Chapter 31: Old Wife and Young Husband

Zhang's wife didn't expect it to be like this, and besides being surprised, she felt some contempt:

"That A Heng is young, handsome, and has the skill of brewing wine. What kind of woman couldn't he find? Yuan Daniang is old enough to be his mother, yet they can still get together? Either there's something wrong with their brains, or they have other motives!"

Chef Zhang was also very surprised after hearing this, but waved his hand and said: "It's other people's family business, we outsiders shouldn't interfere."

"But having said that, their peach blossom wine is really good, the taste is mellow and fragrant. Sprinkling a little on the fish slices can enhance the fragrance without overpowering the freshness of the fish. Tonight, at Rui Wangfu's fish banquet, even Princess Jin specifically sent someone to praise it—never mind, I'm sleepy, let's sleep early, I have to get up early tomorrow to buy fish."

The lights in the Zhang family went out, and the lights in the Yuan family turned on the moment the owner entered the door.

The warm yellow candlelight shone on A Heng's handsome young face, and also enveloped Yuan Daniang's aged face.

Yuan Daniang looked at her increasingly aged face in the mirror and couldn't help asking: "Am I very ugly?"

The young man hugged her gently from behind, and his handsome face also appeared in the mirror.

"My Yuan Niang is not old at all, she is still as beautiful as when we first met."

He coaxed her in a gentle tone, his eyes full of love.

Yuan Niang smiled: "You, you only know how to say nice things to make me happy!"

"A Heng..." She turned her head back, her cloudy eyes revealing a bit of sadness, "Will you, not like me anymore?"

The man kissed her aged cheek affectionately: "No matter when, I will love you as I did at the beginning."

He pulled her withered hand and pressed it against his hot chest: "Can you feel it? This heart of mine beats for you forever."

"But the way I look now... even I can't bear to look closely." She lowered her head, her graying hair falling like velvet.

He held her cheeks, forcing her gaze to meet his.

"Yuan Niang, there are thousands of women in the world, but no one treats me as well as you do. If it weren't for you, there wouldn't be the me I am today. Whether in the past or now, you are always beautiful in my eyes, and my heart can only hold you!"

"A Heng..." Yuan Niang leaned her head on his shoulder, her graying hair intertwined with his black hair, like their inextricable fate.

After Yuan Niang fell asleep, A Heng lifted the quilt and walked off the bed silently.

In order not to disturb Yuan Niang's sweet dreams, his movements of opening and closing the door were as light as possible.

He came to the small courtyard and entered the cellar where the wine was stored.

These wines were brewed by Yuan Niang and him by hand. It was made by fermenting peach blossoms mixed with glutinous rice, with a sweet and clear taste and the unique fragrance of peach blossoms.

Relying on this wine, they had only been in the capital for a year, and they already had many regular customers. Life was not very wealthy, but there was a small surplus.

A Heng leaned in to smell the wine, and then opened one of the jars of wine that had just been brewed—this was also the wine that would be sold in the shop tomorrow.

Then, his palm flipped, and a handful of things like broken hair appeared in his palm, which he threw into the water. At first, some tiny substances could be seen, but they soon disappeared into it, invisible to the naked eye.

Who in the world would know that this is Mayfly Silk?

After the Mayfly Silk enters the human body, it will quickly travel through the human blood to the human brain to complete parasitism. The larvae will also grow rapidly, thin and long like hair.

"In a few more days, we should be able to close the net..."

His face was hidden in the darkness, only a pair of pitch-black eyes glowing faintly: "Soon, very soon..."

After coming out of the cellar, he didn't go back to bed, but pulled his collar together and pushed open the courtyard gate to go out.

The night was deep and the moon was hidden, and the surroundings were pitch black, so he naturally didn't notice a mouse flashing by quickly.

The next day, Xuanjing Division.

Dami hurried to Xie Shouzheng's side and whispered a few words.

Xie Shouzheng was a bit surprised, it was actually him!

He pondered for a moment and ordered: "Let your brothers continue to monitor, be careful not to be discovered. If there is any situation, report it immediately."

"Yes!"

Just as Dami was about to leave, Xie Shouzheng hurriedly said, "Wait, you go to Prince Jin's mansion again and relay the information just now to Deputy Envoy Lin. If possible, close the net today to avoid long delays!"

"Got it!"

Deputy Envoy Lin was naturally Lin Qingyue. Whether it was Xie Shouzheng or the guards below, they now addressed Lin Qingyue by her official title.

Lin Qingyue smiled slightly after hearing Dami's report: "Following the vine, I really found the melon."

Dami added: "Lord Xie also said, if possible, close the net today to avoid long delays."

Lin Qingyue pondered for a moment and said only one word: "Can."

Early this morning, Yuan Niang and A Heng were busy in the tavern, greeting customers.

At this time, two women passed by the door, discussing without any scruples:

"Did you see, that's the young man, he's really handsome, isn't he?"

"What's the use of being handsome, isn't he blind? Otherwise, why would he ignore all the young maidens on the street and choose an old woman who could be his mother?"

"What's the use of this old woman? The land is dry, where can she still plow? She can't even have children!"

Yuan Niang felt sad when she heard this, but she just lowered her head silently, not wanting people to see her aging.

But A Heng didn't have such a good temper.

"You gossiping women, are you looking for a beating?"

A Heng rushed out with a wine ladle, "Before talking about others, why don't you look at how ugly your own faces are! Get out, otherwise, even if you are women, I will still beat you!"

After scolding the two women away, A Heng turned his head and saw Yuan Niang laughing at him: "Look at you, you're almost becoming a shrew scolding in the street!"

"Those people are too hateful!" A Heng put down the wine ladle and took Yuan Niang's hand, "For my wife, what does it matter if I become a shrew?"

Yuan Niang said: "A Heng, I want to leave the capital. There are too many people here, too much right and wrong. You and I are such eye-catching couples, it's inevitable to attract criticism. Public opinion is fearful, I don't like it. I just want to live a simple life with you."

A Heng said: "Whoever dares to discuss it again, I will definitely make them look good! Wife, actually the capital is very good, very prosperous, you can buy food and items you can't see elsewhere. And people here also like our peach blossom wine. We finally opened up sales, do you want to leave sneakily because of a few words from those gossiping women?"

Yuan Niang asked: "Do you really like the capital?"

A Heng nodded seriously: "I like it very much here. Wife, don't you like it?"

Yuan Niang smiled: "Whatever you like, I naturally like too."

"By the way, wife, there is a big customer in the Eastern Market who likes our wine very much, and he ordered more than a dozen pots of peach blossom wine yesterday. I'll go to the Eastern Market to deliver the wine, you rest in the shop. If you are tired, close the shop door and go to the back house to drink tea and rest. I'll be back soon."

"The Eastern Market is far away, let the customers come to pick up the wine themselves in the future. If they don't want to run errands, we don't care to sell to them. There's no need to always make you work hard, A Heng."

"Since we are in this business, how can we pick customers?"

While speaking, A Heng had already moved the wine to the donkey cart and waved goodbye to Yuan Niang.

After Yuan Niang silently watched him go away, she returned to the shop to clean up.

By noon, Yuan Niang looked out several times, but didn't see A Heng return.

"Why isn't he back yet? Is there something else that held him up?"

Since moving to the capital, A Heng seemed to go out more and more frequently.

One night, she woke up in the middle of the night and found the side of the bed empty. She put on her clothes and was about to go out to find him, but he suddenly returned. He came over with a handful of wild flowers covered in dew, smiling and giving them to her. ===== CHAPTER 32 =====