During dinner, Luo Xin realized that her father was missing. Xiao Yunying only said that he had something to do and left first, without saying anything else.
After finishing her meal, she asked the monk who came to clean up for a pot of hot tea, thinking she could drink it when she was thirsty that evening.
Chen Yuancheng said, "I had Ling Qi boil water in the kitchen of the other courtyard and keep it warm with charcoal. There are tea sets in the kitchen, so you can go and get some whenever you are thirsty at night."
Chen Yuanyao also said, "It's chilly on the mountain at night, and the tea cools down quickly. Be careful not to get an upset stomach from drinking cold tea. The kitchen is on the far left of the backyard. Sister Yunying can see it as soon as she gets there."
"Okay, I understand."
Chen Yuancheng said about his plans for tomorrow: "We can play for half a day tomorrow morning, and then we'll go back after lunch."
Chen Yuanyao said, "It just so happens that Ning Yuan, Wenren, and I have arranged to go to the peach grove together tomorrow to enjoy the scenery and compose poems."
Chen Yuancheng glanced at his younger sister and said meaningfully, "You're not young anymore. Keep your distance from men of marriageable age to avoid ruining your reputation."
"Don't worry, brother. I know what I'm doing. We can only get together to play here at Liangshan Temple. After we leave the mountain, we won't have any more contact. There are no outsiders here, and I haven't been alone with anyone. It's okay."
Xiao Yunying, with a gossipy mind, glanced at Zuo Qingzhi, but seeing that her expression was normal, she was unsure what had happened when she was alone with Chen Yuancheng that afternoon, so she didn't ask.
After chatting for a while, the group went back to their rooms to rest. Zuo Qingzhi washed up first and lay down on the bed. She even exchanged a few words with Chen Yuanyao. She waited until Chen Yuanyao was fast asleep before turning over and burying her face in the blankets with her back to her friend.
Recalling everything that happened that afternoon, tears streamed down her face and dripped onto her pillow, but she was afraid of being discovered by Chen Yuanyao, so she could only cry silently.
In the afternoon, she had hoped to relax and have some time alone with Chen Yuancheng, but she kept thinking about her mother urging her to find a suitable husband as soon as possible. Perhaps driven to desperation by her various negative fantasies, she confessed her feelings without thinking.
Unsurprisingly, Chen Yuancheng politely declined, explaining that he had always considered her a younger sister and had no other intentions.
She should have known long ago that he could never like her, because he already had someone he liked.
But it was clearly she who met Chen Yuancheng first.
She couldn't accept the thought of it and asked the question directly.
"You like my older sister, right? But she's already married. She's a married woman, and it's mutual. You can't like her anymore."
As soon as she said those words, she saw Chen Yuancheng's expression change, and she immediately regretted it.
She knows the pain of unrequited love, and she shouldn't intentionally hurt the person she likes because of this.
She thought Chen Yuancheng would be furious because she exposed the matter, but he showed no anger, embarrassment, or disgust at himself.
She simply looked into the depths of the peach grove and said softly, "Yes, I shouldn't like her anymore, but who one's heart belongs to is not something we can control. Miss Zuo, just like you knew long ago that I wouldn't like you, you also couldn't control your own feelings, could you?"
His tone was very gentle, but Zuo Qingzhi felt like crying. In the end, she held back her tears and apologized softly.
"I'm sorry, Brother Yuancheng."
Yes, even Yao Yao realized a long time ago that she liked her brother. How could someone as smart as her not see it?
He always treated her with courtesy, polite yet distant, without ever overstepping any boundaries. This was already a subtle way of rejecting her, but she was simply unwilling to admit it.
"It's alright." Chen Yuancheng turned his gaze back to her. "I just hope this doesn't ruin your friendship with Yuan Yao. You know she values you as a friend."
Zuo Qingzhi felt a little wronged and pouted, saying, "But what if I feel like crying?"
Before Chen Yuancheng could react, she felt increasingly aggrieved after saying those words, and burst into tears, saying, "Why did I ask? I shouldn't have asked."
"This...you..."
At that moment, Chen Yuancheng was unusually flustered. Seeing her tears falling in large drops, before he could think of words of comfort, she cried out twice but quickly stopped, sobbing softly.
Chen Yuancheng didn't know how to comfort her for a moment, so he took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her: "You... don't cry..."
Zuo Qingzhi took the handkerchief without ceremony and wiped her tears. She couldn't cry anymore, otherwise people would notice if her eyes were swollen.
But she was really sad, and this emotion could only be relieved slowly, not stopped all at once, so she said, "I can't help it, I still want to cry. Brother Yuancheng, can you accompany me to clear my mind?"
"……sure."
"Brother Yuancheng, you can't laugh at me in your heart."
No, it won't.
"That's so embarrassing."
"No."
"That's a lie."
"...In short, there was no one else here, and no third person could see it."
"All right."
The two walked side by side along the edge of the peach grove until they calmed down before returning to the villa together.
No matter how much she pretended to be fine on the surface, she was still upset inside.
Zuo Qingzhi silently shed tears for a while, thinking that her eyes might be swollen tomorrow, so she dared not cry anymore. She wiped her tears with her sleeve and tried her best to control her emotions.
I feel so frustrated; I can't even cry my heart out.
When she gets home in a while, she must have a good cry, and no one can interrupt her to vent her emotions.
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