418: Praise

Praise

" How come you know about this?" asked Yu Dong as she looked at her Xiao Hua who was relaying all the high-class gossip like he was an entertainment industry reporter. He seemed to have more of an idea about what was going on in the higher class than her.  1

Xiao Hua huffed as he flicked his slightly curly and wavy locks behind his shoulders and said with his eyes narrowed at Gu Ke Jin, "I just don't gossip about useless things, I also talk about very important things. If not, I wouldn't have been so informed about what was going on in the high class." Tucking a lock behind his ear, he haughtily sniffed, " I even know that the child in the belly of Jiang Fenhua is under the threat of getting assassinated, just a few days ago, there was a big accident and Jiang Fenhua almost lost his life but his mer servant saved his life by using his body as a decoy and let his master run, apparently, the other mer servant didn't make out of the accident alive and now Xiao Shi is the only one who is serving Master Jiang." 

Crossing his legs over one another, Xiao Hua snorted. " Though it's not the biggest gossip around the town, the biggest gossip is that even when Master Jiang met with such an accident, Lady Qiao didn't go to see him. With her attitude Master Jiang has become a joke in the upper class, many mers make fun of him saying that he threw away his face only to get a thorn to be stuck in his hand.  The humiliating rumours got so bad that even Master Zhou felt pity for Master Jiang and took him out on an outing where he bought a bunch of high-quality herbs to help Master Jiang recuperate, even if he did it only for show, everyone can understand just what kind of pitiful life Master Jiang is living." 

" You seem very well informed about everything," commented Gu Ke Jin from the sidelines as she looked at Xiao Hua who was acting like a gossip queen, she knew that the mers discussed a lot of things in the VIP section where the mers of the high society come to have fun but this was the first time, she realised that Xiao Hua was not only gossiping but he also seemed to be collecting useful information. 

" Who do you think I am?" said Xiao Hua as he placed his hand on his chest, with an expression that seemed to be a bit too condescension causing Gu Ke Jin to almost flare up. " I am not gossiping with those mers just because I want to have a good time, gossiping is the best way to get the information out of them… just a little praise, a bit of wheedling and gushing …and Voila, you will have a bunch of mers telling you all about what is going on in their section. You never know what kind of information might come in handy later on." 

He raised a finger and wisely added, " Always have a firm clasp on those you are serving, as long as you are smart enough to dig dirt on your customers, you will be able to fight back against them, never forget that the mood of the high-class customers is like the unpredictable climate, who knows when they might get offended and try to make things difficult for you. So, as a last resort dig a little dirt to make them silent, in case you need to go against them." 

After he was done both Yu Dong and Gu Ke Jin looked at Xiao Hua in stunned silence causing the latter to frown with a bemused expression. " What?" 

" You are … smarter than I think," commented Gu Ke Jin as she pinched her chin. " I thought you were just a silly mer who knew only to dress up and nothing else but you just proved me wrong, it looks like you are just pretending to be stupid to  wriggle information out of your customers." 

" What do you mean by stupid?" snapped Xiao Hua sounding affronted. " I am acting cute! Cute! You hear me! And I was always smart, just because I don't act like smarty pants every freaking second, doesn't mean that I am not smart." 

Gu Ke Jin shook her head as she looked at Xiao Hua and added with a smirk, "It's not that I don't want to believe you but your pretence of acting like an idiot is so good that your wits were hidden under it." 

" Are you praising me or are you taunting me?" asked Xiao Hua as he narrowed his eyes and looked at Gu Ke Jin with suspicion. 

" Of course, I am praising you!" 

" Well, then make it sound like praise! You have so many wits, don't you..then why don't you use them and work on your tone a little?" 

" Are you calling me stupid who doesn't know what she needs to say and how?"

" I never said that." 

" All right, that's enough," when Yu Dong saw that Xiao Hua and Gu Ke Jin were going to start fighting again, she stopped them before anything could happen. " I think that you two seemed to have shown enough wits to each other," then she turned to Xiao Hua and motioned with her finger. " Xiao Hua, come here." 

  " What is it?" said Xiao Hua as he lowered his fists that were ready to punch Gu Ke Jin and walked to Yu Dong before lowering his head and asking, " Do you have something to say to me?" 

" You have done a very good job," said Yu Dong as she rubbed his head. " With you telling me all of this, I no longer fill guilty about the deal that I have made with Master Jiang, is anything I feel like I might have done something good and it's all thanks to you." 

Xiao Hua who was praised all of sudden felt his cheeks flush as a shy expression came on his face and he stuttered, " I...I did..didn't do much." 

Gu Ke Jin: "….." who is this? Because he didn't look like Xiao Hua. 

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