She Became A Downfall Noble Lady
Chapter 384 - 383: Would you mind if I sang a little tune?

Chapter 384: Chapter 383: Would you mind if I sang a little tune?

Ye Xinyan watched Jiang Yifan’s rarely gentle and pleasant expression, thinking it was necessary to clarify things so as to avoid any misunderstandings.

She spoke seriously, "Lord Jiang, the reason I’m riding with you alone, following you to such a distant place, is simply to find a quiet and secluded spot. I have no other intentions. You know my reputation. Whether it is tarnished a bit more or less doesn’t matter much. As a man, you probably don’t care about these things, do you?"

Jiang Yifan’s originally cheerful face slowly grew solemn as he asked, "What do you think I want?"

"It’s best if you haven’t thought about it that way. I, a simple woman, am also scared that Lord Jiang might think I am using this opportunity to latch onto you. I am saying this to put your mind at ease."

Jiang Yifan was frustrated.

With everything said, Ye Xinyan stopped looking at Jiang Yifan. She sat down on the sheepskin, ungraciously entering a state of daydreaming and pondering.

In such a fine wilderness, if one could scream to vent the frustrations of the heart, how soothing it would be for the spirit. Unfortunately, there was still someone present to spoil the view. Indeed, the world hardly ever goes as one wishes; it was true that things don’t always meet one’s expectations.

She consoled herself, thinking it was already quite luxurious to have so much of the day to herself without any criticism or speculation from others.

Ye Xinyan, hoping to get rid of the irritating fellow, suddenly asked, "What about lunch? Shall we hunt a wild rabbit or something?"

Jiang Yifan, who was holding back anger and had just plucked a blade of grass, turned his head and explained, "In this wilderness, there are only wild rabbits and grass-eating rodents, but we lack water here to clean them. Don’t even think about hunting wild rabbits."

Wait, does this mean there’s nothing to eat? Ye Xinyan hadn’t expected this outcome. Would sitting around without lunch in the dead of winter make her feel colder?

Jiang Yifan continued, "When I left, the old master took a cleaned wild rabbit and two large pieces of meat from the kitchen. I will start a fire; our lunch will only be grilled meat. I’m responsible for your safety since I brought you here. No matter what we eat, I couldn’t possibly leave you alone in this place."

Ye Xinyan watched as Jiang Yifan cleared a patch of ground, lit the grass with a fire striker, and set up a few branches. She was about to get up to gather wood when Jiang Yifan stopped her, "No need, you wanted to be alone, didn’t you? Just sit."

Indeed, they didn’t need her help. While she was thinking about gathering firewood, Jiang Yifan found a large tree not far away and dragged back a thick dead branch. Not only was there enough wood for roasting the meat, but staying warm wouldn’t be a problem either.

Although Jiang Yifan no longer looked pleased, he still took care of all the tasks for the winter picnic; and Ye Xinyan, who had come out under the guise of seeking solitude, also felt somewhat uneasy.

Fortunately, Jiang Yifan wasn’t completely heartless. In the end, he passed a skewered piece of meat to Ye Xinyan, perhaps as her small contribution to the lunch.

Jiang Yifan sat beside Ye Xinyan, silently rotating the cleanly-prepared wild rabbit. As the aroma of the grilled meat began to waft through the air, he pointed to a water skin and said, "There’s liquor inside this. Would you like to drink a little with the meat? Eating outside in winter, having some liquor can make it more comfortable."

Mentioning liquor reminded Ye Xinyan that Jinrong had said grilled meat was too heating, and an injured person shouldn’t eat it.

"Weren’t you told that you can’t eat grilled meat? Nor should you drink."

Jiang Yifan just smiled, "It’s been several days, the scabs on my wounds are about to fall off, there’s no need for such concerns anymore. Will you drink? When we’re outside, whether drinking water or liquor, we usually use the same water skin. The other water skin contains water, prepared for you. This one has liquor. If you want to drink, you go first."

Ye Xinyan shook her head, "No thanks, I’ll have water. You do as you like."

Jiang Yifan didn’t mind. He opened the water skin with the liquor, took a big gulp, and then tore off a strip of the beautifully charred meat to chew on.

Then he nodded his head, tore the rabbit apart with his hands, and placed one half on the oil paper in front of Ye Xinyan, cushioned by a cloth. Taking the grilled meat from Ye Xinyan’s hand, he placed it on the rack where the flames were gentler.

In silence, the two of them ate and drank. Ye Xinyan treated the grilled meat solely as a meal, picking and eating until she had almost finished half the rabbit and felt full. Jiang Yifan, on the other hand, continued to grill and eat slowly, savoring the liquor. He had not even finished half of his own rabbit.

Ye Xinyan wiped her hands, tidied up her space, and turned her gaze towards the distance once again.

And Jiang Yifan, as if by an unspoken agreement, didn’t ask if she had eaten enough. It was as if she was not there at all, as he continued to chew slowly and sip his liquor.

After a long time, they maintained the same state: one staring motionlessly into the distance, the other slowly eating meat and drinking.

Finally, Ye Xinyan was the first to break the silence, asking, "When women have something on their minds, they seek someone to talk to. What do men do when they’re troubled?"

Jiang Yifan glanced at her, and drawled, "Just like what I am doing now."

"Oh," Ye Xinyan nodded and continued to look into the distance.

Perhaps attracted by the aroma of the grilled meat, several magpies came fluttering around them. Jiang Yifan cut a few strips from another piece of raw meat he had brought and threw them far away. Immediately, the magpies swooped down to vie for the meat, snatching it up and darting away.

Listening to the magpies squabbling over the meat, Ye Xinyan’s mood gradually eased. She turned her face to ask Jiang Yifan, "I want to sing a... um, a tune. It might not sound very nice. Do you mind?"

This time, Jiang Yifan did not even lift his head as he replied indifferently, "You’re free to do as you wish. I don’t mind."

You don’t mind? Although this song was once immensely popular, it’s a pity she didn’t know how to sing it. Otherwise, she would have sung it for this learned ancient scholar, overturning his manner of speaking so completely that he would never dare to speak so carelessly again.

Ye Xinyan stretched her back, straightened her sitting position, and gathered the emotions she could express in song, reminding herself that perhaps in this life, this might be her only chance to sing out loud. She pretended that this place was an immensely enlarged private room.

Could it be that with her mental fortitude, if a waiter came in to add a fruit plate, she would become too shy to continue singing?

How about a Cantonese song, Ye Xinyan glanced at Jiang Yifan. In this era, the Cantonese-speaking region a thousand years later would still be considered as remote as the ends of the earth, and who knows what language they would speak – Jiang Yifan probably wouldn’t understand it, right?

... Glancing back slowly, those evenings once belonged to us both,

Red, still is you, the bright sun you’ve given in my heart,

Like the silly tears that flow, praying for understanding and forgiveness...

That’s often how it goes; once the first line is out, the rest follows smoothly.

In this era, there was no notion of singing songs, and those who did sing tunes possessed great vocal talent and similarly were people not fit for the limelight.

Ye Xinyan didn’t have such a great voice – while she could sing reasonably well in the past, it was all thanks to the microphone’s amplification. Fortunately, she could find the proper pitch, and after a few lines, she poured all her emotions into the song. At the very least, the song "Thousand Autumns" genuinely moved her.