Song Si slept for the whole of the second day, and it was only on the third day that she slowed down. Thinking that she had promised Yue Er that she would take her out after her exams, she went downstairs early to ask the shopkeeper what fun places there were in the capital.
“Your Excellency can go to the Western Market to have a look, it is only open twice a year, once in spring and once in autumn, not only business people from all over the country come over, even foreign merchants take the opportunity to come over and sell a wide range of things, lion dancers, jugglers, everything.”
Song Si asked for more details about the location of the Western Market, went back upstairs, took the silver, went to Song Wan Yue’s house, saw that the two were playing a game, and walked over to watch.
“Big brother coming?”
Song Wangyue gave way for a moment.
“Sure.”
Ever since she had learned to play chess with Gu Yi on her way to the capital last year, Song Si had enjoyed it, and then when she had gone to the academy, she had occasionally played two games with the dean.
Song Wan Yue got up and Song Si sat down and picked up the chess pieces, looking at the situation on the board as she said, “Pack up, I’ll take you and Gu Yi to play in the West Market later.”
Gu Yi’s eyes flashed, and while he was getting the chess pieces he gave a gesture to Xiao Si, who turned around and went downstairs.
A game of chess was played for half an hour, Gu Yi won, Song Si was still not finished, “We will continue when we come back in the evening.”
“Sure.”
Gu Yi was a little proud, these days he and Song Wan Yue played chess, they also won more and lost less.
Song Si naturally saw it and flicked his head with his flexed finger, “Don’t be complacent yet, big brother just hasn’t played for a long time and his hands are raw, when I play a few more games, I will naturally win over you.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
The three of them went out and Xiao Si had already returned, secretly giving Gu Yi a gesture that he had delivered the letter, Gu Yi nodded slightly and went downstairs with Song Si and Song Wan Yue, got on the carriage and went to the western market.
The weather in mid-February was not too cold, so Song Wan Yue simply lifted the curtain and sat inside the carriage to look out, almost all the people on the street were heading towards the west market, those walking, those in carriages, it was so lively.
The West Market.
As the shopkeeper said, the West Market is very busy. From afar, I watched the beauty on the float dancing, and the sound of applause and cheers were all over the place.
The three of them got off the carriage, and Song Si and Gu Yi tacitly agreed to hold one of Song Wan Yue’s hands as they walked in with the crowd, while Xiao Si and a few of the boys followed closely behind.
There were several streets in the West Market, each with its own characteristics. The entrance was the Flower Street, with all kinds of flowers from the street to the end of the street, and further in was the Cloth Street, with the whole street selling all kinds of fabrics, silk, brocade, precious brocade, cloud brocade, Shu brocade, everything. Further in was the Book Street. Looking at all kinds of books from the street to the end of the street, Song Si could not walk any further and let go of his hand, picking up a book from the stall beside him and reading it.
Gu Yi was not interested in these, and after standing with him for a while, he could not stay any longer, and quietly took Song Wan Yue’s hand and pointed towards the street inside, where he could see clearly that jewellery was sold.
Song Wan Yue looked at Song Si and saw him looking intently, thinking that with his level of obsession he probably wouldn’t stop until he had read all the books he liked on the whole street, she spoke out, “Big brother.”
Song Si didn’t even raise his head and gave a muffled sound.
“Gu Yi and I will go for a walk around the street over there and come back for you later.”
“Good.”
Gu Yi left the two boys to guard him and dragged Song Wan Yue to the street in front of him.
The peddler here saw Song Si looking mesmerised and smiled as he pushed, “Gongzi, since you like it so much, buy this book, it’s not expensive, one tael of silver.”
“Mm.”
Song Si hmmed again and continued to see, not taking out any money.
The hawker wasn’t annoyed, his voice raised a little, “Gongzi, Gongzi!”
Song Si looked up, his thoughts still not taken out of the book, the peddler accompanied him with a smile, “Gongzi, if you like it, just buy the book.”
Only then did Song Si fully return to his senses, realising that he had been standing in front of someone’s stall reading a book, his face blushed a little for a moment, “Oh, okay, Yue’er, pay for it.”
Not hearing the turn back, he turned his head to see that there was no longer a figure of Song Wangyue beside him, and suddenly his face changed.
“Sir Song, Miss Song and our young master have gone to the street over there.”
The boy at the side hurriedly finished, and hurriedly added, “Miss Song gave you the word, and you answered at that time.”
Song Si had no recollection of this at all and put down his book to go and look for it, when the boy added, “Miss Song said that he and our young master would return after a turn, and asked you to wait for her on the book street so that they could find you when they returned.”
Song Si could only dismiss the idea of going to look for them, and picked up the book again, asked for the price, paid the silver, and continued to walk forward, looking at it as she went, and buying the ones she liked. The two boys had a pile of books in their hands before they had even finished half of the street.
After a few more stalls, Song Si saw a good book again and reached for it, but unexpectedly, a woman next to her also reached out for it, and Song Si’s hand met hers.
Both of them were stunned, then the woman quickly took a step back, Song Si’s face also reddened and she also took a step back, trying to explain, “Girl, I ……”
A man quickly walked past him and stole his money bag.
Song Si was unaware of it, but the woman saw it clearly and instructed her attendant, “Catch him!”
Song Si thought he was talking about himself and froze slightly.
The woman’s attendant ran quickly to catch up with the man and grabbed him back, who struggled and glared viciously at the woman.
“Hand over this gentleman’s money bag.”
Only then did Song Si hurriedly feel his body; the money bag was gone.
“Stinky woman, none of your business!”
The petty thief who stole the money uttered a slur, and the woman’s attendant slapped him across the face, and the thief’s face was deflected.
The attendant reached into his arms and pulled out a money bag, handing it to Song Si. The little thief took advantage of this and fought his way free, diving headlong into the crowd and darting away.
The attendant tried to go after him, but was shouted at by the woman, “Xiao An, forget it.”
Song Si took the money bag and gave the woman a salute, “Thank you very much, Miss.”
Today he had deliberately brought 500 taels with him, thinking of buying gifts for Song Wangyue and Gu Yi and the rest of his family.
“It’s just a handful, you’re welcome, my lord.”
The woman finished, nodded towards him and turned around to leave.
“Hold on, girl!”
The woman turned back to look at him in surprise.
Only after Song Si shouted did he realize that he had been abrupt. In his haste, he picked up the book he had just read and handed it to the woman with both hands, “You have done me a great favour, I have nothing to repay you for it, so this book is for you.”
The woman was even more surprised.
Song Si reacted with hindsight to what he had done and wanted to find a crack in the ground. He hurriedly explained, “Miss, I didn’t mean that, I, I, I ……”
Seeing him blushing and eager to explain, the woman pursed her lips and smiled, reaching out to take the book, saying graciously, “Then thank you very much, sir.”
Song Si felt his face was on fire and lowered his head, not daring to look at the woman for a second.
The woman turned around to leave again, but when she saw something out of the corner of her eye, her face changed and she reached out to tug Song Si towards her, “Sir, be careful!”