Volume 2: The Mountain Has Wood, the Wood Has Branches One Zero Five Emotions (Part 1)

  In May, Zhang Yan returned to her father's fiefdom of Xuanping with her younger brother. Along the way, Lu Yuan often looked at her with worry, and Zhang Yan turned around and smiled. "Mother," she said, resting her cheek on her mother's knee, softly comforting her, "don't worry, I'm fine."

  "I will always be with you."

  Until old age.

  A loud noise came from outside the carriage, and the coachman hastily pulled the reins to stop the horses. The sounds of roosters crowing, cows and sheep bleating, horses neighing, and boys' laughter filled the air. A voice rushed to the window of the carriage and repeatedly called out, "Sister, sister, you're back!"

  He is Zhang Zhi's younger brother.

  Zhang Yan burst out laughing, lifted the curtain and jumped off the carriage. She looked at the lively scene outside the carriage and pulled Zhang Zhi Xun over, saying "Look at you guys, what a state you're in!" Then she said to Zhang Shou who was standing several feet away, "Ah Shou is here too."

  "It's unfair." Zhang Zhi struggled to say, "Sister is so gentle with Third Brother, but with me she scolds and pulls my ears."

  "Sister," Zhang Wei woke up from his sleep in the carriage, poking out his head and drowsily asked, "Who are you talking to?" His face still had a hint of sleepiness.

  Zhang Zhi's face sank slightly, and Zhang Shou also stiffened for a moment.

  Zhang Yan turned around and beckoned, "A Yan, come down."

  Then Zhang Yan made an effort to open his eyes wide, jumped down from the car obediently, and walked behind his sister with short legs.

  "This is Xi, this is Shou," Zhang Yan introduced, pulling his hand. "Although you haven't met them before, they are your brothers."

  "This is Ah Yan," she said with a smile to Zhang Zhi and Zhang Shou. "You all know, from now on you have to take care of my little brother like I do."

  "Zhuang and Shou," called out Lu Yuan with a cough from inside the carriage.

  Zhang Zhi and Zhang Shou both respectfully walked to the front of their stepmother's carriage, calling out, "Mother. We heard you and elder sister were coming back, so we especially came out to welcome you."

  "Sister," Zhang Zhi pulled at Zhang Yan's sleeve. "Do you want to ride horses with us?"

  "Alright." Zhang Yan's eyes lit up and she smiled, "I've been sitting in this carriage for so long, I'm fed up with it already."

  "Sister", Little Yan grabbed sister's skirt and muttered. "Yan also wants to ride a horse."

  Zhang Yan picked him up and playfully flicked the tip of his sweaty nose, smiling and saying, "Sister didn't learn to ride a horse until she was ten years old, you want to ride, wait till you're also ten years old."

  "Ah Yan," Lu Yuan took over his son and instructed, "Stop messing around. The clothes you're wearing today, how can you ride a horse?"

  Zhang Yan lowered her head to look at the delicate hem of her skirt, smiled and said, "It's okay." She bent down, grabbed the corner of her skirt, and tore it open with a loud ripping sound.

  "Alas." Tu Tu sighed, "What a pity about this skirt."

  Zhang Yan didn't seem to hear, and on the other side, she tore open another seam, so she could straddle the horse. Under her skirt, she had self-made pants, not afraid of being exposed. "Seeing the sky of Xuanping, I feel like my heart is going to fly." She turned back with a smile, "Mother, you said we can live here for a lifetime, isn't it good?" After finishing speaking, she flipped onto the horse, her neat and agile posture made Zhang Cai and Zhang Shou behind her both exclaim in admiration.

  "Let's see who rides the fastest." She turned her head back on horseback, the cool summer breeze blowing her temples flying, the water-red sleeves fluttering. Like May branches of plum blossoms. Green and misty, swinging in a swing. There is a taste of early summer.

  She burst out laughing and whipped the horse. The fine horse neighed loudly, raised its hooves and galloped like it was chasing the wind. But she, sitting on the horseback, felt bewildered, as if there was something hidden in her heart that she couldn't see no matter how hard she tried.

  At a loss

  She ran for a while, then pulled the reins and walked to the side of the road to wait. Before long, Zhang Zhi and Zhang Shou came riding up from behind, "Sister, are you crazy?" Zhang Zhi complained, "Suddenly running so fast."

  "That's useless," she said with a cold smile. "I haven't ridden a horse in years, and you still can't catch up."

  Trotting along behind her mother's carriage, she held the reins tightly. The fine horse beneath her was impatient, let out a loud snort, pawed at the ground, and wanted to gallop as before. Zhang Yan held it back firmly; what we want to do and what we should do are often two different things.

  Lu Yuan found that her daughter had changed. It wasn't that she was bad now, she ate on time and slept on time, paid attention to her dress and diet, loved her younger brother and treated relatives kindly, and even smiled brightly all day long. But in her smile, there was a kind of burning sadness, this burning heat was dazzling and unbearable to look at, and Lu Yuan didn't know when her little daughter had grown from a child into a young girl.

  Childhood is carefree days.

  But the girl's heart began to have worries and joys born from those worries.

  Every girl will grow into a maiden. But every maiden cannot go back to being a child.

  Lu Yuan thought of her own girlhood days, with disheveled hair and a dirty face, running on the roads outside Fengpei. Then she met Zhang Ao.

  Zhang Kuo was indeed elegant and refined in his youth, with a clear and pure spirit like ice jade.

  He rode a white horse and leaned forward on its back.

  Later, her father gathered many princes and young nobles to choose a son-in-law for himself. She hid far behind the screen, but as soon as she looked up, she saw him at first glance.

  The bean sprouts are just beginning to show their tender shoots in early February, which is the most wonderful time of the year.

  Zhang Yan swings in the courtyard.

  "Push it up a bit." She ordered Tuo Mu and Jie You.

  "Push it up some more."

  The two maidservants were sweating profusely and said, "Young lady, how high do you want us to push it?"

  Zhang Yan pointed to the courtyard wall, "Push me, I can see the scenery outside from there." Master Weng, are you crazy?" Tong Mei asked in confusion, "If you really want to see the scenery outside, just go take a look. Why do you need to swing on the swing?"

  Zhang Yan smiled but did not speak.

  Many years ago, she read a poem: Swings within the wall, laughter outside the wall, passersby outside the wall. The beauty inside the wall smiles.

  Is it true that there will be someone who walks past her courtyard wall, hears her joyful laughter, and has his heart stirred.

  Years later, he met her again and talked about the swing incident that year, and his confused emotions.

  But there won't be, there won't be such a person, poetry is just poetry, stories are just stories. Life, however, is life.

  The swing stopped for only an instant at its highest point, and in that instant she gazed out as far as she could see, through the dense foliage of the apricot trees above the garden wall, and actually caught a glimpse of a bamboo basket on the street corner.

  "Ah Yan." someone called out from under the swing.

  She stopped and saw Sun Wu standing under the corridor. Wearing a green and yellow silk Buddhist robe, with a jade hairpin and a clear and elegant appearance.

  "After Ah Yan went to Chang'an, I made some new friends, but none of them were as good as her. I always missed Ah Yan, and now she's finally back." The two sat facing each other in the hall, smiling at each other without a word.

  Sun Wukong tasted a mouthful of tea and found it somewhat bland, so he put it down.

  "Smells good?" Zhang Yan smiled and said, "This is the dew-collected tea that I personally picked from the lotus leaves at dawn, it's worth a thousand pieces of gold for just one cup."

  "You're really idle." Sun Wu said helplessly, "A Yan has come back this time, shouldn't she be staying for good?"

  "How would I know?" She smiled and fanned herself, "But it shouldn't be for a while. The last time you left Xuanping, both of us were still wearing our hair in braids. Now that you're back, you've already had your coming-of-age ceremony." She pouted and sighed, "I wanted to have my hair styled like yours, but they all said I'm still too young and need to wait three more years for my coming-of-age ceremony."

  "This is unpleasant to hear," Sun Wu said with feigned anger. "Was I not good-looking before?"

  "It's different now." Zhang Yan shook her head, "It used to be fresh and lovely."

  The two of them laughed together, "I've recently learned some new piano pieces, I'll play them for you when I have time---" Sun Rou smiled and said, suddenly noticing a mark on Zhang Yan's sleeve, pulled it over to take a look, saying: "What's this? It looks like it was splattered by sparks."

  "Ah." Zhang Yan also saw it and smiled with a frown. "It was probably splashed on last night when roasting the wild rabbit."

  "Roast wild rabbit?"

  "Last night, I took Ah Qi, Ah Shou and my younger brother Yan Er to climb over the wall. We caught a wild pheasant, lit a fire in the field and roasted it. It smelled so good! A nearby family even thought the field was on fire and rushed over, only to find out it was us roasting the pheasant. But we invited them to join us and had a great time."

  "Really?"

  "Yes." Zhang Yan nodded and smiled, "Yan'er is still young and can't climb over the wall, so I specifically called Old Sun to open the side door for us."

  "Doesn't your mother or father care?"

  "Why bother?" Zhang Yan looked at her with a puzzled expression.

  Sun Wu then sighed in admiration, "Really great."

  "Next time we go out, shall we call you along?"

  "No need," she shook her head, "my parents will definitely not allow it."

  "Ah, right." She remembered and clapped her hands, "Two years ago we pickled plums together and sent them to Chang'an. You said they had gone bad and couldn't be eaten. This year I pickled some more and brought some especially for you to try."

  At dusk, she picked up a small ceramic jar and smiled, "Now my wife's pickled plums are praised by everyone who has tasted them. It's great that Zhang girl is back, try some."

  Zhang Yan nodded and picked up a yellow plum, putting it into her mouth.

  "How is it?" Sun Ruo asked her.

  "It's very sweet."

  "But," she raised her eyebrows and smiled, "it's really delicious."

  "It's settled," Zhang Yan said with a smile, "on a fine day, we'll go to the plum garden together to pick plums and make another batch of pickled plums."

  Early May is the beginning of summer, and the sun shines for a long time.

  There is a faint scent of green plums floating in the air, the fragmented sunlight falls among the plum trees, and the naughty jumping is like clean gold fragments. The sky is clear and bright.

  "Really." Zhang Zhi yawned, "Last night playing liubo with sister until midnight, and getting up early today to pick plums, where does sister get such good energy from, not getting tired at all from morning till night?"

  He complained, suddenly feeling a chill on his neck, and found that Zhang Shou had handed him a plum branch with his neck and lightly shook it.

  "You----" He opened his eyes wide and was about to pounce over.

  "Elder sister is unhappy in her heart," said Zhang Shou.

  "What," he suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at the girl standing under the plum tree.

  A branch of the tree was weighed down by a load of green plums, she grabbed it and shook it violently. Suddenly, a shower of green plums came pouring down like rain, hitting Sun Wu and Zhang Wei who were picking plums under the tree.

  "Sister," Zhang Yan stood up, rubbing the spot where Mei Zi had hit him, and gave his own mischievous sister a fierce glare.

  "Hey," Zhang Yan innocently spread out her hands, sticking out her tongue, "I didn't do it on purpose." But her face was beaming with a bright smile.

  "Where is she unhappy?" Zhang Zhi muttered, at least she looked happier than himself who was dragged here.

  "Clumsy brother," Zhang Shou said with a slanted glance, "if you were the one facing the Xiongnu's proposal for marriage, and then your uncle arranged two inexplicable things after the engagement, would you be happy about it?"

  Zhang Zhi shivered and said cautiously, "No matter what, Old Man Mobei can't possibly have his eyes on me, right?"

  Thinking of himself wearing a woman's dress and riding in the sedan chair to the Xiongnu king's court, Zhang Zhi couldn't help but feel flustered.

  "This isn't the point, is it?" Zhang Shou's forehead burst out with black lines.

  "Alright, alright," Sun Wu pushed Zhang Yan and said, "My wife Zhang, you can go wherever you want to walk around, when you come back, we will have finished packing. If you stay here, the sun will set before we finish picking the plums."

  "Hey, you two." Pointing in the direction of Zhang Zhi and Zhang Shou, "Come quickly to pick plums."

  "What's the point?" the two boys complained, "Why do we have to come and pick this plum?"

  "What's wrong?" Zhang Yan innocently asked, "Why can't I pick plums?"

  "It's your sister who wants to eat the plum. Now get out of here quickly!" Sun Wu said fiercely, pointing at Zhang Yan.

  "Think again," Zhang Yan doubted, narrowing her eyes at her. "You wouldn't be...," she carefully inquired, "trying to avenge yourself because you lost so badly to me at liubo yesterday?"

  Sun Wu's face suddenly turned dark and cloudy.

  Zhang Yan was slightly startled and hastily reflected on whether she had done too much, then awkwardly walked away.

  In May, the plum forest was filled with a hint of sourness, two threads of moisture, three lines of sunshine, and four layers of greenery. As she walked through it, it seemed as if all her senses could feel the invitation of the lush branches. Zhang Yan picked a green plum from the tip of a branch, wiped it clean, and put it in her mouth, feeling like her teeth were numb from the sourness. But she still savored each bite seriously, unwilling to give up.

  Plum Blossom Forest is vast, standing in it, one can't see the edge at a glance. The trees cast dappled shadows, and if one walks too far alone, they can no longer tell which way the road goes. Zhang Yan simply kept walking forward, thinking that when she reached the end, she would be able to see people. As she walked, she began to feel hot, so she fanned herself with a fan. Suddenly, she heard a shout, and the plum-picking girls sang out in cheerful unison.

  "There is plum blossom, actually seven of them. Seeking my noble scholar, until its auspiciousness."

  Plum blossoms falling one after another! There are still 70% of plum blossoms on the tree. Those boys who like me, hurry up and seize this good opportunity.

  In front of her, the landscape was lush and green, with plum blossoms wafting their fragrance. Suddenly, she felt that her legs had not a shred of strength left, standing rooted to the spot, unable to take even half a step forward.

  I am a divider that does not count as characters

  This chapter (Emotions I) and the next one (naturally Emotions II), put together, form a chapter that I personally like very much.

  It describes a restless mood.

  Yes, youth is really great.

  The letter was sent out now, maybe I am still struggling with the exam on the examination room.

  Pray for me.

  Incidentally, I'll take a pink ticket to comfort myself.

  Cough, love should be rosy.

  Fist bump, Ah Yan, go for it!

  Because I strongly wanted to end the chapter here, this chapter is over 4,000 words again.