The Beauties of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 109

"I'm fine..." She raised her hand to touch his face, smiled and squinted her eyes, then asked softly, "What time is it now? Aren't you going back to the capital? When are you leaving?"

Zhao Defang, who was about to help her sit up, was taken aback by her words. Seeing her smiling but puzzled expression, he panicked. He put his long arm around her shoulders and picked her up, staring straight into her clear eyes. He asked in a daze, "Wanlan... what's wrong?" What? He was going back to the capital? He had just come from the capital to find her. Even if he wanted to go back, he couldn't possibly leave before she recovered.

"It's alright, Zehua. After you return to the capital, can I wait for you in Xingyang—" Her soft words suddenly stopped. She looked up in astonishment and scanned the room. The unfamiliar furnishings made her mind go blank, and she instantly came to her senses.

Her incredulous gaze slowly shifted to the face of the person before her. A sudden surge of emotion overwhelmed her wide eyes, and tears welled up in her eyes. She finally remembered that it wasn't a dream. "Zehua...you...we..."

"Wanlan...I've come to pick you up."

A few words escaped her lips, accompanied by the falling water droplets. Wanlan looked at the man before her, his tearful eyes fixed intently on her, and felt a sharp, unbearable pain in her heart. She instinctively clutched his clothes, shaking her head frantically, "Zehua, what's wrong?"

His hands, which had been gripping her shoulders, suddenly moved to her waist and tightened. Caught off guard, Wanlan stumbled into his arms, feeling his trembling chest as he spoke in a hoarse, barely audible voice, "...I want to kill someone..."

She trembled, and a soft sob escaped her lips, "...Who do you want to kill?"

"Myself."

"Zehua!" Wanlan pulled away from his embrace, staring wide-eyed at him as he closed his eyes in agony, hot tears falling into her eyes and burning her own.

Wiping away his tears, Wanlan smiled and said softly, "Zehua, I'm fine, don't be like this." Taking a deep breath, she swallowed back the sob that almost escaped her throat, gently nudged him to look around, and tried to ask in a light voice, "Zehua, where is this? Have I been asleep for a long time? Is this still Nanyang?"

Zhao Defang opened his still-moistened deep eyes and looked at her smile, replying softly, "This is the Nanyang Prefect's residence." He paused, then his voice suddenly turned cold, "He actually turned you away; I will never forgive him!"

“Ignorance is no excuse!” Wanlan rolled up her sleeves to wipe away his remaining tears, and smiled as she smoothed his furrowed brows. “It was my fault for not revealing my identity in time. Lord Zhang doesn’t know the situation. Let it go.”

Zhao Defang pursed her lips, reached out and took the outer garment from the bedside clothes rack and draped it over her. "Let's not talk about those things anymore. You slept for two whole hours. Get up and eat something. Xuan'er is still kneeling at the door waiting for you to wake up."

Wanlan put on her outer robe, but her hand holding the ties paused, and she stared at him in astonishment, "Kneel? Xuan'er is kneeling at the door?"

Zhao Defang took over and helped her tie her clothes, then put his arm around her waist and lifted her off the bed. "Yes, she felt guilty for not protecting you and insisted on kneeling until you were sober. No one could persuade her otherwise."

Wanlan pushed him aside and ran to the door, pulling it open with a bang. It was late afternoon, the sun blazing fiercely outside. The girl in blue, kneeling with her head bowed at the foot of the steps, suddenly looked up as she opened the door, her eyes brimming with tears as she gazed at her. The Lan brothers, standing behind Xuan'er, breathed a long sigh of relief upon seeing her, bowing and saying, "Madam, you're finally awake."

She turned around and snuggled into the arms of the person behind her, closing her eyes. "Zehua, let's go back to the room."

After a late lunch, Wanlan and Zhao Defang moved to the pavilion in the garden, where they recounted everything that had happened during their two months apart. When Zhao Defang recounted how he was shocked to find Xingyang deserted and remained stiff, Wanlan sat down beside him with pity, hugged his waist, and silently comforted him.

Thinking of that plague, she couldn't help but sigh.

"If I hadn't taken in that family of three, so many people wouldn't have died." She never imagined that the doctor Lan Wu had invited to treat the villagers would bring the plague into the county town due to inadequate treatment, causing the few residents in the town to become infected.

She was completely helpless at the time and did not know how to save those people, but Lan Wu was afraid that the spread of the plague would also trap her, so he disregarded her wishes and quickly took her away from Xingyang.

"You meant well, who would have known they were carrying the disease?" Fortunately, Wanlan was not infected. Even now, thinking about it, he is still terrified and can't help but hold her tightly in his arms.

"Zehua, do you know how many people survived that plague?"

Zhao Defang looked down at her, "Wanlan, what do you want to do?"

"I didn't mean anything by it, I was just a little sentimental. After all, I stayed there for half a month, although I didn't have much interaction with them..." During that time, living with the elderly made me quite calm. I lived each day earnestly, without thinking about the past or the future.

"Zehua, when can we go back and visit?"

"Okay." Zhao Defang smiled and patted her shoulder gently. "But we'll have to wait until next year."

Wanlan looked up in surprise, "Next year? It's only September now. Even if I need to recuperate, it won't take that long, will it?"

“Listen to me.” Zhao Defang pressed her head back to his chest and said slowly, “Do you remember when we first left the capital? Before we entered Xingyang, only Lan Wen and Xuan’er were with us. Lan Wu appeared later.”

"I remember, I wanted to ask him where he was, but you wouldn't let me." Then, when she heard in Xingyang that she was pregnant, she forgot about it.

“Actually, before we even left the capital, I had Lan Wu go and do something first.”

"What's up?"

His large hand, which was around her waist, now grasped hers. Hearing the urgency in her voice, he chuckled softly, "I had Lan Wu buy a house in Jiangling. Once you've recovered a bit, we'll set off for Jiangling. What do you say?"

Wanlan paused, took a step back, and looked up at his gentle smile. She bit her lip inwardly. "You...aren't you going back to the capital?" Would the Emperor allow it? And what would Zhao Dezhao do about it?

Zhao Defang smiled, her bright eyes crinkling, and said softly, "You can go back to the capital anytime, but that will have to wait until I've finished doing everything I promised you."

"The promise you made to me?" she stared at him blankly and asked.

He seemed to have suddenly become someone she couldn't understand.

What happened?

"Yes, have you forgotten why we left the capital? I said I would take you to see all the flowers of Jiangnan and the lonely moon of the desert. We'll keep that house in Jiangling as our place to settle down when we're tired. What do you think?"

Wanlan was dumbfounded: Didn't they just say they wanted to "go out for a walk" before? When did it become "seeing all the flowers of Jiangnan and the lonely moon of the desert"? And they even want to settle in Jiangling? Then the capital...

"Zehua, are you serious? You really don't plan to go back?"

"Do you think I would go back on my word?" Zhao Defang chuckled, pulling her into his arms. His dark eyes gazed at the flowers outside the pavilion, and he said resolutely, "Wanlan, I said when we parted ways in Xingze that it was our last separation. From now until a hundred years from now, I will never let you go again."

Wanlan lowered her eyes in his arms and whispered, "Zehua."

"Um?"

"I'm fine now. I'll recover in a few days. The baby is doing well in my belly. He'll come out and call me 'Daddy' in five months!" She swallowed hard, forcing a smile. "I won't let myself make any more mistakes. I'll follow you every step of the way, clinging to you relentlessly. No matter where you go, I won't let go of your hand."

He remained silent.

She sighed very softly.

"Zehua, let's go back to Beijing in a few days."

The Great Song Dynasty's Beauties, Volume Six, Chapter 99 of The Turbulent Times of the Song Dynasty, "A Thousand Wishes Made Before My Pillow" (1)