Chapter 55: The Elusive Huarong Dao (Part 1)

  In a cozy room on the second floor of the Food Department, Lin Xuanmeng was begging for mercy: "Enough, enough! How can we finish so many dishes? Besides, aren't there still tomorrow and the day after tomorrow? We'll have a few dishes every day, guaranteed to be different every day. If you order so many at once, what will we eat tomorrow?"

  "What's it to you? Are you worried about your money? But didn't you say yesterday that eating here doesn't cost a thing? I'm going to eat them out of house and home today." The response came from a bright, youthful female voice.

  Wang Kuang secretly smiled to himself, thinking that this little girl's temperament was like a child's, if she could eat the Rich Inn into bankruptcy with just one meal, unless she had a stomach like Zhu Bajie's, it would be hard to imagine what a little girl with a big belly like Zhu Bajie's would look like. Wang Kuang had already guessed who the visitor was.

  Outside the door stood Li, who had met Wang Kuang twice before. Seeing Wang Kuang arrive, he smiled and bowed, then stepped aside to let him in. He no longer felt wary of Wang Kuang, partly because his young mistress hadn't seen Wang Kuang for over two years, and partly because Wang Kuang's actions over the past two years had been thoroughly reported back to him by his brother, who worked as a steward at the Lin family home. In Li's eyes, Wang Kuang was no longer the same young man he had been two years ago.

  Wang Kuang pushed open the door and went in, and indeed it was the little girl who had come two winters ago. She was sitting with her back to the window, which should be Lin Xuan's younger sister. It had been more than two years since they last met, and the little girl had grown into a big girl. She wore a triangular bun with a pearl flower inserted at an angle, and a silk handkerchief tied behind her head, which seemed to be used to cover her face when going out. Her round face had a flower-shaped mole on her eyebrow, and although she was not extremely beautiful, she was still quite attractive. She wore a pale green jacket, and because she was kneeling, only the hem of her long skirt could be seen, which seemed to be light yellow in color. "It's a pity that she's gotten a bit fat," Wang Kuang thought with some malicious intent. "If her face were thinner, she would probably be a campus belle even in later generations."

  The little girl was talking to Lin Xuanmiao with her eyebrows raised, when she looked up and saw Wang Kuang pushing the door open and smiling at her: "You again? What are you smiling about?" This guy's smile really made people hate him, as if everything was under his control. He was just a little kid, but his smile was like that of an elder in the clan. It was precisely because of Wang Kuang's smile that he always made the young lady feel indignant, so this time when she heard that Lin Xuanmiao had a copper plate that could be exempt from payment, she prepared to order fiercely.

  Lin Xuanmiao was sitting facing the window, turned her head to see it was Wang Kuang, couldn't help but feel extremely embarrassed, and things got worse, also being overheard by Dogzi that I was scolded by my younger aunt, where can I put this face?

  Here is the translation:

  Originally, Second Uncle had just arrived and was planning to rest for a night before coming to Fuli Inn tomorrow to discuss whether they could sell some chili sauce back in Chang'an. It's said that several restaurants in Chang'an have already offered high prices of 300 wen per jar for chili sauce. Where can you find such a lucrative business? So, after being approached by several restaurants, Second Uncle disguised himself and took a long detour to get to Jian'an, which normally takes only a month, but ended up taking over two months. He did this to avoid drawing attention to himself and prevent others from finding Fuli Inn first.

  As for Little Aunt, she didn't need to hide her intentions and directly brought some guards with her under the pretext of visiting Big Brother. She set off a month ago and arrived in Jian'an today. The two groups left at different times but coincidentally arrived in Jian'an around the same time. Little Aunt had just arrived today, but unexpectedly, after hearing about Fuli Inn's food all along the way to Jiangnan, she immediately grabbed him as soon as she arrived at the mansion without even drinking a cup of tea.

  You said come to eat and just eat, ordering a few dishes would be enough, but the little girl insisted on ordering over ten dishes, filling the table to the brim. She even claimed that she couldn't finish them all and wanted to take some back for her older brothers to eat. Now look what's happened, that rascal Dogzi has caught us in the act, and from now on we'll have to endure his teasing again.

  "Wow, Xiao Miao, you can really eat a lot, ordering so much." As expected, Wang Kuang opened his mouth and started yelling, ignoring the anger in Little Yao's eyes.

  It's done, it's done, time to take a leak. Lin Xuanmu patted his forehead and quickly got up: "That, I'm going to sing a song." He learned this from Wang Kuang. Once they were chatting, Wang Kuang said: Wait, I'll go sing a song first. His curiosity was piqued, and after asking clearly, he found out that singing a song meant going to the toilet. He thought it was novel and didn't feel rude saying it, so he learned it from then on.

  "Sit down, Aunt! If you want to sing, then sing, where are you running off to? Do you think you're going to the flower pavilion?" The little girl didn't know that "singing" had a different meaning, and thought Lin Xiangyun wanted to sneak off to drink flower wine: "Great, I didn't expect you to learn how to drink flower wine at such a young age. Just wait till I tell your older brother."

  Wang Kuang and Lin Xuanmiao were staring at each other, Lin Xuanmiao wanted to laugh but didn't dare to, her hands covering her stomach, her body bent like a shrimp, her face red with suppressed laughter. Unable to hold it in any longer, she finally let out a hand to lean against the wall, and started stomping her feet on the floor. The customers eating downstairs were affected by this, originally the floor was designed by Wang Kuang to be double-layered, so even if someone heavy walked upstairs, it wouldn't affect the diners below. But Lin Xuanmiao's foot-stomping was too much for the floor, and dust fell from above onto the customers' heads, bodies, and plates.

  The people downstairs naturally knew that it was Lin Daxiazi who had caused the trouble again, and they quickly calmed down the crowd of diners who were almost angry. The few diners who were about to rush upstairs to reason with them heard that it was Xiao Dongjia and Lin Xiaolangjun upstairs, so they all returned to their seats. Since it was Xiao Dongjia upstairs, they wouldn't be able to eat in peace anyway. They thought to themselves: "Go ahead and stomp your feet, I've almost finished eating, you can stomp away, and when I'm almost done eating again, you can stomp some more, hehe, that would be great."

  "You're not a good guy!" The little girl scolded Lin Xiang and then turned around to point at Wang Kuang.

  "Oh, why am I not a good person? Do you see the words 'bad guy' written on my face?" Wang Kuang retorted. Just now, he was intentionally ignoring Xiao Yatou, and if her personality were to be placed in modern times, it would be called straightforward and optimistic. But if we're being honest, it's just a lack of discipline. Originally, when Sun Er said that the Lin family might want Wang Kuang as their son-in-law, Wang Kuang had fantasized about it for two days, thinking that maybe Xiao Yatou had become prettier or more virtuous. But now, she was like a little tiger, which wasn't the type of woman Wang Kuang liked. In his opinion, girls should be feminine and gentle, not necessarily extremely virtuous, but at least they shouldn't be so aggressive all day, as if everyone owed her something. Who would dare to want her?"

  "You're not a good person!" The little girl was speechless after being countered by Wang Kuang, and could only repeat this one sentence. As she spoke, her eyes began to redden. Seeing that things were taking a turn for the worse, Wang Kuang quickly changed his tune: "Alright alright, I'm not a good person, are you satisfied now?" He really hadn't expected such a fierce little tiger to be a crybaby.

  Seeing Wang Kuang change his tune, Xiao Yatou finally burst into laughter: "Since you've admitted that you're not a good person, then you must be punished."

  Wang Kuang was depressed, and after a long time, he finally realized that this was the pit he had been digging for. However, he also saw that in these two years, Xiao Yatou's personality hadn't changed at all, still like an immature child, so what happened earlier could be understood.

  Looking at the little girl's crying and laughing appearance, Wang Kuang's heart moved, thinking of that Huayuan Dao who had been buried in his heart all along. Since the person has come, why not try? If the little girl is also from the same place as himself, then he will have a companion, and there will be someone to talk to about many things.

  "Alright, I admit defeat. Wait a moment, little girl, I'll go get some things." After saying that, he hurriedly ran downstairs to his own courtyard.

  Here is the translation:

  After Wang Kuang left, Lin Xiangmeng dared to explain in a low voice what singing was to his little sister, so as not to be embarrassed again in front of Wang Kuang. The little girl listened and thought for a moment before blushing bright red: "How embarrassing! How can you compare that sound to singing?" But it's also quite fitting, who comes up with this? She scolded Lin Xiangmeng with a straight face: "You're good at learning bad things, not good ones. Just wait and see if I don't tell big brother on you!" Lin Xiangmeng wasn't afraid, as he was friends with Wang Kuang with his father's permission, but he was worried that his little sister would tell grandfather when she returned to Chang'an, which wouldn't be good at all. He had to take the imperial exam in Chang'an next year and didn't want to face grandfather's questioning then. He hastily promised many favors until, unwillingly, he handed over the copper plaque, and only then did his little sister smile sweetly.

  Before long, Wang Kuang brought up a flat large wooden box, opened the lid, and carefully placed it in front of Xiao Niangzi. Whether or not she was also a crosser would depend on this. If she could recognize it, then she must be a crosser without a doubt.

  "What is this?" The little girl looked at the box of colorful small stone balls, and in the middle of the box there was a platform with several small holes dug into it.

  "Jump chess." Wang Kuang stared intently at Xiaoyu, not missing any change in her expression.

  Division

  Vote for me, collect and recommend me, your support is Sparrow's motivation.