Unlimited estates for rural beauty-Chapter 52: Five Thousand Taels of Spiritual Compensation Fee

"I’m hungry, so I’ll just make do with those fruits," she continued drumming her crossed legs, shamelessly unabashed.

"They’re gone, all eaten." Feng Xuxu pouted, not even bothering to look at the demon sitting opposite her.

"What do you think would happen if someone saw me leaving your room first thing tomorrow morning?" Xiao Chen propped his chin with one hand, the corners of his mouth curling into a smirk as he eyed Feng Xuxu.

Grinding her teeth, Feng Xuxu glared with her phoenix eyes and fiercely spat out, "You really are—" She got up, marched to the door, and yanked it open with such force that the two leaves kept swinging back and forth in the frame, almost as if they would fall off if any more force were applied.

Once outside, Feng Xuxu took a few deep breaths in the evening breeze; she was frightened that the demon inside would anger her to death. Glancing back at her brother’s room, she noted the commotion hadn’t woken him, concluding the demon must’ve done something to her brother. With a deflated slump of her shoulders, she resigned herself to the kitchen, grabbed a bamboo basket, and with a flash, entered her space, picking a basketful of fruits. Clutching the basket, she thought to herself that she would gouge him for all he was worth later. Only then did she leave the space, content.

As she placed the fruits on the table, Xiao Chen reached out for them. Feng Xuxu snatched them away immediately, her smile beaming and brilliant.

Xiao Chen raised an eyebrow, observing the crafty smile of the little woman in front of him, "What are you up to now, looking at the fruits to satiate your hunger?"

Feng Xuxu pulled up a stool and sat opposite Xiao Chen, grinning, "Handsome guy, you just wait, I’ll do the calculations for you."

Stretching out her delicate fingers, Feng Xuxu counted off on her fingers to Xiao Chen, "First, you entered my room in the middle of the night without my permission, which is an invasion of my privacy and a damage to my reputation. If someone with bad intentions had seen and spread it, could I still have a life? For this, you owe me compensation!" she spoke over him before he could respond.

"Second, just now you harassed me, judging and insulting me, which is a personal assault. If I had been weaker, what you’d be facing now wouldn’t be me but a corpse. For this too, you should compensate me!" she continued without giving him a chance to interject.

"Third, these fruits were meant for Uncle Ma, not you, and you had no right to demand them in such an underhanded way. You didn’t come by day, but at night, don’t you know that scaring people can be deadly? You scared me, and you must compensate for that!" she rambled on, again not allowing him any room to speak.

"Fourth, when people are hungry, they go to their mothers for food, so why do you come to me for fruits when you’re hungry? This can easily lead to misunderstandings. I’m a free-spirited beautiful young girl at the flower of my age, in the prime of my life. How could you do something so...uh, so inappropriate! And then you even threaten me, how will you compensate for this?"

"Fifth, your arrival has somehow made my brother..." Feng Xuxu was getting into her tirade when she looked back and saw the demon’s dangerous, narrow-eyed glare, which made her swallow hard. Her smile turned rigid.

"Hmm? Why don’t you keep going? I was quite enjoying that," Xiao Chen smirked, his lips twitching—this little... girl was so full of herself. Flower of her age? She hadn’t even turned 15 yet, barely a bean sprout. A beautiful young girl? Though her skin had become fairer than before and she had grown a bit taller, she still had some way to go before reaching true beauty, modestly clear-skinned at best. In the prime of her life? Was Feng Xuxu a tad anxious about that?

"That’s all, I’ve said everything," Feng Xuxu replied, her mouth dry from speaking, feeling the anger rising within as she looked at Xiao Chen and shot him a glare, biting fiercely into an Egg Yolk Fruit from the basket.

Xiao Chen watched the little wildcat bite into the fruit with gusto, musing that if it were his neck, she’d probably draw blood. Imagining it, he reached out with his fair hand to touch his neck before lowering it and shaking his head. What was wrong with him lately? As he watched the girl across from him eat with relish, a shadow passed over his eyes. Could this be what Uncle Ma referred to as ’liking’?

"That’s it? Are you sure?"

"Now it’s time to talk about how you’re going to compensate me," she said calmly after she finished a large Egg Yolk Fruit.

"Tell me what you’re thinking," Xiao Chen said, becoming interested.

"Not much, just ten thousand silver notes for each issue we just discussed, which adds up to a total of fifty thousand," Feng Xuxu stretched out five fingers.

"Hehehe, you really ask for the moon, huh!"

"It was you who told me to name a price." Feng Xuxu shrugged innocently.

"At most 5,000 taels," Xiao Chen said with an indulgent look at Feng Xuxu, not wanting to disappoint her, he still went along and offered 5,000 taels. He didn’t even realize it himself.

"Hah, you’re really quite stingy," Feng Xuxu sighed and said, she should have seen it coming; what kind of good person would swindle her out of five recipes?

Xiao Chen, in a very good mood, picked up the fruit on the table and started eating it with relish. The fruit in his hand tasted even better than what Uncle Ma gave him. "Hmm, not bad. Although your fruit is frighteningly expensive, seeing that you’re quite pitiful, consider the 5,000 taels a reward for you." And he began to teasingly poison Feng Xuxu again.

Feng Xuxu rolled her eyes wordlessly, cuddled Xiaobai, and sat to the side, silently chanting to herself, "Don’t get angry, don’t get angry."

Xiao Chen, looking at Feng Xuxu, smiled even more brilliantly, oblivious to how rough and tough the road to chasing his wife would be in the future.

"I heard from Uncle Ma that you’re planning to put fish fry in the paddy fields?"

"Yes, I’m going to buy the fish fry tomorrow!" Feng Xuxu said as she groomed Xiaobai’s fur, not secretive at all since she would collaborate with the restaurant in the future and they would find out sooner or later anyway.

"You’re so selflessly helping the villagers, do you think they’ll be grateful to you? You’re spending both silver and effort," Xiao Chen asked Feng Xuxu, puzzled.

"I belong to this village, born and raised here. I never thought about whether the villagers would be grateful, but seeing them work hard only to still go hungry, if every family had some silver, then my mother’s illness could be cured, and my father could live a few more years," replied Feng Xuxu.

"... I’ll have Uncle Ma send you the fish fry and the silver note tomorrow," Xiao Chen said and, picking up the fruit basket, whooshed out of the window again.

Feng Xuxu looked at the window speechlessly, resignedly closed it, looked through the window at the sky, saw that it wasn’t early anymore, blew out the oil lamp, and lay down, quickly falling asleep.

Xiao Chen, floating away, perched on a tree not too far from there, thought about the pained emotion he had seen in Feng Xuxu a moment ago. He touched his left chest with his hand, where it had felt like a needle jabbing into him. Painful. After rubbing his chest and seeing that Feng Xuxu’s light was out, he got up and left.

Early the next morning, as soon as Feng Xuxu had finished washing up, Uncle Ma arrived robustly at the Xuxu family’s home just outside the village, driving several horse carts.

"Uncle Ma, you’ve come so early, please come inside and have a rest," Feng Xuxu ran over to help Uncle Ma down from the cart.

"Girl, there’s no need; I’ve brought the fish fry. You find a place, and I’ll have them unload it," Uncle Ma waved his hand; he wasn’t so old and frail, still robust like an ox. No need for rest.

"Okay then, Uncle, just unload it in the yard, and I’ll put them in the fields in a little while," Feng Xuxu said as she got up and ran inside to make a bowl of lychee honey water for Uncle Ma to quench his thirst.

"Hmm, girl, this water smells so nice, with a sweet and fresh taste," Uncle Ma took a small sip and instantly felt a surge of vitality fill his body.