Chapter 77

On the fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar year, there was a chill in the spring air but the sunlight beaming down was warm. It was still far too early for lantern fair but the shops along Yongxing Street have already hung their signboard high above their door; lanterns are hung under their eaves and various supports for the decorative lanterns have been set up above the lintel of their doors. Though it didn’t look like much in daytime but come nightfall when the streets will be teeming with people; the lanterns all lit up; with fiery trees and silver flowers and banners flying in the wind — oh, it will truly be a magnificent sight to behold.

It was a time of celebration for the common people and it was also a time when the defenses of the city were on high alert. The cavalry camp was extremely busy preparing for the Lantern Festival. Although there was no need for General Gu to do much of anything, he still needed to show his face and go through the motions. Gu Fuzhou struggled to get up early that morning and then headed to the military camp after having his morning meal. Lin Qingyu didn’t need to go to the palace today and he had no plans to go to the Imperial Medical Office.

At noon, Hua Lu served Lin Qingyu his noon time meal. She prepared bowl of milky white fish soup and handed it to Lin Qingyu. Faced filled with anticipation, “Young Master, are you going to the Lantern Festival tonight?”

Lin Qingyu always preferred quiet and the Lantern Festival was sure to be crowded with people. Though he had grown up in the capital, the number of times he’d gone to the Lantern Festival could be counted on one hand. As an adult, he had never gone even once. “Do you want to go?”

Hua Lu nodded excitedly: “The last time I went to the Lantern Festival was several years ago. I still remember that there were so many people and the Jinshui River was filled with lotus lanterns. After that, I was sent to Nan’an Hou Mansion to serve Young Master Hou. I never got the chance to go again…” Hua Lu realized that she had said the wrong thing and quickly closed her mouth.

Lin Qingyu took a mouthful of fish soup and said, “Then, you should think carefully on what you’re going to wear tonight.”

Hua Lu’s eyes lit up: “Will you take me to go, Young Master?”

“En.” Lin Qingyu looked at the delighted girl, “Go and get ready.”

Gu Fuzhou had asked a lot about the customs of the Lantern Festival. He probably wanted to go to Yongxing Street to join in the fun. He knew that Gu Fuzhou liked appearing handsome so he specially ordered the servants to iron a few newly sewn robes for him to choose from.

Gu Fuzhou did not return to the mansion until dusk. When Lin Qingyu heard he had arrived, he went to see him nad saw him paralyzed on the bed, like a sun-dried salted fish.

Lin Qingyu was all too familiar with this state of affairs. “Tired?”

Gu Fuzhou said weakly: “Wa-water…”

Lin Qingyu knew that he was just putting on an act but he still poured a cup of tea for Gu Fuzhou and put it to his mouth. Gu Fuzhou drank the tea in one go and said, “Can you believe that I hadn’t loafed on the job all day today?”

“Well, why didn’t you?”

“The capital’s defenses are full of holes. I couldn’t bear it and offered a little advice. The people from the Wu Mansion took it as a signal to pester me the whole day.” Gu Fuzhou regretted his actions. “I could have come back to have the noontime meal with you.”

Lin Qingyu said, “Looking at you, you don’t seem to have the energy to go to the Lantern Festival.”

Gu Fuzhou was still very interested in the Dayu’s Lantern Festival, but he knew that Lin Qingyu didn’t like the bustle and excitements. And so he said, “Yeah, there’s so many people outside, going out would be exhausting. Ican lie down and imagine myself going out and seeing the Lantern Festival.”

“Alright, then you can imagine about it at home. I’ll be taking Huan Tong and Hua Lu to see the lights.”

“Huh?” Gu Fuzhou propped his body up with one hand, “You’re going?”

Lin Qingyu said, “I promised Hua Lu that I would take her.”

Gu Fuzhou gave a slow “oh”. “Then I’ll go with you.”

Lin Qingyu raised his eyebrows. “Aren’t you tired?”

Gu Fuzhou sighed, “It can’t be helped. The wife wants to take a stroll around town. No matter how tired I am I must accompany him and do so with pleasure.”

When it was almost time and the two of them got changed. Lin Qingyu’s long hair was tied up with a jade crown. He was dressed in white with a hooded snow cape draped around his shoulders. Seeing Gu Fuzhou’s girdled robe, still dressed as a warrior, he couldn’t help but ask, “Don’t you like wearing red?”

When Gu Fuzhou was still Lu Wancheng, he preferred brocade robes. Lu Wancheng had the temperament of a noble and fiery red suited him best. Now, he was a lot more tanned; whenever he was not smiling, he appeared quite fierce, his expression stern.

Gu Fuzhou smiled and said, “Lu Wancheng was young and he looked good in red. Red is a lovely, delicate color and I’m a lot older. The most important thing when it comes to styling is choosing clothes that suit you.” After speaking, he thought back longingly towards the past, “When I still had my original body, I looked good in everything.”

Lin Qingyu snorted disdainfully. Gu Fuzhou took it as disbelief and said, “It’s true, you could give me just a rag and I’d still look good.”

I’ve seen you before. Lin Qingyu deliberately said in revenge to Gu Fuzhou’s over exaggeration, “I can only say that your original body was not my type.”

Gu Fuzhou was not fooled. “Oh, and who said in a dream that I was better-looking than Lu Wancheng?”

Lin Qingyu said lightly, “You said it yourself.”

The two left the mansion with Huan Tong and Hua Lu. It was only halfway into the night but the market was already full of people. Walking along the streets were both ordinary people as well as high-ranking people, men and women, old and young. There were even quite a few foreigners. With the sky having gone completely dark, all the lights were now on. The brilliant lanterns cast a crimson shades on the faces of revelers, wasting whatever money the girls’ spent on rouge.

They continued walking. Hawkers were calling out from all sides. Huan Tong and Hua Lu were both very vivacious and after an hour of walking, their stomachs were already stuffed with all sorts of snacks.

Huan Tong was eating happily when he suddenly pointed towards the horizon. “Young Master, General, look!”

Hundreds upon hundreds of Kongming lanterns slowly rose into the sky from the direction of Changsheng Temple, lighting up the night sky. Hua Lu looked up, the lights in the sky reflected in her eyes. “It’s so beautiful…”

Gu Fuzhou said, “Looking at it from here leaves something to be desired. Qingyu, where’s the best place for admiring the moon in the capital?”

Lin Qingyu thought for a while and said, “That should be above the gate tower in the palace.”

The gate tower could only be accessed from inside the palace so Gu Fuzhou had no choice but to give up. At this time, they were not far from the palace and Gu Fuzhou was a lot taller than most of the people on the street. His eyes crossed the sea of people, towards the lone person up on the tower, his four-toed claw python robe was blowing vividly in the wind. .

It was the Lantern Festival with thousands of sparkling lights; what was this person thinking?

Gu Fuzhou retracted his gaze and suddenly felt something bump into him. He looked down and saw that it was a little girl with a flower basket. Gu Fuzhou had a strong physique and the little girl reeled back after bumping into him. Fortunately, Gu Fuzhou was very quick and he reached out and steadied her.

Her flower basket fell to the ground, the flowers stepped on by revelers. The little girl’s mouth flattened and she looked as though she were about to burst into tears. Lin Qingyu motioned for Hua Lu to coax the child but Gu Fuzhou already crouched down He smiled and with just a few words, managed to coax the little girl. When the little girl laughed through her tears, her mother appeared. It turned out that the mother and daughter pair had come to sell flowers.

Gu Fuzhou bought all the flowers from the little girl’s mother, turned around and said, “Qingyu, these are for you.”

Before Lin Qingyu could react, a large bouquet of flowers was stuffed into his arms. “Why are you giving me flowers?”

Flowers in full bloom, brilliant as brocade; gorgeous in many forms, yet only a foil for the beauty that transcends flowers.

Gu Fuzhou looked at Lin Qingyu with a light in his eyes. “Jiangnan has nothing but this sprig of spring I give to you.” – Sigh, it’s a good thing I memorized a lot of poems, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to keep up a conversation with you.”

Lin Qingyu lowered his head and smelled the fragrance of the flowers. “You don’t have to recite poems. You can speak as you are used to. I can understand you even in your native dialect.”

“Oh, then the reason I’m giving you flowers if because…”

At this time, the parade lantern float came ambling along, nearly filling the entire street. The woman atop the float, with a veil covering her face, was dancing gracefully. Her clothes exuded a fragrance, attracting countless merry-makers to stop and watch. However, in the blink of an eye, the four of them were swept away by the crowd. Lin Qingyu and Huan Tong were together but they had no idea whether the other two went.

Lin Qingyu wasn’t worried. Gu Fuzhou was tall and easy to spot. And even if they couldn’t find them, they could just go back to the carriage and wait.

It was inconvenient lugging along this large bouquet of flowers, so Lin Qingyu handed the flowers to Huan Tong and asked him to bring them to the carriage first. After Huan Tong left, he shuttled through the crowd alone, keeping a look out for the others while admiring the lights.

The lanterns were still there, sparkling lights were everywhere. It was the same scene as before but Lin Qingyu now found it dull and boring. After some time, he stopped appreciating the lights and just looked for the others. However, there were simply too many revelers, with all of the bustling about, faces passed by before his eyes but none of them was of the person he wanted.

Lin Qingyu now felt unreasonably impatient. He was thinking about whether to go back to the carriage and wait when he suddenly heard someone call his name.

“Qingyu.”

Lin Qingyu followed the voice and saw Gu Fuzhou, by the banks of the Jinshui River, looking at him underneath a lighted tree.

His eyes were bright, thousands of emotions held within them.

This guy… liked him.

——Gu Fuzhou liked him.

A great heat appeared in Lin Qingyu’s chest and his heart was beating like a drum. He didn’t have heart palpitations so why was his heart beating so fast just because of this one person?

Without knowing it, he stepped out, through the crowded sea of people. Just as he was about to reach that person, there came a shove behind him, making him unsteady on his feet—

He stumbled into Gu Fuzhou’s arms.

Gu Fuzhou steadied him with a hesitant touch on his waist. He said with a smile, “Doctor Lin, what are you running for?”

Lin Qingyu was momentarily stunned. Had he been running? He hadn’t realized.

Lin Qingyu couldn’t help letting his lips curve. He smiled, “I was going to you. Of course, I had to run.”

Gu Fuzhou was stunned. He was no longer hesitant as he firmly held the waist of the person in his arms.

Hua Lu’s voice came at this time. “General, have you found the Young Master?”

“I found him.” Gu Fuzhou let go of Lin Qingyu and said, sounding like his usual self, “Where’s Huan Tong?”

Lin Qingyu said, “I asked him to go back to the carriage first.”

Gu Fuzhou asked Hua Lu to go back and inform Huan Tong, lest he wait anxiously. As soon as Hua Lu left, only the two of them were left.

The two stared at each other for a while, seeming a little embarrassed. In the end, it was Gu Fuzhou who spoke first, “Qingyu, do you want to go for a walk by the river?”

Lin Qingyu nodded. “Okay.”

The bright moon hung high above; countless boats floated on the river and lotus lanterns decorate the water surface creating a galaxy of stars. Gu Fuzhou usually talked a lot, but now he was quiet. Lin Qingyu walked beside him, not knowing what to say.

When they went out for the evening, their conversations flowed naturally but now they felt awkward.

After an unknown length of time, Gu Fuzhou coughed and said, “The bright moon is out tonight and shines upon your beauty...”

As soon as he opened his mouth, Lin Qingyu stopped.

“Your slender and graceful figure, touching my trouble heart…” Gu Fuzhou paused, his face changed. “Uh, what was it that came after?”

Shit, he forgot his words.

The lanterns illuminated the sky like daytime. They could hear the faint melody of a flute. They crowd of people surged and all around them, talking and laughing. Lin Qingyu looked at him quietly; his long eyelashes couldn’t cover the glittering pools of his eyes. The surrounding scenery seemed to fade like an illusion.

Gu Fuzhou looked at Lin Qingyu for a long time. He lowered his eyes and chuckled as though laughing at himself. At the same time, it seemed to relieve his nervousness. “I’m sorry, Qingyu. The Book of Songs is too difficult to memorize. At the time, I only memorized a few and I’ve forgotten a lot of them now. Can I change the lines of the poem? Hmmm… the mountains have trees and the trees have branches…”

“I like you too.” Lin Qingyu used the words of Gu Fuzhou’s hometown, “Would you like to date me?”