El viaje de un mendigo alrededor del mundo

Capítulo 5

"A scholar?"

The man looked up at the sound and saw it was the dull-witted scholar. He was slightly taken aback, hesitated for a moment, then quickened his pace, his eyes filled with a mixture of surprise, fear, and confusion as he stepped forward. "Miss Fan? What a coincidence!"

In just one day, we met three times.

"You two know each other? How did you meet?"

Qiu Yi became wary and stood between the two. When she looked at the scholar, she became shy and her voice softened.

The scholar then noticed Qiuyi standing to the side and hurriedly took out a box of rouge from his cloth bag and handed it to her, saying, "This is the rouge that Miss Qiu asked me to buy. Please accept it."

Fan Qingbo leaned against the door with one hand and rested the other on her hip, watching the two men come and go with great interest. It was clearly a scene of "the goddess is willing, but the king is too foolish." Intrigued, she raised an eyebrow and asked, "Miss Qiuyi, is this the young master you mentioned earlier?"

"Huh? Did you two just mention me?" The scholar looked at her with some surprise, then at Qiu Yi.

Autumn's gentle, tender eyes instantly shot out a murderous intent at Fan Qingbo: You're dead if you dare say anything!

"Yes, Miss Qiuyi said..." Fan Qingbo deliberately dragged out his words, and only when he saw that Qiuyi was so nervous that she was about to explode did he casually smile and say, "Miss Qiuyi said that a young master named Shu is moving across the street from my house and asked me to take good care of him, is that right, Miss Qiuyi?"

Qiu Yi breathed a sigh of relief, her shoulders slumped with exhaustion, and she met the scholar's questioning gaze with a casual nod.

The scholar immediately smiled elegantly and bowed deeply to Fan Qingbo, "How could I trouble Miss Fan?"

Upon hearing this, Qiuyi quickly chimed in, "Yes, yes, it's too much trouble. Miss Qingbo is the head manager of Huanxitian, and she has many social activities. She doesn't have time to entertain us neighbors. Young Master Shu, it's getting late. Let's hurry inside and tidy up the new house."

The scholar nodded. "It is indeed getting late. Miss Qiu should go home early. I won't see you off."

Fan Qingbo couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Qiu Yi glared at her fiercely, annoyed that the scholar was so clueless about romance. But being the shy young lady she was, she could only stomp her foot and leave in a huff. Before leaving, she gave her another sharp look: "Don't you dare seduce Young Master Shu!"

Fan Qingbo is the kind of person who can't be provoked; the more you resist, the more she wants to provoke you. So when she received the threat, she didn't hesitate to stick her tongue out at Qiu Yi, making Qiu Yi so angry that she grabbed her hair before she was satisfied.

Unexpectedly, this unseemly and impolite expression drew disapproval from the scholar.

"That's too undignified."

Hearing the same accusation of self-respect coming from the same person twice in one day, Fan Qingbo found it amusing, but deliberately put on a serious face and said, "I was just joking around with Qiuyi to build a relationship. As a man, you should have avoided suspicion and refrained from looking at anything inappropriate. Who knew you would look at it and then turn around and accuse me?"

This is absolutely sophistry, because no matter how you look at it, the one who's turning the tables seems to be her.

But the scholar, being rather simple-minded, actually listened to it and even thought it made a lot of sense. He then apologized repeatedly with a face full of shame.

What a complete idiot!

Completely unaware that the person he was apologizing to was trying so hard not to laugh, he bowed to Fan Qingbo again and said, "Thank you for your understanding, Miss Fan. I still need to tidy up my new house, so I won't bother you any longer."

Just as she was about to leave, she glanced at Fan Bing, who was sobbing, and couldn't help but say, "This young man looks quite young. If he has made a mistake, please give him another chance, Miss Fan, and don't punish him too severely."

Fan Qingbo's smile vanished; her lips twitched slightly. What was going on? Did she look like she was bullying the weak?

He kicked Fan Bing and said, "Get up."

He felt he had cried enough, so he stood up unsteadily.

Fan Qingbo wasn't really trying to make things difficult for the scholar. Not only did she not have any ill feelings towards him, but the fact that he was willing to open a private school to teach children and didn't care about the tuition was enough for her to decide to be a good neighbor.

She nudged Fan Bing, urging him to help the scholar tidy up his new house. Fan Bing refused, stamping his feet and yelling. She glanced at him sideways and sneered, "If you don't go, do you expect me to go myself? What am I supposed to do with you then? Use you to mourn every day?"

Upon hearing her say she didn't want him, he immediately jumped up like he'd been injected with adrenaline, shouting, "I'll go! I'll go!"

"Uh, actually, there's no need to trouble this young man, I can manage on my own..."

The scholar only offered a kind suggestion to prevent the master and servant from arguing over him, but Fan Bing glared at him fiercely, "What do you mean? You want the master to kick me out? And then take the opportunity to rise in rank? How can there be such a despicable and insidious person as you in this world! Don't think I can't see what you're thinking with those thieving eyes of yours. Let me tell you, I, Fan Bing, am very shrewd. Don't even think about seducing my master!"

4

4. A strong sense of servility is a sign of illness...

Fan Bing has had another episode...

Fan Qingbo covered his face in deep shame, wishing he could chop off the hands that had saved him years ago, and even more so, he wanted to buy a block of tofu and smash it to death this boy who was always having these fits of madness.

Does he think everyone is as servile and fiercely loyal to their master as he is?

Fortunately, he encountered this bookworm, who actually blushed and earnestly explained to her.

"Miss Fan, please don't misunderstand. I have absolutely no improper thoughts towards you. Sowing discord is something a gentleman would never do. I would never do such a despicable thing, Miss Fan..."

Fan Qingbo was utterly speechless. He waved his hand, leaving the two idiots with a staggering back view.

"Still looking? Still looking! How dare you look at my master!"

Fan Bing jumped up and patted the scholar on the back of the head. He thought it felt good, and since the scholar wouldn't resist, he patted him a few more times. Then he chattered as he walked into the scholar's house across the street.

Although he was only thirteen years old and small in stature, he was very efficient in his work, and seemed to be able to lift heavy objects even better than the scholar. With his help, the new house was almost ready in no time, and the scholar said he could do the remaining cleaning himself.

Fan Bing glanced at the room full of books, picked one up at random, and began to flip through it in a seemingly serious manner.

"Uh, Brother Fan, you're holding the book upside down."

The scholar meant well by offering a reminder, but it struck a nerve with Fan Bing. He exploded, jumping up and yelling fiercely, "So what if I can't read? So what if I'm a scholar? My master is—well, anyway, my master is much more learned than you! She'll teach me to read and write. Yes, she's a bit busy now, but she said she would! Humph!"

The scholar stood there and let him shout for a long time without blinking. When he finally stopped, he said gently, "Young Master Fan is so clever and quick-witted, he will surely learn everything with twice the result with half the effort."

"Of course!" Fan Bing was immediately flattered and tilted his head back proudly.