460 You are so heartless! [Bonus chapter]
Lóng Wei reached Xianshan and found the middle-aged man at the same place, selling sweet dumplings. The man found out that Lóng Wei had not brought the horse today.
Lóng Wei went to him when the customers, after eating the dumplings, left. “As per my promise, I am here,” Lóng Wei stated.
“I can see you, young man,” the middle-aged man asserted. “My name is He Shuyao,” he introduced himself to Lóng Wei. “What about you?” he asked.
“Just call me, young man,” Lóng Wei said.
“You do not want to tell me your name. That appears strange to me. I wonder why you want to go close to your death,” He Shuyao affirmed and bored his gaze at Lóng Wei. He read those eyes and the facial expressions for a while.
“You also went to that place many times. However, you are still alive,” Lóng Wei remarked.
He Shuyao’s lips twisted into a smile. “Why do you want to go there?” He queried.
“I have already answered that question. I want to explore the place that textbooks and legends mention. I am a nature lover.” Lóng Wei had no idea how to be more convincing, so he lied to the middle-aged man.
“You don’t look like a nature lover,” Shuyao said as he greeted the two young children. He told Lóng Wei to prepare one serving for each of those two kids.
.....
“Why should I? Is this not your job to do?” Lóng Wei arched his eyebrow.
“My mother says that one must respect the elders,” one of the boys said as he gazed at Lóng Wei.
The prince glared at him. “Did your mother not teach you that when two elders talk, a third person, especially a kid, should not intervene?” Lóng Wei questioned him. The boy got tongue-tied when Shuyao hit the back of his head.
Lóng Wei tilted his head, and with a murderous gaze, he glanced at Shuyao. “Did you just hit me?” He looked raged and furious. He extended his hand out to hold Shuyao’s collar when Shuyao hit his hand with the chopsticks in his hand. The two boys were slightly alarmed by Lóng Wei’s actions.
“Do it again, and I will not take you where you desire to,” Shuyao warned Lóng Wei. He then turned to the boys and told them that Lóng Wei had joined him today as the worker on his stall.
“Here are the special sweet dumplings for you.” Shuyao prepared and handed the two dumpling sticks to the boys. The boys paid him and left from there.
“I will break your hand if you try to touch me the next time,” Lóng Wei threatened Shuyao.
“I want to see how you will break my hand,” Shuyao stated, grabbing his arm. “Try to break my hand,” he challenged Lóng Wei.
Lóng Wei fisted his fists in frustration at Shuyao’s actions. Before he could throw a punch at him, he heard Shuyao say, “Anger destroys a man. You have to give up on your dream to go to the ninety-nine lakes if you cannot hold your anger.”
Lóng Wei gulped down the anger inside him and looked away. Shuyao pulled his hand back and smiled internally.
“Here, cook the dumplings. I will not take you there for free. I do not take money from rich sons of noble families, who do not even value hard work,” Shuyao asserted. Lóng Wei now understood what this man wanted from him. To do his job for him while he rested.
He decided to bear that torture for five days. He keenly observed how Shuyao prepared those dumplings.
“You will sell the dumplings today,” Shuyao stated as he watched Lóng Wei dip the dumpling stick in the sugar syrup.
“Till when?” Lóng Wei asked in a calm voice.
“Till the evening,” Shuyao replied and sat on the wooden chair that was next to the stall. Lóng Wei snickered as he saw Shuyao sitting on the wooden chair.
“You think that I am your servant,” Lóng Wei murmured.
“Of course!” Shuyao said this as he picked up the bamboo fan. He started to fan himself. “It is sunny despite the rainy weather that has arrived,” he mumbled.
“You know that I am a noble, yet you are forcing me to do this work,” Lóng Wei said with an annoyed look on his face.
“Keep smiling, otherwise customers will not come here,” Shuyao scolded Lóng Wei.
A group of five young women came to the stall. They asked for five sticks of dumplings, which Lóng Wei prepared for them. He heard their random talks in which they mentioned going to the capital. However, their parents did not allow them to travel alone.
“Father says when I will be married, I can go with my husband,” one of them said while joining both of her hands and bringing them close to her chest.
“Do not dream too big. We will work in the fields with our husbands for money. Then we’ll have kids, and we’ll never be able to go to the capital,” said the young woman on the far left.She looked pragmatic to Lóng Wei. He handed them the dumpling sticks, and one of them paid him before they walked ahead.
After a few minutes, more people came to the stall. However, most of them were women rather than men. Lóng Wei was unable to make the dumplings quickly and ended up slightly burning his index finger in the process.
“Why do you not help me?” Lóng Wei asked Shuyao, who was talking with an old man, who had come to the market after a long time.
‘Just bear this oven’s and the sun’s heat to reach your target,’ Lóng Wei told himself. He heard the young women compliment him on his handsome features.
Lóng Wei was forced to give them a fake smile, and when the crowd lessened, Shuyao came near him and checked the wooden cash box. “It appears we will break the earnings record,” Shuyao said as he closed the cash box.
“Do you not think you should work too? My finger burned when I tried to turn the bun over the heated oven,” Lóng Wei stated as he handed the envelope filled with buns and sweet dumplings to the man.
“Aish! How could you be this weak, young man? This burn mark is nothing. Have you not heard about how soldiers are injured in battle? They still bear that kind of injuries,” Shuyao asserted and sat back on the chair.
“You are so heartless!” Lóng Wei remarked and twitched his lips in annoyance.
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