Scolded again! Ayu is so mean!
Xue Lingmiao pouted, standing by the bedside in a picture-perfect posture—on her absolute best behavior. Su Yu glanced at her, fully intending to nitpick, but couldn’t find a single fault after searching. Narrowing her eyes, she huffed, “Who are you dressing up so nicely for?”
Ah! Ayu just said I look nice!
The young girl, blind and unable to see the glare her fiancée was giving her, was utterly delighted. “For you, of course!”
Sweet words tumbled out of her mouth without hesitation, and Su Yu reluctantly allowed herself to be coaxed.
Once they were freshened up, Su Yu enjoyed the breakfast Ah-Zhi had bought from the market. Her anger dissipated, no longer holding a grudge over being taken advantage of earlier that morning. Watching the young girl sitting in the corner lost in thought, her heart softened. “Do you really want to come with me?”
“I do!” With a sweet, crisp voice, Lingmiao perked up instantly.
Su Yu adjusted her collar and tied her coin purse to her waist. “Fine then. Hold my hand tight, and don’t go wandering off.”
“Understood! I won’t wander off!”
They set off happily together. By day, the border town was vibrant and bursting with life. Overnight—thanks to the deliberate rumors spread by Miss Ning of the General’s Manor—everyone had learned that the infamous female playboy, Su Yu, had a beautiful young girl by her side. The girl was clearly from the South, and her eyes were blind.
Noticing the unwelcome, inquisitive stares around them, Su Yu tightened her grip on the delicate hand in her palm. A cold smirk touched her lips as her sharp gaze forced the rude onlookers to back off. Something seemed to cross her mind, and her eyes darkened slightly.
“Ayu?”
“It’s nothing.” Pushing down the sudden wave of irritation, she turned her focus back to enjoying the bustling market scenery with Lingmiao.
Not far away, inside a noodle shop, a servant spoke nervously, “Young Master, that female playboy isn’t someone to mess with. We just moved to Xiushui, maybe we should—”
“Shut up!” A man dressed in a gold robe and holding a gold fan snapped ill-temperedly. “Am I looking for trouble with her? She’s the one looking for trouble with me! Do you know how much silver she won off me at Jiaoyue Pavilion that day? Asking for it back isn’t unreasonable! She thinks she knows how to play? Let’s see who plays better!”
He refused to believe a woman could have any real skill when it came to enjoying the finer, wilder things in life. Last time he lost due to bad luck; this time, he would test her real capability.
Having her leisure time interrupted before it even began by a blind idiot blocking her path, Su Yu let out an amused, cold laugh. “What’s this? Planning to part with your hands today?”
“What arrogant talk!”
One playboy face-to-face with another. Looking at her up close, no matter how stubborn Young Master Jin was, he had to admit this woman was as vivid and striking as a blooming rose—easygoing, yet prickly all over, completely overshadowing any natural delicacy she possessed.
He barked arrogantly, “Su Yu! Young Master here challenges you. Do you dare accept?”
“A challenge?” Su Yu unconsciously rubbed the young girl’s soft, pale hand. “How rare. I haven’t heard that word in years.” A spark lit up in her eyes, eager to try. “Gamble on what?”
“Pitch-pot!” Falling down where he was defeated, Young Master Jin pulled out an ingot of gold. “Here’s the stake!”
Understanding his intent, Su Yu gently set down the big rooster adorned with a red ribbon she was holding. “There. If you win, it’s yours.”
Young Master Jin felt insulted on the spot. “Is this a joke? How is a single rooster worth an ingot of gold?”
“You’re right,” Su Yu smiled. “Because this rooster can win me at least ten gold ingots like that one.”
Listening intently, Xue Lingmiao didn’t forget to praise her fiancée. “Ayu is so amazing!”
“Ten ingots of gold? You’re insane!”
“Country bumpkin.”
“What did you just say?”
Su Yu leaned lazily against the young girl’s shoulder, basking in the sun. “I said you’re a clueless country bumpkin who doesn’t know good value. Hurry up, are we playing or not? This lady is busy and doesn’t have time to chat with you.”
“How arrogant!” He smirked darkly. “Since you’re so confident, fine! Take that little blind girl beside you as the stake, and I’ll play with you!”
“Little blind girl?”
Su Yu’s smile remained unchanged, but she turned to the young girl and asked softly, “Lingmiao, he called you a little blind girl. Are you?”
“I, I’m not!”
“Not what?”
Being humiliated in front of her fiancée struck a painful chord in Lingmiao’s sensitive pride. Coupled with the cool tone in Ayu’s voice, she stated word by word, “I am not a little blind girl. I have a name.”
“Did you hear that?” Su Yu looked coldly at the outsider. “Come here.”
“For what?” Young Master Jin took a few steps forward, only for a sharp cry of pain to echo through the street the next second. “Y-You. How dare you hit me?”
Su Yu smiled radiantly. Rolling up her sleeve, she took hold of the young girl’s smooth, jade-like hand again. “A playboy doesn’t hit people? Did you really expect her to reason with you? Are you stupid?”
“Oh my goodness! Young Master! Young Master, are you okay?” The servant rushed over in panic to help him up. Young Master Jin clutched his bruised right eye, grimacing in pain. “Su Yu. Su Yu, you actually dared to strike me?”
“You really are stupid,” Su Yu looked at him with pity. “I already hit you, and you’re still asking if I dare? Forget it. Being this dumb, you probably don’t even know how to play pitch-pot.”
She let out a dramatic sigh of disappointment, but as she turned around, a sharp glint flashed in her eyes. “Listen up! This girl is under my protection. If I hear any of you talking behind her back again—”
A collective shiver ran through the crowd. Since when did the female playboy of the Su family care about anyone or anything other than having fun?
Su Yu picked up the big rooster she had spent a full fifteen minutes picking out. “Lingmiao, let’s go find someone to play cockfighting with.”
“Cockfighting?” Xue Lingmiao followed her closely step-by-step. “I know cockfighting! I specifically asked my father about it.” After walking a few paces, she asked in a low voice, “Ayu, you hit him, does your hand hurt?”
“It doesn’t hurt.” Su Yu looked at her with interest. “Aren’t you scared?”
“I’m not scared. I know what kind of person Ayu is. You believe in action over words, like to sleep in, and are naturally playful. In short, you’re very interesting.”
She wasn’t surprised at all by her fiancée’s habit of throwing punches. Before Ayu turned fifteen, she must have gotten into at least ninety-nine fights, if not a hundred. Uncle Su loved writing in his letters about how wild she was, asking her father in distress how to raise a child to be sweet and well-behaved.
Realizing her unreliable father had sold out all her childhood antics, Su Yu gritted her teeth slightly. “Very good then.”
Su Yu spent the entire afternoon enjoying herself in the North Market. When she played cockfighting, Lingmiao cheered enthusiastically beside her. When she played cuju (ancient football), Lingmiao cheered just as loudly.
After playing through more than seven or eight different games, the young girl was hoarse from shouting, while Su Yu was drenched in sweat from the heat. On the way home, Su Yu couldn’t stop calling her silly: “Couldn’t you restrain yourself a little?”
Normally, when she joined a game, she was naturally the center of attention. But bringing the young girl along made it chaotic—the moment the girl raised her voice, half the players on the field lost their focus.
Su Yu lightly tickled Lingmiao’s throat with her fingers. Lingmiao squirmed back from the ticklish sensation. “Ayu, stop teasing me.”
Hearing her raspy voice, Su Yu decided to spare her. “Little dummy.”
“I’m not a little dummy! If Ayu is allowed to be happy, why can’t I be happy too?”
“Look who learned how to talk back.”
The young girl hugged her arm affectionately. “You stood up for me and took me out to play. Even if my eyes can’t see, my heart can see clearly. Ayu, I want to share the joy with you. What does a hoarse voice matter? As long as you can hear and see it, that’s enough.”
“Tsk, such a sweet mouth.”
Lingmiao hummed playfully. “I want to drink honey water when we get back.” Pausing for a moment, she asked, “Aren’t you going to ask me why?”
“Fine,” Su Yu said with a helpless expression. “Why?”
“So my mouth will be even sweeter!”
Su Yu fell silent. Honestly, enough already.
The spring breeze brushed past them as the two walked unhurriedly along the long street. The blind girl’s bright smile was as radiant as a newly blooming flower. “Ayu, my neck is sweaty. Help me wipe it.”
Su Yu pretended to be reluctant. “Why should I help you wipe your sweat?”
“Hmm. Then how about I wipe yours?”
“Forget it.” She pulled out a newly embroidered handkerchief with a little koi fish pattern. “Here, wipe it yourself. Do your own things from now on, and don’t make trouble for me. Remember to return it after washing it.”
“Stingy.” Feeling the raised patterns on the handkerchief, Lingmiao’s fingers paused. She felt it further, realizing a moment later, “Wait, isn’t this my little koi handkerchief?”
“It’s mine now!”
“Oh.” She casually complimented, “Ayu’s embroidery skills are so amazing!”
Having been showered with compliments all afternoon, Su Yu felt herself floating. Taking back the handkerchief, she stopped in her tracks and gently wiped away the fine beads of sweat gathered at the girl’s neck. “Don’t push yourself so hard next time. Look how hot you got.”
Having mastered her fiancée’s sharp-tongued yet soft-hearted nature—and her fondness for sweet words—the young girl raised her head slightly to enjoy her attentive care. “Ayu is very hot too! If I didn’t cheer so hard, how could we play together? Now that we’re both covered in sweat, neither of us can dislike the other!”
How delicate her mind must be to choose to stand on the same line with me by getting drenched in sweat too.
This feeling of being cared for had been absent ever since her father passed away. Her father often nagged that she was more playful than a boy, but in reality, he was the one who would squat on the ground with her to play with crickets just to make her happy.
“Are you tired?”
“Not tired at all! Having Ayu wipe my sweat is the reward I’ve dreamed of!”
People passed by on the busy street. One didn’t care about being watched, and the other couldn’t see to begin with, flirting casually as if no one else existed. Su Yu stared at her smooth, eye-catching fair skin, using the handkerchief to slowly wipe past her collarbone.
Afraid of scaring her off, the young girl endured the ticklish feeling without moving a muscle. Her breathing gradually lost its calm, her chest rising and falling rhythmically beneath her spring clothes. Recalling how she had teased her when they first met, a soft, gentle laugh bubbled up from Su Yu’s throat:
“Lingmiao, you’re so small.”
The young girl didn’t understand her underlying meaning. “I’ll grow bigger eventually.”
Stuffing the handkerchief into her palm, Su Yu continued leading her forward, her expression unchanged. “I’m hungry. Let me take you to eat some steamed soup dumplings.”