Xiao Youzhi boarded the carriage amidst Meng Zhao's praise. Before leaving, he glanced back at her, his eyes filled with a profound meaning.
The carriage slowly drove away. Xiao Youzhi, sitting inside, couldn't help but chuckle and muttered to himself, "They've actually divorced. That saves a lot of trouble."
After seeing Xiao Youzhi off, Meng Zhao busied herself arranging rooms for her parents and Fang Muyun. Once everything was settled, she took the things they had brought and returned to her own room.
There were several letters in the box, sent to her by the Shen family, which she opened one by one.
The first letter she opened was from Gu Shi. In addition to expressing her longing for her, the letter also complained about the high prices in the capital, including shop rents. She had inquired about several places, but none of them were suitable for opening a shop. At that time, she had just rented a courtyard and was thinking of waiting until Shen Qinghe finished the imperial examination.
The last page of the letter included the address of the courtyard they rented, and even two drawings: one of the courtyard gate and the other of the street layout, as if afraid she wouldn't be able to find the place.
Then there were Shen Qingze and Shen Qingyu. Both children's envelopes were heavy. When they were opened, each envelope contained seven or eight sheets of paper. Unlike the characters in Gu's lettering, which were the size of a thumb, each character was the size of a soybean. Meng Zhao laughed out loud when he saw this and moved the oil lamp closer so that he could see them clearly.
The document details every single thing they did since leaving Qingshi County, including the beautiful scenery they saw along the way, the interesting things they encountered, and their experience of looking for a house.
However, what he talked about most was missing her and asking when she would come to the capital to see them. The words were full of the pure feelings of the two children. Meng Zhao's eyes couldn't help but moisten as she read the letter.
Finally, there was Shen Qinghe's letter. It was clearly very frivolous, yet she dared not open it. So she placed the envelope on the table, tidied up, washed up, and went to bed.
However, lying in bed, she tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. She gritted her teeth, finally threw off the covers, ran to the table in her thin undergarments, picked up the envelope, and trembled as she crawled back under the covers.
After mentally preparing myself, I slowly opened the envelope. Inside were only four short sentences:
The north wind was biting and the night was as cold as ice.
The thin quilt could hardly keep out the chill.
Fortunately, Qiongzhi was held in her palm.
A tender wisp accompanies my dreams.
After quickly reading through the few sentences, Meng Zhao felt as if a thread in her mind had snapped. Once she came to her senses, she crumpled the letter into a ball, threw it on the ground, and then covered herself with the blanket and began to passionately express herself.
After she had finished scolding, she poked her head out from under the covers. Her face was flushed, whether from anger or frustration, it was hard to tell.
The tip of the jade hairpin he stole back then was carved with a plum branch. That damned Shen Qinghe, how dare he be so bold! Doesn't he fear that this letter will fall into someone else's hands? Such a blatant love poem, he can't explain it no matter how he tries.
Even though the letter had been thrown away, those few lines of poetry still echoed in her mind. Meng Zhao couldn't help but make up her mind that she had to go to the capital as soon as possible to retrieve the hairpin.
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