57 Crime
◎Officially start living together◎
The first month of the lunar year passed quickly, and Shu Yao's "piggy bank" was already full. She still remembered the bet she had made with Ji Shijing, so she ran to him that afternoon, holding the bank and saying, "Ah Jing, look, I've filled it up."
Ji Shijing put down the book in his hand, raised his eyes, and looked into her eyes gently.
Shu Yao placed the jar on the table and said, "This jar is indeed full in a month. I admit defeat. Ah Jing, is there anything you want me to do for you?"
Ji Shijing stared at her eyes for a long time before saying, "I haven't made up my mind yet. I'll owe you the money for now."
Shu Yao came closer to him and said, "Aren't you afraid that I will default on my debt?" Then she picked up the winter fruit on the plate and put it into her mouth. The sour and sweet taste won her heart.
Ji Shijing tilted his head, his red hairband hanging on the pages of the book: "I can't deny my debt." He said it in a very low voice.
Shu Yao was chewing something and didn't hear what he said clearly, so she asked again, but he just shook his head and said nothing more.
Seeing the book in his hand, Shu Yao became interested for a moment. She reached out and grabbed a corner of the book. Seeing that he did not refuse, she took the book and flipped through a few pages with relish. The ancient characters in the book were not much different from the modern characters. She could basically understand them, but the content of the book was too boring. Confucian rituals, Han and Jin culture... She was not interested in any of them.
I turned two more pages, and each page was filled with dense annotations by Ji Shijing. His handwriting was vigorous and powerful, and surprisingly beautiful.
"Do you understand?" He looked at her with a hint of interest in his eyes.
Shu Yao felt sleepy when she saw these words. She closed the book and returned it to him. She didn't know how he could read such a boring book. She was just about to ask him if he had any intention of taking the imperial examination when she heard a burst of women's laughter outside.
He rubbed his temples, thinking that it was Ji Tianbao who brought people back again. Ji Tianbao's residence was close to Chunhua Pavilion, and she could hear the noise coming from his place every night, which disturbed her and prevented her from getting a good rest these days.
Ji Shijing looked at her unexpected expression. As he heard the teasing sounds coming from outside, his eyes darkened.
In the middle of the night, Ji Tianbao's yard was filled with singing and dancing. He did not have enough money to gamble big, so he brought prostitutes back from the brothel every night to have fun. In the past, the old lady could still control him, but now the old lady had become a useless person. Without her control, he became even more lawless.
The woman's giggles and the man's dirty talk were heard all the time. Shu Yao lay on the bed, covering her ears with a pillow, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. She could not bear it any longer, so she sat up angrily, lit a candle, took out her makeup, and found a plain white gown.
After some tinkering, a "female ghost" in white clothes and black hair was born so gorgeously.
Shu Yao looked at the horrifying face in the mirror. It was worth the half-hour makeup she had spent on it. The white areas around her eyeballs were "drenched in blood", her mouth was stretched to her ears, and her big red lips looked like a man-eating monster. Her hair covered most of her face. She smiled with satisfaction, but when she smiled, she even scared herself and quickly closed the mirror.
It's a dark and windy night, it's a scary time.
She carefully walked to the outside of Ji Tianbao's house, pushed open the window, and was stunned by the scene inside.
Ji Tianbao was seen lying on the bed in dishevel, with a beautiful woman in his arms on his right, kissing her continuously with saliva dripping from his mouth. There were also two half-dressed women lying on his body, twisting their bodies like water snakes, trying their best to please the men underneath them.
Shu Yao closed the window and felt that her eyes were polluted. She rubbed them hard, trying to erase the images that had just appeared.
She walked around the house and came to the back door, only to find it was open. Delighted, she tiptoed in, walking lightly and trying not to make any noise.
A group of people who were having fun had their backs to her. She scratched her head, turned around and saw a candle burning nearby, and an idea came to her mind.
The noise in the house grew louder and louder. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, the candle went out, and the room was suddenly dark. The women screamed briefly and then immediately returned to silence.
Someone wanted to light the candle, but caught a glimpse of a white figure moving in the corner. Her hand holding the tinder trembled, and she saw the figure stretched out its red nails and hooked at her.
"Ghost!" The woman screamed and fainted.
Everyone looked over here.
Shu Yao danced with her sleeves, paced back and forth in the room, and laughed miserably as she got closer and closer to those people.
"Ghost, ghost."
They were so frightened that they threw on their clothes and ran outside, not forgetting to pick up the woman who had fainted on the ground.
After a flurry of chaotic footsteps, Ji Tianbao was the only one left in the room. His face was flushed and his whole body was weak. He struggled to sit up and look at the "female ghost" in front of him.
A face with distorted features suddenly appeared in front of him, so ugly that he even forgot to shout, and his voice trembled: "I have no grudge against you, please don't hurt me." He wanted to escape, but he had no strength in his body and could only keep moving backwards.
Shu Yao curled her lips into a smile, leaned closer to him, took in all his fear, and said in a very ethereal voice: "You're so noisy here! You're disturbing my rest."
Ji Tianbao curled up in the corner, buried his head in his neck, not daring to stick his head out at all, and said in a broken voice: "My dear ghost lady, please forgive me. My room will definitely be quiet from now on. Even if I have a hundred guts, I won't dare to disturb your rest."
Shu Yao rolled her eyes and continued in a ethereal voice, "If you keep making noise, I'll kill you."
Ji Tianbao prostrated himself on the ground, trembling uncontrollably: "I will definitely do it, I will definitely do it."
Seeing that her goal had been achieved, Shu Yao smiled triumphantly and walked out quickly with light steps, fearing that she would burst out laughing if she stayed for another second.
The surroundings were very quiet, and Ji Tianbao dared to slowly raise his head. The room was empty, with only the cold wind blowing in from the door. He breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed on the couch. Unexpectedly, he touched a slippery object in his hand. He frowned and picked it up to take a look.
He only reacted when he heard a "hiss" sound, and fell off the bed, sitting on his butt on the cold floor.
A spotted snake was spitting out its tongue at him, its eyes glowing green and its expression ferocious.
"ah."
He screamed and crawled towards the door, and the poisonous snake slowly coiled up from his ankle.
…
Outside the house, Ji Shijing looked at the jumping figure and curled up the corners of his mouth unconsciously.
Shu Yao stopped and felt like someone was looking at her. She looked back suspiciously, but there was nothing behind her except the thick white snow on the ground that was shining coldly.
She just thought she was wrong and walked back to Chunhua Pavilion. She could finally have a good sleep tonight.
…
Days passed, and spring was about to arrive, but the atmosphere in the mansion became more and more depressing.
The old lady and Guo Cuiping were bedridden from time to time, and the mansion had to constantly take medicine. Ji Tianbao and Ji Dayong were never at home. Only Ji Lai helped to take care of the affairs of the mansion from time to time, but a little girl could not help much.
There was no one who could manage the household, and the servants in the mansion were becoming lazier day by day.
On this day, Ji Dayong, who had not been seen for a long time, suddenly came back in a panic. His old face was pale and he looked terrified, as if he had done something wrong.
Seeing him like this, Guo Cuiping couldn't help but mock him: "What's wrong? Didn't that little bitch outside serve you well?"
Ji Dayong snatched her medicine bowl and threw it to the ground with a bang.
"What are you doing here to me?" Guo Cuiping lifted the quilt and yelled at him. She had already been feeling annoyed these past few days, and now he had to cause trouble.
Ji Dayong, contrary to his usual behavior, did not retort. He held his head and slumped down on the chair in dejection, staring blankly ahead with his eyes. His pale lips moved in and out, but he could not utter a single word.
Guo Cuiping's heart was pounding. She took two steps at a time and walked up to him: "Dayong, what did you do? Don't scare me."
Ji Dayong looked at her, his cloudy eyes full of panic. He held her arm tightly: "Cui Ping, let's go back to Youyang County. Don't stay in the capital. Where is Tianbao? Call Tianbao quickly."
When Guo Cuiping heard him say that, she became even more frightened: "Tell me clearly, what exactly happened?"
He swallowed and muttered, "I've been caught reselling official salt lately."
Reselling official salt!
Guo Cuiping trembled all over. This was a capital crime.
"Haven't you been doing business with the government officials?" she asked. "Why did you end up reselling government salt?"
Ji Dayong sighed: "I used to follow the government to do cloth business, but people on the road said that smuggling official salt could make money, so I..." He couldn't continue, with a look of dejection on his face.
Guo Cuiping cried and hit him with a hammer: "You are confused. Go talk to the official and see if he can help us."
Ji Dayong: "The official said that if the Ji family's property is confiscated, he will help me solve this problem."
"What...what?" Guo Cuiping was stunned. If all their property was confiscated, wouldn't they become penniless again? "You bastard, why do you have to resell government salt when you can do something else?"
At this time, a servant came to report that the official had arrived.
Ji Dayong shuddered and said to Guo Cuiping, "Go to my mother and get all the house deeds and land deeds here quickly." After that, he opened the door and left in a hurry.
In the lobby, a middle-aged man in a dark brown suit sat on a high seat, sipping tea leisurely. His hair was half white, but he looked full of energy.
Ji Dayong came running over. As soon as he arrived, he knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly: "Please, Master, save me."
The official put down his teacup, squinted his eyes, twirled his sparse mustache, and a calculating look flashed across his face. He helped Ji Dayong up and said, "What are you doing? Didn't I tell you? As long as all the property of the Ji family is confiscated, I will help you get rid of the crime."
Ji Dayong stood up with his help and wiped the cold sweat from his head.
The official asked a few more insignificant questions, and Ji Dayong answered them tremblingly. He didn't breathe a sigh of relief until Guo Cuiping brought the house deeds and land deeds.
The official couldn't wait to open the box, picked up the pictures one by one and looked at them, with a smile on his face. Six mansions and thirty-two shops were all his now. It was worth wasting so much time on Ji Dayong.
The Ji Mansion is a piece of fat meat. If he doesn't eat it, someone else will naturally eat it. He must act first.
After getting what he wanted, he stood up and said to Ji Dayong, "The government will come to take over the house tomorrow, so you should leave early." After that, he walked away.
Guo Cuiping burst into tears. Ji Dayong was annoyed. "Stop crying. Now pack up quickly and take away all the valuables."
…
When Shu Yao came back from work, she saw the maids and servants in the mansion walking hurriedly, each carrying a small bag. She thought they were going to leave the mansion, so she didn't take it to heart.
After returning to Chunhua Pavilion, she took a shower and fell asleep on the bed. She was suddenly awakened by the door being kicked open.
A group of soldiers came up with knives and drove her away: "Go, go, go, go quickly."
Shu Yao was confused. What had happened? After being driven out, she found that the mansion was in chaos. The servants were running for their lives. She grabbed a little maid and asked, "What happened?"
The little maid tightened her bag and said, "The house has been confiscated. Miss Shu, please pack up and leave quickly."
Shu Yao: ...What?
Seeing that more and more officers and soldiers were coming, she hurried back to her room, packed some clothes, took her piggy bank, and went to knock on Ji Shijing's door.
As soon as I knocked on the door, Ji Shijing opened it with a small bag on his back, obviously knowing what had happened.
The soldiers who were driving the people away became more and more violent. Although Shu Yao and Ji Shijing didn't understand the reason, they still followed the crowd out of the mansion. At the gate, they saw Ji Dayong's family had hired a carriage, and the family was packing their luggage in the carriage.
Shu Yao went up to Ji Lai and asked, "Second Miss Ji, what on earth is going on?"
Ji Lai took her aside and whispered, "My father has committed a crime. The official said that he would let him go if he confiscated all the houses and shops in the Ji Mansion. We must all move out before noon today."
Shu Yao finally understood. First, Ji Tianbao lost a thousand taels of gold in gambling, and then Ji Dayong got into trouble and had his house and shop confiscated. Why did it feel like they, father and son, were set up?
Ji Dayong and his family got on the carriage and drove away.
Ji Lai asked him if he could let Shu Yao and Ji Shijing go back to Youyang with them. Ji Dayong slapped her in the face and called her a traitor.
Shu Yao and Ji Shijing stood at the gate of Ji's house, watching Ji Dayong and his family walk farther and farther away until they disappeared at the end of Chang'an Avenue.
She held the money jar in her hand and thought, now she had no place to stay.
She originally wanted to buy a small house directly, but after making some inquiries some time ago, she found that the housing prices in Beijing were extremely high, and the money she had was not enough.
What should I do?
Suddenly, a memory flashed through my mind. It was the memory of the original owner.
By the way, in Dongping Village, the original owner’s parents left her a mud house, which was just big enough for her and Ji Shijing to live in.
However, Dongping Village is far away from the capital, and it takes a day's journey to and from the village. In this case, Zui Xiang Fang's business might not be able to continue.
Shu Yao was in a dilemma. After thinking it over again and again, she decided to return to Dongping Village.
She hugged the small bag tightly and said to Ji Shijing, "Let's go to Dongping Village."
【Author’s words】
Yaoyao and Xiaojing have officially started living together~
The days in Dongping Village for the two of them are very beautiful, and it is definitely a period of ambiguity and flirting. Are you ready for some sweets? [Spread the flowers]
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