Chapter 109 - Luo Yichen
The young man in chain was about to say the fake name that he had used for years. However, he couldn’t help but secretly sigh when he saw Mei Ruohan look at him with expectations. Then he whispered, “Luo Yichen. My name is Luo Yichen.”
“Isn’t your surname Long?”
Mei Ruohan was astonished and asked. Su Li softly teased her before Mei Ruohan knew what happened, “Little fool, that certainly is his fake name. When have you ever seen an escaped criminal dare to use a real name? He is not stupid!”
Instead of getting angry after hearing what Su Li said, Mei Ruohan scratched her head with embarrassment, even though it was the first day that she saw Ms. Li.
Luo Yichen instantly became nervous when he heard “escaped criminal”. He watched Su Li with caution. Although Su Li pulled out the chain for him, he still doubted whether Su Li was a friend or not.
Su Li caught the sight of Luo Yichen and she didn’t get angry. Then she said lightly, “I will let you have a good rest today because you haven’t clarified the situation. If you dare to stand against me when you recover, don’t blame me for being merciless. Mei Ruohan, watch him. I have no time to waste here...”
She immediately left the guest room after finishing her talk. Su Li had things to do indeed. That patient Gong Xiangjun must be kept under close observation and she had to make sure that there was no mistake.
The atmosphere of the room immediately changed after she left. Luo Yichen couldn’t help but ask in low voice when he saw no one was there except he and Mei Ruohan, “Ruo...Ruohan, do you know where we are?”
He still remembered the last scene before he passed out. What the horrifying girl had used clearly was taking things across space. Could it be a stronghold of a cult of martial arts circle? And did Mei Ruohan become that girl’s maid for his sake?!
Mei Ruohan chuckled to herself when she heard Luo Yichen called her with such an imitate pet name. It seemed that his ice-cold character had greatly changed after he was saved by Ms. Li. Watching Luo Yichen’s cautious look, she couldn’t help but smile and said,
“Brother Luo, don’t be nervous. This is just a tavern of Qinghe Town. The Boss, Ms. Li, who just left, saved your life. I am very happy here. The shopkeeper had taught me things that I couldn’t learn in the school.”
Luo Yichen was completely dumbfounded after hearing what Mei Ruohan said. The fact was too different from what he had imagined.
How could a tavern boss be an inborn master? Who could believe that?
At that time, Mei Ruohan said again, “Brother Luo, Ms. Li is fond of making sarcastic remarks, but she is very kind. I have heard that she is not only good at martial arts but also kindhearted. She saved both Satrap Yan’s childe and the dean of the school. At present, Dean Gong is recovering here. The reason why Ms. Li hurriedly left certainly because she has to take care of Dean Gong.”
Luo Yichen’s mouth slightly twitched after hearing what Mei Ruohan said.
Kind-hearted?
Would a kind-hearted person directly pull out the chain from his shoulders, leaving behind two blood holes and making him almost die in pain? He seemed to feel that it wasn’t the same person that he and Mei Ruohan talked about.
As before, more and more regular drinkers came to the Lingli Building and the business was so thriving that the benefit continued to increase in the next few days. But Qinghe Town was not in peace at all.
Except for Jin Cheng’ao, the rest younger generation of the Jin Family were all mediocre. So, the death of Jin Cheng’ao meant there was no future for the Jin Family. But there still was a Yan Ziye in the Satrap’s Mansion.
Jin Zhentian was so resentful. He certainly wouldn’t allow the Satrap’s Mansion develop so smoothly. He used all of his commercial resources to strike Madam Yan’s industries. The commercial war was reciprocal and furious. Even the embroidery workshop was involved in it.
Before long, Wen Ruomin finally began to resist the Jin Family. She not only directly dismissed Jin Ruolan from the Qinghe Girls’ School but also put up notices on all bulletin boards of the Qinghe Town, which made almost all people know the Jin Family and Jin Ruolan. Even the common people of Qinghe Town began to talk about the scandals of the Jin Family.
Wen Ruomin carried out her task vigorously and speedily. Jin Zhentian had never thought about it, so his reputation was largely damaged. Madam Yan seized the chance and took less than half of his industries, which greatly undermined his vitality. He was so angry that he spat out blood and nearly had the same ending as Jin Cheng’ao.
So far, the Yan Family had laid the foundation for a final success and brought about a complete turnabout at one stroke. The Jin Family was completely defeated by the Yan Family in both official career and commercial trade. So, the Jin Family completely ceased all activities.
Su Li’s students were all daughters of officials and merchants. They didn’t attend class because of the commercial war. Su Li was also happy to be at leisure. She carefully detoxified the poison of Gong Xiangjun every night and went to the Book House to read the final several obscure copies in the day.
Finally, at the night of the tenth day, when she just returned to the Lingli Building, Gong Min delightedly greeted Su Li and said, “Ms. Li! Grandma has already woken up!” She had waited Su Li for a long time at the door to tell her the news.
Su Li’s eyebrows slightly rose and she instantly walked to the third floor. Gong Min followed her immediately.
Luo Yichen, who already recovered to walk, smiled when he walked out of the room with a cane and saw the scene.
He finally figured out that Ms. Li was indeed very nice to people on her side. But she only maintained a bad attitude toward him. Could it be said that she considered him an outsider because he had denied that he was her follower?
“Brother Luo, why are you here? You haven’t fully recovered. Go back and rest!”
Mei Ruohan saw Luo Yichen and immediately gave the medicine to Qu Qingning who came with her. Then she hurriedly ran to Luo Yichen and supported him to the room.
Luo Yichen looked at her gently. But he subconsciously kept a sharp lookout when he looked up and saw Qing Qingning in his room.
Quqing Ning looked up and down at Luo Yichen with great interest and said in admiration, “Li certainly has very good luck. Since you can recover so quickly, you must be a martial arts practitioner. Where did she pick you up?”
Li, Ms. Li?
Luo Yichen understood what Qu Qingning meant. He couldn’t help but ask, “Did she pick you up as well?”
Qu Qingning slightly nodded and sneered “In fact, I followed her all by myself. Look at you, you make yourself almost die. By the way, I can see the word “Prisoner” you were branded with on your body.”
Qu Qingning pointed at him. Luo Yichen lowered head and saw that black word “Prisoner” made by soldering iron on his chest which was exposed from his baggy clothes.
Luo Yichen immediately covered it with clothes and regained coldness and caution in his eyes. He probably would run away from the window immediately if Mei Ruohan weren’t here.
Qu Qingning waved his hand and snorted, “Relax.
No one will inform against you. You are not the only one deserter or escaped criminal here. But your reaction actually reminds me of my past days. I finally don’t need to hide from place to place after staying in the Linli Building. It is great to have someone support you.”
Luo Yichen was dumbfounded. Then he saw Qu Qingning pulled down his clothes and revealed the indistinct word “Prisoner” on his right part of his chest. After putting his clothes down, Qu Qingning grinned with white teeth and asked, “I haven’t asked you where you are from. My name is Qu Qingning, and I am from Nanjiang Country.”
Seeing that Qu Qingning was so frank, Luo Yichen couldn’t help feeling relax. He smiled and said, “I am Luo Yichen from Zhushou Country.”
Although it was the first time that he had met Qu Qingning, he felt good about him. Because Qu Qingning reminded him of his old friend who had fled with him. He wanted to know how he was...
“Ah! Don’t talk any more. The medicine is getting cold!” Mei Ruohan didn’t want to hear these things in dribs and drabs. She didn’t care about either he was a deserter or an escaped criminal. All she felt was that the people here were pretty nice, and that’s enough.
“And I’d like to correct one point. Not like Brother Qu, undoubtedly, it was me who had picked up Brother Luo instead of Ms. Li!”
Mei Ruohan angrily said as if she was claiming her sovereignty.
Qu Qingning was stunned when he heard it. Then he instantly laughed out and said, “Although Miss Mei isn’t from Jianghu, you are qualified to be one because of your temperament. Luo, the fourth, you have a great taste!”
“It’s me! I have a great taste!”
Mei Ruohan got angry after hearing that. What Qu Qingning said was very annoying!
Luo Yichen couldn’t help laughing. For the first time, he felt it was pretty good to stay at the Lingli Building as long as there weren’t Ms. Li. But he felt strange after a while and asked, “Luo, the fourth? Why are you calling me like that?”
Qu Qingning gritted his teeth and hatefully said, “Because someone said the talented persons in the Lingli Building must have a rank. Fang Yuan ranks first and Fang Mu ranks third. Since you are the fourth one here, you certainly rank fourth.”
“Then you must be Lao Er (the second)?”
Luo Yichen subconsciously said it out. His face slightly blushed when he knew what the words signified (In Chinese, “Lao Er (老二)” sometimes means a man’s penis). All he could do was keeping a straight face.
Qu Qingning was more annoyed and said, “Things have changed! Even a newcomer can laugh at me. Su...Ms. Li, this isn’t over!”
Luo Yichen was nervous and uneasy before, at the moment, he finally felt relieved after Qu Qingning made such a scene. He roughly knew the current situation of the Linli Building from their conversation. It in fact wasn’t a regular chateau but an emerging power that was attracting talented people. He had found out that everyone here including even the waiter had the trace of practicing martial arts, except Mei Ruohan. Although that breath meant almost nothing for him, it was marvelous when compared with common people.
“If I could fully recover, the cultivation would certainly have a further improvement after years of accumulation. I just don’t know whether I am better than Qu Qingning and the other two people or not. As for Ms. Li...”
Luo Yichen took the medicine that Mei Ruohan prepared for him. The bitterness began to spread in his mouth. But he was a little scared, “Young Master truly has strong power. That’s terrifying.”
...
Su Li and Gong Min walked into the dead room of the third floor. They found that Gong Xiangjun was trying to get out of the bed weakly. Gong Min was instantly startled. She walked to her grandma to support her and hurriedly said,
“Grandma, you just woke up and are very weak. Don’t move.”
Gong Xiangjun saw Gong Min who lost a lot of weight. She couldn’t help feeling sad and said, “Min, you have suffered a lot with me.”
“Grandma...”
Gong Min whispered and tears rolled down her cheeks.
Gong Xiangjun slightly sighed and turned to Su Li. She was about to get out of bed to give a salute and said, “Ms. Li, although I was in a coma, I know well what has happened these days. You have taken a lot of trouble to save my life.”
Su Li stopped Gong Xiangjun at once and said with a smile, “Dean Gong, don’t do that. I have merely done what I can. There was still poison in your body, so, you must rest for another half month. You’d better stay in bed during this period.”
“Alas, I will do as you said.” Gong Xiangjun lay in bed and slowly sighed, “I have doubted Wu Yun for a long time. But I didn’t expect that I will be poisoned by her. It is lucky for me to meet you, but Min’s mother wasn’t as lucky as me...”
Gong Min hold Gong Xiangjun’s hands and said while shaking head, “Grandma, it is not your fault. I am so glad that you can wake up. If even grandma were...I ...”
Gong Xiangjun sighed. She touched Gong Min’s head and looked up, “Ms. Li, Min must have told you the things about our family. Would you kindly take her in if something bad happened to me? She can never return to the Gong Family...”
Gong Min instantly felt panic when she heard what Gong Xiangjun said.
“Dean Gong, don’t say that.” Su Li waved her hand and gave a glimpse to Gong Min to comfort her. Then she said, “You are going to be OK. You can live over ten years after rehabilitation.”
Gong Xiangjun immediately filled with hope after hearing what Su Li said. Her emotions became stable and she looked much better. It seemed that she had already took Su Li’s words as oracles.