Shen Qingqiu fanned himself as he walked. He had walked for a short distance before suddenly realizing that the clingy man who had been right behind him the whole trip had fallen behind. He turned his head to look back.
Luo Binghe stood in place, lost in thought as he gazed at something.
"Binghe? What are you looking at?" asked Shen Qingqiu, surprised.
Only then did Luo Binghe return to his senses. He had a faintly dazed expression as he replied, "Shizun, I..."
Shen Qingqiu's bafflement increased. He walked back, looking in the direction Luo Binghe had been gazing at before. The only thing he could see was an average-sized residence, surrounded by a group of noisy and lively people. They were all crowding around the two people dressed from head to toe in bright red, making it impossible to see the faces of the newlyweds as they walked into the residence's courtyard amidst the clamoring voices.
Since the streets were already noisy, he hadn't noticed at all that there had been a couple getting married there.
At the main gate of the residence remained two young servant girls, each one standing with a basket filled with sweets1 to give to passersby. They called out in clear and sharp voices, "Share in the happiness!" "Share in the happiness!"
Shen Qingqiu's first thought was a complete killjoy, "Is the groom's household haunted?"
Yet no matter how he looked at it he couldn't detect anything abnormal in the place. He was about to question him further when Luo Binghe set off on his own towards the house. The two young servants had never before seen such a handsome man. They were both so stupefied when they raised their heads that they completely forgot to hand out the sweets. Still, Luo Binghe calmly took some from the girls himself.
Having finally gotten the wedding sweets, Luo Binghe was completely satisfied as he returned to Shen Qingqiu's side. He said, "Let's go, Shizun."
Shen Qingqiu nodded.
The two men walked side by side for a while. Luo Binghe was still playing around in his hands with the two round candies wrapped in red and he would sometimes turn his head to look back at that joyful residence, where people kept walking in and out; he seemed to be lost in thought.
Shen Qingqiu asked, "What's going on with that house?"
Luo Binghe had a blank look as he asked, "What is Shizun referring to?"
Shen Qingqiu replied, "Nothing in particular; why do you keep looking back at it? You don't even care much for sweets."
Luo Binghe suddenly understood. He spoke with a smile, "It's nothing. I was just sharing in the happiness, that's all."
He had spoken those words very earnestly. Shen Qingqiu couldn't stop himself from giving a tiny smile as he said, "This master doesn't seem to recall you believing in these things. Could it be that you have never seen someone get married before?"
Luo Binghe replied, "I've seen it in passing, I just never thought this kind of thing had anything to do with me."
Shen Qingqiu asked with surprise, "You never thought before about which girl you'd end up marrying in the future?"
Luo Binghe shook his head. Shen Qingqiu didn't think this was plausible. He continued, "Really? You didn't think about it even a bit?"
No matter what, Luo Binghe... that is, the previous Luo Binghe, had been a stud2, so how did he end up going as far as not having any sort of happy prospects for his future? Moreover, according to Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky, the absolute GOAT3, Luo Binghe's "happy prospects" shouldn't be simply to marry one beautiful woman, they should be to get a number of beautiful wives that added up at least to the three digits... Of course, Shen Qingqiu knows that the current Luo Binghe wouldn't do that, but how could he have never thought about it? How could he think it had nothing to do with him?
