This way of praising someone is quite blunt.
Iron Miao Qing, who had been depressed for a long time, could not help but burst into laughter. She did not mind the Flower-Picking Scholar’s flowery mouth. She wanted to see how much his literary talent and elegance differed from ordinary people. However, as soon as he opened his mouth it was very vulgar. It felt like this was not the level of the Flower-Picking Scholar. He was still the same vulgar person she knew before.
What is meant by one cannot judge a person by appearance, and the sea cannot be measured with a bucket? She really could not see that this person was the world-famous Flower-Picking Scholar. When she first heard that the top scorer with full marks in all four subjects was named Ashi Heng, she found it hard to believe. It was only after receiving confirmation from all sides that she accepted it.
Her gaze fell on the other two. “Who are these two?”
Yu Qing said, “My people. Just call them Old Seven and Old Nine.”
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie immediately put on expressionless faces. They felt they had lost face in front of the great beauty.
Mu Aotie crossed his arms in front of his chest and resumed his cold and aloof way of looking at people, as if unaffected by beauty.
Iron Miao Qing was not familiar with the two, so she only nodded slightly in greeting. Then she gestured for Yu Qing to sit. She was about to ask how he had suddenly come here when Yu Qing stared at the small white flower by her temple and asked, “Is there a funeral in the family?”
A faint bitter look appeared on Iron Miao Qing’s face. She spoke softly, “It has been almost half a year.”
“Uh…” Yu Qing was slightly stunned. After a little calculation, since they parted at the ancient tomb wasteland, the journey to the capital took almost three months. He then spent over a month in the capital preparing for the exam. Adding the scattered time after that, it had indeed been almost half a year since they parted. He could not help asking, “Could it be… could it be…”
“It was my useless husband.” Iron Miao Qing nodded and directly answered the question he found hard to ask. After such a long time, she had more or less come to terms with it.
“Ah!” Yu Qing was quite shocked and quickly asked, “Was it because the fire cricket was not delivered here in time, or did someone else complete the task first?”
Earlier, because the fire cricket did not eat, he had worried whether it could reach幽角埠 alive. Later, after spending more time with it, he found that the fire cricket was quite tough and should not die so easily.
“We were the first to complete the task. I delivered the fire cricket first. It was just that my useless husband passed away before I could return.” Iron Miao Qing shook her head with a look of distress.
“This…” Yu Qing really did not know how to comment. After a long pause he let out a sigh. “How could it turn out like this?”
“Maybe this is fate.” Sun Ping let out a sigh and explained the reason.
They had done everything possible to bring back the fire cricket, but an unexpected accident happened that no one had anticipated. The owner of Miao Qing Hall, Yan Xu, had actually committed suicide.
It was because Yan Xu, who sometimes was clear-headed and sometimes unconscious, accidentally learned that in order to prolong his life, Iron Miao Qing had borrowed a lot of external debts to buy precious medicines. Yan Xu knew he had little chance of recovery. In order not to drag his wife into an endless abyss, he left a suicide note and departed.
The problem was that Yan Xu only knew part of the truth. Everyone had hidden the rest from him and did not let him know that his wife had taken on a task from幽崖 and gone on a dangerous adventure to save him. It was also because his body was too weak and they did not want him to worry.
As a result, although the fire cricket was brought back, it was more than ten days late. Iron Miao Qing, who hurried back, almost collapsed.
The trouble afterwards was that the borrowed debts had to be repaid. In order to raise money to save her husband, Iron Miao Qing had already sold Miao Qing Hall. It was only that the contract gave a certain grace period. Not long after Yan Xu died, the creditors came to discuss taking over the shop.
With her husband gone, and thinking that this shop was a gift from her husband during his lifetime, Iron Miao Qing, out of longing for him and precisely because he was no longer there, had the idea of keeping Miao Qing Hall and wanted to buy it back.
Because she had completed the task from幽崖, she could ask幽崖 for one condition. She could ask for a sum of money to buy back Miao Qing Hall, and even have plenty left over.
However, the new owner of Miao Qing Hall refused. If she wanted to buy it back, there were additional dirty conditions. To put it plainly, he had taken a fancy to Iron Miao Qing’s beauty and wanted a taste of it.
Iron Miao Qing was unwilling to agree. Forced with no choice, she had to ask幽崖 for another condition, which was to help her redeem Miao Qing Hall.
幽崖 agreed. Such matters were simple for幽崖 to handle. The buyer could not refuse to give face. Just give the buyer what he needed. Thus Miao Qing Hall returned to Iron Miao Qing’s hands once more.
Yu Qing listened and sighed repeatedly. He really had not expected that the result of all the effort spent catching the fire cricket would turn out like this. The person they truly wanted to save was not saved, but the shop was preserved instead.
He could not help glancing a few more times at Iron Miao Qing, whose sad memories had been stirred up again. He muttered in his heart that this great beauty had now become a widow.
He sighed inwardly once more.
He had no other meaning in thinking this way. He admitted that Iron Miao Qing was very beautiful and he liked her, but his liking was not the romantic kind between men and women. It was purely the kind of liking for a woman who looked good.
If Iron Miao Qing had kept wearing her veil so that her age could not be seen, perhaps it could have given him more fantasies. Now that she had removed the veil, it was clear that she was over thirty and very likely more than ten years older than him. He really could not develop that kind of liking.
To put it simply, he did not like older women.
A person of his age had not yet experienced the stirrings of love and did not know what male-female desire was. Naturally he assumed that his future romantic partner would definitely be someone of similar age. He was in the period of pure and beautiful longing. It was impossible for him to like a woman more than ten years older than him who had already had a husband.
Moreover she was a widow. In the psychology of a young man like him, it was absolutely unacceptable.
To put it plainly, his body and mind were really still very young.
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie looked at Iron Miao Qing with some surprise. They had not expected this woman to be so pitiful, nor had they expected Yu Qing to have such a beautiful friend.
“Condolences.” In the end Yu Qing could only squeeze out these two words. He glanced again at her attire. Plain face with no makeup, no powder or rouge, and no jewellery at all.
He understood. This was not because someone had just died in the family. The matter had already passed almost half a year ago. This was the surviving widow observing mourning for her late husband to show her resolve not to remarry.
Iron Miao Qing forced a smile. “It is fine. It has already passed. It is just that suddenly seeing you reminded me of your fortune-telling words back then. Thinking about it now, it feels quite funny. The Flower-Picking Scholar must be knowledgeable and well-informed. You must know some tricks. I was probably fooled by you. But I am very curious. How did you know my husband was in trouble? How could the burned grass ash contain the words I wrote in my palm? And how did you catch the fire cricket?”
Back then the other party had said he had divined it and could help her save her husband. After experiencing some things, she had taken it seriously. It was only when she returned to Miao Qing Hall and found her husband dead that her beautiful dream was shattered and she realised she had been deceived.
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie did not know the specific details, but they could tell that Yu Qing had used tricks of deception on this woman. Based on their understanding of Yu Qing, they were not surprised.
Yu Qing however looked a bit embarrassed. “Just a trivial trick, a trivial trick not worth mentioning.”
Seeing that he was unwilling to say more, Iron Miao Qing did not press him. Still curious, she asked, “It is really rare for you to come here. Why did you suddenly think of coming?”
Since the topic had come up, Yu Qing did not stand on ceremony. “There is one matter I would like to ask the boss lady for help with.”
Iron Miao Qing and Sun Ping exchanged a glance, both somewhat surprised. They asked, “What is it?”
Yu Qing pointed at the two behind him. “Can you arrange Miao Qing Hall identities for all three of us and help us get a幽居 token each?”
Iron Miao Qing found it strange. “What do you need this identity for?”
Yu Qing said, “Just like how you could freely enter and exit the demon realm in the ancient tomb wasteland and avoid trouble from demon cultivators.”
Iron Miao Qing asked again, “What are you going to the demon realm for?”
This question was difficult for Yu Qing to answer, so he could only guarantee, “I know that once we use Miao Qing Hall’s identity, it means Miao Qing Hall has vouched for us. If any trouble is caused,幽崖 will hold Miao Qing Hall accountable. However, boss lady can rest assured that we will definitely not cause you any trouble.”
Iron Miao Qing pondered for a while and finally shook her head slightly.
Yu Qing grew anxious inside and quickly asked, “What would make the boss lady feel at ease to help with this? If there are any requirements, please say them clearly.”
Sun Ping interjected, “Flower-Picking Scholar, it is not that Miss is unwilling to help you, but that even if she wants to, she is powerless. We may not be able to keep Miao Qing Hall. Once Miao Qing Hall is gone, what use would giving you its identity be?”
Yu Qing looked doubtful. “Did幽崖 not already help you get Miao Qing Hall back? Could someone dare to rob it by force in幽角埠?”
Sun Ping sighed with melancholy. “It seems you do not quite understand the situation in幽角埠. There are a total of three thousand shops in幽角埠. This number is fixed. It will neither increase nor decrease. It has always been like this since幽角埠 opened.”
“But this does not mean every shop can rest easy. The free protection from幽崖 cannot be enjoyed forever for nothing. If that were the case,幽角埠 would have changed its nature long ago.”
“幽角埠 is not a dedicated refuge. The three thousand shops have transaction volume rankings with幽崖. Almost no shop dares to falsify this transaction volume. Once discovered by幽崖, it is a dead end. No one can save them.”
“Every three years,幽角埠 calculates the rankings once. The thirty shops at the bottom of the transaction volume will be directly kicked out of幽角埠, and a new batch of qualified people will fill those thirty spots.”
“Originally the shops were operated by their owners. The sources of goods and customers in all aspects were also maintained by the owners. Miss never concerned herself with these matters. After the owner fell ill, Miao Qing Hall collapsed halfway. Without the owner’s management, the previously stable sources of goods and customers all ran into problems.”
“Everyone’s energy was also focused on the owner’s illness. Business had already been delayed for a long time. In addition, the medicinal materials for prolonging the owner’s life were too expensive and the expenditure was too great. We did not have enough money to maintain the shop’s goods turnover. It dragged on until after the owner passed away. Our ranking with幽崖 had already fallen to the very bottom, last place.”
Yu Qing was speechless for a while. He did not know what bad luck he had run into. He asked, “Is there no way to solve it?”
Sun Ping said, “There is. Complete a large volume of transactions before the final ranking calculation results come out. However, those in the bottom thirty are all striving to move up at this time, creating an upward chain reaction. It is easier said than done to surpass them in a short time. Sigh.” His expression clearly showed a sense of helplessness.
Iron Miao Qing suddenly said, “There is actually one simple way to solve it now.”
Everyone’s spirits lifted at her words. Yu Qing’s eyes lit up. “We are willing to hear the boss lady’s wise opinion.”
Iron Miao Qing’s eyes actually lit up a bit too as she stared at him. “I heard that your lyrics and fu are now hard to obtain even for ten thousand gold per piece. Why don’t you write more good ones and let my Miao Qing Hall sell them exclusively? This way Miao Qing Hall can quickly escape the crisis and it can also help you. How about it?”
Everyone immediately turned to stare at Yu Qing in unison. Sun Ping was already full of excitement.
“…” Yu Qing was choked into silence for a good while. Finally he said, “I think it is better to discuss Shopkeeper Sun’s method.”
Iron Miao Qing said anxiously, “Why? Wouldn’t it be good if everyone benefits?”
Yu Qing said with a serious face, “I have already abandoned literature to pursue martial arts and will never turn back.”