Chapter 248
Assassin (2)
Xie Xuanchen shook his head after hearing Mu Mingtang’s words, and gave a sarcastic reply, “Who knows, maybe my father didn’t think much when choosing a name for me, and he simply named me ‘Chen’ just because I was born in the Year of the Dragon. Oh! It seemed like your father also hadn’t thought about it clearly as he named you ‘Tang’.”
[T/N: “Tang” means a sharp flavour or smell. When you eat something sour, you taste a tang. It also means cherry apple.]
Mu Mingtang listened to Xie Xuanchen with an abashed look on her face. Whether Xie Xuanchen agreed or not, there was a possibility that his father had purposefully given him this name. However, she was well aware of her deceased father’s character and way of thinking, calling her “Tang” undoubtedly felt insulting, and also the reason why she couldn’t refute Xie Xuanchen.
To hide her embarrassment, she quickly tried to change the topic and said to the candy store owner, “Boss! Give me a dragon figurine!”
After she finished placing her order, she gave Xie Xuanchen a careful glance: “What about you?”
Xie Xuanchen thought for a while as he looked at various sugar figurines and said, “Then I want begonias.”
Surprised, Mu Mingtang asked, “Can they make it?”
Xie Xuanchen casually looked at the stall owner: “Can’t you?”
Though his voice was calm and without any emotions, the look in his eyes was threatening enough to cause the stall owner to tremble, trying to control his fear, the stall owner replied, “Yes, yes, I can.”
Satisfied with his answer, Xie Xuanchen nodded and answered Mu Mingtang’s earlier question: “Look, he said he can do it.”
After that Xie Xuanchen gave the stall owner a cruel look: “Don’t think of fooling me by making just a flower-shaped candy. You must make it look like a real begonia.”
The stall owner was so terrified that he was unable to speak; all he could do was nod his head. After waiting for a while, Mu Mingtang was the first to get her dragon sugar figurine. When Mu Mingtang looked at the transparent and bright dragon, her eyes twinkled with joy. “Oh! This looks so realistic, looking at this masterpiece I don’t even want to eat it.”
At this time, Xie Xuanchen also got his own begonia flower sugar figurine. He looked at it, turned around twice, raised his eyes and looked at the stall owner suspiciously: “Are you sure you want to fool me?”
“My lord, what I made is really a begonia flower.” The stall owner gave a timid reply.
Mu Mingtang, who was enjoying the dragon candy, came to the stall owner’s rescue, “Yes, it looks like a begonia flower.”
Feeling puzzled, Xie Xuanchen lowered his head and stared hard at the begonia flower condensed from sugar. The more he looked at it, the more confused he felt. ‘Does this really resemble a begonia flower as they say? Then why can’t I see it?’
When Xie Xuanchen and Mu Mingtang were finally about to leave the stall, one of the guards behind them came forward to pay the stall owner as per Xie Xuanchen’s instructions. When the terrified stall owner was rewarded generously, he finally felt relieved and suddenly burst out laughing.
‘Although this handsome gentleman was difficult to serve, at least he was very generous.’ It was the impression that the stall owner got from Xie Xuanchen.
After the little episode at the candy stall passed, Mu Mingtang and Xie Xuanchen walked on the bustling street while holding their sugar figurines, suddenly something caught Mu Mingtang’s attention, she pulled Xie Xuanchen’s sleeve and pointed: “What is that?”
Xie Xuanchen looked at the direction pointed by Mu Mingtang only to find that someone was performing a magic trick. There was a potted tree which was decorated with colourful lanterns and the man was shouting something, trying to attract the audience.
Puzzled, Mu Mingtang asked, “What is he doing?”
“I don’t know.” Xie Xuanchen also looked at the scene for a while and truthfully answered. Mu Mingtang glanced at him helplessly: “You still dare to say that you are not outdated. Look, you don’t even know what is popular now.”
Xie Xuanchen was dumbfounded by Mu Mingtang’s unexpected jab. It made him finally realise how old fashioned he appeared to be. He couldn’t even quite understand the new tricks used to attract the audience in the capital. It seemed that the capital in his mind still existed similar to before he was fifteen. At that time, he was either engaged in battle or usurping the throne after being coerced into the army, and he had never shown interest in the Capital city’s entertainment.