"Um… I think I don't have enough money. Can I return some?"
Selene pulled out over a hundred stellar jades, each worth a hundred, totaling over ten thousand stellar jades.
The counter attendant: ... The counter attendant was about to say she could return them, but Fu Xuan interrupted her.
"It's alright, I'll cover what she's short. Just wrap them all up."
As Fu Xuan spoke, a coin purse appeared in her hand. Every time the purse jingled, it made a pleasant sound!
"Um, Fu Xuan, maybe we should return some after all. It's a bit too expensive…"
Selene tugged at Fu Xuan's sleeve, whispering.
"As long as you like it, money isn't an issue."
As Fu Xuan spoke, she subconsciously patted Selene's head again.
The counter attendant: So sweet, so sweet!!! As expected! Girls being close is civilized!
...After leaving the accessories shop, Selene was ready to go home and sleep, but unexpectedly, Fu Xuan dragged her to buy qiong shi bird skewers.
"You wait here for me for a bit. I'll go queue."
Fu Xuan said, looking at Selene.
Selene nodded, obediently standing in place and waiting.
Fu Xuan patted Selene's head again, then went to queue for qiong shi bird skewers.
However, when Fu Xuan returned with two qiong shi bird skewers, looking for Selene, the Little Cat was no longer there.
"Selene? Where did she run off to?"
Fu Xuan mumbled in confusion, simultaneously looking around for Selene's figure.
But Fu Xuan searched everywhere and couldn't find Selene!
For a moment, Fu Xuan couldn't help but get anxious. After all, there were so many people here, and if Selene really got lost, it would be troublesome!
The main thing was, this fellow had just used all her stellar jades to buy things, and now she couldn't even take a star-skiff home!
"Phew! Didn't I tell this fellow to wait for me here?! Where did she run off to?!"
Fu Xuan mumbled anxiously, simultaneously taking out her jade amulet, preparing to call Selene!
"Idiot Fu Xuan, I'm right behind you!"
Selene suddenly appeared behind Fu Xuan and said, gently patting Fu Xuan's shoulder.
Hearing the familiar voice, Fu Xuan immediately turned around and embraced Selene.
"Why did you run behind me? You scared me to death! I thought you'd been kidnapped!"
Fu Xuan mumbled, holding Selene. From her tone, she seemed quite frightened.
"I'm sorry! I saw a couplet-matching activity nearby just now, so I ran over to watch!"
Selene quickly apologized.
However, her words were still half-truths. In fact, she had been hiding in the crowd, planning to prank Fu Xuan.
But seeing Fu Xuan so worried, Selene rushed out!
"Couplet matching? It's an activity they have at every lantern festival. Does Little Liu Guang want to go see it?"
Fu Xuan released Selene, then asked.
"Ah? I do want to join the fun."
Selene said.
"Then, I'll take you to join the fun!"
...A temporarily constructed stage.
On the stage stood a person wearing a Fuwa mask, holding a fan, reciting couplets.
And directly in front of him were the people who came up to match couplets.
Many Xianzhou people surrounded the stage. Among them, Selene even saw Jing Yuan sitting and drinking tea, watching the show.
"Fu Xuan, look over there."
Selene said, pointing in Jing Yuan's direction.
"Oh? Is the General here too? Let's go, we'll sit over there."
Fu Xuan followed the direction of Selene's finger and saw Jing Yuan sitting in the front row.
However, only Jing Yuan was sitting in his spot; the two seats beside him were empty.
"Oh? Fu Xuan / Minister Fu actually came to the lantern festival today? That's rare."
Jing Yuan glanced at Fu Xuan, took a sip of tea, and said indifferently.
"Just bringing my Little Cat out to play. I didn't realize the General had such refined taste. Have your official duties been handled?"
Fu Xuan pulled Selene, sat at Jing Yuan's table, and also said indifferently.
Jing Yuan: ... It's still the familiar Fu Xuan!
"Fu Xuan / Minister Fu, it's New Year today, I'm resting!"
Jing Yuan said with a faint smile.
"Hmph! If the General were to abdicate to me, I wouldn't rest even on New Year!"
Fu Xuan snorted coldly and began pouring herself tea to drink.
Jing Yuan: ... While the two bickered, Selene's attention remained on the stage.
"Ahem! I'll explain the rules again! I'll give the first line, and the audience members who come on stage will provide the second line and the horizontal inscription!"
"Match three in a row, and you can win one thousand stellar jades, plus a rabbit doll! Match five in a row, and you can win five thousand stellar jades, and a large tiger doll!"
"Now, does anyone want to participate?"
The masked host on stage announced the rules and asked if anyone wanted to participate.
After hearing the rules and rewards, Selene's eyes instantly lit up!
Goodness! There's money to be made! This Meow happens to be short on cash!
Thinking this, Selene quickly raised her hand, indicating she wanted to participate.
Of course, many people wanted to participate, and the chance of Selene being chosen was pitifully small!
But alas, Selene had two 'Great Buddhas' beside her!
When the host on stage saw Selene raise her hand, he was initially going to ignore her, but when he saw Jing Yuan and Fu Xuan beside Selene, his eyes instantly widened!
"Oh my god! No! Choose her! Must choose her!"
Unsurprisingly, Selene was chosen to go on stage.
This also made Fu Xuan, who had been bickering with Jing Yuan, stop and concentrate on Selene's performance on stage, while secretly thinking to herself:
This fellow? Could it be that she's taken a liking to that doll?
Selene: No! A big, fat no! This Meow is short on cash!
...Before going on stage, Selene had purchased a couplet generation tool in the system's shop. The system said it could match any couplet, but this one was a 'Joyful' version... Perhaps, this was the one thing that made Selene most uneasy?
But on second thought, as long as it could match, who cared if it was strange or not!
As Selene pondered, the masked host asked: "Miss, are you ready? If you are, I'm going to give the couplet!"
"Ah? Ben... I'm ready!"
Selene said.
"Then let's have a couplet that has a little connection to New Year!"
"First line: Eating, drinking, and playing, daily growing thinner!"
"Miss, please provide the second line and the horizontal inscription!"
The host said.
"Hmm... Let me think!"
Selene said, starting to use the couplet generation tool to search.
"Alright, Miss, you have three minutes to think! If you go over, it counts as a failure!"
The host said, looking at Selene.
After speaking, he subconsciously looked down at the audience again...
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