Hearing Qian’er blurt out a term of endearment she had always been too shy to say, Zhao Rong felt relieved, but, being careless, he went a bit too far. Seeing her so agitated now, he cleared his throat subtly and let go of her hand as if nothing happened, lightly patting it, as if saying, "Let’s pretend nothing happened, okay?"
Ahem, what did this young master come downstairs to do?
Stopped on the staircase, with his arms around the little beauty, Zhao Rong looked guiltily around, not daring to meet the splendid expression on Qian’er’s face at this moment.
Doing this sort of thing in the stairway late at night, Zhao Rong felt utterly ashamed and deeply reflected on himself.
Then, the little girl who had regained her composure started to ’punch and kick’, and ’bite and pinch’ him vigorously. Zhao Rong stood still, holding her in his arms, letting Qian’er vent her frustrations without resisting because, after all, he had just bullied her a bit too much.
Before long, Zhao Rong rubbed a certain spot on the left side of his neck marked with a small strawberry, unbothered by the little girl’s saliva. He adjusted his collar to cover it, his face wearing a slightly embarrassed expression.
He glanced tentatively at Zhao Qian’er.
The girl before him was lively and extraordinarily graceful, standing tall and elegant, her cheeks flushed with a shy hue:
Qian’er’s long, black, and smooth hair had previously been done up in beautiful twin buns, but after the tussle it had become somewhat disheveled, with strands falling loosely down.
A gentle evening breeze came through the skylight behind them.
The light wind caressed the hair on her cheeks, accentuating the lovely curves of her small face, adding an alluring charm, as the two pink ribbons that tied back her hair swayed gently by her ears, like the pink tassels at the hem of her dress, flowing with vivacity.
Zhao Rong nodded to himself. His little Qian’er looked good no matter what; well, she looked even better when she wasn’t glaring or biting at him—that pair of tiny fangs were really sharp.
The lively and delicate beauty was busy straightening her messy hair and clothes, pursing her lips, ignoring Zhao Rong.
The latter blinked, reached for her hand intending to leave, only to be gently slapped away.
Zhao Rong narrowed his eyes slightly, recalling how the little girl had bitten his other index finger and the spots on his neck where she puffed up in anger.
Well, she was quite the jealous type, even jealous of the ’Old Zhao Family discipline’ and finger biting.
As for the root of Qian’er’s unusual behavior along the way, Zhao Rong was well aware—it was all because of Su Qingdai.
But how could she compare even one ten-thousandth to you and Qing Jun?
He shook his head gently.
Zhao Rong reached for her hand again.
And got slapped away again.
He reached out once more.
She turned away, dodging him.
She didn’t even scold him but slapped the back of his head.
Yet, he persisted relentlessly.
The two childhood sweethearts, a standoff in their little wrestling match.
Zhao Rong suddenly snorted coldly, "I’m leaving."
"You!" Zhao Qian, needing to be coaxed, turned around in haste, only to have her entire view filled with his warm smile the next second.
"Mwah," a soft sound.
The childhood sweetheart stole a kiss.
Qian’er’s taut face melted, she bowed her head with blushing cheeks.
It turns out he had been waiting for her to look back.
"Let’s go, let’s go."
The young Confucian Scholar, smiling brightly with joy, took the hand of the shy and beautiful girl, swinging their arms as they walked briskly downstairs, leading her to a guest room on the second floor.
Gu Yiwu and a group of scholars also arrived one by one, starting their discussions...
PS: It’s a bit late since I was worried everyone might have already finished dinner by half-past twelve, so I thoughtfully postponed it a bit to give everyone time to digest their meal... Okay, I can’t make this up anymore.
But, there’s a treat in the with Qian’er!
Well, brothers, shall we pretend nothing happened, shall we?
I advise you, brothers, not to be ungrateful. (dog head)