Chapter 103.1
Li Wenjian rubbed his temples. He squatted in front of Zhao Heng, lifting her face to look at her, and said kindly, "Ah Heng, I'm only fourteen this year, just less than six years older than you. You can't call me uncle."
Zhao Heng stared at him in astonishment. He was only fourteen?
The grandson of the village elder was also fourteen this year, always climbing trees to catch birds or going to the river to catch fish. He always brought a group of children to chase her, calling her names. Each time, it made her so angry.
She thought all fourteen-year-old boys were as annoying as him. But this person was so clean and composed, like moonlight, exuding a sense of stability even more than the village schoolteacher.
He was only fourteen?
After a moment of hesitation, Zhao Heng nodded and said, "Okay, Brother Shulang."
Li Wenjian glanced at her and said, "Good girl."
Zhao Heng, tilting her head, secretly glanced at him. "You're happy when I call you brother, aren't you?"
Her tone was very certain.
Li Wenjian raised a hand and touched her wet head, "Yes, very happy."
Avoiding his touch, Zhao Heng, who had arrived drenched in rain, feared dirtying his clean clothes.
"I should go back," she said.
Li Wenjian listened to the wind and rain outside and furrowed his brow, "It's already dark."
The wind kept blowing in through the open door. Zhao Heng, soaked through, trembled imperceptibly. "It shouldn't have taken this long, but I got lost in the city and took a while to find my way here."
Li Wenjian glanced at the shivering Zhao Heng and had an oversized towel brought to wrap around her.
"Why did you come to find me?" His tone was slightly bright.
He thought she would never come to him.
After a moment of hesitation, Zhao Heng tightly clutched the towel with both hands. She pursed her lips, took a deep breath, and said, "I know you came to see me, and the doctor who came to the village clinic was also sent by you, right?"
Li Wenjian looked at the small, damp Zhao Heng in front of him, his eyes showing some surprise.
His ears turned slightly red, and he awkwardly said, "What are you talking about? I don't understand."
"I could smell it." Zhao Heng looked at him earnestly. "After each time you came, there was your scent in my room. The doctor at the clinic also carried your scent."
Li Wenjian's face flushed, quickly turning away to look at the flickering light under the eaves, feeling a bit embarrassed to be caught.
The light cast his silhouette, the long, dense feathers of his eyelashes trembling lightly. In a daze, Zhao Heng almost thought she had guessed wrong.
She quickly lowered her head. Then she heard Li Wenjian say, "I just came to check if you were taking your medicine properly."
"That explains it," Zhao Heng said, pursing her lips. "I wake up every morning with a bitter taste in my mouth."
Li Wenjian said softly, "I'm sorry."
Zhao Heng's lips curved slightly, "You're not a bad person, are you?"
Li Wenjian asked, "Why would you think I'm a bad person?"
Feeling a sense of shame for suspecting a good person, Zhao Heng said softly, "I thought you wanted to deceive me and use my heart as medicine."
Li Wenjian was stunned for a moment. After confirming he hadn't misheard, he tentatively asked, "Did Wang Zhong really use people's hearts as medicine?"
Zhao Heng nodded, "He wanted me to willingly let him use my heart as medicine. But then, for some reason, he changed his mind and asked me to help him test the medicine."
Li Wenjian looked at Zhao Heng in shock. She was still so young, her eyes as clear as water. How could Wang Zhong intimidate her like this!
His hand clenched into a fist, a coldness flickering in his eyes.
"Shulang, Brother Shulang?"
Li Wenjian came back to himself, staring at her face for a long while, frowning as he said, "The rain is too heavy tonight. You will stay here for the night."
"But..." Zhao Heng couldn't understand why he suddenly became angry, pinching her delicate fingertips, stealing a glance at him.
"I'll send someone to your village to inform your grandmother and bring her to the mansion tomorrow," Li Wenjian said. He didn't want to get angry in front of her, rubbing his brow, suppressing the anger that Wang Zhong's actions had ignited, "From now on, you will live in An Mansion, here is your home."
In the dark night, Zhao Heng's small face looked even more delicate under the dim light. Her black eyes fell on Li Wenjian's face, half hesitant and half surprised as she asked, "Why, why are you helping me?"
"For no reason," Li Wenjian said. "Just like rain nourishes all things, and moonlight shines on the world, there's no reason needed. I wanted to help you, so I did."
Zhao Heng, more confused after hearing his words, thought of the Buddhas in the temple. People prayed to them, and they dispelled all worldly worries.
So, Brother Shulang was like the Buddhas.
*
Late into the night, Li Wenjian, fearing Xue shi might worry at home, sent Jian Ning to the village to inform her. It was inconvenient to travel in a rainy night, so the mansion's carriage would go to pick her up in the morning.
Zhao Heng was soaked through, and he was afraid she would catch a cold, so he had her taken to bathe and change first.
Yanshanju didn't have girls' clothing, so he had someone borrow two sets of An Qinghan's clothes from the Bai's family for her to wear.
Curiously trailing behind Li Wenjian, Mu Gui questioned with some confusion, "Young Master, I've tried many ways, and she didn't fall for them. Why did she come tonight?"
Li Wenjian didn't even lift his eyes, but said in a light and lively tone, "Because she is very clever."
Mu Gui asked again, "Should I tell Manager Liu to arrange a place for them in Ningping Lane?"
An family was generous and treated relatives and destitute literati with courtesy. At first, he set aside a corner in the northwest corner of the mansion for them to live in.
Later, as the turmoil grew, more and more people sought refuge, so, for the safety of the mansion, An family built a row of houses along the back wall of the courtyard to accommodate destitute relatives and guests.
Mu Gui thought that the young master had mistakenly caught this young girl based on one side of Wang Zhong's words at that time, but in the end, he did not harm her and even sought to make amends for her. Now that she had sought refuge, it was appropriate to send her to Ningping Lane.
But unexpectedly, after a while, Li Wenjian's face showed a hint of joy, "No need, I will go and tell the aunt in charge to let them stay at Qingyuan."
"Qingyuan?" Mugui puzzled, Qingyuan was just a wall away from the young master's Yanshan Residence. Although it was not big, with only three or four rooms, the scenery in the garden was excellent, and it was not a place that anyone could live in.
Why did the young master treat that little rascal so well?
Perplexed, Mu Gui scratched his head. The young master was originally stable and experienced, but now his actions were becoming more and more incomprehensible.
Zhao Heng was taken to a room by several maids, who helped her remove her dirty coarse linen clothes, wash away the mud from the road, and pick out new clothes from a pile borrowed for her to change into.
Zhao Heng sat in front of a bronze mirror, looking at the reflection of her yellow, thin figure in the mirror, feeling confused.
A maid stood behind her, carefully drying her hair. She felt uneasy all over, but whenever she mentioned that she had come, they said, "This was ordered by the young master."
The sound of rain outside did not stop. Zhao Heng felt no sleepiness at all, sitting on the bed with a soft pillow in her arms, staring blankly, listening to the relentless rain outside, feeling extremely complex.
This place was so beautiful, with exquisite carvings on every pillar in the room.
Brother Shulang said this would be her home in the future. She felt an unreal feeling, as if she were walking lightly on a cloud.
Everything from this strange mansion to the gorgeous clothes that had fallen from the sky made her feel out of place.
"Young lady, it's time to sleep." The sound of a door opening suddenly came, and the maid who had bathed her walked in, her slender figure approaching.
She walked to the bedside and knelt down to take off Zhao Heng's shoes. She blushed a little and felt a little uncomfortable. Kicking off her shoes with one foot, she quickly climbed into bed and pulled the blanket over her.
Before, Yingque had served the eldest young lady, and it took some effort to get her to sleep at night. Seeing Zhao Heng so obedient, she smiled slightly, tucked in her blanket, and said, "Go to sleep. The young master said your grandmother will come to the mansion early tomorrow morning, so you have to wake up early."
"Grandmother (Zumu)?" Zhao Heng was still unfamiliar with this term.
Yingque thought of the shabby coarse linen clothes she had worn when she arrived and guessed that she must have come from a poor background, so she smiled and said, "It's a term of respect for your grandmother. In wealthy families, they all call their grandmothers like that."
Zhao Heng nodded, tilted her head, and murmured twice.
Yingque's gentle hand lightly covered her eyes, whispering softly, "Go to sleep."
Zhao Heng nodded and obediently closed her tired eyes slowly.
Yingque stayed by the bedside until she fell asleep before extinguishing the light and resting in the adjacent room.
*
Li Wenjian went to see Bai Shi in the middle of the night.
An family was a renowned scholar for a century, with a gentle family background, generous and charitable. Li Wenjian intervened on behalf of Zhao Heng, and Bai Shi would surely show him some grace.
She heard that Zhao Heng's parents had died while helping ferry passengers during a major flood, so she felt a little more pity for her. When she heard that Zhao Heng had risked her life to save her grandmother from Wang Zhong's poison, she praised her endlessly.
However, helping a helpless orphan was one thing, but coming to the mansion was another matter.
Li Wenjian said, "She has some talent, and I want to teach her and guide her. She will surely become someone great in the future."
His Ah Heng had been too dazzling in her past life, promoting women officials in the palace, establishing a charity hall, thriving women's education, and managing female's policy households. She gave women the opportunity to serve the country, and all the women in the world praised her achievements, building shrines and erecting stele to commemorate her for generations to come.
After hearing this, Bai Shi nodded and agreed without saying anything more.
Back at Yanshan Residence, Li Wenjian felt no sleepiness.
He sat by the window with a book, flipping through it methodically. Thinking about meeting Zhao Heng's grandmother the next day, he felt a sourness in his heart. There was a moment when he even felt a bit desolate.
He didn't know how to face her with what kind of expression.
The flame of the lamp on the desk gently swayed, shining on the rows of ink characters on the paper, like tadpoles swimming in water, unable to reach the bottom.
Li Wenjian felt the light was too dazzling, so he moved the lamp further away.
The characters on the paper dimmed, and he sat at the desk, like a dead tree, silently listening to the night's wind and rain.
The early morning sun was bright on a spring day.
With the rain subsided at dawn, the morning light entered the room through the window mullions.
Mu Gui came early, thinking that Li Wenjian would wake up early as usual for exercise, so he planned to tidy up the room first and then go outside to meet Zhao Heng's grandmother. Unexpectedly, when he arrived at his bedroom door, the door was half open, and inside, it was the same as last night, with the bedding neatly arranged, indicating that the young master was not in the room last night.
Glancing up at the study, Mu Gui saw that the study was still lit with candles burning.
He hesitated for a moment before lightly knocking on the door, "Young Master?"
Li Wenjian, who had sat motionless all night, finally moved his body. It took a while for him to find his voice, "Has she arrived?" There was a hint of imperceptible weariness in his voice.
Mu Gui replied quickly, "They left before dawn."
In the next moment, the previously closed study door unexpectedly opened, and Li Wenjian stood in the doorway, his hand resting on the door frame. Draped in a moon-white robe, the spirited young man inexplicably exuded a sense of desolation.
Mu Gui looked at his slightly crumpled robe, feeling that he was somewhat unfamiliar.
Li Wenjian gazed quietly at the sunrise on the horizon for a while before saying, "I'll go freshen up first."
He returned to his room, changed clothes, washed his face, and combed his hair before coming out again.
Outside the courtyard, a cheerful footstep rang out, followed by the voice of Yingque, "Miss, take your time, don't rush."
In the next moment, a small figure bounced towards Yanshan Residence.
A faint smile appeared on his lips, and after a night of tension, his face felt a little sore.
"Brother Shulang," she saw Li Wenjian outside and waved to him, calling out.
Yingque heard this and grabbed her hand, slowing down her enthusiastic steps, saying, "Did you forget everything I told you yesterday?"
Upon hearing this, Zhao Heng stop stopped her dancing and obediently walked towards Li Wenjian.
As she approached the end, she became a bit anxious, taking bigger steps, almost leaping joyfully in front of him.
Yingque shook her head.
"Brother Shulang," she looked up at the young man standing on the steps.
His deep eyes reflected the morning light, radiating a different kind of brilliance.
Zhao Heng stop stared at his clear and innocent gaze, the faint dimples yet to take shape making her gaze at him for a while. "Why are you so happy?"
Zhao Heng stop looked up at him, "Grandma (Nainai; 奶奶)..."
Thinking of what Yingque had said last night about how wealthy families address grandmas as grandmothers, she corrected herself, "Yingque said my grandmother (Zumu; ç¥æ¯) has arrived."
"Mm," Li Wenjian said, "She should be here soon."
"In the future, will we all live in the place we stayed last night?" Zhao Heng sounded uncertain.
Li Wenjian asked her, "You don't like that place?"
"Not at all!" Zhaoxuan hurriedly explained, "I really like it. It's just..."
It was just that the house was too beautiful.
"Good, as long as you like it, that place will be your home in the future," Li Wenjian said with a smile.
It turned out that miracles do happen.
It turned out that there are living bodhisattvas in the mortal world.
Her slender, warm fingers passed through his hand, hooked onto his pinky finger, gently swaying it, as she softly said, "I will definitely work hard in the future!"
Li Wenjian poked her cheek.