Chapter 176 [VIP]
The next day, Wang Ying got up early to find out what was going on with the person who had been running around and shouting erratically in the street the day before.
Upon further inquiry, it was discovered that this man was a fur merchant from the Northwest who happened to be caught in the battle between the two armies. He witnessed firsthand the crushing defeat of the Zhenbian Army and the Prince of Zhenbei being shot off his horse.
Terrified, he fled in panic all the way to Jizhou, bringing the news with him along the way.
Could it be that the Marquis has truly met with misfortune?
He returned home with a heavy heart, not daring to tell Lin Sui the news directly. He only told her that the person who spread rumors and caused trouble yesterday had been detained by the authorities.
Lin Sui looked terrible; she hadn't slept all night and her eyes were dark. "Sister-in-law, I'm fine. No matter what the Marquis does, I will raise Qing'er to adulthood."
“That’s not what I’m worried about right now. When the Marquis was alive, the Li family dared to openly harass Qing’er. If they find out that something has happened to the Marquis, I’m afraid they will immediately take action against the Marquis’s residence.”
"Then, what should we do?" Qing'er is Lin Sui's life now. If anyone tries to take Qing'er away, it's like taking his life.
"Right now, we need to find a way to explain things to the old lady of the Marquis's mansion and tell her not to agree to the Li family's demands, otherwise if she gives in, I'm afraid none of us will be able to do anything about it."
"Then I'll go to the Marquis's residence later!"
Meanwhile, the Li family also heard the news of the Marquis's death on the battlefield. Upon hearing this, Madam Li clapped her hands and laughed wildly, "Good, good, good! This bastard is finally dead!"
The maid standing beside her didn't understand why the lady was so happy. The Marquis was also a descendant of the Li family and the master's son.
The story goes back more than 20 years. That year, Mrs. Luo was ten months pregnant and about to give birth, while Mrs. Li had already given birth to her second son before Mrs. Luo gave birth.
As a result, the child died on the same day that Luo gave birth. Luo's child lived, but her son died. And Li Mu was born with a huge blue birthmark on his face, as if a demon had descended to earth.
The coincidence was too great, and even Master Li found it unbelievable, so he immediately consulted a wandering fortune teller.
The sorcerer said that the child born to Madam Luo was here to collect a debt. In her previous life, Master Li killed five members of her family, and in this life, he would take back the lives of those five members of the Li family. Madam Li's son would be the first to pay for it.
Madam Li was terrified, and coupled with the pain of losing her beloved son, she transferred all her hatred onto the newborn child.
Master Li immediately wanted to drown the child, but the sorcerer said, "If you drown him, the fortune of your Li family will be cut off, and no one of you will be able to achieve anything in the future."
The couple had no choice but to hate their illegitimate son. Master Li even named him Li Mu, meaning "to die young." Later, when he joined the army, the general said his name was bad and changed it to Mu.
During his childhood, Li Mu lived a miserable life in the Li family. He often lacked food and clothing, and Madam Li tried every means to make him die.
Unfortunately, this kid seemed to have lived up to the sorcerer's words, and was born with a stubborn fate, living a healthy life to his teens without ever getting sick.
Having no other choice, Master Li sent him to the army camp, ostensibly for training but actually hoping to use outside forces to send him to his death as soon as possible. Unexpectedly, the boy not only survived but also repeatedly performed meritorious deeds on the battlefield, and was eventually ennobled as a marquis by the emperor.
This disgusted the two of them. Now that their illegitimate son had grown too powerful, they had no way to control him. Madam Li had no choice but to find a shameless merchant's daughter, hoping to end Li Mu's lineage.
Who would have thought that Li Mu would find out about the merchant's daughter's affair? Not only did he divorce her, but he also made a huge fuss in the city, exposing her unkindness, and finally they separated.
Master Li was so angry that he fell seriously ill and almost died. After finally recovering, he dared not do anything to his illegitimate son and could only curse him behind his back to die soon.
Now that Li Muzhen is "dead," how could Madam Li not be happy? She wished she could celebrate with gongs, drums, and firecrackers. This demon has finally gotten his comeuppance!
"Madam!" A series of hurried footsteps outside interrupted the smile on her face.
"What happened? Why are you in such a panic?"
"No, no, this is terrible! Young Master is... he's about to die..."
Upon hearing this, Madam Li trembled and immediately got up and ran to the backyard.
The young master is Li Chen's second son. A few days ago, the two children suddenly contracted smallpox and sought treatment from several doctors in the city, but their condition did not improve.
She originally intended to pass on smallpox to Li Qing'er, but unexpectedly, it passed on to her two grandsons. The older grandson, being older, barely survived, but the smallpox disfigured him and blinded him in one eye. The younger grandson was too young, and despite taking medicine for a long time, he did not get better and remained sickly.
As soon as Madam Li reached the backyard, she heard her daughter-in-law's heart-wrenching cries. She stopped in her tracks, clutching her clothes with both hands, her face contorted in agony.
It's all Li Mu's fault! He's the one who caused the deaths of his son and grandson!
Even in death, this debt collector couldn't resist dragging her grandson along. Let his daughter pay for her grandson's life!
*
Wang Ying and Lin Sui rode in a carriage toward the Marquis's residence, both of them preoccupied and silent the entire way.
Upon arriving at the Marquis's residence, Ershun informed the gatekeeper, who then opened the gate and let them in. The Marquis had instructed before leaving that Lin Xiaolang could visit anytime while he was away.
After entering the Marquis's residence, the two followed the servants to the backyard where the old lady lived.
Mrs. Luo was tending to the flowers and plants in the yard. The weather had warmed up these past few days, and the azaleas planted in the yard had all bloomed, their shades of pink quite beautiful.
Hearing footsteps, Luo turned around. "Young Master Lin is here. Why didn't Qing'er come back with him?"
"Replying to Madam, Qing'er caught a chill yesterday and wasn't feeling well, so we didn't bring her along."
"Then you need to take good care of her. I'll have someone bring some medicinal herbs later, and you can take them back and see if there's anything you can use."
"Thank you, Madam..." Lin Sui looked at Wang Ying, unsure how to begin. After all, this was a huge matter, and she didn't know if Wang Ying could handle it.
Wang Ying said, "There's another matter I'd like to discuss with the old lady today."
"What is it?" Mrs. Luo washed her hands and came over to ask.
“These past few days there have been rumors that the Marquis… he may have met with misfortune at the border…” Wang Ying paused and looked at Madam Luo, noticing that although she looked sorrowful, she did not shed any tears.
Wang Ying continued, "Of course, this news may not be true. Lord Marquis is a lucky man and will surely be fine. But right now, I'm afraid the Li family will cause trouble again."
Madam Luo said, "I know what you mean. When Mu'er left, he told me that if he died in battle, he would entrust Qing'er to Lin Xiaolang. This child will stay with you from now on. I'm too old to be of much help. If the Li family comes to take the child, I'm afraid I won't be able to stop them."
Lin Sui covered his mouth and couldn't help but sob. He really didn't expect that the Marquis would actually die in battle, and grief overwhelmed him.
Madam Luo sighed, "Mu'er should have left you some money, right? You can only withdraw half of it. Qing'er can withdraw the rest when she turns sixteen. I hope you will treat her well."
"Don't worry, Madam, I will definitely treat Qing'er as my own daughter!" Even without the money, Lin Sui would not mistreat Qing'er.
After giving her instructions, Luo was exhausted. She had suffered too much in her youth and her health was not good. In addition, she was very upset to hear about this matter, so she saw the guest off.
Both of them were in low spirits when they left the Marquis's residence. Lin Sui was saddened by the Marquis's death, while Wang Ying was grieving for Lady Luo.
If she were more assertive, she could have broken away from the Li family. With her son's merits and title, she could have lived a carefree life as a feudal lord. Unfortunately, her mind had long been tamed by feudalism, and she couldn't muster any thoughts of resistance. She was just waiting for her master and mistress to come and take back the Marquis's mansion.
When Wang Ying got home, she was about to go to the shop to open it as usual. "Sui'er, you don't need to go. Business isn't busy right now. You should stay home and rest."
Lin Sui didn't insist. She was indeed a bit tired after not sleeping all night. She thanked him and went back to her room to rest.
When Wang Ying arrived at the shop, a customer came in to inquire about renting a room as soon as she opened the door. "Manager Wang, you've finally arrived! I've been coming here several times yesterday, but I couldn't find you anywhere."
"What's wrong?" Wang Ying asked, putting down the broom.
"I heard you have a house for rent on Zhenghe Street, so I came here specifically to ask. My distant cousin and his family just came from Xiguan yesterday and are looking to rent a place. The rent on Zhengyang Street is too high, so they can't afford it and can only look for a place on Zhenghe Street."
Wang Ying said, "There are indeed a few rooms left, but the prices have gone up quite a bit. You know how tight the housing market is in the city lately."
"How much does it cost per year?"
"I charge others seventy taels of silver a year, but since you're a regular customer, I'll give you a discount of five taels, making it sixty-five taels a year. The deposit is separate."
The man thought about it for a moment and realized that the price was indeed much cheaper than the others. Houses on Zhenghe Street were hard to rent these days, and even the slightly better ones cost over a hundred taels.
"Okay, I'll go back and tell my cousin that I'll come to see the apartment this afternoon."
Wang Ying said, "We need to hurry, otherwise I'm afraid I won't be able to retain too many people who want to rent."
"Okay, okay, I'll go back and call him over right away." No sooner had this person left than another customer came to rent a room. After agreeing on the price, he took them to see the room in the afternoon.
Wang Ying couldn't help but chuckle as she looked at the vegetables in the room. The vegetable business was dismal, but she never expected the rental business to be so booming. If one door closes, another opens; it's all about making money.
Around noon, Wang Ying told Tian Ju to close the shop. He picked out the unsold vegetables and took them home fresh, while the rest were distributed to the neighbors.
After lunch, I took two guests to see a house. Both families were refugees who had come from other places. One family was a local gentry and the other was a small merchant dealing in medicinal herbs. Both families were quite easy to talk to. They looked like they had been through a lot on their journey and their faces were full of hardship.
As Wang Ying walked, she asked, "How is the fighting at the border these days? I heard that the Northwest Army suffered a major defeat. Is that true?"
"Sigh, if the beating hadn't been so brutal, who would be willing to leave their hometown and travel so far?" said the local gentry.
"Is it true that Marquis Wuping died in battle?"
Both of them shook their heads, saying, "We are just ordinary people trying to survive; how could we have known about such a big event?"
After Wang Ying showed them the house and finalized the deal, she received the money and wrote the contract. One hundred and thirty taels of silver were deposited into the account, which was much easier than buying groceries.
It's a pity I didn't have enough money back then, otherwise I would be a landlord now if I had bought more houses.
When she got home, she saw an unfamiliar carriage parked at the gate, and several people were arguing and shouting, along with Lin Sui's angry rebukes.
"Last time you took Qing'er there, she contracted smallpox in just one day. If it weren't for Master Qingxu saving her, she probably wouldn't have survived. Don't even think about taking her away again!"
A note from the author:
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