Chapter 24: A Gift (1/2)
Gu Qingyu leaned over immediately in curiosity. “What’s that?”
It was a water bag.
“Eighty coins.” An old lady replied.
Jia Qizhe frowned. “So expensive?”
“Young mister, I can tell from one look that you don’t come here often!” The shopkeeper nagged. “Let me tell you, my goods are the best and cheapest in this entire street!”
“Best?” Gu Qingyu picked out a random water bag. “This is the best? Seriously, look at this water bag. Just one touch and you can tell what flimsy material it’s made from! Look at it!”
She brought the water bag closer to the shopkeeper. “Take a good look! This can be sold for eighty coins?”
She tossed the water bag back to the shopkeeper and grabbed Jia Qizhe. “We would rather pay more and get better quality bags! Brother Jia, let’s go!”
“Sigh, you…” The shopkeeper seemed slightly less confident. “How could you…”
Gu Qingyu pulled Jia Qizhe along and walked away. “Let’s go tell other people not to buy from here. Gogogo…”
The shopkeeper gritted her teeth. “Hold it! Fifty coins!”
“Thirty coins.” Gu Qingyu took a step back.
Jia Qizhe remained expressionless. “Twenty coins.”
Oh my! He drives a hard bargain!
The shopkeeper glared. “You...Oh well, twenty coins it is, just count it as my loss. Don’t come here again!”
“Ok!” Gu Qingyu laughed internally. Yes! We won’t be coming back to the city anyway!“Thank you!”
Jia Qizhe looked at Gu Qingyu, he was impressed, which made Gu Qingyu even more pleased. They continued their shopping spree. bargaining and haggling along the way. Before long, they’ve cleared the list, most of the things were held by Jia Qizhe. Pretty much all of these were purchased by Gu Qingyu at a ridiculously low price, so they had some money left over.
Jia Qizhe’s lips curled into a smile. “I never could tell, you’re quite useful when out shopping.”
“Of course, do I need to remind you who I am?” Gu Qingyu just wanted to return back to the tavern. “Come on, hurry up!”
“Why the rush?” Jia Qizhe seemed curious for the first time.
Gu Qingyu rolled her eyes. “Silly, I got Qi Yichen to buy me food. What if it's meat buns or roasted chestnuts? They will be cold by the time we get back.”
Jia Qizhe, who was walking in front, stopped in his tracks. Gu Qingyu failed to react in time and slammed into him.
“Ow!” She rubbed her head. “What are you doing?”
He whipped around and stared into Gu Qingyu's eyes.
“W-What?” For some reason, Gu Qingyu felt guilty, an indescribable sense of guilt.
Jia Qizhe said very seriously. “I’m hungry.”
“Huh?” Gu Qingyu tilted her head, surprised. “What? Are you crazy?”
“I’m hungry.” Jia Qizhe repeated. “Let’s have some meat buns.”
Gu Qingyu looked at him in disbelief. “Really?”
Jia Qizhe nodded and walked to a bun stall. “Shopkeeper, five meat buns please.”
Five?Jia Qizhe took the meat buns and passed the whole bag to Gu Qingyu. “Take it.”
Oh! Jia Qizhe was not hungry, he only said that to buy these for me! Aw... since he was so sweet, I should just forgive him! Although, he did not seem to have done anything that warrants forgiveness.
Gu Qingyu nodded as she took the bag from Jia Qizhe’s hands. Then she took out two buns, then passed one to Jia Qizhe, “Here.”
Jia Qizhe looked at her, puzzled. His hand remained at his side.
“Hey, weren’t you hungry?” Gu Qingyu looked and smiled at him. “Just eat one.” Jia Qizhe bought these for her, it’s only polite that she shares it with him.
Jia Qizhe took the meat bun. “Thank you.”
“You're welcomed!” Gu Qingyu looked at the steaming meat bun, then took a huge bite.
Jia Qizhe suddenly walked to Gu Qingyu’s side, then started rummaging through his bag, all while holding the meat bun with his teeth. Gu Qingyu stared at him in puzzlement. But...Jia Qizhe looked quite cute like this, his cheeks were swollen with the meat bun in his mouth. After a while, he pulled out something.
“This is…” Gu Qingyu stared at the item. It was a beautiful pastel blue ribbon.
Jia Qizhe circled behind Gu Qingyu, and started to do something to Gu Qingyu’s hair. Gu Qingyu wanted to fidget but she willed herself to stay still, worried that she would mess up her ‘handsome’ hair. She asked. “Hey, Jia Qizhe, what are you doing?”
Jia Qizhe finally stopped after a while. He walked back in front of Gu Qingyu, as if admiring a work of art. Gu Qingyu pulled out a mirror, which they’ve bought at a fraction of the price, from her bag and checked her reflection. The blue ribbon wrapped around a portion of her hair, holding it neatly with a pretty butterfly bow. Gu Qingyu eyed Jia Qizhe suspiciously. “For me?”
“Yeah, well…” Jia Qizhe said hesitantly. “I wanted to get the yellow earrings or that bracelet from earlier. But, well, your current look doesn’t really go well with those. S-So I bought this ribbon for you...Take it as your reward for today.” He rambled.
“Pff!” Gu Qingyu burst out laughing. “Right, sure, thank you..”
Now that I mention it, this is the first time I see Jia Qizhe like this…
“...” Jia Qizhe smiled too and walked forward. The evening light stretched out their shadows, the silhouette of the pair trailed behind them as they walked back to the tavern.