My Wife is Unbeatable in the Whole World, Touch Me If You Dare!-Chapter 252 - 134: Holding Hands

The art of arranging flowers by Phoenix was impeccable.

A vase of her arrangements at home made for a delightful mood all day long.

Like calligraphy and painting, the skill of flower arranging, while accessible to the average person willing to put in the effort, required innate talent to excel.

My wife clearly lacked talent in this area.

In fact, she lacked talent in many areas.

As the saying goes, when one door closes, another opens.

But for my wife, it felt as if Heaven had opened one door for her and closed several windows as well.

My wife and Mumu had accompanied the Old Lady out to worship today and weren’t expected back until the evening.

In the afternoon, Li Nuo and Housekeeper Wu went out with the silver he had earned to buy several gifts.

There were pairs of bracelets for Mumu and Ning’er, one for each sister, to prevent any quarreling.

For my wife, he bought a pearl hairpin. Though she was not short of jewelry, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, she seldom wore them, only hairpins were needed every day.

He also bought a new inkstone for his father; during his last visit to the Ministry of Justice, he noticed his father’s inkstone was quite worn.

Additionally, he had got a new jade pipe for Housekeeper Wu, who liked to take a puff or two when he was bored.

In the afternoon, Mumu and my wife returned.

Li Nuo handed the bracelets to Mumu, saying, "Here are two bracelets, one for you and one for Ning’er."

He didn’t personally give one to Ning’er, but he wasn’t worried Mumu would keep it for herself.

Li Nuo understood the minds of the twins very well.

Their possessiveness was not strong; if there were two identical items, the two sisters were happy to share.

The fear was if there was only one, if the elder sister had it and the younger did not, or vice versa, they would certainly quarrel.

If Ning’er weren’t weaker than Mumu, their argument could even lead to a fight.

He handed the bead flower to Song Jiaren, saying, "This is for you."

Song Jiaren silently accepted the bead flower, whispering, "Thank you."

She glanced at the fresh arrangement on the table, and Li Nuo added, "These gifts were bought with the silver from selling poems. Ten poems fetched a thousand taels of silver. Miss Phoenix was quite generous, which is why I later gave her a complimentary essay. In return, she gave us this vase of flowers..."

To prevent future misunderstandings, he chose to explain upfront.

Sincerity always prevails.

He had copied the poems and essays for Phoenix again and handed them to his wife, saying, "Miss Phoenix has quite peculiar tastes, enjoying poems praising her. Oh, right, would you like to read these few poems and essays?"

Song Jiaren briefly flipped through them after receiving them.

In truth, she could not discern if the poems were good or not; some characters, she didn’t even recognize. She just felt that the words he wrote were beautiful and rhythmic to read.

As for the content of the poems, she could tell they were all commendations of a woman’s beauty.

But she didn’t feel the slightest bit envious or jealous.

These were flamboyant and cheap poems written for courtesans, as Song Yu had said.

She wouldn’t want such poems even if they were given to her.

Besides, these were not given to someone else; the silver obtained was turned into the beautiful bead flower in her hand.

The last piece was an essay named "Phoenix Seeking His Mate." What exactly is an essay?

This essay looked less vulgar, but why did every line end with "Xi"? It felt as though it was just to pad the word count; could this count as poetry?

Never mind, no more thoughts, I’m getting sleepy...

She closed the small booklet and said, "Let’s rest early."

As Li Nuo expected, with my wife’s level of education, she could not understand the quality of the poetry.

But it didn’t matter if she couldn’t understand.

One learns from their mistakes.

He just wanted her to know that the poems and essays written for Phoenix were crafted with skill but void of emotion, intended only to earn money to buy her gifts, so she wouldn’t misunderstand later.

This was called risk mitigation in advance.

With an agreement to ride horses the next day, after breakfast, they set out together.

When boarding the carriage, Li Nuo spared her an extra glance.

On her head was the new bead flower.

Housekeeper Wu drove the carriage, quickly reaching the Horse Field of Yunmeng Academy.

It had been a month since their last visit to the Horse Field.

It was much busier today than it was then.

Perhaps due to the Imperial Examination approaching, there were more students practicing Horse Riding, with long lines forming in front of several carriage tracks.

Judging by the length of the queue, one would have to wait over a two-hour period to practice the Five Imperial Riding Skills.

Luckily, Li Nuo was not there to practice driving; there were fewer people on the adjacent grass field.

His riding skill had regressed a little after not practicing for over a month.

As he rode around the Horse Field slowly and began to pick up speed, his body started to shake violently.

Then, a figure descended from the sky and landed behind him.

This spectacle left everyone in the Horse Field in awe.

Who was this person with such poor riding skill to be accompanied by a majestic beauty? It was enough to incite envy in others.

In the crowd, someone recognized the woman and exclaimed in surprise, "Isn’t that the ’tigress’ from the Song Family? Haven’t seen her for several years, and she has become so beautiful now!"

Another person said, "Are you talking about Song Jiaren? She was born with a beauty that could overshadow the moon and shame flowers. It’s just that girls change a lot as they grow up, the older they get, the more beautiful they become..."

"She is beautiful, indeed, but not grown up very much."

"That person there must be her husband, I guess."

"Nonsense, how could she be riding a horse with another man?"

"Hard to believe someone dared to marry her; he must never have been hit before!"

...

Upon glancing back, Song Jiaren caused the few onlookers to scatter like birds and beasts.

From a distance, several offspring from a General’s family who had once experienced today’s Song Jiaren felt rather emotional.

That peerlessly beautiful woman, gently teaching the man how to ride a horse, was once the nightmare of their childhood.

At the age of ten, Song Jiaren had already beaten the invincible heroes of the General’s families.

They had united for revenge back then, only to be beaten to the ground by her.

Who would have thought that the ’tigress’ could show such a gentle side?

Putting aside the past grievances and judging fairly, she was undoubtedly a great beauty, and what’s more important, she was so powerful. Being her husband must feel very secure indeed.

With his wife right behind him, Li Nuo certainly felt very secure.

He had wanted to ride a bit more, but the Horse Field was too crowded today, and the two of them sharing one horse attracted many onlookers.

His wife was thin-skinned and might not have been comfortable with such situations.

Therefore, he took the initiative to suggest going home to practice archery.

On the way back to the Song Residence, they passed by several shops, where Li Nuo casually bought some fine Rice paper, some paints, and a musical instrument.

The paints his wife had bought last time were almost used up.

He had been using Song Yu’s musical instrument; even though Song Yu had little hope for the Imperial Examination, he still needed to practice music and couldn’t always occupy his belongings.

The carriage was filled with stuff, making it cramped to sit in.

It wasn’t far from the Song Residence anyway, so the two of them got off the carriage and walked back.

Li Nuo often took walks with Li Anning, but this was the first time with his wife.

Of course, she couldn’t possibly link arms with him like Li Anning did, although it might sound odd to say, but their relationship hadn’t developed that far yet.

The two walked side by side, their hands inadvertently brushing against each other.

It was troublesome to keep touching each other like that.

At one moment, as their hands touched again, Li Nuo reached out his palm and held her hand.

Her hand was delicate and boneless, smooth and fine even though she often practiced with a sword, with not a single callus, but it was cool to the touch.

Song Jiaren had a moment of stiffness in the swing of her arm, but it relaxed in the next moment, allowing Li Nuo to hold her hand.

Neither of them said anything; everything just happened naturally.

Even without the Military Advisor Li Anning by his side,

Her words were still guiding Li Nuo.

Gradually and over time, feelings would develop; holding hands was a goal that had been achieved, so what should be the next step...

At this moment, several figures hurried past them.

"Have you heard that Jade Sound Pavilion has a new piece of music?"

"It seems to be called ’Phoenix Seeking His Mate.’ I heard it’s quite good..."

"The music is so-so, but the poetry that comes with it, that’s really something. It has the charm of the ancients and could very well be the best love poetry of all time. I wonder who wrote it, when did such a person appear in Chang’an..."

"Isn’t it obvious? It must be an admirer of the Phoenix Lady!"

"Isn’t the Phoenix Lady the woman of the Minister of Justice’s son? Who would dare to confess their love like that, they must not want to live?"

"Maybe it’s him. I’ve heard that he has quite the talent for poetry too..."

...

Li Nuo watched as the two left.

Some people in Chang’an clearly had nothing better to do.

How long ago were these rumors? And they were still being spread.

Li Nuo worried that his wife would get angry again, but she didn’t let go or shake off his hand.

Lucky for him, he had the foresight.

He had already shown ’Phoenix Seeking His Mate’ to his wife, and the bead flower on her head was exchanged with that piece.

His wife, although stingy, was quite reasonable.

She already got angry over this before.

It didn’t make sense to get angry over the same thing twice.

Plus, she was of the Object Manipulation Realm, she could see for herself whether he was innocent with the Phoenix.

There was no need for his explanation.

As if she hadn’t heard the last few comments, Song Jiaren turned to look at Li Nuo and asked, "Wasn’t ’Phoenix Seeking His Mate’ just a piece of writing? How has it turned into a piece of music?"

Li Nuo explained, "Poetry and prose inherently have rhythm; they can be composed into music, and can also be sung..."

Showing an interested expression, Song Jiaren said, "Then let’s go have a listen..."

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