Insufficient balance

  The Sima couple has basically settled down in Mosheng's house, and after not seeing each other for thirty years, they chatted with Old Zhang about old times. The three elderly people were not lonely at all. After dinner, Mosheng continued to help Xiangling as he did the night before, and so passed some peaceful days.

  The Lantern Festival has arrived, and today the city of Hunyuan is bustling with excitement. Everywhere is decorated with lanterns and streamers, and people are coming and going. Today, Wen Hao came over and said that the young lady hoped that Mu Sheng and the others would go together to eat a reunion dinner for the Lantern Festival. Mu Sheng thought about it for a moment, but politely declined.

  After having the reunion dinner, Wen Hao, Da Jie and Xiao Die arrived, saying they would go to Swan Lake together to see the flower boat. So, Mu Sheng, Xiang Ling and Xiao Lv went with Da Jie and others to see the flower boat.

  Tonight's Swan Lake is particularly beautiful, with colorful flower boats floating on the lake, and some young men and women have already begun to recite poetry and play music on the boats. On the lakeside, there are many people waiting, some waiting for their loved ones or partners they had previously arranged to meet; others keep turning around, seemingly searching for a suitable target.

  Wen Hao's eyes lit up at this time, and he searched around, but the good times didn't last long. Only then did he see his older sister pinching his ear, saying "You dare to be naughty again".

  "Sister, I know I was wrong, so please spare my poor ears! They're innocent." Wen Hao said pitifully, but the result was that everyone burst out laughing. The eldest sister saw that her brother had admitted his mistake, so she let go of him. Actually, the main reason was that the eldest sister didn't want to appear too fierce in front of Mu Sheng, afraid of scaring him away. So she tried to be more gentle. After letting Wen Hao go, the eldest sister secretly took a glance at Mu Sheng and saw that his expression was normal, which made her feel much more at ease. Just then, Xiao Lu chimed in with "Well pinched, well pinched, little rascal!" which again caused everyone to erupt into laughter.

  Wen Hao said with a sad face: "Little Green Girl, I've already admitted my mistake, so please don't tease me anymore." And Xiao Die also chimed in to help: "Right! Young Master has already admitted his mistake, you can't bully him, or else, or else I won't let it go with you guys."

  Xiao Lü seemed to be displeased with Xiao Die, and said: "Hey! You're helping your family's young master so quickly! What benefits did Wen Hao's young master give you? Are you thinking of becoming Wen Hao's young daughter-in-law? If you are, just say it out loud! No one will laugh at you."

  "You, you..." Xiaodie was both shy and angry, but in the end it was Dajie who said: "Xiaodie don't say anything else, tonight just behave yourself for me."

  Xiang Ling also said to Xiao Lv: "Lv Er, stop being naughty, or else I won't bring you next time."

  "Got it, miss," said Little Green obediently, but she still glared at Little Butterfly, who didn't back down either. As a result, the two of them ended up staring each other down.

  At this time, Wen Hao said something he shouldn't have: "Why are you two staring at each other like that!"

  "It's none of your business," they said in unison.

  Looking at the two girls, Dajie and Xiangling shook their heads helplessly.

  Suddenly, a flower boat was heading towards them. As the flower boat approached, Mu Sheng saw that it was Qing Jing at the helm. Qing Jing waved to everyone, and they all boarded the flower boat. The flower boat was filled with colorful lanterns, which looked really beautiful. Xiao Lü and Xiao Die were still young girls after all, and when they saw these beautiful flower lanterns, they couldn't help but look around in wonder. They even called out to Wen Hao while admiring the lanterns. Wen Hao didn't want to meet Qing Jing, nor did he want to be with the two little maidservants. However, seeing Xiao Die and Xiao Lü's threatening gazes, Wen Hao gave in. His wish to seek romance tonight was ruined. After bidding farewell to those ladies from the inner chambers, Wen Hao reluctantly looked back at them on the shore before walking towards the two little maidservants, still humming "The wind is blowing gently, the water is cold, a hero leaves and never returns."

  Mo Sheng held Xiang Ling in his arms, standing on the deck and looking at the surrounding flower boats and lanterns. Da Jie and Qing stood beside them, seemingly lost in thought. The atmosphere on the deck was somewhat subdued, with Da Jie occasionally glancing at Mo Sheng, while Qing also looked at him from time to time. When Da Jie and Qing's gazes suddenly met, they both startled and quickly looked away.

  However, it was the young lady who finally broke the silence and said: "Standing here is a bit chilly, why don't we go inside the cabin and listen to Zhenqing play a tune?"

  "All right, I was thinking the same thing." Murong Sheng said slowly.

  "Great! I also want to hear Sister Xu's piano sound." Xiang Ling said happily.

  Since everyone said so, it was not good to decline, so the crowd entered the cabin. Musheng found a place to sit down, and Qiong Jing put the piano in front of him and said: "Then I will show off my ugliness." After finishing, he plucked the strings, and the music came suddenly, and it had to be said that Qiong Jing's piano skills were very good.

  Tonight, the zither played a homesick tune, which brought back Mu Sheng's memories of another world. He thought of all sorts of things from before and unknowingly shed tears. Xiang Ling felt something dripping onto her face, looked up to see Mu Sheng with tears streaming down his face, and hastily asked: "Husband, husband, what's wrong?"

  Musheng was awakened from his memories by Xiangling's shout, seeing Xiangling's worried face, he said: "It's nothing, it's just Miss Xu's piano sound that made me think of the past, Ling'er doesn't need to worry."

  The two sisters and Qingshen looked at Mosheng with curiosity, each thinking to themselves, what kind of past did he have that made him cry like rain.

  The sound of the qin stopped, and when he knew that the piece was over, Mu Sheng couldn't help but exclaim: "Miss Xu's qin skills are truly divine, she has indeed attained a high level."

  Qing Ying just smiled and said: "Don't praise me, actually Xinye's dance is quite good." Her tone carried a hint of implication.

  Muying was surprised by what Tingjing said, and didn't expect the young lady to be able to dance. From the sound of it, she seemed to be quite good at it too. So he said: "Hey, Xinye, would you mind dancing a segment? I've never seen you dance before, let me have a look!"

  Xiang Ling also chimed in: "Right! Heart Ya sister, why don't you dance a segment? I'm really looking forward to it!"

  The big sister looked at Qianqian with a blaming gaze and said: "Alright! But if you dance badly, you're not allowed to laugh."

  Qingyu saw Xiaojie stand up and said: "Xin Ya, I'll accompany you."

  The young lady nodded, walked to the middle of the cabin, and when the music started playing, she began to dance elegantly. Seeing Mu Sheng on one side with a foolish expression, the young lady seemed very happy and danced even more energetically.

  The music stopped and the dance paused, the young lady wiped her fragrant sweat with her sleeve, it seemed that dancing was also a tiring task. Returning to her seat, she saw Mu Sheng still had a foolish look on his face, thinking "fool".

  Xiang Ling saw her husband staring straight ahead, motionless, and gently shook Shu Sheng's arm, saying: "Husband, husband..."

  "Ah!" Mu Sheng was startled and knew he had lost his composure earlier, so he smiled awkwardly.

  The elder sister and Qinger couldn't help but giggle at Mu Sheng's silly appearance. After they finished laughing, the elder sister teasingly said: "Mu Sheng, I danced earlier, Qinger played the zither, shouldn't you also...", she didn't finish her sentence, but Mu Sheng probably understood what she meant anyway.

  Mu Sheng heard the words of the eldest sister, and he couldn't help but understand her meaning. However, since he didn't bring his bamboo flute today, playing a tune was out of the question. Tonight, if he didn't put on some kind of show, it seemed that neither the eldest sister nor Cai Qing would let him off easily. After thinking about it, Mu Sheng felt that he had no choice but to sing. Although his singing wasn't pleasant to listen to, at this point, there was no other way.

  "Well, I'll just sing a little ditty from my hometown then!" Mu Sheng said helplessly, while the three of them clapped and cheered. Mu Sheng thought for a moment, what song should he sing? The deepest one he used to sing in high school was "Two Butterflies", that's it.

  "Beloved, fly slowly, beware of the thorns on the roses ahead. Beloved, open your mouth, the fragrance of flowers in the wind will make you drunk. Beloved, fly with me, through the forest to see the brook. Beloved, come dance with me, our love's spring will never have a dark night. I and you, entwined, fluttering, flying over this red dust, forever together. Chasing you for a lifetime, loving you for a thousand turns, not disappointing my tender feelings or your beauty. I and you, entwined, fluttering, flying over this red dust, forever together. Until the autumn wind ceases, and the leaves fall in heaps, even withering away together is worth it."

  The song ended, and Mu Sheng looked at the three of them. Seeing their mouths agape as they stared at him, he wondered what kind of expression that was. "Are you guys okay?" Mu Sheng asked in confusion.

  Xiang Ling was the first to react and said: "Master, I didn't expect your little song to be so nice, you must sing it for me often in the future." Mu Sheng's heart was filled with bitterness, what kind of evil had he done?! It seemed that not agreeing to this girl was not an option, so he nodded his head with difficulty.

  The young lady said nonchalantly, "Musheng, I wouldn't have thought you could sing so well." Seeing the young lady say this, Musheng just chuckled and smiled at her.

  "Ah, Mr. Mu," she asked at this time, "what is the name of this little tune? I wonder if you can tell me."

  "This is no secret either, the name of this song is 'Two Butterflies'." Murong Sheng said lightly.

  Musheng looked out of the cabin and saw that there were fewer flower boats on the lake, so he stood up and said: "Xin Ya, Miss Xu, Ling'er and I still have something to do, so we'll take our leave first."

  "Alright then! Mù Shēng you go first! I still have some words with Qiāo Jìng." The young mistress said calmly.

  Upon hearing the young lady's words, Mu Sheng pulled Xiang Ling towards the outside of the cabin and shouted several times for Xiao Lu, who finally came over. Wen Hao also arrived at this time and asked: "Mu Big Brother, are you leaving?"

  "Alright, we'll take the lead then, Wen Hao. You can continue playing!" Mu Sheng said with a smile.

  Although Wen Hao really wanted to go back with Mu Sheng and the others at this time, he was tortured by the two girls today and couldn't wait to leave early. However, thinking of his older sister still in the cabin, Wen Hao dispelled the idea and reluctantly said: "Then, Mu brother and sister, slow down!"

  The boatman steered the boat to the shore, and Mu Sheng, Xiang Ling, and Xiao Lü walked off the boat via the gangway. As he gazed at Mu Sheng's receding figure, Wen Hao murmured to himself, "Mu Big Brother and his wife are truly loving!" Meanwhile, Xiao Die secretly looked at Wen Hao standing at the bow of the boat, thinking to herself, "If one day I could be like Mu Gongzi and his wife with Young Master..." As she thought this, a flush rose to Xiao Die's face.