Chapter 186: Happy Ending
Lu Shuyan didn't want to delay Shen Yuan and Xie Hui's time together because of her own affairs, so after a while she said to Shen Yuan: "Yuanyuan, I won't delay you and Mr. Xie anymore, I'm going home first."
Facing Yuwen Mu's scorching gaze, Kuang Qianfan said to Lu Shuyan, "Miss Lu, I'll take you back." After all, Lu Shuyan came out with him today, and it was only right for him to take her back safely.
Yuwen Mu stood there without saying anything. He had to respect Miss Lu. He could not interfere with who Miss Lu wanted to send.
But Lu Shuyan said, "Let Lord Yuwen take me back, Lord Yuwen, is that ok?"
When Yuwen Mu heard this, a hint of surprise flashed across his face, but he quickly nodded and said "OK".
Lu Shuyan said goodbye to a few people and left with Yuwen Mu. Shen Yuan turned around and looked at their backs. Yuwen Mu was always walking half a step behind Lu Shuyan.
Kuang Qianfan saw Lu Shuyan and the others leave, so he couldn't stay and cause trouble, "Okay, I'm going home too, you two have fun."
Shen Yuan knew both Kuang Qianfan and Lu Shuyan, but he never thought that these two people might be together.
When she turned around again, Lu Shuyan and Yuwen Mu had already walked into the crowd and could no longer be seen.
"Master Yuwen, please come in and sit for a while."
Lu Shuyan stopped in front of a teahouse. Some things needed to be made clear as soon as possible.
Most people were on the street now, so there were not many people in the teahouse. Yuwen Mu knew that Lu Shuyan must have something to say to him, so he asked the waiter for a private room and a pot of scented tea, and then asked Lu Shuyan, "Do you want any snacks?"
Lu Shuyan shook her head. She didn't come in to eat. After the waiter served tea, Lu Shuyan's maid waited outside the door. Only the two of them sat facing each other in the room.
Lu Shuyan reached out and poured a cup of tea for herself and Yuwen Mu. "Master Yuwen, we encountered a landslide outside the city before. Thank you for your help."
Yuwen Mu had few family connections since he was a child, and later he joined the army. There were mostly tough men in the barracks, so even though the girl he liked was sitting opposite him, he couldn't say anything nice to her.
I could only say dryly: "Miss Lu has already thanked you for what happened before."
Lu Shuyan smiled and asked, "If I'm not mistaken, Lord Yuwen should know why Lord Kuang and I are here today, right?"
Yuwen Mu nodded slightly. He knew, of course, that Kuang Qianfan was also working in the Imperial City Department now, and he and the eldest prince... had similar interests (birds of a feather flock together). They became familiar with each other in just two days. Kuang Qianfan was worried about the matchmaking issue recently, so he told the eldest prince about it.
If it was any other girl, the eldest prince would not have spread the matter, but the girl that Kuang Qianfan wanted to see was Lu Shuyan, so the eldest prince found an opportunity to tell Yuwen Mu and asked him to hurry up and tell her if he liked her and not be afraid.
"But Lord Yuwen certainly doesn't know that before I left today, I had made up my mind to marry Lord Kuang."
When Yuwen Mu heard this, his right hand, which had been stroking the sword, suddenly clenched its hand, and the scabbard hurt his palm.
"You like him?"
"The Kuang family is suitable for marriage, and I have to get married." Lu Shuyan paused, and still spoke out her heart, "Lord Yuwen, I didn't expect you to... I'm sorry that I can't respond to your feelings."
"You said you had made plans before you left, so what about you now? Do you still have the same plans?"
Lu Shuyan shook her head and said honestly, "I need to get married, but Lord Kuang doesn't. I won't make such plans again. It's not fair to him."
Yuwen Mu didn't quite understand. "You can marry someone you don't like, so why can't I? I have a higher official position than him, and my salary is also higher than his. I have saved all the salary and rewards for so many years, and I can give them to you if you marry me."
"Because this is not fair to you, Lord Yuwen. Feelings need to be reciprocated, and I may not be able to do that. This is not fair to you, and we will have conflicts because of this in the future, which is not good."
After Lu Shuyan finished what she wanted to say, she stood up and prepared to leave. "I'm leaving first. Sorry."
The moment Lu Shuyan opened the door, Yuwen Mu asked her, "What if I don't want to be rewarded? I am willing to do this myself."
"That would make me uncomfortable."
After Lu Shuyan left the house, she asked her maid to settle the bill and prepared to go home. Just a few steps out of the teahouse, she found that Yuwen Mu followed her.
"I agreed to take you home."
Lu Shuyan said nothing more and continued walking towards home. Yuwen Mu still walked half a step behind her as before.
The moon on the seventh day of the first lunar month is only half a circle. It hangs in the sky, shining on the young men and women on the ground. Some are holding hands with their lovers today, while others are rejected by their loved ones and are alone. The moon waxes and wanes, and people have their sorrows and joys.
By the river, where the lights were dim, Shen Yuan and Xie Hui were holding a river lantern. Xie Hui held a pen in his right hand, preparing to write on the lantern.
[The moon is always waning, but it will be full someday]
These eight words were what Shen Yuan thought of. Just now, when she looked up at the moon, she suddenly thought of these words.
Shen Yuan smiled and said, "I didn't expect that our names would match so well."
Xie Hui finished writing the last dot of the word "Man" and handed the pen to Shen Yuan, "Well, this is called a match made in heaven."
Shen Yuan took the pen, wrote the words "with a period", and drew two little people on the side, she and Xie Hui.
There were many people like them who were releasing river lanterns into the river. Just before releasing the lanterns into the water, Shen Yuan suddenly asked, "Did anyone pick up the lanterns? They have been in the water all the time. Isn't that bad for the small fish and shrimp in the river?"
Xie Hui was amused by her. Their family is just like that. They can always think of things that others can't think of.
"The River Management Department will take care of it."
"Are we going to pick it up and throw it away?" Shen Yuan looked at the words on it and suddenly felt reluctant to do so.
Xie Hui saw what she was thinking and said, "It's okay, let it drift for a while, we follow it, and I'll pick it up later."
This river is within the city and flows very slowly, so the river lanterns cannot float fast enough.
Upon hearing this, Shen Yuan confidently put the river lantern in his hand into the river, and the two of them continued to walk forward in the direction the river lantern was floating.
Shen Yuan kept staring at the lamp she had put down, fearing that if she misjudged it, it would disappear. She stared at the river while asking Xie Hui, "Who gave you your name?"
"My mother gave me this name. Actually, when I was little, my name was not Xie Hui, but Xie Qi. When I was eight years old, I went horseback riding. I was not satisfied with the pony that the servants at the stable picked for me, so I rode a big horse when they were not paying attention. I was foolish and bold when I was little. I didn't know that the horse hadn't been trained yet. I just cared about how majestic it looked. As a result, I fell off the horse and was unconscious for several days. My grandmother was still alive at that time. She said that she had consulted a monk and he said that my name was not good. So my mother decided to change my name and gave me the character Hui, hoping that I would get better soon. Coincidentally, I woke up right after my name was changed."
Shen Yuan was so absorbed in listening that she forgot to look at her lamp. Only after Xie Hui finished speaking did she remember, "My lamp! I forgot which one it was..."
"It's okay. I still remember it."
Xie Hui let go of his hand, walked to the river, and jumped in. Shen Yuan was startled and found that Xie Hui's toes were touching the water surface and he pulled the lamp up in one go.