Chapter 49 [VIP]
Chapter Summary: The Flower Hairpin.
"Mm," Xie Xuan responded, leaning closer. His hand holding the umbrella tightened slightly.
The two walked to the outhouse. Yu Jing took the candlestick from Xie Xuan and was about to go in when she saw that it was dark inside. She said with some concern, "Xie Xuan."
Xie Xuan looked up at Yu Jing; they were standing under the eaves. Yu Jing held a candlestick in her hand, the candlelight flickering. Outside, the rain was heavy, and even she was shrouded in a misty haze.
"You..." Yu Jing had just opened her mouth when Xie Xuan understood what she meant and replied, "I will be here, waiting for you to come out."
"Okay," Yu Jing replied with a smile.
She went in, placed the candle in the corner, and when she came out, Xie Xuan was carrying an oil-paper umbrella that was still dripping water. Their family's oil-paper umbrellas were different from those in the palace. The palace's oil-paper umbrellas were thin and translucent, painted with flowers, birds, fish, and insects. Theirs were much more ordinary, just covered with a layer of yellowish oiled paper coated with tung oil. Xie Xuan's hands gripped the top wooden handle; his fingers were fair and slender, with distinct knuckles, hanging down on the handle. Yu Jing suddenly remembered that these were the same hands that changed the cotton towel wrapped around her body every day, and her heart suddenly trembled.
She could hardly imagine what it would be like when Xie Xuan's hands helped her change her dressing.
When Xie Xuan saw Yu Jing come out, he flicked his wrist, raised the oil-paper umbrella, and opened it. He turned to look at Yu Jing and called softly, "Guiyi, come here."
Yu Jing didn't answer, but her feet followed his voice, and she walked to his side. The two went back into the room together, Yu Jing put the candle back on the candlestick, and the two lay down again.
Perhaps because she had gotten up and was still damp, Yu Jing couldn't fall asleep. She recalled accidentally seeing Xie Xuan fiddling with a piece of wood, his expression very careful. Suddenly, she asked curiously, "Xie Xuan, what have you been working on lately?"
Xie Xuan was taken aback, not immediately reacting. He tilted his head slightly and asked, "What?"
"That's it, that piece of wood," Yu Jing pointed out directly.
Xie Xuan had been trying to avoid Yu Jing, but she still saw him. His face flushed slightly, and he stammered, "You use a wooden stick to hold your hair in your hair every day. My elder sister said she has a good piece of peach wood in her backyard."
Upon hearing Xie Xuan's words, Yu Jing pursed her lips, felt a warmth on her wrist, and asked directly, "Are you going to make a hairpin for me?"
Her voice was soft, gentle in the darkness, and slightly hoarse. Despite its seemingly ordinary tone, Xie Xuan's heart began to race with each word.
"Mmm," Xie Xuan replied, suppressing his throat.
"Thank you." Yu Jing was sincere. During her many days at Sun Jun's house, Xie Xuan had taken meticulous care of her. Even though she was usually reserved, she could now clearly feel Xie Xuan's almost burning gaze and his ardent affection.
"No need," Xie Xuan replied, then quickly added, "It's what I should do."
Yu Jing knew Xie Xuan was hiding something, so she remained silent and lay down listening to the rain outside. She felt her heart was as soft as the rain outside.
Listening to the sound of the rain, Yu Jing gradually became immersed in it and lost consciousness. Xie Xuan, however, remained awake until dawn. As day broke, the rain gradually subsided, and by the time Xie Xuan got up and went outside, the rain had stopped.
Li Yun had already gotten up. Seeing Xie Xuan about to take his change of clothes to wash, he instructed him, "It rained heavily last night, and the stream is probably swollen now. Xie Xuan, please be careful."
"Okay, I'll be careful. Thank you, elder sister." Xie Xuan smiled and went out.
Yu Jing woke up to find it already broad daylight and the sun was out. She sat up, shielding her eyes from the slightly glaring light. Pushing open the door, she bumped into Xie Xuan returning with a wooden tub of laundry. Yu Jing had heard from Li Yun that Xie Xuan washed her clothes. Hearing it was one thing, but witnessing it firsthand was another. Yu Jing glanced at the tub, avoiding Xie Xuan's gaze, paused, turned, and went back inside.
Seeing Yu Jing's reaction, Xie Xuan glanced down at the wooden bucket in his hand and curled his lips into a smile.
Since speaking openly with Yu Jing in the early hours of the morning, Xie Xuan no longer hid his intentions from her. The wooden hairpin had already been roughly shaped, but the remaining details couldn't be achieved with a large knife.
After speaking with Sun Jun, Sun Jun brought out some small tools, and Xie Xuan began to carve with them.
After eating and taking the medicine, Yu Jing was fine, so he sat down next to Xie Xuan and watched him carve.
Xie Xuan carved out a rough shape, and Yu Jing immediately recognized that Xie Xuan was carving a magnolia flower.
"Yun Meizi!" Aunt Pang's voice came from outside. Xie Xuan and Yu Jing were sitting in the courtyard. They looked up when they heard the voice.
Aunt Pang, standing by the forsythia by the door, paused for a moment when she saw the beautiful couple sitting in the courtyard. She recognized Xie Xuan, but this was the first time she had seen Yu Jing.
Aunt Pang had a rough idea of what Xie Xuan's wife would look like. But when she saw Yu Jing, she was still somewhat surprised.
She had never seen such a beautiful woman, even though she was wearing a faded dark blue dress, sitting in a chair, with a few strands of her long hair loosely hanging down her back, her simple attire did not give her any sense of poverty; on the contrary, it made her look elegant and refined.
"Is this your wife?" Aunt Pang asked Xie Xuan.
Xie Xuan looked at Aunt Pang, then glanced at Yu Jing, and nodded to Aunt Pang.
"So beautiful!" Auntie Pang smiled as she looked at Yu Jing, her eyes sparkling. "She's absolutely gorgeous!"
No one had ever spoken so bluntly to Yu Jing before. Yu Jing was momentarily stunned and sat there blankly, smiling at Aunt Pang without knowing what to do.
"I brought mushrooms to Yunmei last time, and you were inside, so you didn't see me," Aunt Pang explained to Yu Jing, as Li Yun came out of the kitchen.
"Auntie Pang, what's wrong?" Li Yun came out, wiping his hands as he asked.
"I've come to tell you that the puppet troupe will be coming to the village the day after tomorrow, performing in the open space in front of Gou Dan's house!" Aunt Pang said to Li Yun with a smile, then turned slightly to look at Yu Jing and Xie Xuan who were sitting there, "You two should come too! Let's have some fun together!"
"Okay." Xie Xuan nodded in agreement.
Yu Jingyuan had wanted to go and see, and was a little disappointed when he heard that it had been postponed. But when he heard what Aunt Pang said, he smiled and nodded, "Okay!"
"Auntie Pang, have you eaten yet? Why don't you stay and have a bite?" Li Yun invited. "I just put it up, it'll be ready to eat in a little while."
"No, my Shuang'er is still at home, so I'll head back now," Aunt Pang said, waving her hand.
After Aunt Pang left, Xie Xuan continued carving the hairpin in his hand. Before he knew it, the carving knife had slipped out of his hand.
"Oh!" By the time Yu Jing saw it, Xie Xuan's hand was already covered in red marks. By the time Xie Xuan felt the pain, Yu Jing had already taken his hand, their fingers intertwined, her palm warm.
"I'll go get some cotton towels." Yu Jing let go of her hand and quickly stood up to go inside.
Xie Xuan stared blankly at the wound on his hand. It was nothing to him; it wasn't deep at all, and a quick rinse with water would be enough. He was about to call out to Yu Jing, but seeing her rushing inside, the words caught in his throat.
When Yu Jing came out with a cotton towel, she also brought a basin of warm water. Xie Xuan's hand froze in mid-air, letting the blood flow down. Seeing the blood on his hand, Yu Jing quickly put down what she was carrying. She wrung out the cotton towel and carefully wiped Xie Xuan's hand.
A warm, rough sensation covered his fingers, very gently.
"Does it hurt?" Yu Jing asked when she saw Xie Xuan staring blankly.
"Ah." Xie Xuan was taken aback, and stammered, "Some."
"Then I'll be gentler," Yu Jing replied, and then focused even more intently on wiping Xie Xuan.
After saying that, Xie Xuan felt a little guilty and pursed his lips awkwardly. Yu Jing lowered her head, her expression exceptionally serious. She was so close that Xie Xuan could clearly see her trembling eyelashes. Like butterflies, so lively and graceful, they fluttered into his heart.
"Alright." Yu Jing helped Xie Xuan clean his wound.
Xie Xuan thought it was over, but unexpectedly Yu Jing took something out of her pocket. Xie Xuan looked closely and found it was medicine for injuries.
Yu Jing struggled to unscrew the lid, her hands weak. Xie Xuan, seeing this, naturally took it from her, unscrewed it, and handed it to Yu Jing.
Seeing that he had used his injured hand, Yu Jing asked with some concern, "Doesn't it hurt?"
Xie Xuan hesitated and let out a soft cry: "It does hurt a little."
Seeing Xie Xuan's expression, Yu Jing smiled and scooped out some medicine from the box to apply to his wounds.
The medicine felt cool and refreshing, and Xie Xuan, who had only felt a slight heat in his wound, felt much more comfortable now. After applying the medicine, Yu Jing subconsciously leaned closer and blew on it. A tingling sensation spread from his fingertips all the way to his heart. Xie Xuan felt a subtle sensation in his body and unconsciously swallowed.
Yu Jing applied the medicine to Xie Xuan, put the cap back on, and bent down to pick up the magnolia wood hairpin that Xie Xuan had just dropped on the ground. The hairpin was quite finely carved.
"Did you learn carpentry before?" Yu Jing asked with some curiosity.
"No," Xie Xuan shook his head and said.
“This is good enough. Your hand is injured, so don’t carve anymore. Just put it on for me like this,” Yu Jing continued.
Xie Xuan paused for a moment, then replied, "Okay."
Yu Jing turned her back, reached up and pulled the wooden stick off her head. Her black hair cascaded down her back, the scent of soap wafting in the air. A gentle breeze caressed her, and a strand of hair was blown by the wind, brushing past Xie Xuan's ear. In that instant, Xie Xuan suddenly felt his heart overflow with joy and happiness.
He took the magnolia hairpin that Yu Jing handed him, which he had just carved. Actually, the hairpin was carved very roughly. When he was tying up Yu Jing's hair, he thought that when he returned to the capital, he would use his long-held salary to make her a fine magnolia hairpin.
But I don't know if I'll be able to give it to her then. If we return to the capital, their relationship will be that of Empress Dowager and subject.
Thinking of this, Xie Xuan suddenly felt a strange sense of loss.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
