CH 11

She stood in the doorway, looking at the painful look in Luo Yu’s eyes. The heart secretly sneered. But her big revenge hadn’t even begun; she could only continue to act pretentious like a snake, “Just now, Granny Liu went home to send a letter. You should also know that I am pregnant.”

The man held Zhou Qing’s hand tightly. His palm felt cold and slippery, with a lot of cold sweat, like a poisonous snake drilling back and forth in the damp mud, making people uncomfortable.

“Qing’er, I said I would take good care of you and the child. Did you just easily forget about that? We are husband and wife.”

The door closed tightly. Zhou Qing pursed her lips, did not answer, and gently patted Luo Yu’s hand. The latter thought she had forgiven him. His brows and eyes had intense delight, and his whole body trembled with excitement.

“I still want to stay here at home for two months, can I?”

Luo Yu grabbed her soft hands and pressed them against his lips, gently kissing them. Love and pity were evident.

Feeling the moist touch, Zhou Qing was disgusted, forcing herself not to throw up. But in order to keep Luo Yu’s heart from becoming wary, she did nothing. She couldn’t even show a trace of disgust.

As a retainer, Luo Yu needed to deal with many chores. He didn’t stay at Zhou’s house much and soon went back.

Zhou Qing sent people to the door of the herbal store. Yu Fu was standing on the side, dry and thin face wrinkled into a ball, looking like a thin monkey.

“Miss, someone across the street from our household opened an herbal store named Shen Xiang Pavilion.” When speaking, he deliberately lowered his voice, probably afraid of being noticed by others.

Hearing the three words “Shen Xiang Pavilion,” Zhou Qing’s body shook, both hands clenched into a fist, and her face showed obvious resentment. Not wanting Yu Fu to notice, she quickly composed her face and forced a smile. “There are a lot of herbal stores in the capital. Where they open, we shouldn’t care, as long as our business is good.”

The mouth said so, but Zhou Qing’s heart remembered it very clearly. Liu Ningxue, the owner of the herbal pavilion, was the most beloved daughter of Liu Zhaoqu. If not for her, the surname Liu wouldn’t focus on the Zhou family’s herbal store.

In her past life, the family warehouse, full of valuable spices, was all burnt to ashes by fire. After this catastrophe, the family became burdened with huge debts. Father Zhou was trustworthy. He didn’t want to owe others, so he sold everything that he could sell. At this time, Liu Zhaoqu appeared before him and spent a mere 100 taels of silver to get the Xuande furnace, which was passed down for generations.

Although herbal mixing mainly depended on one’s skill, the importance of herbal tools still couldn’t be ignored. The Zhou family’s Xuande furnace was a tribute from the previous dynasty. Through twelve refinements, which incorporate an unknown amount of red gold and silver, herbs in the Xuande furnace ignited, the fragrance permeated further, and the taste could also be improved to a level.

Liu Ningxue was proficient in herbal making, and there was no shortage of silver money; what she wanted most was a set of top-quality herbal tools. In the capital, Liu Zhaoqu was a well-known merchant. He had numerous merchants under him. He searched far and wide but did not find the lost Xuande furnace. Later, when Wang Lu was drunk, he disclosed it, letting the outsiders know the last Xuande furnace was with the Zhou family.

After obtaining the herbal tool, Liu Ningxue used the Xuande furnace to ignite the tantalizing herbs. The aroma curled for half a year and didn’t disperse, prompting the Phoenix Empress’s heart to be pleased, promoting the Liu family and allowing them to trade with the Royal family, the glory they received was boundless and Liu Ningxue became the consort of the King. Her identity was many times nobler than before.

It was estimated that at this moment Liu Zhaoqu had placed his mind on her father and wanted to use the Xuan furnace to please his daughter, otherwise, how could Wang Lu hook up with the Liu family’s little maid?

Yu Fu noticed that Zhou Qing was in a disquieting mood, and he agreed, “Miss is right. The master’s craft in herbal making is very famous in the capital. Even if the herbal pavilion opens across from us, business is definitely not as good as ours.”

“Brother Yu is so confident, then the burden of bringing customers will be left to you. Do not let me and father be disappointed, alright?”

Yu Fu’s face instantly became bitter. He held back for half a day and did not say anything. He only felt that the young lady had become treacherous, completely different from before.

Wang Lu stood by the side. His simple face faintly exposed a bit of coldness. When the herbal store was closed, he went directly to the jewelry store, bought a simple silver bracelet, ran to the back door of the Liu residence, and stayed there for a quarter of an hour before the little maid he had been meeting with sneaked out and said, “What are you doing here? Thanks to Ying’er for telling me. Otherwise, if others saw me, where would my face be?”

If it weren’t for the master’s orders, Xique wouldn’t have met with such a foolish man like Wang Lu, let alone the fact that he had a wife and daughter, and that she could only be a child if she followed him.

Reaching into his pocket, the man brought out a palm-sized red cloth bag and handed it to Xique, “This is the bracelet I bought. Take a look. Do you like the style?”

The plain silver bracelet didn’t even have a pattern. Xique had been in the Liu House for so many years. What rare things had she not yet seen? At this moment, her eyes showed a trace of dislike, but her mouth only had praise. After all, she wasn’t a fool. She naturally wouldn’t push the silver out. The things sent to the door shouldn’t be pushed away for anything.