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FatshamingThe winter sky turned dark earlier, even before youshi1酉时 (youshi): refers to the hours of 5pm to 6:59pm., the sky had gradually turned black. The closer it got to night, the colder it became, and the servants in Shuqing Garden couldn’t help but tighten their robes around themselves, doing as much as they could to prevent the cold wind from blowing into their clothes.
After Hei Xuanyi and Wu Ruo finished eating dinner, they took their servants and left from the main door of the estate.
Wu Ruo’s carriage had already been brought to wait at the main entrance from much earlier on. When Wu Ruo saw his own carriage, he suddenly stopped in his steps, as though he had no intentions of getting onto it.
He remembered leaving the Wu estate at this time as well, in his previous lifetime. Along the road, the bottom of the carriage had suddenly collapsed and he’d had a vicious fall. He’d knocked the back of his head and fainted. When he’d woken up, it had already been three days. Thankfully, he’d dressed in thick layers and was fat, which was why he hadn’t broken any bones. However, he’d still had to lie in bed for a whole month before he could go out again. Afterward, when the story had made its rounds around Gaoling City, everyone laughed at him for being a stupid fatty, even breaking such a sturdy carriage just by sitting in it.
Looking back with hindsight, the carriage had been custom-made by his mum. It would’ve gone through her rigorous checks before she would rest assured and let him use it. It couldn’t have broken so easily, so he couldn’t help but suspect that someone had secretly arranged this.
Wu Ruo looked towards the carriage driver and coincidentally met eyes with the carriage driver.
The carriage driver averted his gaze, turning his head away with a guilty expression.
Wu Ruo narrowed his eyes.
“Young master, please get on,” his retainer, Wu Da, said.
Wu Ruo looked at Wu Da with a cold gaze that seemed as though it could pierce through everything; Wu Da couldn’t help the full-bodied tremble that ran through him, and hurriedly lowered his gaze to avoid eye contact.
Wu Ruo turned to his right to look at his other retainer, Wu Xiao.
Wu Xiao lowered his head, not daring to look at Wu Ruo.
Wu Ruo snorted coldly in his mind, the two brothers Wu Da and Wu Xiao clearly knew about the problems with the carriage. And if he hadn’t guessed wrongly, these people must’ve been bribed earlier on, otherwise, they wouldn’t always go looking to Wu Yu for help every time he was being bullied by others.
And he had spent so much money in his previous lifetime to find these two good friends of him wives that were as pretty as flowers and jades, yet this was how they repaid him.22 — In case this doesn’t make sense, the master of a house usually has the power to arrange the marriages of his servants. Also, Wu Ruo refers to them as his 兄弟 (xiongdi) which literally means brothers, but in this case, he’s referring to them as very good friends who are like brothers to him.
Wu Ruo pursed his lips tightly, it looked like he would have to get rid of them.
“Young master, please get on the carriage,” Wu Da spoke up once more to remind him.
Wu Ruo took a look at Hei Xuanyi’s carriage, and said plainly: “I want to ride in the same carriage as my husband.”
“But, Master Hei’s carriage is too small…”
Wu Ruo headed directly toward the front of Hei Xuanyi’s carriage, under the bodyguard Hei Gan’s doubtful gaze, and squeezed into the carriage that was just big enough to fit him. The carriage that was six chi33 — chi is a traditional unit of measurement, about 0.333 meters or 1.094 feet. For reference, six chi is about 2 meters, or 6.5 feet. wide was immediately filled by his massive body. Even Hei Xuanyi was squashed into a corner with no room to move.
“…” Hei Xuanyi stared at Wu Ruo with cold, narrowed eyes.
Wu Ruo shifted his backside that was also six chi wide, adjusting into a comfortable position, and breathed out: “Thanks for your help today.”
“Get off.” Everything below Hei Xuanyi’s neck was pressed intimately against Wu Ruo’s body, so much so that one could say his body was already stuck inside of Wu Ruo’s body. The pressure against his chest made him feel like he was running out of breath.
Wu Ruo ignored the coldness that was coming off of him: “My carriage is broken.”
“…” Hei Xuanyi stared at him for a moment, then said heavily: “Return to the manor.”
However, even after a long time, there was no movement from the carriage.
Hei Xuanyi was about to speak up, when the sound of Hei Gan’s voice travelled in: “Master, the horse can’t pull the carriage.”
The atmosphere in the carriage suddenly became unbearably awkward.
Hei Xuanyi: “…”
Wu Ruo lowered his head wordlessly, his body weight alone was above 600 jin4斤 (jin): another traditional unit of measurement, equivalent to 10 liang or 16 old liang, approximately 0.5kg or 1.102 pounds/lbs, so Wu Ruo is 300 kg or 661.2 lbs, adding on Hei Xuanyi, the driver, and the weight of the carriage itself, it would be well beyond 1000 jin. And now, with the snowy weather, the floor would be especially slippery, of course, one horse alone would not be able to pull the carriage.
Hei Xuanyi took one glance at Wu Ruo: “Add another horse.”
“Yes, sir.”
Wu Ruo laughed dryly: “I’ll lose weight.”
“No need.” Hei Xuanyi used his hand to push at Wu Ruo’s belly that would bounce back on its own: “Very good like this.”
“…” Wu Ruo looked at the man who was joyfully playing with his belly, the corners of his eyes wrinkling. This guy was actually treating his stomach like a toy.
