God of Dragon - Chapter 47

In this deep and serene courtyard, jacaranda blossoms were in full bloom on all the branches of the trees. These flowers always grew in clusters, making a flourishing and lively scene that looked like a beautiful painting drawn by an imperial master of arts.

A young lady in a white dress was sitting under a tree that was full of blue flowers. With a pot of green tea and an ancient scroll, she was enjoying her leisurely and carefree holiday.

She was reading “Capital Heaven Record”, which was made up of a series of events that happened in Capital Heaven, the capital of the Xifeng Empire. It was written by Sima Qian, who was a great historian of no equal of his time. This book recorded political changes, economic development, anecdotes of some unusual people, etc. In this book, there were even descriptions of some technology heritages, such as Wanger Mazi’s scissors, Li Xiaodong’s iron-forging shop, liquors that no one could bear to drink more than three bowls and the braised pork of Tasty Restaurant.

There were various kinds of miscellaneous records in this book, so it was widely spread. Some people liked the new things in this book. Some enjoyed its novel content. Some of the food lovers even took it as a map of delicacies. Moreover, some people even wanted to get to the root of the political tactics in this book. They tried to figure out the hidden meanings that the author would like to express through the success or failure of each character.

However, Cui Xiaoxin didn’t care about any of these. She was just reading. When she was reading, she didn’t have to think about the past or the future. She simply enjoyed the meaning between the lines and the stories told by the author. Thus, for her, reading was the most natural and most relaxed thing to do.

“Xiaoxin, eat some fruit.” Her aunt Cui Xinci, who was in a pinky-white cheongsam, walked over with a bowl of fruit in her hand.

She was initially a woman from the north, but she loved the dressing style of the south. The Cheongsam was her favorite, which gave her an unusual charm and made her a unique beauty.

“Thank you, aunt.” Cui Xiaoxin stood up to greet her.

“Sit down. Sit down,” Cui Xinci scolded in a sweet voice. “Xiaoxin, I don’t mean to blame you. Now there are only two of us in the backyard, and no outsiders are around to watch us. Besides, even if someone were looking at us, so what? Furthermore, both of us are women from the Cui Family who have the same blood in our bodies. We are the real families! Why are you always so polite to your aunt? I don’t like you being as courteous as this.”

Cui Xiaoxin chuckled and said, “Well, then if you send me food and drink later, I won’t say anything to express my gratitude, nor will I stand up to welcome you. I will just take the food to eat and pick the soup up to drink, treating you as an old maid.”

“If you act like that, I will feel happy in my heart. That’s how Yan Xiangma treats me, but you see, I have never treated him as an adopted son because of that.” In a fascinating manner, Cui Xinci sat opposite Cui Xiaoxin and asked, “Xiaoxin, are you reading again?”

“It’s ‘Capital Heaven Record’.” Cui Xiaoxin placed the book on the table and said, “I’d like to learn some customs and culture of Capital Heaven. After leaving the capital for several years, I feel that this city becomes a little strange to me. However, when I thought about it carefully, I found out that even when I was living in Capital Heaven, I knew little about it. I always thought that since I lived in this city, I could go around visiting it at any time. However, because I knew that Capital Heaven was within touch, I had never thought about going to feel and get familiar with it. After seriously recalling the years I spent in this city, I have to admit that I know nothing about this city.”

Cui Xinci looked sad and said, “Xiaoxin, in a few days, you will go back to Capital Heaven. I’m reluctant to apart from you. If possible, I hope that you can stay here with me in Jiangnan City. Capital Heaven is big. Though people from the Cui Family were a great bunch there, life there is not as relax and easy as it is here after all. Capital Heaven is like a huge vortex, which would drag many people in it every day. I’m very much afraid that you will also be involved in it.”

“Aunt,” Cui Xiaoxin held Cui Xinci’s delicate and white hands in a tight grip and said, “I’m willing to stay in the south. I also want to stay with you. The few years of my life in Jiangnan City is the happiest and most relaxed period in my life. However, you know better about Capital Heaven and the Cui Family than me. Do you think that I can stay here?”

“Alas, since you were born in a rich family, you have to bear all kinds of responsibilities. This time, I can’t go with you to the capital, so you must take good care of yourself. Yesterday, your uncle said that he would let Xiangma go to the capital with you and ask the eldest brother to arrange a job for him. He also said that Xiangma always loafed about Jiangnan City and did nothing serious, which was not good for his future after all. You are good-tempered and have a quiet, sedate nature, so you can always stay out of trouble. However, Xiangma is a real pain in my head. When he arrives in Capital Heaven, how big the trouble do you think that he will make?”

Cui Xiaoxin patted the back of her aunt’s hand and said, “Aunt, a man should have great ambition. Uncle wanted to do that only because he held high hopes for his son. You and uncle have been protecting and taking care of my cousin all these years when he lived with you. Thus, if you don’t send him to experience something tough, how can he take on a great responsibility by himself? Uncle was a general who had fought on the battlefield back then. Only after he won many battles, the king of the empire trusted him with major responsibilities and made him the Governor of Jiangnan City. Am I right?”

“Besides, my cousin is not a stupid person. I admire his decisiveness and courage. In Capital Heaven, there will be people from the Cui Family and the Yan Family to take care of him. Moreover, the rich Jiangnan City is regarded as the empire’s treasury. Therefore, I suppose that no one dares to bully my cousin, who is the son of the Governor of Jiangnan City. Think about it seriously, aunt. My cousin is always the one who bullies others. When has he ever been bullied?”

“When children travel far from home, mothers never stop worrying. No matter what, I just cannot stop worrying.”

“If you’re anxious about him, you can wait until the Spring Festival to see him. You haven’t returned to Capital Heaven for a few years, have you?”

“That’s right. Then let’s make an appointment. I will return to Capital Heaven and spend the Spring Festival there. I don’t care whether Yan Bolai agrees or not, I will go back there at that time,” Cui Xinci said with a firm expression.

“Alright. Then I’ll be waiting for you in Capital Heaven,” said Cui Xiaoxin with a smile.

“By the way, where is Xiangma now? Why hasn’t he appeared at home today?”

“I didn’t see him today either. Cousin went out early in the morning and said that he was going to visit a friend.”

“Is he going to meet Li Muyang again? I’m so confused. How good can that Li Muyang be? A few days ago, you were fascinated by him and went to see him every day. Now, you have returned to normal, but your cousin started to act abnormal… What does that guy look like? I heard that he’s extremely ugly. Is it true?”

Cui Xiaoxin slightly lifted the corners of her mouth, showing a charming smile.

“It is too exaggerated to say that he is ugly to the extreme. It’s just that his skin darkened after he came through a serious illness in his childhood. Despite that, he looks definitely a normal guy.”

“Is that so? But still, he is not good enough for you.” Cui Xinci said with a faint smile, “I think Yushu from the Song Family is better. I heard his good reputation when he was little. Later on, after I came to Jiangnan City with your uncle, I could still hear news about him from time to time. It seems that he is more and more outstanding now.”

The smile on Cui Xiaoxin’s face gradually disappeared, and she said, “Aunt, I’m afraid that no one cares about my intention for my marriage, right?”

“You don’t want to be with him, do you?”

“I’d prefer someone to ask me whether I’m willing to marry him.”

“Xiaoxin…” Cui Xinci held Cui Xiaoxin’s hands tightly and said, “You know our family well. But if you really don’t want to marry him, you must say it. In any case, I support you.”

“If I hold on tight to my opinion with your support, can I change my fate?”

“…”

Perhaps because Cui Xinci felt that the topic was somewhat depressed, she smiled and said, “Let’s not talk about it now. Anyway, it is too early to talk about your marriage. Also, you will go to university, which will take you a few more years. You are so excellent that I believe you can find yourself a perfect husband.”

Cui Xiaoxin smiled lightly and said nothing. In her heart, she thought, “She may not get enough nerve to say something like that about my marriage. When she was young, she was outstanding, too. Also, she got the true love of the young man who was an expert in wielding his silver spear and whom she also loved. But so what? In the end, she still married Uncle Yan Bolai, the current Governor of Jiangnan City.”

“The best way is to accept fate. After accepting the marriage that others arranged for her, my aunt still lives a happy life now, doesn’t she?”

Seeing Cui Xiaoxin smiling, Cui Xinci knew that she had seen through her mind. Suddenly, she became a little flustered before this girl.

“You can read your book now, and I’ll leave you in peace.” With this, Cui Xinci got up and walked toward the front yard.

Cui Xiaoxin looked up at the sea of blue flowers above her head and said with great regret, “In Capital Heaven, there is no jacaranda tree. It’s a pity that I can’t take these trees with me.”

“If you like these blue flowers, I’ll ask someone to dig a few trees and bring them back to the capital.” Ning Xinhai walked over from the corner as if he had been waiting there all the time.

“I heard those sweet oranges in the south wouldn’t be sweet if they were transplanted to the north. If we move jacaranda trees to the north, I’m afraid that they won’t be able to produce so many beautiful blossoms. Since I love these flowers, why bother to make things difficult for them?”

There was a gust of wind blowing, and then these fallen flowers scattered and flew around like snowflakes.

Cui Xiaoxin stretched out her palm, and a tiny petal happened to fell on her palm.

Like little blue elves, many more blue petals landed on her hair and clothes. The faint fragrance given off by them seemed to tell this pure girl that they were also reluctant to part with her.

“You came here at this time. Is there anything wrong outside?”

“Miss, you didn’t go out these days, but you have told me to protect your classmate Mr. Li in secret. Nothing bad had happened to him in the past few days. After the attack of Crow, Li Muyang has been studying behind his closed-door every day. He seldom went out.”

Cui Xiaoxin came all the way to Jiangnan City to study, but by her side, she only had Ning Xinhai, a master of guarding. He was the only person that she could fully trust.

All these days, she stayed in the mansion so that she could send Ning Xinhai to protect Li Muyang secretly. After all, the incident about Crow was just a start. No one knew what would happen next.

If another attack like this one happened or a killer who was stronger than Crow appeared, could Li Muyang still get away successfully? Could Li Muyang’s families stay safe?

Cui Xiaoxin had to consider these problems.

“However, I didn’t expect an accident to happen today. A group of gangsters broke into the bakery of Luo Qi, Li Muyang’s mother, threatening that they were going to get this month’s management fee again. Since such kind of things happened often, I didn’t pay much attention to it.”

“Later, Li Muyang rushed over and started killing in a furious state in the bakery. Until then, I realized that something was wrong. I’m afraid that someone must have deliberately set this trap for Li Muyang.”

Cui Xiaoxin’s face fell. After thinking for a while, she understood the truth of this matter and said with a sneer, “What a mean uncle!”