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Chapter 36 : Murderous Devil (3)

On the day of the Lantern Festival, Yuxi searched for Han Jianye just after lunch and when she found him, she urged him to leave early.

Han Jianye couldn’t help laughing at Yuxi’s eagerness, “You’re too anxious. It’s only noon and there are still several hours to go before evening arrives. It’s not even too late for us to go after dinner.“

Yuxi tugged at Han Jianye’s sleeve and said, “Second Brother, I am too idle at home. I want to go to Shangyuan Street to take a look at Mama Fang first and then, give her something in our passing.”

Han Jianye looked at Yuxi who waited anxiously. Her looked seemed to say that if he didn’t promised, she would wail for him to see. How could he not promise her? “It’s only over an hour from Shangyuan Street to the lanterns city wall by the river. It’s still too early for us to go now.”

Yuxi naturally calculated the time, “After I visited Mama Fang, I want to go to the bookstore to buy two books.”

Han Jianye did not get what Yuxi trying to do, so he said, “Just tell me what books you want to buy and I will buy them for you.”

Yuxi shook her head and said, “Second Brother, I heard that you have to go up the mountain tomorrow. It is estimated that the next time you will be back will be during Dragon Boat Festival. Second Brother, I don’t even have anything to do today. If we go out early, we won’t also be delayed. Second Brother, please agree with my request!“

For a girl to act coquettishly, added up with her tears, were things that Han Jianye could not distract himself from. He would immediately lost the battle of will once he saw them, “Well… Let me tell Eldest Brother first.”

Han Jianming was actually planning to go buy some books at the bookstore too, so, he had no problem with Yuxi’s request, “Okay. Let Jianye send you to Shangyuan Street first. I will wait for you at the bookstore.” As it happened, he knew a bookstore that won’t close even during Lantern Festival.

Mama Fang got a fright when she saw Yuxi and Han Jianye at the shop. Once she calmed down, she gave them gifts and then invited them into the house.

Yuxi looked at the store and it was completely different from her first time coming here. A shed was built in front, and there were six small tables and chairs were put on the pavement. These tables and chairs were clean and free of dust.

When they were inside the house, Yuxi said to Han Jianye with a smile, “Second Brother, I’ll go to the backyard and have a look.” Hongshan and Moju, her two maids, followed behind her with two parcels in their arms.

The small backyard also had a big change, with sheds built on both side. Inside the left shed, there were piles of firewoods, while on the right shed was the base of a stove. A dozen steamers could be put on it.

Yuxi did not go into the kitchen, but into Mama Fang’s bedroom. Looking at the simple arrangement in the room, her eyes went astringent, “Mama, it must have been hard for you.” Dozens of silver a month were not that lucrative.

Mama Fang smile and said, “No, it wasn’t hard. At least, I have something to do every day. This makes me feel energetic all over again!” Here, she had to get up early every day to chop up some stuffing and made some baozi (filled steam bun). Being busy outside and inside was definitely harder than just staying inside. It was just that, she was free to do things here without worrying that her Miss would be implicated if she did something wrong, and the thought that she was making money for her Miss made she felt that doing these things was very meaningful.

Yuxi pondered that after selling the ointment prescription and buying some properties, she would not allow Mama Fang to do such hard work again.

Mama Fang called in old woman An and said, “Miss, this is old woman An. She did all the heavy work of chopping firewood and carrying water into the shop. She also sells steamed buns every morning.” Mama Fang only responsibilities were making baozi and other things, like selling baozi outside and to greet guests. These things were all arranged by old woman An. Old woman An was big and tall, so it was no problem for her to throw down two men. Of course, this was also the reason why Xiangyang took a fancy of her at first.

Yuxi rewarded old woman An with a red envelope and raised her monthly salary from six hundred coins to one tael of silver.

Old woman An knelt on the ground and said gratefully, “Thank you Miss for your grace.” With this much money, she could inquire about her family much better

Yuxi didn’t stay long in the baozi shop and left before two quarters of an hour.

A servant named Huang, who happened to be on the street, saw a carriage parked in front of the baozi shop. Red lacquered carriage could only be used by noble families, so, he busily asked the boss around him, “What’s the influence of this bun shop till some noble people would come to pay a visit?”

The boss smiled and said, “The lady boss of the baozi shop has a great background. I heard that she used to work in a Duke’s official residence. Because of that background, no one dares to stir up trouble with her in this street. “

Chinese New Year Picture

Image credited to Wsm.cn (什么是年画？年画怎么来的?年画的种类有哪些?, Sept 10th, 2016)

Just as they were talking, the guy with the surname Huang, who was actually worked as a yamen runner, saw a male teenager dressed in fine brocade clothes come out from inside the baozi shop, followed by a small girl with doll-liked appearance like the child painted in a New Year picture.

Yuxi followed Han Jianye to a bookstore on Shangyuan Street. As soon as they reached the bookstore, she saw Yun Qing and Jiang Hongfu coming out from it.

Yun Qing saw the fair and tender Yuxi at a glance and wished to pinch her cheeks. Not only did he just thought of it, he actually did it.

Yuxi just caught sight of Yun Qing pinching her face, making her suddenly muddleheaded. For her, this act made by the Murderous Devil of her former life was even more frightening!

Han Jianye quickly responded. He came over and slapped the back of Yun Qing’s hand. Then he took Yuxi to his left, looked at Yun Qing on his right side and said, “You were very clever at home. How can you be silly when you go out?” Even he would be considered muddeheaded if he just stayed motionless while looking at her sister being pinched by a male.

Yuxi then finally reacted. She shivered and hurriedly hugged Han Jianye. How could she not be afraid? It was said that there were tens of thousands of people who had died in Yun Qing’s hands and that pair of blood-stained hands had just pinched her face. At that thought, she could not stop shivering.

Seeing this scene, Yun Qing touched his face and asked Jiang Hongfu, “Cousin, am I so scary?”

Jiang Hongfu helplessly answered, “Aren’t you scary when you suddenly acting like this?”

Yun Qing felt that Yuxi’s courage was too small. He just pinched her face and already scared her this bad. She was really such a wimpy kid. However, he did frightened her, so, he really needed to apologize. He untied Flowing Clouds Baifu Yupei from his waist and handed it to Han Jianye. He said, “This is my fault. It won’t happen again next time. This is my compensation to my cousin.” He just thought that Yuxi was very cute, so, he wanted to pinch her cheeks. Unexpectedly, his act frightened her.

Han Jianye did not take the yupei and said discontentedly, “Don’t make such jokes next time.” Yun Qing’s action was too careless. He should have known that a girl’s face was not something he could easily pinch. Luckily, Yuxi was still a kid, otherwise, her reputation would have been destroyed by his act.

Jiang Hongfu looked at Han Jianye and immediately explained, “Don’t get him wrong, Cousin Ye. My cousin has always regretted that my aunt didn’t give her a sister! Therefore, seeing Cousin Xi, who is fair and plump, is a little beyond his normal limit. “

Jiang Hongfu’s words made Yuxi suddenly felt embarrassed. Unexpectedly, the Murderous Devil was fond of fair and plump girls very much, which made her became disillusionment for a moment.

Han Jianye said, “I hope there will be no next time.”

“Not anymore,” said Yun Qing replied wryly.

After apologizing, the two cousins left. Once they left, Han Jianye patted Yuxi’s head and jokingly scolded her, “Why was you so useless? He just pinched your face and you already scared like this.“

Yuxi muttered, “He was terrible!” At least, she didn’t faint from fright, which was already very good, okay?

The two were talking when Han Jianming came out from inside the store.

Han Jianming learned of the incident and said with a smile, “Through the generations, the Yun always have sons in their family, never once give birth to a daughter, so all of them have been wishing for a daughter.” He was aware of this problem in Yun Qing’s family. However, he knew that Yun Qing was a measured person, so he was not that angry with the incident.

Yuxi asked curiously, “Wasn’t Jiang Hongfu’s biological mother a daughter of the Yun family?” This was inconsistent with what Han Jianming had said!

Han Jianming smiled and shook his head. “Jiang Hongfu’s biological mother was not General Yun’s biological daughter, but his adopted daughter. However, he treated her like his biological daughter.”

Yuxi didn’t expect it was such a thing.

Han Jianye however, was not very interested in these kind of things and said, “Fourth Sister, aren’t you going to buy books? There are many kinds of books here, so, you can choose them yourself. “

Yuxi listened to his words and start searching for the books she wanted to buy. After searching for a long time, she could not find the medical book she wanted. How come there were no medical books being sold in such a large bookstore?

Seeing Yuxi’s disappointed face, Han Jianming smiled and asked, “What books do you want?” At first glance, he could see that she had not selected any book.

Yuxi shook her head and said, “Nothing.” There were some things she could tell Second Brother , but not her Eldest Brother. Although Second Brother was usually careless, he was very loyal and would never tell others once he promised not to.

Han Jianming saw that Yuxi did not say or demand anything, so, he just smiled and said, “Other book stores in the capital are closed at this time. This book store is the only one that does not close all year round. If you don’t find the books you like here, I’ll bring you to Songyun Pavilion the next time you have a holiday. There, you should be able to find the books you want.“ Songyun Pavilion was the largest book store in the capital. The books it sold were all inclusive and it had everything. Only now, since it was Lantern Festival day, the store had been closed for business.

Yuxi smiled so big till her teeth were shown, “Okay.”

After the three had dinner, it was already dark. Outside the restaurant, Yuxi saw lanterns of various colours hanging on the street. It was such a very beautiful scenery.

Chinese Riddle Lantern

Image credited to Chinlingo (Enjoy Lantern Festival with 8 lantern riddles, Mar 27th, 2019)

Han Jianming had attended the festival several times, so, he was quite familiar with it. He took them to the place where lanterns were sold. The Lantern Festival had a special feature. As long as you guessed correctly the riddle on the lantern, you could take it away without paying.

They found a stall selling lanterns. Chances in answering the riddles also had its limits. Everyone could only guess twice. If one answered wrongly on both chances, then one would have no more chances. Han Jianming answered two riddles and only got one right. As for Han Jianye, when he saw one of them did so well, he became a spectator.

Yuxi wanted to give it a try. She looked at the tall lanterns carefully and swept passed the most beautiful ones, because their riddles were the hardest to be answered. She looked at the other latterns for a little while, then pointed at a lantern with little rabbits painted on it, and said, “The answer to that riddle is mystery within mystery.”

The owner of the stall looked at Yuxi with great interest, “This little girl is so clever.” After that, he took down the lantern and handed it to Yuxi.

This little rabbits lantern was actually not very fine in workmanship, but Yuxi still liked it. After all, she only got it with what she had learned.