“Ninth Uncle is going out to visit friends, but he will be back in a few days.” Cheng Yujin didn’t care about the situation outside. She smiled sweetly, luring her prey in. “If Brother Lin is in a hurry, you might as well leave a message with me. When Ninth Uncle returns, I will send someone to Lin Manor to give you a call.”
Lin Qingyuan was very grateful. “Thank you, eldest miss Cheng. Eldest miss is warmhearted and kind. You have helped me a lot, but I don’t know how to repay you.”
Cheng Yujin lowered her head, her long eyelashes trembled like butterfly wings, “Just a small matter, how can I ask Brother Lin to repay me? If Brother Lin seriously feels indebted, you can teach me some poems.”
Poems were exactly what Lin Qingyuan was good at. His personality was easygoing, and he rarely bothered about trifles. This time was no exception. He didn’t think much, and easily accepted Cheng Yujin’s proposal with a wave of his hand: “This is easy. I will do my best for eldest miss.”
Cheng Yujin raised her head, pursed her lips, and smiled at Lin Qingyuan. For an unknown reason, the young man felt her smile to be very dazzling. He quickly turned his eyes away. His gaze wandered about, not knowing where to put it. Luckily, the water in the teapot began to gurgle again. As if finding a savior, Lin Qingyuan hurriedly said: “Eldest miss Cheng, the water has been boiling.”
“Yes.” Cheng Yujin softly responded and raised her hands to pour the third batch of water into the boiling pot. Warm vapor filled the room. The tea leaves heated by boiling water also released a light and relaxing fragrance throughout the room.
Cheng Yujin’s voice echoed with the tea fragrance: “Brother Lin, you cannot go home and is alone in the capital for the New Year. Aren’t the elders at home worry about you?”
Lin Qingyuan sighed, feeling rare loneliness: “Of course my father and mother are not at ease. They wrote several times to urge me to go home. But loyalty and filial piety are difficult to balance. Since I entered Hanlin Academy, I must always put my duty to the court first.”
Cheng Yujin nodded. She put down the water and sighed: “Brother Lin is right. But pity the parents in the world. Brother Lin is like this, the elders in your family surely cannot feel at ease. Why Brother Lin never think about starting a family? If you have a wife to take care of you, the elders probably will be less worried.”
Without Lin Qingyuan noticed it, the topic turned heavy and private. He sighed again: “Indeed. My mother and grandmother have urged me about this, but I always feel that it’s not time yet.”
“Not time yet?” Cheng Yujin raised her eyebrows and asked, “What does Brother Lin mean?”
Lin Qingyuan was silent for a moment before shaking his head slowly: “Once people grow up, it is a natural event to start a family. But I always feel that I do not yet need to marry. Since I haven’t found the right person, I don’t want to get married rashly.”
Cheng Yujin raised her eyebrows with an obvious shock. Lin Qingyuan’s sincerity about marriage was far beyond Cheng Yujin’s imagination. In the environment she grew up in, which high-ranking family’s sons didn’t rely on ancestors’ accumulated merit and lived off their family’s wealth? They spent most of their time doing nothing, just playing around and visiting pleasure houses. Once they reached the age, they would marry a wife from suitable status and background, but getting married wouldn’t affect their romantic affairs. What they needed to do was to treat their wives with courtesy and didn’t let those beautiful concubines step on the legal wife’s head.
Cheng Yujin was used to this kind of husband and wife relationship. Her father and mother, uncles and aunts, and even her clan sisters, all led such a life. Concubines were merely a part of the family’s property. It was enough for the wife to manage them well, didn’t let them give birth to eldest son, and prevented the husband from spoiling the concubines and destroying the wife. Why bother competing with concubines?
As for whether there was love between the couple, no one had even considered it. A man like Lin Qingyuan, who dragged on his own marriage because he had yet to encounter a woman he loved, was extremely rare.
Cheng Yujin paused for a long time. She lowered her head and smiled: “I really envy Brother Lin’s future wife. How lucky it is for a woman to be treated so sincerely like this.”
Cheng Yujin had never put down her smile all day today. But only at this moment that her smile was sincere. Ironically, it was a bitter smile.
Cheng Yujin couldn’t help but think sadly. How happy would it be to be treated so sincerely by a man? She always despised Huo Changyuan and Cheng Yumo, but it was a truth that Cheng Yumo in the previous life was really loved by Huo Changyuan. But only her, her whole life had always been like her father, mother, uncles, and aunts. It was a life of mutual respect that started and ended with common interests.
Lin Qingyuan blushed by Cheng Yujin’s words. He glanced at the girl. Through the water vapor, her face was not clear. But the flower partially hidden by the mist was even more beautiful. Lin Qingyuan suddenly found himself stuttering: “Actually…it’s not as great as eldest miss Cheng said. I am just an ordinary man. Eldest miss Cheng shouldn’t overpraise me.”
Cheng Yujin looked up and smiled at Lin Qingyuan: “Why not? Brother Lin should be more confident of yourself.”
Lin Qingyuan’s future wife was certainly worthy of being envied by everyone, because that person would be her! Why should she give up this kind of luck?
Such an affectionate seedling. Let him find his true love? How could it be possible? Of course, she had to use any means to grab him for herself.
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