Peaceful Jianghu

Chapter 19

"Uh..." Chonghua chuckled dryly, "It's nothing."

Xiaoyue was puzzled, then it dawned on her, "Could it be something that can't be known by others?"

Even Hao Jinfeng, who was usually so dense, finally understood and, suppressing a laugh, went inside.

“Xiaoyue,” Xiaodao interjected, “Chonghua definitely wants to buy something but can’t make up his mind. He’s asking you for help. Perfect timing, why don’t you go buy something too? A girl should know how to spend money.”

Xiaoyue asked Chonghua, "Is that all?"

"Hmm." Chonghua nodded somewhat awkwardly.

Xiaoyue smiled and said, "Okay, that's not a hard job, I can even have some fun."

"Yes, yes!" Chonghua nodded quickly, like a chicken pecking at rice. "There's also a temple fair on the mountain, let's go too? I heard it's very lively."

"Okay," Xiaoyue readily agreed and happily went back to her room.

Chonghua ran outside and clenched his fist—he finally got a date!

"Ha." Xiao Dao rested his chin on his hand, scooping tea leaves out of the cup, and muttered to Xue Beifan beside him, "Compared to you and Shen Xinghai, Chonghua is like heaven and earth! Indeed, different environments nurture different people, and even a muddle-headed person can have wise people around them."

Xue Beifan was used to being ridiculed by her, so he didn't retort. He leaned against the table and asked Hao Jinfeng, "Brother Hao, what are you planning to do today?"

Hao Jinfeng sat up straight. "Today, the Pingjiang Prefecture government is holding a trial for several criminals in the assembly hall. I want to go and listen in."

"Good idea." Xue Beifan rubbed his hands together and asked Xiao Dao, "Then it's just the two of us left, what do we do?"

Xiao Dao glanced at him, poured the tea leaves into the jar, crushed them with a copper spoon, and said, "Let's make a cold dish."

"Shall we go out for a stroll? You've got so much money, there's no reason not to spend it, is there?"

Xiao Dao crushed the tea leaves into powder, scooped it out and wiped his face, glancing out the window as he remarked, "It's a cloudy day, isn't it?"

“It won’t rain,” Xue Beifan urged her. “Pingjiang Prefecture has so many wonderful things. Those alleys and streets are hundreds of years old. It would be a shame not to explore them!”

"Of course I'll go shopping, but I won't go with you," Xiao Dao said, happily taking out the red paper umbrella and placing it beside her.

Xue Beifan curled his lip. "Using this umbrella again? You actually believe in this ridiculous thing that umbrellas can attract marriage?"

Xiao Dao rubbed his face, which was covered in tea leaves, and rolled his eyes at Xue Beifan, saying, "Mind your own business!"

Xue Beifan sighed, his interest waning. "Fine, I'll go drink by myself."

Hao Jinfeng was quite curious about the red umbrella. "Can this umbrella attract marriage prospects?"

"Hmm." Xue Beifan patted the umbrella. "This red umbrella is said to be a marriage umbrella. Of course, it's just a legend, and it's not necessarily effective. It's just an umbrella."

...

After breakfast, Xiaoyue and Chonghua went out together. Chonghua carried an oil-paper umbrella, while Xiaoyue carried a small basket, preparing to buy a lot of things.

The two had barely left the house when Hao Jinfeng rushed off to the yamen (government office).

Xiao Dao washed away the tea leaves and applied some fragrance powder. Xue Beifan clicked his tongue in amazement, "I must say, these tea leaves are quite useful. Her little face is fair and rosy."

Xiao Dao, lightly made up, went out happily with a red umbrella in hand.

Xue Beifan also walked out of the inn and saw Xiao Dao wearing a white dress, a light yellow jacket, and the "six taels" agate fan pendant hanging from her waist, walking forward unsteadily.

After Xiao Dao walked away, Xue Beifan shook his head helplessly, his usual smile gone, and turned to walk in the opposite direction with a blank expression.

After crossing a tall stone arch bridge, we arrived at the tallest restaurant in Pingjiang Prefecture.

Xue Beifan found a seat by the window and asked the waiter for a jar of the best pear blossom wine. He leaned against the windowsill and poured himself a drink... Looking out, in the distance was the mighty Yangtze River flowing swiftly in front of Pingjiang Prefecture, and behind it were the charming little houses with bridges and streams.

The sky remained overcast, and people felt a bit stuffy, just waiting for a heavy rain to fall quickly so it could wash away all the dust, whether real or not, and bring them peace.

Chonghua and Xiaoyue walked together down the street, with bustling shops and stalls on both sides.

Xiaoyue didn't know what to buy, so Chonghua didn't dare to take her hand. He simply held the basket in her hand and led her to each shop. If Xiaoyue glanced at something, he would rush to pay for it.

Xiaoyue was a little puzzled, "Lord Chong..."

Chonghua raised an eyebrow.

"Chonghua..." Xiaoyue quickly changed her words, "You like this too?"

"Mmm." Chonghua's mind was still filled with the words "Chonghua" that Xiaoyue had spoken. He nodded seriously, holding up a hairpin, "I like it."

"Shall we buy two?" When Xiaoyue took out her money, Chonghua didn't have time to catch up. He felt a little dizzy because of the word "us".

...

Xue Beifan was drinking by the bay window on the third floor, watching Xiaoyue and Chonghua from afar. The two walked closer and closer together. When no one else was around, Chonghua was quite lively and not so shy.

Xue Beifan held his wine glass and couldn't help but smile.

Just then, I felt someone beside me. I turned around and saw a graceful figure approaching.

Xue Beifan continued drinking, not paying close attention to the faces of the people around him.

"I've always heard that Xue Beifan of Beihai is a cheerful man, never one to look gloomy or downcast." The woman parted her lips slightly, her voice melodious, "If I weren't certain it was you, I really wouldn't have dared to come up and speak... Why do you have such a frightening expression?"

Xue Beifan held his wine glass, his gaze falling on a flash of red that suddenly appeared in the distance, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up.

"You've finally smiled." The woman beside him held a wine jar and filled his empty wine cup. "Only a smile can reveal the charming and romantic character of Young Master Xue."

Xue Beifan remained silent.

The woman leaned closer and asked, "Could you be mute?"

Xue Beifan kept his eyes fixed on the red figure in the alley ahead, and shook his head with a smile, "It's not raining, why are you using an umbrella? Is the girl so desperate for a marriage that she's gone crazy?"

"Could it be that you're drunk?" the woman persisted, but before she could finish her sentence, a curtain of rain swept past her.

Xue Beifan's glass was still in his hand... The wine that had just been poured into the glass was instantly replaced by rainwater, wetting his hand, making it hard to tell whether it was water or wine. He stood blankly by the window, watching the sudden downpour.

"Oh my, amazing! How did you know it was going to rain?" The woman beside Xue Beifan patted his arm. "Young Master Xue, would you like to go inside and take shelter from the rain?"

Xue Beifan looked at the cup of water in his hand and smiled inexplicably.

The woman beside him gently tapped the wooden windowsill of the bay window with one hand. "Young Master Xue, you have quite the airs. I've been standing here for ages, and you've only been looking at the rain, not at me. But..." she changed the subject, smiling sweetly, "that smile you give me is worth more than a thousand words."

Xue Beifan suddenly turned to her and smiled, a smile different from before, which startled the woman. If the previous smile was genuine, this one was fake…

Both people raised the corners of their mouths, but the former's smile was so charming and touching, while the latter's smile was chilling.

"Unfortunately, I wasn't laughing at you." Xue Beifan put the wine cup on the table and said to the woman in front of him who was furious at being humiliated for no reason, "I don't care about things that are given away for free."

This woman was a well-known beauty in the martial arts world, and she had never been treated like this before. She stamped her foot and said, "Xue Beifan, you have gone too far."

Xue Beifan chuckled as he tossed the silver downstairs, then waved his hand dismissively at the woman, saying, "Go find someone who isn't picky about food."

"You!" The woman gritted her teeth in anger. "Pah!" she spat. "Who said Xue Beifan liked women? He doesn't care about women at all! This arrogant, conceited, and clueless man!"

...

Xiao Dao was walking on a wet peach wood plank in an alley with blue stone walls on both sides and purple ferns climbing on the walls. He looked up at a chubby little boy staring in disbelief at the second-floor window.

Just now, Xiao Dao strolled into this ancient alley and spotted a chubby little boy with a chubby face playing with a grasshopper made of reed leaves by the second-floor window. Seeing her, the boy studied her for a moment, then tilted his head and called out in a childish voice, "Little girl."

Xiao Dao was amused by him, put one hand on his hip, looked up at him and asked, "Little Fatty, who taught you to call people that?"

The little boy shook his bald head. "Daddy said that pretty girls with bangs who don't wear their hair up are called 'little girls,' while girls like my mom are called 'big tigers.'"

"Where are your parents?" Xiao Dao asked, suppressing a laugh.

"Daddy went to do business, Mommy is cooking, we're having dumplings tonight." This kid is probably used to talking to adults, he's old-fashioned, he smiles with his mouth wide open, and he's missing two teeth, so he's practically spitting out words.

Xiao Dao was overjoyed to see him like this.

Just then, a gust of wind blew by, and she quickly opened her umbrella. "Tell your mother to take in the laundry."

The chubby boy looked up at the sliver of sky squeezed through the narrow wall; it was gray and cloudless… He immediately shook his head, “You’re kidding me, it’s not going to rain.”

The word "rain" had barely left his lips when, with a "whoosh,"...

The grasshoppers in the chubby boy's hands were all wet when he heard an auntie shout from inside the house, her voice booming, "Fat Tiger, help Mommy collect the laundry!"

The chubby boy opened his mouth wide, and after a moment of realizing what was happening, he threw the grasshopper at the knife.

Xiao Dao caught it, and the doll gave him a thumbs up, exclaiming, "Little girl, you're amazing!"

The character for "person" was still a bit loose, and after saying that, he ran to the back.

Xiao Dao, holding an umbrella and carrying the little grasshopper, continued strolling through the alley. He turned a corner… and almost fell into the river. Patting his chest to steady himself, he saw a small river ahead, spanned by a low, flat arched bridge. The bridge was strange; one half was submerged in the water, while the other half occupied half the road.

Xiao Dao spotted someone under the bridge and thought that it was probably because there is a lot of rain in Jiangnan that the bridge was built like this to provide shelter from the rain.

As I walked onto the bridge with my umbrella, I heard someone below talking, "That little beauty with the red umbrella on the bridge."

Xiao Dao leaned over the bridge railing and looked down. He saw someone looking up with their face covered in fine water droplets. The person wiped their face and leaned under Xiao Dao's umbrella—it was Xue Beifan.

Xiao Dao, holding a red umbrella, looked down at him under the bridge.

Xue Beifan looked up, arms crossed, and asked, "Did you bump into my destined partner?"

...

The Qinhuai River (Ten Miles)

The paper of the red paper umbrella is very special; when raindrops hit it, they make a tinkling sound that can only be heard by the person standing under the umbrella.

Xiao Dao, holding an umbrella, leaned against the railing at the bridgehead, looking down at Xue Beifan who was looking up at him. "Didn't you go drinking?"

“Drinking alone is no fun.” Xue Beifan pointed to the area under the bridge and whispered to Xiao Dao, “There’s a small covered boat moored here; the boatman has probably gone to eat.”

Xiao Dao pursed his lips, "What do you want to do?"

Xue Beifan leaped from the shore onto the small boat, picked up the stern pole, and gently tapped the bank. The boat slowly emerged from the bridge arch. He turned and waved to Xiaodao, "Come here."

"You're going to die, stealing someone else's boat."

"Just row around once and then return it to him," Xue Beifan urged Xiao Dao. "You can't see the beauty of Jiangnan without taking a boat."

Xiao Dao thought for a moment, then leaped up, her skirt tracing a beautiful ruffle in the air, and gracefully descended the bridge. She landed steadily at the stern of the boat, gently patting the awning, "Boatman, row!"

Xue Beifan smiled, rolled up his sleeves, and rowed the boat forward...

The narrow river that runs through the city is lined with gray-based white walls, black tiles, and wooden windows. Half of the houses are above the water, and the other half are shadows underwater, with sunlight crowding at both ends. It is quite different from the scenery seen from the shore.

At the bow of the small boat stood Xiaodao, wearing a red umbrella and a white dress, while at the stern stood Xue Beifan, skillfully punting the boat. All around them was the quiet sound of rain.

Just as the boat rounded a bend, Xiao Dao heard a childish voice calling out from afar, "Little girl!"