Chapter 63 – Whatever you want, buy buy buy
Just now, when Chu Qing-Yan was on the horse carriage, she had already discovered the booth of the person kneading candy. So, when Xiao Xu agreed, she immediately rushed over like an "out of control" wild horse.
Gu Rong and Gu Yi were even more disgusted, where would you find a person who didn"t say anything and just walked ahead of their master, and even scampered off this quickly?! Originally, they thought Master would scold her for being undisciplined and without rules. However, seeing Master"s expression, it seemed as if he simply did not mind Chu Qing-Yan"s actions that exceeded the rules. The two people could only stifle their dissatisfactions and not utter them.
Chu Qing-Yan ran to the front of the booth and stared impatiently at the craftsman, like a lot of the other kids who were about the same age as her were doing. One only saw that the craftsman dipped a bit of oil and lightly brushed the stone slab, with a delicate copper spoon, he then scooped out a little bit of syrup and slowly tilted it, letting the syrup slowly flow out. The craftsman immediately lifted it up, and the golden sugary thread was then suspended in mid-air. Following tightly behind, his wrists nimbly flew up and down, don"t know how he did it, but a vivid and lifelike little monk appeared. After waiting until the candy figure cooled to set its shape, the craftsman added two little syrup dots on top and very quickly stuck it to a bamboo skewer. In pa.s.sing, he stuck it on top of a haystack and continued to repeat his actions all over again.
Chu Qing-Yan watched until she was dazzled by it. This was the traditional culture pa.s.sed down since ancient times, containing the deep profoundness of five thousand years of culture. She gasped in admiration. Before, when she toured the ancient city, she had also seen someone else do it, but he wasn"t as skillful as this craftsman, with so many more patterns. Looking at the candy figures that gradually increased on the haystack, there were animals, plants and flowers, and she couldn"t help but be captivated.
"Cough, cough——"
Chu Qing-Yan was startled back to her senses by the voice of the person at her side. She turned around and discovered Gu Rong looking at her and Gu Yi"s really ugly expression, before Chu Qing-Yan recalled the person behind her.
She was somewhat annoyed, how could she have forgotten about him?
Don"t know if he got angry or not?
Chu Qing-Yan slowly turned her head to look at the person behind her and secretly looked at his expression to see if he was going to get angry or not.
Xiao Xu, who had stood with hands behind his back, was originally looking at her staring earnestly with her two big eyes opened wide at the craftsman"s every single move. She was the spitting image of a naive rabbit who held a kind of novel feeling towards everything. Now, she turned her head around with a "wanting to curry favor" expression to look at him. Xiao Xu didn"t have any child-rearing experiences, if it was like the past, he simply wouldn"t be able to figure out her thoughts. However, after looking through the child-rearing cla.s.sics that his subordinates had given him, he would often take it out to research and feel about for the knack to the instructions. At this time, he recalled something that an advisor had written before, whenever a child sees candy, his eyes would give off light. He would always act like a spoiled child throwing tantrums, shamelessly demanding for the adult to buy. Once in a while, you could buy a bit for the child to have the sweet taste of success.
As a result Xiao Xu raised a brow, "Want it?"
Chu Qing-Yan momentarily couldn"t keep up with his thought process, "What?"
And the old craftsman inside the booth had already noticed these uncommonly-dressed people from before, but because they gave off an aura of "strangers should not approach", from the beginning, he hadn"t asked. Now, seeing the head n.o.ble male speak out, that craftsman immediately greeted them with a smiling face, "Honored customer, which one do you fancy? I"ll help you get it."
Chu Qing-Yan glanced at the craftsman and then glanced at Xiao Xu, seeing his vague and noncommittal expression, only now did Chu Qing-Yan understand his meaning. At the same time that she released a breath of relief, she was immediately elated, with Xiao Xu"s permission, she carefully chose from the clay figures on the haystack. A pity that everyone was so vivid and lifelike, so she didn"t know the best choice to make.
Xiao Xu saw her hesitating for quite awhile and became somewhat impatient. He told the craftsman, "I"ll take all of them."
Chu Qing-Yan was shocked, then repeatedly waved her hand and just pointed at one saying, "Just this one will be fine." If it was like he said and bought everything, she also couldn"t eat so many, ah!
Xiao Xu didn"t pay attention to her and stared at the craftsman. When that person saw he had encountered a very generous master, he immediately lifted up all the candy figures from the haystack with a quick hand. While he was doing so, he also smiled at Chu Qing-Yan to say, "Little Miss, you"re really fortunate to have such a good father!"
Everybody"s faces darkened immediately.
Gu Rong and Gu Yi: Nonsense! Our family"s Highness hasn"t even taken a wife, how could he have a child!
Chu Qing-Yan: Big block of ice will get angry oh!
Xiao Xu didn"t have any reaction which made Chu Qing-Yan flabbergasted, but she still promptly explained, "Business owner, don"t misunderstand, this is my family"s young master, I am just a maid."
Next, it was the craftsmen"s turn to be astonished, these two people didn"t seem to be master and servant, besides, where will you find such a master who would accomodate their servant, and even buy things for her? If it was really like this girl doll says, then he could only say that these city people sure knew how to joke!
Chu Qing-Yan held a pretty doll-shaped candy in her hand and had an expression of somewhat being overwhelmed with favor from a superior. She emptied one hand to tug on the sleeves of the person beside her and softly said, "Bought too much."
Xiao Xu glanced at her and said in a "it doesn"t matter" manner, "This king never treats his own people unfairly."
Chu Qing-Yan stood on the spot stupefied, never treated his own people unfairly?
Did she hear wrong?
Had she already been acknowledged?
Perhaps seeing she did not react for a long time, and at this time, the stream of people had slowly increased again, he worried that she would be knocked down by the people behind, so Xiao Xu didn"t even think and just pulled her close to him, helping her avoid a speeding horse carriage.
"Let"s go!" Xiao Xu let go of her and took the lead to start walking.
Chu Qing-Yan lowered her head and looked at her own wrist, that ice-cold touch seemed to not have dissipated from her skin. Chu Qing-Yan smiled secretly, and increased her pace to follow after the person in front of her.
Gu Rong and Gu Yi, who were shocked by this kind of scene in front of them happening over and over again, dropped their heads to look at their hands which were full of candy figures on sticks. They had an illusion of being struck by lightning.
Everything"s a hallucination right?!
And the craftsmen at the side stared dumbstruck at the figures of the two people walking farther and farther away. Didn"t they say they were master and servant? What kind of situation was this? The city people really were too good at joking!
Glittering jewels and goods filled the eyes. The rouge, creams and powders dazzled Chu Qing-Yan"s eyes, when she sensed that the people at her side really regarded her as a child, Chu Qing-Yan no longer restrained her temperament and walked around everywhere. And every single item she laid her eyes on more than two times, would all be bought under Xiao Xu"s orders. Chu Qing-Yan felt more and more that this ice-cold Highness really was quite humane sometimes, only, it brought suffering to these two imperial bodyguards, as both their hands were full of little things brought along the way.
Xiao Xu followed behind her, his pace seemingly casual and disorderly, but in fact, he always kept a distance of no more and no less than three steps from her.
Every time Chu Qing-Yan turned her head and was able to see him, she would then be at ease to continue playing with the stuff at the booth.
Chu Qing-Yan felt that sometimes it was also quite strange, he was clearly such a n.o.ble and cold person, and she originally thought that he would dislike this kind of city center, yet she didn"t think that he"d have an ordinary expression and didn"t show a discontented mood. This made Chu Qing-Yan scoff at him for being so strange.
After strolling around for some time, Chu Qing-Yan walked side by side with him. At this time, the stream of people slowly increased, perhaps, it was because the rain from the past several days had finally cleared up, so a lot of people came out for a walk.
A person b.u.mped into Chu Qing-Yan"s shoulder and almost made her fall. Just when she was frowning, a big pair of hands took her small hands, moved her to one side, and waited until the stream of people left before loosening his grip on her hand, "Pay attention to the road, don"t just look all around!"
This preaching tone was really similar to a father teaching his daughter, Chu Qing-Yan was secretly provoked into laughter by this thought that popped into her head and humbly received his guidance while nodding her head, "Got it, Young Master."
"Do you want to see your father?" Walking to a secluded area, Xiao Xu seemed to carelessly ask.
Chu Qing-Yan, who was playing with an gadget in her hands, suddenly lit up, "I want to! Can I?"
Because Chu Qing-Yan disliked the white muslin hindering her vision, she had already lifted up the white muslin. At this time, a big pair of especially sparkling eyes looked at him.
Xiao Xu didn"t say a word, rather, he continued to go forward.
The muslin hat concealed his expression, so Chu Qing-Yan couldn"t see what he was thinking. Moreover, he kept silent and didn"t pay any heed to her, which made her a bit anxious. As a result of being anxious, she did something instinctively that once again shocked people.