20demayo Chapter 555 Landslide?
Chapter 555 Landslide?
"The Li family mother and daughter lived in the cellar for a while until the officers and soldiers finalized the case and gave up the investigation completely.
Even so, they could only come out of the cellar, and still could not leave the courtyard. The eldest daughter of the Li family had strict family education, "never leave the front door, never step out of the back door", and as the mistress of the Li family, Mrs. Li had to socialize, and many people in the capital knew her.
It’s Li Qianqian. It’s not like no one has ever seen her.
All the men in the family were exiled, and the mother and daughter couldn't even leave the city gate, nor could they go out to see people. They could only rely on Yu Mo to send them food and things so that they could live in the small courtyard.
Li Qianqian never expected that the courtesan who her father described as "self-degrading" and "without any dignity" would actually become the support for her and her daughter to survive.
Time flies, and five years have passed in a flash. The Li family of that time has long been forgotten.
That day, Yu Mo appeared in the courtyard again with a basket. When he opened the basket, he found that it was not filled with vegetable seeds, food ingredients, or clothing materials, but some things needed for fake makeup, as well as the indentures of the two Hua Niangs.
In the past few years, without servants to serve her, Mrs. Li made fire and cooked, sowed and watered the vegetables by herself. She was darker than before, and had a few more lines than before.
Girls change a lot when they grow up, and Li Qianqian has also shed her childishness and become an adult. (In order to play an underage girl, Zhang Ziyun deliberately gained 15 pounds just to have a small round face and look younger. Before this scene, Zhang Ziyun lost the 15 pounds as quickly as possible on the set, and the makeup artist no longer gave her a youthful makeup, but restored Zhang Ziyun's original appearance. Therefore, in the play, Li Qianqian has really changed a lot in the past five years. Not to mention that not many people have seen Li Qianqian, even if people who know her see Li Qianqian, they may not recognize her, but they may think that there is a little resemblance between her eyebrows and eyes.)
Yu Mo put makeup on the mother and daughter of the Li family, removing moles where necessary and changing makeup where necessary. People who knew the two Hua Niangs before could tell that they were not, but their appearance could match the documents.
Yu Mo originally wanted to give them the indentures, so that the Li family mother and daughter could leave the capital and go to a place where no one knew them, settle down, forget the past, and start a new life.
Li Qianqian was unwilling to do so. She knew that Yu Mo wanted to overturn her father's case, and Li Qianqian wanted to do the same.
Even if she couldn't do it, Yu Mo had helped them so much, she couldn't just walk away with a clear conscience. At least, she had to stay and help Yu Mo.
Li Qianqian didn't want to leave, and Mrs. Li didn't want to leave either.
Yu Mo hesitated to speak, looked at Li Qianqian's sincere eyes, and nodded in agreement.
Li Qianqian could stay, but Madam Li couldn't. There were too many people in the capital who knew Madam Li. Madam Li hesitated again and again, and in order not to hinder her daughter, she agreed to leave with tears in her eyes.
Yu Mo arranged for a man to take Madam Li to the government with her indenture. The man claimed that he was the lover of Huaqiao (the name of the woman who committed suicide). Huaqiao was old and her value had dropped. He bought her freedom and planned to take her back to her hometown to live a good life.
"You are a thoughtful person." The official laughed sarcastically. This was not the first time such a thing happened. He did not doubt it and accepted the silver coins given by the man as a gift without making any trouble for them.
Someone in "Huaqiao" redeemed himself, changed his status from a slave to a citizen, changed his name, and successfully left the capital.
Li Qianqian stayed in the capital under the identity of Hua Niang Nian Tao.
Qianqian was too beautiful. In order to avoid being noticed in the brothel, she applied gardenia to her face, leaving an ugly bruise on her face. (The play said that there was a large bruise on her face, which ruined her appearance. In fact, for the audience's perception, it was only a patch on the side of her forehead, which was almost invisible because of her bangs. In the later plot, a customer of the brothel took a fancy to Qianqian and wanted to forcefully violate her. When he saw the bruise on her forehead during the struggle, he immediately lost interest. Later, everyone knew that the maid of the "mother" of Baihualou had a large bruise on her face and was an "ugly girl". Even the flower lady in the brothel called her an ugly girl.)
Yu Mo has been in trouble for many years and has experienced a lot. Now he is very considerate in his work. Li Qianqian took Nian Tao's identity, but many people in the flower house knew Nian Tao, so she could not use Nian Tao's name to enter Baihualou.
Yu Mo pretended to take Li Qianqian to the clinic for treatment, claiming that "Xiao Tao" had a headache before and believed the quack doctor's lies, so she applied gardenia on her face, but now she can't wash it off.
The old doctor examined the "illness" and said that this thing might disappear over time.
Yu Mo took the medical bill from a regular pharmacy and sold Nian Tao. The reason was that Nian Tao's face was disfigured and he didn't know if she could be healed. There was no point in keeping her in the brothel.
It took a year, several changes of hands, and several names before she finally used the name 'Sunny Day', entered a brothel, and became Yu Mo's personal maid.
Li Qianqian entered the brothel and became Yu Mo's confidant, only then did she find out why Yu Mo had the chance to leave the brothel but did not.
Baihua Tower is simply a huge intelligence station.
With official backgrounds, even the wives of officials who were implicated by their families and were labeled as prostitutes were sent to Baihualou. In such places, the girls were beautiful and talented, and the fees were high. The peddlers and hawkers could not even enter the door. This also meant that the people who could come here to spend money were either wealthy businessmen or court officials.
When drunk and excited, people relax, but some can't control their mouth.
Back then, the Ninth Prince was interested in Yu Mo, and even more interested in the throne. In order to overturn the verdict for his father, Yu Mo willingly became the Ninth Prince's man.
Step by step, she took advantage of the Ninth Prince's power to become an Oiran, and became the 'mother' in this building, collecting information and intelligence for the Ninth Prince in the brothel.
Unfortunately, the old emperor had a short life span. Although the Ninth Prince had ambitions, he had just established his own intelligence network, which was not yet perfect and powerful enough. Among the princes, he was neither the eldest nor the eldest, and had no one in the court. He was no match for the First and Second Princes. He had no power to compete, so he could only hide temporarily and plan for the future.
Li Qianqian and Yu Mo have the same goal. Although they know that the hope is slim, they are still trying to collect intelligence for the Ninth Prince and bet on the future.
The plot of the next dozen episodes will revolve around Li Qianqian and Yu Mo cooperating with each other to collect intelligence... "
Entering the main storyline, the plot becomes more exciting. The drama "Wind and Bones" has gained a good reputation as expected, with an opening score of 8.0. Many people watched this drama through the recommendation of others.
Sen's "new company" has finally fired the first shot in the film and television industry.
But Zhao Qin was still not satisfied. Perhaps it was because the leading actor's appeal was not enough. "Wind and Bone" had a very good reputation, and many people who had watched it would recommend it online, and the ratings were rising steadily. But the starting point was low, and the speed of climbing was not fast.
Zhao Qin was about to give up. The drama showed that Li Qianqian had been collecting intelligence for the Ninth Prince for several years, but the new emperor's throne was becoming more and more stable. She was a little confused.
I couldn’t sleep, so I just sat in the yard staring at the moon.
“I was confused once too.”
Yu Mo saw that Qian Qian was not in a good state, and sat down beside her. "You know, my father is not an honest official. But I am obsessed with overturning his case. Even the Ninth Prince said that I am ridiculous. But they don't understand that there is a kind of greed in this world, called greed.
If the water is too clear, there will be no fish. Even the Minister of Revenue is greedy. My father is just a small vice minister. If he is not greedy, we cannot rest assured. Although my father and Uncle Li were classmates, they are different. Your ancestors have been high officials, and they have been scholars for generations. My father is a farmer's son. It was not easy for him to climb to the position of vice minister with caution and hard work. He did not have the backbone of Uncle Li.
He was greedy. But others were greedy for 100 taels, but he only dared to be greedy for 10 taels. He just wanted to be gregarious and not be excluded. As a result, someone found that millions of military pay had disappeared over the years, and he, who only wanted to be gregarious, was pushed out to take the blame and became a "big corrupt official" who embezzled military pay.
My father was beheaded and put on display in public. My mother, who was already pregnant, was hit by the soldiers who were raiding the house and died of heavy bleeding. The men in the Yu family were exiled and the women became slaves. I hated him, hated him for colluding with corrupt officials, hated him for causing the family to fall apart and end up like this.
I didn’t understand at that time, and naively thought that if my father was as upright as Uncle Li, the Yu family would not have ended up like this…”
"you are wrong."
Li Qianqian smiled bitterly, Yu Mo tilted his head slightly and leaned on Qianqian's shoulder, "Yes, I was wrong.
It turns out that even someone as innocent and upright as Uncle Li would also be confiscated and exiled."
It was rare to see Sister Yu so vulnerable. Li Qianqian grabbed Yu Mo's hand and squeezed it hard, as if to give her strength.
Yu Mo leaned on Qian Qian's shoulder, held her hand and continued, "I depended on the Ninth Prince, and I had hoped that he could succeed to the throne and overturn my father's case. I no longer have parents, and all I want is to clear my father's grievances and that the rest of my Yu family will not suffer in that place of exile.
I know that the Ninth Prince is not a good choice, but I have no other choice. He is interested in me, so I have hope of survival. The current emperor is a military general. Although he is not talented enough, he has thunderous means. His throne is getting more and more stable, and the Ninth Prince's hope is getting slimmer and slimmer.
But I have no other choice. As a woman, I am bound by society. When we were ladies, we had no choice, let alone now that we have become a slave..."
Yu Mo originally wanted to persuade Qian Qian, but the more he spoke, the more sad he became. His eyes could no longer hold back the tears that were welling up, and they slowly slid down the corners of his eyes.
There was a wetness on her shoulders, but Qian Qian didn't look back. She tilted her head back, not wanting to let the tears fall. Her eyes were red after all. Despite trying to control it, there was still a sadness in her voice: "No matter how slim the hope is, it is still hope."
"Yes, hope is still hope no matter how slim it is."
Yu Mo responded softly.
They all knew that hope was slim, but it was better to have hope than no hope. If they had ended up in a brothel, the more stubborn ones might have hanged themselves long ago. They could only live bravely if they held on to hope. Qianqian still had both her parents alive, but Yu Mo's parents were already dead. If she had no hope for the future, she would have no desire to live."
That night, the two girls in the play snuggled up to each other and relied on each other.
That night, CCTV news reported that a "landslide" of corruption had occurred in a certain city.
The local deputy mayor, the director of the Public Security Bureau, the secretary of the Political Consultative Conference and more than a dozen others were put under investigation...