#59 - A silver hairpin
Chapter 59: A Silver Hairpin
“Brother Changtian, you know my personality,”
Liang Qin gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, speaking earnestly, “If you really want to marry me, then I will marry you.”
“But if you don’t really want to marry me... then let’s just remain as brother and sister.”
“I will explain everything to my parents, and I will never put you in a difficult position.”
“......”
Liang Qin explained softly, while Wei Changtian listened silently, without much emotional fluctuation in his heart.
On one hand, it was because he truly had no feelings for this woman, and on the other hand, it was because what she said was quite sincere—
If you insist on marrying me, I won’t resist, and I won’t cause any embarrassment between our families.
But if possible, it would be best if you didn’t marry me, because I don’t really want to marry you.
To be honest, Liang Qin's candor already surpassed Wei Changtian's ex-girlfriend from his previous life many times over.
In the small lake behind them, several fat koi fish, possibly thinking the two were going to feed them, swayed over.
They crowded each other in the lake water beneath the two, and after waiting for a long time without any food being dropped, they anxiously tried to leap out of the water.
They did leap out, but unfortunately, they were too fat to maintain their posture, and most of them fell back sideways, leaving behind a series of "plop, plop" sounds.
Wei Changtian glanced back at these carefree fish and casually asked:
“Do you already have someone you love?”
“No.”
Liang Qin shook her head, and after a moment of silence, continued, “Brother Changtian, would you like to hear what I’ve been doing in Shu Province for the past three years?”
“Sure, tell me,” Wei Changtian said, sitting up, causing a gentle breeze.
“Well...”
Liang Qin reached out and gently removed a stray blade of grass from Wei Changtian’s lapel, hugging her knees as she fell into memories.
“Actually, I’ve been following my father to suppress bandits and slay demons.”
“You know I’ve never liked things like music, chess, calligraphy, and painting since I was little, and I only like practicing martial arts.”
“Remember when we used to practice with the instructor together when we were young? Every time, you couldn’t practice for even an hour before you wanted to run away. The instructor didn’t dare to do anything to you, so I always had to go and bring you back.”
“Before, I always thought that practicing martial arts was for a carefree life. Once I became a top expert, I could do whatever I wanted and kill whoever I wanted.”
“But after I arrived in Shu Province, I realized...”
Liang Qin didn’t finish the sentence, but paused for a moment and changed her way of speaking.
“I still remember the scene when I first followed the government soldiers to suppress bandits... Brother Changtian, do you know what I saw?”
“Dead people, dead people everywhere.”
“Hundreds of people in a village were all killed by bandits just because we were half a day late...”
“The elderly, children, women, and even newborns who were only a few days old, not a single survivor...”
“The bandits piled hundreds of corpses at the entrance of the village, deliberately showing them to the government soldiers, and wrote four words on the ground with blood.”
“Suppress again, slaughter again...”
Liang Qin’s voice trembled slightly, and Wei Changtian waited for a while before softly asking:
“What happened after that?”
“After that...”
Liang Qin took a deep breath, “Another month passed, and we finally surrounded and killed this group of bandits.”
“Many government soldiers died, but not a single bandit escaped.”
“We came down from the mountain and rested at the foot of the mountain for a night.”
“And when we were preparing to pull up camp and return to the city the next morning... Brother Changtian, hundreds and thousands of ragged men, women, and children were kneeling outside the camp!”
“Some brought chickens and ducks from their homes, some clutched a few strings of copper coins, some carried a basket of mountain goods, and some girls even brought their dowry...”
“......”
The moonlight was white, no different from before.
The few fat koi fish had already swam away, and the lake surface returned to calm.
So this was the reason why Liang Qin was unwilling to marry.
Wei Changtian sighed inwardly, understanding.
For a woman who had personally witnessed the suffering of the people and had already turned over a new leaf, it was indeed impossible for her to be willing to marry a great demon who would bully the weak all day long.
Wei Changtian didn’t say anything like “I’m different now.”
Even if he did, Liang Qin might not believe it.
Moreover, such words were meaningless in the first place.
The two remained silent, Wei Changtian looking at the night sky, Liang Qin looking at him.
Until the woman reached out and took a hairpin from her hair.
This was an extremely rough silver hairpin, or rather, a wooden hairpin wrapped in silver skin.
“Brother Changtian, this hairpin was given to me by a girl that day, and I have been wearing it for three years.”
“Today, I will give it to you. If one day you figure it out, write me a letter.”
“If you are still willing to marry me then... I will definitely marry you willingly.”
“......”
Wei Changtian looked at this woman whom he had only truly met today and reached out to take the hairpin.
“Okay.”
......
Half an hour later, the Liang family’s carriage slowly drove away from the entrance of the Wei mansion.
“What did you and Qin’er talk about just now?”
Qin Caizhen retracted her gaze and looked at Wei Changtian suspiciously, “Why does she look like she’s been crying?”
“She just told me about what happened in Shu Province.”
Wei Changtian smacked his lips, “I don’t know why she cried either.”
“Why are you like a block of wood!”
Qin Caizhen was annoyed and slapped her son, then analyzed to herself, “Could it be because you took Yao’er as a concubine, and Qin’er is jealous?”
“That’s not right, Qin’er would definitely be the wife if she married over, why would she be jealous of this kind of thing...”
Qin Caizhen pondered for a long time, but when she turned around to ask something, she found that Wei Changtian had already disappeared.
“Where’s my son??
She quickly asked Wei Xianzheng.
Wei Xianzheng smiled and put his hands behind his back, “He went back.”
“Went back? Why didn’t you stop him?”
“Why would I stop him?”
“We haven’t asked everything clearly yet!”
“Let the younger generation handle their own affairs, why are you always interfering?”
“I’m interfering? Hehe, don’t touch me tonight!”
“......”
As they spoke, the two began their usual daily bickering, while Wei Changtian returned to his own courtyard all the way.
Lu Jingyao was waiting in the hall, looking a little nervous.
Ever since she inquired about who Liang Qin was from Qiuyun, the alarm bells in her heart had not stopped ringing.
Having a Xu Qingwan was not enough, now there was another childhood sweetheart!
The competition was getting more and more fierce!
The more Lu Jingyao thought about it, the more insecure she felt, so when she saw Wei Changtian, she greeted him immediately, wanting to show her virtuous tenderness.
But who knew that Wei Changtian didn’t give her a chance at all, leaving only a sentence “Go to bed early” before turning around and returning to the house.
Looking at the closed door, Lu Jingyao, who was left out in the cold, stomped her feet in anger.
At this time, Wei Changtian was sitting at the table, playing with the silver hairpin in his hand.
In his opinion, he and this Liang Qin probably wouldn’t have much interaction in the future.
After all, she would be returning to Shu Province in a month.
A long-distance relationship?
Forget it.
Wei Changtian only regarded this matter as a small interlude, but later facts proved that—
The essence of fate may be unexpected.
