Chapter 73: A Conflict Behind the Scenes
Inside and outside the banquet hall, everyone had taken their seats.
Apart from the main table and two adjacent tables, the rest were mostly acquaintances, not very particular about seating arrangements, sitting wherever they were familiar.
Qiu Henian and Qingyan sat in the large room outside the banquet hall, together with Aunt Li and the Liu family.
Liu Fa’s wife turned her head to look into the banquet hall. Over there, Liu Youfu and Zhang Ju were trying to find seats. She turned back and kicked Liu Fa under the table. Liu Fa understood, quickly turned around to see what was going on, then hurriedly got up to call the two over to their table.
Zhang Ju was still dissatisfied, grumbling, “It’s warm over there. Why did you have to call us over!”
This remark angered Liu Fa’s wife even more. She lowered her voice and said, “It’s all village head’s family and relatives over there. Why are you trying to join in!”
Pointing at several old villagers from the village inside the banquet hall, Zhang Ju retorted, “They are there too. Why can’t I go?”
Liu Fa’s wife was furious. Liu Fa slapped Zhang Ju’s arm and said, “The food is the same inside and out. You won’t lose out by staying here!”
Only then did Zhang Ju quiet down and sit down.
After settling down, Liu Fa’s wife lowered her voice even more and asked, “How did you come here?”
Zhang Ju replied, “I’ve been cooped up at home every day. It’s suffocating.”
Liu Fa’s wife took a deep breath, “You came empty-handed? Why didn’t I see you bring a gift just now?”
Zhang Ju smiled, “Didn’t you all bring one? We’re family, no need for two gifts!”
Everyone at the table was watching. Liu Cai and Qi Yinglan were there too. Liu Fa’s wife couldn’t say much and could only helplessly keep quiet, no longer paying attention to them.
But after a while, she remembered someone missing. She looked around and didn’t find the person until she looked into the banquet hall and saw Liu Xiang chatting enthusiastically with a young man named Yang Huai. Liu Xiang leaned on the table next to him, chatting animatedly with him.
However, Yang Huai seemed a bit bored. Although there was a smile on his lips, his face showed signs of impatience.
Yang Huai was also somewhat strange, glancing over at their table from time to time, a playful look in his eyes.
But Liu Fa’s wife was so angry with Liu Xiang that her vision was almost blackened. She had no mood to figure out whom Yang Huai was looking at.
After the banquet dispersed, most of the guests said their farewells and left.
Qingyan and Qiu Henian stayed behind to help clean up.
Qiu Henian was called to check the gift accounts, while Qingyan helped wash the dishes and plates in the outer room. Many of these were borrowed from various households, and the men would use carts later to return them along with the tables and chairs to each home.
When they were almost done, the son of the village head called everyone to rest inside with tea and sugar cubes and melon seeds. Qingyan told them to go first and finished up the remaining tasks himself.
After a while, someone stood at the doorway of the outer room. He was backlit, casting a long shadow that stretched all the way to the basin where Qingyan was washing dishes.
Qingyan’s fingers in the basin curled slightly, a vague sense of unease creeping over him.
Sure enough, the shadow moved quickly and extended to the wall in front of Qingyan.
Yang Huai held a paper fan in his hand and walked up beside him, looking down at his robes with a meaningful smile, saying, “Did you specially change into a new robe?”
Qingyan didn’t look at him, biting his teeth in silence.
He knew the other party had misunderstood something, but he didn’t want to say a word to this person.
Just one word could lead to endless complications.
Yang Huai chuckled and looked at Qingyan’s hand in the basin and the exposed forearm under the rolled-up sleeve.
He couldn’t help but gaze at it for a moment, then involuntarily recited, “Red bean hand, yellow vine wine…”
Before he finished the poem, he lightly leaned the paper fan toward Qingyan’s exposed forearm. It seemed he wanted to explore further.
Although it was just a fan, it was already extremely rude.
Qingyan suddenly lifted the basin of water and splashed it towards Yang Huai.
Yang Huai sensed something was wrong when he raised his hand, but although he dodged in time, his clean soft boots still got splattered with dirty water.
He glanced down, not angry or annoyed, but instead looked at Qingyan, who was angrily gasping for breath.
Then he bowed with a smile, “I’ve been abrupt. Please forgive me, Young Master Qingyan!”
Qingyan’s hand clenched into a fist at his side. This Yang Huai smiled at him and bowed again before turning and leisurely walking away.
Qingyan watched his figure disappear behind the door, finally feeling a bit relieved.
The touch on his forearm just now felt like a snake crawling on his skin. He quickly scooped up another ladle of water and rinsed off his arm in the basin, feeling somewhat comfortable after a long time.
At this moment, the son of the village head came over again, feeling embarrassed, “Qingyan, you’ve been busy all day. Come and take a rest. Don’t overdo it.”
Qingyan wiped his hands and replied, “Alright,” with a smile.
“Everything’s done. We just need to load them onto the carts later.”
The son of the village head led Qingyan into the main room.
When they exited the outer room, he looked around in confusion, then turned to Qingyan and asked, “Hey, just now your husband said he was coming to get you. Why didn’t I see him?”
Upon hearing this, Qingyan was stunned for a moment, then realized and said, “Maybe someone asked him to help with something.”
The son of the village head laughed, “You two handle everything so efficiently. There must be a reason why your family lives so well in the village!”
The two of them politely entered the main room.
The people who had been working just now were sitting on the kang, chatting and cracking melon seeds. Qingyan found a seat and sat down too.
He waited until almost everyone had left, but Qiu Henian still hadn’t returned.
Qingyan knew it was time to leave. He bid farewell to the people from the village head’s family, exchanged a few auspicious words, and walked out of the house towards the courtyard gate.
Just as he walked out of the courtyard gate, similar to the situation in the morning, a familiar carriage was parked by the roadside outside the gate.
Qingyan frowned. Yang Huai had left about an incense stick’s time ago.
Why had this carriage returned?
He was pondering this when a servant jumped down from the carriage.
In a panic, he ran into the courtyard, shouting, “Something’s wrong, something’s wrong! Our Young Master Yang was attacked by bandits!”
Qingyan was stunned. Seeing the village head and his son hurriedly following the servant out of the house, he quickly hastened his steps to leave.
There were loud shouts behind him, and Yang Huai’s cries of pain.
The village head was furious.
“Who did this?”
The servant stammered, “I don’t know either. We had just left the village and were on the official road not long ago. A bandit with a masked face jumped out from the roadside forest. The horse was startled, and with a kick, the Young Master fell out of the carriage. The bandit ran away, and I had a hard time controlling the horse and coming back to look for the Young Master. This is how we found him.”
The village head asked Yang Huai again, “Huai’er, did you see what the bandit looked like?”
Yang Huai was in so much pain that he could barely speak.
He struggled to say, “No… I didn’t.”
Qingyan couldn’t help but be curious. Looking back, he saw the village chief and the attendant helping down a person from the carriage. The once shiny satin robe was now torn and dirty all over.
One of his soft boots was still on his foot, but the other seemed to have been lost somewhere, leaving him in just socks, which were also disheveled and black.
The village chief’s assistance was a bit rough, causing Yang Huai to wail in pain. His swollen and bruised face made him almost unrecognizable compared to before.
He still held onto something in his hand. Qingyan initially thought it was his missing shoe, but upon closer inspection, he realized it was a torn and tattered fan that looked like it had been trampled on the ground dozens of times.
Qingyan’s eyelids twitched suddenly.
He quickly turned around and briskly walked into the next intersection, taking a longer route home.
…
When Qingyan arrived home, the front door was securely locked, indicating no one had been home yet.
He used his key to open the door and walked through the courtyard, ignoring the hungry chicks chirping for food as they saw him, and went straight into the house.
After closing the outer door, a small figure ran over, rubbed against his legs for a moment, then stepped back a few steps before lightly leaping into his arms.
Qingyan hugged the small cat with delight, placing its purring head on his shoulder and gently rocking it.
Leaning against the door panel lost in thought, Qingyan felt both anxious and inexplicably happy and amused.
After a while, unable to contain himself, he burst out laughing.
…
It was half an hour later when Qiu Henian finally returned. Qingyan asked where he had been and why he hadn’t come home together. Qiu Henian said he had some urgent business at the blacksmith’s shop.
Qingyan discreetly observed him from behind, quickly averting his gaze when Qiu Henian turned towards him.
For dinner, Qingyan steamed large dumplings filled with pork and potatoes, made porridge, and stir-fried two dishes. He had cut the potatoes into strips and mixed them with the pork filling. After steaming, the oil seeped through the white and tender dumpling skins.
Qingyan deliberately opened a dumpling and showed it to Qiu Henian, saying with a smile, “You wanted lamb and potato dumplings before, but couldn’t eat them due to medicine. This time I made pork and potato ones, seasoned with cumin to give a hint of lamb flavor, just to satisfy your craving a bit.”
Qiu Henian took the dumpling, took a bite, and said, “It’s very delicious.”
Qingyan noticed a slight swelling on his hand’s knuckles and felt sorry for him. He kept serving him several more helpings of dishes until Qiu Henian looked down at his own bowl and somewhat helplessly said, “Qingyan, if you serve more, it’ll overflow.”
Only then did Qingyan notice the protruding dumpling and paused for a moment before bursting into laughter.
Qiu Henian looked at him and laughed too. Qingyan’s heart fluttered.
He stood up from his chair, walked around the table, and sat on Qiu Henian’s lap, tightly hugging his neck, murmuring in his ear, “I really like you so much.”
Spoiler for the Next Chapter:
“That day, when you found out you weren’t pregnant and cried sadly, Qingyan,” his gaze returned to Qingyan, “I’m sorry, I may not be able to give you a child.”
