Translator: SJade, Editor: Dj22031
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Swimming to the shore, Yong Ruo climbed up the shore dripping wet, climbed over the railing, and stood barefoot on the lakeshore.
For the ladies of noble families and the girls from ordinary families, it was very inappropriate to let others see their feet. However, for girls from the extremely poor class, it was common to have no shoes to wear. There were countless girls walking around barefoot, and no one cared whether their feet were seen by others. The knowledge of honor and disgrace came only when one had enough food and clothing!
“Thank you for your generous reward, sir! I am very grateful!” Yong Ruo, wearing a wet single dress and dripping hair, held the silver ingot tightly and saluted the noble young man. At this time, the simple “makeup” on her face made of mud and pot ash had been soaked in water, but it was not washed clean, making her look like a big clown.
“Sir, are you satisfied with my appearance of a drowned chicken?” Yong Ruo asked the noble young man with a smile.
Although she was wet now, she had a bellyband on under her clothes. In addition, she was poorly nourished and poorly developed, so her body was thin and dry. Her chest was as flat as an airstrip. There was no danger of her exposing her breasts or revealing anything.
“I…” The nobleman came to his senses and looked away involuntarily, not daring to look at Yong Ruo again.
His face changed several times, and finally he took a deep breath, sighed, bowed deeply to Yong Ruo, and said with a stutter: “I… I’m sorry!”
Yong Ruo thought to herself: That’s right! Knowing your mistakes shows that you are not a bad person.
But she smiled and said: “Sir, you don’t have to apologize! There is no such thing as getting something for nothing in this world. If you want to get extra rewards, you must pay with extra hard work. I went into the water to fish for silver on my own initiative and willingly. Sir, you don’t have to feel guilty about it.” If I excuse you like this, you will be happy and guilty, right?
Sure enough, the young master bowed to her again, with an even more obvious look of guilt on his face: “Young lady, please be generous! I… I… I really feel guilty!”
Yong Ruo said, “Since you said so, I’ll give you a word of advice. You were born in wealth and probably know less about the sufferings of the people. There are many people in the world who are as poor as me. Not to mention five taels of silver, even for one tael of silver, there are people willing to risk their lives. If you don’t intend to take human lives for fun, you’d better not do such things in the future, lest you really cause a death and feel guilty.”
The young master listened carefully with a guilty look on his face, was silent for a moment, and bowed deeply to Yong Ruo for the third time: “What the young lady said, I will never forget it! From now on, I will never do such a stupid thing again.”
After getting five taels of silver and teaching the young master a lesson, Yong Ruo nodded with satisfaction.
She picked up the basket on the ground, put on her shoes, and bowed to the nobleman again: “I have to change my clothes to avoid catching a cold. Goodbye.”
She nodded to the scholar behind the nobleman, turned around and trotted away – it was getting colder and colder after getting out of the water, and running a few steps would make her warmer.
There was a small inn not far away, which she saw when she was selling flowers just now.
Although it cost money to book a room in a small inn, this little money could be regarded as the cost of today’s business. For the sake of her health, she couldn’t be too stingy.
When she arrived at the door of the inn, Yong Ruo raised her voice: “Boss, can you give me a single room, prepare a bucket of hot water for me to bathe in, and boil a bowl of tangerine peel and ginger soup. Also get me two braziers and a few sticks, so that I can warm my clothes and hair.”
The innkeeper was frightened by her appearance of being soaked to the skin, and hurriedly asked the attendant to show a room to her, bring her a brazier, and prepare hot water for her to bathe.
Yong Ruo followed the attedant into a room, bolted the door, shivered as she took off all her wet clothes, put on her padded jacket and cotton pants, jumped onto the bed, wrapped herself in a blanket, and finally felt a little warmth.
Not long after, the attendant brought in a brazier, a bathtub, hot water, and a scented soap, bowed and said, “The bathtub has been carefully cleaned, and this towel is brand new, so you can use it without worry, young lady.”
Yong Ruo asked them to bring in a bucket of clean water and a bucket of boiling water, and the attendant smiled and responded.
After everything was brought in, Yong Ruo bolted the door again, took off her cotton jacket and cotton pants, and climbed into the bathtub.
It was so comfortable!
She soaked in the hot water, moaned with great satisfaction, and felt that all the fatigue and coldness quickly went away.
When the water turned slightly cold, she took a ladle to scoop up boiling water and added it in to continue soaking. When the bucket of boiling water was used up, she was warm from head to toe and felt very comfortable.
Just as she was about to get up from the bathtub, she heard the voice of a middle-aged woman saying, “I am the proprietress of this inn. A young man asked me to bring these clothes to the girl, saying that they were bought from a ready-made clothing store to apologize to the girl.”
Yong Ruo was surprised: The young man hadn’t left yet! Suddenly, she remembered the unusual enthusiasm of the attendant when he delivered the things before, and she understood. She said, “Wait a moment, I’ll come.”
She climbed out of the bathtub, wiped the water off her body with the brand-new towel, then put on a dry jacket and cotton-padded jacket and trousers, and went to open the door.
Outside the door, a woman with neatly combed hair and a very kind face was holding a large tray. The tray contained not only clothes, but also a comb, a bronze mirror and other things.
The woman put down the clothes and went out.
Yong Ruo flipped through them. From inside to outside, the whole set was brand new, and the material was very good. Was it silk or satin? The workmanship was also good, with fine and even stitches, and no place was not ironed.
Yong Ruo was very satisfied, thinking that she had made a small fortune tonight.
This set of clothes was the most exquisite and beautiful clothes she had ever touched since she came here!
But she did not put on the new clothes immediately. She had a bad habit brought from her previous life, so she did not dare to wear new clothes that had not been washed, especially underwear.
She happily threw the wet single clothes, pants, bellybands, etc. into the bathtub and washed them with the still warm bath water. After washing, she washed them again with the bucket of clean water, wrung them dry, and placed them on a wooden stick and roasted them on the brazier.
The charcoal fire in the brazier was very strong. Soon, all the clothes were roasted dry, and her hair was also dry.
Yong Ruo put on these ragged old clothes again, and carefully patted her back – in it was the ingot of silver and the copper coins she had earned before.
She was not very good at combing her hair, so she divided her hair into two strands, with the back strand tied behind her – this was the hairstyle for unmarried girls, and the front strand tied on top of her head, tied into a slanted bun. After tying it, she saw that there was still a plum blossom left in the basket, so she put that plum blossom on her head.
“Today is a festival, I will also wear a flower in my hair to bring good luck!” She looked in the mirror, adjusted the position of the flower, and thought it looked good and festive.
She smiled at herself in the mirror. Then she took the bag that she used as a headscarf and wrapped all the good clothes sent by the nobleman, put the bag in the basket, hugged the basket, and reluctantly left that warm room. It should be very comfortable to sleep in this room for one night. It was a pity that Yong Qiao and Yong Miao were still waiting for her at home. If she didn’t go back overnight, would they think they were abandoned? Besides, Mother Zhou’s condition was also very bad. She was really worried and couldn’t afford to be so extravagant.
The proprietress with neatly combed hair had actually moved a bamboo chair and sat in the corridor waiting.
Seeing her come out, the proprietress hurriedly stood up and greeted her and said, “Miss, that young man has booked all the elegant rooms upstairs in the lobby and is drinking tea there. The young man asked me to wait here. He said he would like to see you when you come out, and he has something to ask.”
Ask? Yong Ruo thought for a moment and said with a smile, “Thank you, boss lady! Please lead the way!”
The nobleman had already apologized and compensated for the clothes. What else did he want to “ask”? After all, she jumped down by herself, and he didn’t throw her down or knock her down. He had already done what he should do. What else was there to say?
Yong Ruo carried the basket and came to the lobby of the inn, and went up to the second floor of the lobby. Two attendants stood guard at the stairs, bowed to Yong Ruo and the proprietress, stepped aside and stood against the wall to make way for them.
The proprietress did not move forward, but bowed to Yong Ruo and said, “The young man is in the third elegant room, young lady, just go there.”
Yong Ruo nodded and walked slowly to the third elegant room, observing as she walked.
There were four elegant rooms in total, and all the doors were open. The first elegant room was empty. There were a few people drinking tea in the second elegant room, but they were the ones she had seen before by the lake, and they were probably the guards of the nobleman. At the door of the third elegant room stood a man with a long sword hanging from his waist, who was one of the two guards behind the nobleman.
Seeing Yong Ruo coming, the sword-carrying guard reported to the elegant room: “Sir, the girl is here!” After saying that, he stepped aside and made a “please” gesture.
When Yong Ruo walked to the door of the elegant room, she actually saw the noble young man and the scholar in the room standing up to greet her.
Yong Ruo was flattered and felt that the style of this noble young man tonight was too changeable. He was simply playing a face-changing game.
When the noble young man saw Yong Ruo’s face, he was slightly stunned and seemed a little surprised. But he quickly came to his senses and introduced himself very humbly: “My surname is Feng, my name is Liao, and my courtesy name is Rongshen. May I know your surname, young lady?”
Yong Ruo also greeted him formally: “My surname is Yong, and I am the eldest in the family. I meet you, Mr. Feng.”
The noble young man introduced the people serving him to Yong Ruo. The scholar dressed as An Zimo, and the sword-carrying guard at the door was Su Mingjian.
After getting to know each other, An Zimo left the elegant room and closed the door.
In the elegant room, only Yong Ruo and Feng Liao were left standing opposite each other.
“What do you want, sir?” Yong Ruo asked Feng Liao.
She thought Feng Liao was quite tall. The distance between them was about two meters. She had to raise her head slightly to see his face.
Feng Liao bowed to Yong Ruo, bowed her head, and said in a very humble manner: “The lady said that I am born in wealth and know less about the suffering of the people. I agree with you. So I would like to invite the lady to have a few drinks and talk to me about the suffering of the people.”
Yong Ruo was amused when she heard it: Who is this young master Feng? Waiting here specifically just to listen to her talk about “the suffering of the people”!
“Please forgive me, sir, it’s late now. I’m in a hurry to go home. I’m afraid I can’t accompany you for a drink!” I’m not a three-time companion. Do I have to accompany you to eat, drink and chat? Well, although she really wants to stay for a good meal.
Feng Liao’s arched hands tightened slightly, and he looked up at Yong Ruo, his eyes a little uneasy.
Then he lowered his eyes and thought for a while, then stood up, put one hand behind his back, and bent the other hand casually on his abdomen, and smiled reservedly: “Ten taels of silver! If you promise me, I will give you ten taels of silver. In addition, I will give you a name card. If you encounter problems that you can’t solve in the future, you can take the name card to ask for my help.”
Ten… ten taels of silver! Name card!
Yong Ruo felt that this Master Feng was well versed in the principle of hitting the snake at its weakest point, and when he saw that the situation was not right, he attacked her vital point!
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