Chapter 11

Shen Yao Xing felt quite depressed after being inexplicably made a friend. She examined the token in her hand, which was quite pretty, but she had no use for it. After looking at it a couple of times, she thought for a moment and still stuffed it into her pocket.

It was early market time, and there were many people coming and going on the street. The calls of vendors were constant. Thinking about how she had only eaten a few pastries and drunk a few cups of tea at Sifang Hui, she realized she hadn’t even had breakfast yet.

Shen Yao Xing took out her money pouch from her pocket again, lowered her head and carefully counted the copper coins one by one. She only had these few copper coins left now. She had been mooching meals off Meng Xin Yi these past few days, and it was about time to go make some money.

“First fill my stomach, then we’ll see.” Shen Yao Xing happily poured all the copper coins into her hand and swaggered towards the food stalls, ordering an extra large portion of wonton.

Perhaps the feng shui of this stall clashed with hers. She had only taken two bites when she caught sight of a familiar waist token not far away. Looking up, that face was even more familiar.

“Cough! Cough! Cough!”

Shen Yao Xing choked unusually. Without caring about anything else, she hurriedly covered her face with her sleeve, ate a few more bites of wonton as much as possible, and ran hurriedly into the small alley beside with her face covered.

In the inn, Meng Xin Yi was drinking tea. She thought the young girl would be like usual, staying outside the city until sunset before returning. Who knew that as soon as she put down her teacup, she saw the young girl rush in with an urgent look on her face, muttering something like “They’re coming to kill, they’re coming to kill”.

“What’s wrong with you?” Meng Xin Yi looked at her packing things up in a mess with confusion.

“Let’s quickly pack up and leave this place!” Shen Yao Xing brought all the things she could bring, not leaving behind some small trinkets she had bought here, throwing them all into her bundle, tying it up and picking it up, then grabbing the woman’s arm and walking out.

Meng Xin Yi didn’t understand what was going on. She frowned slightly and grabbed her hand back: “What exactly happened? Did something happen?”

“Anyway, it’s a big deal, let’s hurry and leave!” Saying this, she forcibly pulled her along. Seeing it was really too slow, she simply let go of her: “I’ll leave the city first and wait for you at that tree outside the city.”

“What exactly happened?”

“I…” Shen Yao Xing didn’t know how to tell her. She patted her shoulder: “I’ll tell you after we leave the city.”

If she didn’t leave now it would be too late. After Shen Yao Xing finished speaking, she walked through the corridor to go downstairs, but was called again by the woman behind her: “That young gentleman has already woken up, aren’t you going to say goodbye to him before leaving?”

“Then you help me say goodbye to him.”

Shen Yao Xing didn’t stop walking. She was just about to go down the stairs when she saw those two people had already entered the inn and were talking to the innkeeper with a portrait in hand. The innkeeper was very kind and pointed in her direction.

“Hiss” Shen Yao Xing shrank back at the speed of light, but her figure was still caught by the two.

Meng Xin Yi, who was about to return to her room, saw the young girl run back again, looking as if she wanted to jump out the window.

The two people on the first floor hurriedly took a shortcut and flew up to the second floor, calling out to the person who wanted to jump out the window in unison: “Young miss, please wait!”

Shen Yao Xing had already half of her body out the window, frozen in a ridiculous posture. She turned her head back as if in slow motion, pulling out a smile uglier than crying: “What a coincidence…”

“No…no, no…coincidence!” The woman in black clothes stuttered.

“We two subordinates have been looking for you for a long time, young miss!” The woman in white clothes quickly added.

The two were the twin guards from Shen Yao Xing’s mansion, Black and White Sha. These names were given to them by Shen Yao Xing, mainly because one had severe stuttering and always wore black, while the other was sharp-tongued and always dressed in white.

Shen Yao Xing retreated back into the bedroom quite dejectedly, hanging her head with low spirits: “How did you find me?”

The capital was practically east to west from Taizhou City. Even riding fast horses day and night would take six or seven days. It was fortunate that they were able to find her.

Talking about this, Hei Sha got excited and snatched the portrait from Bai Sha’s hand, pointing it out to her: “It…it…it was not…not…”

Bai Sha snatched the portrait back again and continued: “It wasn’t easy, young miss. We’ve been searching for almost two months, enduring wind and sun just to get that bit of news, and then rode here without stopping!”

Shen Yao Xing believed her, because her skin color was obviously much darker than before.

Bai Sha carefully put away the portrait, just about to put it back in her pocket when it was snatched by Hei Sha: “I…I will ke…keep it!”

“Why should you! I drew this!” Bai Sha reached out to snatch it back.

Hei Sha dodged to the side and stuffed it into her pocket at a speed completely opposite to how she spoke: “Pa…pa…pa…” She kept saying “pa” but couldn’t get out “paper”.

Perhaps twins have telepathy. Bai Sha could guess what she wanted to say just from one word: “So what if you bought the paper, the money for buying the paper was from me!”

After saying this, she pounced over wanting to snatch it, and they ended up wrestling on the ground.

“……” They really hadn’t changed at all. Shen Yao Xing held her forehead.

At the doorway, Meng Xin Yi glanced at the two people wrestling on the ground, then gave the young girl a questioning look. Shen Yao Xing pouted at her, then pointed to the side, indicating for her to return to her room first, and that she would go find her later.

Not knowing if Meng Xin Yi understood her gestures, she was quiet for a moment, then pointed to a bedroom in the distance: “I’ll go check on that young gentleman.”

Once she left, only Shen Yao Xing and the other two remained in the room. Seeing that the two couldn’t separate for a long time, Shen Yao Xing glanced out the window, considering whether to take this chance to run away. She quietly moved to the window, her hand just touching the frame when, as if triggering some kind of switch, the two wrestling on the ground instantly stopped and looked straight at her.

The hand reaching for the window immediately retracted.

Hei Sha was the first to react, pouncing over to hug the young girl’s legs: “Young…young…young miss… You…you can’t…can’t…”

Every time she heard her speak like this, Shen Yao Xing felt out of breath for her. Before Hei Sha could finish, Bai Sha pounced over with a howl: “Young miss, you can’t leave again!”

Feeling a bit guilty, Shen Yao Xing argued: “I didn’t say I was going to leave…”

After finally calming the two down, Shen Yao Xing felt a bit mentally exhausted. She powerlessly lay on the table, staring at the two of them, big eyes meeting small eyes for a good while. Finally unable to hold back, she spoke: “If you have something to say, just say it.”

Hei Sha was always the first to stand up: “Ma…ma…ma…”

Shen Yao Xing quickly raised her hand to stop her: “Alright, you rest for a bit, let Bai Sha speak.”

Bai Sha snorted proudly, stepped forward and cupped her fist: “The madam asks you to return to the mansion quickly.”

She had guessed it. There was almost no other possibility besides this.

Shen Yao Xing silently turned to the other side, her pitch-black back of the head full of rejection.

Bai Sha glanced behind her. Hei Sha gave her an affirmative nod. She pondered for a moment, deciding to start with gentle persuasion: “The madam said, if you can return, she won’t force you to get married.”

“Hmph” Shen Yao Xing pouted: “She said the same thing last time.”

“Uh” Bai Sha was at a loss for words. She looked back at the person behind her again. Hei Sha nodded forcefully at her once more. She swallowed and gritted her teeth, no longer caring about anything else: “The madam said if you don’t return, in the future, in the future you’ll have to prepare to collect her corpse!”

Bai Sha lowered her head very low, with the appearance of going to her death.

Every time they used this trick, and the key was that Shen Yao Xing had to fall for it! She scratched her head in irritation.

…

“What, you’re going back to the capital?” Meng Xin Yi was slightly surprised.

“Mm” Shen Yao Xing sat at the tea table with one hand propping up her face, looking down and fiddling with the little figurine on the table, with one black and one white guarding behind her.

“I see…” Meng Xin Yi nodded, not asking much more: “That’s good too. When I have time later, I’ll come find you.”

“Can’t you come with me?”

Then she wouldn’t be so bored. Meng Xin Yi was really the only person she could chat and play with. Although her relationship with the Black and White Sha was not bad, there was still a layer of master-servant relationship between them. Even if they could joke around usually, they maintained an appropriate distance and did not overstep.

Meng Xin Yi shook her head lightly: “Not now, I still have some things to take care of here.” Seeing the young girl look a bit disappointed, she raised a smile and promised: “When I’m done, I’ll definitely come find you.”

The woman’s gentle smile made Shen Yao Xing feel a bit embarrassed.

“Tch” She pretended to look away disdainfully, trying her best not to lose face: “I was just asking, do as you please.”

Two days later

Shen Yao Xing looked at the simple yet luxurious carriage in front of her and couldn’t help but sigh: “Happy days are always so short.”

Hearing this, Hei Sha behind her stuttered: “The…the cap…capital is…is also…ve…very ha…happy!”

Shen Yao Xing turned her head and glanced at her sideways: “Our happiness is different.”

Hei Sha didn’t know how it was different, and didn’t dare to talk back, she could only scratch her head and “Oh” in response. She didn’t understand what kind of happiness the young miss was referring to. She had grown up in the capital since childhood, and as long as she was in the capital, she felt very happy.

The carriage was very spacious inside. A layer of silk cushions was laid inside, with a small round table towards the back. There was a compartment next to the silk cushions, specially for placing tea snacks and fruits. Sitting inside was quite comfortable.

Shen Yao Xing took an apple, lifted the curtain, and nibbled while admiring the scenery outside. The carriage slowed down when it reached the city gate. At this time there were many people entering and exiting. Although there was no inspection, it was still congested.

Shen Yao Xing leaned on the carriage window, took another big bite of the apple with a “crunch”, her cheeks puffed out plumply, her slightly pink lips moistened by the apple juice, tender and glossy. There were already many gazes stuck on her face from the roadside.

The young girl didn’t mind at all. She turned back to take a bunch of grapes, and ate them down in two or three bites with a bold gesture.

Clip-clop clip-clop

A carriage slowly drove up next to their carriage. Just one look, and Shen Yao Xing’s gaze was completely attracted. There was no other reason, only because the exterior of this carriage was extremely luxurious. How luxurious? Even the window frames were inlaid with gold!

It might as well have had the four big words “I’m very rich” inlaid on it.

To dare to ride such an ostentatious carriage in a place full of all kinds of people, obviously the person inside was no simple character.

Shen Yao Xing’s half head poked out of the window, her eyes narrowed slightly, staring intently at the slightly swaying curtain opposite. She always felt that this carriage that exuded a hint of flamboyance made her inexplicably annoyed.

Although she didn’t know where this annoyance came from.

……