Mei Gongqing 150-152

Chapter 150: Ran Min’s Love (2)

A long time had passed within Ran Min’s embrace before Chen Rong shook her head.

She was shaking her head to herself.

“Then what about Chen Wei?” she quietly asked. She didn’t need to ask to know what his answer would be, but she still wanted to ask.

Ran Min undid her Daoist bun to let her hair tumble down. He stroked the silky locks and repeated, “Chen Wei?” Furrowing his brow, he patiently reassured her, “She’s only a concubine; she can’t give you any trouble. Besides, she is a feeble woman who relies on me, loves me and trusts me. If I abandon her for no reason she will not survive.” He took a pause before finally giving his concession: “If it really displeases you that much, I’ll only bring you along from now on.”

This was his biggest concession.

Chen Rong sneered and slowly pulled from his arms.

Two lifetimes had allowed her to understand this man. He would always give in to a woman’s tears. Even if he said he loves her, he would not leave Chen Wei as soon as she begged him through her tears.

Moreover, there would come a Li Wei or a Wu Wei in addition to Chen Wei… Some of those women were truly vulnerable while some were only pretending. They would come to him one after another like a revolving lantern. In Chen Rong’s past life, they had ridiculed and snared her because of her lowly status and loveless marriage. This time, she had lost her chastity to another man. They would use it against her until she couldn’t but retaliate.

Chen Rong would not lose to them, of course, but she was tired of that life. She’d rather those unloved days if she were to ever marry. But looking at him now, he most certainly would keep her by his side… More importantly, Ran Min was a proud man; proud men would rather wrong others than let others wrong them. Yet Chen Rong had first lost her heart and later her body to another man. This was to be a thorn in his heart. Over time, along with mounting whispers, he might one day remove the festering tumor that was she.

Perhaps a woman like her was only suited for loneliness… If she kept company with the moon and the clouds, maybe she’d be lucky enough to see herself grow old in time.

Ran Min could sense the indifference and rejection from the woman in his arms.

The muscles on his face twitched.

Almost suddenly, he pushed Chen Rong away and made her fall backward. He looked down at her, his thin lips curving to ask: “Ah Rong of the Chen House, if I leave Chen Wei, will you come with me?” It angered him that he was forced to compromise.

Chen Rong shook her head in the face of his anger. She smiled and looked down to avoid his eyes. “Nay, I won’t go with you no matter what happens.”

She turned around to shake her sleeves, smiling lightly. “I’m living just fine, general, I won’t go with you.”

She had barely taken a step when she was pulled back to Ran Min.

He darkly stared down at her. “In that case,” he suddenly said, “I will stay a few more days.”

This is not a confession of love. This is definitely not a confession of love!

Startled, Chen Rong widened her eyes and instinctively yelled out, “Don’t!”

Ran Min scoffed. He stared at her like a wolf and asked, “Why not?”

Chen Rong blanched. Her mouth curved but she could not speak.

She knew him well enough to know he wasn’t staying around to wait for her change of heart. He was waiting for Wang Hong; he wanted to kill Wang Hong!

Chen Rong forced herself to calm down as her heart raced.

This is Jiankang, she told herself. Everyone in the temple is Wang Hong’s to command. Even if Ran Min is powerful, he cannot touch Wang Hong.

And then she thought: Even though Ran Min terrifies the Hu, in the eyes of the Jins, he is only a brute with a humble background and a changed surname. He has not come here with enough soldiers to fear.

Thinking so only consoled her a little. She knew Ran Min was dauntless, and if he really wanted to kill someone, he could kill even His Majesty the emperor.

This translation belongs to ha mster428.

Chen Rong turned to look ahead.

Ran Min’s lips drew into a line as a complicated feeling crept to his heart. He looked at her delicate neck and momentarily wanted to choke the heartless woman to death.

But when that thought surfaced, another impulse took over. He wanted to hug her, beg her, and tell her he would kill Chen Wei if only she would come with him.

These battling thoughts made him clench and unclench his fists in turn.

At this time, Chen Rong had turned her back to him to look at the foggy valley below. She faintly smiled and suddenly said, “Did you ask me why I wanted to become a nun? I haven’t answered you.”

She gazed down at the shifting fog below them and unhurriedly said, “I decided to join the monastery because my thirst is too insatiable while my origin is too humble. I clearly have no status, no beauty, no family to depend upon, nothing. And yet I always want to monopolize a man’s love.”

She looked back at Ran Min with a smile. “Haven’t you discovered that you and I are exactly the same? We’re both the type to want all of that person to ourselves. Otherwise, our hearts would be pricked until the day we die and pain would consume us.”

“You know me so well, Ah Rong,” coldly replied Ran Min.

Chen Rong heard the chaff in his voice but only smiled.

She looked ahead and quietly said, “I did not lose my chastity to Wang Qilang because he forced himself onto me… But because I felt lost and bewildered on the day you accepted Chen Wei, so I impulsively offered myself to him.”

Ran Min’s countenance turned livid. He stared at Chen Rong, his face twitching. He reached out to clasp her neck, but when his hand neared her, it trembled and came to rest on her vest.

A soft strike was all he needed to send this shameless woman down the valley.

At this time, Chen Rong was still looking down below, seemingly oblivious to the murderous Ran Min behind her.

Looking at the fog gather then scatter, Chen Rong’s voice gently floated: “Afterwards, he promised that I would be his honored concubine. But I’m well aware that I am greedy and ruthless. My love for him would not allow me to tolerate his wife or having a mistress above me… In a large clan such as the Wang House of Lang’ya, the consequences of my intolerance will be my demise.”

She hoarsely continued with a smile: “Think about it, general, if I have to die sooner or later, then why should I kill his affection for me as well? I would rather leave while he still feels guilt, love, and loyalty towards me. That way, even when I die, he will remember me for the rest of his life.”

She laughed.

“Unfortunately, I did not die. If I couldn’t die, then I wanted to become a nun. So I kept praying and plotting… I spent every waking moment thinking of ways to see His Majesty, to make my request and to receive his permission.”

Ran Min had been motionless behind Chen Rong. He withdrew his hand and woodenly stared at her. When she finished, he gloomily asked, “Do you love him that much?”

With her back to him, Chen Rong tilted her head and laughed: “Love him? Nay, I love myself the most. I just want to make him remember me for the rest of his life just because he did not have me.”

At this point, she lazily said without turning around, “You’re not going to kill me, general? Then I have to go.”

When she finished, she waved her sleeves and took the small path on the left.

No footsteps followed her.

She didn’t know how long she had walked by the time she heard Nurse Ping’s voice: “Miss, why do you look so wan?”

The surprise in her voice made Chen Rong take a pause.

She looked up at her nurse. After a brief glance, she slowly turned back.

People came and went in her purview, but the tall man was not there anymore.

Chen Rong wiped the cold sweat on her forehead. She hoped what she had said would make Ran Min see that a woman like her wasn’t worth the risk of assassinating Wang Hong.

The truth was that she knew Ran Min was an ambitious man. And as an ambitious man, he may not necessarily kill Wang Hong after weighing his pros and cons. She, however, didn’t want to take any chances; she wanted to play it safe. As for herself, this was already her life. Whether she lived or died didn’t make much of a difference.

***

Ran Min, standing straight, watched Chen Rong leave. The red band on his forehead flew about in the night wind.

At length, he moved and slowly bowed over with a hand on his chest.

There, an unspeakable suffocation was devouring his heart and wrenching his stomach.

He tightly shut his eyes.

“I ought to kill her!” he murmured at length. He was talking to himself, for his voice was barely audible.

But he soon began to laugh just as his whisper flew into the night wind.

His rueful laughter grew louder and louder before it finally erupted.

Chapter 151: Seeing Chen Wei

Chen Rong went back to her room and sat on the divan for an hour.

As time passed, her heart grew quieter and quieter.

Noticing the rising moon and diminishing voices outside the door, Chen Rong thought to herself: Ran Min must have left.

She went outside, down the stone steps, along the tree-lined road and onto a small path on the right. This path was fairly far from where she met Ran Min.

Voices sounded from time to time. Chen Rong knew her stewards had been rejecting the throngs of visitors for the past few days… Since she wanted peace, Wang Hong had given her peace.

At this time, a series of light and nimble footsteps quickened its strides, as if to notify her that someone was coming.

Chen Rong knew it to be Wang Hong’s people.

She stopped and asked, “What is it?”

The footsteps halted. It was Yinggu’s voice: “Priestess, we just now heard a man’s laughter behind the mountain.” A pause. “Do you know who he is?”

From the sound of her voice, she was deliberately asking even though she had obviously seen Chen Rong with Ran Min.

“He’s an old acquaintance,” Chen Rong softly replied.

She looked back at Ying’gu with twinkles in her eyes and asked, “Who can go if I want to send a letter to your master?”

Ying’gu briefly paused, and in an instant smiled: “Priestess, you’re teasing me. Since his lordship has sent us here, then we are now yours to command. We won’t relay news to others.”

She misunderstood that Chen Rong was testing her.

Chen Rong didn’t want to say more. She turned her head and lightly said, “Is that so. Never mind, then.”

She stepped head.

Ying’gu started, and then hurried to catch up to her. “Did I anger you?” she stammered.

Chen Rong shook her head. “I want to be alone.”

Ying’gu took that as an order to leave and stopped following her.

After five or six hundred paces when voices became more and more distant, Chen Rong stopped walking and turned around.

She saw a woman walking down from the gazebo on the left side of the mountain .

Chen Rong went on without paying her further attention.

Three steps later, she halted and turned to look at the woman.

She was as delicate as a pear blossom. Her alabaster skin seemed cold under the moonlight… Was she Chen Wei?

Was it really Chen Wei?

Chen Rong narrowed her eyes and silently surveyed the perimeter as she walked.

It was quiet all around her. Nay, there was a man a hundred paces away in the woods. He looked to be Chen Wei’s escort.

Ran Min really loved Chen Wei, didn’t he? No matter where she was, he always sent guards to watch over her. In the past, she always had a guard and two loyal maids by her side. It was why Chen Rong could never find a chance to do anything. She didn’t think it would still be the same this time.

Chen Wei was absently looking at the ground. As if she felt Chen Rong’s eyes on her, she gazed up.

She gaped stupidly at Chen Rong for a while before she asked in surprise, “Why are you here? Where’s Ran lang? I thought he was looking for you.”

Chen Wei looked around as she asked, searching for Ran Min.

Chen Rong looked at her.

The night wind was chilling her and infiltrating her heart. She quietly studied Chen Wei, whose face appeared in front of her in the moonlight.

Chen Wei wasn’t looking very well. She was sallow, with a pointed chin and eyes that always seemed to be brimming with tears.

Yet the gauntness made her look even more delicate, more dainty and more pitiful, like a pear blossom that would fall at the first gust of wind.

While Chen Rong appraised Chen Wei, the other girl was also appraising her.

She looked Chen Rong up and down, covered her smile and softly said, “Ah Rong, it’s only been a few months but how come you have become a Daoist nun? Hehe, but you look even better and more seductive in a Daoist robe.”

She happily went to Chen Rong.

Before long, she was five steps away from her cousin.

She stopped to take another look at Chen Rong. With a smile that reached her eyes, she sighed, “I was very envious to hear that you left with Wang Qilang. Even Ah Qi and the girls were envious of you. We all thought once you got to Jiankang, you would live a fairy-tale life at the Wang House of Lang’ya. We never thought you would become a nun.”

She looked at Chen Rong with sympathy and lamented, “Poor Ah Rong.”

Chen Rong had been quietly watching her, waiting for her to finish.

Only after Chen Wei had stopped for some time did she begin. “Are you done?”

Chen Wei stilled, staring at Chen Rong.

Faintly smiling, Chen Rong looked at Chen Wei and slowly said, “Just now, your husband General Ran was here to see me and ask that I go with him.”

Chen Wei paled.

Chen Rong smiled. She clasped her hands behind her back, condescendingly looked down at Chen Wei, and then copied her look to lightly say: “Ah Wei, you should address me as the Lady of the House now.”

“The Lady of the House.”

“The Lady of the House.”

Her words were light, but their meaning was weighty. Chen Wei was as white as snow. She could no longer smile. She rushed forward, grabbed Chen Rong’s sleeves and shrieked, “You’re lying! My husband said you have slept with Wang Qi, he doesn’t want you anymore!”

Her anxious scream was loud enough to attract footsteps coming from the right side of the mountain.

When Chen Wei hastily clutched her sleeves, Chen Rong frowned and flapped them to fling Chen Wei away. She gladly looked askance at the hysterically screaming Chen Wei.

When Chen Wei saw Chen Rong’s smiling face, she couldn’t help but feel enraged. She clenched her teeth and clawed at Chen Rong’s face while screaming: “Shameless tramp! How dare you smile. I… I’m going to rip your face!”

She frantically charged at Chen Rong, but Chen Rong had after all learned martial arts and did not let her come close.

Just as Chen Wei flew at her, Chen Rong nimbly pulled back and dodged her attack.

Chen Wei almost stumbled to the ground. After a few staggering steps, she found her balance and fought for breath.

When she looked at Chen Rong and again saw the smile on her face, Chen Wei forced herself to calm down.

She bent over her knees, inhaled, and then yelled at Chen Rong: “You’re lying! My husband isn’t with you. If he wanted you, he would be here right now. You’re lying.”

Chen Rong clapped her hands and praised, “Oh, so Ah Wei is not stupid after all. You could tell that I was lying.”

Chen Wei froze to hear these words.

Astonished, she swallowed back her curses and glared at Chen Rong, hastily asking: “What did you say? You said you were lying, didn’t you? Didn’t you?!”

Joy was heard in her panicking voice.

Across from her, Chen Rong was equally startled. She absently looked at Chen Wei for a long time and then murmured, “How pitiful… why live your life this way?” Her voice was very light. Rather than ridiculing Chen Wei, it was more of a warning to herself.

Chen Wei did not hear, or care, whether Chen Rong was ridiculing her or not. She only hurried forward and asked, “What did you mean? You were lying, weren’t you? My husband never wanted you, did he?”

Each of her questions was adamant and pressing.

This translation belongs to hamster428.

Chen Rong pityingly looked at Chen Wei during the interrogation. With a faint smile on her face, her hands were clasped behind her back in the same demeanor Wang Hong habitually carried. She nodded. “Aye, I was lying. Your husband won’t marry me.”

Staring at Chen Wei’s overjoyed expression, Chen Rong somberly called, “Ah Wei.”

Chen Wei quizzically looked at her.

“Aren’t you good at pretending, Ah Wei? Your tears can always fall at will.” As Chen Wei was getting indignant, Chen Rong smiled and slowly said, “Ah Wei, use your tears, use your abjection and docility to lure your husband away from Jiankang.”

Again Chen Wei was befuddled. Before she could retort, Chen Rong caressed her fingertips and softly added, “Your husband said he still wants me no matter my past.”

Chen Wei became as white as a sheet of parchment. She faltered backward.

Chen Rong did not look at her. She continued to say in an unhurried manner: “He also said he wants to marry me.”

This time, Chen Wei throated something that both sounded like a sob but also an outraged grunt. She was biting her lower lip, her wide tearful eyes stubbornly staring at Chen Rong, as she waited for her to go on.

Chen Rong smiled and nonchalantly continued, “But I am a nun ordained by His Majesty. Besides, your husband is forever on his military campaigns, how can army food and accommodation compare to Jiankang?” Looking up at Chen Wei, she said, “Ah Wei, your husband is the only man in the empire who does not mind whether I am a nun or I am unchaste. So you had better take him away from Jiankang as quickly as you can. Go before I change my mind.”

She slightly upturned her lips. Her bottomless eyes shone bright in the moonlight. Chen Wei could not see what she was thinking, or even know if she was speaking the truth or not.

Chen Wei vigilantly stared at Chen Rong. “W-why would you?” She bit her lips, caught up to her cousin and asked, “Ah Rong of the Chen House, what tricks do you have up your sleeves?”

Chen Rong turned around.

Her expression was both aloof and haughty. “If you don’t want to leave, then forget what I said.” She flapped her sleeves and walked ahead.

“Stop!”

Chen Wei pursued Chen Rong and repeatedly asked, “Ah Rong, is that the truth? My husband still wants you?”

Chen Rong did not look back. She coldly replied, “Don’t you know your own husband? You can’t possibly tell me you are ignorant of his feelings for me.”

Chen Wei came to a halt at these words. After two steps, Chen Rong heard a sobbing behind her.

She turned around.

In the moonlight, Chen Wei was on the ground crying behind her palms. Her shoulders were shaking so distressingly that it was difficult to ignore her.

Chen Rong went to her.

She looked down at Chen Wei with pity and slowly said, “There’s no need to be so heartbroken. Ah Wei, you don’t love him as much as you think.”

She meant what she said. Chen Wei naturally ignored her. “You must be happy to see me suffer. Ah Rong, don’t be too pleased. No one wants you anymore! You’re a nun now!”

Chen Rong looked at Chen Wei, smiled and answered, “You’re right, I’m ecstatic. You’ve lost Ah Wei! From now on even if you try your best to please him, your husband’s heart is already stirred. Because of you he cannot have me. He will come to resent you for it. Ah Wei, it’s over!”

Her contempt pricked like the needles.

Chen Wei wanted very much to refute, to retort with the cruelest of derision, but for whatever reason, only sobs rose from her throat. A woman’s intuition told her that what Chen Rong said wasn’t false.

All of a sudden, her obstinacy, her bitter hatred, her sadness, loss and pain all turned into sobs.

Chen Rong motionlessly stood in the night wind and indifferently looked down at her weeping cousin.

At length, she sighed and turned to go.

In only a few steps, she suddenly heard a sigh from the woods behind them.

She turned to survey the surrounding.

A strapping man appeared in her sight, looking somewhat familiar. Chen Rong glanced at him for a moment and finally recognized that he was the captain who acted as Ran Min’s driver from time to time, a funny and interesting man.

So he was protecting Chen Wei; the girl was indeed favored. But this is even better – people only shatter when they fall from the clouds.

He strode to Chen Rong, raised his clasped hands and said, “How do you do?”

Chen Rong absently looked back at him.

He glanced at Chen Wei and then turned back to Chen Rong, sighing all the while.

“Please leave Jiankang with your general,” Chen Rong dropped her gaze and solemnly said. “This city may seem prosperous, but danger awaits at its every corner. General Ran is a man with ambitions; let’s not die a silly death.”

She flapped her sleeves and turned to go.

Her remarks had sounded like a warning. The man shuddered and pensively furrowed his thick brows.

Chapter 152: Chen Rong and Wang Hong

After a dozen steps, Chen Rong couldn’t help herself from turning around to look at Chen Wei.

Chen Wei had gotten up. She lowered her head and wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

The burly man was pacing in place thoughtfully.

Chen Rong withdrew her gaze and quickly went her way.

The night passed by peacefully.

The temple was filled with clamor early next morning. It sounded like the nobility was following one another inside.

Fortunately everything was taken care of by the Wang servants.

Feeling a little sluggish due of yesterday’s commotion, Chen Rong leaned against the divan after her grooming and caught some shut eye.

Some moments later, she heard a series of light and careful footsteps.

They kept busy for a while before Nurse Ping’s voice sounded: “Miss, another princess is here.” She cheerfully added, “She is as beautiful and noble as one can be. She treated a servant like me with so much courtesy. I never thought I’d one day meet princesses and noblemen, let alone being treated with such respect.”

“It’s all thanks to Qilang,” she then muttered.

Seeing Chen Rong ignoring her, Nurse Ping hesitated for a while before moving closer to Chen Rong and asked, “Miss?” No sooner did she speak than noises rose outside. Nurse Ping hurried to the door for a look.

A quarter of an hour later, she ran back to Chen Rong to relay: “It’s a young eunuch, tsk tsk, I bet you have not seen a young lad as beautiful as he. Few girls in Jiankang can rival his beauty. He walks with the princess, and the princess is kind and polite to him.”

Listening to Nurse Ping chattering, Chen Rong suddenly looked up and asked her, “You’re in a good mood today. Did something nice happen?”

Nurse Ping quickly shook her head: “No, no.”

Chen Rong smiled and did not look at her anymore.

Seeing that Chen Rong was absently looking out the window, Nurse Ping occupied herself for a while, then came to sit behind her. “Miss?”

Her voice was hesitant.

“Speak.”

Nurse Ping hemmed and hawed for a while before stammering: “I heard the noblemen outside say that… that Qilang broke into Prince Ying’s home for you. And the ninth princess stopped Qilang’s carriage yesterday to question him in front of everyone who you are to him.”

Chen Rong slowly turned around to listen.

Nurse Ping smiled and gleefully said, “The aristocrats said Qilang smiled and singly replied that you are the most beautiful person to him. The ninth princess was so angry that she was driven to tears.”

Nurse Ping laughed. But unable to read Chen Rong’s mood from her serene exterior, she quizzically asked, “Miss, why aren’t you happy that Qilang admires you so?”

Chen Rong smiled and quietly whispered, “Nay, I’m very happy.”

She said she was happy, but only a faint smile was on her face.

Nurse Ping was a little surprised and disappointed that Chen Rong didn’t look too affected. “You are blessed to have Qilang’s admiration… I’m hoping His Majesty will let you leave the monastic order one day. Then you can come into Qilang’s home when you resume your secular life.”

Chen Rong smiled again to hear this, still faint and indifferent.

Nurse Ping sighed.

There were now footsteps approaching from outside that went unnoticed by both.

This translation belongs to hamster428.

Nurse Ping was still somberly looking at Chen Rong. “If Qilang hadn’t come to your rescue at Prince Ying’s estate, the consequences would have been unthinkable. I thought you had accepted Qilang when you allowed the Wang estate people to manage the temple.”

“The aristocrats were also saying that you are a mistress Wang Qi is keeping at the temple… That made me think: though a mistress is not an honored concubine, you’ll get to have more freedom. Furthermore, as long as Qilang lets you bear a child belonging to the Wang House of Lang’ya, you would not have lived in vain.”

As she said this, she looked at Chen Rong with hope and waited for her to answer.

Chen Rong gave her a smile, turned and lightly shook her head.

“Miss?”

Chen Rong dropped her gaze. “Nurse, this is all I want… staying here on the mountain and quietly spending the rest of my life.”

She spoke in no uncertain terms.

“But miss!” Nurse Ping hurriedly exclaimed. Chen Rong’s and Nurse Ping’s voices made the person outside come to a stop.

Chen Rong looked at her nurse with a consoling smile. “Nurse, don’t worry about my affairs anymore. I know what to do.”

She paused, then articulated, “Aye, Qilang is very good to me and always takes care of me. If he hadn’t saved me from the Prince of Jiankang, I may not be alive anymore.”

She stood up and went to the screened window. Looking out to the verdant spring scene, she peacefully said, “Of course I remember how well he treats me… Nurse, that time when Old Shang and I were lured to the river outside the city and almost fell into the hands of villains, Qilang was kind enough to come find and save me in the middle of the night.”

She softly sighed. “Never before in my life had someone cherished me this much. Up until now, I had always been the one to try her best… no one had ever left the city in the middle of the night and searched the wilderness for me. I had been drunk with happiness! Furthermore, he is the prestigious Qilang of the Wang House in Lang’ya.”

“I’m always aware that he is good to me.”

Chen Rong paused, her smile fading. “But this is this and that is that.”

“I am indebted to him, but we can only remain as friends. Nurse, you best forget him. Your young lady can only be a nun for the rest of her life. A year or so from now, once Qilang gets married or finds himself a new love interest, once the chief of the Lang’ya Wang House recalls these nuns and servants home, I reckon the noblemen in Jiankang will lose their interest in a trivial woman like me.”

She became rather cheerful at this juncture. “Nurse, we will want for nothing then. We’ll quietly leave this place and buy a house somewhere quiet. We’ll stay far from Jiankang and away from the interest of the aristocrats. I’ll acquire land somewhere that has not been invaded. I will be too old by then for my looks to attract attention. We should be able to have a peaceful life.”

“Nurse, the more I think about if the more I am convinced that I’ll be able to get my wish this time.” So excited at this thought was she that her eyes twinkled and her dimples bloomed when she turned to her nurse.

She came face to face with Nurse Ping, but also a man who was leaning against the doorway, snowy robe and inky hair, and quietly watching her.

Chen Rong tensed.

She blinked. The smile on her face gradually froze.

She stared at the handsome lad leaning against the door for a moment before muttering: “I didn’t know you were here.”

She almost slapped herself as soon as her words slipped out. Honestly, not only did you fail to do any damage control, you even uttered such words!

Nurse Ping looked back and forth, then bowed her head and quietly slipped away.

As soon as she left, the man surrounded by the morning light smiled at her. He curved his mouth, waved his sleeves, and slowly walked to Chen Rong.

When she saw him approach, she involuntarily backed into the window screen.

Helplessly, she could only bow her head while his fragrance wafted to her.

“Annoyed?” He gently looked at her, his voice was clear and soothing, and very pleasant to the ear.

Chen Rong nodded.

His slender hand reached out, their fingers brushing across her shoulder like a dragonfly skimming the water before coming to rest on the windowsill.

Inadvertently, he had enveloped her in his shadow.

He looked down at her, his inky locks grazing her cheek.

“Darling,” he breathed, “what should we do now that I heard your idea?”

He lowered his head and touched his nose to her forehead. “Is another thought forming in your head?” He pressed his lips together. “You know me… it would’ve been fine I didn’t know, but how can I help myself from getting involved now that I do know?”

Sighing helplessly, he continued: “Even if my family and His Majesty want to arrange for me a wife or whatever else, I hate the idea as soon as I think of my dearest darling clapping, the wheels spinning in her mind as she plots her exit right on my wedding day.”

“Darling, what are we going to do?” His voice was gentle and solicitous, yet also childlike and capricious.

Because Chen Rong did love him, she was defenseless against his tone and address. Her face at once blushed. She drew back, hid her face behind her sleeves and yelled at him, “M-move away from me. And stop calling me darling!”

She stubbornly stared up at him with a warning: “Wang Qilang, I am now a nun! You’ll certainly not call me your darling.” She had steeled herself again. Now, she stood up with a hardened face.

As she was about to push Wang Hong away, footsteps were heard, followed by Yinggu’s voice outside: “Priestess, His Majesty has sent an escort to take you to the palace.”

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Hiya! Hope everyone had a great Lunar New Year (if you celebrate). I’ve been caught up in watching the Olympics (congrats Yuzuru!) and doing my taxes. Dunno if I should admit to this, but I’m also watching Feng Qiu Huang 😀 I know it’s a Yu Mama production and I’ve heard plenty of bashing but it’s definitely my guilty pleasure. I even like the 2nd half in Da Wei better than the 1st half in Liu Song because Liu Chuyu is adorably spunky and Rongzhi is uncharateriscally flustered. So fun haha. What are you guys watching these days? I’m waiting for Empress Fuyao and maybe Heavy Sweetness Ashlike Frost.