Life Going Wild With Plug-ins

Chapter 38 - Your caretaker1 joins the team.


These past few days, I’ve become more and more aware that the Disabled Person’s Association has a serious degree of inability to take care of itself.

Our daily circumstances were like this, Ye Tan lay paralysed on the bed, having difficulties eating a meal by himself. Ever since I hit Ye Xiao and the other, Ye Tan won’t let anyone else feed him, and insists on doing it himself every time. I’ve always been democratic, so I let him.

I sat at the table, trying really hard to practise using chopsticks, scattering peanuts and soybeans all over the floor.

Both Heng and Shu crouched on the ground, picking up everything I dropped and returning it so I could try again.

Ye Xiao patiently sat next to Ye Lan, pulling him by the hand and pointing at everyone in the room one by one: “This is our Master, this is our boss, this is A-Heng, this is A-Shu. Do you remember?”

Ye Lan: “I don’t remember.”


......

I’m just, very worried.


Ye Tan put the bowl down, and said: “Master, this subordinate doesn’t have any major problems anymore. When are we leaving?”

I waved my hand: “Forget it, we’re not in a hurry, we can stay here for a time.”


Since we were preparing to stay a long time, I didn’t want to always stay at the inn. I dragged Ye Xiao outside to rent out a small place called Yun Garden, it overlooked the Yang lake and you could pick lotuses just outside, the courtyard wasn’t big, but it was neat and tidy. There was a row of small rooms inside, I gave one to both Heng and Shu, one to Ye Xiao and Ye Lan, and one to Ye Tan and me, and I’ll give the leftover room to the maidservant.

Speaking about a maidservant, I really don’t know where to buy one, and Ye Xiao also doesn’t know, he only said that if there were people on the street with rice straw2 , they were usually from impoverished households selling their daughters. But we we went to the streets to look around, and were unable to find any, so I held a little disdain towards this backwards and inefficient economic model.

At noon, we asked around at a wonton stand and the shop assistant told us that in the West Market, there were a few women selling rouge powder who also worked as slave-traders3 , and they had the means to introduce us to a young lady. We cheerfully thanked them, and swung towards the direction of the West Market.

Halfway through the journey, I saw a woman standing behind a vendor’s stand, she had her hands on her hips and was scolding a dirty-looking small girl whose clothes were covered in patches. The small girl looked just about teen-aged, she should be in her lively years, but her head and face were filthy with grime, her wrists had rows of red and green scratches, and she obediently lowered her head as he was scolded, tightly biting her lips and not uttering a sound.

Ye Xiao went up and asked: “Are you Second Sister-in-law Xu?”

The woman turned and looked him up and down: “Do you need something?”

Ye Xiao said: “My boss has a vacancy for a servant girl.”

A large smile spread across Second Sister Xu’s face: “By happy coincidence, this one is precisely a servant girl, she came over a few days ago and has been waiting for you.” As she spoke she moved forwards, pulling that small girl along and pushing her in front of us.

I have always been blunt, so I asked: “How much.”

“As it happens, this girl is skilled, her cooking is better than that of our cooks here, and she is also diligent, so she won’t be cheap. Don’t be fooled by her dirty appearance, her face is pretty good.....” As the woman spoke, she spat out a mouthful of saliva on her face, and hurriedly used her sleeve to wipe it off, exposing fair skin underneath the dust, “Look, quite handsome....”

“.....so, how much?” I repeated.

Second Sister Xu turned to look at me, and after careful deliberation said: “Four taels.”

“.....” Surprising.

Second Sister Xu saw that I didn’t answer, and hurriedly began to market her, saying how she was so clever and thoughtful, washed clothes quickly and neatly, and wouldn’t be a loss.

I blankly interrupted her: “This is too cheap, do you want to raise the price....”

Ye Xiao smacked me with great alarm: “We’ll go with her!!” And recklessly pulled open my lapel, fishing out some banknotes and counting four taels, and slipping them to the woman, then stuffing the rest back into my arms.


Is this guy getting more shameless?!

In any case, I’m the master right?! Shouldn’t I say when to take it out?!


Second Sister Xu also didn’t expect that she would be able to settle this so easily, she pushed the small girl towards us, pulled out a contract and, after signing, let us leave with her.

The small girl had originally been hanging her head as she was scolded, but ever since she heard me say that she was too cheap, she had been angrily staring at me, her small fists clenched tightly.

“What is your name?” I asked.

“I was born during the Qiqiao Festival, so I’m called Qiqi.” The small girl said.

I looked at the injuries on her arms, exposed between the broken sleeves, and guessed her legs would be the same, she was young and skinny, and I didn’t have the heart to make her follow us on foot, so I asked: “We still have a few things to buy in town before going back, you don’t need to come with us, should I hire a cab to take you back first?”

“You don’t need to have pity on me.” Qiqi clenched her teeth.

I thought about it, and said to Ye Xiao: “Then you carry her.”

Just like he had refused the small dull sword, Ye Xiao refused her: “Don’t want to, she’s filthy, I just got these clothes.....”

Hearing this, Qiqi ground her teeth, her small face becoming even more pale, and I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry: “I’ll just buy you some more.”

Ye Xiao changed his tone like turning the pages of a book: “Ok, then. Small girl, come on up.”

Qiqi stood blankly.

I patted her shoulder: “It will be winter soon, how will you be alright with an unlined dress? You also need a few more items, we can get them along with everything else.”

Ye Xiao saw that she didn’t move and became impatient again, grabbing her by the collar and throwing her onto his back, causing Qiqi to cry out in surprise.

I was so angry I threw a chestnut at him: “You being crude towards me is fine, but if you also make a ruckus for this young girl, sooner or later I’ll fire you.”


We found a respectable-looking tailor’s shop, and bought about a dozen or so ready-made clothes that would fit Ye Xiao and Qiqi’s sizes. Thinking that Ye Tan hasn’t worn good clothes with me, I thought it was a little pitiful, so I made an appointment with the tailor to come by some other day and get measured. Qiqi was wearing thin clothes, and her hands and feet were turning blue with the cold, I wanted her to change into her new clothes before going back, but she refused. I had no other way, so I took of my coat and wrapped her in it. She didn’t refuse this, just stood as if she was stunned.

We went out of the tailor’s shop, and went to go buy food as usual. Ever since Ye Xiao arrived, my everyday snack amounts suddenly tripled, and I felt even more like a useless person as I spent every day just buying snacks.

We bought a large packet, and I accidentally discovered Qiqi fixedly staring at some candied haws, I’ve always disliked those greasy, toothache-causing things, so I’ve only had them once. I asked: “Do you like candied haws?”

Qiqi was ambiguous: “I’ve never eaten them, how could I know if they taste good or not.”

“They don’t taste good.” I said.

Qiqi was somewhat disappointed, and she pouted.

After I spoke, I took a skewer and handed it to her, and Qiqi was shocked: “You, didn’t you say it doesn’t taste good?”

“Right, but if you don’t eat it how could you really know that it doesn’t taste good?” I believed I was being very reasonable.

“You’re strange.....” Qiqi muttered, then impatiently put a haw in her mouth, licking it for a bit, then complaining: “Liar, it’s obviously delicious.”

I couldn’t help but be terrified: “I’m done for, the future cook’s taste is so different from mine, you shouldn’t serve candied haws as a meal, alright?”

Qiqi suddenly burst into laughter and scolded: “Idiot.”

Ye Xiao took advantage of the situation and also mocked: “Hahahahahahahaha.”


.....sooner or later I’m going to fire these two people, that’s right, the two of them.


By the time we strolled back it was already sunset, the Yun Garden was already properly tidied up, so we picked up Ye Tan from the inn, I called A-Heng to invite two doctors to come stay at the garden temporarily, and sent A-Shu to the Sword Pavilion in Moling to deliver a batch of silver and an address letter to Jun Luoshu. I could finally be considered as having my own residence, and doing work was a lot easier.

Ye Tan saw the garden had been put in order, and asked: “Master, do you really want to stay here a long time?”

“You’ve been in a bit of a hurry to leave recently, for the time being just rest until your injuries get better, and you can get back to practising wugong. Now that Ye Xiao and Ye Lan are here, they can keep you company and spar with you, I’m sure you’ll find them a little useful.” His complexion had improved a lot in recent days, and I was very happy, “I invited a specialist doctor for you, so I’m sure your recovery will go even better than before.”

Ye Tan declined: “Master has already done enough, and now the guards also have other people to protect, there is no need to spend so much on this subordinate.....”

“What are you saying, these guards are here to protect you and let you feel at ease while you recover.” Next to me, everyone was staring, and I blurted out without thinking, “When you recover your power, if you don’t want them anymore.....”

Ye Xiao was alarmed: “Wow boss you are really going to burn this bridge! You’re such a heartless person!”

I resentfully said: “I’ve been wanting to fire you for a few days now and you’re only realising today?!”

Ye Xiao evidently said: “That’s right.”


Ye Tan was stunned, and his face turned a little red: “You.... you....”

But after that you he didn’t say anything for a long time.


Ye Xiao was deeply hurt and disappointed, but he still didn’t forget to pull Ye Lan over to recognise people: “Look, this is A-Heng, this is A-Shu, this is our boss, this is a heartless, untrustworthy scum. Do you remember?”

Ye Lan: “I don’t remember.”

Ye Xiao: “Then, as long as you remember that this one is a heartless, untrustworthy scum....”


I jumped on Ye Xiao, pushed him onto the table, and hit him, furthermore I also revoked his snacking privileges for today.


Qiqi had gone to take a bath as soon as we returned, and had now changed into her new clothes and come back, her hair that was tangled up during the day was also now gracefully tied up into a gentle pigtail, and she was almost like a different person, her big, round eyes were bright and intelligent. When the woman had said that she looked cute, she was actually not wrong.

I called her over to sit down, and let Doctor Lu examine her, he turned and said: “These are all scratches, you can just leave them alone for a few days and the swelling will go down, maids do a lot of manual labour so these things are common, if you’re worried about it you can apply some incense ash and it should be fine.”

I wasn’t satisfied: “How does that work, we should be using medicine.”

Doctor Lu changed his tune: “Then I will take some yellow skullcap, decoct it for a quarter of an hour over a low flame, and apply it to the wounds, they will be fine before a couple of days.”

I nodded: “Thank you for your trouble.”


That evening, dinner was extremely lively, I was sitting in such a narrow space alongside so many people that I got a terrible headache.

I sent the group of buffoons off and went to take a bath, then hurriedly climbed on Ye Tan’s bed to replenish my energy.

He saw that I was exhausted, and lightly rubbed my forehead for me: “Is Master tired?”

I rubbed myself into his arms: “Yes, there are a lot of people and it’s really troublesome to deal with them.”

I reminisced about the times when it was just Ye Tan and I, and I had never spent so much energy.

Ye Tan hesitated: “.....this subordinate might disturb your rest, it would be better to send this subordinate to another room, now that there are a lot more rooms there is no need to crowd in together.....”

Hearing this, I tugged at his hand and held it tightly: “I’m already used to hugging you.”

Ye Tan didn’t answer me for a while.

I again spoke in a daze: “Before, on those two days that I was captured, at night I always felt like something was missing in my arms.....”

Even though those bedclothes were made of the best material, I still couldn’t fall asleep peacefully.

Ye Tan was silent for a moment, and asked: “Master, just now you said that you were going to fire them in the future....”

I had to fight to keep my eyelids open, so I struggled to say: “Yes, I recently discovered I don’t like when there’s a lot of people. If they want to, they can go back to Moling and live there.... having just A-Tan by my side is enough.”

Hearing this, Ye Tan turned sideways to face me and, in an extremely rare sight, took the initiative to hug me.

This position was a lot more comfortable, so I fell into a deep sleep a short time later.

 

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1 飼主 lit. the one in charge of feeding/raising. Could also be translated as owner, it refers to someone who owns and cares for an animal, e.g. a pet owner.Top.

2 From what I could find, in ancient times straw was used to mark things that were for sale since not everyone could read, so when people wanted to sell themselves into servitude they would hold or even stick straw on their head.Top.

3 牙婆 lit. tooth-woman. Generally speaking, these kinds of women specialised in the trade of people, not just servants but also concubines and performers, for example.Top.