Chapter 4

Retracting his hand, Chen Chao immediately turned around and leaned against the door as he raised his eyebrows. Looking at the man who was currently carrying a large bowl and shoveling rice into his mouth, he said, “Why? Envious?” “There’s nothing you can do even if you’re envious! It can’t be helped that I’m born handsome!”

The man had just swallowed the last mouthful of rice in the large bowl. With a slurp, he swallowed the cabbage leaf at the corner of his mouth into his stomach too, and said, “What’s the use of pretty? Is there a sense of security from being over 100kgs like Your Father’s wife?” !

Casually placing the large bowl on the doorstep, the man carelessly wiped the remnants from the corners of his mouth and smiled with slightly yellowish teeth as he said, “Chen brat, listen to a piece of advice from Your Father who has had the experience; a brat like you can’t hold on to a pretty wife. Your poor household doesn’t have that fate!”

“I say, where is that girl from?” “Why did she fall for this poor kid?”

The man’s gaze sized Xie Nandu up and down. However, he skipped the places that should be skipped and glanced at the places that one’s gaze should look at without leaving a trace; doing it rather covertly.

Xie Nandu held the half-eaten sweet potato that was still steaming as she looked at that man too. There was no disgust in her eyes. She was just sizing up this sloppy guy that she was destined to never see at home with some curiosity.

“F*ck off!” Chen Chao cussed and pointed his middle finger at that man. If it were before, he would have definitely sat down and argued it out with this old punk. But no idea why, he lost interest right away today.

Chen Chao felt that his verbal skills were not bad. But for some reason, he was always at a disadvantage every time he argued with this middle-aged man. It was like this old man seemed to know what he was thinking. He could shut him up with a word every time. Yet, the two of them were staying opposite of each other, so they frequently met each other. The moment they met, an argument could not be avoided.

His prowess was still lacking.

Chen Chao gritted his teeth and yelled at the door, “Auntie, your man said that he wants to marry Widow Li as a concubine and asked for your opinion!”

The man was originally still looking down on Chen Chao. Hearing this, his expression changed slightly and his aura suddenly weakened. He lowered his voice and said, “You f*cker, why did you do that?! Be careful that you can’t find a wife…”

Before his voice faded, an extremely loud voice came from behind the door, “Zhou Gouqi! Get inside for Your Mother!”

Xie Nandu looked over at that man and could faintly see that there was a robust woman in the courtyard who was holding a rolling pin in her hand.

The moment this voice sounded, the alley instantly roared with laughter. The atmosphere became very gleeful all at once.

Hearing the voice behind the door, the man who was sitting crossed-legged with his ankle on his knee on the doorstep shot Chen Chao a hateful glare. But he still yelled at the top of his voice and said with an indifferent look, “So what if I want to marry Widow Li?” “Your Father also likes Great Liang’s princess! But aren’t I sucking it up and living with a b*tch like you?” “Why? I can’t be the emperor’s son-in-law, but I’m not allowed to fantasize?”

The man spoke with an imposing aura. However, the neighbors present were not outsiders. Their ears had long grown calluses from listening to such words. Hence, they were just waiting to watch the show.”

A gust of wind suddenly blew and a rolling pin flew out of the courtyard, accurately hitting the back of that man’s head. The man yelped in pain as he fell off the doorstep and plopped onto the ground somewhat ungracefully. He let loose a torrent of abuse, “You fat b*tch! Your Father will hang you up and beat you later!”

Right when this sentence was finished uttering, a woman with an ordinary face but a robust body already arrived at the front entrance with a black face. Without a word, she grabbed the man’s collar and dragged him towards the door just like that.

It did not look like the first time.

Laughter sounded out in the alley again.

“Chen brat, just you wait…”

The man who unwillingly entered the door snorted coldly and vanished from Chen Chao’s line of sight.

Chen Chao looked at this scene and grinned. Feels great!

“Everyone disperse, all shoo.”

Chen Chao waved his hand. He did not care whether these neighbors were really going to disperse or not, he just turned around and opened the door deftly. Then, he walked into that courtyard that was neither too big nor too small.

The layout in the courtyard was simple. Apart from a stone table, there was only a water vat that was full of moss. There was a thin layer of snow on the edge of the water vat and the ground was full of accumulated snow. There were some dead weeds in the cracks of those stone bricks near the eaves that were currently dormant. Looks like after this winter, it would grow stubbornly.

“Get lost!”

Casually grabbing a handful of snow, Chen Chao accurately hit a black stray cat under the roof. The stray cat meowed and climbed up the pillar onto the roof. Turning around to look at Chen Chao, it disappeared into the snow.

The girl behind him followed quietly, neither fast nor slow. She maintained a distance of roughly ten feet away from Chen Chao.

Only after watching Chen Chao finish all this, did the two people arrive in front of the central room.

The entire courtyard was a little old. The paint on the wooden pillars and whatnot was flaking off. The exposed parts had even sustained moth damage.

Chen Chao dragged an old wooden chair and a bench out of the central room. Scratching his head, Chen Chao who was about to speak saw Xie Nandu walk straight towards that wooden chair and sat down.

“Quite cognizant.” Chen Chao mumbled. Originally, he was planning on letting Xie Nandu sit on that bench.

But at this moment, he could only sit on the bench himself. Wriggling his buttocks, he found it really uncomfortable.

“Aren’t you the local warden?” “Why don’t they seem scared of you at all?” After Xie Nandu sat down, she already opened her mouth to speak. As she spoke, that mouth which was burned red from before exhaled a lot of vapor.

She was sizing up this youth who was totally different from in the run-down temple.

In the run-down temple, this youth was decisive and calm. But after arriving here, he was like a ruffian;, his entire person was full of delinquent aura.

This change was very interesting for the teenage girl.

Chen Chao leaned against the pillar beside him. Using his hand to peel off a piece of paint that was already flaking off, he said indifferently, “If they aren’t scared, so be it. What can I do? Hack them to death with a blade?”

When talking, Chen Chao’s hand was constantly rubbing back and forth on the handle of that broken saber.

Those calluses on his palms were actually sufficient to explain something.

Xie Nandu smiled and said, “Actually, given your abilities, if you were to join the army and train in the north for a few years, you might be able to become a lieutenant. Then in another few years…”

“In another few years, I’ll die at the hands of that demon army who eats people without spitting out the bones. Then, when the imperial court wants to pay blood money, they won’t even be able to find who to pay.” Chen Chao looked at the teenage girl in front of him with eyes like he was looking at an idiot. “Do you think that even if I made some military achievements in that damn place, I’ll be able to get what I deserve?”

Xie Nandu shook her head. She naturally knew the answer to this question.

In Great Liang Dynasty, people who thought that effort would definitely yield results were either stupid or stupid.

“However, I’m still very curious. How did you become the warden? Are you a bastard from some family in the north?”

This was the question that she had been thinking about all along. At this time, she finally asked it.

But, Chen Chao ignored her. He just leaned against the pillar that was flaking badly, thinking about something rather absentmindedly.

Xie Nandu glanced at the heavy snowstorm outside before retracting her gaze and saying somewhat seriously, “You saved my life, maybe I can give you a better future.”

“If you want me to send you to the Divine Capital, I urge you to dispel this notion.” Chen Chao reached his hand out and caught some snowflakes. Then, he pressed it against his forehead and said rather tiredly, “Some things, you know it. I can guess a little too. But, it’s meaningless to lay it bare.”

Hearing this, Xie Nandu’s expression grew more solemn. Looking at the youth in black in front of her, she wanted to speak several times. But in the end, she just asked, “Where do I stay?”

“There are a total of two rooms. The one in the east has been empty for a long time. There’s an old cotton quilt, but no guarantee that it’s warm. If you despise it, hand over the money and I’ll buy for you in a while. But, I’m going to say this first, you can’t bring the item away afterward.”

Chen Chao rubbed his somewhat red nose, a pair of eyes hiding some cunningness.

A quilt did not cost much. But right now, every skygold currency coin was seen as extremely important in Chen Chao’s eyes. He was not willing to fork out a single coin for this.

“Also, how many days are you staying? Regardless of how many days, either way, it’s ten skygold currency every day. Just take it as your daily expenses.”

“You seem a little greedy. Ten skygold currency can cover expenses here for at least several months.”

The teenage girl was born into a wealthy family. But, it did not mean that she was the kind of girl who did not understand anything. When she was buying the sweet potato previously, she took out a single skygold currency. That hawker searched for a long time and failed to find enough Great Liang general currency to give her change.

Skygold currency was the Great Liang Dynasty’s cash in circulation. It was just that this kind of currency was circulated more commonly among those wealthy families and cultivators. The common people living at the bottom rung of the Great Liang Dynasty used copper coins engraved with the four characters, Great Liang general currency, for everyday use.

A single skygold coin was sufficient to convert to a hundred Great Liang general currency.

“This is a poor household. Aren’t I thinking of ways to earn more money?”

Chen Chao was all smiles, looking like an everyday man.

Hearing poor household, Xie Nandu could not help recalling the conversation between Chen Chao and that man from before.

If those words were heard by those tutors who taught her virtue and principles, they would definitely scold it as vulgar. But at the same time, she who had never heard such things before did not feel any aversion to it. But, one could not say that she liked it either.

“I don’t dislike it. As for daily expenses, one skygold currency per day.”

Even she herself did not realize it. She seemed to have gotten closer to this youth.

Her thoughts were mostly on this mysterious youth in black.

But curiosity would often trigger unexpected things.

The sky gradually turned dark.

Xie Nandu walked towards the eastward house while Chen Chao sized her up under the eaves.

Before long, Xie Nandu returned and threw a money pouch from afar.

“Go and buy a quilt. Here’s the money.”