Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
Advance chapters available for patrons on Patreon. And a chapter can be sponsored by buying me a ko-fi.
While Duan Qingyan was surprised at the identity of the mysterious guest, the middle-aged man walking in front of the three of them did not stop and walked to the side of Mrs. Hang who was sitting in the main seat.
He leaned over, his expression respectful and calm: “Ms. Hang, I brought everyone in our family who has learned tea art.”
“…”
Hearing that address, Duan Qingyan was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously raised her head to look over. When her eyes fell on him, she remembered some gossip that other servants of the Tang family had talked about.
The Tang family’s housekeeper’s surname was Qiu, and his name was Qiu Yi. He had been in the Tang family for twenty or thirty years.
Rumor had it that he did not receive any formal training in domestic etiquette but was just a street thug 20 or 30 years ago. Later, in a fight, he was severely injured and nearly died on the roadside. He was taken home for treatment by Hang Wei, who happened to be passing by at the time, that was, the young Mrs. Hang, and was saved.
Hang Wei married into the Tang family very early, lost her husband at a young age, and single-handedly supported the Tang family’s business while surrounded by wolves. Her methods and schemes were extremely vicious.
No one knew why she saved an unrelated desperate gangster. They only knew that since then, people who had a grudge against the Tang family would grit their teeth and say that Qiu Yi was the most loyal dog around Hang Wei.
It was also from then on that Qiu Yi stopped calling Hang Wei like anyone else and only called her “Ms. Hang”.
From being the young widowed mother of the Tang family who was bullied by everyone, Hang Wei had now become the head of the family who everyone only dared to call “Old Lady Hang” without even adding the word “Tang”. However, Qiu Yi had been addressing her the same way for decades.
Old Mrs. Hang had obviously become accustomed to it.
She raised her eyes without making any sound, and her gaze slowly swept over Duan Qingyan and the other two.
When that gaze swept past her, Duan Qingyan lowered her head immediately, but she still couldn’t help but shudder instinctively in her heart——
Old Madam Hang had accumulated power within and outside the Tang family for decades, and the aura in her eyes was no joke.
Duan Qingyan was very self-aware, didn’t like to dream, and had no interest in climbing the social ladder. She had also heard how cruel and ruthless Mrs. Hang was, and how she didn’t even treat her own granddaughter as a human being, so she just kept repeating in her heart, “Don’t pick me, don’t pick me, don’t pick me.”
The tea room was silent for a few seconds, and Duan Qingyan heard the old lady say in a low voice: “Call her over.”
“…”
Duan Qingyan secretly raised her eyes, and then saw Old Lady Hang pointing at her from a distance.
Duan Qingyan: “……?”
What evil spirit had she run into today?
When Old Lady Hang spoke, no one in the Tang family dared to disobey except Qiu Yi.
No matter how reluctant Duan Qingyan was, she had to bite the bullet, take a deep breath, and move forward consciously.
Arriving at the tea artist’s exclusive seat next to the tea table, Duan Qingyan tensed her eyes and followed the instinct she had developed from studying tea art in the past few years to observe the tea leaves in the round, simple wooden box in front of her, identifying their types and determining their quality.
While Duan Qingyan was still examining the tea, Old Lady Hang spoke to Lan Jingqian who was sitting opposite her.
“Mr. Lan came to visit unexpectedly, and the family was not prepared. The tea artist is not at home right now, so we can only call out two or three servants who have learned tea art to do odd jobs. If they do anything impolite, Mr. Lan can only forgive them.”
The tone of the words was not polite. Duan Qingyan felt nervous when she heard it, and she glanced towards the other side.
The handsome man didn’t seem surprised at all. He just said in a cold voice, “I attended my first tea ceremony class at the Tang family. I was rude and didn’t know etiquette at that time. I should thank you for your tolerance.”
Mrs. Hang: “Really? I don’t remember it anymore.”
Lan Jingqian smiled faintly, with an indescribable coldness between his eyebrows: “I remember it very clearly.”
“When people live in this world, sometimes their memories are not so good. If they are hindered by the past, they will not be able to go far. If they are obsessed with some old things, it will not be good for others or themselves. What do you think, Mr. Lan?”
“You are the elder, so you must be right.” Lan Jingqian said calmly, and raised his eyes again, “But the younger generation always has their own opinions.”
Mrs. Hang’s face darkened slightly: “For example.”
Lan Jingqian said nothing.
Beneath the calmness in his eyes, emotions finally surged. No one knew what kind of storm was about to be stirred up in his heart, but it did not show on his face.
A moment later, Lan Jingqian smiled briefly and said, “I feel that erasing the past is equivalent to erasing a person. If I didn’t remember the past, I wouldn’t have achieved what I have today. I’m afraid I would be like what you said back then – not worthy of sitting and talking with you.”
“……!”
Duan Qingyan was selecting tea brewing utensils according to the type of tea, and her hands trembled when she heard this. The teacup in her hand, which was used to pack the tea, hit the teapot, making a crisp porcelain sound.
Old Mrs. Hang looked over coldly.
Duan Qingyan hurriedly apologized in a low voice, lowered her head and looked back, groaning in her heart –
If the atmosphere just now was just full of undercurrents, then Lan Jingqian’s last sentence clearly tore off the veil and pushed the atmosphere to a critical point.
Fortunately, Mrs. Hang’s focus at the moment was obviously not on other things. After giving Duan Qingyan a warning glance, she looked back at Lan Jingqian.
After staring at each other for a few seconds, Mrs. Hang actually showed a cold smile: “So Mr. Lan came here today to scold me for not knowing the value of a gem and looking down on you, and to slap me in the face?”
As Mrs. Hang’s voice turned cold, the atmosphere in the tea room instantly reached the freezing point.
Duan Qingyan’s heart was trembling, but her hands were tense as if prepared. She silently recited the first step of “scalding the pot” in her heart and took a long bamboo pole cylinder to connect the boiled mountain spring water and slowly poured it on the pot.
Amid the sound of the cool water rolling down the pot, the man’s voice behind the tea table rang out clearly: “In the first few years after you drove me out of the country, I did have such thoughts.”
Mrs. Hang was unmoved: “Now, there is nothing?”
“Not often, but I still think of it sometimes.”
“So, did Mr. Lan come here suddenly today because he has thought of the answer to what he should do?” Mrs. Hang asked unceremoniously.
Lan Jingqian said calmly, “I had figured out the answer a long time ago. You are Shiyu’s mother, so naturally you are my elder. If an elder treats me harshly, I will endure it if I can and avoid it if I can’t. I won’t wait until you are sixty years old and then come back to take revenge, that will only damage my reputation.”
“…”
Although the words were still spoken rudely, Mrs. Tang’s expression finally eased a little.
Duan Qingyan heated the pot and cups nearby, took out tea leaves with a tea spoon and placed them in the pot, then poured boiling spring water over it. The tea leaves rolled and spread out with the sound of conversation, and hot steam rose.
Only at this time did Duan Qingyan feel that the rising water vapor had barely any temperature.
After scraping off the tea foam, Duan Qingyan carefully poured the brewed tea into the teacups and handed them to Mrs. Hang and Lan Jingqian one by one.
“Thanks.”
Lan Jingqian spoke in a low and gentle voice.
Duan Qingyan looked at him flattered. Then she realized that Lan Jingqian did not taste the tea but put the teacup aside.
…This didn’t seem like the right rhythm for a friendly conversation.
Duan Qingyan had just had this premonition when she heard Lan Jingqian speak: “Although I disdain revenge, I am not the kind of person who repays evil with kindness. So when I came to that answer, I had already decided not to step into the Tang family’s door again, let alone have anything to do with you.”
Old Mrs. Hang had already brought the teacup in front of her, and her eyelids jumped when she heard this.
She paused, frowned and looked up: “Then why did you come today?”
Lan Jingqian: “I’m here to ask you about someone.”
“…”
Old Mrs. Hang seemed to have thought of something, and her eyes darkened at that moment, but she didn’t say a single extra word and lowered her eyes.
“Who.”
The calmness in Lan Jingqian’s eyes was finally torn apart, and a hint of coldness struggled out:
“Is there a little girl named Tang Ran in the Tang family?”
“——!”
Duan Qingyan was caught off guard. The hand that was holding the cup suddenly shook, and the teacup fell out of her hand, spilling all over the place.
The sound of the teapot hitting the tea table also brought back Mrs. Hang’s mind, which had been frozen for a moment. Her face suddenly darkened, and she put the teacup in her hand down heavily. With a bang, the boiling hot tea splashed out.
“Qiu Yi!”
The old lady’s voice had actually become hoarse in just a few seconds.
Before Duan Qingyan could react, she felt her right arm tighten. A few seconds later, a huge pulling force and numb pain came back from her arm.
Qiu Yi, who had been waiting quietly in the corner, stepped forward at some point, grabbed her arm without saying a word, and pulled the stunned Duan Qingyan directly out of the tea room.
Ten seconds later.
The door of the tea room was shut heavily.
Duan Qingyan was dragged several meters away and her face turned pale with fear – at this moment she believed what the servants said, that the housekeeper Qiu Yi was a violent and reckless street thug when he was young.
She suspected that she had heard something she shouldn’t have heard and was about to be silenced.
Just as Duan Qingyan was imagining how she would be taken to a small dark room and put in a sack, her teeth chattering such that she couldn’t even scream for help, Qiu Yi pulled her around the corner of the corridor and let go of her hand without warning.
“——!”
Without the support, Duan Qingyan’s legs went limp and she almost collapsed to the ground.
The middle-aged man, who was nearly fifty years old, looked down at her expressionlessly.
Duan Qingyan felt that the man’s eyes were as cold as if he was looking at a stone or a dead tree. He was definitely not a human being, and there was no trace of compassion that a middle-aged man would have when he saw a young woman who was frightened.
Duan Qingyan suspected that the other party was thinking about how to kill her, and she trembled even more violently: “Butler Qiu Qiu Qiu… I didn’t hear anything just now, I-I won’t tell anyone…”
Qiu Yi said nothing, but looked at her coldly, as if judging the reliability of her promise.
After a while, confirming that Duan Qingyan was not acting and was indeed so frightened that she looked like she needed to be sent to the hospital, Qiu Yi drooped his eyelids.
“Remember what you said.” The middle-aged man’s voice was calm, yet frightening. “If I hear something I shouldn’t, then the horror in your mind will become a reality.”
“……!”
In Duan Qingyan’s vision, which was blurred by tears due to fear, Qiu Yi turned and left without saying another word.
She waited until the footsteps in the corridor disappeared for a long time.
Duan Qingyan took a deep breath, then started to cough violently, choking to the point of tears. She leaned against the wall, bent over and tried to breathe hard, while patting her chest hard to help herself breathe.
It was only with this painful and heart-wrenching cough that Duan Qingyan felt that she was alive again.
After being “resurrected”, the first thought that popped into Duan Qingyan’s mind was that the upstart in the control field who was being praised by countless financial publications actually came to the Tang family to find Tang Ran.
Should she risk her life and tell Tang Ran about this before Old Lady Hang discovered that she was the servant delivering meals to the side house?
Guys, ads are my only source of revenue, so please do not turn on the AdBlock when you are accessing this website…. Thank you, this would be a great help…
You can buy me a ko-fi and sponsor a chapter on: https://ko-fi.com/midnightrambles
Or become a Patron on: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=45665005
If you support me, I would be able to provide more chapters….
Previous • Table of Contents • Next