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nChapter 46 : Bullying

nYuxi looked at Mama Fang whose eyes were red but with no serious physical problems. She realised that Mama Fang had lied to her about her being ill. Someone had come here and bullied her, and despite that, she did not even tell her. In order not to come to the residence, she even pretended to be ill. Yuxi did not know what to say at this moment.

nWhen Mama Fang saw Yuxi’s expression which was not good-looking, she wiped her tears and explained, “I was afraid that Miss would be worried, that’s why I didn’t tell Miss.” The main reason was that she was embarrassed about this matter. So, how could she tell Yuxi about it?

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nYuxi said indifferently, “Come in and talk!” Some things were difficult to say in front of other people.

nWhen the three, Yuxi, Mama Fang and old woman An entered the room, Yuxi asked, “What’s going on?” If Mama Fang was still in her early twenties, she would surely let her marry again. However, Mama Fang was now in her thirties. Even if she remarried, she would not be able to marry into a good family. Instead of suffering from her new marriage, she might as well adopt a child. At least in the future, she could live safely.

nMama Fang gave a wry smile as she said, “I was a guest in Xiao Wei’s family house when I knew that person. Miss, I never wish to remarry.”

nOld woman An was much more direct in her remarks, “Miss, the bad one is that old woman Yin. She knows perfectly well that yamen runner Huang is not a good person and yet, she still wants to push Mama Fang into the living hell.” Old woman Yin was Xiao Wei’s mother.

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nMama Fang was overcome with regret, “This is all my fault. It was me who did not know how to understand people intention clearly.”

nThe whole story was very simple. The yamen runner, surnamed Huang, looked at the baozi (steamed stuffed bun) shop to make money and found out that Mama Fang was actually a single woman. He also found out that the Duke of State’s official residence was only behind-the-scenes backer of the shop. Therefore, he had this thought in his mind to marry Mama Fang as his second wife. However, Mama Fang had never thought of remarry, so his thoughts had been in vain. Unbeknownst to others, he somehow got in contact with old woman Yin. The old woman Yin nursed a hatred against Mama Fang for going back on her words after they both had agreed to let Mama Fang adopted her daughter, and also, Mama Fang had continued rejecting her offer to pass her knowledge to her daughter. So, she had been thinking of a way to scheme against Mama Fang. Fortunately, old woman An’s reminder made Mama Fang wasn’t easy to be fool.

nAt that time, Mama Fang was beside herself with anger that she ferociously reprimanded old woman Yin and then broke their relationship. As a result, a rumour spread out in Shangyuan Street not long after. The rumour was about Mama Fang’s indiscreet act of using her attractiveness to seduce outside menfolk. With this rumour spreading around, added with the appearance of a woman matchmaker, Mama Fang couldn’t open her mouth to explain everything clearly.

nHearing this, Yuxi said without much nonsense, “Mama, I’ll let people handle this. You don’t have to worry.” This time, she must kill a chicken to warn the monkey (Chinese idiom : to punish an individual as an example to others) and severely punished yamen runner with surname Huang and old woman Yin’s family. Later on, people here would not dare to scheme against Mama Fang again, let alone played with the idea of owning the baozi (lshop. If she let it went on like this, the shop would not be abled to be opened again.

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nHow could Mama Fang not worry? “If the Old Madam knows, she will definitely punish Miss.” Now that she had caused trouble by opening the shop, the Old Madam would definitely make her close it.

n“It’s just a small yamen runner. Why should we need to alarm Grandmother?” Yuxi said soothingly.

nWhen Mama Fang heard this, she felt relieved. “Miss, I’m going to buy another person.” After this incident, old woman An was the only person aside from her worked in the baozi shop. She didn’t feel at ease. She wanted to buy another strong old woman, so she had nothing to fear even if there was something happened in the future.

nYuxi totally put the matter to her subordinate, “It’s up to Mama.” Having said that, she took out the ointment from her sleeve and said, “Mama should find some time to find the general manager of Yao Ji Store in East Street and say that you will like to sell him this scar-removing ointment. If he doesn’t believe it, you can give him the ointment and let him find someone to test it, and then talk to him again after a month. “

nMama Fang took the box of ointment and opened it. The ointment was a little dark which was not very promising. She said with some worry, “Miss, will Yao Ji Store buy this?”

nYuxi nodded and said, “Mama can rest assured. As long as they can see the effect, they will buy it.”

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nMama Fang hesitated for a moment and asked, “Miss, how much does this ointment cost?” She really thought this things were worthless.

nYuxi smiled and said, “There is no hurry about the price. Mama can go and find the shopkeeper. Then, give him the ointment first to let him know the efficacy. “

nMama Fang felt that she was unreliable to do this task, but Yuxi insisted on it. She also felt that she was only good at doing errands with her feet, and her Miss wouldn’t waste money when doing this.

nYuxi left the baozi shop, got on the carriage and her face immediately turned heavy. Hongshan didn’t dared breathe when she saw the atmosphere. When Yuxi returned to the residence, she did not go directly to Madam, asking for her help. Instead, she ordered Hongshan, “Ask your brother to inquire about who this yamen runner Huang is.” It wasn’t because she didn’t believe in old woman An’s words, but it was proper to verify them first.

nBeing wealthy was good way to handle matters fast, so Yuxi soon knew that this Huang not only liked to eat, drink, go whoring and gamble, but also beat his dead wife, who was beaten to death by him. As he lost a large sum of money in gambling and owed a lot to the loan sharks, he tried every means to marry Mama Fang. In his desperation, Mama Fang’s idea came into play.

nYuxi immediately went to find Qiu Shi and told her everything that happened to Mama Fang, “Aunt, if it weren’t for me, Mama Fang wouldn’t have received this much grievance. Aunt, this matter must not be left alone. “

nQiu Shi felt that Yuxi was making a big fuss over a minor issue. Just a small yamen runner making trouble and already made Yuxi lost her sense of propriety. For this reason, she gave Yuxi a hard speech.

nYuxi humbly accepted the criticism.

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nAfter Qiu Shi done reprimanding Yuxi, she said, “I’ll let Xiangyang personally handle this. You don’t have to worry.” Knowing that it was a shop of Duke Han of the State, that yamen runner still dared to have an idea. He was really brave enough.

nYuxi hurriedly said, “Aunt, can you not let Grandmother knows about this? If she knew, she would certainly scold me.“ If the Old Madam knew what happened in her baozi shop, even she couldn’t say for sure that the shop won’t be closed. She loathed to give up the benefits from it, and Mama Fang had also managed the shop very well. It would be a pity to close the door just like this.

nQiu Shi smiled and patted Yuxi’s forehead, “You, this girl, if you want your aunt to help you hide the news, just say it straight. Don’t go round the curves and skirting the corners (Chinese idiom : talk in a roundabout way; indirect).” Yuxi told her so. She also hoped that the few people who followed her out today could keep their mouths shut and didn’t publicize it.

nA few days later, the yamen runner with surnamed Huang was exiled because he made a big mistake. The gamblers saw that he had lost his job and immediately took away his house, which still could not compensate for the debt. So, they beat him up and broke his leg. As for old woman Yin, who helped him, fell at the door and was paralyzed.

nAfter getting the news, Hongshan shivered and said to Yuxi, “Miss, isn’t we being too hard on them?” It was truly horrible to spend the rest of one’s life only on bed.

nYuxi did not think that they did anything excessive, “If the means were too soft, they would think that we are dough dumpling and anyone can scheme against us.”

nHongshan shivered and did not dare to speak anymore.

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