gnovel Chapter 81 Collecting fragrant mushrooms in Nanniwan
Chapter 81 Collecting fragrant mushrooms in Nanniwan
Fu An quickly reported back that Bai Wenshen did not engage in production and spent his days wandering around, frequenting brothels and theaters.
"Hehe, the places this person goes in overlap with the places you, young master, often visit."
"roll!"
As night fell, two still-grown figures slipped out of the government office and headed to a restaurant in the city.
After waiting for a long time, Bai Wenshen came out with a number of his henchmen. Under the lamplight, he looked radiant and showed no signs of having suffered imprisonment.
Gao Huaide and Yang Chonggui followed Bai Wenshen and his group, secretly keeping up with him.
Unbeknownst to the two, Fu An was following behind them with even more men, his palms sweating, ready to pounce at any moment.
Bai Wenshen staggered, dismissing his followers before turning into a quiet alley and disappearing from sight.
Yang Chonggui asked, "What should we do? If we follow them in, we'll definitely be discovered."
Gao Huaide quickly came up with an idea: "Come on, let's pretend to be playing around, and the White Plague God won't suspect anything."
Strictly speaking, although Bai Wenshen did not recognize Yang Chonggui, he might not have failed to recognize Gao Yanei. Despite the darkness of the night, there was still a risk of being exposed.
Gao Huaide didn't care about any of that, and suddenly tapped Yang Chonggui on the head, laughing, "You're coming after me, huh?"
His movements were natural and fluid, without any deliberate affectation, which shows that this is indeed his usual behavior.
As Gao Huaide ran, he kept looking at the situation ahead.
In a courtyard deep in the alley, two wooden gates were half-open, and a pink lantern hung diagonally. In the lantern's glow, a woman stood leaning against the gate.
Bai Wenshen had his arm around the woman's waist, teasingly asking, "My darling, have you missed me?"
The woman seemed uncomfortable and tried to twist but failed to break free.
Bai Wenshen straightened his face and sneered, "Since you've already gone down the drain, why pretend to be a virtuous woman? Last night you were all coy and kept saying no, but I played with you from head to toe. What's there to be shy about now?"
Before he finished speaking, he leaned in and started biting.
As the woman turned her head to avoid her, Gao Huaide caught a glimpse of her and felt that she looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen her before.
Seeing that the woman refused to comply, Bai Wenshen snorted and turned to leave.
"There are plenty of prostitutes selling themselves in Yanzhou Prefecture these days, and Master Bai has plenty of money. Why would he be afraid of not finding a prostitute to sleep with?"
The woman was anxious and quickened her pace to catch up with Bai Wenshen. She grabbed his collar, but because she was young and inexperienced, she didn't know how to ask him to stay.
At this moment, Yang Chonggui caught up and started fighting with Gao Huaide. The woman became even more flustered when she saw that there were other people present.
Gao Huaide suddenly remembered that this was the woman who had returned from building the city wall in Qingjian, holding her child's hand at the city gate, pleading her case about her husband's murder. Why had she become a prostitute?
Now, with bright red rouge on her cheeks and a face full of shame, she leaned into Bai Wenshen's arms.
"That's more like it. If you serve Master Bai well, your kid will be able to have a full meal."
Seeing the woman's timid and submissive appearance, Bai Wenshen was aroused. Ignoring the two children playing around in front of him, he spread his fingers and grabbed at her ample waist.
This time, the woman did not dodge.
"You're really out of your mind. Your husband is dead, what's the point of having a burden like this? Your mother, who sold her children, doesn't need you."
Bai Wenshen rubbed the child harder, mocking, "Sell the child, buy some nice clothes, dress her up beautifully, wouldn't business be even better?"
"If you wish to make a scene, please come inside. I will serve you with all my heart."
The woman then whispered something, but Gao Huaide didn't hear it.
When he looked up again, the woman was already nestled in Bai Wenshen's arms and had entered the courtyard.
……
After Bai Wenshen went in, he didn't come out for a while. Gao Huaide and Yang Chonggui retreated to the alley entrance and saw Fu An with several familiar soldiers squatting there, looking ready to rush in at any time.
"What's the deal with that woman?"
"Last year's war destroyed the farmland around the city, and all the stored grain and wealth were looted. Recently, the salt and silkworm taxes have been increased, making the path of raising silkworms and weaving cloth impossible."
Fu An explained, "This woman has fallen into prostitution, presumably out of necessity to make a living."
Gao Huaide then understood why his father hadn't taken advantage of the situation to attack Xiazhou. It turned out that killing a thousand enemies would result in eight hundred casualties on his own, and the economy of the prefecture would also be devastated.
The so-called "salt-silkworm money" was a system in which government salt was allocated to each household during the silkworm rearing season in February, and the government was compensated with silk or cash after the new silk came to market in June.
Originally, each pound of salt was worth 100 cash, and after paying with silk, there was still some money left over. However, with the addition of the salt and silkworm money, it became an unpayable usurious loan.
"Was it out of necessity...?"
Driven by some unspoken inner conflict, Gao Huaide asked, "If her husband hadn't died, this wouldn't have happened, would it?"
"Young master is mistaken."
Fu An was unaware that the woman's husband was very likely killed by Gao Huaide, and dismissed his naive idea.
"Sixteen hundred years ago, Guan Zhong of the State of Qi built seven hundred brothels, and is said to be the progenitor of the industry. Even in times of peace, as long as there is inequality between the rich and the poor, there will always be women who engage in this profession, and even after a thousand years, it will probably be impossible to eradicate it."
As the saying goes, "When people are well-fed and warm, they think of lust; when they are hungry and cold, they think of stealing."
Fu An chuckled: "Young master, since it's a natural instinct between men and women, how can it be suppressed? It's just a matter of turning it from overt to covert. In my humble opinion, worrying about this is just a waste of time."
Yang Chonggui stood aside listening to their conversation, seemingly understanding but not quite, looking embarrassed.
Seeing that Gao Huaide was in a bad mood, Fu An assumed it was because he had seen Bai Wenshen hugging and kissing that woman and had developed feelings for him.
He thought to himself: The military commander married at the age of forty. Although it can't be called an old man marrying a young woman, it's still too late. If he had had a son ten years earlier, the young master would already be able to assist in military and political affairs.
This concerns the succession of the family business; it would be best for the young master to mature early. His understanding of matters between men and women is still hazy and innocent; he shouldn't suffer for it in the future.
How can we find a way to teach him to "pass through a sea of flowers without a single petal clinging to him"?
Gao Huaide had no idea what his attendant was up to. Bringing up old stories from last year, he was in a bad mood. No longer caring about what happened between Bai Wenshen and the woman after they were done, he pulled Yang Chonggui along and headed back home.
……
The 18th day of the third month of the second year of the Qingtai era, the day of Gui Chou.
After practicing his spear technique, Yang Chonggui stood with his spear in hand, staring blankly at the sky.
He remembered what day it was. Not long after his birthday last year, his father brought up the matter of coming to the Gao family, and at first he was unwilling from the bottom of his heart.
A year has passed in the blink of an eye. Although Yang Chonggui misses his family, he has to admit that life in the Gao family is much better than he had imagined.
Gao Huaide was lazy again and didn't come to practice martial arts; nobody knows where he went.
Yang Chonggui was used to this, but unfortunately he still couldn't beat him in sparring. Could there really be a martial arts prodigy with extraordinary talent in the world?
He gripped the gun barrel tightly, believing that as long as he worked hard, he would eventually be able to defeat him.
Yang Chonggui was unaware that Gao Xingzhou had reached his current level of skill after only a few months of teaching, and commented, "This boy is exceptionally persevering and will one day be known as invincible."
When these words reached Gao Huaide's ears, regardless of whether his father intended to reprimand him, he curled his lip and said disdainfully, "Being invincible is too lonely. I don't want that. Let Gui-ge be invincible instead."
Practicing martial arts is very physically demanding. When Yang Chonggui returned to his room, he felt a burning hunger in his stomach, but it was still some time before he could eat.
Just as he was about to lie down and pretend to sleep to get through the rest of the day, he saw the Gao siblings walk in.
Gao Huaixuan carried a food box, placed it on the table, opened it, and took out a steaming bowl of soup noodles.
"I know you're hungry, eat it while it's hot."
Yang Chonggui didn't stand on ceremony. He picked up the bowl and took a sip. The hot, rich soup went down his throat, and his internal organs immediately felt warm.
He noticed that the soup tasted different from usual, with a unique freshness and aroma. Upon closer inspection, he saw a few bits of something floating in the soup.
"Today is a special day, so I've added a little something extra for you."
Gao Huaide made a face: "The mushrooms picked from Nanniwan might have some poisonous ones mixed in. Would you dare to eat them?"
"What is there to be afraid of!"
"Don't listen to De-di's nonsense. The cooks in the manor have already checked, and they are all edible mushrooms; otherwise, I wouldn't have dared to put them in."
Yang Chonggui was already familiar with Gao Huaide's style, without Gao Huaixuan needing to explain. This man was never serious and liked to distort the truth about good and bad things.
However, this sentence inadvertently revealed who made the soup noodles, and Yang Chonggui held the bowl with even greater care and tenderness.
Less than a hundred li southeast of Yanzhou Prefecture, there lies a desolate area, deserted since the An Lushan Rebellion, overgrown with dense forests and teeming with wild animals. The locals call it Nanniwan. (Note 1)
Unexpectedly, Gao Huaide would go to that barren, thorny mountain mudflat to pick mushrooms just to add some seasoning to his bowl of noodles.
The steam made Yang Chonggui's eyes a little red.
He was taciturn and not good with words. He lowered his head and slurped down his soup dumplings, while the Gao siblings sat to the side, watching with smiles.
Once the bowl was empty, the servants cleared away the dishes, and only then did the two men take out their gifts—a red silk robe and a pair of iron-tipped arrows with eagle feathers.
"Happy birthday, my dear brother!"