Chapter 732 Spring Night
night.
A new couplet was specially posted in the courtyard today.
A moment of silence fell over a bed that had been specially fitted with red bedding.
Zhao Qingxiu quickly responded to Ouyang Rong's somewhat strange request.
Ouyang Rong felt as if a finger was writing on his chest:
Ask yourself what you're doing.
Ouyang Rong was taken aback for a moment, then couldn't help but chuckle and muttered:
"This is something we really shouldn't ask the embroiderer... um."
He was speaking when his mouth was blocked, and the words that were about to come out were swallowed back down.
Ouyang Rong discovered that the embroiderer had a strong learning ability; she even knew to cover his ears with both hands when drinking honey water, and she imitated him very well.
Such a movement allows the person below to focus all their senses on the area between their lips and teeth.
Because covering the ears with hands blocks hearing, the other five senses are naturally enhanced.
However, what Ouyang Rong didn't expect was that the embroiderer would soon go a step further and give him a new perspective:
She bit her ear.
Ouyang Rong's body shuddered involuntarily, and he couldn't help but pinch her blushing ears.
It's like picking up a piece of gummy candy and starting to chew on it...
And so, all his hearing tonight belonged to her.
She was too.
The night passed quietly...
As the saying goes, a moment of spring night is worth a thousand pieces of gold.
In Ouyang Rong's eyes, this is a thousand virtues.
This line is indeed fitting for tonight.
Back in Nanlong, when the embroiderer was welcomed into the family, the two were too young to have spent many nights together.
Tonight, Ouyang Rong brought Xiu Niang back home and publicly entered the family. Having passed the test of his aunt and junior sister, this was the closest thing to a proper marriage that could be achieved given Xiu Niang's sensitive status.
Perhaps knowing this, Zhao Qingxiu was exceptionally serious tonight, even breaking the rule of a three-day cooldown period, which shows how moved she was.
Ouyang Rong discovered it very quickly.
My previous worries were unnecessary.
Faced with the vicious and unscrupulous dragon, before even 809 sword strikes had been made, the young woman had already given up, collapsing like mud. But once the arrow is released, there's no turning back; she could only go down this dark path...
Ouyang Rong didn't intentionally bully anyone; in the past, the minimum reward was one thousand merit points.
This time, there were only a little over 800 merit points left to use. He thought he would have to overspend, since the embroiderer was unusually proactive tonight and overconfidently volunteered to fight. Ouyang Rong was a little unsure and slightly apprehensive.
But to his utter surprise, the dignified Yue Maiden couldn't even afford five hundred merits and had already raised the truce. Ouyang Rong chuckled to himself, and with her face flushed and her expression panicked, he tore up the truce agreement.
The situation has turned around, and the roles of offense and defense have reversed. Women can go there, and so can he!
On the couch, the embroidered quilt with mandarin ducks rippled like waves of red.
...
When I woke up again, it was already dawn.
The room was dimly lit, the night lingered, and the daylight had not yet broken.
Feeling the pressure of a small, dark-haired head on his arm, Ouyang Rong, who had just woken up, turned around and pulled Zhao Qingxiu into his arms. She also snuggled in, and as expected, she hadn't fallen asleep, and they became even closer.
The two embraced and nestled together on the couch.
"Hmm, what's wrong?"
Ouyang Rong mumbled lazily, feeling that his voice had a slightly nasal tone:
"Embroiderer, did my snoring wake you up?"
The beautiful woman in his arms shook her head first, then her fingertips landed on his chest.
【No】
He paused for a moment.
[Tanlang is just tired]
Ouyang Rong immediately straightened his face and seriously corrected, "I'm not tired, I just had something to do during the day and need to close my eyes and rest for a bit."
She seemed to smile slightly, and wrote lightly:
[Okay, my love is resting with his eyes closed. I'm a light sleeper and can't sleep for long, nor do I want to sleep.]
He seized on one point and asked, "Why can't you bear to sleep?"
Zhao Qingxiu's handwriting seems to offer an answer:
It feels like a dream, my love, tonight feels like a dream.
Ouyang Rong replied in a very serious tone:
"Then I'll make you dream this every night, and we won't come out."
"Pfft." She laughed, her slender body swaying slightly in Ouyang Rong's arms, seemingly very happy, as if just thinking about this made her joyful and happy.
Ouyang Rong was a little confused. Why was she grinning like that for no reason? But he could barely hold her. Sure enough, a happy woman is harder to hold than a pig during the New Year. The embroiderer was no exception.
Ouyang Rong sensed that the embroiderer had placed one of her jade-like legs boldly on top of his, a posture that showed no defensiveness or shyness, and was a state of complete relaxation for the woman.
No, my love, you must be restrained.
She didn't forget to give a serious warning.
Ouyang Rong nodded:
"Alright, but judging from tonight, I'm not the only one who needs to exercise restraint."
Zhao Qingxiu's fingers, which were writing, suddenly stopped moving. As if shy, she didn't respond. After a while, while enjoying the afterglow of the passion and the peaceful silence, she slowly drew circles on his chest.
Ouyang Rong felt a little itchy, raised his hand slightly, and then put it down again.
Because the embroiderer had already used her finger to scratch his itch.
It's like we're on the same wavelength.
"It really feels like a dream."
Ouyang Rong was quiet for a while, then suddenly repeated the sentence.
“But you are not a dream, and I am not a dream either. We are both people with noses, eyes, flesh and blood, and breathing. We can feel the warmth of each other’s chests.”
He asked:
"Embroiderer, do you think there's anything more real than this in the world?"
Zhao Qingxiu felt Tanlang's index finger under the covers pointing to her heart, then he grabbed her index finger and touched his heart.
He said, "At this moment, the two are closest."
Zhao Qingxiu, who was lying on Ouyang Rong's broad chest, was stunned for a moment. She raised her head to look at his expression, but she couldn't see it because Ouyang Rong was looking up at the ceiling curtain above the bed, and she didn't know what he was thinking.
It's like a pool of clear blue seawater, sometimes calm, sometimes turbulent, with no bottom in sight.
Suddenly, Zhao Qingxiu felt an urge to know all his thoughts.
She turned over, cupped his sharply defined face in one hand, and wrote directly on his chest:
[When Danlang brought me back and introduced me to his family, didn't he want to ask about my family? It seems like Danlang has never asked.]
Zhao Qingxiu's question was rather bold; after she finished writing it, she realized what she had done and was quite startled by it.
However, Zhao Qingxiu did not make any further attempts to remedy the situation, and waited patiently for her lover's reply.
In the past, she would never have asked such a question, especially after learning about Ouyang Rong's official status from her second senior sister, Yu Nianyuan... In the past, she would have been an ostrich burying her head in the sand.
Zhao Qingxiu didn't know where the courage suddenly came from.
It felt like there was a breath stuck in my chest that I had to exhale.
This courage didn't just appear recently.
From the afternoon to the dinner party, and then to midnight, it seemed like it was brewing all along.
Tonight, she was able to take the initiative to turn the tables, break the three-day restraint agreement, and intimidate her lover with her imposing presence, prompting him to make her condition that she "swing her sword less than 809 times." All of this was due to her courage!
It seems that when my second senior sister arrived an hour early in the afternoon, she bumped into him at the back gate and saw him seemingly worried as he took a car to pick her up, which was unexpected.
It seems that he silently accompanied her, while Sister Xie and Miss Ye warmly and sincerely welcomed her to Yinbingzhai to do her makeup and offered advice for her appearance at the banquet.
It seems that at the birthday banquet, she heard Tanlang's composed and skillful reception of guests, perfectly controlling the atmosphere, which subtly created the right environment for her to present the longevity noodles.
It seems that sometimes, after someone screams in the bathroom at night, he rushes in without hesitation.
And... having finally finished fulfilling his promise to "welcome her into the family on her birthday," he was snoring slightly from exhaustion.
Although Zhao Qingxiu lost her sight, she still saw many, many details.
I also learned many more details from my second senior sister:
It turned out that he already knew she was a Yue woman wanted by the imperial court, a rebel whom he had personally ordered to be captured by decree.
It turns out that he had made the Fang sisters, Zen Master Yizhi, and Taoshouzhai all disappear from contact and become transparent a few days ago, and also ensured that their lives were temporarily safe. He was protecting their little family from disturbance, like keeping a mistress in a golden house.
It turns out that he had secretly helped her cover up so many clues, rather than the government and the Censorate being incompetent in failing to catch her for so long.
It turns out that every effect has a cause, and this cause is itself an effect from the previous one.
What was that very first cause?
Is it fate? Is it the five hundred years of prayers made before Buddha in a past life? Is it the prayers made while kneeling under the prayer wheel? Is it the red fortune stick drawn in the Guanyin Hall of Chengtian Temple? Or is it the answer Master murmured back then, "Gain and loss are fate"?
Zhao Qingxiu felt that none of them were true.
It is courage.
The cause of everything is courage.
Only by having the courage to take that step can there be a reason.
Most of the connections we make in this world are not given by heaven, but are earned through our own courage.
It's not that we were destined to meet but not to be together, or that fate is fickle; it's that we lacked courage and were cowardly and retreated...
Lost in thought, Zhao Qingxiu heard a gentle, magnetic voice reply in her ear:
"Does the embroiderer have any family members visiting? Are they in the city? If so, you can meet them."
After Ouyang Rong finished speaking, he chuckled to himself, patted her head, and said:
"Moreover, any family members you bring to meet me are considered half family. Regardless of whether we are close or not, I will treat them well and make proper arrangements for them within Xunyang City so that they will not be mistreated."
He spoke casually, making it impossible to tell whether he meant anything by it.
Zhao Qingxiu lowered her head.
Isn't Danlang afraid at all? It seems like we've rarely seen Danlang hesitate or waver.
Ouyang Rong seemed to have thought about it seriously before answering directly:
"Of course I'm afraid. I'm afraid of many things, but that doesn't stop me from knocking on their door or them knocking on my door."
Zhao Qingxiu couldn't help but quickly raise her head and peck his lips:
[Tanlang is truly brave; he is a man of great courage!]
Upon hearing the name "Da Yong," Ouyang Rong initially wanted to break it down and make a suggestive joke, but his virtuous character as a gentleman prevented him from doing so.
He waved his hand dismissively.
"Courage is not something you take big strides forward when you feel you have no worries behind you, but rather whether you take big strides forward when you know you have worries behind you. These two are different."
So, is Danlang the latter?
Ouyang Rong suddenly smiled and said:
"I am neither. I don't care about anything else, I just keep moving forward. No one can stop me. If I can't do something, no one else can either; if I can do something, no one else can either."
Zhao Qingxiu frowned, as if she felt that the words were a bit profound.
Ouyang Rong suddenly asked:
The embroiderer hasn't answered me yet, asking if my family has arrived.
Zhao Qingxiu, however, changed the subject and wrote:
【My love, do you remember what I told you before?】
"What?"
You said you would do your best to guide me through the basics, and I said so at the time; I meant it.
"I remember, what's wrong?"
[Nothing much, I just suddenly remembered that Tanrou seems to have already finished it. Tanrou is really amazing.]
Ouyang Rong looked at the ceiling and said softly:
"You gave me the courage. Actually, I used to pretend to be stupid and avoid these kinds of things at all costs. I would just muddle through, because it was too much of a headache. I should have focused my energy on other things. Hmm, my previous thoughts... never mind, let's not talk about this."
Zhao Qingxiu smiled and nodded gently: "Mm."
Ouyang Rong turned around, and solemnly cupped Zhao Qingxiu's face in his hands, saying:
"Although that's what I said, I should encourage you and not ask too many questions, but I still want to say, Xiu Niang, there's no need to keep anything to yourself. We're family."
"These are the words my junior sister said yesterday, and I'll tell them to you too."
Zhao Qingxiu could hear the seriousness in his tone.
After a short while, he nodded emphatically:
【Know】
Ouyang Rong glanced at the sky outside and blinked, saying:
"Alright, get up."
"Um."
The two quickly washed up.
Ouyang Rong went to the courtyard to wash his face, while the embroiderer changed her clothes inside the house.
Just then, Ye Weilai's footsteps came from the courtyard outside.
"Knock knock".
There was a knock on the door.
Ouyang Rong went to open the door, his face initially smiling, but he noticed that Ye Weilai's expression was somewhat serious.
He immediately composed himself and asked, "What's wrong?"
"My lord, the young master and the princess are in the main hall. They want you to come over. They say there's a strange matter that might be urgent and they need you to make a decision. The sooner the better. Miss Xie has already gone there."
"Could it be an emergency? Or something strange?"
Ouyang Rong astutely grasped two key words.
Ye Weili looked thoughtful and said with a pretty face:
"Yes, it seems to be because of a letter that was delivered early this morning from the Prince of Xunyang's residence."
"Okay, please wait a moment."
He immediately went back into the house and put on his blue robe.
Ouyang Rong first turned around and gave a few instructions to Zhao Qingxiu, who had prepared hot water for him to wash his face. After a short while, he washed his face and strode out the door.
Zhao Qingxiu's long, black hair cascaded down her shoulders, and a slightly loose, crooked sky-blue ribbon covered her starry eyes. Her slender figure stood at the doorway, seemingly watching him leave.
Even the icy white jade hairpin, which was known for its crisp sound, fell silent, quietly watching over its mistress.
Ouyang Rong walked out of the courtyard gate, and Ye Weilai, who was waiting outside, followed him as usual.
Ouyang Rong, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped.
He turned his head and whispered something in her ear.
Upon hearing this, Ye Weilai nodded earnestly and stopped walking.
She stood still, watching her lover leave.
A moment later, the silver-haired girl turned around and glanced at the quiet Yinbingzhai courtyard behind her.
"Long Lingling~"
A morning breeze stirred the jade hairpin.
The wind won't stop even if you want it to be still.
(End of this chapter)
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