Chapter Seven Repaying a Debt of Gratitude

  (Recommend and collect, reward points!!)

  Traveling by day and resting at night, the Shu family passed through Zhili and arrived in a small town on the outskirts of Beijing. After a while, they would arrive in Beijing. The sun was particularly scorching at noon. Having lived in the south for over ten years, Zhiyuan and Guwalgiya were not accustomed to the dry heat of Beijing. Shuxuan and his siblings had never set foot in Beijing since birth, so they were even more unaccustomed to it. Guwalgiya ordered them to find a clean tavern to rest, and after a brief refreshment, they would return to the Duke's mansion.

  All the way, Shu Yao learned about the personnel composition of the Duke's Mansion from Guajia's mouth, from the old lady who is now in power to the housekeeper who has a face in front of each master. Guajia told Shu Yao everything at once, and Shu Yao admired Guajia's ability to gather intelligence. The capital and Huizhou, Guangdong are thousands of miles apart, and information is not well communicated. It is rare for Guajia to know herself and others.

  After Shu Yao got off the horse cart, the small town near the capital city was bustling with merchants coming and going. The two-story wine house had a elegant decoration, with a clean facade and a sign that read "Qian Li Xiang" (Thousand Miles Fragrance). In the middle of the wine house, there was a plaque that read "Xian Ke Ju" (Immortal Guest House).

  The young servant at the gate was neatly dressed, with a white towel over his shoulder, and greeted guests warmly. "Please come in." "Are you here for dinner or to stay overnight?"

  Xiao Er had developed a unique eye for observation. With one glance, he knew that the family was of official descent. Five or six horse-drawn carriages were covered with tightly closed canopies, and nearly twenty attendants and servants followed closely behind. Although Shi Mu Lu didn't wear an official uniform, his long, dark green robe exuded a sense of authority, suggesting that he was an official who had been promoted to a high position after being sent out of the capital. Xiao Er became even more diligent, welcoming Shi Mu Lu: "Please come in, sir. I'll prepare a refined room for you?"

  Zhiyuan walked inside and casually asked: "What is 'Qianli Xiang'?"

  "It is the treasure of a small shop, the owner's ancestral brewing skills, when opening the wine tank, the fragrance can be transmitted for thousands of miles, hence the name."

  Shu Yao was skeptical, having a room filled with the aroma of wine would be good enough, but to have it wafting thousands of miles away, even if it were the finest Moutai from past dynasties, opening the vat without the fragrance spreading far and wide, Shu Yao had tasted the best Moutai before, one evening she didn't drink a small cup of Moutai wine, Shu Yao couldn't sleep soundly, her capacity for liquor was built up during that period, known as "thousand cups not drunk", a woman unmatched in wine.

  "Everyone, please be kind and save my wife, everyone please be kind."

  Shu Yao stopped and turned around to see a young man of about twenty years old, kneeling in the middle of the road. His clothes were faded but clean, and his dark yellow skin showed that he was struggling to make ends meet. Although he was begging for alms from passersby, there was a hint of refinement about him. Shu Yao furrowed her brow, sensing the desperation in his heart. The young man was a scholar whose family had fallen on hard times; his wife and children were ill, but he had no money to treat them. Unable to bear the shame, he had abandoned his dignity as a scholar and was begging in the street. In just a moment, Shu Yao had grasped the situation that the young man had been hiding in his mind.

  When the spiritual power is not working, it has been accurate on this person. The young man has a little trick and will not take the worst plan. Shu Yao pinched her purse, she was lazy and didn't go out much when she was in Huizhou, had no close friends in the boudoir, and wasn't close to the misses. Her father and brother loved Shu Yao very much, especially her second brother. Whatever Shu Yao wanted, she would just mention it to her second brother Shu Yi, and he would bring it to her the next day.

  Shu Yao's expenses were not large, and she saved all her monthly allowance. Guwalgiya had long since let Shu Yao handle her own money, firstly to train her and secondly to give her something to do. She was not interested in embroidery, reading, writing, playing chess or playing the piano, nor did she have any interest in poetry or music. Guwalgiya could not bear to see her daughter sleeping all day. When they left Huizhou, Shu Yao sorted out her private savings and exchanged them for two 50-tael silver notes. Apart from her monthly allowance, Shu Yao also received some extra money during festivals and birthdays.

  "Yao'er, where are you going?"

  "I plan to help him."

  Gua Erjia hesitated, and Shu Yao said seriously: "Just because he put aside his dignity as a scholar to save his wife, we should help." Gua Erjia let go of her daughter, and Shu Yao walked lightly to the young man's side, placing the silver ticket in front of him. Without saying anything extra, she returned to Gua Erjia's side, took her arm, and said: "I'm hungry."

  Gua Lijia led Shu Yao into the wine building, and the young man bowed his head to Shu Yao, "Thank you, miss, I...I will repay my debt as a slave."

  Shu Yao's footsteps didn't stop: "Our mansion doesn't lack talented people."

  The restaurant's signature dish is very authentic, and Zhiyuan hasn't had Beijing-style dishes in many years. He enjoyed it immensely, and the Thousand Mile Fragrant Sauce, although not fragrant for a thousand miles, was indeed fragrant and pleasant to drink. Zhiyuan planned to buy several more jars to take back with him.

  Shu Yao put down her chopsticks early, she sat by the window, the wine house was the tallest building in the small town, Shu Yao could see the whole view of the small town.

  "Master, madam, just now the young lady was that scholar from our village who insisted on seeing her. He got angry and said he couldn't be driven away. What do you think..."

  Zhiyuan held up three fingers with his wine cup, "Want to see Shu Yao?" "It's said that he wants to repay the kindness of the young lady as a slave, and I think it's a matter of great importance."

  Shu Yao sighed, "If I had known he was so troublesome, I wouldn't have interfered." She hated trouble the most, and listened carefully to the commotion outside. The people in the wine house who knew the whole story all whispered to each other about the young man's stubbornness, and how the little girl's kindness could make the scholar become a servant. Shu Yao wasn't very happy, "I'll go take a look."

  A screen stood at the entrance of the room. Shu Yao stood behind it, and in a crisp voice asked the young man: "Do you want to repay your slave's kindness?"

  Young man clasped his hands and said: "Li Zhengyang has received the young lady's kindness, and cannot repay it. He is willing to give up his official career and be a slave for ten years to repay the young lady."

  "Are you Li Zhengyang?"

  "Yes."

  "Is he a scholar?"

  "At the age of sixteen, he passed the imperial examination as a xiucai, but failed twice in a row, causing his virtuous wife and beloved son to suffer. Earlier, he had contracted a cold, and was on the brink of death day and night. Fortunately, his daughter-in-law gave him some silver notes, which saved his virtuous wife's life."

  Li Zhengyang spoke sincerely, and Shu Yao estimated that he was about 16 years old when he passed the imperial examination. He had taken the exam twice without being selected as a candidate, and this year he was around 22 years old. With a wife and child, as the head of a family, yet so naive, it seemed that reading books had made him foolish. Shu Yao asked: "Li Xiucan, do you know what it means to be a slave?"

  "I can do all kinds of hard work, as long as you tell me to, I'll brave boiling water and walk through fire without hesitation."

  Shu Yao said: "Do you dare to kneel down for me? Can you farm and plow the fields for me? Do you know how to feed horses and raise pigs?"

  Li Zhengyang's face showed a difficult expression, "I will learn."

  "You, you, when even the first rule of being a servant is not understood." Shu Yao was most disdainful of those who would sell themselves for some unknown sense of righteousness. "To buy a well-trained slave from a slaver's hand costs no more than ten taels of silver, and that's with a death contract. I gave you fifty taels, yet you can't even do anything right, and still need to be retrained by someone else. Not to mention whether you'll be able to pick it up or not, the effort spent on you... why wouldn't I just buy a cheaper servant instead of using you?"

  Li Zhengyang was speechless, being a slave as a scholar, wasn't the master's house very prestigious? How did it change in that little girl's eyes?