Su Xiaoqi pretended not to hear, bought the chestnut cakes and cloud cakes, and prepared to leave.
But Su Jiamo had finally run into her by chance and was unwilling to let her go easily.
He stretched out his hands to block her path, a flattering smile on his face.
Su Xiaoqi frowned displeasedly and said, "Get out of the way."
"I won't. Little Sister Xiaoqi, do you know how much I've missed you these days?
I haven't been able to eat or sleep because of you. They all say I've lost weight. Don't you feel even a little bit sorry for me?"
Su Jiamo played the emotional card.
Su Xiaoqi glared at him. He truly hadn't changed.
Had she not scolded him harshly enough before, or beaten him severely enough?
"Su Jiamo, on what grounds do you think I should feel sorry for you?"
He and the original owner had indeed had some messy affairs in the past.
But all those relationships had long since dissipated with her arrival.
Now, not only did she have no affection for him, but she harbored an unspeakable hatred.
Seeing her become colder and colder, Su Jiamo's heart burned with eagerness. He took out a silver ingot from his embrace and said,
"Little Sister Xiaoqi, this is five taels of silver. I've scraped it from my allowance this month.
The Shen family is poor. Take this and buy yourself some good food and clothes. Don't mistreat yourself."
Su Xiaoqi reached out and pushed him away.
Who in the world wanted to take his money, and only five taels at that.
He wouldn't be afraid of being laughed at if it got out.
Su Xiaoqi flashed past and walked forward.
But Su Jiamo stuck to her like a slug, impossible to shake off.
Su Xiaoqi walked into a secluded alley.
Since she couldn't shake him off, she couldn't be blamed.
As soon as she slipped inside, she hid at the entrance of the alley.
When Su Jiamo chased after her, she immediately stepped forward and elbowed him in the abdomen.
He bent over in pain. Su Xiaoqi, without mercy, delivered a chop to the back of his neck, successfully knocking him unconscious.
Su Xiaoqi thought the alley was quiet and no one was around, and that her actions were undetectable.
Little did she know that a figure had already been following her.
That person was Shen Yun.
He had gotten out of school at noon and went to the Fuyue Inn as usual to look for Su Xiaoqi.
When he didn't find her, he greeted his fourth aunt and left, finding Zhao Laoshi, who was waiting outside to solicit customers.
Upon hearing that Su Xiaoqi was there, he came to find her.
As soon as he arrived, he saw Su Jiamo pestering her in front of the pastry shop. He had intended to step out to help her.
However, when he saw her luring the man into the alley, he thought she had rekindled her old feelings and followed them.
What he saw was his little wife easily and cleanly dealing with the man in just two moves.
He glanced at the unconscious Su Jiamo.
He recalled Zhao Guanggun, who had barged into his house on the day of his banquet and tried to bully Xiaoqi.
He had been bruised and swollen before being knocked out by him.
At first, he thought he had fallen on his own.
Now, he guessed it was probably also his little wife's doing.
Shen Yun couldn't help but curve his lips.
He glanced at Su Xiaoqi, who had walked away, and quickly stepped forward to help Su Jiamo up.
He threw him into another alley. Although they were both alleys, the situations inside were completely different.
After this incident, he wondered if the man would dare to pester Xiaoqi again.
Su Xiaoqi, unaware of what had happened behind her, emerged from the alley and found that she was lost again.
With her poor sense of direction, she could only walk in a straight line. After turning twice, she was lost.
Just as she sighed, not knowing what to do, a hand patted her shoulder from behind: "Xiaoqi."
Su Xiaoqi jumped and turned around, reflexively raising her hand to defend herself.
But she saw Shen Yun standing in front of her.
She didn't have time to retract her hand, so she simply hugged his neck and threw herself into his arms.
Shen Yun allowed her to hold him. He had not missed the sudden flash of ferocity in her eyes just now.
He said in a deep voice, "Were you trying to hit me just now?"
Su Xiaoqi uttered a triple denial: "I wasn't, I wouldn't, it's not true."
Shen Yun tried to ask her where she had been.
Su Xiaoqi waved the two bags of pastries in her hand.
She said she hadn't gone anywhere, just saw something to eat and bought some to sweeten the mouths of her family members.
Seeing that she was unwilling to mention what had just happened, Shen Yun sighed faintly.
She still didn't trust him and was unwilling to tell him the truth.
He suppressed the matter, took out an ounce of silver from his embrace, and said it was the subsidy given to the students by the county school that day.
Then he told her that he had just gone to the City God's Temple to have someone calculate the time for him.
The sixth day of the fifth lunar month was a good day, auspicious for breaking ground.
Su Xiaoqi naturally accepted the money and said that since the foundation was about to be laid,
according to village customs, wouldn't some things need to be prepared?
Shen Yun nodded and said that he had come home early from school today to buy things with her.
Also, the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month was approaching, and they also needed to prepare some festival gifts for elders in various places.
The young couple chatted as they browsed along the street.
As they passed the 'supermarket', Shen Yun stopped inexplicably to take a look.
"Supermarket, that name is quite..." remarkably strange.
The unfinished words couldn't hide his smile.
"Supermarket, what about it?" Su Xiaoqi unintentionally chimed in.
Shen Yun gave her a strange look and said nothing more.
After spending half an hour buying Dragon Boat Festival gifts for elders and relatives and the things needed for laying the foundation, the entire ounce of silver they had just received was spent, leaving only ten copper coins.
Shen Yun looked at the ten copper coins spread on Su Xiaoqi's palm with concern, raised his hand, and held her fingers.
"How about I draw a few more paintings..."
His words were interrupted by Su Xiaoqi.
"No need. The shopkeeper Su of Fuyue Inn introduced me to a new client.
Today I sold a hundred and fifty fish. Here, after settling the accounts, I got two strings of cash and more."
Not to mention her own 'supermarket' that made a net profit of twenty taels of silver on its first day of operation.
Now she was short of large sums, but not small change, so there was no need for Shen Yun to sell his paintings to earn money.
"If you really want to paint, why don't you paint and sell... to me."
Su Xiaoqi had intended to say she would sell them to her for five taels of silver each.
But she felt that saying it like this was too distant and might make Shen Yun overthink, so she changed her wording.
Shen Yun's deep eyes stared at her.
Her eyes were as dark as ink, shining like stars.
Although she was talking about the most vulgar matters of money, her eyes were so clean and pure that it was startling, as if untouched by the filth of the world.
"If you don't want to, then forget it. Pretend I never said anything," Su Xiaoqi dared not force him.
She thought to herself, "Spending a little silver to build a good relationship with the future powerful minister of the Liang Dynasty is more than I could ask for. I wouldn't dare ask for anything else."
Her inner thoughts were naturally heard by Shen Yun.
He raised an eyebrow, and a powerful aura instantly erupted in his eyes.
Su Xiaoqi jumped in surprise and instinctively wanted to withdraw her hand, explaining:
"Um, that, that thing, don't be angry, I was just speaking casually."
Unexpectedly, Shen Yun suddenly tightened his grip on her hand and replied, "Okay, whatever you want to draw, I'll draw it for you."
The tense atmosphere immediately dissipated. Su Xiaoqi clutched her chest and muttered, "You scoundrel Shen Yun, you scared this baby to death."
Shen Yun was somewhat displeased that she was scolding him in her heart again, but he couldn't reveal that he knew.
He thought about how shocked he was when he heard Su Xiaoqi say he was the future powerful minister of the Liang Dynasty.
He hadn't controlled his emotions and let them leak out.
He couldn't help but wonder, why did she say that?
Could it be that she, like Daoist Zhang in the City God's Temple, had the ability to foresee the future?