"Can't even get the goods ready properly. What kind of business are you running? You're such a useless piece of trash!"
The fat woman gave Li Ying a disdainful look and casually tossed a handful of copper coins.
"Your sweet soup is to our young lady's taste. This is the deposit. Deliver thirty more bowls to the Linying Tower before the Xu hour. Be clean about it. If there's even a single hair in it, you'll be in big trouble!"
The dozens of copper coins rolled all over the ground. One landed right at the fat woman's embroidered shoe.
Granny Sun quickly bent her bony old back to pick it up, almost having her fingers stepped on.
She looked up and gave the fat woman a nervous smile.
"Tsk."
The fat woman disgustedly tugged at her clothes and then proudly wiggled her hips and walked away.
The fisherwomen gathered around and chattered, "Isn't that the steward of the Linying Tower?"
"Sister Aying, you've struck it lucky! I heard that the young scholars preparing for the imperial exams like to go to the Linying Tower in town to listen to music and drink tea. If your sweet soup is really liked, the daily orders will be a good source of income!"
Everyone's eyes were full of envy, but Li Ying was rather unimpressed.
The Linying Tower didn't sound like a decent place.
However, since it was a business opportunity that came to her, there was no way she would turn it down.
After closing the stall, Li Ying cracked two eggs, added some wheat flour to make a batter, and made a few scallion pancakes to fill her stomach. Then she started to prepare.
After making thirty bowls of coconut milk seaweed jelly, she was really worried about taking Mianmian to the Linying Tower, so she entrusted her daughter to Granny Sun.
Before going out, she wanted to stroke Mao Mao's little head as usual. But the sick kitten sniffed her, then suddenly swiped its paw at her and limped to another corner on its broken leg.
Li Ying was helpless.
She didn't know what she had done to offend the sick kitten this time.
It had a really bad temper. It made all kinds of growling sounds, and it was obvious it was cursing.
The appointed time was approaching. Li Ying didn't have time to figure out what was wrong with Mao Mao. She pushed the cart and headed straight for the Linying Tower.
As expected, it was a brothel. But since it was in this remote fishing village, the customers didn't have much money, so it wasn't exactly a place of decadence...
The fat woman came out to greet her in person. Li Ying followed behind her and smelled the strong perfume on her sheer silk shawl. The smell was like a swarm of flies buzzing in her head.
She suppressed her nausea and stood still. The fat woman respectfully said to a graceful figure behind the red silk curtain, "Miss Yan, the village woman who makes the sweet soup is here."
A sugary voice came from inside the curtain, "Send the sweet soup to the guests and tell them it's a little token from me, Feiyan'er."
Feiyan'er?
Why did this name sound so familiar?
Li Ying was still trying to remember when the fat woman said hesitantly, "Miss Yan, are you really not going to wait for Young Master Qin?"
A teacup was angrily thrown out from behind the red silk curtain and shattered into pieces. A few drops of leftover tea splashed on her toes.
"I've waited for him for three days! Not only didn't he come to redeem me, but I haven't even seen his shadow! Bah! He kept saying he had some family fortune, but he couldn't even come up with ten taels of silver!"
"Am I supposed to starve to death here?"
Li Ying then remembered.
Wasn't this woman the lover of her cheap brother-in-law, Qin Shao?
After just three days of not seeing him, Feiyan'er was already in a hurry to buy sweet soup to please new customers. Truly, a prostitute had no heart.
The fat woman went to deliver the sweet soup. Feiyan'er lifted the red silk curtain, took a string of copper coins from a small box, and threw them at Li Ying. They hit her right on the head.
"Your sweet soup is quite rare. But I wonder if you can make any other delicate pastries?"
Li Ying covered her forehead and noticed a pendant hanging on Feiyan'er's slender wrist. There was clearly an "Yan" character engraved on it.
No wonder the sick kitten, Mao Mao, had such a strong reaction to her.
The bedroom was filled with a strong fragrance. Clothes and mirrors were scattered all over the floor.
Presumably, since she hadn't seen Qin Shao for three days, she was so angry that she had smashed everything in sight.
Mao Mao's broken leg and the deep wounds all over its body must have been caused by her.
A surge of anger welled up in Li Ying's heart, but she still smiled humbly.
"Miss Yan, you've come to the right person."
She stepped closer and whispered, "Miss Yan, do you think those scholars who like to show off their elegance would flock to it if they could taste the bright moon in the sky?"
Sure enough, Feiyan'er's eyes lit up instantly. She eagerly grabbed Li Ying's hand.
"Is there really such a wonderful thing in the world? Hurry up and show it to me!"
Li Ying calmly took out a coconut, cut open the shell with a few quick strokes, and then took a bamboo knife and scraped along the inside of the shell.
The round coconut meat came out intact, looking just like a jade disk and the bright moon, pure and flawless.
Li Ying always thought that this "whole coconut egg" drink was just a gimmick.
Although she knew that if she advertised that coconut juice could relieve gout, the fishermen in the village would rush to buy it, she couldn't bear to take advantage of their hard-earned money to get rich.
However, if the target was people like the Qin brothers and Feiyan'er, she had no qualms about charging this IQ tax. She just regarded it as robbing the rich to help the poor.
"Drink the sweet spring from the moon-shaped cup to wash away the turbidity of the world and remain pure and undefiled. What do you think, miss?"
Li Ying recited a few lines in a scholarly tone. Although Feiyan'er didn't understand poetry, she could tell that this was the kind of tone the scholars in town liked.
Seeing that she was still hesitating, Li Ying added, "Miss Yan, have you heard of the saying 'like cures like'? If you eat this every day, your complexion will be as fair and delicate as this fruit."
This sentence was like a strong medicine. Sure enough, Feiyan'er gritted her teeth and pushed all the silver pieces she had saved in her dressing box in front of Li Ying.
"Okay, I'll buy all your fruits!"
Li Ying gave her fifty peeled coconut eggs and politely said, "That'll be ten taels of silver. May you get what you want and find a good husband."
After leaving the Linying Tower, she took a deep breath, and a cold glint flashed in her eyes.
Feiyan'er wasn't a famous prostitute known for her beauty and talent. Since she had saved up ten taels of silver, even without Qin Shao's help, she could have redeemed herself and lived a decent life.
It was a pity that she was greedy. She was eager to use the "moon coconut egg" as an opportunity to find a rich and talented customer as her backer.
I'm afraid that from now on, as she grows old and loses her beauty, she'll never have the chance to leave the Linying Tower for the rest of her life.
This woman deserved what she got, and she had almost beaten Mao Mao to death. Thinking of this, the faint trace of pity in Li Ying's heart disappeared completely.
She specially bought a tender chicken and rushed home excitedly.
Sure enough, as soon as Mao Mao smelled the perfume on her, it arched its back, raised its tail, and meowed.
Li Ying tore off two pieces of chicken and placed them in a rough porcelain plate in front of it. She said softly, "Eat. I robbed this money from your evil mistress. She'll never be free again. It's her just deserts."
Mao Mao looked up at her with its green pupils like deep pools.
After a long time, it meowed, lowered its head, and gobbled up the tender chicken while making a purring sound.
Li Ying stood there in a daze and didn't come to her senses for a long time.
It was expected that Mao Mao would let down its guard.
But why did it seem like she could suddenly understand what the sick kitten was thinking?
In the bamboo basket, Mianmian grinned at her.
My dear child, have you brought back a little spiritual cat for your mother?