La pluie écarlate submerge la ville

Chapitre 73

Excellent.

I sat up halfway and asked with great interest, "Have you eaten?"

He glared at me and answered reluctantly, "I ate it."

"Has your master eaten?"

"have eaten."

"Has your junior sister eaten?"

"……have eaten."

"and you……"

"Everyone in the valley has eaten, Miss Su, could you ask for something new?"

I nodded and asked, "Were you there when Yan Shu brought me here?"

"Here." He blurted out, then immediately covered his mouth with his hand, staring at me with wide eyes in fright.

As expected...

I smiled and patted his head gently, saying softly, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. Tell your sister where Yan Shu went, and I promise I won't tell anyone that you told her."

He stood up abruptly, covered his mouth, and said in a muffled voice, "I don't know, I didn't say anything, I don't know any Yan Shu, I don't know anything..." He glared at me angrily at the end, "Insidious!" and then turned and ran out.

"Hey..." I struggled to get up and try to pull him up, but he had already run out of the room in a few steps, bumped into someone at the threshold, and cried out in pain.

Then they heard Ruan Lianhua chuckle from outside the curtain: "Why are you running around in such a panic?"

Qinglian cried out in fright, "Master Ruan..." She stammered, "I...I didn't say anything!" and then turned and ran away.

Ruan Lianhua stood outside the door for a moment, then came back in with a bowl of medicine in her hand, smiling as she said to me, "Su Su has taken her medicine."

The medicine was a bit bitter. He sat by the couch and watched me finish it. He handed me a stack of candied fruit and said with a smile, "What were you chatting about with Qinglian just now? Look how scared he is."

"It's nothing," I said, my mouth full of candied fruit, my words slightly slurred. "Just some small things, like who his master likes, who he likes..."

"Is that so?" He tilted his head and looked at me with a half-smile.

I stopped speaking and had nothing more to say.

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I was unconscious in Medicine King Valley for a few days, and then I ate and slept for a few more days to recover. Surprisingly, my injuries healed quickly. On the day the snow stopped, I really couldn't resist going out for a walk, but Miaoshou stopped me, saying that the roads were slippery and the wind was strong, so it was not advisable to go out.

I spent several days in this valley, and apart from seeing Qinglian that day, I didn't see anyone else.

It's like... being placed under house arrest.

I didn't ask, went back to my room and went straight to sleep.

That night, someone called my name, softly, weakly, one call after another.

"Thank you, thank you..."

I woke up with a start. The silver charcoal burner crackled in the dim room. I was panting heavily and sat on the tatami, pressing my forehead against the floor.

"Thank you, thank you..."

Is this not a dream? Who's calling me?

I got out of bed, opened the window, and a cluster of half-open and half-withered winter plum blossoms squeezed in, their petals scattered all over the ground.

The sound was gone, replaced only by the soft patter of snow falling from the branches in the dark night.

The night was extremely quiet.

No one calls my name anymore, calling me Su Xie over and over again, tirelessly.

The cool, icy plum blossom beside me brushed against the back of my hand. I bent down to gently touch it, and just as I was about to close the window, the night breeze seemed to carry a soft, calling sound again—

“Su Xie…”

My heart skipped a beat, and I quickly flipped over and jumped out of the window, tiptoeing away from Ruan Lianhua's people, and followed the sound.

The sound didn't ring out again in the still night, whether it was my imagination or not. I walked on the snow and unknowingly wandered into a small courtyard.

The whole place was dark and gloomy, except for the small medicine hut where a light was on.

Is the mastermind inside?

I cautiously walked into the light, when suddenly someone called out to me from behind, "Su Su?"

I turned my head sharply in shock. Something trembled before my eyes, and the fragrance of medicine filled the air. My vision blurred, and Ruan Lianhua swayed in front of me. Before I could utter a single word, I fainted.

The world is shaking...

When I woke up again, the stuffy space was jolted by a series of bumps. I sat up abruptly and hit my forehead on the wooden plank of the carriage, the pain making me dizzy.

Ruan Lianhua was startled and hurriedly reached out to rub it for me, asking, "What happened? Where did you touch?"

I waved my hand, covered my forehead, and asked, "What's wrong with me?"

“Yesterday you broke into Miaoshou’s medicine hut without permission, triggered a mechanism, and were drugged.” Ruan Lianhua tilted her head and looked at me, saying, “Luckily, I was passing by.”

is that so?

I pressed my swollen forehead with one hand and lifted the carriage curtain with the other to look outside. The carriage rumbled along, and in the distance and near, snow-capped mountains rushed by. "Where are we going?"

"Have you forgotten?" Ruan Lianhua asked me with a light laugh, "Didn't we say a few days ago that you would go to Suzhou to see Changhuan once you were feeling better?"

I remember.

I turned to look at him and asked in surprise, "Why are you in such a hurry?"

He paused for a moment, then chuckled, "I thought Su Su was in a hurry to see Chang Huan... I was originally going to find you last night, and the carriage was all prepared, but you weren't in your room. When I went out to look for you, I found you had been drugged and passed out, so I took it upon myself to go..." He looked at me cautiously and asked in a low voice, "Is Su Su angry?"

My bellyful of doubts instantly turned into irrational tantrums; he was so... that it was hard to be suspicious.

My fingers gripped the carriage curtain, and as I let out a breath, I suddenly felt something drifting further and further away from me… I looked at the misty mountains outside the carriage and said calmly, “What have you been hiding from me, haven’t you?”

"Susu, you don't believe me?"

I turned to look at him and smiled inexplicably. "I just want to know if you... killed Yan Shu?"

He stared at me for a long time, then shook his head and said, "He's alive and well, you don't need to worry."

I breathed a sigh of relief, leaned back in the carriage, rubbed my forehead, and laughed, "Excellent, excellent..."

He looked at me, about to say something, when the carriage suddenly hissed and jolted to a stop.

I steadied myself by holding onto the car window. Ruan Lianhua lifted the curtain and frowned, asking, "What's wrong?"

"Master..." Before the coachman could finish speaking, someone rushed over and lifted the carriage curtain.

The morning light shone through the white snow outside, making me squint. In the flickering light and shadow, I saw a person calling to me urgently, "Girl!"

"Chang Huan?" My fingers tightened, and I stared at him blankly. "Chang Huan..."

Chang Huan suddenly rushed in and grabbed my hand. I heard the sound of a sword ringing out. Ruan Lianhua leaned in, and I hurriedly pressed down on his drawn sword.

Chang Huan frowned and shouted, "Master, allow me to say one thing! I only have one question for the young lady!"

I pressed down on the scabbard and shoved it back into its sheath. I saw Chang Huan's heavy gaze fall upon me as he asked, "Does the young lady love priests?"

I froze as the fine snow blew into the carriage.

He then asked me, "Did the girl really not have any other feelings for saving the priest? Or do you simply not know whether you love him or not?"

Love Yan Shu? How could that be...?

Seeing Chang Huan lost in thought, I laughed. "I hate him so much, how could I..."

"Is it just hate?" he asked me, one question after another. "Love and hate, are you sure it's just hate?"

I stared at him blankly, unable to answer.

He stared at me for a long time, then released my hand and said with a wry smile, "I was afraid that you would regret it, that you would regret not distinguishing between love and hate today and missing out... If you only hate, then it doesn't matter."

He stepped out of the carriage and bowed to me under the vast expanse of snow, saying, "It's alright, young lady, please set off."

The carriage curtain was lowered, and in an instant, the world, the heavy snow, the vast expanse of white, all receded, leaving only a dim, dim light.

I sat there, head bowed, lost in thought.

"Su Su." Ruan Lianhua came and shook my hand. He said something to me, but I couldn't hear it clearly.

My mind was a jumbled mess of thoughts—

"Su Xie, why did you save me?"

"It felt like I was having a very, very long dream... There was a huge fire, there were dead people, just like when I was a child, I thought I was going to die... Everyone wanted me to die, there was no hope, no one reached out to help me... Then I heard you call my name..."

"Su Xie, you're really annoying."

“Su Xie, you are the first person who wants me to live, not for any conditions or any reason.”

“Su Xie…Su Xie…you must not betray me…you are mine, my…Su Xie…”

"Su Xie, I wish I could sever your tendons and imprison you by my side, making it impossible for you to move an inch..."

"Su Xie, you pulled me out of hell, you have to take responsibility for me."

"It doesn't matter who it is. No matter whose body you live in, you belong to me inside and out."

"Thank you, thank you... I don't know how to treat you. I love you, I love you so much I don't know what to do..."

Thank you, thank you...

Those words and phrases were like threads and needles, densely sewn into my mind. Suddenly, I couldn't understand anything. I abruptly shook off Ruan Lianhua's hand and jumped off the carriage without warning. It was fast and sudden, and I was thrown onto the snow.

Startled, Ruan Lianhua shouted, "Stop the car!" She then jumped down and asked, "Su Su, where are you going?"

I rushed to Changhuan's side, snatched his horse, and mounted it. My heart was pounding. Ruan Lianhua called out to me from behind, "Susu! You just hate him, don't you?"

My hand, which had been raising the whip, paused. I reined in my horse and looked back at him. The boy, as pure as a lotus, stood in the snow, his features as beautiful as a painting. I smiled very softly. “I don’t know. I can’t distinguish between love and hate. It’s just…” I stared at him intently and said, “I’m afraid I’ll regret it.”

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I rode my horse straight into Medicine King Valley and stormed into the medicine hut, startling the young apprentices and servants who hurriedly scrambled to get out of the way. I dismounted in front of the hut, my heart pounding wildly as if it were a drum.

The door creaked open, and Miaoshou rushed out, looking at me with surprise: "Xiao Xie? Why are you back again?"

"Where is Yan Shu?" I asked him.

He looked away and mumbled, "Ah...who is Yan Shu...?"