El viaje de un mendigo alrededor del mundo

Capítulo 4

3. We met three times because we were neighbors...

Since they were just strangers who had met by chance, Fan Qingbo didn't care much about the scholar's opinion of her. Instead, she began to look at him with great interest.

The bookish scholar blushed, his original two points of attractiveness increasing to seven, making him quite delectable. Coupled with his rigid, pedantic nature, he only made her more alluring. No wonder Fifth Sister acted like she'd taken an aphrodisiac when she mentioned him; it seems that abstinence has always been extremely popular with mature women, regardless of time.

Unfortunately, she prefers the sunny and robust type. These pale-faced scholars look delicate and easily pushed over, making her feel completely insecure.

Fan Qingbo smiled maliciously: "Scholar, you were the one who insisted on hearing me speak, so why are you telling me to have some self-respect in the end?"

"this……"

The scholar choked. He knew his words were inappropriate, but couldn't quite put his finger on why. In his haste, he raised his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his brow, then suddenly stopped, his expression changing. He asked in surprise, "How does Miss Fan know my name?"

"Huh?" This time it was her turn to be caught off guard. "What's your name?"

The scholar lowered his sleeves, bowed politely, and said, "My name is Shusheng, courtesy name Qinzhi."

Cough! Fan Qingbo choked on her own saliva, pointing at the scholar and unconsciously raising her voice: "Scholar?" After seeing him nod seriously, she paused for less than a second before bursting into uncontrollable laughter, pounding the wall: "Scholar! Pfft! Hahahaha... Why don't you just be stupid!"

The scholar was somewhat confused by her laughter, and could only take advantage of a moment when she was laughing so hard she couldn't breathe to explain: "Although my mother's surname is Dai, I take my father's surname."

Upon hearing this, Fan Qingbo laughed so hard his face turned pale, and he leaned against the wall, rubbing his stomach.

"Oh dear, oh dear, I can't take it anymore, scholar, you're too precious!"

The scholar finally realized she was laughing at him. His face flushed red with anger, and he turned to leave, but she grabbed his hem. His whole body stiffened, and he tightened his grip on the silver hairpin.

Fan Qingbo immediately stopped laughing.

She was certain that in that fleeting moment, she had sensed something called "killing intent." But...

"Miss Fan, men and women should not touch each other..."

The one who turned around, his face flushed and retreating, was clearly still that innocent and easily bullied bookworm; where was there any murderous intent?

She shook her head, dismissing the unrealistic idea, and strode to a jewelry stall. Seeing this, the scholar quickly said, "Since Miss Fan has other matters to attend to, I won't disturb you any longer."

Hearing that impatient tone... Fan Qingbo chuckled inwardly, and without turning his head, said, "You want to walk around the streets with your hair down?"

"Ah!" Upon hearing this, the scholar stopped in his tracks, let out a soft cry, and hurriedly picked up the silver hairpin in his hand to tie his hair up.

"Stop busying yourself." As she spoke, Fan Qingbo already had an elegant peach wood hairpin with cloud patterns in her hand. She walked over, snatched the silver hairpin from his hand, and said, "Wealth shouldn't be flaunted. You don't seem that rich, yet you use a silver hairpin to tie your hair up. Are you hoping someone will come and rob you?"

She was about to shove the wooden hairpin into the scholar's hand when she missed. She looked up in surprise—this simpleton knew martial arts? And he was so agile!

The scholar, as if burned by a wooden hairpin, waved his hands vigorously, "No, no! This is against etiquette..."

Fan Qingbo had no choice but to beckon him, "Scholar, turn around and face away from me, then squat down a bit."

"What...what should I do..."

"I'm your savior, so I'll tell you to share, so share!"

What a despicable character! Looking at the man in front of her who quickly turned around and squatted down, not daring to breathe, Fan Qingbo kept a blank face, suppressed a laugh, and took his hair in her hand, skillfully combed it, quickly tied it into a bun, and then fixed it with a wooden hairpin.

"It's nothing much. Consider it an apology for the time Zice offended you at the teahouse." He glanced at the silver hairpin shaped like a calligraphy brush and said with a sneer, "Although it's not as valuable or special as yours, at least it won't attract thieves."

While he was still stunned, she returned the silver hairpin to him, then waved to him, "Alright, let's part ways here. I'm leaving."

He ran and jumped, disappearing at the street corner in just a few steps.

The scholar watched her cheerful figure gradually disappear into the distance, and after a long while, he finally realized what was happening, and his scalp began to tingle.

It was too undignified for a woman to style her hair in the street, but wouldn't it be even more impolite to remove the hair bun and let her hair down in public? After much deliberation, he was caught in a dilemma. Finally, a thought struck him, and he muttered to himself: "As the ancients said, when faced with two evils, choose the lesser one..." Only then did he abandon the idea of removing the hair bun.

Turning his gaze away, he saw the silver pen in his hand and, as Fan Qingbo had instructed, put it into the cloth bag slung across his waist.

"What a strange person, so frivolous...to women?"

The scholar's mutterings dissipated in the wind, almost inaudible.

Qingmo Lane has three streets and four alleys. The streets are named after virtues like "faith, ease, and elegance," while the alleys are named after the arts of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. It's remarkable that such a place, a gathering place for all sorts of people, has such refined names. One has to admire the dry humor of the people of the imperial dynasty.

Fan Qingbo lived at the end of Huaxiang Alley. When he got close, he saw that there was no one at the door and breathed a sigh of relief.

Regaining her leisurely posture with her hands behind her back, she slowly walked back. Just as one foot crossed the threshold, the hair on her body suddenly stood on end—there was a demonic aura! In the blink of an eye, a figure rushed out from the courtyard and grabbed her leg with lightning speed!

"Master! You're finally back, Master! This servant thought you didn't want this servant anymore! Waaaaah..."

Fan Qingbo's lips twitched slightly. He tried several times to pull his leg out, but failed each time. He could only lean against the door and wait for him to finish crying.

"Hmph, indecent and immoral."

A woman's voice rang out. Fan Qingbo looked up and saw that it was Qiuyi, the alley flower from the next alley. He smiled and asked, "Does Miss Qiuyi need something from me?"

Qiu Yi wrinkled her nose at her and said with disgust, "Who wants to see you?"

"Oh? But I'm the only house at the end of this alley. If you don't come looking for me... do you mean you're coming to our house to have a fit?"

Before Qiuyi could answer, Fan Bing, who was clinging to her leg, looked up with a tear-streaked face and cried pitifully, "This servant is devoted to my master. Even if Chunyi or Qiuyi falls deeply in love with me and pesters me relentlessly, I will never betray my master! Women are like clothes, but my master, you are my heaven, my god, my heart, my liver, my spleen, my lungs... Waaaaah! Also, my name is Fan Bing, and you can call me Little Fan or Little Bingbing, but please don't call me 'Fanbing'..."

"Ugh... I feel nauseous..."

Hearing the strange noise, Fan Qingbo turned around and saw Qiu Yi leaning against the wall, vomiting. He felt a little apologetic. "I'm very sorry. I will keep him on a leash in the future."

After a long while, Qiu Yi finally finished vomiting, wiped her mouth, turned around and glared fiercely at the two of them, gritting her teeth and saying, "Stop pretending to be crazy! It doesn't matter how immoral you two are, but I'm warning you, Fan Qingbo, you are not allowed to have any evil thoughts about Young Master Shu, and you are not allowed to seduce him!"

Just as Fan Qingbo was completely bewildered and at a loss for what to do, he saw a familiar figure walking over from not far away.