Lin Ting turned her head to look toward the backyard and, seeing that no one had come out yet, said without hesitation, “Didn’t we agree that in front of others, we must pretend to like each other? What I said just now was for the sake of the act.”
Several days had passed, and Lin Ting still hadn’t figured out how to handle their relationship.
Afraid of losing Duan Ling, her childhood playmate, she decided to temporarily keep silent about the fact that he once said he liked her, trying to interact with him as before.
Duan Ling didn’t bring it up today either, “You haven’t left the house these past few days and have been staying inside the manor.”
He wasn’t asking her, just stating a fact.
This showed he had been paying attention to her movements these days.
Lin Ting caught on and lied, “It’s been hot recently, and I’m not feeling well. My appetite is poor, so I just want to lie down and haven’t gone out.”
Duan Ling’s eyes curved into a smile as he asked, “Poor appetite? The kind of appetite where you eat three bowls of rice at a meal, with at least two meat dishes, poor appetite?”
“How do you know how much I eat?”
Lin Ting stretched out her legs and used her foot to hook a stool that Xie Qinghe hadn’t sat on, motioning for him to sit.
Duan Ling didn’t sit on that stool but took another one, his expression unchanged as he said, “Madam Li told my mother that yesterday.”
Lin Ting wondered why her mother would gossip about how much she ate.
Most parents liked to talk about their children’s deeds in front of others, but her mother really said too much.
She glanced at the empty fabric rack across from her, then at the silver coins in her hand, thinking Duan Ling had good potential as a “salesman.”
She tossed the coins into the drawer of the counter to change the subject, “Why did you come to the fabric shop to find me? Is there something you need?”
Duan Ling’s eyes never left her as he retorted, “If there’s nothing, can’t I just come see you?”
She locked the drawer and ignored the odd feeling in her heart, looking back at him casually, “We’re friends. Whether you have something to do or not, you can come find me.”
She said “friends” with a bit more emphasis than usual, unsure whether she was reminding him or herself.
Duan Ling casually stroked a piece of goose-yellow cloth beside him, lifting the corner of his eyes as he smiled, “Yes, we are friends.”
For some reason, whenever Lin Ting heard the word “friends” from him, she felt a little strange but couldn’t pinpoint why.
His smile didn’t fade as he changed the subject, “How much longer will you stay at the fabric shop?”
Lin Ting rolled up the sleeve of her goose-yellow blouse, picked up her brush, dipped it in ink, and began bookkeeping.
“Maybe two more hours. I need to finish checking the accounts before I leave.” As she spoke, she habitually complained to Duan Ling about her troubles, “A batch of cloth got damp and moldy. I’ll have to compensate quite a bit.”
He listened patiently to her complaints.
She rambled on, “Business has been slow lately. It’s bad enough I can’t sell any cloth, but now this disaster is just adding insult to injury. I wonder if my dream of opening a chain store will ever come true?”
“That dream will come true. I believe in you.”
Duan Ling knew what kind of chain store she meant; she had explained it to him before opening the fabric shop.
Lin Ting replied, “I hope so.”
Duan Ling glanced around the fabric shop.
“Have you ever thought of opening another kind of store? Like a restaurant?”
“I have, but running a restaurant isn’t easy. It’s definitely more complicated than running a fabric shop. I don’t think I have the ability yet.”
She certainly didn’t have the money.
Opening a restaurant cost more than a fabric shop.
Lin Ting didn’t want to borrow money from Duan Ling or Duan Xinning.
She was the type who felt uneasy borrowing money and always thought about when she could pay it back. It was better to rely on herself.
Halfway through her bookkeeping, her ink ran out.
Lin Ting was about to grind more ink from an ink stick when Duan Ling, who had quietly come up to the counter, took the ink stick first and began carefully grinding ink in the inkstone.
She put down her brush and tilted her head to look at him teasingly.
“What have I done to deserve His Excellency Duan personally grinding ink for me?”
Duan Ling ground the ink skillfully.
“When we were kids studying together, I ground ink for you. More than once, too. Don’t you remember?”
He seemed to think of something, then said with a faint smile, “You have a terrible memory, always forgetting things.”
She retorted, “I haven’t forgotten.”
Lin Ting truly hadn’t forgotten Duan Ling grinding ink for her before.
But after he became an Imperial Guard and she “graduated” — no longer needing to study with Great Scholar Gu — she seldom wrote in front of Duan Ling and no longer needed him to grind ink.
As they talked, the shopkeeper came out of the backyard, saw Duan Ling, and silently retreated to give them privacy.
Duan Ling and Duan Xinning had been to the fabric shop before, so the shopkeeper recognized him.
Duan Ling noticed but said nothing.
Lin Ting didn’t pay attention and continued, “Great Scholar Gu doesn’t like pampered students. He never allowed servants to grind ink for us; we had to do it ourselves. But I hated grinding ink, so I secretly asked you for help.”
She wasn’t letting Duan Ling help for free; she always gave him some tasty treats as payment.
“I remember everything I did, so I don’t have a bad memory. Don’t accuse me wrongly.”
Duan Ling’s hand paused mid-grind.
“Do you remember what you did on your seventeenth birthday?” He resumed grinding, as if casually asking about the past to test her memory.
What did she do on her seventeenth birthday, which was just last year?
Lin Ting thought carefully, “Pretty much the same as this year. Receiving your gifts, opening your gifts, eating a few meals, drinking some wine.”
Duan Ling pushed the ground ink back toward her, “The ink’s ready, you continue bookkeeping.”
Lin Ting dipped her brush into the ink again and continued writing, but for some reason, she kept making mistakes today.
“Still not leaving?”
“Are you trying to chase me away?”
Lin Ting glanced at the bright red flying fish robe and the Spring Embroidery Dagger at Duan Ling’s waist and honestly said, “I don’t mean that. The Imperial Guard only rests for half an hour at noon. It’s almost past noon now; you should head back to the Imperial Guard’s Northern Command Office to work.”
She waved her hand and crossed out the misspelled words on the paper.
“Also, with an Imperial Guard standing here, people might think I’ve committed some crime and be afraid to enter the fabric shop to buy cloth.”
Duan Ling looked at the misspelled characters, his long, slender fingers lightly tapping the counter.
“You’re quite familiar with the shifts at the Northern Command Office.”
Lin Ting wasn’t bothered.
She not only knew the shifts but also knew which day Duan Ling had off.
It wasn’t a secret; if she wanted to find out, she could just ask around.
Duan Ling suddenly said, “I have to leave the city on official business tomorrow. Might be gone for a whole month.”
Why did that sound like a husband reporting his itinerary to his wife?
It had to be her imagination.
It had to be.
Lin Ting cleared her throat, sat up straighter, and placed her brush back on the brush rest.
“When exactly do you leave tomorrow? Should I see you off at the city gate?”
“No need.”
Duan Ling picked up the teapot, moistened a cloth, and then took Lin Ting’s hand to wipe away some ink stains she had accidentally made while writing.
During the wiping, he inevitably touched her skin, leaving warmth.
Lin Ting looked at him a little longer.
After a while, Duan Ling withdrew his hand, folded the now clean cloth, tucked it into his waist, and left.
After Duan Ling left, Lin Ting suddenly lost interest in her bookkeeping.
Sitting at the counter, she stared at her hand, which he had just wiped clean, lost in thought.
After some time, she picked up the ledger again.
At dusk, Lin Ting left the fabric shop and returned to Lin Mansion.
As soon as she stepped into the courtyard, she saw Li Jingqiu with her arms crossed asking:
“Where did you go?”
Lin Ting rubbed her aching eyes from looking at the ledger too long.
“I went to the fabric shop to deal with a batch of damp, moldy cloth and check the accounts.”
Li Jingqiu still held a grudge that Lin Ting refused to accompany her to the temple to pray and fulfill vows.
She said with a sour tone, “I see, all you care about is the fabric shop, not your mother.”
Lin Ting hugged Li Jingqiu and sweet-talked her, “No way, Mother. You’re always number one in my heart. The fabric shop comes after you.”
“Don’t lie,” Li Jingqiu snorted.
Lin Ting suddenly remembered the question Duan Ling asked today.
“Mother, do you remember what happened on my seventeenth birthday?”
Li Jingqiu remembered clearly — it was the first and only time Lin Ting got drunk.
“You were drunk that night. Ziyu came to see you, and you drunkenly hugged him and said, ‘Where did this beauty come from? So fragrant. I want to marry him home.’ You even pushed Ziyu down. If I hadn’t pulled you apart in time, you almost kissed him.”
But those were drunken words, no one took them seriously, and it was rarely brought up again.
“What?” Lin Ting was stunned, unable to imagine the scene.
“I hugged Duan Ling, said I wanted to marry him, and almost kissed him?”
“Why would I lie to you?”
Lin Ting didn’t ask further.
Frustrated, she went back to her room and punched the air a few times in training combos.
How could she have done those things to Duan Ling?
She grabbed a handful of hair, instantly making her hair messy.
***
A month passed quickly.
On the day Duan Ling returned from his official trip, Madam Feng invited Lin Ting to have dinner at the Duan Manor, worried that the two young ones’ feelings might fade after such a long time apart.
After dinner, Madam Feng asked Duan Ling to accompany Lin Ting to stroll the Night Market.
Duan Xinning didn’t understand her intention and insisted on going with them.
Madam Feng couldn’t keep Duan Xinning confined in the manor, so she let her go.
The Night Market was adorned with multicolored lanterns, lighting the whole street as bright as day. The crowds surged like tides.
Lin Ting led Duan Ling and Duan Xinning through the throng to the newly opened Linglong Pavilion restaurant.
Duan Xinning looked up at the plaque of Linglong Pavilion, confused why they came here.
“Leyun, we just finished dinner. Are you hungry again?”
Lin Ting shook her head.
“Who says you have to eat just because you enter a restaurant? We’re just here to watch the performance tonight.”
This new restaurant perfectly matched Lin Ting’s tastes.
During Duan Ling’s month away, she had come several times and fallen in love with it.
Lin Ting took Duan Xinning’s hand, ready to enter.
“The show here is really good.”
Duan Xinning stood still, blushing.
Her voice was as soft as a mosquito’s buzz, “Leyun, you and Second Brother go in first. I have an appointment with Xia Zimo at a teahouse. I’ll come back to find you both later.”
“Don’t stay out too long. Come back early,” Lin Ting said, instructing Duan Xinning’s personal maid Zhilan to stick close by.
Watching Duan Xinning walk away, Lin Ting turned and entered Linglong Pavilion, casually finding a place to sit.
Duan Ling sat beside her.
As soon as he sat down, the scent of agarwood wafted over.
Lin Ting’s gaze was strangely drawn toward him, the half-defined contours of his face sinking deep into her eyes.
Imperial Guards were highly sensitive to others’ gazes.
Duan Ling noticed and calmly turned his head to meet her eyes, but said nothing.
“When did you start liking me?” Lin Ting finally brought up the matter.
He paused slightly, “I don’t know.”
She thought for a few seconds and said, “Duan Ling, I’ve always regarded you as my best friend.”
“Friends can like each other, too.” Duan Ling’s fingertip lightly brushed the back of her hand resting at her side.
His touch was inexplicably alluring as he murmured softly, “Can you… try to like me?”
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