Le voyage d'un mendiant à travers le monde

Chapitre 27

"I'm not afraid of you!" Yue Ruzheng stepped forward, her voice trembling with sadness. "I just don't understand why the things I brought made you so upset. I spent a long time choosing in Wenzhou, but I still didn't know what you liked. In the end, the pastries I finally thought of buying made you angry again. Xiao Tang, can you tell me what's wrong?"

Tang Yanchu looked into her eyes, which were filled with confusion and a very serious expression. He wanted to say something, but after struggling for a long time, he frowned, avoided her gaze, and said, "I really don't want to say."

The confusion in Yue Ruzheng's eyes deepened, and the expectation she had initially held gradually faded.

Tang Yanchu said in a low voice, "Go back. You have no interest in gathering herbs." With that, she walked back along the mountain path she had come from.

After returning to the courtyard, Yue Ruzheng put down the bamboo basket and went back to the main house. After finishing the pastries last night, she had placed the brocade box on the table. Holding the exquisitely crafted dark red brocade box, she stared blankly for a while, then took it to the courtyard, fetched a bucket of water, and carefully wiped it clean with a cloth. Tang Yanchu stood silently watching as she did this. Yue Ruzheng placed the brocade box on the bluestone slab to dry, then looked up and said, "The pastries inside are all gone. You shouldn't be angry anymore, right?"

Tang Yanchu looked away and said, "No...you don't need to worry about me."

Yue Ruzheng smiled slightly and said, "Actually, you've helped me a lot, but I haven't formally thanked you yet."

He didn't speak, and Yue Ruzheng continued, "However, I still don't understand, what made you convince Island Lord Lian to abandon his agreement with Mo Li? You couldn't possibly get back to Seven Star Island overnight!"

Tang Yanchu pursed her lips tightly and said after a while, "It's nothing, you don't need to know these things." After saying that, she turned to go back to her room.

Yue Ruzheng paused, then suddenly seemed to remember something. She took off the sachet from her belt and said, "Little Tang, come here."

Tang Yanchu hesitated, then turned and slowly walked to her side. She untied the sachet, poured out the petals one by one, held them in her palm, and held them out to him, smiling brightly, "Look, these are green plum blossoms from my yard; I brought them for you."

He lowered his eyes to look at the rustling petals, pale white with a hint of green, no longer glossy, yet still emitting a faint fragrance.

"So, there really are green plum blossoms." Tang Yanchu finally showed a slight smile.

"Yes, we have all kinds of plum blossoms at our Yinxi Cottage." Yue Ruzheng carefully clasped her hands together, gathering the petals in her palms, and said, "It's a pity the blooming season is over now, and they've all faded. I'll take you to see them another time!"

Tang Yanchu paused slightly, then said, "Okay."

Chapter Nineteen: The Moonlight and Pear Blossom Shadows of Bygone Days

The brocade box was placed in Tang Yanchu's room by Yue Ruzheng, and from then on, neither of them mentioned that day again. Yue Ruzheng didn't want to recall his terrible appearance; the Tang Yanchu in her mind should always maintain that quiet composure, even when angry, it shouldn't be like that. Tang Yanchu also seemed unwilling to talk about that matter anymore, including the relationship between his mother and Lian Haichao. Yue Ruzheng discovered that Tang Yanchu had too many past experiences. The more she knew, the more doubts she had; perhaps, he still had many things he didn't want to tell her.

Although she always remembered what her master had told her and wanted to find out his exact background, she couldn't bear to press him for answers when she met his eyes.

One day, Yue Ruzheng even took the initiative to ask him, "Why do you never ask about my past?"

"There's nothing to ask." He continued arranging the herbs spread out on the ground, seemingly uninterested.

Yue Ruzheng retorted angrily, "Tang Yanchu, how come you don't act like a young person at all?"

He looked up at her standing in the warm sunlight and slowly asked, "Then what should I do?"

"Shouldn't you talk to me? Do you expect me to just stand there talking to myself like an idiot?" She patiently explained to him more clearly, hoping to find some traces of the past in the conversation.

Unexpectedly, he calmly lifted his foot and brushed aside the herbs on the ground, saying indifferently, "If you find it boring, you can also remain silent."

"Damn it!" Yue Ruzheng ran over angrily and messed up the herbs he had arranged.

"Yue Ruzheng!" He took a step back and said with a stern face.

Yue Ruzheng squatted down beside him, and said with a grin, "You finally got angry."

"There are people like you in this world who enjoy seeing others angry," he said coldly. "When I get angry, you cry, and when you're quiet, you come back to provoke me. What exactly do you want?"

Yue Ruzheng lowered her head and spread out the herbs one by one, saying as she worked, "I just wanted to talk to you."

Tang Yanchu stood there for a moment, her lips pressed tightly together, and then asked, "When are you going back?"

"Go back?" She looked up at his cold face in surprise, the herbs in her hand falling to the ground. "You already want me to go back?"

Tang Yanchu was taken aback. Before she could answer, Yue Ruzheng stood up and said, "I only messed up the herbs, and I'm already helping you tidy them up! Are you going to send me away again? Do you think it's easy for me to come all the way from Luzhou? You have no understanding of human nature at all!"

With that, she turned to leave. Tang Yanchu took a few steps after her, but she suddenly turned back, squatted down, and forcefully scooped all the herbs out of the bamboo basket, quickly spreading them on the ground, muttering, "I'll finish this good deed so you won't say I'm just causing trouble!"

Tang Yanchu squatted down beside her, and as she reached for the bamboo basket again, he blocked her way. Yue Ruzheng glanced at him, nudged him with her elbow, and said, "Could you move aside?"

Tang Yanchu shook her head and said, "Why are you always in such a hurry? You haven't even given me a chance to speak."

"Didn't you say you didn't want to talk? Then you can talk now," she said irritably.

He thought for a moment, seemingly still considering, before finally saying, "I was just asking about your plans; I didn't mean to rush you back."

Yue Ruzheng snorted and said, "Why would you ask that out of the blue?"

Tang Yanchu smiled and said, "Didn't you want me to talk to you?"

"Then you should find something else to talk about!" Yue Ruzheng said helplessly, looking into his clear eyes.

"I won't look for one," Tang Yanchu said. "You can say whatever you want, I'll listen."

Yue Ruzheng blinked, stood up and looked down at him, saying, "I don't want to talk to you anymore." After saying that, she went into the house and lay down heavily on the bed.

Tang Yanchu followed her in, sat down on the edge of the bed, leaned over to look at her, and said, "Do you have to argue with me every day?"

"It's you who keeps saying things that hurt me." She was still asleep, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.

He sighed and said, "Sometimes, you're just overthinking things. I'm just used to talking that way."

Yue Ruzheng turned over to face him sideways, tugged at his sleeve, making him lower his body slightly, and said, "You have so many habits, why can't you change them and become more likable to me?"

Tang Yanchu paused, then forced herself to sit up straight and said formally, "It seems I can hardly change myself."

Yue Ruzheng was initially somewhat displeased, but seeing his feigned indifference and composure, a sly smile crept onto her lips. She sat up, kneeling on the bed, deliberately scrutinizing him closely. Tang Yanchu leaned back slightly, a little awkwardly, and asked, "What are you thinking about now?"

Yue Ruzheng laughed and said, "You'd better not change yourself. I think the way you are now is the real Xiao Tang."

Tang Yanchu looked slightly embarrassed and said, "You were the one who said you wanted me to change, but now you won't let me..."