The air in the room separated by a wall was stuffy.
Ah Mian silently packed her bags for the return journey tomorrow.
She had a lot of things, including gifts for everyone: a light pink, high-waisted ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) paired with a sheer short top. Xiao Jing would definitely look cute and lively wearing it.
This dress was bought yesterday while strolling around. Meng Chijian paid one tael of silver with a generous gesture.
There were also two travelogues for leisure reading, which A-Mian originally didn't want to buy, intending to finish reading them in the bookstore. However, the bookstore clerk had already seen through this poor customer and deliberately dusted them off with a feather duster, so in the end, A-Mian had no choice but to buy them for eight hundred coins.
There was also a large bag of free seashells and conches wrapped in oil paper.
She plans to give away the plain ones as gifts, but she wants to string the most exquisite ones together to make a necklace.
After tidying up for a while, A-Mian picked up the two people's dirty clothes, which were covered in sea mud, from the bamboo basket to wash them. Meng Chijian grabbed her skirt and asked, "Why aren't you talking to me?"
"You think I'm a fool, so you lied to me and played me for a fool!" He should have kept quiet, because the mention of it made Ah Mian angry. "What were you doing before you bought the steamed buns that day? Why were your clothes all wrinkled and your bundle wet?"
Meng Chijian remained silent.
"You tell me I have to tell you everything, but you don't do that when it comes to yourself." She felt that Meng Chijian was an absolute stranger. "Besides, hitting someone for no reason is one thing, but why throw him into the water? He might drown!"
According to the law, anyone who murders another shall be sentenced to three years of penal servitude; if the victim has been injured, he shall be hanged; if the victim has been killed, he shall be beheaded.
If that were the case, there certainly wouldn't be just one constable investigating. Meng Chijian might already be in prison, about to be beheaded!
Even now, Ah Mian still feels waves of fear and her legs go weak.
Just now, at the bottom of the stairs, when the old man pointed at Meng Chijian, she broke out in a cold sweat and her heart nearly stopped.
If the rumors are untrue, then what about what she witnessed with her own eyes?
Ji Hengzhi had a sharp tongue, so he wanted to kill this man.
Ah Mian tried to pull at the hem of her skirt, "Let go!"
Meng Chijian gripped her right wrist, his eyes holding a calm that seemed to be brewing a storm. "Someone like him who bullies others deserves whatever fate befalls him. Why are you speaking up for him?"
"I'm saying you're asking for it, you, you—" Ah Mian found him to be terrifying, just like when she first met him, so she simply raised her foot and kicked his shin hard. "Anyway, do whatever you want from now on! Don't worry about me!"
Meng Chijian was furious. "Could it be that you like the scholar type? Besides, I'm not the kind of person who hits people for no reason. Do you know that Ji Hengzhi repaired that painting and even took it with him on his trips for several days? And you even argued with me because of him!"
"When have I ever spoken up for him? You're just being unreasonable." Ah Mian vented all her previous grievances in one go. "You just treat me like your old pet dog, Mantou, and you can just gloss over everything!"
Meng Chijian was also furious and spoke recklessly: "Mantou is much easier to deal with than you. From now on, we'll go our separate ways and have nothing to do with each other. Besides, let me tell you, if I really wanted him dead, all I had to do was tie the sack tighter."
He didn't tie the sack with rope, nor did he beat him until he vomited blood; he was already holding back, only wanting to teach him a lesson.
But Ah Mian immediately assumed he was going to kill someone and even sided with the others.
Ah Mian's eyes were red and she didn't say anything. She picked up the bamboo basket and decided to continue washing clothes.
Meng Chijian said coldly, "Is this your bamboo basket? Put it down."
A-Mian glanced around the table, initially intending to smash the candle, but then worried about causing a fire and harming others, and also feared that the item was quite valuable and she would have to pay the shopkeeper one or two taels of silver in compensation. She then looked at the few bowls and chopsticks that had not yet been removed, thinking that porcelain bowls were not cheap either, and it would be a pity to break them. Finally, she took Meng Chijian's clothes from the bamboo basket, threw them on the ground, and stomped on them several times.
"These are all clothes I bought, why should you wash them? Lu Amian, remember this, I will never take care of you again, you'll regret it." Meng Chijian picked up the bamboo basket and went downstairs to do the laundry with an air of authority.
That night, the "comfortable kiss" they had agreed on didn't happen. Instead, they each wrapped themselves in a blanket and slept with their backs to each other.
Ah Mian originally planned to stroll around the market one last time before returning home to see if there was anything she could sell. However, ordinary things in the city were quite expensive, and there was hardly any profit to be made by reselling them. As for rare items that were not available elsewhere, she couldn't even afford the purchase price.
When A-Mian woke up naturally in the early morning, the person beside her bed was gone, and there were only neatly folded shirts and clothes at the foot of the bed.
On the way back, the two did not speak. A-Mian walked in front, and Meng Chijian walked behind.
"What's wrong with you two? Did you have a fight? That's strange," Wangwang asked, sporting two large dark circles under his eyes.
“…Hmm.” A-Mian knew that the content of their argument could not be revealed, and now she hoped that this matter would pass quickly and that it would not be traced back to Meng Chijian.
She abruptly changed the subject: "By the way, how are things between you and Officer Chen? You don't look like you slept well."
“It’s hopeless. I gave him a thorough dressing down yesterday.” Wangwang looked at the horizon with some melancholy. “A man as stubborn and serious as him would only be interested in virtuous, gentle and quiet women, but I just can’t stand it anymore.”
“I only followed him for two days and saw him working from dawn till dusk dealing with all the trivial matters in the city. It was one thing that he didn’t get paid, but guess what?! Very few people praised him. He’s a complete fool. My family is not worthy of such a person.”
"oh."
"His brothers are the same; they're all just thinking about slacking off, and he doesn't care. It's so frustrating to watch them like this!"
"However, when we went to the yamen to report to the authorities that day, the teacher and the others were drinking tea and chatting, and we waited for a long time without anyone showing up. Only Constable Chen saw that I was anxious and said that speed was of the essence and that we should take people to see what was going on immediately, otherwise we didn't know how long we would have to chat."
Upon hearing this, Wangwang lowered his head and remained silent, seemingly lost in thought.
In the end, he simply said, "Forget it, I'm afraid I won't have the chance to come to Zhoucheng again in the future, and I can't abandon my younger siblings. I now realize that it's really not easy to meet someone who cares about you."
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