In the fourth month when flowers bloomed everywhere else, only in the empty mountains did time stretch long, and being there felt like time flowing backward.

They finally could stay together in this place where no one inquired about them.

Qi Ying was someone accustomed to being busy. Shen Xiling usually saw him handling official business, and besides his official position, he was also a noble young master from an aristocratic family. When such a person had leisure time, he could make even boring days elegant.

For instance, when he was in the mood, he would accompany her in playing flower-pulling games. This was originally children’s play – street children often played this – but theirs was martial combat, simply each person finding a blade of grass to pull against each other, whoever broke first lost, which was rather boring. As for literary combat, it was more elegant – when seeking flowers and grass, they would pay attention to matching the names, Guanyin Willow must match Luohan Pine, Golden Cup Grass must match Jade Hairpin Flower, adding much more interest.

Sometimes he would make kites for her. Spring was originally the best time for flying kites. Though it was already April, time in the mountains moved slowly, always feeling half a season behind the world below, so flying kites was still timely. However, flying kites itself wasn’t very meaningful – making kites was more interesting. Shen Xiling had rarely seen Qi Ying’s painting before, probably because he seldom had leisure time. Now with more time, he had opportunity to paint a few strokes when making kites – painting a swallow, painting a little dog, painting a beauty with a red mole between her brows. Whatever he painted was simple yet vivid, greatly pleasing Shen Xiling.

Of course, besides playing these amusing little games, more often they would sit together under the loquat tree, with her nestled beside him, listening to him tell stories of old friends.

The first thing she asked about was naturally his family.

Her information network was very well-informed – she had long heard about his father’s stroke and his eldest brother wanting to become a monk. To avoid troubling him then, she hadn’t asked about these two, only inquiring about others, such as Yao Shi, such as the Third and Fourth Young Masters, such as his nieces and nephews.

He said they were all well. Yao Shi’s health was still fairly good, but these years of caring for his father had been quite taxing, so after five years she had aged considerably. Qi Ning had completely changed in personality after causing that great disaster years ago – no longer eager to compete or stand out, staying home all day without stepping out, his spirits already somewhat poor. Hui’er and Tai’er were both well cared for by their mother. Both little ones had entered school to study, though their teacher was no longer Master Wang – Master Wang had already left Jiankang to return to his hometown.

The best news was about the Fourth Young Master. This young master remained in Shen Xiling’s impression as someone with a perpetual smile and simple nature who didn’t harbor worries. When studying in the family school, he hadn’t been very dedicated or ambitious either. Unexpectedly, after these years he had changed considerably. He had entered the spring examinations and now held official rank – a fifth-rank Deputy Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, responsible for ancestral temple ceremonies. He had also married, to the daughter of minor official Ning family, called Ning Lan. Though she had no distinguished background, she had excellent upbringing and gentle nature, getting along very harmoniously with Qi Le.

Speaking of this, it naturally led to mentioning Zhao Yao. She and Qi Le had originally exchanged marriage contracts – just short of the final stroke. Who would have expected Qi family to suddenly encounter disaster at this crucial moment? Seeing the situation, how could the Zhao family still be willing to let their daughter marry in? Zhao Yao’s mother Zhao Qishi would rather tear apart relations with her natal family than insist on breaking the engagement. Zhao Yao herself was also resolute, completely severing ties with Qi Le. The next year she married into Marquis Zhongyong’s mansion, wedding his eldest son.

This eldest son of Marquis Zhongyong wasn’t actually a stranger. Before Qi Ying and Shen Xiling became intimate, they had once been about to separate, and at that time Sixth Princess Xiao Ziyu had been enthusiastic about matchmaking for Shen Xiling. She had mentioned two candidates to Qi Ying then – one was the seventh son of Duke Yingguo of Great Liang, who had consumption then and was now dead; the other was this eldest son of Marquis Zhongyong, who was thirty-four at the time, whose first wife had died and who wanted to remarry, with several children at home.

Of course Qi Ying couldn’t have let Shen Xiling marry over there, but unexpectedly after all these twists and turns, it was Zhao Yao who went to become this second wife.

Speaking of it, Yao Shi was also Qi Zhang’s second wife, but Zhao Yao wasn’t as fortunate as Yao Shi. The children in Marquis Zhongyong’s household were extremely unruly and disliked this newly entered stepmother, daily insisting on opposing her, stirring up endless trouble before their father, making Zhao Yao suffer unbearably. And that eldest son of Marquis Zhongyong, at such an advanced age, was naturally no longer a graceful young gentleman. Zhao Yao was so young – how could she possibly like him? Naturally there was much discord between them. It was said Zhao Yao often cried when returning to her natal home, causing quite a few jokes.

Such inner household trivial matters shouldn’t normally reach Qi Ying’s ears, but he heard about these things because after Zhao Yao’s marriage became unhappy, she attempted to turn back to Qi Le, probably wanting both to occupy her in-laws’ good family status and enjoy romantic pleasures with a handsome young man like Qi Le.

This highlighted Qi Le’s good qualities. Though in his youth he had been deeply infatuated with his cousin Yao’er, even causing some discord with his second brother over her, after marriage he became wholeheartedly devoted to his wife, no longer maintaining entangled connections with past youthful romance. When Zhao Yao later sought him out several times, he firmly refused, and later clearly told his own wife about this matter. His wife Ning Shi, though from a minor official family, had excellent character and gained dignity after marrying into Qi family. She immediately calmly visited Marquis Zhongyong’s mansion and spoke frankly with Zhao Yao face to face.

Ning Shi’s original intention was simply to make Zhao Yao stop and cease shamelessly pestering her husband, without wanting to make a big scene. Unexpectedly, this matter was discovered by Zhao Yao’s several stepchildren, who immediately caused a huge uproar, directly reporting this to Zhao Yao’s husband and in-laws. This was terrible – Marquis Zhongyong’s mansion was in complete chaos, also implicating the Zhao family.

The Zhao family cried and made scenes, beat and scolded Zhao Yao, pleaded with the in-laws, but nothing worked. Finally they only received a divorce letter from the husband’s family, which even brazenly stated “divorced for unchastity” – truly devastating.

This was wonderful – Zhao Yao was divorced, not only completely losing face inside and out, but even implicating her entire family. All of Jiankang City knew the Zhao family had raised an unchaste daughter – how could her other sisters avoid gossip at their in-laws’? Even her father and brothers – how could they avoid being talked about behind their backs?

It truly deserved to be called karmic retribution.

Hearing such a story, Shen Xiling was shocked speechless for quite a while. After a long silence, she finally managed to express her feelings: “Fourth Young Master truly exceeded my expectations. I originally thought he liked Miss Zhao so much that he would lose all sense of right and wrong for her. It turns out when it came down to it, he was so clear-headed.”

She was quite amazed, paused, then added: “His wife is also truly fortunate, marrying such a devoted husband.”

The first statement was fine, but the latter wasn’t so pleasant to hear. After hearing it, Qi Ying looked at her with a half-smile, startling Shen Xiling before she realized he was somewhat displeased.

Indeed, speaking of devotion, how could Qi Le compare to his second brother? Qi Ying had never been moved by anyone other than her, and even though she had been married to another for five years, he had never changed his feelings.

Firm as a rock… he had achieved this.

Shen Xiling understood his meaning and felt incredibly sweet inside, but precisely because of this she became mischievous, stubbornly saying: “Why is Young Master looking at me like that? Do you feel you’ve done better than Fourth Young Master? But what if you’ve had other women by your side these years? If you intended to hide it from me, how could I know? Isn’t it just whatever you say?”

This was really…

Qi Ying was both amused and annoyed by her, originally not intending to argue with a little girl, but after a while he still felt somewhat indignant and couldn’t help pinching her little face harder, saying: “Shen Wenwen, you truly have no conscience.”

This was the first time he called her “Shen Wenwen” – not as intimate as calling her Wenwen, nor as stern as calling her Shen Xiling, landing right in the middle with a very peculiar feeling, making her feel even more that she was cherished by him.

She was amused into giggles, pushed away his hand to rub her own face, complaining: “Why do you always pinch my face…”

But Qi Ying was already too lazy to pay attention to her.

She lay on his lap laughing and acting coquettish, then reached back to pick a loquat from the tree, trying to please him: “I’ll peel loquats for Second Brother to eat. Don’t be angry anymore, Second Brother.”

Soft Wu dialect, extremely sweet.

She lay on his lap and began peeling the loquat, but soon complained she was tired and wanted him to peel it for her. Qi Ying knew this little girl would act coquettish endlessly once she started, but he also knew she was only like this in front of him – before others she was always proper. And for so many years he hadn’t been by her side – perhaps she hadn’t acted coquettish for a long time.

He was willing to spoil her, so good-naturedly took the loquat to peel for her. But even in these moments she wasn’t quiet, asking him about the people at Fenghe Courtyard.

Shuipei, Fengshang, Zijun, Liuzi, and her Xue Tuan’er.

Qi Ying smiled and fed her the peeled loquat, telling her they were all well. Xue Tuan’er had even given birth to several little Xue Tuan’ers, and some of the little Xue Tuan’ers had children of their own now.

Hearing that her Xue Tuan’er was still alive, Shen Xiling was extremely happy – Xue Tuan’er should be ten years old now, quite advanced age for a cat. She wondered if she could still see it again.

Thinking of this was originally somewhat sad, but hearing it had many little babies of its own, she became happy again, as if there was hope again, and even the loquat in her mouth tasted sweeter.

Speaking of which, it was strange – a few days ago when she first came to this desolate mountain to see him, they had also eaten loquats together in the courtyard. Then she only felt they were sour and bitter, but now when he fed them to her, she only felt their sweetness. It showed that indeed it wasn’t the wind moving or the banner moving, but the heart moving.

She smiled and continued nuzzling against his lap, eating the sweet loquats he fed her in small bites.

When she had eaten to her heart’s content, she finally wanted to ask about the origins of his trip to Northern Wei this time.

She had always felt his coming to escort that princess for marriage was unreasonable. He was already Left Chancellor of a nation, not an official in charge of ceremonies – how could he personally escort a bride? Adding the great fire at the Buddha Bathing Festival and his current house arrest situation, she was even more certain that his northern journey must hide some conspiracy.

Was the current Liang Emperor trying to use the Wei people to kill him? She felt it wasn’t likely – if Xiao Ziheng wanted to kill him, he wouldn’t need to borrow Emperor Wei’s hand. Wouldn’t that be taking a roundabout approach? Moreover, she had heard about Great Liang’s current court situation – Xiao Ziheng relied on Qi Ying and simply couldn’t bear to let him die like this.

Then who exactly was it? What role did Gu Juhan play in this matter? Where had Bai Song gone? And what about that Young Master Han?

And Qi Ying – he was so intelligent and definitely not someone to sit waiting for death. What preparations would he have?

Shen Xiling couldn’t figure it out, so she asked him. But his expression was indifferent, only continuing to peel loquats for her, absolutely refusing to mention these serious matters. When she persisted, he ignored her, only smiling faintly at her like coaxing a child.

This truly made Shen Xiling very discouraged!

Everything about this person was good, except this one point of always treating her like a child was very unsatisfying!

She was no longer a child and could share many burdens with him. If this were Jiangzuo, perhaps her usefulness would indeed be limited, but this was Shangjing, where she had operated for five years after all. She was definitely more familiar with the connections than he was. If he told her what he wanted to accomplish, she could always think of ways to lend a hand, even if just a little bit.

She repeatedly told him this, but he just wouldn’t listen.

Author’s Note: Shen Wenwen: What to do when boyfriend always thinks I’m a noob?

Young Master Qi: What to do when girlfriend always wants to carry me to get MVP?