“Finished drawing, little one?” After half an hour, Han Rubing asked Meng Xiaoyu, who had just put down her brush and stretched.
“Yes, I’m done.” Meng Xiaoyu handed the sheets with the designs to Han Rubing and added, “These are for you and Sister Rushuang. What do you think?”
“Not bad,” Han Rubing praised softly as she looked at the designs. Then she turned to her sister, “What do you think, Shuang’er?”
“Very nice,” Han Rushuang also praised coldly.
“Indeed! These designs are beautiful. Little one, you’re so clever to come up with these styles!” Han Rubing complimented Meng Xiaoyu again.
“Hehe, I’m glad you like them,” Meng Xiaoyu replied, a bit embarrassed by the praise.
“What about yours? You said these are for me and my sister. Where are yours?” Han Rubing asked, noticing Meng Xiaoyu’s slightly flushed face.
“Oh, mine are here,” Meng Xiaoyu responded, a bit startled. She then turned and handed over a few more sheets from the table to Han Rubing.
After looking at the designs Meng Xiaoyu had drawn for herself, Han Rubing smiled and asked, “Why did you draw two sets of men’s clothing for yourself?”
“Hahaha, those are for fun,” Meng Xiaoyu replied with a nervous laugh, noticing Han Rushuang’s questioning gaze.
Meng Xiaoyu felt guilty because she planned to wear those men’s clothes when visiting a brothel in the future. Of course, she couldn’t tell the Han sisters that. Who knows how they would react!
“Oh, is that so?” Han Rubing asked with a smile.
“Yes, that’s it,” Meng Xiaoyu nodded quickly. Then, as if afraid Han Rubing would ask more, she quickly changed the topic, “Sister Rubing, Sister Rushuang, let’s hand these designs to the shop assistant and then go pick out some fabric. After that, we can visit some jewelry stores!”
“Alright,” Han Rubing agreed with a smile, seeing Meng Xiaoyu’s expectant look. She thought to herself, “This little one is so cute! If it weren’t for the assistant, I’d love to tease her a bit.”
Hearing Han Rubing agree and seeing Han Rushuang nod slightly, Meng Xiaoyu breathed a sigh of relief and felt lucky that Han Rubing didn’t press further about the men’s clothing designs.
After handing the designs to the tailor, the shop assistant led Meng Xiaoyu and the sisters to choose fabric. Once they finished and paid the deposit, they left the clothing shop and headed towards the largest and most famous jewelry store in Fuyun City, as directed by the assistant.
“Hey, did you hear? The magistrate is reopening the trial for that ‘adultery case’ from a year ago tomorrow,” said a thin, middle-aged man in coarse clothes to a fat man in similar attire at a small teahouse in the South District.
“Of course, I heard! This time, it’s an imperial order. They must reach a verdict. The court even sent a special inspector to oversee the trial,” the fat man replied with a hint of disdain.
“Really? Even an inspector is coming?” the thin man exclaimed in surprise. “But why is the court suddenly so interested in that case?”
“You don’t know? Last month, our magistrate held another trial for that case, as he does every month. But as usual, there was no result after half a day,” the fat man explained.
“Isn’t that the same as always? What’s that got to do with the court?” the thin man interrupted.
“Let me finish,” the fat man said irritably. “That day, among the onlookers was a prince from our neighboring country. Later, he went to the capital to meet our emperor. During the welcome banquet, he publicly criticized our officials for being incompetent, unable to solve a simple case in over a year. The emperor was furious and immediately ordered the magistrate to solve the case tomorrow. If he fails, his entire family will be executed. And I also heard…”
“Little one, are you interested in that case?” Han Rubing asked, amused by Meng Xiaoyu’s eavesdropping. Since they left the jewelry store and came to the teahouse for a break, Meng Xiaoyu had been straining to listen to the conversation of the two middle-aged men nearby.
“Yes, Sister Rubing, can we go to the courthouse tomorrow to watch the trial?” Meng Xiaoyu asked, nodding eagerly.
“Are you very interested?” Seeing Meng Xiaoyu’s inexplicably excited face, Han Rubing asked with a smile.
“Yes!” Meng Xiaoyu nodded. Ever since she was little, she loved reading detective novels, watching TV shows, and anime. So when she heard those two people talking about the case, it piqued her interest greatly. She really wanted to know what kind of case it was that had been under investigation for so long without any results.
“Since Yu’er is so interested, let’s go take a look tomorrow,” Han Rushuang, who had been silent until now, said expressionlessly.
