longing
The two were chatting happily, which made Shen Xiaozhou even more suspicious: "Something doesn't seem right to me!"
When did these two become so close?
Dongxia, who was standing next to him, smiled with her arms crossed, glanced at him, and then left.
After returning from the Dongqiao Night Market that day, Dongxia noticed that Jingwan was becoming increasingly obsessed with jade making, skipping dinner several times, and the sound of the grinding wheel in the room never stopped.
Qin Ziyou's words made sense. After returning, Jingwan pondered them carefully, found a good piece of jade, and meticulously painted it, intending to make another jade spider carving.
She made a promise with Qin Ziyou to meet again at the Dongqiao Night Market in a month, and that she would ask the old master chef for further guidance then.
She was clearly exhausted from a busy day and should be sleeping soundly at night, unable to even dream. Yet, she dreamt of the person who had been gone for a year. She woke up in a hurry to look for him, only to find it was all in vain. All that remained were tears streaming down her face, wetting her pillow.
A whole year has passed, a year has gone by, and I haven't received a single letter or word from him.
It was as if he had never appeared.
Lu Chang's departure was sudden, without a proper farewell to the Gao family. As soon as he left, all sorts of stigma haunted them like ghosts, causing the Gao family to be ridiculed in Pingdu. In particular, Gao Bojun, who was always out and about and associated with scions of noble families, was now being mocked by others because of Lu Chang. When the Duchess learned of this, she was even more furious and forbade anyone in the household to mention him again.
Those who have gone far away may feel the resentment of their families even from thousands of miles away. A year has passed since they left, and the future holds only a few words.
Jingwan still remembers that when Lu Changcai left, he was the one she dreamed about. Just like those nights before, he stood in front of her door, reached out and took her hand to leave. She followed behind him with a charming smile, never asking him where he was going.
I don't care where I go, as long as I'm by his side.
Unfortunately, dreams are often the opposite of reality; his departure was premeditated, and he never intended to take her with him.
Jingwan pressed the small purse under the bed. Inside were the receipts issued by the Silver Hook Gambling House. She didn't go to the gambling house to exchange the money, nor did she want to see the item again and be reminded of the person.
But the phrase "I'll marry you" became a curse on his head, giving him a headache whenever he thought about it. So he simply forgot about it and focused solely on jade carving.
When the month was up, she quietly went out again, and Qin Ziyou was waiting for her.
The young man stood in the dim light and waved to her. His smile was youthful and radiant, and his innocent expression was genuine. She felt a sense of familiarity and warmth from someone her age, and she immediately smiled and waved back.
Upon meeting, she took out her newly carved jade spider sculpture for Qin Ziyou to see, and he took it and examined it carefully.
After examining it carefully, he looked down and saw Jingwan's expectant face. He said, "I have already asked my master to look at that old jade carving. He said a lot of things, and I have written them all down. Come on, let's find a place to sit and take a look."
The place he was referring to wasn't a fancy restaurant; it was simply a small bridge where he casually sat down and, by the light of the lamps overhead, carefully examined the text.
People come and go on the bridge, but this place is the quietest.
Jingwan read it carefully, and although she tried her best to recognize the characters, there were always some she didn't recognize. At this time, Qin Ziyou, who had been watching along, explained them to her.
After reading the letter, Jingwan pressed it to her chest and sighed deeply: "What a wonderful master! He didn't get anything wrong. This is exactly the problem I encountered when I was carving jade."
Qin Ziyou was still holding the jade carving she had just made. He placed the jade carving in Jingwan's hand and said, "If you want, I will take you to see him tomorrow."
Jingwan bit her lip in distress. It wasn't that she didn't want to, but that she was afraid. She was afraid that her frequent outings would be discovered, afraid that her business of selling jade would be found out, afraid that she would be imprisoned in the Gao family's small courtyard from then on, her life and death controlled by others.
prison?
For the first time, she felt that the Gao family was a prison.
Why can't she escape? How could she accept this!
She was so free and unrestrained when she was in the Northwest.
Once a spark ignited in her heart, it burned ever brighter. She looked at Qin Ziyou and asked, "Would tomorrow night be alright?"
She agreed, and Qin Ziyou quickly followed suit: "Okay! Tomorrow at the same time!"
Since they met, Qin Ziyou has always gone out of his way to help her, and Jingwan was so moved that she didn't know what to say.
Qin Ziyou replied with a smile, "Since you have so much gratitude, then please treat me to a bowl of noodles!"
The two found a bustling noodle stall and sat down to eat noodles and chat.
Stunned, Shen Xiaozhou realized something was wrong and shook her head repeatedly: "No, no! I have to write to the young master immediately! I didn't expect to run into someone who wants to catch a big fish, and even wants to kidnap me!"
He thought this to himself, and when he returned to his lodgings, he actually did it. That very night, a letter was sent south.
The young master he spoke of was also awake at that time, only looking up at the bright moon in the sky to express his longing.
As a child, I rode through the desert at night with my friends in the Northwest. The summer night was clear and the sky was full of stars, but they couldn't compare to the brilliance of the full moon.
The vast desert was blessed by the moonlight, and every grain of sand shimmered. When the group got tired, they dismounted and rolled around on the sand, stretching out their arms and legs, looking at the moon, and panting heavily.
I was young then, how could I understand the pain of unrequited love? Later, the moon over my hometown and the memories that had died were all buried with my parents in the Northwest.
But now that I'm older, when I look at the bright moon again, all the things that died have come back to life, and my heart aches even more.
He looked at the moon and seemed to see that little girl again, carrying a small basket and a small hoe, walking ahead of them.
It was also when the moon was high in the sky, with a face as smooth as a jade plate and a gentle nature.
With each step she took, the bell on her anklet jingled. He looked down and felt it was impolite, but the sound of the bell never stopped. On the day they parted, he hid the silver bell on his person, watching her leave over the mountains but unable to stop her even for a moment.
Later, after the Western Rong were pacified, he searched the entire wilderness but could not find anyone. Only when he was alone and feeling lonely did he notice the small silver bracelet staring blankly at him.
I really didn't expect to see her again.
He had just entered the Gao family's gate that day when a servant told him that a young lady had come to the mansion. He wanted to avoid suspicion and intended to go straight back to his own courtyard, but his feet wouldn't obey him and he went straight to the main hall.
Bo Jun called out to him loudly, but he didn't look up. He only glanced at the girl who was staring blankly.
They hadn't seen each other for many years. She had grown up a lot, but he recognized her at a glance.
Memories may fade and eventually disappear over time, but if you take them out and savor them repeatedly, like a piece of paper that has been crumpled from being looked at so many times, they will only become clearer and clearer in your mind.
Perhaps that's why he hasn't forgotten that little face. In fact, many times he would think about what that little face would look like when it grew up, and capture her image in his paintings.
So when they first met at the Gao family home, he recognized her at a glance. She had brought him a gift: pickled green fruit, a favorite food of people in Northwest China.
What is fate trying to tell us?
Lu Chang closed his eyes, his face filled with sorrow so intense that he dared not even look at himself.
He thought back to the days before he left, when he had left without saying goodbye, and he feared she might resent him.
After being brought from the Northwest by Gao Yun, Lu Chang had no further contact with the Lu family army. He was only ten years old; what could he possibly do?
For him, coming to Heito was nothing more than entering a golden cage.
Fearing that Lu's army might rise again, people in the capital were constantly monitoring his movements and reporting his every move to those in the imperial city.
He simply buried himself in books, studying and researching, reading scriptures and practicing calligraphy, vowing to forget the days of fighting and killing in the Northwest.
Until the late emperor passed away, the eunuchs held immense power in the court, and the northwest was taken over by Princess Li Muyun. The Lu family had no chance of being restored, and he was already a useless pawn. When he was fourteen years old, his father's subordinates contacted him.
He originally wanted to follow his mother's last wish, forget the past and start anew. Even if he couldn't rise to great heights in the future, a life of comfort and wealth would be better than that of millions of people.
Can you really forget?
He witnessed with his own eyes that the arrow was clearly shot at his father's back, and the character "Lu" was even engraved on the arrow. After his father died, he watched helplessly as the eunuch led his men to massacre 200,000 Lu family soldiers at Ceqiu. The wronged souls of 200,000 soldiers who defended the country and guarded the border wandered in the northwest year after year.
Li Muyun covered his mouth to prevent him from making a sound, and he was so angry that he gripped the muddy ground beside him, scratching his ten fingers until they bled.
Since then, I have never had a good night's sleep. Whenever I close my eyes, I hear the mournful cries of the deceased, which are heart-wrenching.
Upon seeing him, Yi Gong knelt before him and presented the token that his father always carried with him.
The token was no longer of any use. He held it in his palm, as if he could still recall the scene of his father raising the token to mobilize troops and lead his soldiers into battle.
Yi Gong was my father's deputy general, who had followed my father for more than 20 years and was the most loyal. When the late emperor destroyed the Lu family army, he could not find him, so he put him on the wanted list in an attempt to capture him. However, they did not expect that this old general, who had been fighting in the northwest for more than 20 years, abandoned the old land he had cultivated for many years and went south to Jianchuan.
Due to the change in the situation in the Northwest and the death of the late emperor, taking advantage of this opportunity, Yi Gong, under the pseudonym Shang Yi, secretly recruited the Lu family army who had fled to Wei. In the end, he regained his power in Jianchuan and gathered people under the guise of refugees to occupy the mountains and become kings.
Yi Gong had always wanted Lu Chang to come to Jianchuan to revitalize the Lu family army and avenge the blood feud of that year. Lu Chang refused several times until Yuan Qifeng, the military governor of Jianchuan, realized something was wrong and led his troops to attack.
Yuan Qifeng was no fool; he had considerable combat experience and had defeated Haiya's army three times. Therefore, the situation was critical, and Yi Gong risked his life to personally come to Pingdu to see Lu Chang and ask him to come to Jianchuan to lead troops to fight against them.
The arrival of Yi Gong was sudden, leaving Lu Chang no time to consider. That night, the usually confident young man showed little hesitation. After some thought, he finally said, "I can leave, but I must take one person with me."
Yi Gong asked in surprise, "Is it a woman?"
Lu Chang nodded and said firmly, "I promised her I would take her with me."
Yi Gong firmly refused, advising him against it: "Young Master, our affairs must not be known to outsiders! Besides, if we take her away on this trip, wouldn't it implicate her if things were exposed one day? Jianchuan is in chaos, with frequent battles, and life is not easy. It would be better to wait until the situation stabilizes before coming to retrieve her!"
Lu Chang frowned, his brows furrowed with deep sorrow and hesitation.
The night he left, he stood in front of her door, but he didn't even have the courage to say goodbye. The road ahead was uncertain, so... he decided not to involve her.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
