Yang Ming returned to the Academy, feeling rather good throughout the day, as he and his wife had finally made some progress. His lips occasionally curved into a smile, which appeared quite bizarre to onlookers.
By evening, Yang Ming thought he might inquire about Xiaotian by talking to Li Fugui’s former playmates, so he went to Dongfeng Restaurant, trying his luck as he had heard they often gathered there.
"Xiao’er, which private room is Young Master Wang in? I was invited by him," Yang Ming said, testing the waters with this inquiry.
"Young master, right this way." As expected, they were dining here; it seemed his luck was not bad.
Xiao’er knocked on the door, and Yang Ming followed him inside, causing everyone to be stunned upon seeing him.
"Brother Wang, Brother Li, Brother Zhao, apologies for my sudden visit without invitation," he said.
Wang, Li, and Zhao were all surprised. Yang Ming usually didn’t bother with their crowd. Why had he shown up uninvited today? They weren’t really in the same circles and seldom spoke to each other. Only Li Fugui usually teased Yang Ming among them.
"Well, look what the wind blew in, Scholar Yang! Please, have a seat," Young Master Wang said, breaking the ice.
Realizing it was better not to refuse since he was asking for a favor, Yang Ming sat down, "Brother Wang, I came today because I need a favor."
"..." No wonder, he thought, they usually didn’t mingle. But what could be so important that he would lower himself to seek out their company?
"Brother Yang, it’s our first time gathering . Let’s have a few drinks first," Young Master Wang decided to tease Yang Ming a bit.
"..." Knowing he probably wouldn’t get any information if he didn’t drink, Yang Ming agreed, "Alright, let’s have some drinks."
The three hadn’t expected Yang Ming to agree so readily.
As everyone filled their cups, Yang Ming suggested, "Drinking straight is boring, let’s play a drinking game."
"..." A drinking game? What’s that?
"A drinking game is..." Yang Ming explained the rules of the game to everyone.
Now intrigued, everyone was eager to try it out. "Quick, quick, let’s try it!"
"Five leaders, cheers!"
Thus, everyone began drinking enthusiastically and decided not to mess around with Yang Ming anymore.
Seeing an opportunity, Yang Ming said, "I wanted to ask about that little maid from Li Fugui’s family."
"That little maid? What about her do you want to know?"
"The more detailed, the better."
"Well, we don’t know much, really. Li Fugui treasures that maid a lot, and we don’t even know what she looks like. If you ask me, she must be quite attractive, otherwise why doesn’t Li Fugui go to the brothel like we do?" Li said, drinking and ranting by the side.
The information was more or less the same as he already knew, "Do you know about her current situation?
"Currently, she must be in a dire situation."
"Brother Li, what do you mean by that?"
"The second young master of the Li Family has spread the word throughout the county not to hire that little maid."
"..." So that’s how it was; Li Fugui had indeed been pressured into this situation by the second young master of the Li Family.
"What’s the name of that little maid?"
"Her surname is Xia, named Xiatian. The second young master of the Li Family mentioned it, no one named Xiatian or Xiaotian should be employed."
Hearing this name, Yang Ming’s fists clenched tighter and tighter. Xiaotian and his sister Yang Xia both had the character ’Xia’ in their names; this could not be a coincidence. That Xiaotian must be his sister.