You've Got Mail: A Cautionary Tale

Chapter 50 — A Qin’s Melody Spells One’s Emotions

Edited by DancingDolphinsYo

Wu Xingzi had skipped both lunch and dinner. Worried, Mint and Osmanthus kept darting glances towards the room the entire day, but the general had instructed that unless Wu Xingzi or him called out to them, no one was allowed to enter on their own accords.

Even when the moon rose, and the stars littered the skies, not a single light was lit in the room.

In the end, even Hei’er came to the door, contemplating if he should force his way into the room with a solemn expression.

It was nearly seven in the evening, but no sound or movement could be detected from inside. Carrying a bowl of food and a box of peach blossom pastries, Mint and Osmanthus called out to Wu Xingzi a few times from outside, so anxious that they wanted to kick the door open.

“What’s going on?” Just as the three people were filled with agitation, a man’s pleasant voice came from behind them.

“General!” Upon turning her head around, Mint almost leapt for joy. Guan Shanjin was standing there, travel-stained, frowning as he patted away the dust on his clothes.

In a rush, she ran over with the bowl. “Mr. Wu has been hiding in his room since noon, and he didn’t even have lunch or dinner. Commander Hei’er, my sister and I have called him a few times, but Mr. Wu did not respond at all.”

“He didn’t eat at all?” Guan Shanjin’s complexion darkened. On his back was a long item wrapped in cloth, and from its size, it looked quite hefty. Seemingly precious, Guan Shanjin had not put it down at all.

Glancing at the cold food Mint was holding, he waved her off. “Take them away. Go to the main kitchen and ask for some eggs, meat and vegetables then bring them here. I’ll prepare them for him later, all of you can leave first.”

“Why don’t we let Mr. Wu have some peach blossom pastries to settle his stomach first?” Osmanthus raised the box of pastries in her hand.

“Peach blossoms?” Guan Shanjin’s brows creased, and he glared at Hei’er.

“Reporting, the Zhu residence has planted three peach trees in their backyard, and they flowered this year. Mr. Wu noticed the scent of the peach blossoms over the past few days and asked about it a few times. That’s why the girls went to ask for a branch,” Hei’er answered with a bowed head. Nothing wrong could be detected from his tone and his attitude. Guan Shanjin just looked at him like this, then snorted coldly.

“You actually know how to give me such a perfunctory answer now? All right then.” Guan Shanjin walked past Hei’er, tapping on the door with his finger. “Wu Xingzi.”

Still no reaction came from within, and so Guan Shanjin went ahead to push the door open. Not allowing others to see the inside of the room, he closed the door right behind him.

Within was a complete darkness.

No lights were lit, and Guan Shanjin did not bother lighting any as well. Listening to the familiar breathing, he walked towards it.

The moonlight filtered its way in through the window. It was as though a thin piece of silk gauze lay over the room, and sedate, slow breaths scattered through the air.

The bed curtains were down, and a wrapped up ball could vaguely be seen within. Guan Shanjin could not help but smile. He was not in a hurry to wake Wu Xingzi up. Covered with days of dust and travel-stained, he had to first clean himself up before it was feasible for him to hug and caress the man who was wrapped inside to his own delight.

From the sound of his breathing, Wu Xingzi should be deeply asleep, and was not sick or ill. Naturally, Guan Shanjin relaxed.

Undoing the bag tied to his back and placing it on the table, Guan Shanjin next went outside the room to call for Mint and Osmanthus to bring him warm water for washing up. Once he was done cleaning up, and was refreshed, he changed into a set of comfortable clothes. By then, it was nearly 9pm. Only now did he lift up the curtains and sat down on the edge of the bed, patting the old quail through the blanket.

“Wu Xingzi.” Guan Shanjin gently called out for him over and over again. After about ten times later did an indistinct response come from within.

“Are you hungry?”

“Uhh…” Wu Xingzi mumbled sleepily. It looked like he had been crying before he fell asleep. His eyes were swollen, and he could not open them fully. Only after a bout of stretching did he pop his red, flushing face out from within the blanket. Tilting his head, he looked at Guan Shanjin with eyes that had swelled to the size of walnuts.

“Hmm? What happened?” Guan Shanjin’s heart ached, seeing those eyes.

“What happened?” Wu Xingzi was not yet fully awake. He had slept for a very long time, and he was still groggy. Without thinking, he scrunched up the blanket as he repeated Guan Shanjin’s question.

“Your eyes are swollen from crying.” Guan Shanjin sighed as he frowned, carefully picking the man up from within the blanket, and pulling him into a firm embrace. “Who made you unhappy, hmm?”

Of course, he had an idea. Although he was not around over the past few days, he still paid attention to everything that had to do with Wu Xingzi, be it great or small. Only this matter of peach blossoms today had managed to stir up trouble under his watch, so who knew what Man Yue had instructed Hei’er to do behind his back?

Wu Xingzi blearily nuzzled his face into Guan Shanjin’s chest before taking in a deep breath. Holding it in for some time, he then slowly, and reluctantly exhaled.

Such attachment made Guan Shanjin melt into a complete puddle. Whenever Wu Xingzi was awake, he would never present such an image of himself to Guan Shanjin. Wu Xingzi always cautiously kept a reserved distance, as though he was worried that if he went in too deep, he would fall into a bottomless abyss.

After some time, Guan Shanjin naturally understood his mind, but there was nothing he could do about it. The character of this old fellow was gentle, yet stubborn like a cow. In the end, it was Guan Shanjin himself who was always stifled by his anger.

“Shall I prepare some porridge for you? Then help you massage your eyes?”

“Mn, I’d like to have the rabbit porridge,” Wu Xingzi mumbled. This was the first dish of Guan Shanjin he had ever eaten, and it was truly astonishing. Wu Xingzi had never had a porridge so delicious before. After that, despite Guan Shanjin preparing ten different types of porridge for him, each more delicious and exquisite than the other, they could never compare to that first bowl of porridge.

“I’ll prepare that next time, we currently don’t have any rabbit meat. I’ll go hunt a few in the next few days for you, alright?” Sympathetically, he kissed both of Wu Xingzi’s swollen eyes. Guan Shanjin hugged and rocked Wu Xingzi slightly in his arms to make sure that he was truly awake, before letting him go. “I have a gift for you. Play with it while I’m preparing the porridge?”

“Ai…” Only then did Wu Xingzi come to a sudden realisation that he was lying in Guan Shanjin’s arms like a fool. Blushing a bright red, he pulled away, quietly responding with his head lowered. “I-it’s nice that you’re back already, why did you prepare a gift?”

Just now, was he nuzzling in Guan Shanjin’s embrace and breathing in his scent? Ai, Wu Xingzi! You useless thing.

But Guan Shanjin was really very nice-smelling! How befitting of the Lanling Prince of pengornises, even after coming to life, there was nothing lacking about him. It had been a number of days since Wu Xingzi last greeted the pengornis, and he did rather miss it.

“Where are you letting your imagination run off to this time?” Guan Shanjin gazed at Wu Xingzi’s face that could never hide his expressions. That pair of limpid eyes happened to be directed towards his crotch, and it made Guan Shanjin neither able to laugh nor cry. No matter the reason why Wu Xingzi was crying before he fell asleep, right now, in front of the pengornis, like snow under the sun, it had all melted away.

“No no no, I’m just… hungry.” Wu Xingzi still could not control his eyes from drifting down towards the Lanling pengornis. If not for the earth-shattering grumbling of his stomach, he really wanted to thicken his skin and request for a meeting with the pengornis.

“There’ll be time for you to play, so why are you in a hurry?” Guan Shanjin pinched his fleshy nose. Leading Wu Xingzi down the bed, Guan Shanjin pointed at the cloth-wrapped package on the table. “Here, have fun with this little toy by yourself. I’ll go prepare the porridge for you first, I don’t want you to get gastric pain from hunger.”

“Thank you, thank you.” Wu Xingzi carefully unwrapped the package. When he saw what was inside, his eyes widened, and he stuttered, astounded. “T-t-this… this is a qin?”

In the package was a qin that looked rather rough-hewn on first glance, but after looking over it carefully, it exuded an exquisite air. Wu Xingzi was momentarily at a loss for what to do. He placed his hands behind his back, his fingers moving slightly, wanting to touch but he dared not place his hands on the item so easily. He could not tell if this qin was of a good quality or not, but how could it be possible that Guan Shanjin would gift something of a bad quality?

Guan Shanjin helped him set up the qin properly. Pushing Wu Xingzi to sit down behind it, he pulled his hands out, placing them on the qin and causing his fingers to stroke it lightly.

Although the strumming was out of tune, it still sounded pleasant and sweet. It definitely had to be a famous qin.

Again, Wu Xingzi wanted to pull his hands away. This time, Guan Shanjin did not stop him, instead dotingly pinched his palm before turning to go to the kitchen to prepare the porridge. Left in the room, Wu Xingzi stared at the qin for a moment, his face suffused with a burning red.

“Here long, there short, is the duckweed; On the left, on the right, we gather it. The modest, retiring, virtuous, young lady; With lutes, small and large, let us give her friendly welcome…1Translation of the poem is taken from https://ctext.org/book-of-poetry/odes-of-zhou-and-the-south/ens2” Registering what he was reciting, Wu Xingzi nearly could not hold his seat. Already forty, yet he was still muddle-headed. He was neither modest and quiet, nor was he a virtuous young lady. What exactly was his brain thinking?! How could he be so shameless!

Wu Xingzi hurriedly admonished himself silently, but he could not suppress that shy delight welling up within him. In his life, he had never received anything nice, except for that old perfume sachet and this qin. Even if he were to ignore the origins of the perfume sachet, there was still no way it could compare to this qin.

Since Guan Shanjin had gifted him a qin, did it represent something?

“No no no, Wu Xingzi, you fool! Guan Shanjin is young and accomplished, and his beloved is clearly Mr. Lu…”

Exactly!

Wu Xingzi finally calmed down. Patting his chest, he nodded non-stop.

Miss Yue had said it already. The reason why Guan Shanjin was good to him was because of Mr. Lu. Guan Shanjin loved Mr. Lu too deeply, and so he did not dare to request him to reciprocate his affections. That was why he had chosen him to be his substitute.

“Ai, in any case, I don’t know how to play the qin as well…” Thinking that he had found a resolution, the blush on Wu Xingzi’s cheeks gradually lessened. He was still happy, but he no longer felt that shy delight from before. At the very least, Guan Shanjin still treated him very well.

Since there no longer existed any unrealistic fantasy, Wu Xingzi’s attitude calmed down by a lot as well. He looked at the qin, and the yearning within him was still present. Although he had no sense of tune, he really did like the sound of the qin. His father was very skilled at playing the qin as well, and Wu Xingzi had heard that there was no one in the neighbouring counties and cities that could compare to his father. When Wu Xingzi was a child, his father wanted to teach him how to play. However, after a month of lessons, his father had no choice but to give up.

Although Wu Xingzi could not be considered tone-deaf, he was able to play every note a beat slower. If he was asked to play faster, he would end up a beat ahead. Wu Xingzi was always too fast or too slow, and the melody would be completely destroyed by him.

Worse still, was that Wu Xingzi himself could not hear the problem. He delighted in playing, causing his father to endure this suffering with ringing ears that lasted for more than half the month. Because of this, they had no choice but to give up.

Later on, his father’s qin naturally drifted away somewhere during the flood, lost forever. Wu Xingzi never had the chance to touch a qin again.

Ai, the music from a qin was really pleasant to listen to!

Wu Xingzi wiped his hands a few times on his trousers, and only then did he strum the strings of the qin.