0116 Zhuan Chou Jun (Part 1)
In the past, after doing this, Shu Fu would always end up sleeping until noon, but today she woke up unusually early.
When she opened her eyes, all around her was a hazy, dark blue, and Zhan Yaoguang was not in the car.
She slowly sat up, looked down, and realized that the cuff of her nightgown was embroidered with a small hibiscus flower. It was the same one she had worn yesterday, but it had become clean and fresh. She wondered how he had done it.
A parrot-shaped cup sat on the teak table. Shufu moved over and sniffed it, confirming that it was clean water before drinking some to moisten her throat.
She picked up the neatly folded dress from the ground, put it on, and pushed open the car door. A chilling, penetrating air rushed towards her, making her face itch slightly, as if the grassy fields of Leyou Plain were rolling up on her.
In the blink of an eye, Zhan Yaoguang was seen sitting on the carriage shaft. The young man's bright red clothes were striking even in the thin mist. His eyebrows and eyes were clear and beautiful, and he was unforgettable at first glance.
Shu Fu watched him quietly for a while, and seeing that he was focused on fiddling with a few leaves, not knowing what he was doing, she followed his posture, gathered her skirts, squatted down, and sat down next to him.
“Feifei”.
Zhan Yaoguang's ear twitched, and she glanced at her sideways.
"I slept in the car all night and my hair is all messed up, but I don't know how to fix it. Can you help me?"
He then turned fully to face her and saw that the girl's black hair was spread out behind her waist, thick and smooth like a piece of black satin, which made her face look as white as jade, delicate and beautiful.
He paused, then said, "I don't know how to style my hair either."
Shu Fu let out an "Ah," lowered her eyes somewhat dejectedly, and was about to retreat back into the car to ponder it herself when Zhan Yaoguang added, "But I can try. You can carry me on your back first."
Seeing that Shu Fu did as he was told, he wiped his fingers clean on his clothes before reaching out his hand.
The girl's hair was thick and lustrous, clearly well-maintained. When gathered in her palm, it felt heavy and had a hint of the cool morning air.
Since they were outside, they hadn't brought any combs or other grooming tools with them. Zhan Yaoguang had no choice but to use his fingers to smooth her hair. His slender fingers moved through the strands of hair, the black and white hair contrasting beautifully.
"I don't know how to do hair in a bun, can I braid your hair instead?"
Upon hearing this, Shu Fu felt that although the braid was a bit rough and simple, it was still more convenient to walk around than to have her hair down, so she obediently nodded.
This was the first time Zhan Yao had ever braided a girl's hair, and this girl was his sweetheart, so he was even more careful, his mind tense, afraid of hurting her.
He did this very seriously, and in just a few breaths he had woven a beautiful braid that hung loosely down his back. However, there was no hair tie to hold it in place. After a moment's thought, he took one hand, removed the silver moon from his own hair, and tied the end of her hair with the red string attached to it.
"alright."
Upon hearing this, Shu Fu quickly reached out and touched her hair at various points, finding it neat and exquisite. She couldn't help but give him a sweet smile: "Thank you so much, you did a really good job."
The boy's heart skipped a beat, and he turned his eyes away, blushing.
Shu Fu carefully wrapped the unused hairpin back in her handkerchief and stuffed it into her clothes, but instead of returning to the carriage, she dangled her legs down from the carriage shaft, letting the wind sway her skirt.
"Where is the coachman who brought us here last night?" she asked.
"Oh, his home is a few miles away from here. After he dropped us off last night, he told me that he wanted to go home and would come back to pick us up after sunrise to take us back to the city."
Shu Fu nodded knowingly. After a while, she suddenly rested her head on his shoulder, closed her eyes, and prepared to listen to the wind for a while.
Just then, a slight breeze swept by, and something was handed to her.
She opened her eyes and saw a straw-woven cat, only the length of a finger, with an adorable and endearing appearance.
"I picked some leaves after I got up, so I thought I'd make something for you to play with."
So that's what he'd been weaving all along. Shu Fu picked it up and held it in her hand, asking curiously, "Everyone else weaves grasshoppers and butterflies, why did you weave a raccoon?"
Zhan Yaoguang was somewhat puzzled: "You don't like grasshoppers and butterflies, so why should I make those up?"
He leaned against the carriage wall, bent one leg onto the carriage shaft, and sat at an angle, handing her the last leaf: "This is the only leaf left. I thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure out how to weave it into the design, so I decided to leave it here and play a tune for you, okay?"
Shufu became even more curious: "Playing tunes? With these leaves?"
He hummed in agreement and then asked, "What do you want to hear?"
The girl lowered her head, pondering the tunes she had heard: of all the instruments, she liked the sound of the konghou the most, but among the konghou pieces, she did not have a favorite. However, recently, the Guangling School's "High Mountain" had become popular among the people of Chang'an, so she said, "Then let's listen to 'High Mountain'."
"...Huh?" Zhan Yaoguang looked at her blankly. The two looked at each other for a moment before realizing—
He wasn't from Dali, and he didn't know what a konghou was, let alone what the tune of "High Mountain" was.
“Then just play whatever you can,” Shuf said. “I’ve heard those tunes before. I’d rather see how to make a tune out of a leaf.”
Zhan Yaoguang nodded, placed the leaf horizontally under his lips, parted his lips slightly, and sure enough, a melodious sound came out.
Compared to the sound of a grand instrument like the konghou, the sound produced by the blades is naturally far inferior.
But at this moment, the Leyou Plain stretches out as far as the eye can see, the world is vast and desolate, and the two of them are like two ink-washed crane shadows. As if the heavens were holding a brush, these melodious and graceful tunes also became infinitely vivid.
When the song ended, Shu Fu stared wide-eyed at the leaf in his hand in astonishment: "Is this really just a leaf?"
Zhan Yaoguang showed the leaf to her, and she looked at it over and over several times, but she couldn't find anything strange about it, so she had to return the leaf to her.
"Alright, does this tune have any lyrics?"
Zhan Yaoguang thought for a moment, but still felt a secret shame about singing in front of her, so he kept his tone flat and recited it almost word by word: "Heavenly Emperor, Earthly Emperor, my family has a child who cries at night, passersby recite it three times, and he will sleep soundly until dawn... This is a magic song, they use it to exorcise evil spirits and lull children to sleep."
After a moment, he picked up the leaf again and played a gentle tune for her, the sound warm and melodious, as if a sliver of moonlight had flowed by.
Shu Fu hummed along softly for a bit, feeling quite pleased. She reached out and took his arm, asking, "What are the lyrics to this song?"
"The fallen leaves in the mountains piled up in heaps, simply because..."
He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence, piquing Shu Fu's curiosity, and she pressed him for an answer: "Why?"
The boy pursed his lips, then suddenly realized that this seemed to be a love song, and the next part would introduce words about falling in love and matchmaking.
His ears burned, and he hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he should tell her the truth. Just then, a faint white light broke through the horizon where the sky and earth met, and the two of them turned to look at it.
Shu Fu was taken aback, then exclaimed with delight, "The sun is about to rise!"
———
Let's keep things simple and get along (˙ー˙)
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