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<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="275" data-orig-width="500"></figure>Jing Wan, oh Jing Wan. Why would you be thinking about Xu Jian Zhang when you have the brilliant, funny, adorable, handsome, and caring Liu Shao by your side? Sometimes just want to shake her silly and tell her to choose Liu Shao, who clearly adores her, but I guess a childhood sweetheart is just too hard to let go.
Encountering Love: Chapter 18
He had never sat still without moving an inch for such a long time before and soon, his right arm became numb. It should have been a very uncomfortable feeling, but it actually just felt like a few ants crawling up and down, an unusual kind of mild itchiness. The car window was rolled down halfway and when the breeze blew in, her hair caressed his face, also causing him to itch slightly, an itch that went straight into his heart. While she was dreaming, she wrinkled her brow and depressed the corners of her mouth. Her lips looked as if they had a bit of honey on them, and under the dim lights that shone through the car windows, they also looked as moist as honey. He didn’t dare to look anymore, so he turned his face away to look outside the car window, concentrating on the vines covering the walls of the Tao Estate. He studied them for a while before recognizing them as the Chinese trumpet creeper; a few flowers had bloomed early and were a beautiful golden color, like the design of his porcelain cup on his desk. He heard the sound of flower branches swaying in the wind and the light tiptoeing of the sentries. That spring night, even though there was no moonlight, he did not want to move an inch, but would rather continue to sit there, seemingly as eternal as the universe.
The Tao Estate had not yet begun to serve dinner; the Third Miss and a few Madams started to play Shi Liu Quan in the afternoon and continued until about seven or eight o’clock in the evening, when Li Ma came to ask Third Miss: “Madam, the kitchen is asking when you want to eat.” Third Miss looked at the clock on the wall and giving an ‘aiya’, she said: “It’s already so late. When we are playing cards, we don’t even notice our hunger.” Everyone started laughing, and Third Miss turned around to give orders to Li Ma: “Go and see, if Miss Yin has returned, ask her to come down for dinner.”
Li Ma nodded and left, while they continued to play cards in the atrium. To Third Miss’ right was the wife of Xu Tong Zhi, and this Madam Xu asked: “This Miss Yin, is she the same young woman who accompanied Liu Shao to the theatre yesterday?” Third Miss smiled but did not respond. Madam He said: “I’ve heard that she’s very beautiful.” Another Madam Di responded with a smile: “Which of Liu Shao’s girlfriends isn’t beautiful?” Third Miss pursed her lips to hide a smile and replied: “In any case, our Sixth Brother still hasn’t gotten married yet, so him having a girlfriend is a very common occurrence.” As she was saying this, she saw that Li Ma had already returned, so Third Miss asked smoothly: “Has Miss Yin returned?” Li Ma responded: “She has returned.” She continued: “When I went to find her, Miss Yin was upstairs changing though Liu Shao was downstairs. He said to tell the Madams to eat without Miss Yin because he has invited Miss Yin to dinner.”
When the Third Miss heard that Murong Feng had arrived, she asked: “Did Liu Shao say anything else?” Li Ma replied: “Liu Shao did not say anything else.” The Third Miss thought for a moment, and deciding that it was better not to bother the two of them, she ordered the kitchen to start serving dinner. Women’s hearts are very strange; at dinner, Madam Xu, who could not hide her curiosity, had asked: “I see that this Miss Yin is not ordinary.” The Third Miss responded with a smile: “Ordinary or not ordinary, who can tell?” The more ambiguous she was, the more those Madams felt that their guesses were confirmed.
This kind of rumor spreads the fastest, moreover, Murong Feng invited Jing Wan to watch films, dance, eat dinner – the two were nearly inseparable. Since many people watched his movements carefully, they were unable to hide anything. Because Jing Wan had something to request of him, not to mention how politely he was treating her, she did not dare to decline. She was very anxious about Xu Jian Zhang’s situation and was never in the spirit for such amusements, so Murong Feng was always trying to think of ways to make her smile. Knowing that she wanted to learn marksmanship, he especially brought her to the firing range to practice.
Xu Zhi Ping originally came to discuss some matters about his troops with Murong Feng and was waiting at the headquarters of the military governor for a long time before he found out that Murong Feng was actually at the shooting range, so he had come by car to see Murong Feng. Murong Chen had built this shooting range before he had passed away, and the place was so long that you could not even see the end of the smooth, white stone flooring. It was originally built to inspect the troops and was usually used for the garrisons to practice their marksmanship. Because Murong Feng was here, sentries surrounded the place and some distance further, armed guards stood at attention.
Xu Zhi Ping could see that there was a target set up from far way. Shen Jia Ping stood to the side, loading the gun for Murong Feng, who took the gun into his hands and said to Jing Wan: “The recoil for this gun is a bit less, but your hand still needs to be steady.” He grew up within the army and had played with firearms since he was young. When he lifted his arm, there was a ‘pa’ sound and the person who was watching the target had already started shouting: “Bull’s-eye! Bull’s-eye!” He handed the gun to Jing Wan: “Why don’t you try?” He watched her as she used both hands to grip the gun, and he lowered his head to look at the bead of the gun: “Lower it a bit, a bit more. Good, fire.”
Even though Jing Wan was prepared, once she pressed the trigger, the recoil was very intense and she almost lost hold of the gun, so Murong Feng reached out to grab it. Turning back, he saw Xu Zhi Ping and acknowledged him: “Uncle Xu is here.” Xu Zhi Ping greeted him properly: “Liu Shao.” Murong Feng asked: “Does Uncle Xu have some urgent business?” Xu Zhi Ping replied: “Since winter of last year, the Russians have stationed more and more soldiers along the railway, and yesterday, the Russians said that they wanted to increase their troops again. I don’t think that the Russians are up to any good, we must take precautions.” Murong Feng nodded and asked: “Then what does Uncle Xu plan to do?”
Xu Zhi Ping responded: “We should reinforce the troops along the Cheng railway to prevent the Russians from playing any tricks.” Murong Feng said: “Cheng Zhou’s garrison is stationed at Yu Jia Kou and Ping Yang. If we move the soldiers up north, we would be reducing the guard against the Ying army.” Xu Zhi Ping replied: “The Ying army is currently fighting hopelessly against Jiang Shuang Xi’s An Guo army. There should be no problems with the southern border, it’s a good time for us to move troops up north.” Murong Feng thought for a moment, and said: “No, it’s better to take three brigades from your Wang Zhou garrison and set up a defense along the peaceful and prosperous Gui An railway.” By this time, Jing Wan had already shot four or five times by herself, and each time she had missed the target, but the last shot had actually grazed the edge of the target before flying off. When Murong Feng saw this, he could not hold back his laughter. Jing Wan turned around to glance at him, and he said: “Why are you glowering at me? I’m keeping track for you. Each bullet is sixty cents, so you have already wasted several dollars worth.” Jing Wan humphed and said: “You are the military governor of the nine provinces and yet you are still so stingy!”