Qi Shan had a fairly good understanding of Shen Tang. The moment he saw her eyes darting about, he knew she was brewing mischief. "That's all ancient history. If I get the chance, maybe I'll tell you someday."
The implication was that he could tell her, but Shen Tang was not allowed to ask.
Shen Tang clicked her tongue, removed the window latch propping up the window, and the vertically opening window slammed shut with a bang.
He could vaguely still hear Young Master Shen muttering, "If you won't tell me, then don't. Who's curious about your lousy affairs?" Qi Shan could only shake his head with an amused smile.
"Young Master Shen... still has the heart of a child."
Qi Shan sighed wistfully as he opened his luggage.
He had only just finished sorting half of it when the shadow of an old woman appeared on the door.
She raised her hand and knocked three times. Qi Shan called out, "Come in."
The old woman pushed open the door, bringing in a low-legged food table bearing their evening meal, along with lamp oil for the night. Seeing this, Qi Shan hurriedly rose to meet her. "How could I let you handle these things? Leave them to me."
The old woman smiled and sidestepped him. "Young Master Qi, just sit down. This old woman's hands and feet are still nimble enough. Why wouldn't I be able to do it?"
She set down the food table, then made the bed as well.
After she finished, Qi Shan took several large pieces of silver from his money pouch and handed them to the old woman. "This is the money for the two of us staying at your residence and covering our meals. Please accept it, Old Madam."
"That won't do—"
The old woman pushed the silver back without a moment's thought.
If not for the young man before her, she and her husband's bones would have been cold for four or five years already. How could they still be living here in peace?
Not only that—
This young master's future had been ruined along with theirs.
She said, "We absolutely cannot accept this money."
Unexpectedly, Qi Shan's attitude was firm. He pushed the money back and said, "A debt is a debt, and a favor is a favor. If Old Madam won't accept it, the two of us won't feel comfortable continuing to stay here without a care." As he spoke, he even began repacking his scattered luggage.
After much coaxing and persuading, the old woman finally accepted the money.
She watched the young man's shadow cast upon the Wooden Door and let out a long, sorrowful sigh.
The day's journey had left Shen Tang somewhat exhausted. The moment her head touched the wooden pillow, she began snoring away. She dreamed not at all that night, unaware that the oil lamp next door had burned until dawn.
The next day, the pavilion's eastern sun rose.
Shen Tang opened her eyes right on time, summoned by her biological clock.
She dug out her homemade bamboo tube, fetched clean water from the courtyard, then plopped herself down beneath the corridor and began tending to her personal hygiene. The moment Qi Shan returned, he saw Young Master Shen sitting with grand abandon, bent over as she scrubbed her teeth and rinsed her mouth.
He handed her a packet.
"Here, breakfast. Eat it while it's hot. It's still warm."
"Thank you." Shen Tang splashed cold water over her face, and the last traces of drowsiness flew away in an instant. She bit into a steaming flatbread, and from the corner of her eye saw Qi Shan sit down beside her. She opened her mouth and asked, "Yuan Liang, do you know where Xiaocheng's Entertainment Quarter is?"
Qi Shan, who had just been about to speak, froze. "...???"
He almost choked on his breath.
With a dark expression, he asked, "How old are you, Young Master Shen, to already be thinking about going to the Entertainment Quarter to seek pleasure? That isn't a place you should be visiting."
Indulgence in pleasure ruins one's ambitions. Absolutely unacceptable!
"What unhealthy things are you imagining, Yuan Liang? I just want to find someone in the Entertainment Quarter and see how she's doing." Shen Tang grinned. "After all, without her, I probably wouldn't have risked fleeing so early. But thanks to her, I was able to meet Yuan Liang."
Qi Shan only needed a moment's thought to understand what Shen Tang meant.
"You want to make someone pay?"
Most likely, she was still after the exiled women of the Gong Clan.
He reminded her, lest Shen Tang charge ahead recklessly and fall into a ditch in the dark. "As far as I know, the Gong Clan still has a Fifth-Rank Grand Master fleeing outside. Until he's caught, the exiled Gong Clan criminals will remain under the eyes of informants. Aren't you afraid of bringing disaster upon yourself by approaching them rashly?"
What if she failed to make trouble for them and ended up getting caught herself?
"But not taking revenge when I have a grudge isn't my style."
Shen Tang knitted her brows tightly. She asked herself whether she was the sort of person who took revenge for every slight. She was not—but neither was she a foolish big sister who would be shoved into a pit of fire and still smile as if she did not care—
That was not broad-mindedness. That was stupidity!
Qi Shan offered a suggestion. "You can take an indirect approach."
Shen Tang asked, "For example?"
Qi Shan said, "Think of one yourself."
It was Shen Tang seeking revenge, not him. If she needed someone else to devise even her revenge for her, then even if she succeeded, it would not be satisfying.
Shen Tang thought for a moment, then shook her head and muttered,
"No, no, that won't work..."
"What method won't work?" Qi Shan's curiosity was piqued in spite of himself.
He wanted to know how this Young Master Shen intended to get back at someone.
Shen Tang awkwardly looked away and refused to say.
It was not that the method was vicious enough. It was simply inappropriate.
Especially in this lawless age, using another's method against them to reclaim justice was entirely reasonable—there was no logic in saying that if the perpetrator could use a certain method against the victim, then the victim could not fight back with the same method. It might be illegal, but it would certainly be satisfying! Unfortunately, her enemy was a woman, and Shen Tang herself was also a woman. Taking revenge by the same means would be too vile.
What method?
Naturally, she could spend money to hire someone to "take care of" that woman's business.
But there was one problem with that plan—
Shen Tang was flat broke.
The Entertainment Quarter was also different from ordinary Brothels and Entertainment Houses. Its average prices were not low.
So the moment this idea appeared, she crushed it.
She sighed. "Forget it—let her live a few more days. Once that Fifth-Rank Grand Master of the Gong Clan is caught, I'll go to her door and ask her for advice."
Qi Shan shook his head with a smile.
The Fifth-Rank Grand Master belonged to the ninth rank of Martial Spirit.
How could someone like that be caught so easily?
In the blink of an eye, the entire morning passed. Shen Tang had nothing to do. She had already memorized every one of Qi Shan's scrolls by reading them over and over, and she could no longer find anything new in them. Having nothing to do was agony for someone as hyperactive as her. In truth, it was not only Shen Tang who was suffering. Qi Shan was suffering too.
"If Young Master Shen is bored, go take a stroll in the streets."
Stop wandering before his eyes and sighing. She had disturbed him so badly all morning that he had not been able to read a single character.
Shen Tang immediately perked up at those words.
That was right. The whole of Xiaocheng was still unfamiliar to her. She could surely find something entertaining to pass the time. What fun was there in being trapped in one place? She darted into the room and retrieved her little private treasury—the money she had saved by hawking green plums, flatbreads, and malt sugar along the way.
Qi Shan only had time to remind her to be careful of the constables and not get lost before Young Master Shen had already vanished like a gust of wind.
"Tsk, still has the heart of a child."
Qi Shan sat back down and once more stared into space over the desk, deep in thought. Spread across the desk was a scroll covered in notes and insights. The words "National Seal" and "Way of the Feudal Lord" could vaguely be made out, along with the layout of the defenses around Xiaocheng.
At the same time, Shen Tang led her Motorcycle out onto the streets.
Beyond the wall stretched a thousand li of wasteland, yet within it, smoke from cooking fires curled through the air and life bustled everywhere. Every few steps along the street, a vendor called out his wares.
Shen Tang found everything fascinating. She bought quite a few odds and ends one after another, and before she knew it, her money pouch was nearly empty.
"I really have to find a way to make some money..."
Shen Tang wailed inwardly.
Reduced to this ghost of a state, she was bringing shame upon all transmigrated heroines.
How humiliating. How humiliating. _(:з"∠)_
But after wandering all the way around, she truly could not find a good livelihood.
Xiaocheng had no shortage of flatbreads, green plums, or malt sugar. The competition was fierce, and doing business was not easy. Shen Tang led her Motorcycle around once, then caught sight of something from the corner of her eye and hurriedly doubled back.
"Zhengguang Bookstore? They're accepting illustrated manuscripts?"
Heh heh, she had suddenly come up with a brilliant idea for making big money.
Let me take a look after I finish revising it.
My condition probably won't be very good these next two days. Sorry.
Before you continue