Chapter 203: Wait for Me to Find a Way

At this moment, Zhou Qingqing's appearance looked very ugly, but the sound of her crying was quite pleasant.

At this moment, that little boy named 'Xiao Hua' rushed over, spread his arms, blocked in front of Zhou Qingqing, and then looked at Li Lin with a fearful gaze.

He was clearly trembling with fear, yet he still stubbornly looked at Li Lin, blocking in front of his mother.

Li Lin patted the other's head and smiled, saying, "Do not worry, I will not do anything to your mother."

But the little boy did not believe him.

After crying for a while, Zhou Qingqing wiped the black dust from her face with her sleeve and said, "Qin Donglai wants to kill me, asking you to take Xiao Hua away?"

"That is not the case; he only asked me to help look after his child. As a reward, that five-colored bone will be given to me."

"If... I am unwilling to give it to you."

Li Lin smiled slightly and said nothing, but Zhou Qingqing understood his meaning.

After a moment of silence, Zhou Qingqing said, "I can hand that thing over to you, but can you take us mother and son away from here?"

Now, for some unknown reason, Zhou Qingqing has been 'slandered' by people; although it is not yellow rumor, it is far more deadly than that.

"Where do you want to go?" Li Lin asked.

"Anywhere is fine, as long as it allows us mother and son to live well."

Li Lin thought for a moment and said, "I can take you to Jin Commandery; as for whether you can survive or which county town you wish to live in, that is no longer my concern."

"Can we get out?" Zhou Qingqing looked at Li Lin: "Last time I tried to leave through the city gate, I almost got caught by those martial artists. Many of them are waiting outside the city for women leaving the city."

Li Lin pondered for a while and said, "There is indeed a way, though it might be troublesome."

"How so?"

"Those martial artists tend to bully the weak and fear the strong." Li Lin said with a smile: "If you pretend to be an ordinary woman leaving, they will naturally trouble you, but if you are riding in a four-horse carriage accompanied by dozens of people, then no one will dare to check you."

Zhou Qingqing said with distress, "But I cannot do that; I am not Qin Donglai's principal wife. Besides, Qin Donglai's principal wife and legitimate eldest son are already dead."

Li Lin nodded: "Qin Donglai guessed this; he knew his wife and children could not survive, so he sought the child you bore."

Hearing these words, Zhou Qingqing's face was full of joy: "Does this mean my Xiao Hua will henceforth be the Qin family's legitimate eldest son?"

Li Lin looked at her somewhat strangely: "Now that Qin Donglai's branch is already finished, why do you still care whether he is the Qin family's legitimate eldest son? You could say he is the Zhou family's legitimate eldest son, and that would be acceptable too."

Zhou Qingqing, however, said, "A married woman follows her husband... I am a person of the Qin family in life, and a ghost of the Qin family in death."

Li Lin could not help but raise his eyebrows slightly.

Seeing Li Lin's expression, Zhou Qingqing asked, "You seem to look down on me!"

"Not exactly that, but Qin Donglai misjudged you."

"What did he say?"

Li Lin spoke the truth: "He said you could last at most three months; after three months without money, you would find another man and then abandon your son."

"How could he say such things about me?" Zhou Qingqing trembled all over with anger: "Just because I was once a courtesan? Was that my choice?"

"That is why I say he misjudged you." Li Lin smiled and said, "Keep the five-colored bone for now; when I am ready to take you out, you can hand it over to me."

Hearing these words, Zhou Qingqing breathed a sigh of relief: "Although my husband misjudged me, he seems not to have misjudged you, Master Squire."

Li Lin waved his hand: "He had no other choice."

Zhou Qingqing instinctively smiled; she had not dared to smile for over a month.

"You stay here for now; when I am mostly prepared, I will come to find you again."

Having said this, Li Lin left.

Zhou Qingqing breathed a sigh of relief and immediately closed the door.

Li Lin left quite decisively, but in fact, the two small paper figures on the roof had been monitoring them all along.

Moreover, more and more paper figures were rushing over from the surroundings.

It could be said that Zhou Qingqing's vicinity was full of 'surveillance'; she could not escape.

Li Lin returned to the brothel, and immediately the madam came forward, looking very happy: "Yo, Young Master is back... Several of our sisters are all waiting for your favor."

Li Lin looked around and upstairs, and found many women staring at him with bright eyes.

Their appearance seemed as if they wanted to strip his clothes off.

Li Lin smiled slightly and said, "I am here to check out."

"Young Master, you really came to sleep, not to seek fun?"

"There are too many martial artists in other places."

"Alas!" The madam felt somewhat regretful.

Li Lin took his bundle from the brothel and led away the fine horse.

Behind him, the brothel's several windows were crowded with heads.

Many women sent him off with sorrowful gazes.

Li Lin led the horse to the broker's office.

The middle-aged broker respectfully asked, "Does Young Master wish to buy several maids, or several servants for miscellaneous work?"

Li Lin said, "Do you have any quiet small houses for sale here, preferably with a courtyard?"

"Yes!"

"Where is the location, and how much?"

"Sixty taels of silver." The middle-aged broker said, "I will take you to see it right away."

"Very well."

Li Lin followed the middle-aged broker to view the house, was very satisfied, and bought it on the spot.

The extremely excited middle-aged broker asked, "Does Young Master need servants?"

"No need."

The middle-aged broker presented the land deed and then left.

Li Lin tied the fine horse in the backyard of the house, then went to the market, bought a great deal of cinnabar, inkstone ink, and white paper, and returned.

At the same time, he also bought many large sheets of yellow paper, the kind that had not been cut.

He hired laborers to move all these things into his own courtyard, then purchased enough grain and rice, and began cutting out paper figures.

Large paper figures, the kind about the same size as a normal person.

And it was also at dusk on this day that Zhou Qingqing, as usual, was preparing to sleep; because she was now disguised as an ugly and poor woman, there could not be many candles available for use.

Most of the time, she slept as soon as it grew dark.

And just at this moment, she suddenly let out a startled cry, because several pink-purple paper figures drifted down from the roof.

Terrified, she hid in a corner, clutching her child tightly in her arms, then watched these paper figures with fear.

Although she did not understand what the Art of Paper Figures was, she knew clearly that anyone capable of producing such things must be a strange and extraordinary person in the Jianghu.

In other words... she had finally been discovered.

While she was still afraid, she saw two paper figures "carry" a sheet of white paper, walk to her, and stop in front of her.

One of the paper figures even made gestures, telling her to pick up the white paper and open it to look.

At first, Zhou Qingqing was not very daring, but the paper figure kept making this motion.

As time passed bit by bit, Zhou Qingqing felt less afraid, so with trembling hands, she picked up the white paper.

After reading it, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Afterwards, looking again at these small paper figures, somehow, she felt they seemed very proud, very amusing.

(End of this chapter)