Chapter 339: It’s no bother, I’ll wait for you

Liu Zhixia’s words ironed everyone’s heart, and that brief glance made the Liu family understand.

They looked at each other with a smile, and with the prospect of the coming year, the New Year’s Eve dinner commenced.

After the New Year’s Eve dinner, it was customary in the countryside to stay up late on New Year’s Eve.

The elders were sent to rest, while the younger generation laughed and chatted around the fireplace in the hall, staying all night on New Year’s Eve together.

The fire was burning brightly, and the group of people laughed and teased each other without feeling tired at all.

This was also a very novel experience for Fu Yuzheng.

“Haven’t you ever stayed up all night on the New Year before?” Liu Zhixia captured the novelty in the woman’s eyes and asked.

Fu Yuzheng shook her head, “Yes. When I was still in the Fu Mansion, I was very young and had no memory of this.”

Afterward, when she was more than two years old, they were driven out of the Fu Mansion. She followed her mother and lived the life of a refugee.

Then later, her mother was persecuted and killed, and her newborn brother was strangled to death, leaving her alone, seething with hatred.

At that time, just thinking about how to survive has exhausted all her energy, so how could she be in the mood to think about how to spend the New Year?

There was no one to spend New Year’s Eve with her.

Even in the King of Nanling’s residence, she was alone during the New Year’s holidays.

The King would go to the palace to accompany the emperor for the spring festival, while she stayed in the King’s residence to take care of his mansion, to help direct the servants in the mansion, and also to guard against spies in the shadows at all times.

She has never been so relaxed and secure.

Liu Zhixia’s eyes flickered. He raised his eyes and saw that Nannan, Zhiqiu and Xue Qinglian were gathered together to discuss Xue Qinglian’s new poison. He then lowered his eyes and said, “I’ll stay with you every year. Being on the watch on New Year’s Eve brings about good luck.”

Some words were inconvenient to say in the presence of so many people. It was inconvenient to voice them out loud, so he could only say these here.

He thought she could understand it.

This time, he wasn’t ambiguous.

Fu Yuzheng understood.

The long eyelashes trembled dramatically, almost unable to withstand the impact of that.

He said he would stay with her.

As clear as noonday, crystal clear.

Just a nod of her head at this moment would settle all the differences between them.

He brought her the harbor she could dock, and she could rely on it if she wanted to.

Burning heat condensed in Fu Yuzheng’s eyes, but she looked down and forcibly held back from letting those burns roll down.

What she yearned for was within her reach.

However, she could not reach out to grab it.

Because she has nothing.

While he has a great future ahead of him.

As long as he maintained his standing in the next year’s spring exams, he would certainly enter the court and be ranked among the top hundred officials.

By then, there would be many rich and powerful ladies who wanted the position beside him.

What was she?

If he was with her, he would not get a little help.

The moment of happiness was at her door, but she shamefully retreated.

She didn’t have the courage to take the final step.

She could not give him anything.

The woman was sitting right beside him, a position where he could observe her at a glance. Her jade white hands on her lap scratched out folds on her thick cotton coat. The degree of force turned her finger bones white and almost brittle.

Liu Zhixia slowly withdrew his gaze.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said.

The tears that Fu Yuzheng had been holding back for a long time fell abruptly.

He said it didn’t matter, as light as a feather, making all her emotions come to an abrupt end.

It felt like shearing her off, and her heart throbbed excruciatingly.

“I’ll go pour a glass of water,” Fu Yuzheng whispered, stood up and left the hall with hurried steps.

The three people over there who had been talking passionately immediately looked at Liu Zhixia.

“No more pretending?” Liu Zhixia said.

Xue Qinglian developed numerous poisons, but when have they ever been so interested that they had to surround him for a long discussion?

In fact, everyone’s ears were erected high, eavesdropping on the movements on this side to watch the fun.

“Brother, your black heart is all used to screw me, right? How could you treat a sweet young lady so insensitively?” Liu Zhiqiu condemned in a muffled voice, “I just saw it. You made her so angry she cried. Can you still fulfill Aunt’s wishes next year?”

“Mind your own business. People who don’t even have a wife yet are not qualified to lecture his elder brother.” Liu Zhixia got up and walked towards the outside.

Liu Zhiqiu was so angry that his nose got crooked, “I did it for his own good, but he still stabbed me with a knife. Is he really my brother?”

“In terms of blood relationship, you’re indeed close. Of course, you can disown him,” Xue Qinglian put forward a profound solution.

“Piss off! Why should I disown my brother? Brothers are ready to fight to death for each other under any circumstances. Xue Qinglian, I’m telling you, if you bully me, my brother will help me. Do you believe it or not?”

Xue Qinglian lazily rolled his eyes. Bullying Liu Zhiqiu? How dare he? The first person who would jump out and kill him would be Lucky Nannan.

“Nannan, do you want to go with us to see the fun?” Liu Zhiqiu looked at the darkness outside, and felt an itch in his heart.

He wondered how his elder brother would coax someone. 

The moon was dark and it was windy. Ah, the atmosphere was perfect!

“Don’t go. If Elder Brother gets to know later, I will be fine, but you, not necessarily.”

Liu Zhiqiu immediately shivered.

Forget it, bear with it.

Curiosity can kill the cat.

His life was not much better than a cat.

Outside the hall, it was dark everywhere, and there was not even a star in the canopy.

In the countryside, in order to save lamp oil, farmers didn’t light lamps around the house at night.

Even when days were better now, it has become a habit.

The woman said she was going to pour water. The kitchen was not lit, and visibility was impossible, so how could she pour water?

Liu Zhixia lightly sighed. No matter how smart a woman was, when she was in an emotional turmoil, her words and deeds would reveal flaws.

He raised his feet in the direction of the kitchen. His footsteps were very light, and just as he walked to the door of the kitchen, he heard a muffled whimper from inside.

Like a wounded cub, sad, hesitant, helpless.

Liu Zhixia stood for a while, but there was no sign of stopping inside.

He lifted his feet again and entered.

After his eyes had adapted to the darkness, he saw a vague shadow in the total absence of light.

The woman was leaning against the inner panel of the doorway of the kitchen, her shadow slim and thin.

At the moment, only from the thin figure he couldn’t see clearly did he feel her vulnerability that she kept hidden from people.

He could not look away, and his chest felt stuffed and upset.

He stepped forward, reached out and pulled the woman up and into his embrace.

“Liu Zhixia!” The woman shrieked. She was immersed in self-loathing and did not notice when he arrived. “Let me go!”

The humiliating scene just now was all seen by him.

He must be laughing at her now.

She made a fool of herself by rejecting him, yet upon turning around, she came here to cry secretly!

“Don’t cry,” Liu Zhixia said softly.

“I didn’t cry,” she denied, her voice all thick with a nasal sound.

“When I said it doesn’t matter, it’s not a withdrawal,” he ignored her sophistry and hugged her thin frame in his arms, transmitting his warmth to her in this cold winter. “I know you have many worries and burdens.  I was too abrupt, and without letting you know more about who I am, I rashly said something like that, which made you unable to accept it for a while.”

After the woman in his arms slowly quieted down because of his clarification, he added, “It doesn’t matter, I’ll wait for you.”