After seeing Shen Huaiyu off, Luo Qingqing hurried back to her room, bolted the door shut, and shouted, “Phone!”
The moment it appeared in her hands, she was overwhelmed with excitement and familiarity.
One hour. She had to make full use of it.
She first spent ten minutes scrolling through gossip online, her soul receiving immense satisfaction in the process.
Then she opened a certain app and began searching for cooking tutorials. A restaurant could not survive on hotpot and spicy mixed dishes alone, they needed to keep introducing new items. She needed paper and a brush to write everything down, so Luo Qingqing quickly ran to Gu Jing’an’s desk. Fortunately, she had joined a calligraphy club back in university, otherwise writing with a brush really would have been difficult.
In one go, she filled three sheets of paper with recipes, covering steamed, boiled, fried, roasted foods, as well as drinks. Luo Qingqing loved delicious food, but she loved making it even more. Watching ordinary ingredients transform into delicacies through cooking always brought her an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
There were still eight minutes left. What should she do?
Right, Gu Jing’an’s cough.
Apple and onion boiled water, steamed oranges with salt, roasted tangerines, boiled pear and pepper water…
Goodness, there really were quite a few remedies.
She copied down seven methods altogether.
They could test them one by one. It was always better than medicine. After all, every medicine carries some toxicity, so if it could be avoided, then it should be avoided.
The moment she finished writing, the hour ended and the phone disappeared.
Voices sounded outside. Someone had come in.
Luo Qingqing grabbed her notes and pulled open the door just as Gu Jing’an was about to push it open from the other side.
Their eyes met.
Luo Qingqing froze.
Shouldn’t he be attending lessons at the academy right now? What was going on?
Hesitating slightly, she asked, “Did you skip class?”
The moment the words left her mouth, she wanted to slap herself to death. Gu Jing’an was someone who would later achieve top honors in all three imperial examinations. How could he possibly skip class?
“My teacher has gone out and hasn’t returned yet. He told me to come back in three days.”
Gu Jing’an’s teacher, Yan Mingzhi, was one of the greatest supporters who would help him eventually rise to the position of a Powerful Minister.
Luo Qingqing nodded and waved the papers in her hand. “I couldn’t find paper or brushes in Qiran’s room, so I used yours to write some things down.” After a pause, she added, “I didn’t touch anything else.”
A ripple passed through Gu Jing’an’s gaze as he glanced at her obedient expression. “You can use anything in the house.”
Why was she always so cautious around him?
Gu Jing’an seemed different somehow, though Luo Qingqing could not quite explain what exactly had changed.
She unfolded the sheet containing remedies for coughs and handed it to him. “Do they sell these things in town? Your cough doesn’t seem to improve much from medicine alone. Why don’t we try food therapy instead?”
Gu Jing’an lowered his clear eyes toward the page.
Her handwriting was a beautiful, neat and graceful small script, as elegant as she was herself.
So the things she had written down were actually meant to treat his cough?
But his illness was caused by lingering cold poison that had never fully cleared from his body. His teacher had searched far and wide for medicine, yet none of it had much effect.
Still, since she had already written everything down, he would let her do as she pleased.
“They have all of these in town. Shall we go after lunch?”
“Let’s go now instead, then we can pick up Qiran and Xuanning and eat together.” The two children usually ate lunch at the academy because running back and forth was too exhausting.
Gu Jing’an nodded.
Luo Qingqing told him about Shen Huaiyu’s departure and handed over the jade pendant, but he refused to take it, telling her to keep it safely herself. After returning to his room to tidy up a little, the two of them headed out together.
The morning sunlight filtered through layers of leaves overhead, scattering onto him in softly swaying halos of light.
The sunlight rested upon his long eyelashes, casting faint shadows beneath them. His features were picturesque, his gaze cold and pure without a trace of impurity, like a clear lake rippling beneath the warmth of spring sunlight, making people unable to resist falling into it.
A faint scent of cool bamboo drifted from his body, subtly entwining the two of them together.
She could not keep looking any longer.
Luo Qingqing quickly averted her gaze and silently chanted in her heart:
Form is emptiness, form is emptiness, form is emptiness.
The moment she looked away, Gu Jing’an turned to look at her instead.
Her long black hair cascaded down to her waist, her brows curved delicately. Her cheeks resembled ripening peaches, tinged with an alluring blush. Her misty apricot eyes shimmered with watery light, while tiny beads of sweat dotted the tip of her delicate nose, making her appear adorably innocent.
The warm sunlight glowed softly while the breeze drifted gently by.
At that moment, it felt as though the entire world held only him and her.
Luo Qingqing brought Gu Jing’an to Drunken River Pavilion, the same restaurant from yesterday.
Today, fortune had completely reversed itself. The rival restaurant across the street, Ruiyue Pavilion, sat empty, while Drunken River Pavilion overflowed with customers.
Manager Li was grinning so broadly that his eyes nearly disappeared. The moment he saw Luo Qingqing arrive, he quickly walked over and laughed heartily. “Madam Luo, you’ve finally come. The chili peppers probably won’t last through the afternoon. I was just thinking of going to find you.”
Luo Qingqing smiled back. “That old woman should still be around the old street area. Please trouble the manager to send two people with me to transport more back.”
“Not troublesome at all. I’ll find two clever workers shortly.”
Manager Li glanced at the handsome man beside Luo Qingqing and asked, “Could this gentleman be Madam Luo’s husband?”
Luo Qingqing nodded stiffly, trapped in an impossible situation.
Saying it directly in front of Gu Jing’an made her nervous. Would he be angry? After all, marrying her had never been his choice.
Gu Jing’an glanced at Luo Qingqing before giving Manager Li a proper scholar’s greeting. “This junior is Gu Jing’an.”
Gu Jing’an?
That name sounded familiar.
Wasn’t this year’s top scorer in the provincial examination also named Gu Jing’an?
Manager Li hurriedly stepped forward to help him up. “Scholar Gu, you truly humble this old man. I never expected Madam Luo’s husband to be you.”
Luo Qingqing nearly burst into tears.
Please stop reminding everyone over and over again.
Afraid Manager Li might continue, she hurriedly interrupted, “Manager, please quickly find those two people. It’s almost noon already, that old woman might leave soon.”
Manager Li chuckled and nodded, then instructed a waiter to properly escort them to a private room on the third floor.
Looks like that old monk had been right after all. Hadn’t he truly encountered benefactors? Drunken River Pavilion had been revived entirely thanks to Luo Qingqing, and her husband was clearly a dragon among men with limitless prospects ahead.
Once inside the private room, only she and Gu Jing’an remained.
Luo Qingqing felt uneasy.
Was Gu Jing’an angry?
Should she say something to ease the atmosphere?
After hesitating repeatedly, she finally spoke.
“Next year, you’ll be heading to the capital to participate in the metropolitan and palace examinations. That will require a great deal of money, so I discussed things with Manager Li about opening a restaurant together. I’ll provide the recipes while he provides the location. I won’t need to come every day, and after you leave for the capital, I’ll take good care of Qiran and Xuanning.”
Gu Jing’an frowned slightly before smiling faintly. “Luo Qingqing, why are you treating me this way?”
He truly wanted to know.
There was nothing about him worth coveting.
“My mother died early. Not long after her mourning period ended, Father brought my stepmother into the household. That woman excelled at acting sweet while hiding knives behind her smile. The better she treated me on the surface, the more Father disliked me. Over time, I stopped hoping for any fatherly affection at all.”
“After marrying you, you hardly spoke, and I was miserable inside, so my attitude during that half month was terrible.”
“Later, I figured things out. To you, I was also an unexpected disaster, so I couldn’t blame you. Instead, I should thank you for pulling me out of that muddy pit.”
Some of those words were true, some false, but what did it matter whether they were real or not? She certainly could not tell him the actual truth.
Gu Jing’an looked at the young girl before him.
Her apricot eyes remained calm and detached, as though she were telling someone else’s story.
For some reason, his heart felt uncomfortable.
After all, she was still just a young girl who had not even reached her coming-of-age ceremony yet.