Xu Mu’an walked in front with Xiao Jingting following behind.
Along the way, quite a few people saw Xu Mu’an and Xiao Jingting walking together, all wearing strange expressions.
“Brother Jingting, where are you going?” came a sweet, soft voice.
Xiao Jingting looked toward the sound and discovered the speaker was a man. Although Xiao Jingting had already known that many Shuanger in this world were raised as girls, hearing a man speak like this still made his scalp tingle.
Seeing the newcomer’s appearance, memories in Xiao Jingting’s mind were suddenly awakened. When Xiao Jingting was with the Xiao family, besides Xu Mu’an, he had also had several concubines. When he was banished, those concubines weren’t willing to follow him to suffer hardship and had all abandoned Xiao Jingting to seek other opportunities.
Xiao Jingting was someone who couldn’t bear loneliness. After coming to Tuqiu Village, he had tried to flirt with several good-looking young men in the village. Most of the young men had ignored Xiao Jingting, but there were always exceptions—this Qiu Bai was one such exception.
Xiao Jingting loved hearing flattery, and Qiu Bai was skilled at pandering to his preferences, coaxing Xiao Jingting into spending quite a bit of silver on him. Qiu Bai was also capable—he had coaxed Xiao Jingting into obeying his every word, yet hadn’t allowed him to take any real advantage.
“I’m going to the forest,” Xiao Jingting said flatly.
“Going to the forest? The forest is so dangerous—Brother Xiao, how can you go to such a place?” Qiu Bai exclaimed in alarm. As he spoke, he cast reproachful glances at Xu Mu’an.
“I’m out of money. If I don’t go to the forest, I’ll starve to death. Might as well try my luck in the forest,” Xiao Jingting said flatly.
Xu Mu’an looked at Xiao Jingting strangely. This person cared most about face and liked to put on airs even when struggling. Yet now he was directly admitting he had no money.
Qiu Bai forced a smile and said, “Brother Xiao, what kind of joke are you making? Didn’t you just sell farmland? That was a large sum of money.”
“Lost it all gambling,” Xiao Jingting said. He was too embarrassed to mention buying Xiaoyao Powder, so he just said he had gambled it away.
Qiu Bai covered his mouth, showing a shocked expression. “Brother Jingting, your luck really isn’t very good! Don’t worry though—heaven never wastes talent, and scattered gold will return again. You’ll surely win it back.”
“I’m done talking. I’m leaving,” Xiao Jingting said coldly.
Xiao Jingting thought to himself: In his previous life, he had been one of the top ten outstanding young people! He rejected gambling, rejected prostitution, rejected drugs—he rejected all vice. But in this life, he was gambling, whoring, and doing drugs. Really, how had he transmigrated into such scum?
“Let’s go. The earlier we leave, the earlier we return,” Xiao Jingting urged Xu Mu’an.
Xu Mu’an nodded and said, “Alright.” Xu Mu’an had thought that with Qiu Bai coming up to them, Xiao Jingting would abandon the idea of going to the forest. He hadn’t expected the man’s resolve to be quite firm.
Qiu Bai watched the departing figures of Xiao Jingting and Xu Mu’an, a flash of contempt passing through his eyes.
“Little brother, how did it go?” Qiu Li came out.
Qiu Bai shook his head and said with some regret, “He’s lost it all—what a wastrel. No wonder he was driven out by the Xiao family. All that farmland, when pawned, must have been worth several hundred taels, but in the end…” Originally he had wanted to take some advantage, but he hadn’t expected this guy to squander money so quickly.
“This idiot really knows how to waste money. And you too, little brother—before when I told you to go find him, you kept making excuses. Now he’s spent all his money and we can’t get anything,” Qiu Li said with dissatisfaction.
Qiu Bai lowered his head. Previously, he and Xiao Jingting had had a small conflict, so he had wanted to give Xiao Jingting the cold shoulder for a few days. Who would have thought that in just a few days, Xiao Jingting would spend all his money?
“Big brother, do you think he’s lying? With so much silver, there’s no reason it would all be spent so quickly,” Qiu Bai said, thinking privately that Xiao Jingting might be angry with him and deliberately saying this.
“It should be true. Several of my friends told me that Xiao Jingting has been frequenting pleasure quarters and gambling dens in the city, and he’s also gotten addicted to Xiaoyao Powder. All of these things burn through money terribly. This wastrel probably really did burn through all his silver, which is why he’s going to the forest,” Qiu Li said.
A flash of disdain passed through Qiu Bai’s eyes. When Xiao Jingting first arrived at Tuqiu Village, his reputation had been quite good. Xiao Jingting was handsome, had decent abilities, owned twenty mu of farmland, and lived in a decent house. Unfortunately, before long, everyone discovered that Xiao Jingting was lazy and unreliable.
Qiu Bai had originally wanted to marry Xiao Jingting as a secondary wife. After recognizing Xiao Jingting’s true nature, he immediately abandoned this idea.
Following behind Xu Mu’an, Xiao Jingting couldn’t help feeling dejected. His relationship with Xu Mu’an had finally improved somewhat, but after that disturbance from Qiu Bai just now, Xu Mu’an’s expression seemed even worse.
“The forest is very dangerous. We’ll only operate on the outskirts,” Xu Mu’an said.
Xiao Jingting quickly nodded and declared his loyalty, saying, “I understand.”
