Chapter 152

The note was soft and the handwriting delicate, with a faint fragrance, clearly written by a young girl.

But Fang Heng didn't understand. He furrowed his brows and thought hard for a moment. While his brothers weren't looking, he raised his hand and threw it into the corner.

Then he closed the door and went back to martial arts practice. He completely ignored the girl in the yellow skirt anxiously stomping her feet, with tears welling up in her eyes.

It was helpless to encounter someone focused only on martial arts.

She had no choice but to turn her gaze to the only girl in the courtyard, Jiang Sheng.

The next day.

The brothers had all gone to take care of things. Jiang Sheng was lying on the window sill studying the history book her eldest brother had assigned. A knock sounded at the door.

Soon, Auntie Zhang came over and exclaimed, "Little Jiang Sheng, have you made a new friend?"

"Friend?" Jiang Sheng didn't understand. "No."

She didn't have any friends back in Shili Village because the wandering beggars were dirty and smelly. The nice girls covered their faces with handkerchiefs when they saw her and walked around her.

Later when she arrived in Xieyang County, she was busy earning money to live and didn't have time to make friends.

After that when she reached Anshui Prefecture, there were even more young ladies from prestigious families in the city. Although Jiang Sheng wasn't a wandering child, she was just an ordinary young merchant girl. Naturally she couldn't make friends with them either.

Thinking carefully, apart from chatting a bit with Sister Bamboo, and her five brothers, Jiang Sheng didn't have a single friend.

"But there's a girl at the door who says she's your friend and wants to invite you to enjoy the flowers," Auntie Zhang said softly.

Jiang Sheng subconsciously tightened her jacket and exhaled a breath of white air. She felt it was strange.

It was winter, the coldest season, even the worms had frozen to death. How could there still be flowers to enjoy?

But after all, this was the first person to claim to be "Jiang Sheng's friend." After hesitating, the little girl still jumped down from the heated stool, put on the cloak her second brother had bought her, and said, "Let's go take a look."

Auntie Zhang was worried, so she followed closely behind. When they arrived at Hairpin Courtyard's door, Jiang Sheng peeked through the crack and saw a graceful girl of about twelve or thirteen wearing a yellow skirt.

Probably because her clothes were too thin, she kept stomping her feet in place. Occasionally she would cross her hands in front of her mouth and breathe hot air to warm up her cold hands and feet.

Jiang Sheng, on the other hand, was wearing a thick padded jacket. Although not as graceful and pretty, her hands and feet were extremely warm.

Her fourth brother had said that women needed to pay more attention to keeping warm than men. Too much exposure to the cold could easily cause illness and even lead to incurable consumption in old age.

"Is this your friend?" Auntie Zhang asked softly.

Jiang Sheng regretfully shook her head. "Auntie, give her a cup of hot tea and let her go home."

Her fifth brother had said that unrelated people were best avoided. Even wild chickens knew yellow weasels went to the temple of the Three Treasures for no good reason. Someone who claimed to be a friend but was actually a stranger must be up to no good.

It was warmer inside by the fire stove.

Jiang Sheng, wrapped in her cloak, tottered back to the room.

Auntie Zhang did indeed pour a cup of hot tea. To the girl in the yellow skirt's astonished gaze, she politely said, "I'm sorry, our young miss isn't home."

Even though she had come to the door several times, she hadn't even seen a shadow.

Normally, the girl in yellow would have lost her temper already.

But now, holding a cup of warm tea, she knitted her brows and endured again and again before turning to leave.

The New Year was approaching, and every household was preparing red paper and goods.

Hairpin Courtyard was no exception.

As the only mistress of the entire workshop, Jiang Sheng had started planning for the New Year early on. For her family members, for the aunties who worked there, for Uncle Zhang, for Auntie Zhang, for Prefect Pang, even for Wang Xiaosong's siblings and Pang Dashan.

Because the amount was enormous, she had to buy things ahead of time.

In mid December, Jiang Sheng began wandering around Anshui Prefecture in a carriage, buying pastries, candies and wine.

In the end, Jiang San and Jiang Si were still dragged out. One was responsible for driving the carriage, and the other for carrying the goods.

When Jiang Sheng was in a good mood browsing, she even bought each brother a new set of clothes and a pair of quilted cloth shoes.

Just as she was picking out a purse, the girl in yellow who had waited for a long time finally came up to her and directly said, "Sister Jiang Sheng."

Jiang Sheng looked up in shock.

She only had five brothers, when did she get another sister?

"Sister Jiang Sheng, don't be afraid, I'm not a bad person," the girl in yellow said with pursed lips, getting straight to the point. "I just want to see Fang Heng, but I can't see him. Can you help introduce me?" So she was looking for third brother.

Jiang Sheng opened her eyes slightly. Although she was young, she had always been protected by her brothers, but she also knew third brother had an unusual background. So the person looking for third brother must also be unusual. Could it be someone from the Fang family in the capital had come?

Jiang Sheng was worried in her heart and cautiously took two steps back to decline, "I'm sorry, it's not very convenient."

Jiang San and Jiang Si also came over to stand in front of her protectively.

The girl in yellow still didn't give up and tried to grab Jiang Sheng's arm.

Abruptly, a shout rang out, "Don't touch my sister!"

Everyone looked back to see a teenage boy nimbly running over. With lightning speed he stood in front of Jiang Sheng and pushed the girl in yellow back two steps.

"Third brother, how come you're here?" Jiang Sheng was both surprised and delighted, and threw herself at him to grab his arm.

Fang Heng heaved a sigh of relief.

He actually hadn't intended to come out. It was just that this morning he had inadvertently heard Auntie Zhang mention a girl claiming to be Jiang Sheng's friend who had come to the door, but Jiang Sheng didn't know her at all. This made him a little suspicious.

By noon, his sister still hadn't come back, so he went out to look for her on his own initiative. As a result, he saw the scene of Jiang Sheng being forcibly pulled by the arm.

How could Fang Heng endure this? He immediately shouted angrily and rushed over to firmly protect his sister behind him.

But it turned out to be a misunderstanding.

Jiang Sheng scratched her little head. "Third brother, I didn't have time to go back for lunch because I got caught up picking things."

It had nothing to do with the girl in yellow.

Fang Heng's indignation was appeased. He turned to look at the girl in yellow. His eyes were completely calm and unfamiliar.

The girl in yellow, on the other hand, had fallen to the ground and scraped her palms. Her eyes were filled with tears as she looked up at him and called out, "Brother Heng."

The sea had changed, time had flowed by.

How long ago was it that Fang Heng had protected her behind him? Now not only had the person changed, but he had even pushed her down and hurt her.

The girl in yellow held out her trembling palms, trying to awaken the slightest bit of affection in the boy. "Brother Heng, have you forgotten? You said you would always protect me. You promised."

Fang Heng was taken aback for a moment.

The girl in yellow was overjoyed. She quickly added, "You said you would marry me and always protect me, Brother Heng. Yuyao needs you."

So she was the eldest daughter of the Wang family, Fang Heng’s childhood sweetheart and cousin, Wang Yuyao.