Mhm!
Ji Youlin was quite pleased with Xiaosuisui’s perceptiveness.
Due to his handsome appearance, he was often mistaken for a woman in disguise and had occasionally attracted the attention of certain individuals with peculiar tastes.
Consequently, he researched human-skin masks and some mechanisms.
"Look, what does Sixth Uncle look like now?"
When Xiaosuisui saw Ji Youlin put on the human-skin mask, his face changed from that of a handsome young man to an old man with white hair in his seventies or eighties; she was utterly amazed.
"Sixth Uncle, you’re too impressive!"
Xiaosuisui’s eyes widened, her heart tingling with excitement.
"I want to wear a mask too!"
"Go on, go on! What do you need a mask for? I don’t have any children’s playthings here."
He had serious business to attend to; how could he play house with a child here?
Seeing that Ji Youlin was ignoring her and wouldn’t let her play the "grand transformation" game, tears welled up in Xiaosuisui’s eyes.
Elder Mrs. Ji, happening upon this scene, walked over and slapped Ji Youlin on the head.
"You’re quite something, Old Six! To think you’re her own maternal uncle, and you haven’t even given her a meeting gift yet! Just give her a human-skin mask as a meeting gift."
The moment Elder Mrs. Ji spoke, Ji Youlin felt like he could cough up blood.
"Mother! Do you even know how much a human-skin mask is worth? These things are my lifesavers! She’s just a child and can’t use it. Giving it to her to play with would be a waste, wouldn’t it?"
Ji Youlin really couldn’t bear to give a human-skin mask to a little brat to play with!
"You’re really not going to give it to her?" Elder Mrs. Ji came over, hands on her hips, and asked, staring into Ji Youlin’s eyes.
Ji Youlin hesitated for a moment. His mother...
"Fine, I’ll give it to her, alright? But none of these masks are child-sized. I’ll have to modify one for her, so it’ll take a moment!"
Defeated by his mother’s gaze, Ji Youlin immediately picked up a mask and started to modify it.
"Hurry up, we need to leave."
"Almost done!"
Soon enough, Ji Youlin had modified the human-skin mask and put it on the little girl.
"Go look in the mirror and see if you like it," Ji Youlin said, mischievously telling Xiaosuisui to look at herself.
Ecstatic, Xiaosuisui rushed off. But when she looked into the mirror, she was completely stunned.
"Why do I have such a huge scar on my face?" Xiaosuisui pouted. Her reflection looked quite frightening.
Elder Mrs. Ji came over to take a look. "Oh dear, I can’t bear to look!" she exclaimed, then gave Old Six another slap.
"You scoundrel, you did this on purpose, didn’t you? Couldn’t you have made it look a bit nicer?"
Ji Youlin shrugged. "There are no more. This is the only one. Take it or leave it!"
Upon hearing this, the little girl nodded vigorously. "I want it, I want it, I want it!"
Fearing that her Sixth Uncle wouldn’t give it to her, she put on the mask and ran out of the Inn.
"Hey, wait! You can’t just go around like that!" Ji Youlin chased after her, holding a beggar’s outfit.
Seeing the clothes Ji Youlin was holding, Elder Mrs. Ji’s brow twitched. "What are you planning to do?"
Ji Youlin replied, "The mask she’s wearing is the standard beggar edition. I need to get her a matching outfit for it to be appropriate."
This interlude with Xiaosuisui wanting to wear a mask changed their plans. What was originally a mission to enjoy a leisurely time drinking tea with Elder Mrs. Ji at the Tea House had now transformed. Xiaosuisui and Ji Youlin found themselves squatting by the back door of Great Benefactor Xu’s home, each holding a broken bowl.
A servant boy walked over, glanced at Ji Youlin, and started to walk past. But then he caught sight of Xiaosuisui, turned back, and dropped a few copper coins into her broken bowl.
"Such a young child with such a large scar on her face. Truly pitiful!"
Xiaosuisui was speechless for a moment. Yes, yes! I’m so pitiful. So, does being pitiful earn me copper coins?
Ji Youlin was speechless.
They were both scarred masks! So why, when he’d disguised himself like this before, had no one ever thought he was pitiful enough to give him copper coins?