Xu Chengzong had just taken the kite out of the carriage when he suddenly realized that something seemed to be missing. He turned around and found that this time nothing had been thrown out.
He was overjoyed and wanted to run back to check on the situation, but the servant next to him stopped him: "Young master, there's no rush. Don't frighten Miss Meng."
Xu Chengzong tried to get a better look at the situation inside by looking past the guards who were staring menacingly at the door, but his view was completely blocked, so he had to give up in frustration.
He patted the shoulder of the strategist next to him and solemnly said, "From now on, your monthly salary will double."
The strategist was overjoyed: "Thank you, young master."
Xu Chengzong was quite skillful; he made all the kites himself, in all shapes and sizes. At first, they were butterflies and birds, but later they became various rare and exotic beasts described in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
Usually, he would be chased away after a short while, but this day he left it out for half an hour and no one paid any attention to him.
A few days passed, and this continued every day. Sometimes, the sound of a zither would come from the other side of the wall. He thought it sounded nice, but he couldn't understand it or what tune it was. His servant was also completely clueless.
One day, while retrieving a piece of string, he heard music playing on the other side of the wall. Suddenly, an idea struck him. He used a tinderbox to burn the string, then twisted it to make sure it wasn't too hot before letting go. Watching it fall to the other side of the wall, he smiled smugly.
He feigned panic and called out to the other side of the courtyard wall, "Miss Meng, my kite fell inside. Could you let me go in and retrieve it?"
Qiuju picked up the kite and showed it to her young mistress. Meng Liniang stopped playing the zither, looked at the obvious burn marks, and couldn't help but laugh.
Qiuju pouted and said sullenly, "Miss, you wouldn't really have fallen for that playboy, would you? I think he's not good enough for you."
Upon hearing this, Meng Liniang blushed, glared at her with a mixture of shyness and reproach, and pretended to hit her: "What nonsense are you talking about? If you keep doing this, I'm going to get angry."
Qiuju was unconvinced and said, "Miss is both beautiful and talented, while he has no skills. I just feel that he is not good enough for her. Miss deserves better, no, the best."
Meng Liniang bit her lip lightly, looking at the kite in her hand that resembled a cat but had three tails in one eye, and murmured, "What kind of kite is considered good?"
"Of course, it's someone like Scholar Xu." Qiuju had heard that the master and mistress favored Xu Liang, so she had inquired about it beforehand and said so naturally.
Meng Liniang chuckled: "But what I long for is the kind of good my father did for my mother."
"Then Miss, you really are..." Qiu Ju's voice trailed off, and she didn't finish her sentence.
Meng Liniang carefully stroked the kite, which clearly showed that she had put a lot of thought into it, and looked at it bit by bit, including the words written on it. The words were not beautiful and were a bit awkward. Each stroke seemed to be about to take flight at any moment, but was held down by the tip of the pen, forcibly made to be neat and orderly.
She hesitated for a long time, then whispered, "Qiuju, go and return the kite to Young Master Xu. Also, pass on a message that... I have forgiven him, but tell him not to ruin my reputation like this again."
After saying that, she pursed her lips, and Qiuju asked in surprise, "Miss, why is your face so red?"
Meng Liniang glared at her reproachfully, told her to hurry up and do her work, and ignored the zither, covering her face as she went into the house.
Qiuju vaguely saw a faint blush rising on her neck. She couldn't tell whether her young mistress had rejected that playboy or was truly moved. She picked up the strange kite and went outside, completely bewildered.
When she handed it to Xu Chengzong, she looked him up and down and still felt that this guy was greasy-faced and frivolous, and was not a good choice to entrust her life to.
Xu Chengzong took the kite, glanced at it without looking at it, and asked with a smile, "Is your young lady alright since she came in?"
Qiuju gave a light hum: "That's good. Miss asked me to tell you that she has forgiven you and that you should not come looking for her again."
Xu Chengzong's heart skipped a beat, his smile turning into panic, and he hurriedly asked, "Why is that?"
"What is your relationship with the Meng family? You come here every day, ruining my young lady's reputation. How is she supposed to face people after this? Or is this your intention?"
"Heaven and earth bear witness, I just wanted to make your young lady happy and stop being angry. Did your young lady really tell me not to come again? No, I want to hear her say it herself."
As he spoke, he tried to rush in, and the guards immediately surrounded him.
Xu Chengzong's servant quickly pulled him back, telling him not to act recklessly, and smiled ingratiatingly at Qiuju: "Sister, is it really Miss Meng who told my young master not to come again? Or have you misunderstood? Could you please tell us what our young lady originally said?"
Qiuju frowned, about to explode, when the servant called her "good sister" several times. She then said impatiently, "Miss said she has forgiven your young master and asked me to tell him not to tarnish her reputation like this anymore. How could I have misunderstood? I just want your young master to stop bothering me every day."
The servant's eyes darted around, and he quickly thanked him, whispered a few words to Xu Chengzong, coaxed him, and pulled him to the carriage.
Once inside the carriage, the servant picked up the kite and examined it closely, only to find that it had only two tails left. He asked Xu Chengzong, "Young master, do you remember what was written on the other tail?"
Xu Chengzong recalled for a moment, and his face immediately lit up with joy, but then he fell down again, saying sullenly, "Perhaps it was broken when it fell."
"Oh dear, young master, what exactly did you write?"
"There is a beautiful woman, whom I cannot forget once I have seen her. If I do not see her for a day, I am driven mad with longing."
The servant quickly clasped his hands in congratulations: "Young master, Miss Meng may have been moved by your devotion and is interested in you as well. She wants you to propose marriage."
Is this really true?
The servant began to analyze the situation for him in detail.
As the carriage passed a tall ginkgo tree, a cluster of red suddenly popped out two semi-circular ears with pointed tips, revealing a pair of clear yellow eyes.
Hearing Xu Chengzong's excited laughter that almost lifted the roof off the carriage, Di Xiu looked at the Meng family courtyard, shook his head, and curled up again, his body surging with spiritual energy.
001 murmured, "Did he really manage to move Meng Liniang by some twist of fate?"
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