Qiu Mingshan left in the evening. Baoning didn't know what he and Pei Yuan were talking about. They talked for so long. Seeing that it was getting late, Baoning wanted to stay with him for dinner, but Qiu Mingshan declined.
Pei Yuan's expression remained calm.
It was already time to turn on the lamp, and Baoning's rice had been cooked for a long time. It was sitting in the pot. The vegetables had been washed and cut, and they just needed to be stir-fried.
Ah Huang jumped up and down around her and knocked over the plate with green onions. Baoning slapped his butt and went to the backyard to pull the green onions. When he came back, he saw Pei Yuan sitting on the kang, playing with a box in his hand.
The box had a lock, and he poked and prodded it with a small key, but he refused to open it.
Bao Ning didn't want to care about him. She washed her hands and cut scallions. The sound of the knife hitting the cutting board rang out in the room. Pei Yuan looked at her, put down his things, and walked towards her.
Bao Ning dodged before him: "Hey, don't touch me. The blade will hurt my hand. I'm afraid."
"Just let me smell it." Pei Yuan took the knife from her hand, hugged her from behind, put his nose on her neck, and took a deep sniff.
Bao Ning struggled with a smile: "It's so itchy... Let go."
Pei Yuan laughed softly, Bao Ning turned around and put her finger under his nose: "Let you smell it enough." Pei Yuan frowned and tilted his head :
" It tastes like green onions, really spicy."
"Why don't you hurry up and leave?" Baoning retracted his hand, his eyes shining and his ears red.
She and Pei Yuan were already familiar with each other, but Bao Ning was still a little uncomfortable with this excessive intimacy and physical contact.
She grabbed a small shovel and chased him away: "If you continue to be annoying here, you won't have any food to eat tonight. "Do you like it here? "
Pei Yuan suddenly changed the subject. "This place is quite remote, in the wilderness, with few people around, but there are quite a few snakes, insects, rats and ants. Last night, I heard a mouse running on the beam. Is there any sound?"
Baoning shuddered: "It's time to eat, why are you saying these things? It's disgusting."
Pei Yuan said seriously: "I just think that this place is not suitable for people to live in."
"We have lived here well these past few months..." Bao Ning realized that he had something else in mind. "Do you want to move out?"
Pei Yuan said, "Hmm." "Actually, when I first came here, I saw I was not very satisfied with this place, but I was discouraged at the time and thought I would just make do with it. Now it is no longer possible. I am almost well, and we have the conditions to live in a better place. Why should I suffer here? Pei Yuan
played the tenderness card to her and rubbed her forehead with his nose: "I will take you to a better place and bring you happiness."
Bao Ning's hands She put her hand on his shoulder and distanced herself from him: "I don't feel wronged here. Aren't we living well? We have everything we need... Why did you suddenly say you want to move out? Pei Yuan, didn't you tell me? Tell me the truth, or what did General Qiu tell you at that time?
Pei Yuan said, "It's not safe here."
Baoning frowned for a moment, she thought of the people she had met before, Xu Guang, Feng Yongjia, Pei Xiao, even if they were not Bao Ning still had to admit that it was dangerous here. If something happened, no one could help them.
Looking at Pei Yuan's eyes, Bao Ning still had a glimmer of hope in her heart. She had actually wanted to speak up a long time ago. They could leave the capital together and go to a remote village, hiding their identities and just be an ordinary couple. She worked from sunrise to sunset, and did not think about power and position, but lived a simple and comfortable life.
This was her wish, but she had never told Pei Yuan about it because she was afraid that he would not agree. Pei Yuan was of noble birth. Accustomed to a life of affluence, it was too much to ask him to give up everything and go with her. Bao Ning had been waiting for an opportunity.
Now it seemed that he had finally gotten it.
Baoning asked cautiously, "Where do you want to move to?"
Pei Yuan said, "How about the general's mansion?"
Baoning was shocked: "We have our own home, why do we have to live in someone else's mansion? It's too absurd!"
Expectations and reality The gap was too big, Bao Ning's heart was beating violently, she drooped her eyelids to suppress her unhappiness: "I don't like it."
Pei Yuan patted her back soothingly: "It's just a temporary stay. When the situation stabilizes in the future, we will leave. ”
"Pei Yuan...what do you want to do?" Bao Ning was a little flustered. "Why do we have to go to the General's Mansion? Isn't it better for us to leave the capital? The mountains are high and the waters are far away. We can settle down anywhere. Why do we have to be associated with the General's Mansion?" You know better than me, you are walking into a fire pit... Pei Yuan."
Bao Ning stared at him blankly: "Do you want that position?"
"No." Pei Yuan answered. After cutting nails and cutting iron, Baoning relaxed a little.
Pei Yuan sighed when he noticed her confusion. He grabbed Bao Ning's head and pressed her into his arms. "But some things must be resolved. I can't just leave with you. There will be endless troubles."
Bao Ning's eyes turned red. "I don't want to leave. I don't want to live in someone else's house. What about my vegetable garden, my chickens and ducks, and my dog?"
"We will come back." Pei Yuan held her face, "and, It's just a change of place, just take it as a trip to the city, you don't have to worry about anything, just eat and drink, at most half a year, I will accompany you wherever you want to go. "
Bao Ning said: I want to see snow, heavy snow. I heard that in the northwest, the snow is so deep that you can be buried up to your knees."
"Saibei, I know it. We can settle down there in the future. I'll take you to play snowballs, okay?" Pei Yuan coaxed her in a soft voice. "If you like, we can raise roe deer in the backyard. Those things are stupid. , let it play with you, jumping and hopping, silly and stupid." Pei Yuan put his face close to her, "Just like you."
"I didn't." Baoning burst into laughter.
She still felt a little Uncomfortable, but accepted Pei Yuan's words: "When
are we leaving?" Pei Yuan straightened up: "Tomorrow."
Bao Ning whispered: "So soon..."
This dinner was tasteless, and he washed his clothes. After making preparations, Baoning went to check the fences in the chicken coop, added some fodder to Saifeng, and carried Ah Huang back to the house to check on her porcelain jar of leeches.
The leech's eggs were still the same color. Baoning sighed. She was a little worried that after she left this small yard and lost the river, where would she go to dig mud for the leeches and catch snails
? She had built it up bit by bit, and she left suddenly, reluctant to leave.
Pei Yuan saw that she was in a bad mood, so he told her a joke, but it was not funny. Bao Ning did not understand, so she sat aside and ate melon seeds. Pei Yuan I was bored, so I stopped talking and just sat with her around the lamp to eat melon seeds.
When the midnight hour came, two pounds of melon seeds were finally eaten. Baoning put on his shoes and stuffed all the melon seed shells into his pocket. In the stove.
Watching the flames rise with a buzz, Baoning patted the crumbs on his hands and felt much better.
Pei Yuan looked at her and smiled: "What's your quirk?"
Bao Ning said: "I fried them myself, but it would be embarrassing to take a big bag of melon seeds away. I couldn't bear to throw them away, so I just ate them all today."
"Don't regret it if you get a toothache in a few days." Pei Yuan pulled her hand and pulled her up, then turned his head to blow out the light, "Okay, go to sleep."
...
The next day, Qiu Mingshan sent someone to pick her up early.
Bao Ning cleaned up the house. She couldn't take away the big items, and she didn't need to take the small items. It seemed that there was everything there. In the end, Bao Ning only took away a few clothes, her leech jar, and a dog.
Bao Ning suddenly remembered that when she married Pei Yuan, she was almost alone.
Sitting in the carriage, Baoning looked at Pei Yuan with a decadent expression: "My tomatoes are going to rot in the ground, and I don't know who will eat my chickens."
"No, I asked someone to take your chickens away and take good care of them. No one will eat them, so let them live out their lives." Pei Yuan rubbed her fingertips, "If you want to see, go anytime."
Baoning paused: "Not really..."
She lifted the curtain to look at the scenery outside. All the way there, it was a very pure mountain scenery. Baoning looked at it greedily. She remembered Pei Yuan's promise to her that within half a year, he would resolve the problems here and take her to Saibei to see the snow.
Not wanting to attract too much attention, they entered the General's Mansion through the small door at the back. Qiu Mingshan had many children and the mansion was large with many spare rooms. Baoning chose a remote courtyard called Qingxiang Pavilion. In order to take care of her, Pei Yuan found an older maid for her. Her surname was Liu and Baoning called her Aunt Liu.
There was a big pomegranate tree in the middle of Qingxiang Pavilion, which was already in bloom. There were not many people coming and going, and it was very quiet.
Living here also had its advantages. It was very close to her parents' home. Although it was difficult to see her aunt, she could see Ji Yan from time to time.
Life in the General's Mansion was not bad. Clothes were provided by hand and food was provided by mouth. It was very leisurely, but it also lost a lot of fun.
Pei Yuan suddenly became busy. Bao Ning didn't know what he was busy with. He refused to say, and she didn't ask. Bao Ning was worried about his health, but Pei Yuan couldn't stop. Seeing the dark circles under his eyes getting darker, Bao Ning was anxious, but the time they could talk became less and less. The short-lived tenderness and sweetness of the past few days seemed to have become a thing of the past, and the days became boring.