Black Belly Wife Chapter 86

Published at 3rd of April 2021 03:24:01 PM

The bad thing about a large family was that many people would always talk about them, and the slightest thing that happened in the manor could easily become widely known. The Murong Mansion was one of the largest families in the world, so naturally, it could not escape this fate. However, the only person who knew that Chu Changge had stayed in Murong Yunshu's boudoir last night was Lu-er, and she did not dare to tell anyone about it. So the other maids and servants only knew that Miss, who had always been an early riser, had slept until the sun was three poles high. Furthermore, Guye had left Miss’ boudoir in advance.

Although everyone didn't have enough evidence, they still had enough reasons to cast ambiguous or critical eyes on the young mistress in charge.

So Murong Yunshu, who had always received a lot of attention, received even more attention when she woke up today. Even the cleaning auntie, who normally did not dare to raise her head when she saw her passing by, even stood up with her broom and raised her head, while giving her a deep look. That glance was unusually complex, full of many emotions, and Murong Yunshu felt puzzled. She guessed that the cleaning auntie must have been unable to accept the reality that the world had gotten worse. That was why she had that complex look with a bit of resentment.

But what was the cleaning auntie grumbling about? At her age, having swept the floor all her life, what could make her suddenly become unperturbed?

Murong Yunshu couldn't figure out why the cleaning auntie looked at her like that, and she didn't want to think about it anymore because, right now, there was something more important――King Sheng had been invited to live in Murong Mansion――and she was the last one to know.

She could tolerate the execution first and reported to the Emperor afterwards if she was dragged down by having a family to feed. However, for strangers, to be fed and housed in her home for free――that was a bit too much.

Do they think Murong Mansion was a teahouse? Or their vegetable garden?

Qing Pavilion, the guest courtyard of Murong Mansion, was where Feng Cheng, Chu Xiyue and the others currently stayed.

At present, men and women, old and young were sitting in a pile in the pavilion, drinking tea, chatting and dozing off.

This was what Murong Yunshu saw when she walked into the courtyard.

A bunch of idle people!

Murong Yunshu frowned with a headache. She, herself was already an idle person, and unfortunately, she had raised a group of people who were even idler than her. If this was also the result of similar things group together, similar people fit together, then, she could only have herself to blame. As an idle person who did not care about trivial things and did not mind about the big things, she was in no position to accuse them of wasting their time. Nevertheless, for them to waste their time, it had nothing to do with her, but wasting the Murong Mansion's money to raise idle people had everything to do with her.

"This is lovely." Murong Yunshu said indifferently. The crowd had obviously seen her a long time ago, but they waited until she opened her mouth before they had a 'why are you here' look on their faces, and then they continued to drink tea, chat and doze off.

These people really didn't think of themselves as outsiders any more ah!

Phoenix Eyes
They are long, slender, monolid and curved up at the end.
Image Credit The original model & 广西活动 (桃花眼、凤眼、狐狸眼，垂眼……来看看你是哪一种眼型?, Dec 23, 2020)

Murong Yunshu's phoenix eyes were slightly raised as she stated, "Lu-er, anyone here who is not surnamed Murong will be charged one hundred taels each."

When the crowd heard her words, they looked at her in amazement. A hundred taels each? What a robbery! They'd never heard that Miss Murong was a robber?

Murong Yunshu's thin lips parted slightly as she leisurely spat out five words, "Table and chair usage fees."

Everyone instantly petrified. Tables and chairs...usage fees...

Chu Xiyue said resentfully, "Sister-in-law Ah Chang, we are all family. Talking about money will only hurt our feelings......"

Without waiting for her to finish, Murong Yunshu added, "From this moment on, it’s going to be one hundred taels per minute."

Murong Yunshu had hardly finished speaking when everyone bounced out from their chairs with a woosh and backed away from the tables and chairs.

Good, no more treating her like air. The corners of Murong Yunshu's mouth slightly hooked as she slowly walked over to the north seat and sat facing south.

Lu-er snickered as she poured tea for her Master. "Miss, please drink this tea."

Murong Yunshu calmly took the tea, drank it slowly and watched quietly as the crowd moved in small steps. Finally, they stood in a semi-circular arc one by one in front of her. The one sat directly opposite her was King Sheng――the only one who remained as still as a mountain after hearing a hundred taels per minute.

In their next life, if they weren’t reincarnated as Royal Highness, they would just stay in the underworld. This was the unanimous heartfelt wish of everyone who was currently standing.

Murong Yunshu used the lid of the cup to slowly tease the fragrant heat from the mouth of the cup, then she put the cup on her mouth and took a sip. She looked up at King Sheng and asked, "Is Your Highness going to pay cash or silver dollars?"

"Yanzhou has no silver dollar yet." King Sheng answered.

Murong Yunshu raised an eyebrow as she remembered that the currency reform had not yet been fully popularized in the Central Plains, let alone the remote Yanzhou. So she stated, "I don't accept IOUs."

King Sheng was startled that he asked in surprise, "How did you know I wanted to make an IOU?"

The crowd on the sidelines was full of black lines. He really wanted to make IOUs! No wonder he was so calm. They thought he was carrying a huge amount of money!

Murong Yunshu glanced at him and pointed out indifferently, "At least half a quarter of an hour has passed now. You cannot hide seven hundred and fifty taels of silver on your body."

King Sheng was startled once again and responded, "I can put them elsewhere."

"Then, you'd better bring them before you sit down." Murong Yunshu said, "I won't accept a delayed debt either, not even for a second." In the end, she added, "Another hundred taels more."

King Sheng was completely dumbfounded. Only after a long interval did he say, "Really worthy of being the head young mistress of Murong Mansion. So refined even when doing robberies."

Brilliant! It was like drawing blood on the first prick! They looked at King Sheng excitedly, while admiring his courage, and then looked at Murong Yunshu excitedly, looking forward to her reaction.

Given her personality, it was unlikely that she would be as fierce as thunder, but could she at least turn hostile for once?

They were really looking forward to it.

The crowd's eyes were burning. They were eagerly staring at Murong Yunshu, with unblinking eyes, afraid of missing any expression on her face. They knew that someone like her who always acted like the clouds were pale and a light breeze was blowing could change the colour of her face in an instant. If they missed this opportunity, they might have to regret it for the rest of their life.[T/N]

As a hardcore bystander, how could Murong Yunshu not know that the crowd was waiting to see the excitement? She picked up the teacup and put it on her lips. She gently hooked her mouth as she took a sip of tea, swallowed it, and then spit out three words with tea flavour, "I am flattered."

Flattered...to their surprise, she was just feeling flattered...

The crowd was in a mess. They were expecting something like 'turn right out the door and the gate is just 100m from you'......

At this time, Murong Yunshu added, "Lu-er, take His Highness King Sheng to find Chief Steward Qian."

"Yes." Lu-er smiled and made a gesture of invitation to King Sheng.[+]

King Sheng looked puzzled. "I have no desire to find the steward."

"I know." Murong Yunshu smiled, "But he wants to find you."

King Sheng remained bewildered, "What does he want with me?"

Murong Yunshu smiled without saying a word. She only looked at him faintly, waiting for him to come to his own realisation.

Lu-er gave King Sheng a sympathetic look and urged, "Your Highness, if you don't pay the money to Chief Qian, Miss will have to count the interest."

King Sheng finally came to his senses. It turned out that she meant for him to go to her Chief Steward to pay for the 'tables and chairs usage fee'.

This was indeed......very strange.

Others would go round the curves and skirting the corners, but she would take nine curves and eighteen bends way――the meaning she wanted to express and the words she said were clearly at odds with each other. Looking at Murong Yunshu strangely, King Sheng asked, "Is your speech always this difficult for others to understand?"

"Have Your Highness always had such poor comprehension?" Murong Yunshu asked back.

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"......" King Sheng now thought that she was just fond of taking nine curves and eighteen bends ways.

When the crowd saw that King Sheng had no strategy left to try as he had become flabbergasted, they felt much more balanced. Even His Highness could not stand up to her. Thus it seemed like the reason they lost to her was not that they had low intelligence.

Murong Yunshu was still drinking tea, leisurely and carefree, while pleasantly making other’s hair stand up in anger.

King Sheng hesitated for a long time. Finally, he accepted the fact that his thinking could not keep up with her pace, as he said to his attendant behind him, "Yue Li, follow Miss Lu-er to pay."

"Yes." Yue Li accepted his order.

Lu-er, however, did not leave, but looked at her Miss, waiting for further instructions instead. For she knew very well that what Miss was doing on this trip was not to make money but to drive people away.

Murong Yunshu took another sip of tea before she said, "Furthermore, there is also the room charge."

"Even room charge?!" King Sheng's face went white with shock. Just sitting for a minute was subject to a hundred taels. Staying for a night, how much would that be......King Sheng looked at Feng Cheng with some sorrow. Brother, you're not deliberately screwing me over, are you?

Feng Cheng also looked stunned and asked in disbelief, "You even want to charge for the room?"

Instead of answering, Murong Yunshu asked, "You are the one who brought him in?"

"......yes." Feng Cheng tended to feel that there were dark clouds over his head covering him from the sun.

"Then you pay for him." Murong Yunshu declared.

Feng Cheng was struck by lightning. Since someone had forbidden him to practice medicine, he had become a poor doctor. How could he afford to pay such a huge amount of money for King Sheng’s room......

Seeing Feng Cheng's expression of couldn’t wait to drop dead, King Sheng understood that his brother had not pitched him. Hence he said, "I should pay it myself." Although he did not bring much silver with him on this trip, he could still come out with this amount of money.

Feng Cheng looked at King Sheng with a complicated expression. Brother, it is I who have caused you to suffer.

At this point, Bewitching Fairy Yue spoke up, in a very cheating tone. "This future Guye's birth mother is charged a hundred taels a night to stay here. How can he, the friend of the future Guye's sister's friend, be charged not more than mine, right?"

"It's a friend of the future Guye's sister's fiancé." Feng Cheng corrected his mother-in-law-to-be.

King Sheng had reached his limit. If she didn't want him to pay, she wouldn't have focused on the price.

Bewitching Fairy Yue, on the other hand, waved her hand and said, "Seeing how poor you are, it's still too early for you to want to marry Xie-er."

"......" That is your son's fault! The corners of Feng Cheng's mouth trembled slightly, as he thought back to the days when he was still walking around freely in the jianghu, where he would charge ten thousand to treat one person. This made him earn money much faster than a certain someone's 'plundering'.

"How much are you going to charge for the room?" King Sheng asked Murong Yunshu. He just wanted to end this silver topic quickly and get down to business.[+]

Without waiting for Murong Yunshu's answer, Bewitching Fairy Yue snatched it up as she said, "You're an idle person brought in by this idle person Feng Cheng, who is more than a few times further away in relationship with her than I am, so you should be charged at least five hundred taels a night."

"Mom, how can you say that Big Brother Feng is an idle person!" Chu Xiyue was not happy.

Feng Cheng also had a black line on his face. How did he suddenly become an idle person......

The four men South, East, North and West, who had been watching in silence, looked at Feng Cheng with an infinitely gratifying smile, welcoming him to their clan of idlers.

Only King Sheng didn't care about being labelled as an idle person. It was because five hundred taels for a night alone was enough for him to fuss about for a long time.

Bewitching Fairy Yue had a smug look on her face. Hum, finally, she had found a rich blockhead in money matters.

Everyone was with their own thoughts when King Sheng suddenly rose to his feet that the crowd was surprised.

"Are there thorns on the chair?" Bewitching Fairy Yue asked.

King Sheng shook his head and said, "I'll go and find Chief Stewards Qian." After saying this, he fled as if he was immediately going to leave.

The crowd looked at each other in disbelief. What was going on?

Murong Yunshu, on the other hand, smiled lightly. Only now did he realise that there was a price to pay for ‘sitting’ as equals at the same table with her?

Too late.

"How much is it altogether?" Murong Yunshu asked.

Although she didn't mention any name, as her personal maid, Lu-er knew that her Master was asking her, so she replied in a very cooperative manner, "Twenty-five minutes, one hundred taels minute. That will be a total of two thousand five hundred taels."

Then everyone discovered the back figure that gradually got farther, stiffened up.

As soon as King Sheng walked away, Bewitching Fairy Yue giggled. She took credit for Murong Yunshu’s achievements by saying, "Yunshu, look, I helped you in opening the lion’s mouth wide by charging him 500 taels a night, so regarding my room rental......" Before Bewitching Fairy Yue finished her sentence, she heard a voice so indifferent that it was hated greatly by both men and gods――

"I originally intended to charge him one thousand taels. Thus, you have to pay for the missing 500 taels."

Chapter end