Mrs. Mei's Survival Diary - Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Yue Niang

Rong Yinshuang left her sons at the teahouse to play and headed to Zui Xiang Lou. 

However, since Zui Xiang Lou operated mainly at night, the place was silent during the day, and its door was shut tight.

Rong Yinshuang realised that even if she waited until nightfall, a woman like her wouldn’t be allowed inside, so she decided to walk around the building’s perimeter and discovered the back door.

The wooden back door was slightly open, and Rong Yinshuang leaned into peek.

“What are you doing?”

Upon hearing the unexpected question, Rong Yinshuang jumped up straight. 

At that moment, someone swung the back door wide open.

The person who appeared was a woman. She was short and thin, with grey hair and large eyes that resembled copper bells. However, the most frightening feature was the gruesome scar running from her eyebrows down to her chin. The wound looked deep, distorting her nose in a strange way.

“I’m asking you, what do you want?”

Even though Rong Yinshuang had encountered scarier ghosts, it was unusual to see a living person who looked like this. Terrified, she quickly shook her head and stammered, “I, I must have taken a wrong turn. Isn’t this Aunt Zhang’s house?”

The woman glared at her coldly. “This isn’t a place for decent folks. Get lost!”

With that harsh remark, the woman slammed the back door shut, leaving Rong Yinshuang feeling dismissed.

Rong Yinshuang stepped back, gazed up at the octagonal eaves in the yard, and stepped out of the alley just as she had entered. She noticed some scallion pancakes being sold across the alley and thought her eldest and youngest sons would love to have some. Just as she was about to pay, she spotted a cart coming out of the alley, and the person pushing it was the woman who had just turned her away.

She saw the woman’s petite frame struggling to push the heavy swill bucket, but her face was so intimidating that it evoked pity in people, yet no one dared to approach her.

After handing over two copper coins to the vendor, Rong Yinshuang took the scallion pancake and asked the stall owner. “Hey, do you know who that woman is?”

The stall owner glanced at the woman’s back and replied, “That’s Yue Niang, the swill transporter from Zui Xiang Lou.”

Rong Yinshuang nodded, thanked the vendor, and followed Yue Niang while holding the scallion pancake. It wasn’t that she intended to follow her; they just happened to be on the same path. Rong Yinshuang kept her eyes on Yue Niang’s back until she turned a corner.

After getting back to the teahouse, Rong Yinshuang gave the scallion pancakes to the two kids and watched them enjoy their meal. Just as she was about to take a break, Manager Li spotted her and immediately brought all the account books over. 

Rong Yinshuang didn’t want to look at them, but Manager Li insisted, saying it would help him feel more at ease.

Unable to escape his insistence, Rong Yinshuang reluctantly sat on the high stool behind the counter and began flipping through the books.

While she was reading and pondering, she suddenly asked Manager Li, who was standing in front of the counter, “Hey, Manager Li, do you remember the name of the wife of the couple living in the backyard?”

Manager Li looked at her, surprised by the sudden question. After a moment of thought, he replied, “I think it was… Yue Niang. Why do you ask about her?”

‘… Yue Niang… So the disfigured woman with the scar on her face is indeed Yue Niang.’

As they were chatting, a ruckus erupted in the kitchen, with the sounds of plates and bowls crashing. 

Manager Li and Rong Yinshuang exchanged glances, and they quickly rushed to the kitchen. 

Two people stormed out, angrily removing their aprons and grumbling as they left.

“Ugh, what a terrible place! They only want to pay one or two silver coins for wages, and they still have high expectations! I’m done! Let’s see what kind of talented pastry chef you can hire for that kind of money!”

Manager Li chased them out from inside, grabbed one of the chefs, and said, “Master Zhang, Master Wang, don’t be angry; Xiaoliu is young and doesn’t know much. You should be magnanimous and don’t argue with him; just consider it as a favour to me, Old Li, okay?”

Master Zhang, who was leading the way out, suddenly halted with a displeased expression and arrogantly addressed Manager Li. “What bad luck! A mere waiter thinks he can teach me a lesson! If that kid doesn’t serve tea and apologise to me today, I’m seriously considering quitting!”

Manager Li, always the peacemaker, smiled and gestured to Xiaoliu, who was bowing his head and saying, “Yes, yes, serve the tea and apologise. You need to apologise, Xiaoliu. Come on, quickly apologise to Master Zhang and Master Wang.”

Reluctantly, the waiter Xiaoliu approached, but he wouldn’t bow his head. 

This only made Master Zhang angrier. He marched over, grabbed Xiaoliu by the ear, lifted him up, and shouted, “Are you tired of living, kid? Do you think you can boss me around before you’ve even grown up? If I don’t teach you a lesson today, you’ll never understand how powerful your father is!”

Xiaoliu, feeling the pinch, kicked Master Zhang in the kneecap, covered his ear, and retorted, “What are you going to do about it? The snacks you made are terrible! And it’s not just me saying that; the customers said it! You won’t stand up to them, but you want to take it out on me? No way!”

Master Zhang, having been kicked, fell to the ground, rolling his eyes, clutching his knees, and crying out. “Oh my god, you little beast. You dare to hit me! I can’t work like this! Manager Li, you saw it too. If you don’t get rid of this little beast today, Lao Wang and I are out of here!”

Manager Li has always prioritised harmony, but he was a bit timid. After being put in this situation, he was completely at a loss. Glancing at Master Zhang, the others, and Xiaoliu, Manager Li felt embarrassed and ultimately made his way towards Xiaoliu…

Noticing this, Master Zhang couldn’t help but smirk with satisfaction. 

Out of nowhere, a silver ingot was tossed at him, bouncing off the ground with a sharp clink that caught everyone’s attention.

Everyone turned to see where the money had come from, and there stood Rong Yinshuang behind the counter. As the crowd were looking at her, she pointed at Master Zhang and declared, “You all can leave now. These twenty taels of silver are my way of compensating you as the new shopkeeper. Puxian Teahouse can’t accommodate both of you, so it’s time to find new jobs.”

“…”

Rong Yinshuang’s bold action silenced the entire teahouse. 

Manager Li stared at her in disbelief, while Xiaoliu looked at her with admiration.

Masters Zhang and Wang were still in shock.

Rong Yinshuang waved them off again, saying, “Hurry up. If you disrupt my business later, I won’t hand over the twenty taels of silver.”

Master Zhang and Master Wang exchanged furious glances, and Master Zhang finally stopped crying, picked up the silver and left.

With everyone gathered around, Rong Yinshuang said, “Get back to work. Xiaoliu, I’m sorry about today. I’ll make sure you get some extra pay at the end of the month. Now, go on and get back to it.”

As soon as Xiaoliu heard about the extra pay, he quickly forgot his frustration and headed to the kitchen.

Manager Li approached the counter, looking worried, and said to Rong Yinshuang, “Boss, we only have two dim sum chefs in our teahouse. Now that they’re gone, it’s going to be tough to find someone. What should we do?”

Rong Yinshuang hesitated for a moment, then started to understand a bit. This teahouse was in the best location in East and West City, so why was the business so average? She didn’t say anything, pulled out a small silver note of fifty taels from her pocket, and told Manager Li, “Post we are hiring dim sum chefs around the city.”

Manager Li looked at the silver note in his hand, wanting to say more, but when he saw Rong Yinshuang focused on the account book, he didn’t have the courage to interrupt her. So, he took the silver note, called a few waiters, and they all went out together.

Rong Yinshuang glanced at the account again, feeling puzzled by what was written. If she had known she would one day be looking at the accounts herself, she would have learnt from her husband earlier and wouldn’t be staring at these numbers now.

As she was about to close the drawer where she kept the account book, she noticed a bunch of keys tucked away in the corner. Rong Yinshuang’s mind immediately went to the lock on the backyard gate. After a moment of contemplation, she confidently grabbed a key and headed towards the backyard.

After fiddling with five or six keys, she finally heard a satisfying click as the lock gave way.

Taking a deep breath, Rong Yinshuang pushed the gate open. A musty odour from the long-abandoned house wafted out. She stepped inside boldly and shut the gate behind her. Gathering her courage, she turned around.

Just as she expected, a ghostly face loomed in front of her, glaring at her with intensity.

Rong Yinshuang intentionally turned away, walked over to the stone table in the yard, and used a handkerchief to wipe the dust off the stone bench before sitting down. She then asked, “Why did you stay?”

The ghost hovered in front of her, and she got a good look at him. His hair was unkempt, his face was ghostly pale, and one of his eyes was just a deep hole, dark and empty. It seemed like someone had gouged out his eyes while he was still alive.

Seeing this, Rong Yinshuang felt relieved that she had come to see him during the day. If he had shown up at night looking like this, she might have been terrified.

A raspy, echoing voice broke the silence. “Who are you?”

Rong Yinshuang felt a bit more at ease knowing he was open to talking and replied, “I’m the new owner of the teahouse; my name is Rong Yinshuang. I happened to see you on the third floor earlier.”

The ghost appeared and disappeared in front of Rong Yinshuang, appearing in the east and west, but he stopped talking. 

Rong Yinshuang stared at the ghost for a moment. “Is your wife called Yue Niang?”

End of chapter 25

have a nice day!