CALID Chapter 61

Gift

He Simu seemed to pause for a moment, squinting slightly before saying, “Are you seriously not intending to use this deal for something valuable?”

“Valuable?”

In the grassy field of a summer morning, the already hot wind stirred up dust and the smell of blood, blowing her long hair and sleeves towards Duan Xu, within arm’s reach.

Duan Xu lowered his gaze, then looked up at He Simu. Having just killed many people, he was still in an excited state, his eyes shining brightly.

“I want you to see me wearing wedding attire, a once-in-a-lifetime event. Don’t you think that’s valuable?”

He untied the black hairband from his head and handed it to her, his smiling eyes resembling a new moon. “Consider this an invitation, Your Highness. On the auspicious day of June 18th, I will host a banquet at my mansion. I hope you can grace us with your presence, bringing auspiciousness and joy to our marriage. I earnestly hope you won’t decline.”

He Simu lowered her head to look at the black hairband in his fair fingers, depicting silver cypresses. She wasn’t sure if it was black and silver, but she remembered from Meng Wan that Duan Xu liked the combination of black and silver.

When she accompanied Duan Xu in the ghost realm, he always wore black clothes and silver accessories, like a broken illusion sword inlaid with ebony and silver. When she asked him why he dressed like that, he smiled and said he wanted her to see him as he truly was.

He was adept at doing things that were hard to understand yet left a deep impression, like wearing black and white by her side, like inviting her to attend his wedding banquet.

He Simu looked into Duan Xu’s eyes and said after a moment of silence, “Alright, I accept.”

Taking the black hairband from his hand, she smiled, “General Duan, congratulations.”

This was a good thing. There were various colours in the mortal world, so why should ghosts be confined to black and white?

As He Simu disappeared in a puff of smoke, Fang Xianye took a while to react, rubbing his forehead before turning to Duan Xu and asking, “Who is she?”

Duan Xu seemed reluctant to take his eyes off the direction where the girl had disappeared, just smiling softly, “My beloved.”

“Beloved? She clearly isn’t human; she’s a ghost, isn’t she? You said she’s the Ghost King, she…”

“Fang Ji, ah…” Duan Xu suddenly elongated his voice, turning his head to look back, lazily full of smiles, “You’ll have a child in the future. How about letting him recognize me as his godfather? Or if you don’t mind, you can just let me adopt him.”

This question seemed unrelated, but its implication was clear—Duan Xu was serious, so serious that even eight horses couldn’t pull him back.

Fang Xianye was stunned, his gaze darkening as he turned to walk towards his sedan chair, muttering angrily, “You lunatic, you’re just fit to be alone!”

Duan Xu burst into laughter behind him.

Fang Xianye’s assassination attempt was not publicized, so Duan Chengzhang’s gloomy demeanour in the following days led Duan Xu to roughly confirm that his father wouldn’t be scheming anything for the time being.

Naturally inept at catching hidden currents, Duan Jingyuan, perhaps the person in the entire Duan residence most focused on Duan Xu’s wedding, initially thought her brother and father would take some more time to deliberate. She didn’t expect them to swiftly decide on a Wang family girl and set an engagement date. Wang Su Yi preferred tranquillity over revelry; she seldom participated in gatherings among young ladies. Consequently, Duan Jingyuan wasn’t very familiar with her. However, Wang Su Yi was said to be beautiful and gentle in speech, so it seemed there wouldn’t be major issues with her becoming Duan Xu’s sister-in-law.

Seeing her third brother about to marry made Duan Jingyuan inexplicably melancholic. Since childhood, she had wished to marry someone like her third brother. Although his character had changed as he grew older, she still held her brother as the standard against which she measured the young masters in the Southern Capital. And now, that standard was being taken away by someone else.

But she felt her third brother didn’t seem happy about marrying a new bride. Perhaps it was because of the troubles in the court; she had heard that there were investigations going on, and her brother was implicated.

Damn the Pei faction!

In her mind flashed Fang Xianye’s peaceful and serene countenance. After hesitating for a moment, she couldn’t help but curse inwardly: Damn Fang Xianye!

Banquets were where Duan Jingyuan showcased her talents. She decided to create a completely new set of creative clothes and concoct the most elegant and sweet fragrance to show her utmost regard for her dearest third brother’s major life event.

That day, she eagerly rushed to the largest fragrance shop in the city, Yue Ran Ju, to obtain the finest amber ingredients for making incense. While Duan Jingyuan was selecting fragrances at Yue Ran Ju, she saw a girl of medium height, with average looks but well-dressed, entering. The girl untied the sachet at her waist and tossed it to the fragrance master, saying, “Make me a similar sachet. Use agarwood, ambergris, spikenard, mint leaves, white flower, and frankincense.”

Duan Jingyuan was surprised by the familiar scent when she smelled the sachet. Because of the mixture of scents in the fragrance shop, she couldn’t immediately confirm it. But when the girl next to her finished listing the ingredients, she was even more astonished. Wasn’t this the scent she had prepared for her third brother?

Duan Jingyuan curiously scrutinized the girl. It seemed as if the girl sensed something and turned to give her a glance, smiling, “Miss, why have you been staring at me?”

Her smile carried a sense of light arrogance, yet strangely it wasn’t repulsive; there was even a hint of pressure.

“Ah… I find this fragrance very pleasant. Did you create it yourself? What’s its name?” Duan Jingyuan asked, taking a roundabout approach.

The girl absentmindedly tapped her fingers on the counter, shaking her head. “No. This fragrance is called…”

She seemed to ponder for a moment, then smiled.

“It’s called Duan Shunxi.”

Duan Jingyuan widened her eyes, feeling a thud in her heart. Looking at the girl again, she couldn’t help but feel a tinge of pity in her gaze.

Today, the fragrance master at Yue Ran Ju seemed somewhat absent-minded. He almost gave Duan Jingyuan the wrong amber ingredients and the “Duan Shunxi” fragrance was also missing a step, resulting in an incorrect scent. The girl who requested the fragrance, however, didn’t seem to notice at all. It was only when Duan Jingyuan reminded the fragrance master that he realized the mistake and corrected it.

Watching the girl leave, Duan Jingyuan sighed inwardly. This was probably a girl who admired her brother. She didn’t know where she heard about the fragrance ingredients on her third brother, but she decided to wear the same sachet to smell the fragrance and think of him. How many young ladies in the Southern Capital had their hearts shattered by her third brother? Truly, he was a heartbreaker.

When she returned home, she asked Duan Xu if he had disclosed the fragrance formula she had prepared for him. After receiving a confirmation, she told him about the incident, also expressing her astonishment.

Duan Xu paused for a moment after hearing about it, then smiled, seeming quite pleased. He confirmed, “You said the fragrance master made a mistake in the ingredients, yet she didn’t notice?”

“Yeah, it’s quite strange.”

Duan Xu chuckled even more happily and murmured softly, “How adorable.”

Duan Jingyuan felt something was off about Duan Xu’s expression. She poked his shoulder, warning, “Third Brother, you’re about to get married, you can’t just casually find others adorable anymore. In my opinion, you’d better not compete with Fang Xianye over the girl from Jade Tower.”

Duan Xu readily agreed, and Duan Jingyuan then presented him with the fragrance she had newly concocted that day, asking him to guess its ingredients. It was a game they often played because Duan Xu had a keen sense of smell and could usually guess all the materials she used for the fragrance.

This time, Duan Xu also sniffed as usual, leisurely listing the ingredients of her younger sister’s newly concocted fragrance. However, Duan Jingyuan furrowed her brows and said, “Third Brother, you missed two things: caraway and lily.”

Although she had used very little of these two fragrances, it was impossible for Duan Xu’s usual level of skill not to notice them. Duan Xu hesitated at her words and then lowered his head to carefully sniff the sachet, his eyes slightly darkening.

Seeing him remain silent, Duan Jingyuan thought he might have been affected by her words and tried to reassure him, “It’s okay to make mistakes occasionally, Third Brother. Don’t take it too much to heart.”

“I can’t smell them anymore…” Duan Xu said softly, lifting his gaze to meet Duan Jingyuan’s, his eyes filled with complex emotions for a moment, startling her. But soon, Duan Xu smiled again, returning the sachet to her. “It seems I’m getting older, Jingyuan. I’m afraid I’ll often make mistakes in this game in the future.”

Duan Jingyuan whispered, “You’re not even twenty yet. Why are you talking about getting older?”

“Haha, after all, human senses are bound to decline with age.” Duan Xu patted Duan Jingyuan’s head affectionately, casually remarking, “It’s common sense.”

With that, he turned and left with his hands behind his back, his green robes fluttering. He looked so young and seemed like he would forever stay young like this. Holding the sachet, Duan Jingyuan felt a sense of melancholy inexplicably creeping into her heart at the mention of “decline.”

When He Simu returned to the Imperial Tutor’s Mansion, Feng Yi was standing in the courtyard, propping himself up with his birchwood cane, observing the stars. The tiles of this Star Pavilion were painted black, with golden lines depicting constellations, encapsulating the vast starry sky within arm’s reach. Standing within the constellation of Dipper, his cane tapped lightly on the ground at the three stars of the Dipper constellation. One of the four bells hanging from the top of the cane rang crisply, and he swiftly began calculating something with his hands.

Seeing He Simu entering the courtyard, he planted the cane firmly on the ground and leaned against it, smiling. “Old ancestor, what are you up to?”

The cane seemed to be rooted in the ground, and Feng Yi stood straight as an arrow leaning against it, unmoving.

He Simu raised the sachet in her hand and said, “Making a sachet.”

“You can’t smell the fragrance, so why make a sachet?”

“I can’t smell it, but I like the idea of being associated with this fragrance. Is that not permissible?”

Feng Yi immediately replied, “Of course, of course.” Just as He Simu was about to enter the house, she suddenly turned back to look at Feng Yi, hesitating as she leaned against the door frame. Then she asked, “What’s the trend for wedding gifts these days?”

“It depends on who’s getting married. Are you planning to give a wedding gift to Duan Xu?”

“He invited me to his wedding, so I can’t go empty-handed.”

Feng Yi almost lost his balance and fell when he leaned against the cane. This old ancestor of his had always disliked attending weddings and celebrations. She hadn’t even attended his parents’ wedding, nor did she come to their funerals or any of his siblings’ weddings. He had thought she would ask him to deliver the gift on her behalf, but he hadn’t expected her to attend in person? This was truly a case of showing favouritism towards one and neglecting others.

Receiving Feng Yi’s accusatory gaze, He Simu, rare for her, also felt a bit guilty. She coughed twice and said, “It’s different; this is part of the deal for him to regain his senses.”

Feng Yi clicked his tongue twice and sighed, “I find it surprisingly lenient of you towards him.”

“It’s just a transaction.”

Feng Yi waved his hand to dismiss the topic. He knew this old ancestor of his wouldn’t admit to repeatedly giving in to Duan Xu. He changed the subject, saying, “I’ve prepared a cleverly appropriate gift for him. Recently, there’s been an investigation into Horse corruption case in the court. Originally, both the Minister of War and the Minister of Ceremonies were to lose their heads. However, things took a turn, with a crucial witness suddenly recanting his testimony, claiming he had been manipulated and the evidence was forged. The timing of Horse corruption case coincided too well with Duan Xu’s strong push to attack the Yunluo provinces. Now, the Minister of Justice, Jing Yan, suspects Duan Xu. He’s also being targeted by people from the Pei faction. With this turn of events, the Pei faction will likely continue to cause trouble.”

“However, the information I’ve gathered on this matter, although unrelated to the case, could greatly help Duan Xu. Someone like him probably doesn’t value material possessions much, so I’ll just prepare some random gifts for him.”

He Simu was not interested in and didn’t want to understand the affairs of the Daliang court. She frowned and said, “That’s your gift, but what should I give?”

“You’ve been with him for so long, don’t you know what he likes? You exchanged senses with him. What you liked when you regained your senses, isn’t that what he likes?”

What she liked when she regained her senses? He Simu thought seriously. What did she like?

Sunlight, wind, ice, rain, snow.

Peonies, green grass, firewood, the smell of food.

Duan Xu’s pulse, heartbeat, breath, fragrance.

How could these be given as gifts?

He Simu wasn’t giving a gift for the first time. In the past, her gifts were always straightforward and decisive, mostly from her treasure trove of ancient treasures that she generously gave away. But she knew that Duan Xu didn’t care about these things. Perhaps it was because of the meticulously crafted painting he had given her before, but she couldn’t help but feel cautious about reciprocating.

She wanted to give Duan Xu a gift that he truly liked, that would make him happy. But she wasn’t good at this kind of thing; she was better at destruction or protection than giving.

With a sigh, He Simu rubbed her forehead. Trying to please someone was a subtle and unfamiliar feeling to her.

Feng Yi observed the old ancestor’s expression for a while, then waved his hand and said, “Forget it. Old ancestor, have you forgotten that you’re a demon? For mortals, receiving a demon’s gift at their wedding is not a good omen, but rather very ominous. If you give him a gift, do you think he’ll accept it?”

He Simu was stunned for a moment, then chuckled softly after a while. “You’re right.”

She turned and walked into the room.

Feng Yi shook his head, took back his cane, and tapped it at the heart constellation. The cane quickly spun around, and all the bells emitted crisp and melodious sounds, as if someone were discussing something lively. He smiled satisfactorily, hugging his arms and saying, “Venus guards the heart, the auspicious day is coming.”

The author has something to say: Duan Xu’s wedding won’t come so soon!