Plain Congee Romance

Plain Congee Romance

Author: Lin Wucuo

Chapter 1

Lin Xiaozao, a simple and honest mountain villager, is planning a robbery today.

Whom to rob? He had been lying in ambush by the mountain path for most of the day.

A woodcutter carrying a bundle of firewood swayed past Lin Xiaozao, wiping sweat from his face with his arm. "Chopping wood isn't easy," Lin Xiaozao thought. He pressed his knife, but didn't move.

A thin, wiry scholar in a wrinkled long gown walked by, admiring a newly painted landscape painting. His rattan easel, worn and tattered from years of use, clung to his back. "Ten years of hard study," Lin Xiaozhao thought. He shifted his position and continued squatting.

...A morning has passed.

A family of three strolling in the autumn air walked past Lin Xiaozao. A peasant woman climbing the mountain to pray at the old temple walked past Lin Xiaozao. An elderly man with white hair, exercising by climbing the mountain every day, walked past Lin Xiaozao.

"If we don't act now, it will be too late!" Lin Xiaozhao gritted her teeth, leaped up, and shouted at the next passerby, "Robbery! Hand over all your money!" The rusty sickle in her hand was pointed directly at the man's neck.

The man was clearly taken aback for a moment, then slowly pulled out a few copper coins from his pocket: "This is all I brought today, what should I do?" His voice was light and calm, with a serious hint of annoyance in his smile.

Lin Xiaozhao was also stunned; this person was so cooperative. He carefully examined the person. He had little formal education and a limited vocabulary, so he immediately felt that the person's appearance was very special. The blue robe he wore wasn't particularly luxurious, yet it looked simple and clean on him, untouched by worldly concerns. Even carrying a huge bamboo basket filled with flowers, plants, and leaves, he looked exceptionally harmonious.

The man, despite being scrutinized, smiled and squinted, reminding him, "So, how about now?"

"How...how?" Lin Xiaozao thought to herself, her head bowed. She inadvertently caught sight of the half-jade pendant hanging from the waist of the young man in the blue robe. It was smooth and white, with fine red lines spreading across the broken edge, as naturally and beautifully as blood dripping into water.

"This must be very valuable." Lin Xiaozao's heart skipped a beat: "Give me this and I'll let you go!" She reached out to grab it. Just as she was about to touch it, her hand was quickly grabbed. The slender fingers of the man in the blue robe seemed casual and relaxed as they gripped her wrist, but Lin Xiaozao secretly exerted force and couldn't break free at all.

"Although I don't like this jade either, I can't give it to you." The man in the blue robe still had a faint smile.

Just as Lin Xiaozao was about to say something, the man in the blue robe suddenly moved and twisted his wrist, pulling him into the bushes where they had been lying in ambush. "Don't make a sound." The man in the blue robe glanced at him, his smile disappearing, replaced by a calm expression that carried an inexplicable air of authority.

Lin Xiaozao followed his gaze and saw a group of people hurriedly walking up the mountain. The leader, looking anxious, ordered, "That scholar just said he saw Young Master Yan coming up to gather herbs when he came down the mountain. Search everywhere and be sure to find Young Master Yan." "Yes!" The attendants accepted the order and dispersed in all directions, their steps quick but not chaotic.

Time passed by, bit by bit.

After those people had gone a little further away, Lin Xiaozao, carrying a large bamboo basket and holding half a piece of jade pendant, chased after them.

"Are you from the Prime Minister's residence?" Lin Xiaozao blinked and said loudly, "My young master had to go down the mountain on an urgent matter and instructed me to tell the people from the Prime Minister's residence not to waste their time."

The team leader looked at Lin Xiaozao with a mixture of suspicion and doubt: "Your young master?" But when he saw the unique piece of Rouge Snow Jade that Yan Shu always wore on Lin Xiaozao's hand and the large bamboo basket filled with herbs on his back, he understood the situation and pressed on, "Where can we find Young Master Yan?"

Lin Xiaozao mustered her courage and remembered the man in the blue robe's words: "If you want to get money without being robbed, do as I say." So she deliberately pretended to be in a hurry, "Young master, there are many places you might go, how would I know? I'm in a hurry to go down the mountain to sell the herbs." After saying that, she was about to walk away.

"Hey, young man." The team leader hurriedly grabbed Lin Xiaozao, took out a handful of silver and stuffed it into his hand, "The Prime Minister's mansion bought this medicine, so please do us a favor and tell us where we can find Young Master Yan."

Lin Xiaozhao's heart pounded wildly; this was the first time he had ever lied. But seeing that the man had indeed given him a large sum of money, just as the man in the blue robe had said, he felt both excited and flustered. He suppressed his emotions and recalled the string of place names the man in the blue robe had mentioned: "Heque Mountain in the south of the city, the ancient temple in the west of the city, Zuimeng Tower, Qingfeng Pavilion. Young master might go to these places."

The team leader frowned deeply; the four locations were practically diametrically opposed: "Are you sure?"

Lin Xiaozao put on an expression that said, "Young Master is used to a life of leisure, and these places are just possibilities."

The team leader didn't look too good, but he still thanked them and led his group away in a hurry.

Just as the man in the blue robe had predicted, those people left without even taking the herbs. Lin Xiaozhao stared blankly at the money in her hand, in disbelief. This money was clearly used to buy the places the man in the blue robe had mentioned.

"You've come back to life." The man in the blue robe walked over at some point, took the jade pendant from his hand and carefully fastened it to his waist, then took the bamboo basket and carried it on his back.

Lin Xiaozhao snapped out of her daze and saw that the man in the blue robe had already leisurely walked away, his back view calm and composed. "My mother's illness can finally be cured," Lin Xiaozhao thought, grinning as she clutched the money in her hand and quickened her pace down the mountain.

Compared to the relaxed and cheerful atmosphere of the two who had achieved their goals on the mountain, the atmosphere inside the Prime Minister's residence was much more silent.

Four or five imperial physicians frowned and discussed the matter in low, serious voices in the hall. Nie Anru, who sat in the main seat, had a gloomy expression with hidden worry and impatience.

The consul, who had rushed back, stepped forward to report: "Sir, we have sent all available manpower to search the four possible locations mentioned by Young Master Yan's attendant."

Nie Anru was about to give some instructions when he felt something was amiss. After a moment's thought, he asked instead, "Young Master Yan's attendant?"

"A boy of fifteen or sixteen, with Young Master Yan's jade pendant as proof." The consul quickly reported the details.

Nie Anru pondered for a moment, then his brows suddenly furrowed tightly: "This man has always been unconventional and free-spirited, always coming and going alone without restraint."

"I have never heard of any servants."

"It was my overly hasty decision." The consul hurriedly knelt down and asked, "Prime Minister Nie, should we continue searching those places?"

"Find him! Draw a picture of that servant and follow him!" Nie Anru slammed his teacup down on the table, turned and left, heading towards the room in the inner courtyard.

Inside the elegant and refined woman's boudoir, the scent of incense mixed with medicine wafted out as soon as the door opened, hitting the furious Nie Anru in the face. The woman, pale-faced and with pale lips, remained unconscious, her eyes closed and her breathing weak. Beside the bed sat a dignified middle-aged woman with a sorrowful expression.

Looking at his youngest daughter's increasingly thin and haggard face and his wife's moist eyes, Nie Anru composed himself, sighed, and murmured, "Qingyue will be alright. Those imperial physicians said she wouldn't live past eighteen, but she's still alive at twenty. Madam, don't worry too much and ruin your health."

The woman looked at her daughter's weak and sickly face and nodded blankly.

No one noticed the slight trembling of the soft, boneless hand under the blanket.

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Chapter 2

Nie Qingyue admitted that for a split second she was purely seeking death.

When she saw the child rush across the road against the red light to retrieve a ball, even though she knew that if she intervened, she would be the one to die, she still rushed forward without hesitation and pulled the child away. At six or seven years old, the child was as innocent as a blank sheet of paper. If that child had survived, he would surely have had a more exciting and joyful life than she had.

The thought was there, and the foot had already taken the first step.

As a critically ill patient, it is indeed a pity to give up the six months of life I've been told I have left, but that child still has decades ahead of him, doesn't he? Besides, that kind of rigidly controlled life isn't interesting. From birth, he was groomed to be the successor of the Nie family, and everything he learned was for the purpose of better managing the entire family's business. Every step of his life had been planned out, seemingly so orderly that he could foresee the day he would die.

She was in so much pain when the car hit her that she immediately went into shock, or perhaps she thought she was going to die at that moment.

However, after a long, or perhaps short, period of emptiness and darkness, I seem to still have some awareness. It's just that I feel trapped in a dream, unable to escape. I can sense someone beside me, and there seems to be a faint scent of medicine.

Nie Qingyue tried to sit up, her fingers twitching slightly, but soon it was as if the nerves in her limbs had been disconnected from her brain, and no matter what commands she gave, her whole body could not move an inch.

A clear, gentle, yet slightly cold male voice sounded from beside the bed: "Half a month ago, I predicted that Miss Nie wouldn't live more than three days, yet Prime Minister Nie repeatedly begged me to come back for another examination. Now that Miss Nie is still clinging to life, it proves my medical skills are inadequate. Prime Minister Nie has arrested a completely unrelated child and distributed the child's portrait throughout the city to force me to return. What excellent judgment, what excellent methods, and what a doting father he is!" Every word was sarcastic, spoken with a calm and unwavering tone, showing no respect or fear towards the Prime Minister of a nation.

“Young Master Yan, my daughter did indeed stop breathing more than ten days ago.”

……