Under the grapevine, two people sat facing each other. Li Lianhua brewed tea while complaining, "You know, you don't even like tea, so why do you have such a collection of it? And that milk tea of yours tasted great, but was it made with tea leaves like these? What a waste! And why is today's wine different from the last batch? Do you collect wine too...?"
Yun Qingyue rolled her eyes almost to the back of her head and unceremoniously cut him off: "Oh, will you shut up? Where do you even get so many questions? I'm giving you good things and you're still nagging away! The good things I have collected are far beyond anything you could possibly imagine, alright? Let me put it this way: even if we completely sealed off this small village, my supplies could keep everyone well-fed and provided for at least twenty years! Do you understand???"
Stunned into silence, Li Lianhua was momentarily speechless. But seeing the smug, triumphant little expression on the face of the person across from him, annoyance flared up in his chest, forcing him to change the subject. "Um, the villagers might come to exchange goods tomorrow. Are you all ready? Village Chief Wang said today that he's going to gather the village chiefs from the nearby villages tomorrow to discuss specific prices and things like that. Are you going?"
Hearing that she was expected to attend the meeting, Yun Qingyue waved her hands frantically in panic. "I am definitely not going! What's so interesting about a meeting? So many people yakking away for half a day without making any sense. Such a hassle! Besides, I have to take the cart out tomorrow to pretend I'm bringing things back. If I make a few more trips out these past few days, the origin of these goods will be easy to explain! I made two trips out today, too. Oh, wait—I bought something for you, let me go get it!"
Today's rush out had been for serious business, and buying things along the way was just a bonus. But upon second thought just now, she decided she might as well wait until she had gathered everything together before giving it to him!
Li Lianhua watched helplessly as Yun Qingyue pattered back and forth twice, each time hauling out several boxes and bundles, leaving him rubbing his nose in slight awkwardness.
Looking at the items—reportedly all for him—that practically covered the entire stone table, he asked, "Are these all for me? There's so much! What did you buy? Didn't you buy anything for yourself?"
Unpacking the items, Yun Qingyue replied, "I already have plenty of my own things, and I bought loads more before I came to look for you. I don't lack a single thing! These are for you, so just use them with a peace of mind. Don't overthink it!"
With slightly warmed eyes, Li Lianhua nodded. "Alright, I won't stand on ceremony with you anymore. Please don't be angry with me!"
Yun Qingyue nodded in approval. "If you behave and listen to me, I won't be angry with you. Here, these are clothes I bought for you—both wide-robed and narrow-sleeved styles. The shopkeeper said they're all the latest fashion. I even used the fabric I brought along to custom-make several outfits for you, designed just the way I wanted!"
Li Lianhua gasped in shock. "Just how much did you buy?!"
Without even lifting her head, Yun Qingyue continued searching through the pile. "Not much at all. Here are seven outfits from inner to outer wear, and I also had eight custom-made. Then I made twelve winter clothes for you in different thicknesses, though I made all the winter ones with wide robes. That's fine, right? The shopkeeper even threw in a bunch of matching sachets, handkerchiefs, and hair ribbons based on the colors of the clothes—they're so pretty, such a nice guy!" Thinking of the clothes Li Lianhua wore in the videos, Yun Qingyue felt completely reassured.
Li Lianhua was left utterly speechless. He thought to himself: *At the rate you buy things, I should send you a whole mountain of these worthless trinkets in return!* But before he could even open his mouth to offer an opinion, Yun Qingyue was already handing him more things.
She passed him six or seven boxes of varying sizes. "I saw these hairpins and hair crowns and thought they were so pretty, so I bought them. There are also some jade pendants and things—have a look and see if you like them. I already made an arrangement with the shopkeeper that we can exchange them if you don't like them. And look, here are the shoes! When I was packing up your laundry last time, I took note of your shoe size. I got six pairs; since I didn't know what colors you liked, I bought black, white, and gray."
After introducing everything on the table, she reached out into her spatial dimension and System Backpack to pull out various pastries, preserved fruits, candies, and snacks she had bought since arriving here, plus several bottles of wine gifted by the tavern keeper—each bottle weighing a full catty, if not more!
"Alright, that's all for now. Put them away and eat them slowly before they go bad," Yun Qingyue said, then exaggeratedly wiped a nonexistent sweat from her forehead. "That nearly killed me! I carried all this stuff back all by myself!"
Li Lianhua finally understood why she had been running back and forth earlier. She had done it simply to keep him from dwelling on things too much, combining it with this final reveal just to tease him. Left with little choice, he stood up in silence with reddened eye rims, gathered the clothes in his arms, and walked toward his room.
Scratching the back of her head, Yun Qingyue watched his retreating figure and muttered softly, "I'm going to rest. You can carry your own stuff back—I'm certainly not going to wait on you hand and foot. Bye-bye!"
Oh goodness gracious, how was it that this Li Lianhua kept looking more and more pitiful and yet adorable? It made her constantly and unconsciously want to spoil him, while simultaneously hating to see him show that lonely, pitiful look.
This wasn't right. He was, after all, the greatest martial artist under heaven, and he was older than her to boot! It must be the influence of those videos and people, combined with how disheveled he had been when she first found him. Add in his utterly tragic background and experiences, and she just naturally found herself partial to him.
Sigh, what a pitiful guy, never having lived a good day in his life. She would just have to treat him better from now on!
Once Yun Qingyue sorted her thoughts out, she fell asleep with a clear conscience. Poor Li Lianhua, however, walked back and forth trip by trip, pausing every now and then to wipe away his tears as he slowly moved his belongings inside.
What kind of experience was this for Li Lianhua? He had always considered himself a pitiful nobody—abandoned and betrayed, uselessly living off Yueyue's charity under someone else's roof. The fifty taels of silver he had pawned his token for were still sitting completely untouched in his room, entirely without purpose!
Yet every single time he sank into dark, gloomy thoughts, Yueyue would rack her brain to make him feel that he actually still mattered a great deal!
Once they returned to Yunyin Mountain, and Master and Mistress acknowledged her as their daughter, wouldn't they start looking for a husband for her? A girl as wonderful as her—surely there couldn't be any man in this world worthy of her? At least none of the people he knew!
Should he start carefully scouting candidates for her now? Take it slow, no need to rush. What if he picked poorly and Yueyue got the short end of the stick?
What kind of man should he choose? At the very least, his martial arts couldn't be poor; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to protect Yueyue's miraculous abilities. His looks couldn't be bad either—Yueyue herself was so pretty, she wouldn't stand for anything less!
He had to be wealthy, too, so Yueyue wouldn't have to suffer and support him. Matrilocal sons-in-law were definitely out; those men were all useless! The family must have simple relations as well, lest they gang up to bully Yueyue—and Yueyue didn't even know martial arts!
And he needed to start making money quickly, or else how could he prepare a proper dowry to back Yueyue up?
Lost in these thoughts while tidying up his belongings, Li Lianhua finally finished organizing everything, including himself, but even when he lay down in bed, his mind refused to quiet down. Different names flashed endlessly through his head—every talented young man from the pugilistic world and the imperial court he had ever seen or heard of—only to find that none of them were suitable!
Could it be that he simply hadn't seen enough people in the past? It seemed he would have to pay much more attention to this matter in the future! Tossing and turning with these thoughts, Li Lianhua stayed awake for a long time, only settling down when he suddenly remembered he had things to do tomorrow.
If Yun Qingyue had known he was fretting so much over her life's major milestones, she definitely would have shaken him violently awake and cried, "Big Brother! I'm still a minor, stop letting your imagination run wild, will you!"
Without the person in question having the slightest clue, Li Lianhua had spent half the night tossing and turning in a flurry of wild thoughts, so worried he couldn't even sleep properly. What a pity she wouldn't appreciate it even if she found out—she'd probably reject the sentiment entirely!
"Did you go out thieving yesterday?" Yun Qingyue blurted out the moment she saw the somewhat weary-looking man before her, dealing Li Lianhua a merciless early-morning blow to his aching heart... *Who do you think I became like this for?*
Me, me, me... Oh, whatever. For the sake of her ignorance, he wouldn't hold it against her! Hmph, what an ungrateful little wretch!
Li Lianhua silently regulated his breath. *Right, don't get angry.* "Hurry up and eat. I still need to go check on how the village chief is arranging things today. You be careful today too; don't just buy things from a single shop—visit a few different places. Safety comes first. Or wait for me, and I'll go with you. Otherwise, I really won't be at ease!"
Yun Qingyue shot Li Lianhua a disdainful glance and said dismissively, "Big Brother, how do you think I found you in the first place? The first time, I couldn't find you by the East Sea, so I searched all the way to Yunyin Mountain, and then tracked you all the way here from there, and I was completely fine every step of the way. We're talking about such a short distance now—what kind of trouble could possibly happen?"
Yun Qingyue was a good girl who loved telling the truth; whenever she did something, she never kept the person involved in the dark, never committing those low-level mistakes seen in television dramas!
Li Lianhua's breathing was once again thrown into disarray by a wave of emotion. Such a delicate young girl had suffered so much just to find him—just how deeply did she care about him? He took a deep breath to ensure his composure didn't slip. "Fine, I can't argue with you. Just be careful, alright?"
"Got it, don't worry!" Yun Qingyue handed over the bowl and chopsticks, and the two began to eat in silence.
"I left some food for you in the kitchen. Remember to come back and eat at noon, you hear? I won't be back until right before dinnertime, so don't worry!" Yun Qingyue instructed Li Lianhua once more before heading out, unable to completely shake her anxiety.
Showing not a shred of impatience, the man smiled the whole time and nodded in assent. He watched Yun Qingyue until she had walked a long way off, then turned, closed the courtyard gate, and headed toward the village chief's house.
How pitiful; he had to eat alone again this noon. Yueyue wouldn't be back until dinner, so he had better come back a bit earlier to tidy things up first.
Right, he could also learn how to cook. He couldn't let Yueyue do all the work; a young woman's hands would grow rough if she did too much chores. No, no, he needed to start learning right away. Yueyue deserved to live a good life; she shouldn't always be slaving away!
Well, even after she got married, she wouldn't be allowed to do this much hard work—otherwise, he'd go beat that husband up! Reaching the front gate of the village chief's house, Li Lianhua finally reined in his wandering thoughts.
The corners of his lips curved upward into a gentle, harmless expression. Smiling, he exchanged greetings with the people standing about as he stepped inside, making his way all the way into the inner courtyard until he reached the doorway of the main room, where several noticeably older men were sitting together talking. At the sight of him, they all stood up.
Without the slightest trace of panic, Li Lianhua raised his hands in a polite greeting and said with a smile, "These must be the village elders and chiefs from the surrounding villages, I presume? Li Lianhua pays his respects to you all!"
Where had these village chiefs ever laid eyes on such a handsome young man who was also so well-mannered? Not only did he not look down on them as dusty peasants, but he even paid them formal respects! Instantly, they all beamed with delight, and Village Chief Wang spoke up first: "Everyone's here now. Let me make some introductions..."
Paying no mind to the trivial matters on Li Lianhua's end, Yun Qingyue happily drove her horse cart off in the opposite direction. What she hadn't told Li Lianhua was that she had inquired yesterday and learned that if you head north out of the city gate and keep going, you reach a much larger county town—one that was far more prosperous.
That town fell under the administration of another prefecture, which was even larger and more thriving. It was just a bit far, taking about two hours to reach. As a result, nobody went that way unless there was a major event!
Could that stop Yun Qingyue in her tracks? Absolutely not! Leaving the horse cart at the post station, Yun Qingyue prepared to set off.
Time for the flying wings to make another appearance! As for whether she might be discovered? That didn't matter; this world didn't operate on logic anyway. When had you ever seen anyone's Qinggong follow the rules of physics? So Yun Qingyue didn't care at all!
A journey of two hours—four hours on foot—was covered by Yun Qingyue in twenty minutes. Finding a completely secluded spot to land, she straightened herself out and walked toward the city gate.
A big city really was different—crowded with people and overflowing with goods. Like a little mouse that had fallen into a rice vat, Yun Qingyue was overjoyed! First, she booked a room at an inn so she could easily change her clothes and identity.
Then, practically without resting for the entire day, Yun Qingyue went on a wild shopping spree, spending nearly five thousand taels of silver—though the silver notes she had originally exchanged remained untouched. Thank goodness her accumulated reserves from before were substantial enough, otherwise she really wouldn't have had enough to throw around like this!
She had no choice; during her past two lives with the system, she had been bound by too many restrictions in everything she did. Furthermore, every action contributed to her system points, so outside of completing missions, her time was spent studying various knowledge. Occasionally, whenever she bought things, she had to retrieve them from her system backpack under the system's watchful eye, which was terribly inconvenient.
If there was one thing Yun Qingyue regretted not learning during all that time, what would it be? Naturally, it was needlework! Watching all those gorgeous garments and sachets inside the embroidery shops, Yun Qingyue was practically dying of envy! Recalling all those stunning clothing designs and folding screen patterns she had seen online, every fiber of her being screamed that she wanted them!
She had to learn it! This time, embroidery would be her choice; martial arts could wait a little longer until she felt like picking it up again! Right now, she needed to ask around to find out where she could learn this craft, and the time and location had to be convenient! She'd go back to the East Sea town to inquire and ask around! No more putting it off!
Now it was time to head back; she had promised to return for dinner! She stopped by the inn to pack up some dishes and wine to take back so she wouldn't have to cook tonight. Well, not that she had really cooked much since coming here anyway—she always ate ready-made meals.
Yun Qingyue felt this wouldn't do. Who knew, she might end up in ancient times again in the future, so she really ought to learn how to cook communal meals. Otherwise, if some unexpected situation arose, starving to death wouldn't be worth it!
At this rate, the list of things she needed to study kept growing. So busy! Fortunately, she had a handy-dandy helper named Li Lianhua. She might as well study together with him and make progress side by side!