The steward looked embarrassed: "Your Highness, it's not that we didn't help take care of him, nor that the other refugees in the greenhouse bullied him, it's just that... he's not only deaf and mute, but also..."
He paused, glanced at Liancheng, and then, remembering that Liancheng couldn't hear him at all, continued, "His face is completely disfigured, and the scars on his face are horrific."
“There were many families in the greenhouse, including young children. The children were afraid of him and cried, and we couldn’t stop them no matter what we did, so…we had to put him in a corner by himself, with a curtain between them.”
"If there's a curtain separating us, why is he lying here?"
Yao Youqing asked.
The manager said helplessly, "There are a few older children who are naughty. They always lift the curtain and deliberately show their faces to scare others. Although we have scolded them and they have restrained themselves, they still sometimes cause trouble when no one is paying attention."
"His appearance just now scared another child to tears. The child cried so hard that his face turned red and his neck bulged, and he almost passed out. When Ah Chou saw this, he came out here to sleep."
"Ah Chou?"
Yao Youqing frowned even more deeply.
Fearing she might misunderstand and think he was deliberately bullying the man by giving him a random name, the manager quickly explained, "He's deaf and mute and can't say his own name. When he was registered, someone he knew said everyone called him Ah Chou, so that name has stuck."
A person who cannot say their own name is simply forced to use whatever name others give them.
Yao Youqing understood and remained silent for a long time.
The manager was also a bit troubled and said, "I'll keep a closer eye on him from now on and make sure those children don't get close to him."
Yao Youqing shook her head: "There are too many people and too many things to handle here. You can't possibly keep an eye on him every hour of the day. As long as he stays here, this kind of thing is hard to avoid."
"So... what does the Princess mean?"
"Let him go to the manor and find him any job. If he can't do anything, it's just another mouth to feed. No one will bully him under my watch."
The manager understood, nodded, and patted Liancheng on the shoulder.
"You're a lucky fellow! Hurry up and thank the Princess!"
The mute man, who was curled up in a ball, was swayed by the pat and curled up even tighter.
"Hey, I forgot again, can't you hear me!"
He then lifted Liancheng up from the ground and gestured, "Your Highness, I'm taking you to the manor. You're so lucky!"
Liancheng trembled as he was being held: No, I don't want to go! Let me go!
Qiongyu assumed he was scared and laughed, "Manager Zhou, please let him go! Look how frightened he is!"
As she spoke, she pulled him toward her and pointed to the carriage.
"Come with us later, and no one will bully you anymore!"
Let me be bullied! I'm not afraid! As long as I'm not allowed to go to your mansion, I'll be bullied however I want!
Who knows how he'll escape if he's discovered after he goes in?
Isn't that like... trapping a turtle in a jar, or beating a dog behind closed doors?
He's known Wei Hong for so many years, so why does he never go to his residence and always meet outside? Isn't it because he's afraid of accidentally falling out and not being able to escape?
Now... how come he's being dragged inside by his wife?
Liancheng's eyes revealed a deep fear, a genuine feeling from the bottom of his heart, but no one saw it.
His disheveled hair obscured his eyes, and without a word, he was carried like a chick to a servant's carriage, which then drove into Wei Hong's residence in Cangcheng.
As soon as the gate closed, Liancheng's heart skipped a beat. He felt as if he had not entered a mansion, but rather crawled into the gaping maw of a wild beast.
The servants who were with him watched him get into the carriage from afar, looking puzzled. When no one was looking, they secretly contacted their people in Cangcheng and told them the news.
In Liancheng's shop, several servants gathered together.
"The young master said he would hide wherever it was most dangerous, but who would have thought he would hide in the Qin King's house now!"
"Young master is amazing!"
"Young Master Da Yong is truly remarkable!"
Meanwhile, "Da Yong" Lian Cheng was completely bewildered in Wei Hong's house: Who am I? Where am I? What happened?
Chapter 94 Bestowing a Name (Added 2000 words)
The carriage stopped, and Yao Youqing, along with Zhou Mama and Qiongyu, prepared to return to the inner courtyard. The mute man they had brought back was placed in the front courtyard, and someone was asked to find him a place to stay.
Having another person in the manor would only mean one more mouth to feed, so the steward didn't mind. After nodding in agreement, he asked, "Does this person have a name? How should we address him?"
Outsiders called this mute man Ah Chou. Yao Youqing didn't like the name. After thinking for a moment, she murmured, "The king of the four kings, who establishes virtue and helps others to achieve their desires [Note 1]... Let's call him Ah Shu."
The steward agreed and took the mute man away, arranging lodging for him. Because he was dirty and smelly, he also had water brought for him to bathe.
But for some reason, the mute man suddenly ran out again and squatted motionless in front of the second gate where Yao Youqing had just left.
The servants gestured and tried for a long time to persuade him to take him back, but he refused. When someone came to pull him away, he clung tightly to the hanging flower gate and wouldn't let go, mumbling incoherently and saying something incomprehensible.
The house wasn't big, and the people inside heard what happened and told Yao Youqing. A moment later, Yao Youqing came out and asked, "What happened?"
The servant told Yao Youqing about the mute man's refusal to go inside to bathe. Yao Youqing frowned slightly, not understanding why he was doing this. Just as she was wondering, she saw the mute man suddenly squat down again, bite his finger, and draw something on the ground.
He made a few strokes, and Yao Youqing vaguely discerned something, exclaiming in surprise, "You can write?"
He then hurriedly said to the person next to him, "Go get paper and pen, don't let him write on the ground."
It was inconvenient to write or speak here, so Yao Youqing had someone take him to the warm pavilion in the garden before handing him paper and pen.
Liancheng rewrote the two words he hadn't finished writing on the ground: Thank you.
Yao Youqing smiled, picked up another pen, and wrote: It was just a small favor.
Then he asked: What is your name? Where is your home? Do you still have relatives? I will have someone escort you back.
Liancheng shook his head and replied: "War broke out suddenly, my whole family perished, and I was the only survivor. I fell into the hands of bandits, and then..."
He paused here, seemingly finding it difficult to continue, before finally picking up his brush again and dipping it in ink: "Unable to bear the humiliation, I disfigured myself and wandered to Cangcheng. Fortunately, my lady, through her influence, brought me here. But… I would rather wander the streets than live alone under one roof with several men. I earnestly hope that Your Highness will understand and allow me to return to the warm shed in the city. There are many people there; even if I cannot stay there during the day, it would be good to have a place to stay at night."
Yao Youqing seemed to witness firsthand the decline of a family and the sudden misfortune that befell the learned descendants of the family, leaving them stranded and destitute.
Especially the pain revealed in the words "unbearable humiliation and self-destruction of appearance".
This reminded her of Chu Yan, and her brows furrowed even more.
"I knew someone before, whose experience was similar to yours. She...she was a good person, it's just a pity..."
He realized halfway through his sentence that the person couldn't hear him, shook his head and chuckled, then felt there was no need for him to bring it up.
After all, they are two different people, and even if they have similar experiences, there's nothing to say about it.
Such a cruel experience is not worth dwelling on.
So she picked up her pen again and said, "It's alright. If you don't like living with others, I'll have someone find you a room by yourself." Although the house wasn't big, there were still a few empty rooms.
Liancheng watched as she pushed the paper back to him, remaining silent for a long time.
It's not a matter of whether there are empty rooms or not; he really wants to go back to the greenhouse!
Unfortunately, he couldn't find any other excuse at the moment, so he could only grit his teeth and reply with a few words: "Then thank you very much, Madam."
Yao Youqing replied with a smile: You're welcome.
After answering, she asked him the question he hadn't answered earlier: What's your name? How should I address you?
Before disguising himself, Liancheng had already arranged a secure identity for himself, so that even if he wrote it down and someone investigated, they would never find anything.
But for some inexplicable reason, after seeing this line of text, he did not use that name, but instead wrote: "My past name need not be mentioned again. Now that I have entered the Madam's residence, I would like to ask the Madam to bestow a name upon me."
Yao Youqing assumed that he didn't want to think about the past anymore, so she nodded and said: "Then how about I call you Ashu?"
Liancheng: Okay.
After the rooms were rearranged, Liancheng moved into a single room.
The room wasn't big, but at least I didn't have to squeeze in with other people, so I had fewer chances of bumping into others and less chance of being discovered.
More importantly... there's no need to worry about someone sneaking up in the middle of the night to expose the scars on his face.
The scar was made and glued on by Cheng Yu using cow glue and other materials. Although it was made to look very realistic, it was still fake after all, and it had to be glued on again every few days, otherwise it might fall off at any time.
He still needs to figure out when to find some spare parts from here, otherwise he'll be finished sooner or later.
Liancheng sat in the bathtub and sighed, feeling both helpless and somewhat comfortable.
It's been quite a while since I've had a bath, and now I can finally take a proper soak. If this weren't Wei Hong's residence, but his own, I wish this were...
He closed his eyes to temporarily forget his predicament and enjoy the moment of leisure. In his drowsy state, he unintentionally thought of the words Yao Youqing had said when she gave him his name.
He was the king of the four kings, and he established virtue and shared the same desires.
This Princess Qin... is also dissatisfied with that man in the court, otherwise she wouldn't have thought of this sentence for no reason and even given him such a name.
Ah Shu.
Liancheng smiled, then sank deeper into the bathtub, his lips touching the water's surface as he silently murmured, "A-Shu..."
…………
When Wei Hong heard about Yao Youqing opening a soup kitchen while he was at the border, he wrote back to praise her and thank her for sharing his burdens and making things easier for the rear.
When Yao Youqing received the letter, she was talking to Madam Song behind a screen in the soup kitchen. After the servant handed her the letter, she couldn't wait to open it and read it. After reading it, she sighed and didn't seem very happy.
Song asked from the side, "What's wrong? Has there been any change in the border war?"
Yao Youqing shook her head: "I don't know, he didn't say anything."
Madam Song understood, but didn't know how to comfort her, so she could only smile and say, "If they didn't say anything, it probably means nothing's wrong. Don't overthink it."
“No, Auntie,” Yao Youqing said, “The Prince always reports good news and not bad news. If there really is nothing wrong, he would have told me long ago to put my mind at ease. If he didn’t say anything… then it proves that the situation is not good, and he doesn’t want me to worry, so he doesn’t mention it.”
So the whole paper was full of praise for her setting up soup kitchens, but she never mentioned anything related to the war.
Song had actually guessed something, because Li Dou's recent letters were similar.
But they can't go to the front lines to fight, so what can they do besides worry here? They can only comfort themselves.
Because Liancheng was literate and good at math, Yao Youqing brought him here to help check and transcribe some accounts. At this moment, he was sitting at a table at the other end, engrossed in writing something.
Beside him was a servant who did odd jobs. He was one of the people he had left in Cangcheng. When he saw that he had come to help at the soup kitchen, he went through a lot of trouble to find a way to get him in.
As the man ground the ink, he whispered, "Young master, now that you're out, why don't you stay and not go back?"