"Third Brother! You're here!"
When Wei Fei saw Yuchi walk in, he felt a strong presence of dark energy.
A handsome rogue!
Especially when recalling the time he chopped off his own finger, Yuchi's face was full of smiles!
"Second Brother!" Yuchi smiled at him, "I heard from Big Brother that you were looking for me?"
"Yes!" Wei Fei hurried into the side room and bustled about for a while.
Then he heard the cry of a little girl.
Upon looking again.
He was holding a little girl who seemed about five or six years old, looking sleepy-eyed.
Obviously woken up.
"Say hello to your third uncle!" Wei Fei quickly whispered.
Yuchi was speechless.
Is it really necessary? Second Brother, I just chopped off your pinkie finger.
No need to be so scared of me, right?
I'm a standard good sect leader in the immortal gate!
"Hello, Third Uncle..." The little girl already spoke quite skillfully, looking at Yuchi with a very aggrieved expression.
"Haha, come let Third Uncle hug you."
Yuchi took the little girl from Wei Fei's hands, grinned, and made a few funny faces, making the little girl burst into laughter.
Sobbing turned into laughter, on her chubby little face there were still snot bubbles visible.
"It's like this."
Wei Fei seemed a bit bashful, "The little girl still doesn't have a name, I wanted an adult... no, I mean Third Brother you, to help name her."
"Of course!" Yuchi readily agreed, having a great time playing with the little girl.
"You agreed?" Wei Fei was thrilled.
"Of course."
Yuchi, holding the little girl, came under a tree, "So, little girl, what do you like?"
"Silver." The little girl cheerfully answered, holding a leaf.
"Oh! Just like me!" Yuchi laughed heartily, directly pulling out a piece of silver from his sleeve and placing it in the little girl's hand.
The little girl clutched the silver, her lips red, teeth white, and she smiled broadly.
"So, we'll call you..."
"Wei Ximo then!"
Ximo as in 'cherishing ink', implying discretion in actions.
"We'll happily save money, and unless absolutely necessary, don't touch your own little savings," Yuchi said with a grin.
Wei Fei was shocked.
His third brother not only can chop off fingers, but also has a knack for naming!
The name sounds wonderful!
And it suits the little girl perfectly!
Impressive!
Unbeatable!
But this "happily saving money," what does that even mean?
"So now you have your own name, are you happy?" Wei Fei hurriedly squatted down and asked.
"Happy!" Little Ximo smiled sweetly.
"Hmm, from now on you'll be called that, you know?" Wei Fei sneakily glanced at Yuchi.
Seeing Yuchi looking dotingly at little Ximo, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Exactly.
Who would show a frowning face to such a little girl?
Even a tough guy like Third Brother Wei wouldn't do that, right?
"Little Ximo, now Third Uncle will take you to stroll around the town, okay?" Yuchi imitated the voice of a child.
"Okay! Okay!"
"So, if Third Uncle runs out of money, who should he ask?" Yuchi asked again.
"Ask..."
"Papa!" Little Ximo hid the silver, reached out her hand to Wei Fei, "Papa!"
Wei Fei nearly flipped over.
This Third Brother teaches kids way too fast, right?
Still, he took out a couple of silver from his sleeve, "Spend it wisely, Papa still needs to listen to the tunes."
"Listen to what?" Yuchi squinted his eyes instantly.
"Listen... listen to books." Wei Fei hurriedly ducked his head.
"Right, it's to the private school to listen to books!"
Yuchi, holding little Ximo, walked towards the courtyard gate, the uncle and niece happily singing as they left.
Wei Fei felt a bit anxious.
He didn't know what his Third Brother would teach little Ximo, but little Ximo seemed to really like Yuchi.
You should know that before she came to the Wei Mansion, she was crying all day.
Also had a big waking temper.
But just now, after being woken up, she didn't cry and went out beaming, clutching her silver.
Three bitter laughs.
Now even little kids understand the good of silver?
...
This is indeed a good world. Although there are some minor frictions between cities, overall it is very stable, which provides the soil for doing business.
That is An Ning.
There aren't any terrifying monsters around, the monsters are all in the lower three provinces, making Xufu Town bustling.
People come and go.
A candied hawthorn was grabbed in little Ximo's hand as she boldly rode on Yuchi's shoulders, having fun.
At this time, the weather was gradually entering autumn, slightly cool.
Winters in Xufu Town are hard to bear, rivers freeze, so many winter clothes need to be sent off in autumn.
The next three months are when the Wei Mansion, or the whole Xufu Town, is very busy.
Every household is in the process of making clothes, and after a busy autumn, they can take a break in winter.
"I really like this pace of life."
Yuchi walked by the river with little Wei Ximo.
Unlike the big river where the Twelve Linked Huts is located, this little river sometimes has handsome men and beautiful women in sight.
They sit at the bow of the boat, reciting poems and matching verses.
Yuchi felt it was quite awkward, and somewhat silly.
There were all sorts of small trinkets for sale on the small stone bridge, common ones like hand drums, small windmills, bamboo dragonflies, all were available.
What surprised Yuchi was a small wooden cart with obviously excellent workmanship.
It was like the toy cars children played with in his past life, but relatively simpler.
Apart from the toy cars, there were even clay dolls.
The clay dolls were made in the shape of children, with perfect craftsmanship, and there were craftsmen hunching and squatting on the ground, outlining with crow feathers.
This craftsmanship is remarkable! Are there people here who play with figurines too?
Yuchi's thoughts wandered a bit, but living in this quaint little town was truly quite an exquisite feeling.
He glanced again at little Wei Ximo.
Little Ximo's smile was incredibly bright, a child of five or six, genuinely happy when smiling.
He too had his hands placed beside his shoulders, with little Ximo sitting on them, holding his left hand in one hand and eating candied haws with the other.
Walking and eating, quite at ease.
The beautiful women nearby couldn't help it, this scene was too elegant to behold.
A dashing young man carrying an equally adorable little kid on his shoulder.
It's truly touching to see.
So tender!
It makes one want to hug this child's father!
It took Yuchi a while to notice the gazes of those around him, a kind of burning stare that seemed like they wanted to strip him naked.
A bit creepy.
Because it wasn't just beautiful women with those gazes; even some young talents were among them.
Wow!
Who knew the world would be so full of passion.
Who can stand this?
"What's this?"
With little Ximo, he went into a noodle shop and ordered a big bowl of wontons. Across the noodle shop, Yuchi saw a bookstore.
A bookstore exists?
Leaving little Ximo in place, he quickly ran to the opposite bookstore, looking back every few steps, and bought two books.
When he returned, little Ximo was still adorably eating candied haws.
Her chin was smeared with saliva and syrup, and Yuchi could only wipe it off slowly with a smile.
"Daddy, do you want some?" Little Ximo extended her sticky hand.
"Haha, I'm your third uncle, not your father." Yuchi joked, not wanting to play dad.
Then...
No way I'm eating your saliva.
Afterwards, as little Ximo began slurping the wonton soup by herself, he opened the book.
It was still using block printing technology.
"Jiangzhou City Imperial Gazette on the Fifteenth Day of the Eighth Month."
The imperial gazette is similar to a newspaper, which wasn't widely available in earlier years, mainly for officials.
Later with block printing, they began mass printing.
The paper was still a special earthy yellow, the characters large, full of dense blocks of text, about two hundred words a page.
"This is the newspaper of these times, quite expensive, fifty copper coins per copy, just over ten pages."
As he flipped through it, Yuchi's expression gradually turned vivid.
The first few pages were about major events in different places, like where there was a flood or a drought.
More or less just these.
The latter pages were different.
"Fragrance Recognition."
Lady Lü: My lord, don't go, the bed is empty, and so is the heart of a young girl.
Mr. Zhao: How dare I not answer a lady's request, but Brother Naihe is returning, I'm afraid.
Lady Lü: Fear not, fear not, the wind is strong tonight, foxes cry chaotically, hearts itch loose, if the lord does not leave, the lotus is severed but silk strands still connect, the night is long...
Can't look.
Really can't look.
Yuchi considered each word carefully, shouting with satisfaction, not expecting there'd be such talents in this world, truly a model for our generation!
In this sense, the world is much more open than imagined, with about eight hundred words of this sort of content following.
Yuchi couldn't help but marvel at the other person's clever mind.
To succinctly tell a story with just a few words, this guy surely is remarkable!
In the past life, such a thing would at least start with a three-year sentence.
"Also understandable, not many in this world can read, probably only one hundred out of ten thousand people."
Thinking that, Yuchi noticed from the corner of his eye that little Ximo had stopped eating wontons.
"What's wrong? Are you full?" Yuchi placed the book on the table.
Little Ximo was looking ahead.
"What?" Yuchi felt curious all of a sudden.
Looking at the opposite square table, he saw someone was seated there without him noticing.
Initially, he thought it was a waiter.
But looking closer.
No.
It was a young lady.
A youthful girl stood quietly in front of him, with slightly furrowed brows, steady breathing, gently sealed red lips, and a sense of both desolation and astonishment on her exquisite cheeks.
Yuchi was a bit startled, then quickly stuffed the two books on the table into his arms.
Oh no!
The other seemed to be literate and recognized him!