Chapter 103: Scissors-Paper-Stone

After breakfast, Gu Qingyu and others went downstairs and waited outside the tower.

They didn't bring much with them, so there was not much to pack.

"We'll have to set sail again, there's a small sea between here and Nanyou." Qi Wan mumbled to himself.

Gu Qingyu looked up at Ye Jin. "Set sail?"

"About that, you don't have to worry at all, Xiao Yu'er." Ye Jin smiled, "I've already had someone prepare the ship."

"Let's go." Gu Qingyu nodded, but she caught someone at the corner of her eye. Crow approached the team with several horses in hand. This is so well prepared!

Gu Qingyu almost moved to cry. "Xiao Zhezhe, this is fantastic!"

"You're that easily touched?" Ye Jin cast her a side-glance as he hopped onto the saddle.

Qi Wan almost cried too, although it was from indignance. "Boss! This is the same as what I prepared too!"

Gu Qingyu patted Qi Wan's shoulder and tried to placate him. "Ah! It is a rarity from him, inevitable from you."

Qi Wan had an unreadable expression. "Boss, am I too nice to you?"

"Yes, but you can always be nicer!" Gu Qingyu replied cheerily as she saddled up.

Ye Jin looked at Gu Qingyu and blinked, there was a warm glow in his eyes. "Xiao Yu'er, from now on, I will be even nicer to you." Gu Qingyu immediately blushed, lowered her head, and trotted away. Ye Jin glanced at Qi Wan and smiled.

Qi Wan's eyes turned cold as he turned his face away. He got onto his horse and caught up to Gu Qingyu. "Boss! Wait for me..."

On the Road

They passed through the plains, and with winter's impending arrival, the winds were much colder. The sun was warm, but hardly enough to fend off the cold. Gu Qingyu shivered as she pulled her clothes closer to herself.

"Here, Xiao Yu'er." Ye Jin took out a coat from his luggage and handed it to her. "I know you will be cold."

"Thank you... Thank you..." She took it and wrapped the coat around her.

"Alas, such cold dog biscuits smacking on my face!" Qi Wan shook his head with a sigh. "Brother Qi, do you want some?"

"What? Sunflower seeds?" Qi Yichen took out a handful of seeds from his sleeve again.

Gu Qingyu stared at the scholar with shock. "Brother Qi! Why does it look like you have a never-ending supply of sunflower seeds in your sleeves?"

"You're not wrong." Qi Yichen flipped his hair. "Sunflower seeds are a must-have for any form of traveling."

"Not bad!" Gu Qingyu turned to Qi Wan. "How much longer till we get there?"

"About an hour or so, it's not too far away." Qi Wan looked into the distance, "Boss, do you want to play a game?"

"What game?" Qi Yichen was a step ahead of Gu Qingyu.

Qi Gan gestured to Qi Yichen. "Okay, this game is called 'scissors-paper-stone'."

"Oh? And how do you play?" Qi Yichen's face was full of excitement, and even Murong Zuoyu looked over curiously.

"You play with three types of hand gestures, scissors, paper and stone." Gu Qingyu stretched her hand and showed them as she explained.

Xiao Qi nodded solemnly. "It looks quite fun!" Ye Jin also smiled, but there was some sourness in his smile. This was probably another thing from their world.

"Come on, let's play in pairs first. Or it's gonna be really chaotic, especially when all of us are on horseback." Gu Qingyu gathered everyone as she guided her horse to Xiao Qi's side.

Qi Yichen leaned close to Qi Wan with a goading smirk. "Come~ Young Brother Qi~"

"Ah? You wanna play with me?" Qi Wan raised an eyebrow. "Brother Qi, has I told you that I have won the scissors-paper-stone championship for fifty consecutive years?"

Gu Qingyu said with a sigh. "Gee, it only took one sentence for you to reveal your age!"

Qi Wan had a blank look. Did I just say something that exposed my age? Oh, maybe I did...

"You two go ahead, I'll spectate." Gu Qingyu watched them curiously, she was more interested in how Qi Yichen and Qi Wan would bend the rules.

Qi Yichen flicked open his fan and fanned himself. The big words on the fan were gone. "Shall we bet on something? It seems boring otherwise."

"Ah ha! I was thinking of the same thing!" Qi Wan nodded with a grin. "Brother Q ~"

Qi Yichen tensed under his strange grin. "What are you doing?"

Qi Wan's eyes narrowed as his grin widened and he leaned closer to Qi Yichen. "If you lose..."

Qi Yichen's ears suddenly turned red, and he leaned away from him. "What are you doing?"

"You have to give me all of your sunflower seeds, ha ha ha ha!" Qi Wan settled back into his saddle with a hearty laugh.

Qi Yichen exploded in an instant. "You XXX! If you lose, give me your fan!"

Qi Wan was also obviously shocked. "What do you say? Say it again? Do you know how important that fan is to me?"

"Then do you know the importance of sunflower seeds to me?" Qi Yichen also stared at Qi Wan with wide eyes.

They then shook their heads in unison. "No idea!"

Seeing that the two of them were about to fight again, Gu Qingyu immediately came out to ease the tension. "Okay, okay, just play and have fun, why are you two going with such big bets." She paused. "I'll help you decide on a small bet, okay? Whoever loses would swim to Nanyou, how's that?"

Everyone was stunned by her proposition. Play and have fun? Set a small bet?

Qi Yichen sulked. "I'll bet on the sunflower seeds."

Qi Wan winced. "I'll offer up the fan."

"Eh, don't be like this, I've already said that you two don't need to make things difficult for yourselves." Gu Qingyu frowned, "I can change the bet!"

"Sure!" Qi Yichen nodded excitedly. Qi Wan, who knew just what Gu Qingyu was plotting, wanted to stop him. But the scholar was faster than he expected.

So Qi Wan raised his head and threw a furtive glance in her direction. "Boss, I ..."

"Well, okay," Gu Qingyu cut him off. "Then it's settled, whoever loses will run around the imperial city of Nanyou for three laps, in complete nude. And he has to shout the winner's name as he runs... Hahahahahaha!" Her dastardly plan trailed off and turned into sinister laughter, as though she could already see the scene playing before her eyes. No matter who it is, the results would be glorious!

"Brother Zhu, do you have to be so cruel..." Despair was written on Qi Yichen's face.

"Boss..." Qi Wan glared at Qi Yichen. This is all your fault, why did you agree to this?

Qi Yichen pouted. How would I know this would happen?He strongly regretted going along with Gu Qingyu's plan, and he regretted more for agreeing to play this silly game...

"Come on!" Gu Qingyu cheered excitedly as she watched Qi Yichen and Qi Wan reluctantly extend their hands. "Scissors! Paper! Stone!"

Qi Wan used paper, Qi Yichen used scissors.

Qi Yichen held his chest with a mixture of relief, excitement and shock. "Wow ha ha ha... I won... Brother Zhu, did you see that? Ha ha... Ah... Oh, I can't breathe... what..."

He suddenly fell down, and planted headfirst into the ground.

Gu Qingyu was speechless. Really? Is this necessary?

Qi Wan sighed. "Brother Qi! Actually, there is a special way of playing here! Think about it yourself, you can gag and choke someone with a piece of paper, and the scissors could stab you to death, which is more painful?"

Gu Qingyu looked at Qi Wan with eyes of admiration. I knew he would bend the rules! Such ingenuity!

Qi Yichen suddenly jumped up onto Qi Wan's horse. He pulled out a pair of scissors from his sleeve. "Painful? I'll let you try and see which one is more painful!"

Qi Wan whipped out his ribbons in retaliation. "Come on! Who's scared of you!"

Qi Wan's horse frizzled at their shouting and tore ahead. Gu Qingyu watched and sighed as Qi Wan and Qi Yichen grew further and further away.

Ye Jin and Mo Bai both winced and looked at each other. An elusive smile graced Ye Jin's lips, it was charming and on the devious side, but the murderousness in his eyes was very strong. Mo Bai's fingers rubbed his jade flute gently as his usual, gentle smile remained on his face, but that smile did not reach his eyes and hidden within those orbs were ruthless intent. In the eyes of unsuspecting spectators, it would look like they were about to go to war instead of playing scissors-paper-stone. Gu Qingyu turned to watch the two of them with a blank look. Are you two going to fight or are you two going to play?

"You guys want to play too? What are you betting?" She asked out of curiosity.

Mo Bai raised his head slightly and looked at Ye Jin. "Are you betting?"

"No!" Ye Jin's answer was very calm. He looked directly at Mo Bai's eyes. "I can't afford to lose anything right now!" Mo Bai's eyes chilled and he trotted forward.

Gu Qingyu's confusion intensified as she watched Mo Bai leave. Finally, she shrugged helplessly, turned around and checked on Murong Zuoyu and Xiao Qi. The two of them had been fairly quiet the whole time. "Xiao Qi, Brother Murong, do you two want to...play?"

They were already playing! And they were having the time of their lives!

"I didn't expect Brother Murong to be good at it." Xiao Qi looked very shy.

Gu Qingyu stared at them as if she had seen a ghost. "How many rounds have you played?"

"We started playing at the same time as Qi Wan and Brother Qi. Miss Xiao Qi was very impressive." Murong Zuoyu tugged the corner of his lips before he sent his horse into a canter and went ahead. Xiao Qi kept pace with him.

Gu Qingyu turned to look at the only person staying with her in the same place. "Xiao Zhezhe, what were you two betting just now?"

In her impression, whether it was "Ye Jin" or "Jia Qizhe", he always seemed free and bold in her eyes, it didn't seem like there was anything he would not bet. Ye Jin raised his lips to a curve, he looked to be in a very good mood. "I'm not telling."

"Tch, fine, keep it to yourself..." She pouted and went ahead. Ye Jin chuckled as he followed her. His laughter was like willow leaves in March, gently brushing against your skin in the warm spring sun. It teased her, tickling something deep in her chest.