Chapter 27 Under the moon (2)
Li Youde said, “Ah Da, stay. Accompany Lady Chen to look at the cloth shop before going back.”
Ah Da hurriedly nodded.
Having said that, Li Youde left in a hurry.
Seeing Li Youde’s disappearing figure, Chen Hui let out a sigh of relief. Outside, shopping and Li Youde was not here! Was there anything more pleasant than this?
Chen Hui pretended that Ah Da didn’t exist and let the shopkeeper go do what he had to do. She went to read books enthusiastically. There were a lot of books on the sub-collection classics of history here. She didn’t have much interest in it. She picked up a book that was about travel and read it, but these stories were too standard for her. The subject was something that she didn’t like. So, she only flipped through the like a brat and didn’t intend to go read them carefully.
This bookstore occupied a large area. It had four rooms and bright and clean windows. It was a very comfortable environment. Chen Hui looked around and got bored. She suddenly recalled Li Youde’s reaction when she had chosen this bookstore earlier and couldn’t help from feeling curious.
The shopkeeper was in the back of the hall. Chen Hui asked the attendant to take her there. When the shopkeeper saw that she came, he quickly got up. Chen Hui politely invited him to sit down. The attendant made tea. Chen Hui glanced at Ah Da who was standing next to her. Knowing that she wouldn’t be able to let him retreat, so, she also didn’t mention it. She only asked the shopkeeper, “Shopkeeper Hu, did Lord Li come here often before?”
Li Youde had brought a dozen of deeds of shops, but there was only one bookshop. The rest were House of Jewels, cloths shops, restaurants and etc. Also, his expression at that time also had subtleties on it. Since she was here now, she had to figure it out. Otherwise, what should she do if she caused trouble because the information was not the same?
Shopkeeper Hu glanced at Ah Da and said with a smile, “Lord Li doesn’t come often usually, but he sometimes come to ask for some books.”
Chen Hui asked with interest, “What kind of books were those?”
“Eh, this…most of them were poetry anthology,” Shopkeeper Hu said. “In the beginning, lord came to get some books about the Enlightenment and books from influential people….There were no others.”
Shopkeeper Hu was also cautious when answering the questions. He looked at Ah Da from time to time for fear that he had accidentally said something wrong.
Chen Hui knew that Ah Da would report everything she asked to Li Youde. It would be useless not to ask now and asked, “Shopkeeper Hu, what did Lord Li do with those books?”
Shopkeeper Hu said with a smile, “This humble one doesn’t know. Why doesn’t Lady Chen go ask lord?”
Chen Hui smiled and said, “Since it’s like that, it’s fine.”
According to her previous understanding of court eunuchs, although the situation was different in each era, in general, the level of education was unlikely to be high. In some times, emperors even prohibited eunuchs from learning how to read. Li Youde must be literate, otherwise, he wouldn’t have become the Inner Chief Eunuch. However, she felt that his literacy level was unlikely to be very high. Then, did he take those poetry anthologies back to cultivate his mind? She was someone who had been to his room. She hasn’t seen a book in the room. Probably, there were in the study?
Chen Hui suddenly felt as if she had seen through a little secret of Li Youde and her mood became very good. She no longer made things difficult for the restless shopkeeper who seemed to want to escape and let Ah Da take her to the cloth shop to have a look.
The cloth shop was also not far away. The name of the shop was “Li Clan’s Cloth Shop”. Shopkeeper Wu naturally recognized Ah Da. He didn’t react too much after hearing that this cloth shop belonged to Chen Hui now. It was just that Chen Hui went to look around, he quietly pulled Ah Da to a side and asked who was Chen Hui to Lord Li.
Ah Da felt that this question was actually a bit difficult to define. After thinking about it, he replied, “Someone from the courtyard.”
The gaze that shopkeeper Wu looked at Chen Hui with became somewhat subtle. After a few more glances, he felt that the girl in front of him seemed a bit different. A bit more than a year ago, he saw the other girl of Lord Li’s courtyard Lady Jiang. That girl looked like a daughter of a good family. She was full of resistance when she was brought here by Lord Li. He also could understand. Which girl would like to follow a man without a root? However, this Lady Chen was different. She looked like she was in high spirits and didn’t seem to feel that it was a despair to follow a eunuch. On the contrary, she was very happy and there were even bright lights coming from her eyes. He wondered which family did such a sinful thing to send their delicate as a flower and refined as a precious jade daughter to Lord Li.
Chen Hui took a look at the whole cloth shop and went to shopkeeper Wu excitedly. She asked him, “Shopkeeper Wu, do you know the tailor?”
Before shopkeeper Wu could respond, Ah Da said, “Lady, if you want to make clothes, there is a special tailor in the residence. There is no need to find another one.”
Chen Hui shook her head and said, “I don’t want to make clothes.”
She just became itchy when looking at these cloths in the shop. She studied fashion design in college. She finally owned a cloth shop now. Of course, she had to experiment on these cloths. She didn’t have the wish to sell the clothes she designed. This was also a cloth shop and not a ready-made clothing shop. She just wanted to design some things, make it by herself and then display it in the cloth shop. Just take it as she opened a one-person exhibition to satisfy her vanity. As for whether it would affect the business of the cloth shop…she didn’t care. This is her shop, she has the final say! Just hang two more clothes in the shop, it won’t get in the way.
Chen Hui thought for a moment. In the end, she still didn’t say her plan. She just skimped over the subject. It wouldn’t be to late to say it when she wanted to do it.
Seeing that the sky had darkened, Chen Hui reluctantly went back to Li residence under the persuasion of Ah Da. Li Youde sat in the carriage when he left. The carriage took him and returned. After it brought Chen Hui back to Li residence, it left.
Chen Hui went back to Chrysanthemum Yard directly and happened to have dinner with Xiao Tiao. Li Youde hasn’t returned yet. Chen Hui was happy to not see him. She walked around the courtyard with Xiao Tiao to digest the food. They had nothing to do, so, they went to sleep. She stayed in the side room. The room wasn’t small. Aside from a bed, there was also a couch. Xiao Tiao slept on the couch.
In the middle of the night, Chen Hui was awakened by a burst of noises. She thought of a possibility in daze and hurriedly opened her eyes from fright. As a result, the figure she thought about was not in front of her. There was only a very tiny shadow.
Her breath immediately stuck and became a scream in an instant. Chen Hui nimbly rolled, stood up and rushed out of the room while screaming.
Chen Hui had a childhood trauma towards rats. She had been bitten by a rat when she was seven-year-old. That time, she was also dazedly asleep when she felt a pain on her mouth. When she opened her eyes, she realized that there was a huge rat in front of her. It’s pair of small eyes seemed to flash with dark and treacherous light. She cried directly and caused her parents to wake up from a scare. After that, she was taken to the hospital overnight for bandaging and disinfection. She even got a rabies vaccine. The injection had aggravated her childhood trauma. Since then, she had a heartfelt fear for rats. Looking at snakes, she could control the fear in her heart and slowly walk away. However, seeing a ratt, she couldn’t. that kind of fear was no longer within her tolerance. When she was in Plum Yard, perhaps because even the humans had nothing to eat, she had not seen any rats. She didn’t expect to see a rat the first night she came to Chrysanthemum Yard.
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Thanks for the chapter 🙃