A Confession Under the Mulberry Tree

After chasing Jiang Mei away, Jiang Rang ran to the old mulberry tree opposite, looked up at the treetop, and called out loudly, "What are you doing up there? I see you, don't hide anymore."

Gu Qing Cheng felt truly unlucky, as if he had been caught red-handed on his first attempt at thievery. His maternal grandfather always wanted to steep fruit wine, and he remembered that the mulberry tree opposite the general store had many fruits. So today, he came here intending to pick some. As soon as he climbed the tree, he saw Xiao Rang and her elder brother from the Jiang family busily bringing dowry items back here.

He was afraid Jiang Rang would misunderstand that he was stalking her, so he hid in the tree, not daring to come down.

Gu Qing Cheng said, "I want to pick some mulberries to make wine."

Jiang Rang thought for a moment, realizing she hadn't thanked him for the ride last time. So she quickly ran back to the general store, found a clean white canvas cloth, spread it on the ground, and said, "Then break off a few branches with lots of fruit and throw them down here. I'll pick them up for you."

Gu Qing Cheng was stunned but found it reasonable, so he complied, breaking off several heavily laden mulberry branches and throwing them down.

Jiang Rang called up from the base of the tree, "Enough, enough! This much is enough for you to steep several large jars of wine."

Jiang Rang used the canvas cloth to wrap the mulberries into a large bundle. When Gu Qing Cheng came down from the tree, she handed it to him as a thank you gift.

Gu Qing Cheng's face flushed. After an internal struggle, he accepted the bundle of mulberries and said to Jiang Rang, "Xiao Rang, I want you to be my girlfriend..."

Jiang Rang was utterly astonished. She didn't understand how he could say such a thing; she had just broken off her engagement today. Jiang Rang reached up to touch her face, thinking to herself, it's all because of this face. In her previous life, when she opened the back door of the general store, she also met a bearded man just like this, who insisted on abducting her to be his bandit chieftain's lady.

Gu Qing Cheng had only known her for a few days and was already asking her to be his girlfriend.

Jiang Rang was furious. She snatched back the canvas bag: "If you want to make fruit wine, go pick them yourself!"