Chapter 26

Huo Yanci hummed in response: "But everyone already knows, right? Why can't we say it?"

Ning Qingxi retorted, "We have no official relationship, is it something to be proud of for you to leave my room?"

Huo Yanci looked eager to get married: "Wouldn't it be better to just get married?"

"..." Ning Qingxi: "It seems like we've only known each other for less than half a year?"

Huo Yanci was confused. She got up, propped herself up on the bed with her arms, and asked, "What's wrong with less than half a year? Does it mean you have to marry whoever you've known the longest?"

Ning Qingxi: "..."

She pulled the blanket over her head and wailed, "Please, leave me alone! I've been so busy these past few days that my mind is all over the place."

Huo Yanci tactfully changed the subject: "Speaking of which, are you really not going to build me a garden too? We can discuss how much you want."

“I don’t have that much time. If Zhang Fuhu’s garden is finished and someone comes to me, I’ll definitely take care of them first. If no one comes to me, then I’ll finish this job with you and then retire from this life of crime and go back to farming.”

Huo Yanci didn't speak for a long time, so much so that Ning Qingxi thought he had fallen asleep. She tentatively called his name, and only felt relieved after hearing a response. She then asked, "Are you angry?"

“No,” Huo Yanci said, “I’m trying to figure out where you can get business.”

"It's not that easy. Let's take it one step at a time." Ning Qingxi was completely at ease, lay down, and pulled the blanket over her. "Stop thinking about it and go to sleep."

Ning Qingxi has never been the type to think ten steps ahead for every one step she takes. In any case, there's always a way out. As long as she's not determined to die, how could she not find a way to survive?

But Huo Yanci was clearly not as open-minded as she was. When Ning Qingxi woke up the next day, there was no one outside the cubicle. She stretched her limbs as she walked out, and was startled by Huo Yanci, who had been waiting for her for who knows how long. This person was wearing a light pink dress, as delicate as a peach blossom in March, but the dark circles under his eyes were hard to ignore.

Ning Qingxi exclaimed in surprise, "Did you go out to steal in the middle of the night? Why are your dark circles so bad?"

"Isn't it because I was too close to Miss Ning, and my heart was fluttering all night, so I couldn't sleep?" Huo Yanci yawned and asked, "What are we going to do today?"

Ning Qingxi's daily routine is pretty much the same.

When I went to supervise the construction, I would occasionally find a few unreasonable parts in the drawings. Then I would call everyone to a meeting and argue with them for an entire afternoon. This cycle would repeat itself, often making me so angry that I would turn red in the face and my neck would get thick.

The days were quite fulfilling and interesting.

Ning Qingxi said, "Go check on the craftsmen. Last time I didn't keep an eye on them and almost got fooled again."

Huo Yanci nodded and followed closely behind her, the two of them wandering around one after the other.

After all the details had been finalized, Ning Qingxi felt a little uneasy for some reason.

The current project requires absolutely no effort from her; anyone could take over the work simply by looking at the blueprints. This made Ning Qingxi very anxious.

Now it's her who needs the land, not the other way around.

She started thinking about what side business she could develop, so she asked, "Hey, what do you think about me opening a tavern in the capital? I could hire people to sing and tell stories."

"It's all on a whim," Huo Yanci said. "Why did you suddenly decide to open a tavern?"

"Anyway, I'm just idling around. I don't need to put much effort into this anymore. I should find myself some work to do, otherwise I'll become useless if I stay idle like this."

After thinking for a moment, Huo Yanci asked, "What do you want to sell in this tavern?"

"I haven't thought about it yet. If I can get some good wine or grain liquor, I'll collect some berries, juice them, and then mix them together to drink."

Huo Yanci imagined for a moment: "Then it's likely that you've drunk most of it before it's even sold."

Ning Qingxi chuckled and said, "You understand me so well. I haven't had a drink in so long, I'm really craving one."

The alcohol here isn't very strong, less than 20 degrees at most. It just works quickly but also wears off quickly. If you get drunk, a good night's sleep will do the trick, leaving you with no other side effects besides fatigue.

Ning Qingxi casually mentioned it, and a few days later, two small jars appeared on the lunch table.

She seemed to sense something and said uncertainly, "This is..."

"Wine, and hawthorn juice."

Ning Qingxi jumped for joy in an instant: "That's great! How did you know I like hawthorn juice?"

The hawthorn juice was very thick, probably with honey added, and it was very sweet. Ning Qingxi mixed it in a 3:1 ratio and pushed the bowl in front of Huo Yanci: "Try it?"

Huo Yanci obliged and picked up the bottle and drank it.

This wasn't the first time he'd tasted a drink made by Ning Qingxi, but the ingredients he used were naturally top-notch, resulting in a vastly different flavor. He had never liked sweets, but at this moment, he found the sweet wine to have a unique flavor.

Ning Qingxi waited expectantly for his feedback, watching him raise an eyebrow after taking a sip of the wine, and then nod: "Not bad, very appetizing."

Ning Qingxi said proudly, "Of course, who am I!"

Huo Yanci clapped in agreement, and the two of them were having a great time playing this game of "you dominate and I admire," which no one else found strange.

Even if Ning Xiaoniangzi brought out a plate of food that had been stir-fried to a crisp, this man would still be very polite and eat it, saying it was delicious.

Ning Qingxi had no such awareness whatsoever and asked, "Then what do you think about me using this to open a shop?"

"Speaking of opening a shop, I actually have some news to tell you." Huo Yanci said slowly, as if she had suddenly remembered something. "The palace is planning to build a garden, specifically for the royal family and nobles. It needs to be grand, elegant, with mountains and water, and a place where they can stay for ten days to half a month. I'm thinking..."

"Smack!"

Before Huo Yanci could finish speaking, Ning Qingxi eagerly grasped his hand and said, "Please put in a few good words for me, I want to do this."

Huo Yanci asked, "What's wrong? You're closing the tavern?"

Ning Qingxi waved her hand: "With our wise and mighty Prince Jing here, why would I need to open a tavern?"

Huo Yanci couldn't help but chuckle, raising her hand to pinch Ning Qingxi's cheek before releasing it when she looked completely bewildered: "I've already tried to help you. Whether you can do it well or not is up to you. This matter is of great importance, unlike what you can do here with Zhang Fuhu."

"It's good that you've helped me get it; I'll walk the rest of the road myself, of course," Ning Qingxi said seriously. "Huo Yanci, thank you."

She had lost count of how many times she had thanked this person, but words were too weak; she always felt that something was not quite right, so she could only thank him again and again.

With Huo Yanci's help, Ning Qingxi finally got this stepping stone. The two of them took some time to go to the capital. Huo Yanci took her to the designated piece of land to take a look and get a general idea of ​​the terrain. When drawing the map, they used this terrain as a reference.

In the days that followed, she would close the door and not see anyone. When asked, she would say she was drawing. It was as if she had returned to the days when she participated in the competition in the Zhang family's courtyard. The daytime was compressed infinitely. It seemed that one second she took out the Xuan paper and the next second it was dark. However, even with such hard work, Ning Qingxi's progress was still far behind.

The reason is simple: the land is too large, with a high proportion of water, and she strives for meticulous detail in the blueprints, which makes the process exceptionally slow.

The consequence of working herself to the bone was that, because she often skipped meals, the fat she had gained gradually went away. Huo Yanci tapped the table and asked, "Have you noticed that you've lost a lot of weight recently?"

"Really?" Ning Qingxi was mixing her own drink when she heard this. She touched her face but felt no change.

"Of course it's true. Look at your chin, it's so pointed!" Huo Yanci said. "Are you busy today?"

Ning Qingxi looked at him with a "What nonsense are you spouting?" expression.

"Would you believe me if I said I have absolutely nothing to do?"

“There’s no rush,” Huo Yanci said. “I’ll take you out for a nice meal today to help you recover.”

Ning Qingxi couldn't help but laugh: "If you say there's no oil in this rice, the cook will definitely get angry with you."

Here, you can use a little of everything when cooking, except oil. These people are all manual laborers, and if there isn't enough oil fumes, they won't have the strength to work. Therefore, this food is extremely fattening.

"Then get impatient with me. I haven't been exercising much these past few months, and I feel like I've gained a lot of weight. I need to lose some weight soon."

Ning Qingxi looked up at him, pondered for a moment, and said, "You have indeed gained some weight. Is your belly all soft now?"

Huo Yanci touched her belly: "Soon, I'll be going out with this big belly soon."

Ning Qingxi: "Just like Boss Zhang?"

Huo Yanci put her face on Zhang Fuhu's, and immediately felt uncomfortable: "Then I have to hurry up and run away. I only managed to fool you with my face. If I lose my face, you'll probably have to cut ties with me."

Ning Qingxi was overjoyed: "Exactly! You need to be more aware of the risks. Self-disciplined men are the most attractive. Keep it up, I believe in you!"

"Sigh, we're not even married yet, and she's already complaining about me," Huo Yanci sighed. "After we're married, won't she be saying this to me every day?"

"Forget about after you get married. If you really become as big as Boss Zhang, you should be grateful that I can still talk to you right in the ear."

Ning Qingxi was aware of her own superficiality and felt that Huo Yanci's stunning beauty was truly rare, since it seemed perfectly normal for men to gain weight and go bald in middle age.

Upon realizing this, she felt as if the sky had fallen, and hurriedly examined Huo Yanci's head to see if there were any signs of baldness.

Fortunately, this person's hair is currently very healthy, but he felt a little uneasy under her gaze and asked suspiciously, "What are you looking at?"

"Let's see if you go bald."

Huo Yanci asked, "What did you see?"

Ning Qingxi said, "I don't see any risk of becoming a bald monk for the time being."

She placed one hand directly on Huo Yanci's hand and said honestly, "The thought that you might be pregnant and bald in the future is a bit hard for me to accept. If I don't touch you more now, I'll feel like I'm the one who suffered later."

While she was saying that she was at a disadvantage, she touched him without hesitation.

Even though Huo Yanci felt she had reached the pinnacle of shamelessness, she was starting to feel overwhelmed.

Ning Qingxi's mind seemed to short-circuit, and she kept touching things until everyone looked over. Huo Yanci's ears burned, and she saw the jar next to her. Suddenly, she had a flash of inspiration, picked it up, and saw that it was indeed empty.

"...Ning Qingxi, what number is this?"

Ning Qingxi ignored it.

Huo Yanci was certain that the man was drunk and dazed. He jumped up and left, and Ning Qingxi suddenly let go of his hand, somewhat dissatisfied. She stood up and followed him out.

When Ning Qingxi got drunk, she became quite roguish. Normally she was just a bit lecherous, but when she was drunk she became even more unrestrained, acting like a hooligan. She cornered Huo Yanci against the wall and kissed her to her heart's content. Although she didn't know when the initiative had been handed over to Huo Yanci.

Ning Qingxi was breathless from the kisses and felt a little uncomfortable, so she groaned a couple of times. Then Huo Yanci moved away a little and asked, "What's wrong? Did you hurt yourself?"

Ning, the big hooligan, didn't actually hear what he said. She only knew that she was having trouble breathing and felt uncomfortable. But when he suddenly moved aside, she felt even more uncomfortable, so she hooked her hand and pulled him back to continue kissing him.

She wasn't doing it right and it felt weird. After Huo Yanci bit her lip, she felt like she was being electrocuted, and half of her body went numb. Then her legs went weak and she almost fell over. Huo Yanci put his hand on her waist and felt Ning Qingxi suddenly lose her strength, so he justifiably let her exert herself.