Ji Zhaoxi turned her head and saw that Fu Xianyan had been stopped by a young woman.
She instinctively reached out to snatch the handkerchief away.
The woman’s expression was extremely serious. Fu Xianyan coughed and prepared to let Ji Zhaoxi take it.
But the moment Ji Zhaoxi’s hand touched the handkerchief, she abruptly changed direction and smiled at the woman.
“Please.”
For a moment, the woman had thought the handkerchief was meant for Xu Ancheng.
The woman looked at Ji Zhaoxi in surprise, and Ji Zhaoxi smiled back at her.
She only accepted gifts meant for Qin Qiwu and Xu Ancheng.
Fu Xianyan frowned as he watched Ji Zhaoxi. Why hadn’t she taken this woman’s handkerchief?
The woman tentatively held it out to Fu Xianyan, then suddenly pulled it back and eyed Ji Zhaoxi warily, as though afraid Ji Zhaoxi would snatch it away the next second.
Ji Zhaoxi gave her an honest smile and took a step back.
Qin Qiwu and Xu Ancheng, meanwhile, looked rather solemn.
The woman glanced at Ji Zhaoxi, waved her handkerchief in front of her, then abruptly pulled it back again, as if testing something.
Ji Zhaoxi: “…”
“Miss, you can give it to him without worry.” Ji Zhaoxi encouraged her.
Fu Xianyan snorted. “I don’t want it.”
The woman frowned and stared at Ji Zhaoxi for a long while before suddenly snapping angrily, “Why is it that you snatch everyone else’s handkerchiefs but refuse to snatch mine?!”
Ji Zhaoxi: “?”
Before Ji Zhaoxi could react, the woman grew even angrier at the blank look on her face.
“I want you to snatch mine too!”
Was it because she thought Ji Zhaoxi wasn’t as outstanding and therefore wasn’t a threat, so Ji Zhaoxi couldn’t even be bothered to snatch her handkerchief?
Ji Zhaoxi stared at the suddenly furious woman, completely bewildered. Seeing the handkerchief waving back and forth in front of her, she instinctively reached out and snatched it.
The woman looked at the handkerchief in Ji Zhaoxi’s hands, and her anger finally subsided.
“Don’t treat people differently in the future!”
After leaving that piece of advice, she departed with a carefree flourish.
Ji Zhaoxi watched her retreating figure in silence.
She often had no idea what other people were thinking.
The man hiding in the corner watched the scene unfold, his expression turning serious.
These people had caused such a commotion the moment they arrived at the market. They must be plotting something…
Could it be that they had already discovered something?
Fu Xianyan followed behind Ji Zhaoxi. The market was packed, and whenever Ji Zhaoxi stopped, she would occasionally step on Fu Xianyan’s feet.
Fu Xianyan was completely numb to it by now. His feet no longer belonged to him. They had become footrests for the sword-bearing woman in front of him.
And his entire body had turned into her baggage rack, leftover-food disposal site, and punching bag…
Shouts rose and fell from every direction. The air was filled with the smell of food, while children darted through the crowd.
“Fu Xianyan, are you hungry?” Ji Zhaoxi suddenly asked as she looked at a flatbread stall nearby.
Fu Xianyan glanced at her and answered indifferently, “Mm.”
Ji Zhaoxi lowered her head and searched for some money. Fu Xianyan stood behind her and lifted his head to glance toward the corner of an alley.
Several old women selling vegetables were sitting there. They looked perfectly ordinary, with nothing unusual about them.
“I don’t think I brought any money…” Ji Zhaoxi muttered.
Fu Xianyan handed her some silver. Ji Zhaoxi’s eyes lit up.
“Grandpa, when will the flatbreads be ready?”
The old man was exhausted to the point of collapse, but his hands never stopped moving. He kept shouting, “Almost ready, almost ready!”
Come on, hands, move faster!
When he had been young, he had been incredibly quick. Ah, he really was getting old now.
Even with people crowding all around him, the old man still had the leisure to reminisce about his youth. Perhaps that was the skill of a flatbread master.
Xu Ancheng looked at Ji Zhaoxi eating flatbread behind them, then at Fu Xianyan following her.
He lowered his head and tightened his grip on the flatbread in his hand.
Miss Ji was truly amazing. She hadn’t known Young Master Fu for very long, yet she had already…
And what about him? He spent every day shrinking back and was always making Miss Qin angry.
Xu Ancheng gathered his courage and looked at Qin Qiwu beside him. He was just about to offer her the flatbread in his hand.
He had to be as brave as Miss Ji!
But just as he was about to speak, Ji Zhaoxi’s voice suddenly rang out.
“Who stepped on me?”
Qin Qiwu quickly pulled Ji Zhaoxi aside. “Miss Ji, walk a little farther inside.”
There really were too many people today.
Xu Ancheng faltered. Miss Ji had been stepped on, so it was perfectly normal for her to cry out.
He secretly encouraged himself. Then say it now.
His hand trembled slightly, and his lips were so tense that they had gone pale. “Miss Qin…”
“You’ll carry it yourself later.” Fu Xianyan smiled as he spoke, his entire body covered with things.
The only place left without something hanging from it was probably his head.
Ji Zhaoxi, who had been preparing to buy something, froze. She looked at him in disbelief. “Why are you so stingy? I’ve treated you to so many things.”
Fu Xianyan let out a cold laugh. Treated him? She had merely been unable to finish them herself.
Ji Zhaoxi sighed and left the stall reluctantly.
Fu Xianyan had such a terrible temper.
Qin Qiwu watched the scene, her eyes curving with amusement.
Just watching Miss Ji and Young Master Fu bicker every day was already entertaining enough.
She noticed the gaze from beside her and looked over in confusion. “What is it, Young Master Xu?”
Xu Ancheng shook his head with a bitter smile.
He had finally decided to be brave for once…
Qin Qiwu frowned as she studied Xu Ancheng’s expression.
Was there something Young Master Xu wanted to say to her?
But just as she was about to ask, the flow of people pushed her forward, so she temporarily set the question aside.
Children dashed everywhere through the crowd, with adults’ scolding voices ringing out from time to time. Sweat covered the foreheads of the surrounding townspeople, but their faces were full of excitement. After all, it wasn’t every day that so many things were available for sale.
Xu Ancheng secretly thought that perhaps he should forget about it this time. It wasn’t anything particularly meaningful anyway, and might even be a little improper…
“Fu Xianyan, which one do you want?” Ji Zhaoxi asked solemnly as she stood in front of a sugar-painting stall.
Fu Xianyan eyed her suspiciously. “Can Miss Ji actually spin it to get the one she wants?”
Ji Zhaoxi nodded earnestly. “Of course.”
Fu Xianyan looked at her profile, then lowered his head and glanced at his shoes. After a moment of silence, he said, “Then I want a rabbit.”
She was rather like a rabbit. Her kicks hurt especially badly…
In the end, Ji Zhaoxi spun the wheel and landed on the coin four times in a row. Extremely embarrassed, she distributed the other three coin-shaped sugar paintings among them.
Fu Xianyan wasn’t surprised in the slightest. He simply ate his in silence.
The townspeople gathered around the stall couldn’t help complaining. “Boss, you didn’t tamper with something, did you? Why do we all keep getting coins?”
When ninety out of a hundred people landed on coins, it was hard not to suspect that there was something wrong with the wheel.
The sugar-painting vendor pretended not to hear and continued calling out, “Whatever you spin is what you get! Come take a look!”
Qin Qiwu carefully ate her sugar painting, her face glowing with delight.
She rarely had moments like this. In the capital, her father seldom allowed her to go out, and even when she did, servants followed her everywhere. There were many things she wasn’t allowed to eat.
But during this period, she had tried all sorts of different foods.
Xu Ancheng silently held his sugar painting. He hadn’t even noticed whether he had gotten a rabbit or a coin. His heart and mind were entirely occupied by Qin Qiwu.
