The Daily Life Of Mei Furen Doting On Her Husband - Chapter 92

There was also the older man whose belly Wu Zhen had patted—he seemed to be Sima Xuanzhou, who had recently been transferred back to Chang’an and given the title of General Lingwei.

The drunken man who had crawled under the table was a Minister from the Imperial College. Mei Zhuyu had seen him before at his uncle’s house. He was known to be a gentle, graceful, and popular man, but at this moment, he was like pickled vegetables, muttering something as though he’d lost the meaning of life.

Mei Zhuyu didn’t know the others, but they were obviously not ordinary people. Looking at Wu Zhen, who was slamming the table, glaring, and impatiently pouring wine for them, Mei Zhuyu suddenly realized.

This group of young men were the friends who had once played with Wu Zhen. Thinking about Cui and then looking at these brothers, Mei Zhuyu suddenly felt the cruelty of time.

It was almost evening, and the group of drunkards who had been singing loudly was now lying on the ground one by one, sleeping in a pile of tall, short, fat, and thin bodies. The only one still standing was Wu Zhen. During the banquet, she had been pouring wine for everyone, and half of those present were drunk because of her, but she herself had not drunk much and remained clear-headed.

Mei Zhuyu came down from the building and helped Wu Zhen lift the drunken men, handing them over to the carriage servants outside. After a busy time, they had sent all the men away. It was already dusk. The sunset spread across the sky, half of it covered with orange-red clouds that reflected in the lake by the small building and on the tops of the green trees. The sky and earth were filled with brilliant colors.

Wu Zhen took a glass of clear wine, sipping it slowly as she leaned against the railing on the second floor, looking into the distance. Tired birds returned to their nests, chirping from afar. Putting down the bowl, Wu Zhen exhaled, tapped the railing with her fingers, and said in a somewhat lazy tone, “I have to meet these friends twice every year. This time, there were not as many people as last time. Two of my brothers were sent to other places as officials this year. They are far away and cannot return at will.”

“The few who came today were in Chang’an and had time to come. Many others were not in Chang’an, or they had no time, and some have gradually become unfamiliar and no longer wished to come.”

Mei Zhuyu listened quietly, looking at her with a soft expression. Her profile was framed by a circle of warm light from the setting sun, her pupils dotted with a little brilliance, making her look particularly moving.

“I had a bad reputation when I was young, different from the other ladies in Chang’an. My father and sister worried about me, but I was born with a rebellious streak and never followed discipline. I got to know these gentlemen by accident, and they taught me much and protected me.”

“I can still remember the things I experienced when I was young, but my old friends are no longer young. My brothers, who were full of ambition in their youth and talked of traveling thousands of miles to see all the beautiful mountains and rivers, are now working as officials in the six ministries, busy with paperwork and family matters every day.”

“Zeng Feiyang was a rebellious man who disliked poetry and books and hated his teachers’ teachings. But now he has entered the Imperial College to teach students. The one who was once cowardly and weak, afraid of blood, and only dared to watch from the sidelines during hunting, has now become a general and must guard the border…”

Wu Zhen raised her head and drank the wine in the glass, then turned to look at Mei Zhuyu, blinking with a smile. “Don’t you think it’s interesting? How can people change so much from when they were young to when they grow up?”

Mei Zhuyu finally said, “You haven’t changed.”

Wu Zhen did not comment, “Of course I have changed. When I was young, my temper was not as good as it is now.”

Mei Zhuyu: “…”

Wu Zhen put down her wine glass and looked at him with a smile, “What about you, my dear? What kind of life did you live when you were young?”

Mei Zhuyu gazed into the distance, appearing a bit absent-minded. After a moment, he said, “From childhood to adulthood, my life has been ordinary and boring.”

Though he called it boring, Wu Zhen was more curious. She leaned closer to him, smiling, “Tell me about it.”

Mei Zhuyu, seeing her relaxed expression, thought for a while and then began, “I don’t remember much before I was three or four years old. After I was four, my parents sent me to Changxi Temple, and that’s when I really began to remember things. Though for some reason I was only a nominal disciple, my master and all the brothers took great care of me.”

He paused, unsure what to say next. After all, there was little that was interesting about life in the temple, and Wu Zhen might not care for it. So he tried hard to recall and spoke of things he found a little more intriguing.

“It snows very early on the mountain. Every October, snow covers the ridge. When I was ten years old, I was injured and my body was hot, needing the stimulation of snow, so I rested on the ridge. One day, the wind and snow were so strong that my house was blown down. I wanted to go back to the temple on the mountainside, but I got lost halfway because of the heavy wind and snow. Just when I didn’t know which way to go, I met a snow wolf. The snow wolf understood human nature. Not only did it not eat me, but it also led me all the way back to the temple. However, as soon as we reached the temple, it suddenly scattered into a pile of snow. Later, my master told me it was the mountain God of Xiling. It occasionally transforms into an animal to guide those lost in the mountains back to the right path.”

Mei Zhuyu finished speaking in one breath. He thought Wu Zhen would be curious about the mountain God, but instead, she raised her eyebrows and asked, “How did you get injured?”

Mei Zhuyu was stunned for a moment before replying, “I went down the mountain with my brother and encountered a monster that wanted to eat me. Though I escaped, I was injured by it.”

Wu Zhen was not satisfied with Mei Zhuyu’s concise answer. The previous story had been told in such detail, so why was this one so brief?

Mei Zhuyu seemed to sense her thoughts and explained further, “Third Senior Brother said that I stayed in the mountains all the time as a child and had never experienced the excitement down below, so he took me down the mountain to play during the festival. But halfway there, we encountered a large dog with fire in its mouth. It bit me on the waist and abdomen, leaving me with fire poison.”

Wu Zhen glanced at his left waist with some realization. “So that’s where the scar came from. Was it very serious at the time?”

Mei Zhuyu shook his head. “Not too serious.” In truth, he had been very thin then, and the bite from the large dog’s mouth nearly tore open his waist and abdomen; his intestines almost spilled out, leaving a big bloody hole. If his master had not arrived in time, he might have died on the spot.