Status Updates From To Sway A Soul

He mentioned her beauty instead of her skills. I know where this is going. ;-;

When the boy felt compelled to return to his family, the girl followed him back, because he had followed her.

It was there, surrounded by bustling streets and swaying bamboo stalks, they married and lived happily for many years.

The two passed through many great mountains and rivers. The girl painted them all. When they returned to the village of the girl's birth, her family was overjoyed to see her and likewise welcomed her handsome companion with open arms.

It was a perfectly fine thing to be, because he
had a girl to protect him. In her steady companionship he found safety, and in his she found the same. Some days he wished his sister were there to experience such happiness with him, but she lived on in his heart, and though a part of him knew it may never be enough, he found comfort in her memory nonetheless.

Zhi Lan pushed his shoulder. "Don't be so forward." But she couldn't help but plant another kiss on his lips.

Zhi Lan's heart stuttered. She had vowed once to never marry a man for money's sake, and yet here was a man with money asking to marry her, and she was not unwilling to be with him.

Had her principles changed? No. Only her circumstances.

A smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "I won't tell you no. But I would like to go home and paint first."

"Whatever you wish for, wife."

"Who has ever heard of a magistrate's grandson marrying a farmer's daughter? I'll be your concubine at best and I'd rather avoid that title" Zhi Lan finally said. It was her one last objection, though a weak one at that. He already had her.

"I don't think my father objects. And... I prefer you as my wife."

When Zhi Lan had stepped through the gates, she expected this to be their last meeting. After this confession, however, she no longer had the heart to leave him—perhaps she never did.