Une aura glaçante

Chapitre 28

Xiao Dao continued walking intently, saying, "I used to know two people."

Xue Beifan nodded. "And then?"

“One of them is a seventy-year-old man named Lao Wu,” Xiao Dao said slowly. “When Lao Wu was young, he was a handsome young man, a carpenter with excellent skills, and he married a very beautiful wife.”

Xue Beifan followed behind her, listening to her speak.

"The young couple were living a good life. One day, Old Wu went out to build a roof for someone. When he came back, his wife had been bullied by the village bully." Xiao Dao swayed slightly, but walked very steadily.

"Old Wu was furious and went to confront the bully. The bully insulted him, and the two fought. In the ensuing fight, Old Wu accidentally killed the bully, and was charged with murder and sentenced to exile to the frontier. On the way, he discovered that the jailer had been bribed by the bully's family to kill him. In a moment of desperation, he killed the jailer as well. After that, Old Wu became a ruthless killer hunted by numerous constables. He fled for his life, only wanting to see his wife one last time, but when he returned home, he learned that his wife had hanged herself."

Xue Beifan nodded. "A human tragedy."

"From then on, Old Wu changed his appearance and lived in anonymity for over fifty years. Everyone thought he was a ruthless killer, but in fact, he was just a carpenter." Xiao Dao said, turning to look at Xue Beifan. "When I was five years old, Old Wu sat on a stone at the village entrance and told me his story. He asked me, what did he do wrong? If he had swallowed his anger back then, he and his wife could have grown old together, and maybe they would have a house full of children and grandchildren by now?"

Xue Beifan asked helplessly, "How are you going to answer that?"

“I’m saying, how could I, at only five years old, know the answer to something you’ve thought about for fifty years and still haven’t figured it out?”

Xue Beifan thought this answer made sense, and then asked, "What did your mother say?"

“My mother said that even if he thought about it for another five hundred years, he would never know the answer.”

"What about the woman?" Xue Beifan continued to ask.

"The woman is sixty years old, the plump auntie at the village entrance," Xiao Dao whispered. "The plump auntie said she was very beautiful when she was a teenager, but her family was very poor, and she only wanted to marry a rich man. Finally, she met a wealthy young man, and she was very glamorous on their wedding day. Only after the marriage did she discover that her wealthy husband was a womanizer. She thought at the time, 'I'll just have to bear it. Maybe in a few years, when my husband gets tired of playing around, he'll come back.' Later, the young man's family fell into poverty, and he was penniless overnight. All those beauties abandoned him, but the plump auntie stayed with him." She devoted herself to washing and cooking for others every day to raise money for his business ventures and to help him recoup his losses. After ten years of hardship together, the young master once again became incredibly wealthy, and the plump auntie had transformed from a beautiful, slender young woman into a plump woman. Without hesitation, the young master divorced her and married a young and beautiful wife, now with many children. The plump auntie, however, remained alone. When I was six years old, I heard her story in a small teahouse. After she finished, she asked me if she, like other beauties, had abandoned him back then, and while she was still young and beautiful, found another wealthy man to be a pampered wife—would that have been better than her current situation?

Xue Beifan shook his head. "What did you say to her?"

Xiao Dao said in a low voice, "I told her Old Wu's story and told her that even if you think about it for another five hundred years, you will not know the answer, so don't think about it anymore."

Xue Beifan stepped forward, almost stepping on Xiao Dao's heel, and asked her in a low voice, "Why did you suddenly think of these two people?"

Xiao Dao looked up and asked Xue Beifan with a smile, "Don't you think some things are forever unsolvable? Take being Cai Lian and Cai Bian's woman, for example. Most women don't have a choice whether they want to be their woman or not. But after they do, there are only two outcomes: if you choose not to endure it, you become the old woman; if you choose to endure it, you become that seventh concubine."

After listening to Xiao Dao's words, Xue Beifan suddenly reached out and scooped up a handful of her hair.

Xiao Dao felt her hair being tugged. She turned around and saw Xue Beifan holding her hair and gently sniffing it.

"Hey!" Xiao Dao quickly snatched it back, a strand of hair slipping from Xue Beifan's fingers.

Xue Beifan smiled slightly, "The fragrance is very pleasant."

"You lecher!" Xiao Dao turned around and punched him.

Xue Beifan didn't dodge. The punch to his left chest felt like a blow to his heart, a slight, dull pain. Xue Beifan clutched his chest and said in a low voice, "I smelled your hair, and you punched me. It hurts, but I smelled your hair."

Xiao Dao stood on the roof, looking at him with a puzzled expression.

Xue Beifan reached out and gently patted Xiaodao's shoulder. "I've achieved my goal. Pain is the price. Maybe if I smell your hair, you'll be happy and give me a kiss?"

"Dream on!" Xiao Dao scoffed.

Xue Beifan's lips curled up slightly. "I did it, but only to smell your hair. As for how you react, that's your business, not something I can control."

Xiao Dao hesitated for a moment, then asked him, "What are you trying to say?"

"I want to say, it's not my fault that I want to smell hair, and it's not my fault that I got beaten up." Xue Beifan withdrew his hands behind his back and jumped off the roof. "There are indeed many old hags and concubines in this world, but not every man in the world is surnamed Cai, right?"

Xiao Dao stood on the rooftop watching him walk forward, then turn back and wave to himself, "Going back, the night breeze is too cold."

[The Magic of Preserving Youth]

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Back at Chonghua's residence, they found Xiaoyue sitting anxiously on the steps in front of Xiaodaomen, holding a kitten. Hao Jinfeng and Chonghua were keeping her company.

Seeing the two return, Hao Jinfeng breathed a sigh of relief. "Where did you two go? We looked for you twice but couldn't find you."

Xue Beifan waved his hand lightly and, without hiding anything, recounted what had happened that day.

"You scoundrel!" Hao Jinfeng slammed his fist on the table and stood up. "This Cai Bian is simply lawless!"

Xue Beifan patted him on the shoulder to calm him down, "Alright, your sister taught him a lesson that was enough to stop him from being so lawless."

Xiaoyue asked Xiaodao, "Are you alright?"

Xiao Dao shrugged. "Of course it's nothing. Cai Bian is a good-for-nothing, but we've obtained a very important clue."

It was too late, so Xiaodao sent everyone to bed and said they would discuss it again tomorrow. She went back to her room, washed up, and lay down on the bed, but couldn't fall asleep. She kept repeating Xue Beifan's words, "Not all men in the world have the surname Cai."

Xiao Dao sat up abruptly, rubbing her face and cursing under her breath—"You lecherous scoundrel!" Looking down, she saw the little yellow cat looking up at her. She poked it, and the kitten rolled over, obediently exposing its belly for her to pet.

Xiao Dao chuckled, picked it up, held it in his hands, and poked its belly, muttering to himself, "That pretentious lecherous scoundrel, don't believe him!"

The kitten licked its paws to wash its face, occasionally letting out a soft "meow".

Xiao Dao couldn't sleep, so she put on a coat, got up, and drew the entire blueprint she had just memorized. She didn't fall asleep until she heard the rooster crow.

In the next room, Xue Beifan leaned against the bed and kept his eyes open until dawn.

Hearing the rooster crow... he gently reached into his clothes and touched the spot on his chest where Xiao Dao had just punched him, thinking to himself, "How much force did that girl use? It still hurts."

Thinking of this, he stood up, walked to the bronze mirror on the table, gently pulled open his collar and looked, and was stunned.

Xiao Dao's punch landed squarely on the burn scar in his chest, the ugly scar throbbing with pain. Xue Beifan's eyes turned cold. That punch really hit the spot. If that girl knew the truth, she might want to stab him right there.