"Does the Pavilion Master really intend to keep her? I'm afraid..."
"Otherwise, Bo Feng won't be at ease." Lan Wuxie began stroking Hua Chongyang's hair on the couch again. "Tell her to go to the Military Affairs Hall, and have Lan Shu watch over her."
"There's one more thing," Lan Shu paused, lowering her voice, "Lan Shu brought news that Qing Ling left the city tonight, heading towards Chengdu. It's speculated that Yan Zu Valley might be hiding there."
"Stay close to her," Lan Wuxie instructed, then added after a moment's thought, "Even if we can't find Yanzu Valley, we must bring her back. Tell Lan Shu that she must be kept alive."
"Yes. Then I'll go down."
Lan Cao closed the door and went out.
Lan Wuxie lay down again, his fingers light as butterfly wings landing on Hua Chongyang's face, touching her brows and the corners of her eyes. Hua Chongyang couldn't keep up the act any longer, so she opened her eyes and looked directly at him. Lan Wuxie seemed to have known all along that she was pretending to be asleep, but he simply smiled indifferently, his fingers tracing the hair at her temples.
"You woke up already. I thought you were going to sleep until tomorrow."
Hua Chongyang sat up and casually fastened the belt of his inner garment:
Where are my clothes?
As Lan Wuxie spoke, he pulled a light purple robe from the headboard and draped it over her shoulders:
"Your clothes are wet. Make do with these old clothes for now, and I'll have Lan Cao find someone to make you new ones."
The purple satin robe was slightly cool, and its touch sent a shiver down Hua Chongyang's spine. Lan Wuxie glanced at her, then turned and carried a bowl of steaming soup from the bedside, taking a small sip before handing it to her.
"Perfect timing. I enjoyed the cool breeze on the boat and had something warm to drink..."
Hua Chongyang didn't refuse, took the drink and gulped it down, then wrapped himself in his purple robe and crawled down to the bed.
"I want to go back to the brothel."
Lan Wuxie remained silent.
Hua Chongyang looked around at the edge of the bed, finally raising his head to glare at Lan Wuxie:
Where are my boots?
"It's probably in West Lake."
Hua Chongyang could only stare helplessly. After a long while, she became furious and jumped barefoot off the wooden bed. While straightening her robes, she rushed to the dressing table, opened a drawer, and took out a wooden comb to comb her hair. Combing her hair into a bun was out of the question; she had never styled a bun with her own hands in her entire life. She simply tied her hair up and headed barefoot towards the door. When she reached the doorway, Lan Wuxie grabbed her from behind, pulled her back onto the bed, and said:
"I'll ask Anping to bring the new boots."
He put Hua Chongyang down, turned around, opened the door, gave instructions to Anping, and then sat back down on the edge of the bed. Hua Chongyang felt a chill involuntarily and shrank back. Lan Wuxie looked at her, then pulled his own robe from the side and draped it over her shoulders.
"Your health is much worse than before."
"That's not true."
"My body used to be warm, but now my arms are cold."
"The night breeze is too cool."
Lan Wuxie remained silent for a while, then got up and went to the table to get something, before sitting down next to Hua Chongyang again.
Let me see the wound on your back.
Hua Chongyang's face flushed, and he pressed his hand against his collar:
"No need. I'm fine."
Lan Wuxie put down the porcelain bottle in his hand and reached out to strip her clothes off. Hua Chongyang angrily tried to stop him, but Lan Wuxie eventually restrained her arms, undressing her to reveal her back, covered in bruises. As he applied medicine to her back, his tone, seemingly apologetic, was utterly devoid of remorse.
"I went too far."
"It has nothing to do with you," Hua Chongyang denied casually. "It was because the boat bumped into me."
Lan Wuxie stopped speaking and quietly finished applying the medicine. Hua Chongyang put on his clothes, hesitated for a long time, took the porcelain bottle, and knelt down behind Lan Wuxie:
"...Unbutton your clothes."
Lan Wuxie remained silent, turned to the side, and directly removed his snow-white inner robe.
His lean, fair back was covered with bloody scratches. Hua Chongyang frowned and blushed as she carefully applied medicine to his back; a wound ran from his shoulder to his chest. She straightened her back and ran her fingers along the scratches to his collarbone, but Lan Wuxie pressed her hand down tightly.
She struggled, but couldn't break free.
In the dim candlelight, Lan Wuxie's black hair cascaded down her fair, bare back, her slender waist was straight, and her lowered eyes were slightly upturned with faint shadows.
Hua Chongyang's heart began to race again, and he couldn't help but feel distracted.
I remember when Bai Lu foolishly locked herself and Situ Qingliu in a room after they were slightly drunk. The next day, the two of them were still dressed impeccably. Huang San then directly concluded to Bai Lu: You don't need to bother with your schemes anymore. Hua Chongyang will definitely not take Situ Qingliu as his concubine. If these two get together, I'll let you kick my head like a ball!
Bai Lu retorted, unconvinced: That's because Brother Qing was too embarrassed to seduce Hua Chongyang!
Huang San sneered three times and said, "Do you even need to seduce her? If you really like someone, you'll be thinking about undressing her all the time. How can you sit there all night without being tempted? Otherwise, ask Hua Chongyang. She definitely couldn't resist Lan Wuxie!"
Hua Chongyang pretended not to hear Huang San's words at the time.
...But as it turned out, she really couldn't resist. To be honest, she would have to admit that Huang San was right. Ever since the first time, every time she saw Lan Wuxie, she couldn't help but see him as... a handsome man, not a beautiful woman.
Hua Chongyang took a slow breath.
As if sensing something, Lan Wuxie slowly turned his face, lowered his eyes to look at Hua Chongyang's fair wrist resting on his shoulder, and gently stroked her thumb with his thin chin, back and forth.
An ambiguous atmosphere spread.
But in that instant, Hua Chongyang seemed to realize how much he lingered, and his heart softened instantly. Was this what they meant by "climbing a mountain to do good, and collapsing a mountain to do evil"?
With a sigh, before Hua Chongyang could decide whether to pull away or continue, Lan Wuxie had already grasped her hand, turned to pull her into his arms, and whispered to coax her:
"Chongyang... I won't be going back tonight, okay?"
It's been like this for a year now; Hua Chongyang has zero resistance to his tone of voice, but she still stubbornly pretends to be defiant.
"Let go—"
Her words were interrupted as Lan Wuxie was already kissing her lips, intentionally blocking her from speaking.
Soon after, the clothes were scattered all over the ground again.
Lan Wuxie rarely spoke in bed. After finishing his work, he would hold the dizzy Hua Chongyang and lean against the side of the wooden couch, stroking her hair as he whispered:
"From now on, Chongyang, you can do whatever you want, even continue living in a brothel. But—there is one thing."
Hua Chongyang regained some consciousness.
Lan Wuxie ran his fingers through her long hair and continued:
"Tell Bai Lu to leave."
Hua Chongyang was startled, and now he was completely awake:
"Alu is a bit outspoken, but she is, after all, --"
Lan Wuxie remained silent, then suddenly grabbed her chin tightly and lifted it up, biting her hard on the corner of her mouth. He raised his long, narrow eyes and stared at her, his expression cold as he slowly said:
"If you say one more word for him, I'll kill him right now."
Hua Chongyang touched her aching lip, then suddenly sneered, flipped over, grabbed her clothes, and prepared to get off the bed. Lan Wuxie, his face expressionless with hatred, hooked his arm around her waist:
"Come back."
Hua Chongyang flung his hand away:
"Lan Wuxie, you think I should kick her out just because she slept with you? That's laughable! How many men are there in the world? But I only have one sister, Alu! She ended up like this because of you, and Alu actually said she was willing to put up with you today. I was blind!"
Lan Wuxie froze, grabbed her hand, and after a long while asked:
"What did you say? Sister? Bai Lu... is a girl?"
Hua Chongyang was also stunned:
"Didn't I tell you about Lan Cao?"
Lan Wuxie's expression immediately changed. He swept her up in his arms and carried her back to the bed, turning his eyes away with a cold look.
The orchid says, "White Dew is you—"
"What about me?"
"...It's you, my distant cousin."
68. Secret Manual...
As if the clouds had parted and the fog had cleared, Hua Chongyang actually spent the night drunk behind half a curtain.
Even she could tell that Lan Wuxie was in a good mood… specifically, he woke Lan Cao up at dawn to make a midnight snack. Lan Cao dared not speak out in anger, and could only stand behind Lan Wuxie and slit her throat at Hua Chongyang after serving the snack. The next day, when Hua Chongyang woke up, Lan Wuxie had already combed his hair, was wearing a light red satin robe, and was leaning against the edge of the couch reading a book. Hua Chongyang snuggled up to him and reached out to hook his arm around his waist:
"...You seem to have lost some weight."
"Really?"
"Don't Lancao and Anping feed you?"
"What's the point of eating alone?" Lan Wuxie smiled, put down his book, glanced down at her, and said, "What do you want to eat? I'll ask Lan Cao to make it."
Hua Chongyang remained silent, lazily nestled in his arms, one hand scratching his chest with his fingers, the other hand picking up a book from the edge of the bed and reading its title:
"Strategies for Pacifying the South--"
She stared at him, her eyes wide.
What are you looking at?
"art of war."
Hua Chongyang glared at him for a long time, then put on his robe, jumped barefoot off the wooden bed, ran to the opposite wooden shelf, and began to flip through the books. After flipping through them, he found that there were only two types of books on the shelf: military strategy and medical books.
When she was with Lan Wuxie before, she knew he was a homebody. When he wasn't practicing martial arts, he would usually tease her, and when he wasn't teasing her, he would usually read books—but she never expected that they were these two kinds of books.
"I thought you were reading martial arts manuals."
Lan Wuxie laughed:
"There aren't that many martial arts manuals in the world."
"True." Hua Chongyang pursed his lips, casually tossing down the book in his hand. "It's better if you don't have that many. A couple more books would be fine. Aren't you practicing the Yellow Springs Martial Arts? -- Ah, right, that's a priceless treasure. How could you leave it here?"
Lan Wuxie glanced at her:
"You want to see the Yellow Springs Martial Arts Manual?"
"I don't really think about it, I'm just a little curious," Hua Chongyang raised an eyebrow and sneered slightly, "that it could make the whole world fight tooth and nail for it."
As soon as she finished speaking, her nose started to itch, so she quickly raised her sleeve to cover her mouth and sneezed loudly.
Damn it, who's cursing her? Is it Bo Hai, who lives in the same courtyard?