The fool has become a spirit, and she can speak

Chapter 1720 Lotus Bud 1 Day Flowering 52

"He Bao, let's not even talk about who's more outstanding between you and Han Muran. Look at what happened to Han Muran now. She's in a nunnery practicing asceticism! Tell me, how are you any better than her?"

He Bao, proud and arrogant, said, "Uncle, she's a widow who brings misfortune to her husband and children, but I'm different!"

"Stop that right now! Don't even think about it. If you have nothing else to do, go home. Your uncle doesn't have time to play around with you here!"

Seeing that there was no hope of entering the palace, He Bao started to think of other ideas. "Uncle, my mother is out of tonics. Could you take some back for me?"

Yu Hua, who was standing to the side, had long since lost patience. "Weren't some tonics sent before the New Year? Why do we need more?"

“You know it was sent before the New Year, it’s been months, it’s long gone!” In He Bao’s eyes, Yu Hua, this elder, was very inconsiderate.

"How could that be? There's at least enough for two months!"

"My mother is very weak, so of course she needs to take a lot of tonics every day!"

Yu Hua was quite meticulous. As the steward here, she was very methodical in her work, unlike the stewards in other households. "He Bao, what you said is wrong. I often hear the imperial physician say that the weak cannot tolerate tonics. Your mother is so weak, how can she use so many tonics?"

"Why do you, a mere steward, concern yourself with so much? I'm not here to take your things. If you were sensible and knew I was here to take medicinal herbs, you would have stopped talking nonsense and simply handed them over with both hands."

Cheng Feng raised his hand to signal Yu Hua not to argue with He Bao, as he needed peace and quiet. "Come with me, I'll have someone get you some medicinal herbs."

As Cheng Feng left with He Bao, Yu Hua complained, "He's probably here to scam herbs for money again. How shameless!"

Shang Xi shook her head. "Same old trick again. Never mind, let Cheng Feng get it for her. He Ye, relax, don't be afraid. With so many of us, can't we protect you?"

From the moment He Bao entered the room until the person left, He Ye remained silent, her face pale. She touched her belly and said, "I dare not confront her; I'm afraid she'll harm the baby inside me!"

Shang Xi said, "You should avoid her when you see her. I think this person is capable of anything, from swindling to cheating."

Yu Hua was even angrier: "It was precisely because I was afraid she would run into He Bao that I forbade Jin Feng from doing anything and made her spend all her time with He Ye."

Lotus Leaf said, "Don't worry about me. If she makes things difficult for me, I'll give her money and make sure she doesn't harm the baby in my belly."

Shang Xi noticed something amiss. "You haven't already been swindled out of your money, have you?"

The lotus leaf lowered its head and remained silent.

Shang Xi asked Yu Hua, "What happened?"

Yu Hua sighed, “Your Brother Chen wouldn’t let me come out to talk about this. One day, my front door wasn’t closed properly, and coincidentally, He Bao went to He Ye to ask for money. Only He Ye and Jin Feng were at home that day, so He Ye had no choice but to give her fifty taels. This made my Xiao San’er furious. He asked Cheng Tie Zhu for help, but he still didn’t get the money back. Cheng Tie Zhu said he would pay back ten taels of silver for He Bao every month.”

Lotus Leaf added, "One of my second sister-in-law's hairpins was stolen by Lotus Bud."

Jin Feng, who had been silent all along, hurriedly waved her hand, "My hairpin isn't worth much, just give it to her."

Upon hearing this, Shang Xi was furious. How could there be such a shameless person! "He Bao's behavior is nothing short of robbery! It wouldn't be wrong for you to report this to the authorities! Why didn't you tell Cheng Feng about this earlier? Why give her any medicinal herbs? Even if you did give them to her, they shouldn't have gone through He Bao's hands. They should have been sent directly to the Cheng family. Remember this: keep your doors tightly closed from now on. People like this love to take advantage of others."

Yu Hua looked distressed. "Recently, He Ye hasn't been setting up her stall on the street. This person has knocked on the door several times, but our Chen family's gate is always tightly closed, so she can't get in. Every time, she leaves empty-handed. But that one time, I was careless, and she took advantage of the situation. She demanded fifty taels of silver, kidnapped Jin Feng's hairpin, and even pushed Jin Feng down!"

Shang Xi was astonished: "She got the money and then beat someone up!"

Jin Feng explained, "She didn't hit me, she just pushed me. He Bao is so small, but she's incredibly strong. She can knock someone over with a single push. I'm not afraid of her hitting me, I'm afraid she'll hit He Ye. He Ye is six months pregnant now. If something happens to her because I didn't take good care of her, I won't be able to explain it to everyone! I wanted my third uncle to give up his stall for the time being, but he's greedy and can't bear to part with the copper coins he earns from the stall."

Shang Xi looked at Jin Feng, who was younger than her, and felt sorry for her. "I was wondering why Jin Feng looked so thinner than before. It turns out it was because of He Bao!"

Jin Feng said, "Actually, we've only had one direct conflict. I'm just living in fear all the time, and I get flustered whenever I hear someone knocking on the door. If He Bao knocks on my door a few more times, I'll go crazy too."

Shang Xi was also helpless. She sighed, "It's easier to see the King of Hell than to deal with his underlings! Could this be Liu Dalan's doing again? Isn't she supposed to be nearing the end of her life? Yet she's still causing trouble while lying in bed!"

Yu Hua shook her head and analyzed for Shang Xi, "It doesn't seem like it. Didn't you notice that He Bao's clothes are different from before? Liu Da Lan wouldn't be willing to spend money to buy her new clothes. Judging from what Chen Tie Zhu said, He Bao is very immature and spends money like water. The fifty taels that she took from He Ye that day were all spent in the city that same day."

Shang Xi was even more astonished, "Spending fifty taels in one day? She's got quite the spending power!"

"Who says otherwise! Our Chen family doesn't even spend ten taels of silver a month. I heard that person is quite greedy. The other day I ran into Su Aixiu going to the market to buy vegetables. The Cheng family's money is all controlled by Liu Dalan. Su Aixiu only spends one coin at a time, and she only gets a handful of copper coins a day to buy vegetables. That mother and daughter still complain that the food isn't good enough. The most picky one is Hebao. She eats all the good food herself, and Cheng Tiezhu and Su Aixiu's daughter, Cheng Xinhe, don't get to eat anything good. Because of this, that mother and daughter often quarrel, and they always suspect that Su Aixiu is hiding money. Su Aixiu has suffered a lot because of this. I also heard that Hebao is quite vicious. It seems that she often beats that little girl Xinhe behind her back. The little girl's arms are always covered in bruises."

"Doesn't Cheng Tiezhu care?"

"He's busy at the shop every day, how could she know about these things at home! Even if she did know, what could she do? The moment he left home, that mother and daughter started bullying Su Aixiu and her daughter even more. How could Su Aixiu, with a child, possibly stand a chance against them? It's really pitiful for Su Aixiu and that little girl Xinhe."

"What a misfortune for the family! It would be terrible to have one of Liu Dalan and Hebao, but Cheng Tiezhu has to have two. He doesn't have to face that mother and daughter when he's out all day, but isn't Su Aixiu the one suffering the most?"