Chapter 437: Chapter 421 Broke
After Xie Xun finished talking with Fengyu and Xie Jue, it was already midnight. She wanted to ask Xie Xun about his time in Liuzhou, but she was too tired and decided to go back to her room to rest.
However, Xiaoqi was nowhere near tired. He stood with his arms crossed, leaning against a pillar in the corridor, and asked expressionlessly, "I heard that back in the day in Liuzhou, you and Han Ziqi fought over an Oiran, spent lavishly, and got into a physical fight. How romantic of you."
Xie Xun was taken aback, "Did Han Ziqi say that?"
"Why aren’t you denying it?"
"..." Xie Xun gritted his teeth, "I should have cut his tongue out back then."
"So it’s true then?" Xiaoqi said sarcastically, "Being broke like that and yet able to spend so lavishly, truly remarkable!"
Xie Xun replied with a half-smile, "Kid, we’re all scroungers here, who are you mocking?"
Xiaoqi was exasperated, "How can you be so thick-skinned?"
"What else?"
Xiaoqi often provoked Xie Xun, but Xie Xun was no different, "What else did he say?"
"Go ask him yourself!" Xiaoqi left in a huff, unexpectedly realizing Xie Xun was indeed once this flamboyant, making him feel his sister was let down, "You just have the face of someone who’d have multiple wives and concubines, I don’t know what my sister even sees in you!"
Xie Xun, "..."
When he went to look for Fengyu, she was already sound asleep. Xie Xun sat by the bed watching her for a long time, unable to figure out what Fengyu was thinking, muttering to himself, "She doesn’t really believe it, does she?"
He wanted to shake her awake to explain what happened back then, but was unwilling to disturb her sweet dreams, so he gave up.
The next day, Fengyu asked Chunlu to send a message to Han Ziqi, under the pretext that the matter was grave and they needed to convene with the Salt and Iron Department and others to discuss strategies. With the year-end approaching, officials were on holiday, and they might not be able to provide a response to Han Ziqi until after the New Year. Han Ziqi was very patient and willing to wait for good news at the West Wind Inn.
She didn’t expect Han Ziqi to spend the New Year in West State, nor did she care.
In the afternoon, Fengyu was playing in the courtyard with Ruyi, building a snowman. Little Ru Yi wasn’t afraid of the cold and liked playing in the snow. Fengyu accompanied him daily for a while, building a small snowman. Besides building snowmen, he liked to tumble in the snow. The maids had piled up thick heaps of snow in the courtyard, and Little Ru Yi would wobble over and joyfully fling himself into the soft snow, never getting tired of it.
Once he didn’t stand properly, and his head got buried in the snow, leaving only his two legs kicking outside, scaring Fengyu into quickly pulling him out. She thought Ru Yi would cry, but he found it amusing and plunged his head back into the snow again.
Fengyu found it amusing yet chilly, "What’s so fun about this?"
When Xie Xun arrived, he saw Ru Yi rolling in the snow, his whole body soaked, resembling a little snowman, "Ru Yi, you really aren’t cold, huh."
A child nearly two years old should be carefully tended to, lest they catch a cold or fever. Perhaps because he was often taken outside by Xie Jue, Ru Yi was healthy and lively throughout the winter, eating heartily.
Little Ru Yi saw him and came running over holding a small snowball, gave it to him, and then ran back to make more snowballs. Xie Xun couldn’t help but laugh, noticing Fengyu also had a small snowball in her hand.
"A gift from Ru Yi?"
"A perfect pair." Fengyu pulled him to sit down, the two sitting side by side under the corridor watching Ru Yi playing in the courtyard, the wind gentle and the snow soft, time stood still peacefully.
Watching her smiling eyes, Xie Xun couldn’t help but feel a bit displeased. With Han Ziqi stirring things up, she didn’t even get jealous, "Why didn’t you ask me about what Han Ziqi said regarding Liuzhou?"
"Said you spent lavishly in jealousy over an Oiran?" Fengyu looked at him with a teasing smile.
"Yes!"
Fengyu chuckled, looking at his face playfully, "The Prince indeed has such a charming face, as for throwing money around... you probably don’t have that much pocket money, do you?"