Chapter 261: It’s All For Your Own Good
Mohe was both amused and annoyed, coquettishly stamping her foot: “Master~~”
“Alright, alright, why don’t you appreciate good intentions? I’m doing this all for your own good.”
Cao Weida playfully pinched her pretty face, finding it truly adorable, and couldn’t help but plant a kiss on her lips.
Although she truly liked it in her heart, in front of the sisters, Mohe blushed deeply with shame, wishing she could find a hole to crawl into.
The thought that it was her turn to attend to him tonight made her little heart pound nonstop, and the flush on her face became even more vivid.
At that moment, Du Shiniang stood up and said, “Mohe sister, come, help sister play a couple of rounds.”
“No no no, I can’t, I’m too bad at it, I’ll lose money!” Mohe hurriedly waved her hands; she had only just gotten familiar with the basic rules of mahjong and was still quite timid about actual play.
“Oh, what are you afraid of? If you lose, it’s on me.” Du Shiniang cheerfully pulled this little Hua Mao away from the big bad wolf’s clutches, pressed her down on the stool, and said: “Besides, you’re a newbie now, so your luck with tiles must be great.”
“Then I’ll give it a try?” Mohe timidly drew a tile, then.
“This should be a win for me, right?”
“.”
The other three were speechless; was this the newbie protection period?
Cao Weida was pulled by Du Shiniang into her room, and he asked curiously: “What’s up?”
“Master, there’s something I want to ask of you.” Du Shiniang looked conflicted, unsure whether to speak up.
Cao Weida found it somewhat amusing. “What kind of relationship do we have? Just say it directly if there’s something.”
“Don’t worry, whatever your man can help with, I’ll definitely help.”
Du Shiniang’s heart warmed, and she leaned into his arms with full affection, rubbing her forehead against his cheek,
“It’s just… there’s a sergeant at your police station named Sang Liuji; you should know him, Master.”
Cao Weida stroked her beautiful hair, his hand automatically cruising to a certain high ground. “Mm, I know him. He unfortunately died in the line of duty.”
Of course he knew Sang Liuji; it was still fresh in his memory!
He was the first ‘villain’ he had encountered, and to be precise, it was he who had designed his death.
“He… he’s my cousin’s husband.” Du Shiniang squeezed closer into his arms, her breathing quickening from his kneading, and she panted:
“My cousin’s husband used to have some family property, several houses even, but he was a big gambler. His death isn’t a big deal, but he left behind a huge pile of gambling debt…”
From Du Shiniang’s account, Cao Weida basically understood the whole story.
It was quite simple, really. That funeral stick bastard had done all sorts of evil, bullying the locals, but had also earned some money and a few houses because of it.
But the funeral stick was a big gambler, addicted to gambling, and owed a ton of debt outside.
While he was alive, those people gave him some face, but once he was dead, the creditors naturally wouldn’t honor any ‘old ties,’ so they came to collect the debts.
Her cousin Zhong Chunhong had no money; the funeral stick was a man who didn’t care for his family. Forget daily expenses—if not for pestering Sang Liuji relentlessly, even basic living costs wouldn’t have been provided.
So, those creditors could only take those few houses to settle the debts.
Now with the funeral stick dead, her family didn’t even have money for basic expenses.
“Didn’t the police station give a pension?” Cao Weida asked doubtfully.
Du Shiniang looked helpless. “They did, but only eight hundred union bonds. As you know, Master, union bonds are getting less valuable these days. What can that little bit of money do?”
Well… that was true. With the puppet government institutions madly printing union bonds to plunder supplies for the little devils’ invasion, union bonds were indeed becoming worthless.
“So, what do you plan to do?”
“Well… I want… I want my cousin to come work at our house. Would that be okay with you, Master?”
Seemingly afraid of a misunderstanding, she straightened up and looked at Cao Weida with hopeful eyes.
“Don’t worry, Master. I won’t give her special treatment just because she’s my cousin. As for wages and such, just give whatever you think is right…”
“I don’t have many relatives left in this world. My cousin used to dote on me the most, and I really can’t bear to see her living on the edge now.”
As she spoke, her eyes misted over with tears.
“I know I’m being a bit spoiled by your favor, but, but…”
She knew the Master doted on her quite a bit, and she was very satisfied with her current life.
Besides, a married daughter is like spilled water. Since she had already entered the Cao Family and was only a concubine, she shouldn’t make excessive demands.
But that was her cousin who had doted on her since childhood; she really couldn’t just watch her cousin be helpless and living precariously.
What’s more, her cousin had a daughter too…
“Alright, alright, don’t cry. I didn’t say I wouldn’t help.” Cao Weida was both amused and annoyed as he wiped her tears, saying softly:
“Don’t cry, or you’ll swell up your eyes, and then you won’t look good.”
The tears on Du Shiniang’s face paused, and she said joyfully: “Master, you mean you’ve agreed?!”
“Hey, she’s your cousin, so she’s my cousin too. We’re all family—how could I stand by?”
He suddenly thought of something and probed:
“By the way, let me ask: how’s your cousin’s mental state?”
In the Glorious Era, Du Shiniang’s cousin Zhong Chunhong was already a corpse at the start, the reason being mental illness that led her to be induced into suicide.
He vaguely remembered the cause: she mistook an airdrop for an additional drop, causing her brother Zhong Chunbao to go bankrupt and commit suicide, leading her to depression and eventually mental illness.
As for when exactly she developed the mental illness, he didn’t know.
If Zhong Chunhong already had mental illness at this point, he absolutely wouldn’t arrange for her to work in the courtyard.
“She’s okay, I think. My cousin’s husband was just a brute, and she didn’t have a good relationship with him. After his death, she was just a bit sad; otherwise, she’s fine.”
“Does your cousin have any other brothers or sisters?”
“Yes, she has an older brother.”
“Is her brother okay?”
“He’s fine. What’s wrong, Master? Is there a problem?” Du Shiniang looked puzzled, not knowing why the Master was asking these things.
“Ha, no problem, just curiously asking.”
Hearing that her brother was still alive, Cao Weida finally relaxed and smiled: “Then have your cousin come work at your residence. You can arrange it as you see fit.”
“Also, since she’s family, don’t assign her any dirty or tiring work. Take care of her as much as you can.”
He had helped so many people; he wasn’t so stingy as to refuse to help his own woman’s sister.
“Thank you, Master! Master, you’re too good!” Du Shiniang was overjoyed and threw her arms around him. Then she bit her red lip, led him to the bedside, and got up to close the door.
She walked back, gently undid her clothes, and with a face full of tender charm said: “Master, you’re so good to me; I don’t know how to repay you. Let this little woman serve you well…”
Cao Weida swallowed hard. Testing a cadre like this really hit him right in the heart.
In an instant, the just-arrived summer turned back to spring.
“.”
After a bout of intensely erotic exercise, holding her sweat-drenched delicate body, Cao Weida hooked her chin and teased the flushed-faced Du Shiniang:
“You little vixen, are you repaying me, or am I rewarding you?”
Du Shiniang breathed heavily, her eyes full of the afterglow from the exercise, ripples stirring, evoking all sorts of thoughts.
She smiled foolishly, contentedly hugging his waist and leaning into his arms, an endless sense of safety filling her heart:
“Of course it’s to repay Master, though Shi Niang likes it too…”
Then, wiping the sweat from her forehead, she pouted: “It’s just that the weather is getting hotter and hotter. I still prefer spring, when I can hold Master and sleep with his body all warm.”
Hot?
Sure enough, it was a bit hot.
Cao Weida’s hand gripped the vital spot with GPS-like precision, playing with it freely.
“It is a bit hot. Like this: I’ll get a few air conditioners. Otherwise, if the weather gets hotter, we won’t sleep well at night.”
Du Shiniang enjoyed Cao Weida’s ‘massage’ and asked curiously: “Air conditioner? What’s that?”
“It’s a kind of furniture that can cool or heat.” Cao Weida didn’t know how to explain specifically and could only use the most straightforward words.
Someone might ask: air conditioners in this era?
Yes, this era did have air conditioners!
Actually, in 1902, American engineer Willis Carrier designed and invented the air conditioner.
In fact, many inventions weren’t originally created for their eventual uses.
For example, the microwave oven: its magnetron was developed for radar systems, and only later was it discovered by chance that it could heat chocolate in a pocket, leading to the home microwave.
For example, sticky notes: 3M’s low-tack adhesive was a failed product, discarded for not sticking firmly, but someone later realized its weak adhesion was perfect for notes that could be stuck and removed repeatedly, creating sticky notes.
For example, Viagra: originally for treating high blood pressure and angina.
For example, the calculator.
And so on, countless examples.
Air conditioners were one of them.
At the time, Willis Carrier’s invention wasn’t for cooling people but to solve ‘paper warping and ink smudging due to humidity changes’ for a printing factory in New York.
However, it was different from later air conditioners.
Air conditioners of this era weren’t wall units or floor-standing units but window units, all in one piece without separate indoor and outdoor components.
They were typically rectangular, half installed indoors and half sticking out the window, with vents and control panel on the front, and heat-dissipating grilles on the sides and back—hence window units.
“That must be very expensive, right?”
Du Shiniang had never heard of ‘air conditioner,’ let alone seen one.
But this thing looked like high-end foreign appliance for sure.
In her mind, anything connected to foreigners was never cheap.
