Chapter 43: Gold Foil and Beaded Flowers
I don't know how long I sat there when I heard a low voice calling from outside: "County Lady."
He looked up and saw Cui Fufeng holding an umbrella, his figure appearing on the wooden corridor of the small pond shrouded in drizzle.
Seeing Qiandeng leaning on his shoulder, sleeping soundly like a lotus in the wind and rain, Cui Fufeng raised his eyes and looked thoughtfully at Yan Penglai in the dim light of the fire.
Yan Penglai raised his hand and pressed it on his lips, signaling him not to make any noise and disturb the county lady.
Cui Fufeng slowed down his pace and walked to Qiandeng. Seeing her sleeping so peacefully leaning on Yan Penglai's shoulder, a strange feeling welled up in his heart.
"The county lady is too tired, let her rest for a while."
Yan Penglai lowered his eyes and kept Qiandeng leaning on his shoulder. His not-so-broad shoulders and back remained straight, allowing her to sleep more comfortably.
Cui Fufeng leaned over to look at their intimate posture, and could hardly maintain his usual elegant and graceful demeanor. He called her with a slightly stiff voice: "County Lady, can you go back and rest first?"
Qian Deng vaguely heard his voice in her sleep, and half-opened her eyes as she looked at them in front of her: "Shaoqing Cui, you're back... Where's Liuli?"
Cui Fufeng pointed to the two umbrellas he had placed by the door and said, "Liuli was running too fast on her way back and got hurt, so she asked us to bring umbrellas to pick up the county lady."
Because of the awkwardness in his heart, his voice was a little stiff.
But Qian Deng didn't notice and only asked, "Is she okay? Is she seriously injured?"
"Luckily, she fell off the stepping stone, sprained her waist and twisted her ankle in the spring, and finally made it back to the front yard after a long time in the wind and rain. Aunt Xuanji has already called Doctor Jiang to treat her."
Qiandeng let out a low "ah" and was worried about Liuli's injury. He looked up and saw people swaying outside. The gentlemen who heard the news had all come over.
Ji Linyou's voice was the first to be heard: "Is the county lady still here? The rain is so heavy, why doesn't it stop..."
Before he finished speaking, he saw Qiandeng sitting close to Yan Penglai, with Cui Fufeng supporting her, and he was stunned.
Jin Tang, who had rushed in, saw Qian Deng leaning against them with sleepy eyes. He couldn't help but feel jealous and rushed over, asking anxiously, "How could the county lady fall asleep in a place like this? Are you too tired? Didn't you get enough rest these days?"
Xue Xiyang said nothing, but reached out to support Qiandeng, arched his shoulders silently, and pushed Yan Penglai aside.
Yan Penglai lowered his eyes, stood silently with his hands hanging down, and watched them gather around and help the county lady to stand up.
Qiandeng rubbed his temples and felt that he had slept very deeply. He was still a little groggy.
She struggled to stand up straight, avoided the support of the crowd, took the umbrella handed to her by Cui Fufeng, yawned slightly with her hands covering her mouth, and walked onto the wooden corridor over the pond.
The wooden corridor was slippery in the rain, and she was in a daze, so she slipped and almost fell.
Just as the people around her were about to help her, someone strode over and lifted her up: "Can't even walk? I'll take you back!"
When everyone looked, they saw that the person who had carried the county lady horizontally on his shoulders without any explanation was Ming Jiu.
How could a group of men allow him to carry the county lady away? Xue Xiyang grabbed Qiandeng's sleeve and blocked their way; Ji Linyou strode up and took Qiandeng off his shoulders; Jintang immediately got between Mingjiu and Qiandeng, put his hands on his hips and glared at him.
Qiandeng was now completely sober and glanced at Mingjiu speechlessly.
Xue Xiyang said sarcastically, "A barbarian is a barbarian. Do you often do this kind of thing outside the Great Wall? Carrying girls on your back at every turn?"
Mingjiu said with an innocent look on his face: "What? You can't carry it? Then I'll carry the fairy pearl and leave!"
As he said this, he raised his hand to grab Qiandeng's waist again, but Ji Linyou immediately grabbed his arm and pulled him away.
Jin Tang shouted, "You bastard barbarian, if you continue to behave so unreasonably, the palace will kick you out sooner or later!"
Seeing the fight on the wooden corridor and the wooden boards below creaking, even a cold-hearted person like Yan Penglai had no choice but to come up and intervene to prevent them from tearing down Zhaoying Pavilion.
Amidst the clamor and chaos, Qiandeng felt a headache. Meng Lanxi took out the sachet and handed it to her to smell. "County Lady, are you still asleep?"
The sachet contained the scent of borneol and mint, and a cool feeling rushed straight to her forehead. Qiandeng finally woke up completely. Looking at the men in front of her who were making a fuss, she was too lazy to try to persuade them. She turned around, left the group of people, and went back with an umbrella.
Meng Lanxi caught up with her and said to her, "I'm afraid you won't be able to fall asleep for a while after your nap. I'd better light some incense for you to help you sleep tonight."
Qiandeng had become accustomed to his help during this time, so she nodded and went back to the front yard with him.
Aunt Xuanji had already prepared fragrant hot water and waited for her to bathe and change clothes. After returning from the storm, she soaked in the hot water for nearly half an hour before returning to the house, feeling warm all over.
As soon as he entered the room, he smelled the incense burning inside. It wasn't a familiar scent. Qian Deng asked Meng Lanxi, who was picking incense, with some surprise, "Did you change the incense?"
Meng Lanxi's eyelashes were still stained with raindrops, and as she looked at her, tears seemed to flicker in her eyes. "Well, I accidentally dropped the incense box on the ground just now, so I went back to get a new one for the county lady. I threw away the old one."
Amber smiled and said, "I was just telling Mr. Meng that our room is spotless and it's no big deal to pick up the incense dust. But Mr. Meng refused to do that. He threw away the old incense and rushed back to the backyard to get new ones. He must have worked so hard."
"Using the same incense for a long time will make you tired. It's time to change to something else." Meng Lanxi smiled at Qiandeng, the two dimples on her cheeks as charming as ever. "Then... County Master, rest well. Lanxi will take her leave."
The room was filled with a faint fragrance. He stepped out of the door and looked at the person waiting for him in the darkness.
Ling Tianshui leaned against the porch pillar, glanced at him lightly, turned around without saying a word, and walked towards the backyard.
After the rainstorm, the chirping of insects faded. They walked back in silence, one after the other, through the darkness.
Because of the scene in Zhaoying Pavilion, all the young men were resentful. After all, Mingjiu's actions had completely shattered their tacit agreement to wait out the county lady's mourning period, destroying the delicate and strange balance in the backyard.
But Mingjiu didn't know what was good for him. The next day, he ran to the front hall on his own and, as usual, tried to eat the breakfast at the palace while complaining that it was not tasty.
After finishing his meal and saying goodbye to Qian Deng, he walked to the gate of the palace. When he met the young men who were on duty at various government offices, he met their different looks, deliberately touched his cuffs, and gave them a strange and happy smile.
No one understood what he meant, except Ji Linyou, who caught a glimpse of a golden light flowing from his sleeve, gleaming with pearls. He was extremely suspicious and immediately raised his hand to grab it: "Hey, Prince Mingjiu has something valuable. It looks like it's about to fall. Hurry and collect it!"
As he spoke, he tugged at Songbird's sleeve. Songbird quickly grabbed the thing in the sleeve and shouted, "Don't touch it, it's mine!"
When everyone looked, they saw that he was holding a thumb-sized gold foil bead flower, with thin gold foil as petals and tiny pearls as pistil. It trembled gently at his fingertips, and was extremely delicate and beautiful.
Seeing that everyone's eyes were focused on the gold foil and bead flower, Mingjiu became even more proud. He pinched the flower and held it to his nose to smell it, as if the golden flower had a fragrance. Then he carefully put it back into his sleeve and said, "Don't move, don't move. If I lose this, I will be so sad!"
Seeing his appearance, Ji Linyou became suspicious. Could it be that this was the county lord's thing, and he got it during the chaos last night?
He immediately jumped up to get a closer look, but Mingjiu had already jumped on his horse with a laugh: "Everyone, I'm one step ahead and flying!"
"This is inexplicable!" Ji Linyou was so angry that he grabbed Ling Tianshui's horse bridle and said, "Tianshui, let's stop him and see if it really belongs to the county lady!"
"No." Ling Tianshui said briefly.
Ji Linyou wanted to ask how he knew that, but Cui Fufeng just smiled and got on the carriage that came to pick him up: "Ignore him, if he says it's not true, then it's not true."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com