Chapter 32: Selling Flowers 1/3

Li Xiucai was from the county town, but his family was quite ordinary. He rented a house for his school and also rented a house for his own residence. Every year, he had to spend a considerable amount of money just on rent.

In order to earn some extra money, he not only accepted many students but also sold meals at noon.

Every day, he had his wives and daughters-in-law prepare meals and deliver them to the students who had paid for their meals.

However, some people didn’t eat at the school. Some couldn’t afford the money due to their poor family backgrounds, while others didn’t like the food provided by Li Xiucai’s family.

Students who ate at the school had to pay two hundred cents per month. The meals were passable, but the taste was average.

Today, the meal at the school was meat and tofu soup, accompanied by pickled cucumber.

Yao Zhenfu had paid for his meal at the school. In the past, he would always secretly check if he was given less food, but today he didn’t care much. After filling his bowl with food, he ate without tasting it.

While eating, he saw someone carrying a shoulder pole coming in.

It was the person delivering food from the Zhu family to Zhu Xunmiao.

The person took out four dishes and a soup from the food box and placed them in front of Zhu Xunmiao. Then, they took out a plate of snacks and a plate of peaches.

The quantity of these items was quite substantial, intended for Zhu Xunmiao to treat those around him to a meal.

Zhu Xunmiao indeed treated Xu Qifei and others to a meal.

Xu Qifei came from a poor family and couldn’t even afford the money to eat at the school, but because he flattered Zhu Xunmiao, he could eat good food every day.

Yao Zhenfu somewhat looked down on him.

He also didn’t like Zhu Xunmiao. Knowing that there were many students from poor families at the school, Zhu Xunmiao deliberately flaunted the wealth of the Zhu family in front of them!

But… why didn’t his father have Zhu Qian’s skills? If he had the money of the Zhu family, he wouldn’t have to worry and fear like this!

Yao Zhenfu was caught yesterday.

He was with his sweetheart, Xuniang, at that time, and they were being intimate when someone suddenly barged in.

He was caught red-handed. The letters he had previously written to Xuniang and some gifts he had given her were also taken as evidence. Xuniang’s husband said that if he didn’t pay up, he would show those things to his classmates at the school and make him lose face.

This was absolutely unacceptable!

But one hundred taels…

Yao Zhenfu had been frightened all day before leaving the school.

There was a river wharf next to his school. At this time, several boats were docked here. Some students who didn’t live in the county would discuss it with the boatmen from their villages and take a boat back home.

Of course, there were also students from well-off families who hired boats to take them home.

As for the students from the county town, most of them walked home, but some who lived far away would take a boat.

Yao Zhenfu didn’t want people to know that his father was a boatman. He always had his father wait elsewhere, and when he left the school, he would turn into an alley.

However, as soon as he turned in, his expression changed drastically—Xuniang’s husband was standing in front of him, smiling at him!

Xuniang’s husband was a man in his forties, with dark skin and a fierce look on his face. “Have you gathered enough money yet?”

“Not yet…” Yao Zhenfu was quite plump, and he naturally sweated a lot. At this moment, the sweat was streaming down incessantly.

“You’d better gather the money quickly. Otherwise, I’ll go to the yamen and report you! Don’t think you can hide. If you dare to hide, I’ll show your classmates those letters and let them all know what dirty things you’ve done!” Xuniang’s husband snorted coldly.

Yao Zhenfu didn’t dare to even let out a fart, nodding repeatedly while wiping away his sweat.

Xuniang’s husband scolded him a few more times before leaving. Seeing this, Yao Zhenfu ran away in a panic.

Watching Yao Zhenfu leave, Xuniang’s husband, who had turned into an alley, said to the woman beside him, “This guy is really spineless.”

The woman, in her thirties, with fair skin and a plump figure, was none other than Xuniang. She snorted lightly, “I really misjudged before!”

The man who claimed to be Xuniang’s husband was actually not her husband but her brother.

Xuniang’s surname was Shen. The Shen family didn’t even have a piece of irrigated land; they only had some dry land and had always relied on renting land from wealthy landlords to make a living.

Xuniang had never had enough to eat since she was young. After growing up, she had only one thought: to marry into a wealthy family where she could eat and drink her fill.

She was not bad looking, and indeed, there were people willing to marry her. However, at this time, she got another opportunity.

A wealthy merchant wanted to find a concubine in Chongcheng County. Not only was he willing to pay twenty taels of silver as a dowry, but he also promised to give twenty taels of silver for household expenses every year after marriage.

Xuniang seized this opportunity.

Marrying into an ordinary farming family would only ensure she didn’t go hungry, but being a concubine for this merchant would mean eating meat!

Xuniang wanted to eat meat!

The merchant rented a house in the county town to accommodate Xuniang. At first, he didn’t pay much attention to Xuniang, but after raising her for a while, Xuniang became more and more attractive, and she knew how to please people. He began to treat Xuniang better. In addition to the agreed-upon money, he would also give her extra money and gifts.

For several years, Xuniang lived a carefree and indulgent life.

However, starting from seven years ago, for some unknown reason, he suddenly stopped coming, and the money stopped coming too.

Xuniang inquired through others and learned that he had died of a bowel abscess while on a business trip, suffering terribly.

Since he had died, naturally, no one would give Xuniang money anymore. At that time, the Shen family wanted Xuniang to return to the countryside to remarry, but Xuniang was unwilling. Instead, she wanted to marry a wealthy man in the county town, even if it meant being a concubine.

But wealthy men in the county town weren’t that easy to hook up with… Xuniang had a few admirers, but none of them were willing to marry her back.

Yao Zhenfu was someone she had met at that time. At that time, Yao Zhenfu was only seventeen or eighteen years old, still a naive youth, and he was dazzled by her in just a few days.

Xuniang felt that even if she had asked Yao Zhenfu to marry her back then, Yao Zhenfu would have been willing.

But she was nine years older than Yao Zhenfu, and she had been childless all along, fearing that she couldn’t bear children… She didn’t make this request after all.

At that time, Yao Zhenfu said he was very knowledgeable and even wanted to take the imperial examination, plus she thought Yao Zhenfu’s parents could afford to send him to school, indicating that their family must be well-off…

She had been in contact with Yao Zhenfu all along, saying she genuinely loved Yao Zhenfu, and even said that her husband despised her for not having children, treated her badly, beat and scolded her at every turn, and even refused to give her money…

In short, after her sob story, Yao Zhenfu felt deeply sorry for her.

In recent years, Yao Zhenfu only visited her during his leisure time, about twice a month, and always during the daytime. But over the course of a year, he could still give her three or four taels of silver.

She was not losing out at all, so she was willing to maintain contact with Yao Zhenfu.

At that time, she even thought that if Yao Zhenfu became a scholar or even passed the imperial examination, she could become his concubine.

A man like Yao Zhenfu, she was confident she could control him in the palm of her hand.

However, in the past year, Yao Zhenfu’s money had become less and less. Not only that, she also found out that Yao Zhenfu’s knowledge was not as good as he had claimed!

In fact, there was not much savings in Yao Zhenfu’s family.

On top of that, she was getting older and wanted to find a place to settle down… Xuniang simply found her brother, Shen Da, and together they staged a scene, forcing Yao Zhenfu to give her one hundred taels of silver.