"She's not married yet. How is she your young mistress?" Zhang Tu saw an opening and raised his voice. "You playboys trick beautiful women. Wan Niang is simple-minded; she must have been fooled by you. Everyone knows you oily-faced pretty boys are the worst—you deceive respectable women and then sell them to brothels."
"Wan Niang, don't be taken in by him!"
Gu Lanyin had to laugh at that speech. A crowd had gathered on the street. Gu Lanyin cupped his hands and announced loudly, "You misunderstand, good sir. Wan Niang and I have the consent of our parents and the word of a matchmaker. How could there be any deception? This summer, the floods came too fast, and Wan Niang was accidentally swept here. Thanks to your rescue, sir, we were able to meet again."
"I've prepared a modest gift to thank you for saving her life. Please accept it without refusing."
Cheng Bi brought out a hundred taels of silver that had been prepared earlier. He removed the red silk covering the tray. In the sunlight, the shiny ingots were exposed to the crowd. Everyone gasped, their eyes wide.
Zhang Tu hadn't expected him to produce so much. "Silver!"
Gu Lanyin raised his hand, and another attendant led over a fine horse.
"A fine steed for a hero. Please, accept it." Gu Lanyin cupped his hands again. "My wife and I can never repay your great kindness. In the next life, I will repay you even if it means turning into a beast or weaving grass."
The silver was real—could the horse be fake? Seeing the youth's polite and respectful words, the crowd burst into cheers.
Zhang Tu was put on the spot. If he didn't accept, he would lose face. Seeing everyone clamoring, he was deeply frustrated.
Gu Lanyin scattered a large handful of copper coins and thanked the crowd as well; in an instant, the whole area bustled with excitement.
He asked the crowd to make way, and the previously packed throng parted. The attendants on both sides kept throwing coins, and Zhang Tu was pushed aside, watching helplessly as the luxurious carriage departed.
From beginning to end, Zhao Wan Niang never showed her face.
Once out of the city, Gu Lanyin opened the window. The fields on both sides had been harvested, bare except for scattered piles of straw. Homesteads dotted the countryside; mountains rose in the distance. After a little while, a surging river came into view, and they arrived at the dock.
"Careful."
Zhao Wan Niang, supported by him, boarded the boat.
In the river breeze, she couldn't stop smiling. She clung tightly to his hand and whispered, "Are you really that rich?"
Silver and horses…
Compared to the poor scholar who once had to split a coin two ways, he seemed like a completely different person.
She remembered the first time they ate noodles. At a roadside shop at the foot of the mountain, he was so poor he could only afford one bowl. Zhao Wan Niang, limping, sat on a stool, and the two shared the bowl.
After eating a few bites, the youth sat upright, his gaze stealing sideways glances at her like a thief. Seeing this, Zhao Wan Niang deliberately ate even slower.
Under the deep green shade, she wondered how someone like him could be so poor—poor so cleanly.
Luckily, her own family had money.
Next time she met him, she would make sure he ate his fill.
Thinking this, she giggled. A bit of scallion from the noodles stuck to the corner of her mouth, like a small, delicate locust flower blooming on the rippling curve of a wave.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves above, scattering countless spots of light. Beneath the old locust tree, their two shadows melded together. The youth lowered his eyes, watching her laugh without guard, and leaned on his arm, staring at her for a moment.
"What is it?"
Gu Lanyin reached out and wiped the corner of her mouth with his thumb.
Zhao Wan Niang blushed and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe her mouth, but when she looked up again, he was gazing at the distant hills. The thumb that had touched her lips now pressed against his own lips.
His tongue wet it, then he stole another glance at her. When she caught him, she felt so flustered she turned away.
He must have been starving.
Zhao Wan Niang pushed the remaining noodles toward him.
The shadows of the trees swayed leisurely in the water, and her heart swayed too, as if drunk.
She never imagined he would now be so wealthy.
Zhao Wan Niang smiled, her eyes narrowing. Now that they were alone, looking out at the vast river, she felt she too was no longer the same Zhao Wan Niang.
"Gu Lang, how did you find me here?"
"I heard someone here looked a lot like you, so I thought something might have happened to you…"
Gu Lanyin brewed a cup of tea, the fragrant steam sweeping away the fishy smell drifting in with the wind.
He couldn't seem to get enough of her, so he finally reached out and touched the face that often appeared in his dreams.
Her face tickled.
Zhao Wan Niang instinctively dodged and nearly fell to the floor.
"When we get back, we'll get married." Gu Lanyin caught her and uttered each word as he pulled her into a tight embrace.
He seemed to want to merge her into his body. Zhao Wan Niang felt a little embarrassed, but when she felt something damp on her neck, she startled.
"Gu Lang, why are you crying?"
Gu Lanyin couldn't lift his head.
Those years had been like a fleeting dream, and he had been so wretched.
He had mistaken He Ping'an for Wan Niang and even had a child with her. While he had been searching everywhere for Wan Niang, she had been suffering in this small town by the river.
And now, he was still thinking of finding that person.