Chapter 18

Rong Tang held back for what felt like a century, then struggled to speak: “He’s seriously good.”

The system didn’t refute him this time. [Indeed.]

He spent most of the day in his chair, conducting a psychological construct on himself, then he opened the envelope again.

There are a total of three letter pages. As he alternated between reading and pausing, it took Rong Tang the entire afternoon before he finished reading everything.

The beginning sentence reads: Tangtang, my husband, seeing words is like meeting. Six days after parting, a moment feels like a year.

Rong Tang took a long break before he dared to continue reading. His ears felt hot.

The meaning of the letter is more or less: [I feel very lonely during your absence these days. Yesterday, I heard that you were coming back. I was overjoyed for half the night and wanted to see you.

These days, I occasionally leave the house to see some popular storybooks that Lushi’s Bookstore, in the west of the city, has released recently. I thought you would like to read them, so I bought them and placed them in the study for you to read.

A new Sichuan restaurant has opened in the south of the city. You can smell the spicy aroma wafting out as you make your way there. I miss the taste of my hometown a little, but I remember that you said you would accompany me to eat if there was a chance in the future. I feel very happy and am looking forward to your early return every day.

My uncle came here two days ago. I had no desire to see him because Tangtang hates him. However, he brought over some dried fruits that are unique to Sichuan. I tasted them. Each one is round and plump, uniform in colour, and tastes great. I surmise that you may have never tasted them since you have been living in the capital, so I received them. From now on, Tangtang can also eat some while reading storybooks.

A camellia has bloomed in the courtyard. It is white and very beautiful. I initially wanted to pluck it and place it in front of your couch, but I don’t know if the camellia can bloom for half a month.

……

I’ve written an inscription for our house, and I planned to show it to you today, but unfortunately, you didn’t come. I warned Shuang Shou not to tell anyone about it, so Tangtang, don’t make things difficult for him. Wait until our wedding day, when you come to marry me. I’ll let you see it then.

The weather in the capital recently has been unstable. Your health isn’t good; therefore, you shouldn’t go out in the mornings and evenings. You must also remember not to add or discard clothes as you like to avoid catching a cold.

Everything is fine with me. I hope Tangtang is doing better than me.]

There are lines of beautiful handwriting at the end of the letter, but the words are sweeter and more affectionate.

[Respectfully sending a delegation, hoping to get a jade seal*.]

(*TN: A jade seal is used by the emperor to authorise or approve a document or decree. In this context, it means something like “to seek his esteemed approval”. )

Jade seal also means replying to the letter. Su Huaijing said to him prudently and cautiously: I hope Tangtang will reply to me.

Rong Tang feels a little bad all over. The tea has been cold for a long time. He picks it up and gulps it down all at once, but it still failed to dispel the half the heat on his face.

Rong Tang inclined his head and looks out the window. Half of the peach blossoms from the tree have fallen, but they are still blooming, and it isn’t summer yet.

[Host, you are shy.] The system said coolly after observing for a long time.

“No way!” Rong Tang retorted, “I only…”

It took a long time before the subsequent words came out. The system recalls the world where the host came from and deduced: [Host, you haven’t received love letters before, right?]

“Of course not!” Rong Tang said without thinking. But once he did so, he immediately realises why he is blushing like this.

This is indeed… too similar to a love letter. Save me.

Rong Tang’s body in the modern era is about seventy to eighty percent similar in looks to this current shell, and he was also slightly taller than now.

The difference of twenty to thirty percent is just because he was healthy in the modern era and not as pallid due to his poor health as he is now.

This not only guarantees that there won’t be a shortage of people chasing after him, but also that there will be many people chasing after him.

When he was a student, Rong Tang also received a few love letters. However, some sentences indeed appear different to the recipient when written in vernacular and classical Chinese.

When reading vernacular Chinese, Rong Tang could only recall with emotion the other person’s feelings while trying to find a way to politely refuse them.

But when reading classical Chinese, the plain paper and ink has a bit more implied charm and appeal. He still has the habit of reading and translating at the same time. By the time he finishes reading it all, he will have no other thoughts in his mind except one: he’s just too remarkable.

[Is it possible that you and those others are just classmates, but the person writing to you now is your yet-to-be-married wife?] The system coolly adds, [And in your previous life, you didn’t have this expression when you burned the secret letters.]

Rong Tang dejectedly covers his face: “Don’t say anymore…”

He’ll soon be able to fry an egg with this burning face of his…

He’s rather confused. How could this main villain so calmly accept the identity of a “wife”, and say “marry me” without any qualms aaa?

Rong Tang feels shy just reading it.

If Shuang Shou hadn’t told him about what happened in the capital before, and if he hadn’t read the original plot and lived two lives in the book, he would truly assume that these days, Su Huaijing is actually acting like a wangfushi* waiting for him in Yong’an Lane!

(*TN: “望夫石” (wàngfūshí) translates to “waiting-for-husband stone” or “waiting stone.” It refers to a stone or monument where wives would wait for their husbands to return.)

The taste of hometown. You bully me because I don’t know that your ancestral home is the Imperial City, so you’re just playing with me, right?

Rong Tang is utterly defeated. He is experiencing a sense of helplessness, as if he is on the same side as the main villain but still unable to outplay him.

Rong Tang slumps in his chair like a subdued groundhog, staring at the three pieces of paper. His gaze is sometimes absent-minded and sometimes embarrassed.

The system observed for a long time and urged: [Host, reply to the letter.]

“You, go dormant!” Rong Tang said.

[Tsk… Tangtang is flustered and exasperated.]

His system has become so slick that, after saying this, it immediately went offline. Rong Tang can’t even curse it, even if he wants to.

Rong Tang unfolds a piece of writing paper. He holds the brush in his hand for a long time without writing a single word. Before the ink dripped, he hurriedly placed it back into the inkstone and swipes the brush.

[My Huaijing——]

He wrote three words and got stuck again. He gloomily crumples the paper into a ball and tosses it aside.

[Huaijing, I’m happy to receive your lovely letter.

I am truly delighted to accept your kind words.

……]

When he began writing, Rong Tang felt a little helpless. But as he continues, the writing becomes smoother. Inadvertently, once he put down the brush, he discovers that he’s written three-and-a-half pages.

Not only did he reply to everything Su Huaijing mentioned in his letter, he also told him that the almond blossoms planted in Tuolan Temple are very beautiful and that the world-famous Master Huimian is actually a young man around thirty-years-old. Today, he’d tricked Rong Zheng into buying him two blocks of top-quality smoke ink and that the Wang Fei is very fond of this yet-to-be-married daughter-in-law…

After Rong Tang finished writing the letter, he read it once more. The bashful feeling of wanting to find a hole in the ground and crawl into it has disappeared, replaced by a sort of subtle delight.

Today he just realises that Su Huaijing understands him very well, so he wrote a mutual letter informing him about what has been going on recently.

This doesn’t feel like a love letter anymore; instead, it feels like having an intimate friend.

After living four lifetimes, this is the first time he’s made friends so leisurely.

Rong Tang waits for the ink to dry completely before folding it and stuffing it into an envelope, sealing it with wax, and then taking it out in preparation to call Shuang Shou.

It’s now dusk, and the courtyard is dim. Rong Tang raised his eyes and suddenly caught sight of a yellow-white camellia blooming in the corner.

Feeling pleasantly surprised, he bends down to look at it. Without a second thought, he plucks it, places it in water, and keeps it on his desk. After thinking for a moment, he opens the letter and adds a sentence at the end.

[There is also a camellia blooming in my yard, but it’s yellow and white. I like it very much and have already plucked it. It will accompany me when I read storybooks tomorrow.]

The tip of the brush paused. Rong Tang couldn’t hold it in any longer. He raises his hand and draws two wavy lines and a V at the end of the sentence.

He doesn’t know if Su Huaijing will be able to understand it, but he himself did anyway.

After doing all this, Rong Tang re-waxed the envelope and hands it to Shuang Shou.

Shuang Shou smiled as soon as he got it: “Young Master Su also asked me to go there again tomorrow morning to pick up the mail. This is great; I’ll deliver the letter and pick up the mail at the same time.”

Rong Tang was slightly astonished: “He’s letting you go back tomorrow?”

“Ng!” Shuang Shou nods. “Young Master Su said that Young Master has a restless temper and may be bored out of his skull if he is confined at home. He said that he would write you a letter every day to chat with you.”

Rong Tang gaped, and after a long while, he replied absentmindedly, “Understood.”

After Shuang Shou left, the system woke up from dormancy. It saw his appearance and mindlessly asked, [Host, why are you smiling?]

Rong Tang raised his hand to press the corners of his lips and said grumpily, “You’re forbidden from speaking.”

[……?]

When Rong Tang went to bed that night, he didn’t have any more nightmares. When he assisted Wang Fei the next morning, he was constantly absent-minded and unwittingly kept looking outside. After misplacing a pair of eastern pearl earrings, he was kicked out of the warehouse by Wang Xiuyu: “Leave, leave, leave; you’re just adding to the chaos.”

Rong Tang hastened to Tanghua Courtyard. He passed by the pond on the way and didn’t feed the small fish anymore. He entered the courtyard and looked all around. Shuang Fu understood and casually asked a lad who was sweeping the house before replying, “Young Master, Shuang Shou hasn’t returned yet.”

“Oh.” Rong Tang looks away and coughs softly, making it look even more obvious: “I’m not looking for him.”

Shuang Fu stifled a laugh: “Yes.”

After having lunch, Shuang Shou took a while to come back. He ate in Yong’an Lane. Rong Tang was taking a nap at the time. When he woke up, he saw a letter placed on the study table in the same place as yesterday. The seals overlapped, and it looks like it has been resealed after being opened again. It is also much thicker than yesterday’s.

[Tangtang, my husband, seeing the words is like meeting (crossed out); I’m happy to get the letter; I’m reading it repeatedly.]

Consequently, yesterday’s heat that Rong Tang has suppressed with great difficulty surged up to his head again.

He read the whole letter. Su Huaijing said that he is very happy that there are camellias at Tangtang’s. After receiving the letter, he plucked the white camellia and put it beside the beauty couch. This way, when he grew tired while writing, he would look up at it and treat it as if Rong Tang were there.

Rong Tang was baffled and involuntarily lifted his hand to lightly touch the petals on the desk.

The wording in the last sentence of the letter has been amended.

[The crane extends its neck to look, hoping for an elegant letter.]

There are birds in the courtyard outside, perched on the spring branches and chirping in the gentle breeze. Rong Tang thought for a while, took his brush, and wrote:

[Huaijing, I’m overjoyed to have received your wonderful letter.]

……

In the third month of spring in the ninth year of Qingzheng, two major events happened in Dayu.

Firstly, the Fifth Prince, who’d been residing in the cold palace for a long time, was praised by the Grand Tutor as soon as he came out—a man with a talent for managing state affairs who served to assist in managing the government. Secondly, the Emperor, Empress, and Second Prince left the palace, travelling east to Mount Tai to worship their ancestors. On the way, they met a warrior riding a white tiger. He proclaimed that the emperor’s great achievements and the extraordinary qualities of the emperor’s heir would attract rare beasts to worship them. He admires him endlessly and dedicated this auspicious sign to His Majesty, hoping to devote himself to the royal family and the prosperity of Dayu.

These two events have more or less changed the future direction of Dayu in history. But in the Tanghua Courtyard of Ningxuan Palace, Rong Tang merely slept and woke with the rise and fall of the sun and the moon day after day. Day after day, he goes to make his greetings to the wang fei early in the morning and returns to his room to sleep at noon.

Upon waking up during the long spring day, he sits at his desk and opens a letter with freshly dried ink. After reading it carefully, he would then rack his brains to reply to the letter. With this, the entire day passes by.

Half a month passed like quicksand, and it is the eighteenth of the third month in the blink of an eye.

The carriage was lifted, the red uniforms were put on, and the gold-painted honour guard procession beat and drummed all the way. Starting from Duke Ningxuan’s Palace, they circled half of the imperial city and finally stopped at the entrance of a newly moved-in house in Yong’an Lane.

According to what was said later, red paper from firecrackers were scattered all over the ground that day. Passers-by who came upon them during the journey scrambled for the red envelopes. Each red paper envelope contained actual silver leaves.

Betrothal gifts were conveyed through three streets, the dowry for ten miles. Those who were aware said that Prince Ningxuan is marrying a male wife, while those who didn’t know said that it is the Emperor marrying the Empress.

Truly, boundless wealth and prosperity know no bounds. Today, joyous events grace the Jade Court.

The differing opinions outside have nothing to do with Rong Tang. He is sitting in the carriage, coughing so hard that his lungs are about to be expelled.

Wang Xiuyu originally didn’t permit him to escort the bride in person, saying that she would let Rong Zheng or Rong Yuan welcome their sister-in-law on his behalf. Even the letter sent by Su Huaijing yesterday mentioned that the journey is long and he has to periodically stop on the way. He worries that his body will not be able to bear it. Otherwise, he doesn’t have to come in person.

But Rong Tang doggedly refused. At first, he wanted to ride a horse, and Wang Xiuyu practically risked her life to stop him. In the end, the mother and son bargained, and the Wang Fei agreed to let him ride in the carriage.

But he never expected that escorting the bride would be such an extremely tiring job. Even if he was sitting in a carriage and didn’t have to smile and greet people all the way, he can’t stand the smell of firecrackers in the air, the joyful sounds of suona trumpets blaring and drums beating, and the laughter of the bustling people thronging to snatch the red envelope of money…

Rong Tang only feels that his eardrums are about to explode and his lungs are about to break down.

Finally, the carriage stopped. He drinks half a cup of tea to suppress the itching in his throat, then straightens his clothes and is about to go down to receive Su Huaijing when he hears gasps and exclamations of surprise.

The cries are deafening. Countless people are revelling nearby.

Before Rong Tang cab react, his line of sight suddenly brightened substantially. Someone beaming with smiles has entered the carriage and asks in a warm voice, “Am I allowed to call you ‘Husband’ today?”

“…”

Rong Tang is stunned for a moment. He finally comes to his senses upon hearing the commotion outside the carriage.

Great.

He came to receive the bride. The bride took the initiative and got into the carriage.

Well done.

The author has something to say:

Reunion after absence is sweeter than being newlyweds? Brief parting, new marriage, and online love come together at once! ! !