The Lady’s Sickly Husband

“Good morning, madam.” Seeing Mo Qianxue come in, Yunyao put down the cleaning cloth in her hand and bowed to her, then stood on the side with reverence.

Xixi was seven years old, a nice child. At the sight of Mo Qianxue, she also hurriedly come over and bowed like her mother, “Good morning, madam.”

Yunyao’s complexion looked good. She must have collected herself. Now she had food and shelter and her daughter around, the sorrow of the decease of her parents-in-law was diluted a lot.

Although the restaurant was big, it was cleaned up and properly arranged by Yunyao.

Yunyao was accommodated by Mo Qianxue in the attic of the restaurant and didn’t go back with Mo Qianxue to the Wang village.

Now, Yunyao’s tasks were to take care of the restaurant in the night and do bits and pieces in the day.

Juniang and Wang Xiaolei have met Yunyao many times and wasn’t surprised at how well she did her work.

Now they all changed the addressing term and called Mo Qianxue boss.

The restaurant was just open, and as the weather was cold, the steamed buns outside were sold very well. Manager Tang and manager Jin took their two sidekicks here to help with the business. Each of them ordered a bowl of ping lung soup and a few other dishes to go with wine.

Manager Tang was really sophisticated. The other day when Mo Qianxue met manager Jin and his two sidekicks, they were at odds, but now they chatted and joked.

The officer who had mistaken Mo Qianxue as a servant girl specially turned to her and apologized.

Mo Qianxue readily accepted it and to go up to the atmosphere, she offered that the meal was on the house.

Manager Tang and Jin politely refused a bit and agreed, promosing that they would come here very often in the future.

There were also a few tables of guests who were the managers of passenger ships.

Wang Xiaolei was really clever and quick-handed. To shuttle back and forth between these tables, he managed to provide satisfactory service. Some even tipped him when they left.

He was an honest guy and gave the money to Mo Qianxue, yet she gave it back to him and told him to work hard and that in the future he could keep all the tips guests gave him.

Getting the promise, Wang Xiaolei worked harder, serving tea, cleaning tables, collecting bowls and so on. Yunyao was left with no work, so she only had to go to the kitchen to assist Juniang with odds and ends. In the noon, Ning Shaoqing showed up.

Yesterday they had thrown a celebration feast and gave the school children one day off. It would be improper to cut classes again today, so he went to school and finished lecture in half a day. After school, he came directly to the restaurant.

Maybe it was a coincidence that arrived at the same time with the owner of Tingfengquan. At the moment, he was with the boss Yu to enjoy tea in an upstairs vip room.

Mo Qianxue only knew it at last she had been to Tianxiang city that the wine of Tingfengquan was quite famous in the city. They never accepted credit. She wondered how her husband persuaded the boss to agree on settlement at the end of each month and sending the wine personally.

Telling Juniang, the chef, to make more dishes, Mo Qianxue carried them to the room in person.

To her surprise, when she just entered the room, boss Yu should stand up, looking nervous and uneasy.

It seemed that he only sat down after Ning Shaoqing gave him a look. The respectfully attitude of boss Yu towards Ning Shaoqing made Mo Qianxue wonder whether she had missed something.

Perplexed, she looked at Ning Shaoqing, who only smiled and nodded at her.

There must be something! This man was so dishonest. It seemed that she needed to ‘torture him to confess’ when they got home.

She just went downstairs, there were other guests coming.

Many servants came in, attending a lady who wore a veil and a fur coat.

The extraordinary air suggested that she must be a lady from a noble family. One of the mamas looked familiar to Mo Qianxue.

This…this is the mama of the eldest young lady Jian that she had save the other day? Was it mama Yuan?

They halted at the door. Mama Yuan didn’t turn to her to say hello but gave her a meaningful look. A servant girl stepped over and asked politely, “Is there a VIP room?”

“Yes.” Mo Qianxue answered quickly, turning around to tell Yunyao who was cleaning a table, “Yunyao, take our guests to the Plum Room upstairs.”

When Mo Qianxue designed the layout of the restaurant, she arranged six rooms on upstairs.

Five of them were vip rooms and one was reserved for her as a rest room. Now the rest room was lived in by Yunyao and her daughter.

The five vip rooms were named after flowers.

In the middle was named after the flower queen Peony and the other four were Plum Room, Orchid Room, Bamboo Room and Chrysanthemum Room.

The thought was thought highly of by Ning Shaoqing, praising the idea both creative and scholarly. Of course Ning Shaoqing had never seen this way of naming rooms, but Mo Qianxue only smiled and didn’t say anything, because she knew this was just plagiarism of modern times.

In this time, restaurant wouldn’t design names for rooms, which were called simply by numbers and directions, such as room east one, room west two and so on.

Seeing the six people going upstairs, Mo Qianxue pulled the corner of her mouth. If they didn’t recognize her, she also had to pretend that she didn’t know them. She wasn’t that poor to curry favor with them.

Otherwise, the other day, she would have accepted Xin Yiming’s gift of gratitude.

Thinking of him, she burst into laughter. Such a serious person like him should be so shy.

That day, after discussing everything about the contract, Gao Lang took out a brocade casket to her, saying it was a gift of gratitude. This was too personal, so Mo Qianxue turned him down without opening and taking a look at what it was.

Gao Lang hurriedly explained that the gift was to thank her for saving a lady at the dockside. Mo Qianxue asked that the lady’s surname was Jian while your lord Xin, so why should he give her a gift of gratitude on Jian’s behalf?

Gao Lang’s words stuck at his throat, and Xin Yiming took over the small box and left with a flushed red face. Mo Qianxue laughed behind him.

It seemed that he really liked this lady Jian.

But what kind of a person she was that made the talented and handsome young lord of the governor so fascinated?

That day, she was in a hurry to save her and didn’t pay much attention to her appearance. Besides, on that day when the lady was picked up from water, she was almost out of breath. In that situation, even the most beautiful woman wouldn’t look beautiful.

Settling lady Jian, Yunyao got down followed by a servant girl.

“Boss, our lady invites you to her room.” The girl sounded very polite.

Jian Qingyou had already taken off the veil on her head and greeted Mo Qianxue with the noble courtesy when she saw her coming in.

Instantly, Mo Qianxue was stunned, not able to move at all, but not by the courtesy.

It was the beauty. Too beautiful.

The pitch-black hair was tied into a lady bun by a pearl hairpin with hanging tassels. When she talked, the tassels swayed and waved.

She had a clean flawless face of fair skin. The eyebrows were picturesquely slim and long, below which were a pair of twinkling bright eyes. Under the tiny nose was her small mouth, the thin lips of which curled slightly upward, carrying a touch of smile accompanied by a little sadness. The whole face was so delicate and exquisite that it almost shouldn’t be possessed by a human.

She wore a piece of lemon-yellow short coat and the ink-green pleated skirt reached her ankles. Standing there nobly and elegantly, she looked so pure and innocent like a hibiscus bud surfacing from water but with not a bit dirt.

What a classical beauty walking out of a painting! Mo Qianxue applauded to herself and became shamelessly excited that she had kissed such a beauty. Hurray! She was so lucky!

Mo Qianxue thought highly of Qingyou while Qingyou also admired Mo Qianxue very much.

The boss in front of Qingyou, though of humble origin and three years younger than her, should support such a world of her own independently.

The light-blue dress was well-cut, and around the collar was a circle of grey mouse fur, which wasn’t expensive but looked chic and neat.

Jian Qingyou admired her more as she regarded her and became increasingly pitiful due to the fact that such a great woman should get married so early to a sick scholar from outside.

A beautiful girl with unfortunate fate! Uneasy for her to set up such a business.

“Please accept my gratitude. Thank you for saving my life.” Then she made full formalities three times again.

Mo Qianxue hurriedly held her, “I’m just a country woman. You shouldn’t greet me like this. Please, don’t.”

“I can’t thank you; you’re my life-savor. Of course I should greet you like this.”

“Don’t keep flattering me. We’re of similar age. If you don’t mind, just call me by my first name. I’m Mo Qianxue; call me Qianxue, lady.”

Jian Qingyou was a little surprised but smiled, “Okay. Qianxue. You call me Qingyou.”

“Disciples dress in blue, my heart worries for you.

You are the cause, of this song without pause.

Across the bank a deer bleats, in the wild where it eats.

Honored my guests I salute, strike the harp! Play the flute!”

Mo Qianxue gently recited the lines of a famous poet where the name Qingyou came from, “Qingyou, what a special name.”

“I didn’t expect you had such outstanding learnings. Just don’t laugh at my name.”

Seeing that Mo Qianxue readily recited poems, Jian Qingyou liked her more.

The two women started to talk about poetry and found similar taste and likings.

Mo Qianxue was a Chinese major. Though she couldn’t write poems, she had received sixteen years of education and learned the thousands of years cultural heritage left my ancestors. In addition, she had been learning calligraphy, drawing since she was little. Besides, ever since she arrived at this place, she had bought loads of books and read during spare time. She got to know a lot about this age, so the two talked happily with each other.

Jian Qingyou was all smiles and Mo Qianxue was intrigued too. She hadn’t enjoyed a smooth and enlightening conversation with other for a long time. Sister Fang was nice though, she was illiterate, talking about either her husband or children.

Juniang was a quiet person whom you had to force to make her talk. Sister Guihua always regarded her as a madam and called her by respectful terms. Nizi only liked embroidering while Yaya was too young.

Sister Zhang was talkative, true, yet she only gossiped, like whose pigs gave birth to gruntlings or which wife fought with her mother-in-law…

To include all the women around her, there wasn’t one with whom she could speak like a confidant.

Mama Yuan waited on the side, serving tea for them from time to time, smiling with satisfaction. She hadn’t seen her lady laughing like this for a long time.

At first sight of their lady sitting together with Mo Qianxue, the servant girls all looked each other in disdain towards Mo Qianxue, thinking to themselves: how dared this married country woman! She should call lady by her first name.

All this happened because of their lady’s modesty and kindness. Any other noble lady wouldn’t never give her such a chance of befriending even if she was the life-savor. Money and gifts were more than enough.

However, as the conversation went on, the disdain in the eyes of the servant girls turned into admiration.

These girls were specially trained and educated. Their lady was the number one talented girl in Tianxiang city, yet this woman didn’t fall behind when the topics were poems and poses.

What was more, her words constantly made their lady’s eyes lightened up and sometimes forced her to ponder for a moment.

This had never happened before.

The two were so absorbed in their cheering conversation that they began to really like and respect each other and found it pitiful at the thought of departing.

In the end, only by mama Yuan’s reminding did Jian Qingyou lingeringly bid farewell to Mo Qianxue, who personally saw her to the carriage.

The two walked hand in hand, pacing and talking.

“It’s not easy for me to go out. When you’re free, do come to my house.”

“That would be great if you’re willing to.” She happened to wonder what a century-old noble family would be like, let alone it would be a free tour with a guide. Why not?

“Great. Then it’s settled. So around ten o’clock, I’ll send a carriage to take you to our mansion.”

“I accept your kindness with respect. I’m sure be there on time.” In this estranged world, it wasn’t easy to find someone she could get along so well.