Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace
Chapter 185: Suspicious Merchant

“Eh, is that even possible!?”

“Nah, it shouldn’t be, normally.”

Yui Mei exclaimed in shock, but Xu negated it.

“Why would a businessman with a huge store give away their customers to another merchant? The only reason they would do such a thing is if the other party got some dirt on them, or else the other party is monopolizing huge benefits and they want a piece of that pie.”

“As expected of a former lady from a huge store, you understand them well.”

The man commented, apparently moved after Xu explained.

“But of course. I know all the store guys entering and exiting Jiaofang. Merchants have the tendency to memorize people’s faces, and those guys also know who I am. They’ve been throwing a lot of sarcastic comments on my face, after all.”

That’s why Xu was able to immediately pick up who the rumored merchant was, because unfamiliar merchants stand out.

That merchant didn’t even bring any wares to sell, and he would only sit at the fringes of the huge stores. From time to time, he would talk to the palace courtesans who would call out to him, but that was it..

“That particular large-scale store belonged to the guy who told me to become a prostitute. I was disgusted, so I returned home right away, and I don’t know anything else more than that. Maybe that girl is relying on some kind of unknown sorcery or something.”

According to Xu’s, more palace courtesans started to hang out and work with that girl even though she had been isolated before.

Not only that, those new girls were mostly undisciplined people.

From then on, the atmosphere around Jiaofang started to worsen, and Xu was filled with anxiety that the haven where she waited for her lover might have been destroyed.

It was also at that time that the letter arrived.

Her lover had died in the national borders, it said.

Her lover was gone, and Xu could no longer replace solace in the place that had served as her waiting place.

Xu’s heart must have been broken terribly during that time.

An intense desire to die consumed her, and the rest of the story was as how Yui Mei already knew it.

The personnel from the Ministry of Justice come and go, and Xu was filled with thoughts such as “won’t I die if I use this situation?”.

She also couldn’t help the thought that ‘it might be her responsibility that the girl ended up like that’ at the back of her mind.

Perhaps, it was her fault for not being sincere enough in  helping that woman face the lute earnestly.

“You’re such a diligent person, Miss Xu.”

Yui Mei was filled with complicated emotions, both of dismay and pity, after listening to Xu’s reason as to why she wanted to cover her sins.

Based on Xu’s story, Yui Mei could understand why she reached that state where decided to use the hand that could bring her to her end, since she couldn’t die even if she wanted to. She could only swallow the circumstances that led to that mental state.

However, wasn’t it too soft-hearted of Xu to just take on the sins of that woman unto herself?

Still, according to Libin, Xu had been very fond of that woman enough to treat her as her younger sister. But then, it also turned out that reality was quite different, apparently.

Af first, that woman had been under Xu’s care,

Perhaps, Xu had been taking care of her from the start, so it made the banquet attendees mistake their relationship for a long time.

Xu didn’t deny it, either.

She already knew what would happen to a woman who fell from the ranks of the palace courtesan, so she probably thought it would be unfair for the woman to let him down the path of destruction, even if she had a bad attitude.

All her goodwill and concern was just wasted, it seemed.

Yui Mei was worried about what would happen to Xu from this point forward, so she grabbed Xu’s shoulders and squeezed her as she looked at her with all seriousness.

“Miss Xu, misunderstandings are inevitable even if humans face each other, you know? In fact, there are a lot of people who went their own ways without being able to properly communicate with each other until the end.”

Libin then suddenly interjected.

“That might be true, but it’s uncomfortable hearing that from you, the youngest greenhorn among us.”

‘Oh, right, she might not like hearing it from a girl who just barely became an adult.’

“A traveler told me that.”

Yui Mei unwittingly gave a sage advice, being the granny that she was from her previous life, so she tried to cover it up by giving that excuse.