First meeting
Liu Xu was in Huichun Hall at the moment, unaware of what others thought of him, only feeling that he was about to ascend to immortality.
An hour earlier, he had climbed down the broken corner of the wall in the backyard like a thief, but unfortunately, it had just started to drizzle that morning, and he lost his footing and landed heavily on a passerby.
"ah!"
"!"
A sudden gust of wind arose, and Liu Xu thought to himself, "It's over." But what greeted him was not a hard stone slab, but a soft body.
He quickly got up, grabbed a ball of fine, smooth silk with both hands.
The lining is light blue, with brass-colored floral stamens that can be faintly seen embroidered on it.
She's a woman!
Liu Xu almost broke out in a cold sweat. In his panic, he clumsily helped the woman to her feet. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the woman stand up very slowly, covering her head, her brows slightly furrowed.
"It was my fault for offending you, my lady! Are you hurt? I'll take you to the doctor right away!"
Despite this attitude, Xie Lingxi had no time to pay him any attention.
Tell a joke!
She had just abandoned her maid, saying she wanted to clear her head, but now she's probably headed straight for the underworld.
When the person crashed down on her, she was completely stunned. Before she could even dodge, she was pinned to the ground and then an unbearable pain struck her. For a moment, she felt as if she was about to die.
Her head was throbbing. Xie Lingxi struggled to raise her hand and touched her palm, which was covered in blood. She then stretched out her right arm and saw that the bone in her fair skin was dislocated, with one end protruding bloodily, a sight that was terrifying to behold.
"you……"
Before she could finish speaking, it seemed as if she was being picked up.
The person in front of him was covered in blood!
Liu Xu was terrified by the blood that Xie Lingxi had smeared all over his face and was still flowing. Not to mention the cuts all over his body from the sharp pebbles.
He tore off a corner of his clothes and wrapped it around Xie Lingxi's head to stop the bleeding. He then picked her up and ran towards the clinic without saying a word.
So high... So cold...
The cold wind was biting, and Xie Lingxi's vision went black from the glare. She felt like she was about to vomit up the blood that had been bottled up in her heart since her previous life.
She coughed a few times suddenly, and Liu Xu patted her back roughly, and she rushed into Huichuntang amidst the chaos.
Today is a spring outing and banquet, and everyone is out drinking and having fun. At this time, only an old doctor is on duty in the inn.
Seeing the two men arrive covered in blood, he was horrified: "Who is the patient?"
Liu Xu, panting and coughing, gently placed Xie Lingxi on the couch.
At this moment, there was no need to worry about the separation between men and women. The doctor put on a handkerchief to take Xie Lingxi's pulse. After confirming that Xie Lingxi was not injured internally, he carefully peeled off the tattered clothes on her head.
Without any politeness, he ordered Liu Xu: "Go and close the windows in the room."
Liu Xu agreed to his words, and then heard the doctor rambling on, "Thanks to your timely delivery, although this young lady is not seriously injured, I'm afraid the head wound will get infected if it gets windy. If it had been a moment later, I'm afraid even a god would have been powerless to help."
Xie Lingxi, barely breathing, said: "So I really have to thank him."
The hairpins and ornaments on her head were carefully placed into a sandalwood box beside her. The doctor wiped away the excess blood bit by bit, saying with concern, "This is bad! She'll probably need stitches!"
!
The wound was three inches above her forehead, and the bleeding wouldn't stop from either end. Xie Lingxi, who was still enduring the pain and panting, fainted immediately upon hearing this.
The road is hard! The road is hard!
When I woke up again, I saw a wooden roof and willow trees rustling in front of the door.
A child's joyful voice rang out from the side: "My lord, she's awake!"
Xie Lingxi tried to sit up, but a dull pain shot through her head as she turned it. Liu Xu quickly stopped her, saying, "My lady... you should lie down..."
Xie Lingxi lay back down and quietly watched him take out a stack of things and count them carefully.
Putting everything else aside, this man is responsible, with a handsome face, yet he doesn't appear effeminate. He is elegant and refined, possessing a touch of brilliance and lacking any hint of blandness.
But listen to what he's saying—
“My parents are still alive, and we have surplus grain. We own an acre of fertile land and two houses in Jiangzhou. I recently passed the imperial examination and will be able to enter the Hanlin Academy. If you are willing to marry me, I will definitely treat you with all my heart.”
Xie Lingxi: "Marry what?"
"You insist on climbing over the wall instead of taking the main road, and you've injured someone. Are you going to owe me the rest of my life on credit?"
What's going on in Chang'an lately? Are they letting all sorts of monkeys in?
Liu Xu thought to himself that this girl was beautiful but had a sharp tongue. At this moment, he seemed to remember something, and a few blushes appeared on his cheeks. He immediately sat up straight, as if he were being judged: "Because... I hugged my wife."
Xie Lingxi said helplessly, "I'm fine."
"But there's one thing I want to ask..."
Seeing Liu Xu anxiously awaiting her next words, Xie Lingxi calmly asked, "Did you get stitches in my head?"
"needle……?"
Liu Xu hadn't expected her to ask this, and smiled wryly: "No stitches."
"It was wrapped up tightly with medicine, so there was no need for stitches."
Xie Lingxi nodded with lingering fear. The book described how the general could remain unfazed even when having his bone scraped, but she naturally lacked that kind of backbone and was terrified.
When can I go home?
Upon hearing this, Liu Xu stood up straight and said, "My lady, please rest for a while. I will take you back later and personally apologize to your parents."
Should I apologize?
If he dares to plead guilty, Xie Lingxi will top the list in "Anecdotes of Chang'an" tomorrow.
Xie Lingxi frowned: "No need."
"you--"
Just as she was about to speak, a sharp, urgent knocking came from the door. It was deafening, like thunder, and gave her an ominous feeling.
The man rudely knocked on the door knocker—"Knock knock! Open the door!"
Liu Xu frowned thoughtfully. He had just called for the boy to open the door when several Jinwu Guards dressed in black rushed in. They kicked open the wooden door, carrying knives and spears, and began searching the courtyard without saying a word.
Upon further inquiry, it was learned that during the joyous gathering at the winding stream that day, a thief disguised himself as a student and stabbed more than ten people with a knife; all of them were successful candidates in the imperial examinations.
Among them were princes and nobles, who stirred up quite a storm in Chang'an.
Liu Xu feigned illness and refused to leave, thus narrowly escaping disaster.
Xie Lingxi threw a few cups of wine by the stream, but found it rather boring, so he left early, thus avoiding this terrible incident. He really didn't know whether it was a blessing or a curse.
Someone saw the thief heading east, and the Imperial Guards tracked him down, but found no trace of him.
Seeing that the gatekeeper was acting suspiciously and not very openly, he immediately locked onto the house and, disregarding the owner's wishes, forced his way into the inner room.
Xie Lingxi was already on edge, and upon hearing the noise outside, she tried to crawl into the cabinet despite the pain.
"What are you standing there for? Get down on the bed!"
"I can't be seen by anyone. This bed is hard to tidy up in a short time, and leaving marks will attract attention!"
Liu Xu exclaimed "Ah!" and immediately remembered that he was still pretending to be sick. He quickly untied his hair, took off his outer robe, leaving only a loose inner garment, and kicked off his shoes before crawling into the quilt where Xie Lingxi had just been lying.
When the Imperial Guards rushed in, this was the scene they saw—a sickly young man lying on the bed, his breath unsteady, his cheeks flushed as if he had a persistent high fever.
At this moment, Liu Xu wished he had a plaque proclaiming him the "Top Scholar" above his head. He coughed heavily a few times to indicate that he had not seen anyone suspicious.
The Imperial Guards found nothing. The leader looked at him suspiciously a few times, but then turned and left.
Xie Lingxi had been feeling suffocated inside the closet for a long time.
As soon as the person left, she immediately pushed open the cabinet door and collapsed onto the floor, completely disoriented. Liu Xu quickly climbed off the bed and carefully helped her onto the couch.
"It's getting late, I should go home."
Liu Xu clearly didn't think so. He worried that the girl was so frail that she might faint on the road and die from a gust of wind.
But he didn't show it on his face: "Then I'll take it to you."
Xie Lingxi straightened up and managed to walk a few steps, but felt dizzy and breathless, and almost fell on Liu Xu.
Liu Xu supported her waist, maintaining a gentlemanly demeanor on the surface, but a ripple of emotion rose within him—she smelled so good and her waist was so soft.
Seeing Xie Lingxi looking at him coldly, he said sincerely, "Today was my fault. My wife, you can make me apologize and take responsibility however you wish."
"However, it's already dark now, and you haven't recovered yet, so it's not a good time to go out. Why don't you stay here for the night, get better, and then make plans?"
Xie Lingxi naturally disagreed.
Heaven knows how worried his parents must have been if he didn't come home all night.
After thinking for a moment, she finally remembered to ask the person in front of her their name: "How should I address you?"
Liu Xu hadn't told her his name before, but now he revealed it all: "My name is Liu Chengzhi, the fourth in my family. You may call me—"
"Mr. Liulang."
Xie Lingxi didn't want to hear anything else, so she interrupted him, "I will pretend that what happened today never happened. Now I want to go home, so please find me a carriage."
Liu Xu: ...Watch me conjure up some money with my magic trick.
He called to the boy, "Go and find a carriage for this young lady."
Liu Zhi, an honest child, exclaimed upon hearing this, "What nonsense are you spouting, young master! Our family is destitute, where would we get a carriage!"
Upon hearing this, Liu Xu turned his head away, frowned slightly without leaving a trace, and then turned back with a smile as gentle as willow branches swaying in spring.
Just then, the sound of drums rang out from outside the beam, like a blow to the heart, seemingly relieving his sudden unease. Liu Xu blinked.
"The drums have sounded."
Xie Lingxi frowned upon hearing this, thinking: The Jinwu Guards really came at the right time. This is not Pingkangfang. If we went out, we would definitely be caught red-handed.
"Curfew has been imposed."
Xie Lingxi relaxed all her strength and slumped down in the chair, leaning against the back of the chair. "I dare not go out."
She said softly, "Besides, there are also the Imperial Guards outside."
At this moment, the moon is dark and the wind is high. All the noise and spring flowers of the day have quietly departed, leaving only some things of the night, shrouded in the faint gray light.
The sky should be vast and high, as blue as indigo and as black as ink.
Outside the ear gate, the cursing and swearing of the Imperial Guards could still be heard.
Liu Xu didn't even look, but reached out and covered the child's mouth, whispering, "Which powerful figure has fallen victim to this today, causing such a commotion?"
The dim candlelight illuminated Xie Lingxi's profile, her eyes shining like a sharpened knife, cold and piercing: "I don't know."
She asked, "Besides hitting me, where else did you go today?"
Seeing Liu Xu looking bewildered, Xie Lingxi grabbed his arm and pulled him down, casting a thought-provoking shadow on the window.
She leaned closer and asked, "Why are these Imperial Guards keeping watch in front of your house?"
As the night deepened, the sparrows on the roof chirped a few times.
They were startled.
Looking at the beautiful face in front of him, Liu Xu's heart skipped a beat, then began to pound wildly.
He was startled, but only frightened.
He vaguely sensed some annoying flies buzzing outside. But what surprised him was that this seemingly frail woman was no ordinary person.
Seeing that he was in a daze, Xie Lingxi lay down on the small couch and said, "I won't be able to sleep tonight."
What on earth did this young man do to anger the Imperial Guards? It's quite unusual for them to be guarding someone's doorstep without any evidence.
According to that person, it is still unknown whether his elder brother was injured at the winding stream party. Whether his departure today is a blessing or a curse remains to be seen.
Liu Xu was also quite tired.
A few days ago, he was constantly bothered by visitors at his door, so he pretended to be sick to avoid trouble. Today, with spring in full bloom, he intended to quietly go out for a spring outing and to visit friends, but he accidentally bumped into someone and picked up a girl. One problem after another arose, and he had no idea when he had offended the Imperial Guard!
Liu Zhi had completely forgotten about Yan Ji and his entourage coming to visit her husband, and was dozing off with her eyes half-closed, leaving Liu Xu racking his brains but unable to figure it out.
What's the logic behind this? He's been in Beijing for several days, yet he hasn't had a single argument with anyone.
It's not easy to live in Chang'an! Our ancestors were right!
Xie Lingxi had no idea what he was muttering to himself. She saw him walk to the desk, sit down, and pick up a book.
The pages are yellowed, clearly indicating it's an old book.
The cover showed a version of her that she had never seen before.
She asked curiously, "What book is this? Can I take a look?"
She prided herself on not being an academically accomplished scholar, but rather being well-read, having at least heard of many books, if not those she hadn't read. The book before her, however, was completely unfamiliar, titled "A Record of Minor Knowledge."
Liu Xu was engrossed in listening when he pushed the book towards her and casually said, "It's a book that teaches people how to make pastries, written by Chen San Niang from the folk."
"Chen San Niang?"
Xie Lingxi carefully turned to a page, which detailed the steps for making pear blossom cake. The page was mostly illustrated with text, and the text was written in colloquial language, including some mumbled words.
Liu Xu looked up and smiled, "My mother. This was written for me."
He saw the girl on the table, as beautiful as a lotus, nod. "May I take a look?"
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