118 The Most Wonderful Sound in the World (2/2)
”Is... this the Qi of Heaven and Earth?”
He gazed at his fingertips, and nothing was seen. However, he could feel a piece of thin existence there, and he muttered to himself. Then he added in a low voice, ”This is the Qi of Heaven and Earth!”
His tender face was full of determination and affirmation, without any hesitation or self-doubt.
…
…
Ning Que jumped off the bed without dressing a piece of clothing, and his shoes were not worn backward, because he had no shoes to wear. He felt weak at the knees and nearly fell, and he supported himself to run out of the room, knocking over the bucket beside the bed and severely hitting his waist by the corner of the table. However, the lad who was stricken to swoon by a great sense of happiness did not feel the pain at all.
He pushed open the door, rushed into the small courtyard, and stood in front of Sangsang, who was cutting firewood. Looking at the little handmaiden with her bent and small body, he opened his mouth and wanted to say something, only to find his voice was a little hoarse, and he was hardly able to speak.
Sangsang gave a puzzled glance at him and found his expression to be extremely weird, like he was either crying or laughing.
”Young master, are you all right?”
She stood up, standing on her tiptoes and raising her arms out of habit. She wondered whether Ning Que had caught a fever by covering himself up and whether he was in a confused state of mind. But she found that she could actually touch the top of his head when standing on her tiptoes, and then she could not help laughing happily.
Ning Que grabbed her skinny arms with his right hand to hug the little body into his arms, into his own naked arms, as he did many years ago. He murmured, ”It's awesome that you are still alive, and I am... fine as well.”
He had not cried for many years since fleeing away from Chang'an with the bloody hatchet. There were no tears today, but he did not know why he felt a bit warm and humid in his eyes, and a bit sour in his nose.
Sangsang looked up with difficulty and she was shocked by the slight moisture in Ning Que's eyes. Then she figured out something with a frightened expression on her small face, and then two lines of tears flowed out from her willowy eyes.
Silent speech was absolutely not enough to disperse the emotions of the master and handmaiden at that moment.
Sangsang opened his skinny arms and tightly grabbed Ning's waist, and burst into tears. ”Hum... Young master, this is a great joy. You should eat several more pieces of duck meat tonight.”
After the embrace ended, they separated. Ning Que looked down at the tears on the black face of the little handmaiden. His lips moved slightly as if he was about to say something, but after all, he did not say it out loud.
Sangsang immediately understood what he meant, and bowed her head in shame and wiped her tears off with her sleeves. She whispered, ”I... I'm going to order takeout from the Building of Pines and Cranes, six taels of silver for noodles.”
”Good girl.” Ning Que rubbed her head dotingly.
Sangsang got into the house to take out the silver from the box and ran into the shop. Suddenly, she thought of one thing, and then she stopped in front of the door, and turned around to look at him, and said in earnest biting her lips, ”Young master, if you go out next time... to do such dangerous things, remember to bring me with you. It's tormenting waiting here in the shop.”
Ning Que looked at her quietly, and then nodded vigorously. ”Don't worry. Such things won't happen again. At least this year, I won't do anything, and you don't need to worry.”
…
…
The Old Brush Pen Shop was closed early today.
On the small wooden plaque hanging on the door, it had been written that ”The owner is engaged”, but Sangsang quickly changed it to ”The owner had big days”.
A happy event was not complete without drinking to add to the fun. The master and handmaiden extravagantly ate six taels of silver of noodles from the Building of Pines and Cranes and drank two pots of wine. Sangsang, who had an amazing capacity for wine and who never got drunk, was drunk today. Perhaps she was very glad indeed, or that she just regretted that the meal cost her so much money.
Watching little Sangsang, who was lying drunk on the table, Ning Que was wondering how she could have gotten drunk earlier than him, scratching his head in surprise.
He hugged Sangsang back to the room, covered her with a single layer of quilt, and fanned her with a round cattail-leaf fan sitting by the bed to drive away those annoying mosquitoes. It was Sangsang who had served him over all these years, and he hardly did such things. But he was really skilled since he had done them many times when he was a child.
The great sense of happiness and excitement gradually calmed down while he was waving the round cattail-leaf fan. He began to consider what had happened to him, with his eyesight subconsciously falling on the big black umbrella beside Sangsang's little face.