The Guide to Capturing a Black Lotus - Chapter 82: Honey Pomelo (4)

Chapter 82: Honey Pomelo (4)

Ling Miaomiao lowered her head and slowly tightened her ruqun. She sat in front of the makeup table and faced the mirror, tying her hair into a simple ponytail. It drooped down to the side of her head in a puffy, soft manner. She looked right and left then pouted in dissatisfaction, “It’s uneven.”

Her fingers traced over the young face reflected in the mirror. Immediately afterwards, she tapped on the mirror, “You, c’mere and help me.”

Mu Sheng silently approached her. Miaomiao turned around in shock, as if in disbelief that a person in the mirror could actually show up in reality.

Mu Sheng grabbed her soft hair and pulled it apart. Then, he picked up a comb, dipped it in some water and started to brush her hair. He started to straighten out her long, maroon hair with somewhat unfamiliar movements.

The girl in the mirror didn’t put up a fuss nor cause any sort of commotion. She simply sat there with her apricot eyes and watched him inquisitively like a little deer would. This obedient manner was similar to that of a little doll’s.

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“I don’t want this one.” She suddenly struggled.

“I don’t want this smell.” She scrunched up her nose.

“What?” His hands paused for a moment as his dark eyes looked at the mirror.

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“Slyzzu?”

“Slyzzu.”

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Ling Miaomiao turned her head, fingers tapping against the mirror, “Pin my hair.”

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He couldn’t bear to release her, “Ok, I’ll pin your hair.”

The incense burning in the censor slowly wafted up into the air. The room was silent and as such, the loud birdsong and twittering of birds outside could be clearly heard inside.

For him, brushing her hair for an hour was still too short. When he finally tied up her hair with a ribbon, his hands were already somewhat numb and shaky. Fortunately, he was familiar with tying up his own hair into a bun so in the end, the bowknot he made was beautifully sharp.

Ling Miaomiao closely examined the ponytail in the mirror, appearing critically scrutinizing, “Even my own work was straighter than this.”

“….” He picked up the drooping bundle of hair and asked her through the mirror, “Should I try it again then?”

“No need.” She raised her chin and shook her head.

“Alright then.” His dark pupils seemed moist. He pursed his lips after some time and promised, “In the future, I’ll become better at this.”

Ling Miaomiao slightly narrowed her eyes and started yawning incessantly. This was the side effect of the love bug, she would be tired all day and night. The youth extended his hand out behind her back and no matter how much she struggled, she couldn’t escape him picking her up by the waist. He carried her to the bed and carefully placed her down.

“I don’t want to sleep.” She struggled to keep awake, playing with the black jade beads on his clothes.

He reached out and covered the back of her hand with his. He wrapped his fingers around her hand and said, “Rest a bit. You’ll have more energy once you eat.”

“Mhmm.” She obediently took back her hand and then crossed them over her abdomen, lashes trembling lightly.

Mu Sheng’s face was a little pale. His expression was complicated as he watched her, “Do you remember what you need to say later?”

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“Mhm.” She nodded.”

“Do you want to go over it again?”

She hesitated for a moment then shook her head, “Nope.”

However, the youth forcefully pulled her face towards him, speaking in a firm tone: “Practice it once.”

“…..” She blinked a few times before poking his chest, “You’ll feel bad.”

“….” Warmth suddenly spooled out from his eyes, “I don’t feel bad anymore.”

She clenched her teeth and shook her head. He no longer forced the issue. His head lowered and he played with the hair on the fringe of her forehead. He had a near imperceptible smile on his face, “Truly, getting you to say ‘like’ is harder than ascending the heavens.”

Under the covers, Ling Miaomiao had already fallen asleep. He sat in front of the table and took the writing brush from the penholder. He dabbed the paper, the marriage papers, and wrote down the only answer he could write with complete decisiveness.

“Knock knock—” He placed down the brush. A servant covered in sweat had brought a big dark yellow bird up the stairs. The bird was still flapping its wings valiantly when the door opened. Upon seeing him, the servant’s face lit up with joy, “Young master, here is the yellow swan goose you wanted. Look, it’s so spirited and full of energy.”

The youth raised one of its wings and studied it for a moment. Then, he nodded and passed an ingot of silver over. The servant thanked him and then shoved it into his robes.

“When should I send the goose and letter over? By the time the courier comes by, it’ll be at least 3 days to get there. Especially since there’s gonna be a boat involved.”

His voice was low as he replied: “That’s fine. Take care of it well.”

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“Alright….”

“Ziqi!” A voice suddenly shouted from behind him.

He abruptly turned around to see Ling Miaomiao holding up her jade-green skirt walking over barefoot. She pinched one of the bird’s wings, causing it to cry out loud, “I want this wild goose!”

“Yo, Miss Ling.” The servant tripped over himself trying to smile at her, “This… this is a swan goose.”

Her face was full of innocent doubt as she tilted her head and repeated, “I want this wild goose.”

“….” The servant’s expression froze for a moment. He felt like there was something weird with this young lady. A few days ago, she had been so clever and vivacious. Before he even recovered his wits, the youth in front of his eyes forcefully picked up the girl into a princess carry and brought her to the bed. Despite there being a canopy between them, she still pointed at the swan goose whilst struggling, “I want….”

Mu Sheng hurriedly walked to the door and passed him another ingot of silver. In a low voice, he instructed, “Leave this one and go look for another one.”

He looked inside the room one more time out of curiosity but when he noticed the youth’s gloomy expression he got the warning and felt like he couldn’t breath. Quickly, he took back his gaze, “Alright…”

Ling Miaomiao was crouching on the ground, using one of her little fingers to poke at the big yellow goose’s beak carefully.

“Ga—” The goose couldn’t bear the poking anymore and cried out in a dispirited voice. In fact, it’s voice broke while it did so.

The girl giggled and her eyes curled up into crescents. She looked just like a little animal. There were two bowls in front of it, one filled to the brim with crystal-clear water and the other, piled high with grass. She pinched a stem of grass in front of the goose’s beak to try it out but after a short while, she became disappointed, “Ziqi, it doesn’t want to eat.”

Mu Sheng stared at her face unblinkingly. Then, he said, “Just take it slowly.”

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“Could it be that it doesn’t like that it’s captured?” She nervously raised her head, “Let’s return it….”

Mu Sheng’s finger’s landed on her cheeks. He lightly caressed them: “Return it to where?”

“Where it came from, we’ll send it back….”

“Send it back?” He smiled, but there was no emotion on his face, “Miaomiao, this is the casual gift I picked for Cao Tie.”

She paused. Then, as he expected, she changed gears, “What is Cao Tie?”

He looked at her deeply. He hesitated for a moment before saying, “The letter I wrote for your father.”

“Father….” She seemed to have recalled something. She sat down in front of the table before suddenly covering her head, “Father…”

“…. what happened?” He was anxious as he reached out for her wrist. There seemed to be a flash of light in her eyes as she seemed to be nailed into place.

For three seconds, the world seemed to grow quiet.

Their eyes met. Her hands slowly lowered from her head.

“I want to write a letter to my father too.” She slightly pursed her lips. She pulled down the brush from the penholder and to draw messily over the paper he had just prepared and set out.

Mu Sheng lowered his eyes to take a look and saw that she was writing very quickly. However, the contents were only these two phrases:

“Father: I like Ziqi, I’m willing to marry Ziqi.”

“I like Ziqi, I’m willing to marry Ziqi.”

“I like Ziqi, I’m willing to marry….”

There was a sudden surge of pain and shock pouring out of his heart. He rigidly held onto her wrist, “Don’t write anymore…”

“Don’t stop me from writing a letter to my father…” She still struggled and in the end, drew long lines across the paper. Many long, slanted red lines. It looked like someone had chopped the letter into many pieces.

He finally took the brush out of her hand. The pair’s clothes were stained by the black ink. She lowered her head to look at her hand covered with black spots. She was stunned for a few moments before distastefully wiping her hand on his clothes.

“….” Mu Sheng lowered his head to stare at her hand.

She wiped her hand clean and calmed down again. Suddenly, she came up and settled against his neck, rubbing against him repeatedly. She seemed somewhat agitated as her lips touched his skin over and over again. Mu Sheng pulled her away and covered her lips with his hand. Struggling against his desires, he uttered, “Miaomiao, wait…”

He rubbed his thumb across her rosy lips a few times, almost as if he was trying to quench his thirst this way. “Just wait a bit more.”

However…. how long would they have to wait…. until the end of the seven days?

He still had a chance.

Ling Miaomiao had gotten tired after causing a fuss. Thus, she buried her head into his chest before muttering angrily, “You have to apologize to me.”

The way she spoke those words, the way the mood changed… was all extremely similar to the normal Miaomiao. It caused him to turn stiff all over. At the same time, excitement seemed to pour out of his pores as he shuddered fiercely. In fact, he dared not lower his head to look at her face. His lashes trembled, “Apologize?”

“Tell me you were wrong. You shouldn’t have done that to me.”

“…….” At that moment, he lowered his head and asked, “Miaomiao.”

The eyes of the person in his arms were still muddy and absent-minded as she played with her fingers.

Before the seven days were up, everything was just going to be full of misunderstandings. He couldn’t tell whether or not he felt like he loosened up a bit in his heart or whether it was a grave loss he was feeling.

He pulled the girl onto his knee and into a hug. Once again, he pulled out a piece of paper and rolled it up for her to write on.

She tilted her head to the side. Looking past her hair, he could see her fair white nose and delicate eyelashes. “Why did you write a letter to my father in my place?”

A corner of his mouth tilted up. He spoke while he wrote, “It should be me who writes it.”

The second young master of the Mu family, seeks out the Mayor of Taicang County, Ling Lushang for the sake of taking his sole daughter, Ling Yu, in marriage.

As a handsome youth, the world was just that simple. His words and actions need not be reserved but they were still appropriate. His handwriting was clear and handsome, as well as just as profound as his own self. It’d easily allow others to mistakenly think of him as a straightforward and aboveboard person, someone that was worthy of entrusting their daughter to.

Through the thin piece of paper, he could nearly see his Father-In-Law’s satisfied smile.

He wrote till he finally signed his name, leaving two lines of space above it. He passed the brush to her and pointed at the paper with his finger: “Write right here.”

“…..” She stared at the empty space, not moving at all.

His lips moved close to her ear. His demeanor was filled with patience as he spoke, “Write the two phrases you were writing just now.”

To a lonely pair of father and daughter, the words of others were just as fleeting and weightless as a feather. Only the words from one’s own daughter could garner the striking red stamp of approval.

Ling Miaomiao picked up the brush but didn’t write anything, “Apologize to me.”

The youth lightly smiled, lowered his head and kissed her on the forehead, “I was wrong.”

Ling Miaomiao paused for a moment then looked down to write a few words. After she placed down the brush, she started to play with her own hands with no care in the world again.

When Mu Sheng looked down, all he saw were the words, “I hate Ziqi.”

“……” He was speechless. He took out another piece of paper and copied his words onto it. As with before, he left two lines of space before he signed off and then handed the brush to her. “Write it properly.”

Ling Miaomiao pursed her lips, “Apologize properly.”

He really didn’t understand where she got such a deep impression that she needed an apology from him. Then, he absentmindedly said, “I was wrong.”

She clenched her teeth and then wrote in an even more slovenly manner than before.

“I hate Ziqi.”

“…..” He took out another piece of paper.

He never realized he could have a day that he could be so patient. It was almost as if she never yelled out ‘stop’, this game of theirs would continue on for eternity. He had no complaints if that was the case.

He passed the brush to her. She already seemed tired as she yawned loudly, “Apologize to me.”

His long lashes lowered, parting her hair as he kissed her by the side of her ear. His voice carried a pitiful undertone, “…. but I really like you.”

“Pa….”

She tossed aside the brush, ink splattering everywhere. As if tossing the brush wasn’t satisfying enough, she picked it back up in her hand. Then, she puffed up her cheeks like a squirrel, trying to exert force to break the brush in half. It didn’t break.

Mu Sheng took the brush from her hands and it cracked loudly in his hands. He broke it into several pieces in front of her and then he looked at her with his watery pupils, “Not angry anymore?”

The gaze with which Ling Miaomiao used to stare at him, spoke of just how much she wanted to rip him to pieces like he had done to the brush.

Then he plucked another writing brush from the penholder and broke it without another word. He didn’t give it much thought, “If this isn’t enough, I’ll help you break a few more….”

Ling Miaomiao didn’t even finish listening to him before she threw herself into his chest and chomped down on his shoulder. He hugged her tightly to his chest whilst she kicked, struggled and scratched. She bit down with strength, finally showing a few vestiges of blood through his robes.

A burst of pain surged from his shoulder and a strange light flashed through his eyes—-

At that moment, she was like herself. The Ling Miaomiao who was outwardly warm and inwardly cold. Clenching his teeth, he took the chance to capture her… but at that moment, he felt his heart calm and a deep sense of bitterness and loss filled him immediately afterwards.

The sunlight fell upon the top of her maroon coloured hair. Her scattered hair seemed to be aglow with a warm, fuzzy golden border surrounding it. She reached out to touch the bamboo dragonfly. “As the winds rise, we can only submit ourselves to heaven’s will. Just like a dragonfly, no matter how small or big, the winds will disrupt them. Even if you use talismans to control it, then you’ve turned it into a puppet. What difference is there then?”

The original downfall and emptiness was swept aside as he recalled that it all started from her.

The dragonfly and the puppet were, in the end, different.

He calmly hugged her as his dark pupils flashed. He acted as if he hadn’t really heard her, “I was wrong.”

The person in his arms paused and no longer struggled. “You, go and release that wild goose.”

“….. Alright.”

She paused again before speaking in a muffled voice: “Write another letter.”

“…..” He lowered his head to take a look. Ling Miaomiao’s apricot eyes were looking at him, unblinkingly.

He spread out the piece of paper and copied his words for the third time. Word for word, line for line. Having already imprinted the words into his heart.

When he left the two lines at the end of the letter, Ling Miaomiao snatched the brush from his hands and then leaned over to stick a great big red stamp onto it.

“Father, I like Ziqi. I’m willing to marry Ziqi.”

The author has something to say:

— Did you really think it’d be seven days because someone said seven days?

TLN: Well, how has everyone been? It’s going to be Christmas tomorrow…. and I hope everyone has had a good year. Don’t let a some small thing or insignificant human sour up your entire day lololol. HEY! If you ever want someone to talk to, feel free to come look for me in Discord~