Chapter 22

In the end, Nan Ge Er still didn’t ask Mo Shu about it. There wasn’t any other meaning to his inaction; he just felt that maybe Mo Shu didn’t really wish for him to know about it. If Mo Shu did feel the need for Nan Ge Er know, then, even if he had no interest in it, he would still be told forcefully. Moreover, even if he knew Guang Tian’s secret, there still wouldn’t be any changes in regards to his present life. Hence, he simply ignored Supernatural General’s suggestions. Of course, let’s not discuss the later addition of Xiao Zhen to his fanbase.

His life after that returned to normal again. Naturally, being someone who had numerous friends, Supernatural General ended up bringing quite a few of his old friends, who stayed in Bei Jun before, to circle around ‘Magistrate’s Furen’ again later on. Ahem, let’s not mention that either.

Anyway, time just flowed unknowingly as such. In a blink of an eye, spring ended as summer arrived. Accustomed to a busy life, Nan Ge Er was afraid that once he rested, he wouldn’t have the mood to continue his tea stall. Thus, the tea stall continued to be open as well, while Mo Shu kept disappearing elusively.

Perhaps Mo Shu knew the days he enjoyed would be coming to an end soon, the time he spent in the government office became shorter by the day. Nan Ge Er could only catch a glimpse of him before he slept, and detect him waking up soundlessly at dawn. When he woke up and took a look, a small portion of food went missing. On the other hand, a significant portion of sweet snacks vanished into thin air…

No matter how reluctant Mo Shu was to part with the summer season, the season where he had to stay obediently in the hall still came; autumn arrived once again. In the following autumn and winter, Mo Shu had to remain in the office to write comments on the document reports and tasks similar to that, without the permission to wander around outside. Used to going out, Mo Shu felt pain and at a loss. Zhu Xi felt a malicious enjoyment from Mo Shu’s suffering as he expressed a firm standpoint about it, while Nan Ge Er felt…unperturbed.

Although the rate of sweet snacks consumption would increase with Mo Shu in the office, on the other hand, Nan Ge Er could push everything he wasn’t good at to Mo Shu-Daren, the all-purpose guy. With that, his workload would significantly decrease. Nonetheless, the greatest negative side of it was that he would be teased incessantly by Mo Shu daily…

By the way, Nan Ge Er had become uncontrollable. He cooked Mo Shu’s sweet beans into tear-inducing salty beans, added pepper into Mo Shu’s teacup, ‘accidentally’ splashed the dirty bucket of water he had in his hands onto Mo Shu’s body, and ‘unintentionally’ knocking Mo Shu into a muddy ditch… In other words, Mo Shu’s countless teasing made him lose his senses.

However, even with that, Nan Ge Er still wasn’t able to suppress his increasing irritation; veins popping up on his forehead was a common occurrence. He felt that Mo Shu was still constantly sinking the bottom limits he had for a person in his heart. He expressed respect to Mo Shu’s ignorant and fearless spirit for that. At the same time, the insuppressible raging feelings in his heart became frequent as the days passed. In reality, his success rate of plotting against Mo Shu was minuscule; this was one of the reasons why he was all the more infuriated.

The two still celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival together this year. Nan Ge Er only ate half a mouthful of a mooncake; the rest were all gnawed and toyed away excitedly by Mo Shu. He really wanted to ask Mo Shu. As a guy, aren’t you ashamed of your love for sweets? However, he clearly understood the degree of Mo Shu’s brazenness after all. He went out gloomily; The salt and pepper in the house were ‘used up’, so he intended to borrow more, to ‘show some proper appreciation’ toward Mo Shu who had been idling the whole day away.

When he walked to the government office’s door, he saw three guys pitifully squatting by the door. Stopping in his tracks, he looked at the one on the right, “…Xiao Nian.”

Having his head totally buried into his knees, that person raised his head up with a miserable, pitiful face, “…Nan Ge Er~”

“What is it again?” Nan Ge Er looked at him, exasperated.

“My dad caught me taking a wallet from someone in the northern street.” The one called Xiao Nian gave a melancholic reply, “I was chased through three streets… and got lost…”

Nan Ge Er made a face. The fellow in front of him was a frequent thief in Guang Tian and one of the fellows that usually ‘dropped by’ the government office. The worst part of it was that his dad was a yamen runner and all of his brothers were lower ranked yamen runners…

The more tragic part of it was that the fellow’s sense of direction was bizarrely awful. Once he got a street away from his scope of activity, he would be unsure of where he was.

Heaving a sigh, Nan Ge Er turned to face the one on the left, “Ah Ju…”

The guy on the left was even more dejected, “Nan Ge Er, I’m so miserable…”

“What happened to you again?”

“Xiao Chun is too much…” The guy was just one step closer to squeezing a tear out, “Not only did she return the wallet I painstakingly stole, she even made me come over to surrender myself…”

Xiao Chun was the beloved wife of the guy mentioned above. The mother and daughter in his house were all firm members of anti-stealing. Not only would he be forced to return the money he stole every single time, but he was also even ordered by the young and old in his house to surrender himself.

Nan Ge Er sighed again before raising his head to look at the guy who was squatting on the tree branch, “Jun Er, what happened to you again?”

“My mum said that she forgot to buy rice. She took ‘er meal at aunt’s house and told me to settle my meal myself, so I came ‘ere.” Around the same age as Nan Ge Er, the slightly dumb young guy with delicate features spoke in a daze.

Nan Ge Er was in total misery. Heaving a long and defeated sigh, Nan Ge Er drooped his head down, “Come on in, I’ve made some sweet cakes. If you guys can manage to snatch them before Mo Shu-” Before his sentence was completed, three faint gusts of wind swept passed him, “-and eat them.” They had already dashed in.

Nan Ge Er could only question himself, why was his life a pain in the ass? Although no one could witness it, he still let out a long sigh. Not only did he sigh to lament his embarrassingly miserable life, but also for those three unlucky young guys as well.

Why don’t they just abandon their outlaw life and get other jobs instead of trifling around? The three of them aren’t compatible with being thieves, which required technical skills. Not everyone with high martial art skills could qualify for it, ok?!

That’s right; the three guys were indeed the usual criminals that frequented the government office.

…Or maybe, they should change their jobs and become food handlers… It is probably much more suitable for them… Since all of them steal just to get food. The food market is definitely closed now. Would other families have excess leftovers? If worst comes to worst, I’ll just fry some eggs with mildew bean curd by the side for them…

While thinking, Nan Ge Er sighed as he turned around, walking back to prepare dinner. Since Mo Shu was helping out in the government office, Nan Ge Er did not have much to do. Finding it embarrassing to inconvenience the ladies in the town, he just cooked the meals himself instead.

Sometime earlier, Mo Shu ordered someone to catch a pregnant rabbit. She gave birth during the first half of the month, with four bunnies surviving – two males and two females. Before entering the kitchen, he walked towards the backyard habitually to take a look at the four bunnies, just in time to notice a group of four muttering there.

“Mo Shu-xiansheng, do rabbits eat these?”

“Of course, can’t you see the bunnies are eating them? Would Mo Shu-xiansheng ever make a mistake?”

“Mo Shu-xiansheng is really awesome!”

“Be…be…bean!” Nan Ge Er’s heart thumped as he rushed over. “Oi, the four of you!” He roared out, “Mo Shu, stop it!”

Mo Shu could only be seen feeding the bunnies with the extremely salted beans. Those four stupid bunnies were attracted by the fragrance of the beans, surrounding and squeezing around Mo Shu’s hands… Wild rabbits were challenging to tame. The four of them only manage to survive with Nan Ge Er’s efforts of capturing the mother rabbit every day to feed them her milk. Who would have thought Mo Shu dared to torment them like that. It almost made him stuff every single bean in Mo Shu’s hand into his mouth as an attempt to kill him with saltiness.

“Advisor!” he howled his throat out, enraged, “Mo Shu-xiansheng came to the backyard!”

“Mo Shu, you scoundrel!” Zhu Xi’s roar rang out from the study room.

“Erm, Mo Shu-xiansheng, I’ve promised to help Nan Ge Er pick vegetables.” Noting the bad turn of events, the other three began preparing to flee in an instant.

“Me too.”

“Bean- Me too!” The fellow had to force down his hunger, correcting himself at once. The three of them slipped away immediately.

Mo Shu looked at Nan Ge Er’s fuming expression, murmuring after a while, “…Xiao Nan, you’re so cruel.”

Nan Ge Er grabbed the things he had in hands, trying to restrain himself, but to no avail. He threw the things in his hands towards Mo Shu’s forehead, “Xiao Nan, your arse! How will you compensate me if the bunnies die, you bastard!” The things in his hands were straws, which scattered around every part of Mo Shu’s forehead once they were thrown.

“Mo Shu, you irresponsible scoundrel!” Zhu Xi attacked from the side too, swishing a snarl in, with attitude and resentment as though being duped and abandoned by Mo Shu. In the end, Zhu Xi forced Mo Shu to leave.

Nan Ge Er was attempting to pry open the bunnies’ mouths when they passed by, trying to see the number of strange items the bunnies ate.

“Nan Ge Er.” Mo Shu called out abruptly.

Irritated, Nan Ge Er raised his head to face him. Looking rather comical with a few straws on his forehead, Mo Shu smiled towards him. However, his smile was warm.