Vender ropa y traer vino para beber contigo

Capítulo 38

Li Huangyin remained silent, resting her head on her shoulder and gently stroking her back while humming "Mmm".

"Then...do we have any enemies?"

Li Huangyin lowered her head to look at the person in her arms, her eyes still calm and expressionless: "What's wrong?"

Ye Changsheng didn't answer. Instead, he pulled down his collar and pointed to a scar about an inch long on his chest, asking in confusion, "I think I have a scar on my chest. I touched it, and I also have one on my back..."

Li Huangyin lowered her eyes and stared blankly at the old wound for a while until Ye Changsheng tugged at his sleeve. He then slowly raised his head, reached out and pulled her clothes back up, and dressed her again.

He pondered for a long time, then met Ye Changsheng's gaze and said slowly, "There was once a child who, from the time he was old enough to understand, vowed to escape the injustice of fate. For this, he did many wrong things and killed many people... But now, looking back, he can't regret it. Without the cause, there would be no such effect. If things hadn't been the way they were back then, none of this would exist now... He regrets it, but if he could go back to the past, he doesn't know if he would still do the same thing..."

Yes, if we had never met in this world, how lonely I would have been.

Ye Changsheng rose slightly, put his arm around Li Huangyin's neck, and nodded thoughtfully. He neither pressed Li Huangyin for answers to her ambiguous words nor expressed any curiosity about what she had been busy with these past few days.

She leaned on Li Huangyin's shoulder, put her arm around her back, pondered for a while, and said uncertainly, "What's past is past. It's fine as it is now. There's no need to think about the bad things from the past..."

Upon hearing this, Li Huangyin was stunned for a moment and remained motionless... After a long time, out of her sight, he lowered his eyes and smiled faintly, a smile as gentle as the first melting of snow.

Ye Changsheng held his shoulders, straightened up, and looked into the man's clear and captivating eyes. Suddenly, she smiled slightly, leaned over, and kissed his lips.

Li Huangyin froze, and after a long while, she raised her hand to put her arm around Ye Changsheng's shoulder. Ye Changsheng's forehead was pressed against his, and she was looking at him intently with her eyes open.

Li Huangyin turned his head and coughed softly: "Chang Sheng, I..." He said a few words, then suddenly frowned slightly and fell silent.

The candlelight flickered, and the night outside the window stretched endlessly.

He gently pressed down on Ye Changsheng's shoulders, lowered his head to kiss her chin, and then kissed down her neck. He then pulled down her clothes, leaned over and pressed her down onto the bed, her loose hair falling onto the blue bedding and tangling together.

His hand brushed against Ye Changsheng's back, feeling her suddenly tremble slightly, her body stiffen, and she suddenly coughed repeatedly. Li Huangyin quickly held her, gently patting her back until the person in her arms fell asleep again...

The candle wax drips and swirls, casting shadowy figures beneath the green gauze window.

Li Huangyin looked at Ye Changsheng, who was fast asleep in her arms. Gazing at her peaceful yet heartbreakingly painful sleeping face… if they could live like this for the rest of their lives, even if she remembered nothing, that would be good enough…

The night outside the window is shrouded in a hazy darkness; the Lantern Festival is just a few days away.

Early that morning, Ye Changsheng was cleaning the house.

Suddenly, with a "whoosh," the door was pushed open. Ye Changsheng patted his chest and looked up to see a woman in ochre clothes rushing in, carrying a child who looked about two or three years old. She was shouting for a doctor and stamping her feet while crying.

Ye Changsheng slowly put down the broom, turned around and moved a small stool, inviting the woman to sit down. After circling around, he pointed to the child in her arms and asked, "Is this a patient?"

The woman nodded repeatedly, revealing the tightly wrapped child in her arms, and said in a trembling voice, "Doctor, please, please save my child... Lang'er had a fever all night yesterday, and neither his father nor I noticed. When we went into the house this morning, we found that the child had fainted from the fever..."

Ye Changsheng nodded and reached out to feel the child's forehead. He bent down and examined it carefully for a while before standing up to comfort the woman, saying, "Madam, don't worry. It's probably just a cold. I'll prescribe some medicine for you to take."

The woman was overjoyed upon hearing this and thanked him repeatedly. Judging from her posture, if it weren't for the child she was holding, she would have pounced on him.

Ye Changsheng, still smiling, took a few steps back and moved to the counter. He picked up a pen, wrote a prescription, and handed it to the woman, saying apologetically, "We don't have white peony root or cimicifuga rhizome in our shop, so please try to find a larger pharmacy at the street corner. I'm so sorry..."

"Thank you, doctor, thank you, doctor..." The woman hurriedly took the prescription with both hands, muttering to herself. After paying the consultation fee, she carried her child and left as fast as she could.

After watching the mother and son leave, Ye Changsheng picked up the broom again and began sweeping the shop. When she circled around to the front door, a corner of a blue cloth robe caught her eye. She looked up and saw that Li Huangyin had returned at some point. She didn't know how long she had been standing at the door, leaning against the door and quietly watching her with a somewhat gloomy expression.

Upon seeing the person who arrived, Ye Changsheng was slightly taken aback. He stood up, straightened his sleeves, and greeted them with a smile: "You're back."

Li Huangyin nodded, her brows suddenly relaxing. She walked straight over, took the broom from Changsheng's hand, and pulled her into her arms, saying softly, "Didn't I say I would do all of this?"

Ye Changsheng simply smiled faintly and remained silent.

After a moment of silence, Li Huangyin asked uncertainly, "Was that person here to see a doctor?"

Ye Changsheng shook his head, pondered for a moment, and then nodded: "It's her son, he caught a cold."

Li Huangyin lowered her voice: "Was it...you who prescribed this medicine?"

Ye Changsheng hesitated for a moment, then gave a soft "hmm" and sighed, "Actually, I..."

"Chang Sheng—" Li Huangyin suddenly interrupted her, turning her shoulders with both hands and asking with a smile, "Are you hungry?"

Ye Changsheng paused for a moment, then smiled faintly and replied, "I'm hungry..."

Li Huangyin stroked her hair and said softly, "Wait, I'll go cook for you."

Ye Changsheng nodded, turned around, and stepped aside to make way for him.

He took a few steps forward, then suddenly stopped—

He slowly turned around and said calmly, "You...remember now..."

Ye Changsheng stood at the door, turned around upon hearing this, and their eyes met... After a long while, she smiled faintly, softly hummed in agreement, and said, "Thank you."

Li Huangyin hummed in agreement. When she looked down, she saw the wooden bench she had sat on on the ground, casting a long, dark shadow in the pale sunlight.

Li Huangyin closed her eyes, feeling only a stinging pain in them.

How can he occupy something that doesn't belong to him?

He had thought that he wouldn't be afraid at this point.

After a long silence, he suddenly chuckled softly, turning to look at the medicine jar and winnowing basket beside him: "I... I lied to you..."

Ye Changsheng smiled somewhat helplessly and nodded slowly.

"Will you blame me...?"

“It’s not my fault…” Ye Changsheng smiled slightly, walked closer to Li Huangyin, and slowly said, “I haven’t thought about what home is like for a long time… Thank you… I just… want to know, how much longer… I can live…”

Li Huangyin looked at her calmly, her expression unreadable, as if she had been pondering for a long time before saying in a hoarse voice, "Don't worry, Zhong Ziqi will be here soon. Didn't he save you once? He'll definitely be able to do it this time too..."

Ye Changsheng listened quietly to him, shaking his head with a smile as he looked at the passersby outside the door. He sighed with some annoyance, "Old Master Zhong, if he saw me like this, he'd probably be furious—he'd keep nagging that I not only didn't take my medicine, but I also misused my inner energy, haha..."

Li Huangyin swayed, her gaze shifting elsewhere, and sighed softly, "Isn't he a miracle doctor? He'll surely have a solution... It'll be fine once he arrives..."

Ye Changsheng thought for a moment, then shrugged and asked with a slight smile, "Where's Jia Ling? And Pan Jiu and Mudan?"

"Jia Ling was with Zhong Ziqi. After Pan Xijin said goodbye to us, he only said that he wanted to travel around Jiangnan..."

Ye Changsheng exclaimed "Ah!" and nodded, saying, "He wasn't originally a member of the martial arts world, that's good, very good..."

Li Huangyin's sorrow subsided slightly. She reached out and tugged at Ye Changsheng's sleeve, her voice barely audible: "Are you still hungry...? Today is the Lantern Festival, let's go make some tangyuan..."

Ye Changsheng gave a soft "hmm," smiled, and nodded slightly.

"I'll go cook for you." Li Huangyin seemed to have found something to rely on, and breathed a sigh of relief. She gently patted her head and turned to walk towards the kitchen.

"My lord—"

A slightly amused voice came from behind her. Li Huangyin froze, and after what seemed like an eternity, she turned around and looked at her incredulously—only to see Ye Changsheng's lips curving into a smile as she looked at her earnestly and said, "It's so nice to have a husband who can cook..."

Li Huangyin paused slightly, a soft glow suddenly appearing in his eyes and on his face. He closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, he smiled calmly, finally letting out a soft, gentle "Mmm"...

He walked a few steps to Ye Changsheng and hugged her tightly. Between them—there were many things that couldn't be explained or sorted out…

Who owes whom between them?

Ye Changsheng hugged Li Huangyin back and smiled slowly. In an instant, his eyes brightened and his face became clear: "Aunt Wang brought some sesame-filled glutinous rice balls again today. Our neighbors are so kind..."

Li Huangyin smiled gently, patted her head affectionately, nodded, and turned to go to the kitchen.

Outside the door, rain and mist swirled, the wind whistled through the leaves, and even the sky was a hazy gray.

Ye Changsheng stood there, watching the person's figure gradually disappear into the kitchen doorway...

She turned her head and carefully looked around the room. Her hand brushed against the somewhat dilapidated counter, patted the low wooden stool, and wiped clean the copper-handled pestle that had been with her for many days...

She looked very carefully, not wanting to miss a single detail.

The crackling sound of firewood burning came from the kitchen, and the sweet aroma of glutinous rice balls filled the air...

At that moment, she suddenly felt as if she had always been the doctor at this peaceful clinic, with a gentle and considerate husband, a group of kind and generous neighbors, and living a simple life just trying to make ends meet...

A slight smile appeared on her lips. She glanced one last time in the direction of the kitchen, then turned and left.

From this day forward, even if we search to the ends of the earth, we will never meet again...

Everything in Jiangling was as it had always been. Ye Changsheng walked from Chengtian Temple to Qujiang Tower and stopped in front of his own mansion in Xiangdong Garden. The gate was tightly closed, and the ancient and solemn mansion seemed somewhat desolate for a moment.

The days she spent here felt like a lifetime ago.

With a creak, the gate of the Ye residence suddenly opened, and a woman in plain clothes, supporting a young maid, walked down the stone steps with slight trembling. She looked much older than before, with a look of depression in her eyes. She carried a basket full of incense in her hand, probably on her way to the temple to offer incense.

The group boarded the carriage, the horses' hooves clattered, and the carriage drove away...

Ye Changsheng took one last look at them, turned the corner, and walked into the crowd.

As dusk fell, the streets grew quieter, and the sounds of firecrackers echoed from near and far. Walking along this once bustling Xiangping Street, she felt as if she had returned to the days of her youthful days, when she was arrogant and domineering, calling out to her friends, carefree and unburdened by worldly troubles, dressed in fine clothes, riding a spirited horse, her hat askew, exuding a dashing air…

Back then, her heart was filled with many things and many people; in her thoughts, there was never a void. Back then, they walked hand in hand, drinking and laughing, never hesitating to speak... Back then, she thought life was nothing more than wine in her cup and sand through her fingers...

Today, Wuyi Lane no longer belongs to the Wang family; today, Mochou Lake is haunted by ghosts crying at night, and Phoenix Terrace is home to owls…

When all of this actually happened to her, she discovered that letting go of the old ways wasn't so difficult...

If you remember the fleeting dreams of Jiangnan, that's fine; if you don't, then so be it...

Poems and essays, let them remain, countless in number. But days pass, months pass, this year's work is over, then next year. Time is finite, the world is boundless, I only fear wasting it all, growing old before I know it. I'll live each day as it comes, let others laugh at me, what more could I ask for…

"Chang Sheng!" someone suddenly called out from behind.

Ye Changsheng suddenly turned around and saw a person standing on the other side of the street. The person was dressed in a very ordinary blue cloth robe and stood quietly in the crowd, as if he had been waiting for a long time. His hands were covered in white powder, as if they were dusted with flour. He just stood there in the crowd, wearing a coarse blue cloth robe, his black hair was loosely tied up, and he was unadorned. The former bewitching charm had disappeared, and the fierceness between his brows had subsided...

His smile was so gentle, as if he had been waiting for her to come home.

Suddenly... she felt a surge of heat in her eyes. She turned her head away, feeling that she could no longer hold back some things. Things she had buried for so many years were about to come out.

When a tear slid down her cheek, she cried out.

“Li Huangyin…”

(End of Volume Two)

Extra Chapter: Swing Inside the Wall, Path Outside the Wall

"A swing inside the wall, a path outside; passersby outside, a beautiful woman laughing inside..."

In early spring in Bianliang, as dusk settles, pavilions and terraces are faintly visible amidst the songs of orioles and the fluttering of butterflies. Thin spring clothes adorn the lotus leaves, peach blossoms are in full bloom, willow branches are sprouting new buds, and peonies in their dazzling display exude a solitary allure in the enchanting mist. Towering locust trees cast dappled shadows, and a gentle breeze rustles the leaves.

A bright-eyed young girl, holding an exam paper, leaned against the window and slowly recited poetry. The soft morning light shone on her face, like a tender willow sprouting in spring, making one involuntarily think of the beauty of early life.

"Is Miss feeling melancholy again?" A pretty young maid in a pink dress offered a cup of tea and teased.

Pan Yuerong snapped out of her reverie, gave a faint smile, and swung the book in her hand, slapping Yunxing on the head. "Hmm, I want to hear a beautiful woman laugh, I want to tear down the walls of the mansion, I want to travel and enjoy the scenery..." She sighed and admitted, "It's so boring in the mansion..."