NOVEL NEXT
Chapter 246 - 246: Hide a chubby baby
Translator: 549690339
When Qi Jun went to Xing’s Mansion to borrow coachmen, he mentioned Su Liang had something to do today, so Xing Yusheng and Lin Xueqing did not come to disturb them.
During the whole day, there were only Su Liang and Gu Ling in the mansion. Gu Ling moved Bai Xiaohu’s things out and his things into the Yuanming Pavilion study, restoring it to its appearance before he left.
He wanted to eat Fried Fish Nuggets, and caught a fat fish before lunch. Su Liang fried it and served it on a plate, which Gu Ling ate like a snack, eating more than half before it was served, leaving only two pieces for Su Liang.
Seeing this, Su Liang didn’t get annoyed, but found it a bit funny. When it came to eating, Gu Ling never let her win. She should be very “moved” that he left her two pieces.
Summer had passed, and the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching; the days were still hot and dry.
The afternoon sun was scorching, so Su Liang remembered that Xing Yusheng had built an ice cellar for Su’s Mansion while building one for Xing’s. There were ice blocks stored inside, but she had never used them, so she had Gu Ling fetch some.
“What for?” Gu Ling asked with confusion.
“You’ll see when you bring it,” Su Liang teased.
As a result, she heard footsteps and turned her head while peeling grapes. She saw Gu Ling holding a large square ice cube wrapped in cloth.
Su Liang directed Gu Ling to place it on a shady spot on the table. ‘We don’t need that much, but since you’ve brought it, we’ll use the leftovers for you to play with ice sculpting.”
Gu Ling frowned slightly at the comment, finding it strange that Su Liang seemed to treat him like a child, but it didn’t feel bad…
Gu Ling didn’t know what Su Liang was going to do, but saw several white porcelain bowls on the table, filled with small pieces of three kinds of fruit, another bowl of peeled grapes, and a bowl of honey water. He smelled the sweet fragrance of honey.
This was definitely for making something delicious.
Gu Ling got a clean, wide knife as Su Liang instructed and began to shave the ice. After a rough first try, he soon got the hang of it, shaving thin layers into a bowl forming shaved ice.
Two translucent glazed glass cups, gifts from Old Master Qin, were filled halfway with shaved ice. Then the four types of fruit were evenly arranged on top, with an appropriate amount of honey water poured over.
Su Liang finished one cup and held it up, asking Gu Ling, “Does it look good?” Gu Ling nodded.
“Hmm, this is a kind of visual feast in our time, used for viewing in summer, to dispel the heat. But when the ice shavings turn to water, they won’t look so good, so you better watch closely, don’t blink and don’t touch.” Su Liang explained seriously and jokingly.
Gu Ling was speechless, so he reached out his hand and said, “Give it to me.”
Su Liang chuckled and placed it in front of Gu Ling, also handing him a wooden spoon for eating desserts.
Gu Ling took a spoonful of shaved ice along with a piece of fruit, tasted it, nodded slightly, and then tried another fruit. After trying all four types, he began to taste the different combinations of two fruits, then combinations of three fruits. In the end, the last bite had one piece of each fruit mixed with
shaved ice.
Watching Gu Ling while she was making her own, Su Liang couldn’t help but admire him, thinking he must have a severe compulsive disorder.
Finally, Gu Ling put down his spoon and concluded, “Different flavors, but all delicious. ”
Su Liang: …She thought Gu Ling would make a flavor ranking…
It happened that Su Liang got distracted for a moment, and a newly made cup ended up in Gu Ling’s hands. This time, he ate it randomly, scooping whatever was available, but the number of fruit pieces still made a new random combination.
Su Liang could only think that maybe this was the highest realm of food lovers, who could taste a hundred different flavors from the same food.
In the end, Su Liang ate only a small bowl, which was indeed delicious, but too sweet. She always tasted sweet food sparingly.
Although sweet, the icy texture made it not greasy at all. Gu Ling, who tasted the fruit shaved ice for the first time, ate three cups.
Su Liang didn’t save any for Bai Xiaohu, who had been a bit malnourished due to previous abuse and had a weak stomach. He was still taking medicine and couldn’t eat this.
The remaining large chunk of ice, missing only a small corner and wrapped in cloth, was placed in a shade to avoid light and wind without melting much.
“Great God, if you want to sculpt ice, do it quickly. It will melt soon. I’m going to take a nap.” Su Liang had sat in the sun earlier and felt a bit sleepy.
When Su Liang went upstairs, Gu Ling brought out his entire set of carving tools, studied the ice for a while, and started carving.
Su Liang usually didn’t take naps, so she woke up after a short while this time.
Just about to go downstairs and take a look at Gu Ling’s ice sculpture, as soon as she opened her door, she saw him carrying a tray12ature.onclick=function(){return false;}from downstairs with a piece of silk cloth on it.
“Is it done?” Su Liang asked with curiosity, “What is it?” She reached out to lift the cloth.
Gu Ling stepped aside and carried the tray into Su Liang’s room, placing it on the table.
Su Liang followed, watching Gu Ling lift the silk cloth and drape it around the ice sculpture to prevent the melting water from flowing onto the table.
Moving closer, Su Liang saw it was an abstract ice sculpture. At first glance, she couldn’t identify the chaotic outline.
Upon closer inspection, she saw that it contained elements from her previous life’s era, such as airplanes, trains, cruise ships, cars, computers, mobile phones, etc.
It’s more like an ice art collage, a three-dimensional one at that, with exquisite details.
“Great God, your carving skills are really good,” Su Liang murmured in admiration. “But it will melt soon, just like these things, becoming my dreamy mirage, never to return again.”
Gu Ling asked, “Do you want to go back?”
After thinking for a moment, Su Liang said, “At first, I felt that I should adapt since I was already here, and there was nothing worth lingering for in the other world. But now, I do want to go back a little. I can adapt to the rules of survival here, but I don’t want to adapt to many things, especially dealing with the Royal Family now. It’s exhausting.”
Gu Ling was silent for a moment, “If you can find a way to go back, take me with you.”
Then Su Liang laughed, “Of course. From the beginning, Great God wanted to go there more than I did. If only one person can go, I’d be willing to let Great God experience the other world, after all, I’ve already experienced it.”
Gu Ling frowned slightly, “Never mind one person, I’m afraid.”
Su Liang laughed loudly, ending the topic. She took it as a joke because she didn’t believe there was anv chance of returning. She was already dead in that world, and she didn’t come through a man-made time machine with a return trip.
The ice, representing Su Liang’s memories from her past life, melted to a thin layer before sunset.
After disposing of the ice, Su Liang watered the flowers with the melted water.
At night, Qi Jun brought Bai Xiaohu back home with many big and small parcels.
As they entered Yuanming Pavilion, Bai Xiaohu’s excited little face told Su Liang about the tall, big, and beautiful palace he saw that day, the huge and beautiful lake, shopping and eating he did.
They had just eaten dinner at a restaurant outside. Su Liang and Gu Ling had eaten as well.
Qi Jun brought back several dishes for Su Liang, which she said she would heat up for a late-night snack when she got hungry.
After listening to Bai Xiaohu, Su Liang saw how happy he was and said, “Let’s go out again tomorrow.” It would take more than a day to explore the vast capital city.
Bai Xiaohu nodded vigorously.
When Su Liang proposed that they stay in the courtyard Qi Jun originally chose for them that night, both of them had no objections.
Qi Jun thought that Su Liang must want to read late into the night without being disturbed.
After learning that Su Liang had already moved their belongings to the new place, Qi Jun and Bai Xiaohu left after drinking some water, urging Su Liang to rest early. The medicine Bai Xiaohu needed to drink was prepared by Qi Jun anyway.
When Su Liang went upstairs, she found that Gu Ling had gone out at some point.
He returned shortly, saying he had gone to take a look at Zhengzheng.
Su Liang then asked Gu Ling a question, “Great God, if you were already married and had children, and suddenly had an opportunity to travel to another dimension, but could only do so alone and couldn’t return, what would you choose?”
Gu Ling asked back, “What do you think?”
Su Liang nodded, “I believe in your character, Great God, so of course, you would choose the former. However, there would still be some regrets. I sincerely hope that you can achieve what you desire.”
Gu Ling’s eyes suddenly became deep and mysterious. “Thank you for your blessing.” After finishing his words, he turned around and left.
The following day, Xing Yusheng asked Yan to come over and informed him that the best day for relocating the graves was the 18th of the eighth month, three days after the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Su Liang thought it was quite suitable. They would celebrate the festival in the capital city and still have two days to prepare. The weather would also be the most comfortable, neither cold nor hot.
Su Liang planned to mention her trip to escort the spirits back to their hometown when she next met Duanmu Yi, rather than actively seeking him out to talk. They had already discussed the matter before, and Duanmu Yi had asked her to wait until the weather cooled down before setting off. This was tantamount to agreeing to give Su Liang a leave. Moreover, the auspicious day for this matter couldn’t be delayed.
On this day, Qi Jun and Bai Xiaohu went out to play, and Su Liang invited Gu Ling to practice with her. Gu Ling said her Luoying Swordsmanship had improved, but she needed more practice. She wasn’t fast enough yet. Once she reached a certain level of expertise with the Luoying Sword, her abilities would greatly increase.
Su Liang practiced martial arts for half a day, then studied books in the afternoon, returning her life back on track.
That night, Gu Ling secretly sneaked into the Fifth Prince’s mansion to investigate Huang Bols whereabouts. After waiting for a long time, he overheard two night watchmen talking about Huang Bo. They said he had really gone to the south to look for his son at Lin’s Family because Duanmu Che arranged for Huang Bol s son to be sent to Lin’s Family to deliver a message, intending to repair his relationship with his maternal grandparents’ family.
Gu Ling returned to Su Liang and relayed the information he had gathered. Su Liang thoughtfully said, “Duanmu Che must have deceived Huang Bo with this pretext. Once Huang Bo reaches Lin’s Family and learns that his son had never been there, Huang Bo would think that his son had an accident along the way, but he would not suspect Duanmu Che.”
At this point, Su Liang could only wait to meet Huang Bo again before considering how to make him see Duanmu Che’s true colors. For now, they didn’t know where he was, so they had to wait.
The day before the Mid -Autumn Festival, Qi Jun took Bai Xiaohu to Huguo
Temple. Monk Cheng Yun had mentioned during his last visit that Huguo Temple would distribute homemade pastries to worshipers before Mid-Autumn Festival.
On their side, Su Liang had prepared the ingredients for making mooncakes early and declined Lin Xueqing’s invitation to make them together. Su Liang suggested they make them separately and then exchange them, but the real reason for this was to avoid making someone unhappy. Gu Ling had carefully carved several beautiful mooncake molds so he had to be involved.
The fruit trees in their courtyard were originally planted by Duanmu Chen according to Su Liang’s request, and Xing Yusheng had gifted her pomegranate trees, forming a sizable orchard.
Only half of the trees had borne fruit this year, but it was enough to eat.
Su Liang made a nut filling, two fruit jam fillings, as well as date paste, red bean paste, and salted egg yolk fillings.
During festival times, making special dishes brought a sense of ritual. Gu Ling was responsible for starting the fire, kneading the dough, and baking the mooncakes, demonstrating great control over the heat.
It was unlike their neighbors, the Xing Family. The young couple brought Old Lady Xing over, and she worked with Lin Xueqing to make mooncakes and asked Xing Yusheng to mold them. Xing Yusheng ended up breaking three molds in a row. Lin Xueqing hit him once, but fearing that Old Lady Xing would be upset, she stopped. However, Old Lady Xing ended up hitting him three more times…
Since there were kids at home and they had to give them away as gifts, the two of them spent half a day, and the mooncakes made by Gu Ling were neatly arranged in a pyramid shape on the table, with evenly distributed patterns.
Su Liang couldn’t help but “praise”, “Great God, your OCD is too incredible.”
Gu Ling knew what OCD was, but he didn’t think he had it. Pleasing to the eye was also a harvest, and it didn’t take much thought, so why not?
They had asked Qi Jun to purchase the packaging materials in advance. As soon as the mooncakes cooled down, Su Liang and Gu Ling packed four in a pound together, and then wrote on the red paper outside what kind of filling they contained.
Anyway, Gu Ling and Su Liang’s handwriting was the same, so there was no need to worry that anyone would think it was written by “Ning Jing.”
The Qin, Gao, Lin, and Xing families all sent people to deliver gifts separately. Su Liang’s return gift was homemade mooncakes, as well as the fruit from the trees in the mansion. Gu Ling picked the two kinds he didn’t like as much. In addition, there was a tea set and a big gift package of “tea-related items” prepared by Song Qi in advance for the Ning Family.
After receiving the return gifts and seeing the words on the mooncakes, everyone knew that Su Liang had made them herself and thought that she was very considerate. Old Master Qin took all two packages of Su Liang’s homemade mooncakes for himself, while the Imperial Physician Gao reluctantly shared one piece with Gao Jiabao.
By evening, Wan Hui’s family of three arrived with gifts carried in carts. Seeing Lu Yu bring a group of servants carrying gifts into the mansion, Su Llang toucnea ner roreneaa ana said, “wny IS blster wan Still so politer”
Zhengzheng smiled and said, “It’s from Grandpa to Auntie!”
It wasn’t just Wan Hui’s family who sent so much, but also the Mid-Autumn Festival gifts from the Wan Family in Qingyang City.
Su Liang took out a beautiful Chinese knot to give to Zhengzheng, which was actually from Gu Ling.
Zhengzheng cherished it, hung it on her chest and hugged it while playing.
Wan Hui laughed and said she would hang it in Zhengzheng’s room when they got home.
Qi Jun and Bai Xiaohu returned with some pastries from Huguo Temple.
Seeing Zhengzheng, Bai Xiaohu couldn’t help but think of his little brother and missed home even more with the festival approaching, so he became a little upset. Noticing this, Qi Jun comforted Bai Xiaohu, saying they would set off to return home in a few days.
Bai Xiaohu and Zhengzheng played together and quickly became lively.
Gu Ling sat in the study upstairs, with a few mooncakes and a fruit plate on the table. He had already eaten the dumplings for dinner, which were prepared in advance.
Downstairs was a warm and lively atmosphere, but he sat alone, holding a book and not turning a page for a long time.
Gu Ling put a bookmark in, closed the book, and put it aside. He laid a piece of paper on the table, pondered for a moment, and started to draw.
After Wan Hui’s family left with Su Liang’s return gift, Qi Jun took Bai Xiaohu back to their courtyard. They offered to help clean up, but Su Liang said it wasn’t necessary.
Su Liang went upstairs, knocked on Gu Ling’s door, and said, “Great God, you’re not asleep, are you? Come down to wash the dishes.”
Hearing Gu Ling responding to her from inside the room, Su Liang went downstairs first.
A little while later, Gu Ling finally put down his pen. On the paper was a beautifully drawn chubby baby with no discernible gender. Upon closer inspection, the facial features resembled both Gu Ling and Su Liang, perfectly blended together.
Gu Ling gently dried the ink, picked up the drawing, and stared at it for a long time before carefully putting it away and going downstairs to wash the dishes….