A life of two souls traveling through time

Chapter 481: Madam Li warns the two brothers

It was not until the beginning of winter after the frost that Mu Liang hurried back to Qile City from the capital Liangdu.

"It's not surprising that Miss Liu has always been ahead of the times in her thinking. I just didn't expect Miss Hongqing... Miss Qingqing to be so independent and self-reliant?"

When Li Yunye learned that his sworn brother had returned, he finally felt relieved and hurried to Liangyuan. He then heard from Mu Liang that Hong Qing had refused their financial assistance and couldn't help but smile with joy.

Jiang Siyao has always admired women who dare to be independent and self-reliant. In this world with a strict hierarchy, even with the blessing of her identity as a rich young man Li Yunye, she still does not have the courage to get rid of her dependence on her brother Mu Liang. Hong Qing has ended up like this, but she still wants to be self-reliant, which makes Jiang Siyao admire her. Although she is grateful for Liu Jiangxi's support and encouragement, she can only rely on herself to stand up from the bottom of her heart.

"Now that Qingqing has Miss Liu to accompany her and can support herself with her own skills, I feel more or less relieved." Mu Liang smiled, breathed a sigh of relief, and then handed several banknotes back to his brother and continued, "I have cleared a shelf for her in the shop. I will not charge her rent since most of this year has passed. If her business is good next year, I will charge her a little more based on my share. What do you think?"

"It's up to you to decide on this matter." Li Yunye put away the silver bills on the table and smiled at him.

"There is one more thing you should not be angry about." Mu Liang was silent for a moment, took a sip of tea and continued, "I met Prince Zhao in Liangdu. Although he mentioned the thirty thousand taels, he still made excuses to delay paying it back. I simply gave it to him as a favor. After all, Prince Zhao is now in power because of his meritorious service in suppressing bandits. A famous Li from Jiangnan might as well do him a favor. If he has any problems in the future, he will have another door to ask for help."

"Spending thirty thousand taels to open a door to ask for help, my heart bleeds!" Li Yunye was not angry after hearing this. Several months had passed and he did not expect that King Zhao would really fulfill his promise to pay back the money. But he couldn't help but feel sad when he thought that the thirty thousand taels of silver that the Li family had worked so hard to earn was wasted.

"Next year I'll find a way to earn more for you." Mu Liang looked at his brother's listless look and smiled.

"I believe in Brother Muliang's promise." Li Yunye nodded happily, and then with a bit of curiosity, he sat down next to Muliang and asked in a low voice: "How badly was your sister Qingqing injured? Did the prince not embarrass her later? How did Lady Liu help her get out of Fengqifang?"

Mu Liang told him everything about Hong Qing's experiences in Liangdu City and how she successfully left Fengqifang with the help of Liu Jiangxi. However, when he talked about the injuries on her face, Mu Liang sighed and shook his head. Although they often met in the courtyard, Qing Qing never took off her veil in front of him.

After listening to this, Jiang Siyao naturally admired Liu Jiangxi deeply, and couldn't help but sympathize with Hong Qing's tragic experience. In today's world, it was really pitiful that she had fallen into a brothel since she was a child, but she didn't expect that fate would not let her go.

Although Jiang Siyao had resented Hong Qing because of his sworn brother in the past, one thing is for sure, they all knew each other after all. Moreover, her outstanding dancing skills were so outstanding that even Jiang Siyao, who was also a dancer, felt inferior to her. It was hard not to feel sad and regretful for her to have become like this now.

Unconsciously, Li Yunye had already taken his brother's arm, leaning on his shoulder and sighing repeatedly. Mu Liang then patted the back of his hand and soothed him softly:

"Everything is in the past. Don't be sad anymore. It can be considered a blessing in disguise that Qingqing can leave Fengqifang because of this incident."

"Fengqifang is truly heartless. Even though Hongqing has fallen into such a state, they still offer a ransom of 5,000 taels!" When mentioning Fengqifang, Li Yunye couldn't help but feel sorry for Hongqing.

"A brothel is always a place where business is done, and it is understandable to talk about profit..." Mu Liang sighed helplessly, and suddenly stopped talking at the end. The source of this trouble was the prince, and the most hateful person was the prince, but Mu Liang had to be cautious and not say such words out loud.

"Yes, profit comes first in business. However, Fengqifang has made a lot of money relying on Hong Qing alone over the years. Now that she sees that the other party has lost their value, she has turned against her. What a vicious businessman!" Jiang Siyao also continued to curse along with Mu Liang's words. She is also a businessman now, so she naturally agrees that profit is the most important thing in business. However, no matter how important profit is, one must still retain some conscience.

"But the most hateful one is that pervert..." Before Li Yunye could continue speaking, Mu Liang quickly raised his hand to cover his mouth.

"Cough cough!"

At the same time, Madam Li suddenly appeared at the door of the room, and happened to see the two brothers clinging to each other affectionately, and she couldn't help but frowning. She had heard the servants joking about the close relationship between the two young masters in the family before, but she didn't take it to heart. Her son liked to stick to his sworn brother when he was a child. Now that the two brothers have grown up, they can still love and support each other, which is a good thing. After all, how can Li Guang, a famous figure in Jiangnan, rely on his son Yunye's frail body to support him?

However, when Mrs. Li witnessed their unusual behavior between brothers, her heart sank and her smiling face suddenly turned cold.

"Mother!" The two brothers were shocked to see Madam Li appear before them and quickly stood up, bowed and called out.

"Yun Ye, you are not a child anymore. You should learn to be more serious. How can you cling to your brother like you did when you were a child?" Mrs. Li was unhappy and ignored them and sat down at the table. Mu Liang was the adopted son of the Li family, but he was an outsider after all, so she couldn't say anything. She could only frown and glare at her son and scold him.

Madam Li's words made Li Yunye feel guilty for a moment. He also realized that his mother was dissatisfied with their intimacy just now. In panic, he turned his head to look at his brother, but saw that he just lowered his head and said nothing. It was the first time that Brother Muliang did not help him out. Li Yunye had no choice but to sit in front of Madam Li and explain: "We were just playing just now, mother, don't worry, and there is nothing wrong with brothers fighting!"

"Everything should be done in moderation. Although you are brothers, you are still..." Mrs. Li held her son's hand and glanced at Mu Liang with some hesitation. She then whispered, "Anyway, don't let people gossip."

Hearing Mrs. Li's reminder, Jiang Siyao's heart couldn't help but skip a beat. She secretly glanced at Mu Liang, who remained expressionless, then frowned and nodded in response.

Although his stepmother was admonishing his stepbrother, Mu Liang knew that she was also warning him, and he felt mixed emotions. On the one hand, he felt sad that his stepmother still treated him as an outsider, and on the other hand, he occasionally realized that his friendship with his stepbrother was becoming increasingly unclear. They were brothers, but sometimes they didn't feel like brothers.

"There's nothing special about my coming here. I just passed by and heard that you were back, so I thought of coming to see you. This trip will take some time, but what's going on in the shop in the capital?" There was silence in the room for a moment, then Mrs. Li turned around and asked Mu Liang with a smile.

"Thank you for your concern, stepmother. There's nothing wrong in the shop. It's just that Liang'er stayed in Beijing for a few longer periods of time." Mu Liang came back to his senses and replied with a salute.

"I'm glad you're okay. Is my aunt okay?"

"Mrs. Zhuo is in good health, but she is very worried about her stepmother and brother Yunye."

"I miss my aunt, but the distance is too long to see her!" Mrs. Li couldn't help but sigh sadly, and then turned to the two brothers and told them: "The beginning of winter is also the Cold Clothes Festival, don't forget to go back to the farm to worship your ancestors."

"Mother, don't worry. I have already asked Ange to prepare for the ancestor worship." Li Yunye replied, holding Mrs. Li's hand.

"That's good." Mrs. Li smiled at her son with satisfaction. Since he took on the heavy responsibility of being the famous Li in Jiangnan, he has indeed become more sensible. Now she doesn't have to worry about even the big and small things at home.