“Su Moli?”
Not just Su Moli, but all six members of the Su family were neatly gathered together.
“How did all of you end up locked in cages?”
Shang Yueli was puzzled.
Hadn’t they escaped? How could they have been trafficked to Ye City by slave traders after just one night on the run?
Moreover, they were all disheveled and dressed in rags, looking exactly like beggars with ten years of professional experience.
Su Moli suddenly slammed against the iron bars, her eyes bloodshot.
“Stop wasting time! Hurry up and get us out of here! I know you have money!”
“Hurry! I really can’t stand being here for another second!”
“Hey! Are you listening to me?”
Shang Yueli, who had been about to take out her money, paused. She raised an eyebrow and slowly retied her money pouch to her waist.
“Why should I save you?”
“What?” Su Moli was stunned.
“I said, we have no relationship whatsoever. What makes you think I should spend money to rescue you?”
“How can you be like this? You clearly have money, why won’t you save me!”
Shang Yueli sighed. “Darling, my money didn’t just fall from the sky. If you want me to save you, you need to offer something of equivalent value in exchange.”
“Young lady, have you taken a liking to these people?”
The slave trader rubbed her hands together, eagerly promoting the Su family members.
“Let me tell you, they were just acquired this morning – fresh stock!”
“How much?”
The slave trader chuckled, revealing a mouth full of yellowed teeth.
“Not expensive – five taels each. There are six people here in total. If you want them all, I’ll only ask for this amount.”
The slave trader held up two fingers and then five.
“Two hundred and fifty?”
“No, no, no.” The slave trader shook her head and corrected, “Twenty-five taels of silver.”
Shang Yueli clicked her tongue lightly. “That’s a bit expensive.”
Su Moli: “You old hag! Am I only worth this little money?”
Shang Yueli pretended to feel sorry and said to the furious Su Moli: “Hear that? Twenty-five taels – that’s really expensive.”
“Can’t afford it, can’t afford it. I’d better go back and eat roast chicken instead.”
Shang Yueli made as if to leave.
She counted silently in her heart: 3, 2…
“Wait!”
Shang Yueli curled her lips into a smile. The fish had taken the bait.
“What?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“If you save me, I’ll make sure you get your share when I make money in the future!”
Empty promises?
She wasn’t buying that.
“If you insist on this, then I’m really leaving.”
Shang Yueli showed a professional smile, squinting her eyes: “You’d better give me something useful. My patience is limited.”
A struggle flashed in Su Moli’s eyes. Finally, having no other choice, she gritted her teeth.
“Come closer, I’ll tell you…”
After listening, Shang Yueli’s face darkened, and the smile gradually disappeared from her lips.
She gave the slave trader thirty taels of silver and said: “Boss, they’re wanted criminals by the imperial court. Officials will come to arrest them later. You’d better not get any clever ideas about moving them somewhere else to sell again.”
The slave trader’s expression changed dramatically upon hearing they were wanted criminals.
She took the money and nodded repeatedly. “I won’t go anywhere! I’ll stay right here and guard them!”
“Hmm.”
By the time Shang Yueli returned to the inn, it was very late.
She saw the inn attendant carrying a hot roast chicken into a room, then shortly after bringing out a cold one.
“What are you doing?”
“The guest in that room is waiting for someone, but is worried the roast chicken will get cold. So he asked the kitchen to keep roasting chickens – when one gets cold, we take it away and replace it with a fresh one.”
“Isn’t that wasteful?”
The servant beamed with a ruddy glow, shaking his head. “The guest said if it gets cold, we can eat it, and he’ll still pay.”
“If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t get to eat chicken even once a year.”
He sighed with emotion, then left with light, skipping steps.
Shang Yueli withdrew her gaze and pushed the door open to enter.
“Why are you back so late?”
“I saw Su Moli and the others…”
Shang Yueli briefly recounted the events to Mu Yunsheng.
“I understand. I’ll handle this matter.”
Mu Yunsheng showed no surprise, as if he had already known about it.
“Mm.”
After speaking, Shang Yueli suddenly stood frozen in place.
“What’s wrong?” Mu Yunsheng asked with concern.
Seeing that Shang Yueli remained motionless, Mu Yunsheng rose to fetch a physician, but just then, Shang Yueli suddenly burst into laughter. “I’m fine—I just got lost in thought over something happy.”
Shang Yueli tore off a chicken leg and held it to his lips.
“Husband, open your mouth.”
Mu Yunsheng sat upright and obediently opened his mouth, but just as he was about to bite down, the chicken leg vanished from his reach.
“Oh no, how could I forget about the soap!”
Regretfully, Shang Yueli stuffed the chicken leg into her own mouth, muttering, “No, no—if not now, then when?”
“Husband, I’m going to borrow their kitchen and will be back later. If you’re tired, go ahead and sleep.”
“It’s no trouble. I’ll accompany you.”
Shang Yueli agreed, asked a servant where the kitchen was, and hurried off with quick, light steps.
Mu Yunsheng smiled helplessly, packed up the still-warm roast chicken, and brought it along.
Shang Yueli arrived at the kitchen and borrowed a small corner.
She placed the cleaned seashells into the stove to calcine.
“What are you making?” Mu Yunsheng squatted dutifully on the ground, fanning the flames, his eyes brimming with curiosity.
“This seashell necklace is quite pretty—why burn it?”
The servant next door didn’t understand either, craning his neck to peek.
“Heaven’s secrets cannot be revealed.”
Shang Yueli then took out the previously purchased pork back fat, cut it into small pieces, and placed them into a pot.
After rendering it all into a pale yellow liquid, she set it aside to cool.
“Husband, stop squatting. Come help.”
“Mm!” Mu Yunsheng’s lips curved into a smile. Was it finally his turn to shine?
The next moment, Shang Yueli placed a stone mortar into his hands and poured all the seashells into it.
“Alright, start pounding!”
Mu Yunsheng: “…”
Pressing his lips together, he vigorously crushed all the seashells and ground them into fine powder.
Shang Yueli wasn’t idle either.
She retrieved plant ash from the stove, mixed it with water, and filtered it once. Then, she poured it into the stone mortar, stirred it evenly with the seashell powder, and used a cloth to filter out excess impurities.
“So this is lye water. First time making it, and it’s oddly fun.”
Shang Yueli stretched lazily and took a couple more bites of the roast chicken.
“Delicious!”
Once the lard had cooled into a milky-white solid fat, she poured the settled lye water into the pot, initiating the saponification reaction.
She then added purchased dried osmanthus flowers and fine salt to enhance the fragrance and purity.
“Alright, now for the final step!”
Shang Yueli poured the prepared soap solution into a bamboo tube.
“Is it done now?”
“Mm-hmm, we just need to wait for it to cool and solidify before we can take it out to use.”
She truly was a genius—succeeding on her first attempt at making soap!
Although Mu Yunsheng never quite understood what this thing was for, seeing Shang Yueli so happy made him happy too.
“Alright, go back and rest.”
“Mhm.”
The next day.
Shang Yueli opened her eyes and found the spot beside her empty.
She reached out to feel it—cold.
It seemed Mu Yunsheng had gotten up early.
No, not necessarily.
Shang Yueli stood by the window, looked up, and saw the sun high in the sky. It was probably almost two in the afternoon.
She tidied up briefly and went out.
“Yueli, you’re finally up! Did you hear about the Su family?”
“What happened?”
Lin Zhiman chuckled smugly, “Hmph, it’s your fault for being such a lazy pig and sleeping in so late. You missed all the excitement.”
“Let me tell you, they had run away before, right? Last night, the patrolling officers caught them and brought them back!”
“I heard the higher-ups are furious. They’re going to brand the character ‘prisoner’ on them and give them twenty lashes each!”
Shang Yueli: “That serious?”
“Yeah! Good thing I didn’t run—twenty lashes would’ve been the death of me!”
“Where are the Su family now?”
Lin Zhiman thought for a moment and said, “I think they were taken to the magistrate’s office. They’re going to be punished publicly, and it’s probably already started.”
“Let’s go.” Lin Zhiman grabbed Shang Yueli’s hand. “I’ll take you to see the show!”