A green-curtained carriage slowly rolled out from the Marquis Beiding estate.
Little Jin Lanyue lay by the carriage window, her embroidered skirt spread over the cushion like a small flower in full bloom.
Suddenly, she pointed outside the window in pleasant surprise and said, “Grand Tutor, look quick! Tanghulu!”
Qu Zijin followed the direction of her finger and, sure enough, spotted several small stalls set up along the riverbank. Among them, skewers of bright red candied haws looked exceptionally enticing.
“Yue’er wants to go play by the river~” The little dumpling turned around, gently tugging and shaking Qu Zijin’s sleeve with her tiny hands. “Just for a little while~”
Qu Zijin looked down at the little creature acting spoiled. Today, her hair was styled in double buns tied with goose-yellow silk ribbons, which made her fair, tender little face look even softer.
There were two tiny holes at the bottom of the ribbons, looking as though some ornaments had originally been there, except they were now missing.
Those watery, large eyes were staring up at him with full anticipation, making it truly impossible to find the heart to refuse her.
“One hour,” Qu Zijin finally relented. “When we return, you must memorize the first three chapters of the Three Character Classic thoroughly.”
Jin Lanyue’s mind was completely filled with the fact that the Grand Tutor had agreed.
What?
Memorizing books?
She didn’t hear it.
“Hooray!” Little Jin Lanyue cheered. Eager to scramble out of the carriage, she nearly tripped over her own skirt.
Qu Zijin, quick of hand and sharp of eye, scooped her back in, shaking his head helplessly. “So reckless.”
As he spoke, he personally straightened her lapels and tied an apricot-red thin gauze cloak around her. “The wind by the river is strong, be careful not to catch a chill.”
The carriage came to a halt by the riverbank.
Little Jin Lanyue ran forward, skipping and hopping like a bird let out of its cage.
Qu Zijin followed behind at an unhurried pace, watching that joyful little figure darting through the weeping willows.
“Grand Tutor, come quick!” The little dumpling stood on a stone bridge and waved, the ribbons in her hair fluttering with the wind. “There are so many little fish!”
Qu Zijin walked up with slow steps and saw that there were indeed schools of small fish swimming in the clear river water.
Jin Lanyue was currently trying to dip her fair, tender little feet into the water.
“You must not,” Qu Zijin stopped her just in time. “The river water is cold.”
The little dumpling puckered her mouth aggrievedly, but then she saw Qu Zijin pull out a small paper packet from his sleeve like a magic trick. “Here.”
“It’s sugar-roasted chestnuts!” Little Jin Lanyue instantly beamed with joy, holding the warm chestnuts in her tiny hands like a little squirrel that had just received nuts.
The two walked slowly along the riverbank.
One moment, the little dumpling would squat down to watch ants moving their home, and the next, she would run around chasing butterflies. Her tender yellow silhouette was exceptionally conspicuous among the green willows and red flowers.
Qu Zijin didn’t urge her either, only calling out gently to remind her whenever she ran too far: “Teacher, do not wander too far.”
Jin Lanyue soon played until her little face was flushed pink, and the stray hairs on her forehead were soaked with sweat.
Suddenly, she hugged Qu Zijin’s leg, turning her little face upward to say, “Grand Tutor is the absolute, absolute best~”
By some strange stroke of insight, Qu Zijin understood exactly what she was trying to get at: “You still have to memorize the book.”
Jin Lanyue pouted, resting her little head against his knee in disappointment. “Okay then…”
Before she could finish her sentence, she let out a tiny yawn.
Helpless, Qu Zijin took her hand to walk back. Jin Lanyue’s steps grew slower and slower. When they reached a large tree, she simply stopped and began to act shamelessly.
Though it couldn’t exactly be called acting shamelessly.
The little dumpling just stood on the spot, straining to lift her little head, staring at him with a puppy-like, watery, and pitiful look. Her tiny hand tightly gripped his fingers, and her little mouth puckered slightly, looking both aggrieved and expectant.
“…You…” The words of refusal were right at Qu Zijin’s lips, yet he couldn’t voice them no matter what.
He said with great difficulty, “I am not the kind of person who spoils children…”
He truly wasn’t.
Jin Lanyue shuffed a tiny step closer, pressing the soft meat of her cheek against the back of his hand, her large eyes blinking up at him. “Grand Tutor~ Yue’er doesn’t want to study…”
“But…” Qu Zijin began to doubt himself.
Was he truly not the kind of person who spoiled children?
“Please-please~ pretty please…”
“…” Qu Zijin closed his eyes, admitting to himself that he was exactly the kind of person who spoiled children.
“Fine, fine,” he said. “We’ll just treat this as taking you out for an outing.”
“Hooray! An outing! I like outings!” Jin Lanyue cheered.
Qu Zijin returned to the carriage to fetch a blanket and spread it under the tree.
The moment it was spread, Jin Lanyue happily rolled around on the blanket.
Qu Zijin’s heart grew softer and softer. Not only did he give up on the extracurricular tutoring, but he also spoke up proactively: “Stay right here and do not wander about. I will go buy some snacks for you and come back right away.”
“Okay~”
Qu Zijin headed toward her beloved tanghulu stall, looking back at her every two steps, terrified that she might run off.
However, Jin Lanyue remained obediently seated on the blanket. Seeing him look back, she even waved her little arm at him.
Jin Lanyue watched expectantly as Qu Zijin drew closer and closer to the tanghulu stall, feeling that his back looked just as grand and imposing as her father’s.
Qu Zijin bought the tanghulu and picked up some other snacks along the way.
A three-year-old child had little patience; after waiting for a short while, she couldn’t sit still anymore.
But Jin Lanyue firmly remembered the Grand Tutor’s instruction not to wander about. Her body squirmed and twisted, but she did not crawl outside the blanket.
Bored out of her mind, she lay flat on the blanket in the shape of a large character, looking up.
There were no stars or moon, but there were many, many leaves.
A leaf spiraled downward, landing fair and square right on her nose.
Jin Lanyue let out a sneeze. Clutching the leaf in her tiny hand, she sat up, happy once more. “Leaf-leaf, so fun!”
A gust of night wind blew past, and a shower of leaves rustled down from the tree.
“Leaf-leaves! So many leaf-leaves! Fun!” She giggled, reaching out her tiny hands to catch the leaves.
When Qu Zijin returned, what he saw was Jin Lanyue flailing about to catch the falling leaves.
She stood up, rising onto her tiptoes, protecting one leaf in one tiny hand like a precious treasure, while her other tiny hand strained to catch and grab, but the leaves would always slip past her hand.
Undeterred, she went to grab other leaves.
Sometimes, she accidentally lost her footing and tumbled onto the blanket with a thud. Qu Zijin was startled by the sight, yet she simply scrambled back up on her own to keep catching leaves.
Revealing a row of tiny white teeth, she was perfectly happy entertaining herself.
Qu Zijin thought that it was no wonder everyone doted on her so much; even he couldn’t escape it.
A child this beautiful, adorable, obedient, and lively was indeed truly difficult for anyone to dislike.
“Are you playing with leaves?” Qu Zijin set down the snacks, casually catching a leaf and handing it to her.
“Thank ou~ Yue’er has two leaf-leaves now!” Jin Lanyue clutched a leaf in each of her tiny hands, smiling sweetly.
She waved both hands, imitating the way the leaves fell. “Leaf-leaves fall down from the tree-tree~”
“Mm, they fall down, and then what?” Qu Zijin truly couldn’t maintain his stern facade anymore. A smile surfaced involuntarily as he watched her performance.
Jin Lanyue put even more effort into it: “Rustle-rustle-rustle, fall onto the ground!”
She ran to the root of the tree with her short legs, placing the two leaves there.
“Yes, this is called fallen leaves returning to their roots.”
The little tot understood only halfway. “Fallen leaf rewurn to woot…”
“It is fallen leaves returning to their roots,” Qu Zijin walked over to her side, squatting down to explain. “After the leaves fall, they will ultimately return to the vicinity of the tree roots, turning into nutrients to nourish the tree. This is the destination of the leaves, and humans are the exact same way. Everything in the world has its own destination.”
As he spoke, he grew a little sorrowful.
Where was his destination?
Once, he had been full of passionate fervor, longing to establish himself and build an illustrious career. He had believed the texts stating that a true man should bear a three-foot sword and achieve unparalleled feats.
But very quickly, freezing reality had extinguished his passion, crushing his ideals along with his pride.
He had studied bitterly by the cold window for over a decade, clinching the top spot in the imperial examination in one stroke, yet in the end, he had been reduced to becoming an introductory Grand Tutor for a princess.
The Emperor, who had once lavishly praised his talent, had already forgotten him.
He longed to serve the imperial court and yearned for his talents to be recognized, but reality did not allow it.
He could not see his own future, nor could he see his own destination.
“Don’t under-stand…” Jin Lanyue picked up a leaf, looking at the Grand Tutor.
She felt as though the Grand Tutor was very sad, but she didn’t know how to comfort him.
So, she thought of how her mother used to comfort her whenever she was unhappy in the past.
She reached out a tiny hand, patting the Grand Tutor’s cheek. “Don’t cry, don’t cry, pat-pat…”
Qu Zijin blanked for a moment.
Her tiny hand was warm, but it was also quite dirty.
With that single pat on his face, it instantly left behind a smudge of black fingerprints.