He felt something cold touching his cheeks slightly stinging the open wounds on it. Opening his eyes he sees the beautiful girl touching his cheeks. His ears slightly turns red at the thought of how close she was, carrying a hint of plum blossom smell.

“...what are you doing?”

“Applying medicine so you can heal faster. Unless you like looking like a pig?”

“...”

“Anyways, I’m going to go out soon with Lue, I’ve made some congee for you. Drink it soon or else it would turn cold”

“...thank you”

“...Oi...when did you turn nice? It’s kind of scary having you thank me instead of questioning me!”

“...” What does she want from him?!

Seeing that his lips sealed together tightly I slightly smiled. Hehe it’s sure fun teasing people.

I finished applying the medicine and headed for the door with Lue beside me.

“Oh right, don’t get your wounds wet and don’t run around or else you might get kicked out as a thief. Just stay here and warm the bed for me”

With that said, I left to head to the ministry office, leaving behind the angry widow.

When we arrived, a bunch of scholarly men with curious gaze settled on to us. Making me feel a bit awkward, I asked softly,

“I have some questions in regards to opening up a business. Is there someone who can help me answer these questions?”

None of these men answered as they thought to themselves what’s a young lady doing here. Is she fooling around?

Seeing that no one is answering I slightly blushed with embarrassment and hastily said

“I plan to open a stall to sell some of my cooked goods and other consumable goods”

Everyone judged the little girl, who seemed to be only 15-17 years old, which is a suitable age for marriage rather than making a fuss in the market place. Seeing how well-dressed she was, they all thought she was probably pampered, and would only cause issues in this market street famous for merchant traders.

They continued to ignore her, but one old man finally felt that it would not be good to offend someone with status, finally brought himself forward.

“Whose family are you from?”

“Do you need to have family backings to open a store?”

Staring down, the old man no longer looked humble and scoffed at the idiocy of this young lady.

“Yes, you do. If anything were to happen to your store, we need someone to be responsible for it”

“What about those that don’t have a family?”

“Then they would have to pay a down payment. However, they were males with either trustworthy reputation or have strong connections.”

“How do you deem a male to be trustworthy then? And must it be a male?”

“Through his experiences of course. And yes, we only had males open a store here. Females may work along with them, usually is because they are wives to the males.”

“What if I pay you double the down payment?”

“Young lady, rules are rules, even if you pay me double it wouldn’t work”

“Triple?”

The old man’s eyes began to waver at the thought of 300 silvers. Every other male in the room lit up at the thought of the amount of money. Their eyes greedily stared at the young lady, so even harbored evil intentions, while she stood there unfazed. Of course, she was just secretly angry and wanted to lash out at them all for looking down at females, thinking where is gender equality!?! But she understood that this was a different time period, and society is different. 

But sure enough, money can still solve most problems in the heart of humans who values money. Being in a ministry office already proves that they know money and how they value money. They can easily just accept the 300 silvers and write down only 100 silvers as normal payment, with no one knowing where the 200 silvers go.

I really ought to thank my great ‘father’ for the money! One really needs money to make money.

By the end of the day, the old man gave in and I got my permit to open the stall and set my down payment. We left the building feeling accomplished.

“Miss, didn’t you overpay? Most of your allowance is gone now…only 10 copper coins! Do you really have to open a store?!”

“Hm, yes. Or else how would I get approval to marry you without any money?” Xu fai smirked at the blushing Lue.

“…Miss, stop teasing this servant! But with your cooking people would be sure to come by!”

“hehe that’s good to hear!”

“But Miss why are you opening a stall? This would hurt your father’s image.”

Thinking about it...it doesn’t seem appropriate for her to meddle into the working level in this culture. I guess I would have to wear a disguise then.

“No worries, I will wear a disguise”

By now, two figures were following the two ladies, as told by their masters to figure out their identity. But they just kept shopping everywhere, going from one store to another, and then eventually ended up in the food market, with chickens squeaking everywhere, the smell of dead fish and fresh vegetables all lined up. In this crowded place, the two heads slowly slipped from their view, as they tried to push others out of the way. But, the next second, the heads disappeared as if they never existed.

Of course, Xu Fai and Lue didn’t disappear, they simply knelt down to inspect the lotus roots that was being sold by the vendor, and then went to kneel down to inspect the spinaches. From one vendor to the other, they continue to kneel down, and hence, their heads never appeared up.

On the way home, a dog whimpering echoed somewhere.

“Lue do you hear that?”

“...Yes Miss. I think there’s a dog nearby”

“Let’s go find it! Split up!?”

“Miss?! Don’t leave this servant behind!”

Before Lue can pull her back her Miss have already started running.

*FLIPS TABLES* why is she like this?! She has way too much energy!

Being dragged everywhere by Miss, to even the messy market, she was already covered in sweat and was dead tired.

While Xu Fai ran into an alley following the sound and underneath a pile of garbage I found a puppy with super fluffy grey fur. It snarled at me as I tried to approach it and slowly backing away but it limped a bit on one of its hind leg while doing so.

Hopefully it didn’t break its bone.

Approaching it carefully I formed my hands into a fist and moved sideways very slowly until we were closer together. I stuck out my fist allowing the puppy to smell it while I calmly said, “It’s okay I won’t hurt you” repeatedly. As it was trying to approach me slowly trying to sniff me, Lue came up from behind and yelled

“Miss!”

The puppy being startled growled at me and bite my fist.

Ouch! Oh shit! Hopefully you don’t have rabies! Or I’m screwed!

Startled with this new development I quickly grabbed hold of the puppy who was probably still weak so the wound was only superficial and not bone deep bite, and grabbed held of its neck skin forcing its body to let go.

“Miss! Oh no! You’re hurt!”

“It’s fine don’t worry, let’s go home and apply some medicine. I probably have to steal some from that boy”

“But Miss! What if it leaves a scar?!”

“A scar is a scar, nothing to freight over about”

“You won’t be able to marry then!”

“Who wants man who can’t even handle a scar?!”

Unable to refute Lue just hurriedly pushes Miss back home to quickly apply medicine.

Once we’ve reached the front gate a handsome young man around age 18-19 was standing by the door. With long hair tied into a simple bun with a small green jade hairpin holding it into place. He wore white silk robes which made his frame tall and elegant. His phoenix eyes narrowed at the sight of us.

Behind him was a middle aged man with a long beard flowing under his chin. He wore deep purple robes covering his chubby imposing figure. He stared at us with the eyes of shame and slight disgust.

The middle aged man coughed slightly and spoke “Young lady, where have you been exactly? So late at night! Furthermore you even brought home a dirty mutt?! You better give us a good explanation!” as he said that he quickly glanced at the young man beside him.

“Miss, that’s your father Bai Xu Xuen” Lue quickly whispers into my ear.

Seeing that my “father” never once visited me when I was recovering shows how much love he has for me. Not to mention that right now my hand is bleeding and yet not a single ounce of worry. I never had a father in my previous life and so I don’t need one in this life. I just have to find a stable income before I leave this house, but of course I will pay back what I used. 

Not wanting to argue I quickly said, “Sorry father, this daughter is at fault. I will now go to my room to reflect on my wrong doings”

Surprised by the answer, Xu Xuen was left speechless as he cannot refute, but was pleased by the daughter's attitude in front of the stranger. With that he gave an “en” but before I walked 10 steps he suddenly remembered what he wanted to say.

“Wait! Today we’ve finally agreed upon your marriage. This here is Yu Zheng Fui, your fiancé. He’s from the famous Yu merchant family. He’s a nobleman with great scholar skills. He wants to talk with you for a bit before the marriage. You will be meeting him tomorrow morning at 9am” leaning closer to me he said “You better make a good impression. That’s the least you can do being born into this family.”

Glancing at them, I quickly gave a nod before turning around to leave.

Author note:

I'm so sorry guys, something happened yesterday so I couldn't update till today!! *bows down and apologies

Happy reading!! Should I watch Alice in the Borderland? Live version? xD