Wine-scented Beauty

Chapter 76: Correction

On a sunny afternoon, the village chief delivered the land deed, and Ji Meiqing readily signed her name.

Thus, a generation of landlords emerged.

Ji Meiqing was so busy she didn't know what to do. She went to check on the two acres of land in the morning, and then rushed off to Hualiu Street in the afternoon. She only took a short nap at noon, and then prepared to stay up all night.

Upon arriving, Ji Meiqing went straight to her mother's room, once again dressed in men's clothing. Her mother's gaze towards her seemed somewhat unnatural.

Ji Meiqing acted as if that incident had never happened and continued talking about her own affairs.

"Show me the drawing. Once it's ready, we'll release it tomorrow morning."

She stated directly, "Whether we succeed this time depends on the effectiveness of our publicity."

The mother was equally forthcoming: "We will certainly complete whatever Young Master Ji instructs us to do."

"That's good. I wonder where the painting is? I want to see it. The more anthropomorphic the things in the painting, the better. No matter how good your paintings are, I only need to think about them."

She reiterated this point repeatedly, her tone filled with unwavering certainty.

Mom nodded, got up, and led her over.

The canvases were all placed in a room, and candles were lit. The room was filled with light. Ji Meiqing had the cloth covering the canvases removed, revealing them completely to her.

Ji Meiqing glanced at it, then nodded, "It's alright."

She crouched down and examined it closely. The image captured three-tenths of the spirit, and seven-tenths of the beauty—a beauty beyond compare. This was good, but it was unrealistic. If it were to be used realistically, it would surely invite dissatisfaction.

Her face fell, and she said coldly, "Are you sure you haven't beautified the people in these pictures? I don't care if you want to distort the reality, as long as they're at least 70% lifelike. But these are only 30%. What will we do if the customers are dissatisfied when they see the real people? If the people are distorted, what about the paintings?"

"No...it's not that serious, is it?" Mom said, somewhat surprised. "It's just that it doesn't look like it by about 70%."

"Seven points." She sneered twice. "If I give you ten taels of silver, three taels real and the rest fake, would you be angry?"

“…It’s not that serious…” The mother wanted to argue a few more points, but Ji Meiqing didn’t give her a chance at all.

"It's not that serious. The customers paid a lot of money to come here for fun, and what happened? We disappointed them. How are we going to clean up this mess? If you think this isn't important, then I'm wrong. I'm going to find another place. You guys can have your fun. I'm not going to keep you company."

She finished speaking seriously, then went over and collected all the paintings. She had intended to burn them, but then she considered that all the houses and buildings here were made of wood, and if they caught fire, everyone here would probably suffer.

"Then let's correct the painting as Young Master Ji suggested." The mother finally gave in.

Ji Meiqing stopped, turned around and looked at her very seriously, saying, "If you are willing to listen to me, making money is not difficult, but if you don't listen to me, I have nothing to say. I can't cut off my own source of income, and I don't think you have the ability to go against me either."

"How could this be..." She chuckled dryly, then turned and called for someone to come and collect all the paintings on the ground.

"I'm sorry to have troubled you today, young master. The painting will be finished tomorrow. How about you..."

She smiled faintly, "That won't be necessary. I don't feel comfortable leaving you here."

"I..." She smiled but didn't know what to say, after all, what happened that night...

Ji Meiqing didn't expose it because of their cooperative relationship; if she had, she would have had to go elsewhere to talk about it.

He had planned to use those girls to win his heart so he could sit back and collect money later, but he didn't expect Ji Meiqing to be a girl as well, which is probably a bit awkward.

She didn't feel anything, but her mother seemed a little uncomfortable. After seeing Ji Meiqing off, it was raining heavily outside, which was unfortunate.

She stood by the ticket, craning her neck and gazing at the sky.

The fine, dense raindrops gradually landed on her face, a cool and refreshing touch. When the wind blew, she felt incredibly cold.

With my hands tucked in, I slowly waited for the rain to end.

Seeing her like this, her mother sent someone to bring her an umbrella. Ji Meiqing thanked her and did not refuse, then opened the umbrella and walked outside.

There weren't many people left on the street. She walked through the alley with an oil-paper umbrella, giving off a distinctly rainy alley vibe.

All she could hear was the patter of rain. She carefully avoided the puddles on the ground, but little did she know that she would end up in someone else's arms.

"Oh, sorry." She stepped back, looked up again, paused for a moment, and then smiled and said, "It's you."

Lu Yu nodded, his gaze falling on the umbrella in her hand, then on the wet spots on her shoulders, and frowned, saying, "You're so old, and you still can't even hold an umbrella."

He took the opportunity to close his umbrella and squeezed next to her.

In the cramped space, she was immediately squeezed to the other side. Ji Meiqing's umbrella was also taken away, and she was sheltered in her arms, completely protected from the cold wind and rain.

Ji Meiqing glanced at her hand beside her but didn't say anything. The two walked back together. Lu Yu's embrace was very warm, so warm that it almost made her feel sleepy.

"Um, you're not angry with me anymore?" She raised her head slightly. Although she wasn't short, she felt shorter standing next to Lu Yu. After all, he was a head taller than her. Ji Meiqing glanced at him and then shrank back down.

She dared not move, a strange feeling stirring within her arms, a kind of secret joy. But she didn't know why; she'd never felt this way before… why today…

An unusual feeling lingered in her heart, and she didn't even hear Lu Yu calling her twice.

"Brother Lu, what's the matter?" Ji Meiqing quickly raised her head, the emotion in her eyes disappearing just right.

Looking ahead, Lu Yu slowly said, "I'm afraid we won't be able to go back tonight?"

"What's wrong?" She also looked up ahead, where the night was turning and the city gates were closing. They stood in front of the city gates, slowly watching them close.

“Brother Lu…” she suddenly called out, “Why don’t we buy a property here when the next sum of money arrives? It’s not convenient to always stay in inns.”

"Staying at an inn at this time?" Lu Yu shook his head helplessly. "I'm afraid it's not feasible. It's the off-season now, and there aren't many guests. All the inns we just passed have already closed."

"...This is forcing us into a corner!" she gritted her teeth. "God must be sick."

"Who's going to Liangshan?" Lu Yu asked blankly.