Chapter 84 Chapter 84 Past
The second year of Yin You, nine years ago.
Summer cicadas begin to chirp in late spring, no matter how clingy the servants in the house are. On the tall trees near Mian Tower, in those lush leaves that block out the sun, it seems as if another bustling world has been born. As summer approaches, the number of cicadas only increases, not decreases.
The servants of the Qingzhou Du family had been carrying bamboo poles to glue for several days without any effect, so my father said, "If you are calm, you will feel cool. The same is true for noise."
He then asked Du Lingjing, "Does my son feel annoyed by the noise?"
Du Lingjing could still sit still. She didn't find it too noisy, but she felt that there was someone missing. Her life was empty and boring, and she didn't even have anyone to talk to. Unfortunately, her eyesight had been bad since she was young. After reading a few books, her father would ask her to stop reading. When the weather got hot, even fewer people came to read in the Mian Building.
She briefly mentioned the boredom of summer to her father, but her father laughed and said, "Idleness is like being a god. My daughter has just come of age and has plenty of time. It's hard for her to understand the beauty of idleness. But she doesn't know that for people who are on the brink of death, it's just wishful thinking to want such a leisurely and easy life."
She felt that her father was right, but she never imagined that the person her father was talking about actually existed. It was the person who was secretly hiding in the mezzanine of Mian Building, who was covered in wounds and almost lost his life.
She had been unaware of this until a difficult mouse entered the library. Completely unaware that the sages in the books were as wise as gods, it kept gnawing at everything. She had no time to be idle any longer, so she started taking Ruan Gong Qiulin and the others to catch mice everywhere in the library.
One day, she was chasing a mouse and accidentally broke into the compartment.
She didn't catch the mouse that day, but she accidentally caught a man in the darkness.
She was so frightened that she ran out of the building without waiting for anyone to speak. Her father was just coming back to the building and saw her running out of the building with a pale face, so he quickly stopped her.
"What happened to my son?"
"Dad! There is a mezzanine in the building, and there are people hiding in it..."
But before she could finish, her father quickly gestured to her to whisper. She was in a daze, but she saw her father smiling.
"Father knows. He was originally hidden by father. Jingniang must not tell anyone about this. This matter must not be known to others."
Her father briefly spoke to her, saying that the man had hidden in Mianlou because he was being chased and seriously injured, but he was not a bad person and his ancestors had a connection with the Du family, so he was kept here.
As for his matter, it seemed to be a secret, so his father didn't say much. He just said his surname was Shi, and then asked her about the situation when she broke into the mezzanine just now. When he heard that she had patted the other person, he couldn't help but ask.
"I don't know if he was hit in the wound. The compartment is hot and stuffy, and it's not easy for him to hide there to recover from his injuries."
Du Lingjing took his words to heart and felt very embarrassed. She returned upstairs and apologized to him softly through the wall.
"Sorry, I mistook you for a bookworm in the building..."
She asked, and faintly heard him laugh very lightly, then she spoke.
"No problem."
She wondered if he was laughing at her, and felt even more embarrassed.
"Did I touch your wound just now?"
He didn't say yes or no, and said in a gentle voice, "Don't worry."
Apart from these four sentences, they didn't say anything else. However, she was embarrassed by this incident and didn't come to Mianlou for several days. When she remembered the big rat that was chewing books everywhere and went to Mianlou to look for it, she found that the annoying rat had disappeared...
Summer finally arrives with the sound of cicadas blocking out the sun.
She knew that he was recuperating in the mezzanine and did not dare to disturb him. His injuries were very serious and the hotter the weather, the more difficult it was for him to recover. There was no movement from him.
Ruan Gong's father, Ruan Daguanshi, brought a pair of twins, a boy and a girl, who could read a few words, from his farm in the countryside to serve her. They said it was the Dragon Boat Festival, so she decided to name them. The brother was named Changpu and the sister was named Aiye.
Sister Ai Ye is serious and meticulous in her work, but brother Chang Pu is a restless person. Not long after arriving at Mian Lou, he became familiar with the people in the nearby villages.
As luck would have it, there was a ghost story in the nearby village, and he heard it all, then told it to everyone with exaggeration.
After he said that, she wanted to go to Mianlou at night. Qiulin pulled her aside and advised her fearfully, "Miss, don't go. Mianlou is empty at night. It's full of old books. What if there's a ghost hiding in the books..."
She shivered as she spoke, and Du Lingjing couldn't help being disturbed by her. She felt pity in her heart, but she couldn't just stop going to Mianlou at night in the future.
She didn't let Qiulin follow her and went upstairs by herself with a light.
Unexpectedly, that day was also strange. Just as she reached the second floor, a gust of wind came from somewhere and the lamp in her hand suddenly went out.
The girl, who had just come of age, broke out in a cold sweat, and without a lamp in her hand, she couldn't even go downstairs.
She stood among the rows of bookshelves, at a loss, and secretly prayed to her grandfather for blessings in her heart, but she didn't know if it would be of any use.
Just then, a voice called her.
"Don't be afraid, girl. I've put the tinder under the window. Come and get it."
It's him! Mr. Shi in the compartment!
She saw a tinder on the floor below the window in the dim starlight. She hurried over and lit the lamp in her hand from time to time.
"Thank you, sir!"
She thanked him and heard the person in the mezzanine speak very softly. He didn't say anything polite to her, but just said.
"I've been in the building."
She was slightly startled, but she also understood what he meant——
He was always in the building, so she didn't have to be afraid of ghosts.
She was grateful, and when she got back she set a rule for Chang Pu, telling him not to talk nonsense about ghosts and gods. Then she went to Mianlou again at night, thinking that the building was not completely empty, and she really felt at ease.
Many days later, some scholars came to the house. Her father talked with them and allowed them to linger in the Mian Tower to read and write. As there were so many people, it was inconvenient for her to go there and she stayed in her own yard.
Many days passed like this, until one day, her father was too busy to spare time, so he asked her to help go to Mianlou and deliver a special medicine to him.
The medicine was very strange. She asked him if he knew how to use it. He said no. She could only go in and demonstrate it to him. But she didn't know what she stepped on, and she twisted her foot and almost fell into the dark cubicle.
But he suddenly stood up and put his hands on her waist to steady her, and he also supported him in panic.
Someone said, "There's a wound there!"
When she heard this, she was even more frightened and didn't know where to put her hands in panic.
"Sir, are you okay?"
"It's okay." She couldn't see his face clearly, but she heard him ask her, "Did you sprain your ankle?"
Du Lingjing quickly shook her head.
He added, "Then stand slowly, there's no rush."
But when had Du Lingjing ever had such contact with a man? She didn't stay any longer.
He said "sorry", put down the medicine and left quickly.
She hadn't been to Mianlou for several days, but she did go to the Jiang family.
She happened to be delivering some articles and letters from friends to Uncle Jiang on behalf of her father. The two families had always helped each other in Qingzhou and had always had contacts with each other. Everyone in the Jiang family knew her. She walked inside and happened to meet Aunt Jiang, Sanlang's mother, who was talking to Uncle Hui.
Uncle Hui happened to come back from the mountain and brought news about Sanlang.
He smiled and said to Aunt Jiang, "The Third Master has recovered very well now. He goes up the mountain every few days. The Taoist priest said that he will be able to go down the mountain and go home soon."
Aunt Jiang was overjoyed to hear this, and Du Lingjing was also very happy when she heard this.
After the autumn examination, although Sanlang won the first place in the province, it also consumed too much of his energy. In winter, he could no longer go to Beijing to take the spring examination and had to stay in bed. Someone introduced him to a Taoist doctor in the mountains, and he went to the Taoist temple in the mountains to recuperate in the spring. He has been away for half a year.
Aunt Jiang was even more delighted to hear that he would soon be able to come down the mountain. She asked him when he would be back and then said, "Should we mention the matter with the Du family?"
Du Lingjing was slightly surprised, but then she heard what Uncle Hui said.
"That matter is of great importance to the Third Master. This time, the Third Master went up to the mountain to recuperate. On the one hand, it is for his future studies, and on the other hand, it is to get his body back in shape so that he can propose marriage to the Du family."
Proposing marriage... ...So this is why he went up the mountain.
Du Lingjing had never heard him explain this, so Uncle Hui said, "I'm afraid the Third Master hasn't recovered well enough, so he wants to wait until the summer is over before coming down the mountain and picking it up in person at the Du family."
Uncle Hui also said that other people would lose three pounds after the hot summer, "but Third Master has been very careful about his meals recently. He has one more meal a day and walks in the mountains frequently. I think he hopes to get better and look stronger before going to the Du family. After all, the girl is the apple of the eye of the elder, and Third Master feels that if he is not fully prepared, how can he go?"
Du Lingjing was stunned at the moment.
She heard Aunt Jiang repeatedly chanting Buddha's name, "I'm afraid my son will get what he wants!" She added, "Then I will prepare all the gifts first, and when he comes back, he can go to the Du family..."
When she came back from Jiang's house that day, her face was hot and red. Her heart started beating fast when she thought about Sanlang's plan just now.
In fact, this matter had already had signs, and people from both families could see it. Cang's mother had even deliberately used flowers to laugh at her and Sanlang. The two families had been friends for generations, and she and Sanlang had been childhood sweethearts, and were a perfect match.
As for his father, although he never said anything, he always appreciated Sanlang's talent and gave him many suggestions.
But when she heard about this at the Jiang family, she was too embarrassed to tell her father. Her father seemed to be quite busy, exchanging letters with people almost every day, or inviting people to the house. In the evening, when he was free, he would go to the Mian Building and chat with Mr. Shi on the second floor.
Summer was gradually coming to an end, and the cicadas' chirping had not stopped, but Mr. Shi seemed to be in better health, and his father would sometimes talk with him until late at night.
However, Du Lingjing never saw him again. She exchanged two letters with Sanlang, not asking about marriage, but only asking how he was doing in the mountains.
Unexpectedly, a few days later, she overheard her father instructing Ruan Gong's father, Ruan Da Guanshi, to prepare her dowry.
She made a noise at that time, and her father looked over. She had to go forward and simply asked her father.
"Dad is going to marry his daughter off?"
Dad said he was just preparing it, "My Jingniang is still young, Dad is reluctant to let her go, but after the mourning period is over, Dad will return to the court, and there will be a lot of things to do by then, so I thought it would be better to arrange a marriage for you first."
Sanlang is coming to propose marriage, and my father wants to arrange an engagement for her. Has Uncle Jiang already discussed this with my father?
Her ears became hot, and her father asked her, "How do you feel, son?"
What other doubts could she have? The heat on her face spread to her face.
"Dad, let me make the decision."
That day, Daddy stroked her shoulder and said, "Okay, Daddy will find a good husband for you."
Summer was almost over and her grandfather's death anniversary was approaching. She dug out a hu flute given to her grandfather by an unknown friend and wanted to play it at her grandfather's grave, but the flute was broken and could not be repaired no matter what she did.
Before she finished repairing the flute, Sanlang came back and visited her house.
The day she heard the news, she ran out of Mian Building with her skirt lifted up.
Sanlang was in his father's study. As soon as she approached, Sanlang saw her, but his father didn't see her. Sanlang smiled at her very quickly.
He had indeed recovered a lot and had grown a little taller. Standing in front of his father in a silver robe and jade belt, he looked no different from an ordinary person.
He bowed solemnly to his father. His father raised his eyebrows and looked at him, and his face flushed a little.
"Uncle, Qianyun came here this time to ask if Jingniang is engaged? If not, can the Jiang family come to propose marriage?"
He was cautious and wanted to ask her father first. Only after getting her father's approval did he come to propose marriage with all the proper manners.
Du Lingjing heard it outside the window and her heart almost jumped up.
Unexpectedly, his father pursed his lips and remained silent for a few breaths, then looked at Qianyun.
"Qianyun, I have chosen a husband for Jingniang."
As soon as the words fell, silence fell inside and outside the study. Du Lingjing was stunned and heard Sanlang ask a question in a daze.
"When?"
His father answered him and sighed softly.
"It's been recently."
He is late.
But her father's words were also very clear.
Sanlang stood up in a daze, "My nephew is bothering me..."
Du Lingjing never expected such a situation to happen. She was horrified and rushed into her father's study.
Her father saw her and asked, "Jingniang?"
She saw Qianyun's face was pale, and she wanted to go forward, but her father called her back, "Come here."
Qianyun took a last look at her, and his eyes, which were like the stars in the night, seemed to be falling.
He left the study, she asked her father.
"Why did Dad reject Qianyun? Didn't Dad want to arrange a marriage for his daughter?"
Her father looked at her lovingly and shook his head.
"The husband Dad chose for you is not Qianyun, but Mr. Shi from the mezzanine floor of Mianlou."
Mr. Shi...
"My daughter has only spoken a few words to him and has no idea who he is. How could Dad choose a stranger as my husband?!"
She couldn't believe it, and thought of Qianyun's eyes that were filled with stars and moonlight when he left.
She was so flustered that she wanted to chase Qianyun, but her father would not let her go. He said that Mr. Shi was not a complete stranger.
"His grandfather and your grandfather knew each other, and they had made an agreement for the two families to marry each other in the past, but it has been a long time, and no one has ever mentioned it, nor taken it seriously."
My father said that he met the descendant of the other party's family this time, that is, Mr. Shi, "I only mentioned the marriage proposal briefly, and he responded immediately."
Her father looked at her and said slowly, "That child is very interested in you. He said that an old agreement should not be broken. He is willing to marry you, cherish you, and spend a hundred years together."
Du Lingjing's mind was buzzing. She asked her father, "Did you marry me to her just because of the verbal agreement made by my grandfather?!"
She found it hard to accept, but her father said no, and he looked at Mian Lou.
"How could Dad marry my son to someone else casually? But he is indeed more suitable for you than Qianyun. Dad will not be wrong."
But she wouldn't listen and tears rolled down her face quickly, but her father thought that a short pain is worse than a long one.
"You should forget about Qianyun. That kid is also very good, you will get familiar with him."
But she just shook her head.
She couldn't convince her father, so after thinking it over again, she decided to go up to the Mian Building and to the mezzanine where he was recuperating.
"Mr. Shi, are you there?"
He responded to her immediately, "You say."
The fifteen-year-old girl would never have thought that the man inside was Lu Weishi, who became her husband after many twists and turns.
At that time she just said.
"I'm lucky to have your favor, but I already have a crush on someone. I think you've seen it today. I can't possibly marry you."
She spoke out what was in her heart in one breath and explained it to him clearly.
She said she liked someone else and that there was no way she could marry him.
She thought that if he backed down, her father would not be able to force him any further.
But he said nothing.
The silence in the compartment flowed out like water.
Lu Weishi did not respond, but the little girl at that time could not help but feel uncertain.
If an ordinary person heard her say this, how could they not do it?
But he didn't say anything, and she felt panicked. She waited for a few more breaths, hoping that he would say something to satisfy her.
But he whispered.
"Please think twice, young lady."
He doesn't agree!
Du Lingjing was surprised at that time, and there was a faint gaze from the interlayer falling gently on her face.
She couldn't see him through the wooden board, but in the future, she would definitely see her reflection in his inky black pupils, slowly flowing with his deep and unremovable feelings.
But then she couldn't help stumbling.
She thought she didn't want this person, no matter who he was!
"I don't have to think twice!"
She hurriedly said this and left.
She did not come to Mianlou that day, nor did she go upstairs the next day. She only asked Qiulin to take down all the things she usually used.
She wasn't going to come again until he left.
But he stopped her behind the Moon Gate that night.
This was the first time she saw him appear outside Mian Building. He was not allowed to show himself to others and could only stand in the shadows. His injuries had not healed yet and he had difficulty moving.
But she had never thought about these things for him at that time. She just wondered why this man was like this. She had said that she didn't want to marry him, but he still stopped her.
He wanted to say a few more words to her, but she just felt angry and annoyed, as if she was being entangled by him.
She was angry and spoke coldly to him.
"I don't want to know who the Master is, nor do I want to know what the Master wants to tell me. I only know that you and I should never see each other again."
After saying that, she didn't allow him to say anything more, and didn't even want to look at him, and turned around and left resolutely...
In the west wing of the west road in Chengqingfang in the capital.
Du Lingjing looked at the man in front of her. He smelled of blood. He lowered his eyes to hers, and his whole body exuded a similar aura of pain as nine years ago.
He is Mr. Shi, and also her current husband Lu Weishi.
Du Lingjing's eyes were sore and painful, but the cruel words she said to him that year were more than that...
After that day, her father advised her to think it over again.
But whether she opened her eyes or closed them, she saw Qianyun leaving with a pale face.
He had just recovered from his illness. He had been recuperating in the lonely Taoist temple in the mountains for half a year in order to propose to her in a decent manner in front of his father. He had already been thinking about proposing marriage in his heart, but his father rejected Qianyun with just a few words.
She finally went to find him, but when she arrived, she saw Qianyun coughing and spitting blood on the handkerchief.
She was shocked and looked at his appearance again. In just a few days, his body, which he had worked so hard to restore, had quickly become thinner.
When he saw her appear in front of him, he wanted to hide the bloody handkerchief, but she took the handkerchief away from his hand.
"Sanlang, I will not marry the man in the mezzanine. Even if my father likes him, I will not marry him."
"But Quanquan, maybe he is your perfect match." He also said that her father, "You won't be wrong..."
However, Du Lingjing was determined to go back home despite his repeated attempts to stop her.
She went to her father first, and when her father saw the bloody handkerchief, he frowned deeply.
But Dad still refused to give in and instead stared at the handkerchief.
"Qianyun is good, good in every way, and Dad loves and respects him. Loving and respecting his literary talent is different from marrying your daughter to him. Jingniang, do you think Dad would marry his precious daughter to someone who might not live long?"
Dad said bluntly, "I'm afraid he won't be able to stay with you for a hundred years. He will just leave you early! Don't you understand, my son?"
There was already a hint of hoarseness in her father's voice, but she was crying even more.
"But Dad, I don't care. Even if Sanlang can only live for another three to five years, I won't abandon him and marry someone else."
Her father closed his eyes deeply, and seeing that she was determined, he suggested a compromise.
"Then let's talk about your marriage in three to five years."
He did not say what would happen to Qianyun in three to five years. Instead, he looked at Mianlou and spoke slowly.
"I am willing to wait for you as long as you want."
Lu Weishi is willing to wait for her, no matter how long he waits!
But when she heard these words, she felt as if she was haunted by a ghost. She was frightened and angry.
"He has to marry me?!"
She went to Mian Building again, and after many days, she went straight to the outside of his compartment.
"What's wrong..." He asked softly this time without waiting for her to speak.
In the past, she thought that Mr. Shi was a polite person, but now, when she heard Lu Weishi speaking to her in a sweet and gentle voice, she felt very annoyed.
She called him.
"Sir, I know you have feelings for me, but I have never seen your true face, nor do I know who you are. To me, you are as far away as a shooting star in the sky. You have feelings for me, but I cannot respond. There is no reason in the world that I must respond, right?"
She wiped the tears from her eyes, but her hands held Sanlang's blood-stained handkerchief even tighter, right in front of Lu Weishi.
She told him that Sanlang went to the mountains to recuperate in order to come back and propose marriage after he recovered.
"... He went to the mountains to recuperate for nearly half a year. He was almost recovered, but today he coughed up blood..."
He insisted on waiting for her. What was he waiting for? Was he waiting for Sanlang to die of illness? !
So, does his so-called "waiting" count as forcing people to death?
There was only disgust and hostility in her eyes when she looked at him, and she did not hide her disgust and hostility in front of Lu Weishi at all.
"Sir, please don't wait for me anymore. Even if he dies, I will never marry you."
She said, "I will not come to Mianlou again until you leave!"
She said and turned her head.
This time he was silent too, but not for long.
He spoke in a low voice, and seemed to smile very faintly, with a hint of self-mockery in it.
That year, Weishi said the last words to her, in the face of her disgust and expulsion. He said, "I will leave immediately and never see you again in this life."
He finally relented, but she still didn't turn around to look at him again, not even once.
The next morning, her father told her that the marriage with him was off and he had left the Du family.
She chased him away.
He just left like that, with scars and sadness that had not yet healed, and went far away in the middle of the night, never to come back.
The following year, she got engaged to Qianyun.
... ...
In the capital, at this moment, Wei Shi's hoarse voice repeatedly rang in her ears.
"Mr. Shi, I am the Mr. Shi whom you hate so much."
"Do you still remember that Jiang Zhuxiu was not your fiancé at that time?"
"The husband your father-in-law originally chose for you was me, Lu Shenru!"
"But you only have eyes for him and never see me. You drove me away for him!"
She looked up at the man. The scarred boy whom she had driven away in the past had actually been waiting for her, just as he said.
Just like he did when the haunted ghost appeared that year, he always stayed with her in the darkness that frightened her, never leaving, but also never disturbing her.
It was not until the third year after Saburo's death that he asked for an imperial decree to grant the marriage. He no longer mentioned the past and only wanted to forget the past with her and start anew...
Du Lingjing couldn't stop crying, "I'm sorry."
She reached out to hold his hand, but he wouldn't let her and just looked at her.
"Compared to Jiang Zhuxiu, I, Lu Shenru, am not worth mentioning in your heart, right?"
Du Lingjing felt a sharp pain in her chest and repeatedly wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes.
"No, absolutely not! You are worth a thousand gold in my heart!"
But he just smiled faintly. He was sneering, and his ink-black eyes were full of self-mockery.
"A thousand gold? Really, Quanquan? I can't believe it."
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