Walking up to Ye Wanmian, Xiao Jingcheng grabbed her wrist and pulled her away. "Let's go. We'll go to the next store."
"Hey, what are you doing? Let go quickly. I can walk by myself!" Stumbling to keep up with his steps, Ye Wanmian looked utterly shocked. She looked around and tried to shake off his hand. "We're in the street. Stop pulling and tugging!"
Xiao Jingcheng looked down at her and scoffed. "What are you afraid of? No one here recognizes our faces now. It won't affect Doctor Jiang's reputation."
He held on tightly. Unable to resist him, Ye Wanmian had no choice but to follow.
Noticing the package in his hand, she stared at Xiao Jingcheng with a straight face. "How much did you spend on those clothes just now?"
"One hundred and thirty coins." Xiao Jingcheng didn't hide it from her.
One hundred and thirty coins!!!
Thinking about how she had only earned two hundred coins by risking herself to sneak into the Chen family's funeral procession to wail, Ye Wanmian felt a pang of pain in her heart. But she had agreed to let him buy the clothes.
"The clothes are bought. Give me the money bag back quickly."
"What's the rush? I haven't finished shopping in the Dongli Town market yet." Xiao Jingcheng said. "I'll return it to you later."
"What else do you need to buy?" Ye Wanmian frowned and muttered. "That's enough. I still need to rent tables, chairs, and tarpaulins to set up a shed to give out free herbal tea tomorrow. I also have to reserve a table at the restaurant to entertain my uncle."
"Don't worry. You've brought more than enough silver."
Watching the two bickering as they left, the tailor in the clothing store rattled the abacus, grinned, and whispered, "What a gullible fool."
After leaving the clothing store, Xiao Jingcheng dragged Ye Wanmian to a shoe store. Coincidentally, it was the same one that Taoist Yuanzheng had visited before.
"Welcome, esteemed guests. Please take your time to look around. If you find something you like, you can try it on right away." The shopkeeper was holding a rattle, trying to amuse a child.
A woman was sitting not far away, sewing shoes. She looked up at the two from time to time, but there was no warmth in her eyes, only nervousness and worry.
Remembering the gossip she had heard from Taoist Yuanzheng, Ye Wanmian couldn't help but take a few more glances at the shopkeeper and the child.
Sure enough, the child did look quite like the shopkeeper. If one didn't know the truth, they might really think they were father and son.
" cough." A cough came from behind. Ye Wanmian turned to look and saw a thin and hunched middle - aged man walking in from outside, holding a tobacco pipe in his hand.
The woman who was sewing the shoe sole quickly exchanged a glance with the middle - aged man and then quickly looked away.
The shopkeeper, who was playing with the child, put down what he was holding, stood up, and said to the middle - aged man, "Father, you're back."
The child sitting on the chair looked up at the middle - aged man and called out sweetly, "Grandpa."
The middle - aged man responded with a smile and stepped forward to play with the child. "Is Huan'er being a good boy today? Have you eaten well?"
Ye Wanmian's eyes widened slightly. She looked back and forth between the middle - aged man and the child.
Hey, come to think of it, the child looked even more like the middle - aged man.
Shoes were easier to pick than clothes because the styles were almost the same. One just needed to choose according to the length of the foot. After picking the shoes he wanted, Xiao Jingcheng turned to look at Ye Wanmian and saw that she was staring at the shopkeeper and the middle - aged man.
They were just two ordinary - looking men. What was so interesting about them?!
Frowning, he quickly walked up to her and blocked her view. Expressionlessly, he interrupted the happy family scene. "Shopkeeper, settle the bill."
"Coming right up."
The shopkeeper quickly walked over. On the other side, the middle - aged man picked up the child and played with him. Soon, the child's giggles filled the shop.
"Thirty coins in total."
After Xiao Jingcheng paid the money, he turned around and saw Ye Wanmian peeping out from behind him, still staring at that side. He was so angry that his teeth itched. He grabbed her and pulled her out of the shop.
"What on earth is so interesting?" he gritted his teeth.
Ye Wanmian came back to her senses. Thinking of what she had just seen, her heart felt as itchy as if it had been scratched by a cat.
Looking around to make sure no one was paying attention to them, she hooked her finger at Xiao Jingcheng.
Xiao Jingcheng stared at her finger, coughed lightly, and then bent down slightly. She whispered, "Don't you notice anything strange about that child?"
Xiao Jingcheng paused. "What's strange?"
Recalling what he had just seen, apart from feeling that the atmosphere in that family was a bit strange, he didn't notice anything else.
Seeing his blank expression, Ye Wanmian kindly reminded him, "Of course, it's that the child looks very much like his father and grandfather!"
Xiao Jingcheng said indifferently, "They're all family. Naturally, they look alike."
Ye Wanmian said, "That's not necessarily true. Haven't you thought of another possibility? For example, the child's real father is someone else?"
As Ye Wanmian said this, she couldn't help but recall the idle rumors she had heard in the morgue.
It was rumored that the queen and the Prince Mu were childhood sweethearts and had an engagement when they were young. But for some reason, it was the current emperor who ended up marrying the queen. However, the queen and the Prince Mu still had a lingering relationship. The crown prince didn't look like the emperor but more like the Prince Mu...
She felt a sudden jolt in her heart and couldn't help but look at Xiao Jingcheng beside her, trying to read something from his face.
Xiao Jingcheng also sized her up carefully because of her words.
Could one tell from a person's appearance that the child's real father was someone else?
Their eyes met. For a moment, they both quickly turned their heads away.
Xiao Jingcheng felt a strange feeling welling up in his heart. It made his heart beat a little faster, and his fingers unconsciously rubbed against each other.
Ye Wanmian secretly thought in her heart that he probably didn't know this rumor.
At that time, she had hidden under the fake corpse with Dahuang and heard it. Since the corpse was fake, he should also be unaware of it.
Thinking this way, Ye Wanmian felt a bit sorry for him.
It was one thing to say that he colluded with corrupt officials, oppressed the people, and amassed wealth frantically. These rumors were relatively easy to clarify. But the mystery of his birth was another matter. It couldn't be that he had to do a blood - relation test with the emperor and the Prince Mu, could it?
Wouldn't the hat of infidelity then be placed on the queen's head?
If so, the queen would probably be spurned by all the women in the world. She would no longer be qualified to be the queen. Maybe she would even be sent to the cold palace and executed...
If this was the case for the queen, what about the wife of the shoe - store owner?
"Forget it." Ye Wanmian said. "I was just guessing randomly. Don't go around spreading this outside."
Xiao Jingcheng chuckled. "Do you think I'm a gossiper who likes to talk about other people's business? I didn't expect you to be so gossipy."
This topic was thus dropped. The two went to the other end of the market. Ye Wanmian found a carpenter shop, rented tables, chairs, and a awning for five days, paid the deposit, and then left the market with Xiao Jingcheng.