Chapter 425: Chapter 164: Childish
"I don’t know if Mr. Wang can give you any guidance, but I do know we have to get back on the road tomorrow. If you don’t lie down and rest now, you’re going to have dark circles under your eyes. That wouldn’t be very dignified—people would laugh."
"Let me just go out for a moment. I’ll rest when I come back."
"Then I’ll wait for you."
Zhao Jing was back in a flash.
This time, after he lay down on the bed, he saw Chen Wanqing staring at him with a burning intensity.
Although the candle had been extinguished, the moon was magnificent tonight. Its bright glow spilled through the window lattice, bathing the room in a mix of light and shadow.
"Go to sleep. I won’t get up again."
"I can’t trust what you say. I don’t believe you anymore."
"Then what should we do? You could take your sash and tie my hands and feet to you. That way, the moment I stir, you’ll be alerted."
"I’m not doing that. What if a thief breaks in? We’d have to untie the sash before we could fight back. At a critical moment like that, a single hesitation could cost us our lives."
Zhao Jing let out a muffled laugh. His deep, magnetic, and slightly hoarse voice sounded next to Chen Wanqing’s ear, making her whole body tingle.
"Go to sleep. It’s getting really late. I’m going to sleep, too. I have a bit of a headache."
This time, Zhao Jing was true to his word. He quickly fell asleep.
When his breathing grew even, Chen Wanqing opened her eyes and quietly gazed at his handsome sleeping face, which was only inches away.
Having been married for so long, Chen Wanqing felt she could usually read most of Zhao Jing’s thoughts.
But tonight, she couldn’t quite figure him out.
’He seems so anxious, yet so repressed. But what is he anxious about? What is he holding back? What’s the root of his troubles, and why can’t he tell me?’
With these doubts swirling in her mind, Chen Wanqing also slowly drifted into sleep.
After she fell asleep, however, Zhao Jing, who lay beside her, suddenly opened his eyes.
There wasn’t a hint of drowsiness in his bright eyes.
He gazed at her, his eyes perfectly clear. He gently reached out, wanting to touch her delicate, flower-like cheek, but then, afraid of waking her, he reluctantly drew his hand back.
But with his arms feeling empty, his heart felt empty as well. In the end, Zhao Jing reached out and gathered her into his arms.
Chen Wanqing didn’t struggle, her response utterly compliant.
She nestled into a comfortable position in his embrace, her cheek resting against his chest. She naturally wrapped her arms around him and draped a leg over his, murmuring softly, "Jing, stop fooling around... I’m so sleepy."
Just that simple sentence was enough to instantly calm Zhao Jing’s heart, which had been in turmoil all night...
The next morning, the entire family overslept.
Fortunately, they were already close to the Prefecture. It would only take another two or three days to arrive, so there was no need to rush. They decided to take the day off to rest.
Chen Wanqing had gone to bed late and had a restless night, so she didn’t get up until mid-morning.
By then, the courtyard was empty and silent. It was as if everyone knew she needed to rest and had either quieted down or gone out altogether.
Chen Wanqing glanced at the sky and guessed they must be taking a rest day at the posthouse. With that, she felt even less of a need to rush.
She dressed at a leisurely pace and headed out to the main hall to look for Mrs. Zhao and Xiang’er.
She had only taken a few steps closer when she heard the mother and daughter whispering inside the room, "To think that Meng Jintang actually became a Provincial Graduate. No wonder your older brother’s expression was so grim."
Chen Wanqing stopped in her tracks, her face freezing over.
She had assumed Zhao Jing’s odd behavior last night was anxiety about not being able to take the top spot in the Provincial Examination. It turned out she was both right and wrong.
’Jing was certainly worried about not placing first, but his deeper fear was that the next major examination in three years was too far off. In the meantime, he, still just a Scholar, would have to defer to Meng Jintang, who was now a Provincial Graduate.’
’What in the world?’
’Did Jing not take anything I said to heart?’
’Meng Jintang and I are just strangers now. My heart belongs entirely to him. Can Jing really not sense that?’
’How childish can Jing be, treating a man like that as his imaginary rival?’
Chen Wanqing was so exasperated she almost cried, but then she laughed instead. Shaking her head, she found it baffling how Jing could be frighteningly mature one moment and so childish the next that she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
The mother and daughter inside, unaware that Chen Wanqing was outside, continued their conversation. "Your older brother is the most sensitive soul. I don’t know when he started to admire your sister-in-law, but he definitely had feelings for her before the wedding. If he’d only shown the slightest hint of it sooner, I would’ve risked my own reputation to break off the engagement to Chen Wanyue and gone to Wanqing’s family to propose a match. But your brother just kept it all bottled up inside, not breathing a word. I can only imagine how miserable he must have been."
"He must be feeling even worse this time. Meng Jintang is a Provincial Graduate, and my brother is still just a Scholar. He surely regrets not participating in this year’s Provincial Examination. Tsk, tsk. He was so intimidating this morning, I was too scared to say a word."
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