Chapter 126

The fragrance of food was brought around by a young man. Making some unrecognizable sounds, the man seemed to be telling them to eat up. It seemed like this man was dumb. The young owner of the restaurant followed behind the man and looked strangely at Chu Qiao and Li Ce. Taken aback, Chu Qiao looked back at her. As if she felt her gaze, the owner smiled, and said, “Miss, you are not mistaken, I am blind.”

The moment the noodles reached the table, Li Ce started devouring the food.

Chu Qiao was overwhelmed with awkwardness as she replied, “Oh, excuse me.”

“It is okay,” the owner replied, before whispering, “I’ve been blind since I was young, but it hasn’t been that inconvenient beyond having trouble shopping for food.”

Chu Qiao started to eat her bowl of noodles, but she suddenly recalled something. “If you cannot see, how did you know to call me ‘miss’?”

“I smelled magnolia. Freshly picked magnolia, in fact.”

“Oh, I see.” Chu Qiao nodded, and marveled, “Your sense of smell is so keen.”

“I am blind, so I have to compensate for it with my other senses.”

At this time, a drum roll could be heard. It seemed that a drama troupe had set up a stage around the corner of the street. The moment the actor started to sing, a crowd of kids swarmed around, instantly flooding the area.

The child from this noodle store was no exception, as she ran out of the shop to look for the performance. Before Chu Qiao could get a good look at her, she had already plunged into the crowd. But alas, it was a pity that she was so young, as her tiny frame was quickly squeezed back out of the crowd. Falling down, she started to wail uncontrollably.

Upon hearing the crying, the owner patted her husband’s back. Noticing the crying child, the man strode up and carried the kid back. Using his sleeves, he wiped her tears off. Then he stuffed a fruit into her hand, before returning to work. The kid continued to cry, as though she had been wronged by the heavens. Observing the kid, Chu Qiao inquired, “Li Ce, do you have kids?”

“Of course! How could I not have any when I am so popular with so many ladies?” Li Ce replied while still eating.

As though she had not heard him, Chu Qiao continued to talk, “Being a child is great. When she is sad, she can just cry. When she is happy, she can just laugh. Everything is so simple and direct.”

“You can do that too.” Li Ce took a sip of his soup and lifted his head to meet Chu Qiao’s eyes, before commenting, “Oi, Qiao Qiao, we are eating, shall we not reflect about life in the meantime? Even the soup does not taste good anymore.”

Chu Qiao gave him a glare and went back to eating her noodles. Amidst the banging of cymbals and drums of the performance, one could hear a performer starting to sing. The tune was great, and the voice was firm, the only issue was that it is was in a dialect from the Tang Empire, so Chu Qiao could not understand it at all. Li Ce, on the other hand, paid full attention. But just before one segment even ended, he suddenly turned away and spit out a mouthful of tea!

As Li Ce turned away, Chu Qiao was lucky to have not been spat on. But the same could not be said for the kid who was sitting behind Li Ce. Her face was now covered in tea. She was so confused she stopped crying.

Li Ce immediately hurried over to wipe her face. While wiping, he did not forget to drop some compliments. “Just by looking at your mother I knew you would be a beauty. Please excuse me.”

Chu Qiao stared at him with interest. “What happened to you?”

Li Ce waved it off and said, “It was nothing.”

The kid, however, trotted over and sat next to Chu Qiao. Stretching out her white chubby hand, she said, “Give me money.”

Stunned, Chu Qiao asked, “Money?”

The kid nodded, and elaborated, “He dirtied my clothes. It cost two coins to wash it.”

Interested, Li Ce leaned over and asked, “What do you need the money for?”

Looking extremely serious, the kid replied, “I want to go watch the performance!”

“Qian’er, no such nonsense!” Frowning, the owner of the shop called the kid back, “Come over here, do not disturb the guests!”

“It is okay, we are not hungry anyway.” Waving his hand, Li Ce shrugged it off.

Chu Qiao had not eaten for ages, so she was naturally famished. Hearing Li Ce declare that they were not hungry, she defiantly ate one big mouthful of noodles.

Holding her chin, the young girl had clearly taken an interest in Chu Qiao as she asked, “Do you know how to sing?”

Chu Qiao shook her head and replied, “I don’t. What about you?”

Disappointed, the kid sulked. “I don’t know either.”

“But do you understand the singing?”

“Of course I can understand.” The kid looked at Chu Qiao strangely. “You don’t?”

Chu Qiao nodded.

The girl brightened up with interest. “Then, let me tell you the story.” Without even waiting for Chu Qiao’s response, she started telling the story that was had just been sung at the performance a moment ago.

“This part was the story about a prince and a beauty.”

Pouting slightly, Li Ce countered, “The prince part is true, but the beauty part is not necessarily true.”

“You lack insight!” the little girl replied. “The prince would naturally be surrounded by beauties! Take, for example, our crown prince. His palace was surrounded by beauties. When I am older and become a beauty, I will live in his palace as well.”

Hearing that, Li Ce chuckled and gave her a thumbs up. “Yeah, you are indeed insightful! Keep it up, I will be cheering for you.”

Hearing that, Chu Qiao gave Li Ce a stare.

The little girl resumed the story, “One day, the prince’s home country was destroyed by someone. His parents and siblings were all killed, and he was left homeless and powerless. He met the pretty lady who saved him, and they fell in love.”

Staring intently at Chu Qiao, the little girl seriously continued, “He loved her, and she loved him. They swore to be together forever and ever, never to abandon each other.”

Within her intense gaze, one could see overwhelming innocence and purity. Looking back at the little girl, Chu Qiao felt as though her heart had been pricked by a needle, hurting ever so slightly.

The voice of the singer became deeper and got hoarse. It was as though one’s hands were dipped into icy cold water, giving the listeners a vague sense of melancholy.

The girl then said, “But the prince was not happy. His revenge had yet to be carried out. Therefore, the beautiful lady decided to help the prince get his power back.”

Li Ce interjected again, “She was just a woman who had neither money nor power, how could she help?”

“We already said she was a very beautiful lady!” The girl impatiently explained, “Beauty is money, beauty is power, beauty is a weapon. How could you not understand such a simple concept?”

Hearing that, Li Ce laughed out heartily. It was then the music intensified, and the singing voice became loud and clear, giving an impression of a rising sun breaking out from beyond the horizon!

“After that, the beauty met the general. The general was the prince’s archenemy, but he had also fallen in love with the beautiful lady. Seeing how the lady was sad, he felt sad as well. Around the same time, a young prince from another country also met the lady. He also fell in love with her. But unfortunately, the lady did not like him.”

While seriously telling the story, the girl dipped her chubby fingers into the tea and drew four stickmen on the table, and said, “Filled with hatred, the prince sent people to set up an ambush, and asked the lady to ask the general to come to negotiate. The lady did not know about this, but the general knew, yet he still came, and in the end, he was killed by the prince.”

“What?” Chu Qiao was shocked by this turn of events as her mounting anticipation was crushed.

Wiping away a stickman on the table, the kid resumed. “With the general dead, the prince was able to regain his power and become a great emperor. The beautiful lady was sad that she had been deceived, so she left this emperor and went with the young prince from the other country. Angered by this, the emperor invaded the young prince’s land. After an intense battle, the young prince’s weaker forces were defeated, and the younger prince died in battle.”

The girl wiped away another stickman, representing one more person had died.

“The lady was very sad, so she walked off into the distance. She eventually fell sick from exhaustion, and before long, she died as well.”

The lady was also wiped away from the table, and only one stickman was left on the table. The girl then declared, “With that, there was only the emperor left in this world.”

Li Ce gave a stupid looking smile as he asked, “The end?”

The girl replied naturally, “Yes, the end.”

“What kind of play is this even?”

The girl replied, “It is a tragedy.”

Right now, Chu Qiao was not in the mood to watch Li Ce squabble with the girl. Looking at the stickman left on the table, she was a bit stunned. As the night breeze swept past, the performance was over. The boss stepped out from backstage and requested tips. But most of the audience were kids. How would they have money to tip the performers? Before long, the crowd had dispersed, only leaving behind an empty stage. On the screen, a puppet’s shadow could be seen. Holding a sword, it looked fierce and strong. But at a glance, the stage was completely empty, and even the soldiers were no longer around him.

After eating, Chu Qiao and Li Ce continued roaming the streets. The story that the girl had told made Chu Qiao felt a bit upset. She was a bit confused by her own feelings, and even though she felt a tinge of sadness, she did not know why.

Along this road, there were many people and temples. The Tang empire was a rather open country, and had a multitude of religion and denominations. There existed the chubby buddha, the beautiful water god, and even fallen gods who had talisman scrolls taped over their forehead. It was great that the locals were rather open-minded, and they would never fight over each other’s beliefs. Walking down this street, Chu Qiao received multiple wooden plaques, much alike brochures back in the modern day.

Along the road, there was a crabapple tree that was in full bloom. Just as Chu Qiao and Li Ce walked past, the wind blew, and the petals fell like rain onto the duo.

Li Ce joyously admired the tree and exclaimed, “This tree looks great. I should get someone to bring it back.”

A passer-by overheard him and gave him a strange look. He was probably wondering how this person could be so arrogant as to move a community tree away.

“Look, there is someone juggling up ahead!” Li Ce exclaimed yet again. Pulling on Chu Qiao, he ran toward the performer. But alas, the performer was surrounded by masses of people, and the two of them could not see.

Quick-witted, Li Ce grabbed a bunch of silver currencies and exchanged it for a bunch of coins at a nearby store. Clumsily climbing onto some steps near the performance, he shouted, “Free money! Come and get it!” before scattering the coins.

The crowd was stunned initially, but seeing how there really was someone throwing money around, they immediately crowded around.

Seeing this, Li Ce scattered the remaining coins and pulled Chu Qiao toward the performers. But upon reaching the center of the crowd, they were lost for words. It turned out that the performers themselves also went to pick up the coins! Now, in the entire area, only the two of them were standing around like idiots who didn’t want free money.