After entering the city, she did not choose to continue riding in the carriage. Instead, she took Qing’er and strolled along the bustling main street.
Because what she wore today was extremely plain—utterly different from her usual glittering, nouveau-riche style—and her face was not plastered with heavy rouge and powder, hardly anyone recognized her. They merely took her for some graceful young woman from who knew where. Coupled with her bearing, quite a few people were even certain she was the daughter of some powerful family out on an excursion. But… why the heck had they never seen her before?
The marketplaces of Western Liang were extraordinarily lively. From this, one could see that the nation’s strength was still rather formidable. The four kingdoms were evenly matched, none willing to yield to another. If one truly had to compare, Eastern Yan was faintly the stronger—this was something she had learned through books after arriving here.
“Miss, there’s a teahouse up ahead. Why don’t we go up and rest for a while?”
Qing’er pointed at the black banner fluttering before the teahouse ahead, seeking her mistress’s opinion.
Seeing her gluttonous expression, Xiao Qianyin could not help wanting to laugh. This girl—letting her rest was secondary; most likely, what mattered most was going in to eat!
“What? Is Qing’er feeling greedy?” She arched her delicate brows slightly and asked teasingly.
“Hehe…” The little maid laughed somewhat sheepishly. “Miss, your eyes truly see through everything! Qing’er’s admiration for you is like the surging river, endless and unceasing…”
Before she could finish, Xiao Qianyin interrupted her. “All right, I know your young miss is wise and mighty. There’s no need for your admiration to keep flowing on without end. Standing at the entrance like flagpoles—haven’t you noticed everyone is staring at us strangely?”
“Aiyo, two young ladies, what would you like to eat?” An enthusiastic waiter came forward to greet them. Clearly, he had not recognized that the girl before him was the stormy figure of the past few days—the good-for-nothing young lady of the Dingguo Marquis’s household. He assumed she was the daughter of some great family.
“Waiter, do you have any elegant seats upstairs?”
“Yes, of course! There is an elegant seat by the window upstairs. Sitting there, you can enjoy the bustling street market as well as the scenery along the Liang River. It’s quite excellent.”
The waiter hurriedly recommended it to her.
“Good. Take us there at once!” she agreed readily, leading Qing’er upstairs.
The Liang River was the canal of Western Liang’s imperial capital, dividing the entire capital into two. Transportation along the river was extremely convenient, and every day one could see boats coming and going. It was precisely by occupying this advantage that Western Liang had become prosperous.
Opening the window, the light breeze blowing in from the river carried a distinctive moisture, faintly damp, yet the air was extremely good. Although Mount Shu was also a place of cultivation and its environment was not bad, in the end it had still been affected by industrial pollution and could not compare to this place. The better the environment, the more beneficial it was to the cultivation of swordsmanship.
“Miss, are you satisfied?” The waiter looked at the black-clad young woman and leaned in to ask.
Clearly, she was the one in charge; the girl behind her should be something like a maidservant.
“Satisfied. Waiter, bring one serving of each of your signature pastries, and your best tea as well.”
“Right away!” The waiter was quite delighted. How could he not like a wealthy young lady who spent so generously?
After the waiter went downstairs, Qing’er sat down at Xiao Qianyin’s signal, but she looked as though she wanted to speak and hesitated.
“Qing’er, what do you want to say?”
“Miss, ordering so much… will we be unable to finish it?”
So the little girl was afraid of wasting food? She smiled and said, “Didn’t you look rather greedy just now? Why not taste a little of everything? If we can’t finish, we’ll pack it up and take it back. You can keep it and eat it slowly, can’t you?”
Eh? So Miss had done it for her? A wave of emotion rose in Qing’er’s heart. She had been a maid in the marquis’s residence since childhood. The former Miss had not treated her harshly, but she had never been as good to her as now. She hoped the current Miss would never disappear.