Qiao Yue covered Qiao Xiaoyuan’s ears with his hands. Knowing he shouldn’t listen, Qiao Xiaoyuan emptied his mind and started poking at the back of Qiao Yue’s hands here and there.
“How painful must that be, huh? Oh, poor thing.”
The screams were truly terrifying, and Qiao Yue couldn’t help but click his tongue, sharing his thoughts with Fang Chuyue.
Fang Chuyue: “…” The tone was so cheerful, it didn’t sound sympathetic at all!
Fang Chuyue righteously said, “How can you be like this? The person is in so much pain, and you’re gloating.”
“Why don’t you lower the corners of your mouth before you talk about me?” Qiao Yue lightly tapped Fang Chuyue’s upturned mouth with his finger, like a dragonfly skimming the surface of a lake, causing ripples in both their hearts.
Fang Chuyue’s bright, watery eyes couldn’t hold back any longer and broke into a smile.
The shop assistant was at a loss with the sudden situation in front of him. He had never encountered a customer doing the splits right in front of him!
And the shopkeeper wasn’t around, while the other customers were laughing. The assistant felt miserable and hurried over to help Li Fuwen up.
Li Fuwen’s mind was foggy, his ears buzzing. As he stood up, he kept crying out in pain, “Careful, slow down… Ah! Slow down!”
Li Fuwen felt like he had died and come back to life several times. Once the pain subsided a bit, he remembered the basket and started cursing, “Whose basket is this? Stand up and face me! See if I don’t have my uncle take care of you.”
The shop assistant tried to recall who had come to buy things with a basket, “I don’t know whose basket it is. Maybe someone left it while buying clothes?”
“You don’t know? How can you be an assistant! Believe it or not, I’ll have the shopkeeper fire you,” Li Fuwen cursed, “Could it be… where are those country bumpkins?”
At some point, the clothing store was left with only him and the shop assistant; the other three had already slipped away.
“Forget it…”
Li Fuwen initially wanted to beat someone up, but his mother had repeatedly warned him not to interact with Fang Chuyue. When he went home saying he wanted to marry a village boy, it made his mother so angry she fell ill, and his aunt almost pulled his ear off. Li Fuwen didn’t dare let his mother find out now, fearing he’d end up on his knees again like last time.
This matter wasn’t urgent; there were more pressing issues. Although it wasn’t very painful anymore, Li Fuwen was still very worried.
He ordered the assistant, “Go get a doctor.”
The assistant was in a bind. If he dared to leave, the shopkeeper would eat him alive, but the person in front of him wasn’t easy to deal with either. The assistant had no choice but to ask the neighboring shop for help.
Qiao Yue took the opportunity while the assistant was helping Li Fuwen to quickly lead everyone away. The urgency mixed with excitement, and Qiao Yue couldn’t help but laugh all the way, thinking about how that Li guy had hurt himself.
Qiao Xiaoyuan was jostled around, exclaiming, “Oh, oh!”
Qiao Yue ran until he was out of breath, finally stopping when they were far enough away, panting, “Phew, let’s take a break…”
Qiao Xiaoyuan was set down, his head spinning, his short legs wobbling as he grabbed Qiao Yue’s pant leg and plopped down on his shoes.
His little topknot was coming loose, the braid about to fall apart. After resting for a bit, Fang Chuyue reached over to untie Qiao Xiaoyuan’s hair ribbon, saying as he did, “Xiaoyuan, lower your head.”
Qiao Xiaoyuan obediently lowered his head. Watching Fang Chuyue’s skilled movements, Qiao Yue remarked, “You’re really fast at this.” It looked quite nice, no wonder Qiao Xiaoyuan followed him around calling him brother.
“After doing it many times, you get fast.” Fang Chuyue fashioned a new bun, tied it with the ribbon, and was done.
He had loved fiddling with hair since he was young, styling not only his own but also his siblings’. Even without pretty ribbons, he could create beautiful hairstyles.
Fang Chuyue noticed Qiao Yue was still a bit out of breath as he spoke, and just smiled silently at him.
Qiao Yue: “…” What kind of look is that, could it be…
Qiao Yue puffed out his chest, speaking with a mighty air, “How about it?”
Fang Chuyue: “Not much, your stamina isn’t as good as mine.”
They had run the same distance, but Fang Chuyue had already recovered, while Qiao Yue hadn’t.
Hearing this, Qiao Yue’s chest deflated immediately, his mouth pouting as he looked at him with grievance, “It’s, it’s okay, I’ll get better with practice.”
“…” Fang Chuyue nodded, “Then practice.”
Qiao Yue brightened up again, full of energy, “Very soon, just wait and see.” Exercising was a bit tiring, but it shouldn’t be too hard, Qiao Yue thought.
Fang Chuyue shook his head with a smile, thinking how childlike he was, quickly bouncing back from disappointment to happiness.
Qiao Yue spoke up, “That guy you saved before, he doesn’t seem like much, huh?” He came over talking nonsense, really infuriating, but luckily the basket took care of it for him!
“Do you think he’ll blame it on me?” Qiao Yue suddenly worried. These rich kids aren’t reasonable, though the basket was indeed his.
Fang Chuyue regretted saving him a bit. Regardless of whether the basket was theirs, with Li Fuwen’s personality, he’d probably blame them, but he wouldn’t cause trouble right now.
“No worries, he won’t bother us for now.”
“Why?”
Because Li Fuwen is easily swayed, and that’s what Fang Chuyue noticed about him. But this guy is easily swayed by everyone, especially afraid of his mother getting angry. When she’s mad, he’s like a quail.
His mother despises him, and if Li Fuwen came looking for him now, she’d definitely be angry. Li Fuwen, leveraging his uncle’s position as a county magistrate, had gotten involved with the county magistrate’s illegitimate daughter, and their marriage might already be set. If the county magistrate found out and it affected the marriage, it would be a big problem.
Though his mother dislikes him, she’s probably most worried about affecting Li Fuwen’s marriage right now.
Qiao Yue listened, “You really know him well.”
It seemed that because Fang Chuyue understood Li Fuwen’s nature, he dared to be fierce from the start.
Fang Chuyue: “…”
The city gate bell rang, and Fang Chuyue looked at the sky, “Let’s head back, it’s the hour of Shen.”
“Why not respond to me,” Qiao Yue followed leisurely behind Fang Chuyue and Qiao Xiaoyuan, adding, “If we can’t afford ready-made clothes, let’s buy some fabric to take back.”
Fang Chuyue held Qiao Xiaoyuan’s hand tightly, speaking lightly, “I didn’t know before, otherwise I wouldn’t have been deceived. Once deceived, you learn.”
Ah, this…
Qiao Yue rubbed his chin, feeling a bit guilty as he looked at the side of the boy’s face, softly apologizing, “Sorry. I won’t bring it up again.”
The main thing is to admit when you’re wrong, whether you change or not is another matter.
“Let’s buy some fabric to make clothes,” Qiao Yue suggested again.
Fang Chuyue glanced sideways, seemingly surprised at how quickly he apologized. Qiao Yue, feeling nervous, asked, “What is it?” Not explaining his apology?
It shouldn’t be, his little dad always appreciated it.
“Lead the way.”
His tone lifted slightly, his brows and eyes carrying a subtle joy.
Qiao Yue strode forward, nodding, that’s more like it!
Entering the fabric shop, Qiao Yue stood aside as usual, letting Fang Chuyue choose. He looked around at the shop’s decor, noting the significant difference from the clothing store.
Fang Chuyue picked out two bolts of cotton fabric, “Which color do you think looks better?”
“They both look nice,” such cotton fabric probably cost between two to five qian each. Qiao Yue was afraid of another embarrassing situation like at the clothing store, “Shopkeeper, how much for these two bolts?”
The shopkeeper looked up, “This one is two qian two, and this one is three qian.”
Qiao Yue nodded, “We’ll take them both? You can wear different colors.”
Fang Chuyue originally planned to get just one bolt, enough to make two outfits, one for himself and the other to save for after marriage for Qiao Yue’s little dad.
But why not have an extra outfit?
At worst, he could make another one for Qiao Yue.
Qiao Yue went to the counter, paid the money, and was about to leave with the goods when he noticed something familiar in a box on the counter.
He put down the fabric, picked up a pouch, and suddenly laughed, “Did you buy this here?”
The shopkeeper chimed in, “Oh, little brother, you look familiar. It seems you did buy a few pouches from us. How are they? Our pouches are sturdy and durable, right?”
Fang Chuyue closed his eyes, “Very, very useful.”
“Come back next time, we have many more pouches!”
The shopkeeper was eager to chat more about the pouches in the store, while Qiao Yue couldn’t hold back his laughter, his shoulders shaking.
Fang Chuyue, embarrassed by his laughter, rarely blushed, and stomped on Qiao Yue’s foot, “Let’s go, time to head home!”
Qiao Yue cheerfully replied, “Alright~”
Holding Qiao Xiaoyuan’s hand in one and carrying two bolts of fabric in the other, he lazily followed behind him.
The sunset dipped into the clear stream, the city gate bell echoed melodiously, and the donkey cart carried the blushing boy away from the city gate.