"All of them?"
"All of it. Don't you still have some loose silver? Just hold on until we get into the city and run into them."
Qiu Su rolled her eyes and listlessly lay back down on the cart.
"You didn't leave something behind too, did you?"
"uh-huh."
"all?"
"uh-huh."
"It's alright." Pei Yuan frowned and smacked his lips, "Luckily, there was a bundle of cornbread."
Qiu Su glanced at the blazing sun and added, "If it doesn't grow hair before we reach the next town."
Pei Yuan frowned and thought for a moment, "Why don't we eat it now and let it grow in our stomachs as it pleases?"
Qiu Su's lips twitched, and she unconsciously raised her hand and slapped him. Pei Yuan clutched his waist and laughed happily. Qiu Su looked at his smile, which seemed even brighter in the sunlight, and her mood improved as well.
***********************************
Qingfeng Theater:
Qiu Su: If there are a few more ambiguous nights like this, I'm sure I'll have a nervous breakdown.
Pei Yuan: You're such a show-off, you pretend to know everything!
Author's Note: Love you all, give each and every one of you a kiss~~~~~
20
20. A kiss that wasn't my first kiss...
A donkey-drawn cart and a farmer couple in coarse clothes went unnoticed along the way. However, the donkey was always lazy; every time Pei Yuan lay down, the little gray donkey would invariably stop by the roadside and nibble on hay through its bridle within the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. Pei Yuan got off the cart, picked up a handful of wild grass that the donkey had been reaching for, tied it up, and used a long stick to support it. The small bundle of grass stopped right in front of the donkey, which could only reach it by craning its neck. Pei Yuan pulled back the reins and let the donkey get on the road, and this time, sure enough, it kept clattering along.
Qiu Su looked at it strangely and turned her head to say, "You're really something, you even fooled a donkey."
Pei Yuan sat cross-legged and said with a smile, "I learned it. At first, someone said that a tofu shop in the capital used this method to get lazy donkeys to work on the millstone, and I didn't believe it. Later, I even made a special trip to see it."
"Does it really work?"
"That's right, a carrot was enough to trick the donkey. It really is!"
Qiu Su smiled and said, "I just remembered a proverb about donkeys."
"Um?"
Qiu Su waved her hand, "That's unseemly."
"A lazy donkey on a millstone produces a lot of excrement and piss," Pei Yuan said casually, leaning to the side with a gentle expression. "My mother always scolded me like that when I was little. Now that I'm older, it's actually..."
"What?"
"No."
Qiu Su paused for a moment and said, "It means she sees you as a big kid. When I was little, Uncle He and Uncle Zhou often hugged me. Uncle He even hit He Zhuo in front of me because I climbed a tree. But now, they don't say much except for official business. As people grow up, they always lose some things and gain others. But family ties never change."
Pei Yuan looked at Qiu Su and smiled, "My wife is very insightful."
Qiu Su was frustrated. Why could his seriousness never last more than fifteen minutes?
The journey was smooth, except for one overnight stay on the road, one night in a farmer's thatched hut, two meals of spoiled cornbread, and several sips of uncooked river water. When the donkey cart reached the next city, they encountered He Zhuo and his group at the city gate, along with some other people, making quite a large group.
The mountain lord was the first to pounce, scaring the little donkey so much that it stopped eating its grass and turned its head to run back. Pei Yuan barely managed to grab it, and frowned as he glanced at Qiu Su, who had been pounced on and landed on the cart. Before the mountain lord could even finish its affectionate act, it was grabbed by the scruff of its neck and thrown off the cart. The mountain lord tried to pounce again, but after a glare from Pei Yuan, it obediently squatted beside the cart, wagging its tail.
Qiu Su wasn't so comfortable. Her clothes were already tight around her chest, and after the mountain lord pounced on her and pressed down on her with his claws, a certain area started to hurt. She didn't dare rub it, so she could only grimace and bear it. Of course, it could also be a prelude to an old friend's visit.
As soon as Qiu Su got out of the car and stood up, she was suddenly pushed hard again. This time it was Huang Tao. The girl seemed to have a grudge against her, pressing her chest against Qiu Su's until Qiu Su's face turned pale. She then stepped back slightly, complaining with a wronged expression, "Miss, why did you take so long to arrive? We've been waiting for two days."
"Has it been two days already?" Qiu Su looked up at He Zhuo and Qi Xiu. He Zhuo's lips were pressed into a line, his eyes fixed on Qiu Su as if full of annoyance, while Qi Xiu stood with his hands in his sleeves, calmly squinting his eyes.
Wearing her hands in the sweltering heat, doesn't she feel hot? Besides, she did abandon them, but wasn't it for their own good? Hey, you there, He Zhuo, do you have to stare at her with that bitter, resentful look?
Before Qiu Su could finish her internal monologue, He Zhuo grabbed her hand, causing Qiu Su to wince in pain. Today was truly a day where she hadn't died in the mountains, but these people were going to torment her to pieces.
"Where are you hurt?" He Zhuo asked through gritted teeth.
Qiu Su coughed, making a fist and putting it to her lips, "Um..."
He Zhuo slapped away her fist that she had placed to her lips, his eyes red, and said, "Stop with this and that, if you keep pretending, I'll...I..."
Pei Yuan pulled Qiu Su into his arms and said with a smile, "Brother He and my wife are indeed as close as siblings."
Qiu Su glanced at He Zhuo's heaving chest, then at Pei Yuan's forced smile, and her brows furrowed involuntarily. This jealousy was beyond belief.
Pei Yuan led Qiu Su into the city, but He Zhuo stepped forward and blocked their way.
Qiu Su looked down at herself, nodded to He Zhuo, and said, "I'm fine."
"My wife, you should come with me to get some medicine."
He Zhuo's thick neck and flushed face asked, "What were you doing all this time?"
"I'm really fine." Qiu Su smiled. "I'll tell you more later."
He Zhuo watched as Pei Yuan put his arm around Qiu Su's waist and got into the carriage. He clenched his fists tightly and was so angry that he gasped for breath for a long time before glaring at Qi Xiu, who was still pretending to be an immortal with his hands in his sleeves. He then angrily turned and left.
Qi Xiu shrank his neck, squinted, and muttered, "When did I offend this kid?"
"It's so different to be back with the main group," Qiu Su sighed, looking at her hands wrapped up like a little white rabbit. "Look at the young mistress of the Prime Minister's family, she only has a small cut on her hand and she's already wrapped it up like someone broke it. If she ever gets a serious wound, she'll probably have to be wrapped up from head to toe."
Pei Yuan just looked at her round fist and laughed, looking smug.
"What are you laughing at!"
Qiu Su glanced at him sideways, quite flustered, but Pei Yuan laughed even harder, wrapping his arms around her waist and laughing so hard he seemed to be cramping up. After a long while, he finally said, "Does my wife really allow him to be wrapped up like this?"
"Wasn't that the doctor you brought?"
"Hehe, let it stay wrapped up. I'll have Qi Xiu take a look later."