Pu Yunshan placed the loose silver on the table.
"Isn't coming to your building all about spending money? I don't carry much cash with me, you can pay for me next time."
Seeing that Qin Hongxiu was about to refuse, he quickly added, "From now on, I'll do all the dirty and heavy work in this room."
If the roof beam is broken, come to me; if the window paper is torn, come to me; if you don't have enough firewood in the backyard, come to me too.
He paused, then added in a low voice.
"If anyone dares to bully you, come to me."
Qin Hongxiu's hand rested on the money bag, her eyes already glistening with tears.
Pu Yunshan picked up the toolbox again, his heart pounding wildly, and forced himself to straighten his back.
I live in the backyard of the public toilet at No. 12, South City.
"If you can't find it, ask Tuoba Mang; he knows."
After saying that, he turned and left.
When he reached the top of the stairs, Qin Hongxiu called to him from behind.
" Young Master Pu."
Pu Yunshan didn't dare to turn around.
Happy New Year!
He paused, then squeezed out a sentence.
"The same to you."
"Then next time you come, young master, I'll cook noodles for you."
"Good."
Only after leaving the Flower-Between Pavilion and feeling the cold wind on his face did Pu Yunshan dare to stop.
He raised his hand and pressed it to his chest, unable to suppress the throbbing pounding beneath his palm.
The old man selling sugar paintings on the street glanced at him.
"Young man, why are you running so fast?"
Pu Yunshan remained silent for a moment, then carried his mostly empty toolbox toward the south of the city.
"I'm in a hurry to get home."
The old man watched his retreating figure, then glanced at the new lantern above the Flower-Between Pavilion, shook his head, and chuckled.
By the second-floor window, Qin Hongxiu picked up the loose silver from the table and slowly placed it into her makeup box.
The young maid peeked her head in from outside the door.
"Young lady, we have enough firewood. Will the woodcutter you hired come again tomorrow?"
Qin Hongxiu closed the makeup box.
"No."
She watched the coarse cloth figure walk further and further away down the street, then picked up her embroidery hoop and continued threading the needle.
"From now on, leave the firewood in this yard for someone to chop."
When Pu Yunshan returned to the south of the city, it was already completely dark.
The light was still on in the backyard of public toilet number twelve. The piglets were rooting around the trough and grunting. Hearing the door open, they raised their two muddy front hooves and grabbed the fence.
Tuoba Mang was squatting nearby eating a baked flatbread. When he saw him return, he first glanced at the empty toolbox, then at the back of his ear.
" Pu Excellent, go fix the roof. Why are you working on it until dark?"
Pu Yunshan put down his toolbox.
There's a lot of work to do.
Tuoba Mang, biting into a pancake, asked indistinctly, "Are the women at the Flower-Between Pavilion busy with a lot of work?"
"Eventful."
"When I went there, I didn't see anything broken. I'm telling you, Brother Pu, those brothels are full of sluts, and they're very cunning. You'd better be careful. They're not as considerate as my wives."
Pu Yunshan looked up at him.
Tuoba Mang shrank back, feeling stared at, and quickly lowered his head to feed the pigs.
Pu Yunshan walked to the fence and took the piglets out.
The piglet kicked and thrashed in his arms, burying its nose into his clothes. After smelling the unfamiliar woman's Cold Fragrance, it even snorted.
Tuoba Mang noticed it too, and leaned closer to smell it.
What's that smell on you?
Pu Yunshan tightened his grip on the pig.
"The tea flavor of the Hongxiu Girl."
"Is there a tea with this flavor?"
Tuoba Mang blinked.
"I want to drink it too."
Pu Yunshan tucked the piglet back into his arms.
You are not allowed to go.
Tuoba Mang stood there, holding the piglet, stunned.
"Why can't I go?"
"No, it's just not possible."
After Pu Yunshan finished speaking, he went inside, leaving Tuoba Mang standing there, increasingly confused.
The next morning.
Just as Pu Yunshan finished mixing the pig feed, Auntie Zhao came into the yard carrying a vegetable basket.
She was taken aback when she saw the neatly stacked firewood in the backyard.
Who chopped the firewood?
Tuoba Mang pointed to Pu Yunshan.
"It was split by Pu Excellent."
Auntie Zhao clicked her tongue.
"I heard you chopped up the firewood at the Flower-Between Pavilion too?"
Pu Yunshan buried himself in stirring the pig feed.
"Smoothly."
Actually, when he woke up, he felt something was off, so he chopped wood to calm down.
Auntie Zhao stared at him for a while, then suddenly laughed.
"Alright, Pu Excellent a lot now. He can repair roofs, chop wood, hang lanterns. If your sister-in-law's window breaks in the future, she'll come to you too."
Pu Yunshan's face darkened.
" Auntie Zhao, I practice swordsmanship."
"What's wrong with practicing swordsmanship? It just makes your hands faster."
Auntie Zhao put the vegetable basket aside.
It would be a waste not to use your skills.
Pu Yunshan couldn't respond to a single word.
Just then, Uncle Fu came from the alley entrance, holding a new work order in his hand.
Pu Yunshan's back teeth started to ache when he saw the paper.
"Another job?"
Uncle Fu handed him the order slip with a smile.
"The prince said that the repair work reported by the Flower-Between Pavilion yesterday was handled well, and Miss Qin has submitted another order."
Pu Yunshan did not answer.
What kind of work is it?
Uncle Fu glanced at the paper.
"They say the second-floor window is drafty, the water tank in the backyard is cracked, and the lamp stand in the third-floor music room is crooked."
Tuoba Mang exclaimed "Oh dear!" from the side.
"Why are there so many bad people in the Flower-Between Pavilion?"
Uncle Fu nodded.
"That's what the prince said too."
Pu Yunshan looked up.
Uncle Fu was still smiling, and there was no sign of anything unusual on his face.
"The prince also said that since Young Master Pu has made a promise to the young lady, he should be a man of his word."
The wooden spoon in Pu Yunshan's hand fell into the pig feed trough.
How does Your Highness know everything?
Uncle Fu looked at him.
" Young Master Pu going or not?"
Pu Yunshan remained silent for a long time, then hummed in agreement, turned around, and went back into the house to change his clothes.
Tuoba Mang followed him to the door, carrying the piglet.
" Pu Excellent, didn't you say we couldn't go to the Flower-Between Pavilion?"
Pu Yunshan replied through the crack in the door.
"It was ordered by the Prince."
In the warm pavilion, Gu Moran leaned back in a soft chair and drank her medicine.
Liu Ruyan sat beside him, listening to Uncle Fu's report, her pen resting on the paper.
"He really went again?"
"I went, and I even changed into a clean, fine-fabricated robe before I went."
Uncle Fu replied.
Gu Moran held the medicine bowl, tried to suppress her laughter, but couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Liu Ruyan pushed the account book in front of him.
"Your Highness, are you trying to broaden people's horizons or pushing them into a pit?"
"I am truly doing this for his own good."
Gu Moran drank a mouthful of bitter medicine.
"Who told him to dare say he'd take care of everything on our first meeting?"
Liu Ruyan looked at him.
"Should we remind Qin Hongxiu not to go too far?"
Gu Moran put down the medicine bowl and chuckled softly.
"Don't worry, a woman like her knows better than anyone else how to behave."
"Then, Your Highness, how do you understand women so well?"
"Hmm? Cough, I was reading. I learned this from reading. Ouch, my chest hurts so much, Ruyan, quickly rub it for me."
When Pu Yunshan entered Flower-Between Pavilion for the second time, the girls at the entrance already recognized him.
" Hongxiu, the roof repairmen are here."
"Don't yell like that, she can even chop wood nowadays."
"I heard he hung the tallest lamp yesterday too."
Pu Yunshan's forehead twitched as he listened. He picked up his toolbox and walked inside, but his steps were more steady than yesterday.
The madam sat behind the counter, and when he entered, she put on a smile.
" Young Master Pu has arrived."
Pu Yunshan stopped.
Yesterday she was waving her handkerchief to chase people away, but today she's even changed how she addresses them.