Chapter 164: In Love 

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.

---

Liu Shu and Liu Lin returned within the day. Liu Shu went and updated Liu Xu’er about the store’s general situation. Basically, the store’s business was doing alright, but there were quite a lot of minor issues. Winter was fast approaching, and the hand-warmers needed to be sorted out before then. 

That night, they discussed the situation till late. The next day, Liu Shu woke up, washed up and went to the main courtyard to join the rest of the family for breakfast. Today, he had decided to do the accounts for the Hanzhong city store. Liu Shu was the overall bookkeeper of all the family businesses, while the Hanzhong city store had their own accountant. As long as their accounts were clear, and the amounts tallied with the overall intake at Liu Shu, everything was fine. 

Liu Shu had spent all these years keeping the books. He had grown rather good at it and had realised that more and more, he enjoyed doing this work. He planned that after the examinations next year, whether he passed or not,  he would do further studies in this area. 

While everyone was eating, they discussed who would be heading where. Liu Changgeng and He shi planned to head to the workshop, Liu Lin would be going into the store – he didn’t manage to go by yesterday, so he definitely needed to do that today.  And although Liu Tao didn’t need to go to the store daily, he still did so.

The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.

Ohlauvbkdt oyp yp wpwyz – vbl cwpu rlsrzl olal cwpu yp wpwyz, obkzl vbl kezl rlsrzl…. Mblal olald’v ydu kezl rlsrzl. Mbl sdl obs bye vbl xspv qall vkxl oyp Nkw Dw’la. Lsoyeyup, pbl eked’v byhl vs cl rlapsdyzzu kdhszhle okvb vbl cwpkdlpp. Tla nsdvakcwvksd vs vbl qyxkzu cwpkdlpp oyp bla caykdrsola. Gde pkdnl pbl bye vbl vkxl, bla kdvlalpvp dyvwayzzu pvyavle vs xshl vsoyaep vbkdtp vbyv lhlau osxyd nyalp ycswv. Fbl pvyavle vs vbkdj ycswv aswtl, psyr yde vbl zkjl, xsal yde xsal.&dcpr;

Gqvla calyjqypv, lhlausdl oldv vblka oyu. Nkw Dw’la blyele cynj vs bla sod assx, cwv oyp pwarakpkdtzu clkdt qszzsole cu…. Nkw Fld.&dcpr;

Nkw Dw’la bye fwpv tsdl kdvs bla assx yde vyjld y plyv obld pbl prsvvle bkx. Fwarakple, pbl ypjle, “Tyhld’v usw clld osajkdt alyzzu byae zyvlzu? Ebu eked’v usw ts vs pvweu? Ebu eke usw qszzso xl kdpvlye? Rp yduvbkdt oasdt?”

Nkw Fld takddle yde nyxl vs pkv ynaspp qasx bla. Yupvlakswpzu, bl ypjle, “Kkl, byhl usw dsvknle psxlvbkdt?”

Nkw Dw’la ypjle, “Ebyv? R byhld’v dsvknle yduvbkdt.”

Nkw Fld pxkzle plnalvkhlzu, “Pytl’p xyvvla.”

Nkw Dw’la oyp rwggzle. Gzz vbswtbvp ycswv vlypkdt bkx bye lhyrsayvle, yde pbl pyv wr vs plakswpzu ypj, “Pytl? Ebyv byrrldle?”

Nkw Fld pxkzle yde oyp ycswv vs pyu psxlvbkdt obld bl pweeldzu vbswtbv clvvla sq kv. Tkp lyap pvyavle vs vkdtzl, ps bl iwknjzu awccle vblx yde pyke, “R oydv vs xyjl vbkp nzlya – usw nyddsv rwzz xu lyap ds xyvvla obyv R pyu!”

Liu Xu’er slowly blinked, “I need to see what you say first.” This brat wanted to say something completely inappropriate?

Without the promise secured, Liu Sen definitely didn’t want to say anything. He insisted again, “No way, you must promise me. You cannot pull my ears! I’m about to become a xiucai, what if you turn me into a fool by pulling my ears?”

“Ha! People don’t become fools by getting their ears pulled. Relax!” Liu Xu’er guaranteed. 

Liu Sen rolled his eyes, “You’re splitting hairs. It seems you don’t want to hear… Alright then! I won’t say anything.” He stood and made to leave. 

Liu Xu’er immediately jumped up to hold onto him. Laughing, she said, “Fine, I promise you…. What was it, I won’t pull your ears.” If I can’t pull your ears, can’t I still twist them?! It’s too early for you to fight with your jie!

Sure enough, Liu Sen sat back down and grinned, “Jiei, have you noticed that dage seems to be very close with the Shao family? And the Shao family seems to have been coming by very frequently to our place.”

Liu Xu’er’s mind immediately started to turn. She nodded and said, “That’s because something happened with the Shao family, and because our family wanted flowers. That’s why they’re coming so regularly.”

“Shao Rong jie, what do you think of her? You know…. Dage isn’t that young anymore, and you should look out for him. Today, Shao Rong jie is coming by. You should watch closely….” Although Liu Xu’er had promised not to pull his ears, Liu Sen was still rather careful. He had stood and walked toward the door as he spoke, and the instant he finished, he had dashed off. 

Liu Xu’er was completely stunned! She had really never thought about the possibility. When the issue with the Shao family had started, she had been present as well, and had also been very very angry. Dage was a kindhearted person, and felt keenly the injustice they had suffered. It was very normal for him to want to wholeheartedly help the Shao family. 

But…. it might be that after helping them, feelings had started to blossom….

Liu Xu’er blinked as she thought this through. Senzi had said that Shao Rong would be here today? Just as she thought that, Tian Liu shi’s voice drifted in from the doorway, “Miss, the miss from yesterday who helped plant flowers in the pond is here. She said you’re looking for her?”

Liu Xu’er paused for a moment befores saying, “I’m bathing now. Let Shao Rong in first, and get dage to accompany her for a while. When I’m done, I will head over.”

Tian Liu shi agreed and went off. She brought Shao Rong in and invited her to the main courtyard to have a seat. Their Miss was washing up – she needed to wait a while. 

Shao Rong didn’t dare to sit in the main courtyard. She quickly said, “It’s alright. I will head to the pond and check on the flowers we planted yesterday.”

Tian Liu shi nodded, and went to look for Liu Shu to accompany their guest.

When Liu Shu heard that Shao Rong had arrived, he didn’t think too much of it. He put down the ledger in his hand and came over to the pond. From a distance, he saw Shao Rong standing at the side of the pond. She seemed to be carrying a potted plant, it was growing beautifully.

Shao Rong was dressed in a dark brown outfit today. Although it was made of coarse cloth, because it was dark coloured, it wasn’t obvious that the material was poor. And because Shao Rong had a good figure, she stood there looking elegant. Her belt floated in the breeze – she appeared to be graceful and dignified. 

Liu Shu stood there, looking at her for a while. This was the second time he had noticed what a fine figure Shao Rong had…. Although Shu was an honest person, he was still a man. 

Liu Shu suddenly turned and headed back a couple of steps. He stood still and looked at the door in a daze. After a while, he again turned and looked at Shao Rong. This time, he started to move toward her. 

Just as he was about to reach her, Shao Rong heard footsteps and turned. Seeing it was him, she immediately blushed red, before firmly getting herself back under control. Smiling, she greeted him, “Liu Shu ge^”

Liu Shu nodded, “You came.”

Shao Rong quickly explained, “That’s right. Yesterday, my ge and I came to plant flowers. Senzi said that Xu’er wanted to make some rose rouge and asked me to come by today.”

Liu Shu nodded his head. Looking at the pot in her arms, he saw that there were a few stalks of fern asparagus with green leaves and stems. It looked full of vitality. Liu Shu pointed at it and asked, “Who is that for?”

Shao Rong was a bit nervous, and a blush crept over her face. She mentally scolded her face for giving herself away so easily. She bit down and struggled to control herself. With both hands, she handed it over and said, “It’s for you. You’re about to go for the national examinations. I… we hope that you can become a xiucai, and after that a juren¹举人/Juren – A successful candidate in the imperial provincial level examinations, and after that… Whatever the case, you will definitely go higher and higher!”

When she finished, her face was completely red. Then she felt that something was missing, and hurriedly added a sentence, “Gege and I prepared it.”

Liu Shu nodded. He looked at her and smiled, “Many thanks.” Then he reached for it. 

Perhaps because she was feeling somewhat guilty, when Shao Rong saw that his hand was reaching over to hers, she panicked and loosened her hold on the pot before he reached it! There was a “peng” – the flower pot fell on the ground and shattered. All the soil and fern scattered. 

The both of them looked at it, shocked. Shao Rong was even more dismayed and frantic. She quickly crouched down to try and clear it up.In her haste, she accidentally cut her hand along the edge of the porcelain. Before she could gasp, her hand was caught firmly in Liu Shu’s. 

Shao Rong was both embarrassed and panicked. She looked up at Liu Shu and was about to reassure him that it was nothing, but found herself wordless.

And Liu Shu seemed to only be concerned about the fact that she had broken skin. He held onto her hand and helped her up, while softly admonishing her, “Why so careless? Let’s go, I will help you wrap it up.” Then he held her hand and pulled her to his side. 

Shao Rong was flustered and panicked. Stammeringly, she said, “I… I’m fine. It’s a small cut… It doesn’t hurt…”

Liu Shu turned and smiled at her, “Although it’s a small cut, dirt has gotten into it. It definitely still needs to be cleaned, otherwise, it might get infected.” He pulled her along before recalling something. He turned and smiled at her, “That’s right, I will find another pot for the fern. Thank you…. And your brother.”

As he spoke, he pulled Shao Rong along. 

When both of them had gone off, Liu Xu’er emerged from the walkway. She blinked at the fern asparagus on the floor. Then she heard someone laughing from behind her. “I just knew you would come to peep!”

Liu Xu’er turned and shrieked, “Liu Sen! If I don’t give you a lesson today, you would be climbing over everyone’s head!” Then she gave chase.

Liu Shu had just pulled Shao Rong into his own room and brought over some clean water. Carefully, he washed off all the soil in the cut, before using his handkerchief to wrap it. Although the wound wasn’t big – it had already stopped bleeding by now – Liu Shu was treating it very seriously. He said to her, “Don’t let it get wet in the next few days.”

Shao Rong was sitting stiffly. She was feeling so awkward and embarrassed, she wished the earth would swallow her up. Her body was still trembling somewhat. She was about to nod, when her hand was caught in his. Shocked, she lifted her head up. 

Liu Shu still had a calm smile on his face, as if nothing was wrong. He said to her, “Let’s go. I will send you back.” Then he pulled her out of the room toward the door. 

Dragged along, Shao Rong was nearly to the exit when she realised. Stuttering, she said, “But…. But Xu’er wants to learn….”

“There’s no need to worry about her.” Liu Shu said, He saw that Tian Yu was seated outside the room. The instant Tian Yu saw him, he had immediately stood up, so Liu Shu shook his head and said, “You don’t have to come with me.”

Tian Yu was hesitant. He didn’t know if he should follow along or not. Didn’t the Young Miss say that no matter where Eldest Young Master went, he should follow? Master and Madam had also said the same. It was his father who understood and immediately pulled him back saying, “You must listen to Eldest Young Master. Whatever he says goes… If you don’t listen, why would he use you?” He turned this into a teaching opportunity for his son.

Liu Shu turned and wanted to grab hold of Shao Rong’s hand. It was as though it was natural for him to hold her hand. Shao Rong was so embarrassed, her face was completely red. She felt extremely awkward! She kept feeling that… Liu Shu was behaving strangely today! He kept smiling when he saw her… Could it be….