Fast Wear: A Different Life

Chapter 172 Ancient Times (26)

During these last few days, Ji Xiao either stayed at home reading or went out to attend literary gatherings. However, she never spoke at gatherings such as poetry and lyrics writing, unless they were painting, playing the piano, or playing chess. As for poetry writing, Ji Xiao was nine out of ten good at it - she didn't know anything at all, and she didn't want to learn from the poems of her predecessors.

Therefore, all the literati in Gusu City knew that Ji Xiao was an extraordinary literary talent, and was good at playing the piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, but he knew nothing about poetry. After Ji Xiao and others left Jiangnan and returned to Qingyun Town, all the literati and students in the entire Jiangnan area knew about Ji Xiao. Even people from other places knew that there was such a person in Qingyun Academy, and they all went to Qingyun Academy to see such a person, but they had never met Ji Xiao once.

Because after holding the anniversary memorial service for her father, she and Li Xiangyi had not returned to Qingyun Town for two years. They only went back early when the exams were approaching. However, after passing the exams and getting their rankings, they held their wedding and continued to travel.

Now Ji Xiao and the other two stayed in Gusu for a few more days, and Li Xiangyi came back around the afternoon of the day before his return trip. The reason why he arrived early was that before Li Xiangyi went out, Ji Xiao told him the specific time of his return trip.

Originally, Li Xiangyi could have arrived a few days earlier, but due to heavy snow in the north, it was inconvenient to travel, and some poor families' houses were crushed by the snow, so he went to help for a few days. This delayed him a little, and he only arrived in the afternoon of the day before departure.

As soon as he stopped at the gate, Ah Da, who had come out to check after hearing the sound of horse hooves, spotted him and said, "Mr. Li, you're back. I'll help you lead the horse to the backyard."

"Ada, thank you very much. Do you know where your young lady is now?" He got off the horse and said to Ada, then asked him to help lead the horse to the backyard, and then asked about Ji Xiao's location.

"The young lady seems to be in the flower hall now."

After getting the answer, Li Xiangyi didn't have time to go back to his room to wash up, so he went to the hall to find Ji Xiao, while Ada led the horse to the backyard. While the two were talking, Banxia knew that Li Xiangyi was back. She didn't leave the kitchen, but directly lit the fire to boil water and cook for later use.

On the other side, Ji Xiao was in the flower hall, hugging the heater, covered with a quilt, half lying on the chaise longue, reading a newly bought book. So when she heard the door open, Ji Xiao thought it was Banxia coming to add hot water for her, so she didn't get up or look up.

But after a while she smelled a scent that belonged to Li Xiangyi alone, a faint, indescribable and pleasant smell. It smelled very good, and she was confused because she felt that she had smelled the same fragrance before, but she couldn't remember where she had smelled it. Ji Xiao didn't worry too much about it, so she kept it in her heart, thinking that maybe she would know it in the future.

Then Ji Xiao got up from the chaise longue in surprise and walked towards Li Xiangyi, saying, "You're back!"

Li Xiangyi opened the door and looked at the picture of the reclining beauty. He was stunned for a while, then saw the beauty walking towards him. He immediately came to his senses and said, "I'm back."

Then he closed the door and, with Ji Xiao's help, followed her and sat down on the couch beside him.

"I thought you wouldn't be back until midnight!"

Li Xiangyi took the kettle from Ji Xiao and said, "Please sit down. I can do it myself."

"Okay." Then she sat down next to him.

Li Xiangyi poured himself two cups of hot water and drank them to relieve his thirst, then continued, "There were only ten miles left, so I rode back at full speed overnight."

When Li Xiangyi was drinking water, Ji Xiao propped up her head and looked at him with a slight complaint, "It was snowing here a few days ago. I heard that the snow in the north was even heavier and many houses collapsed. I thought you couldn't make it back!"

"No matter how heavy the snow is, I will rush back to go back with you. Those that collapsed were all poor families' houses. Fortunately, they were discovered in time and there were no casualties. So I stayed to help for a few days and then rushed back. Anyway, I'm back, and I have something to give you." Then he took out a long and narrow box from the bag he was carrying, handed it to Ji Xiao as if offering a treasure, and said, "Open it and see, do you like it? It's carved from jade that I found by accident." (Obviously, he went to find it on purpose.) Then he looked at her nervously, waiting for her response.

"Yeah!"

Ji Xiao took the box and opened it to see a snow-white jade hairpin. Although it was a simple pattern, it was polished very smooth and delicate. It was also made by Li Xiangyi himself. The important thing was the thought. Then Ji Xiao looked at Li Xiangyi and asked, "You have been making it for a long time, right?"

Li Xiangyi said with a smile, "It didn't take long. It was my first time, so it took a little longer, but it wasn't too difficult. Do you like it?" (Obviously, I went to find the carving master to learn it.)

Ji Xiao just saw the wound on Li Xiangyi's hand that had not yet fully healed. She just pursed her lips and did not expose him. Instead, she looked at the elegant hairpin in her hand, smiled and said to him, "Well, I like it very much. Thank you. Then you can plug it in for me."

To Li Xiangyi, these words sounded like heavenly music, because they proved that Ji Xiao accepted his feelings, and that his feelings were accepted by his sweetheart and gave a positive response. Who wouldn't be happy?

So Li Xiangyi couldn't even suppress the corners of his mouth. After a long while, Ji Xiao didn't see Li Xiangyi make any other movements, so he could only turn his head to look at him in confusion and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

Li Xiangyi quickly came back to his senses, took the hairpin from Ji Xiao's hand with a smile, then held Ji Xiao's head with one hand and put the hairpin on her with the other hand, and then replied, "No, it's nothing, I'll put it on for you right away."

After inserting it, Li Xiangyi straightened the man, then stood with his hands on his hips and admired it for a long time. Finally, he said narcissistically, "It is worthy of being carved by me, Li Xiangyi. It looks good on your head."

From Ji Xiao's perspective, what she saw was Li Xiangyi's dazzling smile, which was very healing, like a big dog asking for praise, and from his slightly raised chin, he looked like a peacock spreading its tail.

But Ji Xiao still believed in Li Xiangyi's judgment. Since he said it was beautiful, it couldn't be ugly. So Ji Xiao didn't look in the mirror, but stood up, took the cloak hanging on the side, and went to eat holding his hand.

"Yes, you are awesome. Now let's go eat first, then you go back to your room to wash up and go to bed. We can talk about anything later. And look at your beard, it's showing stubble, you're not half as handsome as usual."

Li Xiangyi let Ji Xiao lead his hand and walked out. After hearing that he was not good-looking, he suddenly became nervous. Then he raised his free hand, touched his face and asked, "Really? But the stubble has grown out, it's a bit prickly. Then I'll go back and wash up before coming to eat."

Ji Xiao quickly stopped him, "Even so, it's still pretty, so let's go eat first, then you can go wash up and go to bed."

"Okay then, it's all up to you."

Afterwards, Ji Xiao accompanied Li Xiangyi for a dinner that was neither too early nor too late, and then urged him to go back to his room to take a shower and rest.