Chapter 441: Chapter 425 Love and Longing
On New Year’s Eve, the City Lord Mansion was exceptionally lively. Lanterns had long been hung in the courtyards and corridors. Xie Xun wrote poetic couplets and pasted them on both sides of the main gate with Fengyu. Xie Xun’s calligraphy, bold and vigorous, was particularly well-suited for adorning the gates.
Originally, the couplets were being written by Xie Jue and Fengyu. Xie Xun, who preferred swordplay and martial arts over literature, typically had little interest in writing. For the New Year, the City Lord Mansion needed a great number of couplets. Xie Jue, known for his exquisite penmanship, attracted many admirers, including those from the government office who came specifically to request his couplets. With time to spare, Xie Jue would grant these requests, both as a pastime and as a gesture of goodwill.
Seeing this, Xie Xun volunteered to write one himself and hung it on the main gate, giving the original couplet prepared by Xie Jue to Nangong Heng.
However, the couplet Xie Xun wrote was more suited for the gate of Fengyu’s courtyard, not the main entrance.
"On parasol branches perch twin phoenixes,
Amid lotus blooms stand paired mandarin ducks."
"Do you like it?" Xie Xun asked.
"I love it!" Fengyu looked at Xie Xun’s charming face with a warm smile but felt a twinge of concern. "But do you think Second Brother will make you rewrite it?"
"Doesn’t matter. As long as we’re happy!"
Fengyu thought to herself, Sure, why not? Anyway, if there’s scolding to be done, it’ll be you getting scolded, not me!
When Xie Jue saw the couplet hanging on the gate, he didn’t reprimand Xie Xun. After all, it was the New Year, a time when all taboos were lifted. No one said there were strict rules about what must adorn the main gate.
As long as they were happy, that was enough!
In the West State City Lord Mansion, Fengyu also created a plum blossom garden, transplanting many plum trees and arranging them thoughtfully. When the flowers bloomed, the garden was suffused with fragrance. The garden was adorned with red lanterns, their glow contrasting against the snow. She had modeled it after the Marquis Mansion’s plum blossom garden, though due to regional constraints, there could be no pond by the garden. Otherwise, she had nearly replicated it entirely.
When Xie Jue first saw this plum garden in the West State, his heart filled with warmth.
First, because everyone in the Marquis Mansion had loved that plum garden. Second, because the plum garden had been planted tree by tree by the three madams of the Marquis Mansion, bearing their blessings and prayers.
Now, it carried the brothers’ yearning and remembrance.
Neither Xie Jue nor Xie Xun had the leisure or inclination to reconstruct that plum garden or voice their longing. In fact, even seeing familiar places often stirred painful memories for them.
Fengyu had gently laid their past love and care in front of them, like spring rain nurturing everything silently.
He couldn’t recall exactly when she had begun addressing him as "Second Brother" instead of "Second Young Master," nor when he started to truly see her as family.
It had been nearly three years since the Marquis Mansion had fallen. If Fengyu hadn’t escaped the Capital City with them, if she hadn’t been by their side these three years, he and Xie Xun would only have drowned in their hatred, sinking deeper and deeper, until there was no way out.
In the chaos of storms and utter despair, she had planted blossoms in the barren, desolate corners of their hearts.
Watching Ruyi tumble about in the snow, carefree and unburdened, Xie Jue reflected on the path they had walked over the past few years. He had nearly let hatred consume him, driving him to commit irreparable acts.
The journey from hell back to the mortal realm had taken him and Xie Xun nearly three years.
Thankfully, it was all in the past now!
"Father..." Ruyi came stumbling over with a plum blossom in hand and threw himself into Xie Jue’s arms, holding the flower out to him. Xie Jue smelled its fragrance as he tousled the boy’s small head.
"Father..."
"I’m here," Xie Jue replied, holding him close as they returned to the veranda. Father and son sat on the railing, admiring the plum blossoms and the snow. Ruyi was always on his best behavior when he was with Xie Jue.
But when he was with Xie Xun, the boy was far more boisterous!
"Second Brother, Ruyi, so you’re here after all!" Xie Xun rounded the Moon Gate and saw the pair sitting under the veranda, watching the snow and admiring the plum blossoms. He couldn’t help but smile.
"Finished putting up the couplets?" Xie Jue asked.
"All done!" Xie Xun replied as he sat beside him, pulling Ruyi into his lap. He also turned his gaze to the plum trees. "Ayu said you’d definitely love this plum grove."
"Mm." Xie Jue’s eyebrows softened with a smile. "You have good taste."
"Of course!"
"There’s something I’ve always been curious about. Back when you broke your leg in Ningzhou and spent the night berating her in the tent, you cursed her the entire night. But Ayu told me she first saw you more than a year later after you returned to the Capital. So why did you curse her that night if you’d never met her before?" Xie Jue’s curiosity about their past finally found voice.
Xie Xun coughed lightly. "Second Brother, give me a moment to think of a flawless reason."