spoiled brat

Chapter 38 37. Countercurrent (7)

The large blue stone beside the tree was cool and refreshing. Zhao Zhao sat down on it with Aheng in her arms, gazed at the glittering stars in the dark night sky, and then looked into Aheng's pitch-black eyes for a moment before smiling helplessly.
"You can't be like your sister, so fierce and annoying."

Ah Heng couldn't understand, stared blankly at her, and inexplicably started crying.

When Zhaozhao first started taking care of the child, she was at a loss, but now she has figured it out—when a child cries, it's either because the child is hungry, needs to poop or pee, or is too cold or too hot.

She checked her over and found nothing wrong. Just as she was completely baffled, Xiao Duo's voice rang out from behind her: "Silly Zhao Zhao, just sing to her to cheer her up!"

Zhao Zhao turned her head and saw that Xiao Duo was holding a string of candied hawthorns in each hand. She was about to laugh when she glanced at Mama Yu behind Xiao Duo, and immediately stopped, speaking respectfully:

"Hello, Mom."

Yu's mother has something to say.

Xiao Duo didn't dare to linger. He stuffed a string of candied hawthorns into Zhao Zhao's hand and placed another string of candied hawthorns next to A Heng, who hadn't grown any teeth yet. He then sensibly withdrew.

Zhao Zhao guessed that the matter of going to Yunzhou had made progress. Just as she was about to ask, Madam Yu pointed at Aheng, who was crying incessantly, and said, "Zhao Zhao, is this how you take care of a child?"

"I……"

Yu's mother frowned, put out the pipe in her hand, and patted the perfume powder off her body, afraid that the filthy smell would offend the child.

Once she had cooled down a bit, she went over and picked up Ah Heng, carefully straightening the swaddle cloth and instructing, "Don't wrap her up so tightly in the summer, it's stuffy and constricting, no wonder your sister is crying."

Ah Heng nestled in her mother's arms without crying, her round eyes full of curiosity, making her all the more endearing.

"It's quite endearing." Mother Yu's heart warmed, and she picked up her hoarse voice, honed from smoking, and began to sing a soft, obscure little tune:

"Grow tall, little tree, grow tall, my son, grow tall, grow tall... When the little tree stands tall and provides ample shade, my son will rise to high office, adorned in magnificent red and purple robes, with emerald banners and rainbow pennants atop his carriage..."

Her singing was intermittent, probably because many things from the past had faded into memory over the years.

Zhao Zhao asked softly, "Mom, did you have a son before?"

"What kind of man is worthy of me bearing his child?" Yu's mother said with a self-deprecating tone, "This is a song my mother sang for my brother, I am not fortunate enough to hear it."

Yu's mother was like a mysterious old cat, and Zhao Zhao was curious about her past: "And then what happened?"

"And then?" Mother Yu smiled. "Later, my brother indeed entered the court as an official and became wealthy and powerful... But he was too upright and honest, he could only be tempered steel and could not be softened... He was schemed against and ruined our family."

Zhao Zhao guessed what happened next. Yu's mother was not registered as a lowly person and entered a brothel. She played with different men and eventually got tired of them, so she came to the small Qingyang County to become a madam.

If everyone has a clear history of their origins, does she?
"Mom," Zhao Zhao looked at Yu's mother and asked, "Women in this building aren't allowed to have children unless they get pregnant with the child of a prominent man, so they can extort money. You agreed to let my mother give birth to me...who is my father?"

"Why ask this?" Madam Yu's expression turned cold. "Your mistress is a maid, what use is it if you know? They won't acknowledge you."

Zhao Zhao never expected to change her fate by acknowledging a father, nor did she ever hate her origins.

The scene of Xie Shu killing Magistrate Xie inexplicably flashed into her mind; the blood-stained dagger gleamed coldly under the blazing sun…

Mother Yu didn't want to mention Zhao Zhao's biological father, so she put Aheng down and got down to business: "There's progress on the trip to Yunzhou."

Zhao Zhao snapped out of her reverie and heard Madam Yu continue, "Manager Sun from the Yunzhou Music Academy will be coming tomorrow to select people. Dress up nicely, prepare your best instrument, and be prepared to handle the situation carefully." "Thank you, Madam," Zhao Zhao nodded.

Yu's mother took a few steps outside, then suddenly turned back and asked Zhao Zhao, "What's your best musical instrument again?"

"Moon-shaped lute".

“You’ll play the pipa tomorrow.” Mother Yu shook her head. “If you insist on playing the moon lute, Steward Sun won’t choose you.”

Zhao Zhao asked, puzzled, "Why?"

“These kinds of official banquets are only attended by powerful and influential people. Steward Sun came out this time to pick out pretty and sensible girls to serve at the banquet.” Madam Yu sneered, “If it’s something for people to have fun with, then don’t play instruments with a soft tone that has a sharp edge… such things should be completely soft-boned.”

When the women in the county heard that Steward Sun was filling a vacancy by borrowing someone, they all wanted to seek his guidance, hoping to have more opportunities to come into contact with the powerful and influential.

Before Steward Sun's sedan chair even entered the city, a group of girls had already stopped outside the city. Each of them displayed their unique talents, vying to show off in front of Steward Sun—the pipa player stood by the roadside playing, the flute player followed the sedan chair as it went, and the dancer stood at the city gate dancing, turning the barren outer area of ​​the city into a dazzling arena of beauties.

Manager Sun was also a member of the brothel when she was young. She understood the hardships the girls had faced, and she was also really annoyed by the noise from the girls. So she had no choice but to let everyone go back first and show their faces one by one the next day.

There are at least eight hundred, if not a thousand, young women in Qingyang County, and quite a few of them are of marriageable age, talented, and beautiful. Zhao Zhao was afraid she wouldn't be chosen, so she dragged Xiao Duo out in the middle of the night, planning to sneak into the inn where Steward Sun was staying to bribe him.

To everyone's surprise, the entrance to the inn was filled with small wooden couches and mats lying haphazardly, and the girls, dressed up in advance, lay there looking beautiful and alluring, making the whole street both congested and fragrant.

Zhao Zhao, holding Xiao Duo's hand, tiptoed and jumped around among the crowded beds and people, being very careful, but still stepped on someone.

The girl groggily opened her eyes and saw Zhao Zhao and Xiao Duo acting suspiciously, their pockets bulging, most likely with silver. She immediately snapped awake and shouted:

"Sisters, wake up! Someone's trying to bribe Grandma Sun!"

If it were bribery in other matters, people might just criticize it as a matter of social etiquette, but in this matter, not a single flaw can be tolerated.

We're all prostitutes by birth, earning dirty, stinking money from our bodies. If you bribe Manager Sun to please her and her status rises, then wouldn't everyone else have to bribe to get through this?

Isn't this like pulling the ladder away after climbing onto the roof, betraying your own people?
One stone stirs up a thousand ripples; a young woman suddenly leaped up from a small wooden bench not far away, bursting into a tirade of curses:
"I, your grandma, finally got a chance to get ahead, and some little bastard is trying to raise the price? Did your ancestors for eighteen generations go crazy and give birth to a whore like you who even tries to be opportunistic and competitive in prostitution?"

The shout woke up the girls sleeping in front of the inn, who looked around like a group of snakes awakening:

"Where is that little bastard? Where is that little bastard?"

Seeing that things were not going well, Zhao Zhao quickly pulled Xiao Duo away and slipped away. Curses continued to pour from behind, and countless pairs of women's embroidered shoes flew past, grazing their scalps.

The two ran quite a distance, panting heavily. Xiao Duo, still out of breath, smiled and comforted them, "Zhao Zhao'er, it's good that it was dark at night, so they didn't see your face."

Zhao Zhao hadn't been this disheveled in a long time, and she smiled, "I've learned something new. You don't usually see them looking so fierce."

If they hadn't pointed it out, Zhao Zhao really wouldn't have realized that her backdoor deal was a trap. She straightened her hair and became obedient: "I won't touch the money."

"Are you crazy?" Xiao Duo patted the silver in Zhao Zhao's pocket. "If the money isn't delivered, how will you get selected tomorrow?"

(End of this chapter)