Chapter 106: Top Level Over the Lungs He raised his face slightly, and his towering Adam's apple relaxed...
During these two brief moments of silence, everyone in the courtyard received a warning signal: Do not act rashly!
Liu Niang wanted to step forward and take the doll, but her husband stopped her with a look. Suo Zhu quickly reached out and grabbed Chun Ya.
The servants in the courtyard, whether they recognized Lin Meizhu or not, also noticed the subtle and tense atmosphere and did not move for a while.
But there was one exception.
The old lady in the main hall saw Lin Meizhu coming and said softly, "Why are you troubling me, Doctor Lin?" Then she turned around and introduced Shen Changfeng enthusiastically, "General, this is Doctor Lin. She's been staying at my house for the past two days. She prescribed a prescription for Shuan'er. Maybe she can do it!"
The old man was full of praise, and continued with a smile, "This girl is not only beautiful, but also has a very kind heart. No matter what we said, she refused to accept the consultation fee! You really can't find such a good girl even with a lantern! Whoever marries her in the future will be blessed!"
Shen Changfeng slowly lowered his eyes, not knowing whether he responded or not, but his Adam's apple moved.
The old lady invited Lin Meizhu in and said, "Eleventh Lady, this is General Shen. Don't be afraid, he's a very good man."
Lin Meizhu stood by the door and bowed. Shen Changfeng nodded slightly in response.
The old lady didn't seem to notice anything was wrong. She stood up shakily with her crutches and said, "Come, let the general see Shuan'er..."
Lin Meizhu took two steps forward, and Shen Changfeng stood up and reached out to take the baby. When handing it over, the child saw a stranger approaching, turned around, and grabbed the clothes on Lin Meizhu's shoulders with his little hands.
Shen Changfeng raised his hand to hold the doll's hand, and Lin Meizhu reached out to hold the doll's hand.
With his palm covering the back of her hand, Shen Changfeng gently held Lin Meiju's hand.
The dolls in their arms raised their heads, raised their eyebrows at Shen Changfeng, waved their little fists vigorously, and shouted, "Ah——?!"
Shen Changfeng retracted his hand and said, "Sorry."
He held the child and sat back in his seat. He took a sip of tea and wanted to take another sip, but saw that the tea was almost gone. After a moment of silence, he put the teacup back and gently moved the rim of the cup with his fingertips to change its direction.
Lin Meiju was leaving, and the old lady tried to persuade her to stay. Liu Niang, taking a hint from her husband, went into the room and persuaded the old lady to let her go.
The old man said, "Okay, Eleventh Lady is about to get married, so I'm afraid she'll be busy. It's best to go back early! I'll ask Suozhu to take you there..."
Lin Meizhu politely declined, saying, "The people my family sent should be here by now..."
As they were talking, a servant came to the door, bowed to everyone, and said to Lin Meizhu, "Miss, the sedan chair hired by Lord Song has arrived."
Xiaoman has obviously gotten better recently. Aunt Zhang was overjoyed and took Xiaoman to visit relatives and friends, while Lin Meiju went south alone.
Lin Meizhu said goodbye to everyone in the hall one by one. Shen Changfeng was originally teasing the child with his eyes lowered, but when he saw Lin Meizhu looking at him, he nodded politely as well, then raised his teacup and took a sip of tea, then turned back to talk to the guards behind him. His words and actions were in line with the etiquette when they first met, which was not too close but still decent. It seemed that it was just a coincidence, and he had really let it go.
Lin Meizhu almost believed it.
If she hadn't seen the arm restraints he was wearing, she would have believed it.
He always wore the armbands she made, even when they were old, dark and torn, and even when the edges were worn so badly that they were hard to ignore, he didn't change them.
She remembered that every time he came back, he would carefully wipe the armbands, and habitually stroke the dark sea pattern she had embroidered. Looking at it now, the black brocade on the outer layer of the armbands was obviously much thinner than the surrounding materials, and the sea and river cliff pattern on it was almost blurred at the edges.
He was reluctant to part with it. He still cherished his armband very much.
Lin Meizhu left.
It was a long time before Shen Changfeng realized what the people around him were saying, and he didn't even feel the baby in his arms biting his shoulder.
He knew he had many nicknames outside: Shen Fubo, Boss Shen, General Shen, the Dog Thief Shen, Shen Sangen, Shen Banzhi, Shen Buquan... He accepted all these names, good or bad, playful or sarcastic, and laughed them off. It wasn't until he saw her that dusty memories flooded back. He suddenly remembered that he was the prince of Dingbei Palace, stripped of his title; he was a playboy hated by thousands and thousands; he was an orphan, unloved by his parents; he was a homeless wanderer; he was a born misfortune; he was Shen Changfeng, Shen Du, and he once had a wife, Lin Meizhu, who loved him deeply.
Once! Once! Once! But once! Only once!!
The old lady who had been muttering all the time gradually stopped talking, and the hall fell silent. After a long silence, Chen Yue had to remind him in his ear, "General, the old lady wants to ask if you want to stay overnight."
Shen Changfeng calmed himself down and realized that everyone was looking at him secretly, with worry in their eyes, as well as a momentary embarrassment and panic that they hadn't been able to hide their pity in time.
He curled his lips and said, "No, I still have military affairs to deal with."
Tiezhu shouted from outside, "The food will be ready soon!"
The atmosphere in the main hall became lively again. The old lady said, "We are not afraid of being laughed at by the general. We are all unsophisticated people who can't read a single word. Today, we are shameless and want to ask the general to give our son a name. The general has great ability and has seen a lot of things. He is also a blessed man. If I can get some of your help, it will be the fortune of my son Shuan in this life!"
After Shen Changfeng finished speaking, he stood up, took a half step back, and then handed the child to the person closest to him. This was a subconscious retreat. He didn't know who was next to him, but anyone could name the child better than him.
When Qin Yan asked someone to tell his daughter's fortune, he also asked for him. Shen Changfeng left after listening to the beginning. Later, Qin Yan said that he left too early. The half-immortal said some good things afterwards. He was still good at fortune-telling.
Shen Changfeng sneered. How could he not know whether his fate was good or not? He was not a three-year-old child who needed Qin Yan to say nice things to coax him. But thinking that Qin Yan was already worried enough about his daughter, Shen Changfeng didn't say anything more.
He absolutely could not pass on his misfortune to a child, even if it was a lie, he could not take such a risk.
Then he turned around naturally and shouted outside, "Where's Suozhu! Didn't you say you wanted to give Shuan'er a name? Tell him to come in and tell me. He's been learning for so long, and if he doesn't give it a good name, he'll be punished!"
There was a burst of laughter from the courtyard, and everyone surrounded Suozhu and entered the main hall.
In the end, Shen Changfeng did not stay for dinner. He hurriedly said goodbye, using the excuse that he had urgent matters to deal with in the army.
The moment he stepped out of the courtyard, his heartbeat suddenly lost its rhythm, becoming extremely rapid and throbbing, and his face turned pale. The calm defense he had just tried so hard to maintain completely collapsed, and the words the old lady had casually mentioned kept repeating in his mind.
Good things are coming.
Good things are coming, good things are coming, what good things could there be? Three years have passed, and the mourning period on the seventh day of the lunar year is over. This good thing, of course, refers to their marriage. For three years, he hadn't dared to ask for her news, afraid of hearing about her happy events, afraid of knowing she was in love with someone else. However, no matter how he tried to hide or avoid it, the bad news still approached with a grim smile, suddenly hitting him in the face.
Shen Changfeng walked to his mount, grasped the reins and stepped on the stirrup, but he missed the first step.
Ah Chou tilted his head to look at him, somewhat surprised, and then bared his teeth in disdain, but still stamped his horse's hooves and moved to a flatter ground.
Shen Changfeng stepped on the stirrup and tried again.
Chen Yue was following behind him. When he looked up suddenly, he found that Shen Changfeng had somehow not stepped firmly on the stirrup. His ankle twisted and he fell off the horse. He fell forward suddenly and his knees fell to the ground with a "bang"!
The attendants around him screamed in unison: "General!"
Chen Yue was quick-witted and rushed forward to hold up his arms. Even so, Shen Changfeng's palms and knees were immediately bleeding.
Seeing that his face was pale and his hands and feet were shivering, Chen Yue immediately shouted, "Go get a doctor!"
Someone said, "Doctor Lin hasn't gone far yet!"
He was interrupted by Shen Changfeng's stern shout: "No! You can't go!" He swallowed hard, taking his time, to suppress the trembling fear in his heart. He was afraid she would think he was being pretentious, deliberately trying to elicit her sympathy, afraid that she would be disgusted by it. He didn't want her to dislike him.
Then he realized that he had lost his composure. He took a few breaths before stabilizing his breathing. Then, in his usual tone, he said, "It's okay. I'm just tired. Just take it easy."
Tiezhu and his brother had gone out to see him off, and were shocked when they saw this scene. When the old lady heard the news, she also came out with a crutch and insisted that Shen Changfeng stay and rest.
This time Shen Changfeng did not refuse.
Shen Changfeng insisted on not calling a doctor, saying he was just tired and out of his mind. Tiezhu and the others couldn't persuade him, so they just let him go.
Not long after, another servant brought the documents to be processed to the courtyard, and the guest room soon became quiet.
But what was different from the past was that he did not immediately use busy official duties to fill the emptiness in his heart or suppress the long-lasting pain.
He had just carefully checked that the Wei family only had two rooms available for accommodation: one in the main hall, and the other in the guest room where he was staying.
There was a low wooden bed in the main room - that should be the old lady's bed. There were also two hard beds, one of which had a cradle on the side, and the other had a sweat towel on it - it belonged to Tiezhu and his wife.
The Wei family was very hospitable and gave their best and most private room to their guests. This meant that Lin Meizhu also stayed in this room when she stayed overnight.
Shen Changfeng's gaze fell on the small couch inside and he swallowed lightly.
By the time he reacted, his hands had already picked up the thin quilt on the bed, with unspeakable expectations and secret and strange joy, holding it in an almost pious posture, as if holding a fragile and priceless treasure, with his nose close, and closer... He heard his heartbeat accelerating uncontrollably, and even his palms began to tremble inexplicably.
He sniffed lightly, then closed his eyes and smiled.
He would remember the smell of her even when he died.
He took another deep breath, his brows half furrowed, then he lifted his face slightly, his towering Adam's apple sliding slowly downwards. He felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction and happiness in his lungs, completely intoxicated. Gradually, a faint warmth and bitterness filled his eyes.
It is undoubtedly her fragrance.
That night, he washed up early and went to bed to rest, which was rare. He gently hugged the thin quilt that carried her scent, and pressed his cheek against the cloth pillow that still had the rich fragrance of raven hair. His whole body felt like he was bathing in warm sunshine. The unique fragrance that belonged to her lingered at the tip of his nose, and the light medicinal aroma soothed his mind, and then wove into a sweet net, slowly enveloping him.
He soon fell asleep.
Even in winter, Shen Changfeng's body was as hot as a furnace, let alone on this summer night with the cicadas chirping incessantly. However, even though his chest was wet with sweat and his back was covered with beads of sweat, he was reluctant to let go of the quilt in his arms for a moment.
It had been almost three years since he finally had a good night's sleep.
The next morning, Shen Changfeng looked at the folded thin quilt, his eyes gradually becoming deeper.
He made a bold and not very glorious decision.
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