Chapter 89 Extra 3

In the forty-eighth year of Yuanhe’s reign, Xiao Bao became the youngest Tanhua^[1]Tanhua-candidate who came third in the Han-lin examination Lang^[2]Lang-Official since the beginning of the history of the Daxi dynasty, and he was appointed as the editor of the Imperial Hanlin Academy.

In addition to being the top scholar, Xiao Bao, who was only fifteen years old, was also noticed by the imperial court.

Although he was only a seventh-ranked official in the Imperial Hanlin Academy, many people in the court saw the young scholar’s potential and offered him an olive branch^[3]Olive branches are a symbol of peace.. Many officials even wanted to give their unmarried daughters to Xiao Bao, but Xiao Bao refused to do so.

Li Mo and Song Dashan respect Xiao Bao’s decision. When it comes to marriage, they hope Xiao Bao can choose a girl he likes. Anyway, Xiao Bao was still young, and the marriage would take time.

Xiao Bao never mentioned the matter of marriage to Li Mo and Dashan. He goes to the Hanlin Academy every day and takes a break every ten days. On this day, he will take Fuer to play outside, afraid that she will be suffocated at home.

The reason why he was afraid that Fu’er would be suffocated was that now Li Mo couldn’t stay with Fu’er all the time. The new store had been renovated and their business had officially started, so the family was once again busy.

The new store was the same as the old one in town. It was divided into a make-up room, beauty room, relaxation room, and playroom. But now at the store, the space in each room was more spacious, the decoration was very high-class, and all kinds of appliances were the most expensive. Of course, the price for each service was also expensive. The price of a makeup service was 50 wen, for beauty treatment it was 60 wen. And for the prices of the snacks and tea, they also doubled the original price.

Unlike her old store, Li Mo’s store here in the capital was located on the high-class route, and the customers were basically rich people, with an average consumption of about eighty yuan per visit.

In the beginning, many people did not know Li Mo’s craftsmanship, so business was not very good, but Fu Yueran often came to the store and praised it intentionally or unintentionally at parties, which made more and more Madame and young ladies come to the store with curiosity to try it out, and after trying it for the first time, they basically became regular customers.

With the help of Fu Yueran, a month after the new store opened, the business broke through the depression and became better and better. It was more than twice as good as the previous store’s business. Correspondingly, the store’s manpower was insufficient.

Knowing that Li Mo was short of people, Fu Yueran asked the usual sister* in the house to bring Li Mo some people for her to choose from. Li Mo picked two maids to do odd jobs and two boys to run errands. In addition, she also picked four women with good looks, a clean family background, and skillful hands as apprentices, intending to teach them beauty and make-up techniques in the future. When they have become masters, they will replace her to do beauty treatments for customers.

(Tooth Sister is a woman who specializes in human trafficking.)

Since the apprentices were chosen, Li Mo took these four people with her every time she did beauty treatments and makeup services, letting them observe and learn while they waited for the store to close, and then she would explain to them in detail, letting them practice with each other to improve their skills.

In addition to these four people, Li Mo also had a young apprentice, Xiao Fu’er.

Yes, Li Mo intends to teach all the skills to Fu’er.

Since Fu’er was already ten years old, she was considered a half-grown girl. From now on, all that should be taught can be taught. In addition to teaching her cultural knowledge, Li Mo’s proficient makeup skills and beauty treatment skills should also be taught to her one by one. Even if she won’t use this craft to make money in the future, mastering the most-watched makeup and beautiful art of women was not a bad thing.

Xiao Fu’er was also an understanding child. When Li Mo asked her to learn, she followed obediently behind her. She was more serious than the four sisters. What she didn’t understand, she would always be the first to ask, and the one who tried the most actively. Probably because she inherited Li Mo’s talent, Xiao Fu’er was also quite talented in this area and, so to speak, she was not inferior to Li Mo.

Even Li Mo had to admit that if Fu’er practiced for a few more years, she would be no worse than she was.

In fact, it won’t take a few years, just two years. Fu’er’s skills will be comparable to Li Mo’s. People who come to the store know that the owner’s daughter was very skilled, and her makeup and beauty skills were not inferior to her mother’s. If sometimes Fu’er wants to do the makeup and beauty for the customers herself, the customers will rush to let her do theirs, and the scene will always be very lively.

As the four apprentices were gradually able to master it, Li Mo handed over the task of makeup and beauty skills to them, and she herself retired to the front desk to collect money, commonly known as the boss.

Song Dashan was in charge of the flower gardens and the production of all kinds of balms and beauty products in the farmhouse on the outskirts of the countryside, and every day he would drive the carriage to the farmhouse at dawn and return in the evening.

This day, Song Dashan also came back from the farm, but his eyes looked at the gate from time to time.

Li Mo wondered, “Dashan, what are you looking at?”

Song Dashan frowned slightly and whispered, “There’s a little girl hovering outside our store these days as if she’s watching something, but she doesn’t come in. It’s very strange.”

Li Mo stretched his head and looked out the door, and saw a young girl of about sixteen or seventeen years old wearing linen, who was looking inside the store. When she saw Li Mo looking at her, she immediately looked away.

“Is it that girl?” Li Mo asked.

Song Dashan nodded, “It’s her. She’s been looking out the door for days. “

Li Mo thought for a moment and simply left the store, and walked up to the girl and asked, “Little girl, are you looking for someone? Is there anything we can do to help? “

The girl did not expect the person inside to come out to talk to her. She was startled, and her face was also slightly red. She stammered for a long time but did not say anything.

Li Mo saw that she did seem to have something to say, smiled and encouraged her, “Little girl, if you have something to say, say it directly. Do not be afraid. If I can help you, I will help.”

Probably because Li Mo’s attitude was too kind, the young girl gradually dropped her guard and pursed her lips as if thinking about something, and finally, softly said, “I want to find a person. His home seems to be here.”

“Oh? Who is it? As long as I know, I will tell you. I basically know all the people in this neighborhood. “

The young girl bit her lower lip and let go. She plucked up courage and said, “I want to find a person named Song Yifan. Do you know him?”

Song Yifan? Isn’t this Xiao Bao? Is this girl looking for her family’s Xiao Bao?

Li Mo calmly looked at the girl seriously, but couldn’t see anything, and simply asked: “May I ask, what do you want with him?”

The young girl did not answer, but asked, “Do you know him?”

Seeing that the little girl did not want to talk, Li Mo also did not force her, and just said the truth: “I know ah, I am his mother.”

When the little girl heard this, her face turned red and she seemed very embarrassed, but she still greeted her politely, “Hello, Auntie.”

Looking at the little girl’s reaction, Li Mo decided that she must know Xiao Bao and had no malice in coming to see him.

Seeing the young girl was covered in dust, Li Mo simply said, “Miss, my family’s Yifan is still on duty outside and will not be back until late afternoon, so come in with me and rest for a while.” She took her hand and led her into the house.

The little girl seemed a bit uncomfortable, but she didn’t break away from Li Mo’s hand and followed her inside.

Li Mo asked Fu’er to take the girl to the backyard and serve some tea and snacks.

Fu’er was very curious about this girl who looked very good-looking and was crucially looking for her brother, and couldn’t help but ask, “Young lady, what’s your name?”

The girl smiled, “My name is Qixi.”

Fu’er cocked her head and said, “Your name is the same as Qixi Festival then.”

Qixi nodded, “Yes, because I was picked up by my master on the day of the Qixi Festival, so I was called Qixi.”

Fu’er’s smile tightened, “I’m sorry for talking about this bad topic.”

Qixi shook her head, “It’s nothing. My master is very good to me.”

Fu’er changed the subject, “Can you tell me why you want to find my brother? Do you know my brother? “

When she was asked by Fu’er, Qixi’s face reddened again, and she pursed her lips and nodded slightly, “Well, I know your brother, and this time I went to look for him because I had something important to ask him.”

Fu’er could see that this young lady was embarrassed to say anything, so she nodded and did not ask further, but treated her more carefully, and went to tidy up a guest room for her to live in.

In the evening, Xiao Bao returned from the Imperial Hanlin Academy and was caught by Fu’er, who greeted her just as he entered.

Xiao Bao smiled and patted her sister’s head, “What’s wrong? Why are you greeting your brother so enthusiastically today? “

Fu’er wrinkled her nose and laughed playfully, “Brother, I want to tell you something. There’s a beautiful lady who came to see you today.”

Xiao Bao sounded slightly surprised, “Looking for me? Who is it? ” He said as he went into the hall.

When he saw the figure on the dining table, he stopped in his tracks, and his face and an uncontrollable expression of surprise appeared on his always moody and irritable face. “Qixi?”

Qixi immediately stood up. The corners of her mouth couldn’t help but curl upward at the sight of Xiao Bao, and her voice was light and quick. “Song Yifan.”

Li Mo and Song Dashan looked at each other, both with doubts in their eyes.

Li Mo beckoned to Xiao Bao, “Yifan, come in. This girl has been waiting for you all day.”

Xiao Bao suddenly collected his expression and slowly walked into the house, looking at Qixi as if she were a stranger, and asked in an inaudible voice, “Why are you here?”

Looking at Xiao Bao’s face suddenly turned indifferent, Qixi’s smile froze. She pulled the hem of her skirt. Her voice was much lower, “I… I came to find you.”

Xiao Bao narrowed his eyes and sat down at the table, picking up his chopsticks to eat his food while asking, “Oh? What do you want to see me for? “

Qixi’s eyes couldn’t help but redden, and she couldn’t say what she wanted to say before she came, so she didn’t know whether to stand or sit.

When Li Mo saw this, her eyebrows wrinkled. She didn’t understand why the gentle and polite Xiao Bao would suddenly be so sharp, but now was not a good time to say anything. So she reached out and pulled the little girl to sit down, “Qixi, sit down and eat quickly, okay?”

Qixi wiped her eyes and nodded, “Yes, thank you, auntie.” After saying that, she picked up the chopsticks and dug for the rice to deliver it to her mouth, without picking up vegetables.

Li Mo couldn’t stand it and put the dishes into Qixi’s bowl. “Qixi, don’t be polite, eat whatever you want. You can’t just eat white rice.”

Qixi thanked Li Mo and ate all the dishes Li Mo picked for her.

After eating, Li Mo and Song Dashan went back to the house and drove Fu’er back to the house as well, leaving Xiao Bao and Qixi to solve any problems they had.

Xiao Bao didn’t say anything about the family’s avoidance, and after sitting for a moment, he got up and prepared to go back to his room, saying before he left, “It’s late, rest early.” The tone of his voice was like talking to a stranger.

Qixi’s face turned white, and, seeing Xiao Bao was about to leave, could not help but grab his sleeve. “Yifan.”

Xiao Bao pulled his sleeve out. His eyebrows were cold, and his voice was cold, “Please behave yourself.”

Three words. The last bit of blood on Qixi’s face disappeared, and her teeth clenched her lower lip, almost biting out blood.

Xiao Bao waited for a long time without seeing the other party say anything. His eyebrows got colder again. He turned around and left.

After two steps, the sleeves of the shirt were caught again, and the person behind him said with an uneasy voice, “Yifan, you… do you still remember what you said to me?”

Xiao Bao’s hand clenched up in his sleeves. He wanted to ask her why she could ask such a question without saying a word and disappearing for so long, but he couldn’t say those words. Again, he cruelly pulled out his sleeves fiercely and said, “I don’t remember.”

After these words, the hand that grabbed his sleeve gradually loosened, and the person behind him no longer said anything.

The air suddenly fell silent.

Xiao Bao regretted the words that just came out of his mouth and wanted to look back, but thinking of his own painstaking search over the past two years, he couldn’t turn his head back, so he simply went back to his room.

But when he returned to his room, he couldn’t fall asleep. He wondered where she came from and wondered if she went back to the room to rest, and wondered if his attitude just now would make her sad. Anyway, this night, Xiao Bao’s eyes were open until dawn.

The next day, Xiao Bao had a hard time getting up at the usual time of the day, so he put on his clothes and opened the door, and went to the dining room to eat breakfast as usual.

But she didn’t see that figure at the dinner table.

Could it be that she hadn’t gotten up yet?

Xiao Bao sat down and greeted Song Dashan, Li Mo, and Fu’er before picking up his bowl and starting to eat.

But he didn’t see her until he was about to finish eating.

Feeling a little unbearable, Xiao Bao pretended to ask casually, “Where is the girl who came to our house yesterday? Haven’t gotten up yet? “

Li Mo raised her eyelids and lowered her eyes, and said as she picked up a piece of pickled vegetable, “Oh, that girl, she came to say goodbye to me early in the morning, and left with her own luggage.”

“What! Gone! ” Xiao Bao’s chopsticks fell to the ground and he stood up, causing his chair to scrape back a long way, making an ear-splitting sound.

Xiao Bao wouldn’t have done this normally, but now he couldn’t care less. All he could think about was the fact that she was gone.

Is she gone? Really gone? Why did she leave again? Did she leave because of what he said last night?

“Mother, when did she leave? Where did she go? ” Xiao Bao’s voice was as eager as ever.

Li Mo took another sip of porridge and swallowed it before saying, “She left a quarter of an hour ago, and seemed to have gone west.”

Xiao Bao did not have time to say more and rushed out of the door at once, without a trace.

Fu’er looked dumbfounded, “Mother, I’ve never seen my brother so frightened and confused before.”

Li Mo gave Fu’er a fried dumpling, “You are still young, you don’t understand. Your brother will take care of his own business.”

Fu’er made an “Oh” sound and ate obediently.