Xia Chao chatted with Shu Qiu for a bit, then told Fengguang to stay off to the side while he went over to help with the carriage. That left only Fengguang and Shu Qiu standing around with nothing to do.
Shu Qiu strolled up to her, flicked open the folding fan in his hand with practiced ease, and said with a charming smile, “It’s been years, Miss Xia. You’ve grown into such a graceful young lady—radiant as ever.”
“Hardly,” she replied flatly, clearly in no mood for flattery.
Shu Qiu raised a brow. “May I ask where you and Master Xia are headed?”
“The capital.”
“That far? It’s at least ten days, half a month’s journey from here. I remember Miss Xia never liked traveling far from home.”
Fengguang kept her gaze fixed ahead, not even looking at him. “I just suddenly wanted to go somewhere far away. Is that not allowed?”
“Oh?” Shu Qiu mused, his tone thoughtful. “Could it be… you and Young Master Shufeng quarreled?”
At the mention of that name, her heart gave a painful jolt. “He’s probably in high spirits preparing for his wedding. Why would I quarrel with him?”
“Wedding?” Shu Qiu’s expression changed. “What wedding?”
She finally turned to look at him, her tone sharp. “He’s getting married. What else could I mean?”
“That’s impossible.” The words slipped from Shu Qiu’s mouth almost instinctively.
“What’s so impossible about it?”
Shu Qiu fell silent. Deep down, he knew very well that Shufeng could never marry anyone else—but he couldn’t explain why, not to her. After a pause, he asked instead, “So Miss Xia is going to the capital… to leave this place of heartbreak behind?”
“I don’t know…” Her gaze dropped. “I just know I can’t bear to see him getting married.”
Seeing her so downcast stirred something in Shu Qiu—after all, he prided himself on being a man who couldn’t resist a damsel in distress. The fan in his hand flapped and flapped, as if it shared his inner turmoil.
Fengguang blinked at him. “It’s still spring. Why are you fanning yourself like it’s midsummer?”
His hand froze midair. After a long pause, he said, “Miss Xia, perhaps… You should think about the meaning behind the name ‘Shufeng.’”
The first thing that came to her mind was that, like her own name, it shared the character for “wind.” But what of it?
“The surname comes from his father, and the given name from his parents,” she said indifferently. “What meaning could it possibly have?”
Shu Qiu almost raised his fan to knock her on the head—but before he could, Xia Chao came walking back, making him abandon the idea.
“The carriage is fixed. Fengguang, let’s get moving.”
“Mm.”
Xia Chao turned to Shu Qiu and said politely, “Lord Shu, we’ll be on our way then.”
“Safe travels,” Shu Qiu replied with a nod.
Fengguang and her father climbed back into the carriage, which soon rolled forward again.
Watching it disappear down the road, Shu Qiu sighed and shook his head.
The farther they got from Tong County, the more uneasy Fengguang felt. Shu Qiu’s strange question about Shufeng’s name kept echoing in her mind, though she couldn’t make sense of it. Finally, she asked her father, “Father, does the name ‘Shufeng’ have any special meaning?”
Xia Chao paused for a moment. “What makes you ask that?”
“I just suddenly got curious.”
“The surname’s from his father, the name’s from his parents. What meaning could there be?”
Fengguang fell silent.
Xia Chao glanced at his daughter and added casually, “If there has to be a meaning, I suppose it’s that he’s as free and untethered as the wind.”
That explanation sounded perfectly reasonable.
Fengguang chose not to respond.
On the tenth day, they finally reached the capital.
The Xia family owned a residence there, and this time, Lianzi hadn’t come along. Fengguang didn’t bring any maidservants either—she didn’t mind, though her father did. He insisted on finding a girl to attend to her while they stayed in the city.
Lucien On ABRWF Chapter 34.1