143 Nightmare
In the end, Xiao Juan could not resist the girl’s pestering and his attitude softened.
“I can give you the money, but you have to agree to one condition.”
Yu Niaoniao hurriedly said, “Tell me!”
Xiao Juan said in a low voice, “You can’t spend this money recklessly, especially not in those shady places.”
Yu Niaoniao blinked.
“What’s a shady place?”
Xiao Juan said word by word, “Flowery streets and willow alleys.”
Yu Niaoniao nodded without hesitation.
She just couldn’t go to the red-light district. It didn’t matter. Anyway, she had money and could spend money to invite people to her house to perform!
Xiao Juan did not know what she was thinking.
When she agreed, he took out two hundred taels of silver and placed them in her claws.
Yu Niaoniao quickly pocketed the money.
Looking at her nervous little face, it was as if she had a peerless treasure.
“Your Highness, please enjoy. I’ll leave first.”
She blew the man a kiss and scampered off.
Xiao Juan was helpless and scolded in a low voice.
“You little money-grubber.”
After dinner, Yu Niaoniao took a hot bath as usual and went to bed comfortably.
Probably because she’d seen the corpses during the day, she had a nightmare.
Rain continued to fall in her dreams.
Ignoring the obstruction of others, she staggered into the ruins.
She wrapped her arms around the charred beam and struggled to move it away, revealing the body beneath it.
The body had been burned beyond recognition. The limbs were crushed and misshapen.
But she recognized her at once.
A hoarse cry escaped her throat-
“Mother! Mother!!”
Yu Niaoniao suddenly opened her eyes and woke up from her dream crying.
The house was silent except for her slightly rapid breathing.
It was so dark that she couldn’t see her fingers.
She sat up and wiped her face.
Unsurprisingly, she felt wetness on her hand.
Yu Niaoniao wiped her face with her sleeve.
She grabbed the red string hanging around her neck and pulled out a small Maitreya jade pendant.
This was a gift specially given to her by Madam Xie on her tenth birthday. It was said that Madam Xie had even specially sent this jade pendant to the temple and asked an eminent monk to bless it to ward off evil and protect her.
All these years, Yu Niaoniao had always worn it close to her body.
She held the jade pendant in both hands and tightened her grip on it bit by bit.
“Mother, I miss you.But I’ll never see you again.”
… .
The next morning.
Yu Niaoniao changed and walked out the door. The sun shone on her.
She stretched out her arms and did a huge stretch.
Everything from last night’s dream had been suppressed in the depths of her heart. She put a smile back on her face and became the carefree girl again.
Dang Gui came to remind her that breakfast was ready.
Yu Niaoniao’s eyes lit up when she heard that there was good food.
She went straight to the dining hall happily.
What’s the happiest thing about every day?
Of course it was eating!
After eating and drinking her fill, Yu Niaoniao asked Dang Gui to bring out the candied hawthorns they had made yesterday.
In order to place these candied hawthorns, Yu Niaoniao specially got someone to prick them and put them together with a plant stick.
The plant rod was covered in bright red candied hawthorns.
Yu Niaoniao plucked a candied fruit from it and handed it to Duke Lang.
“Would you like a stick of candied hawthorn?”
Xiao Juan frowned as he looked at the thing in front of her. So this was the candied fruit she was talking about. It looked quite good, but this way of eating was a little unsightly.
He said calmly, “Leave it for now. I’ll eat it when I get back.”
Yu Niaoniao agreed.