After being imprisoned in the water dungeon and losing his mother, Murong Bai could no longer hate anyone. Everything he had done was for his mother, but she died for him first. Murong Bai's goal had collapsed!
Someone secretly brought him food, but he refused to eat and was determined to die.
He vowed never to be Murong Feng's son again, never to be born into the Murong family again. He hated his cold-hearted father, who caused his mother to weep every night. He hated even more the hypocritical arrogance of this family, which could not tolerate his love for Butterfly.
Late at night, a scout brought news. After listening, Murong Feng picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said, "So, that woman is disfigured?"
"Yes, Master. She's currently living at her former boss's house. Hua Yuhe originally wanted to execute her, but her former boss paid to ransom her. Master, what should we do next?"
"What's there to worry about with a woman whose face is disfigured? You're like this..."
That night, Butterfly was resting in bed when someone pushed open the window and threw in a wad of paper.
He picked it up, opened it, and read, “Butterfly Sister, I will take you away at midnight tomorrow night. Don’t let the news leak out.” It was signed Bai Lang.
Seeing Murong Bai's handwriting, Butterfly finally burst into tears. Bai Lang hadn't forgotten her; he was still willing to take her away. Flustered and tearful, she looked at the half-face she could see in the bronze mirror, covered her face, and collapsed onto the bed. Did Bai Lang still love her now? After agonizing for several hours, Butterfly decided to go with Bai Lang; this was the love she longed for.
Just when Murong Bai felt his days were numbered, his mother's personal maid quietly entered and advised, "Young master, you must live. Only by living can you avenge your mother. If you die, you will have nothing left, and besides, Butterfly is still waiting for you."
Butterfly, Butterfly… her mind was already wandering and scattered. But upon hearing of revenge, upon hearing the name Butterfly, she showed a flicker of reaction. She wondered how her beautiful, understanding, and affectionate lover was doing. Since her father had retrieved the jade pendant, she had assumed Butterfly had been killed by her ruthless father, but it turned out she was still alive and had sent him a message.
"Where is she?" Murong Bai's lips were so dry they were cracked, his breath was weak, and his voice was hoarse.
The maid whispered something in the young master's ear, and Murong Bai's eyes lit up. A belief rose in his heart: he had to live and see the butterfly.
Seeing that the young master had the will to live, the maid took out a water pouch from her bosom. Murong Bai drank it in large gulps and ate a few pieces of dried meat, and his spirits recovered considerably.
After finishing her task, the maid quickly left the prison cell and went to collect her reward from the second mistress.
Outside the water dungeon, the guards, seeing that Murong Bai was still hanging safely inside, locked the door with peace of mind.
After closing the door, Murong Bai pushed a razor blade out of his mouth, escaped his restraints in a few swift movements, climbed out through the skylight, and disappeared into the night.
After witnessing all this from the watchtower, the beautiful second wife handed a stack of silver notes to the maid and praised her, "Well done!" Then she patted the maid on the shoulder and left.
The young maid was overjoyed to see the ten thousand taels of silver in her hand. But her joy lasted only two seconds before she was knocked unconscious, a sack was shoved over her head, and she was buried under the welcoming pine tree that the Murong family was about to transplant.
The beautiful second wife, a hint of barely perceptible malice in her eyes, returned to her room to serve the master.
Business at the entire ghost market had dried up; not a single order was placed all day. The players grew bored with their cards, gradually lost patience, slowly packed up their stalls, and quietly left.
Only Lan Yamei's barbecue business was booming, with a constant stream of diners coming from the city. They praised her while complaining that she should have opened a bigger shop long ago, and that she hadn't gotten to try the rumored braised pork belly with garlic. They also complained about how cold it was to eat at a nightclub, and so on.
Lan Yamei could only smile and say, "Everyone, please wait a little longer. When the time is right, we will definitely open a big shop in the city."
The barbecue business continued until almost dawn, when all the food was sold out. The four of them finally packed up their stall, exhausted. Lan Yamei took out two taels of silver and insisted on giving it to Grandpa Ouyang, saying, "Thank you so much. Without your help tonight, the three of us would have collapsed from exhaustion. You must accept this money; you can't refuse."
“I’m just killing time anyway, and it’s nothing more than lending a hand. It would be too formal for you to offer me money, so I can’t accept it. But I think your suggestion is a good one. Living alone is quite lonely, so if you don’t mind, I’ll join you.” Grandpa Ouyang said, glancing apologetically at Grandma Guan.
Actually, after a while, Aunt Guan could no longer understand what the old man meant. He probably just wanted someone to talk to in his old age, so Aunt Guan didn't interrupt.
Seeing that both sides were interested, Lan Yamei chuckled and said, "Okay, tomorrow the wonton stall will be merged into Lan Family Barbecue, and we'll get rich together."
On the way home, Lan Yamei finally couldn't hold back anymore. She kept yawning and grabbed Qiu Zeyu's sleeve, saying, "You're not allowed to run away, I'll hold you." After saying that, she hugged Qiu Zeyu's arm and fell asleep, snoring loudly.
Aunt Guan glanced at the carefree Lan girl and said to Qiu Zeyu ingratiatingly, "Please forgive this girl, she has no manners." Although they had cooperated quite well tonight and she hadn't seen this devil have any murderous intent, she still felt uneasy living with him and was terrified.
"I'll call you Aunt Guan like she does. You don't need to be so polite with me. I'm just an ordinary person with principles," Qiu Zeyu said very politely.
"Oh, okay, okay." Aunt Guan leaned against the carriage, feeling extremely sleepy, but dared not fall asleep.
Qiu Zeyu drove the carriage, looked at the girl who was hugging her arms, straightened her hunched neck, and turned her body to the side so that she could lean more comfortably.
Aunt Guan stared in disbelief. Was this real? For a moment, she was even a little unsure. Could this really be the murderous tyrant Qiu Zeyu?!
Having escaped the Murong Manor, Murong Bai didn't immediately go looking for Butterfly, partly out of fear of pursuers and partly because he was too badly injured to frighten her. He rested for the night in an abandoned farmhouse, and as dawn approached, he found a secluded inn to wash up and have breakfast before quickly leaving. After all, the Murong Manor had as many spies as there were money shops.
Back at the farmhouse, Murong Bai planned to go find the butterfly at midnight as agreed, so he slept on the roof beam.
Back in the courtyard, Butterfly had already cooked porridge and prepared some side dishes. The three of them wolfed it down, exhausted as if they were three grandchildren, and fell asleep as soon as they lay down. Aunt Guan, disregarding her fear and the thought that she might die if she stayed any longer, threw her life and death to the back of her mind and fell asleep instantly on the straw mat.
Butterfly has recovered quite a bit in the past two days. Seeing everyone exhausted, she tried her best to slowly clean up the dishes and carriage. It was already dawn.
As agreed, Er Gou's mother brought her family to deliver goods to Lan Ya Mei again, and Butterfly busied herself receiving them.
Lan Ya Mei heard the noise in the yard and ran out to see what was going on.
As soon as Er Gou's mother saw us, she said excitedly, "Lan girl, you don't know, those bastards in the village are so envious of us now, they want us to help them sell vegetables. I didn't dare to agree, and I don't know how your sales went yesterday."
"Auntie, all the eggplants from yesterday are sold out." Lan Yamei didn't hide anything.
"Sold out! Oh, good, good, I was worried you wouldn't be able to sell them all. Look, we've brought two more cartloads." She pointed to the cart her son and daughter-in-law were pushing, a row of glistening eggplants.
"Okay, the eggplant is really good. Auntie, could you please also prepare some steamed buns and free-range eggs for me?" Lan Yamei didn't stand on ceremony and bought the ingredients directly from the auntie, saving her the trouble of going to the city.
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