Green plums are like beans and willows are like eyebrows

Gu Zi'an's Personal Extra

Green willows by the river, curling smoke.

Just as a light drizzle was about to fall from the sky, the sound of horse hooves could be heard on the ancient bluestone road outside the general's mansion, raising clouds of moist dust.

"Major General, the general is back!"

Before Nian Shuang appeared, her chattering voice, like a magpie announcing good news, had already reached the martial arts field.

Gu Zi'an stopped swinging the spear in his hand, and the silver-gray spear tip slashed through the sky full of fluttering pear blossoms like a flying dragon or a startled phoenix.

The broken plain petals fell on his tense and explosive back. Even though it was still a slightly cool season, the high-intensity training still left a thin layer of sweat on his well-proportioned muscles.

"I see."

He put away his gun and wiped the sweat stains off his body, then took the clean robe from Nian's hands to cover his half-naked, thin upper body. His tone was so indifferent, as if the person who came back was not his father who had not returned home for several years, but a stranger who had nothing to do with him.

Nian Shuang stood still, watching the major general's leaving back. Without the narrow sleeves, the major general looked much thinner, and his muscles that contained strength were tightly covered by the wide robe. At first glance, he didn't look like a martial artist, but rather a gentle and elegant gentleman.

Isn't this... exactly what the lady wanted?

Ah! Nian Shuang suddenly realized that she had forgotten to tell the major general that the general was in his wife's room!

*

In the west wing.

Liu Yixi sat in front of the mirror with her back to Gu Linqing, drawing her eyebrows. Her slender eyebrows flowed slowly from her soft cheeks.

"How come there is no news from the general after he returned?"

The dim bronze mirror reflected Gu Linqing's cold, stern face. He lowered his eyes and stared at the intricate and exquisite robe pressing on Liu Yixi's thin shoulders for a long while before answering in a low voice.

"There's nothing much to say, and there's no certainty."

He was originally going back to Tiandu with the army, but for some reason he came back alone last night on horseback. He didn't tell her in advance because he was afraid of disturbing her.

But Mrs. Liu seemed dissatisfied with his answer. The eyebrow pencil in her hand drew an inappropriate curve on her exquisite and perfect makeup, and then it was thrown heavily on the dressing table, breaking into two pieces.

It was like a thunderclap that broke the dull depression. A light drizzle began to fall outside the window, washing away the anger that had just risen.

After a brief silence, it was Liu Yixi who broke the stiff situation.

"General, how long will you stay in Tiandu this time?"

"About a month."

"Heh." Liu Yixi laughed sarcastically, "The general is really a busy man."

"No wonder all the ladies in this city say I'm a widow who lives a miserable life. Without my mother's family, I should have gone to the mountains to become a nun!"

Gu Linqing frowned and moved his lips as if he wanted to say something, but fell silent again when he heard the second half of the sentence.

He understood that this was a thorn between them, always tugging at the sensitive nerves of both of them.

Just a slight touch will cause pain in my heart.

When His Majesty wanted to get rid of the Liu family, he instinctively relied on the military power in his hands to advise His Majesty, but he chose to stand by and watch.

No, it's more than that.

Even the fact that the Liu family was able to marry the second young lady to him was just a trade-off of interests. It was just that they miscalculated and failed to succeed.

"sorry."

He lowered his eyes and apologized awkwardly. He was proficient in how to march and fight, and knew how to do good to others, but he was not good at expressing his feelings.

"What I need is your apology?" Liu Yixi's perfect mask was shattered by these three short words. She stood up angrily, pointed at Gu Linqing and questioned in a hoarse voice, and her sleeves shattered the expensive rouge and powder on her makeup box.

"Gu Linqing!"

"I know that I, a concubine's daughter, am not worthy of your status as a general, and you were forced to marry me. As a woman, I don't understand the affairs of men in the court, but I have never blamed you for the affairs of my mother's family!"

Her voice was almost hoarse from the intense crying.

"I understand your difficulties, but have you ever understood mine?"

Gu Linqing frowned, and his serious face seemed to be covered with frost, becoming particularly cold. He pursed his lips, not knowing which of Liu Yixi's questions he was answering, or if it was all of them.

"I didn’t……"

Not forced, nor forgotten.

"Get lost!"

Before he could finish his words, a small bronze mirror was thrown at him on the head.

Gu Linqing did not dodge, and the bronze mirror hit him on the shoulder, then fell to the ground and broke into pieces, leaving many cracks.

He stared blankly at the bronze mirror on the ground, and saw the tears in Liu Yixi's eyes through the cracks, which burned his heart.

He was silent for a moment, then he bent down to pick up the broken bronze mirror on the ground, and then walked out of the room.

Liu Yixi had already gotten used to it. Every time he launched an attack with all his might, he was met with endless silence.

We had been separated for so long that even quarreling became a luxury.

*

In the courtyard, Gu Zi stood quietly under the tree waiting, as if he had never heard the quarrel in the room. The drizzle wet his hair.

"Father."

He nodded slightly and watched his father, whom he hadn't seen for four years, walk towards him with big strides, then stop three feet away with a serious and complicated expression.

Perhaps it had really been a long time since they last saw each other. Gu Linqing could no longer believe that the shoulder-to-shoulder boy in front of him was the same child who had hugged him and cried and begged him not to leave four years ago.

When the father and son looked at each other, there were no words to say, only silence.

An unspeakable silence lingered between the two of them for a long time before Gu Zi'an turned and walked towards the compartment.

"Take good care of your mother while I'm away."

Gu Linqing's dull admonition from the side made him pause, but he did not turn around or respond.

In his eyes, his father was the person in the family who had the least right to say this.

…

"Mother."

Gu Zi'an stood outside the compartment, waiting quietly for Liu Yixi to clean up the mess inside before pushing the door open and going in.

"Zi'an, come here and let mother take a look."

Liu Yixi sat on a high chair. Her hair, which had just been slightly scattered, was now neat and tidy again. The thick makeup on her face made her look like a sculpture without any joy or sorrow.

But makeup can only cover up the redness in the eyes, how can it cover up the tears welling up in the eyes?

"What books did you read today? Did you practice the piano?"

Gu Zi'an answered one by one. His tall back was as straight as a pine tree, but it was bent abruptly at the neck to form a docile arc.

Even if Liu Yixi wanted to use classics and the art of playing the piano to wash away the traces of Gu Linqing on him, they all understood that how could the only son of a general be a weak scholar who did not learn martial arts?

It's just deceiving yourself.

But she didn't ask and he didn't say, as if it could erase the shadow of that person in their lives.

After all, the time of life is short like the morning dew. If you can really deceive yourself, isn’t it a blessing?

*

Red candles are lit, embroidered curtains are hung, and sandalwood incense sways under the lamplight.

Like the wind, like a dream.

Liu Yixi sat quietly on the edge of the wedding bed. Her figure was as soft as a willow, yet she had an unbreakable tenacity. Her face was covered by a gorgeous embroidered veil.

Today is her happy day, but she doesn't know where this happiness comes from.

As a concubine, A Niang never experienced a good life in the mansion. She was left alone early. She was like a drifting chess piece. No one cared about her sorrows and joys, and even she herself no longer cared.

There was a noisy conversation outside the door, and Liu Yixi subconsciously clenched the veil in her hand.

She thought she was calm and indifferent enough to face all the unknown hardships, but when she really faced them, she found that she was still herself.

Will you feel panic and at a loss? Will you care whether your back is straight and whether you are showing any signs of timidity?

Until the sound of unhurried footsteps stopped in front of her, the emerald jade ruyi lifted the heavy red veil.

She slowly raised her head and met a pair of deep and heavy eyes.

It was heavy and gave her silent support as she swayed.

The lights and shadows are vague in the red curtain, and the crimson wax threads are mysterious and fascinating.

Liu Yixi suddenly had an urgent urge to cry, as if a lonely boat that had been drifting for a long time had finally returned to the warm and peaceful hometown in his childhood dreams.

"Husband."

She called out to the owner of the eyes with trembling pale lips, as if she was complaining softly.

Why did you come just now? I have been staring at the moon for so many years alone.

*

The morning light was dim in the sky and birds were chirping.

How long has it been since you dreamed about the past?

Liu Yixi sat silently on the bed, staring at the hazy shadows of the trees by the window. They looked like demons with bared fangs and claws, whispering miserably to the wind.

The undried tears on the pillow made her feel dazed, and she raised her hand to stroke the corners of her cold eyes.

It's tears.

It turns out that these layers of high walls and deep courtyards can really make the flowers in the forest fade away and the young girls become resentful women.

…

The noisy sounds in the courtyard gathered and dissipated. Under the plaque of the General's Mansion, Gu Linqing was holding his horse without moving.

He pursed his lips and looked back at Liu Yixi who was standing in front of the mansion gate. The words turned around in his heart and changed their minds.

"Is there anything you want?"

He stroked the protruding knot on the reins, a glimmer of expectation hidden in his solemn black eyes, which was instantly drowned in Liu Yixi's long silence.

"Then... I'm leaving."

A light breeze blew away the thin clouds, and Liu Yixi behind him suddenly called out to him.

"...I heard that the jade in Nanyue is of excellent quality. I am still missing a jade hairpin in my dressing table."

The tone was low and somewhat unnatural, but it was clearly transmitted to Gu Linqing's heart, and a stiff smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

"good."

He tightened his grip on the reins, and his lonely figure gradually disappeared into the mountains.

Behind him, Liu Yixi stood there, waiting for a long time.

Until the not-so-exquisite, hand-polished white jade hairpin arrived, along with it was his relic.

It seems light and yet as heavy as a mountain.

*

The sky is filled with desolate white, making people feel suffocated and at a loss.

Gu Zi'an knelt upright in front of the spirit tablet, his eyes empty and without a single tear.

He thought that maybe he should be sad and cry loudly to justify the mourning.

But when he looked at the coffins put together, he felt that there was nothing wrong with it.

It seemed as if he discovered for the first time that they both deeply loved the man they had hated for more than ten years.

But, he is too stubborn.

I was so stubborn that the jade hairpin fell to the ground, and then I realized that the reason for all these years of suffering was not because I didn't love him, but because I loved him too much. To the extent that even though I fell in love with him at first sight, I was trapped in the mist of delusion, and my life was in tatters, with love and hate intertwined.

He bent down deeply, silently praying for the afterlife in his heart, a tear fell to the ground, and the broken hairpin was now lying quietly in the coffin.

At least, from now on, they belong to each other.

*

The wind blew up the crimson ears of corn. Gu Zi'an half-knelt in the shadow and calmly gazed into the concerned eyes of the little prince, looking still dignified and elegant.

But this is obviously not his style.

He doesn't know what he should be like.

His father expected him to be brave and his mother expected him to be clear-headed. All those vague feelings of love and hate became real in him.

Now that the shackles on his body were broken, he suddenly realized that the shackles on his heart were still there.

How long it will take, he didn't know.

But he tied the jade pendant on the little prince, looked at the swaying red tassel, and his memory drifted away.

It was the day when the young prince arrested him. He leaned out of the window of a teahouse along the street and looked out.

"Royal brother!"

The handsome young man ran up to the teahouse with a smile and threw himself into the prince's arms.

At that glance, through the mist of tea, his heart seemed to be filled with turbulent emotions.

How can she be so dignified and pampered? Just a casual glance at her makes people feel jealous.

He lowered his eyes to hide the darkness that was quietly rising.

The next moment, I heard His Highness's clean and soft voice, like the tinkling of jewelry.

"I've met Brother Zi'an."

He raised his head almost subconsciously. At that time, he didn't know that this would be the beginning of countless indescribable and complicated dreams in the future.

The young man stepped forward, his jade belt fluttering in the wind. He raised his eyebrows, and a patch of skylight appeared.