Chapter 320 (2/2)
Something flashed through her mind. Smiling, Ji Man stretched her hand out and gently held Xis.h.i.+'s hand. In an equally quiet voice, she said, ”I want to visit your home and see what it's like. I've been staying in cities for too long. I've never been to a fis.h.i.+ng village before.”
”Young lord, you must be ridiculing me.” Xis.h.i.+ embarra.s.sedly smoothed her hair. ”Anyways, my home isn't that far. Don't you still have business to attend to? Once you're done with your work, you can come visit me then. I live at the end of the village. When I go back this time, I want to builder a bigger house to live in, and I happen to not have anyone to help me with ideas.”
The implied suggestion was certainly clear enough. Seeing Xis.h.i.+'s glimmering eyes, Ji Man couldn't resist touching her face. It couldn't be that she was quite suitable with pretending to be a man, right?
The carriage stopped. Guibai said, ”Little brother, I can only take you this far. You only need to walk a little further, and you'll reach the grain retailer a.s.sociation.”
”Alright, thank you.” As Ji Man got up, she tucked the bamboo fan that she had brought along into the crook of Xis.h.i.+'s arm and winked at her.
With a blus.h.i.+ng face, Xis.h.i.+ tightly gripped the fan and waved good-bye.
After leaving the carriage, Ji Man entered the grain retailer a.s.sociation and attended to her business. Using a letter from Zhangjun Prince, she successfully gained a business permit. After that, she hurriedly went back to the inn, changed into a nicer set of clothing, checked that fake skin face mask was firmly in place, and hired a carriage to take her to that fis.h.i.+ng village. By the looks of the sky, it wasn't early anymore.
There was only one fis.h.i.+ng village outside the capital. By the time that Ji Man arrived, it was already the middle of the night. At the end of the village, there was still a home that hadn't extinguished its candles yet.
Ji Man went forward and knocked on the door.
Xis.h.i.+ opened the door with a smile. Not showing any sign of avoiding her, she directly welcomed her guest inside.
The narrow house had three children inside. The oldest one looked to be around seven or eight years old, and the youngest one appeared to be around two years old. They were all staring at her in a daze.
”My home isn't big. I'll go buy stuff to rebuild my house tomorrow. Fortunately, that person was generous. I won't have to worry about money for the rest of my life,” Xis.h.i.+ nattered. Stuffing a bundle into a wardrobe, she turned her head and said to the oldest child. ”Take your younger brother and sister away to rest. Have you gotten stupid from your book learning?”
The seven to eight year old child hurriedly picked up his youngest sibling, then held his five-year-old sister's hand and scurried to the neighboring room.
”This... did you give birth to all these children?” Ji Man was a bit stunned.
”I'm a widow. It's not big deal if I have more children.” Xis.h.i.+'s eyes reddened. ”Anyways, men never treat me sincerely. If I raise more children, some of them might pay me filial respect when they grow up.”
Ji Man coughed to clear her throat. ”Do you only have three? Or, do you have other children?”
Xis.h.i.+ shot a glance at Ji Man. With a harrumph, she sat down in Ji Man's lap. ”You came from so far away to come to my place. Why put on this pretense of being proper? Why ask about my children? Didn't you come here because you want to do that with me…”
Feeling that a hand was sliding down on her body, Ji Man jumped up and grabbed Xis.h.i.+'s shoulder. ”You're misunderstanding. I just wanted to ask for lodging and see how a sunrise looks like from a fis.h.i.+ng village and what not.”
After she said those words, even Ji Man wouldn't believe herself! Looking at Xis.h.i.+'s slightly scornful gaze, Ji Man thought; this woman was really too open-minded. Back then, why had Ning Yuxuan been attracted to her?