きつね : I know how many of you have been waiting for the MC and ML to finally meet, and here you are. And it probably won't be romantic as you hope it can be. 😅 Yun Qing isn't a romantic man after all.
As soon as Yun Qing walked into the main hall, he could smell a sweet scent. It was light, yet it made people feel comfortable. Since Yuxi had not come out thus far, he became bored and decided to survey the parlour. Two days ago, there was nothing except tables and chairs in this room. This time, there was a portrait of Guanyin on the wall, with couplets hanging on both of its sides. Under it, a bronze furnace pot was burning on top of a long table, and the light fragrance that he just smelled emanated from it.
A young maid brought over a cup of tea. She did her best to suppress the fear in her heart as she said, "General, please have a drink. My Miss asks you to wait for a moment." Yuxi didn't know that Yun Qing would come over this early as she was still doing her hair! No one else could entertain him since Han Jianye had taken off right away after breakfast for fear that he would only be in the way and left the space for the young couple.
Yun Qing nodded his head, indicating that he knew.
This was the first time Zijin saw Yuxi dressing herself up so seriously. "Miss, it's just a meeting!" There was no need for Miss to be this fussy, and she had not stopped doing her hair since early this morning. Of course, there was a reason for Yuxi to be so meticulous. Zijin couldn't even comb her hair, let alone put on her makeup. So, Yuxi had to do everything herself. It was a good thing that she had learned to do this beforehand. Otherwise, she would have been caught unprepared today.
When Yuxi eventually put the poplar wood comb down, she smilingly told Zijin, "This is the first time we're going to meet. Nevertheless, it's better to leave behind a good impression." Although Er Ge said that Yun Qing was not good with beautiful women, she believed that no man would dislike his wife having a good look. Of course, women were the same. They all wanted their future husband to be good-looking. It was a pity that this was impossible for Yun Qing. The only good thing was, as long as Yun Qing had the ability, it could make up for his lack of appearance.
Zijin looked at Yuxi, who had finished dressing up, and marvelled, "Miss, when Yun Qing sees you later, I can guarantee that he won't be able to blink." This time, Miss' face was glowing, and she looked so beautiful.
This reaction was the effect that Yuxi wanted. Or else, she would not have woken up early in the morning to make a fuss of herself. It was also because of their simple condition. Otherwise, the effect would have been better. Please read this chapter at xinshou blogspot com.
As they walked to the outside of the parlour, Zijin spoke up, "Miss, I won't go in." Although she was highly dissatisfied with Yun Qing, she was not a person without measure. Since Yuxi wanted to see Yun Qing, she obviously must have wanted to speak with him about something, and since this would be the first time the two met, Zijin wouldn't want to be an eyesore.
An example of arrow-sleeved ancient Chinese' clothes.
Image Credit | nihao2015 via ebay (Men's Ancient Chinese Han Dynasty Traditional Hanfu Robe Cosplay Costume)
Image Credit | nihao2015 via ebay (Men's Ancient Chinese Han Dynasty Traditional Hanfu Robe Cosplay Costume)
Looking at this kind of Yun Qing, Yuxi sighed in her heart. Fortunately, she had gone through many things nowadays, contributing to her strong ability to bear anything. If she had seen such a man full of fury in her previous life, she would have fainted from fear.
Yun Qing turned around after he heard the sound of footsteps. When he saw Yuxi crossing the threshold, he froze for a moment.
Yuxi wore an orchid-coloured muslin long dress, making her look elegant and refined. Her fine, black jade hair was simply combed into a flying fairy bun, with a purple jade hairpin inserted diagonally to make her black, beautiful hair look softer and brightly moist. Her skin was as delicate and smooth as warm jade, her beautiful eyes were full of splendour, and a light smile filled her red lips.
D.I.Y. Simple Fying Fairy Bun
Seeing that Yun Qing couldn't stop looking at her, Yuxi didn't know why she suddenly thought of Yuchen. Men would always look at Yuchen with this kind of rapt attention in the past, and Yuxi never believed that she would receive the same engrossment one day. Yes, it did make her feel good, especially when it came from her fiancé.
Yuxi greeted Yun Qing with a bow and called out to him with a decent smile on her lips, "General Yun." Looking at such a frozen Yun Qing with a dumbfounded expression, Yuxi couldn't help feeling a little smug with herself.
When Yun Qing heard her calling for him, he returned to his senses and blushed slightly. Even when he blushed, other people wouldn't be able to detect it. Yun Qing nodded his head and said, "It is very polite of Miss Han."
Yuxi waited for a long time for Yun Qing to continue talking. When it didn't happen, she turned helpless as she took out a painting from her sleeve and handed it to Yun Qing, asking, "I wonder if General Yun knows this person?"
Yun Qing did not answer but stated seriously instead, "My courtesy name is Qing Ming. So you can just call me Qing Ming." After saying this, Yun Qing took what Yuxi was handing out to him.
When Yuxi heard this, she frowned and asked, "Who gave you this courtesy name? How can you just accept it?" Qing Ming was a tomb-sweeping day! It was too unlucky to have such a name.
Yun Qing did not expect Yuxi would dislike his courtesy name, so he tried to explain, "This is the courtesy name that Uncle Huo gave me, which means pure and bright."
Recalling how Yun Qing ended up being branded as God of Killing, she didn't wish for him to be famously known worldwide as a murderous devil again as he did in her previous life. Yuxi did not even want to care about some rules and how Yun Qing would think of her at that moment, as she directly said, "With all due respect, this courtesy name of yours is so horrible for having such heavy inauspiciousness. If you can, please change it!" During Qingming Festival, one would sweep the tomb. Even though cleaning the grave did not correspond with the dead, it was still heavy with inauspiciousness.
Uh, Yun Qing did not know how to answer this request. Last time, he was scorned for his beardy appearance, and today, Yuxi disliked him for the courtesy name Uncle Huo gave. This situation made him feel so bad.
Yuxi also knew it was inappropriate to point this out, but she couldn't help herself. She didn't know what the person was even thinking when he chose Qing Ming as a courtesy name.
Yun Qing was silent for half a second before suddenly asking, "Then what kind of courtesy name do you think I should take?" As long as he was not asked to change his real name, it was okay for his courtesy name to be altered.
Yuxi did not expect Yun Qing would ask her this question. After pondering for a moment, she finally responded, "What do you think about He Rui? The word for peace is He, and the word for auspiciousness is Rui."
After hearing this, Yun Qing felt that these two words did have an excellent meaning, so he nodded in agreement. "Okay, you can call me He Rui from now on." After saying that, he asked, "What courtesy name did you take?"
Yuxi shook her head and said, "I did not have any courtesy name, but you can call me by my first name." The two were given in marriage by Imperial Decree, and since neither of them faked their death nor disappeared, they could not avoid the marriage. Hence, there was nothing wrong with letting Yun Qing call her by her first name.
Yun Qing nodded his head and said, "Okay." After uttering this word, he had the time to look at what Yuxi handed him.
Hearing this agreement from him, Yuxi's good feelings towards Yun Qing soared. If she had said the same thing to the men in the capital, even if they weren't scolding her, she would suffer from their disdain. Not only did Yun Qing not get angry with her, but he accepted it quite easily. From this incident, she could see that Yun Qing was very broad-minded. Of course, she did not rule out that he probably did not care much about it.
Yuxi's guess was right. Military officers were unlike civil officials as they did not pay too much attention to words. The name Qing Ming was also chosen randomly by Huo Changqing.
After talking about these things, Yun Qing looked at the thing that Yuxi gave him. At first glance, it turned out to be a portrait. He asked somewhat strangely, "This man is called Zhang Yong, who used to work as an officer over at the military supply depot. How did you get your hand on his portrait?"
Yuxi explained, "That day when I passed by Menghu Mountain, this man tried every possible way to bring me to their mountain fortress. I think this person should have a grudge against you and want to capture me as a hostage. By the way, this man is currently the military counsellor of Menghu Mountain, named Lu Kai."
Yun Qing had known that Yuxi was very intelligent. So he was not that surprised when he heard Yuxi's explanation and told her, "Two years ago, someone in the army had sold provisions, medicinal herbs and other military supplies to the northern barbarians army at high prices. Zhang Yong and his brother were the ones involved in this. At that time, Marshal Qin ordered a thorough investigation, with me leading my team to arrest and raid Zhang Yong's home. I had killed his brother while he managed to escape. I did not expect that his flight led him to become a bandit." The border city army wasn't the only one who had a shortage of food and medicine, so did the northern barbarians. [+]
When Yuxi heard this, her expression became very unpleasant. This border town did not only lack physicians and medicines, but their provisions and military pay had also been delayed. Despite everything, those people even dared to provide the enemies with the things that were rightfully belonged to their own soldiers. This act was no different from treason. "What happened to those people involved in the end?"
Yun Qing's expression looked graved and stern. "All have been killed."
Yuxi looked at Yun Qing, who was full of fury and shivered. She had to say, this man standing before her was indeed the God of Killing. Just by looking at him, one already became afraid. Yuxi steadied herself and asked, "Such a big thing as selling grain and medicinal herbs can't be done by just a few people. Who is the mastermind behind it?"
Yun Qing paused for a moment before answering, "The mastermind has been killed, and his home has been raided." It meant that this matter had already become the thing of the past.
How could Yuxi not see Yun Qing's hesitation? She was afraid that there was something else going on with this matter. Since Yun Qing did not wish to tell her, she also had the sense not to ask him any longer.
Yun Qing was reluctant to talk about this matter and stiffly changed the subject. "I have asked Xu Wu to bring twenty people to guard outside of this house. Unrelated people can never come near here." It meant that Yuxi would have to worry about her safety no more.
Yuxi had known about this two days before and immediately nodded her head at that moment.
Yun Qing hesitated for a moment before asking, "I can provide all the betrothal gifts within half a month. So I suggest we set the wedding date for the end of the sixth lunar month. What do you think?" Currently, they were only at the end of the fourth lunar month. It should be enough if he gave her another two months to prepare.
Yuxi was a bit helpless. Since when did the groom and the bride arrange their own wedding date? This situation was the downside of not having elders around. "The end of the sixth lunar month is fine." It was impossible to marry in the seventh and eighth lunar months because it would be too hot by then. That would leave them with the ninth lunar month. If they delayed the wedding until that time, the period would be too long. If they did it in two months, all the preparations should be almost complete.
When Yun Qing saw that Yuxi agreed, he was relieved and said, "Then I'll have someone pick the exact date." After a pause, Yun Qing asked, "What kind of things do you like?" If he knew what Yuxi liked, he could buy the betrothal gifts according to her preferences.
Yuxi shook her head and said, "I don't like anything, in particular. Just buy me something practical!" For someone who had even forgotten about matching their eight characters, it was better to stop expecting that he would deliver betrothal gifts to her liking. Furthermore, Yuxi didn't think Yun Qing was that rich in the first place. She could infer this opinion of hers just from looking at Han Jianye.
After hearing her answer, Yun Qing instantly answered, "Okay." She asked him to buy something practical. When Yun Qing listened to this, he knew this person was clear on how she wanted to live her life.
As he was leaving, Yun Qing expressed, "If you need anything, just have Xu Wu send someone to inform me."
Yuxi finally showed a genuine smiling expression. These words from him sounded like sweet words to her heart. "If there is anything, I will not be polite with you."
After sending Yun Qing away, Yuxi couldn't help but shake her head a little.
Upon seeing Yuxi's reaction, Zijin asked, "What's the matter? Is there something wrong?" A few days ago, when she looked at Yun Qing's face full of beard, he reminded her of a bandit. However, today, she noticed that he had shaved his beard off, making him look like a different person and much more pleasant to the eyes.
Yuxi smiled as she commented, "It feels weird to do everything for my wedding without having any elders around." No wonder it would feel odd since the wedding date had been a negotiation between the two persons who were directly involved with the marriage. This kind of thing would be imaginable if they were still in the capital.
Zijin said, "There's nothing we can do about it. The Second Master can not do anything, so Miss has to be the one to take care of everything." Even a married person like Han Jianye did not know the necessary procedure before settling on the wedding date. If they put their hopes on him, it would be the same as having Miss herself go to the battlefield.
Yuxi was a little disappointed when she heard these words from Zijin. If only her mother were here, then it would have been great. She wouldn't have to worry about anything and just wait for the day she would get married.
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The Rebirth of Han Yuxi