The flour seemed almost weightless for Li Chengru, but he was the capital’s most handsome man and would not normally have done this. If people in the capital knew what he was doing, they would certainly laugh at him. Success, however, always came at a price, and he would do anything if he felt it truly necessary.
Soon, Li Chengru stopped in front of Ye Xiaoxian’s house. She took over carrying the flour and said, “Thank you.”
“My pleasure,” he replied. “Please feel free to ask me for help. I’m staying at Jun Lai Lodge.”
Ye Xiaoxian smiled slightly at him.
He smiled back. He couldn’t help thanking Fengsheng in his mind. Fengsheng’s method works! She’s smiling at me!
Fengsheng had told him that this was called “sounding out” in the novels. If Ye Xiaoxian didn’t detest him or take him as a lecher, she might have a good impression of him. If she smiled, this meant that she totally trusted him. As such, he was able to finish his task early.
Since that episode, he had been in a good mood. Of course, he was not complacent. There was nothing for him to be complacent about. After all, he was such a dashing man for whom all ladies would line up to marry, let alone a village woman. But this marked the first step to his success, so it was reasonable for him to feel rather pleased with himself.
That day, he wasn’t picky about the food he had disgusted and instead had a good appetite. He enjoyed his dinner while asking Fengsheng, “What should I do next?”
Fengsheng replied in deadly earnest, “Keep approaching her. In order to do this, you must buy her snacks by yourself from now on.”
Li Chengru’s face fell. “Do you mean I should be your servant and buy breakfast for you?”
“No no, I don’t mean that. I mean breakfast can bring you closer to each other.”
Recalling the melodramatic plots from the novels, he explained, “Young master, what you must do is not only buy her snacks. There is more. For example, when you give her money, you can pretend to touch her hand by accident. But you can’t do it brazenly, or you will be regarded as a lecher. You’d better brush her hand lightly for no more than a second, giving her heart just a flutter rather than a surge.”
Growing impatient over the long-winded speech, Li Chengru interrupted, “Stop. Show me how to make her heart flutter.”
They then began practicing how to pass the money. After repeating the move umpteen times, Li Chengru finally got the hang of it.
The next day.
A light rain began to fall in the morning. Only a few customers braced the rain to buy Ye Xiaoxian’s snacks. Some of them were wearing straw raincoats and some were holding oiled-paper umbrellas.
After handing some snacks to a customer, Ye Xiaoxian looked up to find a dashing white-robed man holding a yellow umbrella in the drizzling rain. His perfect stature and breathtaking face resembled Eros. Her heart suddenly skipped a beat.
Just then, his lips curved in a brief smile. According to Fengsheng’s theory of love, if Ye Xiaoxian fixed her eyes on him, this meant she must have been fascinated by his angelic appearance.
“Good morning, what would you like today?” Ye Xiaoxian smiled as she turned her attention back to her business.
Since there was nobody around them, Li Chengru felt free to carry out his plan. He said, “Mrs. Xiao, my name is Li Chengru. I would feel it my honor if you would call me ‘Chengru’ or ‘Mr. Li’.”
Ye Xiaoxian was more than confused. Why did Li Chengru tell her his name?
He went on saying, “Sorry to call you ‘Mrs. Xiao’ all the time. Could you tell me your name? What would you like me to call you?”
Ye Xiaoxian didn’t like being called ‘Mrs. Xiao’ because Xiao Baoshan had, in a way, abandoned her. It always made her feel very awkward. So she said rather flatly, “Little Ye.”
“Got it, Little Ye,” echoed Li Chengru.
Ye Xiaoxian asked, “Mr. Li, what would you like to buy?”
Then, Li Chengru ordered some snacks that Fengsheng and he usually ate. Of course, he didn’t forget to buy quite a few ‘rabbits’.
She bagged the snacks up, calculated the price and said, “40 copper coins in total.”
“Okay.” Li Chengru took out a small ingot of silver and placed it on the table. Gentlemen usually did so in a courteous and considerable manner. However, when she gave change to him, he hooked his fingers slightly and brushed across her palm.
Feeling his touch, Ye Xiaoxian couldn’t help looking up at him.
But he soon pulled his hand away and smiled at her. “Little Ye, see you. Have a good day!”
It was as if nothing had happened. Thoughtfully, she watched his figure fading away in the rain.
In the days followed, it became sunny again. As he had done last time, Li Chengru came to buy snacks and said “good morning” to her. But he didn’t stay to chat because there was a long queue waiting to buy breakfast.
When Ye Xiaoxian went to buy flour, Li Chengru showed up in the market again. He still helped her to carry the bag of flour to her home. But this time, he didn’t leave right away. Instead, he pulled out a red pearl hairpin and handed it to her. “Little Ye, this is for you.”
Ye Xiaoxian was surprised. The hairpin was delicate with a pearl and it was red, her favorite color.
“But why?” asked Ye Xiaoxian curiously.
“I didn’t buy it on purpose. Last night, I walked past a poor old lady who was selling hairpins. It seemed that she had sold nothing that day, so I bought this one from her. It’s useless to me and I don’t have many friends here. So I thought of you,” Li Chengru explained casually.
This was also taught to him by Fengsheng — to prepare a small gift like a hairpin for the lady. But he had to pretend that the gift was not prepared specially for her, or she might feel too shy to accept it. No lady would decline a casual gift.
Li Chengru held his posture, waiting for Ye Xiaoxian to take the pearl hairpin. But she didn’t. He then became anxious.
Did I do it wrong? Or is Fengsheng’s idea not reliable at all?
After a while, Ye Xiaoxian finally looked up at him and said calmly, “Mr. Li, you’ve also come for Xiao Baoshan, right?”
He was astonished. “How, how do you know?”
“I knew it from the first time I met you, but you didn’t ask anything, so I just kept my mouth shut. Mr. Li, I’m sorry, but I don’t know where Xiao Baoshan is. No matter how many of you come here or who you are, I will still have no idea of his whereabouts. Besides, he has nothing to do with me anymore.”
Li Chengru was left speechless.
So I’ve been playing a monodrama like a fool all these days?
Ye Xiaoxian continued, “Mr. Li, you don’t need to come here again. Although this is a small county with low prices, it may cost you a lot of money to stay here too long. If nothing else, you’d better go back where you belong.”
Li Chengru was absolutely furious, immediately giving up all his feigned refinement.
A dagger was suddenly pressed against her neck. “Ugly woman, how dare you fool me! Tell me where Xiao Baoshan is, or I’ll kill you!”
She sneered. “It was you who cheated me although you failed.”
“That’s not the point. Tell me where Xiao Baoshan is!”
The sharp edge was pushed closer. If he used just a little more strength, he would slash her neck. But she was exceptionally calm while giving him a brave smile.
Her beautiful eyes were fixed on him as she said, “I don’t know where he is. Just kill me if you want.”
If killed, perhaps she could go back to modern times. Even if this really was the end of her life, she would accept it with poise. The money earned had been enough to support Li Hongmei and Xiao Baofeng for life.
The cold blade was still threatening at her neck, but it didn’t get any closer. His hand began shaking.
Kill her? He had never killed anybody, let alone a woman. He could always obtain anything he wanted by throwing a tantrum, but now he had failed in front of this woman.
She’s so unyielding. No wonder those guys couldn’t get any information from her.
“Do you think I won’t dare to kill you?” Li Chengru threatened.
Smile fading, she didn’t answer. Her eyes were on him, watery with tears.
Is she waiting to die?
He was afraid of something in her eyes. Shaking, the dagger seemed to try and slice her tender skin, but it was hindered by his hesitant hand.
Just then, the door creaked open as Li Hongmei stepped out from inside. Scared by the dagger, she suddenly dropped to the ground. “Mur-murderer! Help! Help!”
The dagger was immediately removed from Ye Xiaoxian’s neck. In the blink of an eye, Li Chengru disappeared out of sight. Only after a while did she come to her senses. With the white figure gone, everything returned to peace.
She sighed with relief before helping Li Hongmei up. “Mom, I’m fine. Don’t worry.”
Li Hongmei still felt limp on her feet. During these past days, she had seen strangers threatening Ye Xiaoxian with knives against her neck more than once. She had experienced the same nightmares, too. But this time, the dagger had scratched Ye Xiaoxian’s skin. Death had never been so close to her.
