As Yao Huang pushed Prince Hui to the north bank of the river, more and more neighbors from both sides came out to enjoy the cool breeze after dinner. Some brought their own small stools to sit by the river, leisurely waving palm-leaf fans, while others gathered in groups of three or five to chat about daily life. The gazes of all these people coincidentally fell upon this unfamiliar and incredibly good-looking young couple.
When Yao Huang was a child visiting her maternal grandfather's house, she often dealt with such scenes. When others smiled at her, she smiled back. When encountering elders, she would greet them first, casually calling out to grandpas, grandmas, uncles, and aunts. For those of similar age, if they initiated a conversation, Yao Huang would stop and respond.
Earlier on the south bank, Zhao Sui had already experienced the princess consort's enthusiasm and talkativeness. After so many times, Prince Hui had gone from his initial resistance and discomfort to numbness.
Although Prince Hui grew up in the royal family, he lacked the overt or subtle arrogance common among royals, ordinary nobles, or children of prominent families. When he traveled with his princely retinue, what the commoners and officials revered was his status and his aloof, unapproachable aura.
Therefore, when Prince Hui changed into ordinary cotton clothes, and when he tried to soften his expression to accommodate the princess consort's mood for a stroll or to maintain basic courtesy in front of these enthusiastic commoners, the neighbors only saw a handsome, scholarly young man who had become overly quiet and reserved due to his crippled legs, rather than a lifeless, misanthropic scholar who refused any interaction.
"Come, scholar's wife, sit over here too. We are all sitting, it wouldn't be right for you to just stand."
A woman who had just started chatting shifted to the side, giving up half of the smooth stone she was sitting on to Yao Huang. Besides this woman, five other women were sitting on various rocks around them, including two elderly women with graying hair, while the rest were middle-aged aunties in their thirties and forties.
Yao Huang was still considering whether Prince Hui could handle such a big scene when an elderly woman urged, "Sit, sit. It's rare to have a couple of immortals move in, let us get a good look at you."
The woman who had spoken first lived in the house directly facing these stone seats. She gently pressed Yao Huang down to sit, then ran into her house and brought out a large basin of roasted melon seeds, first handing a large handful to Yao Huang.
"Look at that, we're all benefiting from your presence, aren't we? Nobody ever offered us melon seeds when we sat here chatting before."
"I'd be too stingy for that. With so many mouths, even if my family ran a roasted nuts shop, we couldn't afford to supply you all. You should just be secretly happy that you get to benefit from the scholar's wife today."
Amidst the laughter and joking, Yao Huang shared half of her melon seeds with Prince Hui in his wheelchair.
Zhao Sui didn't eat these. Just as he was about to refuse, he heard the woman across from them let out a snicker. Though it was a snicker, it was loud enough for him to hear: "Look at that, young couples are just so affectionate, it's incredibly sweet."
Zhao Sui: "..."
Still clutching a damp handkerchief in his left hand, Zhao Sui wouldn't be able to crack the melon seeds even if he took them. Trying hard to ignore the women's stares, he whispered to the princess consort, "Eat them yourself, I don't need any."
Yao Huang had a large handful of melon seeds in her left hand and another large handful in her right. Even so, seeds occasionally slipped through her fingers. How could she eat without freeing up a hand?
Since Prince Hui didn't reach out, Yao Huang directly placed the melon seeds from her right hand onto the hem of his long gown spread across his knees. "It's fine if you don't eat them, I love them. You can shell them for me."
After saying that, she also placed the ones from her left hand onto his lap, keeping only a few convenient ones to crack and eat.
Zhao Sui: "..."
Yao Huang didn't have the time to delve into Prince Hui's current mood. She turned her head and started chatting with the women.
"How old are you, scholar's wife?"
"Seventeen."
"I knew you looked young. Doesn't that mean you haven't been married long?"
"Yes, the wedding was held last winter."
"You are quite blessed. You are pretty yourself, and the husband you married is like an immortal."
Yao Huang glanced at Prince Hui, who was still staring blankly at the pile of melon seeds on his hem, and said sweetly, "Of course. I'm not boasting, but everywhere I've been, I've never seen a man more handsome than my husband."
The crowd unanimously nodded at the handsome scholar in the wheelchair.
When a group of women gathers, there is endless chatting. Not to mention that other women, young wives, and older and younger girls successively came over. As the crowd grew, from a distance, it was hard to notice that there was a man sitting in a wheelchair mixed in among this group of women. Therefore, the other men, young and old, tactfully kept their distance.
Zhao Sui didn't want to join this idle chatter, but feeling the numerous, almost continuous gazes upon him, staying completely still only made it more agonizing.
After sitting stiffly for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Zhao Sui lowered his eyes, tucked the handkerchief from his left hand into his right sleeve, picked up a melon seed, and began to shell it using both hands. Once shelled, Prince Hui placed the kernel on the right armrest of the wheelchair next to the princess consort. As for the shell...
Just as Prince Hui was feeling troubled, the woman who had provided the melon seeds, sitting on the other side of the princess consort, spoke up with a smile: "Just throw them on the ground. I'll sweep them all up later."
Zhao Sui: "..."
His gaze swept over the other women eating melon seeds, and sure enough, they were all casually tossing the shells at their feet, including his princess consort.
Zhao Sui could only do as the Romans do.
Since he didn't speak, he shelled the seeds quickly. A long line of melon seed kernels soon accumulated on the right armrest. After Yao Huang finished the ones in her hand, she turned and scooped the pile of kernels from the armrest into her palm, no longer needing to shell them herself.
When she collected them for the second time, the women became envious again. "The scholar is so good to you. My man would never shell melon seeds for me; I'm the only one serving meals right in front of him."
"Isn't that the truth? That's why you should marry a learned man, they know how to dote on people."
"That depends on the person. Scholar He across the street has been here for almost twenty years, and I've never seen him serve his wife."
"You're all wrong. The point is that little Yao is beautiful. Let alone a wife, if I had such a sister-in-law or daughter-in-law, I'd willingly pamper her."
Any other young wife would have blushed long ago after being repeatedly teased by a crowd, but Yao Huang wasn't bashful. After all, she was indeed beautiful, and Prince Hui really did treat her well enough. Look at how nimbly he shelled those melon seeds!
After finishing the melon seeds, Yao Huang had already shared whatever she could about the Liao family's situation. Seeing that Prince Hui had nothing left to do, Yao Huang stood up and said, "We still want to stroll down the main street to familiarize ourselves with the area. You all continue chatting. If we gather again tomorrow evening, it'll be my treat for the melon seeds."
The crowd warmly saw them off.
By this time, the women gathered here included almost all the female family members of the neighbors from both sides of their new residence. As Yao Huang pushed Prince Hui further along, there were only some older men who at most gave a simple greeting, and children running around playing.
When they reached the stone bridge closest to their new home, which was also the place where Yao Huang decided to turn onto the main street, two children walked out from the neighboring house. A seven or eight-year-old brother was leading his four or five-year-old sister, and at the children's feet followed two little puppies, one black and one yellow.
Seeing strangers, Little Black barked continuously, while Little Yellow, who was skinny and timid, hid behind the siblings.
Zhao Sui frowned slightly.
The older brother sensibly called off the little black dog.
The younger sister ran to the wheelchair, earnestly comforting the handsome older brother whose face had gone pale from fright. "Don't be afraid. We won't let Little Black bite you. Besides, Little Black is still small, so it doesn't hurt when he bites."
Zhao Sui: "..."
Yao Huang held back a smile and looked down to ask the little girl, "How can you tell he's afraid?"
The little girl's large, bright eyes stared at Prince Hui's face. "His face is very white. That's exactly how my brother looks when he's scared."
Yao Huang shook her head. "My husband isn't afraid of your dog at all. He is very brave. His face is pale because he hasn't been out in the sun much lately."
Zhao Sui: "..."
The little girl looked half-convinced. Gazing at the beautiful older sister, she asked, "Your face is also very white. Is it also because you don't get much sun?"
Yao Huang: "Of course not. I am naturally fair, and my kind of fair has a rosy hue to it. The kind of paleness you get just from hiding from the sun doesn't look nearly as pretty as mine."
Zhao Sui never expected that his princess consort could chat so easily with a little girl.
Upon learning that the beautiful sister was their new neighbor who had just moved in across the street, the little girl's eyes lit up. She ran over, picked up a scrawny little yellow dog, and asked expectantly, "Sister, can you adopt Little Yellow? Our big dog had five puppies in total. We're keeping Little Black, and three others have already been given away. Only Little Yellow is left because he is so scrawny and nobody wants him. My dad says we can't waste food and wants to throw Little Yellow away."
Yao Huang: "..."
Seeing Prince Hui, who had been stiff for a moment, turn his head to look at her, Yao Huang put away her gloomy expression, restored her smile, and said, "I don't have the final say in this. You have to ask him if he wants to keep it."
The little girl immediately looked at the handsome older brother in the wheelchair. The little puppy lay obediently in her arms, its watery black eyes warily observing the strangers opposite them.
Zhao Sui looked at the dog and asked, "Why is he called Little Yellow?"
Yao Huang: "..."
The little girl: "Because his fur is yellow! The one with black fur is called Little Black, so the one with yellow fur is called Little Yellow."
Knowing that Prince Hui was deliberately making fun of her name, Yao Huang held the wheelchair with one hand and pinched the flesh on his shoulder with the other. "First tell me if you actually want to keep him. If we do, we'll give him a new name."
Zhao Sui let her decide: "It depends on whether you like him. I'm fine either way."
Yao Huang looked at the little girl's brightening eyes, then glanced at their excessively quiet new residence across the way, and said, "Then let's keep him, and rename him Jinbao. Look at this coat, it clearly looks more like the color of a gold ingot."
The little girl went "Wow" and asked, "Sister, have you seen a gold ingot before?"
Yao Huang patted Prince Hui's shoulder. "I've only seen one, and he gave it to me."
After the little girl finished marveling in envy, she immediately tried to hand the puppy over to Yao Huang.
Yao Huang pointed to her new residence and said to the siblings, "Tell your parents first. If they agree, bring Jinbao over to that house and say we bought him for one hundred copper coins. They will give you the money."
Hearing that they could even get money for it, the siblings were thrilled and immediately ran inside to find their parents.
Yao Huang pushed the wheelchair and turned toward the main street.
Only then did Zhao Sui ask, "Why did you pinch me just now?"
Yao Huang: "Stop playing dumb."
Prince Hui gave a small smile.
The summer days were long, and the shops of all sizes on both sides of the main street were open. Before Yao Huang could find Doctor Liao's clinic, she first spotted a blacksmith shop. Rhythmic striking sounds echoed from inside.
Passing by the blacksmith shop, Yao Huang looked inside curiously, only to see a bare-chested, muscular man swinging a heavy iron hammer, smashing it against something.
The muscular man was facing sideways to them. His shoulders were thick and sturdy, his chest bulging, and his beardless, youthful face was flushed red from the glow of the fire.
Of course, Yao Huang's gaze only lingered on the blacksmith's face for a moment before returning to his body.
What the princess consort saw was also what Prince Hui saw. However, Prince Hui only glanced at the man before looking up. Seeing his princess consort tilting her head and staring intently, Prince Hui pursed his lips, gripped the large wheels on both sides with his hands, and pushed himself forward.
