Chapter 49: Thinking of You
February 13th midnight
Shen Kuo accompanied the two women into the yard. Xu Chong came out of the room yawning. He was probably woken up and wanted to curse, but when he saw Jin'er, he smiled happily.
"Sister Jin'er, you are here too?"
"Of course we didn't come. My aunt said it was the order of a tall officer in the government. She also said that the officer was holding a horsewhip and looked very majestic. He almost beat my cousin in the afternoon. So we didn't dare to ask more questions after hearing that. So we came naturally." Jin'er said with a straight face.
Xiaoping, who was wearing a veiled hat, also took it off and looked around.
"So this is it. When the street was dark just now, I thought this bright door with upside-down lintels looked familiar. I recognized this place only after I came in."
"Has my eldest sister been here?" Shen Kuo asked.
"Isn't this the outer residence of the 69-year-old Qi Dong? In fact, it is also the residence of one of my sisters, called Madam Feng. I think she is also a singer in the brothel. She is as beautiful as a flower and as weak as water. She couldn't believe that she would become a mistress here. Haha. The night before yesterday, I saw her supporting her gray-haired husband Qi Dong to the Baifan Tower for a drink. When she saw me, she flirted with me and deliberately showed me some of the pearls on her hair and the rings on her hands, as if I had never seen the world."
"We did borrow the Qi family's yard . But I didn't know it also belonged to your sister?"
"I thought you were from the government, so I didn't dare ask where you were from. When we were upstairs that day, a few men from the Imperial City Office came in like ferocious monsters. You just showed your badges and left. It was hard for us to be taken to the Imperial City Office for questioning. They slammed the table and glared at us, which was really scary. Boss Pei has been in prison and hasn't been released yet. They say he might have been beaten to death by the killing stick. If he died in prison or was sentenced to exile, I don't know who to ask for the remaining money. Since you are the government, I wonder if you can help me make the decision."
"We are indeed the government, but we don't collect debts..."
"If it's a government office, why doesn't it have a government office? Why does it have to be in this concubine's outer courtyard? And why does it have to be conducted at night?" Xiao Ping pretended to be puzzled.
She was still worldly-wise and could see the problem at a glance.
"Let me explain this matter slowly and in detail. Sister, why don't you go upstairs first and let me serve you tea."
Xiao Ping looked Shen Kuo up and down for a few times before she smiled. The two of them went upstairs one after the other.
Jin Er wanted to go up as well, but Xu Chong winked at her and told her not to go up, so they chatted in the yard.
Shen Kuo walked up the stairs, still feeling uneasy. Seeing Xiao Ping's pale face and sickly look, he still couldn't bear to scare her. He secretly blamed the monk Huailiang in his heart, what kind of evil idea did he come up with?
When they got to the attic, he invited Xiao Ping to sit at the table while he made tea. Xiao Ping put her veil on the table and couldn't sit still, so she looked around and looked down at the windows on all four sides.
"I only heard from that good sister that she had found a wealthy man in the city to be her mistress, and that she would live out her life in peace and contentment. Her life would naturally be more respectable than those of the sisters in the brothel, so I believed her and married into the countryside to become the mistress of a farm." She suddenly sneered, "In fact, this place is just a two-story courtyard. Looking at the furnishings around, there's nothing unique and special about it. It seems that the so-called respectability is just this."
"We have only been here for one day, but this is a unique little courtyard." Shen Kuo said perfunctorily while pouring water.
"It's unique, but she was only 19 years old at the time, and of the same generation as that grandfather... Haha, if the old man died, I'm afraid she wouldn't get even a tiny share of the family property. Who knows, she might even be sued by the mistress to Kaifeng Prefecture and have the courtyard taken back. Even more cruel, according to the criminal code of the Song Dynasty, she could sell her back to the brothel and earn hundreds of strings of cash. I really feel sorry for my sisters."
While she was chewing her tongue, she sat down gracefully and drank a sip of tea. She turned sideways towards Shen Kuo intentionally or unintentionally. Under the candlelight, her graceful figure was fully revealed.
"Sir, you asked me to come all the way here today, and it's late at night. Is it for business or personal matters?"
"Some official business, of course."
"Business?" Xiao Ping pretended to be angry. "If it was just business, I wouldn't have to come. I just thought that you had some elegant interests and wanted to tell some anecdotes, so you forced yourself to come here."
"Oh, some personal business, too. Just returning the donkey."
"You're just saying such spoiling things," she leaned her elbows on the table, and slowly approached with her hands supporting her cheeks. "After so many days of not seeing you, don't you have anything else to say to me?"
"actually……"
"I am only grateful for saving my life, sir. Whatever you say is what I will agree to."
Under the candlelight, her cheeks were slightly red, which looked very beautiful.
"I think we should talk about some business first."
"You came to me late at night not to sing and dance with the wind and the moon, but to do business. Why don't you talk about business during the day?"
Xiaoping pouted and stood up, turned to the window, and saw Jin'er leaning against the wall chatting animatedly with Xu Chong beside her.
Jin'er was probably laughing so hard that she was shaking with laughter after hearing some joke Xu Chong told.
"This Xu Jieji looks like a rough soldier, but he is actually a man of some taste and flirt. This Jin'er is also shameless, she went crazy when she saw a good man. Tomorrow I will punish her to go to the cat market 20 miles outside the city and buy a tabby cat to keep me company. It would be better to raise a kitten than her."
"Big sister likes tabby cats?"
"I just like small and cute creatures. I've heard that cats and dogs can understand human nature even though they can't read. But if people read too much, they forget about food, sex and human nature."
She came closer and her words became more and more explicit, which made Shen Kuo so excited that he had to change the subject.
"I just want to ask..."
"Are you asking about the puppet monster that day?"
"Exactly."
"I have been interrogated by the Imperial City Division for a long time. You can just look through their case files. Besides, you were upstairs the night before. What I saw is what you saw."
Xiao Ping walked past Shen Kuo with a smile, lifted her sleeve up to his face, and then walked away slowly, a faint fragrance wafting by.
"It's just that my elder sister was right next to the railing that day, closer to those things."
"I was pretty scared that day, so even though I was closer, I didn't see it very carefully."
She walked to the columnar table, picked up the mirror and looked at herself, then turned to the back, where a pair of phoenixes flying together were engraved.
"It's another scene of lovemaking. Although it's vulgar, it also reveals some wild charm. I am really impressed by this lady." She put down the mirror casually and went to the wall to pick up a pipa with a broken string. Obviously, it was the one that the hostess of the house didn't take away when she ran away.
"I recognize this pipa. It was given to her by a young man she loved back then. Alas... the farewell song she sang back then has not had its strings repaired yet. This shows how painful it is to be saddened..." She sighed, took out a pick, plucked the pipa with few strings, and began to sing:
"The world is so cruel. Good karma and bad karma.
What can I do? I can only sleep in Qinlou for one night. Farewell to the gods.
The pipa has played the tune of lovesickness, but few people understand it. I am waiting for the phoenix glue to repair the broken strings. When will it be?
Although the song was a erotic one, it also had some inexplicable sadness and moving parts. During this song, Xu Chong and Jin'er also stopped and listened quietly, which showed that it was indeed infectious to young men and women.
After singing a song, she put down the pipa, walked over to look at the painting hanging there, sneered, and said something else:
"This 'Lo Shen Tu' is too fake. If it was signed, it should have been named Anonymous, not Gu Kaizhi. Although I don't understand painting, I know that people in the Jin Dynasty valued tranquility and simplicity. How could it be painted like a goddess in love? It must have been bought from Boss Pei again." As she spoke, she raised her nose and sniffed: "This room has also been scented with spices made from Daqin incense and gum from the Western Regions. However, it is too bright. It would be more elegant if it were a little plainer."
"Sister, can you still smell these?"
Shen Kuo was surprised. He did smell some fragrance when he first arrived in the morning, but after the windows were open all day, he could no longer smell it.
She pretended to ignore Shen Kuo and turned to the table, looked at the makeup box on it, picked it up and sniffed it.
"This incense powder is a good thing... and it has a name, does my benefactor know it?"
"I don't really understand girls' makeup powder."
"The name is Nian Junsi."
"What a great name, but I can't smell it. I just think it's the elegant fragrance of flowers."
"Elegant? I'm showing my weakness when I hear you say that. I don't even know what "Great fragrance without fragrance" means."
"I just don't understand." Shen Kuo didn't understand these things, so it was not his fault. However, he didn't expect Xiao Ping to make up an idiom to insult him.
"If I put it another way, you will understand. This Nian Jun Si, although the name is elegant, is not kind. You know, in the brothel, it has another unbearable tiger and wolf nickname called 'Soul-catching Powder'. Young men who are not experienced in the world think it is 'elegant and elegant', but in fact it is very coquettish and frivolous."
"Oh, I am willing to learn. I am willing to learn." Shen Kuo had more strange knowledge in his mind.
"I think this lady is also in a state of sexual turmoil. The old man from the silk shop, Qi, is in trouble. He is almost 70 years old and will inevitably become a laughing stock for wearing a green scarf. It is true that: when a pear blossom overshadows a crabapple, bees and butterflies go crazy when the crabapple is shy."
“…”
Shen Kuo wanted to ask a question, but he couldn't get a word in.
"You smell the scent in my sachet."
Xiaoping did not take off the sachet on her body, but directly stretched out her jade arm from her sleeve in front of Shen Kuo's nose.
"This is called Ice Soul Condensed Frost Dew. Isn't it much more fragrant than the smell here?"
Shen Kuo was forced to take a breath, and he actually smelled a faint and tranquil smell.
"How is it? This is what we call plain and simple, and it is only used by virtuous ladies who have tasted and seen it and whose hearts are as calm as water. If you want to buy it in the capital, only the incense and medicine shop of Dr. Sun has it, and it is three or four times more expensive than the Nian Jun Si."
She walked triumphantly to the window and to the puppet covered with a cloth.
"What is this? I think it's the new vase she bought. I wonder what pattern it's painted on? I'm afraid it's hibiscus and peony, attracting bees and butterflies?"
Shen Kuo realized that something was not going well: "Sister, don't reveal it." He had already decided to give up Huai Liang's plan to prevent Xiao Ping from being frightened in vain, but he did not expect that she would come to him by herself.
"Is it something shameful that must be covered with cloth? Could it be the "Secret Play of the Spring Night"? I have to take a closer look."
Xiaoping became more interested and pulled away the cloth.
In an instant, she met the puppet with the strange smile again, closer than last time, just a few inches away, staring at each other with big eyes.
She felt as if she was doused with ice water. She slowly stepped back, took two steps back, and sat down on the ground.
"I'm so scared," she stared blankly at the motionless puppet with empty eyes. "Master, help me up quickly, my legs are so weak that I can't stand up."
Her voice was trembling and her breath was weak.
Shen Kuo realized that he had caused trouble and quickly helped her up, only to feel her whole body trembling.
"Sir, do you hate me for ignoring you that day in the Prince Consort's Mansion? I was indeed a little annoyed that you didn't come to see me for a long time that day, and I pretended to be cold, but you treated me so cruelly. I know I was wrong, I know I was wrong..." Xiaoping burst into tears.
Shen Kuo had no time to explain. He just wanted to help her down the stairs, but he felt slippery under his feet . It was obvious that Xiao Ping had been frightened for a long time. She probably lost control of her bladder. Shen Kuo hated the monk for coming up with such a vicious idea. He picked up Xiao Ping and went down. When he reached the corner of the stairs, he heard a noise from above, the sound of chains shaking and rustling.
Shen Kuo was panicking, thinking that something supernatural was about to happen again. However, at the moment he had something more to worry about, which was Xiao Ping, who was scared half to death.
"Hehehe..." A sharp and strange laugh came from above. It was clearly the laugh heard upstairs the night before. At that time, the so-called treacherous heroes jumped to the fourth floor balcony, and each of them recited one or two nursery rhymes. Although they were all sharp and childlike, each one was a little different. The laugh above my head was clearly the one made by Dong Zhuo that day.
Shen Kuo was filled with anger. He had been facing him all day but he didn't wake up, but now he was alive. He really wanted to turn around and confront him, but he couldn't turn back because he had Xiao Ping in his arms to take care of.
The two of them hugged each other and hurried to the yard. There, Xu Chong and Jin'er were also startled by the unreasonable laughter. When they saw the two people coming down and heard the sound of chains, they looked up suddenly.
But I saw the puppet with iron chains tied all over its body standing in front of the window, looking down with a smile.
"Here I come, here I come again." The puppet laughed, "Who tied me up? Was it the Li Cheng'an who was cut into pieces? Where are you, Li Cheng'an? Come out quickly and die. Even if your master Zhang Zhenren comes, I am not afraid. The ghost hero is resurrected, and the world is turned upside down. Hahahahahaha."
As he spoke, the chain fell off his body with a clang, and he had actually broken free.
Xu Chong saw it clearly. When the puppet spoke, its hands and feet were dancing and its mouth was opening and closing. The day before yesterday at Baifan Tower, when they were jumping around in the air, he didn't see it so clearly. But today, after a closer look, it was clearly a living creature.
Xu Chong opened his hands to protect Jin'er and slowly retreated. The spies in other rooms also came out in disheveled clothes. Soon there were more than a dozen people standing in the yard, staring at the evildoers above.
"So Taoist Li isn't here?" The puppet seemed to have poor eyesight. It only saw that Li Cheng'an was not here. "If he's not here, then he's not here. Listen up, men down there. Who dares to come up and fight me?"
Shen Kuo put Xiaoping down and rushed into the house without hesitation. He was determined to go all out today.
Xu Chong saw that things were not going well and drew his sword.
He was used to using long weapons and bows and arrows in battle, but throwing short knives was his special skill. Back then, when he was at the Xixia fortress, he would often challenge the leader from the tower, secretly staring at him, and then suddenly throw out the sharp knife to stab him, and he would succeed four or five times out of ten.
The Xixia fort was built low, with the battlements being about the height of the second floor of the attic. However, the wart armor of the Xixia generals was quite tough, so to pierce through it with one blow required tremendous strength, and not even one out of ten thousand men could do it. However, Xu Chong had such strength.
