Dust rose beneath the horse’s hooves. As he looked at the horse’s back, Wen Tian suddenly felt that Chu Xiangtian was not a bad person.
“Shall we find a place to sit?” Zhou Chuanqing held Chu Xiangtian’s robe and said to Wen Tian, “The master won’t lose him, we can just wait.”
Wen Tian nodded, and then, remembering that Chu Xiangtian had said that Zhou Chuanqing was here to seek marriage, he hesitated for a moment before asking, “Aren’t you going to the Flower Temple?”
Zhou Chuanqing’s eyelids twitched; he coughed lightly and said, “I’ve already paid my respects.”
Wen Tian didn’t make a fuss. He nodded and returned to the carriage with Zhou Chuanqing.
There was tea prepared in the carriage. Wen Tian set out the food box with flower cakes and poured him tea. The two of them ate the cakes and waited for news.
Zhou Chuanqing was not shy and picked up a piece of flower cake. The flower cake had been formed into the shape of a peach blossom, white with a light pink color in the middle. Upon taking a bite, his mouth was immediately filled with the aroma of peach blossoms.
It was surprisingly delicious.
After finishing one piece of flower cake, Zhou Chuanqing picked up another piece and praised, “People who make flower cakes must have a pure heart1.” The shape, color, taste and aroma were all top-grade, better than any flower cake he had ever eaten before.
“My sister made it.” Whenever his sister was praised, Wen Tian immediately became proud. “The flower cakes she makes are always more delicious than others.”
As if he had found kindred feelings, Wen Tian took out a small, sealed wine bottle from the secret compartment of the small table. Wen Tian carefully opened the seal, and the carriage was suddenly filled with a faint fragrance of peach blossoms and wine.
He took out two small wine cups and filled them up. Wen Tian pushed one cup in front of Zhou Chuanqing, “My sister also made the peach blossom wine, please try it.”
Picking up the small wine cup, Zhou Chuanqing brought it to his nose and took in its scent. The aroma of peach blossoms blended with the aroma of the wine, carrying a hint of sweetness. He brought the wine cup to his lips and took a sip. The wine entered his throat and the aroma spread. It was difficult to hold back from taking another sip.
After finishing a small cup of wine, Zhou Chuanqing praised sincerely, “Miss Wen is really good at her craftsmanship.” He remembered that the last time Wen Tian was snatched up the mountain seemed to be the day of Miss Wen’s wedding, so he asked further, “The stupid things Chang Xi last time, they didn’t affect your sister’s marriage, did they?”
“The engagement with the Jiao family has been broken off.” There was no trace of embarrassment on Wen Tian’s face, and he said calmly: “Jiao Changxian showed poor conduct and is not worthy of my sister.”
Zhou Chuanqing had also heard about Jiao Changxian’s exploits. He heard that he was a dandy who wandered around. He nodded in agreement. “Such a person is indeed not worthy of Miss Wen.”
Zhou Chuanqing did not show any disdain or disapproval of his sister’s broken engagement. Wen Tian’s impression of him immediately improved a lot, and the atmosphere, which had been a bit tense, became harmonious. The two of them sipped wine with flower cakes, and passed the time on the carriage.
Around noon, the surroundings outside suddenly bustled with activity. Several large carriages stopped on the side of the road. Servants in short jackets carried out a few short seats and cushions from the carriages and walked towards the peach blossom forest.
Wen Tian curiously leaned forward to take a look, and saw several young men dressed as nobility descending from the most luxurious carriage in the middle. Wen Tian saw that they were all familiar faces. There were only so many wealthy households in Sifang Town, and each one was acquainted with each other.
The people on the opposite side also saw Wen Tian. The leader’s eyes lit up when he saw Wen Tian. He walked over quickly, cupped his hands, smiled and said, “We had just been to Wen Mansion to find you, but we didn’t expect you to come here first.”
“What are you doing here?” Getting down from the carriage, Wen Tian pointed at the busy servants.
“Have you forgotten about the flower viewing party?” The young master who was talking to Wen Tian was called Li Qingnian. He was the son of the Li family, and was one year younger than Wen Tian. As the family’s young master, he had always been favored by the family and so lived a prodigal and indulgent life. Wen Tian didn’t really like spending time with him before. On the other hand, Li Qingnian was always looking for him to hang out with, and liked to call on him.
In the past, Wen Tian had been influenced by Wen Boli and felt that these young children only knew how to get together to eat, drink and have fun all day long. In fact, he looked down on them secretly. For every three times that Li Qingnian would come to see him, he thought it enough to go over one time just to save face.
Unexpectedly, when he fell into hard times later on, the families they thought they were friends with were unwilling to offend Wen Boli and turned a deaf ear to the mother and son’s pleas. However, Li Qingnian, who had never paid much attention to him, came to help them.
Compared to the Wen family, the Li family could only be considered a lower-level rich family. The Li family started out in the wine-making business, and the parents doted on their children. The three sons all had a fun-loving temperament, but it was only after one got to know them better that one realized that their nature was not bad. Compared to Jiao Changxian’s wanton behavior, they can only be considered childish and playful at worst.
However, it may be that good people did not get their just rewards. Wen Tian vaguely remembered that after the great disaster that year, the Li family fell into decline, and the Li family mansion had to be sold off. He also heard that Madame Li passed away, and Wen Tian never saw Li Qingnian’s family again.
“I didn’t forget, I just came here with my sister this morning.” Wen Tian remembered that the concierge had sent in a message beforehand, but the atmosphere at home was low at that time, so he didn’t pay much attention to it. He didn’t expect that it had been sent by Li Qingnian. .
After knowing him for so long, Wen Tian spoke to him in a friendly manner for the first time. Li Qingnian was cheerful, his round face full of smiles. “I’ll let people go and set up the place first. There are still a few people who haven’t arrived yet.”
Wen Tian nodded and looked at Zhou Chuanqing beside him. “I have a friend here. Can we come together?”
Li Qingnian naturally agreed. “Your friends are my friends.”
So Zhou Chuanqing was surrounded by this group of teenagers who were no more than eighteen years old, and went to enjoy the flowers with them.
Li Qingnian talked a lot, or perhaps it was that he felt flattered by Wen Tian’s sudden improvement in attitude. He kept close to Wen Tian’s side and kept talking to him, but Wen Tian was not impatient. He listened attentively, occasionally responding in a friendly tone.
“Why do I feel like you’re not the same as before…” Li Qingnian suddenly said.
Wen Tian froze, and lowered his eyes slightly. “What’s different?”
Li Qingnian smiled in a silly manner. “I don’t know, I just feel like you’re very talkative today. You didn’t like to talk to me in the past.”
Wen Tian didn’t expect that he would also sense how perfunctory he had been in the past. As he looked at Li Qingnian’s innocent smile, he felt a little guilty. “Sorry, in the past, I…”
“What’s this about…” Li Qingnian waved his hand. “You’re good-looking, so I like to hang out with you.”
Wen Tian: “…”
He scratched his face in embarrassment, not knowing how to proceed.
The group of people wandered outside for a while, and when a servant came to report that the venue had been set up, everyone headed towards the Peach Blossom Forest.
The location of the flower-viewing banquet was in a quiet open space deep in the Peach Blossom Forest. The open space had been set up with a few low tables and cushions, and curtains were hung on the surrounding peach blossom branches. When the breeze blew, they fluttered gently, giving the elegant impression of a gathering of literati.
But Wen Tian’s attention was no longer on this. His ears were occupied by the noisy peach blossom trees.
Perhaps because strangers had arrived, the peach blossom trees were very excited. They were chattering and discussing what these people were going to do later, and some were complaining that the flowers were uncomfortable being tangled up in the curtains…
Wen Tian found them so noisy that he felt like he was in a clamorous market.
Glancing around, Wen Tian took advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention to him and found a relatively large peach tree. He whispered without any hope, “Can you make them quiet for a while?”
The branches of the old peach tree swayed, surprisingly not as timid as the plants Wen Tian had met before, and said slowly in an aged voice: “I think I have seen you before.”
Wen Tian: “???”
“But it’s been too long, I can’t remember.” The old peach tree spoke slowly, his thoughts jumping around fast. In a blink of an eye, he switched to another topic, “What did you just say?”
Wen Tian could only repeat, “They are too noisy. Can you please tell them to keep it down?”
“Oh…” the old peach tree’s voice sounded like he was smiling. “That is easy to handle.”
Wen Tian was still thinking about how to quiet the chattering peach trees when he heard an old voice yelling in his ear, “Stop making noise!” The voice was so strong and powerful that it made Wen Tian’s ears buzz.
After the old peach tree finished roaring, the aftermath of the sound continued to spread unceasingly into the distance, and the peach trees immediately quieted down. Then he spoke to Wen Tian in the same slow tone he used earlier, “Is it okay now?”
Wen Tian nodded, dumbfounded, rubbed his ringing ears vigorously, said ‘thank you’ to the old peach tree, and then walked back as if he was in a fugue.
When he found Li Qingnian and Zhou Chuanqing, they were already seated at the banquet. When they saw Wen Tian, they asked him to sit down. Li Qingnian had reserved the center seat for him in advance.
In addition to the current group of people, Wen Tian found that there were a few more unfamiliar faces. His eyes slowly swept across the seats, and suddenly he saw an old acquaintance.
Wen, Ze, Ming!
===Author’s Notes===
Tiantian: Roll up your sleeves and fight.jpg
Tiantian is about to get a handsome boy www
Do you still remember who Wen Zeming is? !
===Translator’s Notes===
Man, I really do adore Wen Tian’s relationship with his sister. Even with something as small puffing up with pride whenever his sister is praised…. they’re just too cute.
Zhou Chuanqing: Your sister is great at what she does, and also too good for her ex-fiance.
Wen Tian: Oh hi there new BFF!
- Literally “orchid heart”, which DeepL translates into “golden heart”, google translate into “good heart” and baidu into “pure heart”. ↩︎
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