Xie Xun moved his hand and scooped another full bowl of porridge for Jiang Xiaoxiao.
Jiang Xiaoxiao happily hugged her melon vine, her little face bulging as she quickly finished the porridge.
When she looked up at Xie Xun again, her eyes seemed to be filled with the word "porridge".
Xie Xun's eyelid twitched. "Still not full?"
Jiang Xiaoxiao nodded her little head.
Xie Xun looked at her strangely, not understanding how the little thing who was shorter than a teacup could fit so much porridge.
He had no choice but to serve her another bowl.
The result was that she finished that one quickly too.
At least this time, Jiang Xiaoxiao didn't look at him again.
Only then did Xie Xun pick up his own spoon and start eating.
While cleaning up the bowls and chopsticks, Xie Xun said, "I'll take you out of the village later."
Jiang Xiaoxiao was standing in the yard, looking left and right, when she suddenly exclaimed.
Thinking she wanted to ask why, Xie Xun scowled and grumbled, "You eat too much!"
For over ten years, he had been a loner and didn't want to take in this little thing he had picked up halfway.
To him, Jiang Xiaoxiao was a big headache.
Jiang Xiaoxiao didn't even hear what Xie Xun was saying. She clambered onto the wall of the yard and stood up.
After confirming her guess, she climbed back down and walked over to Xie Xun in her little steps, saying, "Your house has bad feng shui."
In feng shui, there is the azure dragon on the left and the white tiger on the right, with the vermilion bird in front and the black tortoise behind.
Looking out from the house, the left side is the azure dragon position and the right side is the white tiger position.
Xie Xun lived in the east end of the village, the only household so far from the other villagers.
The white tiger position of this house happened to be a small hill.
The white tiger position being higher than the azure dragon position was called the white tiger lifting its head, a white tiger evil spirit.
The white tiger lifting its head evil could lead to loss of wealth and disasters, or even death.
Jiang Xiaoxiao was always sparing of words, but in explaining to Xie Xun she went straight to the key points.
Hearing this, Xie Xun paused in clearing up the bowls and chopsticks.
He remembered Granny saying this house was arranged early by the palace, and only by living here could he avoid affecting the national fortune, as the national teacher said.
Back then he was still young and ignorant, only knowing that from then on he had to take his mother's surname and could no longer be called Murong Xun, but had to change to Xie Xun.
And he could never return to the capital again.
He had always thought Granny's death was because of his "inauspiciousness".
He never imagined someone would use feng shui to secretly take a life.
If Granny's death was due to feng shui, then Mother...
Jiang Xiaoxiao looked up.
Morning light streamed in through the window cracks, illuminating the youth's face.
She saw his hand gripping the little bowl tighter and tighter, his eyebrows and eyes gloomy and cold.
Jiang Xiaoxiao had never been down the mountain and didn't understand the intrigues of the world below, let alone how to comfort someone. She just silently climbed onto a stool and sat down.
The room sank into silence for some time.
It was a while before Xie Xun looked at her and asked, "Is there a way to dispel it?"
"Oh, yes yes." Jiang Xiaoxiao said, "Buying a pair of small qilins will do."
According to Jiang Xiaoxiao's description, Xie Xun carefully recalled it.
There probably weren't these small qilins in town, only the county town would have them.
...
Knowing Xie Xun was going on a long trip, Jiang Xiaoxiao had crawled into his carrying basket early and sat inside.
When Xie Xun came out and locked the yard gate, seeing the little thing in the basket, and recalling the bad luck from going out yesterday, he simply grabbed her out with two fingers and stuffed her into the money bag to ward off evil.
With the money bag hanging at his waist, Jiang Xiaoxiao stood inside, poking out just her little head. On her head were two small flower buds that Xie Xun had styled her hair into. Her petite face was so exquisite to begin with, and with the Taoist nun hairstyle changed to little flower buds, she looked even more like a vivid porcelain doll.
However, as soon as Xie Xun started walking, Jiang Xiaoxiao was jostled until her eyeballs were rolling.
Noticing her discomfort, Xie Xun moved her to hang around his neck instead.
Jiang Xiaoxiao adjusted to a comfortable position, then seemed to remember something and slowly asked Xie Xun, "What did you say to me before?"
She seemed to remember he said she ate too much. Is the appetite of people below the mountain different from hers?!
Oh, it seemed different even on the mountain. Her three senior brothers combined didn't eat as much as her.
Xie Xun looked completely calm. "You misheard."
Although he wasn't happy to add another person to the household, if she was an auspicious mascot, then that was different.
From Shi Mo Village to Kaihe County was a very long way.
Walking was impossible, and Xie Xun didn't have a car himself. The ox carts and donkey carts in the village also avoided him, let alone would be willing to give him a ride.
Xie Xun could only first go to town to hire a vehicle before he could head to the county town.
From Shi Mo Village to town, he didn't encounter any troublemakers or bandits, and didn't unexpectedly trip or step into a hole.
In all his years, this was the smoothest ever.
Satisfied, Xie Xun transferred the lucky charm into the carrying basket so she wouldn't attract trouble from the crowds later.
Putting the basket on his back again, Xie Xun strode towards the transportation depot.
Probably because of his notorious inauspicious reputation spreading too far, and it being just after Ghost Festival, the drivers in town were also unwilling to carry him. They looked at him in fright and disgust.
After Xie Xun walked away, those people would even spit and curse him as ill-omened.
After so many years, Xie Xun was long used to this and didn't show much emotion on his face.
On the other hand, Jiang Xiaoxiao, sitting in the basket, was counting on her fingers.
Although her voice was small, Xie Xun heard it and asked her, "What are you doing?"
Jiang Xiaoxiao said, "Counting them just now, so I can chop the one who yelled the loudest after I recover."
Xie Xun: "???"
Jiang Xiaoxiao finished counting before reacting that those were people.
It seemed people shouldn't be casually chopped.
She changed her words slightly regretfully, "Then beat them up."
Last night Xie Xun had seen with his own eyes this little thing wielding a cleaver chasing and hacking at a ghost, and heard with his own ears her saying she came to be his daughter-in-law.
Hearing such startling words from her mouth now didn't feel strange at all.
"Couldn't hire a vehicle, we'll go another day."
Xie Xun wasn't adamant about buying the small qilins today. He turned around, preparing to head back.
Just then, someone called out from behind him, "Hey, brother, wait!"
Xie Xun looked back to see a youth driving a donkey cart, looking to be around the same age as him.
As the youth spoke, he had already arrived in front of Xie Xun, eyebrows raised, "Brother, going to the county?"
Xie Xun gave a light hmm.
The youth grew more excited. "I can give you a ride, free! Going or not?"
Having seen through the scam, Xie Xun directly rejected it. "No need."
"Hey hey hey, don't rush to refuse!" The youth grinned. "I'm called Chen Sixi, from town. I happen to be going to the county too, can't I kindly give you a ride when I saw you couldn't hire a vehicle?"
Xie Xun remained unmoved. "You haven't mentioned the condition yet, it seems."
Chen Sixi probably didn't expect Xie Xun to see through his intentions at a glance. Somewhat awkwardly, he scratched his head and coughed before saying, "That's right, there is a condition."
Looking earnestly at Xie Xun, he continued, "Brother, do you buy coffins? Reservations work too."
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