Epilogue 5 – The Top Student and The Bookworm (Part 12/17)
The 28th day of the lunar calendar. New year’s eve. Early in the morning.
Snow had covered the entire capital in a cloak of white.
Chen Lan carried that old backpack of his as he arrived before the female dorms, and it wasn’t long before he saw Mu Qing walk out while pulling her luggage behind her.
It was snowing heavily today, so Mu Qing was wearing a jacket, a down feather beanie, and a black woolen scarf. Her beautiful long and slender legs were covered in dark blue skinny jeans while she wore a pair of brown leather boots. Her dressing was very fashionable, and she revealed a trace of mischievousness amidst her beauty.
Today was the day that Chen Lan would be going home to celebrate the new year.
Chen Lan had promised Mu Qing that he would take her home, so Mu Qing had started dressing herself up before dawn.
“How do I look?” Mu Qing asked this question while seeming to be slightly nervous. It was the first time she’d decided to spend the new year at her boyfriend’s home, so nervousness was impossible to avoid.
“You’re very beautiful.” Chen Lan nodded.
Mu Qing instantly smiled, and then she hugged Chen Lan’s arm and said, “I don’t care anymore. I have to go see father and mother in law regardless of how ugly I am.”
Father and mother in law….
Chen Lan was instantly stunned when he heard these words, and then he took Mu Qing’s luggage from her and walked out of the campus.
Liang Liang told him that she would send him the train tickets today. However, when he arrived at the entrance of the campus, he saw Liang Liang standing before her hummer as she said, “I’ve prepared your ride.”
Chen Lan was stunned, “What about the train tickets?”
Liang Liang spoke angrily, “Do you know how difficult it is to get train tickets now? Moreover, it’s really crowded and smelly there. Do you really intend to bring Mu Qing along with you on a train?”
She'd already opened the door as she spoke, and then she took the luggage in Chen Lan’s hand and tossed it into the trunk before she patted her hands and said, “Go on quickly. Drive safe.”
Chen Lan had no choice but to accept such arrangements, and he got on the hummer with Mu Qing before he said, “Where are you going? I’ll send you off before we leave.”
Liang Liang waved her hand and said, “You two go on ahead. My older brother will come and get me in a while.”
Chen Lan nodded, and then he started the engine and quickly vanished amidst the boundless snow.
“What a heartless fellow. He didn’t even hug me before leaving….” Liang Liang muttered before she took out her handphone and made a call. “Fatty Ning, I heard the Zhao Clan has started to pressure the Mu Clan. Mu Tianyuan and his wife will be going to a special place today, so they’ll probably be unable to manage all of that. Help them take care of it. Don’t ask me why and just do as I fucking say!”
She immediately put down the phone when she finished speaking, and then she placed her hands in her pocket and whistled as she walked through the snow. She truly seemed beyond carefree.
…
In the hummer, Mu Qing displayed a rare moment of silence, and there were many times that she wanted to speak yet hesitated.
Chen Lan drove as he asked, “If you have something to say then tell me. Don’t keep it in your heart.”
“Mu Qing said, “That woman, Liang Liang…. You know her?”
Chen Lan nodded and didn’t deny it.
Mu Qing bit her cherry lip, “Then are you aware of her identity?”
Chen Lan thought for a moment and said, “She should be a member of the royal family? You know… I’ve never been interested in all of that.”
Mu Qing really didn’t know what to say. That day during the reunion dinner, she’d thought that the reactions of her parents and Zhao Zhicheng would be a huge blow to Chen Lan.
Unexpectedly, this fellow had really been indifferent towards all of it since the very beginning, and he was even indifferent towards someone like Liang Liang who possessed special status in the royal family….
When he noticed she’d gone quiet, Chen Lan said, “Mu Qing, I know you have numerous questions in your heart, but even I don’t know how to explain it to you. Because my family…. Hmm, is a little special. You should understand once we get there.”
Mu Qing was definitely not stupid. Since she saw Liang Liang borrow her beloved hummer to Chen Lan without the slightest hesitation, she knew that her boyfriend was far more mysterious than she’d imagined. All of this had never crossed her mind.
Chen Lan continued, “Don’t get angry. Feel free to tell me if all of this makes you uncomfortable. I don’t want any ill feelings to appear in your heart.”
Mu Qing stared blankly at Chen Lan from the side, and a long time passed before a faint smile appeared on the corners of her mouth. She blinked as she said, “Forget it! Forget it! A woman follows her man wherever he goes! It doesn’t matter if you’re a celestial being or a devil from hell, what can I do when I, Mu Qing, am so stubborn and just happened to fall for a bookworm like you? This is my fate, and I accept it.”
Chen Lan couldn’t help but smile while his heart was filled with warmth. He stretched out his hand to took her hand before he said, “A god from the heavens? A celestial being? Hah! I’m not like them. I’m just me, Chen Lan!”
Mu Qing chuckled, “What? You’re looking down on the celestial beings? Then could it be that you’re a devil?”
Chen Lan shook his head, “If I were a devil, then I would be the number one devil in the world. Unfortunately, while my fists can crush the world and my footsteps can reach the universe, such an unparalleled devil like me just happened to fall into the hands of a woman like you. It can’t be helped. I have no choice but to marry you.”
Mu Qing was overwhelmed with amusement, and her large and clear eyes had formed two crescents that were very beautiful. She hadn’t imagined that when a reticent bookworm like Chen Lan made a joke, it would actually be so witty.
Time flowed silently amidst their conversations and laughter.
They stopped, ate, and rested for a while at one of the highway rest areas on their way before they continued on their journey.
While they travelled, Mu Qing found out from Chen Lan that their destination was a place called ‘Yellow Millet Village’ at a district in one of the prefectures within the Central Plains Province of Cathay Empire.
It was a place that was smaller than a sesame seed on the map, and it was practically impossible to find. Mu Qing had grown up in the capital, yet she’d never heard of such a place, let alone been there.
According to Chen Lan, it actually wasn’t his true hometown, and it was just where his mother’s family lived.
As for why he hadn’t returned to his hometown to celebrate the new year and was going to his mother’s hometown instead, he hadn’t told her the reason and Mu Qing didn’t ask as well. In any case, she’d fallen for Chen Lan and not anything else. So, she didn’t mind even if Chen Lan was taking her to a desolate and poor mountain village to celebrate the new year.
At around 6 in the evening, the sky was turning dark, and their hummer that had travelled a long way and was covered in mud had finally left the highway and entered Central Plains Province.