Chapter 30: Found a Little Child

Gu Xixi ate with great enjoyment, and her mind never stopped working.

The water, soil, and climate here are indeed extremely suitable for growing peach trees; the peaches are fragrant, sweet, juicy, with delicate flesh.

The boss said this kind of peach is a late variety, pinkish-white, more fresh and juicy than midsummer peaches, but unfortunately it doesn't keep well.

Gu Xixi managed to buy two already soft, nearly spoiled peaches for just one cash coin.

However, peaches this soft are actually the most delicious.

She lightly peeled off the thin skin, and one bite filled her mouth with honey juice.

If only she could improve it so that these late peaches would keep better.

Mu Nan Zhao glanced at Gu Xixi's actions, peeled a peach, and also bit into it directly.

Looking back, since he left the capital and lived among the exiled convicts, what hardship of eating wind and sleeping dew has he not endured?

It's just eating a peach on the street; if he can't even do that, wouldn't Gu Xixi laugh at him?

After finishing, Gu Xixi noticed Mu Nan Zhao holding the peach pit, his hands awkwardly having nowhere to place them.

She couldn't help laughing, "I almost forgot you like to stay clean. Having your hands covered in peach juice must be unpleasant, right?"

"It doesn't matter," Mu Nan Zhao said with a cold face.

Gu Xixi saw his discomfort but didn't expose it.

She walked ahead, found a trash heap by the street, and threw away the peach pit.

She also asked the old woman selling eggs by the street, found a water well deep in a nearby alley, and washed her hands.

After coming out of the alley, Mu Nan Zhao's expression visibly relaxed.

Gu Xixi glanced at him and asked, "Are the peaches tasty?"

Mu Nan Zhao replied, "They're passable."

Gu Xixi pursed her lips and said, "Your assessment is too grudging; even the discounted price for nearly spoiled peaches is two for one cash coin, which is quite expensive."

Mu Nan Zhao suddenly shot her a glare.

"One, cash, coin?" The three words were squeezed out between his teeth.

"Gu Xixi, are you saying I'm as worthless as these two rotten peaches, that even one cash coin seems too expensive to you?!"

Gu Xixi watched Mu Nan Zhao's cold smile and then realized.

Is the "one cash coin" joke impossible to get over?

"How could it be!" she laughed, denying it.

"How could one cash coin be expensive? I got a huge bargain—oh no, I should say it was just a coincidence."

"Someone like Your Excellency, how could you measure them with vulgar money?"

Mu Nan Zhao gave her a cold glance, flicked his sleeve, and walked ahead.

Perhaps because he promised not to threaten her life anymore, Gu Xixi now speaks nonsense in front of him as easily as picking something up.

It's truly infuriating!

As noon approached, Mu Nan Zhao finally took action.

He first took Gu Xixi into a clothing store; when they came out, both looked completely renewed.

Mu Nan Zhao wore a robe of sky-blue gauze.

He held his spine straight, bound with a belt, which further showed his broad shoulders and narrow waist.

With that face already handsome enough to make gods angry and people resentful, virtually every woman along the way stared at him.

Gu Xixi wore a cyan-green high-waisted blouse-and-skirt with a matching thin-gauze narrow-sleeved top.

Dressed in the new clothes, she couldn't manage a smile.

"Before buying, you never said I had to pay."

Mu Nan Zhao said, "It's just the cheapest gauze."

"I said I would repay it later."

Gu Xixi turned to look at him, her anger subsiding to just a smile: "Fine, when we get home I'll open a separate ledger for you."

"Including this outfit I'm wearing, put it all on your tab."

Recently she had Zhang Shen sell some grain and medicinal herbs, barely scraping together some money, but a single trip to the clothing store consumed most of it.

If it weren't for the fact that Mu Nan Zhao is destined to become Regent Prince and thus surely not short of money,

she wouldn't buy something so expensive, and besides, such clothes are impossible to wear in everyday village life!

Mu Nan Zhao neither affirmed nor denied.

This time he led the way, turning left and right, when suddenly they heard a child's crying ahead.

Gu Xixi looked up and saw a little girl about three or four years old, wearing a pink embroidered dress, with two little buns on her head, cute as a powder ball.

Seeing no one else around, she walked over a few steps and said, "Little sister, why are you alone here?"

"Where are your adults?"

Upon seeing Gu Xixi, the little girl stopped crying, sniffled, wiped her eyes, and said, "Qinger went chasing a kite; the wet nurse and Cui Jie are both missing."

Gu Xixi understood; the child probably got lost while chasing a kite.

"Don't be scared, Qinger, tell me where you live, or what your surname is, and I'll take you home."

Moments later, Gu Xixi returned holding the child.

Mu Nan Zhao said, "You really hit it off with this child."

Gu Xixi gave him a strange look.

Following the clues Xiao Qinger provided, they found a jewelry shop at the center of East Main Street.

At the shop entrance, a richly dressed woman, her face full of anxiety, pointed at several maids and assistants:

"You can't even watch a single child—hurry up and go look for her!"

Qinger waved her little hands, "Mother!"

The woman looked over in surprise, "Qinger?"

She hurried over, snatched the daughter from Gu Xixi's hands in one grab. "Where did you run off to? Mother was about to die of worry."

"If I still can't find you, Mother will have to get your uncle to send people!"

The woman hugged and kissed the daughter over and over, then remembered that the benefactor who brought the daughter back had not yet been thanked.

"My surname is Meng; I am this child's mother."

"May I ask your esteemed names and where you live? I will surely come to thank you another day."

Gu Xixi clasped her hands, "It was just a small effort, Madame Meng, you flatter me."

Mu Nan Zhao said, "I am surnamed Zhao."

"My wife and I came from Jiangnan to do business; we currently have no fixed residence."

Gu Xixi glanced at Mu Nan Zhao without leaving a trace.

She felt that picking up the child was too coincidental.

Looking at it now, could it all be a scheme he deliberately set up?

Madame Meng, who runs a jewelry shop, perked up at the mention of business.

"You came from Jiangnan? That's a fine place."

"I wonder if it's tea, raw silk, or..."

Mu Nan Zhao candidly said, "Pearls."

Madame Meng's eyes lit up, "Eastern pearls?"

Mu Nan Zhao smiled, "Eastern pearls are rare; those of good quality are even harder to come by."

"Most of what we have at home are freshwater pearls cultivated in lakes."

Madame Meng laughed, "Even good-quality freshwater pearls are hard to find here in our Xi Bei region."

She intended to buy pearls and invited Mu Nan Zhao and Gu Xixi to the shop's second floor to drink tea and discuss in detail.

Half an hour later.

Madame Meng personally saw the guests downstairs.

Having just enjoyed a pleasant conversation, Madame Meng linked arms with Gu Xixi, as if they were old friends of many years.

"Back then, when I returned to my natal family after my divorce and said I wanted to start a business, everyone told me a woman shouldn't expose herself publicly. Even my brother said he could support me for life."

"I never expected Gu Xixi to understand my thoughts and wishes; she is truly a confidant I've met too late in life."

Gu Xixi also felt a rapport with Madame Meng.

Precisely for this reason, she felt even more uneasy about deceiving her with a false identity.

"Meeting Sister Meng is my fortune."

Mu Nan Zhao and Madame Meng Daniang agreed to meet again in three days.

On the way back, he noticed Gu Xixi looked unhappy and said, "Rest assured, I have no intention of harming her."

"I merely wanted to use her to make a connection."

Gu Xixi finally couldn't hold back and said, "But she wholeheartedly wants to do business with you, yet you deceived her!"