Jinling, thousands of miles away, sent two letters. Du Yue eagerly opened his own, staring at the letter in his hand, reading it like an illiterate child, then, with a face of despair, took the other letter to find his cousin, Su Shiyu.
Su Shiyu had just finished dealing with the daily affairs of the Imperial Censorate and was in the study of the Su Mansion, reviewing documents. Despite the well-known relationship between him and Chu Mingyun in the court, Su Shiyu occasionally returned home as he still had Su family matters to attend to, and the study still held books and records to be used. Chu Mingyun had suggested several times for him to move everything to the palace and permanently reside there, but Su Shiyu always shook his head, deeming it inappropriate. Every time Chu Mingyun came to the mansion to find him, he would stand at the door for a moment, as Su Bai would say, "His Majesty looks like he wants to seal off our Su Mansion."
Du Yue handed over the letter, watching as Su Shiyu, after reading it, just smiled. Unable to contain himself, Du Yue asked, "Cousin, what did my mother write to you? Did she mention your situation with someone surnamed Chu... you know, that matter between you two?"
Su Shiyu neatly kept the letter, raised his eyes to see Du Yue's troubled expression, and instead of answering, he asked, "What did your mother write to you?"
"Well..." Du Yue scratched his head, "My mother wants me to go back, get married, and then properly explain what happened between you and that Chu guy."
Su Shiyu nodded, "Understandable. Your mother probably thinks she couldn't take care of me properly, leading to my misbehavior. Naturally, she wants to settle you down quickly."
"My mother said that about you? What are you going to do? You two have finally gotten together. If something happens again, I can't imagine what that Chu guy would do."
"No need to worry. When you return to Jinling, just send a reply to your mother on my behalf." Su Shiyu looked at Du Yue's conflicted expression and couldn't help but laugh. "What's wrong? Don't want to go back?"
"I... It's not that I don't want to go home, but..." Du Yue frowned, "I just don't want to get married when I'm so young."
Su Shiyu smiled at him, lifting the teacup nearby. "Why don't you want to get married?"
"I'm still young. Getting married so early seems too soon."
"You've already reached adulthood, getting married is natural. Compared to others, it's not considered early."
"But cousin, you've been delaying it all this time."
Su Shiyu leisurely sipped his tea. "That's why Aunt is now urging you to come back."
"..." Du Yue was speechless for a moment, then struggled to say, "Well, that's true, but I still don't want to get married."
"Is there a reason?"
Du Yue scratched his head again. "I don't know, my mind is all messed up."
"If you can't figure out your own thoughts, I can't help you." Su Shiyu looked at him thoughtfully. "Or perhaps, you can ask someone else for advice?"
Suddenly, a knock on the door interrupted them. Qin Zhao, puzzled, put down the half-polished sword and opened the door. Outside, Du Yue nervously touched his nose and chuckled, "Qin Zhao, you... haven't slept yet?"
Qin Zhao glanced at the still bright sky outside, "...Hmm." He let Du Yue in, "What's up?"
"Nothing much," Du Yue, unusually honest, sat down, "My mother wrote a letter asking me to go back."
YOU ARE READING
Jun You Ji Fou
Romance"Shiyu, my heart does not lie." With these words of deep passion, Chu Mingyun inserts his hand back into his sleeve and pinches himself. Su Shiyu's smile deepens all of a sudden. He squints his eyes and gently parts his mouth to say, "Are you sick?"...
