Zhou Jing'an took a step forward, but suddenly saw Jiang Ling turn around and try to leave, but stopped after taking two steps.
She turned around and said to Xiaojia, "Wait here for another quarter of an hour. If you see him, give it to him without saying anything else. If you still can't see him, just come back. This lantern..."
Jiang Ling bit her lip and choked out, "Just throw it away."
After saying that, she stuffed the lantern into Xiaojia's hand and ran away in a hurry. But before leaving, she looked at him again, as if she was still expecting him to appear.
Her hair was blown by the wind and brushed against her cheeks. The clear moonlight illuminated the loss in her eyes. Then she turned and ran away in the other direction.
Zhou Jing looked at her quietly. When Jiang Ling looked at him, he thought she was looking at him, which made his expression move.
The red figure gradually moved away, the sound of footsteps on the bluestone road also disappeared, and only the figure of a guard remained on the bridge.
Zhou Jing'an suddenly felt a little uncomfortable, as if he shouldn't have done that just now, and shouldn't have hidden here and watched her wait alone.
He walked up to the bridge, his eyes lowered, not knowing what he was thinking.
Xiaojia had been staring at the banyan tree without saying a word. Sure enough, when he saw Zhou Jingan walking out from under the shadow of the tree, he clenched his fists again and felt angry.
He followed Jiang Ling's instructions and stopped in front of him, bowing. Although the young lady said there was no need to say anything else, Xiao Jia secretly wanted him to accept it. This way, he could tell the young lady and make her feel a little happy. However, his voice was a little cold and hard: "Mr. Zhou, please accept it."
The light of the koi lantern was still warm, and the lifelike fish tail swayed in the wind, making Zhou Jing'an's heart drift with it.
He stared at the lantern, and although he already knew, he asked softly, "Did Miss Jiang ask you to give it to me?"
Xiaojia's voice was cold and gloomy: "Yes."
She had clearly been watching for a long time, but now she was pretending to ask him.
"She...how did she get it?" I heard that Jiang Ling is not good at poetry and literature, so how did she get it?
Zhou Jing'an had a vague suspicion in his mind: was it her who bought it? However, although Boss Li looked gentle, he was not someone who was easy to negotiate with.
He slowly lowered his eyes, his gaze falling on Koi's eyebrows.
You must have put a lot of effort into it.
Xiaojia remained silent. The lady said there was no need to say anything else.
He repeated, "Please accept it, Master Zhou."
Zhou Jing'an was silent. The three of them and the horse stood quietly on the bridge, with only the sound of the night wind.
Ye Song quietly raised his eyes to look at Zhou Jingan, and sighed inwardly, thinking that Miss Jiang's infatuation would probably be in vain.
Although his son is gentle and polite, he is a very principled person. He will never do anything that he shouldn't do or say anything that he shouldn't say.
Sometimes he felt that his young master was indeed a little cold-hearted at certain times.
Ye Song was sighing when he saw Zhou Jing'an take a step forward, then another step, and then raised his hand.
-
Jiang Ling returned to Jinyun Garden and took a comfortable hot bath. After changing clothes, she heard Zizhen say that Xiaojia had returned and wanted to report to the young lady.
She walked back to the bedroom and asked Luzhu to lower the curtain that separated the outer room, and then asked Zizhen to call Xiaojia in.
There are differences between men and women. In ancient times, great attention had to be paid to the proper precautions between men and women.
It was evening now, and she had changed into her midriff, so the curtain had to be lowered.
Xiaojia came in and bowed, not daring to look up from beginning to end.
"Xiao Jia, he... have you waited for him?" Jiang Ling's voice was cautious.
Xiaojia reported back, "He showed up soon after the young lady left Zhiquan Bridge."
In fact, he really wanted to tell the young lady that he had been hiding in the dark, but he was afraid that the young lady would be sad.
"Mr. Zhou asked me a few questions," Xiao Jia recounted the conversation truthfully, then added, "In the end, Mr. Zhou took the lantern."
Jiang Ling was stunned.
She was really stunned.
Oh, huh? Zhou Jing'an actually accepted the lantern she gave him?
Jiang Ling laughed softly, it seemed that her work today was not in vain.
"Really?" Jiang Ling's voice suddenly cleared up, filled with surprise and excitement.
Xiao Jia heard the young lady's happy voice and felt happy too, but he felt sorry for her and replied, "It's true."
Jiang Ling said excitedly that he had worked hard and asked Zizhen to reward him.
Foxy, with his fox eyes shining, circled around Jiang Ling, "Host is so awesome! Host is so great!"
-
The koi lantern was placed on a sandalwood stand in the inner hall. The candlelight was almost burned out and was a little dim.
Zhou Jing'an stretched out his hand, lightly stroked the koi's body and tail with his fingertips, and sighed helplessly.
Shouldn't have received it.
This lantern should not have been accepted.
But when he was about to reject Xiaojia, Jiang Ling's words and smile in Jingui Garden popped up in his mind. Before he could get rid of the picture from his mind, the next picture appeared. It was Jiang Ling looking in his direction when she got off Zhiquan Bridge and was about to leave.
His eyes contained expectation, but more of it was a deep sense of loss.
The bright moonlight filled her eyes, echoing with the faint tears in her eyes, flashing tiny silver lights, gently piercing his heart.
So I couldn't bring myself to say the words of refusal no matter how many times I tried to think about it.
Forget it. It was so late, he looked carefully and saw that there was no one on the street. As long as they didn't spread the news, others would not know.
Zhou Jing'an looked at the poem on the rice paper and read it aloud: "White silk makes it up, and good horses make it up five."
The girl's bright smile was more brilliant than the golden osmanthus in the garden. Zhou Jing'an chuckled softly and unconsciously recited the next line of the poem: "That beautiful girl is my son, why should I give her to her?"
His heart was slightly moved, and a sentence popped up in his mind: That girl is Jiang Ling.
The candlelight revealed the words on the back of the rice paper. Zhou Jing'an turned it over in confusion and found that a line of poetry had been written on the back at some point.
However, the handwriting was elegant and different from the previous one, so it was not written by the boss.
Zhou Jing'an thought of Jiang Ling almost instantly.
Did she write this?
She actually has beautiful handwriting.
With his eyelashes slightly drooping, Zhou Jing'an muttered softly, "To the south there is a cypress tree, overgrown with kudzu shoots."
In the south there is a tree with branches drooping downwards, and kudzu vines climb over it.
Zhou Jing'an naturally followed up with the next sentence: "Happy is the gentleman, and blessings will bring him peace."
His fingertips trembled slightly, and Zhou Jing'an's heart suddenly beat faster.
————
① That beautiful girl. In ancient times, "zi" meant a virtuous man. "Shu" means obedient.
②From "The Book of Songs·Zhou Nan·Qiongmu":
In the south there are jujube trees and kudzu vines piled up.
Happy (lè) only the gentleman is blessed with peace (suí)
-
In the south there are wild jujube trees and kudzu vines.
Happy only gentleman blessing will
-
There are jujube trees in the south, with kudzu vines entwined around them.
Happy only gentleman's blessing is achieved
It means: I wish the gentleman a happy life and endless blessings and fortune.
(Source: Luo Yuming's annotated version of The Book of Songs)
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