A warm patch is worth a thousand pieces of gold

  One of them, a slender young man around eighteen or nineteen years old, caught his attention.

  It turned out to be the brave young man who had risked his life to rush into the heavily guarded courtyard in front of the Red Apricot Courtyard, showing his love for Peony Fairy, and almost lost his life under the sword of the guardian.

  He seems thinner than before at this time.

  This young man had originally wanted to squeeze forward like everyone else, but with a hesitant look on his face, he still couldn't bring himself to put aside the demeanor of a scholar and hawk his paintings like a street vendor, so he retreated back to his own stall and sat down.

  His stall only had a small table, with pen, ink, paper and inkstone on it, simple to the point of being somewhat shabby, unlike other stalls which were selling antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and some trinkets.

  Zhen Ming smiled wryly and politely declined other people's introductions, walked up to him and asked: "Brother, what's your surname, how should I address you?"

  The young man looked somewhat surprised, hastily stood up and said: "My surname is Chu, just call me Deng Shan."

  "Hello, I'm Zhen Mingsu, you're a ghostwriter, right?"

  "Alright."

  "How much does it cost?"

  "Small characters one or two liang, big characters five liang."

  It's clear now why his stall was so deserted. Others were charging a few copper coins per word, but he was asking for hundreds of times more.

  There are only two kinds of people who can set such a price: one is an arrogant madman, and the other is a talented but unfortunate madman.

  "I now want to make a sign for the store, which will definitely be famous in Luoyang in the future. The name is Zhang's Sweetheart Workshop, but I've found several stores and the words written are not very ideal."

  "The total is twenty-five taels, signing is free of charge, and a deposit of ten taels must be paid first."

  Zhen Ming was speechless at the absurdity of this madman, and could only say: "You don't even know what kind of words I need, yet you want to take my money. What if I'm not satisfied?"

  "Isn't everything you want on your signboard? Sweetheart, this Zhang is the one you have a crush on, right?"

  Zhen Ming's eyes lit up as soon as he heard the words, and this crazy person indeed had some material. He smiled and said: "A small eatery that sells heart-shaped snacks, what I want is the kind of text that makes people feel warm and sweet at first sight, leaving a beautiful memory for them."

  He finished speaking, and the young man bowed his head in contemplation for a moment. Then with a flourish of his brush, five beautiful characters appeared on the paper, like five beauties dancing, their movements elegant, charming and alluring.

  Zhen Ming suffered a bitter shock, and without saying another word, he took out ten taels of silver from his pocket and placed them on the man's desk.

  "I want five big characters exactly the same, come back in two days to collect."

  "No need, I'll write it for you now."

  With a flourish, like a dragon flying and a phoenix dancing, the five big characters were instantly formed. Zhen Mingshu didn't waste any more words, took out over twenty taels of silver and slapped them on the table, picked up the calligraphy and turned to leave. He hadn't walked many steps when he heard a shout from far away: "Zhen Mingshu!"

  Yang Dang rode a white horse to the side of the road, turned over and got off the horse, rushed towards Zhen Mingshu, grabbed his collar and asked: "Where is my sister Zhang?"

  Zhen Ming smiled wryly and said: "Long time no see, where have you been running around these days?"

  Yang Cong said with a bad face: "This young master is not in the mood to reminisce with you, hurry up and say, where did my sister Zhang go, why was her house demolished?"

  "Don't worry, she's doing much better now."

  ……

  Watching Yang Dang holding her hand and jumping with laughter, Zhang's face also showed a hint of emotion.

  It was not easy to get her hand out of Yang Zong's, but he refused to leave her side more than a meter away. He closely followed behind her, and every time Zhang looked at an item, regardless of whether she needed it or not, he would ask the shopkeeper to wrap it up directly, letting Zhen Ming help carry them.

  Zhang was made uncomfortable by these two followers and had to hastily select a few things she needed, then turned around and left the store.

  Sitting in the carriage, Yang Zuan kept asking Zhang Shi about what happened during his absence from Luoyang, not wanting to miss a single detail. Zhang Shi patiently explained everything to him, including being shot and injured by Pei Qian Tong, and later meeting Changsun Beier's son, but only concealed the fact that she had secretly kissed him at the inn in Yichuan.

  Yang Cong clenched his fists and gritted his teeth after hearing her account: "That scoundrel Pei Qian Tong, this young master will one day make him return to the countryside to farm! Sister Zhang, don't be afraid, as long as I'm here, whoever dares to bully you again, I won't forgive him!"

  "Ah Tong, thank you. You've already helped me a lot. If you have the chance, please thank Eldest Granddaughter for me and tell her I'm okay now."

  Yang Cong heard this and became somewhat pleased: "Fortunately, I had already mentioned you to Sister Bei Er earlier, or else the consequences would have been unthinkable!"

  Zhen Ming bitterly said on the side, "When something happens, you're nowhere to be seen. Now that it's all over, you jump out to take credit and ask for rewards. You really know how to take advantage of the situation."

  Yang Cong was shocked and immediately stood up, grabbing Zhen Mingshu's collar and shouting: "You dare to appear in front of me! I haven't settled the account with you for stealing Eldest Sister's things yet. If it wasn't for me stopping Eldest Sister, your family would have been arrested by the government long ago! Tell me, what did you steal from Eldest Sister?"

  Zhen Ming sighed and shrugged: "How was I supposed to know she lost something? Can't catch the thief, don't frame someone else, slander a good person, is that okay? What do you think I am? Do I look like someone who would steal from others?"

  Yang Dang half believed and half doubted: "You really didn't steal?"

  "I'll only take back what originally belonged to me!"

  Zhen Ming's eyes were cast downward, staring at Yang Zhuang's hands grasping his collar, as he spoke slowly and deliberately: "You've pulled on my clothes with such force three times now. I can overlook the offense, but you've torn my most treasured garment to shreds. Do you know that this was sewn for me by my beloved, stitch by stitch? It's the best thing I own, a warm and loving token that feels warmer than a hundred high-quality wool sweaters. It's priceless to me, and now you've caused irreparable damage. I demand compensation of one thousand two silver coins."

  When Zhen Ming bitterly said "a thousand two silver coins", Zhang Shi, who was originally uneasy when he mentioned the three words "heart's desire", couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  Yang looked at Zhang with a suspicious face, then turned his head to look at Zhen Mingshu. Although Zhang hadn't said a word to Zhen on the way, he always felt that something had happened between his sister and Zhen that he didn't know about. The atmosphere between them was very subtle, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

  He let go of Zhen Mingshu with a snort and said, "Even the clothes made by Sister Bei herself are only worth one hundred taels, but this tattered garment of yours that's full of patches is worth one thousand taels? Do you think it's made of gold?"

  "It's worth the money, and it's even more valuable than gold! These patches were all sewn on by my loved one with meticulous care, embodying their deep affection for me. I usually don't dare to wear them out, but now I'm asking for 1,000 yuan in cash - not a single cent less! Are you going to give it to me or not?!"

  "I'll give you 1,000 slaps!"

  "These clothes are from the Changsun Clothing Store, I reckon they're worth a few taels of silver!" Zhen Ming said bitterly as she began to undress Yang Zhuang.

  "This dress was made by Belle's sister herself, you dare to take it off and try it on!"

  "You also know how precious the clothes made by the one in your heart are. Why don't you think about the warmth of love on my body for me?"

  "You have someone on your mind! A old scoundrel!"