Chapter 6 – Heart is set on teasing
As expected Long Er went to hide in the neighbouring city, he hid there for ten days.
Trying to deal with this current situation, was like negotiating during a transaction and he should strike while the iron is hot, but if he could then delay as long as possible. People were all the same, the longer you delayed the better, when that red hot enthusiasm pa.s.sed then one would be able to gain the upper hand.
So with Long Er calculating on abacus, he thought about how those golden spoon young ladies who couldn’t meet with him, were left unable to pester their target. The longer he delayed, then their emotions would cool and they wouldn’t be so troublesome. They won’t be so terrible with their pestering, Elder Grandmother wouldn’t be too encouraged, resulting in his future days becoming better.
Sending out people to inquire around, he heard that the mansion had become quiet. Packing up his luggage, Long Er returned to the mansion.
On the way back, the horse carriage pa.s.sed by the bamboo forest, and Long Er pulled the curtain aside to look outside. Unexpectedly he saw a person sitting in the bamboo booth.
Long Er hurriedly called out to the driver to slow down, so the driver pulled on the reigns and the carriage slowly pa.s.sed by the bamboo booth. Looking carefully, Long Er saw that the person sitting there really was Ju Mu Er.
Ju Mu Er was wearing a cyan robe that looked to be made from cotton with a thick look. Her neck was tightly covered, and it looked like she really was frail. Although it was late autumn, these past couple of days had been a bit cold, but not to the point where one needed to dress so warmly.
Long Er snorted in his heart, even if she was a weak woman, he didn’t pity her. He didn’t feel that there was anything wrong with him arguing with a young lady. You had to know, apart from minor arguments between family, he had never really lost to a woman before.
Ju Mu Er was sitting calmly by herself in the bamboo booth, and when she heard the horse carriage come by, she became happier, obviously so. Using her ears, she listened intently and smiled, and when she smiled, it lit up her entire being.
As the horse carriage continued past, Long Er just continued to look at Ju Mu Er and saw her take a few deep breaths before laughing out deeply, as if she smelled something extremely pleasant in the air. Following her, Long Er also breathed in deeply, but he only smelt the earth and the bamboo plants, nothing pleasant about them.
As the horse carriage slowly pulled away, both the bamboo booth and Ju Mu Er started to disappear.
Pulling back the curtain and leaning back into the carriage, he repeatedly thought that he should do something, but what should he do?
The driver sped up again, however just when they had reached the city’s gates, Long Er suddenly called out “stop the carriage”.
The driver and Li Ke both pulled their reigns in fright.
Long Er jumped off the carriage, and said to them: “You wait here for me, I will come back shortly.”
Just as Li Ke was about to speak, Long Er pointed a finger at him: “You also wait here.” Hearing his order, Li Ke shut up and proceeded to wait for his master.
Long Er tapped his toes and disappeared from the eyes of Niu Xia and Li Ke. Then Niu Xia carefully asked: “Master Li, does Second Lord want to go to relieve himself?”
(TLN: Lols, I forgot for about 5s that back then people didn’t say toilet. So I was pretty confused, but then I remembered watching a chinese drama and the emperor said he wanted to go “convenient”. Confused I asked my parents and they said it meant toilet, since toilet is a ‘vulgar/impolite’ term to use for the upper cla.s.s. Just a little lesson for you guys.)
Li Ke answered: “I don’t know.”
But his heart was itching greatly, for he had an inkling as to where Long Er went. He knew the lord didn’t go to relieve himself, but what did he go to do? As serious and decent as he is when acting as a bodyguard, he still had a gossipy heart, but he didn’t dare follow.
Curiosity is really too hurtful!
What did Long Er go to do?
This question was repeatedly asked by Long Er as he jumped over to the bamboo booth, where it was finally answered. He must go repay his debt! He mustn’t let that woman live well, and since she had revealed such a happy and serene expression, it had repeatedly punched his heart.
He had been pestered by a group of annoying and troublesome women to such a degree he struggled to breath. He had also been pressed by the family’s old people to quickly marry, and it had caused him to be unable to return home. But for what? It was all because of her! It was completely because of her!
He, Long Er, was someone who could call the wind and summon the rain, as long as he said so, a numerous amount of trade bosses must all tread carefully. If he made a face, even the court officials could only guess what he was thinking. Currently she was only a thin blind woman, yet she dared to obstruct him and secretly play tricks, causing him to lose face and run away. So if he didn’t teach her a lesson, how could he sleep well at night?
Ah, he had finally thought it through and found the reason why he couldn’t sleep well at night.
Long Er quickly and silently arrived at the bamboo booth.
There were no people in all four directions, and he stood outside looking at Ju Mu Er for a while. Ju Mu Er sat alone, apparently still quite happy.
Long Er narrowed his eyes, thinking, what would be the best way to deal with her? For he is someone with status, and couldn’t act like Din Yan Shan and find some local hoodlums to get a bit rough with her. He must make it harmless, but still enough to make her cry.
Long Er eye’s were caught by the bamboo cane beside Ju Mu Er’s hand, it was the same bamboo cane that he saw last time. Currently she did not hold the cane and it only lay next to her. Although it was very close to her, Long Er was confident that he was could take it away without her noticing.
He shall do this.
Stealthily, without a single noise, he stole the bamboo cane away.
Ju Mu Er, who couldn’t sense any of this occurring, stupidly sat there, foolishly smelling the earth and bamboo that Long Er didn’t really like and listening to the rustling of the bamboos caused by the pa.s.sing wind. She could no longer see anything, and these small smells and sounds were the proof of her existence. She thought that she was still quite fortunate, being able to hear and smell.
Long Er completely didn’t understand a blind person’s daily pleasure’s. He stood to the side waiting, waiting for Ju Mu Er’s expression when she couldn’t find her bamboo stick, waiting to see how she would walk without her bamboo cane.
But Ju Mu Er never moved, almost causing Long Er to nearly lose his patience, he really wanted to shout out: “Young lady, where is your bamboo cane?”
But he couldn’t act this way, he couldn’t allow Ju Mu Er to realise he was the one who stole her bamboo cane. He wanted her to not know a thing and allow him to watch her terrified reaction.
By coincidence a person walked by, Long Er hid himself in the forest, concealing his tracks and only came back out to watch Ju Mu Er when they had left.
Waiting for a good while, Ju Mu Er finally reached out and felt for her bamboo cane in preparation to leave. But feeling out, she only felt empty air. She tilted her head in confusion, and continued to reach out with her hand, but didn’t feel anything even when she searched the whole area around her.
Ju Mu Er’s face changed, Long Er smiled.
Ju Mu Er stood up in a bit of a panic, calming herself down she slowly searched around the entire booth, it really wasn’t there. Her actions were very slow, full of caution. Long Er suspected it was to minimize her chances of tripping or b.u.mping into things.
He saw her panic and felt really happy. If he had known earlier, he wouldn’t have invited her to some meal. Watching her without her bamboo stick was far more satisfying then watching her go hungry.
Then, Ju Mu Er once again sat down and suddenly said: “You can come out now.”
Long Er looked distracted, he nearly walked forward then thought something wasn’t right, she couldn’t have seen him.
“I heard you already.” Ju Mu Er had already recovered her cool: “You have taken my bamboo cane, but don’t plan to hurt me and I have already heard you, so there is no need to continue hiding.”
She said it with so much confidence that Long Er nearly believed her. He was momentarily amazed by this, but he remembered this was how she tricked Li Ke into revealing himself. He continued a.n.a.lysing and became sure that she couldn’t have heard him, he narrowly avoided playing into her hands again.
He won’t go, he definitely won’t go there. Let’s see what she will do?
Ju Mu Er sat for a good while, and didn’t hear any movement and let out a long sigh: “Is hiding fun?”
Long Er thought it was quite fun, it was far more fun than conversing with those golden spoon young ladies.
Furthermore, he was positive that Ju Mu Er wasn’t certain there was someone hiding beside her. He knew she was crafty, for he had experienced it before, so he was certain that she was just putting on an act, he remained in hiding leaving her with no options. Long Er was really gleeful.
There has never been a person that has given him, Lord Long Er, att.i.tude and walked away spotless, everybody knew that if there were debts to pay, Long Er wouldn’t be lenient. Originally as reason stands, he wouldn’t treat young ladies like this, biting and never letting go. But never had a young lady ever provoked him this much, so Long Er felt that this Ju Mu Er’s calculations were more enraging than the other lords that he knew. So when he saw her beaten like this, he was feeling too joyous.
After Ju Mu Er finished speaking, she still didn’t hear any sounds of movement so she stood up and coldly said: “Then I shall gift you that bamboo cane.” As she said this, her face displayed her anger.
Long Er stood to the side watching, raising an eyebrow, yo?, she also has quite a temper.
After she said this, Ju Mu Er used the booth’s railings as a support and slowly walked out and one step at a time, she walked home. She didn’t look back, didn’t pause to listen to her surroundings, but concentrated solely on her journey.
Long Er followed her for quite a distance, he saw she focused on walking but still stumbled a couple of times, narrowly avoiding tripping and falling down. But every time, she didn’t fall, making him feel regretful. Then a middle-aged man came running over calling out to her and he heard her call out “father”, so he knew this person was Ju Shen.
Ju Mu Er told Ju Shen that she had lost her bamboo cane, so she had come home late. Ju Shen loudly said how careless, how careless, but he would go and make her a new one.
Long Er followed until here, no longer able to see Ju Mu Er’s embarra.s.sment, he rushed back to the horse carriage. There he let out a sigh, his heart was satisfied, with a big smile. This caused Niu Xia and Li Ke to be amazed.
Returning back to the Long Mansion, Niu Xia pulled Li Ke to the side and whispered: “Lord Li, Second Lord had left for such a long time and when he returned, his eyes were hazy and his expression was much better. Could it be that he had constipation?”
Li Ke was greatly embarra.s.sed, not replying, he turned around and left.
Walking a few steps, he turned around again. Patting Niu Xia’s shoulder he said: “Big Niu, curiosity should sometimes be controlled, look at me and learn from it.”
Niu Xia scratched his head, looking at Lord Li, he didn’t really control his curiosity, ah. So how should be pay attention?
Li Ke patted his shoulder again and said meaningfully: “Curiosity can cause great calamities.”
Niu Xia scratched his head again, really?
As soon as Long Er returned to the mansion, he heard Elder Grandmother say that these few days that he had been absent, several bosses had sent over some medicine, medicine that nourished one’s body. Elder Grandmother had enquired around, and discovered they were secretly sent over by some well meaning golden spoon young ladies. They saw Long Er working day and night and were worried for his health, so they sent over these gifts to express their concern.
Long Er wrinkled his brow, he immediately sent people to find out the truth. He didn’t know what other rumors had been spread out, for they had already found out that he had returned.
Li Ke once again disguised himself and went out to ask around. The word on the street was that currently Lord Long Er, the money scrooge’s temper wasn’t good because he was doing is?…? every night, or the reason why he delays his marriage was because he was h.o.m.os.e.xual or he had an unmentionable illness.
When Long Er heard this, his face contorted. So those young ladies could possibly believe he was h.o.m.os.e.xual, so they believed he had an illness and sent over some medicine to help repair his body?
Too ridiculous! They really are ignorant and brainless young women.
If he married them, then it would be strange! To have them thinking about his illness and when he would return all the time, wouldn’t that take years off his life?
But Long Er didn’t think about this matter any further, unfortunately for him this matter had yet to end. A few days later, the medicine store boss had sent over more medicine. This time it was to help relieve constipation.
As soon as the medicine was sent over, Long Er’s face became black. That face, doesn’t it look the very picture of one suffering constipation?
An unmentionable illness could be ignored, but he can’t p.o.o.p, what was this?
Lord Long Er was furious!