Chapter 424: Chapter 400, All Fools_1
Xiao Yeyang saw Daohua come out and his expression brightened as he immediately waved at her, gesturing for her to come over.
Daohua hesitated at the back door for a moment, thought about it, and still decided to bring Wang Manman with her as she walked over.
Servants often come and go through this back door; standing here and being seen by others wouldn’t be good.
After walking over, Daohua looked carefully at Xiao Yeyang’s expression. Seeing that he seemed quite spirited, she began to ask, “Why are you here so early in the morning?”
Xiao Yeyang smiled and explained, “Didn’t I say last time after we returned from Taohua Village that I would take you to a nice place today? But I have something to take care of today and I’m afraid I’ll have to break our appointment. However, rest assured, I will definitely make it up to you next time.”
Daohua’s expression remained indifferent, “There’s no need. I know the Little Prince is a very busy man, having to manage the Glass Factory and accompany Miss Jiang on her shopping trips—how could you have time for anyone else?”
Xiao Yeyang frowned, “Why bring up Wanying all of a sudden?”
Daohua sneered right away, “What, is Miss Jiang so noble that even mentioning her is not allowed?”
Xiao Yeyang was stunned and hastily said, “When did I suggest that?”
Daohua, “Then what did you mean just now?”
Xiao Yeyang, “I didn’t mean anything. Taking you out is between you and me and really has nothing to do with Wanying.”
Upon hearing this, Daohua fell silent and pursed her lips without speaking.
Xiao Yeyang glanced at her and said, “There’s always a reason for everything. I also want to ask you; yesterday at the Glass Store, why did you keep linking Wanying and me together?”
Daohua looked up at him, “Do you really not know why?”
Xiao Yeyang looked utterly clueless, “I truly don’t know, why?”
Daohua scoffed, “Fine, let me ask you then. Why did you share a carriage alone with Miss Jiang? Don’t you know that everyone in Zhongzhou is talking about you two being childhood sweethearts?”
“You were seen publicly getting off the carriage with Miss Jiang. Was that to show everyone just how intimate your relationship is?”
Xiao Yeyang hesitated for a moment before swearing to the heavens, “When have I ever thought that way? If I have even a shred of such thoughts, may I meet an untimely end.”
“Master!”
Hearing these words, De Fu was terrified and hurried over, “Master, you can have a proper talk with Miss Yan; please don’t take death so lightly—it’s a taboo.”
Wang Manman also walked over to Daohua’s side, pulling on the somewhat stunned Daohua, “Miss, let’s talk things over slowly.”
Daohua looked at Xiao Yeyang, and he was looking back at her; after a moment of eye contact, Xiao Yeyang began to explain, “That day when I returned from outside, Advisor Jiang arrived with Wanying.”
“These past few days, I’ve been busy looking for someone, and coincidentally, I received news that the Jiang Family was also looking for something. To investigate whether their purpose was the same as mine, I inevitably had to discuss it with them.”
“That day in the carriage, it was not just Wanying and me. Advisor Jiang was also there but he had to leave because of some urgent matter that came up.”
Daohua, “Why didn’t you ride a horse?”
Without missing a beat, De Fu immediately responded, “Miss Yan, my master had been relentlessly riding for two days and a night on the road outside; even the best horse would be exhausted.”
After hearing this, Daohua lowered her head and fell silent, a touch of regret stirring in her heart.
It seemed she had misunderstood this time.
Glancing up at Xiao Yeyang, her expression turned slightly uncomfortable.
She knew she had been impulsive and had not remained calm, but seeing Xiao Yeyang and Jiang Wanying getting off the carriage together had suffocated her with jealousy. If she didn’t get a few jabs in at him, she just wouldn’t feel comfortable.
Xiao Yeyang was also upset about being misunderstood and, seeing that Daohua’s momentum was weakening, he snorted and said, “I also know that you, Miss Yan, have never taken me seriously, treating me carelessly and avoiding me whenever you wish. If that’s the case, I don’t think I need to be overly eager anymore.”
The moment these words came out, De Fu’s heart skipped a beat, and he thought to himself, this is bad!
Sure enough, Daohua, who was already feeling remorseful, flared up again after hearing these words, and with a cold sneer at Xiao Yeyang said, “Since you’re so reluctant, from now on, don’t bother coming to see me.”
With that, she noticed the glass lantern in Wang Manman’s hand, grabbed it, and shoved it into Xiao Yeyang’s hands, “Take your stuff and go; I don’t fancy it.”
Looking at the glass lantern and the pouting Daohua in front of him, Xiao Yeyang’s momentary sense of righteousness diminished, and he said somewhat uncertainly, “The gift has already been given to you; there’s no taking it back.”
As he spoke, he tried to stuff the glass lantern back into Daohua’s hands.
Daohua stepped aside, her voice cold, “I, don’t, want, something that others have too! Take it and leave.”
Xiao Yeyang continued, “If I don’t take it away, you take it back!”
Looking at his master sweating from anxiety, Defu couldn’t help but internally sneer ‘deserved’!
Today, he finally realized, his master was actually a fool.
Not only did he not know when to accept a good thing, but he also couldn’t understand the key point in the lady’s words.
Alas, if the master was in a bad mood, he, as a servant, was definitely going to suffer; hence, it was his turn to take action.
“Miss Yan, the glass lantern in your hand is absolutely unique, for our master made it with his own hands,” he said.
Daohua sneered, “Do you think I’m blind? The lantern that Miss Jiang had the other day looked exactly like mine.”
Xiao Yeyang, who was still eager to give the glass lantern back to Daohua, finally understood her underlying meaning upon hearing this and fell silent. After a while, he said to Defu, “Go to the Glass Store and get a few glass lanterns.”
Defu’s face stiffened; he knew for sure that he would be the one to suffer, and there it was.
Later, they still had to leave Ningmen Prefecture. Ah, he had been riding horses so much these past few days that he didn’t want to see a horse anymore.
Watching Defu ride away wearily, Daohua was puzzled as she looked at Xiao Yeyang, “What are you doing? Thinking of bribing me with more glass lanterns?”
Xiao Yeyang somewhat speechlessly replied, “Didn’t you think that your lantern was the same as the others? I had Defu fetch some so you could compare them.”
Seeing how composed he was, Daohua suddenly felt a bit uneasy. Surely she hadn’t misunderstood him again?
Unwilling to be shown up, she stiffened her neck and said, “I did see the lantern that Miss Jiang had with my own eyes.”
Xiao Yeyang: “… After I made your glass lantern, the butler at the store thought it would sell well, so he took it to the Glass Factory and had the craftsmen there make a batch based on it.”
“On the day we met, the store had just put up the glass lanterns. Wanying was about to have her birthday, and I had promised her a gift, so she took one.”
Daohua: “… Then how can you prove that mine is different from the others?”
Xiao Yeyang turned the glass lantern upside down and showed the bottom to Daohua.
At first, Daohua didn’t notice anything, but after seeing the branding that merged with the lantern, she hung her head in silence once again.
While the Glass Factory was still under construction, she had discussed the matter of branding with Xiao Yeyang, so every piece of glassware produced by Xiangyang Glass Factory would be marked with the words ‘Xiangyang.’
The lantern Xiao Yeyang gave her also had two characters engraved on it, but they weren’t ‘Xiangyang’; they were ‘Yeyang.’
Since Xiao Yeyang turned fifteen, he had started wearing a seal.
She had seen his seal, and it was the same as the engraving on the bottom of the lantern.
Daohua looked at Xiao Yeyang uncomfortably and then turned away without a word.
Seeing her attitude seemed to soften, Xiao Yeyang pushed the glass lantern closer to her. When she didn’t reject it as she had before, his heart leapt, and he directly placed the lantern handle in her hand.
Daohua gave Xiao Yeyang a look and then clenched the lantern handle tightly.
Upon seeing this, Xiao Yeyang relaxed and said in a low voice, “Don’t be angry anymore. If you don’t like it, I won’t ride in the same carriage with anyone else in the future.”
Daohua: “… You can ride or not as you please; I couldn’t care less.”
Xiao Yeyang, seeing that she no longer had a stern face, a smile appeared in the corners of his eyes, and he began to laugh, exhaling a breath of air as he lifted his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
Seeing him wipe the sweat with his hand, Daohua tossed her handkerchief to him.
Xiao Yeyang, holding the handkerchief, displayed a joyful smile on his face.
When Defu came over panting with a few glass lanterns, he saw that his master and Miss Yan had already made up and were now looking at each other with laughter.
“Truly, those who fall in love are fools, as the Prince once said it so rightly.”
Usually his master was so decisive, but every time it came to Miss Yan’s matters, he floundered like a headless fly.
And as for Miss Yan, she was so understanding, always wearing a bright, sunny smile wherever she went, yet she could be quite capricious in front of the master, which was really a bit overwhelming.
Looking at the glass lanterns in his hands, Defu shook his head.
Indeed, it was a wasted trip.