Chapter 61.2: What Happened to Us?

Song Liangzhuo looked at the Xiaoqi who had her head lowered. Holding her hand, he slowly walked forward. After walking forward a while, he made his tone gentle as he asked, "That person, why is he here with you again?"

Xiaoqi lifted her eyes to aim a glance at Song Liangzhuo, then replied quietly, "We bumped into him."

"In the future, don't spend time with him." Song Liangzhuo restrained himself for half the day before he was no longer able to hold back this sentence.

"Oh."(ok)

What did he want to do? What exactly was it that he wanted to do? Song Liangzhuo pulled Xiaoqi silently all the way to the government office entrance. He looked at the twilight of the sunset, then at the large stone lions in front of the governmental office. It was then that he suddenly recalled that he had brought her here for the sake of looking at the scenery.

Song Liangzhuo gave a silent sigh. Whenever he saw her with that man, he would always get angry easily, even though he knew that Xiaoqi only thought of him as an ordinary person.

Song Liangzhuo held Xiaoqi's hand and headed straight to the government office's back garden. In there was a scenery pavilion. He had been planning to take her to see Jiangbei's most famous Song View Pavilion from the moment he brought her to Ruzhou as this place also had the tracks of his growth.

When he first arrived here with his family, Song View Pavilion was just a one story building. There were only one pond, one stone garden and one bamboo forest surrounding it. Even though people weren't allowed to casually come in and out of this place, as the prefectural magistrate's eldest Young Master, he was able to enjoy a special privilege.

In those four years, this place was his paradise. Later, Song Qingyun was promoted and the entire family moved to another place. But unexpectedly, after a couple years, they returned again. After so many years, the little bamboo forest had already turned into a bamboo sea. And now, there was even a catalpa forest, a stone bridge, and a water pavilion.

He witnessed this back garden's abundant growth and also wanted share this place where he spent so many years of his life with Xiaoqi.

"En." Xiaoqi tugged at her hand and asked softly, "Where are we going?"

"We're going to look at pretty scenery. It's even more beautiful than the courtyard at home. If it were spring, it'd be even prettier."

Xiaoqi looked at the sky and wrinkled her face as she said, "It's almost dark."

Song Liangzhuo turned to look straight at Xiaoqi. Lifting his hand to stroke the little creases on her scrunched up cheek, he hooked the corners of his mouth as he said, "Are you hungry? I had people prepare some pastries in the pavilion."

Oh, then that means she has to go ah. She can't even refuse? You don't even ask if the person's willing to go with you or not. Xiaoqi lowered her head as she silently criticized.

Song Liangzhuo held Xiaoqi's hand as he continued walking forward. Walking past the stone bridge, they headed onto a small path through the bamboo forest.

"Xiaoqi, this river is the little river outside the city. It passes through the government office and flows out of the city. The water is very clear, and after spring, the water level rises. During that time, the flowers on the shore will float down to land in the water, and you can even see fishes swimming back and forth while carrying the petals. When I was about ten, I would sometimes sneak over here and use a long porcelain bottle with a thin neck and wide opening to catch fish for fun."

Xiaoqi stood still and turned back to look at that little river. She couldn't resist asking, "How do you catch them? You can catch fish with a porcelain bottle?"

Song Liangzhuo looked at Xiaoqi's glittering eyes, then took her hand and walked back again. He sat down next to the river on the wooden chair that was concealed by the tall bamboo trees and pulled her into his arms as he said gently, "Yes, with a porcelain bottle. But it has to be big enough and it's best if the porcelain inside isn't white. The one I used back then was a green glazed bottle. You put steamed bun pieces inside, cover the opening then stand in the shallow water to set up the bottle so its opening faces towards the floor of the river. You have to be careful not to let the steamed bun run out, otherwise, once those little fishies eat their fill, they won't feel like going in to find things to eat."

Song Liangzhuo paused. Xiaoqi twisted her head against his chest and asked, "And then?"

Song Liangzhuo tightened his arms in delight. "And then I would go and hide at the side and watch as crowds of little fish circled and circled around the outside of the bottle. The moment some gluttonous ones squeezed in, I'd abruptly dash over and cover the opening as I pulled the bottle out."

Song Liangzhuo said 'abruptly' as if he was biting Xiaoqi's ear. Xiaoqi was warmed by the hot breath and gave a soft 'yah', then rubbed her ear as she laughed. "When you run over, wouldn't they run away? Little fish are also really sharp ah!"

"They would run backward and end up hitting the bottom of the bottle. Some brave ones would even jump out from the bottle opening towards the river, but more or less I could still catch a couple of them."

Song Liangzhuo gently kissed Xiaoqi's cheek, then pressed his face against hers. He laughed for a bit then said, "Back then, what I loved doing the most was to catch little fishes and have my wet nurse fry them for me to eat. Haha, it was really strange. If I wanted to eat fish, I could've brought any fish I liked, but I simply liked eating the inch big little fish that I caught myself. They didn't even have a bit of flesh. When fried, it's just crunchy like fish-flavored popcorn."

Xiaoqi sucked her saliva back in. "Popcorn is pretty tasty too."

Song Liangzhuo chuckled.

"I also have a wet nurse, she treats me really well." Xiaoqi blinked her eyes. "I miss my wet nurse."

"After a little while, let's take a trip home."

Xiaoqi dazed out for a while as she looked at the little river in front of her, then twisted her head around and asked, "Where's your wet nurse? How come I've never met her?"

"When we moved, my wet nurse said she couldn't bear to leave home and returned to her old home. Originally, it wasn't far from Ruzhou. But by the time we came back, we didn't know where my wet nurse moved to. From what her fellow villager said, it seems she went with her son who started a trade business in the outer province."

Xiaoqi nodded, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, she saw the scene that Song Liangzhuo described. A tiny version of Song Song was running towards the river with his pants rolled up and setting up the bottle next to the river. After he finished, he walked out of the river with his hands behind his back, a complete picture of seriousness. He stood not far away, gazing at the falling petals and leisurely composing a fish-catching poem. Suddenly, he saw the little fish slide in and hastily ran over to lift the bottle out. Carrying the bottle to the shore, he crouched down and stuck out his little butt as he inspected his catch.

Haha, it's so strange. A person that had a serious face all day long would also know how to catch fish.

The picture in Xiaoqi's head shifted and the next scene was one of little Song Song pinching a small charred fish and sending it to his mouth. She seemed to have even seen little Song Song's infatuated expression.

Eh? What does little Song Song's infatuated expression look like?

Xiaoqi curiously twisted her head to stare at Song Liangzhuo. Then based on her imagination, she reached out to press down his slightly raised eyebrows, then pushed his mouth up. After staring silently for a bit, she pushed the space between his eyebrows up a little.

Urgh, so ugly!

Xiaoqi stuck out her tongue, smoothed out Song Liangzhuo's brows and looked towards the little river again.

"Official Song, I also want to catch fish. I want to catch them with a bottle." Like the time he brought her to catch fish. Actually, she was also very happy.

It's Official Song? Song Liangzhuo's expression was a bit sad. He kissed Xiaoqi's cheek, then said, "Once it gets warm I'll bring you here to catch them."

Xiaoqi grinned and laughed silently. She looked at the already completely dark scenery, then lifted her head and looked at the moon that was starting to climb up. After being silent for quite a while, when she turned back again, her eyes were carrying a blurry layer again.

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Credits: Translated by Chiyomira, Proofread by Ocelot

[Chiyomiras Corner]

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