Chapter 9.1: Awkwardness (1)
How could it be that smelly girl again?
Li Yu hurriedly drew the curtains and asked Gao Xun, “The one you’re waiting for; is it her?”
Gao Xun hadn’t realised that he didn’t have a good impression of Xie Zhen, so he excitedly nodded his head, saying, “She only agreed to meet up with me yesterday, and I forgot to tell you. You aren’t angry, right?”
How could he not be angry? He was incredibly so!
Li Yu made a face, and rose up to leave. “Both of you can play together, I’d rather go home.”
Unfortunately he’d only taken two steps before being dragged back by Gao Xun. “Why’re you going back now? I promised Uncle and Auntie that I’d take good care of you today; what if something happens to you when I’m not around?”
Before, Li Yu’s parents had refused to let him go out with Gao Xun. After all, they were both stubborn and naughty, if a problem arose how could they deal with it themselves? It was only because of the Mid-Summer Festival, coupled with the many servants that Gao Xun brought along, that the two had reluctantly agreed to let them go out together.
Furthermore, there was only one carriage, so how would he get back home? What if he was kidnapped on the way home?
Being forcibly restrained by Gao Xun, no matter how much Li Yu wanted to leave, he couldn’t. He was still stuck in the doorway of the carriage, and could be seen from outside. At that moment, Xie Zhen happened to catch a glimpse of him.
Snuggled comfortably in Xie Liqing’s embrace, her bright and adorable face attracted many gazes, and the passers-by couldn’t bear to tear their eyes away from her. There were many children on the street, but none of them were as eye-catching as her. In the middle of the crowd, she was shining bright like a beacon, as though she was an iridescent piece of white jade.
Upon seeing Li Yu, Xie Zhen’s eyes lit up, and she pointed in his direction.
Carrying her, Xie Liqing walked over.
Even from a distance away one Xie Zhen’s delighted exclamation could be heard. “Big Brother Xiao Yu, why’re you here?”
Li Yu had been forced down onto the floor so harshly by Gao Xun that he couldn’t even speak; his face red from the pressure.
Gao Xun quickly got off him and patted down his clothes before greeting Xie Liqing as his uncle. Then, he said, “Ah Yu’s also coming with us, after all, the more the merrier!”
Xie Zhen didn’t mind this one bit. Instead, she was rather happy. Ever since catching him at the Old Madame’s birthday party, she hadn’t seen Big Brother Xiao Yu again. She’d made regular trips to the Li household, but he’d never once come out to play with her.
Li Yu’s lips thinned, and he felt as though he’d been betrayed by his partner.
Looking around, Xie Liqing saw that there were eight servants stationed around the carriage, and they were all as wide and tall as horses. In just a glimpse, he could tell that they were martial arts practitioners. Still, he was a little worried, and asked Gao Xun, “Where will you be taking Little Lamb to?”
Gao Xun pointed towards the street in front and replied, “The place we’re going to is right across the road. Uncle, rest assured, I swear I won’t let anything happen to Ah Zhen.”
Although it wasn’t that far away, there were many people around…Xie Liqing originally wanted to follow them, but something had suddenly cropped up at the government bureau office and he had to rush over to take care of it. Thinking for a moment, he then told Xie Rong and Steward Wang to stay with the children. After sternly reminding them to stay safe, he rushed off to the office.
Once he had left, Steward Wang sat in front of the carriage, while the four children stayed inside.
Xie Zhen was seated opposite Li Yu, with Xie Rong sitting right beside her, while Gao Xun was the furthest away from her. It just so happened that Gao Xun was the one who loved talking to her the most, and braving Xie Rong’s icy gaze, he laughed as though nothing was wrong. “Ah Zhen, where do you want to go? I know of a fun place to go to, do you want to go there?”
Without even waiting for Xie Zhen’s reply, Xie Rong had already spoken for her. “Little lamb cannot go too far away.”
Gao Xun wasn’t deterred, and continued asking, “Do you want to eat some nice food? Yi Restaurant’s crystal steamed buns and sweet-scented osmanthus pastries are must haves…”
Yi Restaurant was quite far away, and if they wanted to go there it would take one hour, a return trip would waste quite a bit of tine. Xie Zhen stonily rejected him, “Little lamb isn’t going there.”
Xie Zhen blinked innocently, showing that her brother’s words had nothing to do with her. “I only want to go to the shop that you mentioned…I want to buy a hairpin for Ah, Ah Xun.”
Her tongue had almost slipped, and she worriedly glanced over towards Xie Rong. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to have noticed.
Moving her eyes away from him, she happened to meet Li Yu’s gaze. Smiling at him, she happily asked, “Why did Big Brother Xiao Yu come out today?”
Frowning, he coldly answered, “No reason.”
“…Oh.” Xie Zhen had already been treated like this by him before, and she’d gotten used to it, so she didn’t get angry and instead continued talking to Gao Xun.
When the carriage turned round the bend, it suddenly shook.
As the carriage went askew, Xie Zhen wasn’t very stable, and her whole body flew towards Li Yu, who’d been sitting opposite her. Her forehead hit his chin, and the two were both in immense pain, and Xie Zhen looked as though she would start crying at any moment.
“Ow…”
She didn’t even have time to start crying before she suddenly banged against something else, and the sound echoed throughout the carriage. From the sound it seemed that two carriages had collided together, and inside the carriage they weren’t sure about what had happened outside.
At this Xie Zhen was incredibly frightened, and her two hands clutched at Li Yu’s neck, her head pressed down onto his chest. Voice shaking with repressed tears, she cried, “What happened…What happened outside…?”
With some difficulty, she finally calmed down, but she refused to remove her hands, and she clutched onto Li Yu tightly. Feeling Li Yu move slightly, as though he wanted to stop her, she hurriedly said, “Big Brother Xiao Yu, don’t push me off!”
Li Yu immediately stayed still.
To be honest he really did want to push her off, but looking at her frightened face, he thought that it would be a little too ungentlemanly to just push her off like that…Forget it, even though he did dislike her, he would just have to bear with it for a while.
Xie Rong raised the curtains, and rose up to leave the carriage and find out what had happened. “What happened just now?”
Both the driver and steward were still shivering with fear, and with difficulty they managed to stutter through the whole story. Before, just as they were turning round the bend, a carriage had suddenly rushed out and had been headed straight towards them. The driver had yanked on the ropes to get out of the way, but because the situation was so urgent, the carriage accidentally banged against the wall. At first they’d thought everything was over, but they’d never thought that the carriage would actually turn back around to ram into them again.
Translators Comments:
This is an extra chapter brought to you by our donors, Christine, Linda and Daniel! Right now the counter is back to $1/20. Thanks for all your support! The regular weekly chapter will come out tomorrow!
Donate !