Chapter 46: Small Theater (Buyer Beware)

  Min An got up early, after washing and dressing, applied a mixture of honey, egg white, and pollen to her face, scraping it into a thin layer, then stood on the school field with a yellowish-white complexion.

  The guard Zhang Pang ran over and asked: "Did the young master participate in a game of Weiqi? Did he win or lose?"

  Min An stood still and said: "I bet that Young Master sleeps in the study room, I won five taels."

  Zhang Fang clicked his tongue: "That songstress last night, born with a delicate and tender figure, has directly hooked away even my heart, can't let the young master break his vow of abstinence?"

  Min An didn't move: "Maybe big brother hasn't figured out the way."

  "What's going on? You'd better tell me!" Zhang Fang pushed Min An's shoulder, seeing that Min An wouldn't say or move, he got annoyed, "You must know some inside information, but you won't even let your brother get a share of the profits."

  Min An fanned his face with his hand and stuck out his tongue, saying: "Big brother has been following the young master for so long, but he hasn't seen him take a wife or concubine. Doesn't he ever think about the reason?"

  Zhang Fang thought for a moment, then suddenly turned his head to glance around, seeing no one, he made a throat-slitting gesture: "Last time someone said something like that, the young master threw him out the door and took care of it himself. You'd better keep your mouth shut, don't say I didn't warn you." After saying this, he couldn't be bothered with the so-called Xiaoxiangong Shengcai's doorway, and hastily ran away.

  Min An stood under the scorching sun by his horse, another guard rode over on horseback. "Did young master gamble last night? Did he lose or win?"

  Min An saw the butterfly fly over and didn't dare move, only slightly opening his mouth: "Lost."

  The guard asked: "Who won?"

  The first guard's name on the Min'an Report was Zhang Fang, who also passed on a secret saying that Zhang Fang had a way of making a fortune, which was to be stubborn and refuse to admit that he knew anything about the inside story.

  The second guard seemed to have lost something: "That little Zhang Pang is cunning, does the young master have a way to pry open his mouth?"

  Min An slightly opened his mouth: "Yes."

  "Hurry up and say it."

  "Go tell Zhang Fangdage that if he doesn't hand over the five taels of silver he won from gambling last night, I'll report him to the young master. Because Zhang Fangdage has been spreading rumors behind his back, saying that the young master is a cut sleeve fanatic and enjoys male favors."

  Before long, the first guard Zhang rushed to Min An's face and confronted him. Min An still held up his hands motionless on the horse: "Brother Zhang, don't be angry, it's just a blackmail of five taels of silver, who told you not to keep your mouth shut?"

  Min An was avenging a past grievance, and Zhang Fang had said so many boring things that he couldn't even remember what he had done wrong.

  Zhang Fang jumped up and down: "You're the one who spoke ill of the young master, but you bite back at me! I told you to be careful with your words, but you come back and turn the tables on me! You really don't know what's good for you. I must have been blind to think of making a sworn brother out of you. Forget it, forget it, five taels of silver to see through someone!"

  Min An lifted his lip: "Zhang Fang big brother don't be angry, I'll help you win another ten taels of silver tonight."

  Zhang Fang suddenly turned around: "Really?"

  "You need to lend me five taels of silver as capital."

  "Are you going to pay back or not?"

  "Of course."

  "Deal." Zhang Fang took out five taels of silver and stuffed them into Min An's waist bag.

  Min An stood like a scarecrow: "Go tell Song Ji, the young master likes leopards. Tell Song Ji to wear a leopard skin skirt and block the door of the study room, it can arouse the young master's interest."

  Zhang Fang scratched his head: "Really? I always feel that this method is somewhat inappropriate."

  "Didn't Zhang Fang say that I'm the exclusive rabbit for the young master? As a rabbit, it's only natural that I'd discover one or two of the young master's peculiar habits."

  Zhang Fang burst out laughing: "This rabbit grandfather of yours is fake! Only punished, not serving in bed, the people in our mansion have known for a long time! You'd better not try to deceive me with this!"

  Min An stiffened his face and asked: "Are you going or not?"

  "Go where?"

  "Tell Kōji."

  "I must have eaten a leopard's gallbladder to dare go! Anyway, by evening, no one can get close to the young master's door."

  "So which side are you betting on?"

  "I won't tell you."

  Min An waved his hand to shoo away a buzzing bee: "I know you're betting on the study."

  Zhang Fang snorted and turned around to leave.

  Li Qun walked over to inspect the results and asked Min An: "Can you stand firm?"

  "Standing firm is what makes a man."

  A bee flew over and was shooed away by Min An. A butterfly flew over and landed on Min An's temple, flapping its wings, but Min An didn't move. Yu Mi suddenly jumped onto his shoulder and chased the butterfly away. The butterfly flew back, and Yu Mi chased it again, busy as can be.

  Li Peinan walked past the school field and saw Yu Mi busy protecting Min An's head and face. He thought to himself, "Could it be that this little monkey is too possessive? Can't even stand a butterfly landing on his head?" Looks like he needs to come up with a way to teach him a lesson.

  In the evening, Min An washed off the homemade sunscreen from his face and sat in the courtyard to rest. Zhang Fang and others arrived as scheduled, holding an iron box for gambling. They saw that Min An had not approached the songstress, and the songstress still looked normal, so they put all their silver on the "book room" spot at once.

  The rest of the people followed suit, and asked Min An if he would participate in a game. Min An took out the five taels he had won from gambling and added it to the five taels Zhang Fang lent him, making a total of ten taels of silver that was placed on the "guest room" grid.

  The guards exclaimed: "You're betting on a single door? We at least know that the young master can't sleep in the study, and will go back to his bedroom."

  Min nodded: "I dare bet that the young master and the song girl will stay in the guest room for one night, as long as you add silver."

  The guards burst out laughing, and they certainly didn't believe that the young master who had always kept his distance from women would suddenly change his ways. They added silver to both the "study" and the "bedroom".

  "Who is on duty tonight?"

  Zhang Fang replied: "Me."

  "Be careful what you wish for."

  Zhang Fang walked towards the second floor of the main building with another guard. After a while, he saw Li Peinan wearing a white undergarment and a green gauze robe walking into the guest room where the songstress was staying, and also heard the sound of the songstress's gentle voice: "Your humble servant has been waiting for you for a long time, young master."

  Zhang Kuang stared blankly, mustered up his spirits for a night, and indeed saw Li Peinan walking out of the guest room at dawn. As usual, the voice of the songstress echoed from behind: "Your humble servant sees off the young master."

  Zhang Fang and others handed over the value, ran to the school field to ask about the reason, Min An applied honey egg white facial cream, still not saying the reason, only took out ten taels of silver and handed it over: "This is the silver I helped my brother win, I didn't break my promise, guaranteeing that my brother got ten taels."

  In the study, Li Peinan carefully examined Yu Mi, who was sleeping on a chair, and wondered if he had been deceived by a monkey. Last night, Yu Mi snuck into Li Peinan's bedroom, took his jade pendant, and ran to Song Ji's room in a gust of wind. Li Peinan followed him there, where Song Ji used monkey language to stop Yu Mi and successfully caught Li Peinan's attention. After learning the monkey language all night, Li Peinan didn't even have time to say two words to Yu Mi before he fell asleep on the chair, exhausted from jumping around all night.

  Its owner didn't come to fetch it, so it occupied Li Peinan's seat. Li Peinan had no choice but to move the meeting venue to a side hall. At dusk, he tried giving instructions to Yu Mi, only to find that Yu Mi wasn't listening to him at all. He took out some corn kernels to coax her, and only then did she turn around to glance at him.

  Li Peinan found that if he used food as bait, the corn would make some movements in coordination and liked to surround him. If he wanted to assign tasks to it, it would escape far away.

  "What's the logic in this?" Li Peinan asked as he led the songstress to a side hall.

  The songstress said the truth: "Corn is not an ordinary mountain monkey, it has a specific training method that makes it form a habit of only listening to one command. The person who trained it earlier must have been a woman, so it forms a fixed reaction to its surroundings and will only listen to women's commands."

  Li Peinan stood up, thought for a moment, and suddenly burst out laughing. He gave the songstress some silver coins and sent her away from the inn. He walked straight into the school field and saw Min An standing still on the horse frame, his face stiff and only rolling his eyes.

  Li Peinan sent everyone away and turned back to ask Min An: "Did you collude with the songstress to cheat people out of their money?"

  Min An almost fell over: "Young master, don't talk nonsense, if the guards hear you, I'll get a good scolding."

  "To be honest, I will naturally help you."

  Min An replied honestly: "I wrote a letter asking Yumi to take it over and cooperate with me to deceive the young master, leaving him in the guest room for one night."

  "How did you know she would talk nonsense?"

  "She was originally a songstress in Cuihua's opera troupe, trained monkeys, and later was bought by the county magistrate."

  Min An saw that Li Qun was no longer around, dropped his arm, fanned his face and shooed away a bee. Li Peinan looked at him silently, then suddenly asked: "Did you put honey on your face?"

  Min An forced a smile but couldn't manage it, even nodding was difficult, so she just murmured in agreement.

  Li Peinan asked: "What do you think I should do so that I won't reveal your conspiracy?"

  "I don't know."

  "Stand still."

  Min An stood still, not understanding what was going on. Li Peinan walked closer to him and smelled a faint scent of honey, couldn't help but wipe his face with his sleeve and kissed it gently.

  Min An was struck by lightning, and Li Peinan had already gone far away. After that, Li Peinan didn't mention it again, and Min An pretended as if nothing had happened, continuing to treat him like the moody young master. Seeing how afraid Min An was of getting close to him, Li Peinan's heart gave a faint smile, and he returned to his usual cold demeanor.

  Min An worked hard to get rid of the nickname "Turtle Grandpa" as soon as possible, enduring bitter training without complaint, his body becoming more robust and his skills improving. The only things that didn't change were his respectful attitude towards Li Peinan, which remained unchanged, and he no longer grabbed onto Li Peinan's clothes to beg for mercy, let alone haggle over prices in front of him.

  Min An sometimes thought of Xuan Xu's smile, so he tied a sky-blue Kongming lantern, lit it and watched it slowly float into the night sky, murmuring, wishing to see you soon. He released two in a row, and then devoutly prayed to the night sky, finally attracting Lian Ye to come over and ask: "What is Young Master doing?"

  "Missing a friend."

  "Who?"

  A warm person.

  Author's note: This is a small skit written specifically for the moon-seeing MM in the group, and it has little connection to the main storyline. If you don't like it, please leave a message telling me, and I won't write this kind of thing again next time, so as not to waste your money. If this wastes your money, please tell me, and I can refund you. Sorry about that:)

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