Chapter 28 - Admiration

When Lu Yao and Qingyu returned to the campsite, it was just getting dark. A tall bonfire had been lit on the beach and people were busy working in groups of three or four. Qingyu asked Lu Yao put her down then ran towards the campsite. Seeing that the bonfire was made of waste materials from the Fengshen, she couldn't help but feel relieved.

The men around the bonfire greeted her, "The boss is back!" with big smiles on their faces. Qingyu felt a little guilty since they usually played together and it was normal for them to greet each other.

Their attitude today seemed too enthusiastic. She couldn't help but wonder, "Could it be that everyone knew about what happened between her and Lu Yao today? No way?!"

"Boss..." Ding Dong stood in front of Qingyu after being pushed by several sailors behind him. With a suspicious blush on his face, he muttered something in a low voice that she couldn't not hear clearly. Qingyu had to ask, "What did you say?"

Ding Dong simply said, "This is for you!" After saying this, his face turned red. He took Qingyu's hand and put something in it, then he ran away with a red face amidst the sailors' laughter.

Qingyu picked up and looked at the thing in her hand with confusion. Under the light of the stars and the bonfire, the flowers carved from blood amber on the rosewood hairpin glowed brightly, so beautiful that it made people's heart beat.

"Boss, this is a little gift from us." The young man smiled shyly, his hands full of wounds as he held the pearl necklace. Although the pearls were not big, they had obviously been carefully selected, and each one was of the same size, round and shiny. He put the necklace into Qingyu's hands, and retreated with a red face amidst the laughter.

Afterwards, people presented various gifts, but everyone gave them with a red face and then left after being laughed at. Qingyu looked at the pile of things in her hands. Although she was moved, she was also confused.

She was moved by the thoughtfulness. She knew that they had found pearl oysters near the border, but most of them were outside the border. It must not be easy to collect so many pearls. The wooden bracelets were all products from the forest and if you want to go in, you will probably be bitten by snakes.

Qingyu has received countless gifts in the past few decades, but there are only a few of these sincere ones. She felt like crying but she really couldn't understand what day it was today and why they rushed to give her these things.

Zheng Xi pushed the crowd away and pulled Qingyu to her cabin while saying, "Okay! Let the boss change her clothes first. You guys are going to have a lot of fun today!"

The inside of the cottage was also brand new, decorated with many fresh flowers. On the wooden table, there was a white dress. Although it was made of white cotton, it had intricate patterns on the collar and hem, making it look both gorgeous and simple.

Beautiful clothes and jewelry are women's favorites and Qingyu is no exception. However, this does not affect her calm and trembling voice when she asks, "What day is it today?"

Zheng Xi had an expression that "I knew this was going to happen" and said, "Young miss, today is your birthday. According to the rules in our place, you turned 15 years old today."

Qingyu was stunned. She just remembered that her birthday in her previous life was in November, but in this life it was in August.

The coming of age was a major event in the life of an ancient person. If her parents were still alive, it would have been a grand ceremony. Her parents were both dead and her other relatives were more like enemies. She herself had never thought about this event and she didn't expect Zheng Xi to still remember it.

Zheng Xi gave Qingyu other gifts while muttering. "Before I boarded the ship, my mother wrote to me and told me to remember to prepare something for your birthday. We are all men here and we actually don't know what to do. As for these things, Mr. Zhou made this dress. This one was given by Yang Zhao and Gu Sui, and this one was given by me and Shiyi. Young miss, you can wear it as you like."

He hadn't told anyone about Qingyu's birthday. He just went to Zhou Tan to request him to make clothes after sending her away in the morning. Zhou Tan asked why he needed to make clothes and he just blurted out the reason that today was Qingyu's coming of age day without thinking. There was no one in Zhou Tan's room at that time but Ding Dong and others were just outside collecting wood. Then, in a moment, everyone in the campsite knew about it.

Qingyu looked at the hairpin in front of her. The hairpin was carved from agarwood and golden nanmu, with rough and simple lines. The cloud-shaped carvings on the hairpin head were inlaid with a large black pearl. It was polished to a smooth finish, with Sanskrit engraved on it, looking elegant and majestic.

"Hey, Ding Dong, you are quite a dishonest boy. Did you ask Mr. Zhou to make your hairpin?" The sailor named Liu Feng poked Ding Dong and said enviously.

One of the sailors responded, "Why are you calling Brother Ding dishonest? As soon as he heard Zheng Xi talking about making gifts for boss, he went to find Mr. Zhou first. When we went to find Mr. Zhou, he was busy though."

Li Yan poked Meng Su and teased him, "Actually, I think the boss likes Meng Su's necklace more, Meng Su, right? It's worth it that you spent the whole day there picking up pearls." Meng Su smiled shyly with his eyes squeezed.

Meng Su blushed again and lowered his head and said, "How can I have found that pearl? The pearl that Brother Yang found is really beautiful."

He was not good enough to cross the boundary line so he could only reach his hand to get things from beyond the line. However, Yang Zhao directly crossed the boundary line and dug a huge pearl shell from the cliff over there.

Could it be that Brother Yang also likes to be the boss? Meng Su raised his head and glanced at Yang Zhao while pondering.

These days, Qingyu was hanging out with them every day, joking and laughing with them. She was always quick and decisive when things came up. He had never seen such a woman, who made people ignore her appearance and only felt that she was like the sun, warming people's hearts, making people addicted and willingly to die for her. Meng Su thought that even Brother Yang would be tempted by such a person, right?

Gu Sui was teasing his subordinate Shan Fu: "Dan Lao Er, didn't you learn carpentry? Why did you just pick up a piece of coral? Look, you've been outdone, haven't you?"

Shan Fu scratched his head and chuckled, "I just saw them all running to cut down trees, and thought I'd do something different."

"This young woman is good. You will definitely become rich if you marry her." Chen Rui teasingly said with a smile.

Shan Fu shook his head while saying, "I don't have such an idea." He then continued, "I want to go back with the boss. I don't want to hurt others in my life. Besides, she is such a good woman. She doesn't like me so let's leave it at that." Shan Fu's voice lowered, but he had a thought, to let her know that he liked her too someday.

A gentleman dreams of a beautiful lady. Gu Sui smiled twice. It is always natural for a young man to admire a lady, especially since she is a rare good woman. However, he should not be involved in the bloody events.

"No..." Qingyu blushed for a rare moment and wanted to retreat, but was firmly pushed out of her cabin by Zheng Xi.

She took off her usual short-sleeved shirt and long pants and put on a white long gown and wide-sleeved long skirt, which made her voluptuous figure appear to be hidden. She tied a thick whip on her hair, rolled it into a high bun, and inserted all the hairpins she received into it. The messy accessories did not affect her transformation from a rough and wild girl to a lady with fluttering clothes and outstanding demeanor.

"Wow! The boss is so beautiful." Everyone shouted and some even whistled in appreciation.

Qingyu suddenly felt like she was being teased in the street. Her cheeks turned red and she was pushed towards the campfire by Zheng Xi, looking squeamish.

Everyone had seen her usually aggressive appearance or they might have even thought that she was just another brother, but when they saw her in a long skirt, high bun and with a shy and blushing appearance of a little girl, they couldn't help but be moved. It turned out that those guys were not blind, she was indeed a girl!

Qingyu was screaming in her heart, "I am a girl, okay? Even though I am a woman in my 40s, I am still 16 years old. What do those expressions on your faces mean?!" In the end, she can only shyly say, "Thank you, brothers."

Suddenly, several people who have drunk wine vomited out what they just drank. They were shocked with what they saw and heard.

Shi Fang shouted very dissatisfiedly, "Hey! Don't waste it like this. This is the wine I brewed with great difficulty. You bad guys, not only did you steal my wine, but you also waste it like this!"

After a burst of vomiting, there was a burst of violent coughing that followed. Zheng Xi hurriedly said, "Come on! Serve the food. This python was caught by the third master and his brothers in the forest. There is also fish. Oh, and this longevity noodle is made from the flour I ground from breadfruit. Try it."

Qingyu lifted the hem of her skirt, stood up, picked up the coconut wine in the shell and said,"Okay! I would like to thank you all again. From now on, as long as I have a meal, my brothers will never go hungry!"

Everybody responded, "Hahaha, this is our boss Ling!" Drinking and eating meat, the party immediately became lively as soon as she opened her mouth.

Lu Yao did not go over, but stood aside and watched the woman who was wearing a long skirt. She half lifted the hem of her dress, rolled up her sleeves up to her elbows and her hair tilted sideways. She was still clinking glasses with everyone who came to drink.

Lu Yao's hand gently touched his lips, which were still swollen from being kissed and bitten by this woman. His body was covered with the marks she left. It felt so good for him that he was willing to die just to experience it again. Just thinking about it, Lu Yao's face turned red again.

Thinking about it again, he was the only one who didn't know that it was her 15th birthday today and so many people gave her gifts. He felt suffocated again. The young man had never experienced love affairs and didn't know that this kind of feeling was called jealousy.

The next day, Ling Qingyu woke up with a splitting headache. Her first thought was, "Damn, coconut wine can actually make people like this. They must have put something else in it!"

Rubbing her stone-like head, Qingyu reached for the water cup on the table with one hand. After feeling around the table for a while, she wasn't able to find the water cup, but touched a warm jade instead. She was stunned, took it and looked at it carefully. She saw that it was a small jade sword carved from the best mutton-fat white jade with an ancient Chinese character "Lu" engraved on the sword.

Qingyu couldn't help laughing and uttered in her heart, "Lu Yao... This boy really..."

She had seen this jade sword before. When she changed the bandage for Lu Yao when he was seriously injured. Yesterday, this jade sword was always hanging around his neck. It should be a very important personal item.

Thinking of the boy's solemn words yesterday, Qingyu shook her head. If she was really a sixteen-year-old girl, she might really believe it, but she has experienced too much to believe in such. Although Lu Yao and Shiyi didn't say it, Qingyu also knew that these two people must have a family feud that was not inferior to her own.

She's afraid that once they go back, those two will embark on their own journey. Besides, her opponent is not so easy to deal with as well. She knows that there will be all kinds of difficulties and hardships. No matter how good a relationship between two people is, how many tests can it withstand?

Qingyu smiled at the jade sword and put it in her small purse. She then thought to herself. "If you still have such thoughts after everything is settled, I will consider you."