‘Content Summary”
What can a person do to survive?
No one knows, but she is willing to give it all, including her body and dignity.
She longs for life to bloom recklessly like the spring flowers in February, even if it is only fleeting. In reality, however, she lives like a toad in the mud, shrinking away, ugly and
dirty.
She only knows that with life, she can talk about other things. If she even loses her life, what else is there to talk about?
She just never expected that in the end, she would fall into the hands of Murong Jing and that bastard. That man who once used her as a plaything to please another woman, and who she also severely
reprimanded, that man with a small belly and a vindictive temper.
That bastard!
The ending HE
Prologue
Peach blossoms, apricot blossoms, white blossoms, all in bloom, welcoming spring, dancing in the breeze, the begonias blooming freely.
It is the month of February, spring flowers cover the mountains and fields, the warmth of a season that has been brewing. In the wasteland, a lonely grave is buried under the sprawling forsythia flowers, no stone, but
lonely.
The man stands before the tomb with a riding crop in his hand. He is dressed in a dark suit and a silver-white robe, and a maroon sachet hangs quietly at his waist, faintly emitting the fragrance of dried roses.
A tall white horse is grazing not far away. Beyond the apricot blossom forest, which is even further away, a handsome young man is holding the horse’s reins and waiting quietly, occasionally casting an uneasy glance inside.
The man raised his hand, as if he wanted to touch something, but then stiffly lowered it. A complex and indescribable look rose in his eyes, which was then replaced by a thick air of hostility.
‘Woman, is death really that easy?’ He smiled, and suddenly raised his hand and slapped the lonely grave. For a moment, the flowers shook and broke off, falling and fluttering like butterflies.
The young man saw from afar and, startled, hurriedly ran over. But in the meantime, the man had already repeatedly slapped his hands, splashing the soil and leveling most of the grave.
‘Sir…’ The young man wanted to stop him, but he didn’t dare.
The man ignored him and slapped his hands again and again until he saw the body of the woman inside, which had already begun to rot. There was no coffin, not even a broken reed mat. It was just a body in rags
rags, lying quietly in the mud, countless worms and ants scurrying away from her body.
The man’s hand tightened, and the palm he had built up all his strength for could no longer be released.
‘What’s going on?’ he asked, looking at the woman’s unrecognisable face. His voice was hoarse and unpleasant.
From the boy’s perspective, he could see the man’s reddened eyes, which were either from anger or something else. He couldn’t help but shiver, suppressing the chill in his heart, and hastily explained
‘My lord, it was the wish of Miss Meilin before she passed away. She said…’ He glanced cautiously at his master to see if he was becoming impatient, and then continued, ’She
said that instead of being confined to the small space of a coffin, she would rather be merged with the soil and nourish the spring flowers of this land, and that she would be able to benefit from it.’
No one spoke again. Only the slightly chilly wind gently brushing the surface of the corpse with the fragrance of flowers from all over the mountain, so that one could not even smell the slightest hint of decay.
‘What else did she say?’ After a long while, the man asked in a low voice, his hand hanging at his side trembling slightly.
The young man did not notice, thought about it carefully, and then shook his head, ‘No more, my lord.’
The man’s Adam’s apple moved up and down a little, then he suddenly broke out into a laugh that was even uglier than crying. ‘No…is that all? You didn’t even…’
mention him, even if it was to hate him. He swallowed the rest of his words, waiting for them to rot inside his stomach, then suddenly swung the horse whip in his hand, rolling the corpse out of the pit.
‘Master!‘ the young man exclaimed, and fell to his knees before the man, pleading, “Master, Master…Even if Mei Lin has done wrong, death puts an end to everything.
Let her rest in peace…”
The bloodthirsty gaze of the young man made him involuntarily lower his voice. The long whip was swung out and fiercely lashed the corpse.
’You want to pay Chunhua, but I won’t let you!’
Another whip, and the rags flew in a dull sound.
‘You want to live in peace, I won’t let you!’
The vicious oath was accompanied by an imperceptible choking, and a silver-white robe floated down, covering the decaying corpse stained with mud. The man suddenly bent down and picked up the corpse, a few
jumps onto the horse’s back, and then galloped through the apricot blossom forest towards the sky where the sky meets the earth.
In February, the peach blossoms are red, the apricot blossoms are white, the rape flowers are in bloom everywhere, and the willow leaves are as green as jade…
In a daze, he seemed to hear a woman singing in his ear, just as she did last year in that remote mountain village. He lay quietly in bed as she hung laundry in the courtyard. The sunlight
pierced through the worn-out window paper and danced before his eyes like light butterflies.
Chapter 1 (1)
She was forty-three. Like everyone else here, she had no name. She could not remember anything before she came here, except for the pear trees that blocked the road with their branches and
the fields of shepherd’s purse flowers. Those were the memories of her entire childhood.
Then there was the training. Training to become a dead man’s ghost. The perfect result of training to become a dead man’s ghost is to obliterate one’s nature and fear of death, leaving only dog-like loyalty.
Many years later, she wondered if she had taken the wrong medication at the time, because otherwise she would never have fallen head over heels for that bastard.
In fact, compared to other death fighters, she was clearly unqualified. She was afraid of death, so afraid that she would not mind becoming a dog in order to survive.
********
Forty-three When she entered, there were already more than ten young women like her, all wearing black veils, standing in the hall. She walked straight through them, and
before the bead curtain that separated the inside from the outside, she knelt down, her eyes falling to a foot in front of her knees.
‘Master.’
‘Kun Shiqi is ill, so you will take her place.’ The voice that came from inside was neither male nor female, making it difficult to tell, and it was obviously done on purpose.
‘Yes.‘ Forty-three did not hesitate for a moment, even though she did not know what task she had received.
’Very good, come in,’ the man said.
Forty-three did not dare to get up, so she bent down and put her hands on the ground, crawling in the kneeling position. As soon as she passed through the swaying bead curtain, she stopped immediately.
A pair of green boots with embroidered dark flowers appeared silently in her line of sight. A faint fragrance of incense drifted into her nose. A sudden chill arose in her heart, and before she could figure out
what it was, the other party had already placed a palm on her head. Her face changed slightly, but only for an instant, and then she returned to normal. She closed her eyes resignedly and let a strong internal
force penetrated from Baihui, destroying in an instant the body of kung fu she had trained so hard for more than ten years.
A mouthful of blood overflowed from her mouth, and she wilted to the ground in a pale state.
‘You’re not going to ask me why I’ve disabled your martial arts?’ Faced with her silence, the man was a little curious instead.
Because there was still a sweet, fishy taste in her throat, Si San-san coughed once before meekly saying, ‘Yes.’ There was not the slightest trace of resentment in her voice. Ever since they had been brought to the Dark Factory,
the first thing they had been taught was to say ‘yes.’
As if remembering this, the man smiled and waved his hand, ‘Go on, all of you.’
“Yes,’
Forty-three exited the bead curtain to find that everyone had already left. She stood up with difficulty, but dared not turn around, and continued to walk backwards with her face facing the bead curtain. Just
as she crossed the threshold, there was a sudden cough from inside the curtain, which startled her so much that she almost fell over. Fortunately, the person inside did not notice.
The manager was waiting for her outside, handed her a purple brocade bag, and without saying a word, arranged for her to get into the carriage waiting outside.
Si San knew that the object of her mission was inside.
Meilin… Meilin?
She rested her forehead against the window frame, listening to the giggles of the woman in the carriage next to her. An indescribable feeling of excitement or melancholy rose in her heart. From now on, she would be called by that name
. Forty-three, the number that had accompanied her for fifteen years, would be forever lost in the dark factory, a place she didn’t even want to think about.
From now on, she had a name, an identity, and even a bunch of family members she had never met before. She replaced another woman.
Among the 300 beauties from Xiyan who accompanied Princess Gu to Dayan for the marriage alliance, of course, more than one person was sacrificed. The women whose names began with the character ‘kun’ were specially cultivated for this purpose
trained, and she had simply picked up a bargain. Perhaps, after being fooled by her for nearly five years, the head steward finally grew impatient and that was why he got rid of her in this way.
It’s good, finally able to leave that place full of decay and death, and see the beautiful flowers that are deeply imprinted in my mind. Even if I lose my martial arts skills, even if there is poison in my body that
will attack every month, it is still far better than having to constantly face life where you have to compete with others for survival.
It was now autumn, and the mountains and forests on both sides of the imperial road were already a deep green, with bright reds and yellows visible among them, as resplendent as spring flowers. But they were not spring flowers after all. As the car drew closer,
as it swept past the windows, one could see the yellow leaves flaunting in the wind, falling with a rustling sound, making people feel the desolation of drifting about.
Meilin did not like this, so she withdrew her gaze and listened to the woman in the car smilingly.
Chapter 1 (2)
Two days ago, she was sent to Anyang, which is 200 li away from Zhaojing. At that time, the troops of Xiyan, who were going to marry into the royal family, were resting at the post station there. When they set off the next day, the
carriages for the beauties to ride in had worn out after two trips, so the beauties originally riding in those two carriages had to be divided among the other carriages.
It was under these circumstances that Meilin got into the current carriage. After spending two days together, she finally understood why no one had suspected her identity.
It turned out that due to the hardships of the journey and the restrictions of the rules, these beauties rarely had the opportunity to talk after getting off the carriage. Even if they did, they would talk to the people in the same carriage. Therefore, they were not familiar with the people in other carriages,
let alone the escorts who rarely even got to see the appearance of the beauties. Of course, if this did not have the cooperation of the person in power in Xiyan, it would not have been so easy
.
She should not think about these things, and it is best not to think about them. Knowing too much is not beneficial. She has more urgent matters to resolve.
Xiyan dialect.
When they spoke, their voices were soft and gentle, like singing, and it was truly indescribably beautiful, but unfortunately she had no idea what they were talking about. As someone from Xiyan,
it would be ridiculous not to understand the Xiyan dialect.
Every detail of the entire operation was extremely carefully planned, so she couldn’t understand why there was a loophole in this one thing. She had to deal with it carefully
.
While she was deep in thought, someone spoke softly in her ear. Mei Lin suppressed the instinctive urge to push the person away and looked back, only to find that it was the most beautiful
and gentle of the five girls, who was looking at her with concern.
A smile immediately appeared on her face, and her thoughts raced as she considered how to respond. Just then, the carriage, which had not been moving quickly, suddenly came to a halt, distracting the
young girl next to her.
Meilin let out a quiet sigh of relief and followed the others as they looked out the carriage window.
Their carriage was in the middle of the procession, and they couldn’t lean out to look, so they couldn’t actually see anything. They could only hear the rapid sound of hooves approaching from afar, and then it stopped in front of the procession
stopped. Needless to say, it must have been stopped by the head guard.
Just as the women were wondering and curiously guessing what had happened, the sound of hooves resounded again, accompanied by shouts and cries. This time, however, it was their own guards
who were driving people out of the car.
It turned out that Ma Yin, who had repeatedly delayed on the road, was nearly a month behind schedule and arrived in Zhaojing just in time for the annual autumn hunt of the Great Yan Empire. The hunting ground
was located 300 li southwest of Zhaojing, on Deer Mountain, and also required passing through this road. Coincidentally, the two groups of people actually collided head-on.
When a few people got out of the car, the carriage in front had already been driven to the side of the road, and the princess’s carriage, escorted by the head guard, left the convoy and galloped off into the distance, flags fluttering and armours
swarming.
After about an hour, an imperial attendant came to announce that the emperor and his entourage were leaving for Lu Mountain.
The group knelt by the roadside until the emperor, dressed in full battle gear and riding on a horse, led the princes, grandsons, military and civilian officials in a grand procession past them.
behind.
Perhaps they were shocked by the stern and intense atmosphere, because after getting into the carriage, the young ladies did not dare to talk any more. Meilin could not help but secretly call it a lucky escape, but she also knew that such luck
did not come all the time, and if she did not come up with a solution soon, she was afraid that her mistake would soon be revealed.
Chapter 1 (3)
After travelling a hundred li a day, they arrived at the foot of Lushan Mountain two days later. By then, the military academy had already set up its camp in the open space, built a tented palace surrounded by a yellow-painted wooden city, erected a banner gate, and
covered it with a yellow curtain. An outer net city was set up, with people taking turns to guard it to prevent anyone from breaking in.
The people and horses accompanying the princess were arranged to stay in the outer camp, except for the princess and her personal maid, who were not allowed to go out without permission. The beauties all vaguely had a hunch that
their fate might be decided here. Although they had been aware of this when they were chosen to accompany Princess Zigu as her maid of honour, when it really came to this moment, they still felt
panic and unease.
The same was true of the five young women in the same tent as Meilin. There was no longer the lively laughter of the previous few days, and Meilin unconsciously frowned slightly, as if a layer of gloom had descended, making her
feel heavy-hearted.
Meilin, who didn’t really care about this, was counting the days until she could get the antidote next month, and was worried about what kind of information she would have to use to get a better antidote.
worried. So far, the only thing she is grateful for is that since following the emperor’s entourage, the maidens have begun to speak Da Yanese, and their fluency is even better than that of the native Yan people who rarely
speak.
The next morning, at the first light of dawn, the sound of loud horns resounded across the plains, followed by the thunderous sound of hooves and the shouts of men, waking the maidens who were exhausted from days of travelling.
. They looked at each other with trepidation, like the small animals in the forest that were about to be hunted ruthlessly.
Time passed slowly in the agonising wait for their fate. The night finally fell in the mountains and fields with the return of the hunters. Bonfires were lit in the spacious camp,
and the newly-caught game was placed on the flames. Laughter and joy could be heard through the gaps in the tents, making it almost possible to imagine the hustle and bustle there.
Just as the girls were fidgeting and unable to sleep, they finally received the summons. However, to their surprise, they were not asked to perform the singing and dancing skills they had thought they would
and had prepared for a long time. The remains of flowers and the marks made by sharp instruments in the spacious clearing illuminated by the fire showed that there had been an exciting
entertainment here before.
Three hundred beautiful young girls were divided into ten columns, each with thirty people, standing neatly and orderly in the centre of the clearing, waiting to be chosen by the princes and ministers.
Meilin stood at the back, slightly leaning to the right, and she could see the Emperor Dayan in the upper position.
Perhaps he had once been young and strong and full of spirit, and perhaps he was still wise and majestic and decisive in battle, but all she could see was a sickly-looking middle-aged man with a gaunt figure.
His long narrow eyes are charming, but the greenish tinge under his eyes destroys the feeling of wisdom they should have and gives a feeling of discomfort.
Under his left hand, sitting are young men in their twenties and thirties in military attire. Obviously, they are either princes or grandsons of kings, or young generals, the
core strength. On his right hand side, the beautiful Princess Zigu, veiled and head bowed, never once looked at their presence from beginning to end. The people on the same side as her
were mostly dressed as scholars.
Meylin glanced at the environment around him, then lowered his eyes and stopped looking around. In his ears came the somewhat weak but still authoritative voice of Emperor Yan.
‘Xuan Lie, you won the hunt today, so I will let you choose first.”
Chapter 1 (4)
As soon as these words were spoken, the man sitting at the top of the leftmost seat hurriedly got up to thank the emperor, but instead of immediately turning around to choose someone, he laughed and said, ’The princess is new to the Great Yan Empire, so she will inevitably be
unaccustomed to some things. Why doesn’t the emperor first leave the princess a few people to keep her company who she likes?’
His words were tactful, and on the surface, he was being considerate of his guest from afar, but in reality, he was asking the Emperor to keep the people he liked first. After all, the princess would eventually enter the palace, so the emperor could naturally have the people around her whenever he wanted.
Upon hearing this, Princess Zigu, who had kept her eyes lowered, finally looked up, gave Murong Xuanlie a quick glance, then bowed to the emperor and said lightly, ‘As you command,
Your Majesty.’ She was born into an imperial family, so she knew exactly what these men were thinking.
So the old emperor swept his dragon eyes over the room and ordered a few women to be brought in. At that moment, Meilin saw that his originally somewhat clouded old eyes clearly flashed with a gleam of brilliance, and a cold sweat broke out on his back
a layer of cold sweat, secretly glad to be at the end. After all, once you set foot in the palace, it is not an easy task to get out again.
Next, starting with Murong Xuanlie, all the men present were given two or three women each. No one was impolite enough to really pick and choose in front of the emperor, not to mention that the women who came with them this time
With nearly a hundred young girls left in the hall, Emperor Murong ordered his close attendants to count them and prepare to take them back to the capital to reward the important officials who were unable to attend the hunt. Meilin Zheng was one of them.
As she looked at the young girls, some genuinely happy, others forced to smile, their fate already sealed, she felt a moment of confusion in her heart, wondering what kind of person she would meet. But this feeling
did not last long, and was quickly dispelled by someone barging in.
In a daze, Meilin suddenly felt a sudden tightening around her waist, and she was already being carried into the arms of a man. At the same time, Yan Nü, who was next to her, also fell into the man’s arms. The two of them were caught off guard
and their foreheads almost touched.
She looked up, and the face of a young and handsome man came into view. Before she could see his appearance clearly, with a smack, she was kissed heavily on the cheek.
Meilin was startled. Seeing him turn his head to kiss the other woman in his arms, she didn’t know how to react for a moment, and could only let him embrace her as they walked forward,
but guessed that this person must be of high status.
Sure enough, before the man reached the emperor, he heard Murong Xuanlie’s laughter.
‘Jinghe, you’re late. Did General Mei already grant you entry?’ His words seemed playful, but Mei Lin sensitively detected a hint of sarcasm in them. His gaze quietly
slipped up to the emperor on the throne, and he saw his undisguised expression of impatience and indifference.
But the man holding them was oblivious, shrugged his shoulders, and with a helpless expression on his face, said, ‘My brother is joking. Luo Mei is not these women…’
As he spoke, he kept groping the two women in his arms.
Bastard. Mei Lin suppressed the disgust in her heart, and before the word could even form in her mind, someone else already cursed out for her.
‘Wretch!’ That was the angry rebuke from the person sitting at the top.
Meilin felt the man’s body stiffen for a moment, before quickly returning to normal. He led the two of them in a bow towards the emperor, grinning, ‘My son is late, please forgive me, Father.’
Although he said this, there was not the slightest hint of remorse in his tone.
‘What a sight, get out of my way.’ The old emperor obviously did not like this son at all, and was not even willing to spend more time lecturing him.
Even so, the man was still a prince, and soon someone gave up the position where Murong Xuanlie was sitting and set out new bowls and chopsticks. Chapter 1 (5)
Murong Jing and Diao Erlang nodded in agreement, then sat down at the table and wentof with the beauty in his arms, ignoring the various expressions of the people who had been looking at him since he appeared.
It was only after two glasses of wine had been poured that Meilin could see his appearance clearly.
The man did not particularly resemble the old emperor, but he did inherit his eyes. They were long and narrow, upturned, but half-open and half-shut, with no expression, as if
he never got enough sleep. His facial features were clearly defined, with a straight nose and full lips, and he was indeed very handsome, but his face was pale with a hint of cyan, and his expression was frivolous and decadent, giving the impression that he had overindulged.
It shouldn’t be difficult to keep an eye on someone like this. Mu Lin thought, and a knot formed in her heart. She knew that it wouldn’t be difficult, but at the same time, it also meant that there was little hope of obtaining important
information from him.
The purpose of their being inserted into the bridal party for this marriage of convenience was to get close to the important ministers of the Great Yan, to put it bluntly, to act as spies. The secret bag didn’t explicitly point out
which aspects she should pay special attention to, but it was clear that the more valuable the information, the better the antidote.
Value. Value. Value.
She cursed in her heart, but her lips remained gently curved as she bowed her head and poured wine for the man who was playing with another young girl. Unexpectedly, the man suddenly reached out and
grabbed her breasts, so she spilled the wine. The next moment, she was pushed to the neighbouring seat, while the man’s indifferent laughter sounded in her ears.
‘Brother, you like big breasts, right? I’ll trade you this one for the one on your right.”
The girl’s squeal was followed by a flustered flinch, and Meilin fell onto a man. A light and elegant fragrance entered her nostrils amidst the strong smell of wine and the mixed smell of roast meat
and made her heart tremble. Before she could react, her chin was already being lifted by someone’s grip.
In contrast, Murong Xuanlie looked more like the old emperor, and I wondered if that was why he was exceptionally favoured. Those eyes seemed to suit his delicate and refined face
even more, making that face almost devilishly handsome.
I saw him narrow his long eyes slightly, and after just taking a glance at Meilin, he let go of her hand.
‘Use the other one.’ Although he didn’t say anything, his eyes and tone of voice clearly revealed a lack of interest.
Without saying a word, Murong Jing gestured for the young girl in his arms to go over. Meilin let out a silent sigh of relief and went back to his side of her own accord. Murong Xuanlie’s eyes were sharp and penetrating, and he was
not someone to be trifled with. Rather than constantly on her guard, she would rather stay by Murong Jing’s side, who was inferior to him in every way, at least the chances of losing her life would be much smaller.
The exchange of women between the two princes was obviously trivial and did not attract the attention of others. The old emperor was in poor health, and after sitting for only a while, he was supported by an attendant and
left first, and he left at the same time as Princess Zigu.
With the disappearance of the most awe-inspiring presence and the company of a beauty, the atmosphere at the scene immediately became lively.
The young girl who had replaced Murong Xuanlie looked cold and unsmiling, unlike the other women, who were gentle and compliant. It was not clear whether this was her true nature or whether she resented the exchange. Meilin
gazed at her without making a sound, and did not find her appearance particularly special. Although she was beautiful, she was not more beautiful than the previous one. To be fair, she even felt that
the young girl’s nose was a little too sharp, which made her feel uncomfortable.
Strangely, Murong Jinghe not only didn’t mind the young girl’s rudeness, but was even keen to tease her into talking. Even when she was glared at, he still smiled without anger, and kept looking at her
until Meilin’s jaw almost dropped.
She muttered to herself, ‘Cheap,’ but a gentle smile played at the corners of her lips as she urged drink after drink. Her nerves, which had been on edge, finally relaxed a little. Seeing how the men ignored her
and knew that she probably wouldn’t have to sleep with him tonight.
Chapter 1 (6)
From the occasional response of the young girl, Meilin learned that her name was A Dai, and from beginning to end, neither Murong Jinghe nor had ever asked Meilin her name.
After the banquet, the two women accompanied Murong Jinghe back to his tent.
‘You wait here.’ Outside the tent, Murong Jinghe spoke to Meilin for the first time, but his eyes were still leering at A Dai, and the implications were self-evident.
Meilin nodded, stopped, and let out a huge sigh of relief. Although the autumn night was cold, it was still better than being pressed down by a bastard.
However, before she could fully let out her breath, things took a sudden turn for the worse. Just as Murong Jing and his hand reached out to embrace Adie, who had always maintained a certain distance from him,
the girl suddenly pressed a dagger, which had appeared from nowhere, against her chest.
‘If you dare touch me, I will die before you,’ she said, her voice and expression stern, her beautiful eyes betraying a look of sadness and despair.
Meilin was dumbfounded. His gaze shifted from the girl’s determined eyes to the dagger, and he realised that it was actually the dagger used to cut the roast meat at the banquet. He had never expected that the girl had silently
and imperceptibly hidden it, as if just in case. She secretly groaned, foreboding that things would develop in a direction she did not want.
Sure enough, Murong Jing and was only slightly surprised, and then he laughed out loud. Without forcing her, he waved his hand and said, ‘Then you stay outside.’ Then, turning
to Meilin, he asked with a smile, ‘Do you want me to lend you a dagger too?’
Although he was smiling, Meilin could see that there was no smile in the half-closed eyes. She felt a strange chill in her heart and hurriedly took the initiative to go up to him and snuggle into his arms, smiling and saying, ‘Your servant
is already your man, so naturally I am at your disposal.’ Her words were ambiguous and ambiguous. Although she did not directly reject his bad proposal, she did not want people to misinterpret the meaning
.
Meilin did not think she had the backing of A Dai. Although she was not sure what that backing was, she would not be foolish enough to try to emulate it. Or perhaps she simply could not
understand the practice of threatening someone with one’s life. What is the value of their lives to these men who treat them like playthings?
Her tactfulness obviously impressed him. Murong Jing gave a faint smile, bent down suddenly, picked her up horizontally, and carried her into the tent.
The smile carried no meaning, and it was so indifferent that it didn’t seem like it could belong to this person. Meilin was momentarily stunned, thinking about the man’s previous expressionless eyes and the chill she felt because of it
She was afraid that this person was not as superficial and vulgar as he appeared to be. Just as she had turned this thought, she was thrown, landing heavily on the thick felt rug. The next moment, the man
pressed onto her.
The pungent smell of wine mixed with the scent of an unfamiliar man surrounded her, and Meilin finally began to feel panicked and uneasy about what was about to happen. She had not been ignorant of the
things, when she was in the dark factory, the leaders of the instructors took advantage of their positions and played with countless young men and women. The reason she was able to escape was said to be because she had a
prostitute mother who suffered from a secret illness. In the eyes of those people, the blood flowing in her body was all dirty. She actually had no recollection of this, but the painful expressions of the young girls in her room were deeply
etched in her mind, and at this moment, she couldn’t help but think of them, and her heart became a little timid.
Afraid that she might chicken out and do something to get herself killed, her sweaty hands gripped the blanket beneath her, her head tilted to one side, and the flirtatious smile at the corner of her lips had long since frozen.
Facts proved that Murong Jinghe was not a lover, and he didn’t even bother with foreplay, taking the woman beneath him directly. Meilin groaned in pain
sound, her body tensing up, her hair on the forehead drenched in cold sweat.
Murong Jinghe was obviously a little uncomfortable with her dryness and tightness as well. His knife-like eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he said coldly, ‘Relax, you’re pinching me.’
Upon hearing this, Meilin wanted to swear, but in fact, she could only bite her lower lip tightly, trembling as she tried to get used to the huge, fiery presence. It wasn’t until her fingernails pierced her palms that
her body relaxed slightly.
Murong Jing immediately felt it, thrust his hips with all his strength, and entered a little more, then began to thrust recklessly.
Chapter 1 (7)
Meilin was awakened by the blinding lights and the bear paws that kept disturbing her chest. Before she could figure out her situation, the fire-like pain in her private parts
assaulted her, instantly clearing away the chaos remaining in her mind. She had just lost her martial arts skills and her body was weaker than average. Coupled with the fact that she had been running around for days and had toxins hidden in her body,
she actually fainted halfway through.
‘Ungrateful,’ Murong Jinghe’s lazy voice suddenly sounded in her ear, causing her to jump in surprise and wonder why she had offended him again. After some effort
open her eyes, she realised that he wasn’t talking to her.
The tent was brightly lit by the candlelight, and it was obviously still the middle of the night. Murong Jinghe was lying on his side with his hand propped behind his head, his robe half open, and she could see the slightly bulging muscles under his smooth, taut skin.
They weren’t covered in flabby fat as she had imagined, but the colour of his skin was as pale as his face, tinged with green, which was not normal.
At this moment, he was looking at the tent door with half-closed eyes that seemed to never open, smiling faintly. His free hand was obscenely rubbing her naked chest.
Meilin forced herself to resist the urge to slap his hand away and tilted her head to look out.
Beyond the empty clearing in the centre of the tent, she saw A Dai kneeling there, his long hair streaming out, his face pale, but still stubbornly holding his back straight. Behind her were two
men dressed in the uniforms of the Imperial Guards.
Her body stiffened slightly, and without making a sound, she shifted her position slightly and reached out to grope for something to cover her naked body.
Realising that she had woken up, Murong Jing lowered his eyelids slightly, then his gaze returned to the defiantly staring Adie, who was full of contempt. Instead of getting angry, he smiled and said
but his words were extremely cold.
‘Slap her in the face to make her understand her place.’
While he was speaking, he rolled over again and pressed down on Meilin. Meilin let out a muffled grunt, feeling her wounds, which had not yet healed, tear open again. However, she had to hold the man on top of her tightly
so that her body was not completely exposed to the sight of others.
With a reply, the sound of a crisp slap echoed in the tent, one after the other.
‘You’re still obedient,’ Murong Jinghe whispered in Meilin’s ear, and the hot breath that rushed into her ear lobes made her break out in goosebumps.
She wanted to say a few flattering words, but her throat felt dry and she couldn’t make a sound, so she could only force a smile on her lips and try her best to look charming. She closed her eyes
and a pear tree appeared in her mind, and her tight chest gradually eased up.
I don’t know how long it took, but eventually the man withdrew from her, and the sound of the slap stopped. The whole time, I never heard A Dai beg for mercy.
Muyong Jinghe looked at A Dai, whose mouth was bleeding but who was still staring back at him with a swollen face. A strange expression came into his dark eyes, but he sneered, ‘What,
A Dai did not say a word, and the disdain in her beautiful eyes grew even stronger.
Muyong Jinghe rubbed the corners of his eyes, too lazy to say anything else, and waved his hand, dispiritedly saying, ‘Take her out, as a reward for you.’ The meaning could not have been clearer, and it was
to give her to the entire battalion of imperial guards.
‘No…’ Seeing the gleam of joy in the eyes of the two men holding her, she was about to kneel down to thank them when Adai’s mental defence, which had been holding strong until now, finally collapsed and she screamed
out.
The sound of her scream was miserable and sad, piercing directly into the ears of Meilin, making her involuntarily shiver. She opened her eyes and just happened to catch the triumphant smile in Murong Jinghe’s eyes.
After all, A Dai had given in. She thought. Strangely, she was not surprised by this, as if she had known from the beginning that this would be the outcome.
Later she learned that that night, A Dai had tried to escape. Chapter 2 (1)
Before dawn the next day, Meilin was woken up. Murong Jing and his attendant were helping him get dressed while kicking her lightly with their feet, waiting until she opened her eyes
stop.
‘Get up, today you are allowed to go hunting with me,’ he said, looking as if he were granting someone a great favour.
Meilin’s eyes were still sore, and she was a little confused when she heard this. Her naked body, hidden under the blanket, moved, and she immediately gasped with pain, her five facial features squished together
. But when Murong Jing and the next person passed her a look, she still sat up with her weak back, which felt like it had melted, and fumbled behind the blanket to get dressed
.
She was probably used to training with injuries, and even in this situation, she still didn’t think that she might be able to find an excuse not to go.
When they went out, they ended up staying behind. Murong Jing and the Dai beside him were already fully dressed and stood at the tent door, bowing respectfully with their heads slightly bowed to see them off. However, when Meilin
passed by her, she raised her head, unconcealed her contempt and disgust in her eyes, clearly despising Meilin’s self-degradation.
Meilin smiled and ignored her.
Murong Jinghe did not ask for an extra horse, but asked Mei Lin to ride with him. Mei Lin could not understand his intentions. Of course, she did not think arrogantly that after one night
he would lavish her with favours, even if it meant angering the old emperor.
Recalling before they set off, when the emperor saw her sitting in Murong Jinghe’s arms, his face turned black with anger, his beard shaking, but he refrained from lashing out for fear of the consequences. It was
was amusing, and I couldn’t guess what Murong Jing was up to. It wasn’t until I met the woman in full battle gear that all my doubts were resolved, including A Dai’s special treatment
.
The encounter took place at the edge of the forest. Just as Meilin was protesting, shaking all over from the horse’s tossing, the woman appeared
into view. Or perhaps Murong Jing had been lingering at the forest edge, waiting for this person, and that was why he went up to her as soon as he saw her.
‘Luo Mei.’ Without needing to turn around, Meilin could sense that Murong Jing’s mood had suddenly become high-spirited.
Luo Mei. Luo Meiyu of the Mu family, as the first female general of Dayan, was a household name. Meilin had no reason not to know about her, but she never imagined that she would be
such a young woman.
As they drew closer, the face hidden beneath the curled-up feathered hat gradually became clearer. Bright eyes, cherry lips, and skin as white as butter—she was a beauty that could enchant the world. It was just that
her eyes were too sharp, and with her neat soft armour and battle robe, she had a few more heroic and valiant qualities to her charm.
The beauty gave a faint glance at Meilin, who was leaning against Murong Jing’s chest, and snorted, not saying a word, and rode straight into the forest. Meilin noticed that her nose was pointed
and curled up playfully upwards, very similar to A Dai’s, but without the sense of incongruity that A Dai had. At that moment she suddenly understood, A Dai was chosen at first glance, probably
because of the nose that strongly resembled the female general.
Murong Jing and had obviously long been accustomed to this indifference and did not mind, pulling the horse’s head after her, while waving his hand to stop the guards from following.
After yesterday’s hunt, countless paths had been trampled in the forest, and the horses did not have to exert themselves to walk on them, but naturally they could not see any prey. If they wanted to have
a harvest today, they would have to go deep into the mountains. However, after a short while, they encountered several groups of people, including Murong Xuanlie and his personal guards.
When he saw Murong Jing with a woman in his arms, following another woman, Murong Xuanlie was both angry and amused, and could not help but tease him a little. Then, before Mu
Mu Ye fell silent. She was full of anger and had nowhere to direct it, so she turned her glare on Murong Jinghe and said coldly, ‘Your Highness
should stop following me, so as to avoid causing people to gossip.’ With that, she quickly galloped forward, urging her horse on.
This time, Murong Jinghe did not immediately chase after him, but instead, he led Meilin and slowly rode his horse in the direction she was walking.
‘Do you know how to hunt?’ Suddenly, he asked Meilin.
Meilin was sitting uncomfortably, and at first, she shook her head. Then, she felt that something was wrong, and hastily said, ‘Your Highness, I don’t.’ While speaking, she did not dare to look at the man. She could not say
Why, she always felt a little afraid of him, and she didn’t know if it was because of the shadow from last night.
She thought that this impromptu topic would probably end hastily like this, but unexpectedly, Murong Jinghe, for some reason, said enthusiastically, ‘I’ll teach you
.’ With that, he really took off the crossbow from the horse’s back and carefully taught her how to use it, as if he didn’t care at all about Mu Ye Luomei’s departure.
When she was in the Dark Factory, Meilin of course learned how to use a powerful crossbow, but now that her martial arts have been disabled, she cannot pull a normal bow. Fortunately, Murong Jinghe uses a compact and lightweight
small crossbow, so she doesn’t have to exert herself to use it. She is just a little uncomfortable with his suddenly tender and intimate attitude, and she doesn’t know what to do with her hands and feet, let alone use
the crossbow. Murong Jinghe was amused by her clumsy movements and couldn’t stop laughing, all the more determined to teach her how to hunt.
Unbeknownst to them, the two had already entered the depths of the forest, and there was no sign of anyone else around. Just then, the grass moved, and Murong Jinghe pulled the horse back, then
whispered in Meilin’s ear, ‘Pay attention over there.’ As he spoke, he lifted her arms holding the crossbow and then helped her aim.
Feeling the hot breath on her ear, coupled with his almost embracing posture, Meilin couldn’t help but feel a trance. Before she could come back to her senses, the arrow on the crossbow had already been shot, and it whizzed
into the grass.
‘You hit it,’ Murong Jing said, letting go of her hand, and his voice returned to normal.
She could feel the slight vibration of his chest when he spoke through his vest. For a moment, Meilin suddenly found the slightly hoarse voice very pleasant. She shook her head and bit her lip.
The light, sharp pain cleared her mind, and she immediately knew that she had almost gone crazy just now. A thin layer of sweat broke out on her back.
Since she could remember, she had been faced with all kinds of harsh environments and indifferent and cruel human relationships. But no one had told her
what to do if someone was nice to her.
‘Go and take a look,’ Murong Jinghe’s voice sounded again just when she was at a loss. Then her body was lifted off the horse and she landed gently on the ground.
It was probably because she had been on the horse for too long, and also because of the turmoil of the previous night. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she felt weak and almost fell to her knees. Fortunately, Murong Jinghe caught her in time and
did not let go until she was steady on her feet.
Chapter 2 (2)
After gathering her wits, Mei Lin walked awkwardly towards the grass, pushed it aside, and found a grey hare lying on its side inside, with an arrow stuck in its belly and no sign of life. She supported
her aching back as she slowly crouched down, then leaned forward, grabbed the hare by the ear and lifted it up, before looking back at Murong Jinghe.
The man was perched high on his horse, his back to the rising sun. It was impossible to see the usual frivolous expression on his face, and his figure, reflected in the morning light, gave the illusion of overwhelming power.
She had thought she had met someone useless and harmless, but now it seemed that she was about to face a character who was more ruthless than anyone else. Meilin frowned slightly, troubled by her own judgment
‘What are you thinking?’ Murong Jinghe saw that she had been crouching there for a long time without getting up, so he tugged on the reins and let the horse slowly walk past.
Seeing him approach, Meilin felt inexplicably panicked and hurriedly stood up and laughed, ’I was thinking that your archery is really accurate.’
‘If you’re going to shoot, you naturally have to hit the target on the first try. Otherwise, if the prey becomes alert, it will take a lot of trouble to capture it again,’ Murong Jinghe said slowly, his
voice faintly revealing a chilling coldness.
Meilin suddenly felt a little uneasy, always feeling that there was a deeper meaning in his words.
Before she could think much more, Murong Jinghe bent down and lifted her onto the horse’s back, and they walked slowly deeper into the unvisited forest. From time to time, pheasants or
deer would jump past them, but he never shot. Meilin became puzzled.
‘My lord, aren’t you going to hunt something?’ From the reward of the beauty last night, it can be seen that the amount of prey represents the strength of one’s abilities, and it is closely related to one’s glory.
However, Murong Jing and Yi Pao laughed and asked in return, pointing at the hare dangling from the horse’s buttocks, ‘Isn’t this?’
Mei Lin was momentarily speechless. He heard him pause for a moment and then say, ‘What fun is there in shooting these small things that have no ability to resist and are of no use…’
Just as the two men were talking, a fiery red shadow suddenly flashed past from among the scattered rocks and weeds not far away. Murong Jing and’s words came to an abrupt end, and he raised his crossbow and shot. Unexpectedly,
a swift arrow suddenly flew in from the side, knocking his arrow away. This obstruction caused the red shadow to immediately disappear into the dense forest.
Mu Ye Luomei appeared behind the tree on the left and rear, riding her unusually tall black horse. She raised one eyebrow and looked at Murong Jinghe, saying lightly, ‘Murong Jinghe, let’s have a race.’
The content of the race was self-evident, naturally the small, fiery red thing that had suddenly appeared and then swiftly escaped.
It was also unclear how she had managed to get behind the two of them. When she was noticed to be called Murong Jinghe, Meilin immediately knew that she might not be as indifferent to him as she appeared
unfriendly. It was more likely that the two had a deeper relationship that was not meant for outsiders to know. Of course, these were just guesses. What did not need to be guessed was
the happy expression on Murong Jinghe’s face when he saw her appear.
‘Since Luomei is in the mood, I will accompany you,’ he said with a smile, holding a crossbow in one hand and wrapping his other hand around Mei Lin’s waist. He put his legs around the horse’s belly and was about to
gallop off, but was stopped by Mu Ye Luomei, who crossed his horse in front of him.
‘You’re taking her…’ She pointed her small, round chin at Mei Lin and said proudly, ‘Even if I win, it’s not a fair victory.’
Mei Lin’s heart skipped a beat, and before he could react, he heard Murong Jing laugh, and then his body swayed, and he was already placed on the ground.
‘Wait here for me,’ he said gently, leaning down to meet her startled eyes, but not paying her any attention. As soon as he finished speaking, he straightened up and, with a tug on the reins, Mu Ye and
Mei Lin disappeared into the forest, one after the other.
Mei Lin stood in the middle of the overgrown grass, a gust of wind blowing through the forest gap and blowing onto her, making her shiver involuntarily. Chapter 2 (3)
Meilin didn’t think much of it, and she just sat down on the spot where the grass was soft, flattening it out, and then dozed off against the nearby wild stone. Although she was just left behind like this,
her body, which had been tired and in pain, could finally get some rest, which wasn’t a bad thing.
In fact, she knew in her heart that Murong Jing and her purpose of bringing her out had been achieved. The reaction shown by Mu Ren Luomei could not prove how much she liked him, but
at least she cared, cared that the attention she was receiving was being diverted by another woman. Otherwise she would not have turned around and, in the name of a fair competition, asked him to get rid of the eyesore. Of
course, that eyesore was Meilin.
At first, Meilin thought they would be back soon, so she didn’t dare fall asleep. However, as she watched the sun rise higher and higher, her stomach began to grumble
and she still hadn’t seen anyone. She knew in her heart that she had probably really been forgotten.
Understanding this, she simply lay down in the grass and took advantage of the warm sunshine to sleep peacefully, regardless of the danger.
She slept until sunset, and the autumn chill gradually set in.
Rubbing her empty stomach, Meilin sat up and looked up at the blue sky peeking between the leaves above her and the thin clouds dyed red by the setting sun in the distance.
Should I take this opportunity to escape, to flee from it all, and live like a normal person? Her heart flutters, and a strong longing wells up in her eyes, but it quickly
vanished. Of course she would not forget the poison in her body. She needed an antidote every month, otherwise the suffering of the poison attack would be enough to make her life or death impossible.
What’s more, she had nothing on her, and she could hardly protect herself at the moment, so where could she escape to? Could she become a beggar? Forget about Murong Jing and whether he said he didn’t want her or not, even if he did say
and let her go, I’m afraid she would still be crying and begging him to stay.
She took out a wooden comb from her bosom, combed out her hair, which was full of grass clippings, and tied it loosely in a bun. Then she got up and followed the way she came back. If she didn’t leave at this time,
at a later time, she wouldn’t be able to leave anymore. The mountains and forests at night were full of dangers. Even an experienced hunter had to be careful, let alone her, who was defenceless.
The only thing she was grateful for so far was that after resting, her physical discomfort had greatly reduced, and she didn’t feel as exhausted as she did in the morning. She wasn’t worried about getting lost in the mountains.
After all, the training in the dark factory was not for nothing. She was just hungry.
A grasshopper suddenly jumped from the grass in front of her and landed on the tree bark. She grabbed it, pinched off its head, and put it in her mouth, chewed it twice, and swallowed it.
She didn’t have time to search for food slowly, so she just had to find something edible as she walked along, including astringent and bitter wild fruits, as well as some insects that would make ordinary people’s hair stand on end.
In fact, when a person is hungry to a certain extent, as long as it is not poisonous, they can eat anything. Of course, she wasn’t at that point yet, but she had been before. Since she could eat, there was no reason
to be hungry, after all, walking out of the mountains also required physical strength.
After autumn, once the sun sets, it gets dark quickly. After not walking for long, the forest darkened. Fortunately, the moon had already risen, and although the light was faint,
it was better than nothing. Mei Lin used this dim light to search for the traces she left on the way in while carefully avoiding the wild animals that came out at night to forage for food. It was quite difficult to walk
. At this time, she had to miss her own disarmed martial arts. Then she thought of the mysterious master.
If she couldn’t understand why the master disarmed her martial arts at that time, she would understand after knowing her task. Whether or not one has martial arts can be easily tested.
As a concubine’s dowry, being able to martial arts is definitely not something that makes people feel at ease.
She sighed helplessly, thinking about the secret factory of the past, about last night, and about the life she would face in the future. An indescribable fatigue instantly swept over her body,
making her almost unable to walk anymore.
After a pause, she rested her forehead against the rough tree trunk, and it took a while for her to catch her breath. Then she shook off the thoughts that would come uninvited in the dark, gritted her teeth,
and continued walking.
‘No matter what, I will get rid of all this,’ she said to herself, waving her sleeve to fend off the buzzing insects. As she said this,
the spring flowers she saw through the car window that year came to mind, and she couldn’t help smiling slightly.
When they left the forest, it was already mid-moon. Meilin looked at the lights in the tents in the distance, and her legs, which felt like lead, could hardly move.
I really don’t want to go over there! She laughed at her own hesitation.
But this time, she was not allowed to hesitate for long. A stern shout came over. ‘Who’s there?’
There were hoofbeats. A group of people holding torches rushed out of the forest on the other side. The one in the lead was dressed in black warrior’s clothing, with a sea-eagle standing on his shoulder. He was so handsome that
heart-stopping. It was the eldest prince, Murong Xuanlie. The guards behind him had their horses laden with game, including a leopard, clearly having had a very good catch.
Meilin did not expect to encounter them and was stunned, before bowing.
‘Your servant greets the eldest prince.’ Judging by their appearance, they had also just returned to camp. She wondered if Murong Jing and Mu Muo Luomei had returned.
Murong Xuanlie narrowed his eyes and surveyed her for a long time, as if he had just remembered who she was and couldn’t help but feel a little puzzled.
‘Weren’t you the one who went into the forest with the third prince this morning? Why are you here alone? Where is the third prince?’
A series of questions left Mei Lin almost at a loss for an answer, but she had to respond. After weighing her words carefully, she said, ‘I got separated from the third prince in the forest
I was just about to go back to camp to ask if His Highness had returned…’ It was only at this point that she realised that Murong Jing was the third prince in the family, so there was another prince above him, one she didn’t seem to have
seen yesterday.
While she was talking, a guard behind Murong Xuanlie suddenly came forward and whispered something in his ear. When he looked at her again, his narrow phoenix eyes were filled with undisguised
sympathy. Whether it was because he knew she had been left behind or for some other reason,
‘Then you come with us,’ he said, gesturing for one of his men to bring out a horse, and helping her to mount.
In fact, for reasons she could hardly bring herself to say, Meilin would rather walk than ride, but she couldn’t refuse. So she could only shift her body imperceptibly, doing her best
to make her expression look normal.
She was already considered a member of Murong Jing’s family, so Murong Xuanlie didn’t speak to her again for the rest of the journey.
Meilin rode behind on horseback, occasionally looking up at his tall, handsome back. She couldn’t help thinking about the incense she had smelled when she fell on him last night, and her heart felt uneasy.
Chapter 2 (4)
Murong Xuanlie’s men escorted Meilin to Murong Jinghe’s tent, and only returned after ascertaining that Murong Jinghe had returned safely.
When Meilin entered, Murong Jinghe was lounging on a soft pillow, drinking wine while squinting at A Dai, who was kneeling next to him, teasing a small, fiery-red
thing.
Meilin stood by the tent door, clasping her hands in front of her chest and not going any further. After a while, Murong Jinghe seemed to realise her presence, looked up and waved.
Meilin walked over. As he was half-lying down, she dared not stand any longer, so she knelt down like Adai and sat down. However, before she could sit down properly, she was
pulled into his arms. He pressed his nose against her neck and sniffed, then asked in an intimate tone, ‘Where did you get all this floral fragrance?’ His expression and tone were as if he had never
her alone in the deep mountains and forests, not to mention any remorse, not even a perfunctory excuse.
Maybe Meilin would be at a loss for words when someone was nice to her, but she had no trouble dealing with the situation at hand.
‘My lord is just teasing. It’s the middle of autumn, where would the fragrance of flowers come from? It’s just the smell of mountain grass and leaves,’ she said, pretending to be angry, while pretending to pull up her sleeve and put it
her nose and sniff lightly. She didn’t even mention a single word about what happened in the morning, not even a single complaint.
‘Really? Let me smell carefully…’ Murong Jing smiled, and really leaned over again, but this time his target was her more plump than average breasts.
Muyun Xinyu’s heart skipped a beat. Thinking about last night’s experience, she felt as if her whole body was aching again. In a moment of panic, she hastily raised her hand and gently blocked it in front of her chest.
The movement was not awkward enough to make someone feel rejected, but more like shyness. At the same time, she stammered, ‘My lord…I…I’m hungry…’
She wasn’t lying. Although she had found some random things to fill her stomach on the way back, she wasn’t full.
Murong Jing and were taken aback. It seemed that they had only just remembered that she hadn’t eaten all day. He looked up with a displeased expression on his face, as if his mood had been ruined, but still said, ‘Go to
to find Qing Yan in the tent next door and ask him to get you something to eat, and arrange a place to stay.’ The meaning of his words was more than clear: she should eat and then rest, and there was no need to come back
.
Meilin let out a sigh of relief, quickly got up from his embrace and knelt to thank him, then hurriedly retreated, not even bothering to put on a show. It really looked like she was starving
. Only she knew that it was because she was afraid that the stubborn Dai would do something strange again and take his anger out on her.
Of course she could tell, because due to his resemblance to Mu Renluomei, Murong Jinghe was also particularly indulgent with Dai. She dared not and did not want to compete with Dai for his favour
, she just hopes not to suffer any unwarranted misfortune, and then she can complete her task without incident and escape unharmed.
She let out a big sigh of relief as she stepped out of the tent, looked up at the faint moon in the sky and the sparse stars, and figured out the time. In ten more days, she would need to change the antidote.
She just didn’t know if the hunt would end before then.
********
Qing Yan was an eunuch in his twenties with a pale face and no beard. He looked younger than Murong Jing, but was actually a few years older. Probably because castrated men always
look younger.
Murong Jing was still awake, and naturally he didn’t dare go to sleep. But when he heard Meilin’s request, he still looked dejected and raised the corners of his eyes. After going out for a long time, he returned with a cold
plate of barbecued meat.
‘Eat,‘ he said, lifting his chin and looking at Meilin almost through his nostrils, in a condescending tone.
Meilin didn’t mind, and thanked him.
’Don’t think that just because you’re in your master’s bed, you’re also half a master…’ She was using a thin knife to cut the cold, hard roast meat, while on the other side, she was lecturing in a strange and ambiguous manner
.
Chapter 2 (5)
‘Your servant agrees with what you have said,’ said Meilin, unruffled, stopping what she was doing and responding with a submissive expression. Her temper had been smoothed out long ago in the Dark Factory, and Qing Yan’s
attitude like this could not stir the slightest ripple in her heart.
Seeing her like this, Qing Yan muttered a few more words, but finding it uninteresting, she stopped of her own accord.
Meilin slowed her movements and chewed as quietly as possible, but not too slowly, or perhaps even too quickly. In the space of a cup of tea, she finished
the plate of barbecued meat.
When Qingyan saw the clean plate, he was so shocked that he couldn’t close his mouth for a long time.
‘How long has it been since you last ate?’ His face changed from one expression to another, but in the end he couldn’t hold back and asked. Although the barbecued meat had cooled, it was still enough for two meals
and she would never be able to finish it.
‘One day,’ Meilin smiled, without explaining too much, and then asked, ‘May I ask your advice, Eunuch, where should I take this plate?’ She naturally didn’t dare to ask him to do the post-meal cleanup
afterwards.
He was obviously pleased with her humble and neat meal, and stopped being difficult. He waved his hand and said, ‘Leave it there, someone will come and collect it tomorrow.’ Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he looked her up and down and frowned,
saying, ‘How are you going to serve the Prince like that?’ And with that, he walked out.
Meilin was a little dazed, and when she looked down at herself, she realised that after a day of tossing and turning in the forest, the white clothes she was wearing were not only crumpled from hanging, but also stained with the sap of some grass leaves
and wild flowers, making them look a mixture of yellow and green. She couldn’t help but feel a strange feeling in her heart when she thought about how Murong Jing had not hesitated to take such a person into his arms.
strange feeling, and at the same time she understood the true meaning of his words about being covered in the scent of flowers.
While she was daydreaming, Qing Yan had returned, followed by two burly men in imperial army attire. One was carrying a large wooden bucket, while the other was carrying two buckets of hot water.
After instructing the two men to put down the buckets and pour the water in, he watched them leave before putting the clean clothes, towel, and soap he was holding aside. He said to Meilin, ’
Clean yourself up, so that no one can say that we from the Jingbei Royal Family don’t know how to behave and look like dirty beggars.”
Without waiting for Meilin to say anything, he added, “Put the water there after you’ve finished washing. You’ll have to make do here for the night. Tomorrow I’ll have someone set up a tent for you.” After saying this, he left the tent, and
never returned.
A thin white mist rose from the bucket of water, and the clear surface was sprinkled with golden-yellow petals the size of rice grains. The fragrance filled the tent as it was steamed by the heat, and at first glance, it made you want to soak in it
.
Meilin stood in the same place for a long time, making sure that no one else would come in, before slowly taking off her clothes and stepping into the water.
When she sat down, the water in the tub rippled up, just above her chest. The slightly warm water stimulated and soothed her aching muscles, and she couldn’t help but let out a comfortable
sigh, leaning against the edge of the tub and completely relaxing.
Although this Qing Yan was a bit mean, he was extremely considerate, Meilin thought. Whether he was doing it to save Murong Jing’s face or to do his job,
After a while, when the fatigue had eased a little, Meilin reached down and removed her hairpin, letting her long hair fall down. Taking a deep breath, she lowered her body so that the water reached above her head, and her mind became clearer
.
Before, when she heard Murong Jinghe occasionally refer to himself as ‘Your Majesty,’ she just thought it was an slip of the tongue, but now she realised that he had actually been made king. For a prince to be made king, either he had achieved great feats
he had been exiled by someone else. No matter what the reason, the old emperor was destined never to hold that position again.
Jingbei. That place…
With one last breath, she broke the surface with a splash, wiped away the wet hair and water droplets stuck to her face, and her eyes shone as she looked at the candlelight.
That was… that was where she came from.
That year, she was crammed with other children in a swaying and bumpy horse-drawn carriage, watching the green mountains recede in front of her eyes, the broken white flowers swaying in the rain and fog, and her heart was
unsettled by not knowing where she was being taken. It was at the very beginning of that journey that she occasionally overheard passers-by talking, and the most mentioned place was Jingbei.
Perhaps Murong Jinghe would take them back to Jingbei. At the thought of this possibility, Meilin could not help but feel a surge of excitement, and a vague hope arose in her heart that she did not understand.
However, this hope did not last long. Because from the next day onwards, until the end of the hunt, she never saw Murong Jinghe again, as if she had been forgotten.
In contrast, Adai, who had finally given in to reality, stayed in Murong Jinghe’s main tent and enjoyed a moment of glory. Whenever Qingyan saw her, his eyes
would involuntarily show pity.
What made her completely despair of that hope was that after the hunt, Murong Jinghe did not return to Jingbei, but went to the capital with the emperor. At that time, she realized that he had always
lived in Zhaojing. As for Jingbei, it was probably just a nominal fiefdom.
Chapter 3 (1)
The Jingbei Prince’s Mansion in Zhaojing is located at the foot of Fushan in the north of the city. It is unexpectedly large, covering hundreds of acres, with carved beams and painted rafters, latticework embroidered with loomwork, green tiles and vermilion ridges, and is extremely extravagant. It is said that
that the Emperor Yan had spent two years building it especially for the third prince. The servants of the Jingbei Royal Palace were always proud that their prince had received such great honour from the emperor, but only a few knew
that it was actually a cage.
Mei Lin lived in the Frost Forest Courtyard, along with two other women. One was called Jiang Tu, and the other was called Lian Xiu, both of whom were also women of Murong Jing. However, the one who came with her,
A Dai, did not live with her.
The day she moved in, Jiangtu was sitting in front of her own window doing needlework when she looked up and saw her. She was first taken aback, then she lowered her head expressionlessly and continued with her
own business. After everything had settled down, she then dragged Lianxiu over. Their attitude was surprisingly friendly, and Lianxiu even took out her
newly tailored autumn clothes when she learned that Meilin didn’t have much to change.
‘The people in these nearby courtyards are not even as good as the middle maidens by the prince’s side, so what’s there to fight about?’ This is what Jiangtu said.
Murong Jinghe had many women. Every once in a while, the palace would bestow a few beauties on him, and other officials would also send him some stunning women from time to time. Coupled with his own
the Qin Lou Chu Guan, the number of beauties he has amassed is probably not inferior to the emperor’s harem. No wonder he always looks like he’s overindulged in wine and women.
So Meilin knows that she is now very far away from Murong Jinghe, so far that she may never see him again even if she stays in this place for the rest of her life. This possibility makes her let out a big sigh
remained, she was also a little worried. If she could not get close to him, the intelligence she could gather would be very limited. Fortunately, she was not too concerned about this matter and quickly put it aside.
The two women did not stay long before leaving, and Meilin wandered around the room, extremely satisfied with the bright room divided into an inner and outer section, complete with all the necessary utensils. This was the first time she
had her own room, and it was well lit.
There were a few old branches with sparse, half-dead leaves hanging across the bedroom window. She didn’t recognise the tree, but perhaps next spring it would grow delicate
flower buds.
Thinking about this possibility, Meilin couldn’t help but feel happy, so she carefully walked over and closed the door, turned around, jumped onto the bed, rolled
and then rolled onto her side, propped up on her arm, smiling as she looked up at the red window and brown branches, imagining the flowers in full bloom. She felt that everything was just perfect.
The bedding had the dry smell of sunshine, wrapping her up in an ethereal embrace. Gradually, sleepiness crept up on her.
In a daze, I suddenly found myself back in the damp, cold prison. Darkness invaded like a nightmare, and the surroundings were filled with foul odours and oppressive moans, as well as obscene curses and
laughter…
‘Mei, you’re having a nightmare,’ I was shaken slightly roughly, and there were words of concern.
Meilin opened her eyes and saw a beautiful young woman standing in front of the bed with a frown and a pout. She was a little dazed and couldn’t think of where she was or who she was in front of for a moment.
‘Get up quickly, wash your face and eat.’ The woman ignored her and turned to go to the window. While closing the window, she said to herself, ‘It’s inevitable that you won’t get used to a new place. Don’t sleep
Don’t sleep with the window open. This is a peach tree, it’s easy to attract nightmares…‘
As she rambled on, her heart, which had been pounding, gradually calmed down. She then remembered that it was Jiang Tu.
’So it’s a peach tree…’ She sat up, murmuring, her back cold and wet.
She thought about that place, and since she had come out, she would never go back.
Chapter 3 (2)
Life at the Jingbei Royal Palace was very laid-back. There was no shortage of food, clothing, or other necessities. It was said that the palace allocated a considerable sum of money every year for the Jingbei King to squander. Thinking back to the Emperor Yan’s
expression the other day when he saw Murong Jing, and comparing it to the treatment he received, really left Mei Lin confused.
But none of this was her concern. On the first night she arrived, she used the method instructed in the silk pouch to sift through the various pieces of information she had obtained and
summarise them before passing them on, in exchange for the antidote, which only began to take effect a full day after the poison had taken effect in her body.
The best antidote is one that takes effect at the time the poison takes effect, so that the person feels no pain at all. Next is one that takes effect two hours after, and then, in descending order, four hours
, eight hours, and one day. This proves that the things that take some brainpower are worthless. That day, she had to find an excuse to lock herself in the
house until the poison wore off for fear of shocking others. However, after a good meal the next day, she was full of energy again, and had no remorse for her perfunctory behaviour.
It wasn’t that she had a crush on Murong Jing or was afraid to hit on him, but she felt that the pain would pass if she endured it, and there was no need to take unnecessary risks.
Perhaps it was because she was relatively strong in enduring pain that she became an anomaly among the death squads that were not allowed to have their own thoughts.
Meilin thought that she would just keep on muddling through like this until the end of the mission, or until the organisation could no longer tolerate it. But reality is often not as satisfying as one would like, and no matter how she followed
behave herself, she was still remembered.
It was no one else but Mu Ren Luo Mei, with whom she had met once.
It turned out that the two had not met again after that day, and Mu Ren Luo Mei had forgotten about her. Unexpectedly, when she met Mu Rong Xuan Lie at a banquet after returning to the capital, Mu Rong Xuan Lie
mentioning what happened that day, and she learned that the defenceless woman had actually walked out of the forest unharmed. This piqued her interest. So she looked for
an opportunity and took advantage of Murong Jinghe’s attentions to her to ask for the woman’s help. There was no reason for Murong Jinghe to refuse an insignificant person like her, so he immediately sent Qing Yan to find her.
To be honest, Murong Jinghe couldn’t even think of who Mu Ren Luomei wanted, but Qing Yan remembered clearly, otherwise it would have taken a lot of effort.
Qing Yan was Murong Jinghe’s favourite person, and not a few people in the palace knew him. When he walked into the Frost Forest Courtyard, the nearby courtyards were obviously in an uproar, all guessing
about the purpose of his visit.
Meilin was hiding in her room, holding a tattered medical book she had somehow obtained and reading it intently. She could not leave the palace, and she did not have any extra money to find someone to cure her
of the poison in her body. Besides, the poison in her body could not be cured by ordinary people, so she could only rely on herself. Of course, she knew that it was basically impossible for someone with no medical knowledge to
accomplish this, but since the result could not get any worse, why not give it a try.
Qing Yan stood by the door and coughed twice before she heard it. She looked up and saw a young man with a white and refined appearance. Her eyebrows furrowed imperceptibly before she smiled and stood up to greet him.
‘I greet Your Excellency.’ She actually had quite a good impression of this mean-spoken eunuch who was always arrogant and condescending. It’s just that having a good impression doesn’t mean she likes seeing him appear.
After all, he follows Murong Jing and the people around him, and he wouldn’t come to see a woman in the backyard with no status for no reason.
It must be said that Meilin, having been trained as a death warrior for so many years, does have an unusual sensitivity to her surroundings.
Qingyan glanced at the book in her hands and then at the simple and clean interior before slowly saying, ‘Pack your things and come with me.’
Meilin was taken aback and wanted to ask, but stopped when she saw his expression of hanging his head and not intending to say more. Turning back inside, she packed two sets of clothes to change and the book
and looked longingly at the peach branch outside the window before resolutely turning away and walking out.
Chapter 3 (3)
‘Eunuch Qingyan, where are you taking Mei?’ Jiangtu and Lianshou were waiting outside and couldn’t help but ask when they saw Mei Lin carrying a bundle.
Qing Yan held his chin high, not even glancing at the two of them, and said indifferently, ‘No one taught you when you entered the house that you shouldn’t ask questions you shouldn’t ask.’ As he spoke, he had already walked
to the courtyard gate.
The two women were momentarily at a loss and could only look at Meilin helplessly. Meilin shook his head slightly to indicate that he didn’t know either, and Qing Yan over there was already urging him along, so he had to hurry
up and keep up.
They didn’t say a word the whole way. Just as they were approaching the destination, Qing Yan finally spoke.
‘No matter what happens, don’t forget your duties as a servant.’
Duties as a servant…
Mei Lin was momentarily stunned, but then immediately reacted to the fact that he was giving her advice. She hurriedly responded respectfully, and her gratitude towards him increased by two points.
In fact, those who associate with bad company become bad themselves. Qing Yan is able to become the closest person to Murong Jing and his entourage, so of course he is not a good person either. To mention such a thing to a woman of lowly status
is already an exception, and that is only because of his deep inferiority complex caused by his own flaws, which has developed into a perverted sensitivity. From beginning to end, he has never been able to detect the kind of contempt that ordinary people hide beneath their awe.
Qing Yan led the man to the third floor of the north wing of the Tan Yue Pavilion, reported back, and then went off to attend to other matters. Meilin went in alone.
From the outside, the Tan Yue Pavilion looks like a simple, heavy three-storey wooden building. Only when you enter do you realise that it is actually made up of four interconnected wooden buildings, with a courtyard in the middle.
not too big, not too small courtyard. The only exception is the north building, which has two floors on the southeast and west sides of the third floor. The entire second floor of the south building is covered with red carpets with hanging golden tassels, and it is actually a stage. In this way, one
does not have to guess to know the uses of the other three sides.
At this time, a play of unknown content was being performed in the south building. A young woman in green was waving her long sleeves and singing in a high-pitched voice, making people feel drowsy in the afternoon autumn sun.
The third floor of the north building was also a whole room, with a thick, soft and gorgeous brocade carpet. There was no furniture, and only a hazy sense of space was created by layers of pale green tulle embroidery weft.
. Some soft cushions are casually thrown on the floor, and the chrysanthemums in the vase are faintly visible behind the gauze. The fragrance of the incense wafts up, steaming the autumn chill away.
Muyong Jing leans back against the soft cushions, one hand resting on the carved wooden railing, the other holding a cup of wine. His gaze strays over the roof of the south building and falls on the blue lake not far away.
The lake rippled, the mountains were covered in greenery, the sky was blue and vast, and he squinted slightly in a state of intoxication. The sun shone down on him without any obstruction, and the warm temperature made his face seem
to look better. Next to him, A Dai sat with his legs crossed, holding a small scarlet sable in his arms. Some distance away from them, Mu Ye Luomei held a folding fan in his hand, dressed in a green robe
with a square scarf tied around his head, standing leaning on the railing in men’s clothing.
Meilin hesitated for a moment, then took off her shoes and stepped onto the brocade carpet. Her skirt fell down, concealing her plain socks.
‘Your servant greets the prince,’ she said, bowing from afar without walking any closer.
This immediately attracted the attention of the three people. Mu Ren Luo Mei’s folded fan in her hand unconsciously knocked against the railing in front of her, and her beautiful eyes revealed a gleam of interest.
Although the movement was slight, it was still captured by Murong Jing. He slightly raised the corner of his lips, forming an ambiguous smile, and then turned to Mei Lin.
‘Come over here,’ he ordered.
Meilin felt very reluctant. Perhaps A Dai would not be a threat, but just the other two people were enough to make her feel dangerous. She had not forgotten what happened last time. If
she had been replaced by someone else, she was afraid that she would have been reincarnated into another cycle by now. However, this realisation did not make her refuse the order of the King of Jingbei.
Suppressing the helpless emotions in her heart, she slowly walked in with her head bowed, and when she raised her face again, she had a gentle smile on it.
Murong Jing looked at her twice, feeling that she looked familiar, but he couldn’t remember more. Then he looked at Mu Ye Luomei and said, ‘The person is here. If you want her to do something, just
tell her.’
Meilin was slightly startled and looked blankly at Mu Ye Luomei, who was dressed in men’s clothing but looked even more charming, wondering what she wanted with her. Even if she was jealous, she shouldn’t be jealous of herself
She saw Mu Ren Luomei’s lips turn up slightly, and suddenly she swung her fan like a knife at Meilin’s neck. She was extremely fast, and her sudden attack gave no one a chance to think. If it had been
in the past, Meilin would have definitely used her martial arts instinct to dodge or directly attack back, but now, even after she had retracted her fan, Meilin still stood confusedly in the same place, unaware
that she had almost died.
In fact, Meilin was not unaware of this. She had lost her martial arts skills, but her eyesight was still there. She was just too slow, and before she could do anything, the other person had already stopped,
so she simply pretended to be stupid. However, she was greatly disturbed in her heart, worrying that her identity had been suspected.
Just as she was feeling uneasy, Mu Ye Luomei opened her fan with a swish and walked out while shaking it.
‘I’m taking her away,’ she said to Murong Jinghe, but the person speaking didn’t even look at him.
Meilin was a little hesitant, not knowing whether to follow or not. In fact, she still didn’t understand what was going on.
‘What are you daydreaming about? Follow me!’ Mu Ruomei turned back and shouted unhappily, noticing that the person had not followed.
Meilin felt cold sweat trickling down her back and could not help but look at Murong Jinghe, hoping that he would give her a clear indication.
Fortunately, this time Murong Jinghe did not fall into deep thought as usual and did not respond for a long time. He received Meilin’s inquiring gaze and could not help but smile slightly. Suddenly, he reached out and grasped
her ankle, which she had hidden under her skirt, and pulled it towards his arms. Meilin couldn’t stand steadily and swayed twice before she almost fell, but he caught her.
‘I can’t let you take her away,’ he finally said, and with the hand that was still holding the wine glass, he put it around Meilin’s nape of the neck and poured the remaining half glass of wine into her mouth.
When he looked up after doing all this, he was facing Mu Ren Luomei’s beautiful eyes burning with dangerous anger.
‘You’d better give me a reasonable explanation!’ Obviously, she felt she had been made a fool of.
Murong Jinghe knew her well and was not intimidated by such anger. Instead, he lowered his head and kissed the corner of the woman in his arms. Then he suddenly noticed that there was actually a
small vermilion mole on the corner of her eyebrow. At this moment, it was completely revealed as she leaned against his arm, and the hair at the side of her head slipped down, looking extremely cute in the sunlight. Because of this discovery,
momentary distraction, couldn’t help but stick out his tongue and lick it lovingly.
‘Murong Jinghe!’ The sound of Makino Rakumei’s clenched teeth echoed through the empty third floor, and against the backdrop of the gentle and charming singing voice of Qingyi coming from the opposite side, it seemed unusually
hard and angry.
Chapter 3 (4)
Murong Jinghe came back to his senses, looked at the woman in his arms for a moment, then raised his eyes and smiled, ‘What my father has bestowed, I dare not give to others, unless…’
He didn’t say the rest, but the meaning was clear enough: naturally, unless it was his family member, then they couldn’t be considered outsiders.
Hearing the meaning behind his words, Mu Ren Luomei was amused, but she also knew that what he had said was the truth. Unable to help herself, she glared at the man who was not hiding his intentions, and angrily
said, ‘You can just dream on.’
Murong Jing smiled and said, ‘You’ve been dreaming for a long time, and you still want to
how long?”
Meilin’s body stiffened uncontrollably. She wanted to push his hand away. She didn’t know what was there at the corner of her eyebrows, but it was really strange to be kissed and touched like this
by someone else. It was a bit…too intimate. At this time, when she heard what he said as if leaning against her ear, even though she knew it wasn’t meant for her, it still made her heart tremble involuntarily, and subconsciously
and turned her head away.
She felt his fingers slip away from the mole, and Murong Jinghe frowned slightly, but soon her attention was diverted by Mu Ye Luomei.
I don’t know if it was that sentence that touched her heart, or if it brought back some memories, but there was a moment of softness in Mu Ye Luomei’s eyes, but then it was filled with coldness again. Avoiding
the question, she turned and walked out, while dropping a line.
‘It’s fine if you don’t lend it. I’ll take her with me when I go hunting in Zhongshan, in the west of the city, the day after tomorrow.’ As she spoke, her silhouette became increasingly faint as it was obscured by the layers of gauze curtains.
Murong Jing watched as the wind blew the green gauze back and forth, leaving only the faint fragrance peculiar to her in the air. A hint of melancholy appeared in his expression as he muttered, ’In that case, just keep
dreaming.‘ He suddenly rolled over, pressing the woman still in his arms down on top of him, and reached out to tousle her slightly dishevelled hair.
’Let me see, where exactly did you arouse her interest…’ He flirted impishly, all emotions on display, the same carefree, dreamy Prince he always was.
Meilin unintentionally met those half-closed, two-toned eyes, but what she didn’t want to see were two cold, lonely glows, without emotion or feeling.
Murong Jing and of course couldn’t see what Meilin had found so attractive about Mu Ren Luomei, but they did keep her in their courtyard and let her stay by their side for two consecutive nights. When she fell asleep
her fingers were still pressing against the corner of her brow, as if he had suddenly become infatuated with her.
During the day, Meilin took the opportunity to look in the mirror and realised that there was a reddish-brown flat mole the size of a grain of rice between the corner of her brow and the side of her temple. She had never noticed it before.
Of course, that wasn’t the point. The point was that he could be so infatuated with a small mole, which was…was a bit childish.
Then she noticed that he didn’t sleep well, and every night he had to toss and turn until he was exhausted before he could fall asleep. At first she thought he was passionate about sex, but then
one time she happened to see his calm, unruffled eyes during the process, and after paying attention, she realised that from beginning to end he had never been involved. It seemed that he only did those things to fall asleep.
And once he was asleep, even the slightest change in breathing rate was enough to wake him up.
Meilin suddenly felt very sorry for this man.
She used to be like this too, and just one careless moment could mean never waking up again. When she lost her martial arts skills, she suddenly no longer had to worry about this, and finally
she was able to sleep peacefully until dawn. Murong Jing looks flashy and indulgent on the surface, but in private, he is actually just as cautious as an ordinary person.
Chapter 3 (5)
Of course, this sympathy was only a fleeting thing, and Meilin would not forget that her life was still in the hands of others. She could tell that Mu Ye had already become suspicious of her.
This was the risk she had to take when she chose to return to Murong Jinghe’s side in the mountains. But she had to come back, even if the antidote she had obtained would take a long time to work, it was still an antidote. Without
an antidote, she would die a horrible death, and countless predecessors had proven this to her.
Staring fixedly at a brightly lit corner of the room, Meilin suddenly felt that she was really out of luck, thinking about the trials she might face the next day. Obviously, they had both been brought back by him at the same time,
but why did Dai not have as many problems as her?
Could it be that she should not be too obedient? She was full of doubts, but dared not move a muscle as she lay on her side.
The man’s chest was pressed against her vest, and his breathing was steady and long, so he must have fallen asleep. Some rough fingertips were pressing insistently at the corners of her eyebrows, and because of the position,
half of her face was covered by the warmth of his palm. It wasn’t very comfortable, but it wasn’t particularly unbearable either. It was just the candlelight, which had been kept lit all night, that made her feel uncomfortable and
prevented her from sleeping soundly.
She couldn’t extinguish the light, sleep facing him, lie behind him, turn over… Men had so many strange habits, so many that sleeping with one was undoubtedly
a torment. It also proved that men were very wary.
After realising this, Meilin had to admit how naive she had been to think she could get her antidote here.
***
The next morning, when Murong Jing and Mei Lin arrived at the agreed meeting place with Mu Ren Luomei, they saw a scene of solemnity with fluttering banners and chilling armour.
Murong Jing and Mei Lin, with their arms around the woman in their arms, tightened their grip, rested their chin on her shoulder, and muttered in a strange voice, ‘What is this nonsense?’
Unlike his doubts, which were tinged with interest, Meilin felt a strong sense of foreboding. He really wanted to escape, rather than let the horse’s hooves slowly advance, watching as they
got closer and closer to the soldiers who were training.
Mu Ye Luomei dressed in black soft armour, with a light blue battle robe over it, rode his horse, followed by an entourage holding silver battle armour. Further away, unexpectedly,
the unexpected figure of Murong Xuanlie, who was having his retainer tighten the ties of his battle robe while he waved a greeting.
‘Today, let Mu Mu see if the once-feared Battle King is still in his prime,’ Murong Lemei said lightly as she drew near, gesturing for her retainer to present the battle armour to Mu
in front of the horse. Although her posture was cold and indifferent, the expectation in her eyes was hard to hide.
Unexpectedly, Murong Jinghe didn’t even glance at the battle armour, yanked the reins, bypassed the two of them and continued on his way.
“The past is gone. Now that I have my beloved in my arms, and wine in golden goblets, I can’t compare it to the carefree and happy days of waiting for the dawn with my spear by my side. General Mei, don’t make me relive my old dreams.’
This was the first time that Meilin had heard him speak to Muye Luomei in such an indifferent tone. He was surprised and a little shocked. He never imagined that
he, who looked as if he had been hollowed out by wine and women, had once galloped across the battlefield, commanding the troops.
It was obvious that Muye Luomei had never been so humiliated before. Standing in the same place, his face turned red and then white. It was only after a while that he turned his horse around and chased after him, angrily saying, ‘Jinghe, do you want
continue to be so depressed and degenerate?”
Murong Jinghe’s body stiffened slightly. He turned around and saw her face full of pain and disappointment, and couldn’t help but give a carefree smile. He grabbed Mei Lin’s neck and
bit lightly on her fair face. With eyes full of nostalgia, he sighed, ’You haven’t called me that name for a long time. Since you want it, I’ll wear it. If my father brings down his wrath
I will have to admit to being afraid of women.‘
If his face had not been so sore and numb from being nibbled, and if he had not been in the wrong, Meilin would have laughed out loud.
’If you want to wear it, just wear it. What’s all the fuss about?’ Mu Ren Luomei said impatiently, but she wasn’t angry because she had been taken advantage of verbally. She was clearly in a good mood because of his compromise
‘Jinghe, don’t worry about Father, General Mei has already asked permission.’ Murong Xuanlie had already put on his battle armour, and as he adjusted the long sword at his waist, he walked over.
Murong Jinghe had no choice but to jump off the horse with Mei Lin in his arms, and after Mei Lin had paid his respects, he asked, ’Why is the older brother here?’
Murong Xuanlie smiled, personally stepped forward, took the battle armour from the waiter’s hands, and helped him put it on, while laughing, ‘General Mei wants to play a very interesting game, so how
can I miss it?’
The word ‘game’ made Meilin, who had been quietly staying by the side to minimise her presence, shiver involuntarily. She had a hunch that she would have a part to play in this game.
Murong Jing looked at her and said unhappily, ‘What are you doing just standing there? Come here and help me get dressed!’
Murong Xuanlie smiled faintly and stepped back slightly, giving up his position.
‘If Your Highness had not spoken up, Your Majesty would never have agreed to give me full authority over the prisoners,’ Murong Xuemei said.
With her words, Meilin noticed that in addition to the neatly dressed soldiers, there was another group of ragged, frightened people. Their hands and feet were bound together
and they were circled in an open space. It was densely packed, and there always seemed to be three or four hundred people.
Murong Jing and swept a glance over there, frowned and asked, ‘What kind of game is it that is worth all your compliments?’ There was a lot of sourness in his words, letting people know that his heart
wasn’t good. Only Mei Lin, who had replaced Murong Xuanlie in tying his waistband, noticed that there was actually no emotion in the half-drooped eyes.
Muken Luomei looked at him and saw that he was almost fully dressed, so he couldn’t help but look closely, trying to find the slightest trace of the shadow of that year in the way he was dressed in battle gear. However
Murong Jing was listless and in poor spirits. Paired with the silver-glittering battle armour, it instead concealed that bit of handsome feeling and made him seem even more mediocre and wretched.
A deep sense of disappointment welled up in her beautiful eyes. She turned her head away and said lightly, ‘Instead of keeping the prisoner of war and wasting food, it is better to use him to train the army.’ Having said this, she could not hold back
her resentment, and reproached, ‘Wine and women have worn away your ambition!’
After saying this, she lashed out at the horse’s rump like she was letting off steam, and galloped off towards the neatly aligned ranks of soldiers.
Murong Xuanlie shook his head, ‘General Mei is so passionate, if you want to win her, Jing and you will have to work harder.’ With that, he leisurely walked over there as well.
Murong Jing and raised his head, squinting at the woman who was lecturing the soldiers. The morning sun shone on her through the green mountains and forests, making her shine like
she was glowing.
He laughed to himself, suddenly embraced Mei Lin, who was still standing in front of him, and kissed her hard on the lips, looking aggrieved. ‘My king is being rejected, what should I do
…’ While saying this, he buried his head in her neck and rubbed and arched, taking advantage of the situation.
Meilin had to make an effort to keep her feet under her. Knowing that he didn’t need a response from her, she looked over his shoulder and stared into the distance into the forest in silence.
Chapter 4 (1)
The sky was high and the ground was wide, the forest was dyed in every colour, and the geese were following the wind.
For the soldiers training in Yan, it was exhilarating weather; for hunters, it was a season that promised a good harvest; for the prisoners of the Battle of Qiu River
prisoners of war, this is an irresistible way of giving them a chance to survive and hope, while also facing death.
But for Meilin, this is definitely a tragic day. If it is said that those Southern Yue people had to be used as servants by the Yan army because they were captured, and became a supplement to their training
supplies? If those South Vietnamese had to serve the Yan army as captives and become their training aids, then she was just a small palace maid, so why did she also incur such treatment?
Sitting against a luxuriant pine tree branch with a depressed air, Meilin picked a pine cone and peeled the pine nuts inside, layer by layer, while cursing Mu
Rong Jing and even the dark factory and its owner.
It turned out that what Mu Ye Luomei called a game was to put the captives in the mountains and forests, and they were only allowed to escape into the mountains and forests. Two hours later, her soldiers entered the forest to hunt,
and rewards were given based on the number of heads counted. As for Meilin, according to Mu Ye Luomei, she wanted to know how someone who didn’t know martial arts could survive in a crisis-ridden situation. This was
for her to train her soldiers in a targeted manner.
It was because she had not been injured at all when she came out of the forest that she was suspected. Mei Lin pursed her lips, feeling a little helpless. She thought that before entering the forest, Mu Ye Luomei had
called her aside and muttered something. Seeing that she didn’t react, she immediately gave a strange smile and said, ‘You’d better start praying now that you won’t be caught by me.’
Even if she didn’t react at that time, after so long, Meilin should have figured out that her inability to speak Xiyanese had been revealed. The sentence that Mu Ye Luomei said at the time
wasn’t Xiyanese, and even if she didn’t understand it, she could guess it now when she thought about it carefully. It seems that this time, she can’t help but escape.
As for Murong Jing and…
She shook her head to banish that person from her thoughts, and her gaze fell on the sun, which had already climbed past the meridian and was falling to the west. She knew that the soldiers should have caught up by now. Before entering the forest, she
had carefully surveyed the soldiers, and from their spirit and energy she knew that they were no ordinary soldiers. Even if she walked for two hours ahead of them, she would not be able to match their speed.
So she did not hurry along like the other captives, but instead walked while removing her own traces. But then she suddenly thought of the sea eagle that Murong Xuanlie had been carrying
and looked up into the sky.
The sky was a deep blue, and apart from a few floating wisps of cloud, she could not see any signs of birds, which made her slightly relieved.
She cracked open a pine nut and tasted the greasy flesh inside, the fragrance spreading across her tongue.
It’s good to be alive, she thought with emotion. She looked through the leaves that blocked her view and saw two scantily clad men supporting each other as they limped over from the other side of the rock. She
remembered that they had been running ahead of her, so it looked like they had gotten lost, otherwise why would they have come back around.
Just as she was considering whether to give them some guidance, she suddenly heard a shrill sound, a white flash of light, and a thud as it pierced the neck of one of the men,
then passed through the other, skewering the two of them together.
Meilin’s hand dropped to her lap, and she held her breath, not daring to move a muscle. A moment later, a man in armour appeared in her field of vision, and with a swish
drew his sword and beheaded the two men, attaching their heads to his waist.
Meilin closed her eyes without a sound, so as not to alert him by her gaze. After a long time, she opened her eyes again, but the man had disappeared. She knew that if it weren’t for
the two men who had previously drawn his attention, her head would have been hanging from his waist by now.
Finally, she saw the strength of the soldiers under Mu Ren Luomei’s command, and her sense of crisis immediately shot up. Her only hope now was for the sun to set soon.
Even if those people were more powerful, they would be affected by the darkness and the hidden dangers in the dark forest. With her current strength, it was impossible for her to escape from the forest. She could only
play tag with them inside until tomorrow.
Mukenu Luomei had stipulated that the soldiers’ return time was the next morning at 6 o’clock. As long as she survived until then, she would be temporarily safe. Chapter 4 (2)
She tied a bag of pinecones around her waist, and after making sure that no one else was approaching, Meilin quickly slid down the tree to find a new place to hide. However, as soon as she set foot on the ground
a light laugh suddenly sounded behind her. She froze, and slowly turned around.
Mu Ren Luo Mei didn’t know when she stood on a nearby rock, holding a crossbow and pointing it at her.
‘It’s really not simple, you were able to avoid my men.’ The tone was light, but the murderous intent was unmistakable.
Mei Lin smiled bitterly, knowing that it was impossible for her to resist in front of this woman. She simply sat on the ground leaning against the tree, and couldn’t help but lament once again
‘General Mei, go ahead and kill me, I don’t want to run anymore.’ She smiled at this, her laughter full of sarcasm, ’You are a great general and hero, condescending
to come and toy with us powerless and lowly people, you are truly capable.’
Her words made Mu Ren Luomei’s face turn red and white, and her eyes flashed with murderous intent. However, the crossbow in her hand hung down, and she sneered, ‘For an undercover spy, do you think
I would still care about anything like benevolence, righteousness, and courtesy… Hmph, if it weren’t for you women, how would Jinghe have ended up like this?’ She said the latter sentence with clenched teeth, obviously
this was the real reason she wanted to kill Meilin.
Meilin smiled, thinking that this reason really made people feel innocent. She spread her hands a bit helplessly, ‘If you want to accuse someone, you can always find a reason. The most favoured person in the Jing Prince’s household is definitely
not a servant. If the general is truly thinking of the prince’s best interests, why doesn’t she just marry him? That way, she can directly restrain him. Besides, given the prince’s feelings for the general, when that time comes, how could
put his heart into another woman.’ She subtly shifted the issue away from the spy. After all, whether the other party had evidence or not, it was not a good thing for her.
Mukenuomu was not sure if her heartstrings had been tugged, but the sharp gaze that had made people feel like a thorn in their back softened slightly. It seemed that she was considering her words. She did not want to, but when she looked back suddenly,
her gaze that was probing straight into the back of her own, her eyebrows rose, and the crossbow in her hand was raised again. ‘Don’t even think about it, Jinghe is not here. Even if he were, he couldn’t stop me from killing
you.’
Meilin once again felt the murderous aura all over her body, her back stiffening involuntarily, but her face remained listless. She raised her hand and pressed it against her eyes,
The sight of herself pleading with a man who was unmoved by her caused her heart to shrink slightly. She laughed at herself, ‘I wouldn’t dare hope for that. The Prince is determined to please the General,
so how could he possibly stop?’ He was so merciless, after being so gentle and affectionate just a moment ago. That man had really opened her eyes. Compared to him, the leaders of the instructors at the secret factory
were nothing.
Apparently, she had remembered an incident from the morning when she said those words, and Mu Ye Luomei’s mood suddenly improved. She flipped her wrist, holding the crossbow vertically at her side, and said with a smile, ‘If you kneel
on the ground and beg, I might consider sparing you this time.’
Mu Ye Lin was not angered by the obvious insult and contempt, but instead smiled silently, putting down her hand that was covering her eyes. ‘General Mei commands thousands of troops, so naturally her word is like nine-tael weight,
and you will not go back on your words.‘ She said this without giving Mu Luomei the chance to change her mind or argue. She got up and then solemnly dropped to her knees with a thump, and then
kept on knocking her head on the ground.
’General Mei, you are a heroine, a valiant woman, please spare the life of your servant.’
Mu Yanluo, a cowardly person who fears death, has not only seen it before, but has never encountered anyone as brazen as Mei Lin, who is actually too lazy to even pretend to save face.
She just
said something that could not be taken back. In addition to being stunned, it was as if a breath was stuck in her chest, so that not only did she not feel the slightest thrill of trampling someone underfoot, she also felt suffocated
and wanted to vent a lot.
But she reacted quickly. With a flick of her wrist, two arrows flew out, hitting Meilin in the left shoulder and right leg, causing her to fall to the ground again.
‘I only said I would let you off this once, but I didn’t say you would get off scot-free,’ Mu Ren Luomei said indifferently, but her expression could not hide her elation at having won the battle.
Mei Lin knelt on the ground, head bowed, waiting for the intense pain in her shoulder and leg to ease, not sure if she had heard what the other person had said. It was only when the dizziness caused by the intense pain and fatigue
passed, she supported herself against the large pine tree beside her and once again managed to get up from the ground.
‘Your servant thanks the general for not killing her,’ she said, looking up calmly at Mu Luo Mei before limping off into the depths of the forest.
Mu Luo Mei stood rooted to the spot, watching her receding back as her mind kept returning to the dark, lifeless eyes. Suddenly, she couldn’t think of a reason why she
was targeting a woman who knew no martial arts.
Chapter 4 (3)
It was a dark night, with no stars or moon, and bad weather was expected the next day.
Mei Lin’s back was pressed against the uneven mountain wall, hoping that the coolness of the rocks would reduce the burning sensation in her body. The arrowhead had been removed, and the wound had been dressed with herbs and roughly treated
and the wound throbbed painfully. Her head felt dizzy and hot. She knew she was running a fever, but dared not let herself sleep, for fear of falling into a deep sleep from which she would never wake up.
So she gripped a sharp stone with her hand and stabbed herself hard when she was about to give up, to keep herself awake.
This is a cave on a slope. After escaping from Makino Luomei, she kept on going as far as she could into the heavily wooded and overgrown area, not daring to stop again. Makino
Luomei’s letting her go didn’t mean her subordinates would let her go as well. She no longer had the strength to erase the traces she had left behind, so she could only try to go to places where her archery and light martial arts skills could not be used
place.
Even so, the blood loss and pain had made her lose her usual alertness. While running, she missed a step and tumbled down the slope. Although she was dazed from the fall, she
discovered a cave halfway up the mountain that was hidden by long grass and tree roots. Not to mention that she no longer had the energy to continue fleeing, even if she could, she was afraid that she could not escape the pursuit of those soldiers skilled in field warfare.
She was adventurous by nature and hid there, waiting for the soldiers to retreat.
Fortunately, no one found her until nightfall. Unfortunately, she had no protective skills and her resistance was not as good as before. This was not a big deal in the past
but it made her develop a fever.
Her parched throat, burning breath, and indescribable pain and fatigue all tortured her and eroded her will.
In a daze, Meilin seemed to see the spring flowers all over the mountains and fields again. The dense raindrops intertwined, making each flower exceptionally beautiful and white. The fresh air carried
the rich floral fragrance unique to February, surrounding her, making her want to just sleep and never wake up.
Her fingers that were holding the stone moved, and finally lifted, as if she was using all her strength, but in fact they were limp and stuck to the wound on her thigh. The pain cleared her mind slightly
clear, and the heaviness of her body came back. Something inside her was desperate to break free from this prison-like body.
What did her mother look like? She clutched at a glimmer of clarity and fought against the urge to give up. Suddenly, she thought about a question she had never allowed herself to think about before, and
then she felt the whole person suffering from the inside out, longing to know the answer as never before.
Why was she unwanted? Where did she come from? Did she ever have a family like other people? Did she have any brothers or sisters? It didn’t matter if she didn’t know the answers to these questions. She
just wanted to know what her mother looked like. That was all she wanted to know. Nothing more…
Nothing more…
In the darkness, her lips, chapped from the cold, parted, and she murmured something, but no sound came out. Perhaps even she didn’t know what she was muttering.
Maybe this time she won’t make it. Just as this thought popped into her mind, which was no longer sober, she suddenly heard a muffled thud, as if
something had hit a tree trunk, and even the rocks above her head seemed to shake. A sense of crisis suddenly made her come to her senses, and she unconsciously calmed her heavy breathing.
She tried hard to hold her breath, but for a long time she heard no more noise. Just as her consciousness was about to drift away again, a sob suddenly pierced the growing chaos in her mind, causing her heart to
shake violently.
The sobbing continued, and it made the already uncomfortable Meilin even more irritable. She didn’t want to care, but she was afraid of getting herself into trouble. She had no choice but to drag her body, which was already close to
the limit, she had to drag herself out and climb out. She found the dark figure on top and grabbed it, head or feet, and dragged it down.
She didn’t have much strength, but the person screamed in fear, and from the sound, she could tell it was a teenager going through puberty.
‘Shut up!’ Meilin felt her headache intensify, and when she spoke out, she realised her voice was hoarse, like sandpaper.
The boy immediately stopped screaming in fear. He wanted to ask who the other person was, but he couldn’t open his mouth. He also stopped crying and couldn’t help shaking all over.
‘If you don’t want to die, come with me,’ Meilin tried, but she found that she didn’t have the strength to drag the young boy at all, so she could only threaten him in a low voice.
The boy didn’t know if he was too scared or if he realised that the other person didn’t mean him any harm, but he really obediently followed her and climbed back into the cave below. It wasn’t until he sat down against the stone wall
and not hearing any more noises for a while, he realised that the other person had saved him. Grateful, he could not help but ask in a trembling voice, ‘Big… big brother, where are you from…
…’ He thought, they were both fleeing for their lives, and they might not even know each other. He did not realise that he had taken the other person for granted as a prisoner of war like himself.
Meilin did not answer. She felt a little better because there was now an extra person, so she reached down to her waist and grabbed a handful of pinecones and threw them at the teenager.
The boy was hit several times, and although the blows were not heavy, he immediately shut up, thinking that he had made her angry. After a while, he quietly picked up something that had fallen on the ground, touched it
and then, with a puzzled look, put it up to his nose and sniffed.
‘Peel… pine nuts…’ Meilin had never seen such a silly child before. After holding back, she finally could not hold back any longer and spoke rather laboriously to remind him.
The boy had been on the run all day and hadn’t eaten anything, so he was dizzy with hunger. When he heard that it was food, he didn’t care about the scales digging into his hands, and he started to break it open. He also felt for the pine cones that had fallen nearby
and picked out all the pine nuts inside without missing any.
‘Brother, you eat it,’ said a voice as Meilin was about to faint and fall asleep, and a hand carefully touched her, asking.
It turned out that the young man had been holding back from eating until after all the pine nuts had been peeled, and he handed them to her first.
Meilin’s eyelids were so heavy that they could hardly stay open, and she felt the touch of the other person’s hand but only grunted in response, too weak to respond. The young man waited for a while, but seeing that she didn’t respond
he withdrew his hand and carefully began to eat the pine nuts himself.
So in the quiet cave, the sound of crunching could be heard ringing out again and again. Although it was a little noisy, at least it prevented people from getting lost in the dark.
After he had finished cracking all the pine nuts in his hands, the young man, still full of energy, smacked his lips and listened attentively for any sounds around him. Apart from the heavy breathing of the person opposite, there was no other noise
. His heart, which had been pounding with fear, finally settled down, and he curled up and fell asleep.
At some point, it started to rain outside, and the autumn rain made a rustling sound as it hit the branches and leaves. The cave was low and not very big, so it wasn’t very cold inside with two
The cave was not cold. The breathing of the two of them, with different frequencies, sounded like they had finally found each other. Just when everything was quiet, there was a loud crash, as if something had
hit the tree above them hard, shaking the soil between the stones and causing it to fall from the top of their heads.
The two of them, who had not been sleeping deeply, were startled and opened their eyes at the same time. Even in the dark, they could feel the shock in each other’s hearts. Chapter 4 (4)
The rain grew heavier and heavier, and there was no more sound from the top of the cave. The young man could no longer sit still.
‘Big brother, I’ll go and have a look,’ he said, worried that it was one of the others, and if they were injured, they would not fare well if they were left to the elements like that.
‘Hmm,’ Meilin was also a little uneasy, wondering if someone else had lost their footing and fallen from above. If that was the case, they could not hide here for long.
The young man went out and dragged someone back in after a short while. It was dark and she couldn’t see anything, but she could feel the cold rain and mist being carried in, making her
shiver involuntarily.
‘He’s not dead yet,’ the young man said, rubbing the cold hands and feet of the person. ‘His clothes are soaked and I don’t know where he’s hurt.’
Meilin was silent. Feeling so disturbed, she felt that the discomfort in her body was not as unbearable as it had been at the beginning. Her body was still burning, and her wounds still ached, but
she was no longer alone. The darkness could no longer engulf her silently.
‘It’s so cold. He’ll die, he’ll die…’ the young man muttered, followed by a rustling sound. ‘I’ll take off his wet clothes. Big brother
, let’s all three of us squeeze together, it’ll be warmer.’ With that, he dragged the silent man towards Meilin and squeezed in.
Meilin did not avoid him. After roughly judging that the last person brought in was not dangerous, she really moved her body and leaned over, sandwiching
the man between the boy on the left and herself on the right. At a time like this, she did not mind transferring her own scorching body heat to others.
A thin hand like a chicken’s claw reached over from the other side and wrapped itself around her shoulders, causing the three of them to lean even closer together. The injury on her shoulder was grasped, and a sharp pain
poured over her. Meilin gritted her teeth and didn’t let out a sound. First, the pain kept her awake, and second, the feeling of sharing her life with someone else made her unable to help but crave it
.
However, this feeling was broken when daylight shone into the cave.
It was probably because the person next to her had absorbed her excess body heat that at dawn, the fever in Meilin’s body had subsided. The hand that had been grasping her shoulder had long since slipped away because its owner had fallen asleep
and was now resting softly on the person in the middle.
She had not slept all night. The quiet dawn light allowed her to vaguely see things in the cave. She rolled her somewhat stiff eyes to take in the person she had snuggled up to all night. Her face
She closed her eyes, then opened them again to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. Her hands tightened unconsciously. She took two deep breaths, then moved silently to the side, hiding herself
in the shadows deep inside the cave.
Muyong Jinghe. The unconscious man with the pale face was Muyong Jinghe.
This was a big joke!
Meilin was at a loss for what to do. Maybe she should just leave, or take this opportunity to kill him…
It was still raining outside the cave, and the sound of the rain tapping against the cave struck at Meilin’s already fragile nerves, making her feel a splitting headache again. As a
mercenary, killing was nothing out of the ordinary, so she could very well kill the man who had put her in this situation. Just like yesterday morning, in the face of her pleas, he had not
softened his heart in the slightest.
With a chaotic mind, Meilin’s panic gradually subsided, and she crawled towards the cave entrance.
The rain dripping from the grass leaves into her parched mouth made her feel slightly better. After taking a few breaths of the fresh air by the cave, she sat down on the spot and turned
her head to look coldly at the two people in the cave.
Chapter 4 (5)
The emaciated teenager was lying next to Murong Jing and, obviously exhausted from escaping for a day, was sleeping soundly. Although his face was dirty and his clothes were tattered, he could still tell from his
childish eyebrows and eyes, he could tell that he was no more than fifteen years old.
Since he was able to escape yesterday, he should be able to survive in the future…
The sound of rustling grass and leaves interrupted Meilin’s thoughts. A dark brown, flat-headed snake poked its head out of the grass by the hole, stared with two dark eyes,
salivated twice, then shook its head and tail and slithered into the hole, revealing a body as thick as a child’s wrist.
Meilin sat there, her gaze calm as she watched it, clenching her fists as her throat involuntarily moved. Just as the black snake slid up her leg in the way, the hands that had been hanging down her sides suddenly reached out.
One hand was caught three inches up the snake’s body, while the other grabbed its body. As the snake’s tail curled up her arm in surprise, she bit above the seventh inch of the snake’s body.
Ignoring the snake’s struggles and the increasingly intense twisting of its tail, her teeth tightened, tightened…until they pierced the cold snake skin and warm blood flowed into her mouth.
The snake’s tail finally slowly loosened, occasionally twitching, and then finally hung limp.
Pop! The dead snake, which was at least four or five feet long, was thrown to the ground. Mei Lin almost collapsed against the rock wall, her eyes closed, gasping for breath. The unhealed wound on her left shoulder once again oozed
.
Having drunk the snake’s blood, her strength, depleted by blood loss, hunger, and high fever, was finally replenished, and her body gradually warmed up. After recovering a little, she opened her eyes
and unexpectedly met a pair of black eyes filled with panic in the midst of clarity.
The boy had woken up. And he had obviously seen Mei Lin bite the snake, or perhaps he had been awakened by the commotion.
Meilin thought for a moment, reached down, picked up the snake on the ground and threw it in front of him, and said indifferently, ‘Eat.’ Pine nuts are a good thing, but after all, there is too little of them, and they really
can’t do much to fill an empty stomach.
The young man shivered in fear, and then shrank away from the still unconscious Murong Jing and over there. He stuttered, ‘You…you are…’ He never would have guessed when
a woman had appeared, and she was a fierce woman.
Meilin lowered her eyelids. It wasn’t that she couldn’t explain, but she really had no desire to talk, and she didn’t want to expend any energy. So she reached into her still bulging waistband and took out two more pinecones
and threw them at the young man, and then she climbed over and dragged the dead snake back. Her gaze searched the cave, and finally settled on Murong Jinghe’s legs.
She crawled over again, took a dagger from above, pulled out the fancy sheath, and the thin blade glistened with a snowy sheen. It looked like a good thing.
Sitting back down, she began to deal with the dead snake. She peeled off the snake skin, chopped off the head, cut open the belly to remove the entrails…
‘You… you… big… big brother?’ As she did all this, the young man finally came to his senses, picked up the pine cones on his body in a daze, and looked at them with disbelief.
Meilin glanced at him, still not speaking, and picked up some half-yellow, half-green broad leaves from the cave entrance and spread them in front of him. She placed the sliced snake meat on top, and the snake skin, bones
and other things were buried in a pit dug in the ground to avoid attracting ants and other things.
Maybe cooked snake meat tastes delicious, but raw ones definitely won’t make anyone feel complimented. The young man hesitantly looked at the white snake meat in front of him, and then at Meilin, who was chewing in silence
chewing, he swallowed hard, trying to suppress the rising nausea and forcing himself to take a piece and put it in his mouth. However, before he could start chewing, the
cold, slimy texture with a strong fishy smell made him immediately spit it out with a loud ‘wow’.
Seeing him take one bite after another, almost spitting out his bile, Meilin couldn’t help but frown, and he leaned over and took back the snake meat, then threw him
‘Yes… I’m sorry, Big… Big Sister…‘ The young man wiped his mouth with his sleeve, his good-looking eyes brimming with tears, blaming himself so much that he was about to cry.
’It’s okay,’ Meilin finally said, her voice a little better than yesterday’s, but still hoarse. The young man immediately confirmed that she was the one who had taken him in last night.
She wrapped the remaining snake meat tightly in a grass leaf, put it in her bosom, poked her head out to take a look at the rain that was still falling, and then looked back at Murong Jingwei, who for some reason had remained unconscious.
Then she crawled out of the cave.
‘Sister, where are you going?’ The young man was shocked and stopped stuttering.
‘Escape. Do you want to stay here forever?’ Meilin said without looking back, and after thinking for a moment, he reminded him, “You should leave here quickly too, otherwise
you might get into trouble.” At this time, the soldiers should be rushing back to report to Mu Ye Luomei. When they discover that Murong Jinghe is missing, they will fear that they will have to search the entire mountain forest,
and even blockade it, and at that time, they will not be able to escape.
‘But…sister, sister…‘ The young man looked at Murong Jinghe, who had collapsed next to him, and without paying attention to the pine cones all over the ground, he climbed up with more agility than a mouse
and grabbed Mei Lin’s ankle.
’What are you doing?‘ Mei Lin frowned as she looked back, unable to move forward.
’Sister, don’t leave me behind,’ the young man said with a quavering voice, his eyes red and his face full of grievances.
Meilin was a little stunned. She never expected him to want to stay with her. She had worked with other companions before to overcome difficulties together, but they usually parted ways after achieving their goal
and never got in each other’s way. For her, last night was one of those situations. She gave him a hand, and he helped her get through the most dangerous night. Even if she was still dying when dawn
he would have left her alone without complaint. Similarly, she didn’t think about asking him to go with her when she left.
‘Let’s go,’ she said, after thinking about it. She felt that he was agile and the two of them had not caused any harm along the way, so she nodded.
The young man was overjoyed at hearing this, and a dazzling smile spread across his face, dazzling the eyes.
‘Wait for me,’ he said, and quickly returned to where he had been lying, bustling about.
When she saw that he was going to pick up the pine cones on the ground, she withdrew her gaze, climbed outside first, and sat under the big tree waiting. For Murong Jing, who was lying inside unaware of the world, and didn’t even
glance at him. If the previous two days her heart had been swayed by his inexplicable display of infatuation, it was completely destroyed yesterday. He had done her no favours, and she had done him no
favours, so his life or death was none of her business.
The rain seemed to have gotten heavier, penetrating the still-dense leaves above her head and occasionally dripping on her, but it didn’t affect her good mood after a good meal. She reached out and caught
the raindrops, slowly washing away the bloodstains on them, and then looked at the mountains and forests shrouded in rain and mist, pondering her escape route.
‘Sister, let’s go,’ came the shout of a young boy below, with a slight gasp.
Meilin looked down, and her face instantly turned green.
The young man stood below, carrying Murong Jingwei, who was much larger than him, on his back. His face was red, but his eyes were full of an inexplicable joy. Chapter 5 (1)
The young man’s name was Yue Qin. He was fifteen years old according to the traditional Chinese calendar, and the Battle of Qiujiang was the first battle he had participated in after joining the army. He never expected to be captured so easily.
Nan Yue is a small and remote vassal state in the southwest of Dayan. It worships witchcraft and sorcery, but because the land is barren, covered in forests and swamps, and infested with poisonous insects, even at its peak, the people could only
get enough to eat and wear, and there was no way they could become strong. A place like this was of little benefit to Dayan even if it were to be incorporated into its territory, so it truly lived in peace and contentment for many years. However, unexpectedly
their generation produced a divine son with ‘unparalleled beauty’ and ‘a thousand flowers in shame’. Not only could he control insects, snakes and beasts, he could also summon the wind and rain. The Emperor of Yan wanted to recruit him to the capital, but he was unable to do so. The Emperor
was furious, and a million corpses were left lying around, with blood flowing for thousands of miles. Since then, there has never been a day of peace in the Kingdom of Nam Viet.
‘He is the third prince of Yan.‘ Meilin pointed at Murong Jing on Yue Qin’s back and said, “I can’t help but get irritated when I see the long trail they’re leaving behind them.
”Oh, really?’
Yue Qin didn’t look surprised or hateful. He was panting heavily, carrying the person on his back, and advancing with each step with clenched teeth, sweat
dripping into his eyes.
Meilin couldn’t bear to watch any longer, and wished she could leave the two of them behind. She just couldn’t understand why the boy was so stubbornly determined to save the son of the enemy who had caused his family to fall apart.
She couldn’t bear to see his sad, pitiable eyes, otherwise she would have run away as soon as she noticed that his speed of progress was no better than a tortoise.
‘Okay, okay, put him down.‘ She really couldn’t take it anymore.
’Sister…‘ Just as the young man was about to show his puppy-like pleading eyes again, Meilin quickly held out her palm to block the line of sight between the two.
’Stop nagging, hurry up, don’t get me into trouble along with you.’ Her voice was a bit stern, and there was some impatience, as if she was threatening to leave if you didn’t do as you were told.
Hearing her words, Yue Qin had to swallow the words that rose to his throat, and he faltered as he placed Murong Jing and on a patch of dry, soft fallen leaves. They
were in a forest of red pines, the red pines tall and straight into the clouds, interspersed with other tree species such as purple linden and fir. The old vines shook under the trees, the moss and ferns were dry, and pheasants hid in the shadows. Because the tree canopy
the branches and leaves are so closely intertwined that they block out the sky, so the ground under the trees is not soaked by the rain, just slightly damp.
‘Go find something to fill your stomach,’ Meilin said, while stepping forward and carefully examining Murong Jing and Lai. No matter what injuries he sustained, after all this tossing and turning
he should have woken up, but the strange thing is that he hasn’t shown any signs of waking up.
Yue Qin was already feeling dizzy from hunger, and when she saw that she was not going to abandon Murong Jinghe, she immediately calmed down and really started looking for food nearby. There were wild mushrooms and wood ears in the forest,
wild grapes and dog dates on the vines, and fallen pine nuts on the ground. It was not difficult to have a good meal, and the taste was better than raw snake meat anyway.
Apart from a few minor scratches, there were no serious injuries on Murong Jing’s body, but his face was horribly pale. Mei Lin felt a strange feeling in her heart and placed her finger
on his pulse.
‘You saved him, and maybe one day he will destroy your home,’ she said to the young man who was picking mountain grapes.
Yue Qin picked the grapes in bunches and put them in his clothes. Although he was very hungry, he did not eat while picking. On hearing this, he could not help but stop what he was doing and laugh. ‘Sister,
if we leave him behind, he will definitely die.’
It was completely irrelevant. Meilin turned her head and ignored him. However, she had to admit that the boy’s words had touched a chord in her heart, making her
couldn’t help but face squarely the attitude he had shown in attaching great importance to human life. Perhaps she could not agree with it, but she definitely could not belittle it.
Muyong Jinghe’s pulse was chaotic but not weak. It was not known whether he had suffered internal injuries or what the reason was. Meilin was not familiar with medical theory, and could only be sure that there was indeed something wrong with his body.
There was nothing else she could do. Withdrawing her hand, she thought for a moment, then extended her thumb and pinched his nose for a long time, until a bloody mark appeared and he still did not wake up.
‘What a big problem…‘ she muttered, gathering his open shirt together, then drawing her dagger and getting up to cut the long vine.
’Sister, eat grapes,’ Yue Qin ran over happily, his clothes covered in dark black mountain grapes. ’These mountain grapes are delicious. When I was at home
I often went into the mountains with Mu and the others to pick them,’
Meilin glanced at his pure black eyes, which had not been stained by the war, and without saying a word, she picked up a bunch of grapes and started to eat them. Seeing her eat, the young man looked
very happy and sat down in the same place, starting to eat as well.
‘Leave him here, and the Dayan people will naturally find him. If we take him with us, we will both be implicated.’ After eating two bunches of grapes, and suppressing the fishy smell that had been lingering in his mouth,
Meilin stopped eating and continued cutting the long vines.
‘But maybe he’ll die before they find him,’ Yue Qin said earnestly as he wolfed down the grapes. He was telling the truth. Apart from the other
dangers, the cold autumn forest in the rain was as cold as winter, and leaving an unconscious person lying here like this, he was afraid that he would die of cold before long.
Knowing that he was telling the truth, Meilin pursed her lips and said no more. She had already cut down a large pile of supple rattan on the ground. She looked around a few times, then walked up to a
red pine tree about the thickness of an adult’s arm and a little over ten metres high, and squatted down to start chopping at its base. Although she didn’t have enough strength, the dagger was sharp, and it didn’t take long to fell the tree.
‘Sister, let me help you.’ Yue Qin didn’t know what she was doing, so after finishing off the grapes in a couple of moves, he ran over and helped her pick the leaves off the tree.
Meilin was injured and could no longer take much of this, so he simply threw the dagger to him and told him to do as he was told.
Yue Qin was used to doing manual labour, and his hands and feet were nimble. In no time at all, he used tree trunks and vines to make a crude frame. Meilin told him to cut off the excess tree trunks
and then cut four 3-inch thick logs, peel them, and carve a hole in the centre. He then strung them on the vines under the frame.
Before he had finished, Yue Qin already knew what Mei Lin was up to, and he worked even harder. When he had firmly tied Murong Jing and the rattan together to the frame and pulled it for a while,
not only was he satisfied, but so was Mei Lin. The difference was that he was satisfied that this not only saved a lot of effort, but also sped things up, while Mei Lin was satisfied that, being
tied up, Murong Jing and even if they suddenly woke up, they would not pose a great threat to them. No matter what, the result is always a happy ending.
The waste material from making the shelf was buried in a pit, larch needles were raked on top, the excess soil was covered on the cut stakes, and the same was covered with thick, soft fallen leaves
to remove all traces of their stay, and the two men set off.
‘Sister, come up here too, I can pull you both,’ said Yue Qin after walking for a while, shouting at Meilin, who was lagging behind, his eyes full of the excitement of a child getting a new toy.
Meilin waved his hand, signifying for him to continue forward, while he himself carefully removed or concealed the traces of the two people’s passage behind them. From time to time, he would also walk in a different direction for a while
before stepping back in the previous footprints.
Because she was walking slowly, along the way, she picked up some edible items along the way, and then used Murong Jinghe’s wet clothes to carry them. After collecting enough, she tied them tightly with her clothes belt and placed them on the rattan rack
and let Yue Qin drag them along.
After walking like this for more than an hour, no one really caught up, and the two of them more or less let their hearts settle. Chapter 5 (2)
The rain stopped at noon, but the wind was still damp and cold when it blew on the body. The two stopped by a stream to rest and eat.
Meilin walked to the side, away from Yueqin’s view, and cleaned her wounds by the water. She applied the herbs she found along the way, bandaged them again with a clean cloth, and drank
two sips of water. She looked up at the sky without thinking, and her face suddenly changed.
‘Kid, hide.‘ As she spoke, she hurriedly retreated into the dense forest next to her.
Yue Qin didn’t understand what was going on, but she had gotten used to following Meilin’s words along the way, and without even thinking twice, she dragged Murong Jing and followed her example by hiding in the forest
.
Meilin carefully moved to their side without touching the surrounding shrubs, and looked up through the gaps in the leaves and branches.
’Sister, what’s wrong?’ Yue Qin followed suit and looked up.
A dark spot hovered beneath the leaden grey clouds, and suddenly there was a dive, a swift bolt of lightning towards the place where they were hiding. Just as Yue Qin let out a startled cry, it suddenly came to a halt
about ten feet above the treetops, revealing a greenish-grey, agile and beautiful figure. Its golden-yellow eyes flashed with a sharp, cold light as it stared at them, but it was
the sea holly. Then, without waiting for the two to react, it flew up into the sky with a swish, circling the dense forest where they were.
Meilin cursed, her face ugly, ‘We’ve been discovered, let’s get out of here.’
Yue Qin tightened his grip on the horizontal stick of the trellis, arched his back, and charged into the forest like a frightened calf, Meilin following closely behind, not bothering to cover their tracks
However, no matter how fast they sped up, the fierce bird hovered above their heads, indicating their whereabouts to its owner in the distance.
Meilin had a leg injury and was already feeling the strain of the sprint. She hurriedly stopped the young man in front of her, who was also tired from dragging her along and panting heavily.
‘This won’t do, we’ll be caught soon,‘ she said, then walked up to the young man and untied the vine that was slung diagonally across his chest.
Yue Qin’s lips, which had turned a little pale, moved, but she raised her hand to stop him. “We don’t have much time, listen to me.”
’From here, go in the direction of the stream for a while. Be careful,’ she said, while she used her dagger to cut off the softer branches of the nearby shrubs and quickly wove
a round hat full of green leaves, and fastened it on the boy’s head. ‘Then leave the forest and sneak under the stream, leaning as much as possible towards the side with more cover…’ She paused here and asked:
‘Can you swim?’
Yue Qin nodded, his lips about to speak, but Meilin did not give him the chance.
‘Then you just follow the stream. As long as no one catches up to you, don’t change direction.’ With that, she rearranged the boy’s clothes, which barely covered his body, to hold back the goose bumps raised by the cold wind on his exposed skin.
She then tied them tightly with a rattan rope. “After you get ashore, don’t rush. Follow my previous method and cover your tracks. Don’t leave any traces, understand
?”
Yue Qin shook his head. His mouth remained tightly closed, but his eyes were already red.
‘Hurry up, you’ll slow me down if you stay here.’ Mei Lin frowned and pushed him in the direction of the lower reaches of the stream, as if she were angry.
Unexpectedly, the young man let out a cry and burst into tears. He did not walk away, but did not dare to approach her either.
Mei Lin could not bear to see someone crying, and she was at a loss for a moment. She sighed, walked over, put her arms around Yue Qin’s neck, and let his forehead rest on her shoulder on the side that was not injured. He
He was small and thin, so this position did not look strange.
‘It’s okay, sister is not disgusted with you.’ This was the first time she had admitted to this title, and when Yue Qin heard it, he could not help crying louder, and even his shoulders began to twitch
.
Meilin was unable to cry or laugh, but she was inexplicably a little sad, mixed with another unknown emotion, which made her tone soften.
“Could it be a girl? So crybaby.’
This sentence had the desired effect. Yue Qin suddenly stopped crying, only occasionally sobbing a little, which made him seem even more pitiful.
Meilin sighed, knowing that without a good reason, she would not be able to convince him to leave first.
“Yue Qin, we have to separate, otherwise if that flat-haired beast from above gets its attention, none of us will be able to leave. You go first, I’ll come after you.’
‘Then you go first, sister, I still need to deal with this Daiyan man.’ Before she could finish speaking, Yue Qin had already looked up, taken the hat made from leaves on his head and placed it on hers.
Meilin took a step back, displeased, and said, “Are you so stupid that you’ll wait until they kill you before chasing after me?” Then, before the expression of grievance rose again on the young man’s face,
laughed, ‘My sister has plenty of ways to keep people from finding out if she’s alone, and I’m not from Nam Viet, so they won’t do anything to me.’ It was as if she remembered the young man’s concerns for Murong
Jinghe, so she added, ‘Don’t worry, I won’t leave this Dayan man behind. I’ll see those people take him back before I leave, and then I’ll come find you.’
Without waiting for Yue Qin to think about these contradictory words, she quickly continued, ‘After you go out, wait for me in the nearest big city to Zhaojing. Let’s see who will get there first.’
With that, she grabbed the rope on the trellis and dragged it, walking towards the forest and the stream.
Yue Qin looked at her back stupidly, wanting to go up and help, but knowing that would definitely make her angry. Just as he was hesitating, Meilin didn’t even turn her head and
shouted again, ‘Hurry up! What’s the matter with you, acting like a sissy?’
Yueqin’s body shook violently. He whimpered, put on his straw hat, turned around and ran. It was only after a while that he slowly recovered. He walked as far as he could into the thick forest, hiding
his figure with the leaves and branches. He just kept crying as he ran, his vision blurry. He stumbled and fell several times, looking extremely miserable.
********
Because the two were separated, the sea eagle didn’t know which side to follow. It was really busy in the sky for a while, but in the end, it gave up
tracking because Yue Qin’s figure disappeared from sight, and it only kept an eye on the two people who were stopped by the stream.
Meilin sat there, took out some snake meat from her bosom and ate a few pieces, then rinsed her mouth with water, and picked off a few pieces of aromatic herbs nearby and chewed them in her mouth. She felt that she could almost
hear the sound of the wind rending the clothes coming this way, but she also knows that it is just an illusion, and with her current abilities her hearing cannot be that acute.
I don’t know if it’s because of the cold or for some other reason, but Murong Jinghe’s face is even worse than it was in the morning, with more green and less white, making people very suspicious that he will be unable to
breathe the next moment.
After thinking for a moment, Meilin went up to him and untied the vines that bound him to the shelf, thinking that if he woke up, he wouldn’t die an innocent death from being unable to move. She didn’t
have a good impression of him, and had no intention of saving him, but she didn’t hate him enough to want him dead.
True, she didn’t plan to really wait until someone found him before leaving, as she had promised Yue Qin. And she didn’t want to die.
Thinking of the resentment in Mu Ye Luomei’s eyes, she couldn’t help but shiver. She felt that Yue Qin should have already sneaked into the stream, so she got up and started to run in the opposite direction.
But before she could lift her foot, her ankle was grabbed, and she almost fell.
‘Take me with you,’ a hoarse voice, a tone that brooked no refusal.
Meilin was taken aback. She looked down and met the eyes of Murong Jing and Qingming. Chapter 5 (3)
There was no confusion from sleep, nor the usual haze of wine. It was very clear, clear and profound, like a clear pool hidden in the depths of the mountains. Many years later, when Meilin recalled it,
wondered if it was because his eyes had given her the illusion of utter stillness and tranquillity, or if it was true that at that moment the birds had stopped chirping and even the wind had disappeared.
But that was only a momentary thing, and soon she came back to her senses and asked coldly, ‘When did you wake up?’ She would never believe that he would wake up so coincidentally, just when she
had decided to leave him behind.
‘Last night,’ Murong Jing said quite simply.
Meilin’s face stiffened. Thinking about the three of them huddled together last night, coupled with the turmoil of the day, a rare look of annoyance appeared between her brows. She wanted to rebuke him, but then immediately
thought that now was not the time, so she could only hold back her anger and smile back, ‘Since Your Highness has already woken up, the First Prince and the others must be arriving soon, so why make things difficult for a little woman.’
She no longer referred to herself as a servant, as there was no longer any need to belittle herself.
Upon hearing the words ‘the eldest prince’, Murong Jinghe’s eyebrows twitched imperceptibly. Without trying to say more, she just didn’t let go of his hand and repeated indifferently, ‘Take me away.’
Meilin couldn’t hold back the smile on her face, glaring fiercely at his calm but stubborn eyes, ‘Your Highness, are you perhaps forgetting that you were thinking of taking my life yesterday?
request?’ Mu Ren Luo Mei proposed that she enter the forest like those prisoners of war and become the target of their pursuit. He agreed without hesitation, and even when she begged him, he only
tried to please Mu Ren Luo Mei and didn’t even spare her a single glance. Now, he even dares to order her around. Does he really think that the Prince can have everything?
‘I don’t want your life,’ Murong Jing said, lowering his eyes. Just as Mei Lin’s heart stirred, he added a sentence that made her almost vomit blood. “Whether you die or
live has nothing to do with me.” His meaning was more than obvious. She meant nothing to him, so he wouldn’t care about her life or death.
When he explained it like this, Meilin immediately understood. He took her into his tent, abandoned her in the mountains, and used her to please the woman he loved, not because he had any preconceptions about her
but simply because she happened to be the one who was handy. As for her, he had never really looked at her. To him, she was more like an object than a living person.
And where could an object possibly talk about life and death?
Meilin didn’t think she had ever had any expectations of him, but she was still stung by his words. It was because ever since she started working at the factory, she had been treated like an object. She
thought… When he was obsessively caressing the mole at the corner of her eyebrow, and when he was cuddling her from behind as they fell asleep, she felt like she was at least still a person in his eyes. So…
So…
She let out a low chuckle, trying to calm the sadness and anger that filled her. She lifted her foot to shake his hand off, but was stopped by his next words.
‘If you don’t take me with you, don’t even think about escaping.’ It was a clear threat.
Meilin no longer had the slightest pity for him. Upon hearing this, she laughed coldly, drew a dagger from her waist, and crouched down, pointing it directly at his vulnerable throat: ‘You won’t be able to escape… Do you believe that I
will kill you first, and then cut off your hands?’
Murong Jing didn’t change his expression, not even blinking. ‘Yes.’ After a pause, she saw the dagger in her hand recede slightly, and she laughed again: ‘Do you believe that, if you kill me,
you and that child will never see the sun rise again tomorrow morning.”
A shrill hawk cry came from the sky. Meilin pursed her lips and silently retrieved the dagger. She knew he was telling the truth. After all, he was a prince, whether
he was favoured by the emperor or not, that could not be denied. If a prince died here for no reason, I’m afraid many people will suffer.
‘Can you leave?’ She made a decisive decision, knowing that if she delayed any longer, she really wouldn’t have to leave.
Muyong Jinghe smiled without answering. The truth was more than obvious. If he could leave, why would he keep pretending to be unconscious?
Chapter 5 (4)
Muyong Jinghe smiled without answering. The truth was more than obvious. If he could leave, why would he keep pretending to be unconscious?
Meilin had no choice but to bend down to try to help him up. However, with this exertion, not only did the re-bandaged wound on his left shoulder bleed again, but his right leg also felt a sudden, intense pain.
He fell to the ground with a thud, and Murong Jinghe, who had just managed to get half of his body up, fell back again.
‘Even if you want to take revenge on me, there’s no need to rush.’ A flash of pain crossed Murong Jinghe’s face, but the words that came out were indifferent and sneering.
Meilin hung her head, waiting for the pain to ease before looking up at him and saying coldly, ’The arrow wounds I have now are all thanks to your woman.’
When she mentioned Mu Ye Luomei, Murong Jing’s face fell and his tone instantly turned cold. ‘She is a person of integrity who cannot tolerate even the smallest fault. It is already
your good fortune that she did not take your life. What more could you possibly want?’
Meilin laughed out loud. Thinking about how Mu Ye Luomei had let her go, she could not help but retort, ‘Do you mean to say that I should be grateful to her?’ After speaking, she looked at Murong Jing
and anger rose to his face. Before he could say anything more offensive, she changed the subject: ‘The problem is that even if I can’t get rid of you, I can’t get rid of you, and even if I can, I’ll be caught soon.’ She
spoke the truth, but couldn’t help adding dejectedly, ‘I think your woman will come after you too, and she will naturally bring you back safely. Why do you have to hold on to me?’
‘I’m happy,’ Murong Jinghe realised the situation and did not dwell on the matter of Mu Ye Luomei. He pondered, “Time is indeed running out…”
*********
Murong Xuanlie’s personal guard was scouting ahead. As they were about to reach the place indicated by the falcon, they saw a figure not far away standing between the gaps in the rattan forest, dressed in Murong Jinghe’s clothes
When Murong Xuanlie and Mu Ren Luomei arrived, the guard stood respectfully by the side with a rather pale face, while the person they had searched for all night, Murong Jinghe, was leaning his head on a beautiful woman’s bosom and
lying lazily on his side on a smooth stone by the stream.
A thin shirt was placed on the stone, and the two people half lying and half sitting on it were both wearing only white underwear. One had his shirt half open, and the other had his hair dishevelled. One didn’t need to think to know what
what was going on here before they arrived. Around the green stone, the stream gurgled, and the wild chrysanthemums were in bloom, setting off the beauty in the bloodstained white undershirt, making her look even more enchanting.
Mu Renluomei’s face fell.
‘Brother, why are you here?’ Mu Rongjing said without even standing up when they saw them, not very enthusiastically.
Murong Xuanlie glanced at the strange-looking guard next to him, who looked apprehensive, and was puzzled. He couldn’t help but carefully examine Murong Jinghe, whose expression implied displeasure, in an attempt to
find something out about him.
‘Jinghe, you’re really messing around. Do you know how hard we’ve been looking for you?’ He frowned slightly, his face showing dissatisfaction, as if he were a big brother lecturing his younger brother.
‘Why were you looking for me?’ Murong Jinghe’s eyes widened in surprise at these words, and he turned his face slightly to look at Meilin. She immediately understood and lowered her head to kiss his face, before
clinging to his neck. He tilted his head slightly, his expression indulgent and loving, but his words were directed at Murong Xuanlie: ’My beloved consort and I are here enjoying the autumn colours, and we will naturally go back when we have had enough. Could it be that my
brother thinks that after five years away from the army, I’ve become so useless that I can’t even defend myself?’ At this, he suddenly laughed, his gaze sweeping like lightning to the bodyguard, and he said coldly, “So you still want
the guards to shoot two arrows to test your skills?”
Murong Xuanlie’s face suddenly changed, and he glared fiercely at the bodyguard, angrily saying, ’How dare you!’
The guard fell to his knees with a thud. ‘Your Highness, please forgive me. The wind was blowing, and I mistook it for a wild animal. I did not mean to offend the Lord of Jingbei.’ His tone was calm
and he showed no sign of fear.
Without waiting for Murong Xuanlie to react, Murong Jing smiled and said, ‘If you can’t even tell the difference between a person and an animal, and you keep such a guard by your side, I’m really worried about your safety
As soon as he said this, the guard, who had previously looked fearless, instantly turned pale. His kneeling body trembled imperceptibly, and he kept kowtowing, ‘I know
I am guilty. I know I am guilty…’
A cold look passed across Murong Xuanlie’s handsome face, but it was immediately replaced by a smile, ‘Since this blind servant has offended my third brother, I will not let him off lightly.’
After a pause, he added, ‘It has just stopped raining in the mountains, and I am cold and wet. It is really not suitable to stay for long, so let’s go back quickly.’
Muyong Jinghe seemed to have been served by the beauty in his arms and was comfortable. He half-closed his eyes and only after a while did he lazily sit up with the help of the beauty, but still
he leaned against her as if he had no bones in his body, and flirtatiously glanced at Muyong Xuanlie, who was about to hold back his smile.
‘Brother, you should go back first. Jing and my concubine have not yet had their fill of pleasure, so…‘
’Enough! Murong Jinghe, what more do you want?’ Murong Jinghe’s silence finally drove Murano Rakume, who had been silent until then, to yell in anger, her beautiful eyes filled with anger and impatience.
It seemed that it was only at this moment that Murong Jinghe noticed the existence of Murano Rakume. His eyes, tinged with lust, slowly turned towards her, and after staring at her for a while, his expression grew colder and colder.
‘Who do you think you are to dare speak to me like that?”
Upon hearing these words, not only Murong Xuanlie and Mu Luo Mei, but also Mei Lin, were stunned. Then he continued, ’You hurt my beloved concubine, and I haven’t even found
time to settle the score with you, so how dare you be so arrogant here?’
‘Murong Jinghe, you…‘ Murong Luomei had always been spoiled by Murong Jinghe. At this moment, his attitude suddenly changed like this, making her angry, furious, and
incredulous. For a moment, she didn’t know how to react.
’Is that how you address my name?’ Murong Jinghe interrupted her, his eyes full of disgust. ’Women like you are boring and arrogant. I was just
just to have fun with you, and you really think you’re something? How dare you hurt my woman…”
Mu Ren Luo Mei was so angry that her face turned green. She said a few words, turned her head, and left.
Murong Xuan Lie shouted a few times from behind, but when he saw that she had gone far away, he couldn’t help but turn back and scold, “Jinghe, you’ve really gone too far this time!” After saying that, he also turned around and left. He
After walking a few steps, he stopped again and, turning to the other guard who was following him, ordered, ‘You stay here and protect Lord Jing. If anything happens to him, you will answer for it with your life.’
Seeing him disappear into the forest, Meilin felt Murong Jinghe, who had been holding her tightly, slowly let go of her hand. A wave of pain spread from her palm, making her
frown in puzzlement. If it was that painful, why did he say that? Wouldn’t it be better for Murong Leme to know the truth?
Before she could think much more, Murong Jinghe turned his head to the side, and his lips happened to press against her neck. From the outside, it looked like the two of them were getting intimate again. The guard who was left behind remembered
the lesson of his companion before him, and hurriedly turned his back and walked away.
‘Get rid of him as soon as possible,’ Murong Jinghe said in a whispering tone, his eyes full of undisguised ruthlessness.
Meilin nodded. She naturally knew that this guard was left by Murong Xuanlie to keep an eye on them. If they weren’t careful, they would probably end up like Murong Jinghe’s clothes
and be pierced with a few holes. Thinking about this, she couldn’t help but look at the clothes hanging on a small tree. Two arrows were firmly stuck on it. As the wind blew past, they didn’t even
without even shaking. It was obvious how strong the person who shot the arrows was.
Thinking about this, she gently pushed Murong Jinghe back onto the stone, took care to assume a comfortable and leisurely posture, then got up and walked in the direction of where the guard was.
Chapter 6 (1)
Before Murong Xuanlie and the others arrived, Meilin had, as instructed by Murong Jinghe, made some preparations in a nearby forest just in case. Of course, it was
simple setup to deal with Murong Xuanlie and the others was indeed a bit difficult, but it was more than enough to deal with a single guard who had qualms.
When Meilin saw that the guard had indeed stepped into the trap and was entangled in the vines, hanging upside down in the air, her heart’s guard against Murong Jinghe deepened even further. If it weren’t for the fact that the two
people’s fates were linked at this moment, she would have probably taken the opportunity to slip away.
She drew her dagger and walked towards the guard.
The vines were intertwined, and the man was not hung very high, with his head just reaching the shoulders of Mei Lin. However, because his hands and feet were entangled in the vines, and the ground was covered with sharpened stakes,
he did not dare to use his internal strength to break the old vines on his body.
A few bonfires were still burning not far away, ignited by the fire-starting device Mei Lin had borrowed from him. Then, before he knew what was going on, he was
surrounded by an odd formation and, in a panic, fell into their trap.
When Meilin pressed the dagger against his throat, which was more prominent because he was hanging upside down, he felt that this was a really unjust loss of life, but it didn’t seem that unjust.
Who knew that Meilin paused for a moment, then turned his head and walked away, leaving him alone, confused, being blown back and forth by the wind.
******
Meilin extinguished the fire, removed the clothes with two holes in them from the small tree, walked back to Murong Jinghe, threw them on him, and then turned to pull the cane frame hidden in the grass.
He helped Murong Jinghe up and then put on his own clothes.
‘Why didn’t you kill him?’ Murong Jinghe asked, thinking she was ruthless enough.
‘I’m happy.’ Meilin didn’t even glance at him, fastened her belt, and bent down to pull the vine.
Murong Jinghe choked for a moment, suddenly remembering that she had only said that not long ago, and she had a quick comeback.
Meilin tested the strength, then looked up at the sky again, making sure that the evil bird was gone, before putting the vine over her uninjured shoulder, and then pulling with difficulty
down the mountain. She didn’t consider herself a soft person, but when she saw the bewildered and helpless look in the eyes of the palace guard, as well as the resigned expression on his face, she suddenly didn’t want to do it anymore.
Why? The man posed no threat to them, so why should she kill him?
If possible, Meilin didn’t even want to speak to Murong Jinghe. She always felt an inexplicable fear in her heart towards this person, and wanted to avoid him as much as possible. There were many reasons for this,
she didn’t bother to trace. Murong Jinghe obviously didn’t have much energy for idle chatter either, so the two of them maintained a tacit silence along the way until nightfall.
Meilin split a hole large enough for two people in the middle of a thick, lush thicket of wisteria shrubs, and at the entrance, using the fire flint she had obtained from the guard,
she built a fire.
The vines were interspersed with yam vines, so she dug out two sections of yam about the thickness of her arm and buried them in the ash pile under the fire. Then she took the remaining raw snake meat she had with her and stuck it with a dagger
and put it on the fire to roast.
Seeing his beloved weapon being wasted like this, Murong Jing was unhappy.
“Stupid woman, don’t you know that burning it like this will blunt it?’
Meilin ignored him and put the almost-done snake meat on a leaf, then skewered two or three slices of it and continued.
Apart from Yan Di and Mu Ye Luomei, no one had been treated so lightly before, and since the crisis was over, Murong Jinghe finally couldn’t hold his anger in any longer. He angrily said, ‘That slave girl is so rude, has she
Upon hearing this, Meilin felt as if her temple had been struck, and she looked up at the man leaning against the wisteria opposite. Seeing his face of seething anger, she momentarily lost control of herself
and couldn’t tell whether he was pretending or really was that angry. But no matter what, she no longer felt the need to lower her voice when speaking to him. Chapter 6 (2)
‘Man, from now on you’d better learn to keep your mouth shut,’ she warned, her eyes full of malice. There were no other threatening gestures, but they let people know that she wasn’t just
If Murong Jing had been able to move, he would have kicked her, but at the moment, he could not move at all. He could only glare at the woman, who turned back to continue grilling the snake meat, and hate
her, saying, ‘Bitch, one day I will make you pay for what you said today.’
Meilin yawned, took a bite of the almost-done snake meat with a dagger, and said while chewing, ‘Let’s talk about that day when it comes. Your Majesty, you are now a useless person,
and you have to rely on me for everything, so you’d better think about how to please me and make life more comfortable for you.’ Even without salt, the cooked snake meat was delicious, and it was a treat for people who hadn’t eaten
cooked food was a real treat for the pair who hadn’t eaten for two days. After eating two pieces, she seemed to remember someone else, and without thinking, picked up a piece of snake meat on a grass leaf and shoved it into the man’s mouth,
just blocking the words he was about to say.
Murong Jing and had been hungry for a day and a night. Although he was extremely dissatisfied with Mei Lin’s bad attitude, he did not resist the food in his mouth. He chewed it up and swallowed it in a few bites, without being polite
Meilin didn’t really want to torment him, so she fed him while she roasted, and ate herself. But it was really hard to roast just a few slices at a time, so she simply sharpened
a new stick, peeled off the outer skin, and skewered the meat to roast together.
There was no food for the time being. Murong Jing and the just aroused hunger pangs immediately became rampant. They looked at the woman who was silently grilling the meat and couldn’t help but urge, ‘Stupid servant,
you’re so slow, do you intend to starve me to death!’
Meilin had never felt so noisy from a person before, and he couldn’t help but get annoyed. He picked up a skewer of undercooked meat and was about to shove it in his mouth. Murong Jing and was startled and hurriedly
and angrily said, ‘How dare you give me something that’s not cooked?’
Meilin was suddenly amused and took back the string of meat to continue grilling. ‘If you keep talking, don’t eat it.’ If she hadn’t experienced his methods before, she would have
truly thought that he was a spoiled brat with no knowledge of the world.
Murong Jing and Lin heard this and couldn’t help but stare with wide eyes, but seeing her serious expression, they were afraid that she would do what she said. For the sake of their stomachs, they finally forced themselves to endure it
.
The vine thicket instantly became incredibly quiet, with only the sizzling sound of the flames roasting the meat and the occasional cry of a night bird in its sleep.
Meilin suddenly felt refreshed. For the first time since leaving the dark factory, she felt free and relaxed, leaving everything behind. What task, what antidote, since they have come this far,
it is redundant to worry.
When the aroma of the roasted snake meat became rich, she suddenly remembered Murong Jing and how he could not possibly not have noticed the difference between her and her previous appearance at the palace, but
without asking a single question. A slightly strange feeling arose in her heart. Could it be that he really ignored her to the extent that he didn’t even notice such a big change in her, or was there some other reason?
‘How did you become like this?’ she asked, but she wasn’t asking the question she was thinking about.
Murong Jinghe was still angry about what had happened before, so when he heard her question, he simply closed his eyes and ignored her.
Meilin smiled, not really caring, and after thinking for a moment, she suddenly got up and felt around him. Murong Jinghe was startled and suddenly opened his eyes, shouting, ‘What
are you doing?’
Meilin didn’t answer immediately. After feeling around for a long time, she didn’t feel anything except a jade pendant. She angrily withdrew her hand, not taking the thing that she knew at once was not to be touched.
complaining, ‘Why don’t you carry anything with you?’ She had only been in the royal palace for a few days and had not even received her monthly salary. What was she going to do when she left?
Muyong Jing was so angry that his dignity had been repeatedly violated by a woman of such lowly status in his eyes that he almost fainted.
He ground his teeth and said, ‘What I carry and what I don’t carry is none of your business, you lackey!’
Upon hearing this, Meilin only raised an eyebrow and laughed, ‘I think I should let you know that before you can walk on your own, whether you like it or not, you have to stay with me.
You have to go wherever I go.’ She didn’t believe for a second that he would let her go easily after he had safely returned to his own place. On the other hand, Murong Xuanlie and the others
would definitely continue to look for them in the future. With him there, she would be somewhat protected, otherwise a hundred lives would not be enough for those people to chase after.
The snake meat was already cooked, with a light brown colour. She withdrew her hand, divided it into two equal portions, and then brushed one of them all over the grass leaves. As she did this,
she looked up at Murong Jing and his not-so-good-looking face, and continued, ‘Perhaps I should make myself clearer. In the future, the two of us will have to rely on each other for our lives. I eat
meat, you eat meat, and I eat bran, you have to eat bran too. If you don’t eat, you will definitely be the first to die. So, whether you have silver or something that can be exchanged for silver on your person
is really a matter of great consequence.‘
’Of course, I don’t mind if you keep calling me a slave, if that makes you happy,’ she said, and she cut the stick holding the meat on a skewer into two and used it as chopsticks. Then she picked up the snake meat that had been brushed down
the snake meat and began to feed the man who was already so angry that his forehead was pulsing with veins. Although he looked like he was going to refuse, he hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth and obediently
eating it. He added, ‘But you can’t expect a slave like me to spend a lot of money hiring a doctor to cure you.’ She would never do something that would dig her own grave.
I don’t know if she was too angry, but Murong Jing suddenly calmed down. She quietly finished eating her share of the meat, then closed her eyes to rest, giving people a sudden
feeling of inscrutability. It wasn’t until Meilin took out the yam buried under the fire, peeled off the charred outer layer of skin, and fed it to him, that he leaned against the densely woven vines behind him
and fell asleep, never again causing any unhappiness.
Meilin had already finished saying what she needed to say, and was just enjoying the peace and quiet. She added some firewood to the fire, making sure not to burn the surrounding vines, and then leaned back and relaxed.
When her breathing gradually became heavier, Murong Jing opened his eyes. He looked at her thoughtfully for a long time before turning his gaze to the not-too-large fire burning nearby
. The dancing flames reflected in his dark eyes, making him involuntarily begin to recall the events of the past two days and Mu Ren Luomei, who had been driven away by him.
After all, had she also participated in this conspiracy?
This question, just thinking about it, he felt intolerable. If it became a reality, he was afraid that he would do something that even he himself could not predict. Chapter 6 (3)
Before witnessing the true character of Meilin, Murong Jing and Mu Ren Luomei, who had inexplicably attacked him the day before and forced him to spar, had both harboured suspicions and
felt deeply saddened as a result. Of course, these suspicions slowly faded after spending time with Meilin. He was more inclined to believe that Mu Ren Luomei had been so angered by Meilin that she had lost
her mind and suffered a loss, so she had come back to vent her anger on him.
The current situation is that, for whatever reason, he has suffered greatly because of this matter.
Since five years ago, he has rarely used violence against others. Even if he occasionally plays around, it is only in activities like hunting that do not require the use of internal strength. The world thinks that he is
depressed because he has been stripped of his military power, but they don’t know that he was almost killed in an assassination attempt. Although he barely managed to hide it from everyone and survive, he also developed a chronic illness afterwards, and his meridians are weak and unable to exert any strength
Mukeno’s attacks were relentless and merciless, leaving him no chance to refuse and forcing him to take the blows as best he could. Normally, he might have tried to outwit his opponent
and find a way to let her win, but this was a dangerous situation for him, and he naturally wanted to end it as soon as possible. So he fought ruthlessly, hoping to force Mukeno to give up.
Unfortunately, in his haste, he forgot that Mu Ruomei was a proud person who cared about her reputation. To let her give up under pressure would be the same as her showing weakness and bowing to pressure, which was
never going to happen. So in the end, he gritted his teeth and took her palm, and the contest between the two came to an end. However, her anger was aroused when she saw that he had conceded.
Of course, he would not chase after her to make amends as he had done in the past. The surging blood and his aching meridians made it difficult for him to even sit on the horse. At that moment, he knew
that he could not go back, and he could not let Murong Xuanlie, who had been watching, see the slightest hint. So he also took the opportunity to show an angry look and told Murong Xuanlie that he wanted to continue hunting
the hunt. Then he rode into the forest. After walking for a long time, he could even feel Murong Xuanlie’s eagle-like eyes watching him, like a
vulture picking at carrion.
He had to straighten his back, hoping to regain a little energy between the horses and alleviate the damage to his meridians. It was only when he learned in the morning that Murong Xuanlie had also actively contributed to this
hunt that the bad feeling he had had since the moment it had arisen came true. After darkness had completely enveloped the mountains and forests, he was ambushed.
My father had expressly forbidden him to wear armour and participate in any military operations, and the fact that he had made an exception this time really made him guard against it.
Fortunately, there were only two people ambushing him, and it was more of a test than an assassination attempt. I suppose the fact that he had a chronic illness had long since been heard by people with ulterior motives, who were looking for an opportunity to confirm it. And before they confirmed it,
they still had reservations about him and didn’t dare push too hard.
Under these circumstances, he had to go all out, knowing that he would repeat his previous mistake and have his meridians broken, but still used his ultimate move to kill the two men in one fell swoop. Afterwards, his qi rebounded
, he fell from his horse, which had bolted in fright in the dark forest, and woke up squashed between Meilin and the other man.
From their conversation, he judged that although Meilin was not a good person, he had a soft heart, and the young man was even less so, so he simply pretended to be unconscious and let them
take him out of the mountains.
For him, this was a great opportunity to leave Zhaojing. Although the price was high and the future uncertain, it was worth it.
Chapter 6 (4)
The road out of the mountains was not smooth. In some places, the vine trellis could not be passed through, so Meilin had to carry Murong Jing and the others half-dragging and half-carrying.
However difficult it was, they finally reached the edge of the forest when Murong Xuanlie’s sea-green jay appeared in the sky again.
However, when they saw the military camp stationed outside the forest, they had to retreat again.
‘It’s the Luzhou army,’ Murong Jinghe closed his eyes and said indifferently. Although he didn’t say much, Meilin could roughly guess that it must be the Emperor Yan who ordered the blockade of Zhongshan, otherwise
who would dare to mobilise the army without authorisation. From this, it can be inferred that the other exits of Zhongshan must also have been sealed.
You’ve sealed off the mountain without searching it, Father! You’re keeping a close watch on me! Mu Rongjinghe’s lips twitched bitterly for a split second, but were quickly replaced by determination.
Meilin didn’t know much about these court matters, but she knew that she definitely wouldn’t get along if she just went out there, so she quietly dragged Mu Rongjinghe back with her. Mu Rongjinghe
didn’t object, so she must have had the same concerns as her.
‘What should we do?‘ Meilin asked, as the two of them huddled together in the gap between the rocks.
’If I don’t go back soon, they will surely start a major search of the mountains very soon. We can’t stay in the mountains for long,’ Murong Jinghe mused.
Meilin’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as she thought about it. She said, “I can take you to the edge of the forest, but I won’t go out.” With Mu Ren Luomei there, she was now afraid that she had become the number one wanted criminal
Upon hearing this, Murong Jinghe’s eyes, which had always been half-open as if he could never get enough sleep, immediately widened. ‘How dare you!’ After a few days of friction, he had finally managed to get rid of his mouthful of insults
and ingratiating remarks.
‘I think we can give it a try,’ Meilin couldn’t help but smile.
Murong Jinghe was silent, then moved his fingers a little, and grabbed her ankle, which she had just placed next to him. It was as if he were repeating the scene from that day, except that he
didn’t say anything.
Meilin lost her temper all of a sudden.
‘I remember a legend from Zhongshan,’ Murong Jinghe said at last, a thoughtful expression on his face, ‘it is said that once someone got lost in Zhongshan and walked
into a mountain crevice, and after going through it they reached Anyang.’
‘Anyang?’ Meilin was stunned for a moment, then shook her head, thinking the legend ridiculous. Anyang was more than 200 li away, and even a carriage would take several days to get there, so how could one
mountain crevice to reach Anyang?
‘It’s not impossible…’ Murong Jinghe whispered, seeing her incredulous expression. She had no idea that in order to escape from being a prisoner in Zhaojing, for several years he
had not let go of any possibility, and even the legend that was completely impossible to become a reality in the eyes of the world had also been investigated by his trusted men.
Seeing his expression, Meilin couldn’t help but feel a little excited, always knowing that they might really have a way out.
They ate some random mountain fruit and followed Murong Jinghe’s instructions, avoiding the feathered beasts in the sky as they headed towards the legendary stone forest.
The so-called stone forest is a barren rocky beach southwest of Zhongshan known as Huo Shao Chang. It is full of charred black rocks, with no grass growing, as if it had been burned by a fire, hence
and is named for this. It is backed by Zhi Mountain, the tallest peak of Zhongshan, and faces an endless expanse of wilderness, standing out unusually among the green mountains and forests. However, whether they are seeking adventure or
used to the mountains and forests, hunters will try their best to avoid it and not go near it. Because the rumour is that anyone who enters the fire-scorched field has never been able to come out again. Some people even say that the fire-scorched field is actually
a maze, and that people who go in will quickly lose their way and starve to death.
Chapter 6 (5)
‘A place like that… Are you sure our luck will be better?’ Meilin asked. Rather than letting herself be trapped in an unknown and dangerous situation based on a legend,
she would rather face the soldiers who had sealed off the mountain. Despite thinking this, she still struggled to carry Murong Jing and Wang Shilin half-dead.
Sometimes people are just strange. Even though they are doing something that goes against their will, they do it without any reluctance. The reason for this is, I’m afraid, rooted in trust. Meilin
thought it was incredible that she would trust Murong Jinghe, that bastard. But she had to admit that the abilities he had shown were not to be underestimated.
‘At least so far, our luck hasn’t been too bad,’ Murong Jinghe rested his chin on her shoulder, and could just see the small mole on the corner of her eyebrow. Helplessly
couldn’t move, otherwise he would have kissed her at once. But even so, it was enough to distract him a little from the excruciating pain in his meridians. ‘Lower your head
a bit.’
‘Huh?’ Mei Lin rested against an oak tree and pondered the remark about not too bad luck. Without thinking, he lowered his head a bit.
Muyong Jinghe tilted his head slightly upwards and found that he still couldn’t reach it, so he said, ‘Lower it some more.’
Meilin had come back to his senses by now, straightened his neck, and wondered, ‘Why?’ There were only two people here, so why did they have to get that close to talk about anything, especially since the distance between them
wasn’t that far.
‘Of course it’s something important, and I’m letting you lower your head, so what are you complaining about?’ Murong Jing said unhappily, clearly relying on others even for movement, but still in that
superior posture.
After spending a few days together, they had come to understand each other’s personalities a little. Meilin was not angry, and seeing him being so persistent, he just thought that it must be something really important, and it would probably not take them more than two
days to talk their way out of the stone forest. So he stopped asking questions, lowered his head as he had been told, and took the initiative to bring his ear close to his mouth.
Murong Jing and Deng immediately smiled, and his lips brushed against the auricle of her ear, lightly imprinting the small red mole that he had coveted for a long time.
When the warm breath hit her eyelashes, and after waiting for a long time for the other person to speak, Meilin finally reacted, knowing that he had once again developed a mole fetish.
She had to admit that when being treated so lovingly and tenderly, she couldn’t help but feel her heart tremble. However, she had already learned from past experience, and knew that such actions meant nothing to this man.
Therefore, she steadied her mind, calmly raised her head, and continued the difficult journey.
‘It’s ridiculous that a great king like you would be infatuated with a small mole.’ Mei Lin looked straight ahead, deliberately curling the corner of her lips into a mocking smile to hide the strange feeling in her heart
and at the same time try to provoke him into revealing the clues as to why he was so obsessed. She knew very well that she would get no answer if she asked directly.
However, unexpectedly, Murong Jinghe did not fly into a rage, but continued to stare at the corner of her brow as if he hadn’t heard.
Meilin was helpless and tired of trying, so she put all her energy into hurrying along, picking some wild fruits and herbs along the way. Before long, sweat had
begun to bead on her forehead, glistening drops sliding down her rosy mole, making her look even more charming.
Murong Jing moved his fingers and then sighed with regret, saying slowly, ‘My king loves beautiful women, mellow wine, and all things lovely.
When did it ever come to pass that an ignorant woman like you gets to judge?’
Meilin, who was shoving some kind of antidote herb into her mouth, nearly choked. After she had finally swallowed, she licked her numb teeth while pondering whether the slave girl’s words were
or an ignorant woman?
Neither seemed very pleasant. Just as she was coming to a conclusion, Murong Jing and finally noticed her stuffing all kinds of known and unknown herbs into her mouth as she walked,
and couldn’t help but ask, ‘What are you doing eating so many random raw herbs?’ The medicinal properties of many herbs cancel each other out, and she’s obviously looking for death in this behaviour.
Her lips seemed to be tingling a little. Meilin pursed her lips and said lightly, ‘Treat the sick and strengthen the healthy.’ With that, she took out a branch of seven-leafed blue flowers from her bosom and handed it to him
beside his mouth, ‘Do you want some?’
‘It’s poisonous, isn’t it?’ Murong Jinghe said doubtfully, then turned his face away disdainfully and finally stopped staring at the corner of her eyebrows.
Meilin smiled, but suddenly felt a panic. The scenery in front of her began to appear double, and she quickly held onto a tree trunk nearby, lowering her head and gasping for breath.
‘What’s wrong?’ Murong Jinghe noticed the abnormality and asked.
Meilin shook her head, feeling a sense of nausea in her chest. She had to carefully place him next to the tree trunk and let him fall to the ground. She also fell to her knees, unable to move, and gritted her teeth to endure the waves of
.
Muyun Jinghe looked at her increasingly pale face and the beads of sweat on her forehead, and suddenly reacted.
‘You’re poisoned? Stupid woman.’ The tone of his voice was more gloating than worried. He had said that if she kept on eating like that, she would get poisoned.
Muyun finally caught her breath and, upon hearing his words, snapped at him, ‘If I’m poisoned, it won’t do you any good.’ Even though she said that, she actually knew in her heart
that he was right. She knew that what she was doing was really reckless. But she didn’t have much time left. Although the toxins in her body would not kill her for the time being, they would consume her body’s
functions, and every day she stayed alive would cause irreparable damage to her body. She had no way of knowing if she could find an antidote before her vitality was completely used up.
‘If you want to die stupidly, I’ll just have to resign myself to it.’ Murong Jinghe noticed that her face had slightly improved, and he let out a silent sigh of relief, but he didn’t relent in his words.
Meilin found that everything in front of her slowly became clear again. She steadied her mind, wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, picked up the man half-sitting against the tree again, and continued on their journey. After the numbness in her mouth and tongue
had completely disappeared, she continued as before, sampling various grass leaves and flower stems as she walked.
Murong Jinghe felt that this woman was simply incorrigible and could not help sneering, ‘Do you really want to die?’
‘Of course not,’ Meilin replied firmly. Despite her words, she did not stop trying out the herbs. This time, however, she did not just eat them herself. From time to time,
she would stuff some that tasted extremely bitter or strange into Murong Jinghe’s mouth.
‘Rather than me dying of poisoning and you starving to death here alone, or being torn apart by wild animals, it’s better to die of poisoning together with me,’ she said.
Murong Jinghe wanted to refuse, but he couldn’t stand her persistent stuffing again and again, and in the end he could only obediently swallow it, naturally full of resentment and anger while eating.
Fortunately, until they reached their destination, they never ate anything poisonous again.
‘I hope your good luck continues,’ Meilin muttered, looking at the extremely conspicuous group of charred black boulders several zhang away in the distance.
Muyong Jing and Blackface did not respond.
Chapter 7 (1)
The stone forest is backed by a towering green mountain that reaches into the clouds, while the other three sides are surrounded by a lush bamboo forest, separated by a ring of scorched earth several zhang wide.
Meilin crouched down, carefully observing the ground for a while, before picking up a pinch of charcoal-grey sand and handing it to Murong Jinghe.
‘Look, this has been burnt… but why is there no grass growing?’ she wondered. After all these years, there should be lush vegetation growing on the ashes of the fire. Thinking
she suddenly felt as if she had caught something terrible, and hastily threw the sand onto the ground, wiping her hands on her clothes. Glancing aside, she saw Murong Jinghe’s undisguised
mockery in his eyes.
Pouting her lips, she threw him unceremoniously onto the ground covered in bamboo shoots. As she turned around, she heard a suppressed grunt of pain, and her lips couldn’t help but curl up slightly.
Then she tore a strip of cloth from her clothes, bit it between her teeth and tied it tightly around the arm that had grabbed the sand.
The stream flowed from the peak without passing through the burnt field. The water was clear, the plants on both sides were lush, and from time to time, she could still see the footprints left by small animals.
She washed her hands in the water with one hand, rubbed them with grass leaves, then lifted them up. She discovered that her palms were already as black as ink, just like the scorched rocks. Mei Lin sighed, drew her dagger,
and made a cross-shaped cut in the palm of her hand. Then, holding her arm through her sleeve, she pushed down from above. She saw black blood dripping into the stream, and in an instant, several small fish with their white bellies up
floated to the surface.
‘What a heartless man,’ she muttered, but there was no complaint in her expression. She knew only too well how ruthless that man could be, and once he had a chance to turn the tables,
she would surely die without a burial. Besides, she would save him only because she was forced to do so, so naturally she would not take it for granted that he should repay her.
As the blood from the wound gradually stopped dripping and turned into a continuous stream, the numb palm slowly regained its sense of touch. First, it felt like ants were biting, and
then it turned into pain. The blood finally returned to its bright red colour.
After waiting for a while, Meilin untied the cloth bandage on her arm. She didn’t panic when she saw the blood welling up from her palm. She rummaged through the herbs at her waist to find something to stop the bleeding, chewed it up and spat it on
and wrapped it with several layers of cloth. Only then did she get up.
A wave of dizziness hit her, causing her body to sway. She had no choice but to squat down again. She leaned down and took a few sips from the stream, which had returned to its clear state, and felt slightly better
.
She was actually not too afraid of poisoning, because when she entered the Dark Factory, a chronic foreign poison that would periodically attack had been planted in her body. She had some resistance to other poisons to a greater or lesser extent
resistance. It’s just that the blood that can be lost is really very limited, and after losing blood a few times, she can’t handle it anymore.
She washed the dagger in the water, then cut the bamboo tube and returned to the edge of the bamboo forest with the water. Murong Jing and fell to the ground, her face tilted, pressed against the thick layer of dead leaves
and had obviously fallen face-first to the ground, and had not moved since. There was no anger or resentment in her open eyes, just an unfathomable depth. Seeing her return,
she even raised the corners of her lips in a smile and said in an unusually soft tone, ‘If you are smart, you’d better kill me now. Otherwise, the humiliation you feel today will be repaid a hundredfold in the future.’
Although she already knew what was going to happen, when she heard him say it in that tone, Meilin still couldn’t help but feel a chill in her heart.
‘Don’t worry about what I’m going to do.’ She kept her expression unchanged, squatted down, turned him over, then helped him up slightly and began to feed him the water she had brought back.
Chapter 7 (2)
Muyong Jing and slowly sipped the water, raising their eyelashes in an attempt to see something from the calmness of Meilin.
Her fair face, with her hair damp from the water, rested quietly against her cheeks, making one want to reach out and brush it behind her ears. Her thin eyebrows and quiet eyes made her seem like
the kind of woman who is used to keeping a low profile and not having a strong opinion of her own. However, she turned out to be unexpectedly deep-thinking and resolute in her actions.
Murong Jing and Mu Lin looked at each other for the first time. When she lowered her eyes, he finally understood why he had misjudged her. The only memories they had of each other were her
tiny red mole at the end of her eyebrow and the days they had spent together. They had clearly slept in the same bed before, but he could not remember a thing. Even if he really did not care about this person,
it was not as if he would have forgotten her so completely. This showed that she must have deliberately tried to weaken her own sense of existence.
Feeling his thoughtful gaze, Meilin raised her eyebrows and looked him in the eye without flinching. The indifference in her eyes then crashed straight into his heart,
causing his pupils to shrink involuntarily.
Meilin’s lips tightened, then she smiled, but the smile did not dispel the coldness in her eyes. Even so, Murong Jinghe still had to admit that she was actually very beautiful.
Although this beauty was incomparable to Mu Ren Luomei.
‘Since the soil is poisonous, I’m afraid the stones are too. Are you sure we really want to go in?‘ she asked again.
’Are you scared?’ Murong Jinghe raised an eyebrow, intending to provoke her again, but suddenly his expression changed dramatically, and his originally pale face suddenly turned red.
Meilin noticed that whenever they didn’t need to cooperate, the two of them had a hard time getting along. As she was thinking about whether to retort or ignore him, a
a loud and extremely loud stomach grumbling. She was surprised and asked, ‘Are you hungry?’ She had hardly stopped talking the whole way, and she was still struggling to hold on, so how could he be hungry so quickly?
Muyong Jing clenched his fists and his immobile body undetectably twitched spasmodically. He averted his eyes and almost forced a few words out between his teeth,
‘I need to defecate.’ It turned out that even if he ate something strange, his delicate stomach could not bear it and it began to churn.
In the past few days, in order to avoid embarrassment, he had tried to eat and drink as little as possible, and he had not yet defecated. Meilin had helped him put his hand in front of his crotch, and then turned his face away so that he
could take care of it himself. At this time, he wanted to defecate, but he didn’t know what to do.
Not only him, but even Meilin was a little at a loss for the moment.
‘Hurry up!’ Seeing that she was still in a daze, Murong Jinghe angrily urged.
‘Oh oh.’ Meilin panicked and reached out to start unbuttoning his pants. However, the more anxious he became, the more chaotic he became. He accidentally tied the belt into a dead knot.
‘Cut it off…’ Murong Jinghe had no heart to scold, and hurriedly said,
‘Just bear with it, it’ll be over soon…’ Mei Lin had already loosened the knot, but she didn’t want to break the belt. However, this delay caused a loud pop, and a strong
and pungent stench filled the air.
She froze, while Murong Jinghe turned away in shame.
********
A clearing had been raked out in the bamboo forest by the stream, with a bonfire burning in the centre and two bamboo poles propped up next to it, drying the washed clothes.
Muyong Jinghe was lying on a large stone leaning diagonally into the water, with the exception of his head, all other parts of his body were in the cold stream. Meilin was half-submerged in the water,
while she cleaned the filth off his body. Neither of them spoke, one because of embarrassment, the other slightly ashamed.
Meilin knew that if she had not stuffed him with herbs and refused to cut his belt, this embarrassing situation might not have happened. For a grown man,
especially a prince of high status, this was not just a loss of face, but a very serious injury to his self-esteem.
It was only a matter of time before something like this happened to him, a complete invalid, and she would have to do everything for him in the future. She thought, and the rare kindness in her heart
suddenly disappeared.
She scrubbed his back and thighs with large, soft leaves, then reached between his legs without any qualms to wash his most intimate parts. She felt
the body under her hands uncontrollably trembled, then returned to calm, but the stiffness it conveyed did not dissipate for a long time. Meilin could not help but speed up, after washing his back,
she turned him over.
The firelight not far away had spread to the stream and turned it a faint yellow, but it was enough to make it possible to see Murong Jing with his eyes closed, and his lower lip clenched, which had already turned dark with blood stains.
From this, one could tell how he was holding back the shame in his heart.
Meilin sighed inwardly, knowing that if she wanted to stay alive, she would probably have to let him stay paralyzed.
The man who had never opened his eyes naturally didn’t know what she was thinking, and perhaps even if he did, he wouldn’t care.
Having been on the run for the past few days, Meilin finally took the opportunity to wash herself and Mu Rongjing. She dragged him to the shore and onto the clean, soft dry
grass. Only then did she go and fetch the clothes that were roasting.
The autumn night wind blew through her damp clothes and chilled her to the bone. She had no internal strength to keep out the cold, and her upper and lower teeth clacked together involuntarily. So she almost ran
to the fire and dragged the half-dry clothes back to the stream. She casually wiped the cold water stains on his body with her hand and put the clothes on him.
With difficulty, she got him back to the fire, and made him lie on his side on the soft bamboo leaves to warm his body, which was already like an ice cube, with the heat from the fire. She hoped that he would not catch a cold and
fall ill, which would undoubtedly be even more disastrous for them now. Meilin herself returned to the water’s edge once again, took off her wet undergarment that was clinging to her body, washed it, and hung it up in the
and hung it up to dry. Then, shivering and gritting her teeth, she waded into the stream and carefully washed the dirt off her body.
When Murong Jing opened her eyes, she had already finished washing and was sitting by the fire, wearing a pale-pink embroidered bellyband that revealed a large expanse of her snow-white back, and a thin pair of underwear, tending to her injuries.
After the sharp dagger had been heated over the fire, she decisively cut away the rotten flesh on the wound until blood gushed out, sliding down her snow-white arm. Her dark, wet hair hung down
over her body, with a few locks falling onto her chest and dripping with water. She applied the chewed herbs and bandaged it up neatly, except that when she removed the rotten flesh, her eyebrows had been imperceptibly wrinkled.
process was overly quiet. It was only that this quietness, set off by her almost enchanting attire, faintly revealed a kind of touching charm.
Meilin of course had no idea about charm or not, she treated the wounds on her arms and legs, went to the stream to wash away the bloodstains on her body, and then put on the clothes that had been dried. At the same time
changed her bellyband and underwear, washed them and hung them up to dry, before rebandaging her palm wound with a dry cloth.
Chapter 7 (3)
Everything was tidied up, and she was about to sleep there when she suddenly noticed that the man opposite the fire was shaking slightly all over. The dead leaves under him were getting wet from the water on his hair
without uttering a single word of complaint. Without thinking twice, she got up and walked over to move the man to a dry place, and told him to sit with his back to the fire and lean on her so that his wet hair
and clothes that had become wet on his back could be dried. Throughout the whole process, Murong Jing and only glanced at her at the very beginning when she was moved, and did not give any reaction afterwards.
Suddenly, Meilin knew that everything would never be the same again.
The next day, the two did not immediately enter Shilin. In a place where even the soil is highly toxic, if the two, one wounded and the other with mobility difficulties, did not prepare properly, it would be the same as
seeking death.
The wintergreen above the bamboo forest circled relentlessly, reminding them that its owner could arrive at any time. Meilin cut down a few bamboos, removed the leaves and branches, and the thickest parts
thick parts were used to make water containers, except for the four parts that would become the wheels. Using the one-and-a-half-arm-length bamboo segments, the cut branches and leaves, and long vines, Meilin once again made
a simple little cart. It was more than half the size of the one Yue Qin had made last time.
After cutting a thick load of hay, there was enough for the two of them to eat for a few days, as well as wild fruit and various other things that could be eaten raw to stave off hunger, medicinal herbs, and more than ten water bottles, all of which were placed on the cart
.
Meilin tied the long vine that pulled the cart around her waist, then half-carried Murong Jingwei, and after two days finally stepped out of the bamboo forest.
As she stepped into the open black transition area, she couldn’t help but look up at the evil bird that was still eyeing them from above, licking her lips, and an
urge suddenly arose in her heart to roast it.
There was no rain, and the autumn sky was high and clear blue. Murong Xuanlie did not come. This was by far the luckiest thing.
It was only when he got closer that he realised that the huge boulders were at least four or five zhang high above the ground, square in shape, and of varying thickness, as if they had been hewn by hand. But no one would really think in terms of human
engineering. Firstly, there were absolutely no fewer than ten thousand boulders here, and there were no signs of excavation in the surrounding fields and mountains, so the possibility of using local materials could be ruled out. Secondly, given the geographical environment
environment, there are no large canals nearby and there are no roads with sufficient pressure to transport the stones, so it is impossible to imagine how such a huge amount of work could have been completed. Therefore, apart from admiring
nature’s masterful craftsmanship, it is difficult to make other conjectures.
Some of the stones are so tightly embedded together that it is difficult to get through, while others are spacious enough for two carriages to pass side by side. The ground is extremely flat, as black
, blending seamlessly with the charred boulders. Once you enter the stone forest, it feels as if the whole sky has darkened.
Meilin, carrying Murong Jinghe and pulling the small cart, enters the fire-ravaged field between the two super-huge stones that look like gates. Because the road surface is
even and free of vegetation, it saves her a lot of effort, but she dares not rest her hand on the objects around her to support herself.
Even if there was no danger in such a large stone array, it would be difficult not to get lost after entering, so Meilin was prepared to leave marks as she went, but was stopped by Murong Jinghe.
He didn’t say why, but she immediately understood. If Murong Xuanlie and the others were determined to chase them, the marks they left would be an excellent beacon.
Murong Jinghe no longer spoke to Meilin except when necessary. She did whatever he told her to do, as long as it didn’t touch on his bottom line. Meilin felt a little uncomfortable with the peace and quiet.
She felt a little nostalgic for Murong Jinghe, who was always aloof and would complain and throw in a few sarcastic comments from time to time.
The sound of rolling bamboo tubes, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, accompanied by the heavy, dragging footsteps, sounded eerily terrifying in the dark stone forest. If it wasn’t her own
sound, Meilin would have thought she had encountered something unholy.
As Murong Jing did not give any directions, she could only go in the direction of the mountain peak based on her own judgment. The black stones exuded a chilling cold, and the wind whistling through the gaps in the stones made a sound
like someone crying. Apart from being a little cold, the air in the stone forest was not unpleasant. However, after walking for most of the day, the scenery in front of her had not changed at all, as if
as if it had never moved.
Meilin felt that something was not right, so she found a place sheltered from the wind and prepared to take a break and think about the situation at hand. As she tried to support Murong Jing and prevent him from falling
while spreading the dry grass from the cart onto the ground to isolate it from the layer of poisonous black soil, she realised how
a mistake.
In the end, she could only make Mu Rongjing sit on the ground, and she knelt beside him, supporting his upper body with her body as he was unable to sit up straight, while spreading the dry grass on the ground to
make a place big enough for the two of them to lie together.
After moving him to the hay and making him lie down, she also collapsed from exhaustion, while her mind was racing with thoughts of more energy-saving methods.
She could tie the hay into bundles, which would not only save effort when spreading it out, but also when storing it. She thought, her eyes falling unconsciously to the sky, before sitting up abruptly.
‘How is this possible…’ she murmured, her face taking on a strange look as a cold feeling rose in her heart.
At some point, the originally clear and blue high sky had been covered in grey, like a mist, but not quite a mist, and like clouds, but not quite clouds. It was right above the boulder, like a murky
chaos. No wonder she felt the light was so dark.
That was not the sky. Meilin knew that, but she couldn’t say what it was exactly, so she looked over at Murong Jinghe, who was also lying on the ground, quietly gazing up at the same time.
‘Hey…‘ Seeing that he didn’t seem to want to talk to her, she had to take the initiative. She paused for a moment before continuing, “Lord Murong, this place seems
not quite right.”
Murong Jinghe slowly rolled his eyes, finally landing on her standing there.
’Yes,’ he replied listlessly, without saying anything more.
After waiting for a long time, Meilin knew that she could not get anything useful out of him, so she sighed, sat down again, and then began to tie the dry grass on the floor into arm-thick bundles as she had
previously thought.
She started at the end of Murong Jinghe’s feet, so when she lifted his legs, she inevitably noticed the tips of his shoes. Because he had been half dragged along, holes had
holes, exposing his big toe, and the sock covering it was about to be worn through as well. If things continued like this, his toe would come into unimpeded contact with the ground.
Meilin had to be grateful that she had discovered it early, otherwise she would never have known when to drag a dead person along. She thought about it for a while, then used her dagger to cut
a piece of cloth, folded it several times, and padded it into the tip of his shoe. Then she used the cloth to tie his trousers and sleeves tightly. She didn’t dare to take his clothes at random for fear of tearing too much, and he couldn’t move.
If the skin on his body shrunk, it would come into contact with the poisonous stone sand around him. He was different from her, and she wasn’t sure if he would die from the poison.
After checking that apart from his hands, face, and neck, no skin was exposed, she began to bind the hay with a sense of relief.
After a good rest, the two continued on their journey.
It seemed as if time had stopped in the stone forest, which remained in a grey and gloomy state. It was not very clear to see everything around, but it was not completely invisible either.
Meilin felt like she had been walking for a long time, but the surroundings remained the same: huge rocks, black soil, and a chaotic sky that seemed endless. It was as if something
was weighing on her heart, heavy and suffocating. Fortunately, she could still feel Murong Jing and her warm breath steadily and slowly on her neck, which gave her
some peace of mind. At least she was not alone.
Bang! Clattering –
Something kicked against her foot and rolled away, not like a stone. Meilin paused for a moment, continuing forward, but unexpectedly stepped on something, and a crisp cracking sound
resounded in the quiet stone forest, like dry branches.
Meilin had to stop. She knew exactly what it was.
Retreating a distance, she spread the grass, settled Murong Jing and, and then returned to the place she had just passed.
Squatting down, she could see a pile of white bones lying there in the grey light. The ribs were broken, and the tattered clothes hung on them, flapping in the wind. There was no head.
One didn’t need to think to know that it was the result of Meilin’s two kicks just now.
Meilin looked at the clothes carefully. They were so rotten that the shape could no longer be seen, so she gave up. She got up and made two bows to the bones, then she was about to walk forward, planning to help it find its
skull.
‘Come back.’ Unexpectedly, Murong Jinghe called out to her from behind.
Meilin was stunned, and she felt inexplicably happy. Her feet automatically turned around.
‘What is it?’ She asked from a distance, her tone as cold as ever.
‘If you walk past that stone pillar, you might not be able to find your way back,’ Murong Jinghe said without beating around the bush, voicing his guess. When he said this, he didn’t carry the slightest
emotion, as if he were stating a fact, making people wonder if he hadn’t been unable to move, he would not have called out to Meilin.
‘Why?’ Meilin could not help but take a few steps back and ask. In fact, she already believed 70 to 80 percent of what he had said. Even she herself was not sure where this trust
came from.
‘Perhaps you can confirm it,’ Murong Jinghe said without explaining the reason, as if it was neither here nor there.
A big smile blossomed on Meilin’s face, and she walked directly over to him and lay down next to him. ‘Let’s talk in bed,’ she yawned, leaning her back against his
and closing her eyes. Although it was impossible to tell the time of day, she could tell from the level of her fatigue that she must have walked for a whole day. Since they had stopped here, she might as well rest up
before walking again.
She didn’t bring any firewood in, even though she had a flint and steel, for fear that starting a fire would cause the poison in the sand to seep into the smoke and fire. In a place like this,
they could only rely on each other’s body heat to get through the ordeal, and there was no other way.
Fortunately, there were two of them. The thought popped into Meilin’s head again, and the smile that had just faded from the corner of her lips grew wider.
‘There’s a dead body over there,’ she said. “It’s been dead for a long time, all the flesh has rotted away, just a skeleton now.”
Muyong Jing didn’t say anything in response. Meilin didn’t care. She was too tired and soon fell asleep.
*********
Meilin dreamed of the day she left the dark factory and saw her master. It wasn’t exactly the same, though.
She was kneeling in the bedroom with the large carved window. The room was filled with the fragrance of incense, and in the depths of the room, a man dressed in a white robe and with long black hair stood, his eyes full of light
and staring at her. But no matter how hard she tried, she could not make out the man’s face, and she only vaguely felt that he should be a man. She felt that she should know who he was.
Someone called out to her from the window, telling her it was time to go. So she walked out.
When she was almost at the door, she heard a violent coughing behind her, so close it was almost by her ear. She thought the person must be very sick and should be treated, so she picked up a few
herbs from her waist and wanted to give them to him. Unexpectedly, what she saw was a white, skeleton-like body without a head.
She was shocked, tripped over the door sill, and fell forward with a thud.
She gave a start, her foot tripped over the door sill, and she fell forward with a thud.
The coughing continued, quite hoarse, but it was Murong Jinghe.
Meilin found that she had rolled over at some point, and her hands and feet were almost entangled in his body. Maybe it was just too cold. She thought, and instead of letting go, she
recalled the scene in her dream and felt an inexplicable fear, unconsciously tightening her arms again.
As the coughing became more intense, Murong Jinghe’s body trembled to the point of spasm.
Meilin felt a little sorry for him, so she placed one hand on his chest and the other on his back, gently pressing and rubbing. Her mind, however, was still lingering in the dream, a little confused
and a little ignorant, completely unaware that Murong Jinghe had stiffened due to her sudden and concerned actions.
The dream seemed to have mixed and chopped up reality and melted it together, and it was of no value to delve into. However, Meilin could not ignore the fear
that arose from the depths of her heart caused by the dream.
She never knew who her master was. Not only her, but also the other assassins in the Dark Factory, including people from other departments, probably very few people knew. That day was the first time she met her master
and although she was allowed to enter the inner chamber, she kept her head down and did not dare to look up. But she had a nose, and she was not deaf.
So she smelled the light incense the master wore, and she heard the cough, an unexpected cough that made her unable to hide her voice. When she heard it
she almost thought she would never be able to leave that door again.
She had once smelled that scent on Murong Xuanlie, but now she heard a similar coughing sound on Murong Jinghe’s body. The heavens really love to play jokes on her.
‘Have you felt enough?’ Murong Jinghe’s voice, which had become a bit hoarse due to coughing, interrupted her thoughts and rang out in the silent stone forest.
Meilin froze for a moment, and only then did she realise that her gestures had become extremely slow due to her absent-mindedness, like an ambiguous caress rather than a massage.
‘Let go!‘ Whether it was because of the situation, Murong Jinghe actually felt a little uncomfortable in this position, and his voice turned harsh.
Meilin came back to her senses, and with some embarrassment, she withdrew her hand and sat up. She looked up at the sky to check the time, but it was futile.
’Are you still sleeping?’ she asked. Waking up from a dream did not help to relieve her fatigue at all; on the contrary, she felt even more tired. Coupled with the cold, she really couldn’t
lie down.
‘No.’ Murong Jinghe’s voice returned to its usual calm, but her body involuntarily shrank a little. She felt the cold penetrating her body, which was already not warm, due to her leaving.
She had to make an effort to keep her upper and lower teeth from clashing. ‘Help me up.’ At some point, he stopped saying ‘my king’ all the time.
Meilin did not notice this subtle change. She leaned over and helped him up as he had asked, letting him lean on her, then pulled the small cart over, removed the bamboo tube hanging from it to hold water
and gave him a couple of sips before drinking herself. She also shared a piece of roasted yam, feeling a little warmth return to her body. Only then did they set off again.
Chapter 8 (1)
The white bones seemed to be a dividing line. The further he walked, the more bones there were on the ground. Some were prostrate on the ground, some were leaning against boulders, some were lying alone, some were entangled in pairs.
Some had rusted armour, some were still standing with their spears, and there were even the bones of many horses.
When the wind blows, there is a clanging sound coming from nowhere in particular.
Even the bold Meilin is shocked by this place that looks like a battlefield, and a chill runs down her spine.
‘Could it be that there was a war here?’ she says to herself, as if asking Murong Jinghe. In fact, the broken flag leaning on the ground and swaying in the wind, as well as the broken swords and halberds all over the
broken swords and halberds all over the ground already gave the answer.
Muyong Jinghe leaned his head against her shoulder, calmly watching all this with his eyes, without saying a word.
The path ahead became difficult to walk on because of the increasing number of obstacles on the ground. Meilin had to kick some of the rusted weapons to the side as she walked to make it easier to drag the small cart
. As for the white bones, if she couldn’t get around them, she started off by patiently laying down straw to cover them, then respectfully moved aside Murong Jinghe. Later, as the white bones blocking the road
became more and more numerous, she could no longer bear it and could only push them aside more gently with her feet.
However, the more she walked, the more uneasy she felt. She always felt as if the sound of the wind was mixed with the sound of clashing weapons and fighting horses. It wasn’t until the third time she passed by a place with a broken flag stuck in the ground
she finally knew that something was wrong and had to stop.
‘We can’t get out of this field,’ she whispered to Murong Jinghe.
‘Try going back,’ Murong Jinghe said lightly after taking note of the surrounding environment.
Meilin nodded, about to turn around, but then stopped as if he had thought of something. He took out his dagger and drew an arrow on the stone wall before walking away.
Unsurprisingly, half an hour later, they were back at the same place. Mei Lin was a little unwilling, so he chose another fork in the road that they hadn’t taken. He was exhausted, but
the result was no different at all.
Murong Jinghe sighed and said, ‘Let’s rest here.’
Neither of them were timid, and at this point, they had no more qualms in their hearts. As Mei Lin had said, she cleared a space from the white bones, spread the grass, laid Murong
and then went to collect the rusted weapons.
After collecting a pile of weapons and taking the flag, she sat down on the hay. She adjusted the position for Murong Jinghe, originally wanting him to lean on her shoulder, but
he said his head hurt, so she had to let him lie on her uninjured leg. In fact, after leaning on her shoulder all day, her shoulder was also a bit overwhelmed.
After settling everything, Meilin finally picked up the flagpole and put together a black flag embroidered with yellow taotie that was not quite complete. She didn’t quite understand the imperial army,
and couldn’t tell what the flag represented. Before she could ask, the lying Murong Jinghe already snorted.
‘Greedy Hu people.’
‘Who are the Hu people?’ Meilin couldn’t help but ask.
Muyong Jinghe glanced at her, his gaze faintly betraying contempt, ‘If you don’t even know about the Hu, are you really a Daiyan person?’
‘I…’ Meilin couldn’t help stammering, then said with righteous indignation, ‘I’m a Xiyan person.’
Muyong Jinghe’s eyes became extremely strange for a moment, and after holding back, he couldn’t help but blurt out, ‘Then say something in Xiyan.’
Meilin was embarrassed and ignored him, beginning to examine the weapons.
‘The Hu tribe were the royal family of the previous dynasty,’ Murong Jinghe explained instead. ‘For this land, they were actually an alien tribe. Later, they lost their virtue due to greed,
causing the people to suffer and be driven out by my ancestor Murong.’
‘There are words on it,‘ said Meilin, feeling the hilt of a halberd that was only half there, and approaching it. However, she found an unfamiliar pattern, and had to pass it to Murong Jinghe
to look at. She said doubtfully, “It might be words…”
Murong Jinghe glanced at it, his expression slightly moving. If he hadn’t been unable to move, he would have sat up.
’Royal. A weapon that only the royal guards of the Hu tribe can wear,’ he said, indicating that Meilin should continue looking at the others.
Meilin took two more, both with the same markings. It wasn’t until she picked up a spear that the inscriptions were different.
‘I know this one,’ she said, sweeping away her previous despondency and almost with a hint of surprise. ‘Bingdao.’
Muyong Jinghe let out an ‘ah’ sound, and his fingers, which had been hanging by his side, twitched slightly. He couldn’t hold his breath anymore and urged, ‘Show it to me quickly.’
Meilin handed it over.
In the grey light, you can see that two large and clear characters are engraved on the ridge of the tip of the spear. Although there is some rust, they can still be recognised as the two characters
Bingdao that Meilin mentioned.
Muyong Jinghe’s face showed a look of respect and admiration, and he stared at it for a long time before letting out a long sigh and telling Meilin to put it away. He didn’t say anything, as if he had fallen into deep thought
Meilin did not disturb him, and alone looked over the remaining weapons, not finding any other markings. It was clear that the two markings represented two factions, and
it was likely that they were hostile.
‘The two characters bingdao were used by the king of the Tibetan Middle Kingdom, who was the leader of the eight generals who founded the current dynasty.’ Murong Jinghe’s voice suddenly sounded, no longer absent-minded as before, and
very solemn. From this it can be seen that he sincerely reveres that Zangzhongwang. ‘Zangzhongwang is a military genius. He is responsible for half of the country of Dayan. Military strategy,
military strategy… The military, it is a crafty path…’ He shook his head and laughed at himself for talking to a woman about marching and fighting. So he stopped.
Meilin really wasn’t interested in the King of the Tibetan Kingdom or anything to do with military strategy, but seeing as he was talking so enthusiastically, she didn’t interrupt. He stopped talking, and she was happy
to discuss other issues.
‘You mean to say that the generals and soldiers of the King of the Tibetan Kingdom all used this type of weapon?’
Murong Jing and Wei shook their heads. ‘Only those under the King of the Tibetan Kingdom used it. His descendants and their successors, in order to respect his unique status, all went to the Tibetan Kingdom to change their weapons.’
‘Tao Zang.‘ Thinking of these two characters that represented the greatest military power of the Great Yan Dynasty, he couldn’t help but narrow his eyes, and there was a flash of light in them that made people unable to read.
Mei Lin’s thoughts were focused on what he had said and she didn’t notice.
’So, these bones are hundreds of years old,’ she muttered, and the majestic appearance of those soldiers and generals from that year came to mind, and then she looked at the
bones in this land, and an indescribable feeling welled up in her.
‘At least 324 years.’ Murong Jinghe Ying, a little excited, obviously didn’t think along the same lines as her. “Back then, the King of the Tibetan Kingdom suddenly disappeared, and everyone said that
he had quietly retired after achieving success. Could it be that he came to this place?”
Upon hearing his speculation, Meilin’s face suddenly changed. If that King of the Tibetan Kingdom was really as powerful as he said, and was even trapped here, then the possibility of the two of them being able to get out
was probably even slimmer.
Chapter 8 (2)
‘We…can’t get out, can we?’ she asked hesitantly.
Muyong Jing and Cong came back from their reminiscences and said indifferently, ‘Maybe.’
Hearing him say that, Meilin’s heart, miraculously, suddenly settled. It wasn’t that she had let go, it was just that the two of them had never gotten along, and she would always
interpret his words in the opposite way. If he had sworn that he could definitely get out, she might have been scared instead.
‘That’s fine. Let’s just be a short-lived married couple here,’ she said with a smile, while moving his head to the higher side of the grass and preparing to lie
down and rest.
Murong Jinghe and Murong Wen first froze in shock, then became furious, ‘Who wants to be your husband!’
Seeing that he had regained some of his former spirit, Meilin secretly let out a sigh of relief in her heart, but put on an expression of surprise on her face: ‘Isn’t it because you admire me that
you cling to me so desperately? Otherwise, why don’t you go after that little guy Yue Qin?’
Muyong Jing snorted, seeing that she was deliberately provoking his anger, so he simply closed his eyes and ignored her.
In fact, they both knew that although Yue Qin was kind-hearted, uninjured, and still had some strength, he seemed like the best choice to help him escape, but in reality
Muyong Lin was much better at adapting to changes and surviving in the wild. Plus, one was a prisoner of war and the other was a woman who had once been with him for a while and was nominally his, so
if they were caught, it would naturally be easier for the latter to avoid detection if they were together. If they were with the former, I’m afraid that not only would they not be able to escape, I’m afraid they would also be charged with
collaborating with the enemy.
Meilin felt like the roles had really been reversed between the two of them. In the past, he was the one who provoked, and she rarely paid any attention, but now it was completely the other way around. Thinking about this, she felt really
bored, shook her head, and lost her interest in speaking for a while.
Once again, it became quiet, except for the occasional clanging sound carried by the wind. Murong Jing and felt a pair of hands come around from behind, just like the night before,
to keep him warm. He wasn’t used to this position, and he had never allowed anyone to do this before, but at this moment, he could only open his eyes and quietly look at the hands clasped
on his chest.
Those hands were already covered in wounds of all sizes, and one of them was even wrapped in bandages. Apart from the initial traces of elegance still visible in their appearance, they could almost
be described as appalling. But it was these hands that had carried him over mountains and across rivers, almost intact, to this place.
Although when choosing her, he had believed she could do it after observing her secretly for a night and a half, when she actually did it, he couldn’t help but be amazed by the strength and power
of strength and power.
He couldn’t help but recall that day when Makino Luomei said she wanted to know how someone without martial arts skills could survive in a crisis-ridden situation, and wanted to use this to train soldiers
specifically. Perhaps she really should have fled with this woman behind her, instead of pursuing her, so that she would know how much potential a person can unleash in the face of death
Thinking of Mu Nuo Luomei and the day she left in anger, an inexpressible feeling of fatigue and disappointment inevitably rose in his heart. If one day he was to be pushed onto the guillotine by his father or elder brother,
she would surely dissuade him with her death, but in the face of a completely paralyzed invalid, he had no confidence that she could bear it. From what he knew of her, he was afraid that she would rather
have him dead than see him live in such a miserable state.
Disgraceful…<br /><br />
The disgraceful memory of that day once again came to mind, causing his face to flush. The soft body of the woman pressed against his back and her heavy breathing suddenly became apparent. His hand
couldn’t help but slowly tighten.
At that moment, a sound like a mouse rustling suddenly sounded, which was extremely obvious in the gusty wind.
Murong Jinghe’s heart trembled, and his chaotic thoughts instantly subsided. Just as the sound got closer and closer, he quickly closed his eyes, leaving only a slit.
There was gravel rolling on the ground in front of him. After waiting for a while, a hunched figure appeared in the pale light, hiding from view.
Meilin felt distressed. She couldn’t understand why, after just a nap, she woke up to find that everything was gone, except for an empty bamboo board.
‘Do you think it was done by a person or a ghost?’ she asked Murong Jinghe, her question already bordering on insanity.
Murong Jinghe shook his head.
‘Aren’t you always vigilant?’ Meilin couldn’t help but say. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him, she just found it strange.
Murong Jinghe looked at her, his eyes devoid of emotion, but a storm was raging in his heart.
She knew! She even knew that he had trouble sleeping. He had even deliberately asked the women who accompanied him to stay the night to hide this, but no one had ever noticed.
Even during these few days of spending every moment together, he had tried his best to act like a normal person, so how did she know?
Meilin didn’t expect to get any more answers from him, and said with some helplessness, ‘If this continues, I’m afraid we really will have to stay here.’ Even though she said this, she
began to pack the still-warm hay bales under her body, and then put Murong Jing on the bamboo cart.
‘You’ll be comfortable now,’ she said with a wry smile, while using rattan to secure his upper body in place to prevent him from slipping to the ground during the dragging process.
She was right, because there was a thick layer of dead grass underneath them. Although the cart was relatively short, which meant that his legs had to drag along the ground, it was much more comfortable than being carried by her with a limp
and having to keep slipping back down from time to time.
Muyong Jinghe paid attention to her expression and noticed that apart from the initial shock, she had returned to her usual composed self. He couldn’t help but admire her strong mental endurance
‘My ear hurts, can you take a look at it?‘ he suddenly said.
Meilin was taken aback, a little surprised, but still asked, “Which side?”
’The right.”
Because the light was poor, Meilin reached out to touch his right ear while bending down to get a closer look. Just when she was a distance away from his face
he was able to see that his right ear was intact. He was about to speak when he suddenly noticed that his lips were moving slightly, as if he wanted to say something. Realising what was going on, she lowered her head a little, almost pressing her ear
to his lips. From the side, it looked as if she was carefully examining his ear.
‘Someone is following us,’ Murong Jing said in a voice as quiet as a mosquito’s buzz, and if Mei Lin had not been so close, he would have been completely drowned out by the wind. “I only saw one
person. He had a saber in his hand and a bow and arrow.”
Mei Lin wanted to ask if he had stolen their things, but before his lips could move, he was stopped by a glance from Murong Jing.
Chapter 8 (3)
‘How is it? Are you hurt?’ he asked in his usual loud voice.
Meilin saw that he didn’t seem to be prepared to say anything else, so he straightened up and said sarcastically, ‘But it’s just a scratch, is it worth making such a fuss about? Last night you lost
so many things, and you didn’t feel anything?’
She pulled Tengzi over her chest and dragged her along, because there were a lot fewer things, which saved a lot of effort and made her walk much faster.
‘You slept like a log too, so don’t you dare lecture me!’ Murong Jinghe retorted without giving an inch. Seeing her walking forward again, he couldn’t help but yell, “You didn’t walk out from
there yesterday, and you’re taking the same path today. You’re even worse than a pig.”
Meilin snorted, ignored him, and continued walking. She seriously suspected that he was taking this opportunity to vent his previous dissatisfaction with her.
‘Idiot. You’re my man, I’m the pig, and you’re not the pig husband,’ she said back, smiling.
Muyong Jing was at a loss for words. He wanted to argue back, but the fact was that she could indeed be considered his woman, and no matter what position she was in, he was
included in the scolding.
However, before he could calm down for a while, he started yelling again.
‘Hey, woman, we’ve been lying here all night, and you’re still making me lie like this. You’re just trying to make me feel bad.‘
’You’re so nosy,’ Meilin said, but she still let go of the vine rope, walked over, untied him from the bamboo cart, and helped him to his feet.
Muyong Jinghe was unsteady on his feet, and fell onto her. As his lips grazed her ear, he whispered quickly, ’He’s behind the third stone on the left. I don’t see anyone else.’
‘Because he paid special attention, he immediately noticed the presence of another person.
Meilin gave a low grunt, wrapped one arm around his waist, and gripped the dagger in her other hand.
‘You can’t even stand properly, and you’re still so useless!’ she scolded, ‘I really don’t know what sins I committed in my past life to be burdened by a man like you… Ouch…
… Hurry up and let go… Hurry up and let go…‘ She was in the middle of a tirade when she suddenly felt Murong Jinghe’s hand on her shoulder and a bite on her ear. She immediately froze and begged for mercy.
At the same time, a scraping sound of metal entered their ears. The two of them couldn’t help but exchange glances, and Meilin felt the blood in her body start to rush.
’Keep on scolding,’ Murong Jinghe whispered. He sensed something unusual.
That person didn’t do anything to them last night when they fell asleep, so why couldn’t they hold their temper today? Was it because of the words they exchanged with each other, or was it because they
were provoked by their intimate actions? In any case, it would be extremely disadvantageous for them to let someone who knows nothing about them linger in the dark, so they could only take the risk of provoking them.
Meilin was stunned, scolding…what was she scolding about? Just now, after he bit her, she forgot everything and couldn’t think of what to say next.
‘Stupid woman.’ It only took one look for Murong Jinghe to know what was going on. He sighed helplessly and suddenly lowered his head to kiss the corner of her lips.
Meilin was startled and reflexively looked at him. His lips slid past her, sealing her lips tightly. Her ears pricked up at the same time, capturing the man’s reaction.
The wind howled, drowning out all subtle sounds. It was as if the man had disappeared all of a sudden, and he didn’t make any sound again.
It wasn’t because of that. Murong Jing’s gaze flickered, and a frivolous smile appeared on his face. He didn’t want to let go of those soft lips when he left them, and even gave them a little suck. ‘I’ll give you a chance to vent your dissatisfaction,’
he said in a barely audible voice, then suddenly laughed coldly, ‘I can see that you slut can’t wait for me to die so that you can go to your lover. I’m not going to give you what you want!
mark this: you are still my woman, and I can do whatever I want with you…”
A loud crack silenced the rest of his words. Meilin pushed him onto the cart, but when his hand almost slipped to the ground, she lifted her leg and stopped it without a trace.
Then came a flurry of kicks.
‘Do you still think you’re the mighty king? Look at what you’ve become. Who else but me would take care of you…’ She shouted angrily, looking as if she
couldn’t
bear to see the man on the ground die. “Cough cough… Go ahead and hit me, but you won’t get out of here alive…” Mu Rongjing curled up on the cart, his face hidden in the shadows. Although his tone was angry and ashamed,
but there was no expression on his face.
‘Pah, you think I can’t live without you?’ Meilin said angrily, giving him a kick in the butt. Then she suddenly pulled out a dagger and said coldly,
‘Let’s try it and see if I can get out without you.’
The cold light of the dagger flashed in the dark grey light, and it was stabbed at Murong Jinghe’s chest.
Murong Jinghe’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he almost thought she really wanted to kill him. If it wasn’t for the sound of metal scraping that sounded again, and was even more obvious and
longer than before.
‘I’ll kill you, you evil woman…’ A hoarse voice suddenly interrupted, followed by the sound of stumbling and running.
Meilin kicked the cart further away, then turned around and looked at the hunched figure charging at her with a knife. Although she had lost her internal strength, her eyesight was still there,
as were her moves. If she had met a master, there would be nothing to say, but the way this person was holding the knife and running told her for certain that he was just
ordinary person, at most with a little more murderous and dead-eyed aura than ordinary people have. And these two things, she was not afraid of.
‘What kind of monster is this!’ she sneered, trying to provoke the man’s anger even higher.
Muyong Jing slowly stretched his head out of the shadows, calmly surveying the man to judge the chances of winning the battle.
At first glance, the man looked short and hunched, but in fact, he had a large frame and if he straightened up, he would not be much different from himself. The clothes on his body had become a
piece, and his long hair was tangled into strands, covering his face. It looked as if he had been here for quite some time.
His pace was heavy, and he obviously did not have internal strength. The posture of his sword-drawing was unmethodical, which meant that he did not know martial arts. Why was such a person here? And how did he survive
? Damn woman, she didn’t hold back when she attacked just now. When this is over, how is he going to get it back from her? Her mouth still tastes like wild grapes.
Gee, I’m kind of hungry…
Seeing that Meilin is in no danger, his thoughts began to wander, and he started to think about other things.
If Meilin knew what he was thinking, she would hate herself for not attacking harder in the first place. But at this moment, she had no way to distract herself. Although the man didn’t seem to know martial arts,
the waist knife was no bluff. If it grazed you, you would definitely suffer. Or maybe he had discovered their trick and turned and ran. To lure him out again,
I’m afraid it would be difficult.
Fortunately, the man was so angered by her words that he lost his mind, and the knife came at her without any hesitation.
Meilin’s eyes narrowed. Just as the knife was about to strike her face, she twisted her waist and dodged to the side. At the same time, she thrust her dagger upwards, about to slice the man’s wrist
when she suddenly changed her stance and crashed her elbow into his solar plexus. <br /><br />Her left shoulder was still injured, so the force she used was limited, but it still caused the man to bend over. Then the dagger
a beautiful reversal, and it rested lightly across his throat.
‘Throw the knife,’ she said with a faint smile. The stench of rotting flesh and death came from the man, nauseating, but she didn’t even frown.
The man’s shoulders slumped in defeat, and his eyes hidden under his messy hair flashed with a look of confusion.
Clang! The waist knife fell to the ground.
The man’s hands were tied behind his back with the rattan ropes on the cart, and unwillingly he pulled the bamboo cart and the above Murong Jing and dragged his feet forward step by step.
He refused to say who he was, and Meilin was too lazy to press him, so he simply called him the corpse ghost. It was really because he was smelling the stench from his body.
Strangely, even though they were clearly walking the same road, after the corpse ghost had made seven or eight turns, the scenery in front of him suddenly changed. It hadn’t even taken half an hour. Although
there were still huge rocks standing upright, there were no more white bones to be seen.
Meilin’s eyes lit up, and she thought there was hope for Lin, but her illusions were soon shattered.
She saw a shack. A shack made of closely packed white skeletons, with pieces of cloth covering the surface. The shack was casually divided into two spaces by a robe,
one room with a thick layer of broken bones and rags on the floor, and the other room with a few pieces of dried meat hanging from the ceiling, as well as all kinds of other miscellaneous items, including the food and water they brought in,
as well as medicinal herbs, all of which were piled in a messy way, filling up half the room.
It was obvious that this was the ghoul’s residence.
Meilin didn’t say a word, barged into the room with the miscellaneous items, grabbed a bamboo tube, removed the stopper and took a gulp, then walked out to feed Murong Jinghe.
‘What do you want to eat?’ she asked, naturally referring to everything in the room.
Murong Jinghe shook his head, his face was unpleasant, his Adam’s apple rolled a bit, and he said in a difficult tone, ‘Help me sit up.’
Meilin didn’t know what he wanted to do, so she did as he said. Unexpectedly, as soon as she got him up and he hadn’t yet sat down properly, he fell headfirst into her arms, then breathed heavily, as if
he had been holding his breath for a long time. Meilin suddenly realised that he had also been affected by the smoke. Although she knew that he didn’t have evil intentions, the feeling of his scorching breath penetrating her clothes and warming her skin
made her feel a little uncomfortable, and she couldn’t help but think of the kiss that caught her off guard before.
Trying to calm her heart, which was beating faster and faster, she wanted to push him away, but she glanced at the ghoul, who had turned around and was looking at them with confusion, as if he didn’t understand why the two people who had started shouting
and screaming were now so friendly. So she suppressed the urge.
‘You escort us out, and you can keep all that stuff,’ she said to the ghoul, stroking Murong Jinghe’s head tenderly.
The ghoul looked at her, then at Murong Jinghe, who was clinging to her like a spoiled child, as if he had understood something. The intense anger and hatred in his eyes had faded considerably.
‘You…just now, were you trying to lure me out?’ he asked, his speech appearing stiff and slow compared to the smooth pace of his earlier anger, as if he hadn’t spoken to anyone in a long time
.
Meilin smiled without saying anything, which was considered tacit approval, and Murong Jinghe’s breathing gradually calmed down. The two of them looked like a loving couple at this moment.
The corpse ghost grinned, pulling out a stiff smile, and squatted down on the spot.
‘I can’t get out… I can’t get out…‘ He buried his face in his knees and said muffledly, his voice like a sob. “Anyone who enters here can’t get out… They
can’t get out… You can’t get out either…”
Murong Jinghe felt that he could finally suppress the urge to vomit, so he turned his face sideways and looked at him.
’How long have you lived here?’
The corpse ghost seemed to be at a loss for words, and his mumbling voice full of despair stopped. After a while, he looked up and asked, ‘What year is it?’
When Meilin heard him ask which year it was, not what day, his heart instantly cooled by half.
‘August of the 32nd year of Zhaoming…hmm…how much?’ Murong Jinghe answered, and the last two words were a question for Meilin.
Who has the heart to remember the date? Meilin shook his head, only then noticing that the two were still in that ambiguous position. He hurriedly pushed him away a little, sat down himself, and
supported him from the side.
‘Really… the thirty-second year of Zhaoming… thirty-two years… hehe…’ The corpse ghost stared blankly, repeated the two sentences in a stammering voice, and then laughed sadly to himself.
His voice was like the night wailing of a vengeful ghost, making people both sad and cold.
Meilin shrank her body towards Murong Jinghe and behind her, still feeling a little overwhelmed. She couldn’t help but cough lightly and quietly poke Murong Jinghe, indicating that he should quickly say
something.
Murong Jinghe ignored her until he felt that the other person had vented enough, and then he opened his mouth to repeat the previous question: ‘Have you been here for a long time?’
‘Eight years…eight years…’ The corpse ghost trembled as he looked up, his eyes red and dull.
Murong Jinghe gasped, but immediately regretted the action. He twisted his head and retched until Meilin pressed his head against her shoulder before
it stopped.
Because he had been on the run in the mountains and forests, Meilin’s body was covered in the fragrance of pine, bamboo, and grass leaves, which had an excellent effect in resisting putrid smells.
‘You can’t get out either?’ Meilin was a little suspicious. After spending eight years in a place like this, if you can’t get out, where will the food and water come from?
‘Don’t…don’t ask,’ Murong Jinghe stopped him by closing his eyes and panting slightly before the corpse ghost could answer.
‘Eh?’ Meilin was a little surprised.
‘Isn’t it obvious enough?’ Murong Jinghe just finished saying this when her stomach churned again, and she hurriedly closed her mouth. She felt that this woman was sometimes very astute, but
sometimes also extremely slow-witted.
Meilin was momentarily stunned, glanced at the corpse ghost hunched into a ball, and then turned to his shack of white bones. Her gaze finally settled on the dried meat hanging from the roof. An indescribable
describe, welled up in her chest, making her mood suddenly a little heavy, but also causing her restless thoughts to settle down.
‘If I were you, I would do the same thing,’ she said to the man who was trembling and lowering his head as if he wanted to shut out all the disgust and strange looks from the outside world.
As the corpse ghost’s body trembled slightly because of her words and he slowly raised his head, Murong Jingye also became a little stiff because of her words. But he didn’t say anything about it,
but turned his head to look at the corpse demon.
‘If you want to go out, tell me everything you know.’
Chapter 9 (1)
Outsiders only know that Huo Shachang is a ghost realm where no human trace can be found, but they don’t know that every year there are always a few people who are not afraid of death and go in, and then never come back.
That year was the hot June, and three people came to the corpse demon’s house, asking him to go to Zhongshan for a walk. It was a big deal, to send twelve people back to Yunling, and the reward
was naturally not small. He had heard about the burning ground before, and while he felt that it was dangerous, he also thought that there was something fishy about it, so he didn’t want to take the job. But the evil woman in his family kept arguing about it
and making a racket, causing unrest and disturbance. She even drove him and his elderly parents out of the house in the middle of the night, threatening that if they couldn’t close the deal, they would never be able to go back. He had no choice but to take the job.
He didn’t go alone, the three of them also went up the mountain. Because they were not sure if the twelve people were really gone.
Before entering the burning field, they brought five days of food and water, thinking that it would be enough to go back and forth a few times inside. With the previous experience, no one dared to be careless.
Since entering the stone forest, they began to make marks, just in case someone wanted to do the same and still get lost inside. When they arrived at the place where Meilin stopped, they finally found the people they were
the people they were looking for, but they were unable to find their way out again. The twelve people had long since turned into twelve mutilated corpses. Because the place was shady and the sun couldn’t penetrate, the corpses hadn’t
started to rot yet, and from above, you could see the marks of cannibalism. That scene had a great impact on the four people, and the seeds of fear and despair were planted at that moment, and then
they gradually grew and sprouted in the following days.
On the third day, one person went berserk and drew the knife he was carrying and hacked at the others indiscriminately. The corpse ghost could only do a bit of kickboxing, and compared to martial artists who had both internal and external cultivation,
it was nothing to look at at all, so while the other two worked together to restrain the person, he quietly hid. He knew that if he stayed with them, he might not die of starvation first, but of being killed by their knives
under their knives. So even after the crazed man calmed down, he didn’t go out again. When the three men looked for him, he hid around the boulder, but somehow
he managed to get lost. What made him feel even more strange was that he found that standing outside the field, he was not far away from them, and he could see every move they made, but they
completely didn’t feel his presence.
However, no matter how he walked in the future, he could never get out of this place he had arrived at. The three people did not wait until they ran out of food and water before they were first driven mad by the immense fear and gloomy
environment.
After they died, he went over to collect the food and water they had left behind, and it took a long time before he could walk out of there with the help of his not very clear memory. For the past eight years
, he followed the previous method and took different routes around the stone pillar countless times, but he was never able to get out. During this time, countless groups of people came, and he watched them
like a play, watching them die in front of his eyes in various ways, and watching the most authentic side of them revealed when facing death. Many times, for the sake of precious blood,
he would also help them when they were dying.
Even the cold-blooded Mu Lin could not help but swallow hard when she heard his story. A feeling of nausea welled up in her throat, and she unconsciously held onto the person next to her,
Murong Jinghe.
He didn’t say how he had survived these past eight years, and they didn’t want to ask.
‘You are a corpse collector,’ she said, stating a fact rather than asking a question. She was afraid that only this particular occupation could allow him to withstand such psychological pressure, and live in this dark
without seeing the light of day for eight years without going crazy. She asked herself if she could do the same. She was just wondering why he claimed to know some martial arts, but why he had no method when he fought.
The corpse ghost hung his head, in tacit agreement.
Muyong Jinghe was actually doing better than at the beginning. He had calmed down while the corpse ghost was telling his story, and now he looked composed, so that no one could tell what he was thinking.
‘You didn’t kill us last night because you wanted to wait until we were too weak from hunger to move, and then bleed us dry,’ he pointed out the Shikui’s thoughts lightly. After all, with his current strength,
he definitely wasn’t sure he could finish off both of them at once. Even if he could, before that happened, I’m afraid they would have already spilled almost all of their blood. For this place, which has no access to any water sources, this
would undoubtedly be a huge waste.
The corpse ghost shivered and curled up into a ball again. There was surprised and frightened recognition in the eyes hidden under his hair, but he did not deny it.
Muyong Jinghe nodded and continued, ‘Go get something to eat, and then show us around a bit.’
The corpse ghost cautiously looked at him for a long time, and only when he was sure that he showed no signs of anger did he slowly straighten up and stand up.
‘I’ve already eaten today.’ He only ate once a day, and even then, he only ate a small amount, and even then, he was often hungry.
Muyong Jinghe of course did not know about his eating habits, but seeing that his body was trembling even as he stood up, he thought about it and signalled Meilin to untie the vine rope for him, and then
her to carry him behind her.
The corpse ghost was a little surprised at first, but then he looked grateful. While walking, he wanted to help Mei Lin carry Murong Jinghe from time to time, but he refused.
With someone leading the way, they naturally walked much faster. They returned to the place where they had previously felt like they were stuck in a wall of ghosts, and followed the corpse ghost’s route again. Then they went around
twice before Mei Lin could no longer hold on.
‘This is a natural trap,’ Murong Jinghe said, smiling wryly as he sat on the bamboo cart. His eyes shone with a strange light that they had never seen before.
The two, who had been silent because of his silence, were both invigorated by his words and looked at him hopefully.
Murong Jinghe gestured to Meilin to bring a stick. Meilin looked around at the empty surroundings, didn’t think much of it, and was about to pull out her dagger to cut off a bamboo branch on the bamboo board when
a white, round stick was handed to her. She twitched the corner of her lips slightly, but quickly recovered her usual expression, smiled and said thank you, then took the small arm bone, which was as smooth as jade, and followed Murong
Jinghe’s instructions and began drawing on the black sand.
The corpse ghost saw that he had not been rejected and immediately beamed with joy.
A strange pattern made up of circles gradually appeared on the black sand. At first glance, it looked chaotic, but if you studied it carefully, you could vaguely sense
that it seemed to contain some kind of pattern.
‘This is the arrangement of boulders where we were trapped before,’ Murong Jing explained briefly, and then told Meilin to count from the centre to the third boulder on the right and then turn upwards.
Mark the centre between the fourth and fifth boulders as the gate of life. Outside the gate of life is the gate of death. ’Death is the beginning of life, and life is the foundation of death. Life and death come and go in a cycle without a trace. This is a simple maze
. ‘Death is the beginning of life, and life is the foundation of death. Life and death come and go in a cycle without a trace. This is a simple maze.
‘I didn’t notice it before after wandering around for so long, and it happened so suddenly that I didn’t even think in terms of a maze.
Chapter 9 (2)
’Can we get out?’ This is all that Meilin cares about. As for that stuff about life and death, there is really no time or mood to discuss it at a time like this in a place like this.
<br /><br />
Murong Jinghe nodded, but there was no joy on his face. <br /><br />
When the three of them stood at the exit of the stone forest, looking at the lush bamboo forest in the sunlight, Meilin finally understood why Murong Jinghe was no longer happy. They had simply
entered the stone forest from here and were now simply retracing their steps. Truly, life and death, death and life…<br /><br />
Of the three, the one who was most happy was probably the corpse ghost. After not seeing the sun for eight whole years, although his eyes could no longer bear the light, the joy exuding from his entire body was enough
to make the other two feel it. This emotion was easily infectious, and coupled with the fact that they had finally left that gloomy place, the mood of the two was more or less better. <br /><br
/>
The wintergreen above their heads was no longer there, probably because they had lost their trail, or perhaps Murong Xuanlie and the others had decided not to pursue them after learning that they had entered the stone forest
and had summoned them back. <br /><br />
The three entered the bamboo forest and rested by the stream. The surrounding bamboo swayed in the wind, and the air was filled with the fragrance of wild chrysanthemums and pine trees, as well as the seeds of grasses and plants that were scattered about. The sunlight
like a butterfly, sprinkled on the ground around them. Everything was full of vitality and life, and compared to the rotten and gloomy stone forest, it was like heaven and hell.
Not to mention the corpse ghost, even Murong Jing and the two of them had the feeling that the world was actually so beautiful. <br /><br />
The corpse ghost probably knew that he had a very unpleasant smell, so he always kept his distance from the two of them, and then he disappeared without a trace when they weren’t looking.<br /><br
/>
The two of them didn’t mind, knowing that there was no point in keeping him. Meilin used a few broad leaves folded together to form a cone, and gave Mu Rongjing and several drinks of water. Then she took out her hand
towel to wipe his face and hands, and cleaned himself up a bit before considering finding something to fill his stomach. <br /><br />
Murong Jing and insisted on following her, no matter how Meilin reassured him that she would not leave him behind. Meilin had no choice but to drag a big burden around while searching for food. <br
/><br />
A hare crouched in the grass not far away, watching the two of them approach without running. It continued nibbling on the grass while cautiously watching their movements, as if
it also sensed that the two immobile people were not dangerous.
Meilin felt insulted, drew the dagger in her bosom and smashed it over with the sheath. She originally only wanted to scare the little beast, but who would have thought that, by a fluke,
hit the rabbit’s head. It fell over with a crack, and without even flinching, it was inexplicably lifeless. <br /><br />
Meilin smacked her lips in delight. Even Murong Jinghe couldn’t help but lift their heads slightly, looking at the unlucky little thing with strange eyes. <br /><br />
Meilin carried the fat, dead rabbit, half-carrying Murong Jinghe back to the stream. First, they gathered firewood to start a fire, then squatted by the water and began to skin and gut the rabbit to clean it.
/><br />
Murong Jinghe smelled the blood and couldn’t help but feel queasy again. He couldn’t help but say, ‘I won’t eat this.’ It might be a long time before he could eat again,
Meilin’s hand was still stuck inside the rabbit’s belly. He heard what he said and stopped, looking back at him doubtfully before suddenly reacting and bursting out laughing.
‘I said why do you have to follow me to the death, and it turns out you’re afraid the ghoul will come back and eat you.’
Murong Jinghe turned his face away from her, but this was no different from a tacit admission of her guess. Meilin was embarrassed to laugh again, so he tidied up the rabbit neatly, skewer it with a thin bamboo stick
and placed it on the fire. Then she found some bamboo shoots, peeled off the husks and also placed them on the fire to roast.
Naturally, autumn bamboo shoots are not as good as spring and winter bamboo shoots, so they were tasteless when roasted, but they were better than nothing.
Meilin didn’t have much of an appetite, but she was hungry, so she only nibbled on two roasted bamboo shoots, but she didn’t touch the roasted rabbit, which was golden brown and smelled delicious. So it was a bonus for
the ghoul, who had appeared from nowhere.
The ghoul was dripping wet from head to toe, and although he was still covered in long, flowing hair, he was much cleaner, and his pale complexion was visible. The stench of his body had also
subsided considerably. It turned out that he had gone all the way downstream to take a bath, and had also washed his clothes, bringing back a large handful of wild fruit.
Meilin was also unceremonious, picking up the wild fruit and eating it, and she didn’t forget to give some to Murong Jing, ignoring his awkward expression.
‘Why didn’t you leave?’ she asked.
The corpse ghost hadn’t eaten hot cooked food in a long time, and he wasn’t afraid of the heat. He held the whole rabbit and nibbled on it, rubbing the oil from his beard that had been washed off so hard. Hearing Meilin’s
question, he grunted, took two more bites, and asked in a confused voice, with his eyes wide, ‘Go where?’
Meilin said strangely, ‘Naturally, you can go wherever you want.’ She remembered him saying that he had a family, parents and a wife. He had been away from home for eight years, so wouldn’t he be
eager to go back?
The ghoul froze, and his eating slowed down. He looked a little confused and said, ‘Didn’t you capture me?’
This time, not only Meilin, but also Murong Jing and some other people were dumbfounded. They never thought that there were still such honest people in the world.
‘We are going to enter the Stone Forest, and you are going to follow us in?’ Murong Jinghe asked with a smile, before Meilin could say anything. He didn’t believe that this man still had the courage
As expected, upon hearing this, the ghoul’s already pale face turned even paler, and his hand, which was holding the rabbit, trembled uncontrollably.
‘You…you still want to…go back?’ he stuttered, unable to believe what he was hearing.
Meilin’s heart also skipped a beat, but he said nothing.
Muyong Jinghe nodded, his eyes firm. Of course they wanted to go back. Not only did he hope to escape Zhongshan from the stone forest, but he also wanted to find out about the matter of the King of the Tibetan Kingdom.
The corpse ghost’s expression was constantly changing, sometimes fearful, sometimes blank, like a blank piece of paper, with everything he was thinking written clearly on his face.
Meilin suddenly felt that this person was not actually that scary, but instead was so straightforward that he was kind of cute. She was about to speak up to bail him out, but was stopped by Murong Jinghe’s glare. Not knowing
what kind of medicine he was selling, she could only hold back for the time being.
After a while, she saw the corpse ghost grit his teeth, his face full of misery, as if he had made a decision that would cost him his life. He looked blankly at Murong Jinghe and said, ‘I naturally…
I also want to…go with you…’ After saying this, his eyes turned red, and there was a faint glimmer of water in them.
Seeing him like that, Meilin felt an inexplicable pain in her heart, and suddenly thought of the dark factory. If it were her, she would never go back, even if she were beaten to death.
Muyong Jinghe and Shishiran smiled, seemingly satisfied with the answer.
Chapter 9 (3)
In the end, Muyong Jinghe did not let the corpse demon follow them into the stone forest together, but instead told him to take the jade pendant on his body and deliver a message to Qingyan at the Jingbei Royal Palace in Zhaojing,
and to stay there and wait for him.
He said that he suddenly missed the two beauties in Jingbei and asked Qingyan to bring them to Zhaojing.
Seeing that he did not mention his situation or where he might emerge from the mountains, Meilin did not stop him, but was a little confused as to whether this person was really lustful or addicted to acting,
as he was still thinking about his women even in this state.
Murong Jinghe instructed him on two things: one was that when he emerged from the mountains and encountered officials, he was not to take out the jade pendant; the other was that he was not to reveal that he had met him unless he saw Qingyan.
Then the full-fed corpse ghost walked away, wearing his ragged clothes, with messy beard and hair, and full of shock and awe at Murong Jinghe’s identity
.
‘Aren’t you afraid that he’ll run away with your jade pendant?’ Meilin asked as she prepared the things she needed to go into the forest again. Once the corpse ghost left, Murong Jinghe no longer had to be by her side all the time,
as he had before.
‘Where can he go?’ No matter where he flees, as long as he takes out his jade pendant, will he still be alive? The only way to survive is to obediently go to Zhaojing and find Qingyan,
and then stay under Qingyan’s watchful eye until he returns safely.
Murong Jinghe carelessly responded. He was lying on the ground, and in front of him, a few inches away, was a small blue wildflower the size of a fingernail. The slender flower stem supported the fragile
flower cup, trembling in the wind. The petals were as fragile and transparent as thin porcelain, as if they would shatter at the slightest touch. As if touched by a memory, his
gaze suddenly became distant and hazy.
Meilin glanced at him and suddenly felt that after spending so many days in the mountains, the air of drunkenness and emptiness on this man’s face seemed to have been purified, leaving only a pale and sickly
look, which is much more pleasing to the eye. Of course, she would never attribute this pleasing appearance to a possible change in her own state of mind.
After a little thought, she understood the thoughts racing through his mind. As could be seen from previous tests, the corpse ghost is actually a simple-minded guy who is a bit silly. Even for a place that is
a place that was like a nightmare, he was willing to follow them back with a stiff upper lip and would never run away halfway. Murong Jing and Bi must have seen this and let him go to deliver the message, so that
Murong Xuanlie and the others knew that he was still alive and had to be careful, and also got rid of an existence that made him very uncomfortable, which was like killing two birds with one stone.
‘What a schemer,’ she muttered, not saying anything more. Ever since they met, this person has been very good at making good use of all the resources available to them. She should have gotten used to it a long time ago
.
Because of previous experience, preparations for re-entering the stone forest were more thorough. Not only did she spend some effort weaving a crude bamboo mat, she also made several torches soaked in pine resin
torches. For food, in addition to wild fruit, she also brought a lot of cooked yams and wild potatoes, but she didn’t get any meat. In fact, not only did Murong Jingwei, but also Mei Lin
deep down in her heart actually kind of minded it.
According to Murong Jingwei’s own words, he ‘knows a little’ about Qimen Dunjia and various formations, so although their subsequent journey through the stone forest was not exactly smooth sailing,
were not trapped as they had been before. He said that the stone formation was natural, unlike man-made ones that could be changed at will and had many traps, otherwise there would be nothing he could do. In a place like this,
it was obviously not powerful enough to trap the Tibetan king.
As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly heard the sound of rotten wood cracking, and Meilin felt her feet give way, and she fell straight down, carrying Murong Jing with her, and of course they were not spared. Halfway down
it got stuck and stopped for a moment. However, the rotten wood could not bear the weight of the two people and the cart, and it broke into pieces, and eventually the cart also toppled over.
The suddenly appeared pit was not too deep, and the fall was cushioned a bit, so the two were not injured when they fell to the bottom of the pit. However, they were confused by the cart and
the things on it that fell later, and it was only with great difficulty that they recovered.
Meilin cursed under her breath, pushed away the things on her body in a flustered manner, got up, took out the fire lighter she had with her and lit it. After a cursory glance, she found that the soil in the pit was not black,
so she safely found a torch and lit it, then stuck it in the ground a little further away.
She untied the rope around her waist, moved the cart aside, and Murong Jing and a pale face appeared in her eyes.
The tightly closed eyes, the chest without any fluctuations…
Meilin was shocked, and hastily pushed away some of the miscellaneous objects that were piling up on him. She carefully raised his upper body and tried to feel his pulse under his nose, before slightly
relaxing. Then she tried pressing his throat and feeding him water, before finally managing to wake him up.
It turned out that Meilin had been hindered by the rattan tied around her waist dragging the wheelbarrow, and Murong Jinghe had landed before her. She and the wheelbarrow that followed landed on him one after the other
, it was no wonder that he was knocked unconscious.
The bottom of the pit was about two people high from the ground, with a wide mouth and a small bottom. The top could still be seen with a large hole in the wooden board, which was obviously used to trap people. In the current state of the two people
it was simply impossible to climb up.
Mei Lin took a torch and circled the bottom of the pit. He could see some weapons scattered on the ground in bits and pieces, and in the corner he found three skeletons, one curled up
into a ball, one clutching the pit wall, its body twisted into a strange position, and only one sitting cross-legged against the wall, his body straight and upright, with a golden-backed goose-feather knife lying across his lap. Judging from the skeletons
it is clear that this person must have been extremely tall and burly in life. The only thing the three have in common is that their bones are black as ink, which is extremely strange.
‘Cough…help me over,’ Murong Jinghe said, obviously seeing it as well, while holding back the suffocating pain in his chest after being squashed.
Meilin stuck the torch next to the skeleton before turning around to help him.
When they got close, Murong Jinghe just quietly surveyed the scene with his eyes, preventing Mei Lin from searching the bones. After a while, he pointed with his chin at the seated
skeleton and said, ‘There are words on the ground, take a look.’
Mei Lin looked intently, but didn’t notice anything unusual. However, he insisted, so he had no choice but to put him on the unfolded bamboo mat and then get down on the ground to dig through the surface layer of soil.
The surface of the pit bottom was a layer of grey soil, apparently deposited over the centuries, just like the ones on the skeletons. Mei Lin only dug twice, and really saw
traces of scratching below. Her spirits were lifted, and her movements became much more nimble. In no time, four words, written in an iron-like style with silver hooks, appeared before her eyes. The word was only the size of a palm, but vigorous
powerful, and had dug several inches into the ground, as if it wanted to engrave all the hatred and anger in her heart into it.
Chapter 9 (4)
Meilin couldn’t understand the meaning of these words, but she could feel the full measure of the anger they conveyed. She straightened up and turned her head to look at the man who had been staring at the ground.
Not far away, he could naturally see these words.
Murong Jinghe fell silent. After a long while, he said to her, ‘You should kowtow to him a few times.’
Meilin was dumbfounded, ‘Why?’
Muyong Jinghe smiled, but soon returned to his indifferent expression: ‘He is the God of War. If you kowtow to him, he might bless us to get out alive.’
Meilin was both angry and amused by his words, especially since he had said them in such a serious tone. She couldn’t help but retort ironically, ‘You are of noble status, so if you kowtow, it
be more useful than mine…‘ Before she could finish, she saw him looking at her like she was an idiot, and she couldn’t help but stop.
’Do you think I can… ahem…’ He looked clearly weak and sick, but his expression was enough to infuriate people.
Meilin glared back at him, stood up, and while shaking the dust off herself, said, “If he can bless us to get out, why is he trapped here himself?”
After saying that, she was about to continue looking to see if there was a way to climb out of the pit.
‘Then you can give him a knock for me. I owe you one,‘ Murong Jinghe suddenly compromised.
This was the first time he had compromised since they met, which scared Meilin quite a bit. She almost wanted to pat his head to see if he had a concussion.
’Are you serious?‘ She held back her urge and asked doubtfully.
’Nonsense!’ Murong Jinghe frowned, looking a little impatient.
Meilin thought about it and felt that this was a good trade-off. Although it seemed that he could not cause any harm at the moment, who could predict the future? She was not seeking fame or fortune
but just wanted to be safe and sound.
Thinking about this, she also made up her mind and said yes, and then really knelt down in front of the corpse and kowtowed three times. She did not make him give any guarantees or sign any documents
because if he wanted to go back on his word, those papers in her hands would be nothing but a death warrant. She was gambling with her luck.
When she got up, she glanced at the man lying on his side and saw a complex expression in his eyes, as if he had wandered off to another place.
‘One day you won’t regret kowtowing to me,’ he said lightly, sensing her gaze and coming back to the present.
‘That would be best,’ Meilin muttered, preparing to start looking for a way out, but then suddenly remembered something and paused: “Do you want me to help you bury him?” She was sure
that the man had a deep relationship with him, otherwise, with his status and pride, how would he be willing to ask someone to kowtow for him? It would be better to do a good deed and let him remember the kindness a little more deeply.
But Murong Jinghe was ungrateful, and said indifferently, ’Don’t bother.’
Meilin felt embarrassed and picked up the torch, silently finding her own way.
‘The colour of the opposite corner is a little lighter,’ she heard Murong Jinghe say, taking the initiative to speak when she stopped talking.
Meilin hadn’t gone far and turned her head at his words, following his gaze. In the dim shadow of the torch, it was indeed a little different from the walls around. Because of its
lower position, she hadn’t noticed it before.
Her heart beating a little faster, she couldn’t help taking a deep breath before walking quickly over there.
It was a stone, half a person tall, surrounded by dirt, no wonder it was a different colour. As she got closer, Meilin touched it with her hand and was a little disappointed, but she still reluctantly tapped
it with the handle of her dagger. Unexpectedly, an empty echo came back, indicating that it was hollow. The disappointment that had just surfaced immediately disappeared without a trace. She began to try to push it with her hands, but despite
strength, the stone wall remained immovable.
Meilin could not help but vent her anger by punching the stone wall, only to end up hurting herself. Just as she was holding her hands in discouragement, Murong Jing spoke again.
‘Stupid, can’t you use the dagger?’ His dagger could cut through iron like mud, and he didn’t believe she didn’t know that. Otherwise, when fighting the ghoul, she wouldn’t have changed the movement of cutting her wrist
into an elbow strike to the solar plexus. She must know that if she slices down with that dagger, the ghoul will break its wrist. Softheartedness is this woman’s weakness.
She’s just afraid of breaking your dagger, Meilin muttered to herself, but she was too eager to find out what was behind the stone wall to argue with him. She just pulled out the dagger and
tried to insert it at the junction of the stone wall and the soil.
The blade of the dagger was about a foot long. She felt a sense of failure before she even managed to insert it, but she was reinvigorated once again.
She slowly cut along the edge of the stone wall, and although stone powder fell in a shower, the blade was not stopped in the slightest. Soon, she had cut a circle, and when she pushed her hand into the stone, she heard a
loud bang, and the dust splattered all over her, covering her head and face.
She couldn’t help but avoid it, waving her sleeve to drive away the dust while coughing and choking, she peeked inside.
A dark, black passage appeared before her, and because the light was difficult to reach, she couldn’t see how deep it was at all. She took the torch that was inserted next to her sideways and shone it inside, but it only
shone a few feet in front of her, but it was enough to see that the fallen stone slab was covered with neatly laid green bricks, and a few of them had been cracked by the stone slab.
She stood there for a long time, staring at this completely man-made thing, until Murong Jing and, unable to bear it any longer, asked her a question, and she came back to her senses. She looked back at him strangely
and said, ‘You said that this stone array was naturally formed, so how come there’s such a passage underneath?’
Murong Jing and naturally couldn’t see it, but from her words he could hear something fishy. After thinking about it for a while, he said, ‘Throw in another torch.’
Meilin reacted and did as she was told. The torch thrown into the depths only dimmed for a moment when it hit the ground, and then returned to normal. In a short period of time, there was no sign of it going out.
Obviously, there was air circulation inside the passage.
No one knew how deep it was, so Meilin didn’t want to waste any time. She climbed in and took the torch out to extinguish it, burning a few intertwined spider webs in the process, leaving only one burning
burning, then returned to Murong Jinghe and sat down beside him, briefly describing the situation inside.
Murong Jinghe saw her dishevelled appearance and couldn’t help but laugh out loud. When she looked over in confusion, he hastily said, ‘It was probably built by later people, and perhaps has nothing to do with
the boulders above.’ Although he said this, this time he was no longer so sure.
The stone forest was man-made. The thought came to both of them at the same time, but it was quickly dismissed. Murong Jinghe was because he could not remember any historical records of such a massive project,
while Mei Lin was worried about the passage that could only accommodate one person at a time. She could not figure out why anyone would build such a neat passage, but not allow people to walk standing up. She was even more worried
depressed, the width of the passage was completely impassable for a bamboo cart. This meant that for the rest of the journey, she would not only have to drag Murong Jinghe, but also carry food and water and a torch.
It was clear that this was an extremely difficult task for anyone.
Chapter 10 (1)
Meilin felt very fortunate that over the past few days, her wounds had begun to heal, otherwise dragging just one person like Murong Jinghe would be a matter of life and death, let alone
carry other things as well.
Even if the wound completely healed, crawling and dragging Murong Jinghe would be a very laborious task.
‘What is this path actually for?’ Meilin lay down and looked at the torch she had stuck in the seam of the passage wall in the distance. It felt as if she would never
She had wanted to make the bamboo cart narrower, but when she moved the knife, she accidentally cut the rattan rope into several pieces, causing the entire cart to fall apart and become unusable.
So the situation now is that she first takes the torch and other things to the front, and by the way, she drives away the spider webs and insects along the way, and then turns back to carry Murong Jinghe, and so on and so forth.
Murong Jinghe had damaged meridians, which did not cause weight loss, so with his slender build and firm muscles, he was incredibly heavy. It was fine to carry him while standing,
but it was difficult to carry or carry on one’s back while crawling. Meilin literally ground forward bit by bit. Not only was she exhausted, but Murong Jinghe was not feeling well either, but both
Hearing her mutter to herself that she didn’t really want an answer, Murong Jinghe, who was lying on her back, couldn’t help but look ahead. In the depths of the firelight, the darkness continued, as if
it would never end. The low ceiling and endless darkness made people feel strongly oppressed. If it weren’t for him and her, or rather, if there were only one of them left,
An indescribable feeling welled up in his heart, and he suddenly lowered his head, brushed past Meilin’s ear, kissed her face, and then just leaned against her, not moving anymore.
Meilin was stunned for a moment, and her face flushed. With a gritted teeth, she propped herself up and continued to crawl forward. Perhaps she had exerted too much strength, or perhaps it was the sudden intimacy, her
heart was beating fast.
Muyong Jing didn’t tease her red ears, and she didn’t rebuke him for his levity. In such a place, in this small
space with no end in sight, they felt for the first time that they were interdependent. There was no one else but each other. All the so-called grievances and loves, all the people and
things that had once been the most important in their hearts were separated by this passage, far away as if they were from another world.
Perhaps because of the ambiguous yet warm atmosphere between them, the road ahead no longer seemed so unbearable.
Occasional conversations during their breathless walk became a fond memory that Meilin would reminisce about for many years to come.
‘So…the God of War is the Zhongwang you mentioned?’ she asked, her voice echoing in the tunnel.
‘Hm.’ Murong Jing responded, and when he saw sweat slide over the mole at the corner of her eye, he couldn’t help but stick out his tongue and lick it, just as he had longed to do.
Meilin’s face turned even redder, and she couldn’t help but turn her head away slightly, blushing and saying, “Don’t move around, Shen.” She shouldn’t have been embarrassed, really. They had done even more intimate things, so there was no reason
be so embarrassed by such a small action.
Her rapid heartbeat seemed to have been transmitted through their chests, which were pressed together, to Murong Jingye. He felt as if something were about to jump out of his chest, and he couldn’t help but press even closer
to her. At that moment, he thought that if he could move, he would definitely embrace her and give her all the tenderness he could. But that was just a momentary thing, and it was also just a momentary
. After they got out of that strange place, neither of them mentioned those feelings again. Maybe they had already forgotten, or maybe they just buried them deep in their hearts and didn’t want to think about them.
‘You’re the prince, why are you kneeling before him?’ Shaking his head, Meilin tried to turn his attention away from his warm breath.
Muyong Jing and was silent for a moment, not answering the question directly, but instead selectively expressing his guesses.
When the Murong clan overthrew the Hu clan’s rule, this stone forest was not yet a burnt field, and perhaps it was overgrown with lush vegetation like everywhere else. The remnants of the Hu clan hid here,
and the Zhongwang of the Tibetan Kingdom led a siege, successfully crossing the stone forest with some sacrifice and wiping out the enemy. But as the mantis preys on the cicada and the oriole follows after, before the Zhongwang of the Tibetan Kingdom emerged victorious from the stone forest,
someone ignited something highly toxic on the outskirts of the stone forest, burning the entire forest to the ground. Zangzhongwang and his two subordinates jumped into the deep pit dug by the enemy
to hide, but in the end, they could not escape the toxic gas that had already entered their bodies.
Murong Jing said that this was only his speculation, but Meilin knew that it was more or less correct. She thought that he even knew who the person was who set the poison on fire outside the forest or who ordered it
. She knows that he knows who the thief is that the King of the Hidden Central Plains is referring to, but he won’t say, either because he doesn’t want to or because he can’t, so she won’t pursue the matter. And in fact, she doesn’t really care. Whether it’s the Murong
clan, the Hu clan, or the King of the Hidden Central Plains, they’re all far away from her.
She likes listening to him talk, speaking slowly and deliberately, pausing for a moment after each sentence as if he’s weighing up what to say and what not to say. She has to admit that when he’s not
stopped being flippant, sarcastic or condescending, he really was impossible to dislike.
She asked him what was actually wrong with his body, and he answered honestly, even though he had never done so before. It was then that she learned that he was suffering from a broken meridian. She
suddenly couldn’t think of anything to say. She thought that a broken meridian was perhaps even more difficult to cure than the poison in her body. She thought that she might have to take care of him for the rest of her life. If that was the case, it was actually
it didn’t matter, she just didn’t know if her body could last that long. If it couldn’t, what would happen to him? She started to worry.
‘What’s your name?’ Murong Jinghe suddenly wanted to know the name of the woman who had shared his hardships for so long, who was so powerful in speech, but who had never really abandoned him no matter how difficult things got.
He might have heard someone mention it in the past, but he had never paid attention.
Meilin frowned, a little offended that after all this time together he still couldn’t remember her name, but soon laughed.
‘Meilin.’ It didn’t matter if he didn’t know her name. She would rather formally introduce herself to him at a time like this. ‘But I
don’t like Meilin. I like spring flowers, the spring flowers that bloom in February all over the mountains.’ She said.
‘Meilin… Chunhua…’ Murong Jing and read both names aloud, then laughed and kept calling out Chunhua several times, before nibbling on Meilin’s ear.
It tickled and made Meilin feel so good that she couldn’t help laughing, and she laughed so hard that she fell to the ground.
Chapter 10 (2)
One moment she was walking, the next she was resting, occasionally saying a few irrelevant things. The passage, which she had never thought would end, ended during one of Mei Lin’s solitary crawls.
It was so sudden that she was even momentarily unable to react.
She knelt there, staring blankly at the dark expanse beyond the tunnel. Even after she took out the torch, she could still see nothing but the stone steps in front of her leading downwards.
.
She had to go further down…what would be down there, she didn’t dare think.
After surveying the surroundings, she finally stuck the torch in the crevice of the rock at the mouth of the cave and turned back. However, halfway up the climb, the
firelight, which had already become a little dim, suddenly went out, and the surroundings instantly plunged into a chaotic darkness.
Mei Lin froze for a moment, but instead of going back to relight the torch, she continued climbing in the direction of Murong Jinghe. When she felt the warm body, her slightly
tightened heart relaxed.
‘Why did the torch go out?’ Murong Jinghe asked, leaning against the stone wall and feeling her fumbling hands. At the moment when the firelight completely disappeared, inexplicable unease instantly
suddenly engulfed him. He knew that she would not leave him alone, but the boundless darkness made him think irrationally.
Perhaps because the darkness prolonged all senses, Meilin felt more tired than any other time she had turned back. After hearing his voice asking, she calmed down and
was not in a hurry to leave, so she leaned against the stone wall next to her to rest.
‘It’s probably the wind that blew it out,’ she exhaled, feeling her eyelids wanting to fight.
‘Are we at the exit?‘ Murong Jinghe and Murong Jinghe heard her words and figured out the situation a little. After all, this tunnel is not connected at the front and back, so how could there be wind.
’Well…it’s probably very windy outside…I can’t see what kind of place it is…there’s only a…ladder…’ Probably because she had relaxed, Meilin felt more and more
sleepy, and while she was dazed, she continued to describe the situation from time to time.
Feeling her drowsiness, Murong Jinghe tilted his head, but because they were separated by their shoulders, he couldn’t touch her head, so he had to use the hand hanging by his side to grab her skirt, which had already been cut up quite a bit
.
‘Hey, don’t sleep.’ If she fell asleep, he would feel like he was all alone, and it would be extremely difficult to bear in such darkness.
Meilin frowned, her body slid slightly to the side, and she rested her head on his shoulder, mumbling indistinctly, ‘Let me…close my eyes for a little while…just a little while…’
Murong Jinghe hesitated for a moment, then tugged at her skirt again, and said reluctantly, ‘Then…then hold me.’ Only in that way could the panic of being swallowed up by the darkness
be driven away. He had felt that urge when he sensed her return earlier, but he just couldn’t bring himself to say it.
Meilin was extremely sleepy and impatient at the sound of it. She decisively reached around his waist and almost slid into his arms. In no time at all, she was snoring softly.
Feeling her weight and warmth, Murong Jinghe’s heart immediately settled down, and sleepiness also came over him. It was rare for him to fall asleep.
No one knows how long they slept. Mei Lin woke up first and found that he was on top of Mu Rong Jinghe. They had slipped to the ground at some point, so it was really strange that he
hadn’t woken her up.
She moved and Mu Rong Jinghe woke up. He asked in a daze, ‘What time is it…’
After he finished speaking, he came to his senses and looked at the darkness in front of him. He was momentarily confused.
Meilin helped him sit up, took out a flint and struck it, and they looked at each other in the flickering light. They waited until the light, like life itself, had entered their hearts, before
they extinguished it.
‘Maybe the sun is shining outside,’ she said, and then she put Murong Jinghe on her back and started to climb towards the exit. Her knees and elbows had long since become raw and scabbed, and when they rubbed against each other again
again, immediately soaking with blood, the pain was excruciating. She suddenly regretted stopping to rest. If she had just kept going while the pain was still numb, she wouldn’t have had to suffer this
much. And the most annoying thing was the lingering darkness.
Not to mention her, even Murong Jing, who she had been carrying all along, had also had a layer of skin worn off his legs because they had been dragging on the ground the whole time. But he was already suffering from a broken meridian
, and he had not stopped for a while, so he didn’t really care about this little pain. <br /><br />
After a lot of trouble, they finally arrived at the mouth of the passage, and Meilin relit the torch.
The darkness had become so thick that it was almost suffocating, and when they saw the light again, even if it was only a vague blur, they still felt like they were being saved.
Meilin took out the bamboo tube from the bundle wrapped in his outer garment. The two drank water separately before they started to share the roasted wild yam. They could not tell the time, so they only rested when they were extremely tired
and ate when they were extremely hungry.
Muyong Jing leaned against a side of the mountain wall, while he swallowed the powdery tuber that had become a little choking due to the cold, and watched the unclear stone steps in front of him
. The stone steps seemed to have been carved into the mountain wall, narrow and steep, but after two or three steps, they disappeared into the darkness. What was down there, and what was on either side, was impossible to tell.
What kind of a place was this? For the first time, he began to wonder.
If it was the Hu tribe’s original hiding place, in those chaotic times of war and chaos, they would have been too busy fleeing for their lives to have the time to pave such an impractical passageway with bricks
? Or was it built during the heyday of the previous dynasty? But the passage was blocked at one end, so it was not really very practical for either escaping or scouting the enemy…
Meilin saw him frowning, and just assumed he was choking, so she hurriedly handed him some water. He didn’t refuse, and took a couple of sips before saying, ‘Light the other torch and go down and have a look.
Don’t go too far.’ After a pause, he added, ‘Be careful.’
Meilin also had this intention in mind. If she didn’t investigate the situation around her clearly, she really wouldn’t feel at ease.
She left one torch for Murong Jinghe and took the other, looking at both sides first. She found that the stone steps were only a little wider than the passageway, with sheer mountain walls on both sides
and it was dark above and below, so she couldn’t see what the situation was. Stretching her legs, which had become a little stiff from climbing, she slowly walked down.
Unexpectedly, after not walking for long, she had reached the bottom. Stepping on the flat ground, she looked up at Murong Jinghe and smiled, ‘I thought it was very high, what a false alarm!’
It was about eight steps, and because it was quite steep, it seemed a bit high.
Murong Jinghe was sitting at the entrance to the passageway, his eyes lowered as he looked down at her smiling face in the light of the torch. It was as if he saw a primrose suddenly blooming in the cold spring night, and his heart
beat slightly, and he couldn’t help but lift the corners of his lips.
This was the first time he had seen him smile like this, so pure, and Meilin was dumbfounded. She felt as if something warm and soft was slowly covering her heart, which had never been very warm.
Chapter 10 (3)
Murong Jing and watched Mei Lin walk forward with a torch in his hand. Everywhere they passed, they could see the flat road paved with green bricks, as well as stone beasts with bird heads and leopard bodies crouching on both sides of the road.
The torch shone to the side, and beyond the stone beasts was impenetrable darkness. The road extended forward, as if it would extend to the end of the universe.
He felt a little uneasy. Then, Meilin stopped. In front of her were two white square stones, more than a person tall, standing there like a door.
Between the square stones was a stone staircase going up. It was not made of green bricks, but white stones, which faintly glowed red under the light of the torch.
Meilin stood in place for a while, not continuing forward, but instead, she stuck the torch in the mouth of one of the stone beasts, and then turned back.
Murong Jinghe let out a sigh of relief.
‘It’s all stone up there, just like… just like the stone forest outside. I’m afraid to go in,’ said Meilin as he gathered his things and headed back.
Murong Jinghe’s heart stirred, but he couldn’t move, otherwise, with his heart, he was afraid that he would have to thoroughly research this place.
The stone steps were not high, but they were very steep, and Murong Jinghe’s legs were too long. Meilin had to make a great effort to get him safely to the flat ground. As soon as they touched the ground, the two of them collapsed into a
pile and broke out in a cold sweat.
‘It looks like a tomb,’ Murong Jinghe said, half-closing his eyes as he looked up at the dark sky. His expression slowly grew grave as a result of this speculation
Regardless of which dynasty the tomb belonged to, just by looking at the pomp and circumstance, one could tell that it was full of traps and extremely dangerous. The fact that they had arrived here safely
was probably just a matter of luck.
Meilin thought for a moment, then used both hands to move him to the ground. She got up and returned to the passageway above, picked up the bundle and the torch stuck in it, and walked down. Then she did something that made Murong
Jing was taken aback. She threw the torch into the air, watched it spin in the air, and then fall beyond the stone path. She hurriedly leaned forward to look down.
She actually just wanted to see what was above and what was beneath her feet, just like Murong Jinghe’s unspoken thoughts. Murong Jinghe, however, felt that what she was doing was too
rash, and there was no time to stop her. So she heard a loud bang, and a pillar of fire shot up into the sky, then spread out like the sea at high tide. Even though Meilin
had dodged quickly, she still lost a little of her hair and eyebrows in the flames.
She backed up to Murong Jinghe’s side, still in shock, looking at the sea of flames before her, a little at a loss.
The firelight dazzled and illuminated the entire space they were in, but it also brought with it the searing heat.
Murong Jinghe was also startled at first, but was immediately amused by her reaction and couldn’t help but laugh. He laughed while squinting his eyes, and after his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness
he began to slowly take in everything around him.
It was a huge cave, and judging from the stalactites hanging from the ceiling, it was clearly a natural formation. But that was only the case at the top. Because they were lying down, apart from the top of their heads and
the two ends of the passage, they couldn’t see what the rest of the place looked like.
One end of the passage connected to the low tunnel they had come through, while the other end was where the torches were stuck in the eyebrow forest. There, he had only vaguely seen two white stones and a stone
. He had only vaguely seen two white stones and a stone step there before, but now he realised that there were not just two white stones, but a dense forest of them, just like the stone forest above his head. The only difference was that the stones here
were only as tall as a person and as thick as a person’s embrace, as if the forest of giant stones had been shrunk and placed here.
Could it really be man-made? His doubts grew deeper and deeper. He couldn’t understand why someone would build such a huge project here. Compared to the tombs of the successive emperors of the Murong clan,
it was many times more magnificent and complex, but there were no dragon and phoenix totems, so it was obviously not an imperial tomb. And if it wasn’t an imperial tomb, how could it have been built like this?
Just as he was pondering, Meilin had already come back to his senses and picked up his upper body with one hand and tried to drag him towards the upper tunnel.
‘Go to the middle,’ he said hastily, his gaze falling on the other end of the stone path. In the light of the fire, the snow-white stone forest was like Iceland in a sea of fire, cold and solemn,
unaffected in the slightest, just reflecting the firelight, with a faint rosy glow flowing about, breathtakingly beautiful.
Although Meilin felt that it looked like an isolated island, he was afraid that if he went up there, he might not be able to come back down. However, he had never made a mistake along the way, so although he had doubts in his heart, he was forced by the scorching heat
to not think too much, so he really quickly headed towards the centre.
Because his body was elevated, in the leisure of being dragged, Murong Jing and finally could see the situation beyond the stone path where they were.
On both sides was a sea of fire, and then, separated by a not-so-short distance, were two more stone paths, each with different stone carvings, but also with different strange beasts that they had never seen before. Beyond
those two stone paths, at about the same distance, were two more stone paths, and so on. It could be seen that on the other side of the stone forest in the middle, there were also the same stone paths. And
At the end of each stone path is a tunnel, tall or short, separated by a stone door or guarded by a statue of a monster.
The hot air came in waves, making it seem as if even the back of your throat was burning. Murong Jing and withdrew his gaze, looked at the bird-headed monster beside him
and couldn’t help but laugh.
‘Cough… stupid woman!’ He sighed helplessly.
Meilin was dragging him along in a hurry, although it would be more appropriate to say that she was running. She was in a hurry to get to the small stone forest in the middle, but the object she was dragging in her hands
was too heavy, which seriously affected her speed. Hearing his words, she no longer felt upset, but was just wondering, ‘What did I do again?’
Murong Jinghe sighed again. He wanted to raise his hand, but he could only think about it, so he became even more dispirited.
‘The beast bodies on either side are lanterns. Why did you have to do something so stupid as throw a torch out?’ Although they could see more clearly, it also cut off their escape route
.
There was a concave seam in the beast body, and the wick could be seen. Judging from the fire, perhaps the oil supply was located underneath.
Meilin glanced hurriedly, also a little speechless. Without stopping, her feet kept moving, and her forehead, nose and tip of the nose were all covered in sweat from the heat.
‘It’s already been thrown away, so what’s the point of talking about it now?’ She was a little depressed, and only now did she realise that she could be reckless too.
Murong Jing and Xi Di laughed out loud, shaking their heads. They were about to say something else when their bodies suddenly stopped and they were let down. Upon closer inspection, they realised that they had already arrived at their destination.
Surprisingly, within these two stone pillars, as if there was something separating them, the temperature was not as high as outside, but it was not as cold as in the previous tunnel
either. It was just right, just comfortable.
What a strange place. This thought simultaneously occurred to the two, both curious and awed.
Chapter 10 (4)
White steam began to rise from the stone path. Mei Lin reached up and took a look, and then drew back in alarm, hastily dragging Murong Jing and up a few steps.
‘This is bad, we may not be able to get out before the fire goes out…’ she whispered, her voice tinged with guilt.
If they wait until the fire dies down, I’m afraid the two of them will either be roasted to death or suffocated to death.
Murong Jinghe was not as pessimistic as she was. He looked away from the blazing flames and said, ‘Help me stand up.’ The smell of the burning flames did not resemble that of tung
oil or kerosene, so what could be producing such fierce flames?
While pondering, he was already being helped up, and Meilin stood in front of him, supporting him with his back.
Murong Jing was quite tall, and his chin rested just right on Meilin’s head, so that from this angle he could see everything around him. It had been resting on her shoulder before,
which was actually a bit of a grievance.
‘Look at the passage on the left,’ he said to Meilin, while his own gaze looked in the other direction.
When Meilin followed his pointing finger, goosebumps rose all over her body. She saw a dense mass of something being forced out by the heat, or perhaps attracted by the flames, crawling out of the
tall tunnel and covering the stone path on the left. Many of them fell into the flames, emitting a sizzling sound as they burned. She shivered and hurriedly looked across to the tunnel they had come from
to make sure nothing was crawling out, before she let out a small sigh of relief.
Murong Jing and Zai let her look to the right. There were no strange things crawling out of the passage on the right, but there were flames and black sand spewing out, quite
echoing the flames outside.
‘It seems that our luck is not bad. We hit a dead end, but it’s not a dead end,’ he laughed, turning his head to look behind him at the white stone forest glowing with a rosy colour, secretly judging
whether it was as dangerous as those passageways.
Of course, whether it was dangerous or not, they could only advance but not retreat. So, without further thought, he said lightly, ‘Let’s go.’
Meilin slightly picked himself up. The torch was obviously no longer needed, so he felt much more relaxed. He immediately slung the bag over one shoulder and took the weight of the man on the other shoulder, and began to climb up the stone steps through the
stone forest.
Once again, contrary to their expectations, the small stone forest was not as unmarked as it appeared from the outside, but rather had a clear path through it. The two followed the white stone paved path
and walked slowly. Although it seemed to go around in circles, they were still sure that they were going up.
There were also forks in the road, but Murong Jinghe was able to hold onto the main road. Several times when Meilin thought that they had gone around in circles, she would see what she had thought was
the shortcut went down and around to somewhere else. So she couldn’t help but wipe away the sweat in secret, and be glad that she had listened to him.
‘This is just a simple maze, which is much simpler than the serial mazes outside,’ Murong Jinghe said, smiling, but his expression did not look relaxed. ‘But outside the maze
is the eight gates. If you rest, you will get hurt; if you fight, you will die; if you open, you will be surprised. These eight gates are either lucky or unlucky, and one wrong step will lead to eternal suffering. I really don’t know if the person who built this place wanted to prevent outsiders from breaking in
or prevent the people inside from going out.‘
Meilin had no idea what he was talking about, but she was still intrigued.
’Which gate are we coming through?’
The two of them had reached the top of the stone forest, and a huge coffin appeared before them. The coffin was carved from a single piece of white jade and was covered in exquisite carvings.
The firelight outside reflected off it, making it look absolutely gorgeous.
Muyong Jing and’s attention was drawn to it, and after a while, he said indifferently, ‘A door of no return. It means that it is impossible to get out, so it is just a waste of effort. It’s not dangerous.’
Having said that, it seemed as if he had remembered something, and he couldn’t help smiling. ‘I think the person who built this place must not have expected anyone to dig a big pit just outside this stone door, and this block has actually become
passable.
’Mey Lin mused, if it wasn’t passable, it would be fine, maybe the two of them would find a way to climb out of the big pit and then leave safely from somewhere else, and they wouldn’t be trapped in this strange place
strange place, with life and death unpredictable. She didn’t know that in a place like this, if it weren’t for Murong Jinghe and her, not to mention falling into the pit, they would have been trapped to death in the stone array outside.
As for this small and seemingly simple stone forest, it is not safe for ordinary people to pass through.
‘That is the owner of this place,’ Murong Jinghe continued, ‘let’s go and see what kind of person it is that is so powerful.’
Meilin also noticed the magnificent coffin, but she was not that curious. At this time, what she cared about the most was not the person who had been dead for countless years, but how to get out of
this strange place.
Seeing that she had no intention of moving, Murong Jinghe added, ‘Maybe there is a way to escape inside.’
So, without hesitation, Meilin wanted to quickly walk towards the jade coffin with him.
‘Wait a minute.‘ Murong Jinghe broke out in a cold sweat. He was impressed by the woman’s decisiveness, but also her somewhat reckless nature, although her recklessness was not common. However, every time she
committed it, it would cause extremely serious consequences.
Meilin’s extended foot was retracted, and she looked at the man lying on her shoulder with confusion.
’Look at the ground,’ Murong Jinghe gestured.
At first glance, the ground is clearly paved with white stones. Look more closely, and you will notice that among the snow-white stones, some are translucent like jade, while others appear cold
and hard.
Meilin can see this, but she doesn’t understand the meaning behind it, and she is a little confused: ‘Which way do we go?’ She also knows that some traps are set under the floor tiles, but she has no research on this
and even if she encounters one, she is afraid that she will have to break through.
Murong Jing laughed, ‘You’re getting stupider and stupider.’ He naturally remembered the means by which she had evaded capture, which had made a deep impression on him, but ever since entering the stone forest, she
had become less and less willing to use her head.
Meilin sighed, wanting to explain, but then stopping. She really didn’t want to admit that it was because he knew so much, so much that in this completely unfamiliar field, she didn’t want to
unwittingly. She also had to admit that, having travelled this far, she had involuntarily developed a sense of dependency on him, which was why she had revealed the recklessness that she had carefully suppressed
revealed.
‘Tap the stone surface with the dagger lightly,’ Murong Jinghe saw her helpless expression and was greatly pleased, and specially reminded her, ‘Don’t press too hard.’
Meilin helped him sit down, and then tapped the stone surface with the handle of the dagger as he instructed. The first and second blocks did not react, but the third one had a slight floating feeling. Her heart suddenly opened
up and she knew that there must be a mechanism underneath like that.
However, there was nearly a 30-metre distance between here and the jade coffin, so did she have to tap each stone one by one? Besides, even if she did, how was she going to get him across
?
While she was at a loss, Murong Jingwei was still beaming with a smile, as if he hadn’t realised that he might not be able to get across.
Meilin saw his profile and had a thought. She immediately decided to throw the problem at him and let him solve it.
Chapter 11 (1)
Taiji gives rise to the two yin and yang principles, which are interdependent and generate an infinite cycle of change.
When Meilin heard a light sound, followed by a series of grinding noises from the chain wheel, she saw the stone pillars in front of her slowly descend, forming a Taiji
pattern with the clearing where the jade coffin was located. At that moment, her awe and admiration for Murong Jinghe reached a climax.
Time travelled back to the moment when she had asked Murong Jinghe a question about approaching the jade coffin.
Hearing her question, Murong Jinghe looked away from the jade coffin and looked around. Because they were standing at the top of the stone forest, they had a panoramic view of everything in the cave. It was then that they
realised that the layout of the entire cave was not what they had assumed. It turned out that the stone forest, which appeared to be in the middle, was not a round island, but was shaped like a
like a big-headed fish, bent towards one side of the cave, forming a huge Tai Chi pattern with the blazing fire. There was indeed a passage on the other side, but it was directly connected to the stone forest
.
Murong Jing and looked at this strange scene and frowned slightly. It took a while before he could take his eyes off the flames that showed no sign of dying down, and returned to the jade coffin not far away
and the empty space in front of them, which was neither round nor oval. As if pondering something difficult, his narrow, feng-style eyes were slightly narrowed in a research-like manner, making the eyeliner look longer and
more beautiful.
Meylin did not disturb him, but looked aimlessly at this strange cave, while carefully sniffing the changes in the air to determine how long the two of them could at least dawdle here
.
Then they saw Murong Jing and his eyes suddenly brightened, and he looked towards the other end of the stone forest opposite the jade coffin.
‘If there is a cave there, I can find a way to get out of here,’ he said.
So they dragged their feet again and searched over there, and unexpectedly they really saw a deep well there that was out of place among the surrounding stone pillars. The well was similar in size to the stone coffin,
and you couldn’t see the bottom at a glance, let alone whether there was water.
‘What should we do? Jump in?‘ Meilin was at a loss, unable to think of any way to escape from such a deep pit with a black hole that made people’s feet weak.
Murong Jing and Bai glanced at her, too lazy to scold her.
’I don’t believe it. When they lifted the huge coffin up, those people also had to avoid the traps step by step,’ he said indifferently, his original goal
still the jade coffin.
While talking, his gaze scanned the area around the well, looking for possible traps.
Meilin had a sudden idea, and told him to lean against a stone pillar and sit on the ground, then use a dagger to chip off a piece of stone from the pillar and throw it into the well. He didn’t want to hear any echoes for a long time,
so he couldn’t help feeling creepy.
And because of the change in altitude, Murong Jing and suddenly saw the Bagua pattern carved on the outer wall of the well, and his heart stirred.
Meilin, as he instructed, went up and touched it, and found that the pattern did indeed protrude from the outer wall of the well, but it did not move when twisted left or right, as if it were one with the well wall. While he continued to frown
and ponder, she still held onto the squarish carving and studied it by turning and pushing it. She didn’t have high hopes, but when she casually pulled it, she heard a click,
it actually popped out a little, and she was so scared that she took a step back. After waiting for a while and not hearing any other noises, she let out her breath, but dared not move it again. On this side, Murong Jinghe saw it and a
pleased expression appeared on his face. After thinking for a while, he said, ‘Try pulling them out one by one in the order of Qianyi Duier Lisan Zhenshi Siyun Wushikan Liuyi Genba.’
Meilin didn’t recognise any of these contraptions, so Murong Jinghe had to point them out one by one. When Meilin pulled the last one, she heard a
clicking sound, followed by the heavy and slow sound of chains and gears grinding against each other. Whether it was an illusion caused by the sound, she felt as if the ground beneath her feet was faintly trembling. Unable to hold her breath,
almost stiffly, she backed away from Murong Jinghe, hoping to be able to escape with him in time if danger arose.
As soon as she had helped Murong Jinghe to his feet, she heard a dull gurgling sound coming from the well, as if water was being poured into it. The sound grew louder and louder, gradually turning into a
loud rumbling, and the ground shook violently.
Meilin turned pale, not knowing what was going to happen. She was about to ask Murong Jinghe if they should escape elsewhere when she saw the stone pillars around them slowly sinking
at a visible rate.
After a moment, the noise and shaking stopped, and the place where they were standing turned into a flat white stone ground. For some reason, the jade in the open space where the jade coffin had been had changed colour and
shimmering with a dark nighttime radiance. The black and white were distinct, yet they overlapped, like endless circles. Without standing on high ground, one could see even from a flat perspective that this
was a diagram of Tai Chi. The jade coffin and the well were precisely the two points of contrast in the pure black and white, representing the yin within the yang and the yang within the yin.
The area was still surrounded by stone pillars, separating the two Tai Chi diagrams inside and out, one large and one small.
‘We…’ Mei Lin was a little unable to digest this kind of change, looking at Murong Jinghe blankly, and with difficulty asking in a tone of voice, “What do we do?” Even the stones have sunk
under, can we still step on the ground?
Although Murong Jinghe knew that there might be traps, he didn’t expect to see such a scene, but his reaction was not as big as Mei Lin’s. He smiled and said, ’Maybe we can walk around
a bit.’
After taking the first step and finding that the ground was as hard as before, without the slightest feeling of buoyancy, Meilin’s first look was at the well. Sure enough, it was full of water, as she had heard
—flush with the rim, but without any danger of it spilling over.
She wiped a cold sweat from her brow, growing more and more frightened of this strange place, and just hoping to leave as soon as possible, she no longer hesitated and supported Murong Jinghe as they walked towards the jade coffin.
When they got closer, the cold emanating from the jade coffin invaded their bodies, causing both to shiver involuntarily.
‘Is it made of ice?’ Meilin muttered with a frown, but she felt that there was no sign of it melting at all in a place where there was a raging fire all around, so it should not be ice.
Murong Jinghe did not reply.
The jade coffin was almost to Meilin’s nose, had no lid, and gave off a lustrous glow all over, but it also seemed to be faintly emitting a pale green light.
Meilin couldn’t see inside, but she saw Murong Jinghe staring at it for a long time without saying anything. She couldn’t help but ask, ‘What’s inside?’ The coffin contained a person, which she naturally knew,
but she wondered if there was something else, such as a hint that would allow them to leave.
Murong Jinghe was silent for a moment before saying lightly, ‘One person.’
Meilin gasped for a moment, then felt that it was better to ask for help than to rely on others, so she let him down and supported herself with her hands on the outer edge of the coffin, before leaping up lightly. After all, she had practiced martial arts
and was very light, so she jumped onto the outer coffin and hung there. If she hadn’t been worried about crushing the dry bones inside, she would have landed inside the coffin.
Chapter 11 (2)
When she saw the person inside the coffin at a glance, Meilin froze, and even forgot to blink.
No matter how she tried to think, she never expected to see a living person. Well, at least she had never seen anyone who remained so fresh-faced even after death. Not only was her complexion not
pale, but it faintly glowed with a light pink colour.
Of course, that was only one reason. Another reason was that this person, this man, was better-looking than anyone she had ever seen.
He looked to be in his twenties, with hair as black as satin, skin as white as jade, and beautiful facial features. However, there was an air of wisdom about his brow, and a bright and refreshing air about him, like that of a pine tree or bamboo, without being overpoweringly enchanting.
What was surprising was that, in such a magnificent tomb, in this gorgeous coffin, he was wearing a hemp shirt. His hands and feet, like white jade, were exposed,
apart from the jade pillow under his head, there were no ornaments or burial goods.
No…burial goods! Meilin finally came back from the beauty and noticed this shocking point. She looked again and really saw none. Her heart was anxious
and she wanted to jump into the coffin.
As she was about to lift her foot, Murong Jinghe, who was sitting on the ground against the coffin wall, noticed her.
“What are you doing?’
‘I want to see if he’s dead, and then I’ll look for anything he might have hidden on him…’ Meilin paused in her explanation, and at the end, she couldn’t help but add, “This man is really good-looking, I
have never seen anyone look this good.”
Muyong Jinghe of course knew how good-looking that person was, but hearing Meilin say it like that still made him feel a little uncomfortable, so he said coldly, ’Go ahead, but if you run into
a trap, I can’t save you.’
So Meilin quickly withdrew her foot. After witnessing all the strange things in here, she became like a frightened bird, even afraid that sitting
on it for a long time would trigger something. She hurriedly jumped down and crouched outside the coffin like Murong Jinghe.
“So what do you think should be done?’
He gave her a faint glance and suddenly felt irritated. ‘Don’t you have any brains?’ He knew as soon as the words left his mouth that he had been too harsh, but he had always been used to being on
top, and even if he knew it was wrong, he would not easily bow to a woman who was not even considered a concubine.
Meilin was stunned. It had been a long time since she had heard him speak in such a harsh tone, and she was momentarily in a daze. It took her a while to react, and she couldn’t help laughing. ‘I have
…of course I do.’ As she said this, her hands hung down below the sleeves, trembling slightly where they were out of sight.
After speaking, she no longer looked at Murong Jing for a moment, suddenly stood up, rolled onto the coffin once more, and then jumped in.
The coffin was very large, and when she landed, she did not worry about stepping on the man, but for some reason she still twisted, causing her to grit her teeth in pain. She leaned against the inside of the coffin and slowly sat down, closing
eyes and waited for the pain to ease.
Her hands were still trembling a little.
‘Hey, what did you find?’ The man’s query came from outside the coffin, and his tone was not as impatient as before.
Meilin opened her eyes and searched the coffin expressionlessly.
The coffin was empty, with nothing in it, and it didn’t take long to search. So she looked up and said calmly, ‘Nothing.’ Then her gaze fell on
the jade pillow.
After a moment of hesitation, she leaned over, carefully lifted the man’s upper body, and used her other hand to grab the jade pillow.
‘I can’t hold the pillow,’ she said again. As she spoke, she smelled a faint fragrance of pine and bamboo in her nose, and her mind reeled, almost causing her to fall. In a panic, she hurriedly put the man back in place and retreated
far enough to sit down.
She bit her tongue, and the pain cleared her mind slightly, just in time to hear the words of Murong Jing and. The voice, coming through the thick coffin, sounded a little muffled.
‘Try pressing down.’
Meilin leaned over and took a deep breath, feeling a little better, so she crawled over. This time, she didn’t dare to touch the man’s body again, and she didn’t even dare to look at his face
for fear that he would suddenly open his eyes. She just rested her hands on either side of his head and pushed down hard.
She didn’t harbour any hope when she did this, but unexpectedly, the jade pillow actually slowly sank downwards, along with the man. This startled her, and she
suddenly withdrew her hand. However, the jade pillow and the man did not stop because of her, and they continued to descend, while also bringing with them a feeling of shock.
‘Get out quickly!’ Outside, the sound of Mu Rongjinghe’s urging could be heard, with a hint of anxiety.
Meilin’s face changed slightly, and she didn’t bother to care about the Beauty Jade Pillow anymore. She grabbed the coffin wall with both hands and jumped up, but unexpectedly, just as her body soared into the air, her head suddenly felt dizzy, and she fell
headfirst. Fortunately, the dizziness was only temporary, and she was quick enough to react. When she saw that the place she was falling to had somehow turned into a dark hole, she hurriedly reached out to grab
and grabbed onto something. However, not only did that object fail to stop her fall, she was instead pulled down with it.
Her head was spinning and she didn’t know how long she had fallen for. Only when she realised that she was clutching at Murong Jinghe’s foot and he had fallen below her due to her weight
and she could not help but hold on tighter. Just when she thought the fall would never end, she heard a loud splash, water splashing everywhere, and a sharp pain radiating from her chest throughout her body.
Cold water flooded over her head, and darkness instantly enveloped her.
Naturally, she could not see it, but the jade pillow that had sunk into the coffin along with the person sank to a certain extent and then slowly floated back to its original position again, and the hole they fell into also closed
.
The sound of a bird’s chirp entered her ears, and her body felt the unique warm feeling produced by the sun’s rays, as well as an indescribable tingling.
Meilin coughed, which caused her chest to contract, causing a sharp pain, but she couldn’t help the wetness in her throat, so she slowly rolled over and coughed
, while spitting out the blockages, until the vomit took on a sweet and fishy smell before she managed to hold back.
With difficulty, she opened her heavy and dry eyelids. The long-lost bright sunlight shone into her eyes, so she couldn’t help but raise her hand to block it out. After a moment, she dared to lower her hand, and the corner of her lips had already
had curled up.
She had actually…survived!
Just when she thought she was going to die, she had actually survived. She didn’t know how to describe the feeling in her heart, except that she could still feel her heart pounding in her chest.
Seeing the sun was truly a wonderful and beautiful thing.
However, she did not indulge in this feeling for long, immediately remembering Murong Jinghe, who she did not know where he had fallen. She hurriedly got up to look for him, but suddenly realised that her right hand was still
was still clutching something. Looking down, she saw that it was Murong Jinghe’s foot. She didn’t realise that she hadn’t let go of him even when she fainted.
Murong Jinghe was lying on her right side, still unconscious. His hair was wet and scattered on the ground, and his hands were cold and lifeless, making people involuntarily think the worst.
Chapter 11 (3)
Turning him over, she saw his ashen face. Without pausing, she pressed her hands against his abdomen to
squeeze out the water. She then undressed him and rubbed his chest vigorously until it gradually warmed up. She stopped when she could feel a faint but
ignored.
He collected a pile of firewood, and when he reached for the fire lighter in his pocket, he realised it was soaked and couldn’t possibly start a fire.
Pursing her lips, she felt around her body and discovered that the dagger was still there. Without thinking, she picked up a hard stone nearby, placed a small pile of
a small pile of dry moss and dead leaves, then used the back of the dagger to strike the hard stone, sending sparks flying. In no time at all, the dry moss and other materials caught fire.
The fire started, and a layer of pebbles was laid under it.
She gathered a pile of dry grass and spread it around the fire. She stripped the unconscious man, hung up all his clothes, and dug a pit half as deep as a person near the beach. She
and filled it with water from the river, which she then dammed up. When she had finished, the man still hadn’t come round. Even after sitting by the fire for a long time, apart from a little warmth in his chest, he still
couldn’t feel any warmth at all.
She didn’t waste any more time calling to him, but simply moved the fire to the other side and then used a wooden stick to scoop up all the burning pebbles from underneath and throw them into the nearby puddle. In no time at all, the water
began to steam, and the temperature was so hot it burned the skin.
She lowered him into the water, then took off her clothes and joined him, wrapping her arms around him from behind and rubbing his heart and back.
The pit was not small, and the two of them were a little crowded when they sat down. The water rippled and rose, reaching just above Murong Jinghe’s neck. Meilin was a head shorter than him, so if she sat down,
she would be submerged, so she had to kneel.
At that time, although she was embracing a naked man, she felt neither romantic thoughts nor disgust or reluctance. She just kept holding on
and insisted on saving him.
Perhaps it was the hot water that worked, or perhaps her stubbornness had an effect, but the man in her arms finally let out a low, barely audible groan. Although he didn’t wake up, it was
reassuring.
Meilin couldn’t help but tighten her arms around him, resting her forehead on the back of his neck as she let out a slow breath. At that moment, she realised that her chest had been
tightened up so tightly that it was aching slightly.
When the water had cooled down and she had lifted him out, the clothes she had dried by the fire were just right to put on him. Meilin tidied herself up a little before sitting down next to him and taking
the place where the two of them were.
It was a river valley, with high and dangerous mountains on both sides, and a dense forest behind them, so it seemed as if they were still in the depths of the mountains. The river made a big bend here, so the side they were on
formed a triangular beach. The river was wide and the current slow, which was obviously why the two of them would be washed ashore here and manage to survive.
Meilin sighed, looking up at the blue sky with no clouds and the sun nearing its zenith. After the initial excitement and flurry of worries, she suddenly felt a little lost
.
Before being trapped in the stone forest, she had thought it would be simple: find a remote place to hide, figure out how to get rid of the poison in her body, and that would be it. Although she had promised Yue Qin, in fact, that was
was just a way to get out of trouble. She had never thought of actually going to find him. In fact, according to the rules set before Mu Ye Luomei fell, as long as she left Zhongshan Mountain, Yue Qin would be free, but she was different. Not to mention Mu Ye
Luomei and the others, even her place of origin would probably not easily forgive her for going against them. She didn’t want to get the unsuspecting young man into trouble.
But now…now she was a little confused. It seemed that something had changed.
This man…alas, this man…
A sound of dry wood bursting resounded, causing Meilin’s thoughts to pause momentarily, before she suddenly realised that she had been thinking about a bunch of nonsense that was useless.
She couldn’t help but laugh at herself, so she stood up and planned to go into the forest to see if she could find some useful herbs or food.
After taking two steps, she suddenly felt that something was wrong, but her heart suddenly started pounding. She stopped in her tracks, steadied herself, and then, somewhat unbelieving but also somewhat apprehensive, tried to
move the true energy within her body. She felt a very fine current slowly rising from her lower abdomen. Although it was far inferior to before, it was still fine and continuous, weak but perceptible, and it definitely existed.
Her heart felt slightly tight, and she tried again, determined that it was not her own illusion. She could not help but become lost in thought, almost doubting that all of this was happening in a dream. Otherwise,
why would she suddenly have true qi for no reason? No wonder she did not feel much effort when moving Murong Jing before.
She shook her head. Although this happened in a strange way, it was always a good thing, so she did not dwell on it anymore and felt that she should go get some things she needed first. This
This time, due to the fall into the water, she hit something along the way and got several new wounds, big and small. Together with the old wounds that had opened up, she was in a more dishevelled state than before entering the stone forest. However,
she was more confident than ever.
During her escape, she had missed her lost martial arts skills more than once, but she never imagined that she would be able to get them back. To her, this was nothing less than a gift from the heavens
and gave her the courage to face the uncertain and dangerous future.
Two days later, Meilin arrived at a remote village with Murong Jing, who was still unconscious. The village was called Laowozi, located in a valley that was almost cut off from the outside world.
The land was barren, the villagers were poor, and there was only one road leading out of the mountains. However, there was an old man who knew about herbal medicine and could cure diseases.
Meilin was brought there by a hunter she met in the mountains. The hunter had lost his footing and hung from a cliff, and she happened to see him and rescued him.
The hunter was from Laowozi Village. Seeing that she was injured and was also carrying a sick person, he led them back to the village.
The village had only 20 to 30 households, most of which lived on the flat land at the centre of the valley, while a few lived in the mountains. The old man lived alone at the end of the village in two dilapidated thatched houses that did not provide any protection from the wind.
When the hunter brought them there, Meilin was truly taken aback.
The old man could only treat common minor illnesses and pains, so he got some herbs for external wounds for the two of them. He refused to take any money, but he was at a loss as to what to do about Murong Jing’s internal injuries, and he also
couldn’t see that Meilin had poison in her body.
Meilin had not had high hopes, so she was not disappointed. However, the hunter who brought them here felt sorry for them, so when she said she wanted to settle down here
he actively helped them make arrangements. After greeting the village chief and all the villagers, he called on some people to help clean out a house that had long been uninhabited
. They repaired what needed repairing and fixed what was broken. In just one day, Meilin and the others had a place to stay.
Chapter 11 (4)
The house was actually quite good, with stone foundations and wooden beams. Although it had adobe walls, they were rammed very firmly and there were no cracks to be seen. There were three main rooms, a kitchen and a wood room, with carved
wooden windows, and a courtyard. Although it was a bit shabby, it was still better than most of the houses in the village. But the hunter did not initially approve of them living in that house. He said
that if they really wanted to stay, they could ask everyone to help them build two new houses. Because the original owner of the house died one after the other in the previous few years, leaving no one alive
and everyone in the village said it was the house’s fault, so after so long, no one wanted to go near it. Meilin didn’t really mind this. For her, having a place to
stay was good enough, so why be so fussy? She was even a little glad that this place was so taboo to others, otherwise how would they have gotten it?
After moving in, when she saw all the things the previous owners had used in the house, Meilin felt a sense of gratitude rise up in her again.
From the pots and pans to the bedding and clothing, everything was there. Although some of it was worn out and had not been used for a long time, it was full of dust and damp, it was neatly arranged
there, and there was really no sign that anyone had touched it. This shows how deeply the villagers were afraid of this house.
Meilin did not mind. In fact, she did not have a single penny on her, and there was no way she could buy so many things in such a short time. And the hunter and those hospitable villagers
were poor enough that even if they wanted to help, they could not offer anything.
Meilin felt as if her luck was slowly improving.
She was really busy for the next few days. She cleaned the room, washed and ironed the bedding and old clothes, took advantage of the sun to dry all the quilts and other items, cut mugwort to smoke
to get rid of the damp smell. She also went into the mountains and shot a few roe deer and pheasants, which they ate for a few days. Compared to the utensils, she didn’t have to worry too much about food.
When she had almost finished cleaning up and could take a break, Murong Jing was still not awake, but his breathing had settled down, as if he was just sleeping soundly. This made her
very uneasy, so she went back to the old man.
The old man stroked his white beard for a long time before he said, with a trembling voice, that ginseng would probably work. After saying this, he let out a long sigh, naturally knowing that this was actually a
waste of words. The people living in this small mountain village could not afford to buy ginseng, let alone the ginseng’s whiskers. And Meilin’s family was especially poor, they could be said to have nothing, even though they didn’t
look like they were poor at all.
Sure enough, after saying this, Meilin became a little dazed, and it took him a while to ask, ‘Is there ginseng in this mountain?’
The old man shook his head.
So Meilin asked again, ‘Where is there ginseng?’
‘The medicine shop in the city should have some,’ the old man said, and then sighed again.
Meilin thanked him and walked slowly back. On the way, he met a hunter, and learned from him that the city was dozens of li away, and it would take the people in the village
two or three days.
‘Is it the capital?’ Meilin suddenly remembered that he still didn’t know where exactly he was and how far away Zhaojing was.
The hunter was momentarily surprised, then laughed, ‘Of course not. I heard that the capital is hundreds of miles away. It’s Anyang City.’
Meilin was dumbfounded. He didn’t come to his senses until he got home, and couldn’t help but rush to the side of the unconscious Murong Jinghe and whisper in his ear, ‘We’ve really arrived near Anyang
nearby.”
Although Murong Jinghe’s face was pale, his expression was one of peace and tranquillity that she had never seen before. The external wounds that had been inflicted during their escape had mostly healed,
except that he had not woken up.
Meilin did not know what the problem was, and she would rather face the sarcastic but full of life Murong Jinghe than the current quiet and powerless
man.
‘If you keep sleeping like this, I’ll throw you into the mountains to feed the wolves,’ she muttered unhappily, reached out and gave his high nose a gentle pinch, straightened up and tucked
the corners of his quilted jacket in for him, then turned and left the room.
Meilin is someone who does not have a strong sense of right and wrong. In her heart, nothing is more important than being alive, so when necessary, she is willing to do
anything that others might consider inappropriate. She knew very well that so-called propriety and integrity could only be discussed when there was still a chance to live, and as someone who had always dealt with death, she had never
had anything to do with it.
As for Murong Jingwei, according to the way they had just thought when they first teamed up, she would never have bothered to save him. They had already escaped, and if he just
died, it would actually be more beneficial to her than detrimental. But now she wants to save him. For whatever reason, once she has made this decision, she will definitely save him and bring him back to life.
This kind of confidence is not actually blind arrogance, but because Meilin will go to any lengths to achieve something once she has made up her mind.
So, she went to Anyang and visited every pharmacy in the city, and when she returned to Lao Wo Zi Village, she brought back a bundle of ginseng. She figured that it would be enough for Murong
Jinghe to eat for a while. The reason for being so ruthless was that, firstly, she was afraid that if she did it once, it would arouse suspicion and it would not be so easy to get it next time, and secondly, because the poison in her body
was about to take effect, she was afraid that she would not have the energy to go into the city again.
What she could never have imagined was that when she stepped into the house, Murong Jinghe had already woken up.
He was staring blankly at the wooden window next to him with his eyes open. When he heard a sound, he turned his head. His face was still pale, and his expression was as calm as it had been when he was unconscious. Seeing her didn’t seem to have changed him much.
‘Get me something to eat,’ he said, but he didn’t ask anything else, just the usual commanding tone.
A flash of surprise passed through Meilin’s eyes. She had taken two steps forward, but then suddenly stopped. She nodded slightly, then went to the kitchen with the ginseng she had brought back. In a moment
she came back with a bowl of steaming corn porridge.
‘This is yesterday’s, you eat some first,’ she said, ignoring his slightly furrowed brow, helped him sit on the kang, propped up with a mattress behind him, and began to feed him with a smile
.
Murong Jinghe was only a little displeased, but he didn’t say anything, and finished the bowl of porridge in silence. In fact, he woke up in the first half of the night. At that time, Meilin was hurrying
on the road to Anyang. It was dark, and he could only occasionally see a glimmer of starlight through the cracks in the window. Faced with the quiet and unfamiliarity of everything, he could not help but feel anxious, but he could find
no one to ask. This feeling continued until Meilin returned.
He had to admit that the moment he saw Meilin, his heart, which had been hanging in the balance all night, instantly returned to its original place.
Chapter 12 (1)
No matter what Meilin had thought before, once she was truly out of danger, she was a little at a loss as to what to do with Murong Jinghe. She was also straightforward, and simply asked him where he wanted to go.
‘Where? I’m not going anywhere,’ Murong Jinghe said, without even raising his eyelids, as he drank the ginseng and wild chicken soup she had made.
This answer came as a bit of a surprise to Meilin. She knew that this was not what he truly wanted, but she could not help feeling a little happy. This happiness was undisguised and showed in
her eyes and expression.
Muyong Jinghe did not notice, and the long-lost hot soup finally made up for the bland taste.
Meilin didn’t say another word, and after she had finished feeding him, she let him lean back against the kang to digest his meal. She then opened the window next to the kang to let in the outside view, before carrying the empty
bowl out.
Outside the window was the courtyard, enclosed by a fence with a gate made of interlocking bamboos. A moss-covered well was located near the fence. The courtyard was a compacted dirt floor, with a small stone-paved
path extends from the main house to the courtyard gate. Inside and outside the fence grow a few old trees with fallen branches. It is hard to tell what kind of trees they are. The black branches spread out horizontally, reflecting the clear blue sky
and really have a wild charm. Beyond the fence, you can see the roofs of other houses in the distance, as well as the mountains and cliffs in the distance.
Muyong Jinghe and quietly watched this view from the window, their eyes deep and still as deep water.
Meilin was a carefree person who was not picky about where she lived, so once she settled down, she had no intention of leaving. Muyong Jinghe didn’t say he was leaving, so she
didn’t get too enthusiastic about making decisions for him. In fact, if she really sent him to where he was supposed to go, she couldn’t live here anymore. She felt that she quite liked it here, and if he didn’t leave,
would naturally be best.
Since Murong Jinghe was fine over there, she had to prepare for the winter with all her heart. Perhaps it was not just a matter of clothing and food, but also other things…
Carrying the cut firewood into the woodpile bundle by bundle, Meilin busied herself while mentally going over the things that needed to be done. However, when she had carried it to the point where only a small part
, he and the wood collapsed onto the floor of the wood room.
The rain that had been threatening for two days finally came down. It wasn’t heavy, but the sound of the rain was annoying.
Muyun Jing and watched the wood in the courtyard that hadn’t been carried be finished get wet. The rain was blown in through the half-open window and fell on his old quilt, which was only half covered, and soon it was wet
It wasn’t until dusk that Meilin emerged from nowhere, holding a dim tung oil lamp in her hand, illuminating a beautiful face that looked pale as a ghost
.
The rain was still pouring, and there was a trend of intensifying.
‘Where have you been?’ Murong Jinghe quietly watched her climb onto the bed, close the window, remove the quilt, which had become heavy with water, and wipe
the water stains on the mattress with a dry cloth, before breaking the silence.
Meilin paused for a moment, then continued.
‘Someone asked for help, and it took a little longer than expected,’ she said lightly, her forehead hair hanging down, a little messy and damp.
Muyong Jing and captured the suppressed tightness and fatigue in that light tone of voice, his long eyes narrowed slightly, slightly displeased and mockingly, “How many of your words are true, woman?”
He was speaking between the lines.
Meilin looked up at him, pursed her lips and pulled a barely-there smile, not refuting his words but not saying anything else either.
She was more silent than ever, but she did everything that needed to be done.
She heated the bed, and since there were quilts to keep out the cold, and the mattress wasn’t that wet, she didn’t change it. In fact, there was nothing to change it with. So she just dried herself off in the warmth of the bed. She boiled water for Murong Jing
and took a bath to get rid of the cold. She also served him food and drinks, and helped him to the toilet. She replaced the quilt she had taken off with a slightly thicker clean one and got by for the night.
When she thought about it, it seemed that she had been going around in circles taking care of Murong Jing, and there was nothing she could do for herself.
In the past, in order to make it easier to care for him, and because there were not enough extra blankets and to save firewood for heating the bed, the two of them slept together in the same bed. After tending to him that night, she
carried the oil lamp and walked out, never to return.
That night, the bed never got cold.
Although there was no quilt, Murong Jing and He felt hot, but it was a pleasant warmth, not unbearably hot. He just couldn’t sleep. Perhaps no matter who it was, if you lie around all day
doing nothing, you won’t be able to sleep either.
From time to time, there was a faint noise coming from the kitchen, letting him know that the woman had also been awake all night.
It was still dark when the woman came in with a bowl of hot congee and two mantou buns. This time, she didn’t light the lamp. Her hands trembled a little as she leaned over to help him up. He
could see that in just one night, her eyes seemed to have sunk in, and her lips were as white as a corpse, with deep bite marks.
‘You…’ With a sideways glance, she avoided the porridge that was being held to her lips. Murong Jinghe hesitated for a moment, but then asked, “What’s wrong?”
The spoon hit the side of the bowl with a clear sound, and Meilin unconsciously bit her lip again, her teeth sinking into the wound where her blood had congealed. The trembling in her hands stopped slightly, her chest rising and falling rapidly
twice, and she suddenly looked up at him, staring at him and blurting out, ’Give me the antidote, and I’ll send you wherever you want to go.’
Muyong Jinghe met her gaze, not avoiding it. There was a sense of research in his eyes as he said slowly, ‘What antidote?’
Meilin’s gaze fell, and she stopped talking. She passed the spoonful of porridge over again.
Muyong Jinghe’s gaze fell on her lips, which were bleeding, and it took a long time before he opened his mouth and drank the porridge from the spoon. He only drank a small bowl and ate most of the steamed bun, then turned his head away
his head.
‘I said I’m not going anywhere,’ he repeated, looking at the woman who had sat down on one side, eating his leftovers in silence.
Meilin grunted, without looking up, and the joy she had shown that day was nowhere to be seen on her face. Her slightly stooped back gave the impression of a kind of tension that could snap at any moment.
After hastily finishing the leftovers, she went out and then returned, carrying the quilt that had been wet the day before. It had now dried, and when she covered herself with it, she could still feel
the warmth that carried the smell of firewood.
‘I’ll be back before noon…’ she said to Murong Jing, turning over and then massaging her limbs and the side of her body next to the bed. Her gaze fell on the window, which let in a quiet
window, which let in the quiet dawn light. The rain had not stopped, and it was pattering against the window. After a pause, she said, ‘It’s raining, so I won’t open the window today.’ She actually knew that it was hard to lie there from morning till night, unable to even turn
over. So she would often prop his body up a little before going out, and then open the window, so at least his view was not trapped
within the room.
‘Where are you going?’ Mu Rong Jinghe looked at her thoughtfully and asked.
Meilin shook her head, did not answer, ran her hands through her somewhat messy hair, and walked quickly out of the door. Watching her back disappear at the door, and then the sound of the door closing, Mu
Rong Jinghe’s eyes flashed with a hint of gloom.
Chapter 12 (2)
Meilin didn’t go anywhere else. She looked for the old man and when she returned, she only got some ordinary herbs for detoxification and pain relief. She actually knew in her heart that they wouldn’t be of much use
but it was worth a try.
She could actually report back to the organisation about the situation with Murong Jinghe and the magical tomb under the stone forest. Either one of them could help her get the antidote, and it would be the most
effective kind. But this thought only flashed through her mind and was immediately dismissed without hesitation.
Not to mention the trouble that would ensue from revealing Murong Jinghe’s whereabouts, even for herself, it was not as if she had easily escaped from the organisation and then went back to provoke it again, was she not just
looking for trouble? Besides, until now, she was still unsure whether Murong Jinghe was really the person, and she dared not act rashly.
The ruse in the morning not only failed to give her the slightest clue, but instead confused her even more. But that was no surprise. After the disaster at Zhongshan, she already knew that if it came to playing mind games, she
was no match for him. In that case, it would be better to be straightforward from now on.
Back home, Meilin brewed and drank the herbal medicine. Apart from the warmth and bitterness that slid all the way down her throat to her stomach, there was no other special reaction. It still hurt, splitting the tendons
It still hurt like a million needles piercing her bones. Even though she had grown familiar with the pain over the years, she had not grown accustomed to it.
Her strength was fading, but her internal strength was growing more and more powerful. It was swelling up the meridians, which had become weak due to the poison, and seemed ready to burst out at any moment, tearing her to pieces.
She had always known that her internal strength was strange to recover, but she had never thought that one day it could also become fatal.
She grabbed something nearby with trembling hands, stood up, and before she could catch her breath, her chest lurched, and with a whoosh, all the medicine she had just drunk poured out again. The kitchen, which was already
filled with the smell of medicine, became even more so.
Meilin took out a handkerchief, wiped the remaining juice from her mouth and nose, calmed down, and then walked over to the water tank to scoop some cold water to rinse her mouth.
When she reappeared in front of Murong Jinghe, she had cleaned herself up, and apart from her pale complexion, nothing was visible. Murong Jinghe had already asked her once
and since he didn’t get an answer, he wouldn’t ask again.
Two days passed like this, and on the third day, Meilin finally couldn’t hold on anymore and fainted in front of Murong Jinghe. When she woke up, she saw his furrowed brows at a glance,
Without explaining anything, she went and drank two mouthfuls of cold water to refresh herself a little.
‘I can’t take care of you…’ When she returned, she said bluntly, pausing for a moment, and then added, ‘Tell me a reliable place, and I’ll send you there.’ As she said this,
a sudden pang of sadness welled up in her heart. It turned out that even if she wanted to raise him for the rest of her life, and even if he was willing to let her, it was still impossible.
Muyong Jing and Jing looked at her face, which had rapidly withered in just two days, and slowly asked, ‘Where do you want to go if you throw me away?’
Meylin’s heart sank at the words throw away, but at this time she didn’t want to argue. She took a deep breath to calm herself down, and she smiled bitterly, ‘I’ll go wherever I can
.’ She had planned to live here for a long time, but she could not bear the pain of the poison attack, so she could only wander around, hoping to find a way to counteract the poison. Even if she could alleviate the pain a little, that would be good.
Muyong Jing and the others fell silent. Their gazes moved from her face to the window, where they saw the distant mountains, green in places, brown and red in others. After a while, he said lightly, ’If you think I’m a burden, just go.
Yes, why worry about me?’
Meilin was stunned. She didn’t expect him to say that. If he had been in the mood before, he would have threatened her if he still needed her, not said something so angry.
She moved her lips, wanting to say something, but didn’t know what to say. In the end, she just let out a soft sigh and walked out.
Of course she wouldn’t leave him, but it was also unrealistic to take someone who couldn’t move around to seek medical treatment. So she could only stay put and get through each day.
‘I heard that the leaves of the mandala plant and the roots of the ground ivy can be used together to relieve pain,’ Murong Jing said one day.
These two herbs could be found in the mountains, and since Meilin had nothing to worry about now, she tried to collect some and boil them in water to drink. At the time, the effect was not obvious. After an hour or two,
just when she thought it was useless, the pain that had been torturing her for several days actually eased quite a bit.
Meilin thought, ‘If I increase the dosage, will it completely remove the pain?’ So while her energy was still somewhat restored, she went into the mountains again and gathered a basketful of Datura and Wolfsbane.
She felt that it was always a good idea to get more. Murong Jing and saw through the window and were shocked.
‘If you want to die, use the dagger. It’s so clean and quick, why bother with this?’ He hurriedly shouted at her, exasperated.
So Meilin finally knew that if the dosage of these two medicines was too high, it could kill a person. Her idea of relying on increasing the dosage to relieve the toxic effects in her body had to be
disappointed. But no matter what, with these two herbs, she was always much better off than before.
The physical pain was no longer unbearable. That night, she finally returned to the bed and slept for the first time in many days, until the medicine wore off and she was awakened by the pain.
She was already content with this.
She went to the kitchen first and brewed a bowl of medicine to drink. While waiting for the medicine to take effect, she prepared breakfast, woke Murong Jing and helped him get ready. After eating breakfast, the medicine
take effect, and she seized the opportunity to go into the mountains to prepare for the winter.
The internal strength that had been restored in her body increased at a perceptible rate every day. After the pain eased, it was no longer as strong and violent as before, as if it were about to burst out of her body
but it was still unbearably swollen, and she longed to find something to vent it.
Meylin then hunted desperately, but she never imagined that although she had exhausted herself the day before, her internal energy was so depleted that she could hardly move, and after waking up, her internal energy
was even more surging and fierce. To martial artists, this phenomenon is nothing but a windfall, but Meylin was not pleased. She could feel that this internal energy
was different from what she had cultivated in the dark factory before. It was too strong, so strong that it might one day consume even its host.
Muyong Jing also obviously sensed her abnormality. He lay in bed all day long, and apart from looking at the scenery outside the window, he could only observe the only living thing in the house that could move. Day
after day, he watched like this. With his keen senses, how could he not notice.
‘What’s going on with your internal strength?’ he asked when Meilin gave him a massage that day.
Meilin was worried about this matter, and knowing that he was knowledgeable and resourceful, she was glad to hear his question and quickly gave him a general account of the situation. She didn’t expect him to come up with a solution,
but if he could use his wisdom to speculate on the cause, that would be enough.
After hearing this, Murong Jinghe’s eyes lit up with interest, and he was clearly very interested.
Chapter 12 (3)
‘You and I have travelled and slept together, never parting…’ He pondered, and then confirmed the specific time when this situation had occurred before saying, ‘Did you encounter
anything special in that coffin?’
After he reminded her, Meilin couldn’t help but think of the beautiful man and the dizzying fragrance on him.
‘You moved the corpse?‘ Murong Jinghe frowned.
’I wanted to take the jade pillow under his head, naturally…‘ Meilin felt a little uneasy and explained unconsciously, but was impatiently interrupted by Murong Jinghe.
’Can you just move a corpse like that? Do you have a brain!”
She was scolded again. Meilin was a little depressed, but it wasn’t as hard as last time, because she could feel his concern under his rebuke…or maybe it was just worry.
‘He’s not necessarily dead,‘ she muttered, still not believing that it was a dead person.
’That stone forest has existed for thousands of years, do you expect that person to have just been put in?’ Murong Jing said impatiently. After thinking about it, he felt that it was
unnecessary to get angry over such a trivial matter, so he said, ’This is something that other people would dream of, so you should consider it a great bargain.’
Hearing the indifference in his tone, Meilin stopped talking. So that was the end of the matter of internal strength being reborn. The two of them did not speak of it again for a long time afterwards.
Although Laowozi Village was poor, life there was peaceful and carefree, without the scheming and backstabbing, and no constant fear. Meilin had never had such a life since she could remember
and she felt that it was worthwhile to suffer a little for it.
Although the pain from the poison was alleviated by the herbal soup, the poison did not weaken the body’s consumption. Coupled with the conflict with the increasing internal strength, it made
her pass out several times afterwards. One time was on the way back from hunting in the mountains, and then she was taken home by a villager from the same village.
When she woke up, she found herself lying on the bed, facing Murong Jing, who did not look too good. Before she could remember what had happened, she heard a man with a public duck voice
speaking in a local dialect.
Looking around in confusion, she saw a short man sitting with one leg crossed at the end of the bed, drinking water from a bowl while talking to Murong Jinghe. To be precise,
he was talking while Murong Jinghe was the one doing the listening.
The room was filled with the smell of smoked tofu, which almost made Meilin pass out again.
The man’s face showed surprise when he saw Mei Lin wake up, and if he hadn’t been held back by the coldness in Murong Jinghe’s eyes, he would have probably pounced on her.
‘Lin’s wife, you’ve finally woken up, drink some water…’ He said this while enthusiastically approaching her to hand her the bowl in his hands.
As he moved, the stench became even stronger, and Mei Lin’s face turned pale. She propped herself up slightly, took the bowl, but didn’t drink.
‘You are…’ Although she was tempted to throw the strange man out, her customary caution caused her to smile lightly, figuring out the reason for things
being the priority.
She was naturally beautiful, and this smile naturally blossomed like a delicate flower, her pale face only adding to her touching and pitiful charm, never diminishing the beauty that was completely different from the ordinary village girl
from the ordinary village girl.
The man was so mesmerised that if it wasn’t for Murong Jing and his cold snort, he would have drooled.
Although Meilin was displeased, she didn’t show it on her face. She lifted the quilt off the bed, tucked the corners back in for Murong Jing, and only then did she hear the man’s stammering explanation.
Since he had saved her, she could not afford to be rude. She immediately picked out a roe deer, two hares and five pheasants from the game she had hunted as a token of her gratitude, and
finally managed to get rid of him. Although the people of Laowozi Village lived by the mountains, not many of them knew how to hunt. Most of them still relied on the few barren acres of land to make a living, so the things she gave them
these few items were already considered generous.
After sending the people away, she returned to the big house, where the overpowering stench was still lingering. Naturally, Murong Jinghe’s face was not looking good. Meilin still remembered his reaction when he first smelled
the corpse ghost’s body. Seeing that he could hold back for so long without having a fit, she couldn’t help but feel both amused and sympathetic.
‘I want to go outside,’ he said, obviously unable to bear it anymore.
When Meilin heard this, he subconsciously looked out the window and saw that it was already evening. The mountains and forests were tinged with red and yellow, and the sky was a deep blue in the far distance. It was a completely relaxing and refreshing autumn evening scene.
Thinking that it had also been a long time since he had been outside, he nodded in response, then went to find a chair that could barely be considered in good condition and placed it against the wall before carrying him on his back again.
As soon as he put the person on his back, he had not taken two steps when his ear was bitten, and she almost fell over as her legs went weak.
‘You can’t fall for that kind of person,‘ Murong Jinghe said in a lower-than-usual voice, his tone unmistakable, as if he was giving an order rather than a suggestion.
Meilin calmed down a little before continuing to walk out, pondering his meaning carefully and unable to stop smiling.
’What are you thinking?’ Everyone in the village thought the two of them were husband and wife, so how could they be interested in her? Besides, she knew her own body, and with the added responsibility of taking care of him
take care of him, how could she have the energy to harm others.
Muyun Jinghe shrugged his lips, still not letting her go, ‘So why did you smile at him so flirtatiously?’
Flirtatiously, flirtatiously, flirtatiously… In an instant, Muyun’s mind was filled with these two words, and she was about to spit out a mouthful of blood. After a while, she said resentfully, ‘I
smiled even more flirtatiously, and you didn’t do anything about it.’ She had already become so angry that she couldn’t choose her words carefully, and only after she had finished speaking did she realise what she had said, and her face flushed.
Muyong Jing and Pu Xi laughed out loud, feeling very good. When Meilin put him in the chair, his expression had returned to normal, and he no longer had the look of someone who felt that others owed him a great debt
.
Meilin put a coat on him, then went back inside, took the bedding and the quilt cover off, soaked them in a basin, opened all the windows, and then took mugwort and other things and
smoked the room. Even she herself didn’t know why she couldn’t stand the smell of other people on the kang. After all, she had shared it with many other people before, and had stayed in dirtier, stinkier environments.
She couldn’t understand it, and she didn’t bother trying to. All the while she was doing this, she kept thinking back to the words she had blurted out earlier, her face growing hotter and hotter, her heart pounding
violently. She was ashamed and embarrassed, and also felt some inexplicable expectation, as if…as if they were still in that narrow tunnel, crawling close together, and he was whispering her name in her ear
‘Woman, if I were to be like this for the rest of my life, would you still stay by my side?‘ Just as Meilin crouched by the well and began to wash the quilt cover, Murong Jinghe withdrew his gaze from the sky and
suddenly said.
’For the rest of your life…’ Meilin’s hand stopped moving, her downcast eyes darkened, and she did not reply.
Where did she get the idea that she could promise for the rest of her life?
Chapter 12 (4)
At that time, Murong Jinghe did not seem displeased when he did not get an answer from Meilin, just smiled and looked back at the horizon.
In their hearts, this was not considered a big deal. They had thanked each other and that was about it. However, the next day, an old woman came.
Meilin was going out hunting, and the old woman arrived early, just in time. The old woman’s family name was Liu, and this was the first time the two had met.
The old woman Liu saw Mei Lin, who was closing the wood door, and instead of greeting her, she stood there looking up and down at her, as if she wanted to take off her clothes
and study her to her heart’s content.
Mei Lin felt uncomfortable being looked at like that, and was about to speak when she started talking.
“She’s a pretty young lady, a bit thin, but look at that bottom, she can bear children…’
Meilin’s face changed slightly, but it was only momentary, and she smiled again in an instant, her smile truly radiant and dazzling. Seeing this, Old Liu’s eyes were dazzled for a moment, and she secretly
felt a pang of regret. At the same time, she twisted her old waist and leaned in, and before the other person could speak, she began to draw close to her, chattering away.
‘Young lady, where are you going?’ After a long time, it seemed that she had just realised that the other person was about to go out.
While pondering her intentions, Meilin smiled and said, ‘It’s almost winter, and there’s not much food at home. I was just thinking of going into the mountains to see if I can get something
to tide me over.’ Since she wanted to ask the hunter how to process the fur and sell the prey, almost no one in the whole village of Laowozi didn’t know that she could hunt, so there was nothing to hide
.
Hearing her words, Old Liu let out a long sigh, and only when the smile on Meilin’s face was about to fade did she exclaim with pity, ‘What a tragedy,
asking such a delicate young lady to go to the mountains all the time. If she encounters a wolf or a big beast, what’s she going to do?’
Meilin still smiled, but didn’t say anything, nor did she show any intention of letting her in.
Seeing that she didn’t respond, the old woman had to continue on her own, ‘If there was a capable man in the family, would the young lady still have to suffer like this?’
Mei Lin’s eyes darkened slightly, and her tone turned cold, ‘What are you saying, old woman? Where in my family is there not a capable man?’ Even if Murong Jing was unable to move, he was still more
useful than most men in the world. She was indignant in her heart, but didn’t realize that she had unconsciously regarded him as the man of the family.
Hearing this, Liu the old woman’s face showed undisguised contempt. She snorted, only then noticing her displeasure, and hastily laughed in her company, ‘Young lady, your family has a man, and an old woman
naturally knows about it. It’s just that I’m not afraid to say something offensive: it would be good if your family head didn’t get you into trouble, and who cares about how useful he is.’
‘If you know you’re going to offend someone, why say it?’ Meilin sneered, no longer being polite, “Whether my husband is useless or not has nothing to do with you outsiders. Old woman, please go
.” With that, she was ready to leave.
Old Liu just thought that a beautiful young woman who spent all day with a paralyzed man would also be full of complaints and would want to find someone to talk to. She never imagined that the other person would react like this.
She was a little dumbfounded and hastily grabbed the other person’s sleeve.
‘What else do you want, old woman?’ Meilin wanted to stay here for a long time and didn’t want to offend the person too much, so he held back for a moment and his tone softened slightly.
Afraid of being driven away before she could tell her purpose, this time the old woman no longer beat around the bush and honestly told her purpose.
‘My dear, please don’t be offended, but I have actually come to congratulate you.”
Meilin’s eyelids fluttered, and a strange feeling welled up in her heart, but she said nothing.
The old woman had to say, “You know Wei Er, the village head.” Seeing Meilin’s puzzled expression, she added, ’He is the one who rescued you from the mountain path yesterday.’
Meilin nodded to indicate that she knew. Liu Po Zi then continued, ‘Wei Erni has fallen for you and wants to take you home to be his wife. Wei Erni’s family owns five mu of prime
rice paddies and four mu of fertile land, and he has never been married…’
Upon hearing that he wanted to take her as his wife, Meilin was shocked and could no longer listen to the unfounded praise that followed.
‘Old woman, I have a man at home,’ she said, amused and exasperated, and raising her voice.
Old Mrs Liu paused and looked at her strangely, ‘What’s the big deal? There are several families in this village with one woman and two husbands. Wei Er doesn’t mind, and is willing to help his wife raise
the paralyzed guy…’ Seeing Meilin’s ugly face change in an instant, Old Mrs Liu immediately knew she had said something inappropriate. She quickly pretended to slap herself, saying, ‘My mouth is dirty,
young lady, please forgive me.’
Meilin held back her anger and just pursed her lips without saying anything.
‘Where can you find such a good thing? Young lady, if you just nod your head, you can sit at home and enjoy the good life from now on.’ The more she talked, the more confused Liu the old woman became about the other person’s thoughts, and she was afraid that if she
said a few more offensive things, she would say something she regretted, so she quickly summed up her words.
Meilin closed her eyes, trying hard to suppress the urge to kick someone, and when she opened them again, she had a pitiful expression on her face.
‘Thank you, Auntie, but a good woman does not serve two husbands. I can’t bear the name…’ Seeing that the old woman wanted to continue persuading, he hurriedly added, ’Besides, although my husband is
physically disabled, he is a wonderful person. If I remarry, I will only make him sad. He is not in good health, and if something happens to him, how can I enjoy my blessings with a clear conscience?’
This speech silenced the old woman Liu, who was probably afraid of causing someone’s death. She could not push any further, so she said a few more words casually, urging Mei Lin to think again, before
she left angrily.
Once she had left, Mei Lin lost the desire to go out, and she was full of anger and couldn’t find a place to vent it.
Murong Jing was leaning against the bed, staring out of the window, when he saw her storming back in, banging around in the kitchen for a while, doing something he couldn’t tell what it was, and then
suddenly going into the wood shed, carrying out a pile of logs and chopping them up in the yard. The way she was doing it, it didn’t look like she was chopping wood, it looked like she was chopping people up. So he couldn’t help but laugh.
‘Woman, come here,’ he shouted.
Meilin puffed up her cheeks and split two pieces of firewood before stopping. She turned around and saw the man in the window, beaming. His old white shirt was open, his black hair spread behind him on the pillow.
He looked lazy and handsome, his face slightly pale, but with a smile on his lips.
At that glance, all the anger in her suddenly disappeared, and all she could hear was her heart pounding like thunder. She lowered her head, her ears burning, inexplicably
blushing.
‘Hey, are you deaf? I told you to come over here, didn’t you hear me?’ Murong Jinghe’s voice came again, with a strange undertone.
Fine, I’ll go over there! Meilin suddenly looked up at him, threw down the axe, and really walked over.
Chapter 13 (1)
Meilin walked over to the window.
Muyong Jinghe’s face was impatient, and he was annoyed, saying, ‘Come inside, how can you talk while standing there?’
For some reason, Meilin found his appearance very pleasing. Without further ado, she walked along the wall to the front door of the main building and pushed it open. A cloth
curtain separated the inside from the outside, and it was always drawn when she was not there, so that he could see further.
When Meilin walked in, Murong Jinghe had already turned his head and was staring at her intently as she approached. His handsome eyes were shining, radiating scorching heat.
Meilin felt uncomfortable being looked at like that, and she didn’t know what to do with her hands and feet. It was only after she had finally walked to the side of the bed, sat down on the edge, and let out a sigh of relief in private that she felt better.
‘What are you angry about?’ Murong Jinghe asked, his tone gentle, bordering on tenderness.
Tenderness… Meilin shuddered, feeling that something must be wrong with her mind, that she would ever have thought to apply tenderness to this man. She remembered that he had not been
tender to her, but that was to put on an act for Mu Ren Luomei, and there was no need for that now.
‘Hey, what are you daydreaming about? Do you really want to marry that smelly village idiot?”
Mei Lin was deeply offended by these words. She looked up suddenly and saw Murong Jing’s smiling face. The smile was clearly mocking, and there was not the slightest trace of tenderness. She felt
some inexplicable loss, but she just laughed and said, “I already rejected him…” After a pause, she thought about it and really felt that this was a bit funny. There was really no reason to be angry about it,
reason, so she continued, ‘It’s true that Wei Erni is a bit despicable, but if you want to get on in life, you can’t be so fussy, and if you’re down-to-earth, you’ll make it…’ But that person is not just despicable,
he’s downright wretched. Even if she had the heart to do it, she wouldn’t be able to look at him.
Murong Jing didn’t know what she was thinking, but her smile was very irritating. He was used to being bossy, and since he didn’t feel comfortable, how could he let her
continue, so he sneered and interrupted, ‘Why don’t you just agree to him?’
Mey Lin was stunned, and he was also a little angry at his sarcastic tone. Coupled with the fact that she had been full of anger before because of this matter, the two emotions
flared up at the same time, and her face looked a little bad.
‘Whether I agree to him or not has nothing to do with you, Lord Murong.‘ With that, she abruptly stood up and walked out the door. She was not normally such a violent person, but for some reason
she felt strangely uncomfortable when she heard what he said. She just felt that she needed to calm down and think things over.
Unexpectedly, Murong Jing smiled when he saw her get angry.
’Don’t go. I still have something to say,’ he said slowly.
Meilin looked down on him condescendingly and saw that he was putting on an innocent face. She couldn’t help but be angry and laugh at the same time. She felt that this person was really a scoundrel to the extreme.
If you speak nicely to him, he will deliberately throw a tantrum; if you ignore him, he will pretend that nothing has happened. Really…really, it’s just so frustrating!
‘What is it?’ she snapped, thinking to herself that if he gave her attitude again, she would never speak to him again.
Muyong Jinghe had to tilt his neck to look at her, a position that naturally made him unhappy, but he didn’t show it. He just smiled and said, ’I’ve been sitting like this for too long
In fact, if Meilin went out hunting, he would have to sit like that for half a day, but since she was there, he could change his position at any time.
‘Do you want to lie down?’ Meilin knew that he was tired and didn’t argue about it, so she bent down and asked while adjusting the cushion behind him.
“Mm. On my side.’
Muyong Jinghe suddenly became unusually obedient. Meilin couldn’t help but look up at him for a moment. Just as she was murmuring to herself, she suddenly heard him say slowly, ‘You are my woman
.’
At that time, she was embracing the back of his neck with one hand while pulling on the mattress with the other. Their heads were leaning very close together, almost touching. Hearing this, her movements paused, and then
she saw him suddenly turn his head and give her a light kiss on the lips.
Meilin felt her head explode and there was a brief moment of blankness. Murong Jinghe did not rush her, and when she gradually came to her senses, all she saw was his face, half-smiling, half-serious,
and unmistakable.
A wave of heat rose uncontrollably up her neck, and she turned away, embarrassed. She almost held her breath as she gently laid him flat, then rolled him over so that he was facing the room, and then
with clothes on the back to help maintain the position. She didn’t know how to react to his words, or perhaps she was even doubting that she had actually heard them wrong.
Unexpectedly, Murong Jing and didn’t stop there. When she stood up straight, he repeated them slowly and deliberately.
‘You are my woman. You are not allowed to marry anyone but me.’ Although he spoke in a gentle voice, the words revealed a domineering and strong sense of possession that made people tremble.
Meilin’s heartbeat stopped for a short while, and when she met his eyes, she flinched away in panic from the heat in them. Her heart was filled with indescribable emotions, and for a long while
she could only manage to speak, but her voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz.
‘I don’t want to marry anyone either…’ After she finished speaking, she seemed to feel that she was clearly agreeing to his unreasonable request. She was embarrassed and quickly lowered her head, turned around
and hurriedly walked out, not caring if he had anything else to say.
Murong Jinghe watched her somewhat flustered back, her eyes softening slightly, and she let out a low laugh. But then she thought of Wei Er’er, who was so bold as to act on his lust, and her gaze hardened,
with a strong murderous intent rising within.
Mey Lin was flustered and confused, not knowing where to go. She was afraid that Murong Jinghe would see her, so she didn’t dare stay in the courtyard. After a while of wandering, she finally stopped in the kitchen.
‘What a loser…’ After her heart rate slowly returned to normal, she couldn’t help but whisper self-deprecatingly, but she didn’t know that the corners of her lips were upturned and joy shone in her eyes.
After gathering her thoughts, she planned to boil some water to make some tea for the two of them to drink. Holding the ladle, she couldn’t help but think of his words again, biting her lower lip, wanting to laugh but feeling a little embarrassed.
However, thinking about the look on his face when he said those words, her heart fluttered slightly, and she lowered her head, blushing, slightly infatuated.
‘He’s a master at deceiving people…can he be telling the truth?’ After a while, she seemed to have calmed down a little from that emotion that made her limbs feel weak, and scolded herself.
Having said that, the soft sweetness in her heart did not diminish in the slightest.
Fortunately, she was not a pretentious woman, and found that even if she thought about all the bad things that man had done, she could not suppress the fluttering of her heart caused by those words
, so she stopped dwelling on it and stopped avoiding it. She thought, that might be what people often call liking.
The moment she reached this conclusion, her panicked heart suddenly settled down.
Like it…then like it.
Chapter 13 (2)
Even though one person had made their ownership clear and the other had made their intentions clear, nothing had changed in the way the two got along. They still occasionally
a few words. Perhaps one moment they are furious, the next they are being tricked into biting each other’s ears.
Meilin truly feels that Murong Jing and that bastard are her nemesis, making her unable to be angry or happy. As for Wei Laoer, who once asked Liu Poza to propose marriage, she thinks that
would naturally know when to quit and soon forget about it. As she watched, the frosts passed and winter was approaching. The two of them had not prepared any winter clothes, so she had to step up her hunting
efforts. In addition to trading in the grain, she also had to make several thick, warm winter clothes, and it would be best to get two new cotton quilts.
She usually goes out before dawn and returns at noon. First, she tends to Murong Jinghe, turning him over and taking care of his eating, drinking, and urination and defecation needs.
Then she herself needs to drink some more hot pain-relieving herbal medicine to prevent herself from fainting from the pain in the mountains or on the road, as she did last time.
Since it is only half a day, she leaves the window ajar if the weather looks fine when she goes out, so as not to bore Murong Jinghe. The villagers are simple people, and as long as
not going far, no one locks their doors, so Meilin just lightly clicks the wooden latch. From outside the fence, you can see everything in the courtyard, and you can also see Murong Jing, who is sitting
half-reclined by the window of the main house.
Meilin never imagined that after she left that day, an unexpected guest would come to her doorstep.
It wasn’t very cold, but Wei Erer stood outside the woodpile door with his hands in his sleeves, swinging back and forth for a long time. It wasn’t until he saw someone walking down the road not far away that
he pushed open the not-quite-shut woodpile door and darted inside, then closed it again.
He was so nervous that he could see the breath coming out of his mouth. This nervousness doubled and redoubled when he saw Murong Jinghe in the window.
‘You…Lin brothers…are you alone?’ When he felt the cold gaze of Murong Jinghe, he subconsciously shoved his hand back into his sleeve, hunched over
and leaned towards the window, his eyes scanning the courtyard. Even though he knew that Meilin was not there, he was looking for her at this very moment when she was not there, but he couldn’t help but hope to see her.
Mu Rongjing’s murderous intent rose again, and the indifference on his face subsided, replaced by a warm smile.
‘Yes. Look at my body, I can’t go anywhere, and it’s a pain for the people in the house…’ he said bitterly. It seemed that he was extremely affectionate and sincere towards this uninvited visitor,
but he didn’t even bother to greet him or offer him a seat. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to put on a better show, it was just that he really couldn’t stand the body odor, and he didn’t want Mei Lin to
wash the bedding again.
Fortunately, Wei Erer was so nervous that he didn’t notice this at all. Besides, even if he did notice, he wouldn’t care, because like Murong Jinghe, he didn’t want
to be in the same confined space as the other person, as the pressure would be too great.
They chatted about nothing, praising the neatness of the house one moment, and saying that the Lin brothers were truly blessed the next. When it came to Meilin, the man’s face was full of envy and lust
made Murong Jing and Lin Jing’s stomachs churn. If they hadn’t been unable to move, they would have carried him into the toilet and cleaned him up. But at that moment, he could do nothing, and the
restraint made the smile on his face even more radiant and friendly.
‘I know a little about Brother Wei’s intentions,’ he suddenly said, feeling a wave of nausea in his stomach.
Wei Er, who had been talking boastfully, suddenly stopped. His small eyes bulged, and one could clearly see the bloodshot inside and the yellow sticky eye mucus at the corners of his eyes.
Coupled with his puffed up cheeks, he looked exactly like a toad.
Muyong Jing cursed inwardly and laughed bitterly, ‘It’s just that the temper in my house is also hard-nosed, and this fact is really embarrassing…’
Feeling that he was not entirely opposed, Wei Erer’s spirits lifted. He wanted to strike while the iron was hot and pull the person in front of him into his camp, so that even if Meilin did not
agree, he would have to. Unfortunately, he was a man who did not know how to speak, and the words he spoke directly angered Murong Jinghe and almost made him pass out.
‘Hey! As long as Brother Lin is willing, what can a woman say? She has to listen to you. I’m saying, Brother Lin, look at you, you’re always lying on the bed, letting your wife
run around outside, and she’s so attractive, what if…”
Murong Jinghe couldn’t hold back the smile on his face, but he didn’t show anger either. He just squeezed his hand under the quilt tightly, not letting go even though it stung.
‘Besides, you… I’m afraid that won’t work either, young lady, you’re still in the prime of your youth…‘ Wei Erer got more and more excited as he spoke, and the more he spoke, the more lewd he became, not the slightest idea that because of these words
he had already set himself on the path to his death.
’Good… good…’ Murong Jinghe said several times in a row, not wanting to drag this on any longer.
Wei Erer paused, his face showing a look of surprise, ’So, Brother Lin, you agree.’
‘Very good… excellent…’ Murong Jinghe said two more “very good”s in a row, then a slight smile appeared on his face: “This is naturally a great thing, I have no
objection. It’s just…” Looking at the ecstatic appearance of the short and wretched man outside the window, he paused for a moment before slowly saying, ’It’s just that if I agree, it doesn’t count. The woman in my house
has a stubborn personality, if you can’t win her over, you won’t be able to get anywhere near her.’
Wei Erer was not particularly stupid. Upon hearing this, he hurriedly asked what he had to do to please the young lady.
‘She likes the reddish-pink snow peas from the Qibao Pavilion in the city the most, but they are very expensive, so I’m afraid you won’t be willing to spend so much,’ Murong Jing said indifferently. After a moment of silence, he added, ‘If you can get
get that red cabbage, she might be so happy that she might even agree to not take a dowry.‘ Wei Erer was only thinking about how to get Meilin married off first, so when he heard this, how could he disagree? He hurriedly confirmed
it twice, knowing that only Qibao Zhai sold red cabbage, and then hurriedly left.
Murong Jinghe watched him disappear into the courtyard, his face slowly growing cold.
’How dare you covet my woman, you must be tired of living!’
Then, on the third day, the news of Wei’s death spread like wildfire in the village. It was said that he was sheltering from the rain at the bottom of a cliff when a rock fell from above and crushed him
to pieces, so that he was almost unrecognisable. His family, which included parents and brothers, naturally mourned and grieved upon hearing the news. When they came to their senses, they thought about how he had previously asked Liu’s old woman to propose to Mei
Lin to propose marriage, and coupled with the fact that Murong Jinghe was also completely paralyzed, the two events, when linked together, led them to blame Mei Lin. They even went to her house and caused a disturbance, saying that she was hard-fated and specialized in harming men
.
Mei Lin was baffled by the disturbance, but no one knew that on the afternoon of the second day after Wei Laoshi went to the city, someone visited her and Murong Jinghe’s
home without anyone noticing.
Chapter 13 (3)
After what happened to Wei Erer, Meilin was really worried for a while, afraid that while she was out, his family would come looking for trouble with Murong Jinghe. There was nothing else to do, just
light a fire, which would be hard for him as he couldn’t move around. If they didn’t go out, the food they had stored for the winter wouldn’t last long, and sooner or later they would be in a difficult situation with no food. She
After thinking about it, she could not find a better solution, and she could not help but consider whether she should leave her old village and find a new place to live. For this matter, she was also teased by Murong Jing.
“You are obviously fierce as a wolf and cunning as a fox, but why are you shocked by a few country farmers?’
Meilin gave him a look, not happy. Where was she fierce? If she was fierce, how could she have been chased like a dog? And when it came to cunning, who could compare with him? Besides, if she
were alone, she would be afraid of no one. It was just that her voice had not been feeling well these days, and she was too lazy to argue with him.
Muyong Jinghe laughed, ‘Just go ahead and do whatever you want. If I can’t handle this little thing, then I really am a useless person, just as they say.’ They were naturally referring to Wei
Lao’er’s family, who had cursed out every nasty word they knew the other day.
Upon hearing the word ‘useless person,’ Meilin’s face fell. That Wei family was really pushing it. If she didn’t want to live peacefully here, why would she put up with it so much that he
also got humiliated?
‘What, don’t you trust me?’ Murong Jinghe had no idea that she was blaming herself, and just thought that she really regarded him as useless. He gradually became displeased.
Meilin shook her head, took off her shoes, climbed under the covers, and snuggled up next to him.
The two of them had always slept in the same bed, but they had never lain together in the daytime like this before. Murong Jinghe was a little surprised, and his heart felt a little
and forgot her previous displeasure.
‘I’ll go into the mountains tomorrow,’ she said after a long while. She thought that once she had prepared everything for the winter, she would be able to stay at home with him all day, and in the meantime, make
a few winter clothes. Her needlework wasn’t the best, but she could always learn from someone.
As she looked at his handsome features so close by, she planned out their future life together in her heart, and couldn’t help but say it out loud. Murong Jing cooperated with her, nodding his head
and adding a few words now and then. She felt happy, thinking that such a life would make anyone happy, but she never expected that for her, a life that was so ordinary to others that she had already grown
tired of it, would ultimately be just a dream.
The next day, Meilin entered the mountains again. However, she was still not at ease, so before entering the mountains, she specially greeted the hunters and a few friendly villagers, asking them to keep an eye on
her. I don’t know if it was the result of her greeting, or if Murong Jing and really had a way to deal with it, but after that, things really calmed down for a few days, until she fainted again in the mountains.
When she opened her eyes and saw the darkening sky, she knew that she could no longer muddle through.
Muyong Jinghe naturally had his own reasons for insisting on staying in this remote little mountain village with her, and Meilin didn’t want to get to the bottom of it, just as there were some things she
wouldn’t tell him either. However, as the amount of painkiller soup gradually increased, she also knew that her health was getting worse every day, and the domineering internal strength was becoming
more and more difficult to control. He must be settled before everything gets out of control!
Her throat was dry and uncomfortable, as if it was stuck, and she coughed twice before struggling to get up. There were a few pheasants and hares scattered around, but there were no big game.
She had spent more than half a day, and even missed lunch. Thinking about Murong Jingwei, who had to rely on herself for food, water, and going to the bathroom, she became anxious and, regardless of the pain
and weak body, she picked up the prey and ran in the direction of home.
The powerful internal force flowed through the fragile meridians, like Lingchi. Beads of sweat glided down her forehead, gradually blurring her eyes. I don’t know how many times I raised my sleeve to wipe the sweat, and the
yard surrounded by a fence finally appeared in the twilight.
Before entering the courtyard, she saw through the fence that Murong Jing was still sitting in the same position as in the morning by the window, his head bowed, lost in thought. His profile was surrounded by the pale green twilight
and blurred. Meilin felt a sudden pang of worry and a strong urge to help him find a way to reconnect his broken meridians, no matter what.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, he looked up. His eyes were deep and dark, not as weak as she had imagined.
‘I’m back,’ Meilin said with a smile, trying to put on a relaxed expression and not give away the slightest hint of pain. However, after speaking, he realised that his voice was hoarse
and difficult to hear, and he just attributed it to the pain. He decided to speak as little as possible.
Muyong Jinghe didn’t say anything in response, turned his head away, and resumed his previous posture.
Meilin just thought he was angry, and didn’t mind. He threw the prey on the ground at random, washed his hands at the well, and then went into the house.
He lit the oil lamp on the table, turned around, and Murong Jinghe was looking at her. She thought he would ask something, but he didn’t. So she quietly let out a sigh of relief, but also felt a little
disappointed.
She walked over and put her hand under the quilt. The mattress was still dry, and he had not lost control of his bowels because of her late return.
Muyong Jing and Ding Ding watched her every move without taking their eyes off her. Displeasure rose in their dark eyes as they said indifferently, ‘I can still control myself if I don’t eat that messy stuff.’
It was obvious that he felt insulted by her actions and couldn’t help but be reminded of the humiliating incident from many days ago.
Meilin’s face flushed slightly, but she didn’t retort, just looked back at him innocently with wide eyes. She felt that she had gone too far in that matter, so of course she wouldn’t argue with him, but she also couldn’t apologize.
No matter what she did, it would make him feel embarrassed, so it was best not to talk about it anymore.
Muyong Jinghe was so exasperated by the way she was looking at him that he lost his temper. Since it wasn’t a glorious thing, they didn’t continue the topic, but Muyong Jinghe said, ‘I want some water.’
Meilin hurriedly turned around, took a cup from the table and poured some cold tea, then fed him some to drink. Murong Jinghe frowned, but didn’t say anything.
‘Do you need to go to the toilet?’ Meilin was very careless when it came to eating and drinking, so even though she noticed the subtle changes in his expression, she didn’t think about the cold water and tea, and just said that he
was urgently needed.
Muyong Jinghe shook his head. He didn’t want to say anything, but he couldn’t help saying, ‘You haven’t drunk any water today, but you’re not in a hurry.’ This sounded like an explanation, a complaint, and
reassurance, and it was hard to tell what it meant.
‘Daytime…daytime…I’ll go cook dinner.’ Meilin originally wanted to find an excuse to explain why he hadn’t returned at noon, but when he saw that he didn’t seem to care much as he lowered his eyes,
he stopped.
Murong Jing nodded slightly, and let her help him lie down on his side, close his eyes, and look tired.
Seeing this, Meilin didn’t dare speak anymore, picked up the oil lamp, and walked out. By the door, she couldn’t help but glance back at him again, her heart inexplicably empty.
Chapter 13 (4)
Meilin went to the city, sold the prey and furs he had hunted, and used the silver to visit all the large and small medical clinics in the city, but no one could cure the broken meridians. However,
it was not a total loss. An old doctor told her that there was a leprous-looking doctor in the countryside south of Zhongzhou who might be able to help.
Zhongzhou is not far from Anyang, only about a hundred li away, and according to Meilin’s current pace, it can be reached in half a day. However, it is said that the doctor spends his days travelling from village to village, and it is
very difficult to meet him.
Meilin asked the old doctor about the doctor’s exact address and his fees, but the old doctor just shook his head and said that apart from knowing that there was such a person, he didn’t know anything else.
The reason he knew was that he had overheard a farmer from the countryside mention it by accident.
In any case, it was worth a try. Meilin made up her mind and thanked him before leaving. Before she left, the old doctor gave her some advice that made her hands and feet go cold in an instant.
She returned to the village in a daze, and when she saw the closed courtyard gate, she suddenly felt an impulse to turn around and leave.
But in the end, she didn’t.
When she pushed open the door to the woodpile, she even wore a smile on her face. She served the man as she normally did when he urinated, changed positions, and then boiled water for his bath, but she didn’t say anything about the leprous doctor.
She put Murong Jinghe in the slightly hot bathtub and turned to walk out.
‘Where are you going?’ Murong Jinghe asked. Usually when he took a bath, she would help him scrub his back or massage the parts that had been under pressure for a long time to prevent skin ulcers
and bed sores.
Meilin paused, not looking back, and said softly that she was going to drink her medicine. Murong Jinghe didn’t say anything else.
When they arrived in the kitchen, Mei Lin’s heart tightened as she looked at the pot of medicine warming by the fire pit. The pain was more intense and overbearing than she expected, so she had to clench her fists against her chest and curl up by the large stove.
It was only after a while that she slowly began to relax.
She took a bowl, trembling, and poured the medicine into it. She tilted her head back and gulped it down. But now a single bowl was no longer enough to fight the intense pain. She poured the rest of the soup
into the bowl, leaving only the dry medicinal residue.
When she returned to the main house, Murong Jing and Mu Xun couldn’t help but frown at her strong medicinal smell. ‘Don’t drink that medicine anymore, it gives people headaches.’
Meilin gave a faint smile and didn’t respond.
Not to mention that he gets a headache from the smell, and even for her, after drinking two bowls of it, it seems that as soon as she lowers her head, the liquid from her stomach will pour out, not to mention the discomfort.
But what can she do if she doesn’t drink it? If she doesn’t drink it, she will just be too weak to do anything, and she won’t be able to get through the day.
Half kneeling outside the bucket, she stuck her hand into the water and found it still warm. She let her eyes drop, and her thoughts wandered for a while until Murong Jinghe felt something was wrong and asked
her, before she came back to her senses.
She smiled awkwardly and said it was nothing, then stood up and started to undo her clothes.
Murong Jinghe was slightly surprised, and before he could react, the next moment she was already naked except for a skimpy undergarment and panties, and then she too stepped into the tub. Because there was an extra person, the water in the tub overflowed
and spilled onto the floor.
In Murong Jinghe’s memory, apart from that time in the stream when she washed the dirt off his body, they had bathed together like that, there had been no similar acts afterwards. As for
as for the time in the stone forest, he was unconscious and had no idea. He couldn’t understand why she was behaving so strangely today, so strangely that it made him feel uneasy.
‘Anything interesting today when you went to the city?’ As the soft body pressed against his back, he coughed lightly and spoke to break the sudden strange silence
Meilin hung the soaked bellyband and underwear on the edge of the bucket, then took a handkerchief and began to gently wipe his back.
She slowly recounted the process of selling the prey in the city, but said nothing about going to the doctor’s.
“There was little prey, and after buying the rice, there was not much money left. Tomorrow, I want to go farther. If I can hunt something like a tiger or leopard, it should be enough for our winter clothes.’
Murong Jinghe’s heart skipped a beat, and with a calm expression, he asked, ‘How long will you be gone?’
‘Two or three days at most, one or two days at least.’ Mei Lin’s hand moved back and forth, wiping the old scars on his back with a handkerchief. Although he answered clearly, his eyes
were blank. ‘I’ll ask the hunter to come over and look after things while I’m gone, and thank him when I get back.’
Muyong Jinghe did not respond. He could not find the words to tell her not to go, but he also could not help feeling depressed.
Meilin’s fingers gently traced a round, raised scar on his back, which could be seen to be an arrow wound. When she first washed his body, she noticed that his
gorgeous clothes concealed countless ugly scars, and she finally understood why he always wore clothes during lovemaking.
‘Where did you get all these scars?’ she asked, knowing more or less what the answer was. He had commanded troops in battle, so how could he not have been injured?
The reason she asked was that she wanted to hear him talk about his past. Looking back, it seemed that apart from arguing and plotting against each other, there was nothing else in their usual interactions.
‘You’ve been talking a lot today,’ Murong Jinghe didn’t answer, his indifferent tone betraying his displeasure at being touched on a private matter.
Meilin’s eyes, which had originally held some expectation, dimmed, and after a moment, she smiled slightly, but the smile did not reach her eyes. She really did not say much more,
but suddenly reached out and put her arms around him from behind, holding him tightly, as if she wanted to hold on to something.
Murong Jing froze, and when he thought of what Wei Ershier had said that day, he couldn’t help but smile in self-deprecation.
I’m afraid that won’t work for you… young lady, you’re in the prime of your youth…
‘What do you think…’ He paused deliberately before continuing, ‘Can I satisfy you now?’ Although his manhood wasn’t impotent, he didn’t have the habit of being ridden by a woman
Meilin was stunned for a moment before she understood what he meant. She didn’t retort as usual, but slowly let go of his hand.
‘In February, the peach blossoms are red, the apricot blossoms are white, the rape blossoms are in bloom everywhere, and the willow leaves are green…’
In the courtyard, Meilin was washing the clothes the two of them had just changed. In a good mood, she even started singing, although her voice was a little hoarse and not as clear and pleasant as before.
Muyong Jing was lying on the bed, still faintly damp from the bath. Her body gave off a light, refreshing fragrance mixed with the smell of medicine. It was hers, but also
his.
It was only just after noon, and it was a rare fine day after winter began. The sunlight was not warm, but it was bright. It shone through the worn window paper and fell directly in front of his eyes, just like her sudden
kiss before, gently stirring his heartstrings.
At that time, she carried him out of the water, still wet, and rolled onto the bed like that. She kissed him, her tongue entwined with his, clearly bitter with the smell of medicine, but he
tasted sweetness in it.
Thinking of that scene, the corner of his lips could not help but lift slightly, and the look in his eyes as he looked outside became softer than ever.
Chapter 14 (1)
When the pale golden morning sun shone on the water well, a man in black attire silently like a black cat jumped into the courtyard, slipped into the main house, and stood respectfully outside
in the dead angle that couldn’t be seen through the window.
‘My lord, Miss Meilin didn’t enter the mountains, but went in the direction of Anyang City.’ The man’s eyebrows were sharp like a knife cut, but his eyes were calm as water.
Muyong Jing and’s expression suddenly changed, and he trembled as he tried to sit up, but he fell back again because he couldn’t use any strength.
‘Stay there!’ He angrily stopped the man’s attempt to come forward and help, gasped twice, and stared at the roof, the intense hatred contained in his eyes almost
piercing through it.
She just left him like that…she actually still left him.
‘News from the capital: the crown prince has been imprisoned for colluding with foreign powers and plotting against the throne.‘ After a while, seeing that he had slowly closed his eyes and seemed to have calmed down,
the man continued.
’Xiyan has formed an alliance with Nanyue and declared war on our country. They have already captured five cities on the southwestern border, including Minshou. The imperial court is arguing endlessly about who should lead the troops into battle.’
.”
Murong Jing’s lips curled into a sneering smile. He opened his eyes and was about to say something when his peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of hunters walking towards them on the path in the distance. He couldn’t help
but pause, and then resolutely said, ’Return to Jingbei.’
It took Meilin quite some time to find the bald-headed doctor, and it was three days later. The bald-headed doctor was sitting in a rocking chair in the courtyard, basking in the sun and dozing off.
The doctor looked to be in his fifties or sixties, and he was indeed bald as a cue ball.
When she saw the greyish-white scabs covering his bald head, some of which were oozing yellow pus, Meilin suddenly became uncertain. If this person can heal even a person with broken meridians throughout their body,
why can’t he cure his own scabies? But she still knocked on the door and walked in.
The doctor squinted at her, then as if he had seen something uninspiring, he listlessly closed his eyes again.
Meilin also didn’t say a word, sweeping her gaze across the courtyard before taking a small bench and sitting down next to it.
‘Go away, I won’t save someone who is about to die,’ the herbalist said lazily after a while.
Meilin was leaning over to pick up a small piece of wood that had fallen nearby, but when she heard this, her hand trembled and the piece of wood fell to the ground, so she had to pick it up again.
Not hearing her reply, nor the sound of someone leaving, the herbalist finally couldn’t hold back any longer and opened his eyes, glaring at the woman who hadn’t said a word.
Meilin smiled and opened her lips, but she stopped awkwardly when she heard her voice had become hoarse, and picked up the piece of wood to write a few words on the ground.
It is not death by checkmate, but the breaking of the meridians. I hope you can save me, Mr. Wang.
The doctor’s gaze flickered, and suddenly he reached out and seized her pulse. Meilin shook his head, barely managing to convey in a hoarse voice that it wasn’t him, but he paid no heed. A moment later
he let go of her hand, sniffed the air twice, and sneered, ‘So you took the mandala and the root of the earth for dinner.’
Meilin felt a sharp pain in his chest and retracted his hand. He didn’t want to answer, but he was in need of help, so after thinking for a moment, he stretched out his foot to wipe the words on the ground, and then wrote: It hurts.
The doctor raised his eyebrows, then lazily reclined back in his chair. He reached behind the back of the chair, grabbed an old clay pipe that a country farmer would often smoke, and without lighting it, placed it in his mouth and smacked it twice.
‘Use this to relieve the pain… Hey, is the person who gave you this prescription perhaps your enemy? But to be able to think of combining these two things, this person really is
somewhat resourceful.‘
Meilin’s lips, which were already pale, turned even paler as she thought of the words the old doctor in Anyang City had said to her that day.
’Long-term use of the root of the root and mandala will cause a person to become mute, so be careful, young lady.’
It had crossed her mind that he might not have known that it would have such a serious effect, but when she made that assumption, her heart was desolate. Now, when she heard the bald-headed doctor say
that, she knew that the combination of the two medicines was not something that an ordinary person could come up with by accident.
How much did he hate her that he would go to such lengths to plot against her? She asked herself this question all the way home, but in the end, she could not find an answer, and she could only
But after just a dozen days of being together, she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, and deserved to be made a fool of. And the most ridiculous thing was that at this point, she was still hoping to see him smile one day
with confidence.
If someone wants to be stupid, there’s nothing anyone can do. At that moment, she suddenly agreed with what he had said. Then she smiled bitterly, realising that she had even
firmly remembered the words he had said unintentionally.
‘Thank you, Mr. Troublesome. She shook off those chaotic thoughts and wrote down each word firmly on the ground without the slightest hesitation.
Although the leprous-headed doctor looked carefree, he had actually been paying attention to her facial expressions. Seeing this, he bit his pipe and said, ‘Since you have come to me,
you should know my rules.’
Rules? What rules? Meilin thought to herself. According to the information she had gathered on the way here, this person is an excellent doctor, whether it be for humans or animals, as long as they come to him,
he will be willing to help. If they don’t have the money, he will treat them with wild vegetables and brown rice. It is precisely because of this lack of principles, coupled with his unattractive appearance, that although his medical skills are
highly regarded, his reputation was not well known, and only the people in the nearby villages knew of such a doctor who could cure both humans and animals. After all, where would the wealthy families want to find someone who treated animals to
treat them?
Please feel free to make any requests, sir. Meilin wrote, pondering that the man was of noble status and brilliant at what he did, and wondering if there was anything he could not do.
The leprous-headed doctor reached out to stroke his beard, and only when he felt the smoothness of his chin did he realise that he had singed his beard when he had been lighting the fire a short while ago. His movements slowed down, and he continued to rub
his fingers against the white stubble on his chin.
‘I’m not sick in any way, I just can’t stand wastefulness,’ he said, half-closing his eyes as he looked at the bright sunlight, speaking slowly and deliberately. ‘I don’t think you have many days left to live,
come and raise jade for me.‘
Raise jade? Meilin was puzzled. It wasn’t that she didn’t care that she wouldn’t live long, it was just that she didn’t think the matter could be decided with a few words, so for the time being she didn’t want to argue about it
.
’It means using your vital energy to raise a jade pulse for me,’ the herbalist patiently explained. His hand seemed to be unable to stop moving, scratching from his chin to his head, until the dandruff was flying.
Mei Lin’s eyebrows wrinkled slightly, wondering if she had to trade her life for it. Before she could ask, she heard the herbalist continue, ‘It’s useless for me to want your life. You will live for as long as you should.’
Despite his simple appearance, his eyes were exceptionally sharp, and he could guess what others were thinking.
After hearing this, Meilin smiled slightly and nodded without hesitation. Even if he hadn’t made this request, after curing Murong Jinghe, she would have to find a way to stay by his side and seek
a glimmer of hope.
As for the rest…as for Murong Jinghe, they would just go their separate ways.
Chapter 14 (2)
Meilin always knew that giving doesn’t always get you something in return, and that there are plenty of people in the world who repay kindness with malice. But when she was trapped in a siege outside Anyang City, her heart
and stomach couldn’t help but feel a sharp pain.
The wanted poster with her portrait clearly stated her identity as a spy for the Dark Factory and the evidence against her of plotting against King Jingbei…
In that moment, she let her hands drop in despair, did not resist as they were tied behind her back, and took away the dagger that had never belonged to her. The sound of the leprous-looking
physician beating his chest and crying out came to her ears, causing some remorse to rise in her cold heart. She was stupid enough to get herself killed, so she deserved it, but she shouldn’t have gotten anyone else involved.
The prison cart rolled along the official road. It had been five days, and it felt like it would never end.
Mei Lin shivered and huddled in the corner of the cart. The pain from the poison had no antidote, and she could no longer hold her head up.
The bald-headed quack sat in the other corner, and after the constant grumbling of the first two days, he had returned to his usual lazy self. He did not have any sharp objects on him, and
nothing else had been confiscated, so at the moment he could still smoke a pipe and browse the roadside scenery, watching the passers-by like a monkey, just as those passers-by watched them.
‘How are you?’ Finally, he couldn’t stand the woman who had curled up there without saying a word since she was caught, so he asked.
Meilin seemed to have not heard him, and there was no sound for a long time. It wasn’t until he thought she had fainted from the pain again that she slowly shook her head. The movement was so slight that if he hadn’t
been staring at her the whole time, he would never have noticed it.
Lai Luyi sighed, took the pipe out of his mouth, and then tapped it lightly against her shoulder with the tobacco pan. Unsurprisingly, she twitched. ‘Then lift your head up. I
am not used to looking at a ravenous forehead.’
After saying this, he waited for a while before Meilin slowly lifted her head, revealing a pale face wet with sweat. She looked like a female ghost, and there was no trace of her former
beauty.
The lousy-headed man gave a couple of snorts, but in the end he couldn’t bring himself to make a sarcastic comment. Instead, he fumbled around in his bosom and pulled out a small clay bottle.
‘You promised to nurse my jade. But instead of seeing a doctor and nursing my jade, I ended up getting arrested, too. What’s the matter with you?’ As he spoke, he unscrewed
the cork of the earthenware bottle, shaking it vigorously, and only after a while did he shake out a yellow pill. ‘This is something I use to poison scorpions, it’s very poisonous, it can at least relieve some of the pain… You, alas,
will not be able to live much longer anyway, so you should suffer less.’
Although Meilin’s outstretched hand was uncontrollably shaking due to the pain, she did not hesitate for a moment. She had always felt that as long as she could live, it was worth
. Now that the pain has really set in, she knows that when there is no light at the end of the tunnel, death is much easier and happier.
The guards ignored the two people’s little actions. They rode on their horses with their backs straight as if they were guns, rarely talking to each other. From their bearing, they did not
seem like ordinary soldiers.
After Mei Lin took the scorpion poison, the pain did indeed ease after a short while, and the effect was even better than the soup made from digenin and mandala. She let out a slow sigh of relief, finally having
the strength to raise her hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead. Looking at the sparse, yellowing trees along the official road, she thought that even if she had known at the time that the soup could cause her to go mute, she would still have drunk it when she couldn’t bear it anymore
as she is now.
That man…that man really knows the human heart all too well. He could lay the trap out in front of her so clearly, and he didn’t have to worry about her not jumping in.
Meilin took a deep breath, clenching her shirt in her chest. Her unfocused eyes were bleak.
Ten days later, the prisoner transport arrived at a place Meilin never expected.
Jingbei.
Jingbei is the northernmost and most desolate large city in Dayan. By the time they arrived, several snowstorms had already passed, and the streets, which were made of compacted black soil, were covered with a thin layer of snow, which
had been trampled into a muddy mess.
The bald-headed doctor shivered, as did Meilin. The difference was that one was cold, while the other was suffering from a poison attack. Looking at the guards, they were not dressed much more warmly than they were
and their bodies were still upright, as steady as mountains.
‘If only I had known… achoo… that I was going to be travelling far away, I… achoo… should have worn more clothes…’ The doctor huddled his body into the smallest possible
ball, complaining and sneezing at the same time. He had been basking in the sun at home, and here he was in this godforsaken place.
I haven’t finished making winter clothes yet… Mei Lin looked at him guiltily and, when she realised that she had no spare clothes to lend him, the thought suddenly occurred to her that,
although she had thought she was numb, her heart actually ached again.
After walking through an unknown number of streets and encountering many complicated stares, they finally left the prison cell they had been confined to for more than ten days and were locked up in a dark and cold cell. The two of them
Although they were separated, they were only separated by a wall. It was just that Meilin could no longer get her hands on the painkillers.
When darkness and pain came together, she thought she had returned to the dark factory where there seemed to be no hope. The place
she had sworn she would never go back to.
Muyong Jing, who had returned to Jingbei, was like an eagle that had returned to the sky. Although the eagle’s leg was crippled, it did not affect its flight.
Five years ago, he was also an eagle that dominated the border. He expelled the invading foreign enemies for the Great Yan, and defended the border as firmly as an iron bucket. He even besieged the enemy’s king, and used his
his mighty prowess to awe the neighbours. Back then, he was full of youthful vigour and upright in character. Little did he know that while he was serving his country with all his heart and strength, drinking the wind and eating the sand, he was stabbed in the back by his closest relatives
.
Military secrets were leaked, the battle was lost in Wannan, the entire 5,000-strong vanguard was wiped out, and he himself ended up with broken meridians and unable to move. If not for Qingyan’s best efforts to cover for him, he would have already lost his life in the humid southern
and left with nothing but a skeleton. After finally managing to reconnect his meridians, he was immediately stripped of his military power upon his return to the capital and exiled to this desolate place in the far north as a king. However, he was suspected
and not allowed to return to his fiefdom. He was confined in a magnificent cage, his mind corrupted by alcohol and women, and despised by the woman he had sworn undying love to while fighting side by side.
Who can he trust…who can he still trust?
The secret factory was set up by his uncle, and after his uncle’s death, he took over. No one knows who the previous owner was, and naturally no one will know who the current owner is.
He wanted to stop living in fear, so he set a trap. A trap of tit for tat, a trap that would allow him to regain his freedom.
He had someone approach Western Yan in the name of Murong Xuanlie with a token, and planted people in the court who were loyal to the emperor, including his own father, who was so high above him. He also kept one
by his side.
Chapter 14 (3)
Who would order their own people to spy on them?
My father is arrogant, lustful, narrow-minded and extremely suspicious. Back then, he could secretly connive at Murong Xuanlie’s plot to frame me for my high achievements, so naturally he would not show Murong Xuanlie any mercy now that he has spies planted around him.
He originally did not plan to expose those spies so soon, but who would have expected the incident at Zhongshan.
So he went with the flow. At first, he only wanted to escape from Zhaojing and return to his
his fiefdom, and then figure out what to do next. He never expected to encounter a corpse ghost. The message the corpse ghost was told to deliver was to tell Qing Yan to immediately expose the spy. That would not only put Murong Xuanlie
in danger and leave him with no time to worry about anything else, but it would also provoke a conflict between Dayan and Xiyan.
My father’s political achievements are a complete mess, but when it comes to torturing his rivals, who threaten his position, he has his own methods. When those Kun girls reach the limit of their endurance, they will
tell everything they know. And all they know is the incense that Murong Xuanlie is used to burning. However, this is enough for my suspicious father.
As for himself, he has long since been cleared of suspicion thanks to the existence of Meilin and the danger at Zhongshan. Coupled with the fact that foreign enemies are now invading the country, those officials who have long been accustomed to peace and prosperity
will most likely think of Murong Luomei, a woman, as the first person to lead the resistance, but they will think of him, who has already returned to Jingbei, instead.
Although Zhong Shan narrowly escaped death, it was still worthwhile to get this result, which was better than expected.
It was still worthwhile…
Murong Jing was lying on a beautiful and comfortable bed, listening to his subordinates’ reports on the situation in the palace and at the border while looking out of the flower window at the courtyard covered in a layer of snow
. The room was heated by a floor dragon, and he was covered in a white fox fur coat, so he was very warm. But he missed the simple fire pit in the mountain village a little.
‘Give her the medicine,’ he suddenly said.
His subordinate was talking about the urgent situation at the front as Nam Viet occupied the north bank of the Black Horse River, and Muye Luomei had already led his troops to resist the enemy. Hearing this, he could not help but freeze for a moment, and following his gaze, he saw the porcelain bottle on the flower stand next to the couch
and only reacted after seeing the porcelain vase on the flower stand next to the couch. Not daring to say more, he took the vase as instructed, then withdrew.
Muyong Jing and’s gaze shifted back to the courtyard, and he noticed a few light green bumps covered by dark red calyxes on a black-brown plum branch in front of the window. This place
It is cold, and the plum blossoms bloom earlier here than elsewhere. When they are in full bloom, the fiery red branches will press against the windows, which is quite charming. She said she likes the spring flowers in February, but I wonder if she likes the winter plum blossoms
.
Or…when they bloom, I’ll have someone cut two branches and send them to him.
Two days later, an imperial edict ordering Murong Jing to lead troops into battle arrived in Jingbei. Along with the edict came two imperial physicians who specialised in treating the Yan Emperor, and two Qing Yan corpse devourers. Murong Jing
refused the order on the grounds of his health.
The imperial envoy who had issued the edict dared not delay and hurried back on horseback. Seven days later, the emperor decreed that a famous doctor be sought for the King of Jingbei. For a time, the front of the King of Jingbei’s palace was
uninterrupted by people, almost flattening the high threshold, but no one was able to miraculously heal and reconnect the broken meridians of Murong Jinghe.
‘All useless!‘ Murong Jinghe raised his hand tremblingly and swept away the bowl of medicine that the maid had brought to him.
The dark medicine sweat spilled onto the carpet, wetting a large area. The maid was so scared that she hurriedly knelt on the ground, trembling.
’Get out!’ Murong Jinghe didn’t even look at her, shouting angrily.
If the doctor who cured him five years ago had not already passed away, why would he have to suffer the torment of these useless people, drinking medicine every day, a messy pile of decoctions going down his throat,
and yet
he hasn’t seen any improvement. What famous doctor or holy hand is not as good as him, a person who has become a medical expert after a long illness, at least he can still combine external forces with medicine to barely connect a few meridians, but they
are useless.
The maid who had just left the room bumped into Qing Yan, who was about to enter, and hurriedly bowed before covering her face and walking away.
Qing Yan, however, acted as if he hadn’t seen her and quickly entered the room, went over to the couch, let his hands hang down, frowned, and stood respectfully with his eyes downcast.
‘My lord, the doctor who was brought in with Mei Lin said he can cure the broken meridians,’ said Qing Yan. Qing Yan was someone who, after arriving in Jingbei for less than two days, had already figured out
matters. How could he have missed the matter of Meilin?
He knew about Murong Jinghe’s illness. If Meilin had intended to harm him, how would he have ended up in this situation? And given the prince’s temperament, for someone who had once endangered him
or someone who might endanger him, how could it be as simple as confinement? He was certain that there must be some inside information that no one else knew. Therefore, he had privately instructed the guards in particular
to take care of the two Meilins.
This was also the reason why the doctor with the pimple head, after hearing the guards talking about how the world’s famous doctors had gathered in Jingbei, but none of them could cure the king, seized the opportunity to shout out that he could cure it.
This is why his words could be so quickly conveyed to Qing Yan’s ears.
Qing Yan did not immediately tell Murong Jinghe, but first learned the truth from Meilin, and only reported after confirming that the doctor with the pimple head was not shouting nonsense.
Upon hearing his words, Murong Jinghe was momentarily stunned. His original ferocious expression disappeared, leaving only a face of exhaustion.
‘Let him come,’ he said, closing his eyes and leaning back against the soft pillow behind him.
Qing Yan knew that he had been driven to the brink of explosion by those mediocre doctors from all over the country, but he was still willing to meet with a prisoner, without even asking for details.
He knew what was going on, so he hurriedly turned around and personally went to invite the bald doctor.
As the footsteps faded, Murong Jing opened his eyes and looked at the window again.
Despite the heavy snow and cold temperatures, he never allowed anyone to close the windows during the day. Even though he was no longer alone and had nothing to do, he still liked to leave a window open, just like in that
simple courtyard. But whenever he looked through the half-open window, he no longer had the same feeling of waiting for someone to return as he had at the beginning.
The plum blossoms have already bloomed, a single fiery red branch leaning out of the window. Inside the house, the smoke curls up, while outside the sky is clear and pure, with snow covering everything like a white shroud, half-pressing down on the drunken red petals,
translucent with
a kind of holiness. He really wants her to see it too… He lowers his eyes, but in his heart he knows that the one who likes plum blossoms is Mu Ye. As for her, he has no idea what she likes apart from spring flowers
.
‘Someone!’ He suddenly looked up, his expression indifferent, his voice low.
Someone immediately flashed in, not a servant, but a black-clad guard.
‘Cut two branches of the plum blossoms outside the window and deliver them to the dungeon,’ he said, but when the guard was about to respond and leave, he stopped him, ‘never mind.’
Although the guard was confused, he did not show any inappropriate emotions on his face, and he flashed back to his hidden position.
Murong Jinghe felt a burst of annoyance and suddenly had the urge to have all the plum blossoms outside chopped down. Fortunately, Qing Yan turned back in time, followed by the bald-headed doctor.
When he saw the wretched and ugly image of the doctor, Murong Jinghe’s eyebrows couldn’t help but jump, and he almost suspected that he had been made fun of.
Chapter 14 (4)
Alternating between hot and cold, the quack sneezed several times as soon as he entered the door. His saliva splattered everywhere, which made Murong Jinghe and Murong Heihei frown. He didn’t even realise it, and asked Qing Yan for
another fur-lined robe to wear, and a bowl of hot tea to drink, before slowly beginning.
It was clear that this person was different from other people with a reputation for being good at something for no reason. Either he was extremely bold, or he really did have some skills. When the other person’s finger pressed on the wrist pulse, Murong
Jinghe’s face had returned to normal.
‘I told you he was an expert,’ said the bald man, feeling his chin and saying something without any sense.
Muyong Jinghe lowered his eyes, and Qingyan already asked the question for him.
‘What do you mean by that, sir? In your opinion, how should my lord’s illness be treated?’
The bald man shook his head. Just as the other two people in the room were sinking lower and lower, they heard him say, ‘If the prince himself can take the broken pulse, what else could he be but an expert?’
Murong Jing and Chang Mou narrowed their eyes slightly, and they could see that the person in front of them was the first to have diagnosed that he had broken his pulse, and he had done so in the blink of an eye. It was clear that he was indeed quite capable. In his heart,
was slightly excited, but he could also hear that the person’s previous words had another meaning.
The head of the bald man didn’t see his blade-like gaze, and he turned his head to find Qing Yan for a bowl of hot noodle soup. After Qing Yan left helplessly to make arrangements, he said with a smile, ‘
I told that girl that the person who told her to use the root of the ground and the mandala to stop the pain is an expert. It can be seen that I was right.’
Murong Jinghe’s face changed slightly, but he did not deny it.
The bald man said nothing about this matter, and then continued, ‘Your Highness, I can cure this disease, but I must make that girl willingly raise the pulse jade. Without the pulse jade, even if
the meridians are all connected, she will not be able to live a lively life. I can only cure her halfway, and I will not do it, as it will ruin my reputation.’
‘What kind of person is needed to raise the pulse jade? I have plenty here for you to choose from.’ Murong Jinghe suppressed the fluttering in his heart and asked indifferently.
The bald head shook his head like a rattle, ’The girl has a gentleman’s bug inside her. Where are you going to find me another live one?’
‘Junzi bug?’ Even Murong Jinghe, with his extensive reading, had never heard of such a thing before.
The bald-headed man was impatient to explain further and just said, ’It’s something that can only be found in the bodies of living dead people. If you get it on someone, they either have to be completely dead or lying there for a long time
as a fresh specimen. Junzi bug can generate vital energy and is best for raising pulse jade. The pulse jade raised by it not only joins the pulse quickly, but also strengthens and fortifies the meridians.’
‘The Junzi bug in that girl’s body has been there for thousands of years if not tens of thousands. If the prince can find another living one, I and the others will be fine, as long as you don’t lock us up again
in that cold, dark, stinky place before you find it.”
Upon hearing this, Murong Jing immediately thought of the living corpse in the underground palace. Could it be that Meilin was invaded by the Junzi bug at that time without knowing it? If so, it would
explain how her already-forfeited martial arts power recovered on its own.
While he was deep in thought, Qing Yan returned from outside and said politely and cordially that the matter had been instructed and would be served after the doctor had finished seeing the prince. He wanted
to express his meaning very subtly and tactfully. To put it bluntly, if Laid Head had the ability to cure Murong Jinghe, then he could have whatever he wanted. But if not, then
The bald man looked at him with a smile, then reached under his new fur coat and took out his pipe. He refused Qingyan’s offer to light it for him and smoked it dry.
Murong Jinghe came back to his senses. Seeing his carefree appearance, he felt an inexplicable wave of annoyance.
‘Qing Yan, you have been so hospitable…what is your surname, doctor?’ He spoke up, only to realise that they didn’t even know the surname of the doctor with the ringworm on his head, and he apologised hastily.
The doctor with the ringworm waved his hand dismissively and said, ’The villagers call me Old Ringworm, I forgot my name eight hundred years ago.’
Murong Jing hesitated for a moment, but in the end he still couldn’t call out the words ‘Head Louse Doctor’. He just said, ‘Qing Yan, arrange a place for the doctor to stay, don’t neglect him.’
Just as Qing Yan was leading Head Louse out, he suddenly asked, ‘Doctor, her…why are you with her?’ If she is going to look for the doctor,
hide it from him? So, it might just be a coincidence that she is with this doctor. Or maybe it’s just for her own sake…
As if he knew what he was thinking, the head louse turned around and laughed, rudely interrupting his various speculations. ‘What else can I do if you come to see me?
Just go and see a patient. You can’t be attracted to an old bald guy like me.’
Murong Jinghe didn’t say anything else. Qingyan saw this and didn’t dare to disturb him, so he hurriedly led the bald man away. After everything was settled, he turned back and saw Murong Jinghe sitting on the edge of the couch, his
feet bare on the carpet, as if trying to stand up on his own. It was obviously cold outside, but he was sweating profusely.
‘Your Highness?‘ Qing Yan knew his temper and did not stop him, but moved closer to prevent him from falling.
’Spread the news that we have found the Divine Doctor,‘ Murong Jinghe said without looking at him.
’Yes.‘
’Find her a new place and let her be well looked after. As long as she doesn’t try to escape, she can do whatever she likes,’
‘Yes,’ Qing Yan agreed, pausing slightly and hesitantly asking, “My lord, do you want to let Mei Lin stay in the back courtyard?”
The Wangfu in Jingbei is just a combination of a few crude courtyards, and both the scale and the degree of magnificence are far inferior to those in the capital. Murong Jinghe lives in
the central courtyard, with the two side courtyards housing guests and the higher-ranking servants, and the rear courtyard being where the women of the family lived. Qing Yan’s question was actually meant to sound things out, to find out the situation before
deciding what to do, so that nothing would go wrong.
Murong Jinghe gave up the idea of getting up, calmed his breathing, and made it look as if he were going to lie down on his side. Qing Yan hurriedly went over to adjust the pillows for him, and only when he was satisfied did he let his hands drop
and stepped back.
‘Go to the side courtyard,’ he said slowly with his eyes closed. ‘The court will definitely send Luomei over, so try not to let the two of them run into each other.’ With Mu Nuo Luomei’s temperament, if she saw
Meilin again, she would have to find a way to kill her.
‘Yes, it was my lack of consideration,’ Qingyan hurriedly smiled, his palms sweating uncontrollably. Fortunately, he hadn’t acted on his own. It seems that the prince’s heart is still on Mu Nuo
. Otherwise, with his abilities, he could protect anyone he wanted, so why would he need to keep people at a distance?
‘Also, from now on, prepare everything you need for a simple wedding.’ Murong Jinghe shook his head, without any intention of blaming, but what he said next made Qingyan
really surprised.
“I have already waited for ten years, and I don’t want to continue waiting.’
Murong Jinghe said decisively, without any excitement or trepidation about fulfilling his wish, just endless fatigue on his face.
Chapter 15 (1)
Having been released from prison and treated well, Meilin couldn’t think of any more uses for herself, and in the end, she could only attribute the reason to the bald head
. Perhaps he had spoken well of her, or perhaps he was hoping that she would bear him jade.
In the first two days, she had tried to walk out of the city, but she was politely invited back. Since then, she has not gone out, not even to see the head lice doctor
Jingbei is snowy, with plum blossoms everywhere, and there are even a few branches outside the window where she lives. But she doesn’t like them, and she keeps the window shut every day, not even letting in any air.
If there was anything she couldn’t let go of on the way here, then she understood it all the more clearly the moment the antidote was delivered. To him, she is
a death-dealing assassin from a secret factory. Perhaps in his eyes, she should not have her own will and emotions, so that it would be simple to use or abandon her. But she had seven emotions
and six desires, and she even wanted to turn her back on the organisation, which was why she had ended up in her current situation.
She just couldn’t understand why he didn’t simply kill her. Wouldn’t that be much more convenient?
She couldn’t figure it out, but she didn’t want to continue to wishful think, so she stopped thinking nonsense. Her voice had completely gone, so she couldn’t speak, and she simply didn’t communicate with others.
She just asked for Go and chess books, sat by the charcoal stove all day while roasting sweet potatoes, and pondered on her own.
She actually didn’t know anything about Go, but she had heard that ‘the way of harmful deception and falsehood’ was all above the three-foot board. Anyway, she had nothing to do, so she might as well learn it and see if
become a little smarter. As for what the bald-headed doctor said about not living long, she had forgotten about it after the pain of the poison attack was curbed by the antidote.
It was probably after experiencing a period of bone-deep pain and hopelessness that she came to appreciate the beauty of being able to live without pain. At this time, she was adhering to the idea of getting by
philosophy. After all, if she tried to do something she knew she couldn’t do, she would only be making things more difficult for herself. Besides, she had to admit that she still had some hope for the bald doctor.
At that time, she didn’t know that every move she made was reported to Murong Jing. So when the two of them spent time together in the future, it was inevitable that he would complain to her
that she had never given him a second thought, not even thinking about him or glancing at him. She knew that he was just making up a reason to be petulant, and that he didn’t
really want her to remember those not-so-wonderful past times, so she didn’t take the opportunity to settle old scores with him.
To say that she had never thought about him would be absolutely deceiving herself. Occasionally, when pondering over chess strategies, she would also get lost in thought, remembering the times when they were together, whether they were arguing with each other
, or when they were attached to each other, the best times were also like sharp needles that pierced her heart and made her unable to breathe. But she would not indulge herself in that kind of situation.
She quickly pulled herself back and peeled off the skin of the baked sweet potatoes, concentrating on enjoying the sweet taste.
She had not seen any relatives since she was young, had no friends, and naturally no one had taught her what was good for her. So she did whatever she liked, without thinking about whether
should or shouldn’t. Just like now, she just follows her heart. She wants to live, to live well. As for relationships, she thinks that is actually her own business,
and has nothing to do with anyone else. Therefore, in the final analysis, she still feels that the problem is with herself. If one day, she no longer likes him, naturally she will not be sad. Therefore,
there is really no question of hatred. So, when she saw him appear at the place where she lived that day, she actually laughed.
She thought, if she had met him when she first arrived in Jingbei, she would have kept her head down and ignored him, not even glancing at him. That was when she was most heartbroken.
But after so many days, that sadness sank deep into her heart. It was not gone, but it was no longer enough to make her lose control. So, when she saw him,
she showed enough calm. Even when she heard his orders, she didn’t feel the slightest bit annoyed.
It was snowing that day. Murong Jing, dressed in a glossy black marten coat and a matching fur hat, was carried in a palanquin covered with a thick, soft bear skin mat.
He was carried along the main path in the middle of the courtyard. A guard held an oil-paper umbrella over him, the sky-blue colouring depicting green bamboo. Along the way, two sets of footprints were left in the path, which had been swept clean but quickly covered in light snow.
When Meilin looked out through the half-open door, she happened to catch this scene in her eyes. In that moment, the first thing that came to her mind was that he looked really good like this, so she couldn’t help
but laugh. Looking back, she felt ashamed.
Seeing the unchecked smile on her face, Murong Jing was first taken aback, and then his face changed. He felt inexplicably depressed, just as he had every time he heard from his subordinates
report on her every move, the mood he was in. Occasionally, he even wondered if it would be better if she lost her temper or cursed at him than to act as if it didn’t bother her. Perhaps it was with
this kind of thought in mind that he said those words almost without thinking, even waiting for her to reject him with a sneer as she had done at Zhongshan.
“Starting tomorrow, you will go to the Divine Healer to raise jade.’
Meilin was stunned for a moment, wondering how he knew about raising jade. But then she thought to herself, it has been a long time since I saw him, and he does look better than when we were in Lao Wo Zi Village.
There is some truth in the saying that clothes make the man.
Murong Jing didn’t know that she was thinking about something completely unrelated. He just thought that her heart was surging with emotion because of what he had said. Her face had just brightened a little when she saw
Menglin, who had recovered her composure, nodded. First, she had already agreed, and then she had caused someone to be taken to this freezing place and suffer a prison sentence for no reason. She had to do it no matter what.
Moreover, she really wanted to meet the bald doctor and rely on him to treat her at least.
Murong Jing saw that she had no anger or hatred on her face, just as usual. A feeling of depression suddenly welled up in her chest and rose up her throat,
stuck there, unable to come up or go down.
‘Bring me a chair by the brazier,’ he said. He had originally planned to achieve his goal and leave, but now he didn’t want to go.
The escort who had brought him here brought a chair over as he had instructed, spread a thick cushion on it, helped him sit down, and then was dismissed, leaving the two of them to stare at each other around the brazier.
Meilin knew this man’s stubborn temper, and was not surprised by his actions. After a moment of speechless staring at each other, they lowered their heads and dug into the white
potatoes.
Muyun Jing and Mu Bu Zhuanjing looked at her, and then suddenly realised that she had lost a lot of weight in the past few months. The jacket she was wearing hung loosely on her, and no matter how they looked at it,
it didn’t look warm. No wonder she said she wanted to sit by the charcoal fire all day. At this, he became unhappy. He didn’t know if he was angry with Qingyan for not doing a proper job, or with himself for being inexplicable.
Chapter 15 (2)
Meilin picked up the white potato and peeled it. Although the aroma was tempting, she suddenly lost her appetite and threw it into the dish next to her, then got up and walked towards the basin rack.
She put her hand in the water and slowly washed it while thinking to herself that this person was good at making others uncomfortable. However, this was his place, so naturally he could do whatever he wanted.
She was too lazy to say anything, and even if she wanted to say something, she couldn’t.
‘Give it to me, I want to eat it,’ Murong Jinghe suddenly said, watching her slender back.
Meilin took the towel to wipe her hands and did not respond immediately. She was wondering whether it was better to lift the water in the basin and splash it over him, or to throw the plate and the baked sweet potatoes at his head, or
or…feed him obediently? In the end, she simply returned to the charcoal fire and began the game of chess she had left unfinished, completely ignoring the suddenly extra person.
Muyong Jinghe was used to being ignored by Muye Luomei, but that didn’t mean he could stand it when Meilin treated him like that. He just didn’t bother doing something as ridiculous as yelling at someone who ignored him.
Therefore, when Meilin truly forgot his existence and completely immersed himself in the game of chess, he suddenly felt a weight on his shoulders. Before he could react to what was going on, he had already fallen to the ground along with
the heavy object pressing down on him.
‘Who gave you permission to be so presumptuous in front of me?’ Mu Rong Jinghe had sweat rolling down his forehead, but he would not allow Meilin to get up. With his arm around her neck, he leaned in close to her ear
and asked with clenched teeth.
He was wearing a marten coat, which he had not taken off after entering. Meilin felt quite warm after she came back to her senses. Since she could not get up for the time being, she would have to make do with that. However, she soon
realised that he could move on his own, and could not help but frown. She felt that this person was really unfathomable, and that she was really too far behind.
Murong Jing and didn’t get a response for a long time. He poked his head in to see that she was lying on the carpet, staring blankly into space, lost in thought. He was
both annoyed and helpless, unable to let out his anger, so he lowered his head and bit her ear hard.
Her brows twitched in pain, and her scattered thoughts immediately returned. Without thinking, she pushed the person on her back to the side and sat up. She reached up to touch her raw
ear, and when she looked at it, she saw that her finger was stained with a reddish colour.
This person is so bad! She narrowed her eyes and looked at the man who was lying on his back, looking at her with a smug smile. For a moment, she was so angry that she didn’t care if it would kill her. She rolled over
and sat astride him, scratching, punching, biting and whacking him like a street shrew, not caring about any martial arts techniques.
‘You worthless slave…dare to hit your king, do you want to die?’ Murong Jinghe had already used up all his strength just to get to her side, so how could he dodge?
In the blink of an eye, he took two punches to the face.
Meilin paid no heed to his words and struck without mercy.
‘You worthless minion…stinking woman…’
‘Shrew…let go of me…I will have your entire clan executed…’
Muyong Jinghe cursed incoherently, and in no time he was covered in bruises. But he just kept on cursing, without calling for someone to come in.
If she had nine clans, how would she have ended up in this state? Meilin fought slower and slower, with less and less strength. It was probably because, ever since she heard that he had deliberately drugged her to silence her, she had started to
little by little, venting the anger and sadness that had been building up in her heart. Once she calmed down a little, she realised that he was actually deliberately indulging her, otherwise she would have been dragged out long ago. Her gaze fell on
the miserable, colourful face, and she couldn’t help but twitch the corner of her lips, wondering if she had gone too far.
‘Had enough? If you’ve had enough, get the hell out of here!’ Seeing her glaring at him, with a half-smile, Murong Jing was annoyed.
Meilin raised his hand, and just as he thought she was going to hit him again, he reflexively closed his eyes, only to have her gently wipe away the blood dripping from under his nose. Then, under the gaze of those black eyes that had suddenly widened due to the accident,
she helped him up off the ground and put him in a chair.
His leather cap had fallen off when he fell to the ground, and when he sat up, his long black hair slid down his head and draped over his shoulders. He had originally had a handsome and dignified face,
was now covered in bruises and blood, making it hard to bear.
After a moment of elation, Meilin felt her heart tighten again. She walked silently to the basin stand, emptied the basin, and poured some clean hot water from the kettle next to it.
She wrung out a towel and wiped the blood off his face.
‘They say you shouldn’t hit someone in the face, but you just go for the face!’ With her fingers, she lifted Murong Jinghe’s chin, which tilted upwards. He obediently let her
scrub away the traces of violence while complaining.
Muyu Xinyu’s heart trembled. She felt that this person always knew how to make people feel softhearted. Fortunately, she couldn’t speak now, so she didn’t have to respond.
Seemingly dissatisfied with her silence, Muyu Xinyu muttered a few more words before slightly trembling and lifting his hand to grab her wrist.
‘Are you still blaming me?’ he asked. As soon as the words came out, he felt a pang of discomfort in his heart, so he spoke without thinking: ‘My king is indulging you
you. Have you forgotten where you came from? Or are you determined to rebel…’ against the organisation or against him, he didn’t say, and after a pause, seeing that she was unmoved
he said with hatred, ’Do you know that if I intended to take your life, how could you have survived until now?’
From beginning to end, he has only regarded her as a deadly assassin from the Dark Factory, so he feels justified in whatever he does. Therefore, even when he used a trick to silence her, he did not feel
guilty. Now, he is just not used to seeing her attention not on him, so he lets her run wild like a pet. In his heart, this is the great honour he has bestowed upon her,
so even if she is not moved to tears, she should at least show some emotion.
Meylin’s heart had just become a little soft, but on hearing this, it was as if she had been poured a bucket of cold water over, and she was completely cold from head to toe. An indescribable sadness struck her chest, and she tightened
her hand holding the damp handkerchief, then firmly pulled it out of his hand.
Just as Murong Jinghe was about to lose his temper because of her ungrateful actions, he saw her knees bend and she knelt down in front of him, bowing her head to the ground. Just as when he first summoned her
her, her gaze fell a foot in front of his feet, expressionless.
Murong Jinghe’s heart sank, and then he became furious. He raised his hand that had not yet retracted and fiercely slapped her in the face. Although the force was not as strong as when she was physically unharmed, it was
the best he could do, and it caused Mei Lin’s head to tilt to the side, and five finger marks appeared on her fair face. However, she did not react in any way, and just knelt back down again, as an obedient
deadly assassin should do, and she was so angry that she was shaking all over.
‘Guards, go back to the hospital!’ he shouted angrily. He didn’t even glance at Meilin, who was still kneeling on the ground, until they had left.
Chapter 15 (3)
Meilin knelt there for a long time without getting up. It wasn’t until the sky gradually darkened and footsteps could be heard outside that she came back to her senses, laughed to herself, grabbed the chair he had been sitting in
and slowly climbed to her feet. The chair had long since cooled from the man’s prolonged absence, and the fire in the brazier had dwindled to a flickering ember because no one had added charcoal. The room was as cold as an ice cave
.
She rubbed her cold hands together as she sneezed. The maid who had been serving and watching over her for the past few days came in with dinner. Seeing that the fire was about to go out, she hurriedly placed the
tray onto the table, then added a few more charcoal briquettes and lit the fire again.
‘The girl has a damaged voice, but her hands are not damaged. Can’t you even add a piece of charcoal? If you catch a cold, you won’t be able to blame it on me, the little servant girl.’ The maid was not really
a servant of the royal household, but a member of the Mingwei, the imperial bodyguard responsible for the safety of Murong Jing, who ranked higher than the death squad and the dark guards. Therefore, she was resentful when Qingyan sent her to serve Meilin. Although she
did not dare to neglect Meilin’s food and clothing, she could not help but speak coldly. However, the person who reported on Meilin’s daily life came from the same department as her, and they had some friendship in their daily lives, so naturally they would not tell these things to
Murong Jing and listen.
Meilin ignored her and went straight to the table to eat.
The maid said a few more unkind things, but when she saw that Meilin was unmoved, she became even more angry. When she saw the palm print on the beautiful face, she immediately smiled.
‘Hey, girl, what’s this on your face… Could it be that you were bored and played with yourself? Or…’ She twirled her eyes and thought of a possibility, and couldn’t help but be delighted,
‘Or perhaps I care about you…”
Meilin’s hand holding the bowl tightened, and the next moment, it was already smashed out.
The maid could fight, and Meilin didn’t think she could hit her, she just wanted to shut her up. Unexpectedly, the maid did manage to avoid the bowl and the rice in it in the nick of time, but
she didn’t avoid a sudden slap.
Along with the sound of the bowl, which had lost its target, crashing against the wall and shattering, there was also the crisp sound of a palm smacking a face. Then there was a suffocating silence.
Meilin looked at Qingyan’s not-so-good face and slowly lowered her left hand, which was already empty, wanting to give a grateful smile. But she didn’t expect her lips to turn up, while her eyes were
were covered in a layer of water mist, and she was so startled that she hurriedly turned her face away and tried hard to swallow the sudden feeling of choking in her throat.
Qing Yan didn’t look at her, but coldly glared at the woman kneeling on the ground shivering, ‘Die Tang will take over your job. Go to the Department of Punishments to receive your punishment yourself.’ The word
‘yourself’ was deliberately dragged out with the upturned long sound unique to eunuchs, a kind of contemptuous intonation that exuded an unassailable air of authority.
The secret factory in Meilin came from a different organisation to the secret guards, so naturally they had no idea what was going on in the Department of Punishments, but they could see from the maid’s instantly pale face that it was definitely
not a good place to be. However, even so, they did not hear any pleas for mercy, which shows how much respect Qing Yan had built up in these people’s minds.
After the maid left, Qing Yan turned to Meilin. By now her expression had returned to normal, and there was even a sincere smile on her face.
‘I’ll have someone bring you another dinner,’ he said lightly, and then he walked out the door.
Meilin’s eyes filled with doubt, and she couldn’t understand why he had come. Fortunately, when he reached the door, he paused and said in a tone that was neither light nor heavy, “You are a smart person,
and you know what is best for you. Why fight with me?” After saying this, he floated away. It turned out that he had come just to say this one sentence.
Meilin did not have time to respond, nor could she respond. He came and went like the wind, saving her embarrassment.
I think Murong Jing is still sulking over there, and he was disturbed. If you ask the guards who are guarding the door, you will know everything. Although I know that he means well
intention, Meilin still felt a little embarrassed. She was a soft-hearted person who didn’t respond well to force, and neither the slap from Murong Jinghe nor the ridicule from the maid had moved her.
However, Qingyan’s seemingly unreserved act of defending her had made her cry. It was really not a glorious thing to let yourself get beaten up for some inexplicable stubbornness that came out of nowhere.
She suddenly thought of Dai, and the fact that she had also imitated his unyielding attitude. She shuddered. Hurriedly, she stood up, walked over to the charcoal brazier, added a piece of charcoal, and
stoked the fire.
She washed her hands and face, put on some rouge to hide the fingerprints on her face, tidied herself up, and then left the room and walked towards Murong Jinghe’s courtyard.
The new maid, Die Tang, followed behind her. Having learned from past experience, she appeared cautious and quiet.
Meilin was very satisfied. She didn’t care what others said, but she didn’t like having someone nagging at her all day long, it was very annoying.
Probably because Qingyan had ordered it, no one stopped her wherever she went, so she managed to enter the central courtyard where Murong Jinghe lived without any problems. The guards on duty outside saw her and
a strange expression, as if he was relieved, but also as if he was even more nervous.
Murong Jinghe was leaning back on a couch, and a maid was feeding him. When she saw her, he scowled, but waved away the irrelevant people, obviously knowing that the way the two of them get along
is really not suitable for other people to see.
Meilin noticed the maid’s obvious expression of relief when she turned her back, and she couldn’t help but feel a little puzzled. It wasn’t until she stepped closer to the couch and stepped on something slimy
that she realised it must be this young master doing something strange again while eating.
‘What are you doing here?’ Murong Jinghe’s face was as cold as ice, with an expression that he really didn’t want to see the woman in front of him.
When Meilin arrived, she was mentally prepared and naturally would not be easily influenced by him as she had been in the afternoon. On hearing this, a light smile appeared on her face. She bent down and casually bowed, not
looking too presumptuous, but also not seeming aloof. Then she took the initiative to walk over, picked up the bowl on the side of the bed, and took over the task of feeding him.
Murong Jinghe looked at her suspiciously, obviously unable to figure out why she had suddenly become so compliant.
‘I have someone to serve me, so I don’t need to trouble you,’ he said, leaning back and not taking the food that Meilin handed him.
Meilin thought about the subtle feelings that had risen in her heart when she suddenly saw another woman feed him earlier, and now he had rejected her again. She couldn’t help but pause, and the smile on her face was on the verge of
breaking. It seems that she still overestimated her resistance to him.
Murong Jinghe saw that she had a hint of retreat on her face, and he was really annoyed: ‘Just get out of here if you’re fine! This is no place for you.’
However, when Meilin was provoked by him, she could no longer pretend, and her heart hardened. She thought to herself that she was hated by everyone around her, and she was not afraid of being hated even more. She immediately lowered her face
and put the bowl down. Just as Murong Jinghe thought she was really going to obey and leave, and his heart of loss was about to surface, she lifted her skirt and climbed onto the bed.
Chapter 15 (4)
Murong Jinghe’s face twitched slightly, and he snapped, ‘How dare you…’
Before he could finish speaking, his mouth was stuffed with a whole fried quail by Meilin. He was caught off guard, and oil from the quail got on his face and nose. He was too angry to curse, so he could only
stare blankly.
Meilin watched him with a smile as he looked so embarrassed, and then took out a handkerchief to tenderly wipe his face and nose, waiting for him to lose his temper.
Unexpectedly, however, Murong Jing didn’t get angry, and his gaze softened instead. He remembered when they were at Zhongshan, she had also shoved food into his mouth recklessly, causing him
made a fool of himself. At the time, he had hated her so much he wanted to kill her a thousand times over. But now, when he thought back to it, his heart felt indescribably tender.
Meilin felt the change in his gaze and turned her head uncomfortably before getting down on the floor.
She wiped the quail she had been eating with a handkerchief, leaned over and adjusted him into a more comfortable position, then sat sideways on the edge of the bed. She took the quail from his mouth and bit off little pieces
and fed him.
Time seemed to have rewound, and in that simple adobe house, he was leaning against the kang, while she held a bowl half filled with rice and vegetables and fed him spoonful after spoonful. The dusk
sunshine shone through the window panes, enveloping half her body in its light, even the light hairs on her face reflecting a golden hue.
Murong Jinghe thought about the embrace the day before she left, and about the first time he heard her sing. His chest felt as if a boulder had been placed on it, suffocating him.
He raised his trembling hand and touched her face in the candlelight. He noticed that she froze for a moment, as if trying to avoid his hand, but in the end she did not move.
‘Why aren’t you speaking…can’t you make a sound?’ he asked in a low voice. This question was taboo, and both had been careful to avoid it, but he
still asked it.
Meilin pursed her lips, but she couldn’t control the trembling of her hands. When the chopsticks hit the bowl for the second time, she put them down on the table, and there was no more smile on her face.
‘I want to hear you speak.’ Murong Jinghe was not blind to her efforts to hold back, but he stubbornly continued the conversation.
Meilin felt like her chest was going to explode. The pain came suddenly and intensely, making her eyes black before her, and she could hardly catch her breath. She closed her eyes, but
she couldn’t slow down, so she slowly turned sideways, wanting to leave for a while. However, she was grabbed from behind by Murong Jinghe, and then his body pressed up against her.
‘I will cure you,’ he said, his tone unwaveringly resolute, “no matter what it takes.”
Hearing his words, Meilin felt no joy, but rather a deepening sense of sadness. She was almost certain that, for drugging her, he did not consider it a serious matter
and would feel no guilt or remorse. Even so, she could not help but resent him.
Meilin finally realised that the worst thing that had ever happened to her in her life was not being abandoned, not being taken into the dark factory to become a dead soldier, and not being poisoned and losing her voice, but falling in love with
him.
That night, Murong Jing and Meilin did not go home. After more than a month, the two of them slept together again.
The difference from before was that he could now move a little, so he used his hands and feet to caress Meilin, holding her tightly in his arms, saying
it was warm.
He told Meilin to remove the makeup on her face, then kissed the palm prints he had left on her face over and over again, mumbling to himself that she deserved it. He touched the mole at the corner of her eyebrow and said that
was his, and no one else was allowed to touch it. He said she was his, that she was his whole entire person…
Meilin let him do whatever he wanted, feeling truly that this man was possessed. It wasn’t until he put his hand on her chest and said it was too small that she was almost angry enough to beat him up again.
Then he became quiet, and just rested his hands in her bosom and then in his own, breathing slowly and gently.
She, however, felt her heart racing at this almost-treasured action of his, and stared wide-eyed at the indistinct outline of the desk in the darkness, losing her sleepiness. At that moment she thought,
it was not for no reason that she would like this person. It was certain that she would be heartbroken for him.
The next morning, with two dark circles under his eyes and palm marks on one side of his face that had not completely faded, Meilin was led in a sedan chair by the radiant Murong Jing, holding hands, towards the courtyard where the leprous-headed doctor
was located.
Qingyan walked on the other side of the sedan chair, his solemn face expressionless, as if unaware of the intimate atmosphere between the two.
The head of the leprosy ward was pushing open the door in a thick fur coat. When he saw the group of people, he couldn’t help but exclaim, ‘The prince is really good at his job. He has actually made this stupid girl willingly
come to raise Jade.’
Murong Jing and heard this and their faces turned slightly green. They couldn’t help but look at Meilin and saw that she didn’t look shocked, and didn’t even show any signs of anger.
up, but he gripped her hand a little tighter, as if he was afraid she would run away.
In fact, Meilin was not as indifferent on the inside as she appeared on the surface, but there was only a slight fluctuation. She had decided early on that this was something she
wanted to do, and it didn’t really matter what Murong Jinghe was thinking or what his intentions were. She knew that he might never respond to her with equal affection, but she
still likes him. She likes the person she is, and she wants to do what she wants to do, so what does it matter to anyone else?
‘Don’t joke, Divine Healer. Didn’t you agree to the request of the Divine Healer because you were willing to come with the girl Meilin to heal the king?’ Qing Yan saw that his
lord’s face was not good, and he was afraid that he would do something irrational if his temper flared up, so he laughed quickly.
The bald man laughed twice, and stopped provoking. He only said that Meilin had told them everything, but he didn’t know that Qingyan’s words were actually a bit tricky. Although Qingyan
knew that Meilin had gone to seek medical treatment for the king, he was not sure of the specific circumstances. He only guessed that there must be a price to pay, and the king’s illness was no ordinary one, so
would require some unusual conditions to be met. His words did not explicitly ask for anything, but it was enough to get away with it.
‘Someone to raise my jade is fine,’ the bald man muttered, taking out his pipe and knocking it against the nearby porch post. As the sedan chair carrying Murong Jinghe approached the steps, he
poked the pipe and said, ‘Stop. Raising jade only requires the silly girl, and everyone else can go wherever they want.’
‘I want to watch from the side,’ Murong Jinghe said slowly, his eyes narrowed slightly, his tone carrying the majesty of his noble status.
The bald man, however, did not buy it, shaking his head like a rattle.
‘A gentleman fears the influence of others. If there are people who don’t matter, the jade will not be pure, and the efficacy will be greatly affected. Don’t blame me for not making it clear to you all.”
Muyong Jinghe’s lips tightened slightly, and his gaze burned as he stared at the bald head for a long time, trying to determine the truth in his words. In the end, he didn’t dare to take the risk and slowly let go of Meilin’s
hand.
Chapter 16 (1)
The Junzi poison is poisonous, but it can also cause one’s internal strength to increase endlessly in a short period of time.
Therefore, if someone without martial arts skills is infected with the Junzi poison, it is because of its toxicity that they fall into a permanent sleep, and they are no different from the living dead. However, if someone with martial arts skills senses that something is wrong
and uses their martial arts to force the poison out, it will immediately cause their internal strength to skyrocket uncontrollably, and they will eventually be blown to pieces by their own internal strength, which their meridians cannot bear, and their bones will be left in pieces.
So, Meilin is truly a miracle. This is what the bald guy said. But when he learned that Meilin’s martial arts had been disabled before, he felt that this was also considered a blessing in disguise.
When she was in the dark factory, she had planted various poisons, and her body had already developed resistance to them. Even a highly toxic substance like blood-thirsty poison could be resisted for a while, buying her
buffer time to find an antidote, so that the Junzi Bug would not kill her, and the toxicity did not pose a great threat to her. And at that time, she had no internal strength in her body, so the Junzi Bug had no place to be used, so she was
barely able to keep the Junzi Bug and the Human Bug at peace.
However, the Junzi Bug itself has the effect of generating vital energy, and since she had also studied martial arts and her energy channels were unblocked, soon a different internal strength
If this internal force cannot be controlled, it will still kill her. The bald-headed doctor roughly analysed the situation of Jun Zi Gu to Mei Lin and concluded: ‘But controlling the internal force is not something he can do, so she has to figure it out for herself. Perhaps the process of raising the jade will enlighten her.
Mei Lin’s desire to survive is stronger than that of ordinary people, so naturally she took the advice to heart.
At noon, she began to raise the jade.
A reclining chair with a thick, soft fabric cushion, a sunken handrest, a purple bamboo plate for the jade, and a wooden basin.
Meilin reclined in the reclining chair, covered with a warm blanket, her left hand resting on the handrest, which was slightly lower than the reclining chair, with the palm of her hand just covering the jade in the bamboo plate. The bottom of the bamboo plate
part of the wooden table underneath is hollowed out, and it leads to a wooden basin.
The leprous-headed doctor made a cut in her palm and applied some unknown medicine, and the blood gushed out, unceasing and slowly permeating the jade under her palm. At the same time,
Meilin followed his instructions and channeled her internal energy into the jade, as if it were blood.
An hour later, the jade turned a crystal-clear, deep red. The head of scabies was removed and placed in another purple bamboo box. Mei Lin’s bleeding was stopped, and she was given to drink a bowl of
strangely-flavoured medicinal juice, and she fell into a drowsy sleep. At midnight, the process was repeated.
At 2 o’clock in the afternoon, she would be fed twice. Only at this time would Meilin wake up. At other times, she would lie in her chair, half-conscious, and be force-fed
the medicinal concoction for three meals a day, without eating a single grain of rice.
This went on for seven days. During these seven days, Murong Jinghe also came to visit, but was kept out of the door by the head of lice. On the other hand, Qingyan was able to see people when he came alone
. Why was there such discrimination? The head louse never gave an explanation, which made Murong Jinghe feel very upset. He became irritable with Qing Yan and even attacked him on several occasions. Qing Yan was
very helpless, but he could not stop caring for him, for fear of something going wrong. After being rejected several times, Murong Jinghe simply stopped visiting. When Qing Yan reported back, he pretended to be
to listen, but his ears were pricked up.
At that moment, the scout reported that the war in the southwest was in a critical situation. Mu Ren Luo Mei encountered the strange techniques of the Nanyue army and suffered three consecutive defeats, retreating to Qingcheng. Everyone in the court was in danger, and
some even wrote a petition suggesting seeking peace and moving the capital. In the end, the Emperor Yan listened to the advice of the Minister You and once again issued an imperial decree summoning Murong Jinghe to the capital to discuss ways to defeat the enemy.
Murong Jinghe wrote to the emperor saying that he was in the middle of a critical treatment and could not leave, hinting that Yang Zexing, a veteran of the Tibetan army, could be sent back to replace Mu Nuo Luomei. At the same time, he ordered someone to step up their efforts to find out
the military situation in the southwest, and to find out as soon as possible the enemy generals’ personalities, usual tactics, influence in the army, and the specific circumstances of the three battles in which Mu Nuo Luomei had been defeated.
Since the unexplained disappearance of the King of the Tibetan Middle Kingdom, his soldiers have been divided into several groups and placed under the command of other generals. Only one group, led by his descendant
and hidden in the wilderness, was recruited two dynasties later and became known as the Tibetan Army. The Tibetan Army is a formidable fighting force that has contributed countless meritorious services to the Great Yan Empire and is the Empire’s powerful military backup. However, it is a
body, extremely xenophobic. The imperial court had wanted to install generals in it, but due to repeated cold treatment and lack of command, etc., they eventually gave up. Since the beginning of our dynasty, due to the reduction of border warfare, and
the emergence of outstanding young generals such as Murong Jinghe, the Zangdao army was never used again, and even began to lack food and pay, causing it to gradually decline. However, in the hearts of the Dayan generals, Zangdao
always represented the strongest military force of Dayan, an unassailable position.
However, Yang Zexing was, after all, getting old. Furthermore, after decades without battle-hardening, was the Tibetan army still sharp?
Murong Jinghe looked out the window at the blooming red plum blossoms, and with a finger that trembled slightly he held a white stone, which he dropped without looking into the middle of a group of black stones, making a steady and
sound. As soon as the stone landed, the black stones, which had looked menacing and fierce, crumbled into disarray, while the white stones, which had looked about to be swallowed up, occupied the entire board.
Muyong Jinghe frowned slightly, impatiently pushed the game of chess apart, and leaned against the window frame next to him. He felt that the game was boring, and couldn’t understand how that woman could play
all day long. When he’s better, maybe he can take her to Nanyue for a bit of fun. Xiyan will do too.
Just as he was daydreaming, Qingyan walked in carrying a purple bamboo box containing a black stone, followed by the bald-headed doctor.
When they got closer, they could see that the black stone was actually not really black, but reddish black, and inside it was transparent, and they could see darker veins hidden within, as if
something was slowly flowing within it.
Murong Jing knew without having to think that it must be pulse jade, and so he leaned against the window frame and watched as the two men approached, not moving a muscle. Presumably, he already knew the result, and there was not
even the slightest fluctuation in his heart.
‘Can I see her now?’ he asked coldly. If it weren’t for the fact that he still needed the bald guy to heal him, he would have kicked him out of the palace long ago.
The bald guy raised his eyelid and looked at him, took the pipe and poked the jade in Qing Yan’s hand, and then said with a sneer, “You officials are not as honest as us country folks. The prince
clearly…”
Murong Jinghe’s face changed slightly when he heard this.
Qing Yan saw that it was not good and hastily interrupted, ‘My lord, Miss Meilin has just finished taking her medicine and gone to sleep. Why doesn’t the prince let the divine doctor take care of her first, and I will go and have someone move
her here.’ While speaking, he sidled in between the two of them.
‘If you want the silly girl dead, go ahead and move her!‘ The bald man was not annoyed by the interruption, but when he heard Qing Yan’s implied meaning, he was furious.
’Divine Doctor…’ Qing Yan turned around, puzzled, wanting to ask the reason why she could not be moved.
The bald man waved his hand impatiently and said, ‘Move it, move it, move it if you want… Anyway, I don’t think you guys care about other people’s lives.’
Qing Yan was embarrassed and froze for a moment, and then he heard Murong Jing say, ‘Forget it.’ After a pause, his tone no longer contained any displeasure, and he slowly said, ‘When I can walk again,
I will go see her myself.”
Qing Yan let out a slow sigh of relief, thinking to herself that she finally no longer had to be torn between two sides.
Chapter 16 (2)
Two days later.
After several days of continuous snowfall, the snow finally stopped. The sun broke through the thick clouds and shone on the snow-white rooftops and wall tops, making the red plum blossoms in the courtyard look especially enchanting
The heavy door curtain was lifted, and Murong Jing and Qing Yan quickly walked out from it. Qing Yan followed closely behind, holding a stone-blue ferret cloak, which he hurriedly draped over him.
Murong Jing impatiently tried to lift it off, but Qing Yan hurriedly advised, ‘It’s coldest when the sun shines on a snowy day. Master, you’re just fine, but it’s better to be careful. Besides, Mei
Lin…’
‘That’s enough,’ Murong Jinghe interrupted the annoying nagging, and as he walked, he fastened the belt himself, and Qingyan finally felt relieved.
The palace was not big, and the two were fast walkers, so they arrived at the side courtyard in no time.
The bald-headed doctor was leaning on one leg, smoking a pipe and squinting at the fire in the main room. A heavily made-up middle-aged woman was sitting on the other side of the brazier, plucking a stringed instrument in her hands
and singing a Jingbei folk song.
As soon as they saw this scene, Murong Jinghe’s face turned black, but he only gave the woman a cold look and didn’t say anything.
‘Oh, look at the spirit, Your Highness is all better, congratulations! Congratulations!’ The bald man didn’t move when he saw the two of them, just held up his pipe
and waved, smiling and saying.
As soon as the woman heard that it was the prince, she hurriedly stopped playing and singing, and knelt down.
‘Thanks to the miracle doctor,’ Murong Jing and Pi Xiaorou returned the greeting with a forced smile, ignoring the woman and walking straight to the inner room. Qing Yan, on the other hand, was truly grateful to the bald man, so he fell behind
and exchanged a few words with him, before telling the woman to continue and waiting outside the inner room door.
A moment later, Murong Jing walked out from the inner room, holding Meilin in his arms, wrapped tightly in his cloak.
‘I’m taking Meilin with me. The great doctor can rest here at ease. Just tell the servants if you need anything.’ Obviously, he didn’t want to wake the sleeping woman, so he spoke
softly, his tone much softer.
The bald man didn’t want to stop him, so he waved his hand and said, ’I understand. It’s better to get rid of her, so I don’t have to listen to her singing and can’t enjoy myself.’
Murong Jing looked at the woman who had just sung so loudly that he could hear her from the other side of the courtyard. He thought that the meaning of ‘have a good time’ in the bald guy’s words was quite profound, but he didn’t mind it. He nodded slightly and
carried Meilin out.
He carried Meilin straight back to his courtyard and placed her in the main room. Looking at her quiet and pale sleeping face, his heart, which had been hanging in the balance, finally settled down.
Meilin had lost a lot of blood, so she was mostly unconscious for the first day and slept most of the time. Now, apart from thinking of ways to give her blood, she could only wait
.
At noon, perhaps out of habit, she finally opened her eyes. Seeing that the surroundings seemed to be wrong, and smelling the unique smell of Murong Jing on her body, she was stunned
for a moment before she reacted.
At that moment, Murong Jinghe was standing next to the table, looking at the map of Nam Viet drawn by the painter. Hearing a noise, he turned around and saw Meilin, who was staring at him blankly, and could not help but be overjoyed. He turned around and walked
to the bed, bent down and picked her up. He also felt her hand and found it warm, so he let out a sigh of relief and said with a smile, ‘You slept for a long time. If you don’t wake up, you won’t even make it in time for lunch.’
While saying this, he ordered lunch.
Meilin felt as if she were still in a dream. This refreshed Murong Jinghe had never been seen before, dazzling and taking one’s breath away. After a while, when he
unintelligibly pinched her cheek, she came back to her senses and wanted to say that she wanted to freshen up first, but suddenly realised that she could no longer make a sound. For a moment, her emotions fell, but she quickly put them aside
and just made a gesture for him to freshen up.
Muyong Jing’s eyes darkened slightly, but then he smiled and said, ‘Let me help you.’
With that, he really had someone bring hot water, personally wrung out a towel, and carefully wiped her face and hands. Then he waited on her, helping her brush her teeth with green salt and rinse her mouth. Then
he carried her to a chair and put her in front of the full-length mirror in the room to start combing her hair.
‘I don’t have a woman’s dressing table here, so this is the best I can do,’ he explained. Despite his usual arrogant temper, he was gentle when combing her hair and did not easily hurt people.
Meilin looked at the two silhouettes in the mirror, then lowered her gaze to his smiling face, and slowly broke into a smile as well. If she could speak, she would definitely say that this was
more than ten or a hundred times better than a dressing table.
The small mirror on the dressing table can only reflect one person’s face, but it can reflect the two of them together like this. She finally knew what they looked like when they were together.
The only thing lacking was that she was skinny and pale at the moment, and she was terribly ugly, while he was a little too good-looking.
Thinking about this, she lowered her eyes slightly, turned her head, and buried her face in his arms. It’s fine if you can’t see it, but if you do, you’ll notice the huge gap between the two of you, and your heart will hurt
.
Muyong Jinghe froze, stopped combing his hair, and then put his arms around her. Although she couldn’t speak, he could still feel her sadness.
After a moment, Meilin’s lips involuntarily lifted again, and then she sat up straight, signaling for him to continue.
This man… This person can be so considerate if he wants to be.
Since moving Meilin to the courtyard, Murong Jingwei has spent whole days and nights with her in the house. For more than ten days, he has not left the room, nor has he received anyone. Even
It was a snowy day, and the doors and windows were tightly shut. Thanks to the earthworm, the room was warm as summer. Mei Lin leaned back on the couch, stitching a sachet here and there.
Just then, there was a sudden commotion outside, and she could not help but stop and listen.
After a moment, Qing Yan hurriedly knocked on the door and entered, saying, ‘General Muye is here. I’ll keep him outside. Whatever happens, don’t come out.’ Without waiting for a response,
he turned and walked out again, slamming the door shut.
“His Highness is taking a nap, so I dare not disturb him. General Muye has come a long way and must be tired. Why not go downstairs and have a bowl of hot soup to rest for a while? As soon as His Highness wakes up,
I will report back immediately.’ Outside the window, the clear and unassuming voice of Qing Yan could be heard.
Meilin climbed onto the bed and looked out through the gap in the window. She could vaguely see a few slender figures in dark red and plain white. She tried hard to look again, but she couldn’t see their faces
. She gave up, sat back down and started sewing. Her ears pricked up as she heard the long-lost voice of Mu Nuo Luomei, which said in a domineering tone:
“What time is it? He still has the heart to take a nap. Get lost, you useless servant! I will go and wake him up myself, and see what he can do about it!’
Meilin’s lips curled up slightly, and she felt that this was going to be fun. While thinking this, she secretly circulated the true qi within her body and found that it was indeed smooth, so she let out a sigh of relief.
At least if she ran into real bad luck later, she would at least be able to protect herself.
Chapter 16 (3)
‘Your Highness has just recovered from your illness and is still a bit weak. This nap is something the great doctor specifically instructed. I beg your pardon, but I cannot obey!’ Qing Yan’s voice slightly carried a hint of anger.
Although he called himself a servant, in fact, only Murong Jinghe and one other person dared to address him directly like this. Murong Luomei was not qualified to do so in any way.
Murong Luomei’s face turned cold. Even Murong Jinghe and Murong Luomei had to give her some respect, but now she was being difficult by a lowly servant. How could she swallow this? At that moment, she moved her hand
movement, she had already drawn her long sword from her waist and pointed it at Qing Yan.
Although she was standing below the steps and Qing Yan was up there, the sword’s momentum was not only not weak, but extremely fierce.
‘If you don’t let me, I will make you spill blood here today,’ she said coldly, while shouting into the room, ‘Murong Jinghe, if you don’t come out again, don’t blame me
for killing your favourite slave.’
Even Qing Yan, who is usually so composed, could not help flinching at this moment. The fingers hanging down by her side curled slightly inside her sleeves, forming the shape of a snake’s head.
Just as the situation was about to erupt, the lazy voice of Murong Jinghe suddenly came from inside the room: ‘Qing Yan, go invite General Makino in.’ As he said this, he yawned
big yawn. ‘Since General Makino doesn’t want to rest, why are you forcing him to do so? That’s so rude.’
Qing Yan’s tensed emotions instantly relaxed, and he returned to his usual humble self. He stood to the side, slightly bowing, and said, ‘Please, General.’ He said this lightly, but did not apologize for his previous actions
behaviour.
Mukenuo Luomei snorted, turned around, and told the two women in red uniforms with swords at their sides to wait outside, before walking in with another woman dressed in white. That woman
was beautiful, wearing a white fox cloak, and holding a small, fiery red beast in her arms. It was A Dai. Qing Yan summoned a maid to take the cloaks from the two of them, shook the snow off her hair and body, and then went to prepare the hot
soup.
Murong Jinghe had obviously just woken up, standing by the bed in a white undershirt, yawning repeatedly, while Meilin was putting on his outer robe. After tidying up outside, he
only then shuffled out in his soft-soled shoes.
Although he kept yawning, his spirit was indeed much better than before, and the two women couldn’t help but brighten up. Meilin didn’t come out, but leaned back to the side of the couch to embroider her own things.
She didn’t want to run into Mu Ren Luomei head-on, and she didn’t need to guess that she would be the one to lose out.
‘Sit!’ Murong Jinghe pointed to the padded chair in the room and laughed, while taking the seat of honour himself. Seeing that the two women were still standing, he didn’t mind and asked
“I thought you said that the war was getting fierce, so how did General Mu Ren have time to come to the remote and cold Jingbei?’
‘You still have the nerve to ask. If it weren’t for you, how would I have been recalled to the capital? Don’t you know that replacing a general in the middle of a battle is a major taboo in military strategy?’ Makino Rakumei said hatefully in response,
obviously extremely unhappy about this. After speaking, he saw that he was still in a carefree state of mind, and his anger rose. He took the side of Adai next to him and pushed him in front of him: ’His Majesty asked me to
escort your most beloved woman here.’
A Dai was caught off guard and fell onto Murong Jinghe’s body. Her pretty face instantly turned red, and she whispered ‘Your Highness’ before trying to stand up. However, as she was still holding the
flaming red beast in her arms, she struggled unsuccessfully for a few times. Murong Jinghe let out a light laugh, then embraced her, but his gaze fell on Mu Ren Luomei: ‘Why bother the great general Mu Ren for such a trivial matter?
to do it? Jinghe can send someone to pick him up.”
Mukeno Luomei gave him a glare, her gaze falling on Meilin in the inner room. She sneered, ’You sent someone to pick him up? I can see that you are so happy here that you have probably already forgotten everyone else
and left them behind.’
Murong Jinghe was playing with Adai’s hair, and when he looked in the direction of her gaze, he noticed that Meilin was bowing her head and concentrating on her work, not paying any attention to what was going on outside.
He felt uncomfortable, and he couldn’t help but feel uneasy. He helped Adai stand up straight, then shouted to Qingyan, who was standing outside, ‘Take Miss Adai to the backyard to rest.’
A Di’s face showed her disappointment, but she dared not say anything. She had to bow with her knees bent and followed Qing Yan.
Seeing that there were only three people left in the room, Mu Ren Luo Mei turned around and closed the door. Then she pointed at Mei Lin in the inner room and asked Murong Jing in a low voice, ‘How is she still alive?’ Everyone in the court
knew that Meilin was a spy planted by Murong Xuanlie, and that she had even caused the King of Jingbei to be seriously injured, which was why the current emperor had issued a nationwide warrant for her arrest.
Murong Jinghe smiled faintly and said, ‘Why shouldn’t she be alive?’
Mukeno Rakumei frowned, ‘What nonsense are you two playing at? Do you know how much trouble you’ll get into if the emperor finds out that she’s safe and sound in the Jingbei Royal Palace?’ Her tone was stern
severe, but full of concern, and Murong Jing and his expression softened involuntarily.
‘Meilin, go back to your own room,’ he said to the woman in the back room, and the next words he said he didn’t want her to hear.
Meilin’s hand holding the sachet tightened, and the needle pierced the flesh, causing her to flinch in pain. She thought to herself that she had lived here for a long time, and she was afraid that the previous room was very cold, so she
she had gone to the old herbalist’s place to hang out. Thinking this, she had already walked to the outhouse, bowed respectfully to the two of them, and then turned to go outside.
‘Wait a minute,’ suddenly shouted Mu Ye Luomei, and then took a step forward, snatching the almost-finished rose-coloured sachet from her hand.
She let out a sneer, threw it at Murong Jinghe, and said, ‘This was embroidered for you, you really are dexterous.’
Murong Jinghe picked up the sachet and looked at it, chuckling, ‘It’s ugly.’ With that, he casually threw it into the charcoal basin next to him, and it immediately burst into a bright flame. Then he looked at Meilin, who was
staring blankly at the charcoal basin, and said indifferently, ‘I can’t take something like this out with me, so don’t make it again.’
There was originally no charcoal brazier in this room because of the fire-breathing dragon, but because Meilin wanted to use it to roast something when she was bored, she specially asked Qingyan to get one.
The first time the sachet was thrown in, Meilin thought to herself that she was really meddlesome, wondering why she wanted to put a charcoal brazier here. Then she turned her attention to the person who had taken
her sachet. She thought, if the woman in front of her didn’t take it, even if he didn’t like it, he wouldn’t burn it, and she could keep it for herself.
Perhaps the moment the woman appeared, a feeling of depression began to build up in her heart. At this moment, that feeling intensified because of such a thought, churning her heart and causing it to ache
as if it were splitting open. Her mind went blank, and she just wanted to vent her anger.
She heard two popping sounds, and she was awakened by the sharp pain in her face and forehead. Only then did she realise that she had actually fallen to the ground, and there seemed to be a cold liquid sliding down her face
Murong Jinghe had stood up from his chair at some point and was standing in front of Mu Ren Luomei, looking at her with anger in his eyes, his expression cold as ice. And through his shoulder,
one could see Mu Ren Luomei’s left face was red and swollen, her eyes full of disbelief.
It was probably because she was so angry that she hit Mu Ren Luomei, and he hit her back. Something like that…something like that only.
Chapter 16 (4)
‘Get out! Don’t let me see you again!’ Murong Jing and pointed at the door and shouted, then turned and no longer looked at her, but instead went to examine Mu Ren Luomei’s face with a heavy heart.
Meilin didn’t think she could laugh under the circumstances, but she did laugh, and it even hurt her mouth and forehead. When she stood up, it went dark
. She reached out and grabbed the nearest object, held back the pain, and then waited until she had recovered a little before slowly walking out. The gentle soothing voice of the other woman came to her ears, and strangely
enough, she didn’t feel very sad. It was just as if all the strength in her body had been sucked out at once, and she felt limp. Every step felt like she was walking on cotton wool.
‘Qingyan, go to the divine doctor and get some medicine!’ The voice of Murong Jing came from behind her, full of indescribable pain and stiffness, which made her
ears rumble, and she didn’t notice that she had missed a step and fell headlong.
The cold wind and snow blinded her, and she couldn’t see anything. Meilin subconsciously reached out and grabbed two handfuls of air, and when her eyes, which she had strained
the snow-white world, he realised that his struggle was futile. He closed his eyes and let his consciousness sink into darkness.
His head ached in waves, preventing him from sleeping peacefully. There was light shining on his eyelids, dim and yellow, brightening and fading. Someone was talking, but he couldn’t
make out. Until something cold and liquid fell on his face, causing a sharp tingling as it slid across his forehead, and his whole body trembled involuntarily. His eyebrows shot open.
Unexpectedly, what met his eyes was Qing Yan’s expressionless face. Seeing her wake up, he was stunned for a moment, and then glanced awkwardly at the porcelain bottle he was holding in his hand
. He had accidentally poured some more liquid onto her face. He knew how strong the medicine was on broken skin.
But the embarrassment was only momentary, and soon he resumed his cold demeanour, whispering, ‘You’re staying with the Divine Doctor, so don’t go wandering around even if you’re feeling better.’ In theory,
he should have left after giving her this advice, but he hesitated and added, ‘We servants have to be patient, but you were impulsive today. If it weren’t for the Prince…’ He stopped suddenly,
and then just turned around and left.
Mei Lin followed his slightly thin figure with her eyes until he walked out of the room, and then slowly lowered her gaze to the high, old, mottled beams. The bald-headed doctor
was probably still outside, warming himself by the fire and smoking a pipe, as usual.
Recalling Qing Yan’s words, she couldn’t help but pull the corners of her lips. She knew that he was reminding her that she was just a lackey like him, and even if Murong Jinghe valued them, she was
still a lackey. Therefore, she could accept it, but she could not ask for it.
She also knew that if it wasn’t for Murong Jinghe and that slap today, the one pointing at her might have been Mu Ren Luomei’s sword, or even a more severe punishment.
However, the coldness in his eyes was even sharper than a sword, freezing her and preventing her from ever warming up again. In the end, she was still to blame for hurting the person he cared about most. She
shouldn’t be thanking him for thinking of protecting her even in the midst of such anger?
She raised her hand to cover her eyes, took a couple of deep breaths, and then suddenly sat up. She had probably gotten up too quickly, and her blood was still low, causing her to feel dizzy and almost fall back
fall back again.
Grasping the quilt covering her body, she steadied herself before getting out of bed.
Let’s go. The warm water on her slender fingertips wrote these three words on the table.
The bald man froze with a pipe in his mouth, and after leaning forward to take a look at the closed door, he said indistinctly, ‘Have you been beaten stupid?’ How could she even think of leaving the palace in this weather
and at this time?
Meilin shook her head, her eyes clear and determined. If she didn’t leave, Mu Ren Luomei would definitely not let her go. And when his meridians were broken, she could think about it for
for the rest of her life. But now, she would never think about it again. She became fully aware of this when she saw him throw the sachet she had sewn with all her heart into the fire without even blinking.
She was actually not good at needlework, and this was the first time she had made a sachet. It was probably because she was bored, so the sachet she made did not look very good. In fact, she did not intend to give it to him, but just
keep it for herself to play with. Now, she had broken off her hopes.
I can’t take this kind of thing with me…
These were his exact words. But of course, he wasn’t just referring to the sachet. He was also referring to her.
She was just a dead ender in a secret factory, a servant with no name or status in his palace, and a wanted spy. Someone like her could never stand
openly by his side. Although she had vaguely understood this before, she had just liked him anyway. But when she heard him say it himself, it pierced her heart, and she realised that deep down
she still had some kind of unrealistic and extravagant hope deep down.
If at this point in time, she still foolishly stayed here for him to use, watching him flirt with other women, she would truly be a saint.
Seeing her like this, the bald-headed man couldn’t help but take off his leather hat and scratch his scalp, quite helpless: ‘If you want to go, you can, but you have to wait until tomorrow during the day. My old bones can’t stand the cold.’
Meilin thought about it and agreed. It was snowing heavily, and going out in the middle of the night would be fatal. When Mu Renluomei came here, Murong Jing and Mu Rong would inevitably be preoccupied for a while
and not be able to look after themselves. And when she thought about what he had said before, that she should not let him see her again, she thought that perhaps she could just be careful and leave Jingbei without too much difficulty.
When she thought about it like this, she felt a little relieved despite her sense of loss. She nodded in agreement and was about to go back to continue resting when she was stopped by the bald man.
‘The porridge is still hot, eat some before you go back to sleep,’ he said, using his pipe to light the food box next to the charcoal brazier. ‘With your constitution, can you withstand the snowstorm?’
The food box was made of porcelain and had a false bottom, which contained red-hot coals. There were two layers inside, one with congee and the other with side dishes. When it was opened, it was still steaming.
Meilin was no hypocrite. After asking the herbalist not to eat it, she picked up the chopsticks and started eating. No matter how bad her mood was, she could always eat. This was a result of her previous living environment.
For them, even if there was one less dry and hard steamed bun, they might have to pay with their lives for it.
‘Alas, I was hoping to enjoy myself here. The royal palace, a place that we country folk would never dare to dream of, and now I’m living it.’ The bald man leaned back
in his chair, squinting his eyes at the red-hot coals. His body rocked back and forth with the chair, making a creaking sound that, combined with his words full of reluctance and regret,
was particularly disturbing.
Meilin glanced at him, swallowed his side dish, and wrote on the table with the end of his chopsticks dipped in water:
You can’t get any sun here.
The bald man fell silent, and a bright light shone from the corners of his eyes. After all, home is the best place to be.
Chapter 17 (1)
Early the next morning, the bald man made an excuse that he needed some medicine and wanted to go to the pharmacy himself to choose the right ones. The waiter informed Qing Yan, who, seeing that it was snowing heavily, didn’t think about it
other things, and had someone arrange a carriage to take him there.
Not long after he left, Meilin put on a cotton padded jacket and a straw hat and raincoat, and walked out the side door in broad daylight. After this period of time, even if someone was blind
they would know that Murong Jing treated her differently from the others, and they had not heard that her movements were restricted, so naturally she had unimpeded passage all the way.
Once she left the palace, Meilin went straight to the carriage and horse dealer. No one wanted to drive in such heavy snow, so she bought a horse and cart and drove herself. Before leaving,
she asked the owner to wrap the horse’s knees, hooves, and belly in thick cotton to prevent frostbite. She also took along fodder, charcoal, and other items, and bought a pack of marinated meat buns from a nearby restaurant.
Then she headed for the largest pharmacy in the city.
The money spent was all from the sale of game that day. After eating and sleeping every day at the royal court for a month or two, he was either drowsy or in a daze, and had not gained any benefits. Now
I really regret it, why didn’t I think of asking for gold and silver?
The wind and snow were extremely strong. Occasionally, there were pedestrians walking along the street, leaning against the eaves. When you look up, the sky is full of snow-white, and the only greyish buildings are the only
As early as the horse-drawn carriage was in motion, Meilin had already asked for directions. Speeding along, they soon saw a low-key and practical two-horse carriage parked by the roadside. The driver was leaning against the carriage
with his arms folded, stamping his feet from time to time. A few steps forward, they saw the sign for Renhui Pharmacy. She slowly slowed the horse’s pace, passed in front of the pharmacy door, and stopped on the other side. Then she jumped off the carriage, slightly
lowered her head, and walked straight in, lifting the heavy door curtain.
A moment later, she emerged wearing a snow-green cotton coat and carrying two bags of medicine, and climbed into the carriage. The man with the scabies head then followed, wearing the straw hat and raincoat she had brought with her, and sat crookedly on
the cart’s shafts, cracking his whip and taking the reins.
It turned out that the driver had never seen Meilin before because of his status, so the two of them used this trick to switch places. After waiting for more than two hours, the driver finally noticed something was wrong.
By then, the two of them had already left the city gate of Jingbei and were driving on the official road to the south. Before leaving, the bald man left a letter in the house, saying that he missed his hometown and that since everything was
and was leaving in an upright and honourable manner.
Meilin lit the charcoal stove, and although the carriage was a bit drafty, it was still quite warm inside. As soon as they left the city gates, she replaced the bald man with the pox-scarred head and took over driving the carriage while he was outside in the rain, wearing his straw hat and raincoat.
In fact, if she hadn’t promised to raise his jade and wanted him to get rid of the poison in his body, she would have probably left without him.
Because of the last time she cultivated jade, she paid special attention to the flow and route of internal energy after entering the jade in her veins, and slowly learned to control the way the surging internal energy in her body. At present,
although she cannot yet control it as if it were her arm and fingers, at least she no longer needs to worry about it turning against her. Therefore, her greatest wish at present is to remove the toxins that bind her.
The sound of a snore came from the carriage. It was obviously the head of the scabies who had got up early in the morning. Now that he was bored with the journey and couldn’t chat with Meilin, he simply started to catch up on his sleep.
Meilin was originally a little uneasy, but now all her unease had disappeared. She gave a small smile, whipped the horse’s tail in the air, and let out a loud crack. Although she didn’t hit the horse,
At first she continued along the official road, but after walking for about 20 li, she encountered a fork in the road and turned into it.
After the initial nervousness of fleeing disappeared, and after taking a bath in the snow and wind, her mind cleared up. Over the past few months, she had inadvertently learned too much
about Murong Jing that no one knew. Not to mention anything else, the other day he used the excuse of being locked in the house with her, lovingly entwined, and never left the house, but in fact secretly left Jingbei, and it was not until Mu Nuo Luomei
was about to break in, he barely managed to get back in time. This incident alone was enough to make her wish she had died a hundred times. Although he said he never wanted to see her again, how could he let her leave alive?
The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became, so she subconsciously started to prepare for danger, and dared not take the official road anymore, but only walked to the remote mountains. Even if it meant going hundreds of miles out of the way, it was better than running
the official road with no cover.
At noon, the two men stopped in a not-so-small village, fed the horses, bought some food and warm clothes, asked for directions, and continued on their way. At night,
they stopped in a small town. After two days of wandering around aimlessly, no one had caught up with them, and the two men were truly relieved. They slowed down and started following the route
towards the central state.
The bald-headed doctor sat in the car every day, and it was still warm, but he was getting old and couldn’t take this kind of travel very well. However, he didn’t complain as he usually did, just
occasionally grumbling a bit when the wind and snow mixed together and poured into the car. Meilin didn’t mind either.
That afternoon, a sudden snowstorm blew up, and Meilin had to find a nearby village to stay. Unexpectedly, although the village was small, there was an inn. Later
she realised that this was actually the place where all the cities in the north took the shortcut to the city of Ye in the south. She had no idea that they had accidentally caught up with it.
On this snowy day, there were no pedestrians on the road, and it took a long time knocking on the door of the inn before someone came to open it reluctantly.
The man looked like a country bumpkin, like a waiter, but he could also be the owner. While gathering the wind from the edges of his clothes, he squinted and carelessly surveyed the two people standing outside the door
standing outside. After seeing the clothes of the head with ringworm coming through the Wangfu and the carriage behind him, his eyes immediately widened and shone with brilliance.
‘Oh, you two guests, come in quickly…’ While saying this, he shouted behind him, ‘Qizi, go and help the guests unload the carriage, pull the horses to the back, and take good
take care of it.‘ He deliberately slowed down when he said this, and when he saw that the two men did not object, he knew that they planned to rest here, so he became even more attentive.
’It’s hard to travel in this heavy snow,’ he casually chatted, while his gaze fell on the man by the door who was taking off his straw hat and raincoat to shake the snow off his body. Seeing her beautiful eyebrows
beautiful eyes, and couldn’t help but stare at her again. Turning his head to greet the bald-headed man, he couldn’t hide the smile on his face.
The bald-headed man looked as lethargic as ever, striding over to the stove and pulling out his pipe.
‘Who says our lives are hard? We’re just rushing to get home before the New Year.’ He had slept a lot in the cart, but it had been so bumpy that he hadn’t been able to sleep soundly
rest, but was instead exhausted. At this point, while responding to the man, he yawned so hard that tears came to his eyes. ‘Innkeeper, two upstairs rooms.’
‘Yes, of course! Sir, please rest here by the fire, and let me know if there is anything you would like to eat.’ The innkeeper cheerfully gave his instructions, then turned and went into the back room.
Meilin sat down next to him, looking at the excited back of the man, a little puzzled.
Chapter 17 (2)
For dinner, they had pickled cabbage and pork stew with vermicelli, which was simmering away on the stove in a big pot. There were also a few slices of roast pork and some steamed buns.
The meal made the two men sweat and they felt warm and comfortable all over. After dinner, sleepiness set in, and the two men went to their respective rooms. They didn’t even have time to wash their faces and feet before collapsing on the kang. The kang in the room was burning hot
and as soon as someone fell asleep on it, they started snoring loudly.
It wasn’t long before there was a light tapping on the door.
‘Sir, I’ve come to deliver your hot water,’ the innkeeper shouted, holding back his voice. The person on the bed was still unaware and rolled over, sleeping soundly.
The next moment, something poked its way through the crack in the door, reflecting the light from the snow that leaked in through the window cracks. The light shone and danced as it unhooked the bolt, pushed open the door, and quickly
reached in to catch it before the bolt fell.
‘Boss, you said you only wanted money, not life,’ said a low voice, full of unease.
‘Nonsense, who wants to take a life? I’m just getting you a wife, little Qizi,’ the shopkeeper scolded unhappily, while at the same time the light from an oil lamp streamed in.
The shopkeeper walked in with a long knife in his hand. He straightened his back, which made him look much more imposing and fierce. Behind him, carrying an oil lamp, was a young boy of fifteen or sixteen
who shuffled along, as if he didn’t want to come in.
Instead of rummaging through the bundle on the table, the innkeeper walked straight to the fire bed, obviously much more attracted to the sleeping person than the bundle. However, just as he
lowered his head to lift the quilt, the quilt suddenly flipped over, covering him head over heels. He felt a tingling in his waist and was unable to move again.
On the other hand, the young man holding the oil lamp reacted very quickly. As soon as he sensed something was wrong, he smashed the oil lamp over, twisted his waist, and with his toes pushing against the door, which had just closed, he shot
like an arrow at the person who had jumped up on the bed.
The oil lamp cut through the air, and when it fell on Mei Lin, she slapped it away, but at the same time it illuminated her face. The young man let out an exclamation, and in mid-air, he suddenly stopped his momentum and
and landed on his feet.
The oil lamp fell to the ground and went out with a crash.
Meilin was mentally prepared, but she did not expect the man to stop halfway. Just as she was about to take the initiative, she suddenly heard an unbelievable but full of surprise shout
in her ear.
‘Sister?’
Her heart skipped a beat. This voice…this address…only that silly boy Yue Qin…could it be…
Before she could be sure, with a pop, the room lit up again, but the young man had blown the firecracker in his hands. The light of the fire reflected on Yue Qin’s handsome
face.
‘Sister, it’s me,’ the young man said, jumping over to her, his hands flailing about, not knowing how to express his joy. So the firecracker followed his movements and
swirled in the air, sometimes bright, sometimes dim.
Meilin couldn’t help laughing, and went down to pick up the oil lamp. Yue Qin obviously realised that he had forgotten himself in his joy, and embarrassedly scratched his head. He walked over and lit the oil lamp.
At that moment, the door creaked open, and the old herbalist’s louse-covered head poked in.
The two men sensed something was wrong when they saw the innkeeper’s eyes. The innkeeper was a shrewd man, so how could he possibly miss the trace of the sleeping gas? Mei Lin was even less worried.
So they had a good meal, then slept soundly, and waited for the thieves to come in, also lying in the warm bedclothes. Fortunately, they came quickly, otherwise Mei Lin would not
couldn’t guarantee that she would stay awake. She just never expected that Yue Qin would be here, and that he had become a thief and bandit.
Now she realised that the innkeeper had not called for Qizi, but Qin Zi.
They didn’t get to know each other until they had a fight, and the four of them sat around the roaring stove, chatting idly.
Having been depressed for several days, the bald man was instantly invigorated by the conversation and was no longer sleepy. He chatted with the innkeeper. He talked about everything, from the Jingbei Royal Family to the
chickens they kept at home.
The innkeeper was Zheng San. Zheng San was intimidated by the two men. Although he was annoyed, he dared not disobey and could only mumble in agreement, while his eyes could not help but keep glancing at
towards Meilin, who was listening to Qin Yue’s words. He thought to himself that it was a pity that such a pretty young lady was mute. But then he remembered her tactics, and his rising lust immediately
waned.
Qin Yue was really frustrated and saddened when he found out that Meilin couldn’t speak, and instead Meilin had to comfort him. Although a smile appeared on his face again, sadness was still
‘Sister, I listened to you and went to wait for you in Luzhen, the town closest to Zhaojing,‘ he said. He got up, picked up the teapot on the stove that was boiling over, and poured some water for everyone before sitting down again.
’I got a job as a waiter in a restaurant there, and I’ve been waiting for you to come find me every day.”
Meilin’s face flushed slightly. She felt guilty and moved at the same time. She thought to herself that she could never tell this simple young man that she had never actually planned to go find him.
No matter what her reasons were, they were not enough to face such sincerity.
Yue Qin did wait for Meilin in Luzhou honestly, until the wanted poster with her portrait was posted all over the city’s large and small gathering places. At that time
he panicked and began to inquire about her news. After learning that she was captured and sent to Jingbei, he immediately left Luzhou and prepared to go to Jingbei to find a way to save her.
However, when he actually arrived in Jingbei, he could not find the slightest trace of her. Whether she was in the Jingbei prison or the royal palace was unknown, let alone
saving her by one’s own efforts. Just when he was at a loss, he happened to meet Zheng San and his brothers, who had come to Jingbei to purchase goods. Zheng San encountered a pickpocket. He was quick and agile and helped
helped chase them back, and so they got to know each other. After going back with them, he found out that they were actually a group of mountain bandits. They promised to help him save her, so he joined them.
After listening to Yue Qin’s account, Meilin couldn’t help but knock him on the head, full of disapproval. Who are Murong Jing and what are they, and can they be dealt with by just a few mountain bandits and thieves?
Instead of being annoyed, Yue Qin was happy when he was tapped on the head. Smiling, he took Mei Lin’s hand, wanting to say that fortunately she was fine, but then he suddenly remembered that she was mute, and his face fell
again.
‘Sister…’ His eyes reddened as he tried to comfort her, but before he could say anything, he felt even more uncomfortable.
Zheng San saw him daring to take Mei Lin’s hand, and his eyes turned red with anger. He was about to say something sarcastic when suddenly the sound of hoofbeats could be heard outside the door. He was wondering what was going on when
he saw Mei Lin’s face change slightly and she stood up.
The bald man let out a long sigh, leaned back in his chair, and put his pipe in his mouth without saying anything.
Yue Qin was puzzled and was about to ask when he heard a loud bang and the front door was smashed to pieces.
The wind and snow poured in unhindered, blowing so hard that it was difficult to open one’s eyes. Murong Jing, wearing a large black mink fur coat and covered in snow, walked slowly in with a cold face, like a god of death.
Chapter 17 (3)
It turned out that the day Murong Jinghe received the news that Meilin and the bald-headed doctor had left Jingbei, Muye Luomei was trying to communicate with him about leading the army against the enemy.
“Not to mention the emperor’s favour towards you, if you don’t repay him, even as a great Yan man, when a powerful enemy invades, you actually hide in this Jingbei land, so what face
face the people of the world?’ No matter how she tried to persuade him with kind words and an analysis of the situation, Murong Jinghe just looked distracted, and even went so far as to fiddle with the white
potatoes roasting on the brazier. Murong Leme finally lost her temper and scolded him harshly.
Murong Jinghe accidentally pierced the outer layer of the white potato’s skin with the fire tongs in his hand, and the mouth-watering fragrance immediately filled the air. He shrugged his shoulders and suddenly remembered
he hadn’t yet tasted the baked sweet potatoes from Meilin. He was tired of eating yam and other wild tubers.
‘Murong Jinghe…’ Mu Nuo Luomei was originally standing by the window admiring the plum blossoms, but when she saw this, her anger flared. She was about to take a few big steps over and knock over the brazier, so that he would focus his attention entirely on
her.
‘Marry me.’
Those four short words made her freeze in place.
‘Marry me. Once the wedding is over, I will immediately go to the capital to ask for permission to go to war.’ Murong Jinghe slowly raised his head and said calmly, but a hint of
nervousness could be seen in his dark eyes. Although he was confident of victory, he had become accustomed to Mu Ye Luomei’s persistence, and her answer was still very important to him.
Mu Ye Luomei came back to her senses, her face flushed with embarrassment, but she also felt a little incredulous.
‘You’re crazy, what time is it?‘
Murong Jinghe was not surprised by her reaction, but he couldn’t help feeling disappointed. He smiled and his gaze fell on the flurries of snow outside the door.
’Ten years ago, you said that if the barbarians didn’t retreat, how could you settle down. So I let you go for five years. However, after the border became peaceful and the neighbours came to pay their respects, you became distant with me instead
. Although I, Murong Jing, am not talented, my feelings for you are clear to heaven and earth. This time I want a clear answer from you, otherwise there is no point in talking about anything else.’ At the end of his speech, his
voice had become extremely stern.
Mukenochi Rakuumei had originally felt guilty because of his heartfelt confession, and her attitude had gradually softened. Even a gentle look had appeared in her eyes, but when she heard the last sentence
with a clear threat, his face changed slightly, and he sneered, ‘Don’t you think about how you have spent the past five years as queen? To a man who goes around sowing his wild oats and getting drunk every day,
why should I, Mu Ruomei, commit myself to marrying him? If you are a man of integrity, why don’t you come and talk to me about this after you have driven off the foreign enemy?’
After driving out the foreign enemy… Murong Jing laughed to himself. If that really happened, it would only end in the foxes being killed and the dogs cooking them. If the two of them missed this opportunity, they would
never be able to come together again.
‘If you don’t agree, please feel free to return to the capital or go to the southern border.’ He put the almost-white potatoes aside to cool, clapped his hands, and wanted to say something else,
suddenly caught a glimpse of Qing Yan standing outside, hesitating to enter. His brows knitted. ‘What is it?’
Seeing that he had finally noticed him, Qing Yan let out a sigh of relief, bent slightly, and walked in, leaving the letter from the head of lice in the room and handing it over with both hands.
Muyong Jing and Hu Xi glanced at his somewhat nervous expression, pulled out the inner page from it, and found it to be a light yellow sheet of paper used for writing prescriptions, with just a few
words on it.
It was just that the herbalist had left. It was for the best, he had long been unhappy with that bald guy. Muyong Jing thought to himself, and was about to say that Qing Yan was making too much of a fuss, when
suddenly remembered something, his face could not help but sink.
‘Where is she?’ The woman lives with the head louse, and the head louse picked this time to leave…the more he thought about it, the worse he felt, and he suddenly stood up.
‘Back, back, my lord…’ Qing Yan quietly wiped the cold sweat from his brow, staring straight at his toes, showing the calmness unique to an eunuch. ‘I didn’t see Sister Meilin
lady Meilin.‘
’What do you mean you didn’t see anyone!’ Murong Jinghe was furious, and he crumpled the envelope and letter into a ball and threw it into the charcoal fire. The charcoal fire then flared up brightly and fiercely, just like his temper at the moment.
Qing Yan’s face was expressionless, but he was thinking to himself, ’My lady, you are courting death.’
‘Give the order immediately to seal off the entire city, allowing no one in but no one out!’ Murong Jinghe gritted his teeth and said, “Send someone to search every household in the city for me. I don’t believe she can escape to the heavens
.”
Qing Yan agreed, and was about to turn and leave when he was stopped by Murong Jinghe, who said, “Prepare my horse for me and have the 17 Tiger Wing cavalry wait at the gate.” After saying this, he was about to go outside.
‘Murong Jinghe, what’s going on? Where are you going?’ Muye Luomei didn’t expect the two of them to be having a good conversation, and he was leaving because of a letter. Unable to help but
walk a few steps faster, she grabbed him and asked with concern.
Seeing the opportunity, Qing Yan hurriedly went inside to get his overcoat.
It seems that he only remembered that there was another person in the room at this time. Murong Jinghe suppressed the indescribable anger and panic in his chest, trying to remain calm, and turned his head stiffly
and said, ‘I’ll ask you again, will you marry me or not?’
Mu Leno Plum is a proud person and does not want to hastily marry because of coercion, but she still has feelings for Murong Jinghe, otherwise she would not have
been involved with anyone else, and moved by his feelings, she did not directly refuse at the moment, but only slightly softened her tone and said, ‘Can we talk about this when you’ve calmed down?’
Murong Jinghe’s heart was disheartened on hearing this, and coupled with the matter of Meilin hanging over his head, he no longer entangled with her, and sneered, ‘The wedding preparations are almost complete. If you won’t marry me, there are others
who is willing to marry me.‘
Mu Ren Luomei was a woman who would not be swayed by threats or entreaties. Upon hearing this, she turned pale, suddenly withdrew her hand, and sneered back, mocking him, “Then go find that woman who is willing to marry you.”
’That is exactly what I intend to do.’ Murong Jinghe looked deeply at her, his eyes as if frozen, before suddenly turning and striding out the door, into the snow and wind.
That woman had actually left him again. How dare she… Did she really think he couldn’t control her? Did she think he would allow a second Mu Ren Luomei to exist in the world?
Filled with anger, Murong Jinghe didn’t realise at that moment that he had actually placed Meilin on an equal footing with Mu Ren Luomei.
Qing Yan, who had been standing nearby like an invisible man, hurriedly caught up with him, draping a cloak over him while calling for someone to arrange for the things that Murong Jinghe had started to order to be taken down.
Muken Luomei stood in the same place, watching their backs gradually being engulfed by the flying snowflakes, and couldn’t help but clench her hands, her beautiful eyes growing dim. In fact, she didn’t believe that he really
would marry another woman, but just wanted to anger her. But using such tactics was a bit too childish. He was always like this, acting frivolously in a way that made people unable to entrust him with anything.
She had waited for five full years. If she wasn’t going to marry him, who else would she marry? It’s just that… it’s just that I hope he can do better. Is that wrong?
Chapter 17 (4)
Muyong Jing and Leng Chen kept a cool head. They left Qing Yan to handle all affairs at the palace, and they led the Tiger Wing 17 Riders out of the south gate and followed the official road in hot pursuit.
After a while of galloping, the cold wind and snow slowly calmed his boiling emotions and brought back his rationality. While riding non-stop, he went over the terrain of Jingbei in his head,
completely reviewing the surrounding intricate network of roads, passageways, and fortresses.
Although he was under house arrest in the capital after becoming king, someone reported to him on the situation here every now and then. The map of Jingbei had been rubbed
so many times over his palm that the writing was even blurred.
In the end, he fixed his gaze on Yecheng. In his letter, the bald-headed man said he was going home. He remembered that his men had been captured in Anyang, so they must be heading south.
Going north to south, whether it is the official road or a shortcut, they must pass through Ye City. Ye City has a special terrain, with towering peaks on both sides, like a natural barrier separating the north
from the south. Trying to bypass it is impossible in this snowy weather. Instead of wasting time on the road with that woman who is good at counter-tracking, it is better to get to Ye City one step ahead and wait for them there.
as long as they are in a hurry to leave Jingbei within these few days, they will come to her door. If they want to linger in the countryside… This Jingbei is his territory, so what’s there to fear?
After a day and a half of galloping, Ye City is in sight, and the two are nowhere to be seen along the way. This shows that they did not take the official road.
As the king of Jingbei, he entered the Yecheng Duyunfu government office with great dignity, ordering a citywide curfew and strict inspections of all travellers. At noon on the third day after leaving Jingbei, he was
lying on a warm pillow in the Yecheng Duyunfu government office, waiting for the fish to enter the net, when he received news from Qingyan.
The news was just a half-finished map.
Upon seeing it, he could not help but give a half-smile. He immediately got up, leaving two riders to continue waiting in Yecheng, while he led the remaining fifteen riders to
the bandit lair, half a day’s ride from Yecheng.
The bandit lair was originally an ordinary village, but because of its special location, it was coveted by a group of mountain bandits, and was finally occupied as a bandit lair, specializing in robbing those who coveted the
road. He always knew about it, but didn’t let the aides who managed Jingbei for him eliminate it. When he didn’t even have freedom, it was never a good thing for the fief to appear too peaceful and prosperous.
It turned out that Qingyan had not been idle since he left. While banning the entire city, he also sent people to track down the whereabouts of the two from Meilin. In addition, he had to appease Mu
Luo Mei, who was getting more and more difficult to deal with. No matter how capable he was, he was still a bit overwhelmed. What’s more, the current situation was unstable, so the sooner Murong Jingwei and Neng could return, the better. Therefore, he dared not spare any effort.
He pieced together the clues he received every day and drew a map. On the evening of the second day, after seeing the direction the trail led to, he sighed. But he dared not delay
and immediately sent someone to deliver it to Ye City. It must be said that Qing Yan’s ability to become Murong Jinghe’s right-hand man was no fluke. At least no one could match him in understanding his thoughts and actions.
Although the route map initially meandered around in all directions, sometimes even going back, making it impossible to tell the true destination, by the evening of the second day, it
pointed irreversibly to one point, the village of Laowozi.
Therefore, Meilin did not know that even before they arrived at the village, they had already been anticipated. And when they entered the village and were fully occupied dealing with the inn,
Murong Jinghe was also leading his men and charging into the village in the midst of a snowstorm, quietly taking control of the entire village of bandits.
‘Staying the night,’ Murong Jinghe said, stepping through the unobstructed door of the inn, ignoring the various expressions on the faces of the people there, shaking the snow off his clothes, and speaking in a low voice.
Everyone could clearly see his boiling anger, but apart from smashing the door at the beginning, he didn’t show it again.
Zheng San looked at him suspiciously, unsure of how to deal with the situation. But before he could hesitate for too long, Murong Jinghe had already walked over, unfastening
the ties of his overcoat, while giving him a glance. He couldn’t help but shiver, and hurriedly stood up to make room. Also rising were Yue Qin and Mei Lin, while the bald man still sat in his chair
smoking his pipe with a carefree air.
“Sir, are you alone?’
Muyong Jing didn’t look at anyone, just looked around at the not spacious but not too narrow place, and then said to the door, ‘Come in.’ As he spoke, he took off his cloak
.
The flustered Meilin subconsciously reached out to catch it, but he avoided it and threw it to the surprised Yue Qin next to him. At the same time, more than ten
strong and burly men, all wearing the same black mink overcoat. The snow on their bodies had already been dusted off at the door. After entering the house, they simply rushed to Mu Rongjing and bowed, before
each taking off their overcoats and finding a place to sit down. Despite the large crowd, there was only the sound of clothes rubbing against each other.
Zheng San was so shocked by the scene that he felt a little dizzy, and still stood there stupidly.
Murong Jinghe had already sat down, but when he saw that he was still not moving, he frowned unhappily: ‘Light the stove for my brothers, and bring out whatever food you have.’
Speaking of which, he glanced at the wind and snow still howling and pouring into the hall, and suddenly regretted his rashness. So he added, ‘Go get a board and seal the door.’
‘Oh, yes, yes…’ Zheng San came back to his senses and tugged Yue Qin, ‘Qin Zi, come and help.’
Yue Qin was pleasantly surprised to see Murong Jinghe again, and although he didn’t dare to be as affectionate as he was with Meilin due to the occasion, his bright eyes burned
as he stared at Murong Jinghe, wanting to say something but unable to. Zheng San dragged him a few steps before he came to his senses and was about to agree, but then he saw Murong Jinghe suddenly turn his head.
‘Yue Qin, stay.”
As soon as he said this, two of the big men, who had taken off their cloaks to reveal green brocade clothes with gold thread and a silver tiger with outstretched wings, immediately got up and went to help Zheng San. This made
Zheng San feel both scared and curious, and he couldn’t help but cast envious glances at the two men.
Ignoring them, Murong Jing and focused his attention on Yue Qin, gesturing for him to sit.
Yue Qin had never imagined Murong Jing to be so awe-inspiring after he had regained consciousness. He couldn’t help but look at him with admiration, smiling from ear to ear. He had a lot of questions he wanted to ask, such as how he knew
his name, how he was doing, and how he ended up here. There were so many questions, but he didn’t know where to start.
‘Silly boy,’ the bald man seemed unable to bear his foolishness, shook his head, stuck his pipe into his belt, and then bowed to Murong Jinghe: “Your Highness, please
sit back and relax, I’m going to go to bed.” After saying this, he didn’t wait for a response, put his hands behind his back, and walked unsteadily.
Murong Jinghe lowered his gaze, did not look at him, but only glanced briefly at the woman who was still standing in the same place, eyes downcast, not knowing what to think. Suddenly, he reached out and pulled her into
his arms. In the stunned gaze of Yue Qin, he suppressed her reflexive struggle without a trace while smiling gently and explaining, ‘She is my future wife.’
With these words, the woman in his arms froze as he wished, and the innocent teenager also widened his dark, shiny eyes. Although he found it a bit unbelievable, he still felt
overjoyed for the two of them.
Chapter 18 (1)
Meilin of course didn’t take Murong Jing and those words seriously, but when she saw him say it in front of so many people, she didn’t even blink her eyes, as if he were telling the truth
and still couldn’t help but jump a little. But whether it was true or not, the sentence faintly revealed a message, and that was that he had no intention of taking her life just yet. With this knowledge, she let
out a sigh of relief and stopped struggling. Let him say whatever he wanted.
Then she watched Yue Qin being abducted. In fact, it wasn’t really abduction. After all, according to Yue Qin’s little mind, even if he wasn’t called when they left, he would
petty to chase after. Therefore, when Murong Jinghe said that he would let him follow him in the future, the little guy immediately smiled with a bright and sunny face, making her uneasy heart settle slightly.
The casserole was served, and the aroma of stewed meat with Chinese five-spice immediately filled the air.
One after the other, three large pots were brought up with the red-hot stove, and when Murong Jinghe picked up the chopsticks and ate a piece of meat first, the big men gathered in groups of five
and started cooking around the stove.
It was too late to steam buns and cook rice, so Zheng San kneaded the dough, dropped the dough sheets in the broth, and recklessly made do with a meal. Don’t look at Murong Jinghe, who is usually
although he is used to a life of luxury, he does not have the pretensions of a member of the royal family when it comes to food and accommodation. After eating hastily, he handed Yue Qin over to Nu Biao, the leader of the Tiger Wing, and led Meilin back to the room where she had previously stayed.
Meilin’s heart immediately sank.
Sure enough, as soon as the door closed, Murong Jing’s face immediately fell, his eyes cold and indifferent, with a faint air of detachment. Meilin was hesitating whether to kneel
or should he brazen it out and ingratiate himself, when he heard him say indifferently, ‘What, have you been away from the Dark Factory for too long, or have I spoiled you so much that you’ve forgotten your manners?’
Mei Lin’s heart trembled, and she instinctively knelt down. Her gaze fell on the black, hard clay floor in front of her, and her mind went blank, unable to think of anything.
‘What is the punishment for betraying the organisation and fleeing without permission?’ Murong Jinghe looked at the woman kneeling stiffly on the ground, took two steps forward, and stopped in front of her.
It turned out that a few days ago, Murong Jinghe’s full attention had been on chasing and capturing Mei Lin and the other person, and his heart was full of anger at being suddenly abandoned and a sense of panic that was hard to explain
and grievances, and didn’t think much about it. However, at the moment he broke in, all his emotions reached a climax like a snowstorm, but at the moment he saw Meilin, they were suddenly
emptied. He suddenly realised what he had done.
He had led the Tiger Wing 17 Cavalry, who were feared by the enemy on the battlefield, to personally pursue a woman during this critical period. He had abandoned Mu Ren Luomei. He had even
mobilised the troops, blockaded Jingbei, and took control of Yecheng…
He was at a loss.
When Murong Jing clearly understood this, a great sense of crisis made him instinctively build up his defences. Reason told him that this woman was wrong, and
the woman who could stand shoulder to shoulder with him could not be her. He was certain that if he could give her his love, he could also take it away. That unintended wrong step must be corrected immediately.
Meilin looked at the pair of green satin pumps with embroidered dark flowers and soft soles that had gotten soaked in the snow, and his heart was in turmoil. He couldn’t say whether he felt sad, bitter, or happy. He had made it
clear where the two of them should stand, but why was he chasing after her in shoes meant for walking around the house in the middle of a snowstorm?
Just as she was about to reach out and wipe the muddy toe of his shoe, Murong Jinghe’s words once again extinguished the glimmer of hope that had just risen in her heart.
“I will not punish you. I still want to marry you. But you need to know that you are the daughter of a kiln prostitute. Even if you enter the palace, you will only be a concubine. The positions of the main wife and the secondary wives
have nothing to do with you.’
Meilin looked up. This was the first time she had heard someone mention her background formally. She didn’t care if she was a concubine or a consort, it had nothing to do with her. But he said she was
the daughter of a kiln prostitute, he really did say that.
Murong Jinghe and Zheng were paying close attention to her reaction, so they locked eyes with her eager ones. His pupils instantly darkened, and he was about to ponder the meaning of it
when he saw her reach out and grab the hem of his robe.
Where is my mother? Meilin used the tip of her index finger to write these words in the dirt.
Unexpectedly, this was what she was concerned about. Murong Jinghe narrowed his eyes, feeling suffocated. He kicked her hand away and turned towards the bed. He lifted his robe and sat on the edge of the bed,
and then looked at the woman who had resumed her original posture and was still staring at him.
‘In what capacity are you asking me?’ he sneered.
Meilin paused for a moment, forcing herself to recall word for word what he had said at the beginning, holding back the pain that was rending her heart and liver, telling herself over and over again concubine, concubine.
Then, she slowly stood up, walked to the side of the bed with her head bowed and eyes downcast, and when she looked up again, she was beaming.
She took off his shoes and socks and placed his cold feet on the hot kang. She climbed onto the kang and massaged his tired shoulders and neck. She let him lean against her soft breasts
and kissed his face and lips tenderly and lovingly. She did everything a concubine could do for him. She…she just wanted to know that she still had family.
As she watched, Murong Jinghe, whose handsome face seemed to have fallen asleep, lightly nibbled his lower lip with his brows, and tilted his face slightly to the side. Unexpectedly, a hand suddenly reached out and caught
the water droplets that were dripping from her chin. She was startled, and raised her sleeve to rub her face in a flustered manner. When she looked back down at the man in her arms, she saw the same gentle smile.
Clouds rolled across Murong Jinghe’s eyes, as if a storm was approaching. He slowly tightened the damp palm, then closed his eyes, his chest rising and falling violently, as if
he were holding back an imminent temper tantrum. After a while, he finally withdrew his hand, but then suddenly thrust it into her arms, before rolling over and pinning her beneath him.
‘I’ll have someone look into it,’ he said, gripping her calm, gentle eyes. Meanwhile, his hand lifted her belt and slipped under her clothes, covering the plumpness that could drive a man crazy
.
When those rough hands with calluses touched her bare skin, she couldn’t help but tense up. The pain of her first night was unforgettable, and the following few times were also
about it, and she had a reflexive fear of it. However, Murong Jinghe didn’t do anything, just caressed her greedily for a while, and when he felt the honest response from her body,
he fell asleep with her contentedly.
Of course, she didn’t know that Murong Jinghe actually hated her hypocritical submission, but he didn’t want to leave traces of their love in this wild inn where people came and went
Even though, he really wanted her.
Chapter 18 (2)
As soon as they returned to the Jingbei Royal Palace, Qingyan immediately began to organise the wedding. As preparations had begun beforehand, there was no sign of panic.
Murong Jinghe had been extremely busy during this period of time, and he didn’t know what he was doing. Even Yue Qin followed him in and out, and it was rare to see him.
Meilin still lives in the courtyard where she used to live, attended by Dietang. The itchy head doctor did not return with him, but had Mu Rongjing send him back to his hometown. Mu
Rongjing gave him the jade that he had asked the corpse demon to bring to Qingyan, saying that the doctor had cured him with jade, so he would repay him with jade.
The head doctor with the pockmarked face left. He was not related to Meilin, so there was no reason for him to stay on for her sake. After all, he did not like Jingbei, and he knew that Meilin would never be able to raise the pulse jade for him
again, so he simply gave up. Before he left, he glanced at Meilin, but he wanted to say something and then stopped, and in the end, he didn’t say anything.
Meilin suddenly understood. The bald-headed doctor could not save her, otherwise, according to his temperament, he would never deliberately keep someone or make things difficult for them.
As she watched the carriage in which the bald-headed doctor was riding gradually disappear in the flying snow, it was as if she was watching her own life fade away. Just watching
like a bystander. She thought, perhaps she had long been prepared.
She wanted to live, but she was not afraid of death.
Murong Jing turned his horse around and galloped slowly into the snowstorm. She sat in front of him, gathered her thoughts, then turned sideways and buried her face in his arms. He then wrapped
her whole body in his cloak.
If she could live to see next spring, that would be wonderful. Feeling the warmth from his body, hope once again ignited in her eyes. At that moment, she felt blessed
. She thought that perhaps she would still be able to see the spring flowers of February in Jingbei, which were deeply etched in her memory, blooming in vast, reddish patches…
They were as red as the bridal gown she now held in her hands. Such a colour was not supposed to be worn by a concubine… This gown was meant for another woman.
Although she knew in her heart that this was not the colour for a concubine, Meilin let Di Tang help her put on the dress. In a few hours’ time, she would be entering the bridal chamber, and she still had to do her hair and apply her makeup. Perhaps taking a concubine
was not a big deal and there was no need to make a big fuss about it, but for her, whether she was the wife or the concubine, it was only going to happen once. While others might not care, she could not help but care. It was just a pity that
at this most important moment in her life, in the end, no one was able to be with her.
She had just finished dressing when the door was slammed open. Makino Rakumei stood outside, her beautiful eyes staring coldly at her, no, at the wedding gown she was wearing. After making sure that
she was not being tricked, a cold look gradually spread over her face. She placed a hand on the sword at her waist, drew it halfway out, and then thrust it back in with a pop.
‘You will never marry him.’ Those cold and decisive words drifted away in the snowstorm like a curse.
Mei Lin lowered her eyes, sat down in the chair in front of the dressing table, and waited for someone to comb her hair and apply her makeup.
She waited for Murong Jinghe.
Murong Jinghe was still wearing his regular clothes, and there was not a trace of the joy that should accompany an upcoming marriage. Meilin watched him quietly dismiss Ditan, the woman who would come to apply her wedding makeup
and leave her in the hallway, without the slightest ripple of emotion. The moment Mu Nuo Meimei appeared, she knew that the marriage would probably not come to fruition, so now…there was nothing unexpected.
‘I promised Nuo Meimei that I would never welcome you into the house,’ Murong Jinghe told her.
She lowered her head slightly, not knowing what expression he had when he said this, perhaps he felt guilty…or perhaps he felt nothing. She lifted her hand to undo the wedding gown she was wearing. This wedding
gown was never hers to begin with, and she hadn’t worn it long enough to feel attached to it, just as he was not attached to her.
‘You don’t need to take it off. She doesn’t want this wedding gown anymore, I’ll have someone make her another.’ Murong Jinghe watched her unemotional reaction, and for some reason, a surge of
flare of anger, but suppressed it and continued to explain the reason for his visit: ‘She and I will choose another wedding date. Today…today I will marry you and Qingyan.’
His hand trembled, and the knot on his waist was pulled into a dead knot. Meilin looked up in shock, unable to believe what she was hearing.
Her face, which was already pale, looked even paler against the background of her wedding dress. The faint blue veins were visible underneath, and her long hair, which was scattered behind her back, was dull and unpolished.
Murong Jing and Wei shifted their eyes slightly away, afraid to look at her again.
‘Qing Yan will definitely treat you well…’ He suddenly felt a lump in his throat as he said these words. However, he could not refuse Luomei, a woman who had always been arrogant
woman throwing away her pride, which was as precious to her as her life, and lowering her head before him. At least he shouldn’t refuse for a woman… a woman who shouldn’t become an important presence in his life.
Meilin really listened this time. Her face couldn’t have been whiter, but her hands couldn’t stop trembling as she trembled, trying to grab something to smash at the man in front of her who
thought he could control everything about others. However, when she felt the powder box on the dressing table, she just held it tightly.
Then she reached out and held out the empty hand under Murong Jinghe’s nose.
The antidote. As he looked at her in puzzlement, she silently uttered the two words in sign language. She knew that he was clever enough to understand.
Her meaning could not have been clearer. He gave her the antidote to eliminate the toxins in her body, and she would marry Qingyan.
Murong Jing and obviously did not expect her to bargain, rather than crying and refusing to marry, or pestering him, his mood suddenly became extremely complex, and it was hard to say whether it was disappointment or
gloom. He paused, holding back his growing irritability, and tried hard to look like he didn’t care so much, saying lightly, ‘There is no ready-made antidote, but I
I can have someone prepare it for you.’ In fact, he had already been doing this for a long time, he just didn’t want to say anything until it was ready.
Meilin knew that although this person was a bastard, he was still considered to keep his promises. With a slight smile, she continued to make her request.
From now on, you and I will have nothing to do with each other. Pointing the sharpened finger at the rouge, she wrote this line of words on the white silk handkerchief, as if it were a blooming red plum blossoming before the two of them.
Muyong Jinghe’s face changed dramatically, and he stared at the words fiercely, as if he wanted to pluck them off with his eyes. After a while, he eased the expression on his face, reached out and took
the handkerchief, balled it up, and threw it into the brazier, saying nonchalantly, ‘As you wish!’ After that, he flung his sleeves and left.
Meilin maintained her previous posture and did not look at him.
Ditan and the woman in wedding makeup walked in.
‘Miss, do you still want this makeup?’ Ditan asked hesitantly. She knew martial arts, and Murong Jing and Yu didn’t deliberately keep their voices down, so they naturally heard what was said in the room.
Meilin nodded. She sat back down, her gaze falling on the bronze mirror on the dressing table. She looked at the pale woman in the mirror who was looking back at her, and watched as the paleness was gradually covered up, replaced
by the beauty of a new bride.
There was no blessed elder to do her hair, so the makeup lady simply helped her do it herself, saying words of blessing as she did so.
‘One combing to the end.’
‘Two combings to white hair at the temples.’
‘Three combings to grandchildren all over the floor…’
Meilin’s eyes gradually grew misty.
He said she was his, and that she was his whole. He said that she could not marry anyone but him…
Chapter 18 (3)
The green felt mat entered the wedding hall, with the other end of the knot tied to Qing Yan.
The veil was lifted by someone using a scale, and without raising her eyes, Meilin heard a gasp of air. Presumably it was in surprise at the bride’s beauty.
Her face was not ugly in the first place, and now, after being carefully made up to hide the ghastly pallor, there was nothing left but a charming peach complexion and a charming, gentle figure. She knew how to restrain her
presence, and naturally knows how to make herself look radiant.
Today she is getting married. Naturally, she wants to be the most beautiful woman.
Slowly lifting her long eyelashes, like any other bride, her dark, clear eyes, with a hint of shyness, first look at the groom, who is standing next to her, ready to bow.
Those who came to the wedding were certainly there to see the face of that person, and at this moment, she was afraid that they were secretly laughing at herself and Qing Yan. Of course, she didn’t mind these stares, but from now on,
she and Qing Yan would be family, so how could it be their turn to laugh at him.
Sure enough, not only did the people around her who had heard the rumors about the groom being exchanged at the wedding begin to doubt, but Qing Yan also looked a little stunned.
Qing Yan was dressed in the groom’s wedding attire. He was handsome and refined, with soft eyebrows and eyes. At first glance, he looked like a charming young noble, not a fearsome imperial eunuch. When he saw her looking at him,
he was momentarily taken aback, but then he returned her gaze with a warm smile, one that hinted at sadness and guilt.
His eyebrows and lips rose slightly, and he returned her smile with a shallow, touching smile. Then, under the guidance of the master of ceremonies, they began the ritual of worship.
First, they bowed to the heavens and the earth. She could see the different expressions on the faces of the guests, but none of them were kind.
Second, they bowed to their parents. The two of them had no parents, only their hosts. They bowed to Murong Jinghe. She could see the cold, tense face of Murong Jinghe, the disdainful eyes of Mu Ye Luomei, and
the disbelief and shock of Yue Qin.
The couple bowed to each other. In their eyes, there was only Qingyan’s face, which had maintained a warm smile from beginning to end. However, there was still an unspeakable sadness in that smile.
That sadness became even more intense after a tall figure, hiding behind a doorpost and peeking at the two as they bowed, ran away.
Meilin felt her heart sink, and when she got up, her vision went a little dark. Just as she thought she was going to make a fool of herself in public, a warm hand rested on her waist, stopping her from stumbling.
However, it attracted a burst of jeering laughter.
That hand took the place of the knot of hearts, holding her hand, which had been cold since the beginning, and slowly walking towards the bridal chamber. She looked at the slender but straight back of the person walking in front of her, and in an instant
she felt relieved. She knew her time was short, and naturally she would not delay the other person.
‘Sister!’ came a faintly panting shout from behind her. It was obvious that Yue Qin had been unable to understand the situation and had chased after her all the way.
Meilin turned around, smiling sweetly. Her smile was not sad, nor was it desolate. The bright red makeup against the white snow looked like blooming red lotuses. Yue Qin was transfixed, until the two
people had walked away in the midst of the crowd, and he slowly came back to his senses.
My sister is willing. She…will be happy, right?
He looked back at the man who was supposed to be the groom but had inexplicably become the officiant. Coincidentally, he saw a teacup shatter in his hands, and the tea mixed with red blood drops
dripped out between his fingers, staining the sleeves of his magnificent robe red. However, the handsome face remained frozen, as if unable to feel the slightest pain.
Yue Qin scratched his head, confused.
Late at night, the noise gradually subsided.
Muyong Jing walked around the room like a trapped animal, his mind constantly flashing back to the bride’s radiant appearance in Meilin, to the way she had looked at Qingyan, and to her
last radiant smile at Yue Qin. Her gaze had never rested on him from beginning to end, and even when they had accidentally met, it had been indifferent, neither happy nor angry, just like the way she treated everyone else
. However, when she looked at Qing Yan again, there was an unconcealed tenderness.
He never knew that when her gaze no longer rested on him, he would find it so unbearable. He didn’t know because until today, her gaze had always
followed him. Even after she learned that he had deliberately drugged her and after he had injured her for Mu Ye Luomei, she never took her eyes off him. Until…
Until this morning, when she said that the two of them were no longer related.
No longer related…
An unspeakable frenzy stirred at those words, bringing a crushing pain in his chest that made Murong Jinghe involuntarily brace himself against the table by the window, his
other hand pressed against his chest, slightly stooped.
From now on, you and I will have nothing to do with each other. Those words echoed in his ears like a spell, accompanied by a glance from Meilin at Qingyan’s charming and shy expression.
It was so close that Murong Jinghe felt as if his chest was about to burst open. He suddenly swept everything on the table onto the floor, and when he looked up, he suddenly saw the plum blossoms in full bloom outside the window. The plum blossoms were like flames, reflecting the dark
night and the white snow, which was originally elegant and stunning, but before he could get bored, the restlessness in his heart flared up even more, so he struck out with a palm. But there was a loud cracking sound, and the beautiful plum blossoms in the window
were crushed and fell into the snow and mud.
‘What, do you regret it?’ Mu Ren Luomei’s voice suddenly sounded faintly outside the window, with a coldness that implied an unnoticeable sense of loss.
Murong Jinghe and Leng Li were there, their gazes falling through the window to the other courtyard. They did not respond.
‘Jinghe, you regret it, don’t you?’ Murong Luomei had lost her composure, and her beautiful figure appeared in the window, staring at the man inside, repeating
once again. She did not believe that he would change his heart. At least, she did not believe that he had really fallen for that cowardly woman. Over the past five years, there had been beautiful women around him, and there had been outstanding ones everywhere,
she had never seen him fall in love with anyone. He had always been waiting for her, so how could he have changed his mind in just a few months? And it was for a spy who had once betrayed him.
Muyong Jing slowly withdrew his gaze and looked at the woman in front of him, who had never abandoned him even in the worst situations. He saw that her usually cold
pride on her face was tinged with a faint air of melancholy, and watching the restless gleam in those mesmerising eyes, he felt strangely at peace.
‘I have never regretted anything I have done,’ he said calmly. ‘It’s late, you should go to bed.’
With that, he turned abruptly and left the window, picking up a cloak on the way out the door.
‘Go find Qingyan. I’m going out.’ As he stepped onto the steps and into the night, the snow covering the ground once again, Murong Jing and Wuwei ignored the fact that Mu Ren Luomei was still standing by the window, and they told the guard who had followed them silently
that they were to follow.
The guard stiffened slightly, his expression changing subtly in an instant, but he dared not say anything more and could only quickly run towards the courtyard where the couple was.
Chapter 18 (4)
If you want to talk about the saddest groom, no one in the world can surpass Qing Yan. On the wedding night, he was even forced to run around with his master. If it were
really for some urgent business, it would be fine, but he just wanted to go out and take a look at the defense and security of Jingbeicheng, and have breakfast on the way.
By the time he returned to the palace, it was past dawn, and there were already people moving about in the courtyard. Murong Jing called out to Qingyan, who was heading back to his room to wash and change, and told him to just do it in his courtyard. In fact,
Qingyan had a place to stay in the central courtyard to make it easier to serve him. Of course, after getting married and having a family, he had to find another place to live.
Qing Yan knew what his master was up to, but he had his own complaints, so he pretended not to know. He kept his usual expressionless face and said
‘If you don’t go back, Mei will definitely worry. I’ll go say hello and then come back to serve you.’ He deliberately emphasised the last few words. He thought to himself,
“Even if you are the prince, you can’t monopolise your subordinate’s wedding day.’
Mei… Murong Jinghe only felt a jump in the corner of his eye, and an inexplicable feeling of suffocation rose in his heart, but he could not act on it, and his face became a little unpleasant.
Qingyan lowered his eyes and looked away, not seeing anything.
Murong Jinghe stared at him unhappily for a long time, and finally waved his hand in compromise. When he returned to the house alone, the maid brought him hot water to wash up, and he discovered that there were still broken
shards of broken porcelain. He didn’t let the maid deal with it for him, but plucked them out one by one himself, watching the blood well up as the shards left his hand.
The image of Meilin, dressed in her bright red wedding gown and smiling prettily, suddenly came to mind, and the pain in his palm became unbearable. He wrapped his hand in a cloth and turned around, walking into the inner room to pick up the map of Da Yan and its neighbouring countries.
He began to study it with patience.
There is still more than a month until the New Year, and with the cold weather and people thinking about returning home, if the war situation continues to drag on, Da Yan will be in danger.
When Qing Yan returned wearing his usual clothes, Murong Jinghe made a decision.
‘Entering the capital today? When will the marriage between His Lordship and General Muye be held?’ Qing Yan was surprised. He thought that his lord’s whole ordeal was just to get Muye
get married to Luomei. He never expected that his wish would be granted so soon, and that his master would have to go to the capital again to ask for permission to go to war.
Murong Jinghe suddenly found the word ‘marriage’ very offensive. He couldn’t help but glare at Qingyan and said in a bad mood, ‘Her parents are both in the capital, so naturally it will be done back in the capital.’
Qingyan was suspicious, but he didn’t show it on his face. He just let out a ‘huh’ and then retired to get ready.
Murong Jinghe called out to him. After a moment of hesitation, he said with a face as if nothing had happened, ‘You just got married, and it’s been
a long time since…well…it’s not good to be apart, so bring her along.’ He really couldn’t bring himself to say the words ‘your wife.’
Qing Yan respectfully agreed, and after turning around, he finally couldn’t help but show an expression of helplessness on his face. He thought to himself, ‘My lord, how can you be thinking about your servant’s wife so obviously?’
.
When Meilin heard that she was going to Beijing again, she was really reluctant. She wanted to see the February in Jingbei, but if she missed this opportunity, she might not get another chance. However,
she and Qingyan were already married. Although they hadn’t drunk the wedding wine or tied the knot, they were indeed a family in name, and naturally they should stay by his side. These thoughts
were just thoughts that she had in her heart, not words that she had spoken. Qingyan told her, and she cheerfully began to pack.
There was nothing to pack, just a few clothes. As she carried her bundle and stepped out of the room where they had only spent one night together, she saw
a tall man standing outside the door.
The man looked to be in his early thirties, extremely ugly, but with pure eyes that gave him an honest and reliable appearance. Meilin narrowed her eyes and looked at his somewhat evasive eyes, vaguely
feeling a sense of familiarity. Just as she was pondering, the man first bowed to her respectfully and called out to her, ‘Miss.’
A flash of inspiration crossed Meilin’s mind, and her eyes suddenly widened.
A ghoul? A ghoul! She reached out and grabbed him, but she couldn’t make a sound, but her eyes were full of a smile. She really didn’t expect to see a ghoul here.
It seems that he has been doing well over this period of time, he is strong, his back is not hunched, and he looks a lot younger.
The ghoul was first scared and shrank back, but when he saw that she looked great, he couldn’t help but laugh a few times. Then he carefully took a peek at Qing Yan, who looked gloomy beside him
.
‘What are you doing here?’ Strangely, Qing Yan, who was usually expressionless, was now frowning and acting extremely displeased.
Meilin noticed the strange atmosphere between the two and, after thinking about yesterday’s scene, guessed what was going on. Seeing that the corpse ghost was scratching his head and unable to speak,
he couldn’t help but wanted to help him, so he dragged him forcefully in front of Qing Yan and gestured to Qing Yan that he wanted to take him with them on the road.
‘No, I won’t agree,’ Qing Yan shook his head without hesitation, passing the problem onto Murong Jing and.
The corpse ghost’s expression grew dull. Qing Yan turned with a cold face, not looking at him.
Meilin would never believe Qing Yan’s excuses, and she wasn’t one to meddle in other people’s affairs, but Qing Yan was different from other people to her. He clearly could be
happy, so why did he have to give it up for someone else?
She reached out to pull Qing Yan, who turned his head and looked at the two faces looking at him pitifully. Suddenly, he felt a headache.
‘Okay, hurry up and clean up. Don’t blame me if you’re late,’ he said dejectedly, watching the corpse ghost go happily, and couldn’t help but sigh. ‘Mei, you…’
He understood her intentions, but many things were not as simple as they seemed.
Meilin tilted her head and looked at him, with an innocent smile on her face.
Qing Yan felt his heart skip a beat at her smile, and he felt a sense of embarrassment at being seen through. Perhaps it wasn’t that many things were that simple, but he… and
the king lived such complicated lives that they made those around them suffer.
He had always known that the woman in front of him was very clever, clever enough to know when to hold back her light and when to flatter and ingratiate herself, never too little, never too much.
excessive. He always thought that she was just like them, calculating the gains and losses with every step. It wasn’t until yesterday at the wedding, when she looked at him, that he suddenly
realised that she was actually very simple.
She just knew more than anyone else what she could have, and then treasured it doubly.
‘Let’s go. Don’t keep your lord waiting,’ he smiled, taking her hand as she took his and leading the way out.
From then on, he would try his best to protect her from any more suffering.
Chapter 19
The journey was not easy. They had to get up early, stay up late, and brave the snow, but no one complained. It wasn’t until they had passed Yecheng and travelled south for another day that the weather gradually warmed up and the river became
unblocked. In order to save time and energy, everyone switched to the water route. They chartered a boat at Yuanfang Wharf and sailed straight for Zhaojing. If the journey from Yuanfang to the capital went smoothly by boat, it would take only
. It is a few days faster than travelling by land, but there is a dangerous stretch of the river in the middle, so it is not usually used unless there is an emergency.
This time, when entering the capital, Murong Jing only brought Qing Yan and Yue Qin with him, and Mu Ye Luomei still brought her two female bodyguards, Mei Lin and Shigui, who felt a bit out of place following them.
At the time, Murong Jinghe was a little surprised when he saw Shigui, and asked what he could do. Qing Yan just lowered his head and didn’t say anything, so Shigui could only scratch his head and stammer that he could drive
away corpses and also understood some voodoo techniques. So Murong Jinghe didn’t say anything more. As for Meilin, he didn’t even look at her once, as if she really had nothing to do with him.
The Seventeen Tiger Wing Warriors did not follow, and they had already left Jingbei a step ahead of time, going to a place that no one except Murong Jing knew about.
Because they were in a hurry to get there, there was very little conversation while riding, so it was quite peaceful. Once they got on the ship, Meilin stayed in her cabin most of the time and rarely went out, so she had almost no chance to meet
Muyun Jing and Mu Luomei, there was almost no chance to meet. There were many rooms on the ship. Except for Mu Luomei’s two maids and Yue Qin’s two servants, who shared a room, the other four
each had a room to themselves. Since their marriage, Meilin and Qingyan had never shared a room even for a single day. However, in their spare time, Qingyan and Yue Qin would visit her room and chat with her.
Yue Qin still couldn’t quite understand why Mei Lin had married Qing Yan, so whenever he got the chance, he asked.
Mei Lin liked Yue Qin, and although she had no intention of hiding it from him, she didn’t know how to tell him. He obviously intended to follow Murong Jinghe forever, and naturally she couldn’t let him
feel resentment towards that person. After thinking for a while, she dipped her brush in the water and wrote: Qing Yan is very good.
Yue Qin stared at the words for a long time, and the scene of Murong Jinghe crushing the teacup that day came to mind, so he couldn’t help but mumble out of his mouth. ‘But… Your Highness
really likes you.’
Meilin froze, and she turned her head slightly.
The cliff outside the window was like a knife, the fog was floating, and the monkeys were crying like they were hurt.
Yue Qin looked at the corner of her brow in a daze, suddenly feeling a pang of sadness for no reason. He was the master, I was the slave. She said, and then added, in the face of Yue Qin’s puzzled gaze: Don’t ever say that again.
Yue Qin was still dazed until he left. He was simple-minded and could never have imagined there were so many twists and turns. It wasn’t until he saw Murong Jing and Mu Ye Luomei on the deck, looking intimate
and enjoying the view, that it was like a sudden enlightenment, and he suddenly understood everything.
Perhaps it was because he had been captured and treated like prey before, but he could never feel any affection for Mu Ye Luomei. At this moment, because of Meilin, he hated her even more.
He was so infuriated that he started to walk towards her.
Mu Rongjing and Dao Zhen were really fond of him, and when they saw him, they waved for him to come over.
“Qin Zi, come and see how our country compares to your Nanyue,’
Yue Qin first formally bowed to the two before nonchalantly scanning the dangerous peaks on both sides of the river and respectfully replied, ‘My lord, in my humble opinion, the mountains and the water are the same
and indistinguishable.’
‘Oh?’ Murong Jinghe couldn’t help but show a look of interest and laughed, ‘If they are the same, then why should we distinguish between your Nan Yue and my Da Yan? Wouldn’t it be better to unite as one?’
Upon hearing this, Mu Ren Luomei was taken aback. When she looked at him, she saw that his eyes were full of teasing. For a moment, she couldn’t tell if he was teasing Yue Qin or if he really meant it. If
Mei Lin were here, she would definitely not have this doubt.
Yue Qin was obviously stumped by this question. He raised his hand and scratched his head, and it took him a while before he said with a pained expression and pursed lips, ‘Of course it would be good to become one family and not have to
fight anymore. But who would be the emperor?’
Murong Jinghe looked at his small face, wrinkled into a frown, and couldn’t help but reach out and rub his head. ‘It’s okay, this is not something you little guy should worry about. What
were you doing sneaking around there, trying to do something bad?’
Muken Luomei had rarely seen him be so indulgent with other people, and she was surprised. She couldn’t help but look at Yue Qin a few more times. Although he was small and thin, he was handsome and pretty, especially
his eyes were dark and clear, extremely intelligent, and for a moment she began to daydream again. Obviously, the chaos of Murong Jing’s personal life over the past five years had left a shadow in her heart.
Yue Qin was simple-minded. Although he felt that her gaze on him was strange, he could never imagine where it was going. Hearing Murong Jing’s question, it was exactly what he wanted to hear, and he smiled, revealing
two small fangs.
“My lord, I was just… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah…
‘She is already married, even if she married a eunuch, she can no longer be called a young lady.”
Hearing the ridicule in her words, Murong Jinghe glanced over and saw her lips curling in contempt. He felt uncomfortable and his face fell.
Yue Qin was even more irritated, but he also knew that he could not afford to offend this person, so he completely ignored him and still looked at Murong Jinghe with a sense of suffocation, saying, ‘My lord, I’m still
used to calling you Mei, Miss Mei Lin, Miss Mei Lin…’
Murong Jinghe was amused by his childish behaviour and burst out laughing, and his anger vanished into thin air. It was only when he saw Mu Ye Luomei’s face turning ashen with anger that he felt a little embarrassed
and hurriedly coughed to cover his embarrassment, pretending to turn around and look at the mountain scenery.
‘You can call her whatever you like. She…’ When he said this, the original light mood suddenly sank, and he said indifferently, ‘She
certainly won’t mind.’ In fact, he really liked this nickname.
With the permission of Murong Jinghe, Yue Qin couldn’t help but feel pleased, and glanced at Mu Ye Luomei demonstratively, almost dancing for joy. Mu Ye Luomei couldn’t really argue with him
like a child, so she snorted, angrily left the two of them and returned to the cabin.
Murong Jinghe didn’t turn around, as if he was already intoxicated by the scenery and had forgotten everything around him.
Yue Qin looked at his back and couldn’t help but think of the look on his face when he was looking out the window earlier in Meilin. He felt that the feelings exuding from the two of them were somewhat similar, and it made him feel
sour and bitter in his heart.
Chapter 19
The further south they went, the less snow there was, but the more rain there was. In the afternoon, it started to rain, and it didn’t stop until evening.
Originally, each person would eat their meals in their own room. After serving Qingyan dinner, Murong Jing returned to his room and found someone already inside. He pushed open the door and saw
a steaming hotpot on the table, along with a few plates of common side dishes.
‘Chief Steward, you’re finally back!’ The cheers of Yue Qin were the first to sound out, followed by a small face coming over, grabbing him by the hand and pulling him towards the table. ‘Hurry, my stomach
are starving.’ As she spoke, she kicked the door shut without looking back.
Meilin was smiling as she distributed bowls and chopsticks to everyone. Shikui was originally adding rice to his bowl, but when he saw her, his hand involuntarily trembled and he stopped, looking
nervous and flustered, as if he was afraid that she would scold him for entering his room without permission.
Qing Yan had never thought that someone would be waiting for him when he returned to his room. In the past, his room was always deserted, and he seemed to be used to it. But now, he suddenly felt a little bit of acidity in his nose, and it seemed
like warmth was fermenting in his heart.
Seeing that his expression was not right, the corpse ghost could not help but panic. He put down the bowl and wanted to go forward, but he did not dare.
‘It always feels so pitiful to eat alone.’ Yue Qin was excited about being able to eat with everyone, and he did not notice the strange expressions of the two, so he quickly explained.
He was a little afraid of Qing Yan, the manager, who usually kept his emotions in check and always looked down on people with a condescending gaze. However, because of his relationship with Meilin, he couldn’t help but be
a little more affectionate. ‘I like it lively, the more the merrier. Don’t be angry, manager, this was my idea, and I’m the one who got Ghost to come along.’ It turned out that Yue Qin had only
was just taking the food to Mei Lin to eat together, and Mei Lin thought that the food would be cold by the time Qing Yan returned to the room, so she thought it would be better to have a hot pot meal together, so Yue Qin dragged even Shigui along.
Qing Yan’s serious expression faded, and a faint smile appeared on her face. She said, ‘That’s very good. I haven’t eaten with someone in years.’ With that, she sat down next to Mei Lin
and sat down next to her. He took the chopsticks from her hand and took the initiative to add a few slices of tofu to the pot.
Seeing this, Shikui also relaxed. He added some rice and handed it to him respectfully with both hands.
Qing Yan took it and pondered for a moment before speaking: ‘You are not my subordinate, so you don’t need to do that.’
‘Yes, Brother Gui, if you are so constrained, the food won’t taste good,’ Yue Qin laughed and teased on the side.
The corpse ghost blushed when he was told off, and after stammering a few words, he really stopped being as timid as he had been at the beginning. It was Mei Lin who was sharp-eyed, and she noticed that Qing Yan’s ear lobes were faintly red,
and she couldn’t help smiling. She couldn’t understand how these two had ended up together, but if they were both sincere, there was nothing bad about it.
Yue Qin is an orphan. After the corpse ghost delivered the letter to the palace, Qing Yan sent someone to his house to investigate, and the news he got was that both his parents had died and his wife had remarried long ago. In
calculations, the four people present can all be considered lonely and miserable people. Although their backgrounds and identities are different, they have now gathered together and yet there is no feeling of being out of place.
Meilin was unable to speak, Qingyan had long since developed the habit of not speaking when eating, and Shigui was mute and silent, so all they could hear was Yueqin’s incessant chatter,
which was quite lively.
Just as they were eating heartily, the door suddenly knocked, and the next moment, it was pushed open.
‘Qing Yan…’ Murong Jinghe and Yue Qin shouted at the same time, but they stopped abruptly when they saw what was going on inside the door.
At that time, Meilin was putting fish fillets in Qing Yan’s bowl, while Yue Qin was piling meat and vegetables into the bowl of the imprisoned Shigu, who was busy trying to avoid it but was afraid to do so. When they saw Murong Jinghe appear,
, and they all froze for a moment.
Qing Yan was the first to react, hastily setting down his bowl and standing up, unobtrusively blocking Meilin.
‘My lord,’ he said, puzzled. This was his mealtime, and he wondered what could have made the prince so anxious that he had come in person. But even so, he still
without the slightest hesitation prepared to walk out the door.
However, Murong Jinghe stopped him.
‘Finish eating first,’ he said, and walked over to Qingyan’s bed and sat down. There were no extra chairs in the room, and there was nowhere to sit except on the bed.
The other three people only then came to their senses and hurriedly stood up.
Murong Jinghe gestured for them to continue without him. But Qingyan could not really ignore him, so he went and brewed a pot of hot tea for him before returning to the table.
With such a great god watching menacingly nearby, how could the four of them be as carefree as they had been at the beginning? The atmosphere became a little tense, and even the chatty Yue
and Qin both fell silent. Apart from occasionally passing food to the even more uncomfortable Shigu, they just ate in silence.
Meilin happened to be facing away from the bed, so the feeling was even more pronounced. It was as if the whole person was being scorched by a fire, unable to sit still or swallow.
After a while, Qing Yan couldn’t hold back any longer. He put down his chopsticks and, in the midst of Meilin’s and the others‘ puzzled stares, looked over to the man who was leisurely sipping tea while poisoning them with his gaze
.
’I’m done eating. You can go back to rest after you finish eating. No need to clean up,’ he said softly to Meilin, his eyes full of reassurance. After he finished speaking, he stood up and said, ’My lord, let’s
talk outside.’
‘It’s fine, we can talk here.’ Murong Jinghe remained seated, with no intention of moving, and a hint of anger in his eyes.
Qing Yan understood that his actions had just upset the prince, but he did not deny that he had done it on purpose. He glanced at Meilin, who had kept her eyes downcast and had not shown a smile since the prince had entered the room,
. He sighed inwardly but could do nothing about it. He could only walk over and block the fleeting glances of Mu Rongjing and Ruoyuoshixi past her.
Mu Rongjing’s lips curled up in a faint sneer. He naturally saw Qing Yan’s intentions, but he didn’t say anything, just said indifferently, ‘Starting tomorrow, you will all go to the main hall to eat.
You are not allowed to stay in this small cabin anymore, lest you say that I treat my servants poorly.’
Qing Yan’s rule should be that he came here in person for this reason, and you are making too much of a fuss about it, my lord.
Yue Qin looked up at the expressionless Meilin and the flustered corpse ghost, and couldn’t help but speak out of turn. He laughed and said, ‘My lord’s meaning is to let the young ones eat with you
eat together?‘ Although he had learned the rules these days, he had been used to being wild and unruly since childhood, and with no one to teach him, the sense of hierarchy in his nature was not that serious. He respected and admired Murong Jing more
than feared him.
Qing Yanmei frowned slightly, about to scold him for not knowing the rules, but she didn’t expect Murong Jing to laugh.
’Why not? Then from tomorrow onwards, you will all eat with me.’
Yue Qin was dumbfounded, and when he glanced at Mei Lin, he saw her lips pursed tightly. He was so annoyed that he wished he could slap himself. But now it was too late to regret.
Chapter 19 (3)
The rain never stopped. The next day, not only did it not let up, it seemed to be getting worse. Yue Qin was from Nanyue, and according to him, this was the kind of weather Nanyue often had. So he
wasn’t at all unaccustomed to it. He spent the whole day going from room to room in the cabin, and often ran out into the rain on deck, like a monkey, without a moment’s rest.
But the ship’s captain didn’t look well. He said that they would pass through the Tu shoals in the evening, where the water was originally fast-flowing and full of hidden currents, and even when passing through normally one had to be 120 times more
care. Now that it had rained for a day and night, it was feared that the danger would be even greater. The only solution was to speed up and arrive there in the afternoon, before the danger of crossing the beach in daylight was somewhat
reduced. No one could help in such a situation, so the others simply did not bother.
Meilin had always been cautious, so after hearing this, she went to the boatman and asked for some oil paper, which she used to wrap the clothes of herself and Qingyan and the other three people. She also stuffed
a firecracker just in case. As for Murong Jing and his relationship with Mu Ren Luomei, it really wasn’t her business to worry about.
Seeing this, Qing Yan thought about it and decided that it was better to be safe than sorry, so she followed Mei Lin’s example and gave Murong Jing and his important things the same treatment. Murong Jing and saw something strange and casually asked
. Hearing that this overly cautious approach originated from Meilin, he dismissed the thought of teasing her a little. His heart was at once tender and sore, and he felt some jealousy that he could not express.
‘She is always so careful…’ he murmured in a voice only he could hear, and then his gaze fell out the boat window, where the rain was like beads of string. Recalling the past, his eyes could not help
but become misty.
Qingyan looked up at him and said nothing, unable to say anything.
At lunch, they did indeed gather together, and it was the most lively they had been since leaving Jingbei. As Murong Jinghe had intended, everyone ate at the same table, regardless of
seniority. Even the two female bodyguards of Mu Ye Luomei were called to sit together.
Mu Ye Luomei felt a little strange. When she marched and fought, she also ate and slept with her soldiers. It wasn’t unbearable, but when she looked up, she could see Meilin
. She felt uncomfortable whenever she looked at her. Even she herself couldn’t understand why she couldn’t stand this woman. Could it be that they were just naturally incompatible?
Meilin didn’t care about her thoughts. Since she had to serve Murong Jinghe at the banquet, and she had to sit next to him, she was only separated from him by one person. This was nothing
But whenever she saw Qingyan not being able to eat much because she was serving him, she couldn’t help but help herself to some of the food in his bowl.
She felt as if her hand was being stared at by a ferocious beast, and a sense of danger arose spontaneously.
She was very angry about this, and thought to herself, ‘You’re not my master anymore, so I can do whatever I want.’ So, carrying that feeling of trembling all over her body, she picked up even more vigorously
and, after a moment, Qing Yan’s bowl was piled up like a small mountain.
‘That’s enough, Mei,’ said no one else, but Qing Yan was the first to feel embarrassed.
When Meilin looked up, she saw the somewhat sad eyes of Shigui. She felt inexplicably guilty, and when she saw the chicken leg that he had been holding in his bowl for a long time without moving, she suddenly stood up, leaned over
and picked it up, then placed it in Qingyan’s bowl. However, Qingyan’s bowl was already full, so there was no room for it. She was momentarily at a loss, and wanted to pick up some of the food in her own bowl, but
there was still food on her chopsticks.
Everyone at the table was stunned by her actions. Even Yue Qin couldn’t help but drop his chopsticks in shock. He bent down to pick them up, but after a while, he didn’t get up.
He just saw the chair he was sitting on shaking there, giggling and trembling non-stop. The ghoul sitting next to him was oblivious, his eyes fixated on the chicken leg the whole time.
The scene was really weird, and Murong Jing couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh. He reached out with his chopsticks and picked up all the food in Qing Yan’s bowl and put it in his own bowl. The chicken leg that Meilin had been holding finally
ended up somewhere, but at the same time it also dropped everyone’s jaws. Yue Qin, who had just gotten up, let out another ouch and slipped back down.
Qing Yan was a little embarrassed and dared not take a bite of the chicken leg. He could only glare at the corpse ghost across the table, but still lowered his head and picked up the chicken leg to nibble on it. He thought to himself: There’s
so much food in my bowl, so I probably don’t need to serve myself.
Seeing this, the corpse ghost relaxed his tensed nerves and smiled foolishly.
Because Qing Yan lowered his body, Murong Jing and Zhengji Wei’an’s elegant manner of eating without looking away, as well as Mu Ren Luomei’s ashen face and fierce gaze, fell unobstructed
into Mei Lin’s eyes. She was stunned, and then silently lowered her head and ate in silence, not offering to anyone else.
The sound of the chopsticks hitting the table made people jump.
‘I never knew you had the habit of sharing food with your servants. You really are a down-to-earth prince,’ said Mu Ren Luomei coldly, breaking the silence.
This remark was clearly loaded with innuendo, and it made both Murong Jinghe and Qing Yan change countenance. Mei Lin couldn’t help but clench her chopsticks in her hand, suppressing the sadness and anger in her heart. She knew
she could not cause trouble for Qingyan. In the past, she was a lackey of Murong Jinghe and had to endure; now she was nominally the wife of Qingyan and still had to endure. After all, she would have to
endure like this for the rest of her life…
“Qingyan has followed me since childhood, and our relationship is closer than that of brothers. Not to mention sharing a bowl of food, when I was trapped and unable to eat because of my serious injuries, I still relied on
his saliva to soften the hard, stone-like dry food, saving my life.’ Murong Jinghe put down his bowl and said calmly, his tone full of awe and displeasure. “Now,
we’re just eating some of the food in his bowl, so why all the fuss?” After saying this, he paused and laughed, “Luo Mei, not just anyone can be called a servant.” This remark
already carried a strong warning.
Everyone was shocked by Murong Jinghe and his words, except Qingyan, who continued to eat his chicken leg in silence without showing any emotion. Shigui and Yueqin were seeing
him display his majesty as a prince for the first time. He was clearly speaking gently, but it made people feel cold inside. Meilin had seen many sides of him, so she didn’t feel much about it, except
she could not imagine that Murong Jing and Qing Yan were valued in this way. The one who was most surprised was actually Mu Ren Luomei.
She was both angry that Murong Jing would humiliate himself in public for the sake of a mere servant, and yet she was also impressed by his rarely seen domineering and overbearing manner. For a moment, her heart was in a mess
. She was torn between anger at Murong Jing for publicly humiliating her and for being so infuriating, and admiration for his rare display of domineering arrogance.
At that moment, the boat shook violently, and the cups and plates on the table clattered. The people sitting there couldn’t help but reach out to hold onto the table to avoid falling and looking awkward.
The boatman hurriedly came in.
‘We’ve entered Litu Beach.’
Chapter 19 (4)
Li Tu Beach is made up of nine beaches, with eighteen bends and ten different climates within just ten li. The saying goes that Li Tu Beach is made up of nine beaches, with eighteen bends and ten different climates within just ten li. The climate can change drastically
they were both veterans, they couldn’t help but feel a chill in their palms.
Meilin sat on the bed in her room, clutching the bundle in her hands, calmly listening to the sounds coming from the boat. Probably due to habit, when there is a possibility of facing danger, she
likes to be as prepared as possible and never take chances.
On the contrary, the others just went about their business as usual, none of them acting as if they were facing a crisis. Yue Qin even ran onto the deck to watch the thrilling scene of the big ship battling the rapids and dangerous shoals
.
It was afternoon, and Qing Yan stayed with Murong Jinghe as usual. Murong Jinghe, in turn, was with Mu Ye Luomei discussing the border war. Naturally, Mu Ye Luomei’s female guards were also
, ready to answer the seemingly ordinary but actually tricky questions that the two of them asked from time to time.
The Shikigami couldn’t go in, so they squatted outside their door.
The boat accident happened extremely suddenly, taking everyone by surprise. The underwater currents smashed the large boat, which had many broken keels, into several pieces, which then wrapped around and pulled it downwards.
The moment Meilin felt something was wrong, she tried to rush to the cabin door, but before she could move, she felt a dizzying spin and her whole body rolled towards the door. Without thinking, she
grasped the bedpost, hung her bundle over her shoulder, and leapt through the broken window. The violent wind and rain came face-on, knocking her off balance. When she tried to land, she found that apart from the muddy turbulence
there was no longer any trace of the boat. Not far ahead, she could see half of the boat floating, but she was too weak to jump across, and she could only fall into the cold water with a splash. At the same time,
there were also exclamations of surprise and cries of people falling into the water, which meant that everyone on the boat had not survived.
The rapids surged up, as if countless hands were pulling her down under the water. Although Mei Lin was not a bad swimmer, she was still almost caught off guard and almost fell victim to the attack. After struggling hard to
emerge from the undercurrent and grab hold of the nearby mountain wall, she was exhausted.
She looked back to find the others. It was still afternoon, and although it was raining heavily, there was still plenty of light. With her eyesight, she could still recognise those she knew well
among the countless people struggling against the strong current.
The first person she saw was Murong Jing, who was swimming towards the opposite bank, holding Murano Rakumei in one arm and clinging to a part of the boat that had not yet completely sunk. Qing Yan’s
head emerged in the middle of the river, and after a while it sank again and did not resurface for a long time. Meilin was shocked, and was about to go back into the water when he suddenly broke through the water again, carrying the hulking body of the corpse ghost on his back.
Yue Qin was being pummeled towards the shore by two sailors. The two maids grabbed a piece of broken shipboard floating in the water and, with pale faces, were spinning with the current
while several sailors from the ship were swimming towards them.
A bundle floated past, and Meilin picked it up. She knew that although the situation was dangerous, most people would be fine. She let out a sigh of relief, but a sense of loneliness crept up on her
.
She had no one to worry about, and no one to worry about her. After all the twists and turns, she was still all alone.
With a bitter smile, she hung the two bundles she was carrying from her shoulders on a nearby long, slanting branch, and then jumped into the water. She didn’t care about the shocked voices around her, and with all her strength
she paddled towards the middle of the river to retrieve the bundles floating on the surface.
When the people waiting on the deserted beach slowly came to their senses, they realised that someone seemed to be missing.
‘Where’s Ah Jie?’ Yue Qin exclaimed.
As soon as he shouted, the others also realised that Meilin was gone. Because she was always quiet and unassuming, it was easy to forget she was there, so when she disappeared
not many people noticed immediately.
Most people couldn’t help but look at the fast-flowing water, which was now empty, and they all thought of the same place. Yue Qin was so desperate that his eyes were red. He was not a good swimmer and had only been saved by the others
and now he was about to jump into the water again.
‘Don’t be reckless!’ Qing Yan snapped, leaping up and grabbing Yue Qin’s arm, yanking him back.
Yue Qin let out a wail and cried, desperately wriggling his body to get away from Qing Yan’s iron grip. Everyone else was stunned by the scene, especially the boatman, who thought about the loss of a human life
and knew that this was going to be trouble.
Qing Yan was both sour and amused by Yue Qin’s childish reaction. He slapped him on the head and coldly said, ‘Mei is fine, so there’s no need for you to cry for her.’
The sound of crying stopped abruptly, and the speed of the change was breathtaking. Yue Qin raised his hand and wiped his eyes with his drenched sleeve. He was about to ask Qing Yan why he was so sure when he saw Murong Jing
and walked towards a white stone by the water on the beach. Several bundles were placed on top of the white stone, two of which were tied together tightly with an apricot-coloured sachet. The tassels at the bottom of the sachet
were tied in a slightly crooked knot.
Although others might not know, Qing Yan recognised at once that the two bundles belonged to him and the corpse demon. The intention of Mei Lin in tying them together like this was more than obvious.
Muyong Jing and Jiang opened each of the packages one by one to confirm the ownership, and the only one missing was Meilin’s. His face was gloomy, and his gaze looked through the rain curtain to the precipitous cliff opposite.
He suddenly kicked out with his toes, kicking a piece of rotten wood floating by the water’s edge towards the middle of the river. His body moved with it, and he was about to leap and use it as a prop to cross the river.
Qing Yan had been watching his reaction, and when he looked at the opposite cliff, he had already pushed Yue Qin to the corpse ghost who had just recovered from drowning. His body soared forward, just in time to block his movement across the river
.
‘My lord, let her go.’ With a stiff head, he met the cold and violent gaze of Murong Jing. Although Qing Yan’s face and lips were a little pale from the cold, his expression was as calm as ever,
not revealing the slightest emotion.
Muyong Jing’s lips tightened as he said coldly, ‘How can you allow her to abandon you without a word, when she was just your wife?’ As he spoke, the pebbles under his feet
turned into powder without a sound.
Qing Yan’s face revealed a rare smile upon hearing this, and he looked at the bundle of belongings tied together with sachets on the white stone, and nodded slowly but affirmatively. No need for words. Although he did not expect Mei
Lin to leave so suddenly, if this was what she wanted, why should he stop her? In fact, he understood in his heart that when the stakes were high, if he had to choose between the prince and
he would choose the prince. And between the corpse ghost and her, it was obvious that he chose the corpse ghost. In that case, how could he bear to keep her in the dangerous
royal palace.
He never disobeyed his subordinates. After a long time, until someone behind him couldn’t stand the cold and sneezed twice, he suddenly turned around. ‘As you wish.’
Chapter 20 (1)
That night, the group spent the night on the deserted beach and the next day they travelled down the river, over the mountains and through the extremely dangerous Litu beach.
It turned out that Murong Jinghe had stayed in his room for more than ten days on the pretext of being inseparable from Meilin, but in fact he had secretly left Jingbei. First, he revisited Zhongshan Stone Forest, and then he made
some arrangements to deal with the situation. One of these was to have someone wait in a boat day and night downstream from the Tu beach, just in case. Obviously, his precautions were correct.
Sitting on a ship that was gaining speed by the day, Mu Ye Luomei felt for the first time that she should perhaps reassess Murong Jinghe, a man she had once thought was useless.
Since agreeing the previous day to let Mei Lin go, Murong Jinghe’s mood had seemed a little unstable, as if he was trying hard to suppress something, making the people around him careful even with their breathing,
for fear that any loud noise might set off something terrible.
Standing by the ship’s window, looking out at the gentle breeze and beautiful mountains and water that had been like this since leaving the Li Tu beach, Murong Jinghe kept thinking about Qing Yan’s words, telling her to go, thinking about the short few months of suffering
suffered, and the impending changes in the wind and clouds, she finally looked at the clouds in the sky with a reluctant and restrained gaze, and then resolutely turned her back.
Then… let her go!
Walking in an unfamiliar town, Meilin became a little lost. The past fifteen years of her life, as far as she could remember, had been controlled by others, and she had worked hard to achieve her goal of leaving the Dark Factory alive
. When she left Zhongshan, she was preoccupied with taking care of the completely paralysed Murong Jinghe and fighting off the toxic attacks. Every day felt like it wasn’t enough. The first time she fled Jingbei, she did so with a leprous-headed doctor
and was determined to raise his jade for him. Everything she did was out of necessity, and she was never given a choice. Now she is all alone with no ties, and no one
no longer forcing her to do anything. In the face of this sudden freedom, she was like a beggar facing a fortune, not knowing how to spend it.
Jingbei could not go. In the midst of winter, even the warm south did not have the brilliant spring flowers.
She could not go to the place she most wanted to go, and the thing she most wanted to see was nowhere to be found. So she could only wander aimlessly, climbing over mountain after mountain, crossing river after river, passing through town after town
like a wandering spirit with nowhere to settle.
Until one day, she suddenly realised that the surrounding scenery was somewhat familiar. After searching for a while, she suddenly realised that she had returned to her old village. For a moment, she didn’t know
what to feel. It was as if her feet had a mind of their own, as she slowly walked towards the adobe houses where she had lived for several days.
Occasionally, she met people from the village on the way, and in the face of their surprised and concerned stares and inquiries, Meilin could only smile in response.
She pushed open the half-closed door, entered, and closed it behind her.
Everything was as it had been, even the windows were still open as she had left them. The quilt on the bed was half-lifted in a messy manner, as if the person sleeping on it had only left for a moment and would soon
return. The bedding on the larger part of the bed near the window had been soaked and turned yellow, obviously because it had rained more than once during her absence.
In a daze, Meilin felt as if she were seeing the man leaning half-reclined against the head of the bed again, his gaze quietly watching the outside world, faintly tinged with tenderness and a smile.
In that moment, her body trembled uncontrollably. Slowly, she sat down, holding onto the edge of the bed. Tears fell like beads, and every word he had said clearly rang in her ears.
You are my woman. You are not allowed to marry anyone but me.
I will not punish you. I will marry you.
You are the daughter of a kiln prostitute…
Today, I will marry you to Qing Yan.
Meilin had never known the joy of crying out in grief, and she had suppressed her feelings all her life. Now, even tears had become silent.
Meilin settled down in Lao Wo Zi Village. She didn’t know where else she could go if she left.
She washed the bedding that had been soaked in the rain, and hung it out to dry in the courtyard when the weather cleared. She would heat the kang and then crawl under the covers, keeping her eyes open until dawn. She took
take out her own clothes from the trunk that still contained the clothes of the two of them, and place them on the kang. Then she locked the trunk, including the clothes he had worn, and never opened it again. She pulled some green cotton cloth and began
to learn how to make winter clothes…
Some people in the village would come to visit and chat for a while, asking about the man of the house.
Meilin smiled and said that she had found a doctor who could cure his paralysis. He was at the doctor’s, and would return when he was well. Perhaps it was because she had not taken mandala or digenin for a long time that her
voice could barely make a sound again. Although it was hoarse, the words she spoke were understandable.
The people in the village thought she was sick, so they didn’t pay it any mind. They saw the joy and expectation in her face when she said those words, and they became happy for her.
He will come back. Whether it was because she had said the same thing so many times that she almost believed it herself, she couldn’t help but look out towards the mountain path. She
thought that if the man came walking from there, he would surely be draped in the evening glow of the mountains and the wild flowers that stained his sleeves.
When spring came, if she could still move, she would go to Jingbei again. That morning, wiping away the frost on the edge of the well, she looked at her own increasingly emaciated
face, and secretly made up her mind. But she actually knew in her heart that what she longed to see the most was no longer the spring flowers covering the mountains and fields.
Perhaps if you have the same dream over and over again, it can really become a reality, even if there may be some gaps between them.
The 29th day of the twelfth lunar month. It didn’t shine that day, and when dusk fell, the wild mountain village was shrouded in a thin layer of mist.
Meilin was sitting in the kitchen cooking. When the lard from the fried wild boar was put into the wok to heat up, the rich aroma spread from the kitchen.
At that moment, the sound of hooves broke the stillness of the evening. It came from far away and got closer and closer, each sound like a heavy step on the heart, sending shivers down the spine.
Meilin didn’t want to pay any attention to it. She poured the washed vegetables into the pan, stirred them a couple of times, but in the end she couldn’t hold back any longer. She took the pan away from the fire, wiped her hands, and walked out.
A man and a horse appeared on the mountain path shrouded in green dusk. The man’s cloak was whipped about by the cold wind, billowing like dark clouds.
Mei Lin stood under the eaves, watching the visitor stop outside the courtyard. She felt strangely calm. She thought to herself, she actually knew he would come. But for what reason this time?
The door was pushed open, and the man strode in, as if he were at home. His hawk-like eyes locked onto her, his handsome face covered in the colour of the wind and dust.
However, after being apart for more than a month, Mu Rongjing had an extra layer of murderous and solemn air about him.
Chapter 20 (2)
Mei Lin’s hands trembled slightly, and she suddenly frowned, bent her eyebrows, and took two quick steps forward, before he put his arms around her and embraced her. When the two hot lips eagerly pressed together, in that moment, she felt
as if she were a soldier waiting for her lover to return.
Her cloak, smelling of dust and cold grass, wrapped tightly around her, and with a bang, the door slammed against the frame. Rolling on the already heated bed, the man eagerly broke into the woman’s body,
as if he wanted to rub her into his soul.
It was completely dark outside, and it didn’t matter that the room was pitch black. The heavy breathing gradually subsided.
After a long while, the sound of flint being struck could be heard, and a faint yellow light appeared, quickly filling the room. The slender figure that had lit the fire turned around and slipped back into the bedding, picking the woman up who had sat up
and trying to get off the bed, and then fell back, before lingeringly kissing the corner of her brow.
‘You’re too thin, it hurts. Don’t you eat?’ His eyebrows unconsciously tightened, but despite what he said, he still held the person in his arms, and his fingers slowly stroked back and forth over the
clear ribs.
Meilin grabbed his hand, her eyes fixed on the flame of the lamp, which was gently dancing in the wind leaking in through the gaps in the windows. She felt that this scene was really like a dream
a dream, and it seemed that in the dream he really loved her.
The man obviously could not stand being ignored, and he shook her. She came back to her senses, her smile grew, and she turned over and took the initiative to kiss him, drawing the two of them into a new wave of lust
.
The night was deep, and she opened her eyes to see the tired sleeping face of the man. She reached out to touch him, but was afraid of waking the person who had finally fallen asleep. She could smell the grimness and blood of battle on him
. What could have made him come to her in such a hurry?
It certainly wasn’t… missing her. Her eyes gradually grew dim.
Muyong Jinghe was awakened by the smell of boiled bacon. He lazily opened his eyes and found that it was already light in the room. It had been a long time since he had slept so comfortably. He yawned and lay
down without moving.
He heard the sound of people whispering outside the window. He half raised himself and pushed open the window to see a few neighbours he had met a few times standing in the courtyard talking to Meilin. Meilin had a pleasant
smile on his face and was answering patiently.
Answering… He was startled and could not help but sit up straight, his bedding slipping down to reveal his naked, firm chest.
The people outside heard the sound of the window being opened and looked over at the same time, just catching a full view of the scene. The women, all of them, except for one old woman in her fifties or sixties, blushed
.
Meilin’s face was slightly darkened, and he walked over and closed the window from the outside with a thud. When he turned around, he saw the pity in the eyes of the women, and for a moment, he didn’t know whether to laugh or be angry.
These people had heard the sound of hooves yesterday and had come to inquire about the situation today. Seeing that her husband had indeed returned and was still able to move, they couldn’t help but be secretly amazed.
After chatting for a while, Murong Jing and had already dressed and walked out of the room, paying no attention to his previous awkwardness. He looked
hair had not been combed, and it was draped over his shoulders and back, but he was tall and upright, with a strong and vigorous bearing, which was really very attractive.
The few people saw that he was a different person from before, and they could not help but feel awkward. They immediately wished him congratulations and hurriedly left.
Meilin saw them off, shut the courtyard door, and turned around to see Murong Jinghe staring at him intently. He was puzzled, but didn’t ask. He just went to the kitchen, got a basin, and poured some hot water
to wash his face.
‘You can speak?’ After washing his face, while Meilin was combing his hair, Murong Jinghe suddenly spoke.
Meilin paused, unable to see her reaction because there was no mirror. He couldn’t help but feel a little irritated. He was about to turn his head when her hand moved again. But in the end,
she didn’t answer his question.
Murong Jinghe forced down his anger and waited until her hair was combed and tied up. Then he grabbed her wrist, which had become skinny at some point, pulled her into his arms, and his dark
eyes fixed on her calm eyes.
‘Why didn’t you answer me? I clearly heard you start talking to those people…’ he asked angrily. The joy he had felt at the fact that she could speak slowly faded away as she refused to speak to
him.
Meilin looked at him quietly, seeing the anxiety and impatience in his eyes. For a moment, she was puzzled, but not afraid. Tentatively, she raised her hand and covered his eyes. When she saw his surprised
reaction, she couldn’t help but smile.
She was no longer his servant, and she no longer had to kowtow to him… This feeling was so good.
Meilin never spoke to Murong Jinghe, nor did she give him the opportunity to say what he had come to find her for. When Murong Jinghe got up, it was close to noon. She had prepared a
sumptuous meal, and sat down to eat with him face to face. Later, Murong Jinghe also fell silent and stopped pressuring her to speak. She served him food, no matter what it was or how much she served, and he
would eat it all. Then, the smile on her face grew wider and wider, and even her eyes were smiling, dispersing the melancholy that had built up within her.
This was the first New Year she had ever spent, and probably the last, but being able to spend it with him, she had no regrets.
After the meal, Meilin cleaned up the dishes and then began to fold the quilt.
‘The antidote has been made,’ Murong Jinghe said quietly as he stood behind her.
Meilin nodded, and when she saw the traces of their lovemaking from last night left on the bedding, her face flushed slightly. After a moment’s hesitation, she continued folding the quilt. If there’s a chance… I’ll wash it again.
She turned around and took out the wrapping skin from the box, spread it out, and folded a few clothes and put them on it.
Murong Jinghe watched her actions, and his hand, which was hanging by his side, couldn’t help but slowly tighten. It was as if a big stone was pressing on his heart, and he couldn’t breathe. Until he took her on a horse and left the courtyard
and the village behind in the clouds, he still couldn’t catch his breath.
It was two days later before they arrived at the Jingbei Prince’s Palace in Zhaojing.
Meilin did not see Qingyan or Shigu, but Yue Qin was there. When Yue Qin first saw her, he was surprised and disbelieving, and then his eyes suddenly reddened as he rushed up to push her out the door.
‘Why did you come back! If you were going to leave, why didn’t you go far away! Just go, hurry up and go, I hate seeing you…’ He looked very angry, like a
.
Meilin was pushed to a stumbling, almost falling, but fortunately was supported by Murong Jinghe. Murong Jinghe grabbed Yue Qin by the lapel and threw him aside, and then someone came forward and carried him down like a
and carried him off like a chicken.
Murong Jinghe was not angry with Yue Qin’s rudeness, but just looked at her with a deep gaze and said in a low voice, ‘He was worried about you. But she saved me, and I can’t just
watch her die.’
Chapter 20 (3)
He finally said it. Meilin sighed helplessly in her heart, her expression unchanging as she waited quietly for the rest of his words. <br /><br />
However, Murong Jinghe did not continue. He raised his hand and tried to touch her face.
Meilin tilted her head to the side to avoid it, took a step back, and a smile appeared on her face. This was the Jingbei Royal Mansion, not her home, and she did not want to accept the slightest warmth from him here.
Murong Jing’s hand fell empty, and his expression froze for a moment, before he quickly withdrew his hand and left, shaking his sleeve. <br /><br />
The smile on Meilin’s lips faded, and she slowly walked to the chair in the hall, extended her trembling hand to hold the arm of the chair, and slowly sat down. <br /><br />
She was no longer his lackey. She had abandoned the feast and was no longer a member of his household. She knew her life was not long, but if she threw caution to the wind, even if he was still powerful, what could he do to
a person with no ties and no life? She just didn’t want to be bullied by him at the end of her life, and she didn’t want to put herself in an embarrassing position where she was forced to do something. At least this
time, it was her own choice.
Meilin was assigned to the courtyard where the VIPs stayed. She had two maidservants to wait on her, but she didn’t see Ditang. She remembered that Ditang had stayed in Jingbei. She didn’t speak to anyone, just sat quietly
in the room, occasionally opening the window to look at the desolate courtyard. There were no plum blossoms in the courtyard, and there was no snow, which she found quite good. <br /><br />
Yue Qin came to deliver the antidote. The little guy had red, puffy eyes and was full of displeasure. He threw the antidote at Meilin and without saying a word, he turned to leave. <br /><br />
‘Yue Qin, you’ve cried again?’ Meilin said, her voice hoarse and weak. <br /><br />
Yue Qin’s body trembled, and he stiffly turned around and saw her smiling face. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he suddenly rushed into her arms and cried out. <br /><br
/>
Meilin’s tears nearly fell as well. She tilted her head back and forced back the sourness in her eyes. Only then did she bow her head and smile gently, stroking Yue Qin’s dark head. <br /><br />
‘Crying like that, aren’t you happy to see your sister?”<br /><br />
Yue Qin nodded, then shook his head quickly. It was only after a while that he looked up, sniffling, and said, “Sister, why have you become so thin?” It was clear that they had only been apart for a month, but he almost
didn’t recognise her.<br /><br />
Meilin pulled him up next to her, took out a handkerchief to wipe away the tears on his little face, and smiled, ‘Yue Qin, is the king treating you well?’ The bald head doctor said that the Junzi worm could
grow hair and vital energy, but it fed on people’s anger. Even if she was the first living person in history to carry a worm, she could not withstand the Junzi worm’s strong need for anger. He was unable to remove the worm,
which is why when he first saw her, he predicted her death. She thought it best not to let Yue Qin know, so as to avoid him crying again. <br /><br />
Yue Qin was simple-minded and easily distracted. He nodded, his eyes filled with reverence, but then they dimmed. <br /><br />
‘Sister…’ he called out, but didn’t say anything else. <br /><br />
Meilin nodded, noticing that there was a tear in his sleeve, probably from the struggle earlier. So she turned sideways and took out the sewing kit from the bundle by the bed and sewed it up for him.
Yue Qin looked at her with even more withered hair and a calm and peaceful face, as well as a faint smile at the corner of her lips. He felt his eyes start to ache again, so he hurriedly turned his back and used the other sleeve to
and wiped twice with all his strength before slowly telling her the whole story. <br /><br />
It turned out that as soon as Murong Jing and Gang arrived in the capital, they immediately received an imperial decree, taking over command of the southwestern army and shouldering the important task of driving out the foreign invaders. The wedding date with Mu Nuo Luomei was once again postponed. Let the heavens
amazed everyone, after arriving in Qingcheng, Murong Jing not only took control of the military power of the Southwest Army, but also took over the Tibetan Army under the command of Yang Zexing. The Tibetan Army had always been xenophobic,
and its reactivation did not improve the situation. It was clearly distinguished from the original garrison of the Southwest Army, causing delays in the war effort. However, Murong Jing not only took control of the Tibetan Army, but
successfully integrated the two armies, commanding them with ease. Coupled with the thorough preparations made beforehand, they were truly invincible against the enemy, and kept scoring inspiring victories. The
people of Nam Viet were terrified and kept retreating. <br /><br />
In less than a month, the South Vietnamese army retreated in panic across the Hema River. The border was lost, and there was a real danger that the invincible Yan army would strike at the heart of the country. The king of South Vietnam broke all ties with the outside world and sent the great national sorcerer to set up a human-insect formation
to trap the army and die with the enemy. Murong Jinghe led the Tiger Wing’s 17 riders to charge into the formation personally, and Mu Ye Luomei followed secretly. No one knows what exactly happened inside
. All we know is that Mu Luo Mei blocked the human-gou for Murong Jinghe, allowing him to successfully break through the human-gou formation. <br /><br />
Although the corpse ghost also understands the witchcraft of the human-gou, he is also helpless against it. All he knows is that the human-gou feeds on human flesh and blood, and if it is not controlled, once it is activated, it can turn a person into
shell. In desperation, Murong Jinghe could only use his internal strength to condense water into ice, freezing all of Mu Ren Luomei’s body and sealing the blood-giant within her. <br /><br />
In a rage, Murong Jinghe actively sought someone to cure the blood-giant while leading his troops to capture the capital of the Kingdom of Nam Viet. He knew the terrain of Nam Viet like the back of his hand, and with the help of the people he had planted beforehand,
the attack was effortless. However, even though he captured the King of Nam Viet and the Great Witch, he was unable to save Mu Nuo Luomei, because to the people of Nam Viet, the human-insect formation and the blood insect were
ancient relics, and there was no way to undo them. That was why they never used the formation lightly. <br /><br />
Just when everyone was despairing, a stranger came along and said he could undo the formation, but he needed the host body of the Junzi Gu to do it. So Murong Jing and personally took Mu Ren Luomei back to the capital,
leaving Qing Yan in Nam Viet to clean up his mess. <br /><br />
When Yue Qin was telling this part of his experience, Mei Lin had already sewn up his torn sleeve. She touched the not-quite-even stitches and laughed, ‘So that’s why Lord Murong went
to find me?’<br /><br />
Yue Qin nodded, looked at his sleeve, and giggled foolishly. There were still tear marks on his face, and he looked especially pitiful with a smile.<br /><br />
Meilin reached out and rubbed his head, saying softly, ‘Yue Qin, you follow Lord Murong well and don’t make him angry, understand?’ She could see that Murong Jinghe was exceptionally indulgent with Yue Qin.
Although she didn’t know the reason, it was always good for the helpless Yue Qin to follow him. <br /><br />
Yue Qin nodded, and his eyes suddenly reddened again. ‘Sister, you…you…’ He originally wanted to say how you let him find you, but then he thought about Murong Jinghe and his many ruthless subordinates
who could even enter the heart of the historically troublesome southern Vietnam like it was no man’s land, let alone find a person. So he shut up again. <br /><br />
Meilin smiled, ‘Is it a matter of life and death? You don’t want to see me like this.’ Yue Qin’s previous reaction made her think so. Her originally cold heart seemed to gradually seal over
with a layer of ice.
Chapter 20 (4)
Yue Qin was stunned for a moment, shaking his head, but fear rose in his eyes. ‘My lord said he wouldn’t. But…but…General Muye looked so terrifying…’ When he said this
, he couldn’t help but shiver. <br /><br />
Mei Lin’s lips trembled slightly, and she didn’t say anything, her gaze falling out the window. <br /><br />
The courtyard she was currently staying in was built next to the lake, and through the window, she could see Murong Jing and the Tan Yue Pavilion, where she could watch the opera. At this moment, there was a figure standing on the third floor above, seemingly
enjoying the scenery. <br /><br />
Meilin lowered her eyes, leaned forward slightly, and closed the window.
Murong Jing and really wanted to let Meilin go. He knew it was impossible for him and her, so even though he didn’t want to, he let go. But he didn’t expect it to lead to the Junzi Bug.
<br /><br />
When that person mentioned the need for the Junzi Bug, the first thing he thought about was if Mu Nuo Luomei and Meilin had to die, which one would he choose. The answer should have been obvious
doubt. But at that moment, murderous intent rose in his heart. That murderous intent sent a cold sweat down his back, and he instinctively thought he was possessed. Fortunately, the man said it was just an introduction and would not harm
anyone’s life. <br /><br />
He sent his men to find Meilin, and at the same time, he returned to the capital with Mu Ye Luomei and the foreigner. As soon as they arrived in Zhaojing, they received confirmation of Meilin’s whereabouts, so they hurried to Lao Wo
. He didn’t even dare to think about whether the reason for his urgent trip was to see Meilin or to worry about Luomei’s health. However, when he entered the familiar courtyard and
saw the woman smiling and welcoming him, all rationality and concern vanished in an instant. At that moment, he just wanted to fiercely
embrace the woman, who had become so thin that he almost didn’t recognise her, and never let her go. <br /><br />
It’s laughable to say, but he has endured and swallowed his anger for many years, secretly planning. Now that he has regained his military power, and because of an unexpected acquisition of the Tibetan king’s military token, he has brought the Tibetan army and the descendants of the original military school,
which had been hidden in various armies, under his command. He has also conquered Nam Viet, so he is in a state of springtime happiness. However, even so, he can only get a good night’s sleep by her side in this remote mountain village.
It was truly ironic. <br /><br />
But now that he was about to succeed, there was no way he could stop. He had long since run out of options. <br /><br />
Murong Jing watched the half-grown boy rub against her and pout, watched her lower her head to mend his clothes, watched her notice her gaze, get up, close the window, and press her hand against
the window sill. Her hand tightened slightly, but in the end she did nothing.
Meilin did not take the antidote. The itchy-head doctor had warned her that for someone with the Junzi bug, the antidote would be tantamount to a death warrant. The reason she had asked for it in the first place
was that she was still holding out for a chance and also to show that she was no longer his lackey. She thought that maybe one day she would take the medicine. <br /><br />
The day after she arrived at the palace, she saw the strange man Yue Qin had spoken of. When she saw the strange man, she was stunned. She thought it was ridiculous, beyond ridiculous, that the strange man looked exactly the same as
the one they had seen in the jade coffin underground. <br /><br />
‘I am the shaman,’ the man introduced himself, speaking in an obscure language. But he was really good-looking, even if he was dressed in coarse linen clothes and shoes, and spoke in a way that was not easy to understand.
He was still the best-looking person Mei Lin had ever seen.
The shaman said that his people called him the Great Shaman. However, his people were not the people of Nam Viet, nor were they any of the ethnic groups known today. He was not a man of many words, and Mei Lin did not understand any of them, so
even less. He would only patiently repeat a sentence or two of simple words when necessary, making sure she understood. <br /><br />
He looked very happy to see Meilin, and didn’t care at all about her misbehaviour. His eyes full of wisdom smiled, as if carrying the aura of green bamboo, which made people feel at peace. He
listened to Meilin with a very focused expression, and then suddenly reached out and touched her neck, feeling back and forth between her chin and her Adam’s apple. <br /><br />
Meilin was startled at first, then she felt as if something warm and airy was slowly penetrating her skin, wrapping around her throat. After a moment, the air slowly
seeped back like water. <br /><br />
The shaman released his hand and spread his palm in front of her. She saw that what should have been a white jade-like palm was covered in something black and ink-like. <br /><br />
Meilin touched her throat, which was inexplicably comfortable for a moment, and looked at his hand stupidly until he laughed and put it away before she reacted. <br /><br />
‘You…’ The long-lost clear and gentle voice shocked her, and she was unable to come back to her senses for a long time, always feeling as if she were dreaming. <br /><br />
Wu smiled, took a rough linen handkerchief and wiped his palm clean, gestured for Meilin to follow him, and then walked out with his arms folded. <br /><br />
Meilin couldn’t help but touch her throat again. Her heart suddenly started pounding, and the previously dark path seemed to have let in a glimmer of light. <br /><br />
Following the sorcerer, she saw Mu Ren Luomei in the ice cellar of the royal palace. She didn’t feel the cold when entering the ice cellar, but when she saw Mu Ren Luomei, who was frozen in ice, she couldn’t help
but shiver. She hurriedly turned her face to the side and fixed her gaze on the sorcerer, and the chilling feeling eased slightly. <br /><br />
Although Makino Rakumei was covered in a veil, one could still see her graceful body beneath it, as well as the dense pores on her ice-white skin, not even her face being spared.
<br /><br />
Meilin dared not continue to think about it, and could only fix her gaze on the otherworldly face of Wu Qingjue, until her heart relaxed completely from the previous scene, and she noticed Murong
Jing and Mu Rong, who had been standing behind her for some time. She swallowed the words she had been about to say to Mu, and lowered her eyes, as if she had not seen anything. <br /><br />
Mu seemed not to have noticed the arrival of Mu Rong and Jing, or perhaps he had known that they were following them, so he did not react. He just spoke slowly, ‘The blood gourd is afraid of the gentleman gourd
. Therefore, the ice will only be broken in the presence of the gentleman’s bug, so that the girl will not be devoured. But it will take time to fully draw out the bug in her body, and it cannot be
completed overnight.”<br /><br />
Upon hearing the words “draw out the bug,” Meilin couldn’t help but think that she was like Mu Nuo Luomei, and her face turned pale. <br /><br />
A hand suddenly reached out and rested on her waist, before drawing her into his arms. Meilin frowned, and was about to break free when the witch started talking again, so she had to stop and listen intently.
Although she didn’t want to, she still couldn’t help but acknowledge that the warmth behind her and the loose grip on her waist distracted her, and she no longer thought about the horrible image.<br
/>
‘You have the scent of the Junzi Bug on you, which is very good for suppressing the Blood Bug when you melt the ice.”<br /><br />
At first, Meilin thought the witch was talking to her, but when she noticed that his gaze was on her back, she suddenly realised that he was referring to Murong Jinghe. How could Murong Jinghe
have the scent of the Junzi Bug on him? Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, and a worry in her eyes that she hadn’t noticed herself leaked out.
Chapter 21 (1)
The location chosen for the ice-melting ritual was the Royal Palace’s Ningbi Pond. Ningbi Pond was a natural hot spring located in the middle of the mountain at the Fushan Mansion. The
pool was surrounded by white mist and flowers, and it looked like a fairyland.
When Meilin saw the flowers that shouldn’t be blooming this time of year, she was momentarily stunned, but then slowly smiled. Murong Jinghe placed Mu
put the plum blossoms on the deck chairs by the pond. When they got up, they happened to see them, and their hearts suddenly became both sour and soft. They were annoyed that they hadn’t thought of bringing her here earlier.
This is also a way to see the spring flowers of Jingbei, Meilin thought with a relieved heart. When the mood is relieved, the mind becomes active. She met
Mourong Jinghe’s gaze and smiled, ‘This place is really wonderful.’
This was the first time she had spoken to him since they parted ways in Lao Wo Zi Village. Murong Jinghe was a little surprised. His heart was pounding
and he felt a vague sense of unease, but his dark eyes could not help but become tender. He remembered the times she whispered in his ear and her joyous, low singing voice, as if
Buddha was a long time ago, so long that he almost can’t remember her voice. In that situation completely cut off from the outside world, it also once comforted his fear and confusion,
and gave him hope.
‘If you like, then…’ he subconsciously continued, but before he could finish, he was interrupted.
“Lord Murong, although it is indeed an honour for a commoner to be able to do her part to save the future queen, there are still some concerns in my heart.
if it is not resolved, I am afraid I cannot serve you and your future princess wholeheartedly.’ Mei Lin lowered her eyes and spoke respectfully. Although she had already decided to cut off all ties, when she said the words “future princess”
her mouth still involuntarily filled with bitterness.
Murong Jing and’s face twitched slightly, feeling that the way she said “prince and princess” was incredibly harsh. The ridiculous thing was that her expression
her tone was not the slightest bit mocking, but rather very respectful, so that he could not even find a reason to lash out.
‘If you want something, just say it, why bother learning that roundabout way of speaking?’ He suppressed his displeasure and said coldly,
his gaze turning cold and hard.
Meilin smiled, her eyes fixed on the ground, as if she hadn’t heard his displeasure. ‘Then I won’t be polite.’ Whenever she said the word ‘civilian girl
,’ she couldn’t help but emphasize it, as if she wanted to tell him and herself that she was now a free woman, no longer bound to anyone.
‘I am a civilian girl with a low fortune, and I dare not burden Qingyan, so I would like to ask the prince to ask Qingyan for a divorce on my behalf.’ She had also thought
to live a good life with Qingyan, but when she found out that Qingyan already had someone else in his heart, she gave up on the idea. Why bother to involve other people?
Murong Jing was momentarily stunned, but then his lips couldn’t help but curl up into a smile, and he immediately and decisively agreed. He told Qingyan to marry her, originally intending to
keep her by his side, and use Qingyan’s ability to protect her from being bullied by Luomei, while also relieving Luomei’s concerns. However, who would have thought that after seeing her become someone else’s wife, the first one to not be able to bear it
would be himself. At the same time, the facts proved that that relationship could not truly bind her. As such, when she took the initiative to dissolve the marital relationship with Qingyan, he was naturally happy to go with the flow
.
However, before his mood could fully lift, he was dealt a heavy blow to the ground by her next words.
‘After this, Your Highness cannot use any reason or means to drive the commoner. It would be best if… we never see each other again.’ The latter sentence was
whispered by Meilin in a very low voice, after all, she was afraid of provoking his temper. Her original intention was that if she was not going to live long, it would be fine, but if she was lucky enough to survive because of the witchcraft
then naturally she could not have anything more to do with him. Who knows what strange and weird things he will encounter next time, and even if she had a hundred lives, it would not be enough for such turmoil.
Muyong Jing and his keen ears naturally heard every word she said. He was a proud and arrogant person, and before because
wanted to protect her, he had harboured murderous intentions towards Mu Ye Luomei, who had saved his life. This had already troubled him greatly, and now he heard that she did not seem to be as attached to him as he was to her, and wanted to completely sever
the ties between the two of them. An indescribable sense of indignation and suffocation rose in his chest.
He sneered, turning his gaze away from her, and mockingly said, ‘My lady need not worry. If it were not for General Mu
General Mu, you would not be worthy of an audience with the king if you were not.”
Was this a yes or a no? Mei Lin’s heart sank, but she was also a little confused. She looked up and saw his chin tilted upwards.
There was an impulse in her heart to make a written oath as evidence, but thinking about his temper, she ultimately gave up.
Wu had been waiting for them nearby, not knowing whether he couldn’t understand the conversation between the two of them or whether he was minding his own business. He just smiled and admired the scenery around him
with an expression of appreciation in his eyes.
When Meilin walked over, he bent down and picked two yusheng with white flowers by his feet. He removed the flowers and leaves, divided the bare stems into several sections and placed them in
his palm. Then he looked up at Murong Jinghe.
‘You need to enter the water,’
Meilin said, wondering why Murong Jinghe needed to enter the water. Murong Jinghe’s face had gone pale, and a look of conflict appeared in his eyes.
Entering the water meant taking off one’s clothes. Taking off one’s clothes… He glared at the puzzled Meilin and asked, not very willingly, ‘Can I wear
a thin shirt?’ Even if they were arguing, he didn’t want her body to be seen by other people.
The witch nodded.
So Murong Jinghe grabbed Meilin, dragged her into the dressing area, and chose an opaque, green cicada
feather long shirt from his spare clothes.
‘Take off your clothes.‘ He walked up to Meilin with the robe, saw that she was still hesitant, and without saying anything else, reached out and in two or three movements
ripped off her belt and pulled off the outer jacket.
’Hey, hey…you…you go out first…I’ll do it myself.’ Meilin reacted to the fact that the person who entered the water was referring to herself, but
didn’t understand why he was talking to Murong Jinghe. But at this time, she couldn’t think much about it, as she had to dodge the extraordinarily agile hand while annoyedly pushing people away. This person is really.
He has just torn off his mask, but at this moment, he still doesn’t know to avoid taboo.
Murong Jinghe sneered, ‘With all those bones in your hands, who would bother to look at them.’ He said this, but when his hand accidentally touched her soft
soft breasts, he still stiffened for a moment, but quickly threw the clothes over her as if nothing had happened, leaving her with a comment to hurry up and walked out.
Meilin caught the dress in time before it fell to the ground, and subconsciously took it and sniffed it at the tip of her nose. Although the dress was clean and fresh,
she could still smell a faint, unique scent belonging to that person.
With a helpless sigh, she vaguely felt as if she were trapped in a net, and no matter how determined she was, it seemed that she could not escape
.
Chapter 21 (2)
Although the cicada feather garment was soft and silky that day and very comfortable to wear next to the skin, it was made according to Murong Jing’s figure, and it was too big and long for Mei Lin to wear.
She felt empty everywhere and was very uncomfortable.
When she walked out, the witch didn’t look any different, but Murong Jing changed colour. He walked over and grabbed her, using his body to block
the witch’s view, untied the sash on her clothes, gathered the collar tightly, and then retied it.
He moved so quickly that Meilin didn’t even have time to react before the sash was untied, and she could only stand there stiffly while he moved. She couldn’t argue with him at this
argue with him, because in the end, she would be the one to suffer. Just looking at the man’s cold and serious face, no matter how she thought about it, it was uncomfortable. This person really doesn’t consider himself an outsider.
Muyong Jing looked him up and down, and after seeing that nothing was missing, he turned and walked away, as if he had just dusted her off
.
Meilin stood still calmly, and after a moment, she walked on towards the witch expressionlessly. She knew that if she argued with this man,
she would definitely lose.
The witch smiled, raised her hand, and without much effort, several green lights flashed through the air, and the yarrow stems previously held in her hand shot straight into Mei Lin’s
body, hitting several pressure points before disappearing. Mei Lin’s body swayed, and she was about to collapse onto the ground, but fortunately, she was caught in time by Murong Jing, who had been keeping a close eye on her.
A faint fragrance of pine and bamboo wafted from her body. Murong Jinghe sniffed, unable to resist, and bent down to
sniff her.
‘No,’ the witch said, stopping him. ‘I have already used the yucca’s fresh scent to awaken the gentleman’s bug. If your nose and lips come too close, it will easily cause the bug to change
masters.’
Murong Jinghe paused for a moment, looked at the woman in his arms, whose face was so thin that it was only the size of a palm, and his heart stirred. He asked, ‘If I transfer the bug to
my body, will it work better than on this woman?’ No matter what, he would be more useful than this stupid woman, and even if there was really some danger, he would be able to handle it.
Meilin’s heart trembled, and she couldn’t help but scold, ‘You’re stupid.’ However, she couldn’t move, so she could only glare hatefully at his chin.
Murong Jing and Gao Jing looked down on her condescendingly, looking at her with impatience, then looked at Wu with eager anticipation, waiting for
him to nod or something, so that they could lower their heads and take a few bites.
Wu laughed, shaking his head, ‘You have a strong internal strength, and once the parasite enters your body, it will expand with your qi, and you will definitely die on the spot.’ After saying this, without further delay,
signalled Murong Jinghe and put Jiangmeilin into the water.
Murong Jinghe then remembered the words of the head barber, and his mood instantly sank. He had to admit that the woman’s scolding earlier
had never been more correct. He was not only stupid, but also crazy. With the Western Yan unrest, the Southern Yue unstable, and the political situation undecided, not to mention the fact that his body could not withstand the Junzi Bug, even if he could,
he could not afford to stay here for too long.
He placed the woman in the pool, sat firmly on the stone steps beside her, and watched as the slightly hot water reached her chest. At the moment he let go,
he really wanted to bow his head and kiss her, but he could only use his fingers to touch the red mole on the tip of her eyebrow.
As the heat rose, the fresh and pure fragrance of the pine and bamboo on her body became even more intense, filling the air and intoxicating those around her.
Murong Jing looked at her uneasily, but seeing that she looked normal, except that her face had a light rosy tint from the heat of the water, he
walked over to Mu Ye Luomei. As the witch had instructed, he first used internal strength to melt the ice, and then waited until her body was slightly warmer before putting her in the pool, a shoulder’s distance away from Meilin.
With such a close distance, Meilin naturally saw the situation of Mu Ye Luomei clearly. She endured the feeling of her scalp exploding and slowly
moved her gaze to the opposite side of the pool. Through the misty fog, she looked at the colourful flowers, but in her heart she wondered why this woman was willing to become like this for him. She must really like him a lot
It seems that he is not just imagining things. After thinking about this, she couldn’t tell what she felt in her heart. Was she happy for him, or did she feel lost? In any case, she didn’t feel particularly bad.
A low groan came from beside her, and Mu Ye Luomei woke up. Meilin’s body involuntarily stiffened, afraid that she would be unable to accept the
abnormality of her body and do something. She knew that at this time, she could not move at all.
‘Jinghe.’ Mu Ye Luomei did not react in a particularly intense way, but only gently called out Murong Jinghe’s name, her voice
revealing a slight sense of confusion and vulnerability.
It is probably the case that someone who is usually too strong will seem exceptionally pitiful when they become weak. Not to mention Murong Jinghe, even Meilin
couldn’t help but feel sympathy when she heard Mu Ye Luomei’s tone.
‘I’m here,‘ Murong Jinghe replied, with a gentleness that Meilin had never heard before. Then there was the sound of water, and he came
wearing his undergarments, wading to Mu Ye Luomei’s side, looking her in the face with an unruffled expression, just as he had always done.
’How are the battles going?’ Unexpectedly, Mu Ye Luomei’s concern was not for her own health, but for the Yan-Yue war.
This time, Meilin really admired this female general. Suddenly, she felt that sympathy was no different from an insult to her.
‘Our army won a great victory,’ Murong Jinghe stroked her hair and laughed, ‘Just rest assured and heal your wounds. Once you have recovered, Southern Vietnam
Mu Ye Luomei let her guard down, and the two of them chatted for a while. She didn’t ask a single question about Mei Lin, who had appeared here.
The witch walked over and was about to start removing the parasites.
‘Jinghe, don’t go,’ Mu Ye Luomei finally felt a trace of fear when she saw the green fine needles in the witch’s hands, and she grabbed
Muyong Jinghe’s hand and pleaded softly.
As Murong Jinghe let herself pull him along, he gave her a reassuring smile and whispered, ‘Don’t be afraid, I’m here with you.’
‘Don’t be afraid, I’m here with you. Don’t be afraid…’
No one had ever said those words to her before. As she looked at the splendid flowers blooming on the bank of the pond, Meilin thought that her eyes seemed to be filled with a haze from the water mist.
The green needles in the shaman’s hands were made from the essence of wormwood, refined using his own strange powers, and were a natural nemesis of the goblins. He knelt on the brocade rug
that Mu Ye Luomei had spread out behind her, next to a brazier.
He held Mu Ye Luomei’s chin in one hand, telling her to close her eyes and tilt her head back, while at the same time shooting the wormwood needles like lightning, into the black holes on her face.
Mukenu Luomei did not feel any pain, but she still frowned, as she felt an indescribable sense of discomfort.
The witch pulled out the needles, and on the tips were tiny black worms the size of a grain of rice. When they were taken out, the worms were still wriggling and struggling
. The witch held the needle tip over the fire and the black worm immediately vanished like mist, leaving no trace, as if it were made of water. The wormholes on Mu Nuo Luomei’s face also closed at a speed visible to the naked eye, disappearing in an instant. The healed skin was as white as jade, even more delicate than before the midges infested her.
Chapter 21 (3)
Wu said that if they used the blood of Meilin, they could force the parasites out completely at once, but there would be too many wormholes, and the body would not be able to repair itself in time, leaving permanent pits
and holes. So they could only get rid of the parasites one by one, as they were doing now, which would take longer.
Of course no one questioned his words or decisions.
Murong Jing and Mu Rumei seemed extremely patient at this time, constantly finding topics of conversation to distract Mu Rumei’s mind. They
had fought side by side at one time, and had been entangled for more than ten years, so they really had a lot to talk about. But none of it had anything to do with Meilin, so after listening for a while, she closed her eyes and began to fall asleep. She didn’t want to
admit it, but she had to admit that she was still jealous. But she also knew that this jealousy was really unreasonable. He wasn’t even from her family, and since he was being nice to his future queen, it was
for her to care about.
However, just as she was about to fall asleep, she felt her face burning hot, as if it were being scorched by the scorching sun. She opened her eyes in confusion
and looked in the direction of the heat, not wanting to, only to catch the angry gaze of Murong Jinghe.
Did you lose out to General Muye again? She thought to herself, unable to suppress her glee. Of course, she dared not show it, so
she turned away blankly, yawned, and, grasping the drowsiness that had not yet completely dissipated, continued to doze off.
Facing her behaviour of completely ignoring him, Murong Jinghe needed a lot of self-control to refrain from going over and tossing her.
However, he was not angry for long, as an urgent military message from the Kingdom of Nam Viet made him leave in the middle of the conversation. When he returned, his expression was cold, and he no longer resembled the idle prince he had been before.
‘The two brothers of the King of Nam Viet who escaped have colluded with the Western Yan and led a large army to surround the capital of Nam Viet. Qing Yan is trapped and isolated, and I must leave immediately
,’ he said to Mu Ye Luomei, who was looking at him inquisitively. Without waiting for a response, he turned around and walked into the dressing room.
Is he leaving already? Mei Lin lowered her eyes, then remembered something that had always been on her mind, so she turned to look at Wu.
‘Wu, you said he has the scent of the Junzi Bug?‘ She wanted to ask him if he had also been infected with the Junzi Bug, but then she thought that probably wasn’t the case,
otherwise Wu wouldn’t have mentioned that the bug had changed hands before.
Wu was concentrating on removing the bug from Mu Ye Luomei, so he just nodded without saying anything.
’Is it dangerous?’ Meilin pressed.
‘It’s fine. That aura is only something you picked up during intercourse, it will increase his internal strength a little, but it’s not fatal.’ The witch replied gently,
with a tone meant to reassure.
Meilin didn’t expect him to be so blunt, her ears suddenly flushing red. She deliberately ignored the suddenly sharp gaze from the side, pursed her lips
and said nothing more.
A moment later, Murong Jing came out of the room, having changed his clothes. Meilin lowered her eyes as she listened to him say goodbye to Mu Ye Luomei. She heard the reasonableness and generosity that Mu Ye Luomei showed in such an important matter
and, even though she felt a burning gaze fall on her, she did not lift her head to take a look. She did not do so until the person’s footsteps hurriedly faded away. Sooner or later,
part ways decisively like this, why should I be greedy for that glance.
After Murong Jing left, the witch continued to clear the parasites from Mu Luomei at her own pace. Mu Luomei and Meilin, two women who
had never gotten along, were forced to share the same pool in the daytime and the same room at night. However, because the parasite-clearing technique was exhausting, Mu Luomei didn’t have much energy or desire to find Meilin
trouble, and naturally Meilin would not take the initiative to provoke her, so for more than twenty days, things remained peaceful. It was just that the Junzi Bug inside Meilin had always been in an active phase, and the amount of vital energy it consumed
had also increased substantially. If the witch had not brewed her medicine to stimulate vital energy every day, she would have been unable to support it for long. Even so, Meilin could still feel her body slowly
drying up. But because Mu Ye Luomei was there, she had never asked the witch.
Sometimes she woke up in the middle of the night, and she couldn’t help but think that they were lying to her when they said that her life was not in danger. However, she knew even better
that even if she knew that she would have to trade her life for his, she would have no other choice. It would just be a little more difficult for her.
Yue Qin did not go to Nanyue with Murong Jing, so he would come to see her every day and keep her company.
On that day, basically all the parasites in Mu Ye Luomei had been removed, and there was not a single wormhole to be found on her body. The whole person looked
like she had changed layers of skin, so beautiful that people dared not stare at her.
The witch took out the yarrow inserted into the Mei Lin acupoint, cut her wrist, and received a bowl of blood, which she then made Mu Ye Luomei drink. The witch said that
this was the only way to completely remove the parasite poison from her body.
After Mu Ye Luomei drank it, she began to vomit a few moments later.
Meilin lay on her bed, listening to the sound that almost made her intestines turn over, and her vision went dark in waves. It wasn’t until a
tiny head came up in front of her and spoke to her in a low voice that she regained some consciousness.
‘Sister, sister, are you okay?’ Yue Qin looked at Meilin’s pale, bloodless face and skin without the slightest luster, full
worriedly.
Meilin tried to pull herself together and motioned for Yueqin to bring her ear close to her lips.
‘Listen to me, don’t cry,’ she said in a voice only the two of them could hear.
It was better that she didn’t say anything, but as soon as she did, Yueqin’s eyes suddenly reddened and her heart grew uneasy. However, when she looked up, she saw a severity in her eyes that she had never seen before
and really didn’t dare cry. She gave a muffled grunt and brought her ear closer again.
‘If… I mean, if I die… dare to cry, get out and don’t come see me again!’ Meilin had just said the word “die”
when she saw the corner of Yue Qin’s mouth turn down, and she had to sternly stop him. Seeing that he had really stopped, she continued, ’If I die, if you’re not afraid of the trouble, send me to Jingbei…
find a place there where spring flowers bloom, and just bury me there.’
Yue Qin did not say a word. Tears slid down the side of his ear and fell on his face and lips. She pretended not to notice and continued speaking calmly and slowly
‘Don’t bother with a coffin… just bury me.’
“Rather than being confined to a coffin or a straw mat, I would rather blend in with the soil and nourish the spring flowers.
…’ She said the last sentence in a joking tone. But the more she did so, the more Qin couldn’t stand it. Before she could finish, he suddenly stood up and yelled at her, “I hate you
for saying such things,” and stormed out.
Knowing that he must have gone to find a place to cry his heart out, Meilin sighed helplessly, ignoring the strange look
and slowly closed her eyes, hiding under the quilt with a dagger she had just taken from the teenager.
In theory, Makino should have already recovered and moved out immediately based on how much she disliked Meilin, but she didn’t.
That night, the two of them still slept in the same room.
Late at night, when everyone was asleep, Meilin struggled to sit up in bed, got off the ground, and walked towards Makino’s
bed with the dagger in her hand.
‘I know what you want… I’ll grant you,’ she whispered to the person lying in bed. With that, she suddenly raised the dagger and stabbed
the person.
A muffled grunt sounded, as if the person had been stabbed. Suddenly, he leapt up from the bed and struck back with a palm to Meilin’s chest.
When the people in the palace were awakened by the screams and rushed into the room, they saw Mu Ren Luomei, covered in blood, unconscious on the bed, and Mei Lin
paralyzed on the floor in front of the bed, still clutching the bloody dagger in his hand, no longer breathing.
Chapter 21 (4)
Upon receiving the news that Mu Ren Luomei had been stabbed and Mei Lin had died, Murong Jing and had already dealt with the remnants of the Nanyue army. They were riding their horses towards the battlefield of Xiyang, their fighting
high, unhindered.
With the note that Mei Lin had been killed after failing to assassinate Mu Ye Luomei out of jealousy, Murong Jinghe looked at it over and over again under the oil lamp for a long time
as if he did not understand what it meant, and then calmly called the guards and told them to drag the person who passed on the message down and chop him up.
‘How dare you send this kind of nonsense? What’s the point of keeping it?’ he said.
Fortunately, Qing Yan had been waiting nearby and managed to intervene. However, when he read the note that Murong Jing had thrown to him, he too
couldn’t help but be stunned. His normally agile mind suddenly went blank, unable to think. He thought, this is a bit ridiculous, ridiculous to the point of being laughable.
‘Where is Yue Qin? Why isn’t he here?’ Trying hard to shake off the feeling of being in a daze, Qing Yan looked at the pale-faced messenger kneeling on the ground
pale messenger.
‘General Muye is grateful to Miss Meilin for saving his life, and allowed Yue Qin to bury his body in Jingbei according to his last wish.’ The messenger was sweating
with fear that he would be dragged out again if he gave a wrong answer.
Qing Yan glanced at the expressionless Murong Jinghe, and his mind temporarily failed to function. He waved his hand to dismiss the messenger.
The two men in the tent sat and stood, speechless. After a while, Qing Yan said hesitantly, ‘My lord, shall we return to the capital?’
Murong Jinghe rubbed his forehead and, his gaze falling on the enemy’s military deployment map on the table in front of him, said indifferently, ‘Do you believe this kind of nonsense?
When have you ever seen that woman take the initiative to stir up trouble?’ After speaking, he focused his full attention on the map, which also meant that the conversation had come to an end.
Qing Yan looked at his side face reflected in the shadows of the lamp, which seemed to have become even more stern and severe. An ominous feeling rose in his heart.
Qing Yan’s hunch was confirmed.
The next day, Murong Jing and Jing actually managed to open a gap in the border town of Xiyan, which was as impregnable as a steel bucket, and then issued
an order to massacre the city.
Looking at the man standing on the highest point in the city, staring indifferently at the bloodbath within the city, his expression cold, Qing Yan knew that he must quickly
bring the people back to Zhaojing, otherwise Xiyan would surely become a scorched earth.
After much deliberation, he finally had to ask for help from Mu Ye Luomei, who was still recovering from his injuries in the capital. Mu Ye Luomei then used his serious injuries as an excuse, and finally
succeeded in getting Murong Jinghe to temporarily leave the battlefield.
However, to everyone’s surprise, Murong Jing suddenly changed course on the way back, taking his escort and turning towards Jingbei.
He had believed the news after all.
*********
Since February, the peach blossoms have turned red, the apricot blossoms white, the rape blossoms are blooming everywhere, and the willow leaves are like green fabric…
In February in Jingbei, wild flowers bloom everywhere.
A man and a woman rode aimlessly through the mountains and wastelands, following the spring flowers that had been in bloom for a whole season. Sometimes they rode together,
sometimes the man led the horse while the woman lay on its back, and sometimes the man carried the woman on his back while the horse followed leisurely behind…
She said she loved spring flowers, so he showed her all the spring flowers in the world.
When they came upon a lovely, clear stream, the man would let the woman sit next to him, take out his handkerchief, dip it in the water, and carefully wipe
the stains off her face and hands. Then he would help her put on her silver robe.
‘How come you don’t even have a nice set of clothes? When we get to the city, I’ll buy you some,’ he said, smoothing her hair and picking a
spring branch with two yellow flowers on it, which he placed on top of her head.
He carried her on his back and walked slowly through the wild pear forest. The sky above them was a dazzling white, like shavings of jade scattered between heaven and earth.
‘Do you remember, you carried me like this before, and now I’m carrying you…’ After a pause, he looked into the distance with nostalgia,
and smiled, ‘You were small, and you were pulling and carrying, so it was really hard for you. Not like me, who is stable and comfortable.’ As he spoke, he nudged the person behind him, trying to
make the position more comfortable, for fear of hurting her.
After they had climbed over the mountain, there was a field of lush green shoots below, and further away, hidden among the trees, were the curling smoke plumes of people’s homes.
He stood on the hilltop for a while, not approaching, but walking across the ridge.
‘Actually, I can sing too,’ he said suddenly as he walked, ‘much more interesting than your peaches and apricots. Listen,
I’ll sing for you.’
He stood still for a while, then looked up and let out a loud yell at the drifting clouds in the open countryside.
‘With strength that could move mountains and a spirit that could conquer the world, times are not favourable, and my steed will not go. What can I do when my steed will not go? Worry… Ah, what a rubbish song!’ He didn’t finish singing
and he himself began to spurn it.
He turned his hand and touched the woman’s head on his back, and laughed, ’Don’t worry, I’m not that reckless tyrant, and you’re not a delicate concubine. Every
You always left me behind, and I will never leave you behind again.’ He was talking to himself.
Then he fell silent.
He walked wherever the wild flowers were blooming, day and night, riding a horse, walking on foot, never stopping for a moment. One day, they
the town when they came upon peach blossoms as bright as clouds of pink. He carried her into a restaurant. Anyone who tried to stop them was beaten up and left bleeding.
He ordered a whole table of food. He tried to feed her, but she couldn’t swallow, so he had to order congee instead.
‘Eat some…’ He spooned the congee into her mouth, but it was awkward and clumsy, but gentle, so gentle that the people hiding behind the restaurant and peeping outside
peeked, suspected that they had really just been beaten by this person.
The porridge was fed into the woman’s mouth, and then it flowed down the already somewhat ulcerated corners of her mouth and dripped onto her chest. He hastily took out a handkerchief
to dry her, looking very melancholy.
“If you don’t want to eat, that’s fine, I’ll just keep you company. There’s nothing good in this small place, and when we get back to the capital, I’ll have someone make you something delicious
.’ He stroked the tips of her hair, his eyes showing a look of fondness, then squatted down and picked her up again. “I’ll take you shopping for clothes…” As he spoke, he pulled out
a handful of silver and threw it on the table.
When walking down the street, if he saw something interesting at a street stall, he would buy it and hand it to the woman on his back. Although the woman
never accepted it, he still enjoyed doing so.
‘I don’t think I’ve ever given you anything,’ he said, tilting his head, still bothered by this. He searched deep in his memory, but in the end, he couldn’t find anything he had given her,
not even tenderness.
From then on, for anything in the world that could be found, he would give her whatever she wanted.
Pedestrians on the street avoided him, and even the vendors ran away. No one was looking for silver, and he didn’t care. While whispering sweet nothings to the woman
while enthusiastically browsing the stalls and shops on both sides of the street, looking for something she might like.
However, just as they were about to reach the clothing store, a group of people suddenly poured out from the other end of the street, which had been empty, carrying hoes and sickles,
and charged at them menacingly, interspersed with cries and curses.
“Quick, that’s him, catch him…’
‘Kill him… everyone, kill this crazy man who stole the corpse of a dead person…‘
’Oh, dear God… my poor son… my poor daughter…”
It wasn’t until he had kicked a few of those people away that he could hear what they were saying. He was stunned, and suddenly he flipped over, setting the woman on his back down,
reached up and parted the hair covering her left forehead. After staring at it for a while, he uneasily parted the hair on the right side.
He froze like a stone in place, and then suddenly laughed aloud, looking extremely happy, but in the next moment he burst into sobs,
bereft of joy. The people watching him looked at each other in disbelief, no one daring to approach him anymore, and even the shouting and crying subsided.
The green-clad bodyguard who had been following him all along walked forward silently, pushing his way through the crowd, and draped a robe over his stained body.
Chapter 22 (1)
In the early summer of the 33rd year of the Zhaoming period, the King of Jingbei took advantage of the fact that Yang Zexing, a veteran of the Zangdao army, and Qing Yan, the military governor, had led the southwestern army to overwhelm Xiyan
he raised an army in the name of suppressing the rebellion, personally leading 50,000 Jingbei troops to advance towards Zhao. However, they suddenly disappeared from Anyang, avoiding interception, and appeared
outside Zhao’s capital without a sound, as if by divine assistance.
The strangest scene in Zhao’s history unfolded: the commander of the capital garrison and the nine gate admirals claimed illness and shut themselves up at home, the commander of the imperial guards
could not command the imperial guards. The people were overjoyed, the civil officials were apprehensive, the military commanders watched with cold eyes, and rumours of the Jingbei Wang being aided by a divine general were rampant…
The Jingbei Wang sat firmly in the central military tent, neither invading the capital with his troops nor accepting any visits or invitations. Even Mu Nuo Meimei, who was seriously injured, was
In the summer of the 33rd year of the Zhaoming period, on the ninth day of the sixth lunar month, the new emperor ascended the throne. He used iron-fisted measures to rectify the imperial court, changed the era name to Jingping, granted a general amnesty, and was known in history as
Emperor Yanwu.
In the autumn of the first year of the Jingping period, Emperor Wu rejected the Western Yan’s request for peace and personally led the army into battle. In the spring of the following year, Western Yan was pacified and, together with Southern Yue, was incorporated into the Great Yan territory.
Since then, there have been no more wars in the southwest of Yan.
***
A breath of spring, a breath of autumn frost.
Meilin felt as if she had slept a long time. When she opened her eyes, she saw the warm, yellow light of the sun and spring flowers filling the window. She took a deep breath and felt the faint fragrance
of flowers. She felt indescribably comfortable all over.
Just as she was reminiscing about the softness of the bed, the handsome face of Wu Hanxiao appeared in her vision, which made her suddenly remember what had happened.
It turned out that the day Murong Jing and she left for Nam Viet, Wu told Mu Leno Luomei about the intimate relationship between Meilin and Murong Jinghe. But from beginning to
end, Mu Leno Luomei never questioned Murong Jinghe, and she didn’t even show the slightest displeasure. At that time, Meilin knew that Mu Leno Luomei must have been plotting against her, otherwise, with her strong-willed
temperament to be so tolerant. In addition, later, the vitality in Meilin’s body withered away, causing her to clearly perceive the breath of death for the first time. It was a feeling that had never arisen even when the once-scabrous head had told her countless times that she
would not live long. Moreover, with Murong Jinghe and Qingyan gone, who could stop Mu Ren Luomei from killing her, who no longer had the strength to resist? Therefore, she
truly believed that she was going to die.
Since she was going to die, why not do some good deeds? She believed that she had not done any good deeds in her life, and she was not quite sure what the definition of a good deed was.
But it was as if a flash of insight had returned to her, and it suddenly made her mind clear. She suddenly understood his feelings for her, those feelings that had been covered up by worldly distractions, those feelings that he had clearly abandoned
her but could never let go. She thought, if she just died like this, he would definitely still be sad, and maybe even have a gap with the person he was going to help and accompany him in the future.
What’s there to argue about when people are going to die? Do you want to let the living continue to suffer? So, she did something she thought was
good thing. He would definitely hate her for stabbing his future queen. It was better for him to hate her than to be awkwardly sad all the time.
Until the moment she lost consciousness, Meilin actually didn’t understand why she was always thinking about Murong Jing and that bastard
and worrying about him hurting himself, getting hurt, being lonely, and feeling sad…
Now that she has woken up again, she still doesn’t understand. Of course, what she doesn’t understand even more is why she has woken up again.
‘Wu?’ She propped herself up, finding it a bit difficult. Her bones were stiff as if they had rusted, as if she hadn’t used them for a long time.
Wu leaned over and placed a soft pillow on the bedside table before helping her sit up halfway.
‘You’ve been asleep for a year,’ Wu said. A year. He was already quite skilled at exaggerating. In just a few words, he told Mei Lin the whole story
.
He had urged her body to generate energy like that because he wanted to completely remove the Junzi bug and give her body, which had been destroyed by the poison, a
. Otherwise, even if the Junzi bug was really removed and the poison was cured, her ruined body would not last long. To be born again after being driven to the brink of death is, in other words, to rise again after falling.
No matter what, she had to die cleanly once before she could be reborn with the trace of vitality that the Junzi bug had stored in her heart and veins. So he
even though he could see what she was planning, he did not stop her. He just told Yue Qin to quickly take her body away from the palace.
Of course, Yue Qin did not know. He only knew that Meilin had assassinated Muye Luomei and was afraid that Murong Jing would pursue the matter, so he stole the body of a nearby recently deceased
young girl, dressed her in Meilin’s clothes, and built a fake grave. However, his work was not clean, and the family noticed, so they searched everywhere. As a result, Murong Jing and the body happened to
passed the town where the family lived, and was recognised by the family at once, which made the truth of the matter clear.
After discovering that Meilin might not have died, Murong Jinghe, who had experienced great sorrow and joy, quickly regained his senses. He returned to
the Wangfu in Jingbei without a trace of emotion, and did not immediately go to Yue Qin to force him to reveal Meilin’s whereabouts. Instead, he methodically laid out a plan to change the world, while secretly keeping an eye on Yue Qin’s whereabouts.
Yue Qin was still blissfully unaware that the cat was out of the bag. When he thought that Murong Jinghe had forgotten about it, he secretly went to see Mei
Lin, thus naturally revealing her whereabouts.
Murong Jinghe also kept his cards close to his chest, and it wasn’t until he had seized control of the world that he placed Mei Lin and the witch in this courtyard full of spring flowers. Mei Lin
has been asleep while he has been galloping on the battlefield. Now that the world is at peace, Meilin has just woken up because her body is full of vitality.
Of course, the witch didn’t tell Meilin about Murong Jinghe, as he thought he didn’t need to tell him about such things. However, he did tell Meilin that
this courtyard will be full of spring flowers all year round.
He never expected to come back from the dead. Although he was still unable to move much, he felt much more comfortable than before. No, not more comfortable
—every part of his body ached.
‘Is the Junzi Gu still there?’ Meilin asked. She really couldn’t think of anything to say about the thing that had caused her so much suffering.
Meilin let out a sigh of relief, feeling lighter than she had ever felt before. She turned her head to look at the carved window, where the breeze blew in, carrying with it the unique warmth and tenderness of spring.
Her lips slowly lifted.
He could become the emperor… So he wanted to be the emperor. She thought, no wonder he had to marry Mu Nuo Meimei, no wonder he couldn’t let himself
marry her. Probably no emperor would marry a woman of her humble origins and status. But why did he still want to keep her here?
Meilin suddenly felt a little troubled. Now that the world is his, doesn’t that mean he can be even more tyrannical and unreasonable?
Chapter 22 (2)
Murong Jinghe absolutely did not admit that he was close to Qingqing and was timid. Absolutely not.
As soon as he arrived at the morning court, he saw the guards from the Mianchun Courtyard, where Meilin was staying, waiting outside the Taihe Hall. He was startled at first, thinking that something must have happened to Meilin,
until he noticed the guards’ beaming smiles on their faces and let his guard down. Hearing that she had already woken up, he hurried to the Mianchun Courtyard without even changing out of his court attire.
Mianchun Court is not in the palace, and if he keeps running like this, he might cause a lot of trouble. Qing Yan saw that he could not stop him,
so he quickly asked someone to prepare the car.
However, after Murong Jing and arrived at Mianchun Court, they lingered in front of Meilin’s room for a long time, but then turned around and left.
Qing Yan, who was following them, was dumbfounded, and only later realized that he was going to change his clothes.
After Murong Jing and Ping Dingxi Yan returned to the capital, they mostly stayed in this Mianchun Garden except for the morning court. Therefore, they still had
several sets of daily clothes.
When Murong Jing and, dressed in a brocade blue robe, walked outside the Meilin Room again, knowing that they could not delay any longer, they could not help but let out a
breath and finally stepped inside.
There was only Meilin in the room, and as usual, she was sleeping soundly with her eyes closed. Murong Jing was momentarily stunned. All of the previous surging
emotions of excitement, tension, and joy had come to nothing, replaced by a great sadness. He walked over, sat gently on the edge of the bed, reached out and stroked Meilin’s face, then leaned down and kissed her
Meilin was woken by the slight disturbance and the wetness on her face. She opened her eyes confusedly, not expecting to see a scene that she would never forget.
‘Why are you crying?’ she thought it was weird. Even when this person was completely paralyzed in pain and even when his life was at stake,
he could still say mean things to her as if nothing had happened. She didn’t even remember seeing a trace of sadness or helplessness in him. Then this face full of grief in front of her…she…she’s still
At her outcry, the man who was lingering lovingly by her side suddenly froze, then as if he had encountered something terrible, he suddenly
jumped away and hurriedly turned his back.
Meilin rubbed her eyes and slowly sat up. She had only just woken up. She had felt extremely tired after getting up and moving around a little earlier, so she fell asleep again
for a while. She never expected to see him again when she woke up. Well…it’s still him that she has never seen before.
In fact, in her feelings, they had only been apart for the twenty-odd days between Murong Jing and her arrival in Nam Viet and before her feigned death, and there was no
particular sense of being estranged and distant.
‘You’re seeing things,’ he said, turning back to her. Murong Jing’s face was once again composed, the traces of tears long since gone, only his eyes were still slightly red, and his voice
slightly hoarse, revealing the truth that he was desperately trying to deny.
Meilin could see that beneath his calm appearance was an uncontrollable sense of embarrassment and tension. After thinking for a moment, he decided not to pursue the matter any further, but
realised another fact and hurriedly got off the bed.
Although he felt that he was acting hastily, the way he moved looked extremely slow and stiff to an onlooker. Murong Jinghe frowned slightly and took a step
forward, picking her up in his arms.
‘What are you doing?‘
Mei Lin was taken aback. Her intention had been to get up and bow, after all, he was now the emperor. But before she could get up, she was
embraced instead. In such an unexpected situation, she decisively decided to play dumb.
’I’ve slept for too long, I want to go for a walk.”
Murong Jinghe looked at her suspiciously. Although he didn’t quite believe her, he still took a cloak from the closet next to her and wrapped it around her tightly
and walked out holding her.
‘Hey… I can walk on my own.’ Meilin was a little helpless. She was not a disabled person with no movement in her hands and feet. But before she could speak, she didn’t know
what to call him. His Highness? Your Majesty? His Holiness? She couldn’t call him the first two, but the latter two made her feel indescribably awkward and she couldn’t say them.
Murong Jing let out a small sound, but instead of letting her go, he wrapped his arms around her even tighter, so tightly that she could almost feel his strong heartbeat.
She had no idea what he was thinking: I have carried the decaying corpse of a strange woman for days, so I can certainly carry you a little more. Of course, he would never
let her know.
It wasn’t until they had walked into the courtyard and he had placed her in the chaise longue that the servant had just set up, under the rose trellis, that he let go of her hand.
Meilin couldn’t bear to lie there any longer, so she sat up again, but then suddenly realised that she didn’t have any shoes on. She froze for a moment, and then silently stepped barefoot onto
the fur rug that had been laid out under the trellis.
A moment later, someone brought her shoes. Murong Jinghe took them and tried to put them on Mei Lin himself, which scared her so much that she suddenly
withdrew her feet back into the chair. When she looked up, she saw that the person who had brought her shoes was Qingyan. He was still the same as before, with no changes. So she smiled at him.
Qingyan nodded slightly in response, with a joyful smile in his eyes.
‘Qingyan, go back to the palace and bring me the memorial,’ Murong Jinghe said in a low voice, his tone implying displeasure.
Meilin glanced back and saw that his face was gloomy and unhappy. She had to admit that when he referred to himself as “I,” he naturally exuded
a majestic air of authority. The gap between them seemed to be growing wider and wider, although it had never been close in the first place, but the fact still made her feel a little dispirited.
‘You…you’re the emperor?‘ It wasn’t until Qing Yan had left that she looked at the man who was still crouching in front of her and hesitantly asked
the truth she already knew.
’Mm,’ Murong Jing responded indifferently, reaching over to grab her foot and start putting on her shoe.
This time, Meilin stiffened, wanting to refuse but not daring to. But looking at his expression, it seemed that he didn’t think being the emperor was a big deal
. But looking at his expression, it seemed that he didn’t think being an emperor was a big deal, and he didn’t think it was a big deal for an emperor to personally put on a woman’s shoes. After thinking about it, she felt that for the time being, she could still treat him as the awkward, childish Jing
Bei Wangye from before. So she asked again, ‘So after you became emperor, do you still consider what you said before to be true?’
Muyong Jinghe paused in his movements, as if he was trying to think of what he had said. After a moment, he said, ‘The divorce papers are in your room. From now on, you and
have nothing more to do with Qingyan.‘ So, don’t smile so dazzlingly whenever you see him.
Meilin blinked, waiting for him to continue, but he never spoke again, until he had finished putting on her shoes and stood up.
’So…what else? Can I leave here whenever I want?’ she finally couldn’t hold back any longer and asked. She had never thought that he would marry her,
just as she had never thought that she would stay by his side forever, even if he was no longer paralyzed.
Muyong Jinghe and heard this, their faces changing slightly, but they did not lose their temper. After a while, he turned around, put his hands behind his back, looked up at the sky, and said nonchalantly
‘I don’t remember promising to let you leave.’
‘But…but you promised…you promised…’ Meilin became anxious, and suddenly stood up, but because she got up too quickly and her body was not yet
fully under control, she leaned over and almost fell.
Muyun Jing, who had been facing away from her, seemed to have eyes in the back of his head as he suddenly turned around and steadied her in his arms.
‘If you can’t stand, then don’t stand. What’s the point of trying to be strong?’ It was clearly a rebuke, but there was an indescribable gentleness in his tone that made Muyun
forget herself for a moment, before she heard him continue, ‘What did I promise, hmm?’
Muyun came back to her senses, thought about the past, and suddenly became speechless.
He really had…promised nothing.
Chapter 22 (3)
Murong Jing looked down at the woman who had almost gone into a daze, and a broad smile appeared in his dark eyes. He wrapped his arms around her waist, lowered his head and buried his face
in her neck, and whispered accusingly, ‘You’ve slept for far too long.’ So long that he began to wonder if he would have to spend his life watching her sleeping face. He was really afraid that when she woke up one day
, he would be grey-haired and no longer be able to take care of her.
‘Hm?’ Meilin shifted uncomfortably. This gentle and sad man really made her feel a little uncomfortable.
‘General Muye doesn’t like me becoming emperor, so he resigned from his position and is travelling around,’ Murong Jing said, holding her hand tightly to stop her from moving around
and continuing. As soon as he said this, the person in his arms did indeed calm down.
In fact, when he was expelling the foreign enemy and mobilising the Tibetan army, Mu Nuo Meimei had already seen his ambition. Mu Nuo Meimei was extremely loyal to the imperial court
and did not want him to bear the eternal reproach of usurping the throne and plotting rebellion, so when breaking the human puppet array of Nam Viet that time, she quietly followed behind, actually wanting to use the puppet array to make him
die in battle, so as to preserve his reputation. However, after she had actually destroyed the person with the bug, she suddenly regretted what she had done and only then saved him with her own life. Only he and the Seventeen Knights knew about these events, and
to outsiders, he only said that she had sacrificed her life to save him.
It was probably from that time, or perhaps even earlier, that after he returned to the capital and did not marry her first before going to war as he had previously said
she probably sensed that there was no hope for the two of them.
She was decisive and resolute, and she was unwilling to lose to a woman of lower status. That was why she was willing to take all risks to kill Meilin, to
eliminate the problem first and then slowly warm his heart again. After all, the two had been entangled for more than ten years, and it was not impossible for old feelings to rekindle.
He actually understood the entanglement when he heard that Meilin had assassinated Muye Luomei out of jealousy, but was killed in return.
But someone who understands too much must bear a heavier burden than ordinary people.
Everything started with him, and since Meilin is still alive, although Mu Yan Luomei’s feelings for him have long since faded, he did not
pursue the matter after he seized the throne. It was impossible for them to marry, and it was also impossible for her to continue to serve as an official in the court. Fortunately, she had always been strong-willed and arrogant, and was not willing to bow down in front of him.
resigned from her post. Her father and brother, on the other hand, continued to serve the court with dedication.
‘You were bullying someone again, weren’t you?’ Meilin said slowly. She thought that Mu Renluomei’s departure might be related to her death. This person…
this man, why can’t he be nice to the woman he likes?
Murong Jinghe laughed out loud, nibbled her ear lightly, and said, ‘Apart from you, I’m too lazy to let anyone else bully me.’
A tingling sensation spread through her body, and Meilin couldn’t help but shiver. She felt that she really couldn’t let such a nasty person be the emperor, so she inhaled and
lifted her hand, pushing him away with all her strength.
‘My legs are sore, I need to walk,’ she said irritably.
Murong Jinghe knew that she really should move around a bit, and he didn’t stop her, but he still carefully placed a hand on her waist, afraid that she might have an accident
.
Mei Lin felt helpless. She felt that she really was not the type of person who could bear such care, and was about to give him a scolding, but when she suddenly looked down, she saw
the apricot-coloured sachet hanging from his waist.
‘This looks familiar,’ she said, reaching out to touch it and seeing the crooked concentric knot, and she wondered. Why would he be wearing
such a poorly made thing?
Muyong Jing stiffened and looked away to the flowers in the garden, but her ears could not hide their redness. Despite this, he still did not let go of her
hand, nor did he take off the sachet. Of course, he would not tell her that he had asked Qingyan to write the divorce papers and take it back at the same time.
Meilin looked up, intending to ask where he got it from, but when she saw his side face, which was getting redder and redder, she suddenly pursed her lips and smiled, and no longer
refuse his tenderness.
It didn’t take long before Meilin was able to move around freely. She discovered that Mianchun Court was actually located on Fushan, where the original Jingbei Royal Palace had been.
It was probably due to the geothermal heat that flowers bloomed all year round.
Murong Jing came every day, and she actually felt a little sorry for him when she saw that he had to get up in the middle of the night and rush to the palace. But she had no grounds to persuade him
and could only keep quiet. He did not forbid her to leave the Mingchun Courtyard, but when he went out, he would inevitably be accompanied by someone for protection, so it was impossible for her to leave. She had no idea what
he was thinking. Fortunately, she had always been comfortable with whatever came her way, and since the scenery here was nice and she knew a lot of people, she didn’t mind too much.
When she had nothing to do, she liked to find something to do. That day, she was sitting inside the house, mending a shoe sole, when Murong Jinghe excitedly kicked open the door and handed her
a long-haired, snow-white puppy in his arms, pleading to be allowed to give it to her.
‘Look what I’ve brought you,’
said Murong Jinghe, lifting his eyelids to take a look. Not really interested, she said indifferently, ‘A dog. What do I want with a dog?’
As if someone had poured a bucket of cold water over his head, Murong Jinghe froze for a moment, then his face fell. ‘You don’t want it?’ He thought that women
liked these small animals. At the beginning, A Dai couldn’t bear to let go of the little red fox in his arms. That’s why he forced other countries to offer this little thing that was said to have the same noble bloodline as the royal family
just to make her happy. He never expected her to not want it.
Meilin shook his head and continued to make shoes with his head bowed.
His expectations were dashed, and Murong Jinghe was a little annoyed, so he shoved the puppy into Meilin’s arms. ‘I’ll give it to you, but you have to take good care of it.’ The puppy
was sleepy, curled up into a ball and falling asleep, not caring at all if anyone wanted it or not.
Meilin was startled and hastily stopped sewing, so as not to prick anyone. She looked up at the wayward man and said helplessly, ‘I’m still
still relying on other people, how can I raise it.‘
’Then I’ll raise it with you.’ Murong Jinghe lifted his chin and looked down on her with a look of pity.
Meilin couldn’t help but laugh. “If you like raising it, go ahead and do it. What are you dragging me along for? I don’t like these squishy
expensive little things.” What she didn’t say was that it was enough to face an expensive and awkward person every day, and if she had to deal with another one, she couldn’t bear it.
Murong Jinghe’s face darkened. She felt that this woman really didn’t know how to be grateful, but she really couldn’t lose her temper with her now, so she could only
stifle her anger in her stomach. In the blink of an eye, she saw the object in her hands, so she snatched it away and asked, ‘What are you doing?’
Meilin sighed, really not understanding how someone who had become an emperor could just sit around disturbing her all day,
.
‘I saw that the sorcerer’s shoes were worn out and about to fall apart, so I decided to make him a new pair.’ She didn’t really have much confidence in her needlework
but she knew the sorcerer was not picky, so she dared to do it.
When Murong Jinghe heard this, his blood rushed to his head, and he blurted out, ‘Why didn’t you make one for me?’ The only sachet he had was
Meilin was silent. She remembered the first sachet she made for him, and the words he had said. Maybe he had already forgotten, but she could never
forget.
‘I’m asking you, why didn’t you make one for me?’ Murong Jinghe asked, while deftly pulling the end of the shoelace off without being noticed.
Meilin sighed, pointed at the finely crafted shoes on his feet made of high-quality materials, and said, ‘My needlework is crude, and I can’t make your shoes.
What’s more, you have so many shoes that you can’t even wear them all, so how could I ever get to make them?’ He can’t wear the shoes she makes anyway, so why waste energy?
‘That’s not the same thing,’ Murong Jinghe said unhappily. ‘Anyway, you’re only allowed to make them for me. I won’t let anyone else prepare them for me.’ Looking
looking at the shoes in his hands, the mouth of which was opening wider and wider, he was somewhat satisfied, and simply dismissed the idea of throwing them back at her. He took the shoes and left.
Meilin, hugging the white puppy in her arms, looked at his haughty back as he left, dumbfounded, and couldn’t bring herself to respond for a long time.
The immediate result of this incident was that after that day, the witch, who had never cared about what she wore, immediately had a lifetime’s supply of
Chapter 22 (4)
Of course, Meilin would not make shoes for Murong Jing. In his position, if he wore shoes he made to court or for anything else, it would be
strange if he didn’t attract ridicule. So as to avoid him seeing and becoming envious, she also stopped doing needlework easily, so every day she just walked around the garden and up the mountain, thinking about what to do in the future.
From beginning to end, she never once thought about what would become of her and him. She couldn’t before, and naturally, it was even less likely now. Although
his intentions were becoming more and more obvious.
It seemed that he no longer intended to let her go. Of course, she didn’t care about titles and such, but was she really willing to just stay by his side and watch him marry other women?
Meilin was a little confused. She had endured the first half of her life, but would she have to continue to endure the second half as well? Looking at the vast clouds below, for the first time in her life
she felt at a loss for what to do. It was because of his gentleness and sadness.
‘Young lady, an old friend wants to see you,’ Di Tang’s voice came from behind her. Di Tang had been by her side ever since she had woken up,
probably because he had looked after her in Jingbei before.
Meilin was slightly taken aback. She couldn’t think of anyone she knew. Yue Qin, who had been sent to the southern land of Yue for his part in deceiving Murong Jing, was
well-known to everyone, and with his temperament, he would never wait below. So, who could it be?
*********
The person waiting in the flower hall was a middle-aged woman. She had dressed up carefully, with her eyebrows and eyes carefully made up, her hair neatly combed,
Although her clothes were not brand new, it was obvious that she had not worn them many times.
She sat and stood for a while, occasionally tugging at her dress and fixing her hair. She looked a little nervous and restless.
Meilin stood outside the hall and watched her through the window pane. At first, she was able to keep calm, but after a while, her heartbeat became faster and faster, until it was like
thunder, and cold sweat broke out on the palms of her hands.
It seemed that she had noticed the gaze, and the woman looked towards the window. Meilin’s heart suddenly skipped a beat, and she hurriedly walked towards the door.
Before entering,
she already had a faint, calm smile on her face. However, her calmness did not last long.
‘My son…my poor son…’ As soon as the woman saw her enter, she wiped her eyes with her hand and cried, pouncing on her.
Meylin froze, looking at the woman who was crying and rubbing her tears and snot onto her, and could smell the cheap perfume on her.
Her forehead began to ache, and all the calm she had been trying to maintain suddenly collapsed. She turned her head to ask Di Tang or someone else, but she saw no one behind her.
What kind of situation was this?
Probably thinking that she didn’t react much, the woman felt that crying alone was really not interesting, so she slowly stopped, but
still wiped her eyes with her handkerchief from time to time and sniffled a little.
‘May I ask who you are?’ Ignoring the wet patch on her chest, Meilin politely asked after helping the woman sit down in a chair. Although at the beginning
she had some premonitions, but now she was unsure.
‘My name is Chun Yanzi, and you are…’ The woman pretended to wipe her eyes with a silk handkerchief, raised her eyelids to take a look at her, and was about to say something
when she suddenly froze, dropped the handkerchief, and carefully looked at her. Then, she stood up, carefully lifted up the left side of her forehead, and gently touched the red
mole.
‘Huahua… my child…‘ She touched her eyebrows, eyes, nose and lips with trembling hands, then embraced her in her arms, her petite
body uncontrollably shaking.
’Chunhua… Chunhua…”
Meilin faintly recalled a voice calling out like this a long, long time ago. It turned out that she liked spring flowers and would especially like Jingbei’s
spring flowers because of this reason.
Hesitantly, she raised her hand and embraced Chun Yanzi’s waist, her eyes dry and red.
‘Back in those days, your mother and I were the most popular courtesans in the garden. No nobleman or dignitary would refuse to pay court to your mother.’
Chun Yanzi cracked open a melon seed while boasting to her daughter about the glamorous days they had.
Meilin smiled and listened, not showing any impatience or disgust.
‘It was only after you were born that every day became unbearable.’ Chun Yanzi sighed, and for the first time, a look of vicissitude appeared on her face. “I’m not saying
that I can’t support you. It’s just that in that kind of place, you’ll grow up to be just like me. So when I heard that someone important wanted to take in a child to train them to be their subordinate, I thought that it would be better to let you
give it a try, because no matter how bad it gets, it’s still better than the brothel.”
Meilin nodded, still smiling.
‘Don’t blame me,‘ said Chun Yanzi.
’Mm,‘ Meilin nodded.
’You really don’t blame me?‘ Chun Yanzi straightened her back and looked at her daughter, who was not very easy to understand, with confusion.
’No,’ Meilin shook her head and still smiled, looking at Chun Yanzi with a sense of nostalgia and affection in her eyes.
Chun Yanzi let out a sigh of relief and then became excited again, smiling and saying, ’You see, if you had stayed with me, how could you have met such a good
gentleman.”
Meilin was about to nod, but suddenly felt that something was wrong. She frowned and said, “What gentleman?”
Chun Yanzi smiled at her, pointed her finger at her forehead, and said, “Why are you embarrassed to be with your mother? If it weren’t for the gentleman finding
your mother this time, I’m afraid you and I would never have met in this life.” After a pause, a look of great satisfaction came over her face, and she praised, ’The gentleman is a good-looking man, and
you are good, my son, this is your good fortune in eight lifetimes.‘
’You’ve met him?’ Meilin was surprised, a little surprised that Murong Jing would meet his own mother, but then he became gloomy again, “I
and he are afraid it won’t work.”
Chun Yanzi was stunned and confused, ’Why?’
‘He… he is not an ordinary person,‘ Meilin said softly, thinking that her mother must not know that he was the current emperor, so she did not reveal it.
’Not an ordinary person…’ Chun Yanzi repeated in puzzlement, and then suddenly jumped up from her chair, putting one hand on her waist and the other poking
Meilin in the forehead, ’Are you stupid? How could I give birth to such a stupid daughter! What do you mean by not an ordinary person? He likes you to be nice to him, isn’t that enough? Have you ever seen anyone who has something
who goes to such trouble to find a mother for a stranger? What ordinary person? If only you were just an ordinary man, would you be able to make you feel comfortable? Those men don’t know anything,
they have no knowledge or vision. Do you think they won’t have multiple wives and concubines, won’t despise your birth, and won’t abandon you at the end? You stupid girl, you’re so angry…you’re killing
me…’
Meilin was poked repeatedly and leaned back, but instead of getting angry, she burst out laughing. Suddenly, she reached out and embraced the woman’s waist, buried her face
in her arms, and her eyes turned moist.
‘Mother.’ This is probably what it feels like to be a mother. Being scolded and loved at the same time, with all one’s heart.
Chun Yanzi suddenly stopped talking and trembled as she placed her hand on her daughter’s head.
This was the first time she had called her mother since they had met.
Ending
After being scolded by her mother that day, Meilin suddenly felt enlightened, and no longer had the slightest bit of unease or hesitation in her heart. However, when Murong Jing appeared, she
did not show any gratitude or joy, and her expression was the same as usual. As she watched the light of expectation in his eyes gradually fade, and finally turn into disappointment, she suddenly felt her heart beating furiously, and she longed to
hold him tightly and never let go.
She pretended to fall, and as expected, he caught her. Then she secretly took off the ugly sachet from his waist and hid it. She hadn’t made it for
him, but seeing how he treasured it, she felt a pang of pain in her heart, so she made a new one with all her heart and wanted to give it to him when she found the opportunity.
Murong Jinghe had long since developed the habit of touching the sachet when he was free, so he soon noticed that the sachet was gone. For a while, he was flustered
and almost turned the entire courtyard upside down.
Meilin didn’t expect him to make such a big noise. First, he was shocked, and then he reacted, hastily pulling him into the room and
stuffing the finished sachet into his hands.
It was a sapphire-blue sachet, also tied with a concentric knot, and it contained calming herbs. Both the embroidery and the braiding were much
Murong Jing was holding the sachet, puzzled at first, and was about to say that this was not what he was looking for. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and swallowed the words that would almost
betray him. He held the sachet in his hands, looking at it over and over again, and couldn’t stop smiling while he looked at it. Then he suddenly noticed that on the inside of the sachet was embroidered a
the characters Chun and Jing.
His thumb gently stroked over the two characters, and he felt his heart pounding. His Adam’s apple rolled down, and he looked up, directly into Meilin’s slightly apprehensive
and nervous smiling face. Unable to help himself, he returned a big smile that looked like he was crying, and then he embraced her in his arms.
‘I will never let you down,’ he said, raising his head slightly and speaking hoarsely.
Meilin nodded, then took the sachet from his hands and tied it around his waist for him.
‘I took your sachet,’ she explained, a little embarrassed. She could have just said so, but she acted like a thief
‘It was something I made for fun, and it’s been soaked, so you don’t need it.’
Seeing that he seemed reluctant to part with it, she added, ‘If you like it, I’ll make it for you often in the future.’
Muyong Jinghe and Muyin Lin beamed, nodding repeatedly.
Muyin Lin peeked outside to see the servants still frantically searching for the sachet, so he nudged him. Muyong Jinghe understood, and called
out to Qingyan, telling him not to bother looking for it.
Qingyan had sharp eyes, and when he saw the new sachet at Muyong Jinghe’s waist, and saw that the two of them looked different from usual, he understood, smiled, and then left
After sending Qing Yan away, the courtyard soon quieted down, and the servants went about their duties.
Murong Jing turned back to Meilin. Since the witch had completely repaired her body, ever since she woke up, she looked
more and more energetic and better looking every day, no longer as skinny and frightening as she was a year ago.
Meilin felt embarrassed when he looked at her, so she turned her back and tidied the disarranged sewing box, but he reached around and embraced her from behind. The hot
breath on her ear made her tremble involuntarily.
‘I have already had someone prepare it. When autumn comes, I will marry you,’ Murong Jinghe whispered in her ear, like
an ordinary man, not in the tone of an emperor.
Meilin was slightly startled and couldn’t help but tilt her head to the side. She wanted to ask, but he firmly sealed her lips. After tossing and turning for a long time, he only slightly moved away
and said, ‘I will only marry you as my wife. There will only be you as a woman in my harem.’
Meilin couldn’t help but grasp the arm he had wrapped around her waist. Her eyes were lowered, her chest rising and falling rapidly, and she couldn’t speak for a long time. When she decided to let
let go of everything and follow him, she never thought he would marry her, let alone dare to hope that he would only have her as a woman. Now that she heard him say it himself, she couldn’t help feeling like she was dreaming,
it was a bit unreal.
‘But…’ Murong Jinghe spoke again, waking her from that daze. She was about to laugh at herself when she heard him continue
say, ‘But I have waited for you for a year, and I don’t want to wait any longer.’ As he spoke, his large hand secretly covered the soft breasts, which had become plump again, and his intentions were
nakedly expressed.
Meilin’s face flushed, and the bittersweet feelings of gain and loss that had arisen from his words all flew away at once, and she angrily
She angrily pulled off his wolf’s claws and was about to drive him out of the door, but she didn’t expect to encounter a pair of eyes full of longing and nostalgia. Her heart suddenly softened.
‘Well…well, it’ll have to be tonight.’ She became inexplicably coy, looking around with her eyes, but not looking at the pair of burning eyes that seemed to
be about to swallow her whole.
Muyong Jinghe pursed his lips, as if he was reluctant, but he still nodded. ‘You promised, don’t go back on your word.’ In fact, he
was very happy, so happy that he was about to burst. He had originally thought that he would have to dally with her for a while before he could get what he wanted.
Meilin nodded, thinking to himself that even if she went back on her word, he would probably not agree. He came back to his senses and thought of something else, so he said, ‘Yue Qin…
Yue Qin also wants to help me, so don’t argue with him anymore.‘
As soon as he heard Yue Qin, Murong Jinghe remembered the incident in which he had acted foolishly, and couldn’t help but feel a headache.
’I’m not arguing with him. I actually want him to gain some experience outside, and someone will be watching out for him, so don’t worry. After a few years, when he’s a bit
established, I’ll transfer him back to the capital.’ He casually reassured Meilin, and when he saw her relieved smile, he also felt relieved.
What Meilin didn’t know was that when the years passed and Yue Qin grew up, Murong Jing and his family would be even less willing to let Yue Qin get close to her.
this legend does not only refer to the fact that he unified the entire Xuanhuang continent during his lifetime, ending its long era of warring states and division, but also to his iron-fisted
and dictatorial style of governance. Let’s not mention the various unique practices in politics, just that he bestowed a marriage between his most trusted Grand Eunuch of the Imperial Household Department and a man,
and that he only had one wife for life. These two events are enough to last a long time.
Of course, Murong Jingwei didn’t know about it, and even if he did, he wouldn’t have cared. Since he had done it, of course there would be people talking about it, especially since he was in his position. The strong do, the weak talk. It’s always been like that. He wanted to have enough freedom, so he had to be strong, very strong. So in the end, he dared to openly challenge the millennia-old Confucian ethics, allowing Qing Yan Shigu to become his family member in an open and aboveboard manner, and also allowing his own woman to no longer suffer the slightest injustice.
If he heard the word legend, he would certainly scoff. He thought that if any emperor was as foolish as him, carrying an unknown corpse around for a few days,
he would also become legendary. Legend, from another perspective, is not a life that is less tragic than ordinary people. Like him, like the warlord Zang Zhong
King Zangzhong. As a young man, he only loved the joy of galloping across the battlefield, and never once envied or looked up to that lonely and cold position. As for King Zangzhong, the founding father of Dayan…
That day, a few people were drinking tea, playing chess and chatting under the winter jasmine trellis in Mianchun Garden. Wu suddenly said, ‘I’m leaving.’
The surroundings instantly fell silent.
Looking at the bewildered expressions on everyone’s faces, Wu smiled.
‘Someone is here to see me.’ After a pause, he looked at Murong Jing and said, “To tell you the truth, you know that person too.”
It was a tall and burly man, dressed in coarse clothes, carrying a long, cloth-wrapped object on his back.
He stood outside Mianchun Garden, his face simple and stern, his bearing majestic.
‘I am a shaman from the land of Heyuan,’ the shaman said, his clear eyes glowing with a distant look of reminiscence. ’At that time, the foreign tribes instigated the demons to create
a disaster that destroyed my people. I used my divine power to transform the disaster into a curse, which caused the bamboo to wither and the pine to burn. I devoured the curse and fell into a deep sleep with it.’
Historical records do not contain any records of the land of Heyuan. Therefore, the past he was talking about was no different from myths and legends to the people present. However, his
abilities were indeed very different from those of the world, so even if they didn’t quite understand, none of them doubted him lightly.
‘One day, his intrusion woke me up. I saw that he had died in the crypt and was full of grievances, so I used my own strength to bind his soul and keep it company in that dark place. We were not able to resurrect until you arrived and took the parasite away. He missed the remains of his bones and refused to leave, but he never imagined that you would bring him out.’ When the witch was talking about you, she looked at Murong Jinghe.
Muyong Jinghe’s expression did not change. He already guessed who the man was. That time, he returned to Zhongshan Stone Forest to find out the shortcut from Anyang to Zhongshan, and then to find the Lord of the Hidden Central Plains. He found the token on the Lord of the Hidden Central Plains, which could command the Bingdao Army. This was also something that the heirs of the Lord of the Hidden Central Plains had recognised for generations. Anyone in possession of the Bingdao token could command the Bingdao Army. That was why he was able to command the Zangdao Army, which no outsider had ever been able to do. He just didn’t expect that the soul of the Zangzhongwang would be attached to it, and then take up residence in the body of a recently deceased person. It took a few years until the soul and the body were completely fused before he came looking for the witch.
These things sound like tall tales, but are there really not enough mysterious things in the world?
As they walked side by side, they gradually disappeared into the mountain cherry blossoms and brambles. Murong Jinghe suddenly reached out and pulled Meilin into his arms, hugging her tightly from behind.
From beginning to end, the man never said a word. He didn’t say anything about the past that had made him resentful and unwilling, nor did he pursue Murong Jinghe and the use of his belongings. He followed the witch like a taciturn attendant, not the once-powerful figure he had been.
‘Huahua’er, do you know the name of the Holy Ancestor?’ Murong Jinghe whispered to Mei Lin’s ear.
Mei Lin’s forehead tightened, and she reached out to push his face away. “I don’t know. And don’t call me Huahua’er.”
Murong Jinghe nodded twice, ducked his head to avoid her hand, and then leaned in again, continuing, ’Huahua’er, I’ll tell you in secret. The Holy Ancestor’s single name is Qian.’
Meyin’s hand fell to the ground, and then he held it again, leaving her a little dazed.
Qian? Murong Qian?
She remembered the four words written with a bone-deep hatred on the bones of the corpse: ‘Qian the thief harmed me.’ Could it be… Could it be… She looked sideways at the man glued to her body, her gaze full of disbelief.
Murong Jinghe kissed her forehead, then nodded slightly, which was considered a tacit approval of her guess.
According to Murong Jinghe’s speculation, the founding saint of the year was jealous of the king of Zhongwang’s great achievements, but was unable to deprive him of his military power.
Therefore, he set a poisonous plan and secretly ordered him to lead people to infiltrate Shilin to eradicate the remnants of the Hu tribe. When he and the traitor fought to the death, he had someone set fire to the forest with poisonous smoke on the outskirts of Shilin.
and finally wipe out both sides and turn the Stone Forest into a toxic field of fire that no one dares enter. This can be described as a plan that kills several birds with one stone.
Of course, all of the above is just his speculation, and the real truth is probably buried deep in the memories of that silent man.
‘So that’s why you told me to kowtow to him?’ Meilin couldn’t help but shiver, feeling that the emperor’s heart was truly terrifying.
Murong Jinghe hugged her and nodded. Although those bows contained an element of respect and admiration, the main reason was to ask the ancestors to
forgive the sins. Perhaps men all know this, and when he saw that he later buried the three sets of bones himself, he allowed himself to use the token to collect the Zhaodao army.
‘Then just now… will he do you harm?’ Meilin thought of the man’s expression, which was as deep as the sea and hard to fathom, and couldn’t help but worry a little.
‘Who knows. Flower, are you worried about me?’ Murong Jinghe not only looked troubled, but also seemed very happy.
Meilin was silent for a moment, and then suddenly said, “You still owe me a favour.” If he hadn’t mentioned the past, she would have forgotten.
Murong Jinghe was startled, and his mind raced, afraid that she would mention something like going on a long journey and leaving him behind. Then he said with a smile, ’What are you talking about
One favour or two, all my favours are yours, you can’t even refuse.”
Rogue! Meilin looked up at the sky, allowing the man to kiss her forehead coquettishly, her face expressionless. She had long known that he had countless ways and reasons to refuse to do what he didn’t want to do, and even if she did have evidence in her hands, it wouldn’t work.
Her gaze grew tender as she breathed in his scent and felt his warmth on her forehead.
The clouds in the sky were light and fluffy, the garden was full of flowers and trees, the mountains and hills in the distance were graceful and beautiful, and every now and then she could see a house. In fact, this place was also very good.
Any place with him was very good.