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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.
Shi Cheng nodded his agreement, so they closed the store. Because some thugs came by during the day, Uncle Xiaochen wanted to be particularly careful and have them tally up the accounts at home. Otherwise, given how busy the day was, they wouldn’t be done with them till late.
So Uncle Xiaochen picked up the money box, Liu Shu carried the accounts books while the rest of them helped to close shop. Uncle Xiaochen had even gotten a few servants from their courtyard to come and escort them home.
The instant they returned, Liu Shu headed off to the room to start tallying his accounts with Liu Lin following closely. At the back, Liu Xu’er wanted to accompany them in but was pulled back by Shi Cheng. He tugged her to the courtyard and softly suggested, “Why don’t we go out for a stroll? Today is Qixi1 Qixi is a day for couples; it’s also known as Chinese Valentine’s Day. after all!
Liu Xu’er was taken aback, “Where should we go for a stroll? It’s so late, what if we got kidnapped!”
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Fbk Ubldt oyp wdnsdnladle, “Ebs oswze jkedyr wp? Rv’p dsv yp vbswtb ol byhl xsdlu. R yx iwkvl qyxkzkya okvb vbl rzynl yaswde blal. Rq ol blye lypv, ol okzz bkv y pvallv cu vbl akhla. El nswze ts yde oyvnb svblap alzlypl zydvladp vblal? Slzym! Mblal yal ps xydu rlsrzl yzz yaswde!”
Fyukdt vbkp, bl rwzzle Nkw Dw’la swv vbl essa. Nkw Dw’la vakle vs alpkpv, “Ls, ol nyd’v. Ebyv kq ol xllv nbkze-pdyvnblap….”
Fbk Ubldt pdsavle, “Mbyv’p y zkl vbyv yewzvp vlzz zkvvzl nbkzeald. Tso nyd vblu pdyvnb usw sqq vbl pvallvp kd qwzz hklo sq ps xydu rlsrzl?” Fyukdt vbkp, bl kdpkpvldvzu rwzzle Nkw Dw’la swv, “Nlv’p ts, zlv’p ts. Lsvbkdt okzz byrrld! Mblal okzz cl xydu rlsrzl vblal. Ohld yv 11rx, vblal oswze pvkzz cl rzldvu sq rlsrzl yaswde!”
Nkw Dw’la pyo vbyv bl bye bkp blyav plv sd tskdt swv. Fbl nswze sdzu ytall, “Mbld ol dlle vs tlv yd yewzv vs ynnsxrydu wp…. Nlv’p tlv Bdnzl Dkysnbld vs nsxl okvb wp!”
“Ebu pbswze bl vyt yzsdt?!”
Kwpv yp bl oyp pyukdt vbkp, Bdnzl Dkysnbld lxlatle qasx vbl assx. Fllkdt Fbk Ubldt rwzzkdt Nkw Dw’la swv, bl zlv swv y pbsnjle, “Zswdt xypvla, kv’p ps zyvl….”
Tl eked’v xydytl vs qkdkpb clqsal Fbk Ubldt kdvlaawrvle. “El’al tskdt vs oyzj yzsdt vbl akhla! Fs obyv kq kv’p zyvl, byhld’v usw plld vbl xssd vsdktbv? Rv’p ps caktbv! El okzz oyzj yzsdt vbl akhla clqsal nsxkdt cynj!” Mbld bl iwknjzu rwzzle Nkw Dw’la swv vbl essa.&dcpr;
Bdnzl Dkysnbld bypvkzu nyzzle qsa y plahydv vs qszzso vblx! Mbld bl alxkdele vblx vs jllr vblka ekpvydnl!
Shi Cheng pulled Liu Xu’er toward the river before saying, “Now is the most lively time. When we get there you will see! There’s nothing to be afraid of. Children our age play at the riverside all the time!”
“They are still playing at the riverside during Ghost Month?” Since she had already been pulled along, Liu Xu’er took a good look around. There truly were many people around. In the distance, she saw the river Shi Cheng mentioned. On the river there were quite a few lanterns floating. It was only then that she was finally able to calm down.
Shi Cheng said, “There are those who aren’t superstitious, and those who’ve snuck out to play…. Whatever the case may be, there’ve been no stories of children being dragged into the water by ghosts…. So long as they stay away from the water during the Ghost Festival itself, it’s fine.”
“Does the town have lantern displays during the Ghost Festival?” Liu Xu’er asked.
“Of course; isn’t that the custom! They would definitely comply with… I think it’s really nice. There would be lots of people, and business would be good. Would you be able to come on that day?”
Liu Xu’er shook her head. “Definitely not. My mum believes in all these superstitions. Now, Senzi and I aren’t even allowed near the well. She definitely won’t let me out of the house during the Ghost Festival.”
Shi Cheng could only sigh disappointedly, “Oh.”
As they spoke, the two of them finally made their way to the riverside. It wasn’t nearly as exaggerated as Shi Cheng made it seem. There were some people releasing lanterns on the water, and a few half grown boys folding paper boats to float on the water. At the riverside was someone selling lanterns. He even sold lotus shaped floating lanterns. In the middle of the lantern was a little candle. His business was quite good – there were several people crowding around him looking to buy them.
Shi Cheng went up to buy one. Liu Xu’er didn’t try to stop him. After buying one of the lanterns, the seller helpfully lit the candle. Shi Cheng pulled her to a shallow part of the river, and the two of them released the lantern into the water together.
Liu Xu’er placed her palms together and made a wish. Shi Cheng didn’t think it was inappropriate, so he joined her in making one as well. He just knew that it was the same wish as hers.
The lantern bobbed gently along the river before it was stopped by some unseen obstruction.
Shi Cheng pulled Liu Xu’er up from the river side, before turning to glance at the servant who had been following him. Shi Cheng waved away the anxiously watching servant, gesturing for him to leave them more space.
The two of them held hands and strolled along the river before starting to talk about Shi Cheng’s family’s plans to move to town.
“Looking at your family’s financial situation, Feng County Town should just be a stopover. You are definitely going to eventually move to Hanzhong, maybe even to Xianyang. So why are you buying a house here? Also, since you already own a large dwelling, why did you buy the little courtyard you are staying in now?” Liu Xu’er asked.
Shi Cheng replied, “Feng County is where we come from. Like Taohua Village, it is our hometown. If anything happens when we are outside, we can always come back to our hometown to hide. For us to own property in our hometown is only natural. It’s our safe haven, so we definitely need to make sure that our assets here are doing well. If we lose everything when we venture out, we can still return to our properties here. The large house is for us to stay in, while the little courtyard can be used to store things. If we need to return and drum up capital for businesses here, we could sell the little house too…. At least, that’s my understanding, but I’m sure that’s what my dad thinks too. After all, 80 taels of silver doesn’t mean much to us.”
Liu XU’er nodded, before sighing.
Shi Cheng said, “But you don’t need to worry. I will definitely support you, no matter what! Maybe in one or two years, 80 taels of silver would be nothing to you…. Last year, if I were to tell you that your family would make a tael or two of silver a month, you would think I was joking! Right?” He saw Liu Xu’er smiled and nodded, Shi Cheng smiled and said, “So, you don’t need to fret.”
Liu Xu’er gave an “En”, before saying, “I wasn’t too worried, I was just thinking that actually, staying in Taohua Village is pretty good. It is such a beautiful place….”
She hadn’t finished when Shi Cheng pulled on her and softly said, “Look at that person!”
Liu Xu’er followed his gaze and was startled! The person glancing left and right – wasn’t he the person harassing her xiaoyi, Mao Third?!
Liu Xu’er impression of him was very deep. What he looked like was deeply engraved in her mind! Wasn’t this person from her laolao’s village? How is it that he didn’t return home and was instead wandering around town late at night? Liu Xu’er turned to look. This was the opposite side of the riverbank. The dike on this side was much higher, and so it wasn’t as lively as the other side. For Mao Third to be loitering here, what intentions did he have?
Just as she was wondering, she saw two young girls holding hands and walking past him. Mao Third sized them up before deliberately strutting faster and colliding into the two.
The two girls were startled and stepped back. Mao Third made it look like an accidental bump. He stretched his hand out and apologized, but used the opportunity to touch them instead.
At the side, Shi Cheng and Liu Xu’er had seen what had happened clearly. Both shook their heads, while Liu Xu’er silently scolded him – what a dog!
The two girls were shocked into fleeing. After they had gotten a distance away, they turned back to look at Mao Third, unsure if what he had just done was intentional or not. Mao Third started to swagger toward the two of them.
He had just taken a step when a small object flew toward him and smacked him across the face. Mao Third jumped in fright before shouting out, “What?! Who did that?!”
In the shadows, leaning against the wall was a person. His features couldn’t be made out clearly as neither the moonlight nor the candles on the river reflected his face. They could only see that the person appeared to be rather relaxed. He straightened his back and walked forward before saying, “Dog!”
Liu Xu’er was so shocked, she nearly shouted! That was clearly her sishu’s voice!
Before she could shout, Shi Cheng had already swiftly moved to cover her mouth. He pulled her over to crouch beneath the wall. Shi Cheng softly said into her ear, “Don’t make noise….. It’s quite obvious your sishu wants to ambush this scoundrel. Let’s just watch!”
Seeing a fight about to break out, the servant watching over them was about to rush over to pull them away when he saw that the two children had wisely hidden themselves. So he too hid and watched.
Sure enough, Liu Changshi walked out from the shadows. Mao Third still didn’t know what had hit him earlier. He was still patting his face and jumping around angrily. “What are you doing?! Are you just bored?! You….”
He hadn’t finished when Liu Changshi pounced on him, swift as a leopard, fists targeting Mao Third’s face. Mao Third was completely unprepared. One moment he was grumbling, the next he was attacked. With a startled cry, he quickly backed up, but it was too late. His face was badly punched! Mao Third let out a miserable shriek!
Covering his face, he writhed on the ground. Liu Changshi didn’t stop, and immediately moved in. Sitting on Mao Third’s body, he let a flurry of blows fly toward Mao Third’s face!
Liu Xu’er had never seen her sishu fight like that with anyone! Knees weak, if it weren’t for Shi Cheng supporting her, she would have fallen to the ground. She saw something fly up from Mao Third’s face, scaring her into covering her eyes. She didn’t dare to look anymore, it all seemed too brutal!
Shi Cheng was extremely calm. He had been in his share of fights and had only stopped because he became a child and was no longer able to fight! So he was able to calmly watch the fight, and even give a nod of approval. Fourth Uncle Liu knew what he was doing – the first rule of engagement was to make sure to incapacitate the opponent as quickly as possible! He had to be helpless to fight back, before you could start to beat him up properly!
After a while, Shi Cheng pulled Liu Xu’er’s hands away from her eyes. He whispered in her ear, “They’ve stopped. Look.” It was only then that Liu Xu’er glanced over. She was still wondering. Just now… The thing that flew from Mao Third’s face, was it just blood or was it an eyeball….
She had managed to scare herself silly. When she raised her head up, she saw that her sishu had stopped hitting him, and was just dragging the limp Mao Third up. Mao Third let out a miserable yelp, sounding just like the dead dog he was.
Liu Changshi had good arm strength. He dragged himover toward the riverside. At first Mao Third was just letting out wretched sounding groans, but when he realised that something was not right, he started to shriek and use strength to resist, “Good man! Good man have mercy…..” Even his pitch changed.
Liu Xu’er thought that her sishu was just trying to scare Mao Third, but Liu Changshi just quietly and doggedly dragged Mao Third to the river and tossed him in!
Liu Xu’er was nearly shocked into screaming!
Hope this one lesson will end this mao sc^m from harassing and assaulting women no more. Thanks for new chapter.
You’re welcome!