Back to the Countryside

Chapter 15 : 心意
The intention of the heart 

The newcomer of the village, that Qi Yue, was going to marry He Ling of the He family! 
When this news came out, the village was buzzing with excitement, and all the people who had nothing to do, got together talking and discuss about this matter!

        Everyone was thinking that with He Ling's reputation and his aunt's mean behaviour, he would not be able to get married, but in a flash, he was engaged to a very good man. That's the kind of man you can't even find in other families even if you are playing with lantern ! 


       Before, He Zhen who was bragging all over the village that Qi Yue had accepted his purse and was so gentle to him, but now? Indeed, he has proposed to his family, but unfortunately the one he is going to marry it's not him!

        The He family has now become a joke in Gushui village, and not just a joke, the day Qi Yue took He Ling who had a face full of wounds, away, many people saw him. He said that he was going to take him to live with the Lin Shan family for a few days. What's the point of taking him to an outsider's house for nothing? With a wound on his face, it's bound to make people think!

    No matter how much the village talked and speculated, it didn't affect He Ling, who hadn't left home for the past two days, staying at Lin Sheng's house to recuperate his wounds, and with the ointment given by Qi Yue, the wounds on his face and neck had vanished.

        Qi Yue started from the beginning, bought him new clothes, he bought him the same colors he used to wear, as he liked to see He Ling dressed similarly to him.

        Today, He Ling was wearing a white silk shirt in a very simple and elegant style, which added some immortal aura to his beautiful face also made him look even more appealing.

        "Qi Xiaozi is really good-sighted (have a good taste) , he has picked such a beautiful husband for himself!" Looking at He Ling, who was helping to set the table and chopsticks,Fang gave up for a long time, she still couldn't hold back after half a day, Fang reached out to gently pinch his cheeks. After living with He Ling for the past two days, she had grown fonder and fonder of this well-behaved child!

"No, I can't help but look at him more!" Wu Yulan, who happened to be carrying a tray of dishes, took her words with approval. In the past, He Ling used to wear shabby, ragged clothes all day long, and when he saw people, he just bowed his head then hurried away, so even though she knew he was good-looking,she didn't feel much. But now that he has stayed with them for the past two days, he has changed into nice clothes, look at him carefully, 
He was really good looking!

        He was embarrassed to be complimented by both of them, so he put the dishes away and quickly turned around and went to the kitchen to help serve the food.

        The mother-in-law & daughter-in-law looked at each other and both laughed.

        Lin Shan and Lin Sheng both had smiles on their faces and didn't say a word, it was good for the family to be happy like this.

        "Xiaohu, stop writing around, hurry up come and eat!" When the dishes were almost ready, Wu Yulan shouted into the courtyard.

Because He Ling was here, Qi Yue came here more often these two days and taught Lin Xiaohu to write his own name by hand. The boy became addicted to it and spent his days practicing the three characters in the courtyard with a branch. 

 It wasn't long before Lin Xiaohu came running in "deng deng deng" and said, 
"I want to sit next to Uncle Husband!*(叔夫郎 literally it means uncle+husband) 

As soon as he said this, He Ling's face, which had just cooled down, burned up again and he buried his face in his chest, while several adults were secretly laughing. 

He Ling and Qi Yue's wedding date had already been set, and because Qi Yue was in a hurry, it was set for half a month later. They will ask the village chief to be their master of marriage*(主婚人) at that time. After all, he is the one who made the marriage happen. The Lin family, Qi Yue gave them a few sets of good fabric as a thank-you gift, which they refused to accept, but Qi Yue said he wouldn't dare to bother them again if they didn't accept it, so the family accepted. After this incident with He Ling, their relationship became closer.
     
[主婚人: the person performing the marriage / person who presides over a wedding ceremony]
    
Lin Xiaohu, this little brat, knew that He Ling was going to marry Qi Yue, so he opened his mouth and closed his mouth, always calling 'Su Fu Lang' made He Ling blush every time.

        "Little kid, you still know how to pick good-looking people to be close to!" Wu Yulan scolded with a laugh and poked a finger at Lin Xiaohu's forehead.

        "Hmph, that's right, in the future I want to marry someone as good looking as Uncle Husband as my wife too!" Lin Xiaohu tilted his little face with a proud look.

        "Brat, you're only a little old and you're already thinking of marrying a wife!" Lin Sheng also reached over and rubbed his hair.

        "I'm six years old, I'm an adult!" Lin Xiaohu retorted unconvincingly.

        The whole family laughed out loud ( ha ha ha) at his pouting face. 

He Ling looked at them and the corners of his mouth curled up, this felt very good! 

They had just finished their lunch when Qi Yue came to the door, and Lin Xiaohu was so happy that he dragged him to look at his writing all over the floor. 

Qi Yue patted him on the head and complimented him on how well he had written, and the little boy immediately smile until meet teeth, not meet the eyes. 

He said to Lin Sheng, who was standing beside him, "Little Tiger likes writing so much, have you thought of sending him to school?"

 "I've thought about it, he's about the right age now, so dad and I are thinking of going to Shangzhuang Village in a couple of days to see if it's possible to send Tiger there!" There was no school in Gushui village, but there was one in Shangzhuang village next to theirs, and all the children from the nearby villages went there.

 It was rare for farmers to send their children to the school, not to mention the one tael of silver a year for training and the cost of expensive things like writing and ink.

    Ordinary people feel that literacy can’t be exchanged for food and drink, it also expensive, so they were reluctant to send their children to school, but some felt that it would be a good idea for them to study and become literate, and that if they learned well enough to get a place in the examinations, it would be a glorious thing for their ancestors.
  
        Lin Sheng's family didn't expect Lin Xiaohu to be able to take the exam, they just wanted him to read more so that he would have more knowledge and perhaps have more congeniality, unlike the country bumpkins they always looked like, the appearance of mud-legged people. 

        Especially after getting to know Qi Yue, they thought it would be good if Xiao Hu could have a little bit of his posture!

        Seeing that he had already made up his mind, Qi Yue nodded and didn't say any more, his eyes already starting to look into the house.

        Seeing him like this, Lin Sheng knew what he was looking for, so he grinned and said, " Ling Xiao Ge er and my wife are watering the vegetable field in the back yard!"
      
   Since he met Qi Yue, he always looks like ' The clouds are pale and a light breeze is blowing'*(雲淡風輕), seemingly good-tempered and indiferent* (actually it refer to a person who is not a picky/nitpicky character or the gentle type)to everything, but in fact, he just didn't care about anything. It's quite interesting to see something different in the past two days.    

 (雲淡風輕* chinese idiom, pinyin: yún dàn fēng qīng, which means a breeze and thin clouds, describing the fine weather and sunny  as comparison to Qi Yue character here) 

When he was seen by Lin Sheng, Qi Yue was not embarrassed at all. He calmly thanked him and said, "Then I'll go and look for him."

        Lin Sheng looked at his back and shook his head with a smile.He has been running to his own house for these days, it's impossible for him to not be able to run. 

        When Qi Yue entered the back yard, he saw He Ling holding a small wooden ladle, scooping water out of a bucket by his lap and spreading it on the vegetable patch, He was wearing clothes he bought, and his complexion looked very good!

       Wu Yulan put the mixed chicken food in the chicken coop. As soon as she got up, she saw Qi Yue standing there, his eyes on He Ling, so gentle that he could wring water out of it. He pursed his lips and was so happy. 

 "I say, brother Qi, why didn't you say anything when you arrived?"

Hearing her words, He Ling turned his head back and met Qi Yue's gaze, immediately lowering his head, his ears flushed half-shielded under his hair. 

        Qi Yue smiled and turned his gaze to Wu Yulan, "Hello sister-in-law!"

        "Hey!" Wu Yulan smiled and looked at him, then at the people who didn't even dare to raise his head, and waved her hand, "You can talk, I won't be an eyesore here!"

        After Wu Yulan had left, Qi Yue walked towards He Ling and saw him with his head bowed, clutching the ladle in his hand, and knew that he was nervous.He reached out and took the ladle and threw it into the bucket, then took his hand in his.

        He Ling's hand shook for a moment, but he did not struggle away.
In the past two days, Qi Yue had always held his hand and talked to him when he came to him, so he did not react as much as he did at first.     

He Ling was getting used to him, and Qi Yue is very satisfied, "I went to Sun's carpenter's today and ordered a whole set of furniture, do you have anything else you want, I'll talk to him later?"

 Immediately, the man who lowered his head in front of him shook his head. 

Qi Yue said again, "I'm going to order our wedding dress in town, so you can tell me what you like."

 The head bowed and shook once more.

 "He Ling, look at me." Qi Yue's voice was still very soft, He Ling paused and slowly lifted his head, his face was bright red and extremely beautiful, Qi Yue lifted a hand to the side of his face and looked into his eyes, "I want to ask you once more ...... Are you willing to marry me?" 

He Ling looked into the eyes that reflected his own figure and felt a complicated feeling in his heart. He always felt that he was not good enough for Qi Yue, a man like him should not marry a village ger from the countryside, he had many better options. But how could he say no when faced with such eyes and such a sincere enquiry. 

Qi Yue looked at him quietly, leaving him to his own thoughts, hoping to get an affirmative answer from him, and even if he didn't, he would never let go, holding him in his hands so that one day his answer would be affirmative too.

        He Ling, who had no idea what was in his partner's mind, hesitated for a long time before nodding his head, wanting to be selfish for once, wanting to make a choice according to his true heart's desire.

        Seeing that he had finally given him the answer he wanted, Qi Yue was so happy that he could not contain his inner joy, bowed his head and kissed the red plum mark on He Ling's eyebrow.

        He Ling was frozen in place, not daring to move at all, but feeling that the softness of the touch was about to burn.

        Qi Yue kissed him for a long time before he withdrew and looked at the man who had not yet returned to his senses and said softly, "He Ling, Ah Ling, I have never liked anyone and I don't know how to treat someone well, but I will never let anyone bully you again.I will protect you under my wings, enclose you in my arms and love you for the rest of your life." (Tl: Wow...so romantic) 

  He Ling stared blankly into those dark eyes, listening to him say the most beautiful vows he had ever heard, and tears began to fill his eyes, eventually sliding down the corners. 

When Qi Yue saw the tears in his eyes He wrapped his hand around his slender waist and embraced him in his arms. He put his hand on his head, so that his face was pressed against his chest.

 He Ling listened to the steady heartbeat in his ears and could no longer stop his tears, letting them roll down from his eyes as he reached out and wrapped his arms around the back of this man's shoulders. 

Feeling the gradual wetness on his chest, Qi Yue gently kissed the top of his hair. Wait after he had cried out all his grievances, then he would let only a smile remain on his face.

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Translator OS : this chapter is really so romantic and I love how the author describe the romantic scene. Every details is very touching and imaginable. 

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Sankyuu for the comment:

(baffling) haze

Mei 6 2021 9:17 pm 

so sweet 


Miki

Mei 6 2021 9:28 pm 

To the point having a diabetes


Miki

Mei 6 2021 9:26 pm 
 

Xiao ling just cry and embrace your grief. From now on there’s will be only happiness await you even if sadness come it will only passing by for short while.