Un joven errante

Capítulo 70

He brazenly surveyed me, imprisoned like a lamb to the slaughter, then walked over, his magnificent eyes now filled with the excited gleam of a hunter spotting his prey.

He stroked my face, and I disdainfully turned my face away. Seeing my disgust, he didn't get angry but laughed, lowered his head and brought his mouth close to my ear, and then whispered, "Everyone in the world says that Young Master Jin is a peerless youth, and today it seems that he is indeed right. I wonder what the world-famous Young Master Jin will be like when he lies beneath me moaning?"

I was startled, my face contorting in a twitch, and I blurted out in a flustered voice, "You pervert, I'm a man!" Damn it, I was dressed as a man today, disguised as Jin Shao as he always is. Did I run into a gay man, about to witness a live BL scene? My sexual orientation is perfectly normal!

Ignoring my struggles, he rose and knelt on top of me, carefully cupping my face in his hands, looking as if he were peering into the depths of my soul. Through his clear, bright eyes, I could see my own reflection. The reflection within me was filled with panic.

Immediately, I calmed down.

When I came here, wasn't I already mentally prepared for everything that was going to happen? So why am I being afraid and backing down now?

After thinking it over, I gazed at him quietly. His eyes were clear and bright, like a deep, bottomless lake.

He looked at me and murmured, "I've said it before, one day I'll catch you and make you my slave for life."

Looking at his face, which was now covered with a faint mist, I lowered my eyes and said in a low voice, "Why? Why do you hate me so much? I don't even know you."

He suddenly smiled, a radiant smile, his beauty surpassing even that of a woman.

"We met on the very first day Jin Shao appeared before the world. We both exist in this world, before the world. Isn't that right, the most wanted criminal on the continent, and also the most mysterious youth?" He smiled disdainfully.

I lowered my eyes, my eyelashes fluttering in the wind. "Long time no see, the second most wanted criminal on the mainland."

“That’s the problem,” he said, his gaze bloodthirsty and sinister. “As the most wanted criminal, the most powerful person in the martial arts world, whose light shines like a divine child, I’m very curious. So I’m going to peel back all the mysteries of him step by step and see how much of the rumors are true and how much is false.”

I laughed, a more sinister laugh: "If this is what you want, then I will grant it to you. But why did you hurt a child? If you had hurt me, I wouldn't hold a grudge. But you hurt me, An Jin's child. Then you are unforgivable. You'd better imprison me for life, or play me to death. Otherwise, I will make you wish you were dead. I will make you suffer for the rest of your life. I let you live, live well, but you will live a life more painful than anyone else."

"You—" He suddenly grabbed my throat and said angrily, "You are already my prisoner, how dare you speak to me like this."

I was choked so badly I almost died on the spot, but I still looked at him with a strange smile. I didn't beg for mercy, I didn't scream.

Suddenly, a familiar scene flashed through my mind, as if it had happened a long time ago: someone was angrily choking me, their eyes bloodshot, almost killing me.

I closed my eyes, trying desperately to recall, to think, to see the face of the man who often appeared in my dreams, even in this suffocating feeling. But I still couldn't see him clearly, I just couldn't.

Who exactly is he? Who is that man who has haunted me day and night for years?

My heart was screaming as I felt like I was dying.

Suddenly, the pressure on my neck disappeared, and as soon as I was free, I started coughing loudly.

I opened my blurry eyes and saw him looking at me with a complicated expression. He said in a deep voice, "Want to die? It's not that easy."

He suddenly smiled ambiguously, his breath sweet as orchids, and said with captivating charm, "Young Master Jin, I will give you the most beautiful and moving, yet also the most unbearable, humiliation in the world."

Suddenly, his eyes narrowed, and with a tug, half of my clothes were torn off.

I exclaimed, "What are you going to do?"

"What are you doing?" He narrowed his eyes, his fox-like eyes curving upwards into a perfect arc.

Ignoring my struggles, he tore at my clothes. Soon, he frowned, stared at the yellow-green armor I was wearing, and asked in surprise, "What is this?"

I panicked a little: "Let me go."

"A soft, gold-threaded armor." His eyes were cold. "I didn't expect you to find something passed down from ancient times." He chuckled, but there was a chill in his smile.

"Let me see what's hidden down there."

"No—" I screamed in my mind, and in the end, I could only close my eyes in despair.

He didn't notice anything unusual about me and took off my soft armor without a second thought.

A gasp escaped his lips; he was utterly astonished, nearly falling backward. His voice, filled with complex and uncertain doubt, rang out: "You...you're actually a woman—"

Hidden inside was not some great secret about the Jin Kingdom, but rather a red bodice, just like any other young woman's, embroidered with a strange flower totem, revealing slightly exposed, full and ample breasts, and a bizarre tattoo on her fair skin—a red, fluttering butterfly.

After I woke up from my amnesia, I saw an ugly red scar on my collarbone, so I tattooed a butterfly with outstretched wings on it.

This shapely body was actually hidden beneath a soft armor. He—no, she—wore this soft armor not to protect herself, but to conceal her gender.

She's fooled everyone. That once-powerful young man is actually a woman!

She single-handedly founded Junjin Manor, then created a miracle across the entire continent, establishing a new and strange nation called Jin Kingdom, which spans the entire continent. The young master of Jin Kingdom is actually a woman!

He never imagined that his opponent would be a woman!

"Unbelievable, isn't it?" I said indifferently, a faint smile still on my face, obscuring my true feelings. "Do you want to continue? If so, then hurry up and end this. Remove the curse on my daughter, and we'll be even." My tone was cold and menacing.

He covered my body again, his gaze filled with a thousand indescribable complexities. He suddenly stroked my face, as if asking himself, "Young Master Jin, what is real and what is fake? Is this stunningly beautiful face real too?"

Chapter 147 The Chaos of Glazed Glass (Part 1)

"Hiss..." I couldn't dodge in time, a sharp pain shooting through my cheek. He had ripped away my facade. I was in so much pain that I fell silent. Strangely, he didn't say a word either. I thought he was trying to humiliate me, that he was going to laugh at me mercilessly.

But there was nothing.

"It's you—" he exclaimed in utter shock, staggering and almost falling onto me. He kept backing away as if he had seen something utterly terrifying, as if he had seen a demon from hell. He tumbled off the stone bed in a rather disheveled state.

He looked somewhat lost and bewildered. He seemed unable to believe it, as if he thought he was dreaming.

Looking at his terrified expression, I laughed with a hint of schadenfreude. I didn't know why he was acting this way, but the thought that my face would make his usually cold and ruthless demeanor look so ridiculous filled me with a sense of satisfaction.

I stared at him coldly, my eyes shimmering with an endless light: "Have you seen enough?"

“It’s you…it really is you…” Yuwen Ruojian said in a panic.

Yes, that familiar scent of wild hibiscus began to waft through the air again. It's her, it's her!

The peach tree is young and tender, its blossoms are bright and beautiful. That most dazzling, most ethereal, most aloof woman, like a painting, appears in his dreams from time to time. That woman who stirred his heart for a lifetime.

Magnificent as the Du Ruo flower, radiant as if reaching the clouds, the spirit of the witch twists and turns like a god from the heavens, beautiful as a dream, her light white clothes as pale as moonlight.

The air was filled with the rich, delicate scent of wild hibiscus, permeating the entire room. He had nowhere to escape, no way out. His heart pounded for her, his very nerves throbbed with joy, every part of his body radiating delight.

This person is her.

But it was also him.

Yuwen Ruojian was stunned for a moment. He was confused, he was at a loss, and he didn't know what to do.

I looked at him strangely, not understanding why he was reacting so strongly.

I tried to move my body, but I was still powerless. So I asked, "What did you do to me? Did you cripple all my martial arts?"

He lowered his head and frowned, so I couldn't see his expression. Then he chuckled softly, "I just gave you a large amount of muscle-relaxing powder. You'll recover after the effects wear off. Even without the drug, your martial arts are no match for mine. Why would I cripple you? I know you'll resent me if I cripple your martial arts."

I said expressionlessly, "Afraid I'll resent you? Are you kidding me?" I simply couldn't believe that he was refraining from crippling my martial arts because he was worried I'd resent him. How could he be afraid when he hated me so much?

Sure enough, he raised his head, his fox-like eyes now brimming with laughter: "You are indeed as clever as I thought. I just want to humiliate you thoroughly. I want you to know that even if you have martial arts skills, I can still imprison you for life, and I can still let you know that you are not as strong as you imagine. In front of me, you will become vulnerable, and you will lose the only pride and self-respect you have left after being imprisoned by me." Although he spoke lightly and with a smile, I was terrified.

He was truly like a demon; even his methods of tormenting were the most cold-blooded and cruel. He knew perfectly well how proud I was, yet he wanted to strip away my pride, to make me lose the most precious thing in my life, to drive me to the brink of collapse, to drive me insane. He wanted to make me wish I were dead.

I began to re-examine this person, this emotionless demon.

“But,” he suddenly smiled, “I’ve changed my mind now…”

He looked at me quietly and said in a calm tone, as if stating something that had nothing to do with him, "I originally wanted to get that painting by any means necessary, but in the end I didn't take it. Do you know why?"

"What?" I looked at him, confused.

painting?

I started rummaging through my entire memory bank, trying to recall everything about the painting and the person.

Yuwen Ruojian's tone remained calm and nonchalant: "He showed me that painting, saying I was the only person in the world besides himself who had ever seen it. Do you want to know what's in the painting?"

My unfocused eyes finally began to clear. I finally remembered why he looked somewhat familiar at first.

It was him.

The person who asked for a painting that I met at Brother Gu's place.

I didn't pay much attention to him back then and had no recollection of him. It wasn't until he mentioned him now that I remembered he existed.

My expression remained indifferent as I murmured to myself, "I didn't expect Brother Gu to show you that painting, one that even I hadn't seen. I wonder if that mandala painting is beautiful, and if it resembles what I described?"

"Haha—" He suddenly burst into laughter a few times, and only after he stopped laughing did he slowly say, "The reason why the fifth painting is different from the other four, and why he didn't want to make it public, is because it doesn't depict flowers, but rather, people." As he said this, he looked at me intently.

"A person?" I murmured, looking up at him. I didn't understand why this was happening. Wasn't it supposed to be a datura flower? Then, who could it be?

"Yes, it's a person. A woman dressed in white, standing aloof amidst a field of almost blood-red datura flowers."

I stared at him, bewildered.

He gazed at me intently, his eyes so deep they seemed to melt me: "That person is you. The most unparalleled person in the world, An Jin."

The painting depicts none other than you; that woman is you. He told me it was simply a painting he created for his own feelings, nothing mysterious about it. He only wanted to see the painting before he died, and to give it to you. He didn't show it to you, didn't let you know, because he didn't want you to feel guilty, to feel burdened. It was his love, his painting; no one had the right or the ability to take it away, so I gave it up. I didn't steal the painting.” He paused, then continued, “You could say I gave it up for you. The person in that painting is you, so I selfishly didn't want the world to know your beauty, didn't want everyone to see you…”

I was stunned. I must look just as ridiculous and comical as he would when he saw my true face. But I couldn't care less now.

A thousand questions swirled in my mind. I wanted to ask them, but my heart was so heavy that I couldn't utter a single word.

I lowered my eyelids. Brother Gu...sigh...

What have I done to deserve this? How can I possibly accept this... Brother Gu...

And what was the point of all that he, Yuwen Ruojian, was he saying all that? Wasn't he the one who hated me the most? Didn't he want me to suffer a fate worse than death?

Why did Yi Yi say those things?

I stared at him, bewildered. Had he gone mad too? Could he no longer distinguish truth from falsehood in his own words?

“You are like an unattainable dream. Although it is illusory, it is still the most beautiful dream. So many people are still willing to chase after it... just like chasing the sun and the moon... An Jin, what kind of person are you...?” He looked at me, his eyes full of pain and doubt.

I stared blankly at the sky for a long time before finally sighing, "I'm sorry to him. Brother Gu..." I called out softly.

I was in hell, yet I selfishly dragged them all down with me...

An Jin, what exactly did you do...? You selfishly dragged so many people into your world, and yet you can't respond at all.

You simply cannot fall in love with anyone.

Suddenly, he chuckled strangely, his voice as gentle as a sharp knife, yet slowly slicing at one's heart, saying, "I originally decided to torment you for the rest of my life. But, An Jin, I've changed my mind. I've decided," he announced with a wicked, bloodthirsty gaze, "to imprison you by my side for the rest of my life, An Jin. I want you to be my woman."

Chapter 148 The Chaos of Glazed Glass (Part 2)

I gave a cold laugh and said disdainfully, "Are you daydreaming, Your Highness? Please look carefully, it's already night."

"You—" He was slightly annoyed, but quickly smiled. He laughed so hard he trembled, his laughter was charming and alluring.