Chapter 30: I Won’t Accept You as My Son-in-law
Shengli and AoTian reached the Fanzhou village in two days in their horses without much rest. Both didn’t say much to each other on the way and AoTian insisted on staying in Xing’s house than in inns or Ming Manor, so Shengli brought him there.
Only there, they were welcomed by the big grey wolf Pengpeng. AoTian who had spent his entire life in the city and had only seen paintings of these wolves was petrified to see the wolf almost as tall as him glaring, just ten feet before him. Shengli’s lips curved, ’ She didn’t even warn me! Does she want me to show off in front of her father?’, he thought.
Shengli who was a bit skeptical himself, talked to the wolf like Xing does in the Guyu language and told the wolf that he was Xing’s father and to let them pass as they are here to pay respects for her mother. AoTian who only knows a little of that language was shocked and wondered if Shengli had gone crazy since he was speaking with a wolf.
The wolf walked closer to AoTian and sniffed him. AoTian remembered a ’charm’ his daughter gave him before leaving saying it’s for his protection and he was secretly happy that Shengli didn’t receive one. He was proudly hanging it in his waist. The wolf sniffed at the charm and stepped aside. AoTian who was frozen like a stone regained his senses after a while and saw Shengli walking inside the house and was embarrassed , ’So Shengli was not given the charm because he didn’t need it!’
Shengli was quite surprised to see the wolf listening to him and wondered if this is what they mean by ’the fox exploiting the tiger’s might’ . He started preparing for their stay there.
AoTian entered the small house only as big as his courtyard in his Manor and felt sad that his wife and daughter had to live in such a small place when they could have had a much better life.
Just then a heavy silk bag fell from the roof in front of him making metallic noise. AoTian picked it up to see it filled with gold coins and was surprised.
Shengli noticed it and smiled, "Auntie Ling and Xing, never had a bad life or they’d never been poor. Xing has a habit of hiding her treasures in the rafters and I bet this won’t be the only one she hid". AoTian was shocked to even grasp at all the things happening around him. Even though he wanted to say something he did not have the mind to.
He is bragging, isn’t he?
In the next two days AoTian was either lying in his wife’s bed or kneeling in front of her tomb and Shengli just let him be. After all he didn’t have the time to properly grieve as long as he was in the capital. Also he had only known the proud and haughty AoTian and not the broken man who was grieving for his wife. Although Shengli could empathise with AoTian he didn’t know how to comfort him. He has to get it over it by himself right?
But on the third day, Shengli lost his patience. He saw AoTian just moping around and not even eating or drinking water. He remembered stories that Lord Huang BoJing, AoTian’s father died grieving for his wife and wondered if AoTian would end up that way too. But Xing had asked him to take care of her father... And he had promised her that he’ll return within a week!
Shengli pulled up AoTian and pushed him inside the bath and prepared a porridge Auntie Ling used to make for him and placed it in front of AoTian who was finally clean.