Dandy Escapes From Marriage - Chapter 20

“This is good news,” Huishang said, “It might be Brother Ke’s good fate. We should be happy for him.”

Liu Shu lay on the table, his eyelids drooping, his fingers rubbing the edge of the teacup, turning it over and over again. He heard his own weak voice, “What is the girl like?”

“Kind, generous, often giving out porridge. Many people in the town like her.”

“Including you?”

Huishang nodded, “I have received many favors from her, and she has never cursed me, a stinky monk, a bald donkey, or a fraud.”

“Are you hinting at me?” Liu Shu looked up belatedly, staring at him.

Huishang chuckled, “They are both talented and virtuous, and the Zhang family is well-off. If they can really make this match, it will undoubtedly be a great joy for Brother Ke.”

Liu Shu frowned, “What joy is there to add? It’s just a bit of dirty money, like everyone else…”

“But we don’t have any.” Huishang spread out his empty hands.

“…” Liu Shu sat up discontentedly, “Actually, I could have some…”

“But what does it have to do with you? What’s your relationship with Brother Ke?” Huishang asked pointedly.

“Of course, we’re good brothers, we have a deep bond!” Liu Shu exclaimed.

“Brothers should be happy for him, shouldn’t they?”

“Should we?” Liu Shu slumped back onto the table, muttering, “Then why can’t I feel happy?”

“Because you…” Huishang lowered his head, gazing at him for a while with an expression that saw through his facade, “you’re jealous of him.”

“?”

“You’re jealous that Miss Zhang, such a good person, has eyes for him instead of you, aren’t you?” Huishang chuckled.

“Rubbish!” Liu Shu exclaimed angrily, “Just a girl like Zhang, I’m friends with the top ten beauties, I’ve seen all kinds of beauties!”

As soon as he finished speaking, footsteps sounded outside the door, followed by the door opening, and Shen Ke walked in, holding two books in his hand, with a breeze brushing through his sleeves as he pushed the wooden door open.

Liu Shu stared at him dumbfounded.

“What’s wrong?” Shen Ke stood in front of him, slightly puzzled, still with a hint of a smile in his tone, “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Liu Shu was indeed stunned, completely dumbfounded.

“Did you see Miss Zhang today?” Huishang asked from the side.

“No.” Shen Ke sat down at another table, opened the book, ready to complete today’s task.

Seeing that he didn’t seem to be affected by this matter, Huishang stopped asking more questions and stood up to leave, “I’m going out to do something.”

Liu Shu immediately followed, “I’ll accompany you.”

Huishang paused, “I’m going to pay respects.”

“Then I’ll accompany you! Let’s go!” Liu Shu grabbed him and walked out quickly.

Shen Ke looked at the two of them leaving together, puzzled. After a moment, he turned and looked out the window, only to see the two of them walking arm in arm down the street, leaving without looking back, their bright figures somewhat dazzling.

“You little rascal, are you going to mooch porridge?” Liu Shu squeezed Huishang’s neck and asked.

*Cough, cough…* Huishang couldn’t break free, reluctantly nodded, and said, “Today is indeed the day Miss Zhang distributes porridge.”

“You confess honestly, did you accept her favor and come specifically to matchmake for Ah Ke?” Liu Shu exerted some force.

*Cough, cough,* nonsense! We’re monks, we don’t do matchmaker’s work!” Huishang said firmly, “I just simply think the porridge tastes good!”

“Hmph, how good can it be?” Liu Shu scoffed.

Half an hour later—

“Damn, it’s really good!” Liu Shu squatted in the corner, holding a bowl in his hands. The porridge inside was all gone, leaving only a bit of residue sticking to the bowl. He turned to look at Huishang’s bowl, and the latter had already begun licking the bottom of it.

There were quite a few people squatting around, men, women, young, and old, all praising Miss Zhang. Liu Shu turned to look at the porridge stall. Miss Zhang was indeed very beautiful, with a dignified appearance and gentle temperament. After distributing the porridge, she was waiting for people to pack things up and prepare to leave.

“How about it? After seeing Miss Zhang, are you moved or jealous?” Huishang asked.

“I told you, I’m not jealous!” Liu Shu snapped.

“You didn’t deny being moved!”

“…” Liu Shu pinched his arm angrily, “I’m not moved! I won’t like her just because of a bowl of porridge!”

“Is that so?” Suddenly, a smiling voice sounded beside him.

Liu Shu was stunned, turned his head, and first saw a pair of delicate and small shoes, then slowly raised his head to meet the gaze of Miss Zhang.

Miss Zhang squatted down, looked at him for a moment with a smile, and said, “You’re the good friend of Ke Shen, right?”

“You know me?” Liu Shu couldn’t help but be surprised.

“Ke Shen often mentions you to my elder brother.”

Liu Shu pursed his lips and couldn’t help but smirk, “What did he say?”

“He said not to come back too late, or else people at home will starve.”

Liu Shu twitched his mouth, Huishang’s shoulders trembled twice, and burst out laughing directly.

“Then you recognized me based on just one or two sentences?”

“Yes, but also because Huishang is by your side.” Miss Zhang smiled lightly, signaled to the maid, who immediately took out a sachet and presented it to Huishang, “This is this month’s incense money.”

Huishang murmured “Amitabha” and naturally accepted it.

Liu Shu: “…”

From their conversation, he learned that Huishang had known Miss Zhang for a long time. Miss Zhang was a regular visitor to their temple, and Huishang learned from her that Zhang Moyang was looking for someone to copy books, so he immediately introduced Ah Ke to her.

Liu Shu sneaked a glance at Huishang and whispered when Miss Zhang walked ahead, “So you knew early on that she had ulterior motives for Ah Ke?!”

“I only learned about it from Zhang Moyang last night, and besides, how can you call it ulterior motives?”

“What else can you call it? A hidden agenda? Concealing evil intentions? Being fickle? Unable to make up one’s mind?”

“If you don’t know how to use idioms, don’t force it.”

After burning a stick of incense, the three of them sat at the table. Liu Shu looked at Zhang Mo Sheng sitting across from him, “Don’t know Miss’s full name?”

“Zhang Mosong.” She smiled lightly, signaled the waiter to serve quickly, then smiled at Liu Shu, “I’ve heard of your name for a long time, and I’ve always wanted to meet you. I didn’t expect it to happen today.”

Liu Shu looked at the plates of delicious food served, “Miss is too kind.”

Zhang Mo Sheng entertained them with delicious food and drink, spoke generously, and had things to chat about with both of them. Unconsciously, they had already eaten most of the food, and the wine was almost finished.

“Need to add more dishes?” Zhang Mo Sheng asked.

“No need.” Liu Shu swayed the wine pot and said drunkenly, “Just say what you need from me.”

Zhang Mo Sheng lowered her head and smiled, and when she raised her head again, her cheeks were slightly flushed, “My brother told me about last night’s matter, but what I want to know is Ke Shen’s reaction to it.”

“He didn’t react.” Liu Shu said.

Zhang Mo Sheng turned to look at Huishang. Huishang didn’t drink and nodded very honestly, “That’s true.”

Zhang Mo Sheng let out a long sigh and asked again, “Do you know what type of person Xiao Wu likes?”

“I don’t know, we’ve never talked about it.” Liu Shu replied truthfully.

“Do you know if he has ever liked someone before?”

“I’m not sure.”

In the end, the three of them all rested their cheeks on their hands, lost in their own thoughts, until it got dark and they dispersed.

Huishang supported Liu Shu’s shoulder and bid farewell to Zhang Mo Sheng. Zhang Mo Sheng smiled and asked, “Xiao Wu, can you help me say a few good words in front of him?”

Liu Shu was about to speak, but suddenly felt a bit nauseous and immediately ran to a nearby tree.

“Miss, it’s getting late, let’s hurry back, otherwise the master and young master will worry.” The maid urged.

Zhang Mo Sheng nodded, instructed Huishang to take care of Liu Shu, and then left first.

“Are you okay?” Huishang walked over to support Liu Shu, “You used to boast about being able to hold your liquor.”

Liu Shu felt uncomfortable, waved his hand, and then leaned on Huishang’s shoulder, stumbling back to the inn, muttering on the way, “I couldn’t have gotten drunk after just a few pots, there must be something wrong with the wine, she must have drugged it!”

“She also took a sip.”

“Then it must have been the last pot that was tampered with, otherwise why am I feeling so dizzy now? It doesn’t make sense!”

Hearing the noisy commotion outside, Shen Ke put down his pen, got up and opened the door. Liu Shu, not paying attention, stumbled on the threshold, and his hands reached out to him, luckily being steadied in time.

“Did you go out drinking?” Shen Ke smelled the alcohol on him, looking at Huishang incredulously, “You guys went out drinking behind my back?”

“No, we went with Miss Zhang, I didn’t drink a drop.” Huishang hurriedly explained.

Shen Ke hugged Liu Shu back to the table, feeding him water while asking, “How did you end up drinking together?”

“It’s a long story, but basically Miss Zhang wanted to establish friendly relations with us to further develop with you,” Huishang said.

Shen Ke frowned slightly, turned to wring a handkerchief to wipe Liu Shu’s face, then carried him to bed, before turning back to Huishang and saying, “Don’t let him drink anymore recently, he hasn’t fully recovered from his illness.”

“I saw him drinking quite heavily, and I didn’t have time to stop him.”

Shen Ke turned his head and looked at the person with flushed cheeks.

Liu Shu, feeling someone taking off his clothes, half-opened one eye and saw it was Shen Ke. He closed his eyes again, rolled over in bed, but was soon held down by a pair of hands.

“Don’t move, you might fall.”

Liu Shu still wanted to move.

“Don’t move, we’ll have to pay for the bed if it breaks.”

He stopped moving this time.

“Put your hands out.”

Liu Shu complied, took off his outer garment, and then rolled over to one side by himself. After waiting for a while and not feeling the person getting into bed, he pounded the bed and sat up, groggily asking, “Why aren’t you sleeping yet?”

“I’m here.” Shen Ke calculated the expenses for the past few days, put away the account book, blew out the candle, but as soon as he lay down, he felt something crawling on him.

Usually very disciplined before going to bed, at this moment he seemed to have already entered a post-sleep state, with his hands hooked around the other’s neck, legs draped over his body, breath smelling of alcohol.

He pinched the other’s ear and asked, “What did Miss Zhang say to you?”

“She asked what kind of person you like,” Liu Shu mumbled.

“Anything else?” Shen Ke asked softly.

Liu Shu twitched, feeling his ear itching, retaliated by lifting his head and, in the darkness, found his earlobe, turning over to whisper in his ear, “She also asked me to speak more good words about her to you.”

“Can you?” Shen Ke asked with a smile.

“I said I would, will you listen?”

“I don’t know, why don’t you try?”

“I won’t try.” Liu Shu suddenly turned over, facing away from him, almost sticking to the wall.

“Xiao Wu.”

No response.

“Are you angry?”

Still no response.

“I confiscated the dice.”

“Don’t!” Liu Shu turned back, hands searching all over him, “I wondered why I couldn’t find my treasure today!”

Shen Ke laughed as he scratched, grabbing his hands and asking, “Why are you upset?”

“I don’t know.” Liu Shu’s fingers still resisted, “I really don’t know.”

“Then I’ll give you the dice back, but you can’t be angry anymore, okay?”

“Okay!”

Shen Ke took out the wooden dice from under the pillow, and Liu Shu took it as if it were a treasure, not knowing why he suddenly cared about it.

After a while, just as Liu Shu was about to fall asleep, he suddenly felt a hand slip into his palm, and accidentally clasped it with his own fingers.

“!!”

Liu Shu suddenly opened his eyes, feeling half of his drunkenness gone.

Shen Ke took the opportunity to take the dice from his hand, “Sleep well and don’t touch it anymore.”

To his surprise, this time Liu Shu was very obedient and didn’t make a fuss, allowing him to take the dice away.

In the darkness, Liu Shu slowly pressed one hand against his chest, damn, his heart suddenly started racing, like a racehorse, pounding so hard, was he trying to kill himself?!