Village Belle Chapter 137
Translated by Digitalian (ko-fi)
Chapter 137: Milksop Giving Her Attitude
Anyway, it wasn't the first time they'd held hands, so Su Tao didn't say anything more. Her gaze wandered from the textile store to the jewelry store, and finally to the pastry store.
"Milksop, buy me two meat pies," she said, pointing to the store with a long line.
"Okay."
Xie Yuntang led her to join the line. Being a handsome couple, they attracted a lot of attention, including a man in gray who had his eye on Xie Yuntang.
After a while, it was their turn. Xie Yuntang took out his purse and said gently, "Two..."
Before he could finish, someone suddenly snatched his purse from his hand, causing him to stumble. He instinctively reached for Su Tao's hand, but missed.
Before he could even see clearly, he cried out anxiously, "Sister Taozi!"
He was afraid Su Tao would be abducted.
Su Tao, seeing someone stealing money, reacted quickly, grabbing the thief's sleeve. "Thief, give me back the money! Shame on you for being a thief when you’re fit and strong!"
The thief, trying to break free, saw more and more people approaching and hit her on the forehead.
Su Tao, focused on grabbing him, took the blow, her head spinning.
Xie Yuntang's expression immediately changed. His usually gentle and agreeable demeanor vanished, and he instinctively kicked the thief.
The thief fell to the ground, clutching his chest and crying out in pain, but reacted swiftly, getting up and running away.
Ignoring him, Xie Yuntang reached out to support the dazed Su Tao, his face deathly pale, as if he himself had been beaten. He anxiously asked, "Sister Taozi, how are you?"
Su Tao shook her head, and after a while, she regained her senses, clutching her forehead and cursing, "You son of a bitch, it hurts so much!"
Hearing her complaining of pain, Xie Yuntang's first instinct was to go to the medical hall. He bent down and carried her. "Sister Taozi, don't be afraid. I'll take you to see a physician right away."
He felt an indescribable sense of guilt.
He had failed to protect Sister Taozi.
Suddenly, she was lifted into the air, startling Su Tao. Looking at Xie Yuntang’s handsome jawline, she said, "I'm fine. Put me down. Hurry and report to the authorities, otherwise we won’t get the money back again."
Saying this, she angrily muttered, "Doesn't the magistrate care? We've been robbed twice already."
Actually, it was quite normal for thieves to target Xie Yuntang. His clothes clearly indicated he was a wealthy young master, and with his gentle appearance, of course he was an obvious target.
Seeing that she didn't care about her own injuries but was worried about the money, Xie Yuntang's brows furrowed with anger. "Sister Taozi, money isn’t important."
He felt a chill of fear just thinking about it. If that thief had brought a dagger or something, she would be in a more serious situation.
He quickly carried her to a nearby medical hall. "Physician, please take a look at her. Someone hit her on the head just now."
The physician examined the red mark on Su Tao's face, then took her pulse before quickly retracting his hand. "It’s nothing serious. Are you feeling dizzy?"
Apart from the burning pain in her cheek, she felt fine. Su Tao shook her head. "I'm fine."
"Then it's nothing serious. Just apply some ointment, three times a day. The swelling will go down in two or three days."
The physician turned and took a bottle of ointment, adding, "Half a tael of silver."
Hearing that Su Tao was alright, Xie Yuntang let out a sigh of relief, then bowed and thanked the physician. "Thank you, Physician. Someone robbed my purse just now. Could I pay you later? We're staying at the Yinglai Inn."
The doctor, seeing his clothes, didn't think he was poor and hesitated for a moment. "How about I have my assistant go with you? That way you won't have to make another trip."
Xie Yuntang was about to say something when his sleeve was tugged. Su Tao complained about the price, saying, "No need, it'll be fine in a few days anyway."
She had been beaten so badly by Mrs. Su-Qian before, but she was still alive and well.
"No."
Xie Yuntang refused outright, saying to the physician, "Please have someone come over."
"I already said it's not necessary, Milksop. Do you have too much money to spare?" Su Tao genuinely felt it was unnecessary to buy the ointment. She tried to pull him away.
However, she couldn't even move him an inch now.
Looking at her swollen cheek, Xie Yuntang felt inexplicably angry, angry that she didn't care about her own injury.
He didn't reply, but nodded to the physician, signaling for someone to come with him.
Su Tao and Xie Yuntang didn't speak along the way. Su Tao realized Xie Yuntang seemed angry. She touched her nose. Why was he angry? He wasn't the one who got hit.
And it was all because she wanted to get back the money for him.
She wasn't even angry with him for having someone stolen his purse while he was buying a pie.
Now she'd been beaten and hadn't even gotten to eat any pies.
The three returned to the inn. Su Tao glanced at Xie Yuntang, who had remained silent, and felt inexplicably uncomfortable. "I'm going back to my room," she said, leaving without waiting for him.
Milksop had grown up and dared to be angry with her now.
If it were before, he'd already be blowing on the injury on her face.
And he would even buy her lots of food to appease her.
This realization made her uncomfortable, extremely uncomfortable, as if the "child" she'd raised was about to rebel.
Xie Yuntang was about to call out when she disappeared. He quickly instructed the innkeeper, "Give him half a tael of silver, and have someone buy two meat pies and a lotus-scented chicken." Then he strode upstairs.
Just as she was about to close the door, Xie Yuntang reached out and stopped her, calling out urgently, "Sister Taozi."
Su Tao glared at him, annoyed. "Why did you call me? I don't want to talk to you. I got beaten because of you, yet you're still giving me attitude."
"I'm not giving you attitude. I'm angry that you don't even care about yourself. Your face is all swollen, yet you're still worried about the money."
"You shouldn't have grabbed that guy. What if he had a knife?"
Xie Yuntang paused, then said seriously, "Sister Taozi, money isn't as important as you."
In his heart, besides his parents, Sister Taozi was the most important person.
Hearing this, Su Tao was stunned. His words made her a little scared, but her first reaction at that time was to snatch back his purse.
Now that she thought about it, she was glad that Milksop had kicked the thief, otherwise she definitely wouldn't have been hit just once.
She opened the door and let him in, awkwardly saying, "I won't do it again next time."
"I'll put some ointment on you."
Xie Yuntang heaved a sigh of relief, went into the house, and then took out some ointment.
Su Tao took the ointment and applied it on her face, still thinking about his purse. "How much money do you have in your purse?"
It looked like the purse contained quite a lot of money.
Thinking of buying things for Su Tao, Xie Yuntang had brought two hundred-tael silver notes and some loose silver, totaling over two hundred taels.
He didn't hide it from her. "A little over two hundred taels."
"A little over two hundred taels? Then hurry up and report it to the authorities! If I had known, I would’ve stopped him even if I had to be hit a few more times. Even if you don't need those two hundred taels of silver, you can give them to me!"
Su Tao pushed Xie Yuntang away in exasperation, gesturing for him to report to the authorities immediately.
Xie Yuntang didn't care about reporting to the authorities at this moment, staring straight at her face. With his eyes full of heartache, he said, "Does your face hurt a lot? I'll get two eggs to roll on the injury for you."
