Chapter 21 Part1 (2/2)

My lord prefers the color green;

Late at night, when my lord can’t sleep, he will play the flute, and over and over he plays the same tune.

Yu An spoke for over half an hour non stop, and by the time he was finished, Yun Ge’s face was long since tear-drenched.

Yu An cleared his throat “Ms. Yun, what is going on with you not speaking all day long? No matter what you are thinking, you ought to give an explanation to my lord. Your servant I’m done talking now and will leave you be.”

Liu Fu Ling was leaning on the railing and quietly staring at the stars. He felt a movement behind him and thought it was Yu An. But when some time pa.s.sed and he didn’t hear Yu An announce himself, he turned around and saw Yun Ge standing in the corridor.

Liu Fu Ling quickly walked forward as he took off his cloak and placed it around her shoulders “Why are you not asleep? Its windy out here, let me take you back to your room.”

Yun Ge grabbed his sleeve, indicating for him to stop. Yun Ge leaned against the railing and sat down. She stared into the distance and started to calmly recount what happened to her in Chang An.

“My mom took the hair rope away. I’ve been in Chang An for over a year now. Before I arrived in Chang An, I was worried that without our token, how would I be able to find Ling gege. Who knew I would run into Ling gege on my first day in Chang An……”

Liu Fu Ling heard that there was someone who looked like him, and also had an identical jade piece. His heart thundered, but what hurt more was the knowledge of how cruel the fates could be.

Yun Ge casually described meeting another person. Her face was expressionless, almost like she was telling someone else’s story. She didn’t want to mention that person’s name, only referring to him as “he”. From their first meeting until their final separation, she glossed over it all with just a few sentences. But her hand was tightly clenching the railing and her face was stark white.

“…………he was not honest with me, and I was too forward with myself. Since I’ve already broken our promise, then you needn’t be true to the promise either. I’m almost all recovered, so its time that I take leave.”

Liu Fu Ling grabbed Yun Ge’s shoulders and turned her to face him “You didn’t break our promise. What happened was……it was a misunderstanding. Yun Ge, if you are happy now, then I will return the pearl embroidered shoe to you and cancel our promise. But you’ve already decided to cut the things that happened in the past from your life. In that case, I don’t want to return the pearl embroidered shoe to you. I don’t need you to promise or agree to anything right now. I just want you to give us some time together. A year, I just want one year. If after one year and you still want to leave, then I will return the pearl embroidered shoe to you.”

Yun Ge could no longer keep up her calm pretense and her tears spilled over, forcing her to turn her head aside. She much rather he was angry at her, he yelled at her, he demanded to know why she broke her promise. He should be angry that she wasn’t true to him.

But instead he just looked at her, his expression calm, his voice light, as if there was very little emotion flowing from him. But hidden in the depths of his eyes, she could see all the pain and all the sorrow.

Liu Fu Ling used his sleeve to wipe Yun Ge’s tears “Don’t cry in the wind, it’s bad for your health.”

He smiled and changed the subject “Yun Ge, you need to at least finish your story. It’s been nine years, other wolves already have child wolves and grandchild wolves. Our little wolf is still getting spanked by you. You’ve been spanking him for nine years, your anger ought to have dissipated, but that poor little wolf sure has suffered……….”

Yun Ge m.u.f.fled her laughter but before she could smile openly, her tears continued to fall.

From then on, Yun Ge stopped refusing to see Liu Fu Ling. But the two of them continued to speak very little to each other.

Liu Fu Ling was someone who normally spoke very little, but Yun Ge chose not to speak much because she was hurting inside and out.

Oftentimes the two of them would be inside the room and not say a word to each other for hours. Sometimes when the hours pa.s.sed, Yu An and Muo Cha who were standing guard outside would wonder to themselves if anyone was actually inside the room.

Despite most of the time spent in silence, the two of them had their own way of spending time together.

Liu Fu Ling brought a zither for Yun Ge, and found her lots of rare and unique books to read. The two of them would play the zither or read together. When Yun Ge read a funny pa.s.sage, she would smile. He would look at her smiling, and the smile would reach his eyes.

Liu Fu Ling treated Yun Ge as if she was his friend. He never mentioned the past, and never discussed the future. He didn’t purposely try to get closer to her, not did he purposely keep his distance from her.

His calmness influenced her, so that gradually when she faced him, her nervousness and guilt started to lessen. Her natural personality began to return.

The two of them already had a kindred understanding with each other more than normal people would. Often not a word needed to be said and they would know what each other was thinking. After spending more and more time together, they started growing more at ease with each other.

Liu Fu Ling ordered all the cook books brought over from the Palace, letting Yun Ge read them for fun to pa.s.s the time.

There were quite a few odd and unique recipes, and discussions on what foods to avoid mixing together. But the notes were scattered in places and not collected together. When Yun Ge read it, her interest was piqued but she lamented not being about to do anything about it.

Liu Fu Ling encouraged her to write a recipe book.

Historical saying goes that “A gentlemen avoids the kitchen”, so scholars never deigned to write down what happened in the kitchen, and chefs didn’t know how to write. But Yun Ge could do both, so why don’t she write a recipe about the foods of their time so that their descendents could use it as a reference. Perhaps one day someone will read Yun Ge’s book and sigh over it.

Yun Ge felt her inspiration rising and she vowed to start taking notes henceforth to use as a reference for later when she wrote her recipe book. Liu Fu Ling would not let her write, telling her only to mark her notes. Everyday when he finished his work, he would look through her notes and meticulously copy it down in a notebook for her.

[Chinese calligraphy requires blending the brush with steady breathing, and since Yun Ge has a chest injury and is p.r.o.ne to coughing, Liu Fu Ling doesn’t want her to write because it could trigger her coughing fits.]

Some old books use very antiquated language or go into odd details, so Liu Fu Ling would patiently make annotations for her, explaining in simple terms so that she can easily understand later on.

Liu Fu Ling’s calligraphy was extraordinarily beautiful. Each character that flowed from his brush could be framed and used as a reference for future generations to emulate. It was like a dragon in flight as the words danced across the page.

Yun Ge sighed “If the famed scholars of history saw your writing, they would want you as a student. But if they knew you are using your writing to write a recipe book for me, they will surely chide me for being a senseless woman.”

Liu Fu Ling’s knowledge was also so deep and so vast that it left Yun Ge speechless and in awe. His brain appeared to contain anything he has ever read before. Any pa.s.sage, any phrase, no matter how obscure, he didn’t need to check the book and could immediately tell where it originated from, down to the correct page and paragraph.

As Yun Ge’s body recovered, some of her woeful air went away and her mischievous spirit came back. She started trying to test Liu Fu Ling. When Liu Fu Ling wasn’t around, she would look in books for the most random phrases to test Liu Fu Ling later, from the cla.s.sics to the naming texts to the poems.

In the beginning, Liu Fu Ling would write down the answer immediately. Later on, he needed to think about it but he always got the answer correct in the end. If Liu Fu Ling answered correctly, then Yun Ge could have to play a song on the zither that he requested.

Day in and day out, Yun Ge’s previously terribly zither skills improved by leaps and bounds. And in the music of the zither, Yun Ge discovered a world of enjoyment she had previously ignored.

If Yun Ge won, Liu Fu Ling would have to do something she wanted. But Yun Ge had yet to collect on that. Yun Ge lost every single day, but she never got mad. Instead it spurred her on to use her brains to keep thinking. Finally she realized that all the books she had were given to her by him. If it was his book, then of course he’s read it. She would never beat him that way. If she wanted to win, she would have to jump outside those books.

Jump outside those books? Sounds easier than it actually is. Yun Ge thought about all the books piled in her room and her face turn dark.

When Liu Fu Ling entered the room, he saw Yun Ge laying diagonally on the pallet reading a book. She didn’t even raise her head when she heard him enter, focused intently on what she was reading.

Muo Cha looked all excited and giddy, standing by the door as if she was waiting for an instruction.

Yu An wanted to help Liu Fu Ling wash his hands first but Liu Fu Ling waved him away and walked over to the table, picking up the question Yun Ge left for him.

“The sky has it, the ground doesn’t; the mouth has it, the eyes doesn’t; the words have it, the hands doesn’t; the mountains have it, the flat surface doesn’t. Name of person.”

It read very amusingly but wasn’t easy to answer. Liu Fu Ling thought about it, first going through the books and then breaking apart each character. He couldn’t find a person’s name which answered this riddle.

Liu Fu Ling thought about just letting her win on. She was always curious so he devised this game to keep her from growing bored. And he didn’t want her to win so that she could keep racking her brains for ways to torment him.

The second he put the riddle down he realized what the answer was. Who says it has to be the name of a famous or historical person, or even the name of someone in a book.

This riddle is the name of two people combined together, but she purposely didn’t make it clear. Even though Yun Ge’s riddle was not playing fair, but when it came to the two of them, it was acceptable. His hand brushed over the words of the riddle and his eyes twinkled with mirth.

He lifted his head and saw the laughter in her eyes. His heart leaped and his put down the riddle. “I can’t guess the answer.”

Yun Ge immediately tossed her book aside and clapped her hand and laughed “Muo Cha!” Muo Cha quickly brought over a coal stove and a tea set, clearly the lady and her maid had already planned this.

Yun Ge laughingly said to Liu Fu Ling “I’m thirsty. Will Ling Gong Zhi brew a cup of tea for me?”

Yu An, who was standing outside the curtains, smiled. The Emperor was a brilliant child smarter than anyone out there, he wasn’t called a genius for nothing. Poetry, writing, music, he excelled at everything. But when it came to brewing tea……….

It must be seen!

Liu Fu Ling calmed kneeled down and calmly looked at the coal stove.

Yun Ge waited for some time and saw that he continued to stare at the stove. She asked “Is there something wrong with this stove? Is it broken?”

Liu Fu Ling calmly replied “I am thinking of how to start a fire on this thing. If you’re thirsty, drink some water first. I’ll need some more time to figure it out.”

His expression was so normal and calm that Yun Ge couldn’t even laugh at him. She said “I’ll teach you, but I’ll only say what needs to be done. You have to brew the tea for me yourself. Otherwise it’ll be a pyrrhic victory. Who knows when the next time will come for me to win over you!”

Liu Fu Ling smiled “You will definitely get to drink that tea.”

One was giving instructions while the other was following the instructions. Outside the curtains, Muo Cha and Yu An were keeping their laughter bottled up inside and it threatened to burst their belly from the suppressed giggles. How many people would ever have the chance to see the Son of the Heavens rolling up his sleeve as he hurriedly started a fire, boiled water, and brewed tea?

After some time, the tea was brewed and Liu Fu Ling handed a cup to Yun Ge. Yun Ge took a sip and after a moment, she swallowed. She smiled and asked “How much tea leaves did you put in?”

“You said that when the water was boiling like little crab eyes bubbles, I should put in the tea leaves. I saw that there wasn’t much left in the can, so I put it all in. Did I do something wrong?”

Yu An and Muo Cha both s.h.i.+vered. He put in the entire can? Did the Emperor think he was cooking porridge? Yu An silently lamented this precious tea that was sent as an offering to the Emperor was thus wasted.

It was expensive, but then the taste………. Yu An suddenly understood why Yun Ge had an odd smile after she drank the tea. And this was the moment Yu An started genuinely having a good impression of Yun Ge.

Because she was sitting far away earlier, Yun Ge finally noticed that Liu Fu Ling had a burn on his hand, and some black smudges on his cheek. Yun Ge’s smile turned into an ache and she quickly drank the remaining tea in her cup. “Good, its very good.”

Yun Ge saw Liu Fu Ling was about to pour himself a cup and she grabbed the tea pot and three cups. She poured the remaining tea into three cups and called out “Yu An, Muo Cha, your young master brewed tea, come try some.”

Yu An and Muo Cha looked at each other, while Yun Ge stared at them with her eyebrows raised and a smile on her face. “You guys have been laughing for some time now, you ought to be thirsty.”

Yu An quickly walked inside, and with the courage of a warrior heading to his death, he gulped the tea down. Muo Cha held her cup and took a sip, it was so bitter her tongue was already numb. She had to keep her smile plastered on her face “Thank you for the tea, my lady. I shall go outside to savor it slowly.”

Despite Yun Ge’s reaction being very swift, Liu Fu Ling grew up in a world where he was surrounded by people always plotting around him, so he knew what she was doing. He knew, but he said nothing, only quietly looking at her.

He saw Yun Ge calmly lift up her cup to drink more of the tea.

He wanted to grab the tea cup in Yun Ge’s hand but Yun Ge wouldn’t let go. He instead grabbed Yun Ge’s entire hand and pulled it over so he could drink the rest of the tea.

Yun Ge stared at him in shock, while he smiled “From now on, as long as I am here, you will not be tasting bitterness all by yourself.”

Yun Ge’s heart felt this piercing ache but she pretended not to understand what he meant. She handed him a handkerchief and forced a smile “You have charcoal on your face.” Liu Fu Ling wiped a few times but didn’t remove the smudge. Yun Ge got anxious so she grabbed the handkerchief to wipe for him. When she finished, Liu Fu Ling grabbed her hand lightly. Yun Ge’s body stiffened and she lowered her head, pulling her hand back “I’m tired now.”

Liu Fu Ling’s face fell but he quickly got up “Then you get some rest. You can have dinner later if you want as well.”

Yun Ge kept her head lowered and didn’t reply. When she heard his footsteps move away, she suddenly stood up and called out “Muo Cha!” Muo Cha quickly came inside. “You tell Yu An that Ling gege’s hand has been burned.” Muo Cha nodded and hurried outside.

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