Lou Yiyuan stared at Mu Yue and asked, "What's so good about Bai Ziqi's poems?"
Mu Yue immediately replied, "It's both perfectly natural and elegantly balanced, with profound meaning—something that ordinary people couldn't achieve even after hundreds of years."
[I sense a hint of veiled criticism in this.]
Lou Yiyuan rolled her eyes. "I thought you were a trustworthy person, but now that I think about it, what kind of good person can someone who likes Bai Ziqi be?"
Mu Yue: "Thank you for your Wen Shuyuan wasn't much better."
"If I were Bai Ziqi and wrote those kinds of poems, I'd rather be dead."
"If I were Wen Shuyuan, I would have killed myself by now."
[I wasn't angry at all about being criticized; I just wanted to support my favorite poet.]
The two exchanged barbs, their tension palpable.
Lou Yingyu felt like she was being riddled with holes by countless arrows.
She crept closer to Tong Aning, her face contorted with worry, and whispered, "What should we do now?"
Tong Aning, who usually has the most ideas, shook her head now. "This is a problem of the century, and I have no solution."
Lou Yingyu had a sudden inspiration. "If something new happens now, it will distract the two of them."
" Bai Ziqi, are you Bai Ziqi?"
Suddenly, a joyful voice rang out. Lou Yiyuan Mu Yue simultaneously looked in the direction from which the voice came. Bai Ziqi?
Where?
Bai Ziqi pulled down her cloak, revealing half of her face, and asked incredulously, "I'm all covered up like this, how can you still recognize me?"
The man said, "I would recognize you even if you were reduced to ashes."
Bai Ziqi: "Hehe."
I didn't know whether to be happy or worried.
[To be covered up like that in broad daylight is really suspicious. What's the difference between this and walking down the street in night clothes?]
Bai Ziqi: "..."
He didn't want this either, but just that too many people like him. This is one of the troubles of being too famous.
Bai Ziqi pretended to be very regretful and signed an autograph for the person.
Seeing this, Mu Yue was about to walk over when Lou Yiyuan swept past him like a gust of wind.
Mu Yue: "!!!"
Protecting Bai Ziqi is everyone's responsibility.
Who knows if she went to assassinate Bai Ziqi?
Mu Yue rushed over, only to find that Lou Yiyuan wasn't actually going to see Bai Ziqi.
Mu Yue: "?"
Lou Yiyuan stood in front of another person who was bundled up tightly. "I recognized you as Wen Shuyuan at a glance."
Wen Shuyuan: "Hahaha, young lady, you have a good eye!"
Lou Yiyuan whispered, "Don't go over there. Bai Ziqi is over there. Going over there will only bring you trouble. He also has a big idiot poetry fan. Who knows what he might do when he gets fanatical?"
Mu Yue: "..."
Does "that big idiot" refer to him?
Lou Yiyuan has quite the sharp tongue.
Wen Shuyuan said, "What you say makes sense, young lady. I won't go over there for now. I'll go this way..."
Lou Yiyuan hurriedly said, "Keep your voice down, don't let Bai Ziqi hear you."
Lou Yiyuan looked around nervously, worried that Bai Ziqi would follow.
[He just wanted Bai Ziqi to hear it, didn't he?]
Lou Yiyuan was stunned. Weren't the two of them sworn enemies?
She had heard before that the two of them shouldn't appear on the same street. Could it be that Wen Shuyuan was luring the enemy in deep, wanting to take the opportunity to beat up Bai Ziqi?
While admiring his actions, she didn't forget to remind him, "Hitting people is wrong."
Wen Shuyuan: "...?"
What exactly is this girl saying?
[While the poetry fans are having a heated discussion, Bai Ziqi and Wen Shuyuan have already become friends and are now planning to have dinner together... Could this be considered a reconciliation of the century?]
Lou Yiyuan's face turned red with anger, "You..."
Wen Shuyuan dared not look Lou Yiyuan in the eye. He said, "This is not my fault. I only recently discovered that he is a good person."
Facing Mu Yue's intense gaze, Bai Ziqi said, "Me too!"
Mu Yue felt like his world had collapsed. "So all those friendships in your poems, all those friends you dream about, are they him?"
Don't admit it, don't admit it, don't admit it— Mu Yue was practically begging for divine intervention.
Bai Ziqi smiled guiltily.
Mu Yue was completely convinced, and his face turned extremely ugly.
On the other side, Lou Yiyuan also said with great distress, "Thirty-eight poems dedicated to a friend, all of them were for him? Every word you wrote was a eulogy to your friendship with him."
Wen Shuyuan scratched his head. "Hmm... so you're right, aren't you?"
One sky collapsed, the other the earth caved in, but the two instigators became good friends, holding hands.
Lou Yingyu: "Cousin, are you alright?"
Lou Yiyuan grabbed Mu Yue's hand.
Mu Yue cried out in panic, "Miss Lou, please don't take your anger out on me!"
Lou Yiyuan scoffed, "Look at your pathetic self. I'm dragging you to get married, not asking you to die."
Mu Yue: "Huh?"
Not only was Mu Yue baffled, Lou Yingyu was also confused about the current situation.
Lou Yiyuan, "They've reconciled, so what's impossible?"
Mu Yue thought about it and agreed. The two of them were on the same page again, and the argument from before seemed to have never happened, making Lou Yingyu think that she had encountered a ghost wall.
" Aning, what do we do now?"
Tong Aning: "I wish them well."
They were meant to be together.
Since Aning said so, it must be true.
Lou Yingyu rushed forward and stood between the two. "Happy wedding."
... Uh, isn't it a bit too early to say that now?
*
Tong Aning peered inside and asked, "What's going on now?"
Yingtao: "Miss, your aunt's third aunt's niece's husband has an affair, and they are hoping that you, Madam, can help them."
[My aunt's third aunt... I'm so dizzy.]
Tong Aning gave up on figuring out these people's relationships and asked about something else, "Does Mother have to interfere in this kind of thing too?"
Yingtao seemed used to this. She said, "Miss, haven't you heard the saying, 'When you're poor, no one cares even in the bustling city; when you're rich, even distant relatives come calling'?"
Tong Aning looked at Yingtao's face, "I think I understand."
She asked, "Did they come here to ask my mother for help?"
Yingtao nodded.
[My mother is always busy, it's always something new.]
Yingtao wholeheartedly agreed.
These relatives come to the madam over the smallest things, even though they know she has a bad temper and they could be thrown out if they're not careful, but they still don't learn their lesson.
Tong Aning walked up to Su Zhouyue and obediently called her "Mother".
Su Zhouyue responded, "Okay."
"This must be Aning, right? You've grown into a beautiful young woman. I even held you when you were little."
[Wait, is this script so consistent?]
Tong Aning nodded cautiously.
The woman continued, "I'm fine, but my two daughters have suffered."
Aunt: "Don't you only have one daughter?"
Third Aunt: "I remember too, when did you have another one?"
"What? Another one?" the woman said somewhat embarrassedly. "Our Lanruo was born weak and sickly, and she was constantly ill even when she was only a few months old. I was worried that Lanruo would die young. Fortunately, a Daoist priest had a solution. He told us to send Lanruo to the countryside and bring another child back to raise. Lanruo was able to grow up safely."
My aunt and third aunt exchanged glances. My aunt said, "So, the Lanruo we saw before was just a substitute?"
The woman was displeased with these words. "What do you mean by 'substituting one thing for another'? Lanruo my child, Mengfan is also my child."
The two of them still didn't quite understand. Why were they so attached to someone who wasn't their biological child? It made them both think that she was Lanruo.
How can Lanruo return legitimately in the future?
Su Zhouyue then said, "If you really care about the two children, you should divorce your scoundrel husband as soon as possible."
When the topic of divorce was mentioned, the woman suddenly stammered, "Do I... really have to go to the point of divorce?"
Su Zhouyue said in a deep voice, "I only have this one way. If you are determined to divorce that person, I will definitely mediate for you. If you don't want a divorce, then please leave my residence."
The woman stammered, "I need to think about it carefully."
Tong Aning didn't understand.
[What are you even thinking about? If he can have one lover, he can have ten.]
The woman clenched her fists, about to announce her decision, when a tearful girl threw herself into her arms, pleading, "Mother, please don't divorce Father, okay?"
The woman choked back tears, saying, " Mengfan, there's nothing we can do about it."
"Mother, without Father, this is no longer a home. I don't want to be without a home."
Cao Mengfan spoke with tears in her eyes, and even the others couldn't bear to hear her words, feeling that they had done something terrible that had caused the family to be destroyed.
Su Zhouyue watched coldly, and said, "If your mother doesn't get a divorce, she'll live in misery forever. Are you willing to accept that?"
Cao Mengfan: "I..."
"I don't want to."
Cao Lanruo strode in. Although she was thin, her small body seemed to contain endless power. Her eyes were a small door to that power, and the burning light inside brought endless vitality.
This girl is just like a little leopard roaming freely in the mountains.
Cao Lanruo said, "Mother, let's get a divorce from Father."
Cao Mengfan protested, " Cao Lanruo, what exactly are you planning? I know you're unhappy that I stole your identity, your status, and your love, but you can't break up this family just to get revenge on me."
Who's making tea here?
Cao Lanruo said calmly, "It's not me who's trying to break up the family, it's Father. If you're so capable, then tell Father to stop running off with his mistress and cut all ties with her."
Cao Mengfan twisted her handkerchief, muttering, "How could I possibly do that? Besides, there's nothing wrong with Father going out to find a lover; at least his heart is with Mother."
What did I just hear?
No one present could believe their ears, and even Bai Yirou was extremely disappointed in her daughter.
[No wonder she said that, so she was the daughter of that lover... She cried in Bai Yirou's arms; her real mother was now crying in Bai Yirou's husband's arms.]
Bai Yirou pushed Cao Mengfan away.