Seeing It Every Day Gets Tiresome
Two people walked for a while, and they could see Bao Xiang Shop in the distance. Jiang Yimian looked at Lu Cijian, smiled helplessly, and said, “How did we get here? Shall we go in together?”
It’s a good chance to see how many guests Chen Feiyan brought to the banquet today.
Lu Cijian shook his head with a smile, “I still have some things to deal with, so I won’t go in. However, Bao Xiang Shop’s business seems to have improved a lot.”
He had heard a lot about Bao Xiang Shop these days. He learned from Wang San that the shop had recently had no business and was extremely deserted.
But now, there were clearly many people in Bao Xiang Shop, and many carriages were parked outside. It didn’t look like business was bad.
Jiang Yimian pretended to be proud and said, “Of course, you should see who the shopkeeper of Bao Xiang Shop is now.”
The young girl spoke seriously, her bright eyes filled with a hint of a smile, making her whole face bright and lively.
Lu Cijian curled his lips and smiled, “Yes, my Yimian is really amazing.”
Jiang Yimian glared at the man in front of her, dissatisfied, “That’s perfunctory!
I’ll probably go back to Pingjiang County tomorrow. If you really won’t go in with me, you and I will only have a few hours together.”
In just a few days, Lu Cijian investigated so many things in the Ministry of Works. Clearly, things at the Censorate are not easy.
Today, he finally has some free time. He doesn’t know when the next time they will meet.
Lu Cijian was stunned. He clearly didn’t expect Jiang Yimian to go back tomorrow. He immediately frowned and said, “Don’t you want to see me every day if you don’t stay a few more days?”
If it weren’t for his busy official duties these days, his mind should only be filled with Yimian.
Jiang Yimian glanced at him indifferently and said seriously, “No, seeing you every day is too cloying.”
Lu Cijian was amused, reached out and pinched her fair cheek, and said fiercely, “You’re really heartless.”
He wanted to see the person in front of him every day.
Jiang Yimian angrily slapped the man’s hand away, dissatisfied, “What, are you angry? You don’t want me to be cloying, then you should think about what surprises you can give me each time we meet. Otherwise, I’ll get tired of it sooner or later.”
She spoke seriously, but her words were full of teasing, clearly a joke.
Lu Cijian, however, really started to think seriously.
Surprise? I wonder what kind of surprise Yimian would like.
He thought for a long time but couldn’t think of how to surprise the person in front of him.
Jiang Yimian suddenly smiled, tiptoed, quickly leaned over and kissed his lips, and quickly headed towards Bao Xiang Shop.
Lu Cijian was startled and subconsciously touched his lips.
Looking up, he saw Jiang Yimian waving to him across the street, mouthing, “I was kidding you, I won’t get tired of you.”
The young girl’s eyebrows were curved, like a little fox that had succeeded in its scheme, cunning yet making one want to get closer.
In an instant, Lu Cijian felt his heart beating violently, violently as if it were about to jump out of his chest.
The softness still seemed to linger on his lips. He subconsciously touched them, only to feel an abnormal scorching heat, like his beating heart at this moment.
The corners of his lips unconsciously curved into a beautiful arc. Only when that slender figure entered Bao Xiang Shop and could no longer be seen did he withdraw his gaze and leave in a very good mood.
That bit of unhappiness from seeing Lu Chengyuan all dissipated.
But that night, he dreamed again of the matter buried deep in his memory.
On an ordinary spring day, a child looked at the small number of copper coins in his hand, his whole face was tear-stained.
The gardener lay in bed but smiled weakly, “It’s alright, cough, cough, it’s just an ordinary wind-cold. I, I’ll be fine soon. Keep this copper coin to buy some candy, cough, cough.”
He spoke with difficulty, but still gently stroked the child’s fluffy head.
The child wiped away the tears on his face, crying so hard he could barely breathe, “You, you wait, I, I’ll go find a doctor.”
After saying that, ignoring the obstruction behind him, he ran straight out of the flower house.
A few months ago, someone on the estate also caught wind-cold, but not long after, that person was wrapped in a tattered straw mat and thrown up the mountain.
He didn’t want the gardener to be thrown up the mountain.
He wanted to borrow silver from those old women.
But, after searching for several, they all drove him away with brooms.
Unable to do so, he could only take the few copper coins he had and go to find a doctor, hoping to buy some medicinal herbs from the medical clinic.
However, before he had a chance to run out of the estate, a tall man suddenly appeared in front of him.
The man looked kind and looked down at the boy who barely reached his knees, smiling, “Are you Lu Cijian?”
The child was startled, stared at the strange man in front of him, and said warily, “Who are you? I’ve never seen you before on the estate.”
The man bent down and stroked the child’s head, smiling, “I am a friend of your mother’s. I will take care of you from now on. Are you willing to leave with me?”
The child paused, meeting those kind eyes, he inexplicably felt an unrealistic expectation.
If he could leave with this person, wouldn’t he have to stay on the estate anymore? Wouldn’t he have to eat leftover food, wouldn’t he have to endure the glares of those old women, and wouldn’t he have to be beaten all the time?
Wouldn’t the gardener have to be bullied by those people, wouldn’t he have to do those dirty and tiring jobs, and could he go home?
His line of sight fell on the flower house not far away.
In the small flower house, besides the flowers and plants filling the room, there was a small bed in the corner. It was called a bed, but it was actually a wooden board, with a few stones underneath, covered with dry grass and a quilt, making it a bed.
At this time, there was a person lying on it with his eyes closed and a pale face. That was the gardener.
The gardener was ill, and had been for several days.
If no one came to treat him, the gardener might not wake up.
The child looked at the man in front of him somewhat fearfully, hesitated for a while before saying, “Can, can you help me save him?”
The man casually glanced at the person in the flower house, smiled and nodded, “Of course, if I save him, are you willing to leave with me? You won’t have to suffer on this estate anymore.”
The child was startled, and hesitantly looked at the flower house again, “Then can you take him away from here too? Let him go back and reunite with his old wife?”
The gardener said he had an old wife waiting for him in the Capital, and he wanted to have a chance to see her.
The man simply nodded, “Naturally.”
The child immediately became happy and quickly nodded, “Okay, then I’m willing to go with you.”
As long as the gardener was alright, he would do anything.
On this estate, only the gardener was kind to him, and he also wanted the gardener to be happy.
The man did keep his promise and cured the gardener, but because he still had things to do, he didn’t take the child away for the time being. He only told the child that he would send someone to pick him up in five days.
The child was very happy and waited for the five days to pass, so that the gardener and he could leave this cruel estate.
He waited and waited, until the evening of the fourth day, he finally couldn’t help it.
Thinking that he would be able to leave the estate tomorrow, he felt a little excited. He wanted to tell the gardener this secret he had kept for several days, to make him happy too.
If the gardener knew that tomorrow, he could go back and reunite with his old wife, and wouldn’t have to spend his life guarding this estate, he would certainly be very happy.
Just as he was about to speak, a huge fire suddenly shone into the dilapidated flower house.