Historia de robo de marido

Capítulo 57

Lan Wuxie stood in the street, his cloak slightly askew, his long, jet-black hair cascading down his back past his waist, his long eyebrows and deep-set eyes becoming blurred in the night. Hua Chongyang stared at him for a couple of seconds, then for a couple more, wanting to run away, but unable to move his legs.

She could still put on an act in front of others, but she suddenly lost the motivation to do so in private.

Countless times, when she couldn't sleep at night, she remembered the words she had said to him in her drunken state: "Sometimes, let's find a secluded place, just the two of us, a pavilion, and plant many orchids..."

So, in the middle of the night, lost in thought, she began to lose sight of what she truly wanted. She impulsively thought, "Maybe I don't want anything at all. I can just hide away with him and spend a few days alone, boating on the river, watching the clouds and flowers, living a simple life of fishing, woodcutting, and nature, caring for nothing else."

Then, the next day, she completely forgot about her vulnerability from the night before and transformed into the brothel owner who forced herself to practice martial arts diligently and remained calm even if Mount Tai collapsed in front of her. She was busy investigating the clues with Liu Dachu, Sanye, and Laoqi.

A faint aroma of alcohol wafted through the air.

Lan Wuxie stood still, while Hua Chongyang approached step by step until he stood in front of him. He wanted to laugh but couldn't, and his voice became increasingly weak and indecisive until it was almost inaudible.

"Master Lan, you've gotten so thin..."

Lan Wuxie remained silent, staring at her, before finally uttering a sentence:

"You've never peeled a shrimp for me."

Hua Chongyang's heart trembled.

Lan Wuxie's slightly lowered eyes shimmered with a faint moisture, yet he remained fixed on her:

"You've never once comforted me."

Hua Chongyang dared not utter a sound.

She was afraid that if she made a sound, she would burst into tears and would no longer be able to control her emotions.

But Lan Wuxie raised his hand to cover his eyes, looking drunk, tears streaming down his cheeks from under his hand to the tip of his chin, a smile still playing on his thin lips:

"This past year, not a single day has passed without me thinking of you. I thought that if things continued this way, one day you would be willing to see me, willing to forgive me. As long as you came back, as long as you opened your mouth, I would do anything you asked. I always thought about how I would spoil you and pamper you, but in the end, it turned out like this. You belong to someone else, and I have to watch you spoil someone else."

He paused, lowered his hand, and through the thin glint of tears in his eyes and the pale darkness of the night that separated them, softly asked:

"Hua Chongyang, now that things are like this, how do you take me for?"

55. Orchid

Hua Chongyang stood there speechless. At this moment, all she wanted to do was turn around and run away as quickly as possible.

If Lan Wuxie spoke to her with the same cold, aloof manner he used with others, even hurting or cursing her, she could bear it. But seeing Lan Wuxie in tears like this was worse than death. She didn't dare look at him anymore, turning her face away to look at the roadside.

"Master Lan, you've had too much to drink."

Just as he finished speaking, Lan Cao came walking over from the opposite side and called out softly from behind Lan Wuxie:

"Sect Master."

Lan Wuxie seemed not to hear, and continued to look at Hua Chongyang:

"I wasn't drunk. I have a very high alcohol tolerance."

Even the best drinker can get drunk eventually.

"Except for that time in the dark room on the pleasure boat, every time I was with you, I was perfectly lucid and remembered it all very clearly."

In front of Lan Cao, Hua Chongyang turned his face away directly:

"Let's not dwell on the past."

"What's the point of bringing it up again?" Lan Wuxie's tone was unusually stubborn. "If I had known it would turn out like this, even if I felt sorry for you back then, I wouldn't have let you go."

"If you won't leave, I will. I'm going back."

"Go back? Go back to coax others?" Lan Wuxie smiled absentmindedly. "That's true, there are still people waiting for you to go back."

Upon hearing this, Hua Chongyang stopped and turned to look at Lan Wuxie:

"Bai Lu—she's just a child."

She wanted to explain again that there was nothing between her and Bai Lu, but then she thought that it would be pointless to say that in front of Lan Wuxie, so she opened her mouth but didn't say it.

"Is that so?"

"You...you absolutely must not touch him."

Lan Wuxie looked at Hua Chongyang and suddenly laughed:

"I haven't even done anything to him, and you're already worried? You care about him that much?"

"He's so heartbreaking."

Lan Wuxie raised her hand to her chest, her smile almost bleak:

"You only think about him, but what about me? Don't you ever think about me? He was chatting and laughing with you all night, don't you think about how I feel?"

Hua Chongyang felt extremely distressed upon hearing this, and simply turned to leave. After taking two steps, he heard the sound of orchids behind him:

"Sect Master, let me help you back."

The night was desolate, the wind whispered lonely. As she walked, she heard Lan Wuxie's low, mournful laugh as he asked:

"Orchid, in the end, will I have nothing left?"

Her nose tingled, and tears finally streamed down her face.

But as soon as she returned to the brothel, Ye Laoqi knocked on her door:

"Hey, that orchid is at the door, saying she wants to see you."

Hua Chongyang hesitated for a moment, then waved his hand:

"not see."

Ye Laoqi responded and went out, returning shortly afterward with a livid face.

"OP, go see her and get rid of her."

"What's wrong?"

"She said that since she couldn't see you today, she told everyone about Bailu."

Hua Chongyang suddenly stood up:

"What?"

"She also said," Ye Laoqi frowned, "that if you still don't go, she'll take off her clothes in the street and shout that she was raped by someone from a brothel! I've never seen such a shameless person! Is she even a woman?!"

"...Seventh Brother, you can go now. I'm going to see her."

Hua Chongyang came downstairs.

Lan Cao leaned against the entrance of the brothel, and upon seeing her, she raised her eyebrows and approached; Hua Chongyang recoiled, becoming somewhat wary.

What are you doing?

Orchid Grass sneered:

"Your eyes are red. Were you hiding in your room crying just now?"

Hua Chongyang did not answer, but carefully examined the orchid.

Upon their reunion, she was completely focused on Lan Wuxie and hadn't paid much attention to the orchid; but now, as she examined it, she suddenly felt that the orchid was somewhat different from before, though she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was—

"What do you want? Tell me and leave now." Hua Chongyang said calmly, "I don't want to have anything to do with Lanying Palace anymore."

"Hua Chongyang," Lan Cao looked at her, then suddenly crossed her arms and said coldly, "How could you suddenly be so heartless?"

"If I'm not heartless, am I supposed to be sentimental?"

"I don't believe you can really let go of our sect leader. Otherwise, you wouldn't have cried your eyes out."

"It's none of your business."

"The Pavilion Master has had too much to drink tonight."

Hua Chongyang lost patience:

"Orchid, I'm exhausted. What do you want to say? Just say it and leave."

The orchid smiled and slowly straightened its back:

"If you like our sect leader so much, why are you making him suffer so much?"

"This is between him and me."

"You think I'm too lazy to care? I just can't stand watching him torture himself like that anymore. There are so many women in the world, why does he have to have you? But what kind of life has he been living this past year? He never says, but you can't possibly not know. I've been with him for six or seven years. Before, he rarely spoke, but this past year he's barely spoken. He just drinks and stares blankly in the Half-Curtain Drunken Pavilion."

"There's something else. We don't know when the Pavilion Master started liking you. But you should know that he has a habit of going to Shangping Garden to see the lanterns every Lantern Festival."

"Anping... told me about it once."

"Last year, he went with you. But the year before, the two years before, and the three years before that, I didn't know you. But this year, I finally found out what he was going there for."

Hua Chongyang raised his eyes.

Lan Cao turned to the side, her fingers tracing lines on the door, her narration concise and to the point:

"This is a small pavilion, and opposite it is the lake shore, with a clump of withered vines covering the middle. The vines are very close to the pavilion, so it's easy to see the opposite shore from inside."

Hua Chongyang was taken aback.

Lan Cao turned around, her voice low and gentle:

"This year on the Lantern Festival, I went to Shangping Garden with him. Around midnight, there were almost no people left. He sat alone in the pavilion, coughing and slowly drinking; from the pavilion, we could see you releasing lanterns on the opposite bank of the lake. You stood there for a while and then left, but I sat with him there all night, watching the candle on that lantern burn out completely."

"……"

"Last year, he practically counted down the days, spending his time either practicing martial arts or just spacing out in the garden of Lanying Manor. Every time he went out, it was always to Banlianzui; and every time he went out late at night, it was always near a brothel."

"Are you done talking?"

"There's one more thing. Ye Qinghua's death—I might believe you if you said Bo Jiang did it; but if you said it was the Pavilion Master, that's impossible."

Hua Chongyang suddenly looked up and stared at her:

"What makes you say that? You might not even know what your sect leader has been doing."

"Of course I don't know everything," Lan Cao raised an eyebrow, "but there's one thing you absolutely don't know."

"What?"

The orchid seemed about to open its mouth, but then hesitated, pursing its lips as if making a decision:

"Lan Ying Palace employs a string of assassins using Gu poison, and your mother, Ye Qinghua, was just one of them. You probably know something about this, right?"

"So what?"