Chapter 170: Halfway Return (Pink Ticket 820 Additional Chapter)

  Shen Muqing knew the contents of Shen Zhen's reply letter, and for some reason, tears fell like the spring rain in March, unstoppable.

  At this time, Jing Yu could only sigh.

  Fortunately, everything for going to Fuzhou was almost ready, and Shen Muqing cheered up and directed the maids to pack.

  Just as she asked Shen Zhen to help her choose an auspicious day for Qi's departure, Chang Hui suddenly came looking for her.

  "What's wrong?" Shen Muqing asked him in the flower hall of the outer courtyard.

  Chang Hui still has the appearance of a commoner.

  He smiled and said, "I heard that the young lady's family has hired a bodyguard to go to Fuzhou, why haven't they set off yet? Haven't they found a suitable candidate? If you don't mind, let me follow along too, how about it?"

  Shen Mu Qing was taken aback for a moment.

  She thought he was coming to borrow money...

  Shen Mu Qing couldn't help but feel a little guilty, and thinking of his good martial arts skills, he nodded repeatedly: "If you can go, that would be the best."

  Chang Hui listened and smiled: "Alright then, it's settled. Let me know when you're leaving."

  Shen Mu nodded quietly, and the two of them chatted for a few more sentences before Chang Hui stood up and bid farewell.

  She then called Pang Debao over and told him about Chang Hui's situation.

  "...Last time it was Second Master who invited him, you go ask, see which security firm he's from, and invite him over. Afterwards, pay him double the wages."

  "Don't worry, Auntie, I'll go take care of it right away!" Pang Debao responded and left immediately.

  Shen Muqing saw that everything was arranged properly and set March 12th as the departure date with Shen Zhen.

  On March 20th, they boarded the ship in Tongzhou.

  When the boat arrived at Linqing, they heard the news of the emperor's personal expedition.

  Shen Mu Qing couldn't help but smile slightly.

  Pang De Bao explained: "The emperor transferred troops from Gansu, Qinghai, Guizhou, Yunnan and Liaodong to Xuanzhou, the leader of the Gansu army is our young master."

  "Isn't he supposed to return to the capital for his official duties?"

  Pang De Bao smiled and said: "Things have their own weight and urgency. Now that the Emperor is personally leading the expedition, all official promotions and demotions are temporarily suspended."

  Shen Mu Qing remained silent.

  When they arrived at Huai'an, the city of Huai'an was decorated with lanterns and streamers to celebrate the great victory of Yanggao.

  Shen Mu let out a sigh of relief.

  In mid-April, they arrived safely in Fuzhou.

  Yu Bin, a student of Shen Zhen's, had arranged for a boat to take them. Mrs. Yu even saw them off personally and sent them to the place Yu Bin had arranged for them to stay - a beautiful villa called Jin Shi Garden. The maids and servants were already waiting there, and after introducing the housekeeper to Shen Muqing, Mrs. Yu took her leave.

  Those maidservants were obviously accustomed to serving people, and with the help of several nimble-handed people, Shen Muqing and Shi Jingyu quickly settled in.

  The next morning, Mrs. Yu came over early.

  Accompanying Shen Muqing and Shi Jingyi to finish breakfast, everyone sat down to drink tea and chat. Mrs. Yu said with great care: "...... After a long journey by boat and carriage, rest here for two more days, then we will go to the Nunnery Temple to eat vegetarian dishes - I know that both of you are from Beijing, ordinary places do not dare to show their ugliness, but the vegetarian dishes at this nunnery temple are one of Fuzhou's specialties, both of you must go and try it."

  Shen Muqing thought that Mrs. Yu was indeed a wonderful person.

  Since they met, he has never called them "two girls" or referred to her as "auntie".

  "Thank you, madam. We will be going to Anxi in a few days," Shen Muqing said tactfully about his itinerary. "I don't know if we'll have the chance to go to Guzi Temple to eat vegetarian dishes?"

  Mrs. Yu immediately smiled and said: "So you're going to Mr. Li's place, are you? Mr. Li is a close friend of our family's master, I'll accompany you there at that time."

  I didn't expect it to be like this...

  Besides being deeply moved, I also hope to be closer to Madam Yu.

  If she really wants to open a teahouse in Fuzhou and get closer to Madam Yu, there will only be advantages and no disadvantages.

  The two of them chatted and laughed, setting the day to go to Guzi Temple to eat vegetarian dishes three days later, and the day to go to Quanzhou five days later.

  After Madame Mei left, Shi Jingyu couldn't help but complain: "What's the point of eating vegetarian food? We'd better go to Quanzhou earlier."

  Shen Muqing carefully told her husband's thoughts to his wife. And said: "The more polite, the less people will be suspicious. The more respectful others are to us, the more we should be courteous to them."

  Shi Jingyu didn't make a sound.

  ******

  After a few days, Mrs. Yu indeed came to invite Shen Muqing and Shi Jingyu to eat vegetarian dishes at the Guzi Temple. This time, Shi Jingyu was very polite to Mrs. Yu, from talking about the most popular hairpins in Kyoto to mentioning that Mrs. Yu's son had recently grown a small pimple on his hand, which made Mrs. Yu laugh with joy.

  Shen Mu let out a sigh of relief.

  In fact, if she is willing, she can be a very sweet and lovely woman.

  After returning from the temple, Mrs. Yu treated them with less courtesy and more intimacy, and immediately sent a servant to deliver famous fish balls from Fuzhou.

  Shi Jingyu took a pair of golden longevity hairpins with blue jade inlays from the dressing table as a return gift for Madame Yu, and even wrote a prescription for treating boils to be taken along by Zi Jing.

  Shen Mu Qing couldn't help but cover her mouth and smile.

  "Am I still okay like this?"

  "Go, go, go!" Shen Mu Qing teased her, "You can't go any further than that!"

  At this time, Jingyu listened to her tone and went to tease her.

  Stillness and quietude hide in nature.

  Two people were laughing and making a fuss, when a little maid came in and said: "Chang Hui has arrived."

  Shen Mu Qing Mang sat up straight and asked Shi Jing Yu: "Is your hair messy?"

  Shi Jingxian helped her tidy up her hair and asked in confusion: "Why did you call Chang Hui?"

  "He let me have him take care of some things for me."

  At this time, Jing Xiu listened to that tone and stopped asking questions. She helped Shen Muqing reinsert the pearl hairpin and went to the next room on the west side.

  Shen Muqing met Chang Hui in the main hall.

  "How's it going? Who has Ponderosa been meeting with during this time?"

  Chang Hui said in a low voice, "The four major merchants of Fujian, the Jin'an Wang family, the Cangshan Chen family, the Taijiang Liu family, and the Minjiang Sun family, Manager Pang had all visited them one by one. At other times, he would drink and chat with the big bosses of several families..."

  This is an expected thing. No matter what reason, Pondebao should have gone to Fuzhou to pay homage.

  Shen Mu nodded quietly.

  Chang Hui said: "However, today Pang Guan saw a person from Nanjing, I heard someone call him 'Cheng Ye'."

  Shen Mu Qing was taken aback for a moment.

  Could it be Xiao Cheng?

  "I see that Manager Pang has a particularly unusual attitude towards him. Neither as respectful as he is to other masters, nor as close as he is to other shopkeepers..."

  That must be Xiao Cheng.

  I don't know what Pongde Bao saw in Xiao Cheng

  Thinking of this, Shen Muqing pursed her lips involuntarily.

  "Keep an eye on Pang tomorrow. If he meets with that 'Cheng Ye', find a way to inform me as soon as possible, I want to catch him off guard."

  Chang Hui smiled and said: "I'll listen to your orders, auntie."

  Shen Mu Qing also couldn't help but laugh.

  On this road, Chang Hui took great care of her. As long as it was something she entrusted to him, he never asked for the reason and always did his best to get it done.

  I really don't know why Liu Niang doesn't like Chang Hui to have more contact with herself?

  If it weren't for this gap in between, she really wanted to invite Chang Hui to her home as a guardian.

  Chang Hui had said all he wanted to say and stood up to bid farewell: "Madam, you should get some rest early, tomorrow we still have to set off for Quanzhou!"

  Shen Mu Qing stood up and saw off Chang Hui.

  "Go on, don't mind me..."

  Just as he had not yet reached the curtain, a little maid suddenly reported from outside: "Young lady, Manager Pang requests an audience!"

  Chang Hui suddenly flew back, his face full of guilt as he looked around, then crouched down and hid behind the curtain in the main hall.

  Shen Mu Qing couldn't help but cover her mouth and smile.

  Luckily he was short and small in stature, otherwise others would have definitely discovered someone hiding behind the canopy if they took a closer look.

  She called out loudly, "Please ask Manager Pang to come in," and the curtain was hastily lifted. Pang De Bao walked in with a serious expression.

  Shen Mu Qing was taken aback for a moment.

  Could it be that he knew he was being monitored by Chang Hui, so he came to settle the score!

  She couldn't help but carefully observe Ponder's expression.

  It looks very serious!

  And he continued to walk towards her in big strides — exceeding the proper distance.

  Shen Mu was deep in thought, his eyes involuntarily glancing towards the place where Chang Hui was hiding.

  I hope Chang Hui can be as clever as he was in Yiwu Teahouse that day!

  At this moment, Pong De Bao stopped within three steps of Shen Muqing.

  "Auntie!" he said in a low voice, "I have something important to discuss with you. Please dismiss your attendants."

  The tone is very persistent.

  Thinking of hiding in the canopy, Shen Mu Qing's expression was calm and serene as he dismissed the people in the house.

  Pang Debao and others in the house were nowhere to be found, and he took another step forward, saying in a low voice: "I just received news that the 500,000-strong army led by the Emperor himself encountered difficulties in Datong - more than half of the officials were killed or injured, and the Emperor's whereabouts are unknown. The prince, who served beside the Emperor, also...also has an unknown fate..."

  "What did you say?"

  Her voice was as elusive as a wisp of smoke in the wind, sounding so unreal.

  Pang De's eyes sank, and he repeated: "Young master, it's unclear what will happen!"

  A cool sensation quickly spread from her heart to fill her entire body, causing her to shiver uncontrollably like she was placed in an ice cellar.

  "Auntie, I think I'll set off for Kyoto tonight - being under the Emperor's feet, any news will spread faster."

  "Wait!" Shen Muqing looked at Pang Debao, who had an expression that said he was going to leave regardless of whether she agreed or not. She thought of Xiao Cheng and hastily asked, "Who brought this news? Is it reliable?"

  Pang Debao nodded: "The news is reliable. It was the young master's brother who heard it in Nanjing, and he rushed over to tell me quickly."

  Shen Mu Qing gazed at him with a bewildered expression.

  Pang Debao hastily explained: "In the past few years, I've been following Master, so I know some people and it's easier for me to gather information."

  For some reason, Shen Muqing suddenly thought of the words "Xiao Xiao's birth was too low" that Shen Zhen had written in his letter to Zeng Ju...

  She bit her lip and gazed steadily at Pong De Bao: "I'll go back with you."

  Pang Debao stared at Shen Muqing in shock.

  As soon as the words were spoken, Shen Muqing's anxious heart suddenly calmed down like a lake on a summer afternoon.

  "She said bluntly: 'I'll go back with you.'"

  Having said that, he didn't wait for Pong De Bao's response and loudly called Ying Fen.

  "We're back in Kyoto!"

  Pang De's eyes sparkled with crystal clarity.

  (Sisters, see you at the usual time!)

  []

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