Rose Lock - Chapter 8.2

However, some poor-quality scented creams could cause allergies and even skin rashes.

“How would I know?” Zhou Fuling looked at the new scented creams the boss brought out. She unscrewed a cap and sniffed. It was decent, quite rich. Sister Guan Ling liked this kind of fragrance more, while Sister Bai Jing preferred something lighter, like osmanthus.

“Boss, I’ll take one of each of these. I want them all.”

“Aye, good.”

Hua Manyi looked at the rows of scented cream boxes on the counter. Zhou Fuling saw her looking and asked, “Manyi, do you like any? If you like it, Sister Fuling will buy it for you.”

“Thank you, Sister Fuling, but I don’t like any.” Hua Manyi shook her head. She didn’t want to say that she hadn’t used scented cream in a long time. Although scented cream was good and inexpensive, it felt sticky on the body, which she disliked. When she was at the Hua family, her father used to buy her perfume. Jo Malone English Pear & Freesia perfume probably wasn’t available here.

She could still recall the sensual freshness, delicate fragrance, and pure English style of the ripe autumn pear.

Besides, she didn’t have a penny on her. How could she buy anything!

She had just used Sister Fuling’s money at the pharmacy for the medicine. How could she possibly ask her to pay for scented cream too?

The boss wrapped the boxes of scented cream and handed them to Zhou Fuling. “Come again.”

The two left the rouge shop and reached a fork in the road. Zhou Fuling suddenly remembered, “Oh no, I forgot to buy a dudou (a traditional Chinese undergarment) for Xiaoxiao.”

“Du-dou?” Hua Manyi almost choked. Such a personal item, and Xiaoxiao dared to ask someone to buy it for her.

“Yes, that girl has to work and doesn’t have time to come out these days, so she asked me to buy her two.” Zhou Fuling didn’t think much of it. They were all women, after all.

Hua Manyi thought about it. She was overreacting.

“Wait here. Manxiu Hall is not far ahead. I’ll be right back.” Zhou Fuling checked the time. It was getting late. She had to hurry up and buy it. She handed the bag containing the scented creams to Hua Manyi. “Manyi, hold this for Sister Fuling. I’ll be back soon.”

“Ah? Okay, be careful, Sister Fuling.” Hua Manyi quickly took the bag and watched Zhou Fuling jog toward the intersection until she was out of sight.

The sun was setting, and it was evening. Warm, yellow twilight spread across the sky. The accumulated snow on the road had been swept clean, revealing the cold, hard blue stone bricks.

Hua Manyi stood under a thin, skinny utility pole. The electric light above her turned on at some point, casting a small shadow on the ground.

“Hua Manyi?” a voice came from ahead.

Hua Manyi looked up.

“It really is you. What are you doing here?” The person was Mo Zihao. He was extremely surprised to see Hua Manyi, but his expression unconsciously turned sour when he saw her attire. “Hua Manyi, tell me, where have you been all these days? Boss Chen said you hit Lai Xiaoyun and then ran away.”

Last night, his friend told him that a certain cabaret had a dancer who was as beautiful as a fairy, with a voice like a heavenly sound and an exceptional figure, named “Hua Manyi.”

At the time, he thought it was just a coincidence of names. How could the pampered daughter of the Hua family fall so low? But now…

He wasn’t sure anymore…

“Did you go to a cabaret… to be a dancer?” He gripped her shoulders, questioning her with a heavy heart.

Hua Manyi frowned and shrugged off his hands. “Mo Zihao, where I go, or whether I’m a dancer, is none of your business.”

“None of my business?” Mo Zihao was incredulous. “Hua Manyi, do you know who you are?! If your parents knew you were doing this, have you considered how they would feel? Where would they put their face?!”

“You don’t need to remind me!” Hua Manyi hated people like him the most—busybody. “Mo Zihao, you saw it. My family is gone. No one is willing to take me in. Besides, it’s just being a dancer. I haven’t done anything shameful!”

“You!”

“You’re coming back with me!” Mo Zihao had a headache. He couldn’t reason with this pampered girl.

“Going back where?” Hua Manyi was startled and quickly broke free. “Mo Zihao, you’re just my junior high classmate, after all. You have no right to control me!”

A black Ford drove up from the intersection.

Uncle Fu was driving in front. Through the windshield, he saw a man and a woman entangled not far away. “Madam, that looks like Miss Hua Manyi…”

Gong Yan slowly rolled down the car window and looked. That figure really was the pampered girl.

The Ford drove past and stopped in front of the two.

“You’re so annoying! Mo Zihao, are you my father? Why are you so nosy?!”

After Hua Manyi yelled, she pulled her hand away from him. Unexpectedly, she pulled too hard and landed on the ground on her butt, scattering the bag she was carrying to the side.

“Ouch—that hurts.”

Hua Manyi quickly rubbed her still-perky butt. These blue stone bricks were cold and hard. Landing on them like that felt like her bones might shatter.

“Manyi, are you okay?” Mo Zihao reacted and hurried over, trying to help her up. But a pair of tall legs stood beside Hua Manyi one step ahead of him. She wore a stylish qipao, with an expensive mink cape draped over her shoulders. Her mature and refined wavy hairstyle made her look lazy and opulent. If one didn’t know better, they would think she was a wealthy (madam).

“Who are you?” Mo Zihao hesitated.

Gong Yan glanced at him, then looked down at the woman at her feet, and sneered, “Did you come out to find a wild man when you felt wronged?”

Hua Manyi paused in her butt-rubbing. “???”

Mo Zihao quickly explained, “Madam, don’t talk nonsense! Hua Manyi and I are innocent!”

“Mother Gong, what are you saying?” Hua Manyi struggled to stand up, sorted out her thoughts, and finally understood the meaning of the sentence. She asked in disbelief, “Are you suspecting me of finding a wild man?”

Gong Yan looked at the increasingly wronged young woman in front of her, her brows slightly furrowed, on the verge of crying again.

“Madam, there might be some misunderstanding…” Uncle Fu couldn’t bear to watch and kindly offered a reminder.

“Hua Manyi, I…” Gong Yan also realized she had gone too far. She reached out to comfort her, but the next moment, Hua Manyi bit her lower lip, squatted down, buried her face, and burst into loud sobs.

“Hua Manyi.” Gong Yan got a headache from the crying. “I was wrong. I shouldn’t have said that to you. Get up.”

Anyone who didn’t know would think she had done something awful to her.

The little woman on the ground was still crying, weeping miserably. Mo Zihao couldn’t stand it. “Hua Manyi, who is this woman? She just curses people out of the blue. Come back with me. Don’t bother with people like her.”

Saying that, Mo Zihao tried to pull her up. Uncle Fu blocked Mo Zihao. “Miss Hua Manyi is already our madam’s person. Please don’t interfere, young master.”

Mo Zihao: “What do you mean she’s your person?”

“Are you people from that cabaret?” Mo Zihao remembered that Hua Manyi was a dancer at that cabaret, so this woman must be the proprietress.

“Tell me, how much is the ransom (money to buy freedom)?” Mo Zihao looked at Gong Yan with disdain.

But no one paid attention to him.

Gong Yan sighed, bent down, and pulled her up. “Hua Manyi, I was wrong this time. I’ll have someone settle your wages from last night’s performance.”

“…Really?” Although Hua Manyi was a bit suspicious, she still stood up with her help. Probably because she had been squatting, she was a bit unsteady and swayed, leaning into the woman in front of her. Her face pressed against the soft, luxurious mink cape, and her arms wrapped around the other party’s slender, graceful waist.

Time indeed spares a beautiful woman.

Her figure was so well-maintained.

There was a faint fragrance, along with a pleasant smell of smoke.

Hua Manyi’s face flushed slightly as she stepped back from Gong Yan’s embrace, not forgetting the most important thing. “…Will you really pay me my wages?”

Gong Yan nodded helplessly. “…It’s getting late. Let’s go back.”

Hua Manyi burst into a smile. “Wait a minute, Sister Fuling hasn’t come back yet. She went to Manxiu Hall.”

“Get in the car first.”

“Oh.”

Hua Manyi obediently got into the car, sitting next to Gong Yan. The car was indeed much warmer.

“Hua Manyi, you’re going back with her?!” Mo Zihao couldn’t believe Hua Manyi would make such a choice.

Hearing the shout, Hua Manyi looked out the window, pursed her lips, and turned to the woman beside her. “Um… Mother Gong, can you lend me three silver dollars first?”

Gong Yan: “…”

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