northernbook Chapter 322 Soapberry
Chapter 322 Soapberry
Yingchunzhai appears to be a song and dance troupe with a nice-sounding name, but in reality, it is a human market that specializes in buying and selling women. Most of them are sold to quarries, where they are played with half to death by the stonemasons and then thrown into the forest to be fed to wolves.
Soapberry was soaking wet and trembling with fear: "Young...Young Master..."
Qi Yang tried to explain: "Mother, she didn't..."
Qi Fei interrupted him coldly: "A servant girl can be used to warm the bed whenever the master likes her. But what kind of person is she to secretly seduce the master? If you dare to be so soft-hearted, I will beat her to death with sticks."
Qi Yang immediately fell silent. When Zaojiao was dragged to the gate by the servants, Su Wuming happened to return.
Soapberry clung tightly to Su Wuming's leg as if it had found a savior: "Young Master, save me, save me..."
Su Wuming helped Zaojiao up: "What happened? Where is the young master?"
The servant stammered and couldn't give a clear answer, while the maid who had come over pointed at the soapberry and said angrily, "She seduced the young master."
"Seduce the young master?" Su Wuming sneered: "If any of you can seduce the young master, I will immediately make him marry you as his legal wife. If you have any children, they will be the eldest son of the Su family."
The once fierce maidservant immediately deflated, and the scene fell silent; no one dared to utter a sound.
Qi Yang brought dry clothes and handed them to Zaojiao: "It's cold, go change your clothes, don't catch a cold."
Soapberry stumbled away with tears in her eyes, the flamboyant maid slipped away along the corner of the wall, and the servants scattered in all directions.
Su Wuming's tone carried a hint of impatience: "Daring to cause trouble in the manor, have we been spoiling them lately?"
Qi Yang said, "I don't need them to serve me. Send them all away. Give each of them twenty taels of silver for travel expenses. Don't use the household account for it. You can pay for it first, and I'll give it to you later."
In just two years, how did this perfectly healthy young woman become lame?
Qi Yang helped her up: "Didn't the young master give you any money when you left?"
Soapberry choked back tears, saying, "They gave me twenty taels. I went back to my hometown, Baishui Village, and gave the money to my father. My father was a gambler; he lost it all in three days, and even gambled it all away to Bailong, the bully from the neighboring village. Bailong would come home drunk and beat me, he would beat me when he lost at gambling, and he would beat me whenever he was in a bad mood..."
I couldn't bear it any longer, so I ran to my uncle's house to hide. Bai Long went to my father and said that if I didn't go back, he would make my father pay back the money and castrate my brother so that our family line would end.
My father led the whole village to look for me, causing quite a stir. My uncle was scared and sent me back. Bai Long hit my leg with a chair; the chair broke, and I became lame.
Later, I got pregnant. Bailong came home drunk and went on a rampage, kicking my stomach, and I lost the baby. Two months ago, he got drunk, fell into a ditch, and froze to death. My uncle took over the house, and I had nowhere to go, so I begged my way to Qinzhou.
The beggars in Qinzhou said this was their territory and I wasn't allowed to beg here. That day I was so hungry that I stole a steamed bun. The stall owner wouldn't let me go, but luckily my wife happened to pass by and paid for it for me.
Qi Yang asked in confusion, "Madam? Which madam?"
Soapberry said, "That's Old Madam Su, the eldest young master's mother."
How could Qi Fei allow a maid who had been driven out of the manor to come back?
Qi Yang pressed further, "Did she send you here?"
Soapberry shook her head: "She said the manor didn't need any people, and asked the young master to find me a job. So the young master brought me here. After I came here, I learned that you, the eldest young master, are getting married and dividing the family property. Congratulations, eldest young master."
Qi Yang said, "I don't need to be taken care of..."
Soapberry knelt down again with a thud, pleading, "Young Master, please take me in. I'm lame and old now, I have nowhere to go. If you send me away, I'll have no choice but to die..."
"Get up first. I'm alive and well, not dead. I don't like people kneeling and bowing to me." Qi Yang watched Zaojiao get up and continued, "I don't need to be taken care of, but the eldest young mistress does. Tomorrow the eldest young mistress will enter the house. You will serve her well from now on, and I won't mistreat you."
After speaking, Qi Yang entered the bathing room. The water in the tub was slightly cool, but Qi Yang didn't mind. He was already used to cold showers all year round in the military.
Qi Yang sat in the bathtub, thinking of Le Xi and then Xue Yunting. He was excited when he first learned that he was going to marry Le Xi, but now that he was about to face the reality, he felt a mix of emotions.
Su Wuming was very kind to Qi Yang, but Qi Yang always felt that there was something between them, and sometimes he felt that they were not on the same page.
Qi Yang and Xue Yunting, on the other hand, were truly loyal and devoted to each other. They had gone through thick and thin together, willing to entrust their lives to each other and even die for one another.
Qi Yang explained his situation by saying that he and Xue Yunting were both military officers, while Su Wuming was a civil official, so they were fundamentally different.
Back then, Su Wuming disagreed with giving each maid twenty taels of silver: "A merciful general cannot command an army; you are being too kind to them."
Qi Yang simply said, "Home is neither a military camp nor a battlefield."
They kept their words brief, neither arguing nor attempting to persuade each other. Often, in the Su residence, in front of Su Wuming, Qi Yang remained silent. Or in many places, in front of many people, Qi Yang was silent.
Only in front of Xue Yunting was Qi Yang truly unrestrained and flamboyant. He would engage in heated discussions with Xue Yunting about a certain battle strategy, and they would also argue fiercely over a particular troop deployment formation...
Qi Yang had assumed they would die together on the battlefield and never imagined they would die in any other way. When the news of Xue Yunting's suicide under the snow arrived, the soldiers were incredulous, and Qi Yang stood there dumbfounded, as if struck by lightning.
How could such an outstanding young man with a bright future abandon his parents, siblings, relatives and friends to choose that path?
Could someone be setting him up? But who could possibly frame him?
Qi Yang thought about it over and over again, and finally came to the conclusion: it must have been his wife, who was not officially married to him and knew how to use witchcraft, who ruined him!
Upon hearing the news of Xue Yunting's marriage, Qi Yang knew Le Xi would be heartbroken, yet a secret expectation lingered within him. After Xue Yunting left, this hidden expectation vanished.
If his expectations come at the cost of Xue Yunting's life, then he would rather have no expectations at all.
Su Wuming waited and waited, but Qi Yang didn't come over, so he came over to check.
Soapberry was rather flustered: "Young master, the water is getting cold. I want to go in and add more water, but I don't dare to."
Once bitten, twice shy. Just as Su Wuming was about to push open the door, Qi Yang came out.
Su Wuming wanted to tease him, saying that he needed to get properly cleaned before getting married.
Unexpectedly, Qi Yang spoke first: "When Yun Ting sent his wife back to Oulu Mountain, my younger sister and Le Xi sent you a letter asking you to send someone to intercept her, is that true?"
Qi Yang spent more time in the Xue family than in the Su family, and he called Xue Yunyao "little sister" after Xue Yunting.
Su Wuming was stunned for a moment before slowly saying, "Brother, you're getting married tomorrow, and you're talking about this now?"
Qi Yang asked seriously, "Can't I say?"
Su Wuming said, "You've traveled day and night from the battlefield to get married, aren't you tired enough? You can rest first, and we can talk about these things later."
Qi Yang said, "I don't have time. The wedding is tomorrow, and I have to leave the day after tomorrow."