Ghostly Masked Prince Xiao
Chapter 2: Picked up a beautiful male and carried him home

The third day after arriving in ancient times, Chu Qing-Yan finally understood the meaning to things received on paper always feel shallow (1). She realized that this matter, she must personally undertake.

It's good that she had ideas, but putting it into action was very difficult.

What crossbreeding for rice paddy. What fertilizer as king. What construction business to be rich. Keep daydreaming!

Originally, she thought that relying on her hands to be rich would be an easy matter, but looking at her hands that, because of long-term malnutrition, couldn't even truss a chicken, Chu Qing-Yan felt very much defeated.

Without the conditions, without money, even feeding the stomach was a problem.

Chu Qing-Yan rubbed her stomach, she seemed to be hungry again. There was almost no food left to cook at home. Everyday, able to drink a bowl of gruel with several grains of rice was already considered pretty good. With only four bare walls for a home, their degree of poverty had already exceeded her imagination.

Just when Chu Qing-Yan was heaving deep sighs, a round, dirty steamed bun appeared in front of her. She stared blankly, then couldn't help but follow that steamed bun to look up. She only saw her father smiling brilliantly like sunshine, looking at her in a manner of trying to win her favor.

"Daddy, where did you get this from?" In the next instant, Chu Qing-Yan's heart tightened. Could it be that Daddy had once again s.n.a.t.c.hed someone else's things!

One couldn't blame Chu Qing-Yan for thinking this way. Within these three days, everyday, she had followed behind her daddy to clean up his messes. If it wasn't b.u.mping into the clothing rack of the family in the west, then it was chasing after the landlord's dog. Her pitiful wounds still hadn't healed, and she had to follow him, wandering about the entire village. At all times, she stood guard at her dad's side, otherwise, the money Mom made from washing other people's laundry wasn't even enough to pay out in compensation.

Daddy Chu smiled mischievously, "Aunty Guo (2) gave it to me."

He would never have told Cai Cai that this was the result of him clinging to that family's kitchen, begging for it. Otherwise, Cai Cai would definitely get angry!

Chu Qing-Yan looked at the steamed bun that she didn't know had rolled how many times on the ground. A warmth rushed up, spreading through her heart. She raised her head to ask, "Then, has Daddy eaten?"

"Ate one already." Daddy Chu looked at her, swallowing a mouthful of saliva. Afterwards, he turned his head away to hum genuinely.

With just one glance, Chu Qing-Yan knew, Daddy was reluctant to eat it and gave it to her. With tears, she accepted it from him, after which she broke the steamed bun into two halves, "Daddy, for you."

Daddy Chu, with great joy, accepted it and took a big bite out of it.

Chu Qing-Yan, seeing this, also took a bite, no matter how dirty this steamed bun was, when eating it, she could still detect traces of sweetness in her mouth.

A friend in need is a friend indeed, her dad, no matter if it was in the modern world or the foolish him right now, had never forgotten to be concerned about her and to care for her.

After sharing the steamed bun, her body had a little bit of strength. Consequently, Chu Qing-Yan patted away the dust on her body, then said to her dad, "Mother went to do stuff, the two of us should go up the mountain to pick up some firewood!"

This was something she thought of just now that could relieve Mother of some of her burdens.

Seeing Daddy jumping and skipping along up ahead while gesturing for joy, Chu Qing-Yan smilingly carried the bamboo basket on her back. She thought to herself that maybe, her luck would be good and she could dig up some wild vegetables and mushrooms. Then, there would be something to cook for tonight's dinner.

Fortunately, at that time, during summer vacation, she had just partic.i.p.ated in a wilderness survival training. At this moment, it just so happened to come in handy.

The spring rain had just pa.s.sed. Just the perfect time for mushrooms to grow.

After Chu Qing-Yan carefully distinguished them, she picked the non-poisonous ones to place into her bamboo basket. Then, she dug out some wild vegetables, and after half a day, the bamboo basket was almost full.

She happily wiped away the perspiration, afterwards, she directly stood up to look towards her daddy's direction. She only saw him jump up and skip about, intermittently stopping to help her pick up quite a lot of firewood. They were all tossed into an empty s.p.a.ce in a disorderly fashion.

In a little while, she'd let Daddy carry this bamboo basket on his back, and she would carry the firewood. Afterwards, then they could go home.

Chu Qing-Yan took brisk footsteps towards her daddy. But walking halfway there, she heard her daddy suddenly shout out loud, "Cai Cai, I picked up a large black firewood!"

Large black firewood? Chu Qing-Yun, with misgivings, accelerated her footsteps to run over. Very quickly, she could see the large black firewood Daddy mentioned.

The corner of Chu Qing-Yan's mouth twitched a little, "Daddy, this is not a large black firewood. This is a person."

"A person!" Daddy Chu immediately walked over to his daughter's side with a having-been-wronged expression, "Then why is he lying there in a sleeping manner, pretending to be a large black firewood to fool me?"

Chu Qing-Yan looked at that motionless person lying face down on the gra.s.s. Her heart grew somewhat apprehensive. While Daddy and her had this conversation, she didn't see any movement from him. Chu Qing-Yan was somewhat uneasy, don't know if this person was dead or alive.

She wanted to step forward to examine him, but saw that this person was wearing an all black, long robe with a round neck made from embroidered silk. At his wrist, the blue-colored sleeves were bunched up. A red belt inlaid with jade was at his waist. Moreover, the gold and purple uniform decorative designs were all hand-embroidered. It looked very exquisite and gorgeous. Just based on what he was wearing, from head to toe, established that he was wealthy and respectable. Only, this kind of person suddenly appearing in this simple and crude village, couldn't help but make Chu Qing-Yan more alert. She didn't want to provoke any quarrels and kick the bucket after just having crossed over.

As a result, Chu Qing-Yan tugged at Daddy who was spinning around the large black firewood, and planned on turning around to leave.

One could only see Daddy Chu turn around to glance at his daughter, saying in an asking-for-opinions manner, "Cai Cai, Mother Dan said people need to be covered in a quilt when sleeping. Otherwise, it's easy to catch a cold. The large black firewood is sleeping here, can I bring some clothing to cover him with first?"

Chu Qing-Yan took a glance at the patched clothing on Daddy's body, then looked at the other person's luxurious clothes. She sighed in her heart, perhaps Daddy's clothes, in that guy's eyes, weren't even qualified to wipe his hands!

However, her footsteps still stopped. Resigned to her fate, she turned around. She shouldn't, because of such and such incident that happened, thus afterwards, when seeing the elderly fall down, she didn't dare to help. After all, this was a human life. She could not sit around and watch while remaining indifferent. If she really encountered a wolf near the eastern outer city wall, then it could be considered that she had bad luck.

"Daddy, you help me turn him over, I need to check if he is still alive." Chu Qing-Yan felt that he might still be breathing, but her body was small and very weak. So, she couldn't move this man that had long legs and arms.

Daddy Chu immediately ran over to lend her a hand, only, he used too much strength. That man was flipped over and tossed to the ground, just like that.

Chu Qing-Yan lightly coughed twice, just now, she forgot to remind Daddy to use less strength. She really felt sorry for this lump of large black firewood. However, when she looked towards the guy on the ground, she discovered that this person's face seemed to have been smeared with paint. The entire face was a purple jam-like color, it was a completely different color from his white neck. However, she was able to make out the outline of his facial features clearly. It was a cold, handsome face, with thick eyebrows, a high straight bridge of a nose, and extremely beautifully-shaped lips. In its entirety, he made people feel a bit cold and stiff. Chu Qing-Yan thought that if they were in a cartoon or anime, he would really resemble a charming purple elf. However, now was not the time to think about this. Chu Qing-Yan stretched out her hand to test his breathing. His breathing was continuous and long, so he was still alive. Also, there didn't seem to be other injuries on his body, his body appeared as if he was just sleeping normally.

However, she knew that it wasn't so, because no normal person wouldn't have reacted after being tossed about like that from just a moment ago.

At this moment, her daddy had already reached out his hand to poke at that guy, "Cai Cai, why does he look so much like an eggplant?"

"I suppose he ate too many eggplants!" Chu Qing-Yan responded without thinking.

And that person lying on the ground, the corner of his mouth could not help but twitch a bit. However, the curvature of that movement was very small, so small that no one noticed it.

"Then, from now on, I won't be so noisy to beg Mother Dan to eat eggplant. I don't want to be like him." Daddy Chu mumbled to himself.

Chu Qing-Yan laughed quietly, afterwards, she turned her head around to ask, "Daddy, let's bring him home!"

"Why?" Daddy Chu asked.

Chu Qing-Yan tilted her head, thinking of using what kind of reason that would persuade Daddy. This person was at least 1.8 meters tall. This small body of hers could not tow him to move a bit, she needed Daddy to help out. Would she have to say that they should bring him back to plant him in the garden and next year, a lot of eggplant would sprout out?

And just at this moment, Daddy Chu, who was circling around this 'eggplant', suddenly clapped his hands. His face was full of excitement as he said to his daughter, "I know, because he wants to come to our family as an son-in-law that was inserted in backwards scallion (3)!"

Chu Qing-Yan blushed, "Daddy, it's to marry and live with the bride's family (4). However, why did Daddy suddenly say this?"

One could see Daddy Chu proudly raise his head, "Because Aunty Guo said that Li family's grandfather found a son-in-law that was an inserted in backwards scallion for her daughter, and be ordered around as she wished. If he is also an inserted in backwards scallion, then he can help Cai Cai pick vegetables and gather firewood. Also, help Mother Dan wash clothes. He can also help me catch the fishes in the pond. Just thinking about it makes me happy."

The 'inserted in backwards scallion' on the ground couldn't bear it, and the corner of his mouth once again twitched slightly.

Chu Qing-Yan recalled that Li family's grandfather was a well-known landlord in Little Town. However, Daddy clearly thought too much, only, she had no good method to break Daddy's delusion. Otherwise, at that time, him not helping her carry the person would be bad.

"That's right, that's right. It's exactly this reason!" Chu Qing-Yan felt that she had gotten better at lying through her teeth more and more.

Having received his daughter's affirmative response, Daddy Chu jumped up a meter high, without another word, he took the bamboo basket his daughter was carrying and placed it on his back. Then, he bent down at the waist to carry up the person on the ground. After which, he urged, "Cai Cai, quickly pick up the firewood, we are about to return home."

Chu Qing-Yan saw how easily her father lifted up that person and couldn't help but raise her thumb. Having a father that was a general was really awesome! Then, she turned around to pick up the firewood on the ground, and the two people immediately hurried down the mountain.

"Cai Cai, I want to listen to a song."

"Okay, Daddy, what song do you want to listen to?"

"Big tiger!"

"Okay, two tigers, two tigers, ran very quickly, ran very quickly. One doesn't have eyes, the other doesn't have ears, really strange, really strange…." (5)

The childish lyrics and the sweet singing voice, drifted between the mountains.

Saying you are an inserted in backwards scallion, don't urgently deny it. Maybe there will be a day you really will become an inserted in backwards scallion!

A certain person would never have imagined, there would be a day he would become a large black firewood from a cold, heartless and black-faced Yama, King of h.e.l.l. Then, an eggplant, and once again, change into an inserted in backwards scallion and was even carried in someone's arms like a young lady. Moreover, this person happened to be his future father-in-law.

1) Things received on paper always feel shallow : On paper it looks great but has no meaning in real life. For example that degree is not worth the paper it was printed on. Something along these lines.

2) Aunt is a polite term people call older married women in China. So, whenever I use it as a t.i.tle, I'll capitalize it. No family relations.

3) Son-in-law that was inserted in backwards scallion: Traditionally a woman gets married into her husband's home. But in ancient times when a rich or powerful family only has a daughter, a male would marry into the female family to extend the lineage with the children having the last name of the female side of the family. So this means the male is marrying into the female family and taking the female family's surname.

4) to marry and live with the bride's family: This long translation is represented by three Chinese characters 倒插门. Daddy Chu replaced the last character for 'door'门 with the Chinese character for 'scallion' 葱. Thus giving us the phrase Daddy Chu created 倒插葱 which I translated as inserted in backwards scallion.

5) Sing this to the song 'Three blind mice", at least that's the song I was singing to since I don't know the original one