No, gentlemen also guard against

Chapter 713: The Embroiderer Sells Her Body for Money [Second update, more updates, please give me a monthly ticket! Thanks to my friend "Qingquan Liuxiang" for the reward! ]

The residence on Locust Leaf Lane.

In the main hall where they used to eat, two figures sat opposite each other, with a bowl of iced mung bean soup and a bright red shawl in front of them, the latter draped limply over the edge of the table.

The other end of the shawl was held in Zhen Shuyuan's hand. She had stopped fiddling with it and her fist gradually clenched...

The atmosphere in the main hall fell into deathly silence.

Ouyang Rong acted as if he saw nothing. He reached out and pulled the bowl of iced mung bean soup closer, scooped another spoonful, lowered his head and put it into his mouth.

Zhen Shuyuan saw her nephew smacking his lips after tasting the soup. He looked puzzled and muttered:
"Strange, why isn't it sweet? Didn't the embroiderer add sugar? That's a bit too frugal. But it didn't add any spicy ingredients. It was cooked as I said, so it's already done very well... Wait."

Ouyang Rong stirred the bottom of the bowl, then scooped out the cold soup at the bottom of the bowl and put it into his mouth.

He showed a satisfied look on his face:

"Yes, I did, but I didn't stir it. The sugar all sank to the bottom... It seems a little sweet. Why did you put so much sugar in? Xiu Niang is really something. She usually has good skills, but she can't get the right balance when making soup. She is so flustered. Is she afraid that Auntie will not be satisfied?"

Ouyang Rong laughed and shook his head, then turned to ask Zhen Shuyuan:
"It's so sweet, Auntie should be able to eat it. Let Wei Lai heat it up later. If you can't eat it cold, then eat it hot."

As if she didn't hear her beloved nephew's words of concern, Zhen Shuyuan stared at the empty room in front of her, murmuring two words over and over again.

Ouyang Rong listened attentively.

"Embroiderer...Embroiderer..."

Zhen Shuyuan suddenly asked, "How did you meet her, this woman called Xiu Niang? You said she was originally hers, did you know that? Where is she now?"

Questions came one after another, pouring out of her mouth like beans from a bamboo tube.

After listening to this, Ouyang Rong simply replied, "She is now in Xingzifang, living by Xingzi Lake."

Zhen Shuyuan stood up, walked back and forth in front of Ouyang Rong for two circles, stopped, and said hurriedly:

"Take me there..."

"also."

Just as Ouyang Rong was about to stand up, he felt someone grabbing him. He turned around and saw that it was his aunt Zhen Shuyuan.

She stopped where she was, clutching his sleeves tightly.

"Wait a minute."

Zhen Shuyuan said, with an expression on her face that Ouyang Rong could not describe, and asked inexplicably:
"She promised you that she would come to my birthday party? Will she be afraid of me? Will I scare her away if I go there now?"

Ouyang Rong nodded and shook his head:
"It shouldn't be..."

Zhen Shuyuan looked out the door and asked in a daze:

"Did she ever tell you about what happened back then? Oh, I forgot she was dumb and couldn't speak. She should be able to write, or use sign language. Did she ever tell you about it?"

"I can write." Ouyang Rong asked curiously, "What happened back then?"

Zhen Shuyuan said nothing and remained stunned.

Ouyang Rong pursed his lips and tried to ask, "Auntie, are you talking about the incident where she was wrongly accused and sold out?"

Zhen Shuyuan, who was in a daze, slowly turned her head and stared straight at his face.

Ouyang Rong said very seriously: "That incident was actually a misunderstanding. She said that she didn't stab me with the needle, and she didn't dare to hurt me. She was protecting me..."

Zhen Shuyuan suddenly interrupted: "Okay, Tan Lang, go out first." She waved her hands weakly and repeated: "Go out."

Ouyang Rong looked at her for a while, stood up and walked out the door.

The iced mung bean soup and other items on the table were left behind.

Zhen Shuyuan walked over and closed the door.

He returned to his original position and sat there limply.

The lights are not turned on.

She looked at the empty main hall in front of her...

Ouyang Rong turned around and saw that the door to the main hall was closed again.

He sighed softly.

The conversation ended and it was almost night outside.

Ouyang Rong returned to Yinbingzhai and Ye Weilai was making the bed and folding the quilt.

Today, taking advantage of the sun, he dried Ouyang Rong's bedding again. He saw some needlework tools on the embroidery bench by the window, which should have been used by Ye Weilai.

Ouyang Rong remained silent.

Ye Weilai said curiously, "Tan Lang came back early today, but he talked to Madam Zhen for a long time, and it was already night."

"Ah."

"Tan Lang is in a bad mood?"

Ouyang Rong shook his head: "No, it's just that I said some things today, and I feel a little relieved."

Ye Weilai looked at him carefully and said, "But Tan Lang seems to be distracted. Is he really not worried?"

Ouyang Rong calmed down for a moment and said, "I gave some of the soup that the embroiderer made to my aunt, and I also told her about the embroiderer."

Ye Weilai tilted her head slightly and looked at him.

Ouyang Rong discovered that her expression didn't seem to show any surprise at all.

"I guessed it. After all, the date is coming soon, so I have to tell you in advance." Ye Weilai lowered her head again: "Tan Lang is the head of the family. Madam Zhen will respect Tan Lang's ideas."

Ouyang Rong groaned: "But my aunt's reaction..."

He didn't say anything else and looked at Ye Weilai.

Both of them fell silent.

Ye Weilai thought for a while and said:
"I heard before that when the misunderstanding happened and the decision was made about whether Miss Xiu Niang should stay or go, Tan Lang's mother was actually quite hesitant, but Madam Zhen's attitude... was somewhat resolute. Madam Zhen loved you too much, and when that happened, she was extremely angry at first, and seemed to have slapped Miss Xiu Niang in the face, scolding her for being an ungrateful person and saying that she really had misunderstood...

"It was Madam Zhen who suggested selling Miss Xiu Niang. I think the price was one tael of silver. On the day she was dragged away, Miss Xiu Niang seemed to have bitten Madam Zhen's hand... From this point of view, Miss Xiu Niang must be most afraid of her. She is a shadow of the past..."

The silver-haired girl spoke more and more quietly. She glanced at Ouyang Rong, who had closed his eyes and remained quiet since some time ago.

"Sleep first."

After an unknown amount of time, Ouyang Rong spoke.

"Okay, Tan Lang."

……

Early the next morning.

After Ouyang Rong finished washing up, he came to the main hall.

The main hall door was closed.

After the maid came over and whispered in Ouyang Rong's ear for a while, he realized that the door to the main hall had not been opened all night, and no one had gone out since he came out last night.

At this time.

With a creak, the sound of the door opening was heard.

Ouyang Rong, Ban Xi and others turned their heads.

Zhen Shuyuan, who had been sitting there all night, came out.

The weather is nice today and there is dawn in the morning.

In the morning light on the corridor, the beautiful woman in a silk dress subconsciously raised the back of her hand to block the gentle but dazzling sunlight.

She said to Ouyang Rong:
"Tan Lang, you are here, come in."

Zhen Shuyuan said this and turned back to the main hall.

Ouyang Rong followed him in.

When he came to the main hall, he saw that all the windows were tightly closed. The big red shawl on the table was still there, but the bowl of iced mung bean soup was empty because someone had drunk it.

Ouyang Rong did not ask, but asked:
"What's the matter, aunt?"

Zhen Shuyuan closed her eyes for a while, and said without opening them:
"Go and bring her back on her birthday."

"Did your aunt accept her?"

Zhen Shuyuan did not answer, and seemed to be talking to herself:
"Since this mute child still recognizes that hairpin and your mother, and she has come to find Tan Lang... No matter how you met, it means that there is still a fate. I understand what Qianqian meant by nodding..."

She waved her hand with a somewhat melancholy look and said:

"Bring her here. On the day of my birthday, Tan Lang will bring her here first. Tell her not to run away. Let me take a look first. I won't let her come in vain. If she comes, I will give her something, an old thing..."

Ouyang Rong asked curiously, "Aunt, what do you want to give me? You don't have to be so polite."

Zhen Shuyuan had already stood up. It was unknown whether she heard Ouyang Rong's words or not. She walked out of the main hall with a dazed look on her face.

Ouyang Rong saw that she seemed to be murmuring something, but he couldn't hear it clearly.

Soon, he watched Zhen Shuyuan's back disappear on the corridor...

……

Zhen Shuyuan returned to her boudoir, but instead of going back to her room, she turned and walked towards a room on the west side of the yard.

There are several Buddha statues in the room.

It is a Buddhist temple set up inside.

Tablets dedicated to Buddha and some deceased relatives.

The tablet of Ouyang Rong's late mother, Mother Zhao, is also among them.

Zhen Shuyuan came to Zhao's mother's tablet and turned to look at the lacquered wooden tablet.

The flames of several white candles in front of the fruit plate stretched the shadow of Zhao's mother's spirit tablet very long, falling on the wall behind, as if standing side by side with the bronze Buddha statue in the center of the lobby.

Zhen Shuyuan stood in silence for a long time before she said:
"I know you're reluctant, but I feel guilty too. But if I don't send her away, she won't be able to survive.

"Afterwards, you ate vegetarian food and chanted Buddhist scriptures, and I also burned incense for many years. Gradually, I almost forgot why I followed you to worship Buddha in the first place..."

She spoke to the empty temple and the tablet, paused for a moment, and continued speaking as if through the air:

"You have never dared to spend this money, and have always offered it to the Buddha. Before you died, you gave it to me. Could it be that you had expected that this mute child would come back one day? Is it that our fate is not over yet..."

The voice of the woman in silk skirt gradually became lower and lower until it was barely audible.

Silence returned to the Buddhist temple.

The only sound left was the hissing sound of the white candles dancing and burning in the wind.

I don’t know how long it took, but Zhen Shuyuan finally moved and slowly walked towards the Buddha statue and tablet in front of her.

She walked around them and went straight to the back of Zhao's mother's spirit tablet. She took out a small gray cloth bag from a secret compartment in a corner under the table.

The gray cloth bag was old and covered with dust that couldn't be washed off. It looked like it had been stored for some time.

The gray cloth bag was slowly opened by her slightly cool fingers.

A string of copper coins that looked both new and old was revealed.

It’s new because the copper plate still has some shine.

It is old because the hemp ropes connecting the copper plates have been mostly rotten and seem unable to bear the weight of lifting the copper plates.

Zhen Shuyuan looked down at the copper coins in the cloth bag.

She counted carefully.

The number is consistent.

……

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(End of this chapter)