God's Gift

After he finished speaking, Fang Ling's expression was blank for a moment. He subconsciously took a step back, and accidentally stepped on a stone on the ground. He staggered and barely stood up by holding on to the edge of the door.

"Oh, I didn't explain it clearly." Seeing Fang Ling like this, Ning Yue's expression became casual again, and he said in a joking tone:

"It's the Jin of Jinxiu. Don't get me wrong. It's different from our Ajin."

Fang Ling was obviously relieved after hearing Ning Yue's explanation, and a smile finally appeared on her face, "I knew it, otherwise how could it be such a coincidence."

Hearing Fang Ling's words, Ning Yue chuckled and waved to Fang Ling, "Go find A Jin, or she will blame me later."

Fang Ling quickly responded: "No, no, I will explain it clearly to Ajin."

Ning Yue did not continue to speak, and Fang Ling followed the servant to where Ning Jin lived. As soon as he entered the courtyard, Fang Ling saw Ning Jin sitting under the sycamore tree to rest.

The broad leaves of the paulownia tree blocked the setting sun. She closed her eyes and lay quietly on the rattan chair, as if she had fallen into a deep sleep.

Fang Ling walked lightly to Ning Jin's side. As soon as she sat down beside her, she heard Ning Jin's voice.

"coming."

Fang Ling immediately sat up straight and asked nervously, "Why are you awake, Jin? Did I disturb you just now?"

"You walked so slowly, how could you possibly wake me up? I just couldn't sleep." Ning Jin looked at Fang Ling, who looked guilty, with a faint smile in his eyes, and asked:

"How come you have time to come to the General's Mansion today?"

"Ajin, don't you know?" Fang Ling's jade-white face gradually turned red when Ning Jin asked this question, and she said slowly:

"I came here today... to ask for marriage from Ajin."

"I wanted to talk to Ajin about this yesterday, but I never found the chance. But my husband told my father that today is a rare auspicious day, suitable for marriage, so I came here without your consent."

After saying that, Fang Ling secretly glanced at Ning Jin, as if afraid that she would be angry, and immediately added:

"Of course, this is just something I did on my own. If Ah Jin doesn't want to..." Fang Ling's tone became hesitant, and he said slowly:

"If Ajin doesn't want to, all this will be meaningless."

Ning Jin looked at Fang Ling's distressed expression, smiled slightly, and asked, "We've only been together for a hundred days, and you want to marry me, isn't that too fast?"

"How can it be fast?" Fang Ling responded immediately: "Although I have only been with Ajin for a hundred days, I have known since I was a child that my future wife is Ajin, so it is not too early for me."

Ning Jin did not speak, but looked at Fang Ling with her soft and peaceful eyes. Fang Ling knew what she was thinking and explained:

"Although my engagement with Ajin was made by our parents, I have always kept it in mind."

"As far back as I can remember, I have known that there is a beautiful lady in the General's Mansion who is a little older than me. I am going to marry her in the future."

Ning Jin lowered her eyes slightly, fluttering her thick eyelashes like butterfly wings, and said:

"Someone made a marriage contract for you and a woman you have never met. Because of this marriage contract, you cannot easily fall in love with other women. Even if you find a woman you like in the future, you two cannot be together. Don't you feel resentful?"

After listening to Ning Jin's long speech, Fang Ling did not answer immediately. Instead, he fell silent, as if he was thinking.

After a while, he raised his eyes and looked at Ning Jin, "Just now I imagined what Ajin said, what would happen if I fell in love with another woman..."

Fang Ling shook his head and said seriously:

"But the truth is, it's impossible for me to be attracted to other women."

"I have known about the engagement since I was a child. I followed my parents' teachings and kept it in mind. At the same time, I was thinking about it and the woman on the other side of the engagement."

"I take this matter more seriously than my parents who made this engagement. So I often wonder what Ajin looks like, what Ajin's personality is like, and how I should treat Ajin well."

Ning Jin's gaze fell on Fang Ling's serious face, his eyes deep and distant.

Fang Ling recalled some past events as she spoke. She looked a little more shy and her ears gradually turned red. "At that time, I thought that giving you the things I liked was a favor to you."

"But I didn't have the chance to see you at that time, so I estimated the courtyard where Ajin lived and threw the things I liked into the wall of the general's mansion."

The branches he picked when Suzhou’s peach blossoms were in bloom, the wreaths made from willow branches by the canal in midsummer, the Kongming lock he got when he first went to school…

He threw everything that was beautiful that he could see into it.

The more Fang Ling talked about it, the more ashamed she felt. "Later, when I went to visit the general's mansion with my father, I found out that the yard where I lost the things was uninhabited."

“So I haven’t lost it since then.”

Ning Jin didn't say anything. He placed his pale hands on the armrest of the rattan chair and looked at Fang Ling intently.

Fang Ling talked a lot about Ning Jin's childhood, and finally said:

"Actually, I still feel resentful after I grow up a little bit."

"I have always kept Ajin in my heart, but Ajin has never been willing to see me once."

Talking about this aggrieved matter again, Fang Ling's voice dropped, "It seems that I am the only one who is thinking about the engagement."

But Fang Ling's voice only dropped for two seconds before he comforted himself:

"But I am a real man, I won't get angry with a girl over such trivial matters. As long as Ah Jin doesn't see me and doesn't cancel the engagement, I will keep this promise."

Fang Ling looked at Ning Jin, thinking of what she said when she first met Ning Jin, with a lingering aftertaste of happiness in her eyes, she said thankfully:

"But I still met Ajin, and later I heard Ajin say that you also remembered the engagement, and those things disappeared like a passing cloud of smoke."

His happiness came too easily. Ning Jin looked at the undisguised smile on Fang Ling's face and slowly withdrew his gaze.

She was staring at the eaves in front of her, where a white night cat was lying, basking in the sun lazily, looking at the two people under the paulownia tree with its blue eyes.

After a long while, Ning Jin said:

“I received all those things.”

"What?" Fang Ling suddenly heard this and didn't react for a moment.

"Peach branches, wreaths, Kongming locks..." Ning Jin's cinnabar-painted red lips opened slightly, which disturbed Fang Ling's heart. She didn't expect that A Jin actually knew what she had done.

"You also threw crickets..."

Fang Ling blushed and immediately explained, "Those are top-quality crickets that I bought at Washe at a high price."

Ning Jin responded and continued, "A colorful rooster..."

Fang Ling's face turned even redder, and he quickly explained, "During that time, I got tired of fighting crickets, and I fell in love with cockfighting."

Ning Jin kept saying, "A book with a picture of a turtle."

Fang Ling's face began to feel hot, and his voice became lower and lower.

"When I went to school, I wanted to give you those books. But the teacher's class was really boring, so I drew a turtle on the book. I wanted to copy a new one for you, but I lost it in the wrong place..."