Chapter 16: Light and Cloudy

Jiao Ran knew he was distracting her. "Stop talking nonsense and return the silver to me. I only gave you ten taels of silver, which is two months' wages!"

"Tell me first, who taught you this chain kick, or did you figure it out on your own?"

Jiaoran said that this was not a chain kick, but just a twisting step. "You can learn it by following Sister Xiaoju and the others in playing shuttlecock, kicking each other back and forth."

"who is she?"

"A maid in the mansion."

Bu Yue listened, and then asked thoughtfully, "How is her Kung Fu?"

"Sister Xiaoju? She doesn't know any martial arts and is just an ordinary maid. However, her cooking is delicious. The carp slices with perilla that she cooked is really amazing! It's a pity you didn't get to eat it. When we return to the inn, I will give the recipe to my senior brother who helps in the kitchen. It will definitely attract repeat customers." Jiaoran was happy at the thought.

Jiaoran took the silver back from him and said, "Give it back to me. I don't want to give you my hard-earned money."

"Forget it. Zhuxing is coming, and since she hasn't been to the capital many times, I'm planning to take her out for some fun. If you don't give, I won't spend it at all."

Jiaoran was delighted, "Senior Sister is coming?"

"real?"

"Why would I lie to you?"

Jiaoran hurriedly gave him all the silver. "Take it. I can't leave the house for the time being anyway, so I don't need to spend any money. Use this to buy some decent clothes for Senior Sister Zhuxing. The clothes she wears are patched over and over again and are almost worn out by washing. Don't ask her to save money. By the way, don't tell her it's my money. If she knows, she won't spend it. You said you won it from gambling, so it would be a waste if you don't spend it."

Bu Yue looked at her and didn't say anything for a long time.

"What's wrong?" He stared at her strangely, making her feel creepy.

"It's nothing. Just stay here. We're right next to the sweet shop on Bixia Street. If you can get out later, remember to look for us."

Jiaoran agreed, "But why is Senior Sister Zhuxing here?"

"I killed someone and almost got the government involved. My master and mistress were worried, so they asked her to look after me." Bu Yue said.

"That's right. Even the Phoenix Chicks can't control you, right? Don't be too arrogant. If something goes wrong, the whole plan will be ruined."

"Okay, okay, stop talking, I'm leaving."

"Also, is Xu Meng's revenge still there?"

"I'm here, what's wrong?"

Jiaoran thought he was an idiot. "You want to hug women left and right, openly and honestly?"

"No?" He didn't care at all.

Jiao Ran grabbed his collar and said, "I don't care what happened between you and her before. Now that Senior Sister is here, you have to break up with her immediately. How can a man have two women?"

"One as wife and one as concubine, just right."

Jiao Ran was choked, and after a moment he said uncomfortably, "You want to make me your concubine?"

Bu Yue frowned immediately, "Of course not."

"So what do you want? Xu Mengchou's martial arts are much better than Senior Sister's. I could see it that day. If Senior Sister fights her, nothing good will come of it. Of course, Senior Sister has such a good temper that she won't do anything. But Xu Mengchou is different. She might kill Senior Sister."

"She dares?!"

The more Jiao Ran thought about it, the more upset he became. "Stop it. I don't care about your business, but if you make me uncomfortable, I will find a way to make you uncomfortable too."

"You're talking like you're so powerful. I can just stretch out my finger and—Hey, hey, hey, why are you pushing me?"

"Why don't you hurry up?"

…

The food was taken away and Jiaoran did not come back.

Seeing that the young master didn't touch the tea on the table, Xiaoju said, "I'll go look for Jiaoran again."

Shao Feng reported, "The servant in the garden said she was going to fetch firewood. She might be playing around and hiding somewhere in the rocky hills of the mansion. Why don't we wait a while?"

"She won't run around on her own initiative." The young master said lightly.

"But the maid in the firewood room also looked for it, and it wasn't there." Shao Feng said.

Susu was called over, along with two or three servants who were carrying firewood. They all stood in a row with their heads lowered.

Shao Feng said, "If you don't believe me, you can ask Changchuan."

He glanced at Changchuan.

"My lord, Madam Shaofeng did not lie. Madam Jiaoran did say she was going to collect firewood for the last time, and then she asked us to leave."

Shao Feng said, "Master, don't worry too much. Although Jiaoran likes to play, he always knows how to come back."

She raised her head slightly and took the courage to glance at Mu Jin, hoping to get his affirmation.

There was a slender little bamboo spoon under the tea tray for cleaning the Luohe tea sieve. Mu Jin picked it up from the side of the tea bowl and gently placed it on the table.

Xiaoju knew what he meant, and without warning, she suddenly slapped Shao Feng's cheek with one end of the bamboo spoon.

"Stop talking too much. If the master doesn't let you speak, just shut up." Xiaoju said.

The wound went all the way to the corner of her pink lips, but Shao Feng didn't dare to scream.

Seeing this, the other few people dared not even breathe.

He looked at them with amusement, "Who asked her to fetch firewood?"

Susu didn't dare to speak, nor did she dare to look at Mu Jin.

Xiaoju tapped Shaofeng's chin with the same whipping implement she had used, "Is it you?"

Su Su quickly shirked responsibility, "Shao Feng said... she's very strong anyway, so doing rough work... wouldn't tire her out."

Mu Jin pointed at one of the servants and asked, "Do you have something to say?"

He said, "I seem to hear voices in the woodshed from afar. I wonder who Madam Jiaoran is talking to." After hearing this, the young man stared at the teacup in a daze.

Xiao Ju asked a few more questions, but when she realized she couldn't get any more information, she said, "Sir, why don't you wait a little longer?"

"You go down first," she said.

He called out to Shao Feng, "You stay."

"...Yes." She stopped where she was and didn't dare to move.

"Come closer."

Shao Feng glanced at Xiao Ju, and only after the latter blinked did she dare to approach.

As she got closer, she couldn't help but slowly raise her eyes to look at Mu Jin's eyes that were always full of tenderness.

Mu Jin smiled, "If you scare her away, I will turn you all into fertilizer to nourish the flowers in this garden."

Shao Feng's face instantly lost its color.

"Go out, you are not needed here." Xiaoju winked at her.

After she left, Mu Jin asked, "Why would you help someone like her?"

Xiaoju thought for a moment and said, "Maybe it's because she and I are the same kind of people."

He sneered, and the man in front of him immediately knelt down to apologize. She always knew his temper.

Mu Jin stepped forward and pretended to help her up. The anger on her face had disappeared. Xiaoju raised her eyes slightly at this time, feeling relieved. It seemed that Jiaoran's coming was not entirely without benefits. At least he was much kinder than before.

His hand had just touched her wrist when he rubbed it gently. Xiaoju's rosy face immediately turned pale. The pain made beads of sweat flow down her temples. "Master... spare... spare my life."

Jiaoran's laughter came from outside at this time, "Susu, have you all eaten?"

Susu's face looked a little bad, "Not yet...wait a moment, are you hungry?

She nodded heavily, "Yeah, I'm so hungry."

"Where did you go? Why can't I find you anywhere?"

Jiaoran said to Susu, "Just take a look around. By the way, I'll meet you in the small kitchen later."

After that, he ran into the hall with a smile, "Sister Xiaoju, look what I found."

At this moment, Mu Jin reached up and pushed her joints together.

By the time Jiaoran arrived, Xiaoju had already stood up and walked to the door.

She saw her holding a bunch of grass, "What is this?"

"It's Chu Cao."

Xiaoju didn't say anything else and said, "The young master is looking for you, come in quickly."

It was springtime outside. Jiaoran took a deep breath and said, "This should be the time for flying kites. It's so boring staying indoors."

She quickly covered her mouth and said, "Don't say that in front of the Master."

"Why, he doesn't like flying kites?"

Before Xiaoju could answer, she dodged her and ran in, "I'll go ask the young master."