Joy of Life

Letting go...why should he have had to? But seeing the young bride savoring her happiness, Fan Xian could not be like Liuxia Hui [1] and ignore the fire that burned within him. If he were to let go, he’d never forgive himself. There was no need to decline to devour what was offered to him.

So, the two of them came together as one.

...

...

Despite the trees providing shelter, the lake mountains held many sights, and the sight of this couple being intimate would eventually be seen by the maidservants. Those maidservants were smart and took the hint; each one of them looked away, some flipped the slices of meat, some pretended to check the miss’s makeup box, while some didn’t know what to do and can only pretend to have sprained their ankles.

Fan Sizhe was chewing happily and didn’t notice the “quarreling fairies”. Ruoruo was currently taking a stroll by the woods; she didn’t to seem to pay attention to what was going on over there. The maidservants did not clear their throats nonstop to try to stop this improper behavior because Fan Xian had been preparing them for this in the past few days.

If it’s about national matters, then you must bribe the leading government figures. If it’s about household affairs, you must bribe the maidservants. Fan Xian knew that well and had been generously rewarding them thanks to his status as a functionary and the fact his bookstore kept on churning out money. The maidservants were all delighted and were won over to their future master’s side.

Neither one of the couple knew how much had passed before they parted from one another. Both panting, their hair slightly messy, looking a bit pathetic. Rather than being intimate, it looked more like they had a fight.

Lin Wan’er combed her hair with her hand and took a glance at the maidservants in the distance who didn’t seem to notice. Still, she was quite upset and glared angrily at Fan Xian. To do this in broad daylight, this was too ridiculous. But the sweet fragrance lingering on her lips made her heart flutter like crazy.

“What are you afraid of? I never saw you this uncomfortable all those nights.” Fan Xian teased her. With “tricky fingers”, he gently flicked her earlobe.

Wan’er could only sigh lightly. She raised her small fist and hammered down on Fan Xian’s chest.

“The husband is being murdered.” This was a joke told too many times by Fan Xian and his friends in his previous life. But to his fiancée, it was quite new.

Wan’er bit him on the wrist. Fan Xian forcibly stopped himself from shouting out. He forced a smile and said, “The fairies aren’t fighting, what’s gotten into you?”

“Fighting fairies” came from the seventy-third chapter of Dream of the Red Chamber. In it, the guileless Sister Sha picked up a sachet in the Grand View Garden. On the sachet was an embroidery depicting a man and a woman embracing in the nude. Sister Sha did not realize it was a pornographic scene and thought they were fairies fighting. She gave the sachet to Lady Xing and a fable was born.

No one here should know this story. However, recently, Lin Wan’er learned her own future husband opened up a bookstore with Story of the Stone as its bestseller. She made Fan Xian “copy” down the later few chapters. Hearing “fighting fairies” made her blush. “Who do you think I am?”

Fan Xian snickered, “A good person, of course. Those before us once said, the fairies fought a fight of perfection. Besides, what we did was fairies quarreling.”

“Bah! To hell with your nonsense. ‘Those before us’? Please don’t use their name for this.” Lin Wan’er laughed. “Also, what is the difference between quarreling and fighting fairies?”

“You see, in a fight, you use your entire body. In a quarrel, of course... you only use your mouth.”

“Drop dead.”

“It’d be a privilege if it were by your hand.”

—————-

When taking refuge from the heat in a summer estate, it was easy for a couple in love to pass time. In the blink of an eye, it was noon. Somehow Ruoruo was able to get the ladies at the front of the state to remember they had things to do, and they came to Fan Xian with all smiles; it looked like they received a lot of benefits from the Fan family.

But Fan Xian still didn’t like the sight of them, because, with their arrival, his time with Wan’er was over. He sat up and distanced himself from Wan’er.

Fan Xian’s roasted fish wasn’t enough to be called proper lunch. So, the lot made their way to the mountain estate and chose an elegant courtyard to have lunch. As the servants went to prepare food, the sound of horse carriages could be heard over the sound of chatting. Fan Xian and Lin Wan’er stood up at the same time, as if knowing who it was. Upon seeing they both stood up, they looked at each other in surprise.

Fan Xian and Lin Wan’er had each invited a guest without informing the other. Upon seeing the occupants, both of them were surprised. Wan’er felt some nervousness and hurt on top of her surprise, while Fan Xian felt some nervousness... and a headache.

Lin Wan’er had invited Ye Ling’er. Wan’er knew about the fight the other day, so she invited Ling’er here today to get the two to know each other better. Fan Xian knew Wan’er’s intention and welcomed Ling’er with a smile. He put his hands together and greeted her, “Nice to see you, Miss Ye.”

While her nose was still hurting, Ye Ling’er was not awkward in the slightest. She greeted back, “Good to see you too, Master Fan. I was greatly impressed with your skills.”

Fan Xian chuckled, although inside he felt somewhat strange. Were they filming a historical film?

Fan Sizhe saw the scene and said to Ruoruo quietly, “Sis, I understand. Our future sister-in-law wants to play the peacemaker.” Fan Ruoruo replied in agreement and was about to greet Wan’er when Fan Sizhe’s next sentence made her stop. Fan Sizhe had said in a perverted voice, “Looks like our sister-in-law wants her own younger sister.”

Fan Ruoruo spat and knocked Fan Sizhe on the head. She scolded in a low voice, “Never mind older brother’s wishes, even if he wants her, with Ling’er’s status, there’s no way it would be so trivial.” In her heart, Ruoruo didn’t care who Fan Xian married, as long as she was to his likings. On that, Fan Xian shared the same logic.

A fat man came out of the other carriage. Led by a nanny, he looked around in bewilderment. Fan Xian gave Ruoruo a look, signaling her to take Ye Ling’er to rest. With one hand, he gently pulled on Wan’er’s sleeve.

Looking at the fat man, Lin Wan’er covered her mouth with her hand, but her exclamation could still be faintly heard. She looked back at Fan Xian with eyes full of gratitude.

“Go.” Fan Xian encouraged her with a gentle smile and the two made their way towards the carriage. Upon seeing Fan Xian, the fatty’s bewilderment immediately turned into an expression of joy. He took a few steps and grabbed Fan Xian’s hand and shouted, “Little Xianxian, it’s you.”

“Dabao, didn’t we agree not to call me that?” Fan Xian smiled uneasily.

Lin Wan’er was a bit saddened by how her own brother had seemingly forgotten who she was. But after hearing what he called Fan Xian, she couldn’t help but laugh. “Little Xianxian?”

Fan Xian could only nod.

“Thank you,” Lin Wan’er looked at Fan Xian in gratitude, “You know it’s inconvenient for me to see him.”

“Yes.” Fan Xian smiled. He turned around and patted Dabao on the shoulder. “There’s no polo today, Dabao, but we can do other fun things.”

Under the hills, passing through a hall, they could see a green lake under the mountains in the distance. Dabao sniffled and shook his head. “Little Xianxian, the water is green, not blue.”

Fan Xian sighed, “Because the water isn’t deep enough.”

“Then let’s see how deep it is.”

Fan Xian had originally planned to bring Dabao here because, first, he didn’t want his older brother-in-law to be bored at home, and second, he could leave him with Fan Sizhe, since they were both little kids. But somehow, Fan Sizhe had an intuition about matters like this and stayed far away as soon as he saw Dabao. Being taken by the hand, Fan Xian was led down the hill by Dabao. It looked like this lunch was a failure.

As they were about to walk out, Dabao suddenly turned his head around, looking seriously at Lin Wan’er, “Little sister, why don’t you follow us?”

Lin Wan’er was shocked at first, then she felt something pulling at her heart. Her mentally challenged older brother had remembered his own sister, whom he had only seen a few times. She quickly agreed and took Dabao’s other hand.

...

It was evening, and the sound of people playing mahjong could be heard in the distance. The guards were drinking together; their duties had been light, everything was peaceful, and so their defenses were all lowered. The maidservants were tired and went to sleep after drinking some yellow wine. As for those being served, they had retired to bed early. Occasionally, the chorus of frogs came, and a fish could be heard breaking through the surface of the lake. Otherwise, everything was quiet in the royal summer estate.

Beside the lake, a tent was hiding in the woods under the faint moonlight, facing the night wind blowing across the lake. It was during this time of the night that the couple in the tent were whispering.

[1] Liuxia Hui was an official in ancient China known to be so noble that he was able to hold a later on his lap without even the slightest hint of ignobility.