Carrying a Hoe to Cultivate

There were numerous women and gers on the street; everyone was dressed to kill. Whenever Xia Yi spotted a good-looking one, he would look at that person for a few more seconds. As he was a ger, even if he stared at the women, they did not mind at all. On the contrary, the women only felt happy in their hearts for being appreciated by a person of the same sex.

Therefore, Xia Yi upright looked at all the pretty ladies, and made a sound of admiration, “179, I think this is the first time I feel good about being a ger.”

Also, there were plenty of gers dressing up in all kinds of colors. Every time he saw the gers unintentionally, Xia Yi would quiver, then quickly look away.

By this time, a guy who looked like a gentleman with some stance slowly passed the tea booth. Two servants were following behind him. The gentleman was wearing a silk outer shirt in ice blue with a pair of black silk boots. He had a jade crown around the bun on his head. By the looks of him, anyone could tell that he was from a rich family.   

“179, if that’s the son of a magistrate of a prefect, he should wear better clothes than that. In my case, when I went to Qi Shan Sect to find my master, my father would have given me more than two servants, maybe a maid as well.”

System said nothing.

That gentleman must have noticed Xia Yi’s stares. He looked towards the tea booth in return. Xia Yi’s eyes met his, making Xia Yi feel like he was being caught. He therefore smiled back at the gentleman.

The gentleman was startled, with a surprised expression, but then smirked at Xia Yi.

Xia Yi could only nod towards him and turned to look the other way.

However, that man did not continue walking. He grinned. That man turned to tell his servants behind him something, then moved his foot towards the tea booth. He came before Xia Yi, made a bow with hands folded, “I am Yu Cheng Zhi. It’s a chance encounter for me to meet you here. May I have the pleasure to know your beautiful name?”

Xia Yi was flabbergasted. Whether it is the term ‘beautiful name’ he had used, or the fact that this man came up to talk to him, Xia Yi could not respond to either.

Yu ChengZi sized up Xia Yi and carried on with his speech, “The tea here is rustic. Let’s not make your delicate palates suffer. May I have the pleasure to invite you to the House of the Golden Phoenix for a humble meal to show my respects?”

Is this… is this guy hitting on him? Xia Yi was still in the shock of encountering this kind of situation for the first time and could not reply.

Yu ChengZi grinned with confidence. He spread the folding fan in his hand to fan himself, “Even though I don’t have bejeweled nectar, I can still provide you with some wine. This place is too unsophisticated for a ger with a lovely face as pretty as a blooming flower like yours.”

“1…179, am I being hit on?” Several bombs exploded in Xia Yi’s mind with approaching rumblings.

Fuckfuckfuckfuck!

“Yes, Host.” 179 said with rage.

“Pah, how dare he think he can mess around with gers only because he has a few stinky coins? We gers are not so easy for these lechers.” 179 could not help but ran, carelessly revealing the fact that it had been scanning Lady Li and her friends again for the previous couple of days.  

With immense willpower, Xia Yi finally oppressed the shock in his mind. He only wanted to send this person away and hence said, “No, I am waiting for someone here. Please help yourself somewhere.”

Yu ChengZi was so sure that he would be able to pick up Xia Yi. He obviously did not expect this reply from him and staggered, but he did not seem to budge. He simply lifted up the lower hem of his clothes and sat down. He faced Xia Yi and said, “You’ve just nodded to acknowledge me. If I did not give an invitation, it would be a letdown to your kindness.”

He even raised one of his eyebrows after saying so and smirked at Xia Yi, curling his lips. This instant reminded Xia Yi of some womanizer on the television.

Inside his mind, Xia Yi was starting to have a wave of emotions, ‘Hasn’t he been punched before?’

Yu ChengZi did not know of Xia Yi’s agitation, thus said with one of his brows raised and a grin on his face, “You mentioned that you are waiting for someone. May I ask who that someone is?”

“I said I am waiting for someone! I am waiting for my husband!” Xia Yi was annoyed; his mind as a straight man was irritated.

Right after he finished talking, the breathing sounds of the horses of the carriage were heard nearby, followed by Gu Wen Zhu calling out, “Yi, let’s go.”

Gu Wen Zhu was back with an empty carriage and slowly parked the carriage beside the tea booth. Upon spoting Yi ChengZi and Xia Yi, sensing the weird atmosphere among them, Gu Wen Zhu’s face showed some visible confusion.

Xia Yi saw the uncertain expression of Yu ChengZi’s. At this point, he could only bite the bullet and said, “My love, you came.”  He did not even look at Gu Wen Zhu’s face, just walked up to him without any deviation.

Yu ChengZi’s smile faded away, sitting there unmoved with a scowl on his face.

Xia Yi arrived at the side of Gu Wen Zhu’s. He was even considering whether he needed to hold Gu Wen Zhu‘s arm and put his head onto his shoulder.

“Over the top, it’s over the top. It’s not good to act too much. It will only look rigid.” 179 immediately intervened.

Gu Wen Zhu could guess part of the story in view of this situation. He stood beside the carriage, eyeing Yu ChengZi coldly. When he saw Xia Yi approaching, he reached out to help Xia Yi onto the carriage.

Anger rose in Yu ChengZi instantly, he gave his two servants an eye gesture. The two servants nodded and walked towards the carriage.

One of them cupped one hand in the other before his chest and said to Gu Wen Zhu, “Mister, the gentleman would like to invite this ger to have a meal.” After saying so, the other servant directly stretched out his arm to pull Xia Yi from the carriage.

However, when he had only extended his arm for an inch, without even touching Xia Yi’s sleeve, the servant had been kicked by Gu Wen Zhu and flew away. He fell and hit himself hard onto the wooden pillar on the street. Blood came out from the servant’s mouth at once. Then he kept coughing and could not get up.

Seeing this, the other servant gave a loud shout and hit Gu Wen Zhu in the face with his fist. Gu Wen Zhu did not dodge. He just straightly used his hand to hold the attacking fist in midair and twisted. Along with a shout of pain, a sound of cracking rang from the servant’s shoulder. The servant’s joint on the shoulder had already been displaced and his arm was hanging powerlessly.

Yu ChengZi was furious. He heavily hit the table and stood up. Before he could walk up to Gu Wen Zhu, he saw his sharp glance. A chill creeped up on him at that moment, making him unable to move.

Ignoring the two crying servants and Yu ChengZi, Gu Wen Zhu jumped onto the carriage and swung his whip. The carriage headed towards the west of the city.

There were sounds of clip-clops with horseshoes hitting the stone road. Neither of the two of them made a sound. Xia Yi felt as if he had caused trouble for Gu Wen Zhu and did not even dare to make a breathing sound.

After travelling for a while, Gu Wen Zhu suddenly started to mumble with a hint of anger in his voice at the time when Xia Yi was still thinking about what to say, “Don’t be afraid when you encounter this kind of thing next time. I will protect you no matter what. I will not let others take advantage of you.”

Xia Yi was stupefied for a second. He felt touched. He was planning to say something like he had nothing to let people take advantage of, but then he remembered he was now in a perverted world.

In this world, am I not supposed to be the one who lets people take advantage of them?

Xia Yi therefore just made a sound obediently. But a few moments later he said excitedly, “Zhu, you are so good. Your moves just now were amazing.” Then he made a few gestures with his arms.

Gu Wen Zhu did not reply. Xia Yi did not care either and began to look afar, zoning out. He shook his head after some time and said, “It seems that I am quite attractive unexpectedly.”

Gu Wen Zhu: …

Gu Wen Zhu stopped the carriage at a clearing and handed the carriage over to a child to let him lead the horses to feed them. Then Gu Wen Zhu brought Xia Yi to eat.

“Zhu, where are we going to eat at? I saw the House of the Golden Phoenix when I was at the tea booth. That looked nice.”

“That is too expensive. Only rich people go there to hold feasts. We can go and have a few dishes at the House of Martial Arts.”

Xia Yi: …

The House of Martial Arts is not a martial club but a restaurant for real?

The House of Martial Arts was a restaurant for real, and the business was booming.

Xia Yi seated himself. Gu Wen Zhu ordered some pig’s head meat, sauteed chicken, and diced lotus root. He looked at Xia Yi in front of him, then he further ordered some red braised pork belly and four Panini di Asino.

The waiter speedily ran around and shouted to the kitchen. The dishes were being put on the table after some time.

Xia Yi was astonished. The dishes were different from the delicate dishes in the real world nowadays. Here, they just served you a huge serving in a big bowl. Every bowl was full of food. So Xia Yi let go and started to eat. He ate happily, his lips glossed with oil from the food.

The men and gers around peeped at him. Xia Yi’s appetite startled the gers.

Gu Wen Zhu finished first, then he pulled a weighty small cloth bag and threw it to Xia Yi, “This is your share.”

Xia Yi hurriedly swallowed the red pork belly in his mouth and declined, speaking unclearly, “Zhu, you provide me food and shelter, how can I accept this?”

Gu Wen Zhu waved, “You keep this. Don’t you have no money for makeup. We can talk about other things later.”

Xia Yi: Makeup???!!!

Gu Wen Zhu saw Xia Yi’s shocked expression, and said to him, “There is a beauty store across the street. You can go buy some after a while. I heard that the gers and the women from our village bought theirs there.”

Xia Yi shook his head like crazy, “No no, I really don’t need it.” He swallowed all the red pork belly in his mouth and said sincerely, “Zhu you don’t need to worry about this. I never wear makeup. Not before, not now, not ever.”

Seeing him this determined, Gu Wen Zhu nodded and said no more. He felt even more pity for Xia Yi.

Right, this ger had nearly been starved to death in the past. He was never well fed and only had food on his mind all the time. How would he be in the mood to dress up? If he does not need it then so be it. I think he looks quite decent this way. If he wants it in the future, I’ll just bring him here by then.

After finishing the meal, the two went to buy some necessities. On the way, Xia Yi also bought onion and fennel seeds. By the time they had bought all the things they needed, the sky was already all dark on their way home.

The moonlight was shining in the quiet and beautiful night. The soft breeze brushed their faces. Step by step, the horses walked on the road which was leading them back to the village. In this rhythmic sound, Xia Yi’s head inclined involuntarily, with half of an unfinished roasted pork in his hand, his head rested on Gu Wen Zhu’s shoulder and he fell asleep.

Gu Wen Zhu tilted his head to look at Xia Yi. He carefully took the roasted pork from his hand and pulled out an outer shirt from the baggage aside to drape it over Xia Yi’s shoulder. He then straightened the collar of the outer shirt for him. With a slight swing of the riding whip, they continued to go forward in the night.