Chapter 34 1/2

“What… what did you say?”

Taoyu heard what Huo Shu said, and she was dumbfounded, not sure if she had heard it correctly, so she instinctively asked.

“I said I’d marry you.”

Huo Shu looked into Taoyu’s eyes and repeated himself patiently.

Realising that she had indeed heard correctly, Taoyu’s mind went blank. She hadn’t expected Huo Shu to say this to her out of the blue.

Taoyu stood up, at a loss for what to do, her face turning red from her neck to her ears. “You’ve already helped me a lot. You don’t have to sacrifice your whole life out of pity for me.”

“I want to marry you, not out of pity or sympathy.”

With these words, Huo Shu continued, “Ever since I pulled you out of the water, I’ve wanted to understand you. I just found out that you were promised to someone else, so I was afraid to bring it up to you.”

“You don’t have to agree, but don’t think I’m only saying this out of pity for you.”

Huo Shu looked at Taoyu and said, “I spent ten years on the battlefield. I don’t pity anyone.”

Taoyu clenched her hands. She knew Huo Shu’s temperament, and such a serious matter wouldn’t be a joke.

But precisely because she knew he was serious, she didn’t know how to respond. The situation was too sudden, and she felt confused.

This man, he really… Instead of talking to her parents, he just said it to her directly.

Even if she agreed, what use would it be? Her parents had always doted on her since she was young. If they didn’t agree, even if she wanted to, she couldn’t make a decision that would hurt their hearts.

She couldn’t be like Sister Wu San, where there was only her in the family, and making the second elder worry would truly be unfilial.

But she also didn’t resist Huo Shu…

“Wha… what kind of proposal asks if the other party is willing? Nowadays, it’s all about parental arrangements and matchmakers’ words.”

Huo Shu replied, “Even if your parents agree but you’re unwilling, it’s futile. I want to marry you, not them.”

“I only ask you, are you willing?”

“I…!”

Faced with such a direct question, Taoyu blushed and felt unable to speak.

“I… I need to think about it.”

With that, without even saying goodbye, she hurriedly left.

Huo Shu stood up and took a few steps forward to chase after her, but seeing her running so eagerly, he stopped in his tracks.

Furrowing his brows, he sighed in frustration.

Moments ago, he clearly knew he should take things step by step, so why did he blurt out those words so impulsively today? He was afraid he might have scared her off.

Huo Shu felt annoyed and regretful as he stood there for a long time.

“Back already? How did it go over there?”

Seeing the commotion, Ji Yangzong and Huang Manjing rushed out of the kitchen. Before they could finish asking, they saw Taoyu’s face turning red and running into the house in a hurry.

Ji Yangzong and Huang Manjing looked at each other in confusion. “What happened?”

“It looks like she’s upset.”

Huang Manjing gave Ji Yangzong a pat. “It’s all because of your good deeds.”

Hearing this, Ji Yangzong couldn’t help but feel worried. He quickly went into the house, only to see Taoyu’s tightly closed room door. He glanced at his wife.

Huang Manjing pushed Ji Yangzong aside and said gently, “Little Taoyu, what’s wrong?”

Taoyu was leaning against the door panel inside the room, her heart beating rapidly. She was unable to calm down for a while.

“It’s nothing; I just fell.”

“Are you hurt? Let me take a look.”

“No, I’m not hurt. I’ll change my clothes; my head feels a bit dizzy; I’ll just sleep for a while and it’ll be fine.”

Taoyu hurriedly dismissed the two of them, saying, “You don’t need to call me for lunch. I’ll wake up and eat later.”

Hearing this, Huang Manjing gave Ji Yangzong a fierce glare.

“Then I’ll warm the food for you.”

With that, Huang Manjing dragged Ji Yangzong out, saying, “You’re always making a mess. Look at Taoyu; what kind of father are you being?”

Ji Yangzong couldn’t figure out what had happened. Clearly, when they went out earlier, everything was fine. How did it turn out like this?

The key was that he had planned everything so meticulously, so it shouldn’t have turned out like this.

“No, I have to go ask that kid what he said to make Taoyu like this.”

Seeing her husband storming out, Huang Manjing chased after him. “It’s noon; what are you doing now?”

“None of your business.”

Huang Manjing was so angry that she let the stubborn old man go.

Taoyu stayed in the room for a while. Although she had calmed down after running back, the thought of what Huo Shu had said made her face instantly flush. Even after drinking several cups of cold tea, she couldn’t cool down.

She rubbed her cheeks and accidentally touched the jade hairpin on her head.

Taoyu paused for a moment and took off the hairpin from her head.

Thinking of her father’s strange behaviour just now and Huo Shu waiting on the other side, she suddenly understood.

With this in mind, Taoyu’s chest heaved deeply, and she slammed the hairpin on the table.

Seeing this, her father must have known long ago, and her mother must have known too, but in the end, they still kept her in the dark!

Taoyu couldn’t express what she was feeling at the moment. She felt that Huo Shu didn’t seem foolish either, as he had already passed through her parents, but she also felt angry.

Her parents had deceived her by colluding together.

Taoyu’s mind was in a mess. She curled up and laid on the bed, covering her head with a blanket.

—

“What’s going on?!”

Ji Yangzong rushed to Zhao’s house, ignoring the mealtime, and urgently called Huo Shu out.

He couldn’t understand. He had taught him hand in hand, almost feeding him, yet how could he still scare the person away?

Huo Shu looked at Ji Yangzong’s urgent enquiry and coughed awkwardly.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?!”

“I just told him I wanted to marry him.”

Ji Yangzong sighed.

This kid could be steady when not in a hurry, but when he was in a hurry, he was really in a hurry.

If it was just a joke, it would be fine, but Huo Shu’s appearance didn’t seem like someone who could joke. Just imagine how serious and solemn he must have been when he said it. How could anyone not be scared off?

A perfectly fine meeting turned into this mess. Ji Yangzong sighed and scolded, “You… you…”

Huo Shu admitted his mistake: “I was too impatient. I shouldn’t have said those things to him.”

Ji Yangzong originally intended to give Huo Shu a good talking-to, but seeing Huo Shu’s tight-lipped and remorseful expression, he also seemed to be feeling uncomfortable.

With this in mind, Ji Yangzong couldn’t find the words to blame or question him. Instead, he said, “This is something that will have to be said sooner or later. It’s better to say it earlier so he can understand sooner. It’s just that it was a bit sudden to bring it up like that. If you give him some time, he’ll come to understand.”

Huo Shu asked, “Do you think he will ignore me now?”

“He probably won’t.”

“I’ll go talk to him again when I get back. Don’t blame yourself too much.”

After sending Ji Yangzong away, Huo Shu still couldn’t shake off his worries. He didn’t even eat lunch and went out again.

Ji Yangzong couldn’t find a way to solve the problem with Huo Shu, so he could only turn to his own son.

Unfortunately, Taoyu stayed in the room for most of the day without coming out. It wasn’t until almost dinner time that Huang Manjing went to call him for dinner, and he finally opened the door.

“Not even eating lunch; are you planning to cultivate immortality?”

Huang Manjing scolded Taoyu a few times but didn’t mention what happened at noon.

Ji Yangzong felt uncomfortable and wanted to talk to him several times, but Taoyu kept avoiding him.

After dinner, Taoyu slipped away to the courtyard to aid digestion.

“If he doesn’t want to talk about it, why force him?”

Huang Manjing washed the dishes and watched her husband pacing back and forth in the kitchen with his hands behind his back. She said, “Take it easy.”

“Ah, Huo Shu is not without his faults. If he had settled things earlier, when Jiaotu comes back in a few days, who knows what might happen?”

Ji Yangzong sighed. “He’s just too impatient.”

Taoyu sat in the pergola in the courtyard, half reclined in the rocking chair, looking at the sparse stars in the sky.

He absentmindedly rocked the chair, recalling his acquaintance with Huo Shu.

Upon careful calculation, he was surprised to find that they had only known each other for about three months.

It was a fleeting time, but it felt like they had known each other for much longer.

So much had happened during this period, more than in the smooth-sailing ten-plus years of his life combined.

And Huo Shu appeared in the midst of these ups and downs, participating in the fluctuations of his life.

Huo Shu saved him; he helped Huo Shu find someone, and Huo Shu saved him again. In the end, he received more help from him.

In fact, he had also thought about whether Huo Shu’s repeated assistance, despite his cold demeanour, was a deliberate arrangement by fate.

Today, he finally got the answer. It wasn’t fate, but rather someone deliberately getting close to him.

He pinched his fingers, thinking about Huo Shu’s affection for him, and his heart, which had finally calmed down, inexplicably fluttered again.

A smile couldn’t help but tug at the corners of his mouth.

It wasn’t because of his family background or reputation, but because he received such genuine affection, Taoyu was very happy.

But what made him even happier wasn’t just because of these reasons, but because he and that person were on the same page.

When Taoyu returned to the house, it was already late.

The dusk enveloped the surroundings, and the house was dark. As he walked in, he seemed to catch a faint scent of plum blossoms.