Chapter 55: Bao'er Has Face

  On a summer night, outside the Mu residence, there was a chorus of frogs croaking. Xiao Furen stood at the edge of the veranda, anxiously looking towards the kitchen, but after half a day, she didn't see anyone come out. Her small face was anxious and worried, when suddenly her back was patted, causing Xiao Furen to let out a soft cry of surprise.

  Zhou Bu Yi held a small basket behind him, and Xiao Fu Rong looked at it and immediately became happy, hurriedly taking the basket from him. Zhou Bu Yi sighed: "Alas, this Pasture Official's residence is really too shabby, except for a chicken leg that had been pecked at once, there was no meat food to be found, mostly just snacks inside."

  "It doesn't matter... Wait a minute, isn't this chicken leg the one that Little Brother (Liu Xun) gnawed on but didn't finish eating last night? Never mind, I'll just make do with it."

  Zhou Bu Yi looked at Xiao Fu Rong's impatient appearance and shook his head: "I think the people in the Mu Fu don't like you very much, from Liu Zhang to Liu Xun, and those maidservants, family servants, and personal soldiers. Except for He Hua who took you to bathe, no one wants to see you. Why are you still staying here?"

  "There's a lot of delicious food here, when I go back I can only eat barbecue, let me tell you, except for that dead person who only allows me to eat four meals a day which is annoying, this more than one month in Chengdu has been the happiest days I've spent, I ate chicken rolls, peanut sugar..."

  Xiao Furan began to mutter, Zhou Buji sighed softly and said: "I've seen people who don't live up to their reputation, but I've never seen anyone as disappointing as this. Originally, I thought the easiest person to deceive was Zhang Zhongjing. As long as he's good to the common people, they're all his fathers. In the past, Liu Biao was his father, and now Liu Zhang has become his father."

  "But I didn't expect you to be even better at deceiving, with your conditions, can't you just go to some rich young master's house and eat well? Why do you have to suffer here... Hmm? Wait a minute."

  Zhou Buji suddenly furrowed his brow, slapped his forehead and said: "Damn it! Following Zhang Zhongjing for too long has turned my brain into a wooden melon. You've suffered such humiliation, yet you still want to stay here? Think again about how Liu Zhang saved your father and sent someone to Changsha to invite Zhang Zhongjing. You traveled thousands of miles, why did you come to Chengdu if not because you liked him?"

  Xiao Feng Rong munched on a chicken leg, mumbling: "You little brat, how old are you? You're still young enough to be someone's grandchild, and yet you're talking about romance, aren't you ashamed?"

  Zhou Bu Yi raised his chin, humming softly: "What do you know? I, the young master, understand the grand trend of heaven and earth, and the geography of human relationships. I see through all sorts of worldly phenomena, distinguishing loyalty and treachery, good and evil. Can a small love affair be difficult for me to obtain?"

  "Love spoken from your mouth is no different from mud seen everywhere."

  Xiao Furong continued eating, Zhou Bu Yi propped up his chin and thought for a while, suddenly his eyes lit up and said: "Girl, congratulations to you."

  Xiao Furan was eating a mouthful of egg cake, when Zhou Bu Yi suddenly said something so inexplicable, she couldn't help but open her small mouth in surprise, looking at him with a head full of question marks.

  Zhou Bu Yi thought for a moment and said, "You live here, he dislikes you, but doesn't drive you away. If it were just that, it could be explained as him being too embarrassed to ask you to leave. But he hasn't mistreated you either... although the four meals are a bit meager, he still gives you so much silver every day..."

  "Not many at all..."

  "Don't interrupt, he brought you here to live with him, and he didn't say anything, but instead found a maid to take care of you. Hmph, nine out of ten, that Liu Zhang also likes you."

  "Really?" Xiao Furan looked at Zhou Bu with excitement.

  "Look, still stubborn?"

  Xiao Furong cut in: "I just think it's great that someone likes him, and he's a high-ranking Han official, going back to the village and saying so will give us a lot of face."

  "Good match." Zhou Bu didn't doubt it, looked at Xiao Fu Rong with disdain, and nodded: "In that case, there's only a thin layer of gauze between the two of you. I guarantee that as long as you take the initiative to talk to him first, this marriage will be settled."

  "I'd never do that." Xiao Furen continued eating: "I've never thought about it, someone as smart as me has self-awareness. He's a high-ranking Han official, and I'm a barbarian woman looked down on by the Hans. Thinking about it is useless, I don't know what feelings I have towards him, but at least he's not annoying. However, speaking up is absolutely impossible. If he were to reject me, where would I go to eat good food in the future?"

  "Is something delicious more important than your life's biggest event?"

  "Of course." Xiao Furen replied without hesitation.

  "Whoa~" Zhou Bu Yi almost fell over, nearly fainting, and deeply exhaled before regaining his composure: "Actually, I don't agree with you speaking up either. As you said, you're a girl, and on top of that, one of those ignorant Han people's despised 'barbarian girls'. If you had spoken up first and gotten together with him, your status would be incredibly lowly. You're so wild, you definitely wouldn't be able to take it."

  Moreover, from my observation, Liu Zhang seems to be quite ruthless towards people he dislikes, but is rather tolerant of the people around him and even strangers. He's not a bad person, it's just unfortunate that his life was cut short...

  "Pffft......" Xiao Feng Rong spat out a mouthful of food residue, her eyes wide with surprise as she asked Zhou Bu Yi: "What did you say? What were you just saying?"

  "I'm telling you, Liu Zhang is short-lived. Although I've only been in Yi Province for a few days, I can be certain that every family in Yi Province hopes Liu Zhang dies immediately. For now, it's fine for him to stay in Chengdu, but once he takes his elite soldiers and strong generals out, if they lose or something unexpected happens to him, the families will definitely rebel. By then, Liu Zhang will be swept away by this torrent and die without a place to bury him."

  "What? It's that serious? How did I not notice? Are you trying to scare me?" Xiao Furan widened her eyes and stared at Zhou Buyi, but then furrowed her eyebrows and chuckled: "You're so talented, if you help him, he'll definitely turn bad luck into good fortune. Look at how he reacted when he saw you at dinner tonight, his eyes lit up, he really likes you!"

  "Alright, alright, I'm not interested. Liu Zhang is so self-righteous and thinks he's always right, serving him would be a pain. But if you really like him, I can help you out. I guarantee that your position in his heart will greatly increase, and then he'll come begging for you to marry him..."

  "Then I rejected him again, and went back to tell my father and our clan that I had refused the proposal of a high-ranking Han official. I must have gained a lot of face, and my value as a bride must have increased greatly, haha..."

  "Then you will marry again to a savage of Wuxi Man?"

  Zhou Bu Yi now understood why the people of Mu Fu didn't want to see Xiao Fu Rong. With this level of intelligence, he himself wanted to slap her to death, afraid that his own intellect would be dragged down by Xiao Fu Rong. He hastily returned to his bedroom.

  "I'd never marry a savage, I'm an imperial princess, hehe." Xiao Furen couldn't help but laugh out loud at the thought of Liu Zhang's face after being rejected by her, but suddenly seeing the empty basket in front of her, her smile froze.

  "Dead kid, sneaked out and didn't come back, what to do now? When that dead person finds out tomorrow, I'll get scolded again."