Subdued By The Beautiful Cry Baby - Chapter 2

Miss Wei Si, smiling pleasantly, with a face so beautiful it would stir the heart of any mortal, spoke words that were utterly wicked.

Her fingers were slender and fair, and her fingertips were warm. Yu Zhi had never felt the gentle warmth of jade, but she imagined that the Fourth Miss’s finger warmth must be better than the finest quality warm jade.

The person before her was her great benefactor from her previous life, who had given them a meal and saved her mother and herself from starving. The person before her was also the noble person in this life who could save her and her mother from their misery.

However, the words “selling herself” went around in her mind, and Yu Zhi somehow found the courage to push away the beautiful and noble Fourth Miss. Her chest heaved, and her small face turned pale with fright, but she also suddenly blushed when she saw the clear, puzzled gaze of Wei Pingxi.

She thought: How can a woman become a woman’s concubine?

The rumors were indeed true Miss Wei Si loved women.

“Unwilling?”

Miss Wei Si returned to her usual gentle and smooth tone. She was stunningly beautiful and unbelievably strange in temperament, often smiling harmlessly one moment and ready to draw a sword the next.

She wouldn’t be so venomous as to strike down a weak woman like Yu Zhi, but she was noticeably less warm than before.

Her eyes cooled, chilling like a piece of ice, slowly emanating cold air.

“Then scram.”

She annoyedly pulled out a handkerchief to wipe her fair fingers.

Yu Zhi’s throat tightened at her action, and she felt hurt wiping her fingers, was it because she had touched herself with that finger just now, and she found her dirty?

She stood there like a little fool. Wei Pingxi grit her teeth, silently scolding: Is she really not afraid that I might lose my mind and devour her?

“Still not leaving?”

Being chased away repeatedly, just because she didn’t comply with her wishes, Yu Zhi had a shallow taste of her fickle and domineering nature and was left speechless.

The maidservant who had led her into the private courtyard earlier waited outside, head bowed.

A servant brought clean water for the Fourth Miss to wash her hands. Yu Zhi saw her leisurely lift her eyelids amidst her busyness, and she anxiously lowered her head, which elicited a laugh.

“If you don’t want to leave, then stay. Be my woman, and I will definitely not treat you unfairly.”

Wei Pingxi patiently advised with a gentle tone.

Yu Zhi had the courage of a sesame seed. Her neck flushed pink when she was laughed at, and she rushed out the door in a panic.

The moment she stepped out, Wei Pingxi’s face darkened, and with a clang, the copper basin fell to the floor. Startled by the sudden noise, Yu Zhi fled outward as if escaping.

It was a good thing the maidservant was guiding her; otherwise, she might not have known how to get out of this vast ‘maze.’

“Come back!”

The shout was infused with deep internal energy. The Fourth Miss was so angry she laughed instead, raising her hand to brush off the water droplets clinging to her clothes.

The surrounding maidservants quickly rushed to tidy her appearance. Some knelt to wipe her boots, others used a handkerchief to wipe her face, a flurry of beauties, plump and slender.

The Fourth Miss, surrounded by beauties, looked ethereal and beautiful, distant and cold.

Once she was completely presentable, Yu Zhi, who had left, was respectfully ‘invited’ back by the maidservant.

A twenty-three-year-old woman, who had mostly only sold flowers on the street, hadn’t seen much of the world. Seeing the Fourth Miss’s beautiful face as dark as water again, she was so frightened her legs trembled, and her face lost color.

Wei Pingxi had genuinely never seen such a timid person, and she was so frustrated that her anger dissipated.

She was genuinely worried that if her temper flared up, she might accidentally scare this rare ‘beautiful sight’ to death.

The annoyance of not getting what she wanted was strangely extinguished.

She softened her expression and spoke softly, with the demeanor of a celestial being comforting a mortal: “What are you panicking about? Why the hurry to leave? You came to me, would I let you come for nothing?”

When she spoke this time, her gestures and actions had the exact same approachable nature as in her previous life, which genuinely confused Yu Zhi.

Happy, she was one way; angry, she was another.

The Fourth Miss switched between joy and anger so skillfully that it truly frightened her.

“Someone!”

Maidservants dressed in red and green crossed the threshold, carrying a wooden tray. Neatly stacked silver ingots were presented before Yu Zhi.

“A gift for you. Take as much as you can.”

Yu Zhi was dazzled by the silver and remained motionless, lips pursed.

The Fourth Miss, playing the role of a good person for once, was not being appreciated, and she became annoyed: “It’s a free gift. Are you taking it or not?”

“I don’t want your silver.”

“You are so stubborn!”

Wei Pingxi stepped forward, grabbed two silver ingots, and shoved them into her palm: “Whether you want it or not, you must take it. I am giving you silver, not asking for your gratitude, but if you spoil my mood, you will suffer the consequences!”

Yu Zhi had her palm pried open and silver stuffed into it, and her eyes immediately reddened: “How can you be so unreasonable? I don’t want your silver, and I won’t be your concubine…”

From the first sentence, Wei Pingxi had heard that she had a good voice. Now, the beautiful woman tremblingly accused her of being unreasonable with a crying voice, her willow-leaf eyes no different from a rabbit’s, reminiscent of a brilliant red gem.

Seeing her like this, Wei Pingxi truly felt a little reluctant to let her go.

If she kept her without making her do anything else, just listening to her cry all day long would be nice too.

Her thoughts spun. Yu Zhi, holding the silver, wanted to throw it back at her. The Fourth Miss regained her senses and immediately laughed in anger: “Dare to throw it back at me, and you’ll stay here tonight.”

After speaking, she unceremoniously glared at Yu Zhi twice, glaring until Yu Zhi trembled and withdrew the action of throwing the silver.

Quite fun.

Wei Pingxi’s lips curved up slightly.

“Alright, you can go. If you don’t leave soon, I won’t bear to let you go.”

It was still the same soft, seductive tone. Yu Zhi didn’t fall for her trick, wanting to glare back, but lacked the nerve.

Wei Pingxi suppressed a smile and put the two silver ingots into the cloth pouch at her waist, speaking like an adult instructing a child, rambling: “Keep it safe. Don’t show your wealth, lest someone steals it.”

“…”

As if satisfying a craving, her fingertip quickly brushed past Yu Zhi’s slender willow waist, which startled Yu Zhi, causing her eyes to widen. She held her cloth pouch tightly and ran out.

The leading maidservant quickly followed.

With a fragile and easily bullied beauty having slipped through her fingers, Wei Pingxi lost her amusement. The maidservants watched her expression, preparing tea and pouring water for her.

Spreading out the rice paper, the Fourth Miss, with her fair finger, gripped the jade penholder, not even raising her head: “Go and invite ‘Yan Ji’ over.”

She smiled thoughtfully: “This miss wants to paint legs today.”

The maidservant blushed and dutifully took her leave.

‘Yan Ji’ was not the name of one person, but a collective name for a group of people.

The Fourth Miss had bought them out of brothels from various places, specifically for her to paint.

Some had a pair of breasts that were round and pleasing, were favored by her, bought back, and kept in the Juanxin Courtyard. Some had slender and graceful waists, and were also bought with heavy money and kept there.

Miss Wei Si herself was a figure of jade beauty and immortal grace, and she was never lacking in beautiful women around her. Even the maidservants who served her tea and water in the courtyard were definitely not the ‘commonplace vulgarity’ that outsiders spoke of.

Her hobbies were wide ranging, and she often lost interest after researching a certain field to a certain extent.

The only thing that hadn’t faded over the years was painting.

The Fourth Miss wanted to paint legs, so the girl with the most beautiful pair of legs among the women in the courtyard was invited in.

Calming incense burned in the studio. The maidservants on both sides led the person in and served the Miss’s painting session according to the rules.

‘Yan Ji,’ with a pair of beautiful, bare legs stepping on the wool carpet, had her gaze almost glued to the Fourth Miss. Wei Pingxi smiled playfully at her: “Stunned?”

“Fourth Miss…”

The seductive, gentle tone typical of a brothel girl trying to entice a guest.

Wei Pingxi immediately sobered her smile, her brows slightly furrowed.

‘Yan Ji’ wisely dared not flirt with her further, despite spreading her legs wide for the Fourth Miss to paint to her heart’s content.

With so many women kept in the back courtyard, the Fourth Miss was abstinent and didn’t touch a single one. At most, when the mood struck, she would paint their legs this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Among so many women, who wouldn’t want to lure the Fourth Miss into bed?

Only by truly becoming the Fourth Miss’s woman would the beginning of immense wealth commence.

In Lin’nan Prefecture’s Wei family, even the dogs raised in their courtyard were respected by the local officials, let alone a legitimate daughter.

Everyone said Miss Wei Si was unfavored and had a strange temperament. Her strange temperament was true, but as for being unfavored… what unfavored person could spend a thousand gold pieces at will?

‘Yan Ji’ looked at the Fourth Miss with fascination, thinking a thousand times. The Fourth Miss is truly beautiful. Her eyebrows, her eyes, are fatally alluring.

Cool and detached like a fairy, yet sometimes gentle as water, smiling ambiguously, and changing moods faster than flipping a book. And if she turned bad, she would recklessly unleash her charm. A pair of phoenix eyes how many people had ‘died’ under the occasional soft gleam of her eyes.

A delicate, long thread of longing flowed from her mouth. ‘Yan Ji’ thought of her until her throat was dry, her face flushed, and her eyes were misty.

Unfortunately, Wei Pingxi paid no attention, her mind preoccupied with the timid girl who had just left.

Yu Zhi.

She stopped painting.

“Fourth Miss?”

The woman standing before the desk had an incomprehensible meaning hidden in her eyes, and her delicate lips lifted into a soft, graceful smile.

Tea water was poured onto the three-inch-long jade penholder. In the fourth lunar month, it emitted a faint warmth. The pen, washed by water, became lustrous and bright, showing the flawlessness of the jade.

“Fourth Miss…”

‘Yan Ji’ called out gently again, clutching her throat, like a cat in heat.

In this situation, Wei Pingxi laughed, unromanticly.

When passing the restless cat, the jade pen was effortlessly inserted. Though smiling, her tone turned cold, like ice that wouldn’t melt in the winter sun.

“Hold it in your mouth, and don’t let it drool again.”

‘Yan Ji’ was so ashamed she wanted to disappear, yet so terrified by her cold attitude that she dared not move.

Wei Pingxi walked out of the studio without a glance, high and elegant, her figure graceful and beautiful.

“Someone!”

“Fourth Miss.”

“By my command, go and invite the physician Yao Chenzi to Lin’nan Prefecture. Give him whatever he asks for, with this one condition: I must see him within half a month.”

“Yes! Fourth Miss!”

Miss Wei Si was very skilled at winning people over, and many martial arts heroes were willing to be commanded by her.

The renowned divine physician Yao Chenzi also owed the Fourth Miss a great favor.

The Great Yan region was vast, and Yao Chenzi’s whereabouts were uncertain, wandering everywhere and saving people according to many rules he was not easily summoned.

The friends of eccentric people are often eccentric themselves.

Handing the jade token to her trusted subordinate, Wei Pingxi lightly blinked her eyelashes, her smile beautiful. “Don’t want to owe me? Then let’s wait and see.”

As for Yu Zhi, she left the gates of the Juanxin Courtyard with the silver that person had forced upon her in her cloth pouch.

She hadn’t managed to find a famous doctor for her mother, but instead, she had provoked a person she shouldn’t have. Her eyes were red, and her thoughts were a jumble.

She had met her great benefactor from her previous life, but she hadn’t been able to repay the favor. However, the great benefactor insisted on making her a concubine, which was absolutely impossible.

She wiped away a tear, choking back her tears.

The road ahead was long, and her steps were heavy and weak.

One moment, she wondered why a celestial figure like Miss Wei Si liked women. The next, she lamented that the Fourth Miss had suddenly passed away in her previous life, and how many women had rushed to weep for her when they heard the bad news, heartbroken.

Three or four people had committed suicide out of love, and a small half had fainted from crying.

Even she herself had shed many tears for the Fourth Miss.

After all, without the Fourth Miss’s one meal of kindness back then, she and her mother might have died even before the Fourth Miss.

By her calculations, she had only lived half a year longer than the Fourth Miss in her previous life.

After her mother passed away, she was alone and helpless, and after avoiding them several times, she was still harassed by the local thugs in Liushui Alley. Forced to a dead end, she could only commit suicide to preserve her purity.

Yu Zhi thought of the tears she had shed for the Fourth Miss in her previous life, and then thought of the Fourth Miss she had seen today, and a strange emotion arose in her heart.

She had no time for such idle thoughts. She hurried back to Liushui Alley.

Liushui Alley was remote, the most inconspicuous and dirty slum in Lin’nan Prefecture, mostly inhabited by people of various classes and mixed backgrounds.

As soon as she entered Liushui Alley, Yu Zhi was stopped by a sharp faced woman.

“Oh! Miss Yu, you’re finally back!”