Dandy Escapes From Marriage - Chapter 49

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, as the harvest season came to an end, villagers took rare opportunities to rest. Some visited relatives, while others slaughtered chickens to entertain guests.

 

Shen Ke and Liu Shu were reluctant to slaughter their own chickens, so they asked a basket maker from town to buy one for them, along with some fruits and snacks. Unexpectedly, Huishang came back with the basket maker.

 

“Why are you here?” Liu Shu asked.

 

“On such a reunion day, of course we should be together. I was afraid you two would feel lonely, so I came to accompany you,” Huishang generously said.

 

“Who asked you to accompany us?” Liu Shu rarely wanted to spend a sweet and intimate time with Liu Shu.

 

“Why, don’t you welcome me?” Huishang said meaningfully. “Oh, I wonder when that willow tree outside the village…”

 

“Welcome, of course you’re welcome!!!” Liu Shu hurriedly interrupted.

 

“Really?”

 

“Really, really! It’s sunny outside. Master, please come in and have a seat,” Liu Shu assisted him inside, pinching his facial features until they distorted.

 

After Huishang sat down for a while, a soldier came from outside, saying it was under Lord Shen’s orders to deliver something to them.

 

Shen Ke took it and checked it. There were mooncakes, candied fruits, and jujube cakes he loved as a child.

 

He also packed a basket of eggs and a few packets of pickles and asked the soldier to send them back.

 

“Tsk tsk.” Liu Shu couldn’t help but tease, “You are too close to Lord Shen to give him eggs.”

 

“No, I left some for you.” Shen Ke opened another basket, full of eggs.

 

Liu Shu smiled satisfactorily.

 

“Eat some jujube cakes.” Shen Ke placed the snacks on the table.

 

Liu Shu didn’t want to eat what Shen Huai gave him, but Huishang ate them one after another, making him even more unhappy.

 

“Hey, leave some for me. You’re going to finish them all by yourself!” Liu Shu quickly grabbed two, shoved one into his mouth, and fed the other to Shen Ke.

 

Shen Ke took a bite and wiped the crumbs from his mouth.

 

Huishang: “Small actions, big hurts.”

 

With a bit of indigestion, Huishang looked at Shen Ke, who had gone to feed the dog, and then secretly asked, “Do you like Xiaowu very much?”

 

“Yeah.” Shen Ke, who had eaten too much jujube paste and felt a little nauseous, was pouring tea, and he poured a cup for him.

 

“What do you like about him? People will change with time and circumstances. If one day, you find that he is no longer the person you knew, what would you do?” Huishang asked.

 

“How could he change so much that I wouldn’t recognize him?” Shen Ke was puzzled. “In such a harsh day, he always keeps a smile on his face. I can hardly imagine what could affect him.”

 

When he was very rich!

 

Rich people’s happiness is too much, and there are too many temptations!

 

Ever since Huishang found out that Xiaowu was the son of the richest man in Jiangnan, he had been worrying for Shen Ke. He feared that Xiaowu might only find this place exciting temporarily. Once he had enough of the hard times, he might just leave for Jinling, acting as a young master and forgetting about the people here.

 

After some thought, Huishang carefully chose his words and asked, “He’s doing business now, right? What if one day he becomes very successful, lives a luxurious life, and no longer respects a poor boy like you? What will you do then?”

 

“He won’t,” Shen Ke said nonchalantly, taking a sip of tea and feeling relieved after the bitterness. Seeing Huishang still wore a worried expression, he couldn’t help but smile. “If one day he really stops liking me, it’s okay. At least he’ll be living a prosperous and happy life. He only accompanied me through hardships temporarily. How can I expect him to be burdened by that and accompany me through hardship for a lifetime?”

 

Huishang’s furrowed brow slowly relaxed, and he gave Shen Ke a faint smile. “If you weren’t in the secular world, I would really want you to be my younger brother, with such wisdom.”

 

Shen Ke chuckled. “No need for that. I’m quite mundane. Ordinary people have ordinary desires.”

 

“A’ke!!!” Liu Shu’s shout came from the courtyard. “Come and help! There’s a wild dog trying to steal our chickens!”

 

Shen Ke immediately went out.

 

Liu Fugui had already chased out, and Liu Shu angrily cursed at the dog that had run away. “Don’t let me see you again! I swear I’ll shoot you with an arrow! It makes me so angry!”

 

“How are the chickens?”

 

“They’re scared,” Liu Shu looked heartbroken as he inspected their most valuable asset, gently touching the back of the old mother hen, and said sadly, “What if it gets too scared to lay eggs? The loss would be too great!”

 

Huishang stood nearby, watching this scene and seeing Liu Shu’s distressed expression. Suddenly, he felt he had worried needlessly.

 

Perhaps after this period of tempering, Young Master Liu had learned to cherish food and appreciate the people around him?

 

After calming Liu Shu’s emotions, Shen Ke inspected around the courtyard and found a small dog hole in a corner, which the wild dog had likely used to enter.

 

Just as he was about to find the basket maker to borrow some tools, he saw a carriage stop outside the courtyard gate, and the Zhang siblings had arrived.

 

“Why are you here too?” Liu Shu asked.

 

“It’s a big festival. We were afraid you two would be lonely, so we came to accompany you,” Zhang Moyang walked in with several boxes of food. But when he saw the dilapidated courtyard, he was stunned. “No way, you live here?!”

 

Zhang Moseng pulled his sleeve on the side, intentionally changing the subject. “We came uninvited. Did we disturb you?”

 

Liu Shu: Sorry, sorry for disturbing you! My two-person world ah

 

“Please come in,” Shen Ke led them into the house and busily served tea and poured water.

 

Zhang Moyang looked at Huishang, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time, sat down beside him, and asked, “I heard you’ve been repairing temples recently?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Where did you get the money?”

 

“Met a great benefactor.”

 

“Where did you meet? Can I meet them too?”

 

“It’s all about fate.”

 

“Superstitious,” Zhang Moyang stopped chatting with him, turned to look at the facilities inside the house, and was shocked. “You two really live here? Can people even live here?”

 

“Why couldn’t we?” Liu Shu retorted.

 

“This isn’t even as good as where my servants live. How about this, you move to my place, and I’ll free up a room for you,” Zhang Moyang generously offered.

 

“No need, it’s inconvenient,” Liu Shu firmly refused.

 

“What’s inconvenient? It’s right in town.”

 

“We can’t talk about love.”

 

At noon, Shen Ke cooked for everyone.

 

The Zhang siblings were surprised to see him bustling in the kitchen for the first time. They usually thought of Shen Ke as a cultured scholar who couldn’t carry or chop wood, but unexpectedly, he had this side to him—chopping wood, cooking, and even sewing clothes?!

 

When Liu Shu mentioned his clothes being torn and Shen Ke offered to sew them later, both siblings widened their eyes in unison.

 

For some reason, Zhang Moyang suddenly said, “When you marry, you should marry a virtuous woman.”

 

Shen Ke glanced sideways at him, his gaze faintly scanning.

 

Liu Shu, however, was greatly satisfied and patted Shen Ke’s shoulder in approval. “You’re right!”

 

“Xiaowu, the fire is dying down,” Shen Ke reminded.

 

“Coming!”

 

“Well, Xiaowu will probably be a henpecked husband in the future,” Zhang Moyang concluded.

 

“You’re right!” Liu Shu echoed again.

 

Shen Ke: 

 

After the meal was served, everyone’s expressions were somewhat stunned.

 

The Zhang siblings were astonished at how terrible his cooking skills were, while Liu Shu and Huishang suspected he had secretly studied somewhere.

 

“Did you go somewhere to learn cooking?” Liu Shu asked first.

 

“Yeah, these days I’ve been eating at the villagers’ houses and observed in their kitchens for a while, learning a bit,” Shen Ke explained.

 

Liu Shu gave him a thumbs up. “It’s so touching.”

 

“Huh?” Zhang Moyang picked up a piece of overcooked vegetable. “Since when did vegetables turn out so burnt?!”

 

Huishang commented, “Be content. At least you can still tell it’s vegetables.”

 

“And before, you couldn’t tell?” Zhang Moyang asked.

 

Huishang nodded. “If he hadn’t introduced us, we wouldn’t have known what we were eating. Whether it’s a blessing or a curse, it’s all up to fate.”

 

The siblings: 

 

“Brother, I have a deeper understanding of you now,” Zhang Moyang said to Shen Ke before turning to Liu Shu with a solemn expression. “And you too.”

 

Liu Shu: 

 

“Love really blinds people,” Zhang Moyang remarked.

 

After dinner, the siblings secretly ate a lot of snacks to fill their stomachs. They then followed them to stroll around nearby, enjoying the pastoral scenery. Suddenly, Zhang Moyang had a whimsical idea and wanted to go hunting in the mountains and forests, persuading Liu Shu to take him along for a bit of fun.

 

Reluctantly, Liu Shu had to take him to play in the mountains, with Zhang Moseng also tagging along.

 

By dusk, they hadn’t caught any game but returned with two kids.

 

To be precise, it was two kids clinging to Liu Shu’s legs, pleading desperately, “Please teach us archery! We want to play too!”

 

“Let go!” Liu Shu tried to pull his pants away desperately, glaring at Zhang Moyang who was gloating nearby. “Won’t you help?!”

 

Zhang Moyang stood by idly, waiting to see the embarrassed look on Liu Shu’s face as his pants were being pulled down.

 

Fortunately, the wicker craftsman arrived just in time and rescued him from the clutches of the two children, apologizing with a guilty expression, “Sorry, I should have been more vigilant.”

 

“It’s not your fault, big brother. Don’t blame yourself for everything,” Liu Shu said, then leaned in close and whispered, “With the whole family here for the Mid-Autumn Festival, what are your plans?”

 

The wicker craftsman blushed slightly and replied softly, “After sending the children to school, we’ll get married.”

 

“Who’s paying for it?”

 

“Qiao Hui said she would pay for it herself. These days, she works during the day and does sewing jobs at night for others. It’s quite hard, so I want to help her out a bit, but she won’t let me.”

 

Liu Shu finally relaxed, relieved that his older brother wasn’t being deceived. He looked down at the two mischievous children and asked, “You want to learn archery?”

 

“Yes!” the two children chorused eagerly.

 

“Then you’ll have to listen to me obediently from now on. Can you do that?”

 

“We can!”

 

“Good. Now go back with big brother for dinner, and come find me again tomorrow.”

 

“Yes, sir!”

 

The wicker craftsman watched the suddenly obedient children with some disbelief, admiringly glanced at Liu Shu, then took the two kids back home.

 

“It’s getting late, we should head back too,” Zhang Moyang said.

 

“No need to see us off.”

 

“Insensitive!”

 

Back in the courtyard, Liu Shu realized Hui Shang had left at some point, leaving Shen Ke alone, busily moving stones around. He quickly ran up to him. “Ke, what are you doing?”

 

“Filling up this hole so wild dogs won’t get in,” Shen Ke replied.

 

“I’ll help you.”

 

“No need, it’ll be done soon. Go inside and rest.” Shen Ke continued moving the stones, and seeing Liu Shu approaching, he hurriedly added, “Don’t come near me, I smell bad.”

 

“Where do you smell bad?” Liu Shu leaned closer, sniffed twice, then quickly kissed him on the cheek. “You’re the sweetest, A’Ke!”

 

Shen Ke smiled and finished blocking the hole with the last stone. He looked at Liu Shu standing nearby, approached him, and kissed him softly on the lips.

 

Liu Shu leaned against the wall, both of them sweating lightly. In the twilight’s lingering warmth, they exchanged their scents until their bodies grew warmer, reluctantly parting.

 

After dinner, the two sat in the courtyard under the moonlight, drinking tea and eating mooncakes, enjoying a leisurely moment. Shen Ke couldn’t help but start doing other tasks—

 

He had to mend Xiaowu’s torn clothes, rebuild Liu Fu’s doghouse that had been dug up, buy more rice from Aunt Zhu, add a quilt to Xiaowu’s bed for the autumn, and inform the wicker craftsman’s family that Xiaowu might be eating at their place for a while.

 

This departure would likely be for more than a month, and he needed to ensure Xiaowu wouldn’t encounter any troubles during this time. Normally, he didn’t feel much, but now, suddenly, he felt overwhelmed by the many household chores and worries.

 

Liu Shu watched him busy around silently following him wherever he went.

 

For a long time, neither of them said a word, one quietly doing everything, the other quietly watching.

 

They avoided eye contact as if deliberately.

 

As the night grew deeper, Shen Ke finally began to pack. There wasn’t much to take—two sets of clothes, cherished paintings, a gardening manual to bring along for documenting crops along the way, and finally, Xiaowu’s portrait.

 

When Shen Ke carefully placed the portrait into his luggage, Liu Shu couldn’t control himself anymore. His mouth drooped, tears streamed down his cheeks like opening floodgates.

 

Only after Shen Ke finished tying up the bundle and turned around did he notice Liu Shu crying. He stood there silently, watching the tears flow, feeling even more heartbroken.

 

He pulled Liu Shu into his arms and said softly, “I’ll be back soon, and then we’ll get married.”

 

Liu Shu nodded.

 

“Xiaowu.”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Don’t cry, it pains me.”

 

Liu Shu choked back his emotions, gritting his teeth. Finding it difficult to control himself, he buried his head in Shen Ke’s shoulder.

 

Shen Ke patted his back, comforting him softly.

 

Liu Shu lifted his head, eyes red with desire. He urgently nibbled on Shen Ke’s lips and neck, his breathing quickening. He choked out, “Come back soon.”

 

“Yeah, I will.”

 

“A’Ke, I feel uneasy, can we…”

 

The two stumbled onto the bed, Shen Ke rolled over, looking down at the person with red-rimmed eyes, his shirt open wide, more alluring than countless worldly spring scenes.

 

“I’ll help you.”

 

The candlelight flickered slightly, seeming to dodge the increasingly urgent breaths. After a heavy gasp, the last bit of candlelight extinguished, leaving the room in darkness. Moments later, a new candle was lit, and Shen Ke got up to wash his hands before returning to lie down again.

 

Liu Shu hugged him softly, letting out a satisfied sigh, staring at his neck for a long while. Suddenly, he leaned over and kissed him deeply, leaving a red mark.

 

“There, now everyone will know you’re taken.”

 

Shen Ke touched his neck and chuckled lightly, holding him close to sleep. “Go to sleep early.”

 

“Are you going to meet that person you’re breaking off the engagement with?” Liu Shu asked.

 

“I suppose so.”

 

“Is he good-looking?”

 

After confirming it was from the Jinling Liu family, Shen Ke secretly inquired through Zhang Moyang and according to Zhang Moyang, he had a handsome appearance but poor reputation.

 

“Supposedly, he is.”

 

“Just supposedly! It’s very likely to be a lie!”

 

“Yeah, and he has a bad reputation.”

 

Liu Shu was relieved. “Then this person definitely won’t work! You won’t like him.”

 

“I didn’t like him to begin with. What exactly are you worried about?” Shen Ke chuckled.

 

“I’m afraid that as soon as that kid sees you, he’ll lose his soul. You’re so good-looking, who wouldn’t be dazzled by you?”

 

“Not everyone is like you.”

 

“Everyone has eyes to discern beauty from ugliness.” Liu Shu finished, and he touched his face with concern, thinking of a bad idea. “When you meet him, dress up to look ugly, so he won’t like you, no matter how stubborn he is, and refuse to break up with you. That will be very troublesome, right?”

 

“It could be. If he doesn’t agree, it’ll be difficult.”

 

“Exactly, so try to look ugly then, and don’t behave so refined. Be a bit rough, got it?”

 

“Alright, I’ll follow your lead.”