Little Xie had been taken away by her brother.
Not only had that fellow taken Little Xie away, he had taken the Xie Family's four guards too! He said leaving men behind with someone who was neither kin nor family would look bad...
Little Xie was no soft persimmon to be squeezed at will, and naturally refused! Then her brother said something to her, and she obediently did as he told her.
Xie Xuan had come to fetch her on their father's orders, but what he meant was this: if Wang Yang had said he was interested, he would have made the decision himself and left his sister in Jiangling for the New Year.
Wang Yang himself had refused her, and would not even see her. He could hardly blame anyone else for that.
Wang Yang thought Xie Xuan was bullshitting, and harboring sinister intentions besides, trying to make him pinch his own thighs in regret.
Heh!
Was your Brother Yang the sort to regret anything?
In the dead of night, during the fourth watch, Wang Yang rolled over and chuckled.
Deep in one of Jiangling's low-built alleyways, the wooden gate of a small residential courtyard opened before dawn.
Old Dong, a fresh-fish food stall owner past fifty, needed neither the watchman's calls nor a rooster's crow. Every day, he rose on time to pick out the first batch of fresh fish outside the south gate.
Lights dotted the darkness outside the south gate. Fishmongers, restaurant workers, wealthy households' servants, and snack stall owners crowded there to choose their fish. As a regular customer of several decades, Old Dong could buy fresh river fish straight from the water without jostling or scrambling. This was one important reason his stall had stood firm for decades and won the love of