I put my arm around the strong man's slender waist

Chapter 27

He hesitated slightly, repeatedly trying to speak but stopping himself.

I smiled faintly and said, "Brother Xiao Jiu, if you have nothing else to do, please step aside." I stepped aside and walked past him into the doorway.

"Xiao Xie!" he suddenly said, "I didn't mean to hide it from you..."

"Understood." I didn't turn around, but smiled and said, "I completely understand. Brother Xiao Jiu and the Alliance Master are doing this for my own good. There's no need to worry about it."

His unfinished words caught in his throat, and he remained silent.

I entered the room with a faint smile. Leng Baichun, Chang Huan, and the young master were all there, and they all looked like they wanted to say something but hesitated when they saw me.

I couldn't help but laugh, and sat down at the table to pour myself a cup of tea and gulp it down, saying, "It seems like everything is alright, so I'm relieved."

"Su Su..." The young master leaned closer, reached out and touched the bandaged wound on my neck, and asked, "Are you alright?"

I shrugged. "What's wrong with me sitting here like this?"

Chang Huan stepped forward, took out Ruan Lianhua's healing medicine, and said to me, "Let me take another look at your wound, Miss. You've been sleeping for a day and two nights; it's time to change your dressing."

"So long?" I scratched my head and laughed. "Pharmacist Shen's sleeping potion is really amazing." I pushed Chang Huan's hand away and said with a smile, "No need to bother, I just scraped my skin and I can't feel it anymore."

I glanced at Leng Baichun and said, "I just came to see what's wrong with you. I'm starving and I'm going out to find something to eat."

As she got up to leave, Changhuan quickly followed a few steps. "What would you like to eat, Miss? I'll go buy it for you, or I can go with you."

I smiled and patted his shoulder, saying, "You don't need to take care of me. You stay here and take good care of Protector Leng. I'll just go out to get something to eat and then come back."

He was about to speak again when Ruan Lianhua said, "Then come back quickly, and don't forget to bring me some good food, I'm hungry too."

I nodded and smiled at him, then waved to Leng Baichun before stepping out of the room. As I left, I heard Leng Baichun ask in surprise, "What's wrong with Su Xie? Ever since I got out of prison, I've felt that she's changed... I can't quite put my finger on it. Shouldn't she be happy to get rid of the priest?"

I gently closed the door, looked at the gloomy weather outside the eaves, and shook my head with a bitter smile. Sigh, I'm so useless, I can't even learn from Su Xie.

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I stopped in front of that Lantern Festival stall, and just as I sat down, a sudden downpour began.

The shopkeeper handed me a steaming bowl of glutinous rice balls and said with a smile, "Young lady, why did you come alone today?"

To my surprise, the boss still remembered me. He grinned at me and said, "It's nice to be alone."

He smiled at me too.

The rain grew heavier and showed no signs of stopping. There weren't many people at the stall, so the owner chatted with the locals from Licheng at the next table when he had some free time.

I buried my head in my glutinous rice balls, when I heard the shopkeeper lower his voice and say, "Hey, did you hear? A couple of days ago, a huge fire suddenly broke out at the Jin Hu merchant's mansion. They say some traitors infiltrated it, and the Queen sent troops to arrest them. They were brought out half-dead..."

"I've heard about it, I've heard about it. I've also heard that the traitor had a strange background, and even though he was burned to a crisp, he was still arrested and taken to the palace. Tsk tsk..."

Suddenly, the heat from the glutinous rice balls made me feel suffocated and unable to breathe; the steam made it hard for me to open my eyes.

Amidst the heavy rain, I heard someone call my name, "Su Su".

Turning my head, I saw Ruan Lianhua standing in the pouring rain, holding a crab-green umbrella. She smiled at me and said, "I've come to bring you an umbrella."

Thirty-one

Ruan Lianhua entered the tent, folded up the crab-green oiled paper umbrella and leaned it against the table, then sat down next to me, looking at me with a smile... She said about the glutinous rice balls in her bowl, "I've eaten these before, they're round and filled with sesame filling, I think they're called glutinous rice balls?"

His temples were slightly damp, with glistening raindrops clinging to them. I took out a handkerchief and handed it to him. "With such heavy rain, you only brought one umbrella. We can't get back."

He didn't take the handkerchief, but instead tilted his face towards me. I was slightly taken aback, and hesitantly reached out to wipe away the raindrops for him. He smiled, revealing his dimples, and said, "We can share an umbrella to go back, and I'm hungry."

He looked at the glutinous rice balls in my bowl again, "What kind of filling is this? It doesn't look like sesame..."

Gluttonous Young Master...

I looked at him amusedly, waved to the owner and called for another bowl. He quickly told the owner, "I want the same one as Su Su." His eyes crinkled into a smile, "Thank you."

The shopkeeper immediately chuckled and brought over a large bowl of glutinous rice balls, saying with a smile, "What a handsome young master! This bowl was originally for you."

He then smiled sweetly and said, "Thank you, boss. You're so kind."

The boss's face was beaming with a smile, while I felt a bit contempt for Ruan Lianhua. I buried myself in the glutinous rice balls, muttering angrily, "I said thank you too, why didn't you offer me any? Are you taking advantage of me because I don't look like a nice person..."

Ruan Lianhua was eating next to me with a very satisfied look on her face. In between bites, she kindly comforted me, "Su Su, don't be angry. I'll treat you to some."

"Thank you so much." I grinned at him.

The sound of rain continued, and the heavy rain shrouded Licheng in a gray haze, obscuring both the distant city walls and those nearby.

The owner and the customers at the next table got more and more into conversation, and gradually the conversation turned to the old rumors about the queen. She was originally a concubine of a merchant from the Central Plains. She happened to meet the King of Licheng when she passed through Licheng. Afterwards, the merchant from the Central Plains was robbed of all his money and lost his life. The concubine, with her six-year-old son, begged on the street to bury her husband. The King of Licheng took pity on her and took her into the palace. What followed was the biggest war in Licheng in a hundred years. Da Xun led his troops to attack Fan, and the most prosperous Licheng was almost destroyed.

The old queen died in the war. To protect the old queen's son, the concubine gave her own son as a substitute. Afterwards, the Salo sect and the Xiaoye Kingdom came to the rescue, and Licheng was saved. The concubine made a contribution and became pregnant with the current Prince Baoze, and was promoted to queen...

"Do you remember the son of that merchant from the Central Plains? I think he was begging with the Queen on the outskirts of the city. He was quite pitiful with his delicate features, and I even gave him a steamed bun."

The guest clicked his tongue and said, "Indeed, I must say the Queen was truly great to sacrifice her own son to save the eldest prince. It's a pity the eldest prince still passed away a few years later. That's just fate..."

I swallowed the last bite of the glutinous rice ball, tossed the silver aside, and said to Ruan Lianhua, "Let's go back; this rain probably won't stop."

Ruan Lianhua looked up at me pitifully and said, "But I haven't finished eating yet..."

I opened the crab-patterned oil-paper umbrella, shrugged at him, and said, "Then you can eat slowly. I'll have Changhuan come pick you up later."

He hurriedly got up, thanked the shop owner, crawled under the umbrella, and grabbed my sleeve, saying, "I'll go with you."

I responded and walked alongside him in the rain. I was a little distracted by the sound of the rain hitting the umbrella. I vaguely heard him say something, but I didn't hear it clearly. I turned my head and frowned at him. "Huh? What did you say?"

He looked at me with tender eyes, then suddenly sighed, grabbed my hand holding the umbrella, and pushed it towards me. "Your clothes are all wet."

I then noticed that my sleeve was cool and soaked, and I grinned, saying, "This rain is really heavy..."

"Su Su." He called me, not letting go of my hand, looking at me with a slightly furrowed brow and a very serious expression, "If you don't want to smile, you don't have to force yourself."

My smile froze on my lips.

He held my fingers as I held the umbrella, looked at me, and said, "You don't look happy at all."

"Really?" I forced a smile, then shook my head helplessly and sighed, "I really can't learn from Su Xie; I'm nothing like her."

“You don’t need to become her.” His features were enhanced by the crab-green oil-paper umbrella, his voice lingering in the rain, sometimes near, sometimes far, “You are you, and Su Xie is Su Xie. You are two completely different people. Isn’t it better to be yourself?”

I stared at him blankly for a while before laughing and saying, "What do you know, you little kid..."

"Are you saddened by the priesthood?" he suddenly interrupted me, asking abruptly and directly.

I was speechless, unsure how to answer. I could only manage a bitter smile and lower my eyes, saying, "I don't know what Su Xie's expression would be like, what his feelings would be, or what he would do in this situation... Isn't this the best outcome? For you, for me, for everyone..." I looked up at him and smiled, "What's there to be sad about?"

He stared at me for a long time before finally asking, "What about Lu Ning?"

He asked me, "What must Lu Ning be feeling? What must her expression be like? What will she do?"

What will she do?

My fingers felt slightly cold, and I awkwardly withdrew them from his palm. Looking at the torrential rain, I laughed and said, "She's a good-for-nothing, cowardly and timid, inferior to everyone else in everything, with no redeeming qualities..."

“She’ll be sad, won’t she?” He tilted his head and looked at me, completely ignoring my words.

I suddenly didn't know how to answer, so I turned to look at him and asked, "Ruan Lianhua, in your eyes, what is black? What is white? What is a good person? And what is a bad person?"

He tilted his head and thought for a moment before replying, "Isn't the difference between good and bad people determined by who's looking at it? Those who benefit me are good, and those who harm me are bad. Killing someone is bad, but killing an evil person is good."

I couldn't help but laugh and said, "Killing one person is a crime, killing ten thousand makes you a king. Tell me, how do you distinguish between right and wrong in this world?"

"There is no absolute black and white in this world." He reached out and pulled me under the umbrella. "I am a member of the Demonic Sect. Tell me, am I a good person or a bad person?"

I stared at him for a while, then shook my head and said, "I don't know..."

He stood beside me in the rain, patiently waiting for me to speak.

I let out an uncontrollable sigh and said in a low voice, "Ruan Lianhua, I'm starting to lose sight of right and wrong in this world... My father once taught me that black is black and white is white, and that the people of the Demonic Sect are wicked and should all die to uphold justice. But... but when I opened my eyes again, everything was different... Do you understand?"

I was somewhat incoherent when he tucked my disheveled hair behind my ear and smiled very gently, saying, "It's just that we have different paths."

I looked at him closely and asked, "Is using me good or bad? Is sacrificing the priest to save everyone good or evil? The priest is utterly wicked, but where does the evil lie? Is this what you call acting on behalf of Heaven to punish evil and promote good?" I couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Does all good have to be built on evil? I don't understand."

He didn't speak, so I asked again, "Ruan Lianhua, don't you think it would be much simpler if he became Su Xie? Being good to me is kindness, unlike that good-for-nothing Lu Ning, who can never distinguish between good and bad."

He looked at me without saying a word for a long time.

I patted him on the shoulder and laughed, "Let's go back."

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The rain was unusually heavy and didn't stop until evening. The gray, gloomy drizzle made the sky seem low.

Chang Huan finished brewing the medicine and brought it to Leng Baichun. I sat by the bed, idly watching the heavy rain. Suddenly, Leng Baichun called out to me, "Su Xie."

"Huh?" I turned to look at her; her expression was strange. "What's wrong?"

She looked at me strangely and asked, "You've fallen for that rascal Yan Shu?"

I almost fell off the stool because I wasn't sitting properly. Chang Huan quickly caught me. I saw Leng Baichun purse his lips and say, "If you didn't like it, why are you so upset?"

I composed myself and tried to smile gently as I said, "Guardian Leng, how did you figure out that I felt sorry for him?"

Leng Baichun glanced at me from left to right and said, "You figured it out just like that?"

If I could out-argue her, I would definitely leave her speechless! Unfortunately, Su Xie is too clumsy with words, so I didn't intend to pay attention to her, but she persisted: "If you like someone, you like them, what's the big deal? But if you like him and betray him, your fate will be worse than mine. That brat hates being betrayed the most. I guess the trauma from your childhood is too deep. If he doesn't die, he will definitely skin you alive."

I couldn't help but frown at her and say, "Can't you say something nice?"

Leng Baichun glared at me disdainfully, "Why don't you refute me?"

I was puzzled. "Refute what?"

“It wasn’t you who betrayed him!” Leng Baichun looked at me anxiously. “I heard it from Xiao Jiu; he feels sorry for you. Hey, I’m telling you, you were used and you didn’t say a word! That brat Yan Shu will definitely misunderstand you!”

"So what?" I looked at her, puzzled. "Should I go explain to him? Or should I get revenge on the person who took advantage of me?" I went to the table, poured a cup of hot water, and handed it to her, saying, "There's no need."

"Hey! When did you become so useless?!" Leng Baichun looked down on me without hesitation.

I sat down next to her and said calmly, "First, who would believe me if I explained? Second, even if they did believe me, so what? Third, and most importantly, I can't beat Ruan Bicheng, and seeking revenge against him would be certain death."

My words came from the bottom of my heart, but Leng Baichun just stared at me with disdain.

Just then, someone knocked on the door. I turned around and saw Ye Baizhi standing outside, speaking softly, "Sister Su Xie, could you come out for a moment? I have something to tell you."

Just as I was about to politely decline, Leng Baichun said first, "Just say what you have to say. Su Xie is very busy taking care of me."

Ye Baizhi's pretty face paled, and she pursed her lips. "May I come in?"

Oh, that pitiful little face, it's so endearing to me.

I invited her in and seated her at the table. She smiled at Leng Baichun and asked, "Are you feeling better, Sister Leng?"

Leng Baichun gave a cold laugh without giving her any face, then turned his head away and ignored her.