On this day, Wu Zhen had just finished watching a newly choreographed dance and music performance with the Emperor, Empress, and Noble Consorts in the Apricot Garden. As she was about to leave the palace, she encountered a familiar face – Huang Yi, the young master Huang. He was one of the potential husbands that Duke Yu had once considered for her. Later, after losing to her in a horse riding and archery competition, he refused the marriage out of shame and instead became her sworn brother.
Young Master Huang now served as a captain, responsible for guarding the palace gates and patrolling the outer court. His armor gleamed in the sunlight, making him look like a towering door god. The two had maintained a good relationship over the years, so their conversation was casual. Like others, Huang had heard about Wu Zhen’s impending marriage, and now seeing her, he stopped her to chat about it.
“I never expected this,” Huang said, hands on his hips, his rugged and determined face full of mixed emotions. Of the people Wu Zhen had met these days, nine out of ten would say this same thing.
“I was thinking of introducing you to a brother of mine recently,” Huang continued. “He just returned from the Yizhou border. His horse riding and archery skills are excellent, definitely not inferior to yours. I thought I’d finally found a man worthy of you, one who wouldn’t disappoint. But before I could tell you, you suddenly chose someone and decided to get married. It’s a shame.”
It was clear that Huang’s regret was genuine, but Wu Zhen didn’t quite understand his notion that ‘only someone who could surpass her in riding and archery would dare to marry her’. This guy was too single-minded, and Wu Zhen couldn’t be bothered to explain anything to him. She lazily waved her hand and said, “You just wanted to see me compete in riding and archery with someone, didn’t you? Forget it, I’ll have a match with that brother of yours another time, so you can stop fixating on it.”
Huang suddenly thought of something else and lowered his voice, “Actually, I don’t have a good feeling about Mei Lang Zhong.”
Wu Zhen wasn’t surprised at all. The kind of real men Huang approved of would all be tiger-backed, bear-waisted, nine feet tall, and incredibly strong. Although Mei Jia’s eldest son was broad-shouldered and wide-backed, he was still somewhat thin for a young man, looking like a refined and noble scholar. It would be strange if Huang approved of him.
Huang continued, “Do you know why? Because Mei Lang Zhong seems to have something against me.”
Wu Zhen suddenly became interested, shaking off her previous laziness. She asked, “How so? Do you know him? Why would he have something against you?”
Huang scratched his head, clearly confused. “It would be better if I knew him, but I don’t know him at all. I’ve only encountered him a few times in the palace. But for some reason, every time he sees me, his expression is unusually cold. It makes me uncomfortable to even ask about it…”
Wu Zhen replied, “You’re probably overthinking it. He looks like that with everyone.” Except her.
Huang shook his head, “No, you haven’t seen it yourself. It’s that kind of… piercing gaze. Every time he looks at me, I feel like many knives are stabbing my back. It makes me uncomfortable all over. His eyes are also scary, fierce as if…” Huang tried hard to come up with a description, “As if I had stolen his woman or something.”
Wu Zhen’s eyes suddenly narrowed. Unlike the simple-minded Huang, she quickly detected some clues. Huang had always been dedicated to recommending men with good riding and archery skills to her, caring about her as much as her father. If Mei Zhu Yu truly harbored romantic feelings for her, his attitude towards a stranger who constantly tried to solve her lifelong problems would certainly not be friendly. Wasn’t this indeed a ‘hatred of wife-stealing’?
Having figured it out, Wu Zhen patted Huang’s shoulder and said, “Be careful in the future. If he wants to fight you, I won’t help you.” Wu Zhen thought that the reason the young master hadn’t fought with this simpleton yet was probably because he couldn’t beat him.
Although Huang didn’t understand why she suddenly said this, he still angrily replied, “They say brothers are like limbs, women are like clothes. Now that you have a family, is this how you treat your brother!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Huang felt something was off. Wait, it didn’t make sense. Although the meaning was there, it just didn’t feel right.
Wu Zhen burst into laughter, “Brother, let me give you some advice. Next time you go around announcing that you’re looking for a husband for me, remember to check if my fierce-eyed young master and future husband is around.”
Huang’s straightforward mind finally caught up, and he belatedly realized why Mei Lang Zhong looked at him so fiercely.
Huang: “Ah… so that’s why.”
After clearing up Huang’s confusion at the palace gate, Wu Zhen prepared to ride back home. On the street, she saw a somewhat familiar figure.
They had just been talking about him, and now she saw him. Mei Zhu Yu looked like he had just finished his shift and left the palace not long ago. He was leading a horse by hand but wasn’t riding it, instead walking quietly along the main street.
For some reason, Wu Zhen didn’t call out to him. She slowed her horse’s pace, following him at a distance where she wouldn’t be discovered but wouldn’t lose sight of him. She watched the young master walk silently on the street, occasionally looking up at the elm trees along the road. Then, he stopped in front of a small vendor with a carrying pole.
There were always such vendors walking the streets with carrying poles, some selling small items like needles and thread, some selling freshly made snacks and food, some selling homegrown fruits and vegetables, and others selling pretty seasonal flowers or thirst-quenching tea. From a distance, Wu Zhen only saw the young master buy something from the vendor’s basket, but couldn’t tell what it was.
Suddenly, Wu Zhen spurred her horse, catching up with Mei Zhu Yu in a few quick strides. Up close, she saw that the basket contained some early peaches, small in size, more green than red, looking quite sour. The young master was leading his horse with one hand and holding a lotus leaf package with the other, containing a dozen or so green early peaches.
Hearing the hoofbeats behind him, he turned to look and met Wu Zhen’s gaze on horseback. His posture noticeably stiffened, and the frosty expression on his face immediately thawed a layer.
Wu Zhen pulled on her reins, her eyes glancing at the small peaches in Mei Zhu Yu’s hand, and asked casually, “Are these peaches sweet?”
Mei Zhu Yu looked at her on the horse, momentarily dazed, and said, “Do you want to try one?”
He lowered his head to select the reddest one and held it up to give to Wu Zhen. However, just as Wu Zhen reached out to take it, he suddenly withdrew his hand. Wu Zhen grabbed at empty air and leaned on her horse, raising an eyebrow at him. She saw the young master lower his head and carefully wipe the peach clean before offering it to Wu Zhen again.
Wu Zhen took it and bit into it. It was indeed sour, so sour that she covered her cheek and inhaled sharply. Seeing her reaction, Mei Zhu Yu also took a peach and bit into it, his expression calm, seemingly not finding it sour at all.
Wu Zhen thought the peach in his hand could only be more sour.
“Not sour?” she asked.
Mei Zhu Yu answered sincerely, “It’s fine.” In the Taoist temple where he grew up, there was an early peach tree that bore small and sour fruits. But they still looked forward to the tree bearing fruit every year. Those were much sourer than these, and he had gotten used to it, so this wasn’t unbearable.
Wu Zhen held the sour fruit, looking at the young master eating the sour fruit with a mix of pity and affection. Poor thing, could it be that the young master had never eaten any good, sweet fruits? If she had known earlier, she would have packed up all those fruits specially supplied to the emperor and empress from the Apricot Garden in the palace. At this time of year, the fruits weren’t fully grown yet, and only places like the imperial palace could have fresh sweet fruits. Elsewhere, there was nowhere to buy them.
She tossed the fruit in her hand back into Mei Zhu Yu’s arms and suddenly said, “You go back.” Then she rode back towards the imperial palace.
Mei Zhu Yu didn’t know what she was going to do, guessing that she might have other business. He could only stand there dumbfounded, watching her silhouette completely disappear around the street corner before withdrawing his gaze. He lowered his eyelashes somewhat dejectedly, holding the fruit that Wu Zhen had bitten once. The hard-won moment of interaction was too brief, leaving him at a loss and feeling melancholic.
Then, not long after he returned home, the old servant brought in a basket of red fruits.
“Young Master, Wu Er Niang Zi just came by and said this basket of fruits is for you.”
Mei Zhu Yu understood why she had suddenly turned back at that time. His heart skipped a beat, and he involuntarily stood up, supporting himself on the table.
“Has she left?”
“Yes, she left after dropping off the things.”
Mei Zhu Yu sat down again, picked up a bright red fruit, and took a bite. It was sweet. Perhaps because it was too sweet, Mei Zhu Yu had a strange feeling. He felt as if a soft vine had grown inside his body, its wildly growing branches and leaves causing a slight tingling in his skin and limbs, while simultaneously binding his heart, giving him a subtle feeling of suffocation.
After a long while, Mei Zhu Yu let out a long breath. He sat upright at the table, took out paper and brush, and prepared to copy a few passages of the Qing Jing Jing to calm his mind and spirit.
“Banish desires and the heart will naturally be still, purify the heart and the spirit will naturally be clear…”
Indeed, when the heart is not pure and the spirit is not clear, it is because desires have not been banished.
…
“Mei Si, what are you dawdling for? Hurry up and go!”
“Yes, go quickly! We’re all waiting. Today you must invite your eldest cousin out!”
“Hurry up! Are you still one of us or not? We’re doing this for Sister Zhen, to build a good relationship with him. You can’t hold us back.”
Mei Si was reluctantly pushed out by his group of friends, moving towards his eldest cousin’s house as if half his body was paralyzed. Ever since the news of Sister Zhen’s marriage to his eldest cousin spread, this group of people who often played with Sister Zhen had been looking for an opportunity to meet their future ‘brother-in-law’. However, this ‘brother-in-law’ was low-key. They had sent over a dozen invitation cards, but there wasn’t a single response. With no other option, they finally resorted to using Mei Si.
After all, they were relatives. If Mei Si personally went to invite him, he should at least give a face, right?
However, Mei Si, bearing everyone’s expectations, was internally resistant. He was the one with the most complex emotions in the group. That was Sister Zhen! His own eldest cousin was going to marry Sister Zhen!
He wasn’t very familiar with this eldest cousin. The blood relationship between them was really thin and awkward. He still hadn’t figured out the relationship positioning between Sister Zhen and his eldest cousin.
Rationally, he knew that Sister Zhen would become his cousin-in-law in the future, but emotionally, he had a strange feeling that his eldest cousin had become the ‘sister-in-law’. Who told him to always treat Sister Zhen as the leading big brother?
Struggling with these strange questions all the way, Mei Si’s brain wasn’t functioning quite right. When he saw his cold and quietly sitting eldest cousin, his brain short-circuited and he blurted out, “Sister-in-law.”
Mei Zhu Yu: “?”
Mei Si: “…”