Chapter 67 Please Let Me Follow You All My Life, Master
1867 Words
"No, I won't go! I came all the way to see you, but you want me to leave. I'm not going anywhere unless, unless you let me wait upon you!"
Gu Yunxi had made up her mind. Sobbing and mumbling, she just wouldn't go and refused to listen to any persuasion.
Leng Qingtang sighed in silence. He felt both angry and amused.
She was only fifteen years old. Compared with him, she was petite and soft and ought to be cherished by him at the bottom of his heart.
This petite girl could be really annoying as well as tempting.
Leng Qingtang's heart got warm again in a twinkling. The unpleasant past, wrapping his traumatic heart like a thick scab, were swelled, loosened, and be washed away by her hot tears.
He enfolded her in his arms and coaxed,
"Alright, alright. I won't drive you away. Don't cry."
His cold fragrance and memorable temperature, along with all other familiar features, came back to her. Gu Yunxi couldn't hold her emotion anymore. She cried even harder than before.
She felt panic when threatened by Lu Qiange and was afraid when abducted by the masked man. Now, these two negative feelings had revived in her heart. The man standing in her front was the dearest person to her. She only wanted to lean on his chest and show him her most vulnerable side.
Just one time, just this time...
"How could you leave like this," Gu Yunxi complained, sobbing, "It's such a big deal to conduct disaster relief work in Jiangan... You just went away without even telling me about it..."
"Humph!"
Leng Qingtang pouted to feign sulk, "I remember that, in the Garden, someone had asked me to let go of each other."
Gu Yunxi opened her mouth but said nothing. She left the embrace of the Master in embarrassment,
"I, I didn't mean to displease you..."
She looked at him with a blushed face, speaking softly.
"Master, I didn't want people in the Garden to misunderstand that I'm with you for status and wealth. You are an upper-classman, but I'm a lowborn orphan. Master... I, I'm not a good match."
Leng Qingtang was surprised.
So, this was why she refused his proposal?
If he hadn't heard her explanation today, he would have misunderstood her and thought that she despised him of being a eunuch. What was more, this misunderstanding could last longer...
For a moment, he felt a surge of emotion. He stared at her with a smile and blamed her lovingly, with his firm arms encircling her slender waist,
"Silly girl!"
She abandoned her reserve as well. Putting her arm around his neck and pressing her soft body closer to him, she said,
"Master, I don't want the title of 'Master's Wife', nor do I want status. I'm just willing to be with you. Master, please let me follow you all my life, will you?"
"..."
Leng Qingtang hugged Gu Yunxi quietly with his words rolled several times in the throat. Then he closed his eyes and gave her a firm answer,
"My girl... We never let go of each other this lifetime!"
In a sweet atmosphere, the two hugged each other tightly as if to become one.
It was getting a little noisy outside. Garrulous arguing came into the room.
Leng Qingtang held Gu Yunxi's hand, lifting the curtain to go outside.
In the yard, under a lantern, Qinger was arguing with a maid of Guo's Mansion anxiously,
"Our Master is back, why didn't you arrange his residence?"
The maid was confused,
"Madam came earlier, so we have already arranged her residence. Won't the Master live with his wife?"
"Oh, my god! How can it be this way..."
Qinger made a tumble. She stamped her feet angrily, scolding in her mind, "Xiao Xiaoshen you bad egg! You always talk nonsense!"
In the hallway, Leng Qingtang heard their conversation clearly, and then he smiled,
"Qinger, it has been a disturbance to Guo's Mansion that we so many people living here. So make do with what we can, and don't bother them too much."
"Tonight I'll live in the Prefect's Mansion with Prefect Guo, and you stay here with Yunxi."
"Yes."
Qinger glanced at Gu Yunxi and answered with her head lowered.
In the evening, Leng Qingtang had hasty supper in the Guo's Mansion and returned to the Prefect's Mansion with Prefect Guo.
On their way to the Prefect's Mansion, Prefect Guo showed great admiration to Leng Qingtang.
This Commander-in-chief of the Eastern Depot from the capital city devoted all his energy into the relief work, which lived up to the government's expectations.
It was the first night of Master's Wife in Fengyuan County, and Master Leng went straight to the Prefect Mansion, which was filled with victims, without sparing time to accompany his wife.
The wind blew hard all night with a blanket of snow. It howled like ghosts, disturbing sleeping Gu Yunxi in the bed.
On the queen-sized bed, Gu Yunxi lay on the inside and Qinger lay on the outside. Not willing to disturb Qinger by her toss and turn, Gu Yunxi lay flat. Her wide-opened eyes shined in the dark night.
"Lady, you are awake?"
Qinger turned over her upper body to check if GunYunxi's quilt corners were tucked tight.
"Shall I get you a glass of water?"
"No, I'm not thirsty."
Gu Yunxi answered, absent-minded. She asked,
"Qinger, do you think the Master is sleeping, or not?
"I think he is. It's very late now."
After a moment of hesitation, Qinger asked slowly, "Lady, have you made up your mind?"
Gu Yunxi was puzzled, "What do you mean?"
"You and the Master... Master is the imperial envoy that conducts relief work in the six counties of Jiangan. A few days later, he will inspect other places. If you go with him, you two will live in the same room sooner or later. I mean, have you made up your mind to be with him all your lifetime?"
Gu Yunxi blushed at this question. Thanks to the dark bed curtain that Qinger couldn't see her red face.
Gu Yunxi's clear eyes twinkled. She pouted,
"It's not bad to be with him..."
Qinger sighed. She sounded like feeling pity for Gu Yunxi,
"It's not bad, but... he is a eunuch after all... Lady, you are young. You are twelve years younger than him."
"Master knows some things more clearly and farther than you do. I've been having this feeling ever since we came here. Tonight, Master's leaving with Prefect Guo was to avoid us on purpose."
Gu Yunxi was flustered. She turned over to face Qinger and asked,
"You mean, he is still misunderstanding me? About what happened in the Garden?"
"I think he is, perhaps..."
With her chubby cheek flattened by the soft pillow, Qinger nodded hard.
"But I have made it clear to him that I will be with him forever, and I don't care whatever they say. He is nice to me, and I don't mind he is a eunuch or not, or will we have children or not. In a word, I will be with him!"
Gu Yunxi was wide awake. She sat up straight.
Qinger sat up, too. She wrapped Gu Yunxi with quilt and got herself a coat.
These two girls sat back-to-back, chatting in the mild night.
"Lady, the past is the past. No matter what you were scrupling, you let the Master lose face. So this is a knot in his heart that is not so easy to untie."
"Although we had followed him to Jiangan and you changed your mind and repeated to him that you are willing to be with him, the Master will be at a loss or even deepen his misunderstanding. Because he'll think you're taking pity on him for his physical disability..."
"Then, then what should I do?"
Gu Yunxi fell in low spirits, right out of ideas.
Qinger comforted her,
"Just take your time. You don't have to over-explain it to him. Just follow him and let him feel your true mind."
"I didn't see this in you, Qinger. You are young but have developed your own opinion and ideas to deal with things."
After this conversation, Gu Yunxi looked at her little maid with new eyes.
Qinger looked up into the dark, dark night and smiled,
"Lady, you are loved and cherished, but I'm not. When I was young, my parents sold me. I've always been alone, so I only have myself to make decisions with."
"I'm not, either. Before Master took me into the Eastern Depot, I was also alone. I should thank God that I met him."
"Don't worry, Qinger. I won't do anything stupid anymore. I will cherish the Master's love and never betray him."
"In my heart, you are my good sister. We three will never separate and will live together forever!"
In the darkness, Gu Yunxi's eyes looked brighter and clearer. They shined like the fair stars in the sky.
She stretched out a hand to grasp Qinger by the hand firmly with determination.
"Fine, that's fine. I really appreciate your care, Lady. Let's sleep. We have to get up early tomorrow."
Qinger knew that her Lady would only be more excited if their conversation went on. So she coaxed Gu Yunxi into lying down, and then they both fell into sound asleep.
By daybreak, the snow had stopped. The whiteness of the sky and the earth stung people's eyes.
Xiao Xiaoshen came early in the morning and hurriedly told Qinger,
"Pack things up. Master commanded me to escort you back to the capital!"
Qinger was shocked. She didn't answer Xiao Xiaoshen but turned around to Gu Yunxi, waiting for her decision.
Gu Yunxi contemplated for a while with her lips furled and then said firmly,
"We won't leave with you. Qinger, let's go to the porridge shed on the street."
Xiao Xiaoshen felt wronged. Watching the two girls swaggering off without him, Xiao Xiaoshen stretched out his neck and raised his voice,
"Hey! Why venting your anger on me? This is not my command. It's the Master's command! The Master's!"
Gu Yunxi and Qinger picked up the herbs they brought from the capital and took three stoves, some coal and three earthen jars from the Guo's Mansion. They loaded up a cart with all these things.
Xiao Xiaoshen caught up to ask, "Where are you going?"
Gu Yunsi answered,
"To the nearest porridge shed. It was windy and snowy last night, so most of the victims, whose houses haven't been mended yet, must have suffered from cold. We brought herbs to decoct in the porridge shed for those who are ill."
"We've gone through a lot to get here. We're not going back. Furthermore, we have five more counties to go. Now I think we should do something for the Master."
With a hand on the chin, Xiao Xiaoshen thought,
"Right. Now that we're here, we can do something for people in Fengyuan. Get on the cart. I'll drive it."
After Gu Yunxi and Qinger got on the cart, Xiao Xiaoshen jumped onto the shaft and urged the horse forward with a whip.
- Writer
