Near the middle of the day, Fang Su and Tang QiaoYuan strolled down to a lively big street, it just happened to be lunchtime, and every establishment and restaurant were welcoming people to go in, there was an endless stream of customers. 

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            Fang Su didn’t wake up too early this morning, after last night’s lovemaking he was only able to lay on the bed for a while, and also took his breakfast later than usual, only more than a shichen1 has passed since then. His appetite was originally small, Tang QiaoYuan didn’t know if he was hungry or not, he looked at a restaurant not far away and asked: “Does Su Su feel hungry?”

            After asking, he did not receive a reply, Tang QiaoYuan raised his eyebrows and looked at him with uncertainty, only to see him looking at a sewing shop on the side of the street, listening to a young couple of man and woman talking, he looked like he was absorbed in their conversation, and seemed to have forgotten where he was. Tang QiaoYuan found it interesting, he also raised his eyes with a bit of curiosity, after listening to a few sentences, it turned out that it was indeed really quite interesting. 　　

　　    The young man was picking a purse at the counter, the girl next to him repeatedly persuade him to go, but that person didn’t want to listen to her, he said with uncomprehension: “My purse was stolen by someone yesterday if I don’t buy a new one, what should I use?”　　

The girl glanced at him helplessly, and said: “I will just make a new one for you.” 　　

　        “Why would you bother to do it?” The young man grinned and turned his head to continue to pick one again, “There are so many ready-made ones here, you can buy one with ten or so copper coins, so why waste so much effort.” 　　

            The girl was so angry that she became speechless, she raised her hand and knocked on the back of this head, and scolded him “stubborn elm block”, turned and ran away, leaving there that the man who was feeling stupidly aggrieved. 　　

            Tang QiaoYuan immediately became happy, he let out a “pff”, nodded in agreement: “Indeed, a real piece of elm block1”. After speaking, Fang Su turned his head back, looking as if he saw enough excitement and returned to his senses only now. 　　

            Fang Su’s eyes carried some puzzlement, he didn’t quite understand, seeing that Tang QiaoYuan understood, he couldn’t help but ask: “Why is that girl angry?”　　

            Tang QiaoYuan was speechless, he just said that someone else was an elm block, but it turned out that the person next to him was also a piece of wood, he watched them for a long time yet he did not understand anything, he then replied: “That girl wanted to sew one herself for him.”　　

            Fang Su, who seemed to understand yet not really understood nodded his head, asked: “Is it better if it’s handmade?”　　

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            Tang QiaoYuan immediately let out a laugh. 　　

            “Stupid Su Su”, he was very happy, he pinched Fang Su’s earlobe, and explained to him carefully, “it’s not because a handmade one is sewn better, but rather wanting to make a purse for your lover, seeing him carry something you handmade yourself as if you are constantly keeping him company, and it will also make him think about you all the time.”　　

            Fang Su finally understood, he nodded with a red face, he took another look at that shop as if he had a thought. Tang QiaoYuan didn’t suspect anything, he just thought that he was embarrassed, so he no longer asked him if he was hungry or not, and took him straight to a restaurant. 　　

            The hall was spacious, Fang Su never entered a restaurant that big, he felt a bit uneasy but the shopkeeper was very enthusiastic, he thoughtfully and respectfully invited them into a secluded and elegant private room. A wooden door blocked the noise outside, Fang Su felt more comfortable, he relaxed and watched Tang QiaoYuan order dishes with familiarity, he heard him order a few dishes’ names he didn’t know then hurriedly pulled on his sleeve, he shook his head and said: “it’s enough”. 　　

Tang QiaoYuan thought about it, then ordered a few more dishes and told the shopkeeper: “Reduce each dish’s quantity, just enough for two people to eat.” 　　

            The shopkeeper complied and left. Fang Su was quite surprised, he was thinking that with so many dishes, but it has to be just enough for two people, then what would each dish look like to be suitable, won’t it be too troublesome for others? There really is a shop like that in the world that is willing to comply with an unreasonable request like that. 　　

            Tang QiaoYuan chuckled while looking at him, listening to him speak out his thoughts, but did not explain anything to him, and replied some nonsense: “That shopkeeper is afraid of me, he would not dare to not comply, I would smash his shop. Thus others cannot do that but I can.”　　

Fang Su thought he was being serious, a lot of wrongs surfaced in his heart, after holding back for a while he let out a: “It isn’t good.”　　

Tang QiaoYuan leaned back on his chair and laughed out loud.

            Fang Su couldn’t see that he was joking with him, he felt uneasy in his heart and felt sorry for the shopkeeper, he kept pondering how he should dissuade Tang QiaoYuan. But even after having their lunch, his efforts were fruitless, on the other hand, Tang QiaoYuan was given an inch but wanted to take a mile, he became overbearing, refused to give money after eating, and took him to walk out of the building. 　　

            The teashop shopkeeper who was used to it, did not stop them and sent them out respectfully. 

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　　Fang Su walked out with him in embarrassment, in the end, he couldn’t endure it any longer and held Tang QiaoYuan back to remind him: “QiaoYuan, we have not paid, have we?…”　　

“Indeed” Tang QiaoYuan admitted openly, “I have always eaten the overlord’s2 meal, if this shopkeeper dares to ask me for some silver, then I will…”

　　“You will just smash his restaurant?” Fang Su frowned as he took in his words.

　　Tang QiaoYuan nodded solemnly and saw Fang Su’s expression becoming so complicated that he didn’t even know where to start. He looked at him happily for a while, until he could no longer talk any more nonsense, this could be considered as letting Fang Su off. He raised his chin with a smile and motioned for him to take a look at the plaque on the restaurant.

　　Fang Su looked back, these two words were easy enough to recognize, the word “TangZhuang” was written in black ink and gold.

　　“Are you relieved now?”

　　Fang Su blinked in surprise and thought about it, no wonder he felt familiar with the taste of each delicacy during the meal earlier. It was probably because Tang QiaoYuan had called for some of these good things to be brought back to the mansion so he could taste them.

　　“QiaoYuan” Fang Su called as he stared at these two words, Tang QiaoYuan thought that he wanted to confirm something, and ask whether this restaurant was owned by the Tang family, and unexpectedly, it came to his ears, “They called you master, is it because of this TangZhuang restaurant?” 

　　Tang QiaoYuan suddenly felt that he can’t laugh enough, and felt extremely happy about today’s outing.  He assessed in his mind how he could explain clearly, however, after thinking for a while, he thought that it was not too bad to let Fang Su think so. After all, Fang Su was pure and ignorant, if he were to tell him the truth, he would be even more confused.　　

　　It’s hard to tell him that he, Tang QiaoYuan, owned all the gambling houses in LinZhou city, as well as a few brothels in Flower Street3. Although he doesn’t compel good families’ young girls to engage in prostitution, these types of things are still not very clean. From one establishment to another, they all seemed to be somehow connected, thus, forming a dark village of wicked individuals under LinZhou city, this is the real reason why those people call him the owner of the city.　　

　　Tang QiaoYuan refused to let Fang Su know about the details, so he nodded his head and answered yes.

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　　Fang Su suddenly displayed an expression of enlightenment, his worries had disappeared and now he showed a relaxed smile.　　

　　They both stopped strolling any further, returning to the road they originally followed.　　

　　Back at the residence, the summer sunlight shone blindingly, Tang QiaoYuan happened to be resting in the shade under a tree. Meanwhile, Fang Su was full of spirit, he walked around the courtyard looking for people. When he saw Bai Ping, he walked up to her to talk.　　

　　Since they stood too far from each other, Tang QiaoYuan didn’t know what he was talking about, he looked at him with eyes half-emptied and smiled. After a while, he saw Bai Ping bring a sewing kit and some brocade materials, then entered the room.

　　Tang QiaoYuan only slept for about half an hour; after waking up, he looked around, but the familiar figure was no longer in the courtyard, he was probably still inside the room and had not come out since then. Now that he had slept enough, he was more clear-headed, he stood up from the soft chair right away with a mind filled with interest, and headed towards the room curiously. 　　

　　Sure enough, his wife was sitting on a couch located by the window against the wall, there was a small basket with sewing materials inside that was placed beside him, and in his hands, there was a small purse that had been carefully sewn. Although the posture was certainly not as delicate as that of a daughter from a household, the technique was quite flexible and familiar.　　

　　Fang Su heard some footsteps and raised his head, as he just finished putting in the final stitches, he took the scissors and cut the end carefully, then reached out to hand over the purse to the person who just entered.

　　Tang QiaoYuan couldn’t point out what he was experiencing, he felt quite smug, curled his lips and approached, then lowered his head and kissed Fang Su in-between his eyebrows. He took the small purse and for a while he would just look at it so lovingly that he could hardly put it down. Afterward, he immediately untied the more exquisite one from his waist, and replaced it with this one, then asked with a smile: “I only slept for a short while, and you’ve already finished it?”　　

            “En” Fang Su nodded, “when I was little I saw my mom make a lot of them, I’ve learned to make them after watching her for a while, after that, in order to subsidize to the family, I kept making some small things, it doesn’t take too much effort to sew something.”　　

            Tang QiaoYuan loved it, he usually wears expensive things, the purse he was carrying is something brought from JiangNan, it is sewn by the famous local embroiderer using floating brocade. Floating brocade is rare, such brocade is hard to find even if one has the money, he also thought that it is a good purse, but who knew that now compared to it, it wasn’t a big deal anymore, he thought that the most precious one in the world is the one Fang Su sewn for himself. 　　

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            “Does Su Su knows how to embroider?” Tang QiaoYuan lowered his head to play with it for a while, thinking that if the word “Yuan” could be embroidered on top of it, then it would make him crazy in love with it.　　

            Fang Su was hesitating, his gaze swept on the other purse that has been thrown away, the embroidered peach blossoms were lifelike and the stitches were exquisite, it is the most meticulous thing he had ever seen, and said quite hesitantly: “I know how to, but I’m not good at it, my embroidery isn’t as good as my mom’s…”　　

            “I like it too,” Tang QiaoYuan grabbed his dexterous hands and kissed them a few times, “embroider a “Yuan” character on one side, and a “Su” on the other side, I will carry it everywhere, so the people who know that I am married can see it and be envious.”

　　 　Fang Su heard the sentence “carry it everywhere”, and felt extremely content, he curved his eyes and nodded, gently holding back his fingers. 

Notes:

榆木疙瘩 (yu mu ge da) literally ‘elm wood bumps’ (bumps as in.. goose-bumps), which is actually use to describe someone who’s a blockhead or stupid, kind of slow.. there no ‘correct’ translation of it, which really gave me a headache. One shichen equal to two hours 吃霸王餐 (chi ba wang can) eating an overlord’s meal is to dine and dash, not paying after having the meal. 花街 (Hua Jie) literally Flower Street 

Milktea is officially starting to work from tomorrow! We wanted to get ahead in the translations so we are sure we can still update regularly but this chapter took us forever and now I’m not too sure. But we will probably finish translations on the weekend and update either on Sunday or Monday.

WordPress is still driving me nuts because the font is still tiny when I am editing the article??? Is there a way to fix it?

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