Chapter 45
Yunkai led a group of people to avenge Yueming, rolling up his sleeves angrily and cursing all the way.
"I asked you to wear a shirt and trousers, looking androgynous, because I was afraid someone would mess with you, but there are still people who can't tell the difference between male and female."
Yueming wasn't happy to hear his words. She was beautiful, even in a sack. Could a set of men's clothing cover up her beauty? Just because you're blind, do you think everyone else is blind?
However, they had to stand united against the outside world and not start any internal strife. Besides, he wasn't going to help her, so his rude remarks were just an internal conflict and could be dealt with later.
With Ye Hu and Ai Ye leading the way, and asking questions along the way, the group soon arrived at the tavern where Pu Jiang was drinking.
Pu Jiang had just pulled a prize and won two more bets. He was proudly giving tips to the waiters when he saw Yun Kai leading the little girl from the Lan family into the tavern with a stern look on his face. Seeing Yun Kai causing trouble for the little girl from the Lan family, he was a little surprised but not panicked. He stood up and raised his hand to greet him, "Second cousin."
His desk faced a rack of cock-pulling treasures. A waiter placed dice with images of roosters, dragons, and tigers on the rack. Seeing Yunkai come in, he didn't bother to tie the ropes and quickly bowed to Yunkai. Yunkai ignored him and just stared at Pujiang. Feng Xiaosai waved at the waiter, and only then did he dare to straighten his back and report to the boss.
Yun Kai stared at Pu Jiang for a while, and seeing his enthusiastic face turned awkward, he sneered and said, "Who is your cousin?" After that, he kicked the rack of La Gongji Bao, and the dice on it rolled down and spun around on the ground.
Pu Jiang looked at the dice at his feet with a gloomy face. He had been so proud in front of Yueming before, but now he was showing off in front of Yueming.
He raised his head and looked at Yun Kai: "What do you mean?"
Yun Kai crossed his arms and said sarcastically, "You've gotten so bold after drinking a few cups of yellow wine that you dare to hit a servant from the Tusi Mansion."
Pu Jiang also crossed his arms and said, "It's fine if I hit a servant, but you actually hurt the relationship between relatives for such a small matter?"
Yun Kai turned his head and spat to the side: "What a flattering thing! I've never heard of anyone treating my concubine's family as relatives since ancient times."
Pu Jiang's face turned pale and blue. My family wasn't considered relatives, so my status was only slightly higher than a servant. But was the Third Wife an ordinary concubine? Could the chieftains and common people of Mengding be compared to them?
Glancing at Yueming behind Yunkai, he sneered and said, "It's true that we in Mengding Prefecture can't even hope to marry into the family of Prime Minister Yun, but we can't just sit back and watch a young lady get rid of her and poop on her."
Yun Kai laughed: "Oh, what are you going to do? Her grandfather has cut off her food supply and she can hardly even eat enough." After saying this, he called the waiter over and pointed at Pu Jiang and said to him: "Add a few dishes for Master Pu Jiang and put it on my account. I'm afraid this will be Master Pu Jiang's last full meal."
Not only did Pu Jiang not get the grain but he was also humiliated and ridiculed. Being drunk, he didn't care about anything else. He cursed, "Fuck your mother," and rushed forward to wrestle with Yun Kai.
Yueming was shocked that they had been having a good verbal fight before, but now they had turned physical. She pulled Feng Xiaosai's sleeve and asked repeatedly, "What should we do? What should we do?"
Feng Xiaosai was used to seeing the young master getting into trouble, and he figured he wouldn't suffer any loss. Besides, he was there, so how could he just watch the young master suffer? But seeing how anxious Miss Yueming was, he blinked and asked curiously, "What do you say we should do?"
What to do? Yueming rolled her eyes and said to him, "Pretend to stop the fight, hug that bastard and let the second young master take the opportunity to beat him up."
Feng Xiaosai was stunned. Miss Lan actually took sides? Didn't she go to an all-girls school? Didn't the girls in that school fight?
Dai men practice martial arts from a young age. Although Pujiang was a playboy, he had not lost this habit and was quite skilled, fighting Yunkai on equal terms. Seeing Yunkai take two punches, Yueming was extremely anxious and rolled up her sleeves to help. Feng Xiaosai quickly grabbed her and said, "My lady! Be careful not to hit you with your fists and feet."
Yueming said anxiously, "Han Yunkai was beaten, we have to go help him."
Feng Xiaosai grumbled inwardly, "A fight is bound to end without getting punched. It's not like I've mastered some extraordinary martial arts." Besides, the young master didn't say anything, which meant he didn't need help. If anyone tried to meddle in other people's business, the young master would beat them up too.
Feng Xiaosai comforted Yueming, "Don't worry, this is Yun Xiang's territory, the young master won't suffer any harm." He pointed to the people around who were watching the excitement with stools and sticks and said, "Look, there are so many people gathered here. As long as the young master gives the order, they can beat Pujiang half to death and throw him out. If the young master doesn't give the order, we can just watch."
Feng Xiaosai was right. Yun Kai gradually gained the upper hand. He tripped Pu Jiang and knocked him down, then rode on him. He grabbed his collar and slapped him repeatedly, cursing, "I told you to hit people, I told you to be mean, I told you to make up stories..."
Yueming looked at Pujiang lying on the ground with blood all over his mouth, unable to even scream. Fearfully, he pulled Feng Xiaosai again and said, "I'm so scared, tell him to stop. If he keeps on fighting, someone will die."
Feng Xiaosai was watching with great amusement and said nonchalantly, "It's okay. The young master only slapped him in the face, not with his fists. At most, he'll knock out all his teeth, but no one will die."
Yueming murmured, "The Third Madam and I have become sworn enemies, and there's no way we can ever resolve it in this lifetime."
Feng Xiaosai took the opportunity to speak well of Yun Kai: "Our young master has made an enemy of Meng Dingfu, and it's all because of you!"
Yueming felt that there was nothing wrong with the literal meaning of this statement, but it sounded like there was something else behind it.
Yun Kai finally got up, rubbing his sore wrist. Seeing Pu Jiang lying on the ground with blood all over his face, he kicked him again and cursed, "Don't play dead! Get out of Yunxiang right now. If I see you again in Yunxiang territory, I'll beat you up."
After saying that, he put his hands on his hips and waved to Yueming and the others: "Let's go."
Seeing that he was about to leave after beating someone, the boss got anxious and quickly bent over to stop him. Pointing at the mess on the ground, he said to Chong Yunkai in embarrassment: "Second Young Master, look..."
This tactless fellow, he's so bold as to go after the Second Young Master. Feng Xiaosai glared at him and was about to scold him when Yueming fished out a handful of silver coins from her velvet satchel and handed them to the boss, saying, "Is this enough?"
Yun Kai glanced at Yue Ming and said, "It's none of your business."
The boss was about to answer it, but Yun Kai's shout made him retreat. The second young master didn't dare to offend the eldest daughter of the Kelan family. She seemed easy to talk to. He squinted his eyes and glanced at Yueming pitifully.
Looking around at the mess, Yueming couldn't bear to see the shop smashed into this state. He said to Yunkai, "We can fight, but we have to pay for the damage!"
Yun Kai gently rubbed his aching ribs and said in a stiff voice, "Didn't I say I wouldn't pay for it?" He pointed at the shop owner and said, "Calculate the price of the broken items and go to the cockfighting arena to collect them."
The Second Young Master was embarrassed, but at least he hadn't suffered any loss. The tavern owner agreed with a smile and led Yun Kai and his group out: "Master, Miss, please walk around a little. Be careful of the porcelain shards under your feet." Having just won a fight, Yun Kai walked away with a proud and confident look. Pu Jiang had been beaten, and Yue Ming felt happy too, following Yun Kai along with a breeze.
Yunkai led her into a restaurant. He was already hungry after the fight, so he went up to the private room on the second floor and ordered a lot of dishes without even bothering to drink tea. After ordering, he said to Yueming, "We agreed, you treat!"
Yueming nodded repeatedly: "Of course, of course. Order a few more pig's trotters. As the saying goes, what you eat replenishes what you eat. Next time you fight, your punches will be more powerful."
Yun Kai looked at her malicious smile and sneered, "How ungrateful! I don't even know who you're fighting for. Are you planning to burn your bridges?"
Yueming quickly pulled over the teapot and poured him a cup of tea, then handed it to him and said, "Hey, why are you making such an exaggeration? I'm telling you to be more casual."
Feng Xiaosai, who was standing by the window, put some money into a basket tied to a rope on the railing, then lowered the basket down by the rope. As he lowered the basket, he called out to the fruit vendor, "Peel two grapefruits for the Third Young Master. I want them sweet and juicy."
The vendor agreed loudly, weighed the most attractive grapefruits with his hands, picked out two heavy ones, and peeled them. Finally, he placed a plate of pineapples in the basket, raised his head and smiled ingratiatingly at Feng Xiaosai, saying, "These pineapples were picked this morning and are very sweet. Let the second young master have a taste."
Feng Xiaosai pulled the rope and said with a smile, "You're so sensible!"
Yehu asked the waiter for two plates, carefully peeled the pomelo flesh, and arranged it neatly on the plates. Yueming saw the pineapple, bright yellow and fresh, and it looked delicious. She picked up a piece with a bamboo skewer, but took a bite and tasted salt. She quickly spat it out and said to Yunkai, "The pineapple seller didn't wash his hands, and his sweat made the pineapple salty."
Yunkai, you were eating pomelo, but you couldn't eat it after hearing this. You spat out the pomelo in your mouth out of disgust and cursed: "If you don't want to eat it, then don't eat it. Why are you disgusting me?"
Ye Hu suppressed his laughter and explained, "Miss, we always soak pineapples in salt water before eating them. After soaking in salt water, our tongues won't hurt. It's not that the pineapple sellers are unclean."
Yueming chuckled, "Who on earth dared to fool the Second Young Master like this?" Then, to hide her own embarrassment, she pretended to be calm and asked Yunkai, "Is the pomelo sweet? If it is, I'll have some too."
Yunkai pulled the plate in front of him and said, "You'd better eat the pineapple with sweaty hands."
Yueming pretended to grab it, one protecting the other, and Yunkai grabbed her wrist during the struggle. Her wrist was so slender that he circled it with his index finger and thumb, pinching it completely.
He wondered how such a frail man could be so troublesome. Every time he went out, he either got lost and fainted from shock, or encountered an enemy who asked him to enforce justice. He was simply the definition of trouble.
But the troublemaker in front of him happily asked him: "Second Young Master, can you teach me Dai language?"
Yunkai, who had been distracted for a moment, released her wrist, took a grapefruit slice, broke it open, and tossed it into his mouth. He asked curiously, "Are you going to learn again? Didn't you say you didn't want to learn before?"
This inconsistency was indeed quite embarrassing, and it certainly hurt, even the rouge was showing. Yueming endured the fever on her face, comforting herself that she was a resilient person and apologized sincerely, "I was wrong. I will correct my attitude and study hard. Of course, if you think I'm stupid and don't want to teach me, you can find a teacher."
"Why do you want to learn it again? If it's to quarrel with the Third Madam, then there's no need to learn it. The Third Madam can speak Chinese. To make sure you know she's scolding you, she'll insist on doing it in Chinese."
Yueming was silent for a moment, a look of frustration on his face: "I was scolded today and I didn't even know what I was scolded for? Why was I scolded? And it even caused Ye Hu to get beaten..."
Yun Kai interrupted her curiously, "As a servant, she should have protected you. I understand that you feel sorry for her after she was beaten, but why do you look like you feel guilty? What is there to feel guilty about?"
Even if Yunkai had received a Western education, talking about equality and freedom wouldn't work in Yunxiang, a place with strict class divisions and a foreign land. It was incredibly difficult for the people there to understand the earth-shaking changes in the outside world. To them, these changes were just one of the many shifts in dynasties over the centuries, and they had no real impact. They willingly clung to their lords, their best hopes being to pay less tax each year, harvest a few more dou of rice, get a few more jin of wine and a few more jin of meat every day, have enough food for their children, and have more new clothes and jewelry for their wives. She didn't want to advocate for the freedom and democracy of the new era, but she also didn't want to conform to local customs.
Suddenly, Yueming thought of her former maid, Ye Nan. She had told Yunkai that she would come back to serve him once she recovered from her injuries, but how many days had it been since she recovered? She asked, "Where is my former maid, Ye Nan? How is her injury recovering?"
Yunkai had long forgotten the little girl who had been beaten with a bamboo stick and looked at Feng Xiaosai in confusion. Feng Xiaosai made a bamboo stick-waving gesture, and Yunkai suddenly understood. He then said nonchalantly, "As for that little girl, I sent her back to Boguang Village to recuperate."
From his tone, Yue knew Ye Nan wouldn't be coming back. She felt a little sad, like she hadn't protected her own people. This feeling only strengthened her resolve to learn Dai. Yun Kai himself had said, "What does it mean to know the current situation? It means to integrate into a life you don't want to live." How can one integrate into a life? The first step, of course, is to learn the language.
She pleaded with Yun Kai, "I want to learn. Can you help me?"
Yun Kai threw the pomelo back onto the plate, clapped his hands and said, "Okay, I'll teach you now. From now on, don't call me Second Young Master. Call me Abby."
Yueming asked, "What does Abby mean?"
Yun Kai said calmly, "Abby is the respectful name you call me."
Yueming didn't believe it, so he turned to ask Ai Ye: "Is that so?"
Ai Ye hesitated and said, "That's not wrong..." But it seemed weird that Miss Yueming called the second young master brother.
Yun Kai was unhappy when he was questioned: "What good would it be if I lied to you? Okay, I'll teach you another word, Yinli. It means thank you. Say it together, Yinli Aibi."
Yueming repeated foolishly: "Yinli Abby."
Feng Xiaosai secretly covered his mouth and laughed outside. He thought the second young master was really boring. He even thanked his brother. Why didn't he just let Miss Yueming learn "Yinli Bosu" directly?
He was delighted to see Young Master Lao Ben from the Palau Langye family approaching the private room. He thought to himself that this was not good. His second young master and Young Master Lao Ben had been at odds since childhood, and today he had won a large sum at the casino. He felt that Young Master Lao Ben was looking for trouble.
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