The evening breeze rustled gently. Summer dusk stretched everything long, long, and time at Autumn Water Pavilion seemed to slow as well.
Back in Qinghe County, there had been countless summer nights like this.
Gu Xueqin served everyone rice, her gaze drifting toward Li Mo and Ying Bing in the distance.
Her son still carried the boyish liveliness of his childhood between his brows. As he listened to Old Li talk about marrying his wife back then, he occasionally got playful and secretly nudged the leg of the person beside him.
Little Bing wore no makeup, still looking poised and nobly elegant, yet she was secretly stepping on Li Mo's foot.
The two youngsters had grown up, yet it also seemed as though they had not.
"When was the first time I brought Big Dragon home to meet my parents? Why did it feel like only yesterday?"
Gu Xueqin fell into a brief daze.
Then she suddenly heard Li Dalong, holding a wine cup with flushed cheeks, say:
"The first time I met my father-in-law was over a meal too. I'd injured my head then, so I'd shaved all my hair off."
"That would hardly have made you look respectable." Prince of Southern Pacification clicked his tongue.
Li Dalong nodded. "Exactly. I had no choice but to pull out a handful of yellow mane from a yellow-maned horse and stick it on my head."
"..."
Li Mo leaned back slightly, filled with the lingering relief of surviving a catastrophe and gratitude that his grandfather had spared his life.
"And then?"
Ying Bing rested her chin on her hand. It was her first time hearing her parents' love story too.
"The moment your grandfather saw me, he got so angry that he slammed his rice bowl upside down on the table."