Inviting the Moon to the Farmhouse

Xia Lanyue felt especially happy to hear Jiang Di's voice, and she hurriedly went to open the door.

Jiang Di was standing outside the door, carrying a basket. His shirt was soaked with sweat, and the sweat on his face glistened in the sunlight.

Xia Lanyue looked around and, seeing no one, stepped aside to let him into the yard. "Come in quickly, no one's home."

After Jiang Di entered the courtyard, Xia Lanyue quickly closed the gate, afraid that others would see her.

"Why are you here? That's great. I wanted to apologize for what happened a few days ago. It's not that I didn't want to leave, but Xia Yao said he could take me to see Dai You, so I can't leave yet," Xia Lanyue quickly explained to him.

“I guessed it. Apart from this matter, he can’t keep you,” Jiang Di said.

"So, you also know where Dai You is?" Xia Lanyue asked.

Jiang Di nodded. "I found out that he was arrested by Village Chief Zhao."

"Then... will you be able to see him?" Xia Lanyue asked tentatively.

“I…” Jiang Di hesitated.

Seeing Jiang Di's troubled expression, Xia Lanyue interrupted the conversation, "Ah, I was just asking casually, hehe, what brings you here today? I heard it's Aunt's Day today, and everyone has gone to town to celebrate."

“Yes, I guessed that Xia Yao and her son wouldn’t be here, so I came,” Jiang Di smiled, then placed the basket on the small table in the yard and took out a small jar of wine and rice cakes from it.

"Rice cake? You made it?" Xia Lanyue asked in surprise.

“Yes, you haven’t tried it yet, have a taste,” Jiang Di handed a piece to Xia Lanyue.

Xia Lanyue took it and took a bite. It also contained crushed candied fruit, which was an innovation based on her own recipe. Xia Lanyue thought it tasted good. "Hmm, the student has surpassed the teacher."

"what does that mean?"

"That means you're better than me," Xia Lanyue said with a smile.

“These past few days, rice cakes have been selling really well, but everyone hasn’t seen you and has been asking where Rice Cake Girl is,” Jiang Di said with a smile. “I told her she’d be back in a few days. Also, this wine is a special fruit wine for the holiday. It’s not very strong, but the owner said it’s sweet and refreshing, and girls will like it.” Jiang Di picked up the wine and waved it in front of Xia Lanyue.

"Wow, that's great!" Xia Lanyue removed the seal from the wine jar, took a sniff, and indeed it had a fruity aroma.

She looked happily at Jiang Di, who was wiping the sweat from his brow and licking his chapped lips. Knowing that he had traveled for an hour under the scorching sun to see her, Xia Lanyue felt grateful and touched.

"Come in and sit down, it's cool inside," Xia Lanyue said, leading Jiang Di to her room and bringing over a stool for her to sit on. "I'll go get some water."

Soon, Xia Lanyue came in carrying a bowl of water.

Jiang Di took the water and drank it all in one gulp.

Jiang Di felt a little hot, so she used her hand as a fan to cool herself down.

Xia Lanyue remembered that she had heard before that Xia Yao had a lot of fans, so she could go to Xia Yao's room and borrow one.

She knew it was very wrong to go into someone else's room without permission, but she couldn't care less. Besides, she only took the fan and didn't touch anything else.

Xia Lanyue gently pushed open the door, looked around the room, and saw a folding fan on the table. She picked it up and went back to her room.

"Here, take this," Xia Lanyue said, handing the folding fan to Jiang Di.

Jiang Di smiled, opened the folding fan, and began to use it.

Xia Lanyue then noticed the words on the folding fan, formatted like a poem. After she looked closely, her smile froze on her face.

The folding fan bore a love poem, signed with a name she recognized: Dai Xiyue! Moreover, the handwriting was familiar, exactly the same as the one she had dreamed of!

This fan was given to Xia Yao by Dai Xiyue?! Why is there a love poem on it? Isn't Dai Xiyue in love with Dai You? So, she's two-timing him? What's going on? Xia Lanyue couldn't figure it out for a moment.

Jiang Di noticed that Xia Lanyue seemed a little absent-minded. He looked at her closely and found that she was staring at the fan. He became curious and asked, "What's wrong with you? Is there something wrong with this fan?" Jiang Di looked at the words on the fan.

Xia Lanyue's heart jumped into her throat, as if some little secret was about to be exposed.

Jiang Di fiddled with the fan for a long time, unable to read anything. He looked up at Xia Lanyue and asked, "What does it say on this?"

Xia Lanyue breathed a sigh of relief. "Ah, a poem, a poem by a great poet. You know, Xia Yao just likes to show off his literary skills." Xia Lanyue wiped the sweat from her forehead.

Jiang Di didn't doubt her words at all, nodded in agreement, and continued fanning herself, "No matter what's written, it's just a fan. A good fan is one that can create a breeze."

"Yes, yes, I'll go get another bowl of water. Wait for me a moment," Xia Lanyue said as she came out of the house, letting out a long sigh of relief.

She found it strange. What was she afraid of? Was she afraid that Jiang Di would find out? Even if he did, it wouldn't matter; they were just friends.

Xia Lanyue carried the water back to the house, and Jiang Di drank it all in one go.

"Would you like another bowl?" Xia Lanyue asked.

"No," Jiang Di said. "Do you want to go to town today? I'll take you."

"My legs can't walk that far," Xia Lanyue said with a regretful expression.

"I can carry you on my back."

Xia Lanyue was taken aback. Jiang Di was so sweet! Although Jiang Di didn't mind, she couldn't bear the thought of him carrying her for two hours round trip, so she shook her head and said, "I don't want to go."

Jiang Di's expectant gaze dimmed. "Why?"

“Because…it’s not fun,” Xia Lanyue saw through Jiang Di’s thoughts, but couldn’t think of any excuse and didn’t want to hurt Jiang Di’s feelings. “There’s a lotus festival in a few days, that’s lively too, let’s go play together then.”

Jiang Di cheered up again, "Okay."

And so, the agreement was reached. The two looked at each other and laughed foolishly.

At this moment, Xia Lanyue had no other desires but to cherish her friendship with Jiang Di.

After Jiang Di left, Xia Lanyue went to Xia Yao's room. She put the fan back in its original place, trying to make it look as if it hadn't been moved.

She now knew that Dai Xiyue and Xia Yao had known each other before, and Xia Yao hadn't lied to her. However, the extent of their closeness couldn't be determined solely by a single fan, especially since Xia Yao had never appeared in her dreams.

Xia Lanyue was enjoying fruit wine alone in the room.

This fruit wine has a low alcohol content, almost imperceptible, and is sweet, making it more like a beverage.

Suddenly, Xia Huifang pushed open the courtyard gate, walked into the courtyard, and went straight to Xia Lanyue's room. "Ah Yue, I'm back."

Xia Lanyue snapped out of her daze and immediately tensed up. She hadn't cleared the bowls from the table yet, and if Xia Huifang saw them, she would definitely become suspicious. Seeing that there was no time to hide the things, she had no choice but to bite the bullet and go out to greet them, hoping to stop Xia Huifang at the door. "Aunt Xia is back. Did you have fun?"

But things didn't go as planned. As soon as Xia Huifang reached the door, she pushed her into the house, saying, "I'm so happy. Come on, let's go inside and talk. It's cool inside." As she spoke, she went inside as well.

Sure enough, after Xia Huifang entered the house, she immediately noticed the two bowls on the table and paused for a moment. "Ah Yue, are we having guests today?"

Xia Lanyue hadn't figured out how to explain, and in her nervousness, she gave an irrelevant answer, "It's a holiday today, so I just had a little to drink..."

She had expected Xia Huifang to pry into the matter, but she didn't press the issue. "Oh, look at me," she said, "it's a holiday, I shouldn't have left you alone at home. It was Aunt Xia's oversight."

"It's alright, Aunt Xia," Xia Lanyue said, lowering her head, not wanting to reveal her guilty conscience.

"But, Yue, it would have been great if you had come with us today! Pangao really stole the show today!" Xia Lanyue said excitedly. "He wrote a poem today and everyone praised it! They all say Pangao is talented and will definitely pass the imperial examination this year!"

"Oh? Really? What poem did you write? Aunt Xia, could you tell me about it?" Xia Lanyue also became interested. She was eager to know just how high Xia Yao's cultural attainments were.

“Let me tell you about it, let me think,” Xia Huifang said, recalling carefully. “Look at my memory, I can’t remember. When he comes back, I’ll have him tell you.”

"Aunt Xia, didn't Xia Yao come back with you?" Xia Lanyue asked.

"He'll be here soon, don't worry," she said, and then went out.