The wind is gentle and the fun is endless

The sneer of her aunt was still ringing in her ears, but she was too busy to pay attention to her. She just felt like she was falling into the water, sinking and sinking.

She looked at Xu Qu in shock and confusion, only to see that Xu Qu did not immediately take the thing that Xie Jin handed over. Instead, her aunt took the lacquer painting with a meaningful smile and stuffed it into Xu Qu's hand.

Mrs. Xie was eager to go to the restaurant to discuss business, and seeing that the matter here had finally come to an end, she invited everyone into the restaurant.

At this time, the peddler lifted up a string of lanterns and said, "Madam, don't forget to bring the lanterns!"

Mrs. Xie said, "It is inconvenient for us to bring her in. Please send her to Xu's house in the north of the city."

But the peddler said reluctantly: "Madam, I don't know the Xu family, and the season is right, I have to hurry to sell the goods."

Madam Xie had no choice but to turn around and ask Madam Cao, "Madam Cao, how about putting it in Yongshengfang first? I heard from Shopkeeper Sun that he is busy today. If there is no one available to deliver it to Xu's house, you can send someone to pick it up tomorrow?"

"This..." Mrs. Cao seemed dissatisfied with this suggestion. She looked at the string of exquisite lanterns reluctantly and refused to nod. It seemed that it would be a shame to watch these lanterns one night later. Mrs. Xie was in a dilemma.

"I'll take it back." Huan Huan, who had been wanting to leave for a long time, stood up and said, "I have something to do and need to go back first, so I can take it back with me."

Anxious, Mrs. Xie looked at Huanhuan gratefully, and hurriedly agreed, "That's great, Huanhuan, thank you for your hard work." Then she invited the others to enter the restaurant. Huanhuan smiled and watched them leave, not missing the smug look of her aunt as she walked past her.

After Mrs. Xie and her group entered the restaurant, she slowly asked the peddler to bring the lantern to her horse and put it on the horse's back. Then she and Xiaoyu led the horse and walked back to Xu's house.

Because the Lantern Festival is approaching, most of the shops and houses on the road have hung colorful lanterns. The lanterns are dazzling, and occasionally swaying in the wind, drawing brilliant arcs in the night. Xiaoyu looked left and right along the way, and from time to time she excitedly asked to look here and there.

But Huanhuan, who was full of things on her mind, had no intention of appreciating these beautiful lights. She only felt the chill brought by the night wind as she shuttled through the night where light and shadow intertwined.

Xiaoyu finally noticed Huanhuan's abnormality and asked her what was wrong. Huanhuan smiled and told Xiaoyu about the green colored rope and the red lacquer painting.

Xiaoyu asked, "Miss, are you sad because you mistakenly thought that your husband liked green and felt that you were not as good as Miss Xie Jin?"

He slowly glanced at the rays of light behind Xiaoyu, and looked at her as if talking to himself, "Do you still remember what I said about turning the days we spent together into shared memories?"

Xiaoyu nodded.

Huanhuan smiled sadly and said, "I just suddenly felt that I might have thought too simply. I don't seem to have truly understood Xu Qu after spending so long together. Maybe there are some things that you can't achieve just by working hard."

"Miss..." Xiaoyu didn't know how to respond. She could only look at Huanhuan with her mouth drooping.

He let out a long breath and looked up at the sky. Under the night sky, the stars were twinkling and blinking. The starlight echoed with the lights on the ground, but could not illuminate his confused heart.

The road back to Xu's house was long, and the horses carrying the lanterns seemed tired and panting. The road back to Xu's house was also short, and the time of walking did not allow Huanhuan to figure out the doubts in his heart.

After returning to Xu's residence, he slowly washed up but did not go to sleep. Instead, he sat at the round table with his chin supported by his hand, thinking about things, until Xu Qu came back with a faint smell of alcohol.

Seeing this, Huan Huan immediately helped Xu Qu change clothes and wash up, then made a pot of sobering tea for Xu Qu, poured a cup and handed it to Xu Qu, and then sat at the round table with Xu Qu.

Xu Qu took a sip of tea and said to Huanhuan, "Huanhuan, you may want to help your mother with the lantern issue, but you shouldn't have come back early."

Huanhuan thought her little trick had been discovered, and when she was not sure how to respond, Xu Qu said, "We have been preparing for so long. Tonight is the crucial night for Mother to discuss the underwriting of Xiangyunsha with Shopkeeper Cao and his wife. It is a good time to observe and learn. It would be a pity if you come back."

After listening carefully, I realized that I had been thinking in the wrong direction. From morning to afternoon to evening, including just now, I had only been thinking about my own little thoughts.

She blushed immediately, nodded quickly and said to Xu Qu sincerely: "You are right, I was not thoughtful enough, narrow-minded and short-sighted."

Xu Qu put down his teacup and said, "It's not that serious. Don't underestimate yourself."

Huanhuan thought to herself that Xu Qu had no idea of her little thoughts, so she shook her head and asked, "Did mother's talk with Manager Cao go smoothly today?"

Xu Qu took another sip of tea and said, "It's not going well."

Huan Huan asked curiously, "What do you mean?"

Xu Qu looked at him and said slowly, "After these days of contact, Manager Cao also intended to let Yongshengfang underwrite his Xiangyunsha, but he and mother could not reach an agreement on the price and method."

Then he asked slowly: "Isn't this the most important thing?"

Xu Qu smiled and nodded, saying, "You understand correctly. The current situation is that the price offered by Shopkeeper Cao is far from what mother expected, and Shopkeeper Cao refuses to lower the price no matter what. In addition, mother wants to be the main dealer of Xiangyunsha in several prefectures in Jiangbei, but Shopkeeper Cao is unwilling to do so. It seems that he wants to find a merchant in each prefecture to underwrite it. He rushed to give me something in return today because he didn't want to give me an excuse and be at a disadvantage in the subsequent negotiations."

Huanhuan asked: "So that's how it is. Then what's the difference between being a general merchant or not?"

Xu Qu smiled again and said, "That's a good question. If mother becomes the general merchant, Manager Cao will indeed be relieved about the Jiangbei distribution. However, mother's purchase volume is large, so she has an advantage in bargaining. Although Manager Cao doesn't know much about Lingbei, he still wants to take more initiative and doesn't want to be controlled by the general merchant below."

She slowly said, as if she had suddenly realized something, "There are indeed many tricks involved." Then she asked doubtfully, "What should we do now?"

Xu Qu said, "We can only continue to discuss with Manager Cao and the others. Today, Li Sijian said that they will leave Shanghuai soon. Mother is actually very anxious."

After saying this, Xu Qu felt tired, and the drunken look in his eyes gradually prevailed. Seeing this, Huanhuan added some sobering tea for him, but there was no water in the teapot. Huanhuan turned around to add water, and when he came back, he saw Xu Qu resting his eyes with his hand on his forehead, with the lacquer painting chosen by Xie Jin placed next to his elbow.

Huanhuan suddenly thought of her little daughter again. She poured water and handed the cup to Xu Qu. She said nothing, didn't touch Xu Qu, didn't tell Xu Qu that the tea was ready, just pouted and looked at him.

After a while, Xu Qu opened his eyes and saw Huan Huan looking at him with some resentment. He asked, "What's wrong?"

He slowly frowned and asked in a questioning tone: "Do you like red or green?"

Xu Qu was stunned for a moment when he saw Huanhuan's attitude, then he laughed playfully: "Is this important?"

He nodded slowly and solemnly: "Important."

"What color did you say I like?" Xu Qu did not give a direct answer, but asked Huanhuan instead.

"I always thought you liked green, but tonight Xie Jin said you like red." Huanhuan paused unconsciously and swallowed when he mentioned Xie Jin's name.

"Why do you think I like green?" Xu Qu still didn't answer, but kept asking.

"Last time Xiangyin gave us the green feather sachet, you took the green one." He answered slowly, but also seemed to be questioning.

Xu Qu thought about it for a while, and this time he finally stopped asking rhetorical questions and began to answer Huanhuan's questions directly: "I didn't take it on my own initiative. I remember asking you to pick it first. You picked the red one and gave me the green one."

"I..." Huanhuan suddenly lost her momentum and had to explain aggrievedly: "Because I saw you always covered yourself with a green quilt, I thought you liked green."

Xu Qu didn't seem to notice the color of the quilt. He glanced at the bed, then turned around and said, "I remember you covered me with this quilt on our wedding night. Although it has been washed several times since then, I have always covered myself with it."

"This..." Huanhuan was surprised that Xu Qu was a little drunk, but still remembered everything so clearly.

She thought about it and it seemed to be the case, so she surrendered completely and said carefully, "Because I like green, and besides the red one, the green quilt was the easiest to get, so I covered you with the green one."

"Why don't you cover me with red?" Now it was Xu Qu who was questioning Huan Huan.

"I don't like red. Don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you." He answered Xu Qu slowly and carefully.

"You like green, why didn't you choose green later?" Xu Quren stepped forward and asked another quick question.

"Because I thought you liked green." Huanhuan was already dizzy from Xu Qu's question and answered completely based on instinct.

"Has this question been asked just now?" Huanhuan could no longer tell the difference between these questions. She looked at Xu Qu in confusion, as if she was the one who was drunk.

Xu Qu remained silent, just staring at Huanhuan with a deep look.

Huanhuan became confused under his sharp gaze and lowered her head unconsciously. Then she suddenly realized that something was wrong. Wasn't she asking Xu Qu a question?

Although she had lost her initial momentum, she still mustered up the courage to raise her head and spoke slowly and carefully: "I just want to know more about you. Do you like red or green?"

Xu Qu held Huanhuan's arms with both hands. There were stars in his drunken eyes, adding something different from before, but Huanhuan couldn't tell what it was.

He said, "From now on I like green." His tone was flat, but his hands clenched even tighter.

Slowly said: "You don't have to wrong yourself to please me."

Xu Qu stared at Huan Huan and said, "If you have experienced a long period of indifference and chaos, you will know that some things are not important and some things will change."

As he spoke, Xu Qu moved closer, almost face to face.

Xu Qu almost embraced her in his arms. Her thoughts were as chaotic as her breathing. She could only whisper unconsciously, "Is this ok?"

At the same time, because Xu Qu's grip became stronger, she instinctively leaned back.

Suddenly, a small bottle rolled off the table and fell to the ground. Looking over there slowly, Xu Qu also saw it and asked, "What is that?"

He replied slowly: "Li Wan sent the golden medicine today. She sent the wrong one yesterday."

Xu Qu murmured "Not yet well" and his grip on Huan Huan's arm gradually loosened. Finally, he put his hand down and said, "It's late, let's rest."

Huanhuan felt that Xu Qu seemed really tired, and his voice sounded a little hoarse, so she cooperated with Xu Qu and quickly packed up and went to sleep.