"Remember one thing, it will be a lifelong challenge for you to see if you can defeat yourself." When Yu Qiuping walked to the door, Imagawa Yoshimoto suddenly said.
Yu Qiuping turned around and listened. From then on, those words were imprinted in the young man's mind and stayed with him throughout his life.
"Make a choice without regrets."
Yu Qiuping was stunned for a moment, blinked suddenly, and his eyes slowly focused in front of him again. The drizzle was still falling. What happened just now? Why did he suddenly think of what the family governor had said to him before?
Make a choice without regrets? This sentence came to mind subconsciously.
Yu Qiuping held the pendant on her chest tightly and carefully protected the greeting card in her arms to prevent it from getting wet by the rain.
"Do I regret it?" Yu Qiuping raised his head blankly and looked at the dim sky.
Not long ago, I had a spouse who loved me and a beautiful relationship. Now, because of this choice, everything is gone.
However, is it really necessary to selfishly sacrifice Imagawa Kaede's future for the sake of her own love? Should she spend her youth waiting for Yu Qiuping who may not be able to wait? She will have to endure countless rumors.
, the pressure from the family, let’s not say whether Imagawa Yoshimoto will agree with his daughter’s nonsense, even if he does agree. What should Imagawa Kaede do if he fails to climb to a high position?
The young master is right, that is too selfish.
If you love her, shouldn't you bear the pain for her?
Yu Qiuping let out a long sigh and tried to straighten up. I am a man, so I should bear all this for her. Let her be more relaxed, and no matter who she marries in the end, she can have a happy future.
And I will work hard until one day I can obtain a status worthy of her. Although, she may have already been married by then. But this is a better result for her, isn't it?
Feng'er, I will protect your happiness for the rest of my life, no matter whether the person around you is me or not. Letting go is the only way to love you.
I don't regret my choice.
Yu Qiuping took one last look at the castle tower, in the direction of Imagawa Kaede's boudoir. The windows were closed, and she didn't look at herself again. He sighed and left the garden. He was holding the gift that he had not been able to send out, and the unsent gift in his hand.
Being able to say "Happy Birthday."
He didn't know that in his own room, the window was slightly opened. A girl looked at him walking away and couldn't stop crying.
Returning to the territory, Yu Qiuping seemed to have changed into a different person. He was no longer the chatty and laughing young man he usually was, but became a workaholic who was serious about his words and buried himself in his work.
Whether it was the formulation and improvement of military laws or daily training, he did it himself. As for the training of cavalry, although Yu Qiupei invited a trainer from Asahina Taiheng to help with training, he still required cavalry to perform standing training like infantry.
, three-sided turning method and other training. The cavalry are even required to line up in a horizontal and vertical square formation, marching as neatly as the infantry. Once the square formation is not neat enough, the riders have to do push-ups.
After the training, all the cavalry angrily went to settle accounts with Omaezaki Nakahide, because it was the latter who made fun of Yu Qiuping when he was thinking about how to train cavalry: "Sir, you can only train infantry, and there is nothing to do with cavalry!"
"As a result, Yu Qiuping got into trouble. The latter didn't say much and started training cavalry in the same way as infantry.
In life, the only thing that Yu Qiuping has that is somewhat similar to the Yu Qiuping of the past is that he has resumed the tradition of folding red leaves, folding paper red leaves every night by the oil lamp. The folded red leaves are given to the five trainees who are training.
There were more than a dozen recruits. The extra ones were folded by Yu Qiuping and burned on the flame of the oil lamp.
"Sir, what is going on?" Fukushima Yasunari and his party once asked Naoe Tadahei privately. Although everyone had guessed some clues, they were not sure.
"It's better not to ask. Your Excellency is troubled." Naoe Tadayei shook his head, "We can't help you much."
"You kid, are you still unwilling to wear red leaves?" Nakahide Omaezaki saw Honda Nanosuke who was following Naoe Tadahira, and teased, "Have you ever been tempted to see how powerful our Tokiwabi is?"
"I am a samurai from the Matsudaira family." Honda Nanosuke said without a smile.
"Really? Then I saw you were very proud when you were holding your majesty's horse seal!" Nakahide Omaezaki's tone became sinister again, "Hold it straight, without even swaying!"
"That is my duty, to be loyal to my temporary master!" Honda Nanosuke's face turned red and he roared in a low voice.
"Zhongxiu, don't make fun of others all day long." Fukushima Yasunari patted the adult on the shoulder, "Go back to training quickly and don't cause trouble to the adult."
On April 12, Toshi Sena sent a messenger to Yu Qiupei's territory, asking him to go back to Junfu and help him handle the spring accounts.
On the way back to Junfu, Yu Qiuping felt mixed emotions in his heart. There was some expectation and joy, hoping to have a chance to see Kaede Imagawa again. But he was also full of sadness and worry, fearing that Kaede Imagawa would coldly ignore him.
When he once again stepped into the Imagawa family's mansion in Sunfu Castle, waves of sadness hit his heart like a wave. The beautiful garden was completely colorless at the moment, and the many places where the two of them had left beautiful memories - that
Yu Qiuping didn't even dare to approach the rockery, the open space for snowball fights, and the fitting room at the moment. He walked straight up to the castle tower and walked along the stairs to Sena Ujitoshi's office on the fourth floor.
When he reached the corner of the third floor, suddenly, Yu Qiuping's heart trembled. He stopped unexpectedly and raised his head. A moment later, the girl who had been haunted by dreams happened to be alone and was going downstairs. The two of them were still there.
We met at the corner of the third floor. It felt like we had met dozens of days ago.
Yu Qiuping was stunned for a moment, looking expectantly but evadingly looking at Imagawa Feng. The latter lowered his eyelids and walked past him silently, as if the two had never met. This time, it was really as if the two had never met.
The boy's sudden choking sound caused a sharp pain in Imagawa Kaede's heart. Especially, she could hear that the boy was trying hard to suppress the choking sound and prevent her from hearing it. She almost couldn't restrain the urge to turn around and look at him again.
Yu Qiuping listened to Imagawa Kaede's footsteps slowly disappearing, raised his head, looked at the ceiling, and tried not to let tears flow out.
The sweetness and warmth, playfulness and cuteness of the past are all gone forever. Only the cold faces are left. If I had known this, it would be better to let time stay in last autumn forever, when the maple leaves were all over the mountains, and the two met.
That day - at least that day, I could still see the girl's smile.
Yu Qiuping went upstairs heavily step by step without noticing that the girl's footsteps had stopped abruptly.
At the corner of the stairs on the second floor, Imagawa Kaede leaned against the wall, listening silently to the boy's heavy footsteps, which were completely different from the brisk and joyful footsteps of the past. How much she missed that boy with a bright smile. But he didn't understand anything.
, until now I still don’t understand her thoughts and the meaning of that waka.
After Yu Qiuping and Sena Ujitoshi finished handling a series of accounts, Yu Qiuping was ready to say goodbye and return to the territory.
"I've been needing your help a lot these days." Sena Ujitoshi said, "Why don't we live in the castle, and we won't have to travel back and forth."
Yu Qiuping hesitated for a moment and agreed. "I'm going out for dinner and I'll be back later."
Just a few steps after Yu Qiuping left the room, he saw Kaede Imakawa who was wandering on the third floor through the corridor. Yu Qiuping quietly leaned on the railing and stared at her from a distance, but the latter did not notice him. Yu Qiuping enjoyed this very much
During this time, he could wait for the girl without embarrassment and sadness. Seeing that the girl's face was also full of worry, Yu Qiuping suddenly felt some unreasonable relief in his heart. Maybe she also cares about herself.
Suddenly, Imagawa Kaede suddenly felt some throbbing in her heart. She looked up blankly and saw Yu Qiuping leaning on the fence and staring at her. When their eyes met, they looked at each other for a moment, and then they hurriedly moved away.
The look in their eyes. Both of them felt a pang in their hearts, and they couldn't help but look back, and then looked away again.
Just as Yu Qiuping was about to leave in embarrassment, he suddenly heard a rush of footsteps coming from the third floor. He hurriedly looked down and saw that it was Okabe Masatsuna and several attendants behind him.
When they were still a few steps away, Okabe Masatsuna bowed and saluted loudly: "I have met Her Highness the Princess!"
"Okabe-sama, you're welcome." Imagawa Kaede was stunned for a moment, and quickly glanced at Yu Qiuping with his eyes moving.
"A few days ago, I gave you the birthday gift to Your Highness the Princess. I wonder if Your Highness is satisfied with it?" Okabe Masatsuna straightened up and asked. Although it was a question, it was full of showing off.
Yu Qiuping was stunned for a moment, feeling sour in his heart, and his face was suddenly buried in the shadows. He had prepared the gift for so long, but failed to give it away, which was worse than Masazuna Okabe.
Imagawa Kaede saw Yu Qiuping's loneliness in her peripheral vision, and felt a wave of discomfort in her heart, but she still managed to hold on to a smile and thanked her: "The hairpin is very beautiful, thank you Okabe-sama." After that, she was about to turn around and leave.
"Then why don't you see Her Highness wearing it?" Okabe Masatsuna got entangled and continued to ask, "The maple leaf on Her Highness's head is no better than the hairpin above and below."
When Yu Qiuping heard this, he looked towards Imagawa Kaede. She did have a hairpin on her head, and at the end of the hairpin was a piece of paper red leaf folded by Yu Qiuping. "When did she put it on the hairpin...
I’ve never seen her dressed like this before.”
Imagawa Kaede's heart ached, and she quietly glanced at Yu Qiuping upstairs. However, due to etiquette, she could only say: "Your Majesty's hairpin is indeed very beautiful." As soon as the words were spoken, she couldn't help feeling uncomfortable.
.This sentence must have hurt Yu Qiuping’s heart.
Yes, how could this paper of red leaves be as beautiful as the expensive hairpin given by Okabe Masatsuna? Yu Qiuping felt sad and sighed.
Yu Qiuping, what are you thinking about? Yu Qiuping yelled to himself in his heart. He has obviously decided to let go, why are he still thinking about this?
In fact, as the second son of the Okabe family, Okabe Masatsuna is of the right age, so he is the most suitable marriage partner for Imagawa Kaede. The family governor's palace must have considered this too.
Yu Qiuping's expression darkened again, and he turned around to leave.
Seeing Yu Qiuping's sad expression, Imagawa Kaede felt that the softest corner of her heart suddenly collapsed. She almost blurted out his name and told him that the paper red leaves he folded with his own hands were better than those rich young men who bought them casually.
My hairpin is much prettier, but I can’t say it.
In the next few days, every encounter was a torture for Yu Qiuping and Imagawa Kaede. It is obvious that the two hearts are so close, but they can only feel like strangers.
Every night, the girl will appear in his dream, still his sweet lover. The two can cuddle up and talk to each other, have snowball fights together, and look at the red leaves together. So much so that when he wakes up every morning, he is in so much pain that he wishes he could never have her again.
wake up.
This feeling can be recalled later, but it was already at a loss.