The splendor of the Red Chamber, the power that reigns supreme.

Chapter 62: Exhausted

"It's gone!"

The bailiff's sharp shout was like cold water being poured into a pot of boiling oil.

The Zhang family members who had been chattering incessantly around Madam Yu scattered like birds and beasts, and Madam Yu also left. The idle men and women who had been watching the commotion on the street, seeing that the show was over, also dispersed in twos and threes, smacking their lips, still feeling unsatisfied.

The crowd surged out like the receding tide, but a figure emerged unhurriedly against the flow of people, just as Ximen Da Guanren's eyes swept over him.

No wonder I spotted her at first glance.

She appeared to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, with an exceptionally tall and voluptuous figure that made her stand out in the crowd. At that perfect age, she resembled a ripe peach, so plump that you could almost squeeze out its juice.

She wore a light purple Hangzhou silk jacket that hugged her puffy chest, and a pale white silk skirt with scattered flowers.

The skirt was cut in a very clever way, with a slender waist that accentuated her graceful figure, like a willow swaying in the wind. However, it opened up around her hips and buttocks, covering her up completely and making her look bulging.

But what's most captivating is the pair of beautiful legs that are sometimes visible and sometimes hidden beneath the hem of her skirt!
She stood gracefully on the steps of her own cloth shop, not in a hurry to go in, but turned around to look.

A pair of beautiful eyes, sparkling with light, landed squarely on the man diagonally opposite Ximen.

Their eyes met suddenly.

He waved a Jin Chuan fan, exuding a roguish and wicked charm.

A faint smile on her red lips, like ripples on spring water.

The woman glared at Ximen Da Guanren, then swayed her hips, her alluring, voluptuous legs moving gracefully beneath her skirt. Like a lotus leaf swaying in the wind, she turned and lifted the worn blue curtain on the far left side of the fabric shop. With a decisive twist behind the curtain, she disappeared into the shop's dim light.
Ximen Da Guanren then slammed his gold-flecked fan shut and looked up.

A black lacquered sign with gold lettering hung above the shop, displaying the words: "Yang's Cloth Shop".

The shop had eight spacious storefronts, and although it wasn't decorated with carved beams and painted rafters, it was made entirely of blue bricks and gray tiles, and was kept clean and tidy. Two vermilion pillars stood in front of the door, topped with blue cloth banners, one side of which read "Fine Weaving and Spinning" and the other side read "Honest and Fair Dealing to All Ages."

The shop door was wide open, and apart from a cloth curtain on the far left, the scene inside was clearly visible. Shelves were piled high, layer upon layer, filled with all kinds of fabrics: local homespun cloth, cotton cloth, and linen cloth, dyed in shades of blue, red, and white, bundled and rolled up neatly; there were also slightly higher-grade silks and satins, which, although not top-quality, were still varied in pattern and bright and shiny, like clouds and rosy clouds.

The shop assistants bustled about the shop, greeting the customers coming and going. Most of the customers were women from humble backgrounds or housekeepers from ordinary households.

Behind the shop, a spacious warehouse could be vaguely seen, suggesting a large inventory. It seemed Yang's Cloth Shop operated on a high-volume, low-margin, high-volume model, catering specifically to the lower and middle classes of Qinghe County. Its bustling business relied on its solid foundation. "Oh? So this is Meng Yulou's business," Ximen Qing thought to himself. This woman certainly had some skills; a woman had managed to maintain such a respectable reputation. He'd heard that in the past, there were many cloth shops in Qinghe County, both local and from out of town, but Meng Yulou had driven them all away.

This is by no means a simple matter.

Qinghe County was known for its wealth, surpassing even the two capitals in prosperity. At its peak, the shops along this street stretched as far as the eye could see. To have managed to carve out such territory from these shrewd old foxes was no easy feat.

As he was examining the shop closely, he overheard the county yamen runners pointing and gesturing towards the cloth shop:

"Hey! This young widow's shop is quite a lively affair; she must be making a lot of money every month!" A tall, thin yamen runner with his hat askew spat.

A short, stout man standing nearby chimed in, his voice full of disdain: "What good is all that pomp and circumstance! Didn't you see that young widow herself? She's so tall! She's practically touching the sky! Good heavens, for a woman to be born that tall, she looks like a door god with a door frame! Ugly! Ugly beyond belief!"

The tall, thin man chuckled and winked, "Ugly? Not necessarily! Your face is quite handsome, your eyes are captivating, and your figure... tsk tsk, the most wonderful thing is your feet! When you walk, they sway like willows in the wind, so alluring!"

"What good are small feet!" The short, fat man became even more disdainful: "Born so tall, with legs so long, standing like a flagpole, lying down... hehe, wouldn't she take up half the kang (heated brick bed)? Which man wouldn't find it uncomfortable to hug her? In this world, it's better for women to be petite and delicate! What's the use of such long legs? To plant rice seedlings in the fields?"

Another constable laughed, "I just don't like girls this tall and long-legged. They look restless, like horses without bridles! And so promiscuous, like they don't follow any woman's virtues!"

A group of yamen runners burst into laughter: "They can't get the grapes, so they say they're sour and have too many seeds."

Upon hearing this, Master Ximen glanced over and thought, "A bunch of good-for-nothings who don't know how to appreciate things."

The short, stout man noticed that Ximen Qing was staring intently in the direction of Yang's Cloth Shop. His eyes darted around, and he thought to himself, "This is promising! Perhaps the master is interested in this tall, rooster? This is a perfect excuse to curry favor!"
He immediately took another half step closer, lowered his voice, and said with a hint of schadenfreude: "My lord, don't be fooled by her current success. Holding onto this damned Yang family fortune is like attracting wolves! Her deceased husband Yang Zongxi's relatives—those bastards Yang Dalang and Yang Erlang—are no pushovers! They come here every few days to make a ruckus, their eyes bulging like copper bells, wishing they could devour this shop and all the silver and cloth in the storeroom, skin and bones!"

The tall, thin constable chimed in, "They came here to cause trouble a couple of days ago, banging on tables and benches, shouting that the property should belong to the Yang family ancestral hall, to the young brother of the deceased Yang Zongxi, who is also Meng Yulou's brother-in-law. How can it be that a widow from another family can monopolize it!"

"Hey, this Meng San Niang is a real softie. She knows that if she just confronts them head-on, she'll suffer the consequences. So she secretly used some money to smooth things over with our boss and the other gentlemen. Only after the boss gave the order did we reluctantly 'invite' those Yang family members to 'move aside'."

The short, fat man scoffed, his face full of disdain: "Those few from the Yang family are nothing but a bunch of down-and-outs, trying to take advantage of the family line just because they share the same surname! But..." His tone suddenly shifted, his voice turning cold, "Things have been getting tense lately! We've heard that those guys from the Yang family have somehow managed to scrape together some loose change from somewhere, and they're scheming around, trying to get in touch with the clerk and the county magistrate! They're probably burning with malice, planning to seize this property again!"

Ximen Da Guanren quickly reopened his fan, letting the autumn breeze dispel the heat, and laughed, "So it seems that Madam Meng's shop is on the verge of collapse! No wonder she's been looking for matchmakers everywhere; she's probably in a hurry to marry someone off and find a powerful backer!"
"Who says otherwise!" Several constables chimed in, "Your Excellency is wise, just watch! No matter how clever a widow is, like a crab without legs, can she withstand being torn apart by her own family and relatives time and time again? Those few starving wolves of the Yang family will sooner or later devour her and her shop until there's nothing left! Then... hehe, she'll probably end up like Yu Shi just now! What a pity for such a beautiful young widow!"

(End of this chapter)