Chapter 10: Wow, Did Daddy Buy This For Me?
Just as they were about to leave, that young master called out to them.
“Um, General Xie, if you don’t mind, you can take our carriage. After all, she’s a child and it’s not good for her to be exposed to the sun all the time.”
Xie Chong looked down at the sleeping little one, her face pale and quiet.
It was true that he hadn’t done well before. Since he decided to raise her, he had to be attentive.
“Okay, thank you.”
The young master and his family were flattered: “It’s nothing, it’s we who should thank you for safely returning our son.”
Although they lost ten thousand taels of silver, the wealthy merchant didn’t feel any heartache.
After all, they only had this one precious son now, and ten thousand taels of silver to establish a relationship with General Xie was too worthwhile.
Putting the silver into the carriage, Xie Chong was very satisfied with this trip. He earned ten thousand taels just by giving someone a ride. This was simply too easy.
It was the ten thousand taels he returned that made him feel a great heartache.
But he didn’t show it.
So much money, it’s a shame it’s not his.
Old Yuanwai Liu, who didn’t know the situation, sighed: “General Xie is truly a righteous person who regards money as dirt.”
His son’s face was full of question marks: “???”
It seems… he doesn’t really regard money as dirt.
Now on the street, Xie Chong had five taels of silver on him. He sent someone to the money house to exchange the ten thousand tael silver note for silver. Silver notes are not easy to exchange at the border pass; silver is more reassuring.
Then he asked others to purchase resources while he took Qin Wanwan to the fabric store.
Xie Chong had a fierce appearance, and when walking alone on the street, people dared not approach him.
But now, holding a little baby, it had smoothed out a lot of his fierceness.
If the boss of the fabric store hadn’t seen him holding a child, he would have thought this person had come to rob them.
Xie Chong looked around: “Do you have clothes for children?”
“Yes, yes, yes.”
The fabric store owner quickly said, then cleverly had someone bring out a few sets of clothes suitable for Qin Wanwan.
“How much for these two sets?”
Xie Chong pointed at a set of pink and goose-yellow little skirts, which looked very suitable for Wanwan.
“Sir has good taste. Your daughter will definitely look good in these clothes. It’s mainly because she’s so good-looking that she looks like a little immortal child in anything.”
Xie Chong liked to hear this. Wanwan was indeed good-looking.
But his expression didn’t change.
“These two sets of clothes together are not expensive, just one tael of silver.”
Xie Chong: ………
His expression slightly drooped. Don’t think that saying so many nice things can trick me out of my silver!
His face darkened, and his brows furrowed. The fabric store owner’s heart immediately leaped into his throat.
“Of course, the price is negotiable.”
The fabric store owner said with a trembling heart, “But the fabric used for these two sets of clothes is top-quality, and it won’t hurt a child’s skin, so… so it can’t be much less.”
Xie Chong’s gaze shifted, and he pointed at the embroidered shoes for children on the counter.
“And two pairs of shoes, plus some handkerchiefs.”
Finally, Xie Chong bought two more bolts of cloth and left the fabric store with two sets of clothes, two pairs of little shoes, handkerchiefs embroidered with kittens, and a small sachet.
Although they were a bit expensive, Xie Chong didn’t switch to cheaper clothes for Qin Wanwan.
He had looked at the cheaper fabrics; this little one’s skin was more delicate than a peeled hard-boiled egg, and that kind of fabric would probably be unbearable on her.
Seeing a hawker selling candied haws, he stopped.
The old man selling candied haws trembled: “You, are you going to rob me of my candied haws? This, this is not valuable.”
Xie Chong: …Do I look like a robber?
Just as he was about to speak, Wanwan stirred, sniffing the air, and woke up.
“Delicious food, Daddy…”
Muttering, she knew there was food before she even opened her eyes.
When she opened her eyes, before she was fully awake, she was completely captivated by the red hawthorns coated in sugar.
“Aow aow, is Wanwan dreaming? There’s food!”
Xie Chong pulled out a candied haw, and asked the old man how much it cost.
“One, one copper coin will do.”
Xie Chong took out a copper coin from his money pouch and threw it to him. Holding the child in one hand, he left with the candied haw in the other.
The old man selling candied haws could faintly hear the little girl’s soft voice.
“Wow, Wanwan isn’t dreaming, is Daddy buying it for me?”
“Yes.”
Qin Wanwan opened her little mouth and left a small bite on the topmost candied haw.
“It’s sour, Daddy, you eat too.”
Sugar was rare, and hawthorns were very sour. The hawker was reluctant to coat them with too much sugar.
Only the outer layer coated with sugar was sour and sweet when bitten into; the inner parts were purely sour.
The sourness made Qin Wanwan’s little face scrunch up, her eyebrows knitted together.
Xie Chong found it amusing.
Qin Wanwan nibbled on the part coated with sugar and didn’t really want to eat the rest of the hawthorn.
While she was debating whether to give it to Keke, the horse, or throw it away, Xie Chong ate it.
He didn’t dislike the hawthorn that Qin Wanwan had nibbled into a hollow at all.
“It is a bit sour.”
But it wasn’t unbearable to eat.
It’s just that this thing is appetizing, and he might get hungrier after eating it.
Qin Wanwan’s eyes curved into a smile.
Xie Chong then took her to buy some pastries and preserved fruits, and other snacks.
They were so expensive that his brows furrowed, but he still bought them.
And he filled the clean small pouch that the fabric store had gifted to Wanwan.
Qin Wanwan smiled with her eyes curved, took out a piece of preserved fruit, and handed it to Daddy.
“Daddy, eat.”
Xie Chong turned his face away: “I won’t eat it.”
Too expensive, can’t afford it.
“Wanwan, there’s a wanted order there.”
Keke, perched on Qin Wanwan’s shoulder and tidying his lightning-singed feathers, suddenly his eyes rolled and his wings pointed to the wall not far away.
Qin Wanwan hadn’t yet understood what a wanted order was when Xie Chong’s gaze had already moved over.
Once he saw it, he couldn’t look away.
“Bandits.”
The person drawn on the wanted order was a bandit, worth fifty taels of silver.
He casually grabbed someone: “Are there bandits around here?”
If it were before, Xie Chong wouldn’t have bothered. After all, it wasn’t within his jurisdiction, and he had to quickly take his men back to the border garrison.
But after the experience of eradicating bandits with the saying “killing bandits brings a golden belt,” his hands itched.
That was all money.
“Yes, yes, it’s… it’s over at Wangshan Ridge. That place is also called Deadman’s Ridge. No one dares to go there. Even the soldiers sent by the government have died.”
Therefore, the wanted posters posted by the government were useless because no one dared to take them.
Xie Chong pondered.
After reuniting with the people purchasing supplies, Xie Chong told them about the bandit situation as soon as they returned.
As soon as he said it, everyone became excited.
“General, General, send us this time.”
“We want to go too, General, it’s time for someone else this time.”
The spoils from the last bandit suppression had made many people envious, so many were actively participating this time.
Just like last time, they first sent someone to scout the situation of the local bandits.
This time, they still didn’t alert the government, as the relationship between their soldiers and the officials had never been good.
If they went to find the officials, they might think they were being provocative.
So, they still inquired from the villagers of the surrounding villages.
