Einfacher Congee-Roman

Kapitel 16

"You should have said so earlier." Fan Qingbo's fierce face softened instantly. He loosened his collar and even carefully pretended to smooth out non-existent wrinkles on his clothes before pressing him back into the chair. "You scared me. I thought you hadn't even tasted anything before someone took advantage of you."

puff--

The scholar spat out the calming tea he had just taken a sip of. This woman really dared to say anything! A surge of anger rose within him. "Do you talk to other men like that too?"

Fan Qingbo glanced at him, somewhat puzzled, "None of the other men said they had any physical contact with me."

That meant it was over. The scholar breathed a sigh of relief, then wondered if she meant he was the first person to have been intimate with her? Thinking this, his expression softened, and he gazed at her tenderly, "Miss Fan, I will take full responsibility. Let's choose a day to get married!"

This time, Fan Qingbo spat out a mouthful of tea. "We didn't have any relations, so why are you taking responsibility!"

So all the men in this timeline are desperate to get married? Zhou Zice was like that, and now this scholar is too.

The scholar blinked, somewhat puzzled, "But we've been intimate..."

"Wait a minute," a thought flashed through Fan Qingbo's mind, and she suddenly looked up. "You keep talking about physical intimacy, are you referring to the time a few days ago when I rescued you and applied medicine to your wounds?" Seeing him nod, she gasped. "So all your talk about marrying me and your strange behavior these past few days is because you want to take responsibility for this so-called physical intimacy?"

The scholar nodded with satisfaction, his face saying: You finally understand!

"You big dummy!"

Knowing that there was no conspiracy involved, and that it was just this fool's pedantic nature at play, Fan Qingbo felt relieved and said with a mix of amusement and exasperation, "Since it's a misunderstanding, let's not talk about marriage or responsibility anymore. It's just scaring people to death."

The scholar said urgently, "How can this be a misunderstanding? I have indeed offended Miss Fan's reputation..."

Fan Qingbo had already regained her usual carefree demeanor, and said with a half-smile, "Fool, are you sure it was you who offended my reputation? The one who was seen naked was not me, you know."

Teased like that, the scholar couldn't help but imagine her undressing him, and he immediately felt a surge of heat coursing through his chest. Especially when she mischievously looked him over, following her gaze, his summer shirt was thin, clinging to his body because it was wet, the lines of his muscles faintly visible... The scholar's entire body, not just his face, felt burning hot, as if he wanted to dry his clothes.

He couldn't help but get angry at himself. He knew this woman loved to talk nonsense, but he still couldn't control his emotions and danced along with her.

He frowned and after a long while said, "In any case, Miss Fan has accepted my silver pen, which means we are already engaged."

"Hey? Your personal weapon, the silver pen? When did I take it? Don't slander me!"

At this point, Fan Qingbo paused, as if remembering something. His eyes widened in surprise, and he pulled a silver hairpin from the brocade pouch at his waist, saying incredulously, "You're not telling me that this hairpin you gave me is the legendary Silver Pen, a weapon feared by all in the martial arts world, are you?"

The scholar nodded solemnly.

"Impossible!" Fan Qingbo stood up, waving his hands to express his excitement. "This, this, this is clearly a hairpin! Okay, it looks like a silver pen, but such a short hairpin, you'd be a laughing stock if you used it to fight, wouldn't you? Could it be that all those martial arts heroes who were defeated by you were actually laughed at by your weapon and lost without a fight?"

The scholar looked at her with a sense of humiliation.

Fan Qingbo choked for a moment, touching her nose. She couldn't resist those puppy-dog eyes. She chuckled dryly, "Well, this really doesn't look like some kind of divine weapon..." Her voice was weak.

The scholar pursed his lips, puffed out his cheeks, and silently took the silver pen. He skillfully pressed down on a certain spot on the pen tip, and a flash of silver light appeared at the tip, instantly extending the entire silver pen to the length of a sword!

Fan Qingbo watched intently, and when she saw the silver pen grow longer, she couldn't help but exclaim "Ah!" Excitedly, she ran to the scholar's side, touched the pen in amazement, looked at the sword, and kept exclaiming, "It's amazing! Will it grow longer? Will it? Are there any other mechanisms?"

Upon seeing her with such a childlike expression for the first time, the scholar couldn't help but relax his lips, letting his smile spread.

He demonstrated the mechanism for extending and retracting the pen and launching hidden weapons. Unable to suppress her curiosity, she reached out to press it, but the silver pen did not react at all. "How can this be? Does it recognize its owner? Or did you secretly recite some spell that I don't know about? The Ruyi Jingu Bang?"

Just as he was about to answer, she turned around impatiently, cupped her face in her hands, looked at him, and exclaimed incredulously, "Don't tell me it can talk! I'll believe you, I really will!"

The scholar finally couldn't help but burst into laughter, leaning on the table as he laughed uncontrollably.

He thought that this woman was quite lovely when she wasn't being shrewish.

"What are you laughing at! If you laugh again, I'll stuff your mouth with a stinky sock!" Fan Qingbo realized his loss of composure and was so embarrassed and angry at being laughed at that he jumped up and slapped him on the back of the head.

The scholar coughed a few times, thinking with a hint of regret that this woman's period of not being shrewish was so short-lived.

If he had known this would happen, he should have held back his laughter.

Fan Qingbo, hating everything associated with the house, pushed away the silver pen and snorted, "Take back your silver pen, I don't want it anymore."

The scholar was puzzled. "Why? Isn't this the reward you wanted?"

Fan Qingbo rolled her eyes at him. He resisted the urge to tell her to mind her manners and listened to her continue: "I originally thought this was just an ordinary silver hairpin, and that I could wear it after a few modifications. Who knew it would be your personal weapon? Countless people in the martial arts world have seen it. What if your enemies recognize it and think I'm someone to you, and try to harm me? Not to mention, this is also a token of your betrothal. How could I dare to accept it?"

The scholar finally understood her meaning, "Miss Fan is unwilling to marry me?"

Seeing the incredulous look on his face, Fan Qingbo knew that he must be thinking that her reputation had been offended, and that she was an older single woman who might not be able to get married in the future. He was willing to take responsibility for her, so why wouldn't she marry him?

After calming her thoughts, she asked, unusually seriously, "Silly boy, do you like me?"

The scholar glanced at her in surprise. Perhaps because her expression was so serious, he didn't blush this time. After thinking for a moment, he hesitated and said, "This... Miss Fan is a good person... but..."

Damn! A perfectly formatted "good guy" card!

Although she knew from the start that this fool didn't actually like her but was just being responsible according to etiquette and morality, and she expected him to answer that couples should treat each other with respect and that he would naturally like his wife, she never imagined that she would receive her first "good person" card in this way!

Fan Qingbo was taken aback by this unexpected and unexpected attack, but she managed to calm herself down after receiving his worried and guilty gaze. She forced a smile and said, "See, you don't like me."

Seeing his anxious expression as if he were about to argue, she quickly continued, "You men can have three wives and four concubines, and you can divorce your wives and remarry, but women are mostly expected to remain faithful to one man until death. Why should I entrust such a risky life to someone who only has a moral obligation to me? Or do you, like the others in the city, look down on me because I'm old and think I'm not qualified to marry someone I love and who loves me in return?"

"No, no, no, I had absolutely no such intention!"

Seeing his flustered appearance, shaking his head and waving his hands, Fan Qingbo chuckled inwardly, then pressed on, saying, "You're doing well, taking responsibility and fulfilling your noble principles. But what about me? After we're married, if you meet someone you truly love, even if you don't divorce me, you'll inevitably neglect me. Wouldn't my situation be pathetic? If I meet someone I truly love but can't have, wouldn't my situation be pitiful? Can you bear to put me in such a pathetic and pitiful state?"

These words aptly exploited the scholar's pedantic and lofty ideals, using his own defense against his own attack, making them truly impeccable.

The scholar broke out in a cold sweat, put away his silver pen, and repeatedly bowed, saying, "It was my oversight that led me to this, and I am truly sorry, Miss Fan... Please allow me to think this over in private, take charge of this matter, and then we will discuss it further. Farewell."

With that, he staggered out the door and disappeared from her sight with the speed of a ghost.

Fan Bing, who had been squatting at the door, slowly stood up with an unusually solemn expression. "Master, if I remember correctly, that fellow told us a few days ago that he had crippled himself."