【Romantic Dream】【22】【

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Chapter Twenty-Two: Lu Shu Returns Home After Courageously Visiting Panchuan; Wu Zhen's Feud Becomes a Burial Ground. It is said that Lu Shu was grabbed by Yuexiang's husband, who held a knife to his chest. Startled, Lu Shu screamed and awoke, realizing it was all a dream, his body drenched in sweat. He was astonished to see the dim light of the lamp in the room and the pale moonlight outside the window. He thought, "Yuexiang and I were so loving and devoted to each other, making countless vows and oaths. How could she be so heartless as she said in this dream? This is just my own doubt, hence the dream." Then another thought struck him: "Yuexiang treated me well before, but since I refused to give her the golden rope she asked for, her attitude towards me is different now. Perhaps it's like this dream." Lost in these thoughts, he didn't sleep a wink all night. As soon as it was light, he woke Xiao Xizi. Xiao Xizi asked, "Master, what brings you up so early today?" Lu Shu replied, "You don't need to ask. Quickly fetch some water to wash your face." Xiao Xizi hurriedly fetched water for Lu Shu, and after washing up, they left the Yichang Inn and headed straight for the Fanglai Teahouse at the drill ground.
They arrived too early today; Jia Ming and the others hadn't arrived yet. Lu Shu brewed a bowl of tea and waited for quite a while before Jia Ming, Wu Zhen, Yuan You, and Wei Bi finally arrived one after another. They greeted each other, sat down at the table, and enjoyed tea and snacks. As they were chatting, the stagehands playing drums approached their table. They called everyone aside, and the stagehands, bowing low, said to Lu Shu, "Master sent someone to fetch Master Yue yesterday, so he should have come to serve you. Unfortunately, he was out of the game and not home. Please forgive him, Master and all the other gentlemen. Master Yue returned after the game and immediately asked about your master. Seeing that your master hadn't come yesterday, he cried all night. This morning at dawn, he urged me to come and fetch you, Master." Lu Shu said, "I've been there for months, and your Master Yue has never left the game. But yesterday, when I wasn't there, some people from the 'Golden Mansion' and 'Silver Mansion' left. You don't need to hide it; I understand. They're just afraid that if I led the game, they wouldn't have the money to run the game." "Hua Dagu said, "Master Lu, where did you go? It's no wonder your master is suspicious, given this coincidence. It was Jin Gongguan who took a group out yesterday. If your master doesn't believe me, he can ask. Your master and Yue Xianggong have been lovers for a long time; there's no need for such suspicions. Even if your master didn't have a group to serve, he would still come over." Jia Ming, knowing Hua Dagu was behind it all, said, "You don't need to say anything more. Master Lu will come to your house when he returns." Hua Dagu said, "Gentlemen, please do me the honor of coming over there." She then said to Wei Bi, "Master Cui at home invites you to come over; she says she has important things to discuss with your master." Wei Bi vaguely agreed. Hua Dagu took a few steps, then turned back to Lu Shudao and said, "The old master at home asked you to use what he said to you the other day, sir, today." Lu Shudao replied, "I understand." Hua Dagu gave him several more instructions before leaving the teahouse.
Jia Ming said, "Brother Lu, do you know that Hua Dagu first said Yuexiang was thinking of you? Is his invitation to you genuine?" Lu Shu said, "Perhaps Yuexiang sent him to invite me; it's hard to say." Jia Ming said, "Brother, I advise you not to be deluded. Yesterday, when the group didn't come, we knew they were going to send you far away. Today, Hua Dagu's invitation to you was all a lie; only his request for money was true. If you have money now, they will still flatter you as usual when you go there to develop the business. If you don't have money, they might treat you coldly.
Besides, if you don't have money, there's no point in going empty-handed. I already mentioned this yesterday; this is always the case when people who rely on business pay their bills to guests." Wu Zhen said, "How many of those who make a living by appearances have kind hearts? They only recognize money, not people." Yuan You said, "That's hard to say.
As the saying goes, 'Beauty doesn't bewitch people, people bewitch themselves.' These people who make a living by appearances are often bewitched by the customers. In short, they won't repay Zhang San's debt to Li Si. These places of jokes are also preordained karmic ties from a previous life." Wei Bi said, "I think Brother Lu treats Yue Xiang well, and he must have spent a lot of money on her. Yue Xiang might not be so heartless to change her attitude so quickly." Jia Ming said, "We don't need to discuss this. We'll see what happens later." Lu Shu listened to their comments and recalled the scene in his dream last night. He wished he could fly to the Jade Pavilion to see if Yue Xiang was real or not. However, because he had no money and was afraid of being nagged by Old Madam Xiao, he was very anxious, restless, and in a dilemma. Yuan You understood Lu Shu's feelings and invited everyone to have lunch at a restaurant and then have tea at Fang Lai. Later that evening, he invited the Qiang family to a banquet.
Afterwards, Lu Shu returned to his inn at Yichang Inn, asked Xiao Xizi to brew a pot of strong tea, and sat listlessly in his room, sipping it. Xiao Xizi stood beside him. Lu Shu said, "Go to sleep. I'll sleep after sitting for a while." Xiao Xizi said, "I must say something today." Lu Shu said, "Why didn't you say it?" Xiao Xizi said, "Master brought the money back home with Master to Yangzhou to buy a concubine.
But Master hasn't seen a single person here and has spent all the money he brought. I've noticed that Master Yue's treatment of Master has changed drastically lately; he's still infatuated with her. Master's money is already gone." "It's over. The gold jewelry has been replaced, and the clothes have been pawned." The young man thought to himself, "I can't just give away someone like him to you for nothing, sir. Even though staying here is tiring every day, what if we wait a few more days and the autumn winds blow? Wouldn't that be a joke? If you like the Moon God and can't bear to part with him, in my foolish opinion, you should hurry back and tell your master, take a few hundred taels of silver to Yangzhou, and buy the Moon God back. Why waste time here? Sir, think about it, is what I say right?" Lu Shu sighed. "Foolish boy, how could I not want to go back? Now the money is all gone, and I haven't even found anyone to take care of me. I've already exchanged some gold jewelry and pawned many clothes here. How can I face my master and mistress if I go home? Besides, I owe Jin Yulou a lot of money; how can they let me leave? Thirdly, I don't even have a penny for travel expenses. How can I go back?" Xiao Xizi said, "If you say you'll feel bad for your master and mistress if you go back, you should have found someone to take care of you as soon as you arrived in Yangzhou. Now that the money is all gone, there's no point in saying anything. As the saying goes, 'An ugly daughter-in-law can't escape meeting her father-in-law.'" "Aunt," Lu Shu said, "besides, there are countless other matters at home that are far more serious than this. Master and Madam have never spoken ill of Master. In my opinion, there's no need to worry. If it's about the money owed to Jin Yulou, Master has spent a considerable amount there. Now, if he's short a few taels of silver, would they dare prevent him from returning?
If it's about lack of travel expenses, Master can discuss it with Master Yuan and the others. I see they're inseparable from Master, and they've even sworn brotherhood, so naturally they'll find a way to get Master back." Lu Shu said, "I have my reasons. Go to sleep." Xiao Xizi agreed and went to sleep first.
Lu Shu drank several bowls of tea, lay down on the bed fully clothed, and became increasingly troubled, unable to sleep all night.
At dawn, he woke Xiao Xizi and fetched some water. After washing up, Lu Shu went to the Fanglai Tea House in the training ground to brew tea and wait. Jia Ming, Wu Zhen, Yuan You, and Wei Bi arrived one after another, and he was invited to sit at a table.
As they were chatting, Hua Dagu approached the table, asked the gentlemen to call him, and then demanded money from Lu Shu. Unlike yesterday's tactful approach, he wasn't being coerced into giving him the money. Lu Shu, in front of everyone, couldn't very well say he had no money, so he said, "You don't need to argue anymore. I'll definitely send the money to your house this afternoon." Hua Dagu refused, remaining standing to the side. Only after Jia Ming and the others pleaded repeatedly did Hua Dagu finally leave.
Lu Shu wanted to go to Yuexiang's place, but he had no money and couldn't go; he wanted to go home, but he had no travel expenses. He was in a dilemma. He invited Yuan You to another table and said, "I owe Jin Yulou money. You see how much he's pressuring me, I'm too embarrassed to pay him back. I want to go back to my lodging to get the money, then go to Yangzhou to give it to his family, but I have no travel expenses, and some clothes are here. How can I go back? I've thought about it a lot, and I hope you can help me plan and go back. I'll come to Yangzhou another day and pay you back for what you owe." Yuan You said, "Why are you still mentioning my few taels of silver, my dear brother? As for Jin Yulou, I already knew you spent a lot of money there..." Even if it's just a few taels of silver owed, it wouldn't be considered unfair to his family. But how much would be needed for travel expenses and redemption? Lu Shu said, "My gold jewelry goes without saying, all my clothes have been pawned for over ten taels of silver, Yichang Firm owes me several thousand coins for room and board, plus travel expenses, I'll need over twenty taels of silver to be able to set off." Yuan You said, "Brother, please sit down for a moment, let me tell the elder brothers to make plans for you." Lu Shu said, "I entrust everything to you." Yuan You took his seat and told Jia Ming, Wu Zhen, and Wei Bi what Lu Shu had said. Wu Zhen said, "It's not that I'm the one who takes the lead and ends up with a rotten bottom. When helping a friend, one should be considerate of oneself and not try to pull a fast one. Everyone should do their part." Jia Ming and Wei Bi both said, "That's very good." Yuan You said, "Now is not the time to lose. We should call a boat today so that Brother Lu can go back tomorrow. If we see you all acting like this, demanding money, it won't look good for anyone tomorrow." Jia Ming then pulled Lu Shu to the table and said to everyone, "We're going to share the cost of the day today to give Brother Lu a farewell dinner. Tomorrow morning, everyone should prepare travel expenses so that Brother Lu can take the money and hire a boat back home." Lu Shu said, "I am deeply grateful for the kindness of all my brothers. There's no need to spend any more money today." Jia Ming and the others insisted on paying. After everyone had breakfast, they invited Lu Shu to Qiang Da's house. They instructed Xiao Xizi to go to the dock and hire a boat first. The group held two banquets at Qiang Da's house that evening. As they parted, the group discussed and agreed to gather the remaining money at the Taipinglou Teahouse on Gengzi Street the next morning, to avoid running into Hua Dagu and having him nag them again.
Lu Shu bid farewell to everyone and returned to Yichang Inn, where he stayed overnight. The next morning, after washing up and settling the bills for room and board, he took Xiao Xizi to Taipinglou and brewed some tea. Yuan You arrived shortly after and invited them to take their seats. After waiting for quite some time, Jia Ming, Wu Zhen, and Wei Bi finally arrived one after another. Wu Zhen said, "Brother Lu, please don't mind the small amount; I've been really strapped for cash these past few days." He took out two silver dollars and handed them to Lu Shu. Jia Ming gave three taels of silver, and Wei Bi gave four thousand cash notes, which he handed to Yuan You. Yuan You thought to himself, "I originally planned to give each of the three of them four or five taels of silver. I brought eight taels today, which should be enough to get them to go back. But I didn't expect that they still don't even have twelve thousand coins, not even enough to redeem their pawned items. No wonder people say, 'Friends and food are always available, but not a single one in times of trouble.' They had two banquets yesterday, each giving more than three thousand coins. Why not not invite them yesterday and use the money to help a friend today? Wouldn't that be better?" Although he thought this way, he couldn't give the three of them any more money, so he could only pass it on to Lu Shu and thank them.
After everyone had some refreshments, Yuan You paid for the tea, and the group went to Yichang Inn. First, he asked Xiao Xizi to get the money notes, and then they used silver and foreign coins to redeem the clothes they had pawned. They also settled the bills for room and board, and there was no money left. Yuan You said, "Brothers, please have someone send some luggage with Brother Lu. Please get on the boat first, and I'll figure something out and come right away so we can pay the fare and let Brother Lu set sail." Everyone agreed. Yuan You, with his servant, rushed to the money shop where they usually traded. After pleading several times, he borrowed ten thousand coins and had his servant carry them through the customs to the riverbank. Xiao Xizi stood at the bow, calling out to them. Yuan You and his servant boarded the boat. Once inside the cabin, he handed the ten thousand coins to Lu Shu, saying, "Brother, this should be enough for your journey back." Lu Shu was extremely grateful. After paying the fare, he had Xiao Xizi buy the remaining odds and ends and board the boat. Lu Shu addressed the crowd, saying, "While I was at your place, I was deeply grateful for the kindness and generosity of you all, especially today. I will be returning home in about half a month, or at most a month, and will then be able to express my gratitude again." The crowd replied, "Please forgive our inconvenience. When you return to your residence, please convey my regards to your esteemed elder brother and aunt.
May your journey be smooth and safe."
Lu Shu then whispered to Yuan You, "After I leave, please ask you to tell Yuexiang that I have received a letter from home and need to return urgently. I will be back soon. I will repay all debts when I return. Tell him to take care of himself and not worry about me. As for what I told him, I will handle it when I arrive in Yangzhou. Tell him not to be anxious." Yuan You smiled and said, "Brother, please don't worry. I will take care of you there. I will certainly convey all your words." Lu Shu repeatedly gave him these instructions. Although Yuan You found it amusing, he couldn't say anything to his face and simply agreed. Jia Ming, Wu Zhen, Yuan You, and Wei Bi bid farewell to Lu Shu. Lu Shu saw them off to the bow of the boat. The four went ashore and watched Lu Shu sail away.
Jia Ming and the others, with their servants, went into the city and dispersed. The four of them continued their gatherings at Qiang Dajia as usual.
Hua Dagu searched for Lu Shu for two days but couldn't find him. Later, he asked Jia Ming and the others and learned that Lu Shu had already gone home. Hua Dagu went back and told them this. Old Madam Xiao and Yuexiang, upon hearing this, said, "That's enough, that's enough. Consider it a good riddance to him, so he won't cause trouble here." From then on, Yuexiang received other guests, but that's another story. Now,
let's talk about Wu Gengyu, who had come to the teahouse at the training ground to tell Yuan You and the others the news. Zixiang lived not far from Qiang Dajia, and he was on good terms with Guilin, a waiter at Qiang Dajia. Needless to say, he wouldn't stay there without paying for his opium. Whenever he went there, he always demanded that Guilin flatter him about his opium, ask for favors, and borrow money from him. Guilin, fearing his power, dared not speak out. These past few days, having lost too much at the gambling dens, and seeing that Wu Zhen was a regular customer of Guilin and a pawnbroker, he discussed with Guilin about borrowing a pawn bag from Wu Zhen.
Guilin, hearing this, was initially displeased but didn't want to stop him, so he hesitated and said, "Go talk to him yourself; I won't interfere." Wu Gengyu didn't say a word and left.
Two days later, one afternoon, Wu Gengyu arrived at Qiang's house. Wu Zhen was smoking in Guilin's room with the light on. Wu Gengyu lifted the curtain and entered, bowing to Wu Zhen and saying, "Brother Zong, please, please." Guilin, seeing him enter, quickly stood up and called out, "Master Wu." Wu Zhen also stood up to return the greeting and invited him to sit down.
The old woman served tea and tobacco. Wu Zhen asked Wu Gengyu's name, and Wu Gengyu chatted about worldly affairs before saying to Wu Zhen, "I've long admired your cousin, he's a great friend. My brother has a small matter to discuss with you." Wu Zhen said, "Please advise, please advise." Wu Gengyu said, "Nothing much, my brother has been losing badly these past few days, and I've been discussing with your cousin about borrowing twenty or thirty thousand coins, interest-free, to be returned in about two months. If you're not comfortable with that, my brother has asked your acquaintance, Qiang Da, to act as a guarantor for repayment, there will be no problem." Wu Zhen, not wanting to refuse outright, said, "Alright, give me a couple more days and I'll report back." Wu Gengyu bowed again and said, "Thank you, thank you." He left Guilin's room and sat down in another man's room.
Guilin, without Wu Zhen's knowledge, gave Wu Gengyu a box of opium to enjoy. Wu Zhen went back to bed and smoked, saying to Guilin, "I've been out here for more than a year now. I'm not arrogant, I'm not a scoundrel, and I even have some semblance of skill. It's laughable that Wu Gengyu doesn't know what kind of person he takes me for. He asks for twenty or thirty thousand yuan right off the bat. Isn't that ridiculous?" Guilin said, "People like them are just hustlers, making a living by performing tricks. Now that he's asking you, I suggest you give him a few coins to train him, no matter how much, so you won't have to worry about such a small thing." Wu Zhen said, "If you say that, it'll only work if I stop performing tricks. Today you borrow, tomorrow he borrows, I don't even have that much money to lend! I've seen countless tricksters and scoundrels like him. I'm not going to train him, let's see what he can do to me!" "They say it's a tough bet, but those two, You Deshou and Yan Xiang, who caused trouble at your house last time, were reported to the authorities by some family, and the other day the prefectural magistrate sent men to arrest them. They were each given hundreds of strokes of the cane and are now in shackles, being displayed in the drill ground. I advised them to calm down and not to run into Qiao Yi; it's not a game." Guilin said, "Since you didn't have any money to lend him, why didn't you refuse him to his face just now?" Wu Zhen said, "If I had refused him to his face just now, I was afraid he would feel uncomfortable, so I gave a vague answer. He will definitely come to ask you tomorrow. Just tell him that I said I haven't had any money these past few days and have nowhere to go, and ask him not to be offended." Guilin said, "You're clever; you wrote down the word 'difficult' for me." Wu Zhen said, "Anyway, he's not asking you for money, so just tell him what I said." Guilin agreed.
Two days later, Wu Gengyu went to the Qiang family and asked Guilin, "What did Wu Zhen say about what I said to him the other day?" Guilin then told him everything Wu Zhen had said behind his back. Wu Gengyu listened, sneered, and said, "I considered him a friend, but he turned out to be a half-baked idiot." He stormed out of the room. When Wu Zhen arrived, Guilin told him what Wu Gengyu had said, but Wu Zhen didn't seem to mind. However, Wu Gengyu harbored resentment and plotted to frame Wu Zhen. What scheme he devised? Let's find out in the next chapter.

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【Romantic Dream】【22】【

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