TSWPF -Chapter 126 Heartbroken

After swallowing the food in his mouth, Zhao Yichen finally looked at Li Qingling and asked with a smiling expression, “Miss Xiaoling, are you getting married? Why haven’t I heard you mention this before?”

The news came far too suddenly, leaving him with no mental preparation at all.

Li Qingling raised her head and met Zhao Yichen’s gaze. “We decided today. The exact date hasn’t been set yet.” She glanced at Liu Zhimou. “Once the date is decided, I’ll let Young Master Zhao know. If you’re free, you can come have a cup of wedding wine.”

She was only fourteen years old. In modern times, she would still be in her first year of middle school. Yet here, she was already about to get married.

The difference was truly enormous.

Still, what she had told Liu Zhimou was true. Marriage was fine, but consummation would have to wait until she was at least fifteen.

If she hadn’t felt that eighteen was too long to wait, Liu Zhimou probably wouldn’t have agreed at all—otherwise, she would have pushed it back to eighteen.

Hearing Li Qingling’s words, Zhao Yichen felt the food in his mouth become even more tasteless. He finished the rest of his meal as if chewing wax, then smiled and said, “Of course. Once the date is set, if I have time, I’ll definitely come and ask for a cup of wedding wine.”

Before Li Qingling could respond, he stood up. “I suddenly remembered that I still have some matters to deal with, so I’ll be heading back first. Thank you for your hospitality, Miss Xiaoling.”

Li Qingling smiled and said there was no need to be polite—it was just a simple home-cooked meal.

Zhao Yichen smiled at her once more, then turned around and strode away.

He had come by carriage. The moment he got in, the smile on his face faded.

Leaning back against the carriage wall, he let out a desolate sigh.

He knew that he and Li Qingling were impossible in this lifetime. With a family like his, there was no way his family would agree to let him marry a girl with no power or background.

Yet he simply couldn’t help being drawn to Li Qingling.

From childhood until now, he had never met a girl like her—someone who didn’t care about others’ gazes and lived freely and boldly.

This was the kind of life he had always yearned for. But in a family like his, where every move was bound by countless rules, such freedom was impossible.

Perhaps it was precisely because of this that he was attracted to Li Qingling.

He had originally thought that it would be nice just to continue getting along with her like this. But when he heard Liu Zhimou’s words earlier, he suddenly woke up—Li Qingling would get married, would become someone’s wife, would bear children. Once she married and had children, it wouldn’t be so easy for him to see her anymore.

Thinking of this, his heart felt both sour and bitter, unbearably uncomfortable.

He had never experienced such feelings before.

He might like Li Qingling even more than he had imagined.

But even so, all he could do was watch helplessly as she married someone else.

Although there was a fleeting thought of keeping Li Qingling by his side, if he truly did that, she would never be happy in her life.

Moreover, with Li Qingling’s current status, she could never be his legal wife—at most, she could only be a concubine.

He didn’t want to insult her like that. The only choice left was to let go.

In this lifetime, they could only be friends.

Zhao Yichen thought about many things along the way. It wasn’t until he returned to Fuman Restaurant and got out of the carriage that he finally reined in those chaotic thoughts.

“Send two bottles of wine up to my room,” Zhao Yichen said, leaving those words behind as he strode into his private room.

The shopkeeper could tell at a glance from Zhao Yichen’s expression that his master was unhappy.

What had happened?

The master had gone to Niutou Village happily—why was he coming back with such a gloomy face?

He clearly remembered that every time before, the master went happily and returned happily!

The shopkeeper carried two bottles of wine and some small dishes to the private room door and knocked. “Master, it’s me. I’ve brought the wine.”

“Come in.”

As soon as the shopkeeper entered, he saw Zhao Yichen sitting on a chair. He set down the wine and dishes, then handed over a letter. “Master, there’s a letter for you.”

Zhao Yichen responded with a sound, took the letter, and opened it right in front of the shopkeeper.

After reading it, the corners of his mouth curled into a mocking smile. With a few quick movements, he tore the letter to pieces.

The shopkeeper didn’t dare say a word. He stood respectfully to the side, waiting for Zhao Yichen to speak.

“Come, drink a couple of cups with me.”

“Yes…”

After several cups of wine, Zhao Yichen’s face flushed slightly, and he began to talk more.

He said to the shopkeeper, “Do you know what that letter said? It was urging me to go back for a matchmaking meeting.” Over the past two years, his family’s pressure had grown more and more intense. That was exactly why he didn’t want to stay at home and kept running outside whenever he could.

The shopkeeper didn’t know what to say for a moment. After a brief silence, he spoke. “Master, you are indeed at the age when you should get married.” The master was already nineteen—people in other families were already fathers at that age.

Unlike his master, who was still single.

If his own son were nineteen and still unmarried, he would be anxious too.

That was how parents were; he could understand the old madam and the others.

Zhao Yichen shot the shopkeeper an annoyed glare. “Are you also going to nag me to hurry up and get married? Huh?” What he least wanted to hear right now was anything about marriage. “Have you ever liked someone? Do you know what liking someone feels like?”

The shopkeeper’s heart skipped a beat. He picked up his wine cup, took a slow sip, then looked up at Zhao Yichen. “Uh… before I married my wife, I’d never seen her. It was only on our wedding day, when I lifted her veil, that I saw her for the first time. After marriage, we argue occasionally, but life is still okay. I think living like this for a lifetime isn’t bad.” After a pause, he continued, “Liking someone is too vague—no one can really define it.”

In his eyes, being able to eat his fill, stay warm, and not let his wife and children go hungry was the greatest comfort. Why worry about whether there was love or not?

Zhao Yichen refilled his cup and downed another large drink, letting out a scornful laugh. “What’s the point of living such a life?” Being tied to someone you don’t like for a lifetime—just thinking about it made his heart tired.

With that, he poured down several more cups in a row, and he began to look drunk.

Seeing this, the shopkeeper wanted to persuade him not to drink so much, but the words stopped at his lips. Having followed the master for so long, he understood what kind of person he was. At times like this, persuasion was useless. It was better to let him vent the pent-up frustration in his heart. Once it was released, he would feel better.

“Honestly, if I could choose my birth, I’d rather be an ordinary commoner. Just worry about three meals a day, nothing else—no need to think so much or bear so much.”

Others looked at them and envied their glamorous lives, but they had no idea what kind of days they actually lived.

“Everyone has their own troubles,” the shopkeeper sighed softly. “You want to be a commoner who only worries about daily meals, but you don’t know that many commoners may never eat a full meal even once in their lives. Even a minor illness could cost them their lives.”

Life was not easy for anyone; everyone had their own worries.

The master’s troubles were nothing more than a lack of freedom and the heavy burdens he had to carry—but he also lived a life of luxury that others could never attain.

Where there is gain, there is loss. This was the natural order of the world.

After hearing this, Zhao Yichen drank two more large cups and said with a bitter smile, “Why is being human so difficult?” With that, he collapsed forward onto the table.

The shopkeeper reached out and pushed him, calling his name several times, but there was no response. He sighed softly, then called the waiter to help carry Zhao Yichen onto the couch so he could sleep properly.

He didn’t know what exactly the master had encountered to make him so out of character, drinking himself drunk like this. This really didn’t resemble the calm and composed master he knew.

Next time, if he saw Li Qingling, he would ask her whether the master had encountered anything unpleasant at her home.

…

Li Qingling hadn’t expected Liu Zhimou to move so quickly. He said he would invite a matchmaker the next day—and he really did.

When she first saw the matchmaker, she was a little slow to react and even asked what the matchmaker had come for.

Seeing Li Qingling’s clueless expression, the matchmaker covered her mouth and laughed.
“Xiaoling, this is a great joyous occasion!”

“What joyous occasion? What big happy event could our family have?”

“Your marriage with Zhimou, of course! Isn’t that a big joyous occasion?” the matchmaker said with a beaming smile. “Zhimou invited me here. He should have told you, right?”

Hearing this, Li Qingling’s fair little face flushed. For a moment, she truly couldn’t quite process that the matchmaker had been invited by Liu Zhimou.

She poured the matchmaker a cup of tea and pushed it in front of her.

The matchmaker picked up the cup and took a big sip. She couldn’t really tell whether the tea was good or not— to her, it was just something to quench her thirst.

Once she felt less thirsty, she grabbed Li Qingling and began talking rapidly.

Li Qingling felt dizzy from all the talking and had to ask her to slow down so she could write it down.

The matchmaker smiled and repeated everything again. When she finished, Li Qingling asked,
“Do the things you mentioned earlier require my grandparents to be present?” Her parents were gone, and she wasn’t sure whether relatives were needed to support the occasion.

The matchmaker froze for a moment. She had assumed Li Qingling had long since cut ties with her grandparents. She hadn’t expected her to ask this.

“That depends on what you decide. I can’t make that decision.”

Li Qingling frowned slightly. She looked up and glanced at the night that hadn’t yet broken before her. It wasn’t appropriate to say too much in front of the matchmaker, so she simply nodded.

“Then please wait a moment, Auntie. I’ll go get my birth information for you.”

Li Qingling went back to her room, took her birth date and time, returned, and handed it to the matchmaker. She also gave her twenty copper coins as payment for the trip.

The matchmaker accepted the money with a smile so wide her teeth showed, said a few more words to Li Qingling, and then left.

As soon as the matchmaker left, Liu Zhimou returned. When he saw Li Qingling, a smile naturally appeared on his face.