Zhao Rong returned to the bamboo courtyard with "two bright moons within reach".

Following the familiar road, he passed the bamboo courtyard where the attack occurred, crossed the stream with a bluestone bridge, and walked towards the elegant courtyard in his memory.

Getting closer.

Zhao Rong actually felt a little scared.

Like... I feel homesick.

The surrounding bamboo groves and courtyards had long been deserted, and it was late at night and there was complete darkness.

But he saw from afar that the lights in his elegant courtyard were still on. In the dark and cold night, this light was very conspicuous.

Zhao Rong rubbed the corners of his eyes.

Rubbed it again.

Maybe because I had just gotten used to the darkness along the way, I suddenly felt that the light was a little dazzling.

It's like... a lighthouse on a dark coastline, guiding some people returning home at night.

As they approached the last corner, Zhao Rong's footsteps unconsciously slowed down, or rather... became lighter.

I was afraid that the fallen leaves under my feet would make too much noise.

He wanted to walk slower.

However, no matter how slow we went, we still arrived.

Zhao Rong stopped at the corner, lowered his head and tried to find something.

The farewell letter is still there.

Quietly lying among the fallen leaves.

He had a good memory and it was in a different location than it had been.

But Zhao Rong was not sure whether it was blown by the autumn wind or picked up and put back by someone.

He picked it up, looked at it carefully, and put it back into his sleeve.

He took a deep breath, turned the corner, and headed towards his home.

The elegant courtyard was silent. The three rooms of the east wing, west wing and the back kitchen were lit up, but no human voice could be heard.

All around us there was the rustling of leaves in the autumn wind and the occasional chirping of insects in the distant grass.

Zhao Rong stopped in front of the door again.

After thinking about it, he first put away the two Jiutian Hangong flowers.

Then he raised his hand, put it down, and raised it again.

Finally, the hand stopped in front of the door handle and remained in the air for a long time without moving.

Inside the door...what are they doing? Are they sleeping? Or are they out...

Zhao Rong lowered his eyes and then withdrew his hand.

Wandering in front of the courtyard gate, he clenched one hand into a fist, clasped the other hand, and walked back and forth several times, trying to make his steps as light as possible.

"What are you doing?" Gui Wu Yu asked.

"Maybe they are asleep? Otherwise, we should not wake them up..." he said.

"The lights are on, what the hell is he sleeping? Even if he fell asleep, he must have fallen asleep because he was waiting for you. Wake him up quickly, or put on some clothes or something, so that he won't catch a cold lying on the table..." Gui really wanted to punch him. He just ran down the mountain like a child, why is he so cowardly again?

Zhao Rong frowned, "Gui, something's wrong with you. Why are you so kind to talk to them? Didn't you just..."

"I am happy to do so. Also, stop using your suspicious tone to change the subject. Are you a coward?..."

Zhao Rong choked and pulled the corner of his mouth: "What do you mean by changing the subject? It's just opening a door. What's there to be afraid of with your own door? Look at me..."

Gui seemed to be unconvinced, thinking that he would definitely back down halfway, and he chuckled and shouted, "Then come on..."

He gritted his teeth and reached out to grab the door handle, "Wait..."

Just then, there was a slight sound of footsteps coming from inside the courtyard gate.

The two men's voices suddenly disappeared. Zhao Rong opened his eyes but before he could react, the door was creaked open from the inside.

Before he could withdraw his hand, a tall figure of a woman appeared in the door.

The person who opened the door was Qingjun.

Looking up, I saw that she was wearing a lotus-white high-waisted skirt, her long black hair was tied up into a bun, with a purple jade hairpin inlaid with pearls inserted diagonally, and she was wearing a pair of soft-soled pearl-embroidered shoes. Her face was bare, and the sleeves on her thin arms were not even put down in time, as if she had just been doing housework, and there were still some wet stains on her cheeks.

Zhao Rong was stunned when he saw his wife who noticed the noise and suddenly ran to open the door.

Concubine Zhao Ling also looked at him in surprise.

The two of them were separated by a low threshold, the light was dim, and the moonlight fell on each other's faces.

One person was outside the door, and the other was inside. They looked at each other in silence for a while.

Zhao Rong opened his mouth, somewhat awkwardly wanting to explain something.

Concubine Zhao Ling had already spoken:

"You're back?" Her voice was gentle, more like a statement, "Wash your hands. The meal will be ready soon."

As she spoke, she held the gate and looked left and right at the empty back of him, then lowered her eyes, lightly lifted her temples, and stepped aside to let him in.

This scene is like a thrifty and virtuous wife and mother in an ordinary farm family at the foot of the mountain, opening the door and speaking kindly to her husband who has just returned home after a busy day outside.

Everything is plain and dull.

There is no romance, no fiery passion, only something called life.

I'm back... um, wash your hands, the meal is almost ready...

Hearing these two simple sentences, it seemed as if all the tiredness of the whole day was eliminated.

Suddenly I wanted to eat the dinner she made... he thought.

Facing the woman who told him to wash his hands and eat, Zhao Rong slowly closed his mouth and pursed his lips. All the words he wanted to express just now turned into a simple sentence:

"Oh, okay."

Zhao Rong walked over the threshold without saying a word and returned to his home yard.

With a creaky sound, Concubine Zhao Ling slightly closed the courtyard door but not completely. Zhao Rong did not pay attention to it. After entering the courtyard, he looked around and found that Xiao Qian'er was sticking her head out of the west wing to look at them. When she saw him come in, she hurried to pour him hot water and prepare a towel to wash his hands. She must have been eavesdropping with her ears perked up.

Zhao Lingfei bit her lip lightly, turned around and left the courtyard gate. When she turned back and saw him looking at her clothes again, she explained, "I saw that Mr. Zhu and Mr. Yan had left, and thinking about what you said this morning, we should also leave tomorrow, so I thought about cleaning up these rooms. After all, we are borrowing someone else's house temporarily. Although I don't know if the original owner will come back, I still have to clean it up before leaving..."

Zhao Rong nodded. No wonder he saw from a distance that the houses in the elegant courtyard were all brightly lit. It turned out that they were busy...

"Wait."

Concubine Zhao Ling suddenly called him, came to her husband, and tentatively stretched out her slender hand, but paused halfway. Seeing that Zhao Rong had no other reaction, she continued to stretch out her hand and pinched the wet fabric around his waist with her slender fingers.

The woman did not look at the strange little sachet given to her by someone unknown tied around her husband's waist not far from her hand.

"You're all wet... You need to take a bath first. Let Qian'er get you some hot water. Then quickly change into dry clothes, or you'll catch a cold... There's some wormwood in the kitchen. I'll ask Qian'er to put some in the bucket and give you a bath. Hurry up and take off these wet clothes."

She frowned slightly, muttered a few words to herself, rolled up her sleeves a little higher, and ran to the kitchen in a hurry, while walking, loudly ordering Xiao Qian'er in the room to fill the bathtub with hot water.

Zhao Rong nodded blankly, "Okay."

The woman who married her childhood sweetheart never asked her husband what he did outside all day to come home wet and sweaty.

"Brother Rong'er~" Not long after, Xiao Qian'er, who was preparing hot water, couldn't stand the loneliness anymore and ran out of the house. She held Zhao Rong's arm with both hands, turned around happily twice, and said some jokes to him. But just like Zhao Lingfei, she didn't ask him what he did outside all day and why he came home so late, nor did she ask about his disheveled and wet appearance.

Zhao Rong replied with a few words with a smile, rubbed her cute head which was leaning towards him, and then was pushed into the bathroom by the little girl with both hands.

After a while, Zhao Rong had no choice but to drive away Xiao Qian'er who wanted to rub his back, and she went out with the clothes basket.

Zhao Rong stretched his muscles and lay in the misty bathtub, with his hands spread out and placed on the edge of the tub covered with a hot towel.

He didn't like the feeling of his skin touching the cold water on the wall of the wooden tub when bathing. It was a habit he had formed for a long time. So Xiao Qian'er, who was familiar with him, carefully put a towel under him before leaving so that he could lie more comfortably.

Zhao Rong looked up at the sky, as if in a daze for a while.

I couldn't see his expression clearly in the fog.

There were some sounds of Qingjun and Qian'er busying around coming from the direction of the kitchen in the yard. He turned his head and looked in that direction for a while. It took him a while to come back to his senses.

Then, as if he had thought of something, he silently took out the two Nine Heavens Cold Palace flowers picked from the top of the mountain, and looked down at them...

Zhao Rong quickly came to his senses and didn't stay in the bathroom for too long. He left the bathtub after washing himself.

He put on his clothes, tidied himself up, left the bathroom, stood in the yard to get some fresh air, took a deep breath, and then went to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Qingjun and Xiaoqian'er were both there. The two girls were busy and chatting at the same time. After he came in, their voices paused slightly. Then Zhao Lingfei and Xiaoqian'er did not look back, but continued to do the things at hand with their heads down, their expressions normal, and the conversation continued.

Tonight's dinner includes many of someone's favorite dishes, but this is already the fourth time they've heated them up.

But, it doesn't matter.

Zhao Rong stood at the kitchen door, looking at the familiar backs of the two girls, one tall and one short. He silently rolled up his sleeves, walked forward, joined them and lent a hand.

Zhao Lingfei and Xiao Qian'er did not react too unexpectedly. They quietly made way for him to join.

So the family of three began to get busy in this small country kitchen.

Zhao Rong lowered his head and worked for a while, then at one point he smiled and spoke, interrupting their conversation at the right time.

The three of them seemed to be chatting about interesting family matters as usual. Occasionally, when they talked about someone's ugly deeds, they would reveal a tacit smile on their faces.

The three chatted while lighting the fire, heating the dishes, washing the dishes, passing the plates, and picking up chopsticks for the food...

Soon, the meal was ready.

Three people divided the work.

Zhao Rong brought the dishes to the table.

Concubine Zhao Ling went to get the bowl for rice.

Xiao Qianer carefully selected a few pairs of chopsticks to wash...

After a while, the table was filled.

The dining table is a square table placed in the main room. The candlelight in the room is not bright, but dim orange, but Zhao Rong feels particularly warm. The howling autumn wind and the dark night are all shut out of the door. The small room is quiet and warm, like a safe haven.

Zhao Rong withdrew his gaze from the paper window. He, Zhao Lingfei, and Xiao Qian'er sat down at the table. They habitually put their palms together and rubbed a pair of chopsticks, making a clattering sound...

He felt particularly close to it.

After a busy day, it’s finally time for dinner.

Zhao Rong silently picked up his bowl and chopsticks, ready to start eating, but at this moment, he caught a glimpse of something extra on the opposite side of the table.

It is a set of extra bowls and chopsticks, quietly placed in the extra spot on the square table.

There were only three people in the room, but there were four sets of bowls and chopsticks.

He was slightly stunned.

Why is there an extra set?

…