good season

Chapter 173 A Melon Falling from the Sky (Two chapters combined)

At this moment, three jin of grilled fish was served. Lin Xian had already eaten and drunk his fill. Zhao Shiqing asked him where he lived. He told Zhao Shiqing that his cousin had helped him rent a house near Huiwen Academy. It was very close to the academy, making it convenient for him to attend classes.

Zhao Shiqing pointed in one direction: "Walk two streets from here, there's a Bai Sui Tea House. It's run by my relative, and I help out there. If you need anything, you can find me there."

Lin Xian smiled broadly: "Okay, I'll definitely come to see you next time I come here, and maybe I'll even go with Yang Shengqiu."

Zhao Shiqing: "Then I am so lucky to be able to see the top scholar in person."

Lin Xian picked up his book bag and walked away happily.

Watching that young figure disappear into the distance, Zhao Shiqing silently prayed that the silly boy would remember her words and not mention the massacre of the Shi family in front of Yang Shengqiu.

However, the grilled fish at this restaurant smelled delicious, but tasted very ordinary, far inferior to the grilled fish made by my grandfather's guards.

Zhao Shiqing only ate one pound of the three-pound grilled fish before losing her appetite. She picked out a few pieces without any seasoning and asked Xiao Yao if she wanted some.

The little demon turned her face away, looking disgusted.

Zhao Shiqing paid the money, put the little demon in her bag, and the two of them headed home.

Watching her walk away, the younger brother, who was grilling fish, poured the remaining half of the fish into the swill bucket. The older brother was unhappy to see this: "There's so much left, it's such a waste to throw it away. Aren't you hungry? Why aren't you eating?"

Brother: "Didn't you see that even cats don't eat it? Brother, why don't we stop selling grilled fish and switch to selling something else? Your grilled fish is really not good."

Brother: "Then what should we do if we change careers? Sell barbecue?"

Brother: "Even dogs wouldn't eat the barbecue you make."

The older brother got angry and raised his hand to give him a sharp rap on the head: "Then tell me, what should we do?"

After thinking for a moment, Ah Di said, "How about we perform breaking a boulder on our chest? It doesn't cost us anything, and it's something we're good at."

Brother sighed, "It's so hard to change careers. Fine, I'll just have to break this stone on my chest. But it's a bit of a shame to quit after only one day of setting up this stall. Tonight, I'll ask the landlady if anyone wants to sell grilled fish. We can transfer the stall to someone else."

The two brothers made their decision: tomorrow they would change their profession and break large stones on their chests.

When Zhao Shiqing returned home, she lazily lay on a bamboo chair in the yard. Wan Ruyi was learning embroidery from Xiuxiu. When she saw Zhao Shiqing lying in the yard, she quickly grabbed a thin blanket and draped it over her.

Upon seeing Wan Ruyi, Zhao Shiqing was taken aback. How could she have thought of returning to Liang to live a life of leisure? With such a huge time bomb hidden in her home, how could she possibly want to lie low?

Not only Wan Ruyi, but she also has a Xiao Yue hidden in Baihe Mountain.

Xiao Yue and Wan Ruyi, plus Xu Lin and his son, these five people are enough to shake the heavens of the Great Yong Dynasty!

Zhao Shiqing instantly lost the desire to continue lying down. She suddenly sat up, startling Wan Ruyi.

Zhao Shiqing: "Aunt Ruyi, how's your disguise training going?"

Before Wan Ruyi could speak, Xiuxiu interjected, "Aunt Ruyi is incredibly talented; she's the most talented person I've ever met."

Zhao Shiqing: I feel like you're praising one while belittling the other, even though you didn't say it outright.

"Aunt Ruyi, disguise me as an old man, I want to go out and scam some money."

Wan Ruyi: "No, cheating people out of money is not allowed. Second Miss, don't learn bad things. It's not good to learn bad things."

Zhao Shiqing: I apologize. You should tell honest people the truth.

"I was just kidding. I'm not trying to scam you. I just think it's fun."

Wan Ruyi then agreed, and Xu Ruo promised to disguise her the next morning.

Just then, Zhen Wuduo returned from outside, followed by two dogs and carrying a birdcage. Zhao Shiqing became interested when she saw the birdcage.

"Grandpa, was this bird just bought? How much did it cost?"

Zhen Wuduo held up three fingers.

Zhao Shiqing: "Three taels? Thirty taels? Three hundred taels?"

Zhen Wuduo shook his head: "Three thousand taels."

Zhao Shiqing's lips twitched. Three thousand taels for a myna bird? Just say the word, and I'll go catch one for you.

She said to the myna bird, "Tell me, are you going to fly back in a couple of days and then go scam the next one?"

The myna bird got angry as soon as it heard this and started cursing at Zhao Shiqing, using some pretty vulgar language.

Your left cheek deserves a slap, your right cheek deserves a kick, even a donkey would kick you, and a pig would trample you!

Zhao Shiqing whistled towards the sky, and in the blink of an eye, Xiao Guai swooped down and landed steadily on Zhao Shiqing's shoulder.

She said to the myna bird, "See? This is my son. He can peck ten birds to death a day, even a lowly bird like you. Are you scared?"

The myna bird stared at Xiao Guai with its mouth agape in astonishment, but quickly shouted again: "Godfather, please accept my deepest bow!"

Zhao Shiqing burst into laughter.
The next morning, Zhao Shiqing pestered Wan Ruyi to disguise her, and even called over Lao Fan, one of the four guards, to demonstrate. After the disguise was completed, Zhao Shiqing stood next to Lao Fan, and even Lao Fan was shocked. Not exactly the same, but six or seven points similar, like Lao Fan's long-lost brother.

Unfortunately, they only look alike, but their figures are worlds apart.

Zhao Shiqing was at the age where she was growing, and although she ate a lot, she only grew taller and not fatter, so she looked like a little girl. On the other hand, although Lao Fan was not burly, he was very strong and the kind of man who looked like he was full of strength.

Wan Ruyi stuffed a lot of cotton wadding into Zhao Shiqing's clothes, and she transformed into a chubby, soft, and loose old man.

Although Zhao Shiqing was not entirely satisfied with this image, she had no choice but to be content with it due to her limited personal qualities.

After finishing his breakfast, Zhen Wuduo took his three thousand taels of silver to walk his bird. By the way, the myna's name was Three Thousand Taels, which immediately indicated its high value; it was as if they were practically writing "Welcome Thieves" on the birdcage.

Zhao Shiqing also went out. She didn't bring Lingbo with her, not because she didn't want to, but because Lingbo didn't want to go out with her. The second young lady was just too much of an eyesore, and she was worried that she would burst out laughing.

Following Zhao Shiqing were Mudfish and Shen Wangxing, who were just there to watch the fun since they had nothing better to do.

Zhao Shiqing decided to take a stroll on the street and show off her mature charm.

Passing by the place where we ate grilled fish yesterday, but not seeing the stall, Zhao Shiqing said with a smile, "No way, could it be that the business went out of business and they closed down? Yeah, their grilled fish is so awful."

As soon as she finished speaking, she heard the sound of gongs coming from ahead. She quickly ran over and smiled when she saw what was going on.

It was the same two boys from yesterday, but today they weren't selling grilled fish; instead, they were performing a chest-breaking stunt. The one lying down was the younger brother, while the older brother was responsible for banging the gong and breaking the stunt. Zhao Shiqing hadn't expected that such a young boy would possess such impressive skills. She clapped enthusiastically; this was real talent, and she was impressed!
Unfortunately, when the older brother came over with a broken basin to collect the money, all the people who had been cheering just moments before ran away, leaving only Zhao Shiqing and her two companions standing there.

The older brother was quite disappointed, but then he heard a clanging sound and saw a piece of broken silver in the broken basin.

He was very excited and said hurriedly, "Thank you, Uncle, thank you, Uncle."

Zhao Shiqing didn't react for a moment. It was clearly me who gave the money, so why didn't you thank me and instead thanked this uncle?
Fortunately, she quickly realized that the man was her.

After watching the scene of breaking a boulder on his chest, the three continued strolling around, but now they were talking about the two young men.

Mudfish said, "This is real skill, it can't be faked. There are people who break rocks on their chests on the overpass, but those are all strong men with broad shoulders and thick waists. I've never seen two little guys like those before. Amazing, really amazing!"

Shen Wangxing was so excited that his face turned red: "Is this the legendary Golden Bell Shield and Iron Shirt? I've seen it in storybooks. It's impervious to swords and spears!"

Zhao Shiqing: "Storybooks are all made up; you can't take them seriously."

Shen Wangxing: "No, some of the storybooks are very well written."

Zhao Shiqing: "For example, in storybooks, the top scholar in the imperial examinations always marries a princess, but that's not actually the case at all."

She suddenly opened her eyes wide. You really can't talk about people in broad daylight. Look, she just mentioned the top scholar, and now she's seeing the real top scholar.

Yang Shengqiu!
At this moment, Yang Shengqiu was getting out of a sedan chair and walking into the antique shop across the street.

When Zhao Shiqing returned from Tong'an last time, she learned from Xiuxiu that Yang Shengqiu had come to see her, saying he had come to thank her, but he came empty-handed. She didn't know if he had really come to express his gratitude or if he had just come to scout the place.

In short, Zhao Shiqing pretended that nothing had happened and did not contact Yang Shengqiu.

She wasn't stupid. Yang Shengqiu clearly didn't want to talk about the past. He didn't even care about the death of his own grandfather, so why should outsiders meddle?

Therefore, Zhao Shiqing had already separated her childhood image of the little sheep brother from her heart.

Besides, her memories are already fragmented, so there's no need for an unrelated person to occupy her already limited memories.

Therefore, Zhao Shiqing had no intention of greeting Yang Shengqiu now that she saw him, especially since she was still a man.

She was about to continue shopping when she saw another sedan chair stop in front of the antique shop.

The sedan chair was ordinary, just the kind of hand-pulled sedan chair you see everywhere on the street, but the person who stepped out of it was anything but ordinary.

She was a young woman, about the same age as Zhao Shiqing, who had just come of age. Her skin was as white as snow, and she wore a rose-patterned jacket, which made her pretty face even more radiant. What caught Zhao Shiqing's attention the most was the wooden hairpin in her hair.

The dress she wore, along with her embroidered shoes, was clearly very valuable. If Lingbo were there, she could even estimate the value of her entire outfit.

Despite being dressed so lavishly, she only had a wooden hairpin in her hair, with no other jewelry visible.

Zhao Shiqing suddenly became interested; her interest wasn't in Yang Shengqiu, but in this beautiful girl.

Miss Zhao has no resistance to all beautiful people, regardless of gender. As long as someone is good-looking, Miss Zhao will treat him or her differently.

However, what surprised Zhao Shiqing even more was that the girl did not bring any maids or guards. She came alone and was riding in a sedan chair pulled by a porter on the street.

This girl clearly comes from a distinguished family. What young lady would go out without a maid? Even Zhao Shiqing, who grew up in the mountains, would bring Lingbo with her when she went out, except for today, of course.

Could this girl be secretly meeting her lover?

The thought flashed through Zhao Shiqing's mind in a split second, and she remembered Yang Shengqiu, who had just gone in.

These two, one after the other, could they be here for a secret rendezvous?
At this moment, the girl had already reached the shop door. The shop assistant, who was standing at the door greeting customers, saw her and said something, as if asking the girl's name. Then, the shop assistant, with a big smile on his face, led the girl into the antique shop.

Zhao Shiqing said to Mudfish and Shen Wangxing, "You two wait here for me, I'll go in and take a look."

After saying that, she walked towards the antique shop.

The waiter who was standing at the door had already led the girl inside, but without anyone to guide her, Zhao Shiqing had to go in by herself.

She didn't see Yang Shengqiu in the lobby, but she saw a slender figure disappear around the corner of the stairs.

She lifted her foot and headed towards the stairs, but after only a few steps, she was stopped by another employee.

"Please wait, sir. Please wait."

“Can’t we go upstairs? Someone just went up,” Zhao Shiqing said.

The waiter smiled broadly and said, "To be honest, sir, they're looking for someone. That's where our boss usually rests; only people he knows can go up there."

So that's how it is. Zhao Shiqing had no choice but to stop. She had no interest in buying antiques and was too lazy to browse any further, so she turned around and left.

Once out of sight of the antique shop, Zhao Shiqing beckoned to Xiao Guai, whispered a few words to it, and Xiao Guai flapped its wings and flew away.

Zhao Shiqing originally thought that Xiao Guai would return soon, but to her surprise, she, Niqiu, and Shen Wangxing waited for a full half hour before Xiao Guai finally arrived.

"What did the man and woman say?" Zhao Shiqing asked.

Xiao Guai is not as eloquent as Xiao Yao, nor as good as the newcomer San Qianliang. Compared to the seasoned San Qianliang, Xiao Guai is still a baby, a baby who gets shy at the drop of a hat.

For example, right now, the little darling is shy again. It buried its big head in Zhao Shiqing's neck and snuggled against her for a while before telling Zhao Shiqing what it had seen and heard.

Just as Zhao Shiqing had guessed, the two of them were indeed using the antique shop as a pretext for a secret rendezvous.

Xiao Guai recounted the conversation between the two in its calm and straightforward tone.

"Brother Qiu, are you angry? I just wanted to see you, so I had someone pass on a message to invite you here. Don't worry, this shop is part of Mother's dowry, and the manager and staff are all our own people. They won't tell anyone about what happened between us."

When Xiao Guai uttered the words "Empress Dowager," Zhao Shiqing was stunned.

Mother?

There is no Empress Dowager in this dynasty, only Imperial Concubines, so the only person who can be called the Empress is the Empress in the palace.

That girl was actually a princess!

Is Yang Shengqiu having a secret rendezvous with the princess here?

To put it bluntly, it was an affair with the princess!
No wonder that princess didn't bring a maid with her; she didn't dare to, fearing she'd be discovered!
Zhao Shiqing never dreamed that she would have melons fall from the sky while she was walking down the street!