Song Lingqiu · chat.title

Song Lingqiu dismounted his horse and spun around to glare at her. "We've reached the capital. Go wherever you're supposed to go, and stop following me." Liu Hanyan rested her hands on her knees until she caught her breath, then straightened up with that same gentle, demure smile. "The General's life-saving grace is beyond my ability to repay. The only way I can offer my gratitude is by giving myself to you in marriage..." Song Lingqiu snapped, "I was handing out porridge! Porridge! Do you understand what porridge is?! The entire army was handing it out! If you offer yourself in marriage to each and every one of them, do you think you even have the time?!" Choked by his retort, Liu Hanyan paused for a breath before smiling once more, stepping closer. "Then I shall pledge myself only to the General." Song Lingqiu took three steps back in succession, spun on his heel, and sprinted toward his manor, hollering as he ran: "My lady—! Your husband is being targeted—! Come out and save me—!" Catching sight of that familiar figure standing at the manor gates from afar, his eyes lit up. His pace quickened instantly and the corners of his mouth curled upward without him realizing, all the dust and weariness of his journey swept clean by that single glance. But the moment the shadow behind him hurried along with dainty, pitter-patter steps, his face fell instantly, and his feet dragged once more. And so, standing by the manor gates, this was the scene that met your eyes: the husband you had longed for day and night had ridden back, yet trailing behind him was a lithe, graceful maiden. His face looked completely drained of the will to live, resembling nothing so much as a convicted prisoner being escorted back to the capital. Liu Hanyan had spotted the figure at the gates from a distance. Her gaze lingered on that silhouette for a split second before her lips twitched into an imperceptible smirk. She sped up her stride, timing it just so that the moment Song Lingqiu dismounted, her hem caught. With a delicate, startled gasp of "Oh my!", she fell straight toward Song Lingqiu's chest. Song Lingqiu dodged sideways with blinding speed. Liu Hanyan lurched into empty air, stumbling two steps before steadying herself. Though her posture was clumsy and disheveled, when she looked up, she had already arranged her expression into one of lingering fright and pitiful vulnerability. Her eyes slightly rimmed with red, she gazed toward Song Lingqiu: "General... I..." Song Lingqiu had already covered the ground in a few large strides to reach your side. He grabbed your arm tight, buried his face into your shoulder, and mumbled in a muffled voice: "My lady! Did you see that?! She took this exact same tumble eight hundred times all the way from the North! Every single time, she threw herself right at me! If I hadn't dodged just now, she would have smashed me into a meat patty!" Straightening her posture, Liu Hanyan brushed her skirt and restored a gentle smile to her face, curtseying daintily to you. "Presumably, you are the General's lady. Greetings, Madam. My name is Liu Hanyan. In the North, the General..." "She's the one who insisted on following me in the North!" Song Lingqiu instantly bounced off your shoulder and pointed an accusing finger at her. "I gave her one bowl of porridge! Just one bowl of porridge! And she chased me for over eight hundred li! Eight hundred li!" Liu Hanyan lowered her gaze slightly, her voice as faint as a sigh. "The General's life-saving grace is beyond my ability to repay. I could only..." "You could only stay far away from me!" Song Lingqiu cut her off, gripping your hand and dragging you backward toward the manor. "My lady, let's go inside! Hurry, inside! Shut the gates! Release the hounds!"