"I've met him once at Moon Manor." Rong Yi said evasively and very conservatively.
Qin Mu'an nodded in understanding, then asked, "When he returned home from Moon Manor, someone broke his waist. Do you know what happened?"
"Uh......" Of course, Rong Yi knew what was going on. No one knew the details better than her. But she wasn't going to admit her mistake, though. "It wasn't broken, and no one broke his back." Rong Yi tried her best to cover up the truth without lying.
Qin Mu'an: "So he didn't lie to me. I thought someone had frightened him that he did not dare to speak out."
"......" Rong Yi's face was full of black lines as she said, "Your elder brother is not that kind of person."
"I know his character better than you." Qin Mu'an's voice carried a deep note of disagreement.
Rong Yi hung her head and snickered at his words. Do the brothers have a disagreement between them? Such a good thing. No. That should be a GREAT thing.
After a while, Rong Yi felt that something was wrong again. Why didn't Qin Muzhi tell Qin Mu'an the truth about his back injury? Could it be that...... he thought he was in the wrong for wanting some petty advantage like taking the medicine she sent him and was too embarrassed to tell his brother?
"There is a county town up ahead, and it will take another quarter of an hour to get there." Qin Mu'an said suddenly.
Rong Yi was immediately overjoyed. "Really?"
Three black lines appeared on Qin Mu'an's forehead. What had he done to her to make her sceptical of every word he said?
Qin Mu'an was not lying to Rong Yi. It was exactly a quarter of an hour when they arrived at the town gate.
The county town was originally a small mountain town with very poor resources but gradually prospered when it was planned to be included in the construction of an official road.
Rong Yi and Qin Mu'an switched to walking as soon as they entered the town. Qin Mu'an led the horse to show the way while Rong Yi followed from behind, looking around and paying close attention to every small stall they passed.
After passing the ninth stall, Qin Muan couldn't stand it any longer and asked, "Haven't you seen them all?"
At that time, Rong Yi was holding a clay figurine in her hand, and when she heard his question, she turned to look at him and asked, "Actually, what you want to say is 'have you never seen the world', right?"
Qin Mu'an had not expected her to be so perceptive and could easily read his thoughts, so he gave an embarrassed cough and looked sideways at the road ahead.
Rong Yi didn't let Qin Muan's words dampen her spirits as she said with a smile, "It's okay. There's no need to be embarrassed. I'm not that narrow-minded, and you're not wrong. You also know I am from the capital and have never seen such a small world."
"......" How on earth did she manage to make such a 'commanding people by pointing the chin1' use of words sound so humble and unassuming?
Ignoring the confused Qin Mu'an, Rong Yi picked up every single clay figurine on the stall and looked at them one by one before selecting ten of them, picking them up and putting them down again before leaving and moving on to the next stall in a 'drunk and full2' manner.
Seeing that Rong Yi was about to leave, the stall owner hurriedly asked politely, "Miss, wouldn't you like to buy one?"
Hearing this question, Rong Yi turned her head with a smile and answered, "I'm not buying just one. I'm buying a lot of them." After saying this, she turned her head back and continued walking.
The stall owner was baffled. Was this girl buying them or not? What did she mean when she said she would buy them and then walk away?
Qin Mu'an also looked puzzled, and after thinking for a while, he asked Rong Yi, "Are you going home to get the silver?"
"Huh?" Rong Yi's eyes widened as she looked at him. What did he mean?
"You just said you wanted to buy many clay figurines." Qin Mu'an pointed out.
"That's right." Rong Yi nodded her head repeatedly. Suddenly, as if she remembered something, she looked at Qin Mu'an's hands, and when Rong Yi saw that they were empty, she immediately exclaimed, "You didn't buy them for me?"
Qin Mu'an was so taken aback by Rong Yi's justified question that he replied confusedly, "You didn't say you were going to buy them."
Rong Yi: "I told you, those I picked up and looked at twice are the ones I want to buy!"
The corners of Qin Muan's mouth twitched slightly as he said, "What you said has no weight."
"Uh......"
"I'm not obliged to buy them for you either."
"Uh......"
A few seconds later, Rong Yi realised that she had made a fool of herself again and quickly apologised with a smile. "I'm sorry. I just thought of you as my family servant."
"......" Did he have the temperament of her family's servant?
Rong Yi grinned as she stroked her bun and said, "You should understand that my habit has become second nature to me."
"......" No, he didn't understand it at all.
But the clay figurine seller understood. "Miss, all the clay figurines you want are here. I've packed them up for you." The seller handed the wrapped clay figurine to Rong Yi in a particularly flattering way.
"Thank you." Rong Yi happily took the clay figurines and was about to 'habitually' order Qin Mu'an to pay, but immediately remembered that he was not her attendant and hastily took out a broken silver piece from her chest and handed it to the seller, saying, "There's no need to give me back the change."
The seller took the silver and bit into it with his teeth before saying, "Thank you, Miss."
Following the example of the clay figurine seller, the other stall owners patronised by Rong Yi followed suit, picking up items that Rong Yi had picked up twice and bringing them to her. Even some stall owners who Rong Yi had not visited also gathered some things from their stalls and brought them to her to sell.
"Miss, this is the hairpin you want."
"Miss, this is the mask you want."
"Miss, this is the handkerchief you want."
"Miss......"
"Miss......"
......
Rong Yi was dumbfounded. Did she have her eyes on these many things?
Qin Muan, standing to the side, couldn't stand it anymore. He stood before her and said coldly, "She won't buy those things. Take them all back."
Without waiting for the sellers to react, Rong Yi ran out from behind Qin Mu'an and said, "I'm buying. Who says I won't buy them?"
"Can you take all these things back?" Qin Muan asked.
"Isn't there still..." Rong Yi originally wanted to say, isn't there still you? But when she saw Qin Mu'an's 'This matter has nothing to do with me, please settle it yourself' expression, she immediately changed her words and said, "Isn't there still the horse? Let the horse carry them on its back."
Qin Mu'an: "This is my horse." The implication was: erase this thought from your mind.
How stingy. Rong Yi cursed him in her heart, but on the surface, she said smilingly, "Fine, no need to buy them then. I don't need that many things anyway. Come on, let's go to the inn. By the way, which inn are we staying at tonight?"
"The Trinity Inn." Qin Mu'an replied.
"Oh, got it." Rong Yi curled her lips into a smile and turned to the stall sellers, "Please send all the things to the Trinity Inn."
Qin Muan was dumbfounded. She, she, she could afford to buy all those things?
A noob translator, きつね, translated this noob translation. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.site. If you read this in another location other than the site stated, it has been taken without the translator's permission. Please don't support this kind of act.
On the way to the Trinity Inn, Qin Mu'an was torn for a long time before he finally decided to clean up the mess for her.
After the sellers had put the things into the room where Rong Yi was staying at the Trinity Inn, Qin Mu'an took a bag of silver from his chest and threw it to the nearest seller, saying, "Take it and divide it."
All the sellers who had received the silver were beaming with joy as they shouted, "Thank you, Great Master. Thank you, Great Master!"
Qin Mu'an frowned. Did he look old? Why did he call her 'miss' but call him 'great master'?
"There is a saying that goes like this: those who have money are the great masters. Of course, since you pay them, they will treat you like a great master. It has nothing to do with your age or your looks." A beaming Rong Yi said as her heart felt very good. Although she was not short of money, having someone pay for her was still a delightful thing for her.
Qin Muan: "How did you know what I was thinking?"
"It's all written on your face." Rong Yi pointed her finger at his face and laughed mischievously before asking, "Tell me the truth, how old are you?"
Qin Mu'an: "Older than you."
"That's not necessarily true. I look young, and you look old. I should be about eight to ten years younger than you." Rong Yi laughed.
Qin Mu'an's face was suddenly covered in black lines. She looked only thirteen or fourteen years old. And she was eight or ten years younger than him? How could he look so old?
"Come on. How old are you anyway?" Rong Yi asked.
"Fifteen." Qin Mu'an hurled out.
"No way? You're only fifteen? You look like twenty-five!"
The corners of Qin Mu'an's mouth twitched furiously as he turned to silently pack up the various small items that littered the room.
Upon seeing his reaction, Rong Yi hurriedly explained, "I didn't mean to say you were old. What I meant to say is that...... you look mature. My father was simply a lady-killer when he was twenty-five......"
"Were you born when your father was twenty-five?" Qin Mu'an asked coldly.
"Uh......" Rong Yi counted on her fingers and sheepishly replied, "Apparently not. Sorry, I'll make sure to make a draft before I brag next time."
"......"
"But you do look a little anxious. You seriously don't look like a fifteen-year-old..." Rong Yi spoke the last few words in a very low voice as she noticed that Qin Mu'an's complexion had turned from black to purple.
*
After tidying up the room, Rong Yi and Qin Mu An went downstairs for a meal, during which Rong Yi suddenly remembered something, so she hurriedly put down her chopsticks and asked seriously, "Can I apply to buy a carriage?"
Qin Mu'an was so thunderstruck by these words that the rice he ate almost went up his nostrils. "No can do." He answered coldly.
"What about hiring one?"
The corner of Qin Mu'an's forehead jumped slightly as he patiently replied, "No."
"Oh." Rong Yi picked up her chopsticks wanly and continued eating, taking a few bites of rice before putting the chopsticks down again and saying, "Thank you for giving me so many things. To repay you, I've decided to give you something in return."
"No need."
"If I don't sow, I don't reap3. I can't just take the benefit and not pay for it. Just give me this opportunity."
Qin Muan thought momentarily and said, "You can just return my silver."
"Er...... I don't have that much silver. I only have enough to buy one small gift." Rong Yi replied pitifully.
"You have no money, and yet you bet a thousand pieces of gold on a single throw4?"
Rong Yi immediately stamped her feet when she heard these words. "You don't have to falsely accuse me even if you want me to repay you! I obviously threw a lot of money around, but it never reached a thousand pieces of gold. How can I just throw away a thousand pieces of gold?"
"....." He felt like a hundred clay figurines were choking him as if she had done it on purpose. But she still looked like she had been greatly wronged. He didn't know how she did it. Qin Mu'an shook his head helplessly and said, "As you wish."
Rong Yi was stunned for a moment before realising that this was precisely the tone that Fu Huang Daren5 had used when he had been worn out down by her to the point of no return until he had to say 'permission granted'! Rong Yi was immediately overjoyed. "Thank you for your willingness to accept my gift." Having said that, she stood up, walked over to the counter to whisper a few words to the shopkeeper, and then returned to the table to continue eating.
"What did you say to the shopkeeper?" Qin Mu'an asked.
Rong Yi: "It's nothing. I just asked him to buy me the gift."
About a quarter of an hour later, the shopkeeper brought back what Rong Yi had asked him to buy—a horse-drawn carriage.
"This is the gift you want to give me?" Qin Mu'an's voice was as cold and calm as ever as all sorts of anger roared in his head.
Rong Yi nodded. "That's right. This carriage is for you. You shouldn't mind letting me ride along, right?"
"......" Qin Mu'an was already too angry with her to say anything.
At that moment, a lazy voice came out from the carriage—
"He doesn't mind, but I do."
Footnotes Full List
- Chinese idiom: arrogant and bossy
- Chinese idiom: fully satiated
- Chinese idiom: without exerting effort, people won't see rewards
- Chinese idiom: throwing money away recklessly
- fu=father, huang=emperor, daren=title of respect toward superiors
きつね's Musing
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