Chapter 117: Making Her A Hand Maid
Translator: Flying Lines
After Scholar Wong finished talking he immediately looked at Xiao Baozhu in surprise. He was very sure that what happened tonight was plotted by Xiao Baozhu. Who could ever anticipate that a little girl who usually seemed quiet and harmless could set such a honey trap to trick someone.
“OK, I was also walking in the street and bumped into an elderly man and then I have no idea what happened next.” Scholar Wong said plainly,
As Scholar Wong told his story, Li Hongmei then said to Butler Wong resentfully, “Look, I told you my Baozhu was telling the truth. If you dare call her a slut or a loose woman again, I’ll rip up your mouth!”
Butler Wong’s attitude was somewhat mitigated but then he became rather worried. He looked at Scholar Wong and said, “Young Master, but you’re going to marry Miss Qingqing at the end of this month. Now we have this accident. What shall we say to His Lordship?”
“Let’s leave first and talk later!” Scholar Wong then got off the bed. He was still dizzy and looked rather tired when he got up.
Butler Wong went to help him immediately.
“Mr. Wong?” Xiao Baozhu saw that Scholar Wong did not give her any reassuring words, so she called to him from behind. However, Scholar Wong did not reply at all but just walked towards the door.
When he passed Ye Xiaoxian, Scholar Wong paused for a second.
Ye Xiaoxian quickly bowed to him and then whispered, “Thanks.”
Scholar Wong did not look at Ye Xiaoxian either but was only led by Butler Wong and went out of the lodge room.
When Scholar Wong had left, Li Hongmei suddenly hit Xiao Baozhu while scolding her. “You little tramp, you think I don’t know? What white bearded old man, you can fool others but you think you can fool me? You’ve actually done such things. I really didn’t expect that you could be this cheap. Who do you think Mr. Wong is? He did a big favor for Baofeng and our restaurant. He is such a good person and yet you dared to trick him. Because of you, what will he think of our family from now on? How will Baofeng feel in front of Mr. Wong in the future…”
Xiao Baozhu did not resist. She did not say a word and let Li Hongmei scold and hit her as she pleased. She had succeeded in her goal so she did not care what others thought. So long as Scholar Wong did not scold her everything would turn out just as she hoped. Even if she had to be his concubine she believed that she would have a happy life in the future.
Ye Xiaoxian, who was standing outside, had not said a single word either.
Baozhu, you are still too young and too naïve. The future that awaits you will be full of suffering.
…
It was late in the evening. Because they had made quite a lot of noise there was now a crowd surrounding Junlai Lodge to watch this drama. Some of them were guests there and some were people from the neighborhood. Many of them were tucking their clothes tight and discussing in the sharp cold wind.
“This is the girl then? She’s only thirteen or fourteen, isn’t she? Alas, bedding down with a man at night, how can she still possibly get married in the future?”
“Shameless. If she were my daughter, I’d beat her to death!”
“Maybe she was seduced by someone?”
“Phew, the man was the son of Lord Wong. Why should he seduce her? What’s she got?”
“Then I have no idea.”
“…”
There was tittle-tattle among the crowd and some were even following them to the restaurant. Li Hongmei was so ashamed that she felt like locking the door and beating Xiao Baozhu to death.
Ye Xiaoxian did not try to stop this because if Xiao Baozhu had just listened to her in the first place it wouldn’t have ended up like this.
It was water under the bridge now and they could only wait patiently for Scholar Wong to say something to them. If they just wanted to get rid of Xiao Baozhu it would not make any difference even if they went to the Wong’s and made a scene. They were only running a restaurant and if Lord Wong wanted to deal with them it would be as simple as turning his hand, then their restaurant could be closed down at anytime.
…
“Nonsense, how could such things possibly happen in the world? Now I see why you go to that little restaurant all day long. It turns out that it’s not the female cook you are interested in but her sister-in-law. You, you’re…”
Lord Wong picked up the tea cup from the table, hurling it violently at Scholar Wong. Immediately the tea was spilled all over Scholar Wong.
However, he did not retort but just let Lord Wong vent his anger.
Scholar Wong soon explained. “My Lord, truly Young Master did not ask for it. There is a big bump on his head. Obviously he was knocked out and then put in the bed at the lodge. Master has been really wronged. I think this matter was either planned by the Xiaos or by someone else who has it in for us.”
Lord Wong was so angry that he was rendered speechless for a long while. “You tell me, tell me, how am I going to explain this to the Qins now? You’ve already exchanged your birthday cards and now what will the Qins think of you? Such a fine potential marriage and it’ll just end like this?”
Butler Wong said, “My Lord, we don’t have to care about the Xiaos. As for the Qins, as long as we don’t tell anybody no one will possibly know about this.”
“Nonsense, how will they not know? Just wait and see. It won’t take half a day for this matter to spread all over the Qinghe County!”
Scholar Wong was still kneeling down, not making a sound.
…
Lord Wong had guessed right. The Qins heard about it just that afternoon. All the Qins sat together and discussed it as an emergency.
“I heard that either they were tricked by someone or it was the slut of the Xiaos who did it on purpose. The Xiaos are just farmers and used to be poverty-stricken. They recently opened a restaurant in town, but they’ d never match the Lord’s son with their class and status,” said Mrs. Qin.
Mr. Qin pinched his chin and did not respond.
It was hard to tell because any man, being a bit well-off, would rather marry several women. Even he had got several handmaids in his family.
Mrs. Qin asked Qin Qingqing who was sitting beside her in a daze, “Qingqing, so will you marry that Scholar Wong or not? If you don’t, we’ll turn down the marriage.”
Qin Qingqing was not willing to turn it down. From the day she saw Scholar Wong from behind the screen she had found him quite cultured and sophisticated, and a man with a particularly rare bearing. She fell for him at first sight and was unwilling not to marry him.
Furthermore, ever since she saw him once she had been looking forward to getting married. She somehow felt that it was worth marrying Scholar Wong as he was the man who would treat her well.
“Pa, Ma, I…I still want to marry him.” Qin Qingqing blushed and finally spoke her mind.
Mrs. Qin then said to Mr. Qin, “Pa, then you’d better have a good word with the Wongs. If he still wants to marry our Qingqing, he must get rid of that slut of the Xiaos. If he can’t get rid of her, she will at most be a handmaid and would not be able to get promoted for five years.”
A handmaid who was not even a concubine was a maid who served her lord and mistress when they were having sexual intercourse. If Scholar Wong called for her, she could do it with them together, but it was unlikely for a man of letters like Scholar Wong to do such things.
Mr. Qin said, “Right, but we can take the initiative and talk to them. We must wait for them to come to us and then we will talk. We can’t make the first move now but I’ll let them know that we are very angry. I’ll send someone to make a statement to them this afternoon.”
…
Lord Wong was so worried as this marriage was a one in ten thousand opportunity. When he received the message he went to the Qins right away. He could not settle down unless he could persuade the Qins.
When he arrived at the Qin’s they explained how they felt and Lord Wong was relieved. A handmaid was not bad. To be honest, Lord Wong dared not refuse to let Xiao Baozhu into his family. As his son confirmed that this was a myth and the news had been spread around all town, if he did not let Xiao Baozhu in then what would others think of their family?
Still, he was not going to let Xiao Baozhu in easily. He had almost reached fifty but ended up getting fooled by such a little girl which made him hold a grudge.
Well, you want to get into our family? I’ll let you in!
Scholar Wong accepted the Qin’s opinion and made a gesture that he would treat Qin Qingqing as his own daughter in the future.
…
“Huh? A handmaid?” In the restaurant when Li Hongmei heard that Xiao Baozhu could only make it as a handmaid, she almost burst into tears of grief.
“Not even a concubine?” she asked again to confirm it.
In this era, being a concubine was already tough but for a handmaid, she had to do all the chores during the day and serve her master at night, which was such a lowly position. Unless the family was so poor that they almost have to sell their daughter, there was no parent who’d wish to see their daughters do such things.
“She won’t be a handmaid. At least make her a concubine or our Baozhu won’tjoin your family,” said Li Hongmei toughly.
Butler Wong sneered. “Whatever. We’ve given you the chance anyway and it’s you who’ve chosen not to come. How will it affect us?”
“We won’t anyway!” Li Hongmei would rather see others gossip about her daughter than sell her to be a handmaid.
Scholar Wong was not bothered about persuading them but only said, “It’s up to you.”
But Xiao Baozhu was listening from the back the entire time. Hearing that Li Hongmei was going to turn it down she then said earnest, “Ma, I want to go. No matter a concubine or a handmaid, as long as I can see Mr. Wong I’m satisfied.”
“Baozhu, you…I won’t allow you to go.”
“Ma, I want to, no matter what will happen, I really want to go. I’ve chosen my own way and no matter what will happen in the future I won’t regret it. I beg you, Ma,” said Xiao Baozhu sniveling.
“Baozhu, you’re too young. You don’t know how bad it could be. When you really get into their family you won’t say something like this anymore. As your Ma, my heart aches!” Li Hongmei had already cried.
Butler Wong felt impatient listening them talking crap. He simply said, “I’ll come back two hours later and by then I only need one answer, yes or no, and I’ll go back to report to my lord.”
…
Li Hongmei explained to Xiao Baozhu patiently about what a handmaid was and conceived what Xiao Baozhu would encounter when she was in the Wong household. Li Hongmei then asked Ye Xiaoxian to persuade her.
Just judging by Xiao Baozhu’s attitude, Ye Xiaoxian knew that she would not be convinced. Little girls were like that. They knew it would bring destruction on themselves, but they would do it anyway.
On second thought, Ye Xiaoxian felt that maybe Xiao Baozhu would not lead a terrible life even if she went to be a handmaid. She could think up such a plan already at her age, so who could guarantee that she would not rack her brains in scheming? Perhaps she could end up making herself into a wife.
Ye Xiaoxian simply said to Xiao Baozhu, “Baozhu, you have to be sure. If you don’t want to go, I’ll sell this restaurant and take Ma and you somewhere where nobody knows us and make a fresh start. By then nobody will know what happened to you and you could still find an ideal husband.”
“I don’t want another ideal husband. I only like Mr. Wong. You don’t know how I liked him when I first saw him. His figure and his voice are going around and around in my mind. I miss him when I eat meals, I miss him when I sleep and I miss him whatever I do. Now I finally have a chance to get closer to him, please let me go to him and whatever will happen in the future will be my problem. I will never blame it on you.”
Ye Xiaoxian sighed and then said to Li Hongmei. “Ma, she cannot be convinced.”
