Chapter 360 (1/2)

Chapter 360: Scolding the Lake

Ning Que returned to the Old Brush Pen Shop. He realized that the door did not squeak when he opened it, and remembered that Sangsang had fixed it. He entered the kitchen and stuck his hand into the rice vat and retrieved a few eggs, and remembered that he was the one who taught Sangsang this when they were little. He walked to the water vat and to get some water to cook noodles. The vat was full, and he thought that Sangsang must have finished all the household ch.o.r.es before leaving home at dawn.

He walked out of the kitchen and stood beneath the skylight for a long time.

He was still carrying the black umbrella and holding the arrow box in his hand. There was also a chopper hanging from his waist. He had been running around and standing for the entire day. He had not sat down, drank any tea, or eaten anything. However, he was in no mood to cook and eat noodles but thought about the matters in his heart dazedly.

The neat pile of firewood in the corner, the clean table and chairs out in the front had all stirred up many memories. As for what these memories were, only Ning Que himself knew.

Every corner of the house felt empty without Sangsang. He was not used to it. He thought to himself, that it had only been a day, and he already could not bear the loneliness. He had left Chang'an and been in the Wilderness for half a year. How did Sangsang spend her time at home alone?

There was a cat on the courtyard wall.

The cat looked up at the stars in the night sky.

Ning Que glanced at it, and took a piece of firewood from the pile in the corner and threw it at the cat.

The cat who was pretending to be lonely was interrupted. It turned around and yowled angrily at Ning Que before jumping off the wall and disappearing.

The house without Sangsang was devoid of any warmth and was shrouded in cold.

Ning Que could not stay in a house like this, so he left.

Ning Que went to the Reception Yard.

The disciples of the Black Ink Garden of Great River Kingdom lived here.

Shanshan lived here too.

There was a large bamboo forest in the Reception Yard that remained green even in winter. It seemed peaceful as light shone at it in the night.

Ning Que did not enter the Reception Yard. He stood at the door in the rockery and looked at the light and shadows. His eyes were sharp, and he could vaguely make out the figure of a young girl who was writing something in the room that was farthest in the yard.

Was she writing the two characters that made up Ning Que's name that was difficult to write well?

Ning Que looked at the figure of the girl at the window silently for a long while.

Then, he turned to leave for the south of the city.

In the south of Chang'an, and at the foot of the Yanming Mountain, was the Yanming Lake.

Ning Que stood by the lake and look at its surface silently. The ice on the surface had long melted but had not yet disappeared completely in the last of winter. Instead, they had turned into something that resembled willow catkins. They looked like numerous soft gold threads under the light from the opposite end of the lake in the distance.

Plop! Plop!

He picked up some rocks and threw them at the golden threads on the lake's surface. One after another, he threw them until he had shattered all the ice catkins before him.

He had thrown firewood to the wild cat, and now he was throwing rocks at ice catkins. It was for no other reason than that he was upset. He felt that his world had been shattered, so he would not allow others to hide in their world and laugh at him secretly.

He threw the last piece of rock in his hand at his feet. Ning Que put his hand on his waist and panted for a good while before he calmed down. He looked at the Yanming Lake in the night and complained hoa.r.s.ely, ”The eggs are in the rice vat. Use less oil when you fry them? You're not even around and you want to control how much oil I use when frying eggs? Is there anyone as stingy as you? The eggs are in the rice vat, the water is in the water vat. Why didn't you say that the rice is in the pot? Where are you?”

”What do you mean you brought me up? I killed all those Horse Gang and stole their prey. I've done every bad thing possible in this life and gave you all those taels of silver that I toiled over to keep. And in the end, you say that you've brought me up?”

”Don't mention anything about me spending lots of money. Have I drunk in the City of Wei? Gambling... I did gamble, but didn't I do it to bring more income to the family? Have you seen me behaving promiscuously? Have I ever paid when I visited brothels in Chang'an? And yet, you are still dissatisfied with me?”

Ning Que faced the lake in the darkness and held a hand at his waist and raised the forefinger of his other hand like an angry woman. He scolded, ”What do you mean I can't marry if you don't allow me to? Tell me what you want clearly! You silly little girl. What do you want? Make it clear!”

”Are you asking whether I have ever thought of marrying you?”

”Alright, I admit that I would occasionally think about marrying you when you grow up. But you are still a girl, and I've only thought about it. Would I really say it out loud? What if you get embarra.s.sed and try to chop me up with a chopper when I say that? Even if you don't want to chop me up, who knows how many people out there would like to do that?”

”Furthermore, even if I wanted to marry you, it doesn't affect me liking some other people, does it?”

”Why do I have to like someone else?”

”Hey, I like meat, that doesn't mean that I don't like prawns. I am an omnivore, and I like to eat some other things. So what? What can you do to me?”

”What would you do?”

”You could eat with me.”

”What did you say?”

”I like women, so does it mean you have to like women as well?”

”Erm, this doesn't seem to make sense indeed.”

His hoa.r.s.e voice rang on the quiet lakeside.

A conversation like the above would never happen in the Scholar's Mansion.

Because Ning Que did not dare to say this to Sangsang. He knew that if he really said it, the stubborn girl would turn and walk away without giving him a chance to plead his case. And Sangsang would definitely not ask those questions, but he knew what she was thinking about.

That was why he could only say this at the foot of Yanming mountain at night, on the quiet, empty lakeside, to the lake that did not understand and could not retort. He scolded it like an idiot, and his voice startled the birds near the lake.