The Virgin Mary in the Book: I Decide My Life with Two Swords

Cangyue Kingdom Langya Pavilion

The busy Cai Yang was confused when he saw the five thousand taels of silver that Yingchuan brought. "You mean it's the Si Shi's own? An annual reward?"

Yingchuan nodded. "Yes, the envoy said that everyone has worked hard this year, so we should distribute it according to the usual monthly salary ratio."

Zhong Xiang, the captain of Cai Yang's second team, spoke up beside the "Thousand Envoys": "I heard from a captain of the Dizi Hall yesterday that our Sishi seemed to give Sishi Yue and Sishi Ji 5,000 taels each."

"What? So much?" Cai Yang pondered. "This means they've taken out all their family savings! Yingchuan, how do you think Si Shi is feeling lately?"

"Qianshi, are you afraid that Sishi will run away?"

"That's not the case, but maybe Jiuyou's incident hasn't passed yet, and she's still sad in her heart. Don't do anything self-destructive!" Cai Yang said.

"Not really? I think Si Shi is quite happy. He just dealt with Qi Yi. I didn't see any sadness in him!" Yingchuan said.

"I don't think so. I saw him when I came this morning and he was in a good mood," said Zhong Xiang.

"Thousand Envoys" Wu You entered the room and said, "The Envoy just ordered that we should not look for her for trivial matters, and only look for her when the sky falls. She has taken Miss Meng Jing back to the Immortal Peak."

"Back to Immortal Peak?"

“Yes, I asked for a pig.”

"A pig?" Zhong Xiang was surprised. "A live one?"

"It's dead. I asked the slaughterhouse to clean it up and send it over."

"There are only a few people eating at Xianren Peak. If a pig can't finish eating it, it will go bad."

"I reminded her that the steward said she wanted to make some bacon."

Zhong Xiang looked at Cai Yang and said, "Qianshi, this envoy who gave money and made meat, Sishi...are you really planning to run away?"

"Give me money?" Wu You looked at the banknotes on the table. "For us?"

"Yes, everyone has a share in the Renzi Hall."

"I know about this. We are lucky! This money is a reward from the new emperor to Si Shi. Si Shi gave 5,000 taels to the clan leader, Si Shi Ji and Si Shi Yue each. Now she took out another 5,000 taels. I guess she doesn't have much left," said Wu You.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Cai Yang finally spoke: "Our female emissary really doesn't care about money at all! Sharing the good things among everyone is easy to say, but how many people can actually do it?"

"That's right! She's only been here for a few days, and we've become the richest people in Langya Pavilion. By the way, Qi Yi is gone, and she left crying," Wu You gloated.

"So easy?" This time it was Yingchuan's turn to be surprised: "She was still there when I left."

"The brother on duty said that the driver asked her to clean the front hall. She talked back, so the driver slapped her in the face and she left crying."

"If it's so easy, why did Chen Qianshi still worry for a few days?"

"You don't understand," Cai Yang said as he calculated the score. "Even though it was just a slap, it had to be given by the emperor because she was a woman, and we were all grown men. Tell me, is it appropriate to slap a woman? Can we bring ourselves to do it?"

Zhong Xiang nodded: "The envoy is right. A man hitting a woman is not a manly act."

"Okay, let's go get busy!"

"Yes"

Ye Ling brought Fang Shu, Meng Jing and her maid Taoer back to Xianren Peak.

As soon as she entered the room, Meng Jing said, "Tao'er, go help Qianqing. You don't need to follow me here. Sister, let's go see Susu."

"Wait a moment," Ye Ling said, looking at the pig on the stone table in the courtyard. "Qianqing, come here. Tao'er and Fang Shu, come here too. Remove all the meat from the bones. It will be this wide. Cut it into small pieces of this size, but keep the lean meat separate. Do you understand? Don't make it dirty. I'll be out with you soon. Also, clean that big vat, take out all the pork fat, and cut it into small pieces. Fang Shu and Taozi, help Qianqing."

"Yes," the two responded.

Qiu Ju, the Night Envoy, also came out. "Miss Meng is here. My son-in-law is here today, so I'm here to help. She said she really wants to eat the bacon you made for her last time."

"Okay, Qianqing, I've done this before, so you know the process. Hurry up and cut all the lard into small pieces, put it in the pot and start refining the oil, and let them cut the meat."

"Yes, I understand." Qian Qing was very happy because she also liked to eat the bacon pickled by Ye Ling.

"Quiet, let's go"

Ye Ling and Meng Jing went to the north courtyard, and as soon as they entered, they saw Su Su and Mo Yufeng sitting in the courtyard.

"Susu" Meng Jing flapped her wings like a little chicken and ran towards Su Su: "How big is your baby? Why can't I see it in your belly?"

"Silly girl, it took three months for the pregnancy to show," Ye Ling said helplessly.

"Okay." Meng Jing then bowed to Mo Yufeng and said, "Greetings, Sect Master Mo."

Su Su held Meng Jing's face in his hands and said, "You finally came up the mountain to see me. Can you stay a few more days this time?"

"Okay, no problem."

Mo Yufeng saw the two girls chatting so animatedly, so he stood up and said, "Junior sister, you three can have fun. I'm going to Ganlu Palace and will be back in the afternoon."

"Go ahead!" Meng Jing waved her hand: "You are not needed here."

Mo Yufeng smiled slightly and then left.

Ye Ling said, "You guys chat, I'm going to the front yard to pickle the meat."

"I want to go too. I'll just sit and watch. The weather is warm today," said Su Su.

"Go, go."

In the front yard, the girls had already started working. Fang Shu was cutting lard very skillfully because she was often punished by her aunt to do all kinds of rough work in the Qi Mansion. To put it nicely, she was a cousin, to put it bluntly, she was Qi Yi's personal maid, even worse than a maid. The servants in the Qi Mansion looked down on her. Now here, she suddenly felt a sense of existence.

Ye Ling put on her apron and rolled up her sleeves: "Fang Shu cut it well, the size is just right. Qianqing, you can get more wood."

Fang Shu just smiled slightly and continued to work, occasionally glancing at Su Su and Meng Jing sitting at the table in the yard. She was very envious, especially of Su Su, who was married to the future leader of Langya Pavilion, and had people like Ye Ling and Meng Jing around her who cared and loved her. In comparison, she was a joke.

"Wow! Sister Fang Shu, you cut so well. I can do everything except cutting." Qiuju was very envious.

"I've done it often before, so I'm proficient at it." Fang Shu was very happy. Since entering this yard, she found that not only Qian Qing and others did not look down on her, but even Ye Ling was not as serious as he was in Renzitang. There was a sense of home here, as if... it was just a small farmyard.

Ye Ling was fiddling with the solid oil in the pot, trying to evenly heat it so that it could quickly produce liquid lard. When he looked up at the door, he was completely shocked. "Holy crap! Where did you go off to? How did you end up like this?"

Everyone looked towards the door and saw Wanqi walking in covered in mud, looking guilty.

Qian Qing put down the firewood and went forward to check: "Wanqi, what's wrong with you? Who bullied you? What's wrong with your face?"

Su Su also stood up and stepped forward: "Wanqi, didn't you say you were going to play with friends? What's going on?"

"Wow~" Wanqi cried, "There were four of them beating me up and pushing me into the mud pit."

Ye Ling asked, "Who is it? Why did they hit you?"

"They said I was an unwanted wild child, that I was born by a mother but not raised by one, that I came out of a crack in the rock, just like the puppy in Du Juanjuan's house. I was so angry that I started fighting with them. They bullied me, saying that I was a slave and no one cared about the life or death of a slave. They said that no one would care even if they beat me to death. Du Juanjuan, Du Peng and Cai Duoer didn't come today, so no one helped me." Wanqi became more and more angry as she spoke.

"Damn it, you bully me right at my doorstep." Ye Ling was angry: "Qianqing, come here and watch the pot. You have seen how I do it before. If the oil is hot, put the meat in the pot first." As she said that, she took off her apron.

"Sister, let Qianqing take her to change into clean clothes first."

"No, there will be no evidence if we change clothes. Let's go." Ye Ling pulled Wanqi out.

Wanqi cried as she walked, "The little bunny bag that Sister Qianqing made for me is now dirty."

"Don't cry, sister will avenge you"

Ye Ling dragged Wanqi, who was covered in mud, into the gate of the Renzi Hall, and everyone looked at them in surprise.

Wu You immediately came forward and said, "Master, what happened? Children love to play, so if they get dirty, they should wash it. Please don't be angry!"

Ye Ling entered the study and wrote down the list provided by Wan Qi. "Wu You, go and notify these people yourself. Bring their children to Renzi Hall within 25 minutes, or I will come and beat them up."

"Yes, yes, yes" Wu You didn't dare to delay.

"Xiao Wanqi, come here, let's roast some and warm yourself up first," Yingchuan whispered.

Wanqi shook her head stubbornly: "No, if I do, there will be no evidence. This is all evidence that they beat me."

The "official" Cai Yang hurried in and asked: "What's going on?"

"Uncle Cai, I was beaten!" Wanqi immediately started crying and complaining, stammering, "Today...today Sister Duo'er...sister Duo'er didn't come to play, so they...they bullied me, and no one...helped me fight."

Cai Yang looked distressed and took a look at Wanqi's injuries: "Yingchuan, go get Doctor Kou."

A quarter of an hour later, the courtyard of the Renzi Hall became bustling. Captains from the Catholic Church and three Dizi Halls came with their children to apologize.

Ye Ling dragged Wanqi out, who was covered in mud and had bruises all over her cheeks. "Look, are you all here?"

Several captains secretly cried out in disbelief when they saw this, and one of them slapped his own child in the face: "How can you, a boy, hit a six-year-old girl?"

"Don't rush to teach them a lesson yet." Ye Ling sat on the stool Yingchuan brought out: "Wanqi, say again what they said to you."

"Uh-huh" Wanqi immediately stammered and narrated.

Wanqi had just finished speaking when Doctor Kou came over: "Little Ancestor, how did you get into this state? Come on, come on, come inside and let me take a look at you."

After Wanqi entered, Ye Ling spoke slowly, "Wanqi, she's my adopted sister, not a slave. She has parents. Her father was a great general guarding the border, fighting bravely on the battlefield. Their family was murdered, leaving only this one child. Who told you she was a wild child? The four of you are boys a few years older than her, yet you ganged up on a girl. Isn't that excessive? You're so young, yet you're so cruel. You say you beat a slave to death and no one cares. I remember there's a rule in Langya Pavilion that prohibits arbitrarily depriving or disregarding the life of others. Violators will be severely punished. Haven't the captains taught your own children?"