Chapter 119: Feeling Jealous

Disclaimer: 

1. This is an unofficial translation and no permission has been obtained from the author/ official publisher. It may be taken down if the author/official publisher requests. 

2. This is a fan work and the interpretation represents only the translator’s personal views without any input from the author. 

3. No permission has been granted to use, publish, upload and/or copy this translation to any other site except for Second Life Translations.

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When they returned to Feng County town, Shi Qian quickly went to arrange all the matters concerning his Hanzhong city restaurant. Because there were many matters to deal with, and because he had trusted people to help him handle his jewelry store and restaurant in Feng town, he got Shi Cheng to supervise the businesses in Feng town while he concentrated on setting up the restaurant in Hanzhong city. 

Although Shi Cheng was still young, he had started to work when he was six and was very experienced and shrewd at managing the business. Shi Qian didn’t worry at all when leaving him in charge. 

The two businesses in Feng town were rather well established. So long as nothing major happened, Shi Cheng could quite easily manage small situations within two or three days. Today, he had gone round to both businesses and there weren’t any matters that required his attention, so he went out to walk along the streets. In another two days, it would be Qixi again. He wanted to buy Liu Xu’er a little something for it. 

The reason he was reminded of this was because of the situation that happened with the Hao family’s Second Young Miss. When she mentioned all those different types of rouge, Shi Cheng had been paying attention to Liu Xu’er’s responses. Moved, he decided then and there that he would buy her some makeup that she could use on a daily basis. 

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Nkw Dw’la’p qyxkzu bye yzoyup clld rssa. Tl bye hlau lyazu sd oydvle vs blzr vblx, cwv vbl vos sq vblx olal lmvalxlzu nzlya vbyv okvb vbl Nkw qyxkzu’p rshlavu, yduvbkdt bl tyhl oswze cl vss schkswp. Gp pwnb, yzvbswtb bl bye oydvle vs qsa y zsdt vkxl, bl bye dlhla eyale vs ynvwyzzu cwu bla yduvbkdt. 

Lso bsolhla, Nkw Dw’la’p qyxkzu oyp xyjkdt xsdlu, yde bla qyxkzu’p qkdydnkyz pkvwyvksd bye kxrashle valxldeswpzu. Wsa bla vs byhl psxl xyjlwr oswzed’v cl vbyv lul-nyvnbkdt. Gp Fbk Ubldt oyp vbkdjkdt ycswv vbkp, bl ldvlale y pvsal plzzkdt xyjlwr. Jwv yqvla y obkzl, bl lmkvle ytykd, lxrvu bydele. Tl vbswtbv, kq Dw’la eked’v cwu ydu sq vblpl blaplzq, kv rascyczu xlydv vbyv pbl bye ds wpl qsa kv. Fs oswze kv cl yd yrrasrakyvl tkqv?

Gp bl vbswtbv vbyv, bl elnkele vs fwpv ypj. Mblpl qlo eyup, Nkw Dw’la’p dlo pvsal oyp eskdt ayvbla olzz yde Nkw Dw’la oyp qaliwldvzu vblal. Fs Fbk Ubldt oyzjle sd shla vs bla pvsal.&dcpr;

Fwal ldswtb, bl prsvvle y pbyeso yv vbl xydytla’p nswdvla qasx vbl essaoyu. Palpple kd y ryzl czwl swvqkv, bla blye oyp zsolale, yde pbl oyp pvweukdt psxlvbkdt. Fbk Ubldt pxkzle yde oyzjle vsoyae bla.&dcpr;

Dw’la bye alyzzu tasod wr. Tla nbkd bye pbyarldle yde bla cseu bye clnsxl xsal okzzsou. Tla lulp nyaakle psxl sq y uswdt zyeu’p nbyax yde clnywpl pbl dlhla wple ydu skz sd bla blye, vblal olal psxl okprp sq byka vbyv lpnyrle bla vkeu bykaes yde czlo ycswv bla qsalblye yde vlxrzlp. Rv oswze qzsyv kd vbl callgl, yde yp Fbk Ubldt zssjle yv bla, bkp blyav pvyavle vs qzsyv kd vydelx okvb kv. 

Tl oyp ycswv vs qzsyv yoyu, clqsal bl qsanle bkxplzq vs nsxl cynj esod vs lyavb. Qakddkdt okelzu, bl nyxl kd. Tl tallvle Nkw Fbw clqsal awddkdt kd qasdv sq Nkw Dw’la. “Ebyv yal usw zssjkdt yv?”

Nkw Dw’la aykple bla blye yde pyo Fbk Ubldt’p okel takd. Rv zssjle yp vbswtb bl oyp shlafsule shla psxlvbkdt, ps pbl ypjle, “Ebu yal usw ps byrru? Ebyv lzpl nswze R cl zssjkdt yv? R oyp zssjkdt shla swa zletlap.” Fyukdt vbyv, pbl tsv y ckv lmnkvle. Qakddkdt, pbl pyke, “Xwa pvsal’p cwpkdlpp byp clld ralvvu tsse vblpl rypv qlo eyup. Mbl pvsnj byp yzz clld ralryale – ol’al fwpv oykvkdt qsa vblx vs qzu sqq vbl pblzhlp nsxl Ckmk!”

Fbk Ubldt zywtble yde iwknjzu pvyavle vs qzyvvla bla. “Mblu oswze elqkdkvlzu nsxl kd eashlp! Rv oswze elqkdkvlzu cl y eyu sq cssxkdt cwpkdlpp, yde xsdlu oswze nsxl aszzkdt kd!”

Liu Xu’er laughed, “What is with you? Why are you behaving so strangely today?”

Shi Cheng scratched his head, “It’s nothing…. Are you done looking at the accounts?”

Liu Xu’er nodded, “All done… Why? Did you want to go out again?”

Shi Cheng immediately nodded, “That’s right! Let’s go out for a walk. I have something I want to say to you!” Saying that, he stretched his arm out to help Liu Xu’er up. Then he waved goodbye to Liu Shu and said, “Liu Shu, we will be heading out for a walk. In a while, we’ll bring back something nice for you to eat!”

Liu Shu smiled and said, “No need. Just make sure you buy whatever Xu’er wants.” He held a book in his hand and was seated near the door. These past few days, his teacher had been springing surprise tests on them. Liu Shu and Liu Lin were both a bit jumpy. 

Shi Cheng was only too happy to obey that command! He quickly smiled and nodded, “Sure! Of course!” Then he pulled Liu Xu’er out with him. 

Liu Xu’er quickly took her arm out of his grasp, “What is with you today? You’re behaving a bit differently ….” He was being so obliging, it was rather suspicious.

Shi Cheng smiled and quickly responded, “It’s nothing… It’s just, in two days it will be Girls’ Festival. Do you want anything? What shall I buy for you?”

“I don’t want anything. Right now, my biggest wish is for my two stores to have booming business on the day. I want the stores to be overflowing with people….” Liu Xu’er smiled and said, “Alright, it doesn’t have to be overflowing – I don’t want my poor store to be destroyed in the crush. So long as business is good, I will be happy!”

Shi Cheng saw that her entire brain was filled with business, and didn’t have any other thoughts. He sighed and said, “Look at you… Don’t you want maybe some rouge or something? Recently, I’ve been going to Hanzhong city rather often, do you want me to buy some back for you? What was it…. Tiangongqiao?”

Liu Xu’er frantically shook her head, “No, I don’t use any of that….. Why do you suddenly want to buy gifts for me?”

Shi Cheng shook his head, “It’s Girls’ Festival! I want to give you something. I didn’t dare to give anything before, because it would have been too obvious given your family’s financial situation. But now, I can be less careful right? What do you want? New clothes? New cloth? Oh! How about I buy you a few bolts of silk that you can use to make clothes?!”

Liu Xu’er found that even more strange. She looked at him and said, “I’ve already told you I don’t need anything. Why are you suddenly being so nice? Did you do something bad? What did you do? Does it have anything to do with me?”

Shi Cheng glared at her before shaking his head, upset, “Forget it! I did it with good intentions, but you are so suspicious and unwilling!”

Liu Xu’er covered her mouth and smiled, “Isn’t it because you are behaving so out of character? You suddenly are being so nice….” She had just said that when a little child suddenly ran out, crazily, from behind and collided hard against her. Liu Xu’er didn’t even have time to gasp before she started to fall!

Shi Cheng reached a hand out to catch her, but was just a fingertip short. She was just about to land on the ground when another person happened by and immediately raised his arms out to block her. He was bumped heavily by Liu Xu’er and the two of them toppled to the ground. 

Liu Xu’er didn’t hurt herself, mainly because the person under her had served as a cushion. Hastily, Shi Cheng pulled her up. The little child had long run off. He turned to look at the human cushion on the ground – he was a 14 or 15-year-old youth. His face was fair with fine features. Right now, his brow was knit with pain. 

Liu Xu’er’s face was all red. She subconsciously moved to try and help him up. “I’m really sorry, really sorry. Are you hurt? It wasn’t deliberate….”

She had just extended her hand when Shi Cheng quickly pushed her hand away. Unprepared, Liu Xu’er was pushed back. Stunned, she looked at Shi Cheng. Shi Cheng’s face was puffed with anger. 

“What are you doing?” Liu Xu’er asked. 

Shi Cheng’s brow was tightly furrowed. He didn’t say a word before looking sternly at her. Slowly, he asked, “Did you get hurt?”

Liu Xu’er said, embarrassed, “I’m… I’m fine.”

As they were talking, the youth stood up. He was gasping with pain. 

Liu Xu’er went to check in on him. She had just taken a step when she was pushed behind Shi Cheng. Shi Cheng looked at the youth and asked, “Are you alright?”

The youth continued to take deep breaths. He appeared to be in pain. Before he could say anything, Shi Cheng had already said, “We’re very sorry for bumping into you, but why are you, a man, so weak? Does a fall really merit all this?”

Unhappily, the youth looked up at him, “What are you saying? After bumping into me, are you still in the right?” It was only when he stood up straight that he noticed that Shi Cheng didn’t appear to be that short. In fact, he appeared to be around the same height as himself. The youth didn’t want to make any trouble, so he just started to angrily mutter to himself as he walked away. 

Liu Xu’er looked sheepishly at Shi Cheng. She wanted to explain that she had been struck silly by the fall and was only wanting to hurry and apologise to the person. After Shi Cheng stopped her twice, she had come to her senses and understood his point. She thought that Shi Cheng was only angry over her forgetting herself. After all, she was already 12 and in this era, girls of her age needed to be careful to maintain distance with men.

She needed to have been careful just talking to a strange man, let alone stretching her hand out to help him. She couldn’t blame Shi Cheng for getting angry. Cough, cough, cough. 

“”I was just struck silly, and only thought of quickly helping him to stand….” She mumbled. When she didn’t hear a reply, she lifted her head and saw that Shi Cheng had already walked off, still huffing. She quickly called, “What is with you?!”

Shi Cheng seemed to be really rather angry. Normally, whenever she called like this, he would have already come running back. Today however, he didn’t even turn to look. He just continued, angrily, on his way. 

Liu Xu’er could only rub her nose and hurry to chase him, “Are you really angry? I know I shouldn’t have stretched my hand out…. Wasn’t it just a subconscious gesture? I caused that person to fall, after all.”

Shi Cheng was still angry. With a fierce face, he didn’t say anything. Liu Xu’er could only smile and follow along with him. She asked him what he wanted to buy for her? Then she said that she had heard about a store that had sold Zimoli. Actually, what about Tiangongqiao, Luo’er’yin, nothing was as nice as Zimoli! Why don’t you buy some for me….

After following him for half a street, Shi Cheng’s expression finally eased. He pulled her into a makeup shop. Without saying anything to her, he asked, “Do you have any Zimoli?”

The shop assistant quickly came forward with a warm greeting, “We don’t have any Zimoli, but we have a new arrival called Meihuanu. It’s a bestseller in Hanzhong city, and a lot of young misses enjoy using it! The fragrance is nice, and it has a beautiful colourl! Miss, do you want to look at it?” He quickly went to get the rouge. 

Shi Cheng blinked, why did this name…. Sound as though it was not intended for girls from good families to use¹ 媚花奴/ meihuanu – Although the literal translation of the name could be “Charming Flower Slave”, it isn’t that straightforward. The word used for “Charming” (媚) can also mean “Seductive”. (花) “Flower”is more neutral, but a “Flower” could also refer to a courtesan. So another reading could be “Seductive Courtesan Slave”?  He just didn’t understand it, and he had to be rather careful. In this era, a girl’s reputation was of paramount importance. He definitely couldn’t be so muddleheaded as to buy just anything for her. 

“Forget it, I’m not buying that!” He said as he pulled Liu Xu’er out. Liu Xu’er saw that he was still angry, and didn’t dare to say anything. She didn’t even dare to pull her hand out of his grasp. She just maintained a silly smile on her face. 

After walking a good distance away from the store, Shi Cheng finally slanted her a look before angrily shaking his head, “You’d better not do that ever again! I was so angry!”

Liu Xu’er mentally scolded him for being petty! But she didn’t dare to let any of what she thought show on her face. She gave him a placating smile and said, “Alright, alright, alright. I know. I definitely won’t do that again!”

Shi Cheng finally felt soothed. Pulling her along, he said, “Go! Let’s go to my family’s store and choose a hairpin for yourself. You should start wearing some jewelry!” 

Liu Xu’er rolled her eyes. She wanted to refuse, but this fellow had just thrown an almighty tantrum, so she didn’t dare upset him again. She could only follow him to his store.