"...No." Finally unable to resist the pangs of conscience, Nie Qingyue lifted her face, which had almost become one with the pillow, and looked at the person beside her.
"Why is that? Hmm?" The question was soft and gentle, the tone lingering in the air, and there was a hint of amusement in her eyes and brows that made people's hearts flutter. The guilt that could be misunderstood in her voice had long since disappeared.
Clearly and undoubtedly, I was teased again.
"No. To. Live. No." Nie Qingyue echoed the beginning, repeating the opening action.
Yan Shu chuckled and tapped her head. Although hugging her through the quilt felt like embracing a big rice dumpling, his movements were unconsciously gentle: "Madam, we have been married for more than two years."
But if I keep writing like this... I'll definitely be the one scratching my head in frustration = =
Regarding the issue of buying a ticket but not boarding the train
"Madam, we have been married for over two years."
The calm, gentle tone of someone's words, almost like coaxing, made Nie Qingyue's heart tremble.
This is outrageous! Knowing that this is exactly what she hates most, Nie Qingyue wanted to cry. She remembered the famous military principle: "If the enemy doesn't move, I don't move." That's right, that's right. Plan before you act, and don't act if you don't plan. So she firmly remained silent.
"lady."
If the enemy doesn't move, I won't move either.
"lady?"
You can't move. You can't move.
"lady……"
"...Asleep."
The policy of "if the enemy doesn't move, we don't move" has failed.
The moment she opened her mouth, Nie Qingyue regretted it so much she wanted to bite her tongue off. Her face, quite uncooperatively, burned from the breath that was getting closer and closer to her ear. She had just lifted her head from the pillowcase when she was kissed.
Yan Shu's lips carried a burning heat that seemed to scorch her, his touch deepening with each thrust, for once he had captured her, he wouldn't allow her to escape, relentlessly entwining her. Nie Qingyue felt as if her mind had been split in two, one half lost in the sweet, cool scent of Yan Shu, the other half rolling around in the corner, wailing: "I only remember not to move if the enemy doesn't move, but I completely forgot what to do if the enemy moves!"
Her heart was racing, and it took her a while to realize she'd forgotten how to breathe, her brain practically suffocating. Thankfully, Yan Shu's lips finally parted slightly. She gasped for air, her mouth opening and closing repeatedly, unsure of what to say.
"Silly girl." Yan Shu looked at her flushed face and labored breathing, his heart fluttering yet also feeling tenderness and cuteness. Although his lips left her face, they remained pressed together, and he deliberately nuzzled her nose affectionately, pleased to see her rosy cheeks brighten even more.
Nie Qingyue knew he was teasing her on purpose, but with his hands gently pressing down on her sides, she couldn't resist at all. The handsome face she had imagined countless times in her mind was now magnified infinitely before her eyes, his beautiful lips carrying a doting smile, but his expression was one of roguish arrogance.
"You scoundrel!" she choked with anger, reaching out to grab the lock of hair hanging beside Yan Shu's face, but he easily dodged it. Her fair and smooth arm, along with her slender shoulder, emerged from under the covers and was immediately grabbed by his large, warm hand—it was like sending a lamb to the slaughter.
“Madam Yan, my surname is not Liu.” Yan Shu’s eyes flickered as he uttered the words and then gently bit her small earlobe.
It felt like a tiny electric current was flowing through her, making her skin itch all over. Nie Qingyue felt that she was really just a hair's breadth away from being able to travel to the void.
He whispered softly in her ear, trying to bring her back to her fading consciousness, each word more patient and gentle than the last, as if seeking her final response or consent. "Madam, Madam..."
Nie Qingyue opened her hazy eyes and could only see a soft light spreading out from Yan Shu's deep, abyss-like eyes, full of affection.
She couldn't hold on any longer; she was truly about to be routed. Lost in a daze, she thought, biting her lip and lowering her eyes. Before she could utter even a single "hmm," she heard a joyful voice approaching from outside the door:
“Nie Qingyue, I saw on the street that the wanted poster from this morning had been taken down by the soldiers. They said that Master is alright!”
The sound of footsteps grew closer and closer. Yan Yuche, who had returned from outside and was eager to share the good news with her, pushed the door open with a creak.
A sudden gust of cold wind swept into the room, blowing away the pleasant atmosphere that had just been there, and carried it all the way to the clouds in the sky.
Little Yu Che rubbed his eyes, confirming that the popping pink bubbles he'd just seen were a hallucination. He then went behind the screen, where he could only see a bulge under the thick quilt. Nie Qingyue seemed to be sleeping; his head was even tucked inside. The little boy frowned. He'd only been gone for two days, and Nie Qingyue was already as lazy as a pig again.
He took two steps forward, intending to wake Nie Qingyue, when he suddenly noticed a person sitting at the small square table by the bed. The person was dressed in a simple blue robe and had an elegant demeanor. It was his master!
The child wanted to run over and tell his master how worried he had been about Nie Qingyue these past few days and how diligently he had taken care of the pig, but he noticed his master smiling at him and immediately stopped in his tracks.
"Master." The little boy smiled ingratiatingly, slowly taking a step back. Every time he forgot his master's instructions or misremembered the most basic medicinal properties song because he was playing, his master would smile at him like this. The more gentle and warm the smile, the more devastating the consequences for him would be.
But this time, he shouldn't have done anything wrong, right? He should. Little Yu Che thought to himself, pretending not to have heard the words with a gentle smile, "Copy the Treatise on Febrile Diseases and the Pharmacopoeia three times each."
On the same day, in front of the same person, little Yu Che encountered the same first problem in his life as young master Shu: what exactly did he do wrong?
...
Some say that life is a cycle of constant striving and waiting to strive again. Nie Qingyue felt that she had stopped, because the ordinary yet lovely and leisurely life was unfolding before her eyes once again.
When some people are idle, others will naturally be busy; life is always fair.
It's like a prince in the city being exposed by witnesses and evidence for orchestrating human trafficking on the black market and colluding with border tribes to rebel. He's invited to the palace every few days, and in the end, he's supposedly returning to the palace for a long stay, but in reality, he's under house arrest and surveillance. His title and land grant are now just that—titles—and he's taken back to the court.
Just as a young lady in the city, by dying young, escaped the fate of being married off as a political appendage to the chieftain of the Lianlan tribe on the border, it could be said that she delayed a potentially successful rebellion and invasion. As for whether the young lady's death was a way to escape—pretending to be a maid in her own household and then finding the right opportunity to flee with a certain young master Zhao, with whom she already had a mutual affection—who knows?
Nie Qingyue only knew that a certain young master Zhao had proposed to her for more than half a month a year ago. In order to unite the power of the Nie family to stop that conspiracy, the young lady of the family had always regarded her as a rival in love, and felt like she was being pricked by thorns and was sweating profusely.
Finally, Yu Che returned to his martial uncle's place, Young Master Shu exposed the mastermind behind human trafficking and avenged his eight-year-old sister who had been abducted, and Yan Shu fulfilled his responsibility as a friend by helping Shu Song realize his wish. Everything was both terrible and wonderful at the same time, a complete mess yet orderly, giving everyone who had gone through all this a not-so-perfect but somewhat satisfactory result.
If you still feel the explanation isn't clear enough, Nie Qingyue can only scratch her head. For some people, a clear and definite result might be important, but for her, the process is paramount, even if it's confusing, bumpy, or full of twists and turns. Well, if you ask her which part of the process is most important right now, she might immediately abandon her detached and cheerful demeanor and start rolling around in your face in a panic.
Why didn't anyone tell her at the beginning of the story that she actually had to meet her in-laws?
Nie Qingyue crumpled her skirt, listening to the rumbling of the carriage wheels as they drove into the distance, feeling like crying but unable to shed a tear.
"I went back once half a year ago, and my mother said that my daughter-in-law didn't drink the tea and refused to admit it." Yan Shu sat behind her, leisurely resting his chin on her shoulder, watching Nie Qingyue's little fingers twisting in a very complicated way.
The pony neighed loudly, raised its front hooves high, and came to a stop with a thud.
"I suddenly developed a condition that prevents me from getting out of the car," Nie Qingyue said, clinging desperately to the car door with a pained expression.
Covering her face, she thought, "There will always be meat; let them finish their ceremony."
I think, perhaps, maybe, possibly, in the next chapter or the chapter after that. (I'm very happy with this strong sense of closure.)
(Nie Qingyue: You're in such a hurry to sell me off. = =)
The bamboo mat's pattern adorns her jade-like wrists, and her fragrant sweat soaks through her red gauze.
Madam Yan got up very early today.
Ever since receiving Yan Shu's letter two weeks ago saying he would come back to visit her with his wife before the New Year, she had been eagerly anticipating this day. Her clever and steady Shu, who had been so intelligent since childhood, was finally coming home today. Mrs. Yan, in high spirits, prepared breakfast while muttering to her husband, "Old man, I really wonder what our daughter-in-law looks like?"
The private tutor, Master Yan, who was helping her out, gave her a disdainful look: "She has delicate features, is skilled in calligraphy and painting, and is proficient in music and chess."
How did you know?
"Ashu has taken the apple of the eye of the Prime Minister Nie's family. There are some rumors about it in the town."
Madam Yan nodded, put the steamed buns into the pot and covered it: "The appearance doesn't matter, as long as Ashu likes it."
"That would be best, of course, but I'm afraid it wasn't Ashu who chose it himself," Mr. Yan said, wiping his hands with a cloth, looking somewhat worried.
Madam Yan became anxious and hurriedly put down her work, pulling her husband aside to ask, "What's going on?"
I've heard that daughters of officials are often spoiled and willful. If they weren't mutually in love, how could the couple possibly get along? Let alone whether that young lady could take good care of Ashu, even her sincerity would be questionable.
Mr. Yan continued to recall slowly, "That day, I met him in town..."
One hour later.
"Do you... know what kind of dishes Ashu likes to eat?"
—"Pine nut and corn soup, lily and lotus seed porridge, steamed mandarin fish with lotus leaves."
"What are your usual bedtime and wake-up time?"
"Go to bed at 9 PM and get up at 5 AM."
What's the first thing you do when you wake up?
"...Open your eyes?"
...The answers to the above conversation were merely Nie Qingyue's later conjecture.
In fact:
Do you know what kind of food Ashu likes to eat?
"...I don't know much about it."
"What are your usual bedtime and wake-up time?"
"……have no idea."
What's the first thing you do when you wake up?
"...I didn't notice."
"Do you have any special habits?"
He disliked playing the piano, loved watching the sunrise, and his clothes were mostly gray-blue.
Except for the last question, she was almost constantly shaken up by the questions, her heart pounding and her mouth dry. Nie Qingyue's voice grew softer and softer, and the hem of her clothes was deeply wrinkled from being gripped by her fingers.
Who would have thought that Madam Yan, who appeared virtuous and simple at first glance, would suddenly change the subject after a few polite words, launching into a series of questions about her supposed understanding of the situation, leaving Madam Yan wanting to leave the room and run away. Meanwhile, the scholarly Master Yan quietly sipped his tea, occasionally asking Yan Shu a few questions, seemingly indifferent to the situation, effectively separating the two at opposite ends of the table.
Nie Qingyue was puzzled. Apart from her grandmother at home, she had always been well-behaved and sensible since childhood, and had always been well-liked by her elders. How come she was like this here...?
The questioning finally stopped, and she kept her head down, not daring to raise it. After a long while, she heard Madam Yan sigh, rubbing her temples with one hand and gesturing outwards with the other: "Forget it, forget it, it's pointless to ask. I told you long ago not to let Ashu marry a daughter of an official."
So, this is... ruined?
Nie Qingyue twisted her fingers, feeling more frustrated than embarrassed. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the two cups of Longjing tea on the table had sat quietly, cooled from their initial heat, and even the loosely closed lid of the small teapot had stopped steaming.
He sighed inwardly, stood up, bowed slightly, and carried the wooden tray, along with the two cups of tea that he had not yet offered, out to the outside world.
After the person left, the small hall suddenly became quiet.
Mr. Yan and Mrs. Yan exchanged glances. Mrs. Yan, noticing her son's furrowed brow as he looked towards the door, felt a pang of regret. Had she gone too far?
From the moment they entered and saw Ashu carrying Nie Qingyue in, Madam Yan was somewhat displeased. Mothers are always protective of their own children; it doesn't matter if you're the emperor's daughter—they always cherish their own. So, she deliberately kept her tone cold when questioning them. And as she expected, they truly knew nothing.
Dissatisfaction aside, at least Miss Nie's reply was gentle and respectful. Now look what's happened—she's driven him away with just one sentence. Won't this cause trouble for Ashu?
Mrs. Yan was conflicted. "Should I go and apologize?" She was old enough not to care much, but her children's happiness was the most important thing.
Mr. Yan stroked his beard, about to speak, when he saw Nie Qingyue slowly walking in from outside the door carrying a tray. Mrs. Yan also fell silent. Even though she was not very observant, she could see clearly this time that the slow, limping gait indicated an injury on her foot.
Nie Qingyue sat up straight again under several gazes, her tone a little helpless and embarrassed: "I really don't know the answers to what Madam asked earlier."
“However, it’s not good for your health if the tea gets cold, so I took the liberty of changing it. If Madam wishes to ask further questions, I will answer truthfully, but I’m afraid there are no satisfactory answers at the moment.” She scratched her head, slowly and steadily placed the tea in front of the two elders, and smiled quietly with the corners of her mouth curved up.