Chapter 17: The Twin Blossoms and the Little Rascal
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Once everyone had arrived, the head constable began calling out the names.
The adults from each household paid their taxes one after another, then pressed their fingerprints onto the documents.
As for the children—
Cheng Xiaoyuan was the only child in Hexi Village who attended school, and he enjoyed considerable prestige among his peers. Deliberately currying favor with his playmates, he led them in ostracizing Cheng An.
Cheng An could not be bothered to play house with them.
He squatted on the ridge between the fields, playing by himself with clods of earth.
At some point, he had developed a burning interest in soil. Whenever he handled those lumps of dirt, his mind would overflow with ideas.
Should I think of another way to make money?
Although the matter of attending school had been settled, that little sum of money would only tide him over in an emergency.
Dividing up the family estate would be troublesome.
By then, Old Madam Han would certainly exploit them!
He did not care about the paltry possessions of the Cheng family. As long as the household could be divided smoothly, he would be able to make the family prosperous within two months.
So he still had to earn money!
But anything too conspicuous was out of the question…
He could not keep producing inventions for others, or people would accuse him of being vulgar and unoriginal.
The more he thought about it, the deeper he sank into contemplation.
“Hey!”
A clear, crisp voice sounded behind him.
Cheng An remained unmoved.
A hint of childish annoyance immediately appeared on the pretty girl’s face.
She crept closer, then lifted one small foot and gave Cheng An a gentle kick in the behind.
Pfft!
Caught off guard, Cheng An tumbled headfirst into the pit he had just dug.
“Ha-ha-ha!”
The girl laughed so hard that her whole body trembled.
Cheng An climbed awkwardly out of the hole. Once he recognized who it was, he frowned coldly.
“Are you sick?”
“How dare you insult me?”
The girl had clearly been spoiled rotten. Her pretty face filled with anger.
Cheng An was already furious, so naturally he had no pleasant words for her.
“Are you really that bored? Or do you think that just because your father is a wealthy landowner, you can bully people whenever you please?”
“I…”
In an instant, all the children turned to look.
Whether adult or child, the poor were naturally inclined to resent the rich.
Especially when faced with a spoiled, overbearing little girl like this, everyone instinctively felt hostile toward her, as though all wealthy people deserved to die.
“You!”
“I was only joking with you.”
Seeing herself become the target of everyone’s hostility, the little girl stamped her feet in rage.
“But I don’t want to joke with you.”
“Men and women should keep their distance! Please stand farther away, would you? What is it—can’t you find yourself a husband? Are you in such a hurry to recruit a live-in son-in-law?”
He truly disliked spoiled and domineering little girls like her.
She was barely old enough to know better, yet she already dared to kick a man in the backside…
What would she be like when she grew up?
“You—you scoundrel!”
The little girl had never suffered such an insult before.
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For a moment, her eyes reddened.
“Xiaoyue.”
“Why are you crying?”
A little girl with similar features came running over from the other side.
When she saw Cheng An, she first paused in surprise.
“Oh?”
“Aren’t you the one who…”
The girl thought for a moment, then smiled warmly.
“Cheng An!”
She gave him a sweet smile. “That wheel you made last time was very useful! We later had a blacksmith make an iron one, and it really does save a great deal of effort…”
“Father even praised you a few days ago!”
“Mm. As long as it works.”
Cheng An’s attitude immediately improved.
Compared with his younger sister’s spoiled and overbearing nature, the elder girl seemed gentle and charming.
“Sister!”
Seeing the sharp contrast in Cheng An’s attitude, Gu Xiaoyue grew even angrier.
She grabbed her sister and complained, “He’s just a filthy peasant. How can you even bother with someone like him? You don’t know what he did just now… He molested me! He’s nothing but a little hooligan!”
In those days, education was severely limited.
How could a child understand what molestation meant?
Coming from the mouth of an eight- or nine-year-old girl, the accusation only made her seem adorably innocent and foolish.
“Xiaoyue!”
The girl frowned slightly. “You’re a young lady. How can you say such things? Have you forgotten everything about proper conduct that your teacher taught you?”
“And another thing!”
“How many times has Father told us to be polite when we go out? What do you mean, ‘filthy peasant’? Our family lives in Clearbrook Town too, so does that make us filthy peasants as well?”
Some people were born with an air of dignity.
The girl’s voice was still childish, yet the bearing of a wealthy young lady radiated from her so strongly that the surrounding children hardly dared look directly at her.
“Sister!”
“How can you take his side?”
Gu Xiaoyue’s little face flushed red with anger. She pouted, “You don’t even know how he bullied me!”
“He bullied you?”
The girl gave a scolding laugh and smacked her sister’s hand irritably.
“You should be grateful if you manage not to bully other people! Hurry up and apologize.”
“No!”
“I did nothing wrong. Why should I apologize to this little hooligan?”
Gu Xiaoyue was so angry that tears began to fall like pearls from a broken string.
Cheng An, meanwhile, wore an utterly speechless expression.
He wanted to leave.
In his previous life, he had been completely hopeless with women. In this life, he was no better.
Besides—
He was only eight years old!
Even if someone handed both these little girls over to him, what could he possibly do?
This was no longer a question of morality or bestiality…
It would be a crime!
“I’m sorry.”
The girl could not overcome her sister’s stubbornness, so she gave Cheng An a slightly apologetic smile and nodded.
“My sister has been spoiled since childhood, but she isn’t a bad person. She’s simply a little willful.”
“It’s all right.”
“She’s just a child. It’s normal.”
Cheng An replied with the solemnity of an old man.
Gu Xiaoyue was enraged.
“Ugh! You make yourself sound so grown-up! Sister, I told you he was a little hooligan. The moment he opens his mouth, he tries to take advantage of people!”
“Be quiet.”
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The little girl glared at her sister, then smiled.
“Xiaoyue told me that you’ll be attending the academy in a few days as well. Then we’ll be classmates from now on. My name is Gu Xiaorou. I hope we’ll look after each other.”
Were these two really born of the same mother?
Cheng An studied the sisters.
Though the younger one was somewhat spoiled, her behavior was still in keeping with her age.
The elder sister, however, seemed far too sensible. They were clearly the same age, yet whether in speech, conduct, or the way she carried herself, she possessed a solemnity usually found only in adults.
With that thought, Cheng An suddenly asked, “I hear your family owns a restaurant in town?”
“Yes.”
“Do you need suppliers?”
“Suppliers?”
Gu Xiaorou looked utterly bewildered.
“For vegetables, wild mountain produce, chickens, ducks, fish, meat, and so on. Restaurants need all those things, don’t they?”
“But someone already supplies us.”
Gu Xiaorou’s expression gradually changed.
She felt that the gaze of this boy her own age was far too clear—and far too shrewd for her liking.
Cheng An paid no attention to that.
He said seriously, “You buy from scattered sellers. Each household brings in its own goods, which makes both the prices and the quality difficult to control. If everything were consolidated, it would save a great deal of effort.”
“How would you consolidate it?”
“I can collect the goods from the surrounding villages, then sell them to your family at standardized prices and quality. Don’t worry—the prices will be completely fair!”
Put simply, this was the difference between retail and wholesale.
Clearbrook Town was not very large, and there were only a few restaurants.
The Gu family usually gathered most of its ingredients from the surrounding villages, but collecting from one household at a time was both time-consuming and laborious, and it drove up costs as well.
After all, not everyone had the time to travel to town every day.
“Oh, right…”
At the end, Cheng An did not forget to add, “These were all ideas my father came up with. I only heard a rough outline. If this is going to work, my father will have to handle it personally.”
“Your father thought of it?”
“Yep!”
Cheng An’s gaze did not waver.
Gu Xiaorou’s eyes, however, took on a peculiar look.
“Even the pulley from last time?”
“That’s right!”
“And that ‘goose’?”
“What?”
Cheng An froze.
Gu Xiaorou smiled faintly, a hint of mischief gleaming in her eyes.
“Geese, geese, geese—曲 necks raised toward the sky, singing…”
“Did your father write that poem too?”
“This…”
Cheng An was embarrassed.
Seeing the change in her sister’s tone, Gu Xiaoyue hurriedly curled her lip.
“Sister, don’t let him fool you! He’s a little liar—and a little hooligan too!”
“But he can compose poetry.”
“I…”
Gu Xiaoyue was rendered speechless.
Gu Xiaorou cast her sister an exasperated glance.
“Father often teaches us that we must learn from one another and make up for our weaknesses. With a temperament like yours, when will you ever grow up?”
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