Entering Lin Meng's courtyard, Yang Shen felt happy that despite his bad sense of direction his memory was quite good due to which he could find his way to the kitchen without any trouble.
Smelling the delicious scent of the food that Lin Meng was cooking, Yang Shen soon saw the woman herself who was dressed in a loose robe which looked similar to a bathrobe and was wearing an apron on top of it.
Feeling his eyes turn cloudy as countless emotions surfaced, Yang Shen moved closer to Elder Lin in a daze and hugged her from the behind.
Locking his hands around Lin Meng's waist naturally, Yang Shen rested his head on her shoulder and shared his warmth with her as he looked at her cooking.
What happened next though was even weirder.
Behaving as if everything was normal, Lin Meng had a smile on her face as if she was used to him acting so naughtily.
Pressing her cheek against Yang Shen's, Lin Meng cutely turns her head to kiss him.
Seeing this, Yang Shen leans in and turns his head as well to meet the woman midway and kiss her.
But, the kiss was destined to not happen because at the very last second the both of them come back to reality.
Still, neither of them moved and continued looking into each other's eyes with overflowing love and affection in each of them.
"I… Love…."
Hesitating right when he was about to say 'you', despite this being the best time he could reveal his feelings Yang Shen chokes up from fear of being turned down by her.
Feeling his heart beating faster than usual and being covered in cold sweat, Yang Shen who was turning dizzy from anxiety quickly changes his words and completes his sentence by saying, "Your cooking…."
"..."
Stunned from what he said, Lin Meng who could sense everything that happened glares at him and says, "Get out you little…."
Running away before Lin Meng could finish her words with an embarrassed look, Yang Shen starts cursing himself nonstop.
How could he not do such a simple thing?
In comparison to everything he did, was confessing his love really that hard?!
Smiling wryly as he still felt nervous from the possibility of being turned down, Yang Shen felt that proposing to a woman you love was the hardest thing in the world.
After all, it wasn't just the fear of being turned down which haunted him. It was also knowing that things would no longer be the same between him and the woman he loved if she turned him down that scared him even more.
Looking towards her Master's face which was red from being embarrassed at himself, Lijuan smiled a little and thought that no matter what he was still a teenager due to which such things were bound to happen.
At the same time, she also admitted that it was these things which made being young so fun and interesting.
….
Okay!
You can do it!
You can do it, Yang Shen!
Talking to himself in an attempt to hypnotize himself, Yang Shen was walking towards Lin Meng's courtyard with a determined look in his heart.
He was not going to be scared and nervous like he was in the morning.
He loved Lin Meng, and he was going to let her know that as well!
Not bothering to try and calm his heart which was beating faster than usual since he knew that nothing he did would work before he proposed to Lin Meng, Yang Shen continued with his self hypnotizing attempts which made Lijuan continue smiling.
'It's so good to be young'
Having seen how Yang Shen behaved since the morning, Lijuan started envying Lin Meng.
Since someone as young as Yang Shen was in love with her, and she knew it herself, Lijuan knew that Lin Meng should be feeling the same way Yang Shen did.
Lamenting at how she was yet to feel like that, Lijuan looked towards Yang Shen and began thinking if she would feel the same way if one day their relationship was no longer limited to being 'companions.'
Like this, while both of them were lost in their thoughts, they quickly arrived near Lin Meng's courtyard.
This is it, Yang Shen! Here goes everything!
Feeling his heart skip a beat every time he as much as thought about Lin Meng, Yang Shen while questioning himself of this is what love feels like walked closer to the courtyard's entrance.
Taking a deep breath before stretching his hand to push the gates open, Yang Shen didn't even have the chance to completely plant his foot on the other side when he saw something that made his heart drop.
In front of the actual building's doors, there was a man holding a ring and looking intensely towards the woman in front of him as if waiting for an answer.
The man Qiao Zan, and the woman was Lin Meng.
As he stopped himself, Yang Shen realized that the two of them were so immersed in the situation and their own thoughts that they didn't even notice his presence.
Looking towards two of them like this, Yang Shen couldn't help it as Zhi Rou's words resounded inside his head.
'...while it hasn't been made public yet, all of us Elders know that they are going to marry each other.
Remembering the exact words Zhi Rou spoke, Yang Shen didn't know what to even think anymore.
She… she wasn't lying?