Every auspicious day needs a perfect match to make it complete.
The wedding of Yuan Ye and Gu Fangfei, which had been delayed for so long, finally came to fruition. The invitation was sent to the two people in Shucheng who were almost living in retirement.
This time, the group came to Hezhou in a hurry and could not stay for many days. A physician from the same profession who had known Xu Hang before recognized him and pulled his sleeve and refused to let him leave, saying that it was a pity to lose a physician like him. Xu Hang could not refuse, so he agreed and said that before he left, he would see patients on the street, and anyone who wanted to learn medical skills could come and see him.
After the war, Xu Hang was deeply impressed by the power of Western medicine and tried to let these Chinese medicine physicians learn some Western medical techniques.
“Insert here.” Xu Hang asked Duan Yelin to hold a white mouse on the table and directed a young physician to insert the needle into the blood vessel. The young physician was trembling with the thick needle and did not dare to insert the needle for a long time. Finally, he gritted his teeth, stomped his feet, turned his head, and inserted the needle fiercely.
“Is it inserted?”
“Insert my ass,” Duan Yelin said coldly, “Open your eyes and look, you inserted it into Laozi’s hand!”
There were a bunch of complaints.
While bandaging Duan Yelin, Qiao Song said jokingly, “Before, you didn’t even make a sound when you were shot on the battlefield, but now you have to groan a bit even for the smallest wound.”
Duan Yelin kicked Qiao Song away, told him to go and cool down, and put his sesame-size wound right under Xu Hang’s eyes: “Shaotang, it hurts.”
“Get lost ”
“It really hurts.”
Xu Hang looked at him as if he were a fool. He was confused just like Qiao Song. How could such a strong man become more and more fussy after he took off his military uniform and fell into ordinary life?
Pulling out a bottle of medicine from the wooden box, Xu Hang tapped on the needle marks on Duan Yelin’s body with his finger and asked, “Does it still hurt?”
The soft words were so heartwarming that Duan Yelin was bewildered and whispered, “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“Then that’s good,” Xu Hang turned around and motioned to the physicians behind him, “Come in line and insert the needle on him.”
“Alright!” All good things in the world really come at a price.
This is the truth Duan Yelin learned from the eight needle holes on his hand. Let’s talk about Gu Fangfei and Yuan Ye’s wedding.
The phoenix crown that Xu Hang had given as a gift was broken once. It took a lot of effort to find a craftsman to carefully repair it before it was given to Gu Fangfei again.
In addition to the phoenix crown, there was also a small gift.
While Gu Fangfei was drawing her eyebrows and lipstick, Xu Hang, wearing a Changshan and a red flower on his chest, pushed the door open and walked in. Gu Fangfei saw him through the mirror and turned to him with a smile: “I saw it, don’t hide it, and give it to me.”
A pair of tender hands was spread out in front of him. Even though she was not young, she still had the look of a cute girl, as if she was asking her brother for candy.
Xu Hang took the kite out from behind and handed it to her: “As promised, I won’t owe you any more Phoenix kites.”
The phoenix on the kite was hand-painted, vivid, and lifelike, and it even had a medicinal aroma if one smelled it carefully.
“I’m very happy that you can come to see me today, but I…” Gu Fangfei said this and lowered her head with a look of apology.
The last time Gu Fangfei’s marriage fell through was due to Xu Hang and the Duan family. Even though Gu Fangfei knew the grudges and hatreds involved, but the Gu family might not understand it. There were too many twists and turns, and too much explanation would only cause trouble. Therefore, the Gu family still held a grudge against them.
Therefore, Xu Hang and Duan Yelin were not allowed to sit at Gu Fangfei’s wedding banquet.
Xu Hang took the wooden comb from the dressing table and combed Gu Fangfei’s hair. This was an old tradition. Gu Fangfei sat obediently, just like when she was a child, Xu Hang would braid her hair at that time.
The first comb, may your marriage last a lifetime. The second comb, may you be blessed with a happy and harmonious marriage until old age. The third comb, may you be blessed with an abundance of children and grandchildren. The fourth comb, may you encounter valuable people who will help you. The fifth comb, may you be in harmony with the in-law. The sixth comb, may you receive mutual respect between the husband and wife…
Combing the hair and saying auspicious words when sending off a bride is an old tradition.
Seeing Xu Hang busy combing her hair without opening his mouth, Gu Fangfei couldn’t help but ask, “Is it possible that Brother Hang hasn’t memorized it yet?”
“That’s not the case,” Xu Hang carefully helped her put on the Phoenix Coronet. “I don’t like those auspicious words.”
The honeysuckle petals on the phoenix coronet clashed with each other. Xu Hang spoke in a gentle, pleasant voice, “I am your ‘family[mfn]To be exact, it’s a relative of the bride’s side[/mfn]’. I cannot bear to see you grow old, I cannot bear to see you suffer the pain of having a child, I cannot bear to see you fall into a situation where you need valuable people to help you, I cannot bear to see you deal with your in-law, and I cannot bear to see you only respect each other. So, I wish you a youthful appearance, a lasting love, a prosperous family, and a worry-free life.”
As he was talking, Gu Fangfei started to cry.
Xu Hang had no choice but to stop and wipe her tears first. “They always say people cry at weddings, cry when they get married, why are you actually crying for real?”
Gu Fangfei turned around and hugged Xu Hang’s waist: “Please don’t leave Hezhou, move back from Shucheng, alright?”
This is a coquettish act. Xu Hang smiled: “No matter where you are, my place is your second ‘bride’s home’.”
The two were reluctant to part when there was an unhappy cough at the door. Duan Yelin leaned against the door and complained, “Hey, hey, hey, you can cry, but let go of my person.”
People who love to be jealous will get jealous regardless of the other party’s gender.
This wedding banquet didn’t have the same fuss as last time, it was just a gathering of relatives. Although the atmosphere was a bit small, the smiles on Yuan Ye and Gu Fangfei’s faces were far better than before.
Xu Hang was far outside the door, only looking through the never closed-door. Although his vision was narrow, but the scene was focused more clearly. This was a concern of his that he could finally let go of. Otherwise, he would be uneasy if his Xiao Hua Meimei was unable to find a partner for the rest of her life.
As Yuan Ye was drinking the wedding wine, he saw Xu Hang in the distance and raised his glass to the air. Everyone thought he was toasting to all the guests. Xu Hang nodded in greeting, the two of them knew each other’s feelings.
Then Yuan Ye begged for mercy.
“Brothers, please forgive me. I can’t drink anymore…”
“Red envelopes are a must…”
“Haha… alright, alright!”
After a long and lively day, it was time for the newlyweds to enter the bridal chamber. Xiao Yan and Shen Jingmo were not acquaintances of Yuan Ye or Gu Fangfei, so they simply gave a gift and then followed Xu Hang and Duan Yelin to eat their meal.
Although it was said to be a simple gift, Ghost Master was so wealthy, he almost bought out all the lanterns and black-sailed boats in the city, making them shine from East Street to West Street for them.
Xu Hang walked along the river, lost in thought. Duan Yelin also looked at the river full of lights a few times. He knows that Xu Hang missed his mother, he did not point it out but walked up to him and held his hand.
“If we had a wedding, it would definitely be more lively than this.”
Duan Yelin said this as they were walking. Xu Hang was annoyed because he even dared to say such an indecent thing in the street. He shook off his hand secretly, took a few quick steps, and almost bumped into Shen Jingmo, who was holding Meiqiu.
“Ouch—”
“Woof!”
After supporting Shen Jingmo, Xu Hang looked around and could not see Xiao Yan: “He was here just now, how come he disappeared in the blink of an eye? He was willing to let you go out and wander around?”
Shen Jingmo explained, “No, his men were all standing in the corner. I was just sitting on a stool drinking tea, and I felt a bit tired, so I stood up for a while.”
“What about him?”
“Oh… I just casually mentioned that I wanted to hear some string music, and he suddenly told me to wait. It’s already been half an hour.” Shen Jingmo had grown used to Xiao Yan’s half-hearted impatience, no matter what he did, whether it turned out well or not, he always seemed happy to do it.
The few of them were still chatting when they heard the sounds of a pipa, guqin, erhu, zhongruan, and dongxiao coming from a boat in the distance. Shen Jingmo had better hearing than the others and was the first to turn his head. Even though he couldn’t see, he knew who did it.
Everyone on the shore stretched their necks to listen; they had all come to join in the fun; they had never seen such a new scene, and for a moment there was a lot of noise and bustle.
As he listened, Shen Jingmo started to laugh: “It’s probably hard for him to gather so many people in such a hurry. The music he played is even out of tune.”
Indeed, even people who don’t know much about music theory can tell that the sound of this boat is out of tune and not pleasant to listen to. It seems that each expert is playing his own instrument, and each one is better than the other. They are only concerned with their own performance, which makes it seem like the instruments are quarreling with each other. So even after listening for a long time, no one can point out what kind of music this is either.
Xu Hang squinted his eyes for a long time. The boat was too far away, and he couldn’t see clearly: “Is Xiao Yan also on it?”
Duan Yelin raised his chin: “Yes.”
Xu Hang pointed at the tallest person in the middle of the boat and asked, “The one chewing sugar cane?”
Duan Yelin corrected, “…He is playing the flute.”
“……”
Looking at Shen Jingmo’s gratified expression, Xu Hang couldn’t help but sigh. It is true that in your lover’s ears, you will be Boya[mfn]Boya is a good zither player from ancient time. Basically the sentence wants to imply that when you love someone, even if the tune your lover plays is bad, you can also find it good[/mfn] ah.
Unable to bear listening to it, Xu Hang and Duan Yelin held back their laughter, said goodbye in a hurry, and left this ridiculous performance.
Hezhou no longer looked like the city they were familiar with. Xiaotong Guan, Jinyan Tang, and Heming Medical Hall were no longer there. The sugar rice cake shop they had eaten at had changed its storefront. Tanqing Street has been changed from southeast to connect with Ma’an Road towards the outskirts of the city. They got lost multiple times, but it was thanks to the kind-hearted newcomers in Hezhou, who took pity on them as unfamiliar outsiders, that they were shown the way each time.
Stepping onto the thousand-year-old stone bridge, Xu Hang reached out and tugged at Duan Yelin’s sleeve: “They don’t even remember you. Even though you were a hero who protected them.”
Duan Yelin held the hand in his palm tightly. “There is no need for heroes in peaceful days. I am happy that they have forgotten me, because this shows that they are finally living a peaceful and happy life. I hope there won’t be any more heroes in this world.” He kissed the back of Xu Hang’s hand lightly, and his low voice was particularly warm and powerful: “Nothing can distract me anymore, all I need to do is protect one person.”
Xu Hang’s expressionless face was like a jade lotus on the water that began to spread out little by little from its bud. He gave Duan Yelin a rare, sincere, and warm smile, which made Duan Yelin infatuated.
“Is what I said funny?”
“No,” Xu Hang led Duan Yelin to go down the bridge, “You said it very well.”
He would never tell Duan Yelin that they had said the exact same thing today. When you truly love someone, something, or a city with all your heart, you instinctively hope they’ll never have to rely on anyone else.
As time goes by, the people will forget the pain, the war, the physician named Xu Hang, and the Commander Duan who guarded the city. But they will never forget the dazzling lanterns on the Changhe River, the wine glasses of the newlyweds, and the wonderful music with the mottled reflections of the river.
Oh, yes, and that pair of hands that won’t let go.
