Chapter 107: Side Story Nanyang
Spring came early to Nanyang, and late in the afternoon Qi Yu returned from the Nanshi Market carrying a newly bought rabbit lantern.
When he stepped through the mansion gates, the setting sun was just sinking to the tips of the apricot trees, and Qi Xiao was sitting in a rattan chair along the veranda flipping through a book. Hearing footsteps he did not even look up, simply saying, "There is Tremella Soup keeping warm in the kitchen."
Qi Yu did not go to the kitchen; he placed the rabbit lantern on the stone table, walked over to sit in the bamboo chair beside him, and the two of them sat in quiet isolation separated by the distance of an arm. The wind blew over from the apricot trees, carrying a bit of the astringent fragrance of green fruit.
"A new pastry shop opened in the Nanshi Market."
"Mn."
"They sell Osmanthus Cake, even sweeter than the Imperial Kitchen's."
"How much did you buy."
"Didn't buy any. They weren't open today." Qi Yu kicked off his boots, drew his feet up to cross them on the bamboo chair, and turned sideways to look at him. "The shopkeeper pasted a red slip of paper on the door reading 'The master has happy news, closed for three days'. What kind of joy requires closing for three days, you tell me."
"Getting married."
"Getting married is enough with one day off, why three days."
"Because the groom does not want to wake up early."
Qi Yu rested his chin on his knees, watching Qi Xiao's profile as he turned a page, and suddenly said that today in the Nanshi Market he also saw something else. Qi Xiao waited for him to go on, reached his hand into his