xymnovel Chapter 473 - 458: Liangzhou Continued—Tang Ziqian Side Story (7)_3
Chapter 473 - 458: Liangzhou Continued—Tang Ziqian Side Story (7)_3
After his footsteps stopped, he crouched down, gazing intently at the only flower bud left in the field.It was the same one he had once destroyed.
After Lu Yuan replanted it, it didn’t wither and die as Lu Yuan had feared, but it never regained the vigor of the other flower stalks.
So both he and Lu Yuan unconsciously gave it extra care.
Now, all the other Wine Heart Buds had bloomed and been harvested, yet this one still weakly struggled to bear its bud.
It was still alive.
He wasn’t particularly sentimental.
If it died, it died, but surviving—
Tang Ziqian took out a small knife he carried with him and gently prodded the soil with the back of the knife.
Like what Lu Yuan had once done...
...
In early December, an envoy came from the capital.
The visitor was Yu Jun.
By order of Empress Tang, he delivered the Chengying Sword, along with Chu Girl Lu Yuan.
"Where is Chu Girl Lu Yuan?" Yu Jun asked while quietly sizing up Tang Ziqian.
Tang Ziqian examined the Chengying Sword, smiling: "She’s not from my Governor Mansion, she’s already left."
Yu Jun was surprised.
Liangzhou had offered tribute of the Wine Heart Buds, and Empress Tang had sensed an unusual story behind them, so she sent him personally to investigate the Chu Girl.
How could she have left?
"Then this reward—" Yu Jun fixed his gaze on Tang Ziqian for a moment and hatched a plan, "why not let the Governor hand it over on her behalf?"
"How could the Empress’s reward be handed over on behalf?" Tang Ziqian replied this way, but Yu Jun caught a flicker of emotion on his face.
Task completed, Yu Jun comforted himself.
He then changed the topic: "The Empress also asked whether the Governor would return to the capital by the end of this year?"
Tang Ziqian hesitated.
Local officials usually returned to the capital once every three years, and border generals even less frequently, not annually.
He went back to the capital last year after applying permission, first because Liangzhou was at peace, second to report on Turkic governance affairs, and third because he was concerned about his mother’s health.
This year he had planned to return as well, even intending to bring Lu Yuan along.
After Lu Yuan left, he forgot about this matter and had not yet applied for returning to the capital, leading the Empress to inquire about it.
So... should he return to the capital?
If he left, who would care for that Wine Heart Bud?
Tang Ziqian hesitated again and again, slowly shook his head: "Not returning this year..."
He would wait until the flowers bloomed, then return.
...
Yu Jun carried the Chengying Sword back to the capital.
At night, Tang Ziqian had a dream, dreaming that Lu Yuan had returned.
He smiled and asked her why she came back.
She seemed a bit upset, puffing her cheeks, and called "huff huff huff" towards him.
She kept calling, kept calling, until she woke him up.
Waking up, he realized a strong wind had kicked up outside the window.
The strong wind mixed with heavy snow blew in through the cracks in the doors and windows, calling out "huff huff huff."
Wine Heart Bud!
Tang Ziqian suddenly rushed out of the room, grabbing his raincoat and bamboo hat, sprinting straight to the West Garden.
The sky was dimly lit, the desolate flower field being violently swept over by the wind and snow like a brush stroke.
The lone plant was swaying wildly, its bud nearly touching the ground, seemingly ready to detach from the stem at any moment.
Until Tang Ziqian stood beside it, blocking the wind and snow’s onslaught, it finally ceased its death struggle.
The bud slightly recoiled from the ground.
Tang Ziqian took off his bamboo hat, propping it up on the ground to shield it, his gaze fixated on it.
In such a heavy snowstorm, even the bare Xinyi Wood branches were shaking incessantly, and the small plant...
He couldn’t help but sigh softly: "If it can survive, I—"
"Tang Ziqian?"
A soft, lingering voice was scattered by the wind and snow, then reached his ears.
Tang Ziqian sharply raised his head.
"Wine Heart Buds aren’t afraid of the wind and snow!"
Amid the fierce wind and snow, a slender figure of a girl appeared next to him, bent forward, stretched her finger, and flicked the bud.
The bud seemed to shiver, as if it had been lazy long enough, and stood upright, trembling slightly.
"It’s originally grown on the edges of high cliffs, though its stalk may be slender and always need care, no amount of wind and snow can trouble it!"
She lifted her face, beaming proudly at him.
The dimming daylight illuminated the wind and snow, as well as her face, vivid, beautiful, yet boyishly playful.
Tang Ziqian also smiled: "Why have you returned?"
Her eyes suddenly sparkled: "I remembered there was still a Wine Heart Bud that hadn’t bloomed... Ah, Tang Ziqian, when I wasn’t around, were you taking care of it?" She stood up, bouncing around him, scrutinizing him, "Tsk tsk! Governor Tang really does resemble a farmer who cultivates trees and flowers now!"
Suddenly she wrinkled her nose unhappily: "What are you laughing at?"
As if finding her soft voice lacking momentum, she imitated the wind and snow, huffing fiercely at him.
Just like in the dream a while ago.
Tang Ziqian couldn’t contain it and chuckled.
"I was thinking, if now it were someone else seeing me, they might say—"
"Tang Ziqian, you carry Lu Yuan’s shadow on you, I don’t want you..."
(Tang Ziqian’s side story ends)