[Title here]

by Spring Trees

  “In front of the fake mountain.” Though Zhu Xi looks ferocious, Mo Shu didn’t instruct me not to tell on his whereabouts, right?

  Nan Ge Er sold Mo Shu out without any hesitation at that moment.

  “Hm hm, is that so?! Instead of working early in the morning, that goofball chose to just daze and stroll outside.” Zhu Xi gnashed his teeth as he grunted, before reaching his hands out to pat Nan Ge Er’s shoulders, “Xiao Nan1 , you did great, Gege thinks highly of you.” while striding towards the direction where Nan Ge Er came from without turning back.

  “… Xiao Nan, is he referring to me?”

  Also, Gege, were you mistaken? I don’t remember having such a fierce brother like you…

  Nan Ge Er was speechless as he looked at Zhu Xi’s figure leaving.

  … Forget it, whatever; I should deliver the laundry to the aunty in the backyard first.

  Frankly, during the day, quite a few people were working in the government office, there were already eighteen yamen runners, together with the numerous amounts of secretaries, police officers and more, it could actually be considered a decent government.

  Just that the secretaries, accountants and police officers didn’t really have their meal in the government office, so there were only those twenty or so people in the canteen.

  As usual, Nan Ge Er was greeted all the way to the canteen; he placed the clothes evenly in the wooden tub, then bypassing the front door, he walked from the back door to the hectic kitchen aunty.

  Before he could even greet her, the kitchen aunty had already spun around, “Nan Ge Er, just in time. I’ve roasted a corncob for you, it’s at the hearth, eat it up quickly. It will be lunch soon, so you won’t have any appetite to eat it later.”

  That was also a routine; he would usually have various food shoved at him by the women in the kitchen whenever he got there.

  Nan Ge Er guessed that it was probably because his body really wasn’t great at all, plus he looked quite unlucky, thus provoking the protective instinct in those women…

  “I’ve already place the clothes in the big tub near the door, Aunty.” Nan Ge Er docilely took the corn from the hearth.

  “Alright, Aunty will wash them after cooking, I’ve cooked Nan Ge Er’s favorites today, so you have to eat more, Nan Ge Er.” As she talked, she took the time to glance at Nan Ge Er whose face got faintly pale from the cold, “Look at your small stature.”

  …I hate that phrase!

  Nan Ge Er was extremely gloomy, holding on the corncob while peeling of the outer leafy area, turning his indignation into appetite.

  He casually moved over a small stool and sat on it, listening to the kitchen aunty endlessly gossiping on all types of matters in various households.

  He realized sorrowfully, that he seemed to begin to love gossip as well…

  That’s why, the influence from other humans is indeed quite scary, isn’t it? At the very least, I have already accepted this current lifestyle. Although I still rebuke myself sometimes, strictly speaking, there isn’t much to complain about.

  “Oh my, Nan Ge Er, you shouldn’t eat that much, it will be hard to digest.” A hand stuck out from the back, snatching the corncob that was only one-third eaten from Nan Ge Er’s hands.

  Nan Ge Er was dumbstruck as he turned his head to look at the fellow unscrupulously gnawing on the corncob that was taken away from him.

  “Mum, you are too biased.” The fellow carelessly chewed on, while complaining to Aunty Wang who was cooking, “Giving special favors to Nan Ge Er every day.”

  Aunty Wang threw a ladle at him, “Rascal, look at the amount Nan Ge Er ate from the special favor that I gave him, they are mostly in your stomach, you prodigal thing, isn’t the food at home enough for you? Why did you come over to snatch from Nan Ge Er?”

  “I’m Nan Ge Er’s benefactor you know, Nan Ge Er always wanted to repay me, what’s the matter with eating a corncob?” That fellow continued, swiftly gnawing on the corncob, dodging the ladle while he was at it, answering his mum unintelligibly.

  Yup, I was allegedly stranded at the shore and I was noticed and carried to the government office by this Xia Jia Fu fellow.

  Nan Ge Er was speechless as he looked at the shameless fellow gnawing at his snack –

  Who wants to repay you, how brazen.

  “Look at Nan Ge Er’s small stature, do you have the heart to do that?!” Aunty Wang raged, grabbing and throwing the kitchen knife at him this time.

  “Ugh!” Xia Jia Fu dodged it by a hair’s breadth, “Mum, are you trying to kill me?!”

  “Oh my, you’ve guessed correctly!” Aunty Wang smiled coldly, “Just in time for cooking, chop you up nicely to make dumplings.”

  “Woah!” Xia Jia Fu was startled by his mom’s sinister tone; hence he stopped his movement, lowering his head and looked at Nan Ge Er, who was sitting on the stool, glaring at him.

  “He really is tiny…” Xia Jia Fu muttered, before handing the corncob in his hands that was gnawed beyond recognition to him, “Here.”

  Nan Ge Er looked at the corncob that only had a few kernels left on it, and lowered his head.

  “Woah, Nan Ge Er, don’t be upset, I’ll definitely send a bunch of delicious food to you next time.” Xia Jia Fu panicked. “No, tomorrow. How about I send it over tomorrow? Please don’t be angry, you’re not a real man if you get angry, and you’ll become a dried beansprout too.”

  “Xia Jia Fu!” Aunt Wang bellowed, “Do you want to die?!”

  “Ugh! Sorry sorry, Nan Ge Er! It wasn’t on purpose!” Xia Jia Fu kept apologizing again, “Wait here, I’ll immediately get you something tasty.”

  …I just couldn’t be bothered to look at the corncob that was gnawed messily, or should I say, I refused to take something that had been gnawed on by that fellow.

  Being angry was too bothersome.

  Nonetheless, since he thought that I was furious, and even planned on getting me something delicious, I might as well just reluctantly accept that I was supposedly angry then.

  And, frankly, that mother and son, and probably the whole town, did think that I look like a dried beansprout, right?!

  * * *

  1. Dou: a Chinese unit of measure for grain; equivalent to 1 decalitre

  2. Xiao Nan: the advisor shortened Nan Ge Er’s nickname from ‘Nan Ge Er’ to ‘Xiao Nan’, the ‘xiao’ meaning little.

  Chapter 9

  * * *

  Though Nan Ge Er didn’t have any interest in a place like Guang Tian, under such prolonged exposure, he conservatively estimated that at least half of the people in this district weren’t ordinary civilians at all. Some even had strength, agility and other extraordinary physical capabilities that couldn’t be compared to that of an average person.

  Anyway, Guang Tian was indeed a place full of hidden talents.

  Somehow many intrepid fellows gathered in such a small remote district, each of them busy with their daily business.

  It would definitely seem impossible in the eyes of the past Nan Ge Er, but he lived together with them now, so what qualifications did he have to deem it strange?

  Actually, he himself couldn’t be considered ordinary either; hence he found it fitting instead.

  Everyone’s background might not be simple, but so what? At least they were currently living a normal life here.

  The afternoon of his first day of staying in the government office, Mo Shu couldn’t tolerate it anymore, thus he went out and brought others to stroll around for an hour, before carrying a huge white-long-furred animal back – of course, dinner would be roasted meat again.

  During the roast, Nan Ge Er personally witnessed the gallant ways of those martial artists again.

  He calmly ignored it nonetheless…

  Curing the unfinished meat and organs into preserved dishes for the new year, yet again, Nan Ge Er was showered with the women’s praises.

  Truthfully, Nan Ge Er felt that he had currently turned into a learning model for the housewives. />
  Thus, he felt depressed.

  Also, he realized that the power that everyone revealed sometimes wasn’t accidental at all, just that they didn’t plan on hiding anything …

  Are they confident that I won’t snitch on them? Alright, even if that was the truth, don’t you think that it’s too condescending?

  Nan Ge Er felt depressed again.

  In the morning of the third day, that Xia Jia Fu hurriedly rushed in, yelling as he ran, “Xiansheng Xiansheng, I’ve picked a person up.”

  Nan Ge Er who was coincidentally watering the vegetable garden, sweatdropped. Did this fellow go around picking people up when he had nothing to do?

  “Where are they? Where are they?” Mo Shu, who was captured by Zhu Xi to approve documents in the hall, came hopping out.

  “At the river shore!” Xia Jia Fu exclaimed.

  …Did Guang Tian’s river possess some kind of magnet, so that it could continuously attract people to get stranded?

  “Such an emergency, I must investigate it myself,” Mo Shu announced pretentiously.

  “Daren~~” Zhu Xi who was still inside stretched his tone as he walked out, “You, the ‘elder’ fled away just when I went to the toilet, hmm?” He took a look at Xia Jia Fu, “Xiao Xia1, what’s wrong, picked up another person again?”

  The “again”!

  Is really…

  Nan Ge Er had no words.

  “Yup, Zhu Xi Ge, let me bring you guys there.” Xia Jia Fu was like a puppy as he looked at them with glimmering eyes.

  Nan Ge Er silently took the bucket, and walked back to the kitchen. He didn’t really want to get involved with the fellows’ meaningless conversation.

  “Xiao Nan.” It was perfect when he didn’t move, but as soon as he did, Zhu Xi immediately noticed him.

  “Ah?” Nan Ge Er looked back in dismay. Whether he was willing or not, Zhu Xi still continued on.

  “Do you like fish?”

  “Hah?” Nan Ge Er looked at Zhu Xi, baffled.

  “We can catch fish along the way!” Mo Shu immediately continued, “Nan Ge Er is too skinny.”

  “… You don’t have to go specifically for me…”

  “We still have to investigate.” Mo Shu made a righteous pose.

  “That’s our xiansheng.” Xia Jia Fu made an idolizing pose.

  Nan Ge Er pretended that he wasn’t looking at those two idiots.

  Zhu Xi twitched his mouth, waved his hands, “Two hours, quickly get back.”

  Getting permission and afraid to lose a single second of break, they swiftly vanished.

  Nan Ge Er looked at Zhu Xi with sympathy, “Xiansheng, you’ve worked hard.”

  Zhu Xi rubbed Nan Ge Er’s head musingly, “Xiao Nan, Mo Shu is great at everything, knowledgeable, clever, it’s just that he’s a bit unreliable.”

  Nan Ge Er nodded as well – he totally understood.

  More than being a bit unreliable, he suspected Mo Shu thoroughly didn’t know what the heck reliable meant.

  After two hours, Mo Shu stepped into the government office.

  Xia Jia Fu who was following behind humbly carried a massive string of fishes, smiling towards Nan Ge Er, “Nan Ge Er, look, Mo Shu xiansheng caught so many fishes.”

  Nan Ge Er was standing in front of the wooden tub in the courtyard, flipping the preserved meat, leg and sausages so that they would be better immersed in the salt. He lifted his head, looking at both of them, “Ah, that’s great, you’ve worked hard.” He thanked them without any sincerity.

  Xia Jia Fu didn’t notice the insincerity in it at all, smiling widely as he replied, “Don’t mention it, Nan Ge Er. Full credit goes to Mo Shu xiansheng, I only helped a little.”

  “It’s thanks to you too.” Nan Ge Er’s lips twitched as he answered.

  Mo Shu instructed Xia Jia Fu to bring most of the fishes to the kitchen, before carrying a few wider-headed fishes as he walked towards Nan Ge Er, passing the straw rope that was attached to the fishes to him.

  “Huh?” Nan Ge Er looked at Mo Shu without a clue.

  “It will still taste great when preserved, right?” Mo Shu glanced at the preserved meat unfinished from that day’s dinner. Without telling Nan Ge Er, he raised his hands, implying for him to catch it.

  You are really sen-si-tive in regards to food.

  Nan Ge Er explained rather feebly, “Erm, they can only be preserved after removing their organs.”

  “Oh, is that so?” Mo Shu calmly removed the straw rope from Nan Ge Er eyesight in a clean-cut manner, and then a ‘Chi chi’ sound of meat being cut arose, followed by a pattering sound of something being dropped.

  “Here.” Mo Shu passed the items over to the bewildered Nan Ge Er.

  Nan Ge Er’s eyes were opened as wide as balls.

  This fellow, he could just open the fishes’ bellies, fish out and throw the innards to the ground in such a swift manner.

  Helplessly watching the “maimed corpses” that started dripping blood with a pattering sound, Nan Ge Er’s eyebrows jumped, swallowing his saliva with effort.

  He did know that no matter if one was equipped with a knife, some technique was still needed to cut open a soft and smooth but tough fish belly, but in a blink of an eye, Mo Shu was able to open the fishes’ bellies, using only two strokes, and even scooped out the innards cleanly.

  If he didn’t see that Mo Shu’s fingers were still dripping with fish blood, and that a bunch of innards was on the floor, he would have suspected Mo Shu had already prepared the fishes earlier before handing them to him.

  That method together with the fast speed, made Nan Ge Er think that the fellow might have done a lot of bloody, criminal activities before.

  …Those claws of yours, what were they made of?

  “What’s wrong?” Mo Shu still looked composed, seemingly unaware of how shocking his actions were in the eyes of others.

  “Mo Shu…” Zhu Xi probably heard the commotion outside, thus walked out, and looked at the stunned Nan Ge Er and then at the poised Mo Shu, gloomy as he glared at Mo Shu, “Can you stop scaring Nan Ge Er?!”

  “Huh?” Mo Shu was shocked at first, before he looked at Nan Ge Er who kept his eyes on him. Smiling suddenly, he reached out and patted Nan Ge Er’s head, “Don’t worry, I only know a bit of kung fu.”

  “…$&&%…” Nan Ge Er’s body froze as he emitted a string of unintelligible sound.

  “Huh?” Mo Shu was puzzled as he looked at Nan Ge Er, still stroking his hair. This kid had a small stature, though he was thin, his head was really round, rumors had it that big-brained kids were smart, wasn’t it?

  “Get …those … cla- … off…”

  “Oh my,” Mo Shu rubbed Nan Ge Er’s head, that fitted his hands, even harder, smiling, “Speak louder, I won’t do anything, I forgot about it then, so I conveniently chopped the fishes with my hands, don’t be scared, I won’t harm you.”

  Nan Ge Er’s body began to tremble a little.

  “Hey.” Zhu Xi’s eyebrows furrowed, “Don’t scare him, come back quickly. Xiao Nan’s body is frail in the first place, and you still scared him.”

  “Get those stupid bloodied claws of yours off me!” Nan Ge Er jerked his head up, and screamed.

  Bastarddddd!

  Forget about the fact that this fellow carried fishes with one of his hands, and another bloodied from the chopping of said fishes; but how dare he carelessly rub his claws on my head. Great, there is definitely a strong fish stink on my hair!

  Nan Ge Er totally felt like weeping.

  He always resented the hygiene products of this world, even though he was that of a prince back then, but the situation was no better. Although the degree of extravagance was adequate, tragically, the hygiene standards were still far from the twenty-first century that he knew.

  It was because he was too busy with the power struggles to bother about that in the past, but currently, he had a lot of time to himself, and would usually be careful not to get too dirty without the ability to get clean.r />
  How great. Mo Shu directly covered my head with fish blood!

  He felt that he was almost mad with rage.

  He couldn’t care less about the usual fake attitude, bellowing on directly.

  “Oh no, who knows how long it will take to wash it away!” Noticing zero response from Mo Shu, he swatted off Mo Shu’s hands quickly, gloomily hugging his head as he rushed into the kitchen to ask the kitchen aunty for hot water.

  “Be careful not to get cold.” Mo Shu yelled from behind.

  Why don’t you scram!

  Nan Ge Er furiously screamed in his heart.

  Noting that Nan Ge Er had run away in a hurry, Mo Shu finally couldn’t hold back the smile in his eyes.

  Standing at the door of the hall, Zhu Xi shrugged helplessly, “You’re so…”

  “But it’s really amusing.” Mo Shu laughed, “That kid looks quite cute when angered.” As he walked, he casually threw the fishes in his hands into the wooden tub.

  “…He would definitely spit in your tea if he knew about it.”

  He laughed dismissively, “Children should be more energetic.”

  “Look at you, is he your kid?” Zhu Xi glanced at him.

  “Because, it’s enjoyable” Mo Shu chuckled, “Turning that despairing, panicked and confused expression as if a small animal was being chased to its wit’s end by a hunter into such an energetic look, I feel quite a sense of accomplishment.”

  “Yes yes yes, Mo Shu xiansheng, you really have nothing better to do.” Zhu Xi sighed, before asking, “Then, what about the person Xiao Xia found?”

  “That fellow had ulterior motives.” Mo Shu stated lightly.

  The expression he had then returned to being indifferent and careless again, “People who come here purposely when they still have places to go to, are totally asking for death.” He had a calm expression as he uttered those icy words.

  “Ah, look at you,” Zhu Xi was helpless, “Don’t tell me you killed that person?”

  “Not this time.” Mo Shu smiled suddenly. “I just told Xiao Xia to push the person back into the river.”

  “The person is as good as dead then.” The corner of Zhu Xi’s lips twitched.