Chapter 651 - 239: Entertaining Guests
Chapter 651: Chapter 239: Entertaining Guests
At that moment, she was pondering what to name this incense.
Watching Zhao Jing gently brush the snowflakes from his sleeves, his clear, cold eyes filled with concern as he approached her step by step, Chen Wanqing blurted out, "Let’s call it Cold Moon Resting on Snow, alright?"
Zhao Jing paused for a moment before realizing what she meant. "Is the incense ready? The one you made for me?"
Chen Wanqing nodded, grasping his extended, slender, and well-proportioned hand as she slowly stood up. She had been sitting for so long that her bones felt rusted. The moment she stood, her joints let out a sharp CRACK CRACK.
"Careful, take it slow. No rush," Zhao Jing said, supporting her waist with one hand and holding her arm with the other. His cool, crisp scent, carrying the faint fragrance of ink and paper, enveloped her completely. He chuckled. "What made you suddenly remember to make incense for me? I thought you were planning to dodge this debt for the rest of your life. I half expected you to burn it as an offering at my grave so I could appreciate it from the underworld."
Amused but annoyed, Chen Wanqing stomped hard on his foot. "What kind of nonsense is that! How could I possibly go back on a promise I made to you?"
"Who can say? After all, it’s been two whole years since you promised to make it."
Knowing she was in the wrong, Chen Wanqing didn’t argue the point. Instead, she just told Zhao Jing to smell the scent lingering in the room.
"This is the base note. The scent is cool and elegant, carrying the serene emptiness of orchids. I originally wanted to name it Snow Orchid Incense, but I felt it was too feminine. Just now, the moment you walked through the door, the imagery of the cold moon accompanied by falling snow was exactly the atmosphere I wanted."
The most important part wasn’t the cold moon or the falling snow. Rather, it was the moment she saw him. It felt as though the howling blizzard had finally found a safe harbor, carrying a faint, restrained gentleness. It was a mutual, reciprocal tenderness.
Chen Wanqing asked once more, "Cold Moon Resting on Snow—do you like the name?"
"I like it," Zhao Jing said, giving a firm nod.
"You’re lying. You’re just placating me," Chen Wanqing accused mildly.
Zhao Jing didn’t explain. He simply took her hand and placed it against his chest. His heartbeat was loud and pounding. With just a light touch, she could tell how fiercely his heart was racing.
"It’s just a batch of incense. Is it really that serious?" Chen Wanqing asked, to which Zhao Jing replied, "It’s not the incense. It’s your eyes."
Her eyes were completely filled with him. Let alone her meticulously crafting incense to fulfill a promise, even if she had randomly picked up a rock by the roadside and given it to him, as long as she looked at him with that same gaze, he would feel like he had received heaven’s greatest gift.
The couple was so affectionate that their gazes seemed glued together. Not daring to linger, the maidservants served them back to their bedroom and quickly retreated, pulling the doors shut behind them. Soft whispers drifted from inside the room, followed by the muffled, breathless laughter of a man and a woman.
Chen Wanqing nestled in Zhao Jing’s embrace, occasionally sharing a tender kiss. Even though they couldn’t do much else, being able to hold each other in a quiet, warm bedroom on such a stormy, snowy night was a profound kind of happiness in itself.
The snowstorm raged on, howling WHOOSH WHOOSH throughout the night, and showed no signs of stopping when they woke up the next morning.
Since the snowy paths were slippery, the maidservants would sweep for a short while before being sent into the tearoom to drink ginger soup and warm their hands, so the walkways inevitably had some snow left on them.
Chen Wanqing had barely gotten out of bed when the old madam and Xu Su Ying successively sent people over. Both of them left the exact same instructions: she was to stay obediently in her room and avoid wandering around for the next couple of days. Taking good care of herself and the child in her belly would be a great achievement in itself.
Coincidentally, Zhao Jing hadn’t gone out today. Worried that Chen Wanqing would be bored cooped up indoors, he snipped some plum blossoms from outside and brought them in for her to arrange in a vase. After a night of heavy snow, the plum blossoms in the family’s garden were in full bloom. There were double-petaled and single-petaled varieties; some blossomed in yellow, while others bloomed a vibrant red.
Zhao Jing had also cut some evergreen cypress branches... Goodness knew what kind of floral arrangement this was supposed to be, but Chen Wanqing found her own amusement in it and happily arranged the flowers.
The heavy snow didn’t stop until the afternoon.
When Chen Wanqing woke up from her nap, she noticed that several snow sculptures had appeared in the courtyard. Among them were a dog, a horse, and a monkey. There was even a lotus vat with swimming fish, and a plump tabby cat perched on the rim, looking like it wanted to eat the fish...
It was unclear which maidservant had come up with the idea, but it successfully made Chen Wanqing laugh.
Two days after the snowstorm, massive icicles hung down from the eaves of the roof. To prevent the icicles from falling and hurting someone, the maidservants took long bamboo poles and knocked them all down.
The girls picked up the fallen icicles and sneakily pressed them against the skin behind the ears of other maids who were busy working. The freezing shock elicited sharp shrieks, followed by the victims chasing after the mischievous young maids, jokingly scolding and swatting at them.