Ch 204 (Extra 15): The Farmer Ger in the Apocalypse

Qu Weiwei Side Story 4

Qu Weiwei brought Li Nan back to Lantang Village. On the way back, they passed a clothing shop, and she bought him several new outfits.

The clothes Li Nan wore and carried in his bundle were all rough cloth, some even patched up. They looked rather shabby. This clothing shop was just along the road and not especially large, but Qu Weiwei still had the shopkeeper take down every outfit Li Nan could possibly wear and hold them up against him one by one.

Li Nan lived in the county and did not need to work in the fields. Usually he only helped his father, who sold shaobing, with kneading dough and fetching water in the kitchen. His skin was properly fair from being sheltered indoors, and it was rather delicate too. Almost any color suited him.

Li Nan’s original clothing consisted mostly of dull shades like lake blue and dark green. But after comparing only two outfits against him, Qu Weiwei completely focused on goose yellow, powder blue, and soft rosy-red colors.

Pretty. So pretty.

She even wanted to hold up a couple little skirts for comparison…

Hiss…

No, no. This was not a dress-up doll. This was a living human being. How could she think like this?!

Qu Weiwei fought an internal battle with herself for a moment, suppressing many disgraceful thoughts. She picked out several outfits she considered absolutely heavenly and stuffed them into Li Nan’s hands, trying hard to sound casual while secretly full of anticipation.

“Do you like them? Want to try them on?”

The shopkeeper lady immediately pulled out needle and thread with practiced movements. Seeing such a large sale right before her eyes, she was grinning so hard her face nearly split.

“These colors suit the ge’er extremely well! Why not try them on? If anything doesn’t fit properly, I can alter it right now.”

Li Nan did not even know where to place his hands and feet anymore.

When had he ever worn colors like these? Only the prettiest girls and ge’er in the alley dressed this brightly. Now that he himself was supposed to wear them, he felt awkward all over. Someone with his appearance did not seem suited to them at all.

But… but Tai-tai was looking at him again with that scorching gaze. Li Nan suddenly felt his heartbeat speeding up for no reason, and even his face began to burn.

He did not say whether he liked the clothes or not. Suppressing his embarrassment, he took the garments and turned into the inner room. Before long, he came out wearing the soft rosy-red outfit. Earlier, Tai-tai had held this one against him for quite a long time, her eyes sparkling like they were filled with stars.

Tai-tai liked this one.

Sure enough, when he stepped out, Tai-tai revealed that expression again, the one that made his face burn red. Her eyes looked even brighter this time, as though tiny flames had been lit inside them.

Li Nan awkwardly tugged at the hem of his clothes and asked softly,

“Does it look good?”

Qu Weiwei felt like her ability was about to spiral out of control again. Her fingers itched restlessly.

She hurriedly turned her head aside.

“It looks good. Shopkeeper, check if anything doesn’t fit and alter it. Wrap up all the rest for me too.”

Li Nan stared at the back of Qu Weiwei’s head after she turned away, feeling a little disappointed and confused. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. Still, he avoided the shopkeeper’s hands.

“The sleeves are a bit long. I can fix them myself once I get back. It’s only a few stitches.”

Qu Weiwei nodded absentmindedly.

“That works too.”

And so she once again led along a tall ge’er dressed in rosy-red clothes toward the northern district estate before taking the mule cart back to Lantang Village.

The shopkeeper accepted the silver with a grin so wide her teeth nearly showed completely, though she could not help muttering under her breath:

“The tastes of rich people really are strange. Dressing a ge’er like that in rosy-red and pale yellow… tsk tsk.”

Qu Weiwei: What do you know?? Rosy-red is delicate and adorable!!

After returning to Lantang Village, Shen Qing and Song Kaiji were surprised to see that she had bought someone back, though they did not say much. Once they heard about Li Nan’s situation, they became even more sympathetic.

Shen Qing called over a maid and instructed her to prepare a room for Li Nan. Then he said to him:

“You can stay here peacefully for now. In a few days, go study in the village school first. After studying for a few months, whether you want to stay in the village workshops or work at the shops in the county will be up to you.”

Of course Li Nan still wanted to return to the county. His parents and family were there. But after lowering his head and thinking quietly for a moment, he turned toward Qu Weiwei and said softly:

“I want to serve Tai-tai.”

“Ah?”

Qu Weiwei froze for a moment and guiltily rubbed her nose.

“I don’t really need…”

She did not even live here. She only came occasionally for work and to wander around the streets a little. Sometimes many days passed before she appeared once, and she never stayed overnight. Why would she need someone assigned specifically to serve her?

She only knew how to pick things up, not raise them…

She suddenly remembered how, back in elementary school, she had cried and begged to bring home a kitten from countryside relatives. Yet before long, all the feeding, cleaning, and care got dumped onto her mother while she herself only played with the cat.

Why did this situation feel a little similar? Like an irresponsible elementary schooler…

No, wait. She was just helping someone. She had already helped him. What further responsibility was there?

“You should focus on studying in the village first. We’ll talk about everything else later. You still need to study for several months.”

Li Nan had just entered a completely new environment, so he was probably overly dependent on her right now. After a few months of studying and getting familiar with everyone, things would surely improve.

“Oh…”

Li Nan looked disappointed. Following the little maid, he kept turning back every few steps while Qu Weiwei continued watching him leave, her gaze strangely sticky and lingering.

Song Kaiji rubbed his chin and thought for a while.

“Have we met that ge’er before? Why does he look so familiar?”

Then he turned toward Qu Weiwei.

“Did you take a liking to him? Do you like him?”

That ge’er was wearing a brand-new rosy-red outfit that cinched tightly at the waist. At first glance, it screamed Qu Weiwei’s vulgar tastes…

“I do quite like him. Who doesn’t like pretty little beauties?” Qu Weiwei laughed awkwardly. “But if you mean actually doing anything, then no. I just talk a little.”

Actually, she barely even talked about it. Mostly she just fantasized silently in her head.

“If you really like him, why not try? You’ve been single for so many years already. Having some thoughts like that is perfectly normal, isn’t it?”

Song Kaiji had Shen Qing. Tang Wenjie had Qi Zhan. Chen Jiaqian had a husband and children. Among all of them, only Qu Weiwei was still single. As a friend, Song Kaiji sincerely supported her finding her own springtime romance.

Qu Weiwei looked speechless.

“How exactly am I supposed to try? He’s a ge’er. If Shen Qing had never gotten together with you, do you think he would suddenly like women?”

Shen Qing was abruptly dragged into the conversation. After seriously imagining it for a moment, he shook his head with difficulty.

He had heard Ning-ge’er mention before that there was a teahouse by the river where storytellers loved telling half-lewd tales like these. Relationships between women and ge’er were not nonexistent in the world, but they were definitely rare. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. At the very least, Shen Qing himself had grown up believing he was meant to marry a man. It was difficult for him to mentally make that turn.

“See?” Qu Weiwei waved her hand. “I just felt sorry for him and wanted to help him. I was doing a good deed. If I forced him… then what kind of person would that make me?”

Anyway, she had already been single for so many years that she was used to it. Occasionally admiring beautiful men and secretly doting on them in her imagination was enough to satisfy her. Sometimes having her spiritual cravings fulfilled felt even more comfortable than actually dating someone.

Right after saying that, her expression suddenly sharpened.

“Who’s there?”

Instinctively she almost activated her ability, but then remembered this was ancient times. She strode forward two steps and pushed the door open.

Li Nan stood outside, holding a teapot in one hand while the other waved awkwardly.

“On the way over, the girl bringing tea burned her hand. The older sister leading me went to help her find medicine, so I brought the tea over instead…”

Standing face-to-face with Qu Weiwei, Li Nan stammered out a couple explanations before suddenly setting down the teapot and turning to run away.

Qu Weiwei: ……

How much of that conversation did he hear just now? Combined with all the things that happened while buying clothes, would he think she was some kind of pervert now?!

She was shattered.

Speechless, she gestured helplessly toward Song Kaiji and Shen Qing.

“…Forget it. I’m going back to the base.”

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