Chapter 14 – The Rival is Here!
The man was both touched and surprised, standing awkwardly as he patted Xia Yi’s shoulder. “My son, don’t be sad. As long as you come back to visit your father and mother every year, we’ll be content.”
After clinging to him for a while, Xia Yi let go and asked, “Where’s mom? I want to see her.”
A servant stepped forward, “This way, young master.”
Following the servant through the winding corridors, they walked for quite some time before arriving at a side room.
Xia Yi’s heart raced. Would it be his mother? Could it be?
A maid lifted the curtain, and Xia Yi slowly walked in.
On the carved bed, a woman lay on her side with her back to him. Just from her silhouette, Xia Yi recognized that this was his mother from his previous life.
He knelt by the bed, gently resting his head on the woman’s back. Tears streamed down his face as he softly called out, “Mom, mother!”
The woman’s back began to tremble; she was clearly crying too.
“Yi’er, don’t blame your mother.”
“I don’t blame you, I don’t blame you. It’s all my fault, I’ve been unfilial,” Xia Yi whispered tearfully.
The woman turned around, cradling Xia Yi’s head in her arms. “Go on, if you want to go, go. But come back often to see your father and me.”
Xia Yi shook his head desperately. He wanted to shout, ‘I’m not going. I won’t go anywhere. I’ll stay with you both. Forget Qishan and cultivating immortality—I’ll just stay by your side. I’ve learned to farm, and I’ll grow potatoes and radishes for you to eat.’
But when he tried to speak, he found the words wouldn’t come out. The air felt thick, and everything around him—the scenery and even his mother—began to shake and twist, spinning faster and faster.
Xia Yi tried frantically to open his mouth, to shout, to call for his mother.
The spinning grew more intense until the world once again turned into lines and dots of light.
…
When everything stopped, Xia Yi found himself back on the mountain. Time seemed to have stood still as if nothing had changed. He was holding the large mushroom, still in the act of offering it to Gu Wenzhu.
The Qilin was still frolicking in the bushes nearby, and Gu Wenzhu had just picked up another mushroom and was about to show it to Xia Yi.
“What’s wrong?” Gu Wenzhu dropped the mushroom in alarm and rushed forward to hold Xia Yi in his arms. “Xia Yi, what’s wrong?”
Xia Yi stood frozen in place, clutching the mushroom, his face full of grief, tears streaming down his cheeks.
“I… I just saw my parents.”
Gu Wenzhu paused, then hugged Xia Yi tighter, comforting him, “Your parents wouldn’t want you to be sad because you miss them. Don’t cry. From now on, you have me, and I’ll take care of you.”
Xia Yi didn’t say anything. He simply leaned against Gu Wenzhu, and Gu Wenzhu gently patted his back, soothing him.
After some time, when Xia Yi’s emotions had settled, the two of them gathered their mushrooms and headed home. The air had grown cooler, and a mountain breeze made Xia Yi shiver.
Seeing this, Gu Wenzhu said, “Last time we went to the town, we bought some fabric. I’ll ask Aunt Li to find someone good with needlework, and we’ll pay her to make us each a set of warm clothes.”
That evening, Gu Wenzhu went to find Aunt Li, and two days later, a girl arrived at their courtyard to take on the sewing job.
The girl’s name was Huaiyu, and she lived in the neighboring village. She was a professional seamstress, and most people in the surrounding villages came to her for their clothing needs.
Huaiyu was around 17 or 18, tall and quite pretty. In the past, Xia Yi might have been intrigued, but now he was deeply in love, and there was no one in his eyes but Gu Wenzhu.
As Huaiyu measured Gu Wenzhu’s body, Xia Yi stood nearby, helping and jotting down the measurements in a notebook.
Brother Zhu’s turning looks so handsome… He’s not just stepping one foot after the other like anyone else. He’s using his right foot as a pivot while his left foot swings his upper body around… How can he make such a simple turn look so elegant?
Brother Zhu’s posture, even standing like a scarecrow with his arms stretched out, looks so upright…
Xia Yi, how did you get such great taste?
After measuring Gu Wenzhu, Huaiyu moved on to Xia Yi, and when she finished, she took the notebook of measurements and the fabric, then politely took her leave.
Before leaving, she shyly glanced at Gu Wenzhu.
Xia Yi: “???!!!”
“Host, you’re being too sensitive. As a fellow ‘ge’er’, why didn’t I sense anything?” At some point, the system had begun identifying as a ‘ge’er’ (a term referring to a man in this world who can marry as a wife).
Xia Yi felt his suspicions weren’t unfounded. In just five short days since taking their measurements, Huai Yu had come by their house six times.
“Brother Gu, I lost the measurements I took, so I’ll need to take them again. Yi ge’er, could you help me write them down?”
“I was on my way to make clothes for Liu Zhu’s family, so I thought I’d drop by. These are dates from our family’s date tree. Brother Gu, try some—they’re really sweet. Yi ge’er, make sure to save a couple for Brother Gu.”
“Brother Gu, my jade hairpin broke. Could you take a look and see if it can be fixed? Yi ge’er, it’s real jade, not just a river stone.”
Xia Yi was furious. As soon as he saw Huai Yu appear at the courtyard gate, his anger would spike.
“Brother Gu, Brother Gu, Brother Gu—how can she say it so sweetly?”
And where were her eyes going? Didn’t she say there was no one at Liu Zhu’s house, so she was just stopping by for a moment? But her gaze kept drifting toward Brother Zhu, as if I couldn’t see.
Also, stop calling me Yi ‘ge’er’ all the time! Either call me Xia Yi or just call me Brother Xia.
It’s like we’re some kind of sisters or something.
