Chapter 15

The next day, after Yun Pianpian got up and washed, she went to the kitchen to rinse rice and prepare the meal. Xiao Changyuan took the initiative to help her light the fire.
After lunch, just as Yun Pianpian was about to shoulder her bamboo basket and head up the mountain with Xiao Changyuan, she heard his calm voice.
“Wife, we’re not going into the mountains today.”
Yun Pianpian paused, turning back to look at Xiao Changyuan in surprise.
“Husband, didn’t you say yesterday that you wanted me to go with you into the mountains?”
Xiao Changyuan said lightly, “Today, I’d like to stroll around the city.”
Hearing the words “go to the city,” Yun Pianpian was so delighted that she didn’t mind Xiao Changyuan’s habit of changing plans on a whim. She curved her eyes into a smile.
“Alright then, let’s set off right away.”
Xiao Changyuan frowned slightly. “Aren’t you going to ask me why I want to go to the city?”
Yun Pianpian blinked her dewy almond, shaped eyes. “Does one need a reason to go shopping? If you feel like it, just go! Does life really need so many reasons?”
Upon hearing this, Xiao Changyuan fell silent for a moment, rendered speechless.
“You're right, wife.”
Yun Pianpian smiled, feeling that her own words were particularly reasonable.
She was naturally quite narcissistic and exceptionally skilled at pleasing herself.
Yun Pianpian cheerfully returned to her room and opened her treasure chest.
Inside the chest lay all of her and Xiao Changyuan's belongings. Yun Pianpian took out one hundred taels of silver. Although she couldn't control her spending habits, she could control how much silver she carried with her, thus indirectly restraining her urge to splurge.
She really was a clever little genius for coming up with such an idea.
Thinking this, Yun Pianpian felt immensely proud of herself.
Just as they stepped out of the village entrance, they heard Xie Yu's voice calling from behind.
“Sister Pianpian, are you heading out?”
Yun Pianpian turned around and saw Xie Yu driving an ox cart laden with goods.
In the blink of an eye, Xie Yu pulled the cart to a stop right in front of them.
Yun Pianpian looked up at Xie Yu. “We're going to the county town.”
Xie Yu's peach, blossom eyes curved into a smile. “Perfect timing, I'm heading to the county town to sell some goods. I can give you a ride.”
Yun Pianpian couldn't have asked for more. “Thank you so much!”
The two of them climbed onto Xie Yu's ox cart.
Yun Pianpian grinned at Xiao Changyuan.
The villain's aura was truly powerful, every time they went out, they managed to catch a ride.
Xiao Changyuan didn't understand why Yun Pianpian was staring at him and smiling.
His wife always seemed so cheerful.
Maybe fools are just easily amused, he thought expressionlessly.
After about an hour and a half, they arrived in the county town. Yun Pianpian immediately dashed to the bookstore and bought several storybooks.
Without modern entertainment like television or phones in ancient times, she could only pass the time by reading these tales.
Xiao Changyuan said, “Wife, I want to buy silver bowls.”
Since it was rare for him to express interest in buying something, Yun Pianpian didn't hesitate and took him straight to the silverware shop.
“Pick whichever one you like, dear husband, don't hold back.”
Yun Pianpian's tone was extravagantly generous, and Xiao Changyuan didn't hold back at all.
He casually selected two silver bowls, two pairs of silver chopsticks, two silver spoons, one silver pot, and two silver cups.
Yun Pianpian's face gradually turned pale.
He really hadn't held back.
The shopkeeper, thrilled to have such a big spender, enthusiastically tallied the bill.
“You have excellent taste, young master. These silver bowls and chopsticks are our shop's bestsellers. The bowls are six taels each, the chopsticks two taels per pair, the spoons two taels each, the pot twelve taels, and the cups three taels each. Your total comes to thirty-eight taels.”
Yun Pianpian hadn't expected Xiao Changyuan to be even more extravagant than she was.
That day she had spent over a hundred taels only after wandering the market all day.
Yet Xiao Changyuan had spent thirty-eight taels in the blink of an eye.
As Yun Pianpian paid, her heart bled.
She desperately comforted herself.
A tyrant is a tyrant, if he weren't extravagant and indulgent, how could he be called a tyrant?
Yun Pianpian quickly convinced herself.
Her face pale, she finished paying.
Carrying the silverware, the two slowly left the shop.
This was the luxury street, with goldsmiths, jewelry shops, and jade stores neighboring the silverware shop.
Yun Pianpian watched Xiao Changyuan nervously, afraid his gaze would land on the goldsmith.
Fortunately, after buying the silverware, Xiao Changyuan didn't purchase anything else.
Yun Pianpian breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Their impoverished family truly couldn't afford to support two spendthrifts.
Yun Pianpian said tactfully, “Husband, I think our family can only have one spendthrift.”
Xiao Changyuan paused in his steps, was there anyone who would refer to themselves as a spendthrift like that?
His wife's words often left him speechless.
Xiao Changyuan turned his face aside, feeling somewhat helpless, and comforted Yun Pianpian with an expressionless face.
“Don't worry, wife. You can be the spendthrift. I won't compete with you.”
Only then did the heavy stone in Yun Pianpian's heart slowly settle.
The two arrived early under the phoenix tree, waiting for Xie Yu to pick them up. Yun Pianpian went to the pastry shop and bought a good amount of snacks.
Xie Yu finished work early that day and drove them back to Jiangjia Village in his ox cart.
After returning home, Yun Pianpian placed all the silverware she had bought into a pot of boiling water to sterilize it.
The more she boiled it, the more beautiful it seemed.
You have to admit, expensive things really do have their reasons for being expensive.
When the silverware was submerged in the water, it seemed to glow, crystal clear and shimmering, incredibly beautiful.
After sterilizing the silverware, Yun Pianpian wiped each piece dry with a cloth, unable to put them down, and said affectionately, “When we make a fortune in the future, let's buy two small golden bowls to eat from. Golden bowls must be even more beautiful than silver ones.”
When it came to being a spendthrift, no one could surpass her.
Hearing this, Xiao Changyuan felt somewhat speechless. He lowered his gaze to look at Yun Pianpian.
“Do you know why I bought silver bowls, my dear?”
Yun Pianpian replied matter, of, factly, “Naturally, it's because silver bowls are beautiful, and you want us to live a more refined life.”
“Wrong.”
Xiao Changyuan raised his eyes to look at her, his dark, deep pupils cold and calm.
“It's because silverware turns black when it comes into contact with poison.”
His wife was so naive that Xiao Changyuan worried she might be sold off and still be counting the money for the seller.
Upon hearing this, Yun Pianpian's pretty face suddenly turned deathly pale.
“Do you mean someone is trying to poison us?”
Seeing her pale complexion, Xiao Changyuan frowned slightly.
“It's just a suspicion for now. There's no need for you to worry, wife.”
Yun Pianpian scrunched up her face. You have the halo of a villain, so of course you don't have to worry, but what about me?
I'm just a lowly background character, and a short, lived one at that.
In the original story, the little palace maid and Xiao Changyuan had relied on each other for survival in Jiangjia Village for three years, only to end up dying at the hands of the male lead, Chu Yi.
Now that she had transmigrated into the little palace maid's body, everything was different. Even the slightest change in the plot could trigger a massive butterfly effect, and Yun Pianpian worried she might not live until that time.
Seeing her face as pale as paper, Xiao Changyuan began to regret telling her about it.
“Wife, don’t worry, I will protect you.”
If your protection were truly effective, the little palace maid in the original story wouldn’t have died.
Yun Pianpian said with a pale face, “Husband, if I die, you must not marry anyone else.”
How could she let another woman take advantage of the tyrant she had worked so hard to tame?
Xiao Changyuan frowned. “You won’t be in any danger.”
Yun Pianpian, her eyes brimming with tears, said, “You must not forget me.”
She didn’t want to become a fleeting presence in Xiao Changyuan’s life, a passing cloud.
Xiao Changyuan said, “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Yun Pianpian sobbed, “I’m doomed.”
Xiao Changyuan abruptly grabbed Yun Pianpian’s slender wrist, his dark, cold eyes tinged with a hint of ferocity.
“I told you, I won’t let anything happen to you. I won’t let you die.”
Yun Pianpian was taken aback. She looked up and saw Xiao Changyuan’s icy, handsome face.
His originally aloof and elegant features were now covered with a layer of frost and chill, as if a storm were brewing.
His deep, dark eyes, turbulent and intense, were fixed intently on her face.
It felt as though a violent storm was about to break.
Yun Pianpian had never seen Xiao Changyuan look so stern and cold before. A wave of grievance washed over her, and tears welled up in her almond, shaped eyes.
“If you say so, then so be it. Why are you suddenly so harsh with me?”
Xiao Changyuan’s brows furrowed deeply, his cold, profound gaze as if frozen.
He stared fixedly at Yun Pianpian, his low voice tinged with hoarseness.
“I don’t want to hear the word 'death' from your lips.”
Hearing this, Yun Pianpian was momentarily stunned.
Why didn’t he want to hear the word “death”?
Was the tyrant actually worried about her?
At this thought, Yun Pianpian felt a bit comforted. It seemed this great tyrant still had a shred of conscience.
All her efforts to deceive him for so long hadn’t been in vain.
You have no idea how exhausting it is to lie to someone.