"L-Looking for me?"
Shen Tang pointed at herself.
It felt a little like winning a small lottery prize.
Not much money, but still a surprise.
But Shen Tang's attention always wandered in peculiar directions. She thought carefully over what Gongxi Chou had said and sensed something was off. "Wait. Earlier, I heard you specially asking the proprietress about Heyin, so I thought you'd come all this way to visit me. Turns out I was just an afterthought?"
She'd been touched that her friend remembered her.
But now that she thought about it, she'd clearly been mistaken.
Gongxi Chou wasn't embarrassed at being caught out. Instead, he looked genuinely confused by Shen Tang's question. "B-But aren't those the same thing?"
Shen Tang replied with firm conviction, "They're not!"
Then—
Gongxi Chou tilted his head in puzzlement.
He asked tentatively, "Should I apologize, then?"
Shen Tang appreciated how quickly he caught on.
"Mm, fine. I accept."
She couldn't let a little disagreement ruin things with a kindred spirit.
Gongxi Chou apologized briskly, and Shen Tang accepted just as naturally. Only the onlookers couldn't make heads or tails of the logic behind it. Perhaps this was why the two could become such close friends, while outsiders were left utterly bewildered.
"Patriarch, please have some tea."
The "attendant" brought over a pot of tea.
Shen Tang noticed the earring holes in the "attendant's" plump earlobes. She gave Gongxi Chou a meaningful smile and asked, "What about this one of yours?"
She raised her pinky.
Gongxi Chou stared blankly at his own little finger.
"What... does that mean?"
Gu Chi said, "The pinky belongs to water and represents children and younger generations."
Armed with Gu Chi's incorrect explanation, Gongxi Chou hurried to clarify. "She isn't a younger member of the clan. My adoptive father gave