The Legendary Master’s Wife - Chap 208
Chapter 208: The Starry Sky of Naye City
This type of situation would occur every few days at the transportation zone, so there was nothing to be surprised about anymore. No one hated that a fight broke out at the scene, people all got excited, some even rowdily jeered.
Ling Xiao looked at the scene once and then ignored it; he pulled You XiaoMo to the registration section, the old man earlier had explained all the details to them. The registration section had a total of ten registration points, each represented one of the ten transport circles; what they wanted to find was the last registration point.
Compared to the other nine points, the tenth one was undoubtedly the most deserted.
There were no people around, only a few practitioners whispering in quiet.
The staff was a bored-looking young man; when he saw the shadow suddenly appear in front of him, he looked up and saw Ling Xiao and You XiaoMo. He was stunned for a moment, then immediately became overjoyed, “Hello, do you guys want to register for this transport circle?”
Ling Xiao nodded, “That’s right, when will this transport circle open? And how much is the fee for two people?”
The man seemed to be so happy, he tossed away Ling Xiao’s question as he stood up and excitedly waved at the group of people, “Yang Dui, there are two more people here to register.”
Yang Dui was the middle-aged man who just yelled at the bulky guy and the young man earlier. When they heard him, both parties were stunned, and then they immediately walked over.
“You two want to go to the North?” Yang Dui walked forwards, looking at them from top to bottom.
Ling Xiao reluctantly also glanced at them, “Any problems?”
Yang Dui wanted to shake his head, but then suddenly he remembered something, “There is a small problem, the transport circle to the North needs a total of eighteen people, plus you two means we are still missing one. It seems like there won’t be any more registrants soon, so unless we all split the cost, this transport circle can’t be open.”
Ling Xiao nodded, “Okay.”
Seeing it being accepted so easily, Yang Dui face got a little better, he liked to deal with straightforward people. Next, he turned around to the other bunch, he talked with a ‘not allowed to refuse’ tone, “According to the number of people, then each one of you should pay an extra 5,882 gold coins. No objection?”
When he said this, his eyes clearly pointed toward that young man’s group with a hint of warning.
If Yang Dui had said it, if they continued to oppose, then it would be too ignorant.
The old man said, “We accept.”
The bearded bulky man looked at them, pleased; this whole matter was their fault, and the results were expected.
Since everything had come to terms, Yang Dui finally left, You XiaoMo counted 211,000 gold coins and gave it to the staff; after the staff accepted the money, he gave each of them a badge.
Such an expensive fee, no wonder that young man’s group didn’t want to shoulder it. Because their destination was too far, they would have to pay the amount of 100k gold coins more for the shared fee. To an average person, this was indeed not a small number, for some people even a few years’ savings wouldn’t be enough.
No wonder that at this transport circle, even though it had been opened for five days now, there were only seventeen people who would register. That was just because lady luck was on their side, most of the time to reach the ten-people mark was also a problem.
After paying the fee, the transport circle didn’t immediately start.
Because it need some rearrangement, the opening time was set to tomorrow morning at Snake time.
(t/n: in ancient Chinese, the time system was a dual-hour system, which means there were 12 milestones per day, each milestone’s length equaled 2 hours. Using the earthly branches system (or zodiac, as you all know it) to name the time. Start from 11pm to 1am is the Rat time, then 1am to 3am is Ox time, and so on. So, Snake time is about 9-11 am.)
When people knew the exact time it was to start, they began to scatter. You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao also left the transportation zone, since they had a whole night to spare.
At this point, the sun had finally set, as the sky gradually darkened.
They randomly found some tavern near the transport site to stay for one night; when they walked up the stairs, You XiaoMo recognized the man who just walked into the tavern. It happened to be that bulky man who was in the dispute earlier, but more of a coincidence was that the bearded guy’s room happened to be right next to theirs.
When they walked into their room, You XiaoMo directly rushed to the big bed. Even though he had gotten accustomed to the carriage, he had sat in there for so many days, his bones had all gone soft and mushy, and it didn’t take long for him to fall asleep.
When Ling Xiao walked inside the bedroom, he saw that You XiaoMo had already faded off to dreamland.
Ling Xiao went to the bedside and sat down, took off You XiaoMo’s boots for him, and covered him with the blanket, then he gave him a kiss on the forehead before leaving the room.
After an hour, You XiaoMo was woken up by hunger.
His stomach was growling non-stop, so loudly that he couldn’t continue sleeping.
With a chicken-nest head, You XiaoMo walked out of the inner room like a ghost, and the first thing he saw was a table full of delicious dishes. Food really brightened his mood, his eyes lit up as he rushed to the table, but when he had yet to touch his favorite chicken feet, Ling Xiao lifted him up halfway through.
Ling Xiao amusedly said, “I have asked the servant for a basin of water. Go wash your face and hands.”
You XiaoMo gloomily looked at him; fine, he was a good kid who had good hygiene.
He looked much cleaner after washing his face, his chicken-nest hair had also been flattened, then Ling Xiao finally agreed to let him sit down at the table. All the dishes on the table were You XiaoMo’s favorites, a fragrant braised chicken feet dish which seemed like a local specialty, as well as braised pork – the meat was from a low-level demon beast, delicious and juicy; this was also one of the local specialties.
You XiaoMo ate until his stomach went around. Half of the food on the table was now inside his stomach.
Ling Xiao came over and teasingly touched his belly, evilly laughing, “Xiao Momo, your belly is so round, ah, are you pregnant?”
You XiaoMo’s face was instantly pale, he didn’t even flinch when Ling Xiao called him Xiao Momo, he just directly used his elbow and violently whacked toward Ling Xiao. “Get lost, you are the one who is pregnant. Your whole family is pregnant. I’m a man, how could I get pregnant?”
Ling Xiao was amused by You XiaoMo’s action, he laughed out loud, “Why not, as long as you are determined enough, you can get pregnant anytime.”
You XiaoMo turned frightened, “It couldn’t be… Can men really get pregnant?”
Ling Xiao ambiguously said as he stood up, “Probably.”
You XiaoMo grabbed his clothes, “Don’t fool me, is it possible?”
Ling Xiao lazily glanced at him, and vaguely laughed, “Why do you seem so concerned about it? Are you interested in having a baby? Well, seems like I will have to work harder.”
You XiaoMo immediately let go of his clothes and blushed, “I don’t want one.”
This expression tickled Ling Xiao, he couldn’t help laughing out loud. Long after that, You XiaoMo finally realized he had been played. He angrily glared at him, but this stare into Ling Xiao’s eyes made him feel like You XiaoMo was tempting him, and that quickly made his blood boil over.
Ling Xiao seized his waist, he whispered into You XiaoMo’s ear, “Your stomach is probably too full. How about going for a walk, and we can also go look at the starry sky of Naye City.”
You XiaoMo touched his belly, it really was bloated, so he agreed.
After a while, they left the tavern and headed to the busiest street of Naye City, under the dark night sky, the street lights were still as bright as daytime, as the sky was also gradually decorated with sparkling stars, twinkling beautifully.
Walking under such a night sky, both mind and soul felt so calm. Those dream-like stars were exceptionally beautiful; no wonder couples would come here just to see them, to spend a night under such magnificent scenery with your sweetheart, so romantic.
You XiaoMo didn’t expect Ling Xiao to take him out to see the starry sky, his cute face couldn’t cover his surprised expression.
Ling Xiao smiled and didn’t say anything, he only pulled his hand and went to pay the viewing fee.
Naye City’s starry sky was very famous, every year many couples would come here for it, that was why the city lord thought of a good idea to make money, and that was to take viewing fee at some of the most beautiful spots, each person would have to pay two gold coins to enter.
Compared to the city entrance fee, these two gold coins were nothing, this price was in an acceptable range.
Moreover, even if the price was set higher, there probably would still be an endless stream of couples.
By the time You XiaoMo was about to pay the fee, he saw Ling Xiao take four gold coins out of nowhere and give it to the guard. He was super surprised, since when did this person have money? He always thought that Ling Xiao was penniless.
The slope was the best spot to view the starry sky of Naye City; when they walked inside, some of the corners were filled with several couples. Aside from couples, there were also plenty of people who came here alone, as they were simply here just to appreciate the stars.
They laid down on the grass at a well-covered spot, Ling Xiao leaned his body on his side and looked at You XiaoMo beside him, his one hand supported his head. He laughed, “So, how about it, Xiao Momo?”
You XiaoMo noticed he called him by that name again, but… he was too lazy to bother with it, because he knew that even if he made a fuss about it, Ling Xiao would certainly not listen. He only acted according to what he liked, so it was a waste of saliva to nag him.
You XiaoMo looked up to the brightly lit sky, as if the stars were in front of his eyes, and he nodded contentedly, saying, “So intriguing… this is the first time I have ever seen such beautiful night sky after coming to this world.”
The sentence didn’t seem unusual, but Ling Xiao still felt a bit strange from that sentence.
What did he mean by “coming to this world?” But he didn’t ask, he just leaned over and gave You XiaoMo a kiss on the lips.
You XiaoMo was shocked; becoming panicky, he looked around. When he was assured that no one had seen this, he let out a relieved sigh. He was about to criticize Ling Xiao, but when he looked up and saw his eyes were filled with content, he couldn’t help feeling the thump of his heartbeat. His hands touched Ling Xiao’s face. “Ling Xiao, when will you reveal your true appearance?”
Even until now You XiaoMo hadn’t seen his real face not even once, his head was already filled with curiosity.
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t/n: In the original version 酒楼 (jiu lou) was used which means a restaurant. In ancient china, some restaurants would offer rooms for travelers to stay, but their focus was still serving food, so the room cost was usually much lower than a hotel. Of course, the room quality cannot compare to a true hotel. Jiu Lou usually only offer rooms for a short period of time and the price will be more expensive if you extend your stay. But since western culture had more types of establishments such as tavern/inn/pub/etc., and it had a clear definition of a restaurant (no bed inside, just food), we will change this term to suit the context, and if there is no available term that fits correctly we will use “restaurant.”
(Rare) One of my notes for different establishments:
inn: 70% sleep + 30% food -> price cheap to mid
tavern: 40% drink, 40% food, and 20% sleep -> cheap to mid
hotel: 80% room, 20% food -> mid to high
resort: has everything -> expensive
pub: 90% alcohol + 10% snack
