Roasted Duck and the Artist

"Bo Zhizhong?" Yujia exclaimed, immediately backing away a step. 

Zhizhong only grinned, straightening himself and handing the duck off to a servant who scurried by his side. He held his arms out, speculating his outfit and saying, "I didn't want my father to know about this— so how does my servant disguise look?"

Before, with his head bowed and his posture all slumped, completely different than his usual confident airs that he resumed now, Yujia admitted that he did look like a servant. 

But she immediately pressed her lips together and set her expression blank, dryly answering, "You look like an eunuch."

Zhizhong leaned back, crinkling his nose. "A eunuch? Let's be honest, there are no eunuchs who have my good looks."

"Or your inflated ego," Yujia muttered, turning around and heading back to her room. 

Seeing this, Zhizhong scurried after her, calling out, "You're mad at me?"

Yujia paused in her steps, her eyes narrowing. "Of course." Before he could respond, she turned back, her arms crossed. "First, you forced me to get on a horse even though I was clearly terrified of it. Second, that horse was nothing like you claimed— it was a literal demon. Third, didn't you just plan this whole thing to get back at me for just drawing on your face? Well, congrats, you have. I almost died. I hope you're happy now."

The words sounded a lot harsher the moment they came out. Yujia regretted them the moment that she saw the expression on Zhizhong's face morph. His eyes glanced down and his hands wrung together. 

"I—" he said with hesitation, "I'm sorry." He looked up, continuing, this time his words coming out a bit rushed, "I know I could probably explain what actually happened. But I feel like that would sound too much like I'm just making excuses. And I don't want it to come off that way. So I'll just leave it like that— I'm sorry."

Yujia blinked. Seeing Zhizhong look like this, all filled with guilt, she sighed and sat down at the edge of her front step. 

"You know what? It's fine."

"You're… not angry anymore?" he asked as he leaned forward slightly, filled with anticipation. 

"Let's just forget about it." She waved her hand and bit the inside of her cheek. "Since you apologized, and I never did get hurt— just absolutely terrified— I don't want to blame you for too long or make you feel too bad."

"Really?" 

Zhizhong's sulking expression transformed into a bright grin in the matter of a few seconds. He jumped to sit down next to her, looking at her with his head tilted to the side. "You really forgave me so easily?" 

"I don't think I want to hold grudges for pointless things," she responded, though straightening herself and scrunching her eyebrows. "But if I broke all my bones or got super bruised from falling off that horse, I would probably be a lot angrier."

Plus, over the past few days, her anger diminished a bit, in contrast from her initial shock and anger when the situation first happened.

"Ah, well then, the good thing is that you have not broken all your bones. Therefore, everything is fine! Why think about those 'what if' scenarios?" 

He clapped his hands. The servants who have all moved to the side came scrambling back forward, kneeling and presenting the gifts. 

"Which one do you like the most?" Zhizhong gestured at all of them with a broad sweep of his arm. "Not that you have to pick and choose from them— since you can have all of them. I just want to know what you like the most."

Yujia hesitated for a response. She was stuck between picking the roasted duck, the painting supplies, the pastries, the wine, or the box of taels. 

Zhizhong took it as a sign that she disliked all of them.

"Don't tell me you're going to reject them all?" he glanced back at her anxiously. 

"What?" Yujia immediately answered back, "You think that I would reject all of them?"

"Well, I thought that I was going to present all these gifts to you, but you were going to be angry, so I would have to take them all back. But then your pride will hopefully be convinced by my genuine apology, so maybe you would keep one or two select items. And then you'll completely forgive me."

"Huh." She stood up and looked at all of the items carefully. Then, she said with a laugh, "I don't think that I'm the kind of person to be offered something but to reject all of it. If someone wants to give me free gifts, why would I say no?"

Zhizhong blinked twice, then smiled brightly as well. "That's even better! All of it is yours!"

As if receiving a silent command, the servants began shuffling into the main room to put down all the gifts. Yujia watched this with a slow smile. 

What could she say? She was really just a materialistic person. She liked to receive expensive things. Maybe it would've been better if she had just a little bit more pride, but it wasn't like Zhizhong and her were strangers. They were business partners or friends, even. There would be no point in her rejecting his gifts, and would, in fact, make it more awkward for Zhizhong as well to carry back the gifts he spent so much time bringing over to Lingxin.

Though, what mattered most to Yujia in the end was that he came to apologize to her in a genuine manner. That was all she really wanted, after all, and why not just accept a few more gifts along the way? It was like the icing on the cake. 

When the last servant, who was carrying the roasted duck, passed by, Yujia stopped him, taking the duck off his tray and sitting back down on the steps with Zhizhong. 

"Let's eat; I'm hungry."