The winter sun shone on the small courtyard. After Liu Hengchang finished drying herbs, he sat on the steps and took out a bag of fried tofu from his sleeve, dipping them in salt and pepper to eat them. While eating, he paid attention to the movement behind him. After a while, there were indeed footsteps, and the moment the door opened, he hastily stuffed what was in his hand into his mouth. Quickly rolling up the paper bag, he stood up and greeted: “Young Master Feng.”

As soon as he opened his mouth, there was the strong odor of salter, pepper, and tofu. Liu Hengchang looked a little embarrassed, and Feng Xiaojin sat on a stone bench: “Don’t be nervous, I just don’t eat it myself, I don’t prevent others from eating it.”

“Yes, yes.” Liu Hengchang placed the remaining fried tofu aside. “Earlier, Young Master Yunyou said that the stone-milled tofu from this store was delicious. I happened to be buying medicine today, so I bought a package when I passed by the store.”

Feng Xiaojin took the smelling salts out of his sleeve. It seemed that he truly disliked the smell of tofu. Liu Hengcheng tactfully tidied up the table, and rinsed his mouth two or three times before returning to the courtyard. He was intentionally trying to set the mood for a chat, and now that the atmosphere was almost set, he beat around the bush on the way to the subject, saying tentatively: “If Young Master Feng has any old sore spots, he might as well speak out. I may be able to cure them, and it’s better than keeping them in your heart all the time.”

“It’s not a sore spot, it’s just pure disgust.” Feng Xiaojin closed the smelling salts and frowned slightly. “I grew up in a tofu workshop. As long as I could remember, this strong and persistent smell of tofu had been everywhere in my life. My mother…..” He paused for a while at this point, and Liu Hengchang’s heart jumped nervously, for fear that the other party would cut the conversation off again.

Fortunately, Feng Xiaojin continued: “Everyone in town said that my mother was a great beauty, but I never understood. She covered her hair with a cloth towel all day long and dragged her sick body to wash and dry beans. Her body was so thin that there was no flesh left, and her face and lips were white, so how could she be called a beauty? In my eyes back then, any woman in my neighborhood could dress brighter and live a more glorious life than her.”

Liu Hengchang said: “In that case, no wonder Young Master Feng hates the scent of tofu so much. A young child and a widowed mother…..this kind of livelihood requires strength, and should be done by men.”

“It wasn’t her who chose this job, but her man. She took me and married a tofu maker.” Feng Xiaojin said lightly, “I killed that man later on.”

Liu Hengchang was startled: “Ah?”

Feng Xiaojin said that he deserved to die.

“I was only eight years old when I killed him.”

But he had been abused for five full years. That tofu man was ugly and useless. His family was poor, but he drank heavily and gambled. He lost money outside, and when he returned, he asked his wife for it and beat her if she didn’t give it to him. The mother and son embraced each other and cried bitterly in the cold winter months.

“That messy tofu shop originally had no business, but there were many men who were willing to buy ‘tofu’ at my house, and the annual income could be considered good. The women in town hated my mother because of this, and scolded her when they met. The funny thing was that the tofu man scolded her too.”

The content of the scolding was nothing more than what was between the legs. He said all kinds of ugly and dirty things all over the place, and life was so bitter that no sweetness could be seen. Feng Xiaojin said: “When I was eight years old, my mother contracted a serious illness and passed away. On her deathbed, she cried miserably and worried about my future, but I wasn’t sad. I was happy for her, glad that she didn’t have to continue to live a life worse than pigs and dogs. I buried my mother with a smile.”

On the second day after the burial, he used knockout drugs he had saved up and added it to the tofu man’s wine.

“When he woke up, he found himself tied to a tree in a remote mountain forest. He cursed at first, and then begged me like a dog.”

“It was no use begging. I remembered every lash he gave my mother.”

“I killed him.”

He blocked the man’s mouth tightly and used the same whip to return to him one lash after another, but it was a pity that the person was already dead before he finished. He was dead, bloody and filthy like a pile of rotten bean dregs soaked in red yeast rice.

Feng Xiaojin finished talking about his past and said: “Tell me, do you have the ability to solve this sore spot for me?”

Liu Hengchang was ashamed: “…..I thought my childhood was already hard enough. I even once envied Young Master Feng, thinking that like the two young masters Yunyou and Yunle, you were brought up by the Master who raised you meticulously. I never thought that there would be eight years of hard work living outside.”

Feng Xiaojin said: “It was more than eight years.”

Liu Hengchang took the opportunity to continue: “Could it be that after killing the tofu man, Young Master Feng still hadn’t met the Master?”

Feng Xiaojin looked at him: “You seem to be very interested in my past today?”

Liu Hengchang generously admitted: “Not just today, this is just the only opportunity I had to ask. Young Master Feng was finally willing to say a few words to me.”

Feng Xiaojin gave a rare smile. When he smiled, his eyes were more like a fox’s, charming and slanted upwards. They indeed had a beautiful shape. Even Liu Hengchang, who was accustomed to the beauties in Baihe Mountain Village, was unavoidably surprised.

“Go and see Yunyou, those witch doctors are not half as capable as you.” Feng Xiaojin had enough of the sun, and stood up with support.

Liu Hengchang revealed a look of embarrassment: “But the Master said that except for him and the witch doctor, no one is allowed to approach on pain of death.”

Feng Xiaojin shook his head: “Don’t worry, I’ll take you there.”

. . . . . . .

In Raven City, there was no festival of lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and there was no eating of sesame dumplings, but it was still lively and bustling with noise.

Liu Xian’an took A-Ning for a walk around the streets, and didn’t change his face. A-Ning bought a mask from a small stall and held it up, saying: “It looks a bit like the prince.”

“It doesn’t look like the prince.” Liu Xian’an completely disagreed. The prince was ninety thousand times more good-looking than this mask.

A-Ning was already used to the mindless flattery of his young master, and put the mask on his face: “Ninety-thousand is ninety thousand.”

Liu Xian’an tried to avoid it: “I won’t wear it. I can’t see the way clearly.”

“There is a big market ahead and there are many people. If you don’t cover your face, you will attract a group of people to chase after you,” A-Ning insisted.

Liu Xian’an had no choice but to obediently wear it.

The two had come out to buy gifts for Liu Nanyuan. The fifteenth day of the first lunar month was Third Young Lady Liu’s birthday. Although they couldn’t congratulate her in person, they still had to prepare the gifts on time. There were a lot of colorful things in the market, but Liu Xian’an went around without finding anything particularly good-looking or particularly interesting. In the end, A-Ning tugged at his sleeve and said with sharp eyes: “There is a jewelry stall over there, and the business seems to be pretty good!”

The store owner was surrounded by a group of girls and aunts, bargaining and haggling. His head was dizzy from the noise, and it was hard to tell whether he was selling at a loss or making a profit: “Is this inlaid with red bone jade?”

“Yes, ah, you have a good eye!” The stall owner said, “This is the best jade from the Southwest mines. Are you buying it for your wife?”

“No, for my sister.” Liu Xian’an took the mask off his face, wanting to see it more clearly, and the wind blew a few strands of hair down. His features were handsome, and the stall owner was dumbfounded, saying happily: “It turns out to be Young Master Liu, ah!”

The news that His Royal Highness Xiao Wang and his party were living in the city these days had spread all over the streets and alleys, and was not a secret. Liu Xian’an compared the hairpins in his hands and said: “I want all three of these. They are really finely made.”

The owner was in no hurry to negotiate the price, but asked: “Young Master Liu’s sister, is she Third Young Lady Liu?”

“Right, I only have this younger sister.” Liu Xian’an smiled. “How much?”

The guards of Xiao Wang Palace had already pulled out their purses, ready to contribute their prince’s salary at any time, but the boss insisted on not accepting it, and instead gave them away for nothing.

Liu Xian’an said: “These things are not cheap.”

“Yes, they aren’t cheap. Only if they aren’t cheap can they be worthy of Third Young Lady Liu.” The owner waved his hands again and again. “My wife has been in poor health for the last few years, and couldn’t invite a famous doctor. Later, the disciples of Baihe Mountain Village treated her, and she used Third Young Lady Liu’s prescription. Now she’s as strong as a cow…..aiya!”

Before he could finish speaking, he was slapped by the wife beside him. The people around laughed along with the stall owner and his wife, and Liu Xian’an laughed too. Amidst the noisy laughter, they haggled for a long time and ended with buying two and getting one for free.

The proprietress picked the most beautiful box to put them in, and put it in a cloth bag with flowers on it. Liu Xian’an was watching her bustle around when he suddenly heard a person beside him ask: “But I’ve always heard that Third Young Lady Liu doesn’t usually wear makeup. She wears cloth skirts and wooden hairpins. Why would she use such a gorgeous hairpin?”

Liu Xian’an followed the sound and saw that the person speaking was a teenage girl in a yellow dress, neither ugly nor pretty, but with bright eyes.

A-Ning explained: “My family’s Third Young lady only wears that dusty apron when she’s working, it’s not that she never wears makeup. She has many beautiful hairpins, especially those with butterflies. In Baihe Mountain Village, everyone remembers to give her a hairpin when they go out.”

“She’s pretty, isn’t she?”

“There is no one more beautiful.” Before A-Ning could speak, the people around him rushed to answer, it was Third Young Lady Liu, how could she not be beautiful?

The girl in the yellow didn’t listen, but looked to Liu Xian’an and asked the same question.

Liu Xian’an nodded: “She’s my younger sister. In my heart, she is naturally the most beautiful in the world.”

Just as he was speaking, the proprietress had already packed away the hairpins, and Liang Shu also came to find him. The noise of the common people suddenly became quieter. After all, even if the prince had commanded that there was no need to salute, it was not appropriate to be noisy in front of him.

It was precisely for this reason that His Royal Highness Xiao Wang was forced by his sweetheart to stay in the manor today. The reason was that, “If you go out, the common people will feel uncomfortable.” He was not unwilling, and complied honestly, fidgeting about in the study. Gao Lin was amazed at what he saw, and ran to Cheng Suyue’s bedside to tell his little sister, adding fuel and vinegar, making gestures and dancing around.

Cheng Suyue’s neck was wrapped in snow-white bandages, and she couldn’t speak a word. First she was almost strangled to death, and then after lying in bed for two days, she was told the shocking truth by Gao Lin about the secret between her prince and Young Master Liu…..not a secret, but a shocking love. Her eyes were wide in astonishment like a dried up fish, and she struggled to make a gasp with a gaping mouth.

“Really?”

“Of course it’s true, but please don’t talk.” Gao Lin said, “Listen to me talk.”

Saying this, he talked endlessly.

And Lieutenant General Gao’s literary level was very worrying. He repeated these few words back and forth.

Cheng-guniang on her sickbed listened and went back and forth between entertained and bored, sometimes energized and sometimes dozing off, and being unable to speak made it even more painful.

Her interest was with the flirting between the prince and Second Young Master Liu.

Her boredom had to do with the boring rhetoric inserted between the flirting. Although she didn’t know much about poetry, this cacophony of words couldn’t be used to describe their prince.

If he hears this, you’re dead.

Gao Lin didn’t appreciate his sister’s painstaking efforts, so he sat by the bedside and said: “You didn’t see, Second Young Master Liu just went shopping without him today, and our prince was so anxious that he jumped up and down, just short of jumping up a tree or the house.”

Cheng Suyue: “…….”

Shut up, I don’t believe you.

But in fact, it was close to the truth. In any case, the prince didn’t stay in the government office for long before finding the door himself. Liu Xian’an asked: “Didn’t you say you would wait for me?”

“I came out to see how the common people are doing this year,” Liang Shu said in an official tone.

Liu Xian’an: “…….”

The common people were very moved, and all replied that they were having a good year, very good, and now that the prince and Young Master Liu were here, it would be even better.

“That’s good.” Liang Shu grabbed Liu Xian’an’s shoulders, gentle and elegant, without a change of expression. “Let’s go, accompany me to look elsewhere.”

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Chapter Eighty-Five << Table of Contents >> Chapter Eighty-Seven