A life of two souls traveling through time

Chapter 502: Redeeming Dafeng

Since Hongqing left, the business of Fengqifang has been declining. Although Mama Yun has brought out a beautiful courtesan, it is a pity that she is not good at dancing and can never make a sensation in the capital like Hongqing. Every day, Mama Yun watched Fengqifang gradually overshadowed by its rivals. She was angry and swearing all day long, which made the girls feel uneasy. Most of these people are bullies. Dafeng, who is honest and unpleasant, has become the punching bag of Fengqifang without Hongqing's protection. Anyone who is unhappy will find her to vent. Even the new courtesan often finds fault with her after learning that she had served Hongqing for many years.

Even though Mother Yun was dissatisfied with the new courtesan because she was inferior to Hong Qing in every way, she was the one she had carefully selected to support Fengqifang. So whenever she came to complain about Dafeng's poor service, Mother Yun would call Dafeng over and beat and scold her without asking any questions.

On the night of the Lantern Festival, Dafeng was falsely accused of having dirty hands because she accidentally mentioned Hongqing in front of the courtesan. When Yun's mother found out, she had her beaten up again and threatened to chop off one of her hands if she didn't hand over the stolen goods. Dafeng escaped in fear when the guards were lax. She hid in the dark alleys of Liangdu City with scars all over her body, not knowing where to go. In the end, the only place she could think of was this courtyard, and the only person she could ask for help was Hongqing.

After applying medicine to Dafeng, Hongqing listened to the grievances she had suffered in the past few months in the room. She was filled with pain and helplessness. Apart from a few words of comfort, she could not stop crying. However, she thought that it was a blessing for Dafeng to escape from that fire pit.

With Hongqing's comfort, Dafeng fell into a drowsy sleep. At this time, the sky outside was gradually getting brighter. Hongqing left the room, locked the gate, and went straight to the shop of the famous Jiangnan Li. She was wearing a veil and limped slowly. Fortunately, there was no one on the street early in the morning.

Dafeng was wrongly accused of stealing money and had to escape. If she were found out by Mother Yun, she would never let it go. Therefore, Hongqing had to send a letter to Liu Jiangxi quickly. However, the Liu Mansion was far away in the inner city, and she was afraid of delaying the trip as her legs and feet were not convenient. Therefore, she could only ask the shopkeeper Qi, a famous Jiangnan businessman, for help.

"Miss Qingqing, what happened so early in the morning?" Qi Qiang was surprised to see Hong Qing, who seldom went out, coming over in person, so he hurriedly asked with concern.

"Please, Manager Qi, go to the Liu Mansion for me and hand this letter to Miss Liu." Hong Qing did not say much, but handed the letter in her hand to Qi Qiang.

Qi Qiang saw that she was frowning and knew that it must be something important, so he hurried to the inner city without saying a word. He had been asked by Mu Liang to take good care of Miss Qingqing, and her embroidery was now selling very well in the shop of the famous Jiangnan Li, so he would help her no matter what.

"What? The person ran away? You are such a glutton that you only know how to eat all day long. What's the point of eating so much? You can't even keep an eye on a stupid girl!"

It was not until noon that a strong man who was in charge of looking after Dafeng in Fengqifang ran upstairs in a hurry to report to Mother Yun. Naturally, he was scolded harshly in return.

The strong man knew that he had drunk a few glasses of wine last night and was careless and let the person escape, so he could only endure the insults from Yun's mother silently.

"What are you standing there for? Why don't you send someone out to look for him? Today I want to see the man alive or dead!" Seeing that the man was standing in front of her like a piece of wood, Mother Yun became even angrier and immediately slammed the table and yelled.

The sturdy man then tactfully left the room.

Seeing her furious and vicissitudes face in the mirror, Mother Yun felt distressed and couldn't help but shed tears. At this moment, she suddenly remembered Hong Qing's good points. There were many girls raised by her in Fengqifang, but only Hong Qing could take care of most of Fengqifang for her. Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long. After the girl got into trouble, Fengqifang also fell into decline. If she had known that the fate of Fengqifang was tied to Hong Qing, she would never have agreed to let her perform in the Prince's Mansion. Now she regrets it!

After receiving the letter from Qi Qiang, Liu Jiangxi hurried to the courtyard. At this time, Dafeng was still sleeping.

“Dafeng’s indenture contract is still in the hands of Mother Yun. Even if we help her escape today, she is still a member of Fengqifang after all. Even if Mother Yun doesn’t report it to the authorities, she has no household registration. It will be a big trouble if she is discovered by the government.” When Liu Jiangxi heard Hong Qing’s suggestion to borrow the Liu family’s carriage to send Dafeng out of the city to hide temporarily, he disagreed.

"In that case, let's redeem her freedom. Fortunately, I have made some money from selling embroidery in the past few months." Liu Jiangxi thought carefully, and Hong Qing also calmed down. Dafeng could only be truly free from Fengqifang if she was redeemed, so she hurriedly turned around and took out her savings from the closet.

Liu Jiangxi picked up the thirty taels of silver that Hong Qing had saved with great difficulty and turned away without saying a word. She understood that Hong Qing's intention to save Dafeng today was the same as when she saved her, so there was no need to say more and she just did her best to help her.

Until the evening, the guys sent out by Fengqifang to look for people returned one after another. Mother Yun was furious. She cursed Dafeng and shouted that she would go to the government office to report the matter tomorrow.

"Sister You, thank you for your help."

The carriage stopped near Fengqifang. Liu Jiangxi, dressed as a young master, worked with a middle-aged man to help Dafeng, who was covered in wounds, get off the carriage. She turned to thank the middle-aged man.

"Our troupe has received a lot of care from you on a daily basis. What's a small favor like this?" The middle-aged man winked at her playfully and continued to support Dafeng as they walked towards Fengqifang.

Liu Jiangxi stood there for a long time, watching the two people leaving slowly. Dafeng was just a maid, and if someone stepped forward to redeem her, it seemed that Mother Yun would not make it difficult for her.

It was not yet dark, and Fengqifang was preparing to open its doors to receive guests. Mother Yun was surprised to see Dafeng coming back on her own initiative, but she was still angry. She picked up the feather duster and was about to hit her when she was stopped by the middle-aged man who came in with Dafeng:

"Mother Yun, harmony brings wealth. Look at this girl, there is not a single good thing on her. If you keep beating her, won't she be beaten to death?"

"Oh, this gentleman looks unfamiliar. I wonder where you are from?" Mother Yun withdrew her hand and looked at the middle-aged man in front of her who had an ordinary appearance but was very energetic. It was a pity that his clothes were not very fancy. Mother Yun did not take him seriously, but since he was a guest as soon as he walked in, she had to pretend to smile.

"I am from a humble family and not worth mentioning. Today I saw this girl wandering outside with injuries all over her body, so I sent her back out of kindness. But Mother Ruoyun couldn't tolerate this girl and wanted to beat her to death. Although I, You, am not a good man, I still can't bear it. Why don't you offer a ransom for her?" The middle-aged man said bluntly without beating around the bush.

"You want to redeem her?" The other party's words obviously shocked Mother Yun. She glared at Dafeng, who was still wiping her tears with her head down, and then looked up and down at the middle-aged man again.

"Mother Yun, just consider it as a good deed. Fengqifang will surely prosper in the future." The middle-aged man took out ten taels of silver and placed them in front of Mother Yun, laughing roughly.

"Master You, you don't know that the reason I beat this girl is because she stole..."

“I didn’t steal…”

"Shut up!"

Dafeng cried and tried to defend herself but was scolded by Mother Yun. She had to lower her head again. After all, she was cooperating with Miss Liu's instructions in the play and knew that she shouldn't be serious about it at this critical moment.

"What did she steal?" Knowing that Yun's mother thought the silver was too little, the middle-aged man asked again.

"I heard from my daughter that a bracelet is missing. It's not expensive, only about 20 or 30 taels of silver. But my mother Yun doesn't tolerate people with dirty hands and feet. Since Master You wants to redeem her, I'm happy to be alone, but the ransom..."

Before he could finish, the middle-aged man took out another twenty taels of silver and sighed helplessly: "You only has these thirty taels of silver. If Madam Yun doesn't agree, I can't help her. Just think of it as retribution for this girl's fate!"

Although Mother Yun still thought it was too little, Dafeng was after all a worthless, stupid and fat girl. Since someone was willing to offer thirty taels of silver to buy her today, she might as well stop while she could.