"Ye Fan, what are you thinking about?" Liang Rujing's words interrupted Ye Fan's thoughts.
"Nothing, just spacing out," Ye Fan replied with a smile, feigning nonchalance. "These lanterns are quite beautiful."
"The lanterns are indeed very beautiful, but I know of something even better." Liang Rujing tugged Ye Fan's arm conspiratorially. "Come, it's just over there."
When they arrived, Ye Fan couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
It was a small food stall, selling snacks he hadn't seen before.
But that wasn't the main point.
The main point was that weren't you all so full you couldn't sit up straight earlier?
"Try it quickly, it's delicious," Liang Rujing handed Ye Fan some of the snacks she had bought. "I've eaten so many meals of yours, today it's my treat!"
Ye Fan looked at her stomach with confusion.
In less than an hour, it had completely flattened out.
What the heck, girl, what kind of bizarre digestive system do you have...
"Ye Fan, this stuff is delicious!" the Second Elder said while eating, gesturing to Ye Fan. "Try some quickly."
"It is indeed very delicious," Master Xieyan said happily to Ye Fan. "It's almost as good as the skewers you make."
"Master Xieyan, try this."
"I don't think you have this one. Let me treat you."
After exchanging a greeting with Ye Fan, the two began recommending delicacies to each other.
As they recommended, they started feeding each other...
Ye Fan quickly turned his head and took a bite.
The taste was indeed very good.
It looked a bit like a skewer, but the taste was very different from skewers.
As Ye Fan ate, he watched the stall owner prepare the food.
It had to be said that Ye Fan seemed to have a natural talent for cooking. After watching for a while, he understood most of it.
He even simulated several improvement methods in his mind.
Not bad, recipe +1.
For the rest of the afternoon, Liang Rujing's itinerary consisted almost entirely of various street food stalls.
Ye Fan strongly suspected that this girl had come solely for the food...
The biggest beneficiaries were the two elders.
The Second Elder now sported seven or eight hairpins, half of which were feminine.
Master Xieyan had acquired a waist drum and was holding a rattle...
Master Xieyan would shake the rattle with each bite of food, and the Second Elder would cooperatively pat the waist drum.
Ye Fan could barely watch...
If it weren't for the rules, he truly wouldn't want to take these two elders out with him...
"Grandpa, can we play your waist drum?" several boisterous children, around six or seven years old, surrounded them, looking curiously at the two old men.
"Of course you can," Master Xieyan crouched down and said with a kind smile. "You can also play with our rattle."
The children were about to say something when they suddenly noticed Master Xieyan's left eye...
"Wow—!"
The little brats immediately burst into tears, scared.
"I say, old sir, how could you frighten the children... Please, enjoy yourself..."
The parent who came to the rescue, hearing the commotion, saw the master's darting eyeballs and decisively pulled their child away.
"Little Princess, Little Prince, am I really that scary?" Master Xieyan looked at the siblings, his tone and expression filled with dejection.
"No," Liang Rujing replied while eating. "I think Grandpa Xieyan is quite nice."
"He's alright, he's alright," Liang Meikong said perfunctorily.
Although he knew Master Xieyan was a good person, he still wasn't comfortable with those darting eyeballs...
"Bang!"
The parent, not paying attention, bumped squarely into a young gentleman opposite them.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!" the parent apologized quickly, breaking out in a cold sweat.
He recognized this young gentleman – the eldest son of the Minister of Revenue!
This young master was nicknamed the Smiling Tiger, and the number of people he had killed was countless!
It's over, it's over, his father and son were doomed.
"It's alright, just be more careful when you walk next time," Young Master Zhu said with a smile, waving his hand. "Alright, you can go play now."
"Thank you, young master, thank you, young master!" the parent quickly expressed his gratitude and led his child away.
After seeing the parent off, Young Master Zhu walked up to Ye Fan and the others.
"Greetings to Their Royal Highnesses." The two of them greeted each other in hushed tones.
After all, the Liang siblings were out in plain clothes today, so it wasn't appropriate to formally bow.
"Rujing, long time no see." After the greeting, the young man next to Young Master Zhu spoke.
"Oh, it's you guys?" Liang Rujing clearly didn't seem inclined to engage. She turned to Ye Fan and said, "Later, figure out how this is made, and we can make some ourselves."
Seeing Liang Rujing's obvious displeasure, Ye Fan didn't say much.
"This young gentleman, we meet again."
Ye Fan hadn't said anything, but that Young Master Zhu spoke up.
"My apologies for what happened last time, please bear with me." Ye Fan replied with a smile.
It turned out that this Young Master Zhu was none other than the one the Second Elder had bumped into during their shopping trip last time.
"Brother Zhu, do you know each other?" The young man beside Young Master Zhu asked. "Perhaps you could introduce us?"
The two of them chattered back and forth like a comedy duo, completely oblivious to the fact that no one was paying them any attention...
"It was just a small misunderstanding, and I still don't know this young gentleman's name," Young Master Zhu said, looking at Ye Fan. "I am Zhu..."
"Ye Fan, let's go look somewhere else." Liang Rujing directly grabbed Ye Fan and walked away.
Liang Meikong shot the two of them an unfriendly glance and then pulled the two elders away.
Once they were sure the other party wasn't following, they finally stopped.
"Ye Fan, I'm telling you, from now on, if you see those two, don't interact with them."
Seeing Ye Fan's confused look, Liang Meikong explained:
"The one who spoke first is Wang Baduan, the eldest son of the Minister of War. The other is the son of the Minister of Revenue, named Zhu Pigu. Neither of them are good people!"
"Especially Wang Baduan, he actually had his father propose to marry Ninth Sister, it's like a toad wanting to eat swan meat!"
Speaking of this matter, Liang Meikong's personality erupted, and he proceeded to list countless wrongdoings of Wang Baduan.
"Exactly, exactly," Liang Rujing echoed with a nod. "How could I possibly like a scoundrel like him?"
Ye Fan suddenly understood.
He had initially thought these two were quite polite and seemed rather decent.
He hadn't expected them to be standard villains.
According to the crimes Liang Meikong listed, these two deserved to die countless times.
It was a shame that these two cunning individuals always handled their misdeeds cleanly, making it impossible to catch them.
Meanwhile.
Wang Baduan watched the departing group and narrowed his eyes.
Liang Rujing had long been considered his exclusive property.
In the past, Liang Rujing had had some suitors, but those individuals either ended up crippled or disappeared entirely.
He had clearly seen earlier that Liang Rujing had been chatting and laughing with that young man.
Remember, Liang Rujing had never even given him a direct glance, let alone smiled at him.
This person must die!
Just like those who had disappeared before!
"Who exactly is that fellow?" Wang Baduan asked indifferently.
"I'm not entirely sure," Zhu Pigu shook his head and recounted the events that had transpired with Ye Fan and the others.
"Brother Wang, you don't need to trouble yourself with such a small matter, leave it to me." After saying that, Zhu Pigu added.
He knew exactly what Wang Baduan was thinking at the moment.
It was a good opportunity to settle the score from before.
Five hundred miles south of the Imperial City.
The Zhenxie Sect's encampment.
It was a dim room, with various peculiar decorations hanging on the walls.
They were peculiar because these so-called decorations were all specimens of human remains!
Under each specimen, a small piece of paper was hung, with names written on it.
A young man admired his collection, a satisfied smile on his face.
He looked exactly like a pervert.
"Beep beep beep." The young man's communication jade suddenly chimed.
His enjoyable moment was interrupted, and the young man felt annoyed.
However, he still answered the communication jade.
The virtual image displayed by the communication jade was Ye Fan.
Along with the image came two lines of text.
"A job has come up, same price."
"The target is currently at the lantern festival. He's with the Second Prince and the Ninth Princess. Be careful when you handle this."