Perfect Match – CH 100

Chapter 100 [Epilogue] Daily Life (6)

Two days later, when the Laba porridge in every household was simmering and smelling fragrant, Deng Ruyun and her brother Deng Ruheng brought their whole family back to the city from their rural hometown. They bought the house they used to live in in Jinzhou. The courtyard had been empty and uninhabited for years; all the old furniture remained in its original place, covered in dust. The family cleaned the courtyard inside and out, as if returning to the years they had lived there.

Teng Yue was busy with many pre-New Year matters and had not had time to come over yet. Deng Ruyun, however, remembered Aunt Juan’s reminder and left the city alone, going to the tall mimosa tree by the river south of the city.

At this time of year, the tree was no longer adorned with the fluffy pink mimosa blossoms; only the snow that had fallen in December glistened on the branches.

Under the tree, children had built small snowmen, circling the sacred tree like children running and jumping hand in hand.

Deng Ruyun also walked around the tree. There was no one around, and she spoke softly.

“I wonder if the Divine Tree Goddess has fallen asleep in the depths of winter, or if she remains awake watching over the world. I wonder if you still remember me, that silly little girl from a family that ran a pharmacy?”

She walked lightly around the tree, her footsteps treading on the snow. She recounted how she had once been infatuated with a young general, getting out of bed without eating or drinking to run to the woods to watch him practice.

“…Back then, I was still naive and ignorant. Hearing from my elders that you were a deity, I ran here without a second thought and made my wish.”

Deng Ruyun recalled how she had knelt before the tree that year, unsure whether it was genuine piety or a last-minute act of devotion.

At that time, she said, “Goddess of the Divine Tree, please let him like me, even just a little. Grant me a mimosa flower, and I will come every year to fertilize and water you!”

That day, she did not see the mimosa flower descended by the Goddess of the Divine Tree in the wind and was momentarily disappointed. But then, Xiuniang plucked one from her hair. “Miss, is this not it?!”

…

“Back then, when you placed the flower upon my hair, I was overjoyed, thinking that with the gods’ blessing, our marriage would surely come true. But then my family fell into ruin, and that small wish was long forgotten. I never imagined that, after all the twists and turns, I would still marry him. At first, I was only his contract wife, and I never thought our marriage would last. When I was in a dilemma, I even told you that my wish was just a random promise and did not count.”

As she spoke, recalling the events of last year, she could never have imagined things would turn out this way.

Even now, she still felt somewhat dazed.

“The goddess only remembered my prayers from that year and truly bestowed a marriage upon that devoted young girl.”

She said, “No matter how I tried to hide, I could not escape him. No matter how I pushed him away, he would always return. He would not believe a word I said. Finally, I threw down the divorce papers and left, hiding deep in the mountains. Yet he still managed to search every city and mountain and found me…”

As Deng Ruyun spoke, her eyes suddenly welled up with tears, and she could not help but laugh, her voice slightly hoarse.

“Goddess, your divine power is truly boundless! And you have such tenderness for that naive young girl; have you truly tied the marriage she desired to her wrist?”

Tears suddenly streamed down her face. The divine tree did not reply, but the wind blew snow from its branches, like petals of a goddess’s loving scattering.

Deng Ruyun looked up at the snow falling beneath the tree. She froze for a moment, then suddenly heard someone walking across the stream from the opposite bank.

The stream was already frozen solid, so he did not need to cross the wooden bridge; he simply walked across the ice.

Today, he was not wearing his narrow-sleeved robe with its hidden quiver; instead, he wore a wide-sleeved crimson brocade robe.

The wind howled, billowing his sleeves. If he had heard a divine call and came on the wind, each step he took on the ice, across the stream, touched her heart.

She did not know why he had suddenly appeared there, but as he drew closer, she noticed the large cloth bag he carried.

He walked to the tree and stood beside her.

Deng Ruyun looked up and saw him gaze at her intently, his eyes lingering on her slightly reddened eyes and nose.

Deng Ruyun did not want him to know too much about her past foolishness, so she did not mention the Divine Tree Goddess but only asked him.

“Your bag is so heavy; what’s in it?”

Could it be some spoils of war again?

He had already opened the cloth bag and steadily pulled out a basket full of short arrows.

The moment Deng Ruyun saw the basket of arrows, she almost choked.

She remembered the short arrow he had taken from his waist when he found her at the inn. She had thought Shen Xiu had only taken one for him.

So, the whole basket was in his hands!

She looked at the full basket of arrows she had picked up behind him.

“You…you did not pull out every single one to check, did you?”

Deng Ruyun felt her face burning.

He nodded slowly upon hearing this. “Yes, I examined each one closely.”

Each one was engraved with the same name—Yue.

They were all “Yue” she had picked up.

Deng Ruyun, however, felt her face burning unbearably. Would he think she was being silly?!

But then, he suddenly took the basket of arrows and walked to the center of the sacred tree’s shade.

He placed the basket of arrows on the snow and then solemnly bowed to the sacred tree.

“Teng Yue thanks you, Goddess, for bestowing this marriage upon us.”

Deng Ruyun stood behind him, blinking in surprise. Had Aunt Juan told her about her coming to fulfill a vow today? So this person had also come to “fulfill a vow,” but he had not prayed for anything. What kind of vow was he fulfilling?

Deng Ruyun did not ask, but then she saw him suddenly take something else from his sleeve.

It was sharp and slender, with bristles standing upright at the end—another arrow.

Deng Ruyun looked at it, and in the sunlight filtering through the branches, she saw the exact same character, “Yue,” engraved on the arrowhead.

He carefully gathered the arrow basket, creating a gap, and placed the “Yue” arrow inside.

But this arrow was different from all the others; it was a whole head taller than the others.

It was no longer the arrow the young general practiced with daily but the arrow of this veteran general who had already carved out his own territory on the frontier.

Teng Yue picked up the basket of arrows, turned back to her side, and placed the completely full basket in her arms.

Seeing her expression soften, he suddenly answered the question that had been nagging at her.

“Yunniang, I’ve come to fulfill your vow.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the wind blew down more fine snow from the branches, brushing past their shoulders.

So, he had come to fulfill her vow. But how could one fulfill a vow in place of another?

Deng Ruyun, clutching her heavy basket of arrows, looked at the arrow that stood a head taller than hers, suddenly stood on tiptoe, and with a soft plop, kissed him on the cheek.

“Teng Yu Chuan, you are so silly!”

The man paused slightly, but she giggled, clutching the basket of arrows, and ran out into the sunlight filtering through the branches.

The sunlight illuminated the path she had run off to, and the man smiled, watching his wife’s retreating figure before following her.

Only the tall acacia trees swayed in the wind, their branches scattering fine snowflakes in the sunlight, like thousands of fireflies dancing and fluttering, then carried by the wind into the peaceful, everyday life.

*

The entire twelfth lunar month was bustling with activity at the Teng Family Mansion.

The conferment of the title of Earl of Xianning and the ancestral worship ceremony had already drawn the entire Teng clan from Shaanxi. But this was not the Teng family’s only joyous occasion; Earl Xianning, Teng Yue, was even preparing to hold a belated wedding ceremony at their ancestral home in Jinzhou, followed by a banquet for relatives and friends—a double celebration.

Now, not only the Teng family’s neighborhood but also the entire city of Jinzhou was filled with jubilation, the festive spirit of the New Year mingling with the two great joys of the Teng family.

Since stepping into the bridal sedan chair at her former family home, Deng Ruyun, through the tear-stained curtain before her eyes, seemed as if all the hardships she had endured had never happened.

She awaited the return of her brother, who had come from gathering herbs in the Western Regions. The Deng family’s pharmaceutical business flourished even further. Her parents went to the Teng family to propose marriage on her behalf, and Teng Yue readily agreed, quickly arranging the engagement. And so she left home to marry into the Teng family, becoming his bride…

On the evening of her joyous day, Deng Ruyun was still somewhat dazed.

Teng Yue thought she was chilled by the cold and rubbed her cheeks.

“Not cold at all… What are you thinking about?”

The wedding dress was heavy, and the phoenix crown prepared for Deng Ruyun by Old Madam Lin and Second Madam Yang was truly inlaid with pearls and jade. Even though Deng Ruyun was usually in good health, after wearing it all day, her neck started to feel sore.

Deng Ruyun removed the crown, swaying her neck as she leaned against Teng Yue’s shoulder.

“I was not thinking about anything. I was just guessing wildly. If we had really met in Jinzhou back then, would my parents be crying and laughing today?”

Teng Yue pulled her into his arms, lowered his head, and kissed her ear. He said his future in-laws would certainly be like that: “It’s just that I never had the chance to meet them. When you have time later, tell me more about your parents; who knows, maybe one day we will meet in our dreams.”

He said this intentionally for her to hear, and it did indeed make her laugh twice.

“But you do not even know what my parents look like; how can you recognize them in a dream?”

She leaned on his shoulder and looked up at him. Teng Yue said she would recognize them.

“My mother-in-law will naturally come and ask why I did not marry Yunniang in Jinzhou but instead went to Xi’an. As for my father-in-law…”

“How is Father?” she asked, blinking.

Teng Yue replied, “If someone barged into my dream wielding a long stick, made me kneel, and then gave me twenty strokes of the rod as a warning, it would undoubtedly be my father-in-law.”

As soon as he finished speaking, she burst into laughter and fell into his arms.

“Teng Yue, who taught you to tell jokes! You are so silly…”

She laughed uncontrollably, briefly forgetting her regrets.

The dragon and phoenix wedding candles crackled and burned, the high lamps illuminating the room, but with the curtains drawn, the shadows shimmered like a painted boat reflected on the water.

Removing the heavy wedding dress did not take too much effort.

Today, he did not want to tease her as he usually did. His fingertips slowly brushed across her shoulders, then slid down to her armpits to remove her clothes. He pulled her into his arms; she was left only in a thin red bodice, the soft fabric rising and falling with her chest, her breathing slightly heavy.

The red bodice embroidered with twin lotus blossoms flushed her face. Teng Yue held her tightly, his arms still around her, until he gently placed her on the pillow. Her breathing became slightly heavier, but he soothed her by stroking her waist. Once her body had softened, he leaned down and kissed her cheek, slowly entering her as she trembled with shyness.

…

The wedding candles burned steadily until they were almost completely burned out.

When Deng Ruyun woke up the next day, she found no one beside her.

She had no idea when he had gotten up and left the room. She thought she had slept until late morning. However, after changing into her wedding attire for the first day of her marriage, she got up and asked Xiuniang, only to find that it was just past dawn.

But the guard Tang Zuo came to tell her, “Madam, the General got up early and went out with his arrows.”

Going out with arrows?

Deng Ruyun glanced back at the room, puzzled, and noticed that the basket of arrows she had collected in the corner was gone. Deng Ruyun asked Tang Zuo in surprise, “Then… he went out of the city to practice archery?”

Tang Zuo said, “The general said he went to the old training ground.”

The old training ground?

Deng Ruyun thought for a moment, then went out as well.

She followed the road she had walked countless times, familiar with the path, until she reached the small hill outside the city.

A thin layer of mountain mist had risen on the hill today.

Deng Ruyun walked towards that familiar place, and from afar, through the trees, she saw a man standing in an open space, carrying a bow and arrows.

The man, like her, was dressed in his wedding attire, exceptionally conspicuous in the mountain mist, but she did not call out to him. She just watched him from a distance, smiled, and tiptoed around to the hill behind him.

There stood a sturdy cypress tree, still standing there after all these years.

Deng Ruyun walked to the cypress tree with practiced ease and hid behind it.

A thirteen- or fourteen-year-old girl had hidden here countless times without anyone noticing. Deng Ruyun figured that although she had grown taller, the old tree had also added rings, so she might not be spotted by those practicing martial arts.

She peeked out, half her head out, watching him as before, and saw him indeed take arrows from the basket and shoot.

But perhaps because he was used to long arrows, the short arrows he used to had seemed a little uncomfortable, shifting from side to side, trying to find a comfortable position.

Deng Ruyun found it amusing, but as before, she watched from a distance without making a sound.

But as she watched him twirl the arrows in his hand, as if he had found a suitable spot, why would he not shoot?

Deng Ruyun raised an eyebrow in confusion, noticing that he seemed about to turn away, and quickly pulled her head back, hiding completely behind the old cypress tree.

In the clearing.

Teng Yue was not there to shoot arrows.

He woke up early this morning and could not fall back asleep. Thinking about what she had said last night, a question lingered in his mind.

He had pondered this question for a long time but still had no answer.

Back in Jinzhou, he had indeed been focused on his training, single-mindedly focused on forging his own path after his father and brothers left.

Even so, had he not noticed Yunniang’s presence at all?

Even if she hid well, had he not detected a single trace, a single movement?

He had come here this morning with his old arrows, but after firing them once, he put them back in the quiver. He could not find a single trace of Yunniang in his memory.

Teng Yue was somewhat disappointed. Hearing a sound not far away, he looked over and saw two young woodcutters passing by. He then put his arrows away.

He sighed softly, thinking it was getting late and he should go back, but his gaze swept over the two woodcutters, and he remembered an old woodcutter who used to come up the mountain from here to gather firewood. Sometimes, when he saw him, the two would chat casually for a few minutes.

He suddenly recalled one year when the old woodcutter came along, saw him, glanced around, and muttered something under his breath.

“Alone today?”

The wind carried the words to his ears, and he could not help but ask.

“Uncle, are you talking about me? I’ve always been alone here.”

He spoke up, and seeing the old woodcutter seem to be hiding something, he quickly said, “Yes, yes, just you. There’s no one else.”

He said that, but Teng Yue noticed him glance at the slope behind him.

He looked over as well. There stood an old cypress tree, much thicker than the others. He thought for a moment, vaguely sensing occasional movement behind it, but because of the distance, he had not looked.

He whispered to the old woodcutter,

“Is someone hiding behind the cypress tree? Do not be afraid. If there’s a thief, I will take an arrow and shoot him!”

As he spoke, he gripped his bow and arrow tightly, but the woodcutter tensed.

“Oh dear! Put down the arrow! There’s no one there!”

He frowned. “But I vaguely sensed some noise over there.”

“That’s what I heard,” the woodcutter said.

“There was a noise, but it was not a thief; it was…it was a nest of rabbits! I found that nest a while ago, but I did not catch them. I thought we would not starve, so I let them live. They are under that old cypress tree.”

He said rabbits were easily startled. “It’s not easy for them to find a burrow; do not go over there and scare them away.”

That day, the old woodcutter warned him several times not to scare the rabbits away.

Hearing the old woodcutter’s words, he took his arrow and went over. He did see rabbits nearby afterward and guessed it was the same group under the old cypress tree, but he never went to investigate.

But there were indeed occasional movements behind the tree, though these gradually faded from his memory after Teng Yue moved with the army to another place.

Today, he suddenly remembered.

Remembering the occasional noises behind the cypress tree, the old woodcutter’s tense expression, and his muttered words, “Alone today?”

So, originally, there should have been two people, right?!

Teng Yue suddenly turned around and walked towards the cypress tree on the slope.

For some reason, he trod softly, afraid of startling the dragonfly that had finally landed in his hand.

But as he approached the shade of the tree canopy, he suddenly saw a large red skirt fluttering in the mountain breeze behind the tree.

Teng Yue swiftly stepped forward, turning his head behind the broad cypress tree, and saw his wife’s familiar figure!

“Yunniang…”

She seemed not to have heard his footsteps; his sudden appearance startled her, her eyes widening in surprise.

“How did you find me? I… I did not make a sound!!”

But Teng Yue stared intently at her.

A surge of heat coursed through him, so intense he could barely speak.

So she was the little rabbit behind the old cypress tree, the one the old woodcutter had told him to be quiet and not frighten…

Teng Yue’s nose suddenly stung with tears.

Yes, she had not made a sound, but he had found her. He had searched through all his memories; he had found her!

She was his little rabbit!

The next moment, he suddenly lifted her high in his arms.

Before Deng Ruyun could react, he had carried her from under the cypress tree to the open space where he practiced martial arts. Then he whistled to summon his steed, lifted her directly onto the horse, and mounted it from behind, galloping down the mountain with her in tow.

“Where are we going? Teng Yue, where are you going?” Deng Ruyun asked anxiously.

This did not look like the way home.

The steed galloped south, finally stopping under a mimosa tree by the river south of the city.

He led Deng Ruyun directly to the sacred tree.

Only then did he speak.

“By the Tree Goddess, mortal Teng Yue wishes to make a wish.”

Deng Ruyun turned her head and heard him speak softly.

“I’ve heard that the mortal world is filled with three thousand realms, where people come and go, leaving traces, and their paths may intersect and overlap… I wonder if the Goddess can travel to other lives, to the past, to our childhood.”

Under the mimosa tree, Teng Yue turned to look at his wife, then slowly closed his eyes.

“If fate allows, I beg the Goddess to send down a leaf in that life and let it land on the headdress of that young general, reminding him not to blindly forge ahead alone.”

Teng Yue grasped his wife’s hand in return, and Deng Ruyun looked up at his profile.

She heard him say.

“Let that young man turn around and look. He will know that there is a little girl who has always been by his side.”