How can someone travel through time and space and become a beggar?

Jia Qingwu's house was quickly decided upon. It wasn't far from Wang's house, just across the street, and it took less than a quarter of an hour to walk there.

While she was busy cleaning the house, Xia Chu went to meet her friends with gifts.

"These are the velvet flower hairpins and rouge that are particularly popular in Huizhou. You can pick whatever you like." Xia Chu opened the box, and Cuihua and Cui Ya opened the other two boxes and placed them on the table.

"Is this... paint?" Lin Lang opened a small jar, thinking it was rouge, but the bright color seemed wrong.

"Yes, this is specially for you." Xia Chu took out several boxes of paint and handed them to her. She also took out a small box of ink sticks and said, "This is Hui ink, Sister Yun, do you like it?"

"Hui Mo?" Li Yun put down the velvet flower in her hand and said sincerely, "I like it. Thank you!"

"Is this flute... for me?" Mo Qingmei held the flute in his hand. He didn't know what material it was made of, but it was red.

"Yes!" Xia Chu introduced enthusiastically, "They are all made of different materials. I heard that the sound quality is unique. I bought one too. I saw the bamboo flute you used. This one is made of wood, cherry, mahogany, maple. Would you like to try it?"

Mo Qingmei touched the flute in her hand lovingly, then put it to her lips and played a short tune. As expected, the timbres were different. "Thank you, I like it very much."

"How much did you buy?" Bai Wuxia frowned. She herself received a new horse whip and a dagger. Almost everyone received a gift of their favorite, not to mention a lot of jewelry and rouge and powder. It was obvious that Xia Chu had put a lot of thought into collecting these things, and many of them were quite valuable. She looked at Xia Chu, "This must have cost a lot of money, right?"

Li Yun nudged Bai Wuxia gently, feeling she was being too blunt. Although they both knew the Wang family wasn't wealthy and could only be considered an ordinary family, they were still worried about hurting Xia Chu's pride by speaking so freely.

The price of pigment has always been expensive, mainly because of the complicated production and special materials. Lin Lang also looked at Xia Chu and even wanted to put the pigment back quietly.

Seeing everyone looking at him worriedly, Xia Chu hurriedly explained, "Most of the things are from my mother's shop. I got them at cost price, and some of them I didn't even spend any money on."

Li Yun and the others looked at each other and did not disappoint Xia Chu's kindness. They chose the ones they liked and asked the maid to put them away.

"Thank you very much." Mo Qingmei said, took out a silver note from his arms and handed it over.

Xia Chu frowned immediately, "What are you doing? I'm not here to sell anything, why are you giving me money? Don't you consider me a friend?"

"No," Mo Qingmei didn't expect to be misunderstood by her, and explained: "This is the division of the music score."

"Five hundred taels?" Xia Chu's eyes widened. "Is that true? Is that so much?" Even if it was sold to Huizhou, it wouldn't make that much money, right?

"It's true!" Lin Lang was happy for Xia Chu when he talked about this, but when he thought of other women's fantasies about the 'plucking warrior', he couldn't help but laugh, "You don't know what kind of rumors are spreading about you now!"

Li Yunbai, Wuxia, and Mo Qingmei all laughed, and Xia Chu followed suit. "What's that like? I've heard some of it in Huizhou. Are there any other interesting stories in Lin'an?"

Lin Lang smiled and took out a tightly folded paper from his purse. "Look, I brought it here specially."

"What is this?" Xia Chu opened it and discovered it was a portrait. Three in total, each one different, but all depicting a young man. The first was remarkably handsome, his lips radiant with a gentle smile. The second was of a sturdy, seven-foot-tall man, even sporting a full beard. The third was of a handsome young man. In all three portraits, he held a pipa, seeming to hesitate as he spoke.

"This is a portrait specially drawn for you, the plucked string warrior." Lin Lang smiled with his hands covering his lips.

The others all had a look of ridicule and couldn't help laughing, obviously they had all seen it before.

"These are all paintings of me?" Xia Chu couldn't help laughing. It was not surprising that all the paintings were of men. After all, who would have thought that a woman would name herself "Warrior"?

"There are often people squatting in my shop, just to have a chance to meet that 'string-plucking warrior'." Mo Qingmei said.

"Why, so many people suddenly know about it?" Xia Chu was puzzled. Music scores weren't something that was popular. Besides, she was unknown, yet these people were treating her like a star.

"It started in the academy. It seemed that a teacher played your music in class. After that, many students came to look for your music score, and later someone played it at a literary gathering. Now many scholars and writers know about 'The Plucked String Warrior'. In fact, not only do some people praise your music for being lively and cheerful, but some also say that your nickname is... indecent and suggest that you change it." At the end, Mo Qingmei looked at Xia Chu.

Most people who play and listen to music are refined and elegant, but which refined person would call himself a warrior? This sounds more like a chivalrous knight.

"I originally came up with this name to avoid revealing my identity. Let them do whatever they want." Five hundred taels! Xia Chu smiled as she held the banknote. With her current assets, five hundred taels wasn't much. But who would think they had too much money? What's more, she earned this money with her own ability!

"Since it's to hide your identity, then this name is not bad." Li Yun said, "Who would have thought it?" She smiled and looked at Xia Chu's delicate and beautiful face. Who would associate her with a warrior? I'm afraid if they don't say it, no one will guess it in their lifetime.

"I think the warrior is good," Bai Wuxia raised two fingers and made a sword-wielding gesture, "I'll also come up with one, the sword-wielding warrior."

Lin Lang thought it sounded awkward, but also amusing. "Then my name is... Danqing Zhuangshi!"

The friends all thought of nicknames, and Mo Qingmei couldn't help but ponder. But the word "hero" was really...

"A brave man who plays the flute?" Mo Qingmei said with disdain.

Everyone looked at Li Yun, who was helpless. "Do we really have to call this warrior?"

"We've thought about it all." Lin Lang said seriously.

"That's right." Bai Wuxia nodded.

Mo Qingmei hoped that Li Yun could come up with a good reason to stop this behavior. She didn't want to call a warrior.

Xia Chu didn't say anything, but she thought of the Five Heroes of Langya Mountain in her mind. There were exactly five of them, which made it even funnier.

Li Yun glanced out the window. It was late spring, early summer. The trees, frozen all winter, were just beginning to sprout pale green buds, tender and lovely. Facing four pairs of expectant eyes, she chuckled softly, "Then ask spring, ask spring... warrior." She almost didn't want to say the last two words.

"The Five Heroes of Lin'an?" Xia Chu burst into laughter and couldn't stop.

"It sounds weird and funny."

The five people were so happy that the maids serving in the room also laughed.