Demon King's Repayment - chapter 85

This chapter is sponsored by Pancake-Cat!

Yuan Xiang moved to an elegant hall. Compared with the gorgeous style of the store, this hall in the backyard was decorated in a simple and elegant way, showing the foundation of a century-old home.

The carved red sandalwood table was enshrined with ancient gold and bronze tripods, blue and white porcelain, Chinese giant redwood tops on both sides, a large ink painting with meticulous brushwork and a pair of ebony carved couplets.

When the shopkeeper left, Yuan Xiang sat alone in the top seat and waited, admiring the painting while touching the kitten in her arms, “Where did Nan He go? He hasn’t come back for a long time.”

“Brother Nan must be taking revenge for me. I guess he swallowed the lame man in one bite.” Wu Yuan puffed his head out, “No, no, that human being was too stinky. Don’t talk about him or I’ll lose my appetite.”

Yuan Xiang laughed, “Don’t run around when there are too many people. If you get caught by others, you would get no fish to eat.”

“I don’t care. I was scared today. I have to eat a whole bucket of dried fish.”

Yuan Xiang stroked the kitten’s nose, “Okay, let’s go to the edge of Dongting Lake and take the little whitebait in the lake, then let the store wrap it in flour and sprinkle some salt and fry it tenderly on both sides to comfort our frightened little Wu Yuan.”

Wu Yuan was happy and completely forgot the shock he had just received. He jumped from Yuan Xiang’s arms to the ground and wandered around the room.

“Hey, this painting looks like the Celestial Wolf Mountain. It reminds me of the last time we played with the golden ball with Yan Nu,” Wu Yuan looked up at the calligraphy and paintings hanging in the hall.

Yuan Xiang looked at it and saw the mountains and ridges in the painting, green pines reflecting the snow and a pair of innocent girls under the pine trees happily kicking an exquisite golden ball. The two girls, one in brown clothes and the other in brocade robe, were portrayed vividly by the painter, with cheerful and vivid expressions as if time had been frozen.

There were couplets written on the left and right: A hundred fine things in the world, lingering in the world, the artisan’s heart is engraved with bones, and the temples will not forget the grace.

Yuan Xiang looked at the brilliant smile of the girl in the picture and frowned. In Chinese painting techniques, it was not easy to identify the faces of the characters, but the girl in brown clothes gave her an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

At that time, a friendly looking maid raised the curtain, came in with a tea tray and offered Yuan Xiang tea with a smile.

“Sister, who made this masterpiece?” Yuan Xiang asked her.

The maid smiled and raised her sleeves to cover her mouth, “This painting is not painted by someone else, but it was made by our madam when she was young.”

The girls of the merchants weren’t like the maids in noble families who were taught to keep silent since they were young and dare not speak. This little girl had a lively personality and was very talkative. Yuan Xiang was about the same age as her and after a few conversations, they quickly became familiar. From her words, she learned some widely circulated past events that happened in this century-old shop.

Decades ago, this time-honored brand with exquisite craftsmanship almost broke its inheritance because of the lack of an heir in the family. But thanks to the only female in the family at that time, who was now Mrs. Lou, they overcame all difficulties.

At that time, she resisted the gossip, gritted her teeth and refused to marry. She took in a husband in her 20s and finally led the family through the difficulties. Not only did she protect the family business, she even carried forward her family heritage and raised its degree of prestige.

“Everyone in Ding province knows about this matter. They praise my madam as a hero,” as the maid mentioned the legendary madam, her eyes shone with admiration.

“Everyone said that our madam is a person with the blessing of Gods, so that she could be so intelligent and not inferior to men. It is said that when she was young, she was lost in the Celestial Wolf Mountain in the season of heavy snow. She was lost in the depths of the snow-capped mountain for more than a month at a young age.” She closed her hands and bowed to the scroll, “Guess what happened in the end? She came out unscathed. Don’t you think she was protected by the Gods?”

Yuan Xiang and Wu Yuan looked at the painting, then looked at each other. They were speechless for a long time. They finally remembered the story they had heard from Yan Nu. There was a human girl who lost her way in the mountains. She ate, lived with her and played with the golden ball. In the end, the girl gave the ball to Yan Nu and never appeared again in the Celestial Wolf mountain.

“How old is your madam now?”

“Madam will be sixty on New Year’s Eve. Her body is still very tough. She eats two bowls of rice for each meal and wakes up to play exquisite balls every morning.”

Words were being spoken and a series of dense footsteps sounded outside the house.

The first one was an old lady with gray hair. She leaned on a sandalwood cane, walking quickly with excitement, “Don’t stop me, who is it, who brought this exquisite ball? Quickly take me to her.”

Behind her hurriedly chasing her were her daughter-in-law, granddaughter and the maidservant, all carrying their skirts, running out of breath.

“Mrs. Tai, wait a moment, be careful with your steps.”

“Mother, be careful. Let me pull up the curtain”

“Grandman walk slowly, wait for me.”

The old woman ignored them, raised her hand and raised the curtain, stepped in first and looked straight at Yuan Xiang.