0122 Lucky Babbler (Part 1)
When Zhan Yaoguang pushed open the door to the inner room, he immediately saw a row of famous Chang'an tea cakes and pastries laid out on a stone table under the lush green wisteria trellis in the central courtyard.
Shu Fu sat alone among them, and apart from the one who was with Zhan Qing, the others crowded around her, asking her all sorts of questions.
One asked how old the older sister was, another chimed in about what the younger sister liked most in her life, and only one young man, who was like a clueless fool, stared blankly at her face for a long time before stammering, "Wife, are you going to take in more concubines?"
The girl's snow-white cheek was half bathed in the lush green shade of the vines, her smile shimmering with golden light, like a tiny golden butterfly that, with a slight flutter of its wings, would fly into his heart.
Zhan Yaoguang stared at the smile on her lips, suddenly lost in thought—
From this day forward, they will be separated, and he does not yet know when he will be able to return.
With only half a day left, he should have grabbed her hand and taken her away immediately, so that she would only have eyes for him.
But seeing how happily she was chatting, he hesitated again.
Fortunately, Shu Fu saw him first. Seeing him standing alone under the green shade, she stood up and took a few steps to him: "Thirteen Lang?"
"Hmm..." Zhan Yaoguang's ears turned red, she paused, and asked softly, "My dental order... they all told you?"
Shu Fu nodded, and seeing his dejected expression, she roughly guessed what Zhan Qing had said to him.
She felt a slight pang of sadness, but she understood the principle that all good things must come to an end.
Moreover, based on her understanding of him, he was definitely not the type of person who would leave and never return; only their separation at this moment was inevitable.
Shu Fu let out a soft breath, turned around and smiled at the group of people peeking at them from under the trellis:
"Let's stop here for today. It's getting early, but I have to go home now. I'll make sure to treat you well when you come to Chang'an again!"
Although everyone was reluctant, they had no choice but to do as she said.
The group escorted her to the door, but Shu Fu still didn't let go of Zhan Yaoguang's hand. Instead, she pulled him to her side and waved to the people behind her:
"Lend me your Thirteenth Brother for a few hours, and I'll return him to you then!"
The two walked out of Longzhengfang side by side. Zhan Yaoguang calculated that Fanchuan was far away from here, and planned to go to the market to rent a carriage to take her there.
He went back to the shop where he had rented the carriage before, paid off the damage to one carriage, and rented another one, hiring the same deaf man as the driver.
Throughout the ordeal, the two held each other's hands tightly, but did not exchange a single word until they got into the car.
In the past, neither of them were aloof; they only ignored each other when they were angry with each other.
But this time was clearly different from before. Zhan Yaoguang felt a sharp pang in her heart, as if tears would immediately stream down her face if she opened her mouth.
This is too embarrassing; he'd rather not say anything.
The carriage slowly made its way out of the city, the spring sun faintly visible in the sky, the windows half-open, revealing a pale blue background.
Shu Fu leaned against the window and saw that they had arrived at Fanchuan, which was only a few miles away from Changyi Villa. So she stopped the driver and turned to Zhan Yaoguang, saying, "Just drop me off here. If we go any further, someone might see you."
Zhan Yaoguang remained silent, his dark, gleaming eyes fixed on her.
Shu Fu felt a little disappointed and was about to open the door to get out of the car when suddenly someone grabbed her wrist from behind and pulled her into their arms.
Her heart skipped a beat as she felt herself being held tightly in an almost exhausting embrace. She tilted her head back slightly, and a barrage of hot kisses rained down on her, but he didn't dare kiss her lips, instead letting his kisses wander over her hair and neck.
Outside, the sun shone brightly, but a light rain was falling in her heart.
“Ah Fu, I’ll be back soon,” he said, his voice slightly hoarse, tears falling onto her clothes, “You…”
Shu Fu's nose tingled, and she slowly hummed in agreement. For some reason, she thought of her parents again, and the bitterness in her chest intensified. Before she could think further, she interrupted him:
"Zhan Yaoguang, there's only one thing I want to tell you before you leave—"
She took a deep breath and said solemnly, "Whether you feel that no one in the world values you or not, I am not one in ten thousand."
"I care about you a lot, so please take good care of yourself and stay safe and well."
She loved reading poetry, and in the past, she would even carefully select beautiful words and phrases to arrange in her daily writing.
However, it was only at this point that she realized that in this state of mind, no amount of embellishment could express even a fraction of her feelings, and she could only manage to utter the simplest words, "Take care, and all will be well."
Zhan Yaoguang was taken aback. Her eyes were as black as lacquer, and she maintained a calm expression on her face, but in her heart, a huge wave of emotions was surging.
He thought that he didn't need many good things, but as long as the little lady he missed most in the world cared about him like this, then he would be the luckiest person in the world.
...
Shufu alighted from the carriage and walked alone across the open field. A cool, gentle breeze blew, and the soreness in her chest finally eased somewhat. Only one thing remained on her mind—
She seemed to have forgotten something.
The young woman walked and pondered, until she stepped into Changyi Villa, when she suddenly remembered.
—A-Jian is still waiting for her!
Thinking of this, her heart tightened, and she quickly picked up her skirt and ran towards her courtyard.
As soon as the door was pushed open, there was indeed A-Jian sitting on the ground, her almond-shaped eyes red and wet. Hearing someone come in, she quickly turned around and called out, "Miss—"
Shu Fu quickly stepped forward, knelt beside her, took her hand, and asked repeatedly:
"What's wrong? Why are you sitting on the floor?"
A-Jian sobbed uncontrollably and remained silent.
Shu Fu said apologetically, "It was my fault for coming back late. I apologize to you. I said I had caught a cold, but I slept it off and was all better. Just then, the princess came back, so I went out with her to see the lanterns and ended up staying out overnight. I'm sorry to have troubled you."
That's pretty much the truth, except she's not with Li Miao. But A-Jian won't ask her to confirm it.
"Miss... did you come back late?" After hearing her words, A-Jian stopped crying but looked at her hesitantly.
Shu Fu felt a sense of relief and awkwardly looked away: "It's good that you're not crying over this... So what exactly is making you sad?"
“I get so angry just thinking about it!” A-Jian stood up angrily. “Miss, you don’t know! Last night I went to Ci’en Temple and actually won a carp and lotus lantern for you. I even accidentally got the third-highest rank in the imperial examination. Even the little novice monk next to me said I was amazing and specially picked out the best one.”
"But who knew that the maid happily brought the item back, only to hang it on the window so that the young lady could see it as soon as she opened her eyes in the morning, but the careless servants splashed water on it, ruining a beautiful painting!"
“If this were in our Shu family, I would have already put my hands on my hips and started cursing. But those people are the princess's people, so I couldn't say a word. I couldn't vent my anger, and the more I thought about it, the angrier I got. I couldn't help but cry…”
Shu Fu breathed a sigh of relief after hearing her words.
"I see. Then get up. I also know some painting. Let's paint another one based on the abbot's design from Ci'en Temple!"
———
Goodnight, goodnight (makes a humid sound like the weather during a humid spring).
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
