His Peasant Wife : Yao Ling

The handsome man scrutinized her movement and from the way she elegantly drank her tea, it seemed like she had a noble background. Whose daughter was she? The man curiously guessed Yao Ling’s background.

Her movement was sophisticated. He could see the stubborn streak from her eyes, but at the same time cleverness. What a fox! He was so itchy and wanted to get his hands on her as soon as possible.

"This gu niang is only a simple peasant and comes to this town for a visit," Yao Ling answered politely. She didn’t want to divulge any information about herself and her entourage. She didn’t trust this man and she felt like this man wanted something from her. She didn’t realize that the man was targetting her --- to be precise.

"Oh... I never know that a simple peasant can have a maidservant by her side," The man asked craftily. He could see the way the woman beside her kept trying to serve her, but it was stopped by the woman in front of her with a simple eye gesture.

"Gong zi is wrong. Xiao Yu is my sworn-sister, not my maidservant," Yao Ling quickly came up with an explanation.

The man didn’t uncover her lie. He could see from their clothing that it was made from high-quality silk and the embroidery also wasn’t simple. No peasant would be able to afford these kinds of luxurious clothing. He liked her cautiousness and it proved to him that she wasn’t an easy woman.

"Gu Niang, can I ask for your name?" The handsome man asked with an innocent face. He really wanted to know the woman’s name.

Yao Ling was quite surprised by the man’s question and it showed up on her face which made the man laughed inwardly. ’Is this woman really innocent?’ He thought to himself.

Yao Ling decided not to tell him her name. "Gong zi, we are not close enough for this gu niang to share this gu niang’s name." Yao Ling wanted him to know that she didn’t want to become acquainted with him. With this kind of polite rejection, he should have understood, right?

However, she underestimated this man’s shamelessness. "Oh... then, I would like to get to know you better, Gu Niang. May I?"

Yao Ling was flabbergasted by the man’s shamelessness. ’Does... does he try to court her?’ Yao Ling thought to herself. However, she put that thought on the back of her mind. After all, she’s a married woman and she’s not interested in another man --- other than Yao Ying, of course. She didn’t realize that in this city, no one knew that she was already married.

The man could see the real surprise in her eyes and he was able to make sure that the woman in front of him was indeed innocent. Her widened eyes looked so cute and it reminded him of a cute little kitten. When he knew that she wasn’t going to answer him, he didn’t push for an answer. Instead, he changed the direction of the conversation.

"How long will Gu Niang be staying here?" The man asked once again while tilting his head to the side.

"Gong zi, I don’t think we are close enough to share those details," Yao Ling tactfully said. She answered him with the same answer as before. What else could she say? If Yao Ying knew about this and he ate vinegar, she was pretty sure that she would receive a punishment later that night. No... no... no... she didn’t want that to happen.

"Ah... but meeting with Gu Niang here, it must have been fate," The man shamelessly said.

Yao Ling was quite irked by this man’s brazen talk, but she needed to maintain her calmness. After all, this isn’t An Yang and they are in the middle of an important mission.

The man could see that Yao Ling started to get annoyed from the way she clenched the cup tightly and it amused him. He was good at waiting too and he also knew when to retreat. He merely said, "This one is just kidding, Gu Niang. Please don’t feel offended! If it’s indeed fate, we will surely meet again later." After that, the man bade his goodbye and in his mind, he knew that they would certainly meet again for sure.

"This is the token of my gratefulness to you for sharing the table, Gu Niang," The man said while smiling, not forgetting to fan himself elegantly. Before Yao Ling could reject him, the man quickly went out of the teahouse and was gone in a flash.

Yao Ling furrowed her eyebrows and her eyes landed on the thing that he left on the table. ’Who is that man?’ She thought to herself. Yao Ling didn’t know whether she should take the token or not. She contemplated for a little while before she finally decided to take a look at that thing. Maybe she could have a clue about this man’s identity.

Before she could look at the token, it was snatched from her hand. She looked up in surprise and found Yao Ying and Lin Jian standing in front of her. Yao Ling smiled at Yao Ying, feeling happy that he finally came to meet her. However, her smile faltered when she saw Yao Ying’s expression.

Yao Ying was angry, beyond angry. He frowned and his whole face was darkened after seeing Yao Ling talked to a handsome stranger. He furrowed her eyebrows while looking at the thing on his hand, it was a gold token with a word carved on it -’Wu’. Lin Jian took a peek at the token and saw the word. "Huh? Wu?" Lin Jian muttered to himself. It seemed a bit familiar but he didn’t remember where he had seen this token before.

"Do you know anyone with this kind of token?" Yao Ying asked him, ignoring Yao Ling’s gaze which made the latter pouted. She didn’t do anything wrong and yet... the man was ignoring her!!

Lin Jian tried to remember, but he couldn’t, so he just shook his head. "I don’t know. I might have seen it somewhere, but I don’t remember. It’s probably not an important thing," Lin Jian answered.

Yao Ying believed in Lin Jian. If he didn’t know, then he didn’t know. Lin Jian’s circle of friends in the nobility was quite vast, so if this was an important token, Lin Jian should have known or at least seen this ’wu’ character.

"Who is that man?" Yao Ying asked Yao Ling in a stern voice.

Yao Ling could helplessly answer his question, "I don’t know. I never ask his name."

"Really?"

"Really!" Yao Ling nodded confidently.

"Then why did he give you this token?" Yao Ying asked, feeling suspicious.

"I also don’t know," Yao Ling shrugged it off. She knew if she got angry, it would only lead to a big fight. She might as well take it easy, otherwise, she would really throttle this unreasonable man! She didn’t do anything wrong and yet... his questions made her look so guilty! Yao Ling decided to tell Yao Ying the whole story about the handsome man’s sudden appearance. The man was only sitting with her because there was no vacant seat other than hers!

What else could she do?!

Yao Ying felt calmer when he heard that Yao Ling rejected the man’s advance, although he still felt a little bit sour in his heart. He noticed that Yao Ling was indeed getting prettier each day and he understood his mistake, he wouldn’t let her go out of his sight anymore this whole trip! He needed to guard her and it seemed like he had to hasten his plan to confess his feelings. Otherwise, when she was taken by another man, it would be too late!!

"I will keep this token for you," Yao Ying said and without waiting for Yao Ling’s answer, he quickly put the token inside his robe. He was indeed petty, he didn’t want Yao Ling to touch other man’s thing! "We will gove this token back once we meet that man again."

Yao Ling nodded in agreement. She didn’t really need that token anyway. She didn’t know what it was for, so she also thought that that token was useless. Both of them didn’t understand the importance of that token and once they knew about it, they would be in for a big surprise!

"Suit yourself. I was planning to throw it away anyway," Yao Ling grinned, making Yao Ying feel embarrassed because of his childish attitude. He realized that Yao Ling indeed didn’t care about that man for a little bit.

Yao Ling sighed in relief. At least, she was able to appease her jealous husband!