Chapter 46 He simply crawled up to her and stared at her…
Meixi Riverbank.
The bright moon hangs high, seemingly unattainable, yet the world is full of illusions and fleeting dreams. On the lake, he can be accompanied by the bright moon.
He lightly touched the water's surface with his toes, his figure as graceful as a swallow skimming the waves, his sword pointing to the sky, his momentum majestic, as agile as a swimming dragon, yet his gaze would occasionally drift towards the woman on the lakeside.
But she didn't spare a single glance for him.
His moves became even more ferocious, seemingly possessing the power to overturn mountains and seas. The tip of his sword sliced through the night sky, creating gusts of ear-piercing wind, as if silk was being violently torn apart.
The woman remained seated by the lake, busy pasting lanterns, completely unaffected by his presence.
She knew it was one of his tricks, but she just didn't want to pay him any attention.
She suddenly realized that He Beiqing was somewhat like her own son, Hu Ge'er, Mei Bao. He liked to be shameless and persistent. If she didn't do what he wanted, he would lie on her wall and disturb her peace. Helpless, she had no choice but to bring the lanterns with her.
He Beiqing had been practicing his swordplay for quite a while, and his lightness skill was almost exhausted, but she still didn't glance at him.
He stopped floating on the water and slung the Fire Lotus Sword back into its sheath.
But he only stopped for a few moments before splashing water again. His sword stirred here and there, and the water splashes he stirred inevitably sprayed towards Jiang Shuifu.
Jiang Shuifu pursed her lips, changed direction, and moved further away from him.
But the water seemed to chase after her, splashing onto her hands again.
Her face was already scrunched up, but she held back her anger. When he didn't get what he wanted, she walked further away, protecting the materials used to make the lanterns so that they wouldn't be damaged in the slightest.
She picked up a knife and carefully shaved all the bamboo strips. The next step was to cut the Xuan paper. She wanted to make a three-dimensional swallow image out of the Xuan paper. Looking at the "lifelike" swallow in the picture, she was full of confidence.
Suddenly, she realized that everything around her was quiet, and there was no noise he had deliberately made. She raised an eyebrow slightly and thought, "Hmph! All he has are these tricks!"
Her eyes twitched, and when she looked up, she realized he was gone. No wonder he hadn't moved.
She immediately dropped what she was holding and looked around, searching for him, but unfortunately, there was still no trace of him.
He brought her to a vast, empty meadow. On this dark and windy night, she was all alone in the boundless wilderness.
Her eyes immediately filled with anger. He had actually run away! She shouted, "He Beiqing! Anyone who believes you again is a complete idiot!"
After calling out several times without receiving a response, she had no choice but to carry all her tools and head home.
Unexpectedly, the thing in her hand was snatched away the moment she turned around.
A tall, burly figure, completely black and with an obscured face, suddenly appeared in front of her. She was startled and staggered back several steps.
As soon as she retreated, he advanced; she retreated even faster, and he not only pursued her relentlessly but also reached out to grab her.
In the pitch-black night, she, a frail woman, was certainly afraid, and all she could do was desperately call out to He Beiqing.
"He Beiqing, come out here! Come out here! I'll talk to you, okay? I won't say anything bad about you anymore! You're generous, good-looking, and you can even smile! You're even more beautiful when you smile!"
As she retreated, she finally reached a place bathed in moonlight, where the figure stopped as well. The moonlight revealed his true face, and he ceased to approach her.
Before she could even catch her breath, her eyes widened and her face turned as red as a crab's.
This person is clearly He Beiqing!
He's playing tricks on her again!
She rushed forward and shoved him, questioning him. Caught off guard, he fell backward as she pushed him.
"Is it fun? You forced me out in the middle of the night just to mess with me!"
He Beiqing showed no expression, but she knew he was suppressing laughter, the kind that made his face and neck turn red.
"Miss Fu ignored me, so I wandered around aimlessly. I never expected that I would be so good in Miss Fu's eyes! Generous, beautiful, and..."
She interrupted his teasing and kept trying to snatch the things he had taken away.
"Give it back to me! Give it back to me! This is my secret, you can't look at it!"
He Beiqing became interested upon hearing this and spread out the drawing above his head. "It is indeed a confidential drawing. The lines are smooth and the colors are vivid. But is this a chicken or a goose?"
Jiang Shuifu became even angrier. He was deliberately teasing her, so she stood on tiptoe, stretched out her arms, and tried her best to reach him. As soon as she reached him, she shouted at him:
"What's it to you! Give it back to me!"
But he was a head taller than her. She jumped and hopped, almost stepping on him to climb up. She couldn't reach him and became anxious. In a moment of carelessness, she stepped on a pebble and was about to fall backward.
In the blink of an eye, He Beiqing grabbed her wrist, preventing her from falling. He then pulled her forward forcefully, trying to straighten her body, but he didn't control his strength well, or rather, he didn't expect her to be so light. He almost pulled her into his arms.
Fortunately, he pushed them away in time, so they weren't too close. However, the distance between them wasn't far at all; they were only about two fists apart.
At this moment, his gaze was forced to be fixed on her. Her eyes were still filled with anger, but now there was a hint of surprise and fear. In the moonlight, he even perceived a touch of... coquettishness, a touch of... beauty, and a touch of... allure. He felt that she... shone like a galaxy, an absolute beauty.
However, this only lasted for two breaths before He Beiqing suddenly let go, took a few steps back, and kept his distance.
Jiang Shuifu walked towards him with a firm and powerful stride, each step louder than the last.
To him, it sounded like a drumbeat, one after another, pounding incessantly in his ears, yet his feet seemed frozen in place, unable to move.
We could only let her invade us with impunity.
She drew closer and closer to him, the distance between them decreasing from a foot to an inch. Soon, she was beside him, staring straight at him, then leaned down and pressed herself against him.
He finally woke up and took a step back as she approached. As he stepped back, her hand brushed past his, snatched back her painting, and gave him a cold glance.
He Beiqing's eyes relaxed; she had wanted the painting.
Jiang Shuifu sat down on the ground and continued to tinker with her lantern.
He calmed his breathing, took out the wine set and lit a fire. He had just gone to gather branches and firewood; his movements were quick, but somewhat casual. Glancing at the lantern in her hand, he finally couldn't help but speak:
"Did you make this lantern for the upcoming Flower Festival? Do you want to enter it in a competition?"
Jiang Shuifu nodded: "Is that not allowed? I not only want to participate, but I also want to win first place!"
She flattened the crumpled draft and then cut the rice paper while looking at the draft.
He Beiqing also sat down and started brewing wine with the lake water he had just collected. Then, he suddenly raised his eyes and asked, "You like that fragrant yellow wine?"
Jiang Shuifu casually agreed: "No woman would dislike it, just like you like swords. If I gave you a fine sword, would you be happy?"
He Beiqing denied it almost without thinking:
"No! I only need one sword!"
Jiang Shuifu held him in high regard, her gaze sweeping over him for a moment before she slowly straightened up and curiously posed him a difficult question:
"What will you do if your sword breaks one day?"
His fire suddenly blazed up, and the wine on the stove bubbled and gurgled, as if he were very interested in the matter.
He Beiqing pondered for a long time, seemingly unable to imagine what situation could damage his sword.
"In every choice I make, I will protect my sword! In this boring world, only the sword can soothe my heart."
Jiang Shuifu pouted; he was so boring.
He Beiqing lowered his head and rummaged through her tools on the ground, smirking as he said:
“Animal lanterns are inherently difficult to make, and achieving three-dimensionality is a major challenge. If your sparrows looked like this, they would probably turn out to be chickens and geese. But it's still acceptable, since people worship the flower goddess and you are offering her a gift.”
She rolled her eyes at him. "Don't bother me!"
He Beiqing shook his head, chuckled, picked up the brush and ink from the ground, spread out a brand new sheet of Xuan paper, and with a flick of the brush, began to paint in a flowing, natural style.
At first, Jiang Shuifu didn't think much of it, but the more she looked at his painting, the more unbelievable it became. His painting skills were so good that he perfectly presented the sparrow's expression, posture, and even the feathers all over its body.
Not only that, he also drew different parts of the sparrow from different angles, even showing the degree of folding.
Of all the painters she had ever seen, only her ex-husband could rival him.
How come they are all more skilled in painting than she, a woman!
They were probably raised according to the rules of well-bred ladies when they were young!
He Beiqing stopped writing, the draft was finished, and then he took the shaved bamboo strips and began to weave them one by one. This work required a lot of skill, not only to be nimble-handed, but also to have the ability to construct the overall outline. He calmed down and the bamboo strips kept changing in his hands.
But before he could finish weaving, Jiang Shuifu snatched it away, stopping him from continuing.
"This is my lantern, you're not allowed to touch it!"
She wants to make her own lanterns, and she wants to win them herself!
He Beiqing had no choice but to give up and continue looking at his wine.
It was almost done cooking, and he gave her the first bite:
"Would you like to try some? The lake water is crystal clear and has absorbed the essence of the sun and moon, so the wine brewed from it has a unique flavor!"
Jiang Shuifu didn't want to. She was completely absorbed in weaving her lantern, working very seriously. Tiny beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, but her eyes always shone with a faint light. In an instant, even the moonlight lost its luster.
He Beiqing lay on the grass, one leg bent, and took a swig of wine, drinking more and more recklessly, his eyes fixed on her. In the end, he simply crawled up to her and stared at her.
He stared at her face, at her eyes, and when he finally looked at her lips, he looked away and stared upwards, tirelessly.
He suddenly became very drunk, and his smile was sinister:
"Miss Fu, you are prettier than me! You are so beautiful, and you got married so early."
Soon, Jiang Shuifu noticed something was wrong. Where was the blood coming from? She slowly turned her head to look in the direction the blood was coming from.
"Did you drink yourself to the point of vomiting blood?"
He laughed at her for being too concerned, saying, "This is an old injury. Last time, I wasn't lying; I almost couldn't hold a sword anymore. But don't worry about it; it will stop bleeding on its own after a while."
Jiang Shuifu found his wound, a cut on his wrist with some bamboo splinters on it, which he must have accidentally injured himself while shaving.
She didn't want to get involved, but since he was injured because of her, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and treat him.
She quickly tore at his clothes to bandage him, warning him fiercely:
"Who cares about you! You owe me one! Don't you dare die in front of me! Otherwise, I'll poke a few holes in you to vent my anger!"
However, the injured man was very uncooperative, constantly moving around and complaining that he didn't want to be bandaged, saying he was afraid of the pain!
She had never seen a man like him before. What grown man was afraid of pain?
He seemed to be completely drunk, and he kept insisting on drinking: "If you don't let me drink, I won't let you touch it!"
Jiang Shuifu immediately got up, grabbed her things, and left. Who would want to touch him!
But as she walked, she came back, picked up the bamboo ladle, and fed a sip to the half-dead, half-closed-eye, groaning man.
"Awoo!"
He fed her a mouthful instead, and He Beiqing suddenly widened his eyes, scooped the bamboo wine towards her lips, and said, "I knew you would come back!"
She was caught off guard and swallowed a large mouthful of wine, coughing incessantly.
He pushed her down, and she rested her head on a large patch of strong grass, looking up at the sky, feeling extremely relaxed.
He pointed to the bright moon thousands of miles away: "Let's admire the moon together! Look at that moon, doesn't it look like your eyes..."
.
When Jiang Shuifu woke up, she was already back at the Jiang residence, but she had a headache. Yesterday, after he fed her a sip of wine, she thought it tasted good and drank a lot more. As a result, she fell asleep on the grass and passed out.
Oh no, her lantern!
She immediately got off the bed, and her eyes immediately caught sight of the lanterns.
Nothing is missing.
On the table were his drawings and many bamboo strips of various sizes, thicknesses, and lengths, some of which were even bent into curves following the lines on the drawings.
All that was left for her was to piece them together one by one and glue them back together—a task that wouldn't hurt her hands.
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Author's Note: The male protagonist appears on the Flower Festival, relentlessly pursuing his wife. When he realizes he can't win her over and begins to feel threatened, he resorts to... force.
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