life with him... I didn't mind that he drove a carriage for adults; I just wanted to find someone to marry as soon as possible, have two or three children, and have a home that truly belonged to me. But I never expected him to be so two-faced, running off with my best friend without even saying goodbye. I couldn't think straight for a moment, so I—"
Then there's Baoqin. The two of them have served together since childhood. She was the concubine's maid, and she was the young lady's maid. They were so close that they even shared clothes. She really couldn't understand why Baoqin would steal her marriage.
It turns out that Baoqin was also a victim; she too had been deceived by Yu Dayong…
Li Xiaoxiao let her cry for a while before wiping away her tears with a handkerchief and then brought her the cold porridge. Xiumei opened up and regained her will to live. Finally, she felt very hungry and drank all the cold porridge.
After drinking the porridge, she regained her strength and, with her red and swollen eyes open, apologized to Li Xiaoxiao: "Good sister, thank you for telling me all this, otherwise I don't know how I would have gotten through this..."
Li smiled and said, "It's good that you can understand. There are plenty of men in the world. Even if Yu Dayong is gone, there are still plenty of good men waiting for you. You're not that old, so why are you afraid of not being able to get married?"
Xiumei's face fell: "Although Yu Dayong has run away, I've already been engaged once. My reputation is ruined, so how can I expect to find a good family?"
Li Xiaoxiao's scalp tingled: "How is your reputation bad? Stop talking nonsense. You and Yu Dayong are just a match made in life, right? You've never even held hands, kissed, or slept together. How can you not find a good match?"
She spoke so bluntly that Xiumei was terrified by her bold words, her face turning bright red. She immediately covered her mouth, saying, "What nonsense are you talking about? Stop it, it's so embarrassing..."
Li Xiaoxiao shook her head and sighed, "What's there to be shy about? If you don't have it, you don't have it..."
Xiumei was filled with shame and indignation, and stamped her feet, saying, "You still dare to talk! Say it again—"
Li Xiaoxiao sighed, "Okay, I won't say anything more. Just cheer up." She was never good at comforting others, but she didn't expect that telling a few lies could cheer Xiumei up. This feeling was not bad.
After successfully cheering Xiumei up, Li Xiaoxiao remembered something, went back to her room, opened the cabinet door, took out the silver ingots inside, counted them, there were eight, she took them all without hesitation, changed into the servant's clothes, and informed Meng Guanqi: "Young master, I have something to do and need to go to the street."
Meng Guanqi put down the book: "Didn't you go to the inner courtyard to see Xiumei? How is she?"
Speaking of this, Li Xiaoxiao was extremely proud: "Alright! After my persuasive words, she has cheered up and finished all the porridge! She's fine now."
Meng Guanqi asked curiously, "My mother and Aunt Luo are both very troubled. How did you persuade her?"
Li Xiaoxiao chuckled and relayed her words to Meng Guanqi verbatim. Meng Guanqi's lips twitched: "You're lying, fine, but you're dragging me into it. Who gave you the guts?"
Li Xiaoxiao said, "Oh, don't worry about such a small detail. Would Xiumei dare to come and ask you for confirmation? She was threatening to kill herself, which upset Madam, and you were worried too, weren't you? Now that she's better, the backyard is quiet, and Madam has one less thing to worry about. Young Master is very understanding, so he certainly won't blame me, right?"
Meng Guanqi stared at her for a long time before picking up a book from the table, tapping her on the head, and then left the matter as it was.
It didn't hurt at all, so Li Xiaoxiao didn't take it seriously and turned to leave.
Meng Guanqi said, "Come back. You still haven't told me what you're going out to do."
Li Xiaoxiao took out her money bag, which contained a huge sum of money: "I'm going to the street to forge a sword."
Meng Guanqi's brow twitched: "Forge a sword? What do you want to use it for?"
Li Xiaoxiao said, "When Xiumei hanged herself, she used a thick hemp rope. Taoxiang, Xingge, Granny Qi, and Aunt Luo, who found her first, couldn't save her. If I had arrived any later, Xiumei might have already passed away. I was thinking that if I had a sharp weapon, I could just jump up and cut the rope, and save her as quickly as possible. When I get my sword back, I'll show you how to cut it the next time someone hangs themselves. It's really fast..."
Meng Guanqi's lips twitched again: "You're saying you went to forge a sword to prevent your family members from hanging themselves?"
Li Xiaoxiao thought for a moment and said, "That's roughly the idea."
Meng Guanqi took a deep breath, using all his strength to keep himself from losing his temper. He kept repeating to himself, "Children say whatever they want, children say whatever they want. Li Xiaoxiao is still a child at heart, sometimes she speaks and acts without thinking. He can't take it to heart, he can't take it to heart..."
He had to endure it for a long time before he finally convinced himself that although this girl sometimes acted erratically, she was always very reliable when it mattered. Moreover, she was exceptionally skilled. Although she was called his maid, she was more like his bodyguard. He would need her by his side when he went to the prefectural city for exams or even to study. With a weapon in hand, she would be even more powerful...
She must be too modest, possessing extraordinary skills without realizing it. Meng Guanqi couldn't help but picture her standing majestically in the cold wind, sword in hand, ready to cleave an army with a single strike...
That must be it.
His eyes lit up with longing, and he quickly convinced himself. He put down the book in his hand, straightened his clothes, and coughed, "Let's go, I'll go with you."
Huh? The young master wants to go shopping with her? She widened her eyes: "But didn't your master assign you homework?"
Meng Guanqi said, "I know what I'm doing. Besides, even when you're studying, you can't stay in the study all the time. Come on, I'd like to see what kind of sword you want to buy."
There are two ironware shops in Biyang County, mainly selling iron pots, knives, and farm tools such as hoes and plows. Dawu has very strict control over ironware, and both shops are registered with the county government.
There were only two ironware shops in the entire county, so business was naturally booming. Meng Guanqi and Li Xiaoxiao chose the one with fewer customers. When they went in, there were many people picking out farm tools, and a few people were watching the blacksmith work around the red-hot forge.
The red-hot iron tool was pulled out of the furnace. The blacksmith, shirtless and covered in sweat, used his left hand to hold it with tongs, and swung the large iron hammer with his right hand. The muscles in his arm bulged, and from his arm, the muscles in his shoulder and waist worked together to smash the tool down with force. Sparks flew everywhere as the iron was slowly hammered into the shape he wanted. When it was heated to a certain point, the whole piece of iron was quickly plunged into cold water to cool. The water hissed and bubbled, and the scene was instantly filled with steam.
Everyone loves to see a scene that combines strength and beauty. Customers who are picking out things often stop to watch the blacksmith's operation. The harder he works and the faster he hammers the iron, the more impurities he can remove from the iron, making the ironware harder and more durable.
Li Xiaoxiao glanced at it a few times and then stopped looking; she was familiar with this routine.
She went straight up to the owner and asked, "Boss, can you customize ironware here?"
The shop owner glanced at her lazily: "What do you want to customize?"
Li Xiaoxiao gestured: "I want to have a short sword made this long." She gestured that it was about a foot long, or about thirty centimeters.
The shopkeeper said, "How heavy do you want it? Let me tell you first, custom-made ironware isn't cheap. We'll have to make a mold for you, and a blacksmith will have to forge it specially for you..."
Li Xiaoxiao emptied all the money from her purse, a total of eight taels: "I have eight taels of silver, see how much you can hit?"
The shopkeeper's eyes widened instantly. Eight taels of silver? She wanted to have a short sword made for eight taels of silver? You know, the knives and farm tools in his shop ranged from tens to over two hundred coins, and the most expensive item was a wok, which cost eight hundred coins. That was because woks were large and used a lot of iron. But eight taels of silver to order a short sword? He had never sold such expensive ironware before.
Looking at the boy in front of him with his clear yet foolish eyes, he rolled his eyes and thought, "This must be some naive fool who's given me money. Why not take advantage of it?"
He reached out to collect the eight silver ingots.
Suddenly, a hand as large as a fan reached out and grabbed his wrist. The shopkeeper was startled and looked up: "Officer Shi?!"
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