"What's up?"
Having just escaped from home, Lu Liangsheng felt a little dizzy when he saw Hong Lian's serious expression, but he still had to listen to her. He nodded and said softly, "Let's take a walk together first." Then he took the woman's hand and walked out of the temple gate.
As the sun sets, a bright red glow falls on the woods. Birds sing as they chirp on the branches amid the rustling sound of footsteps. The scholar leads the girl for a stroll through the shade of the trees.
"Sir."
A gentle voice came out of Hong Lian's mouth in silence. She kicked the fallen leaves under her feet, raised her pretty face, and looked at the scholar's profile along the mottled branches.
Noticing the gaze coming at him, Lu Liangsheng turned his head to the side, their eyes met, and after a moment, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "What were you going to say just now?"
"I told you not to get angry."
"Let me marry Yuerou?"
"I knew you had guessed it."
Hong Lian crossed her hands and folded them in front of her abdomen. She kicked the fallen leaves under her feet and scattered them away. Looking at the dead leaves swaying and floating to the ground, she suddenly laughed out loud.
"In fact, it's a good idea to marry Miss Min. Besides, the relationship between heaven and earth and human relations is also one of the great ways. Young Master should take one of them. And since your uncle and aunt are still alive, you should not let them down. You have worked hard for most of your life, so why not let them enjoy the happiness of having children?"
Lu Liangsheng, who was walking on the side, restrained his smile. He knew that Hong Lian must have considered for a long time before saying this. After all, it takes a long time for the incense to achieve a physical body. He was worried that as time went on and she practiced more, she would have no plans to get married, leaving the two elders waiting in vain.
Seeing that Lu Liangsheng didn't say anything, Hong Lian reached out and held his arm, leaning towards him gently.
"... Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't have been so jealous when I was at the residence of Grand Secretary Zhou in Hegu County, ruining the Zhou family's daughter's love for you. But later I realized that although she was also born in a wealthy family, she didn't have the courage of Miss Min to travel thousands of miles from Chang'an to Mount Qixia alone. I was very moved by this love... In fact, you also like her a little bit, right?"
Lu Liangsheng walked through the shade of the trees without saying a word and came to the edge of a cliff on the mountainside. He waved his wide sleeves to sweep away the fallen leaves accumulated on the grass, then sat down with Hong Lian, looking at Lujia Village in the distance and the graceful figure walking briskly through the countryside.
Thinking of the night when he was kidnapped by the old monk and the way Min Yuerou sat by the campfire with him, blowing on the steamed buns in her hands, Lu Liangsheng couldn't help but smile.
"Perhaps."
It is normal for men in the world to have three wives and four concubines. As long as they are capable, no one would dare to gossip even if they find more than a dozen. However, growing up in the village, Lu Liangsheng was mostly surrounded by couples, especially under the influence of his parents, so he could never let go.
"I like it because I like it. There's no maybe." Hong Lian sat there with her knees bent and hugged, leaning on the scholar's shoulder, looking at the mountains covered with a layer of clouds, and smiled.
"If it were Taoist Priest Sun, he would be so happy that his mouth would be full of smiles. He would be very happy."
"He dares!"
Lu Liangsheng pinched a grass ball and threw it out. The originally dull atmosphere was broken by Hong Lian's joke, and a smile appeared on his face.
"By the way, if I really marry Yue Rou, would you be happy?"
Seeing the scholar laughing, Hong Lian smiled even more brightly. She rubbed his shoulder again and blew away the dandelion floating in front of her, making it fly farther until it could no longer be seen in the red glow.
Then he said softly:
"What girl would like that? I can't let your Lu family die out and make your uncle and aunt feel bad. It's good to let them live a little happier in this world for a hundred years. It can also be worthy of Miss Min's love. A girl can come to look for you like this, which shows that she really has you in her heart."
As she spoke, she fell into the scholar's arms with dimples on her cheeks, lay on his legs, grabbed the floating dandelions, and tickled her chin which had some blue residue.
"… In the future, I will have a long time to cultivate my Taoism. I hope you won't find me annoying when the time comes."
I don’t know if it was because he was tickled, but Lu Liangsheng snatched the small ball of fluffy crested hair from her hand, blew it out of the cliff, and watched it float away with the wind.
"No, never."
Lu Liangsheng looked at the drifting crested hair and murmured softly, unconsciously hugging the woman on his lap tightly in his arms.
Cough cough!
Suddenly, a dry cough was heard from behind, and the two people who were hugging each other quickly let go. Lu Liangsheng looked back and saw an old man with his hands behind his back walking past him.
It was the old man whom they had asked at the temple gate before. Lu Liangsheng and Hong Lian looked at each other, laughed, held hands and walked down the mountain, choosing the nearest path to go down the mountain.
"Qixia Mountain is so beautiful that it has ruined my good mood."
The old man snorted as he looked at the man and woman going away, then turned and walked towards the tree-lined path, leisurely walking towards the temple above. There were few people around, so the place seemed quiet.
When I stepped into the temple and wanted to admire the statue of Hong Lian that people were talking about, my expression suddenly froze and I stared at the clay sculpture in front of me, which was dancing with long sleeves flying.
hiss…
The old man took a deep breath, and looked up and examined her carefully, just like the woman he had just met outside the temple. No, it wasn't just like, she was exactly the same.
Oh my god... it really works, incredible, incredible.
He found some unburned incense in the cauldron, folded it in his palm and raised it above his head. He bowed three times and put the incense back into the cauldron. He lifted up the hem of his robe and ran out of the temple like a fly. He went down the mountain and got into the waiting carriage. He urged the driver to drive quickly. With the sound of "clang, clang, clang..." the shafts collided with each other, and drove away from the mountain road in a flash, disappearing into the sunset.
…
The setting sun rolled over the western clouds like a tide. Under the residual red, birds flew over the mountain village where smoke was curling up. Farmers carrying hoes returned home one after another and greeted the eight big men standing at the entrance of the village.
The latter eight people clasped their fists in return, and when they saw Lu Liangsheng and Hong Lian coming back from the temple, they hurriedly squeezed past the villagers who had greeted them earlier and went to greet them.
"Liangsheng, you're finally back. I thought you were kidnapped again. The eight of us almost searched the whole mountain for you again."
Next to him, Lu Qing came over and said:
"That Miss Min you went out to chase has come back a long time ago, and she greeted us with a smile!"
The other six people nodded.
"Yes, your mother seems to have something to talk to you about. She has come here two or three times." "She also asked us to wait for you here."
"Go home and have a look."
Lu Liangsheng bowed, thanked him, and took Hong Lian back to the courtyard. There was smoke floating on the roof, which meant that the food was probably ready. Li Jinhua was sitting under the eaves talking to Min Yuerou. When she saw her son coming back, she quickly winked at him to come over and talk, while she took Hong Lian to the kitchen.
Under the eaves, Min Yuerou, still feeling aggrieved and with red eyes, sat on the stool with her legs crossed and turned in another direction.
Lu Liangsheng looked at the woman who looked like a disgruntled young wife, smiled, and sat down beside her. Thinking of Hong Lian and his master's words, he finally felt a little relieved. He quietly reached out his hand from his drooping sleeves and gently held her hand.
Min Yuerou's whole body trembled slightly. She turned around and stared at Lu Liangsheng in a daze.
The Taoist, Zhu Ganglie, Mu Qiyu, and Lu Xiaoxian were squatting at the attic fence, the slightly open window of the house, and the kitchen door. Even the usually honest Lu Laoshi was squatting behind the door, constantly winking at his son.
"I will marry you."
Lu Liangsheng looked at the astonished Min Yuerou and said softly.
The sunset glow fell in the yard, looking gentle.