Hearing news about Xie Lin Lang, the smile on the corner of Shen Jun Qing*’s lips instantly deepened.
*The Imperial Preceptor’s name.
He took the letter and read the content quite leisurely even though he was perfectly capable of reading ten lines per glance.
Throughout the entire process, his elegant face did not show any signs of change, but as he reached the end of the letter, his smile became slightly more sincere.
“Wen Ling”
“The servant is here.”
“After we return to the mansion, tidy up the TianQing Pavilion.”
Hearing his words, the servant girl next to him immediately widened her eyes, “TianQing Pavilion…is Xie GongZi coming back?”
After she blurted out, she immediately realized she had misspoken and went to cover her mouth. But Shen Jun Qing, being in an excellent mood, did not bother to correct her. Instead, he nodded.
“Well, after being gone for so long, it’s about time for him to return.”
Hearing this, the servant girl replied in a low voice and stood aside.
As someone serving closely to the Imperial Preceptor, she was well aware of what kind of feelings he held towards Xie Lin Lang as well as her position in all this.
For a long time, she had always felt that Xie Lin Lang wasn’t appreciative of all the good things he had done for her. The Imperial Preceptor DaRen treated her with so much kindness, yet when he concealed one incident from her, she decided to completely sever their relationship and even went to some far-off remote city to become some county magistrate. How oblivious she was, to her good fortunes while she lived in it…
And now she’s coming back? Was it because she encountered obstacles in the outside world and had a rough time? If that’s the case, then she really was too contemptible.
On the other side, not knowing that her thoughts were already being ‘laid out’ for her, Xie Lin Lang continued to make her way down South as before.
The further South she went, the colder and clammier the weather became. Xie Lin Lang wasn’t affected greatly by this as her body temperature was usually higher than the average person’s. But Qin Jue was a different case. Even after being wrapped in two layers of fox fur robes from head to toe, his hands and feet were still freezing cold due to the dampness. Xie Lin Lang thought of many different solutions but none of them worked. So in the end, it was decided that they will be sleeping together during the night.
They were both only fourteen anyway and her body hadn’t developed yet so there was no risk of being exposed. Besides, for a short time in the past when they were little, they often slept in the same bed anyway. It was all a habit by now.
Just like that, a few days later.
One night, Xie Lin Lang laid on her stomach under the blanket, looking through the opened curtains at the moon hanging in the sky.
She sighed, “How long will it be until we arrive…My Xiao Xi hasn’t even come to look for me either…Maybe he doesn’t want me anymore…Why is my life so hard?”
Hearing her complaints, Qin Jue couldn’t help but chuckle. Ever since they were little, Xie Lin Lang would always manage to say these random thoughts that he found to be very amusing.
Xie Lin Lang followed the sound of the chuckles and turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow, “Do you regret it now? My carriage was way more comfortable; it didn’t bump against the road like this and it was warm. If it wasn’t for your mischief, we wouldn’t be cramming in this broken carriage right now. Doesn’t it make you feel remorseful just thinking about it?”
Leaning against the carriage wall, he replied, “Then are you remorseful? If you were still in the Capital, you could have everything at your fingertips.”
He coughed a few times after he spoke. Originally, his body was frail but it wasn’t this weak. It only goes to show that the month of torment really did a number on his body.
Xie Lin Lang immediately moved the blanket and patted the sheets, indicating him to lay down.
Qin Jue had already gotten used to their close proximity, so without any bashfulness, he laid down lightly.
It was very warm inside the blanket. Xie Lin Lang was like a furnace, driving away all his coldness when he’s sleeping next to her.
Only after seeing that he’s properly tucked in, Xie Lin Lang answered, “What’s there to be remorseful of? The only way I would have felt remorseful was if I didn’t come.”
After witnessing the dangerous situation in which Qin Jue almost died, Xie Lin Lang felt that if he had actually died, she would never be able to overcome this hurdle in her heart for the rest of her life.
Qin Jue laid there with both eyes staring at the ceiling, suddenly asking, “Is repaying favors really that important for you? I’m clearly not the person you owe your favor towards. Don’t you think you’re being foolish acting like this?”
Xie Lin Lang heard his words and couldn’t help but roll her eyes at him, “Do you hear what you’re saying right now? Do you think our friendship exists for nothing? Even if I never receive the request from the Empress, I would still come to find you after returning from the North either way, alright?”
Her words made Qin Jue stunned for a moment, then he chuckled softly. To him, Xie Lin Lang really did seemed to have that type of personality where even if the whole world avoided him like the plague, as long as she was there, she would absolutely not sit back idly.
Seeing him smile, Xie Lin Lang leaned in closer and revealed a secret.
“You know the first time I met you wasn’t when I was eight. It was actually when I was seven, do you have any impression of that?”
He shook his head. He clearly remembered that the first time they had met was when she was formally accepted as a disciple of the Imperial Preceptor. At that time, she still had some baby fat and didn’t go through her growth spurt yet. She looked very soft and delicate, like those young boys surrounding the KuanYin*.
*A legendary figure of Buddhism. This reference is the equivalent of Cupids in religious paintings.
Xie Lin Lang laughed sneakily, “I knew you didn’t remember.”
She then also laid down, with both hands holding the blanket, her thoughts drifted back to the past.
“Then, do you remember the year you were seven, one of your uncles passed away?”
“I do,” Qin Jue paused and spoke again, “they said it was due to an illness. But I was never close with him before he died. My mother always disliked him, so she never allowed me to go near him.”
Xie Lin Lang laughed, “She was right to dislike him. That uncle of yours was a complete scum. He was never engaged in any proper duties and was always wandering around idly. He also believed in sacrificial rituals and it just happened that his ritual required the bodies of boys and girls that were younger than the age of eight and virgin. And at that time, I happened to be one of them.”
The timing of her transmigration can be said to be very misfortunate. Because the ritual required the children to starve for three complete days in order to “purify” their body, the past owner of her body was starved to death, and that was when Xie Lin Lang transmigrated in. It also explained why when she first transmigrated, she had absolutely no strength left in her body.
That wasn’t even the worst of it. What’s worse was before she could even get used to her new body, she was sent to the damned Lord’s bed…
Listening up to this point, Qin Jue abruptly sat up. He looked at Xie Lin Lang, gloom and anger in his eyes.
Seeing him like this, Xie Lin Lang also sat up, comforting him, “But I’m fine. He was getting ready for the ritual back then, but I…”
She paused for a moment when she reached this part and looked down at her hands, “But I took advantage of when he was distracted, pulled the hairpin from his hair and pierced his throat…That’s why, in fact, his death wasn’t caused by illness. It was caused by me.”
Even now, she still remembered the moment the hairpin pierced through his skin, that momentary feeling of fresh sticky blood spilling all over her hands that she couldn’t clean no matter how many times she washed her hands.
The guards soon discovered the damned Lord’s death, screaming for her to be thrown into the dungeon. And in order for them to help conceal the damned Lord’s embarrassment one last time, they insisted on saying that she was an enemy spy and wanted to torment her until she spilled the truth, completely ignoring the fact that she was only seven at the time.
Xie Lin Lang didn’t remember how she managed to survive those days, only remembering that she almost died… Until one day, the dungeon slammed open and a lady wearing elegant clothing escorted by a crowd of people began walking in her direction…
As it turned out, the Emperor felt this incident was too shameful, labeling it as “family affairs”, taking the case from the official courts, and transferring the responsibility to the Empress to let her handle it.
The Empress originally came to the dungeon to interrogate her. But when she saw the state of Xie Lin Lang’s small and fragile body, she was completely stunned. The next second, she untied her cloak and covered it on top of Xie Lin Lang’s heavily wounded body… It was so warm… and smelled very, very pleasant.