CH 25

But Prince Huaiyang found that even though he was half asleep, the sweet smell of her breath still lingered… It was annoying…

As a result, Merchant Cui Jiu, spent the rest of his days in the State of Qing visiting friends all night.

On the day of the Calligraphy and Painting Tea Party, many luxurious carriages were suddenly seen on the streets of the State of Qing, and mud traps that hangs on both sides of the horse’s belly and is used to cover the dust were set up on both sides of the road.

Miantang went out late and stood on the second floor of the Inn. She looked down from the railing and watched the carriages passing by.

To tell the truth, although she was born into a famous family, she was from a family of declining nobility. However, she had lived up to the undeserved reputation of her ancestors, and had never had a leisurely and rich life, or the chance to attend the tea party.

Now that she has married into a merchant’s family, even her official reputation for that idea cannot be preserved.

When her father was young, he had experienced the prosperity of the Liu family in its heyday. Since then, he never wants to let go of it. He always wanted to glorify his family again. When educating his children, he also kept talking about “How the Liu family used to be”.

But what about him spending his whole life giving a lot of care to the authority for personal gain? In the end, he still ended up in prison and was tortured to death.

Her half-brother was born by the previous Madam of the Liu family who had deceased before her mother married into the Liu family. His biological mother’s family background was not bad, so he looked down on his stepmother everywhere and mocked his sister Miantang’s vulgarity from time to time.

This made Liu Miantang have a natural antipathy to the days when she was living in a wealthy family. When the carriages passing downstairs were carefully carved, gilded, and inlaid with jewelry, and the young ladies with their heads full of pearls, she did not envy them at all.

Although the style of her carriage was simple, and she lived just like ordinary people, she felt more comfortable when she was at her parent’s house before marriage. Those Madam and Young Ladies can take part in the Calligraphy and Painting Tea Party at leisure. She is going to run her business in the market.

Because it was a booth, Miantang didn’t want to wear too beautiful to provoke unnecessary publicity.

So she only wore green short clothes on her upper body and a skirt tied on the lower body, wrapped her forehead and hair in green cloth which gives the look of a capable and experienced manner of doing things.

The young servant, Mo Ru, is also a capable man. The booth he chose was very lively. In addition, she was located at an intersection of the street, and almost all the people who went shopping would pass by it.

Miantang commanded two servants to set up their shop porcelain nicely on the table, and asked Guisheng, a shop assistant that tagged along from the State of Zhen, to raise the flag of the “Jade Porcelain Workshop”.

Now that she has learned and understands this profession, she should not blindly follow the method of only selling 1 item too high its price and meet with no response. Therefore, this time, she has also bought a batch of zodiac ornaments and white porcelain.

Mr. Chen ate the pork cooked by Servant Li these days, but he didn’t see the store open. He felt ashamed. He filled the porcelain with colors and outline it without Miantang’s orders. They were different from other stores’ styles. The paintings were chic and lovely.

For a while, these lovely and unique styles attracted many people to see.

Miantang decided to take the stock quantity and asked the shop assistant calls for the offer of buying one get one free. If the customer were to buy a money box from the shop, they can get one zodiac ornament for free. But if the customer were to purchase a full set of plates, they would give the customer a whole set of small zodiac ornaments.

For a period, many adults with children came to buy the money box. On the one hand, the box space is very big, which looks like it can be stuffed with a lot of things so that children can save copper money when they buy it back. On the other hand, the little Zodiac also attracts the love of the children.

There are even collectors who bought the plates for the whole set of little zodiac animals.

Miantang and the two women servant were busy wrapping the sold money box and plates with yellow paper and then wrapping them with straw ropes to facilitate customers to carry them. They were busy.

It was not until noon that most people who went shopping looked for places to eat where the streets were a little empty.

Miantang wiped the sweat on her forehead, ignored the stewed meat pancakes bought by Servant Li, and counted the money in her money box with great interest. While counting, she also strings the money together with a thin rope.

It’s a good feeling to watch the money box fill up. Counting money is more delicious than eating…

But just then, another customer came to the booth suddenly.

Miantang’s side-eyes glanced that there are customers. She quickly puts away her money box and gets up to greet them.

But the smile on her face gradually solidified after he saw the customer.

The visitor is no one else, but the “lover” Ziyu, as Servant Li said. He was still looking handsome with sad eyes. Behind him, there were five or six attendants. They looked very unusual.

Miantang was deeply shocked by the young master’s boldness. Even if she had something to do with him before, how could he come down to find herself in broad daylight as a “lover”?

At this moment, the young master stared at her and said with a sad look: “Miantang, you left me just to live like this?”

Listen to what he said, he seems to look down on the merchants. Could it be that he realized his family background was better than that of the merchants’ family, so he said something like that to taunt her?

Upon hearing this, Miantang suddenly lost her good temper and said with a pair of charming big eyes: “What’s the matter with living like that? I have a house to live in and meat to eat, and every penny I earn is clean. Where did it provoke the attention of the young master?”

Being mocked by her, the young master immediately looked miserable and said slowly: “… Indeed, such a day has always been what you yearn for… But, you just casually live with that man?”

Miantang doesn’t know why she didn’t know this man before, but today she has to tell him the truth, cutting off his evil intention and breaking his evil courage.

“Young master, who am I going to marry, it’s not up to you to make indiscreet remarks or criticisms. You look like a decent person. Why are you so eager to gossip with a married woman? Your parents died early and no one taught you the conduct of a man should be?”

At this moment, a bearded attendant beside the young master could not help but shouted in a low voice: “Liu Miantang, how dare you talk to my master like that!”

Miantang unceremoniously spilled the remaining tea in her hand, the tea covered them all over and they all jumped away. Then, she said to the attendant: “From now on, I will always talk like this. It’s your master, not mine. If you dare to drag in all sorts of irrelevant matters again, I’ll save a barrel of poops to pour it in front of you next time! Guisheng! Sweep the front of the stall with a broom. What dirty smell has fallen on the floor. How can I greet customers later?”

Guisheng’s work was quick. Seeing that the shopkeeper’s wife didn’t want to see these people, he waved a broom and shouted unceremoniously, “Get out! Get out! Don’t dirty our boss’s booth!”

The bodyguards behind the Young Master Ziyu were very arrogant. Seeing Miantang’s rudeness, they were so angry that they wanted to rush forward to argue with her.

But Young Master Ziyu shouted for them to stop with a face turned pale, and said to Miantang, “Since you don’t want to see me, I won’t disturb you in the future, but you should know that you are the only one in my heart. You had misunderstood Yun Niang and me…”

Miantang was not in the mood to listen to what he said but nervously looked at whether Servant Li’s face was stained in black.

Today, some damned young master came to seduce her again. What should she do if Servant Li learned these shameless words and report them to her husband?

Looking at her, Servant Li really had a strange complexion on her face. She kept wandering around the Young Master Ziyu. Maybe, she is arranging some kind of adultery affairs in her rigid mind!

Miantang was so upset that she said impatiently, “Just go with whatever women you like, I don’t care! I don’t want to see you again in my life!”

Her words were more decisive than when she left the mountain a year ago, and the lips of the gentle young man were trembling slightly.

His lips were pale, and he seemed to want to say something. In the end, he turned and left.

Miantang felt a burst of heartache for no reason. Looking back at Ziyu, it seemed that there was some bitterness coming from her heart…

But when she snapped out of it, she repented and prayed: Amitabha, sinful, sinful, she’s even looking at the man’s back for so long! Husband, you did the right thing to ignore me. I deserved it…

But there was no time for her wishful thinking.

Not long after the group left, the people on the street suddenly started screaming and jumping up. It seemed that there was a fight in front of them, and the people kept shouting all the way. The street was in great chaos. From time to time, some stalls were knocked over by the fleeing people.

Miantang’s stall was full of porcelain that are very fragile. Seeing this, she couldn’t bother to look at what has happened. She hurriedly asked the servants and the shop assistant to put the important porcelain into the box with hay, so that it could be loaded into the donkey cart.

When they packed the stalls in a hurry, a large number of officers and soldiers rushed to the streets and hurried into the chaos.

When Miantang finally returned to the Inn, there were people on the first floor of the Inn talking about the matter that happened earlier on. It is said that many people died in the street just now, and the blood was splashed all over the ground.

She listened along with her ears for a time, while she was quick to check whether there was any loss in her porcelain.

When the money box was firmly held in her arms, she breathed a sigh of relief: “My gosh, the streets of the State of Qing are chaotic… By the way, Servant Li, where did my husband when to meet friends? Could he be caught up with the troubles in the streets?”

Servant Li is also tired and beaten out. Miantang hurried them to load the goods just now. One of the boxes hit her foot. Now it hurts so much that she can only rub it and say: “He should be fine, Master went out of town to visit friends…”

Miantang breathed a sigh of relief. She asked the shop assistant Guisheng to ask for a doctor to give Servant Li’s feet a look. She thought: If the city is so messy, the city gate will be closed and curfew will be imposed early. She didn’t know where her husband would spend the night tonight.

She expected it well. That night, Cui Jiu did not come back.

However, unlike Miantang’s thinking of him living in a humble cottage in the countryside for a whole night, Prince Huaiyang is now on a beautiful gaily-painted pleasure boat outside the city, accompanying his mother and several invited royal nobility family members to the lake.

When the Old Princess Consort arrived in the State of Qing with her future daughter-in-law Lian Binglan, they had already missed the start of the tea party. Prince Huaiyang is extremely filial thus, he might as well not attend the tea party at all. He went out of the city to meet his mother. He casually took some of his mother’s best acquaintances to visit the famous Yingri Colorful Lake in the State of Qing.

This time, people were having much enjoyment and forget to go back home. They were not ready to rush back until sunset, but when they got ashore, they heard that there was a riot and martial law was imposed in the city.