Agent secret Wind Boy

Chapitre 67

"Hehe, I caught a little chill." Facing Huaiyuan's narrowed eyes and livid face, I forced a smile, guiltily pulling my feet back under my skirt in vain. I couldn't help but glance resentfully at Xiuyu—it's all her fault, shouting so loudly for no reason, causing me to get glared at by Huaiyuan, and now she's happy?!

"Uh, I'm going out first." Faced with the impending storm, Xiuyu ran faster than a rabbit—what a heartless fellow!

Huaiyuan slowly squatted down, gently but firmly holding my feet. My face flushed red—uh! This was supposed to be a very romantic scene, but alas! My feet were now frozen red and swollen, a terrible sight with all the bruises, sigh! There wasn't a trace of romance in it!

"Is this how Wanyan Zongwang takes care of you?" After a long while, Huaiyuan squeezed out these words through gritted teeth, pinching my feet which were swollen like pig's feet. The flickering candlelight on the table was as unpredictable as Huaiyuan's expression at that moment.

"It's not his fault, uh, it's my own fault..." I subconsciously defended Zongwang, but when I met Huaiyuan's dark, icy gaze, I immediately stammered—sigh! I didn't do anything wrong, why am I feeling guilty?!

Huaiyuan stopped talking, took out a small silver-white porcelain bottle from his pocket, and uncapped it. I curiously peeked inside; it was a bottle of jade-green ointment that emitted a faint, pleasant fragrance. He carefully scooped out a little and applied it to my feet. I felt a cool sensation penetrate my body, and the burning, tingling pain in my feet immediately lessened by more than half.

"What is this?" I took the bottle he handed me and brought it to my nose to smell it—it smelled a bit like mint.

"Golden Thread Snake Oil Ointment," Huaiyuan replied casually, reaching into his robes to pull out a silk handkerchief and carefully wrapping my foot. "Luckily, there were no broken skin." — But this brought out another snow-white handkerchief, which fluttered to the ground.

"Why didn't you throw it away?" I took a deep breath and suddenly felt the bottle in my hand was very heavy. I blinked away the tears from the corners of my eyes and asked softly.

"What?" Huaiyuan was slightly taken aback. He glanced at the silk handkerchief that had fallen at my feet, then suddenly realized what it meant. He bent down, picked it up, and put it in his pocket, smiling calmly: "This is the only thing you left me."

Upon hearing this, I was speechless—was this the pattern of our relationship all along? I had been receiving, while he had been giving silently, never asking for anything in return?!

"Silly girl, thinking about nonsense again, aren't you?" Huaiyuan opened his arms and pulled me into his embrace, his chin resting on my hair. "Don't think of yourself as so useless. You know what? Since I met you, I've learned to smile, to know what happiness is; I've learned what it feels like to care about someone; and I've tasted the heart-wrenching pain of losing the most important thing in my life! So," he said, releasing my arms and instead holding my shoulders, gazing deeply into my eyes, "Qing'er, promise me you'll never leave me again, okay?!"

My cheeks flushed crimson, lost in his bright, star-like black eyes. I nodded blankly, my mind drifting to a daze—was this a proposal? If so, what about Rumei?

"What does this have to do with Guan Rumei?" Huaiyuan frowned, retorting with displeasure—Huh? When did I ask that question?

"How can it not be her business?" Facing Huaiyuan's fiery gaze, I forced myself to continue: "After all, she is your fiancée."

“That was seven years ago. Now she’s Wufeng’s fiancée.” Huaiyuan’s expression began to show impatience. “Rumei has never been a problem between us. Do you think we need to waste our time on her?”

"Wait a minute." I was confused too: "Didn't you ever think about being with Rumei?"

“I thought this was obvious and didn’t need to be discussed at all.” Huaiyuan was clearly more surprised than me. He looked at me like I was an idiot: “If I wanted to be with her, I wouldn’t have chosen to disappear for six years.”

"But why didn't you show up? Wasn't it because you were 'ashamed' of your appearance?" I asked hesitantly, still unable to process the information I had just received. "Then why did you tell Grandpa Jiang that you would give Rumei an explanation? An explanation, doesn't that mean marrying her?" — Huaiyuan, did you really never intend to be with Rumei?

"What do I have to hide? I just happen to be too lazy to see them! Besides, when did I...?" Huaiyuan paused, then suddenly realized. He glanced at me: "You heard that? Humph! Who said confessing necessarily means marrying her?"

"So what exactly is this so-called explanation you're talking about?"—I was genuinely curious.

"Find her a suitable husband and marry her off! What else could it be?" Huaiyuan's expression was as relaxed as if he were drinking a glass of water: "It would be best if Wufeng was willing to marry her. If he is not, of course we will find another way."

I was speechless: "How naive of you! If Rumei were willing to marry just anyone, why would she have waited for you for so many years? It's obvious she likes you!"

“哼！那是她的事。”怀远的态度真的很欠揍：“江湖上喜欢我的女子多了去了，我总不能把她们全都娶回家吧？！”

I fell silent, trying to recall his conversation with Lu Jianfeng that day, and realized it could be interpreted in this way. I was speechless—was I really that wrong? Suddenly, I felt so wronged—now it seemed Huaiyuan had completely absolved himself of responsibility, so all my heartbreak these past few months had been for nothing? The more I thought about it, the more indignant I became, and I couldn't help but glare at him angrily: "Since you have absolutely no feelings for Rumei, why were you so ambiguous with Lu Jianfeng? You ruined me, ruined me..."

"What harm did it do to you? What did you hear?" Huaiyuan was surprised at first, then laughed: "How come I didn't know you liked eavesdropping so much? Why don't you become a secret agent for the Imperial Household Agency!"

"Hey! I'm being serious!" I snapped, slapping away his hand from my waist and turning my face away. "You actually told him I'm 'just a woman'! Humph!"

"Qing'er, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were listening." Huaiyuan hugged me from behind, his deep voice, like fine wine, tinged with tenderness: "These past few days, my words must have hurt you deeply, right?! Sigh! You silly girl, how heartbroken you must have been to run off to Cizhou without a second thought?"

"Even if I wasn't there, you shouldn't have talked about me like that behind my back, right?" My heart was melting little by little, but I was unwilling to forgive him so easily—he had made me sad for almost half a year!

"Actually, I said that to him on purpose." Huaiyuan hesitated for a moment, then continued, "It's alright to tell you now. We suspect that Jianfeng is the leader of the Wuji Sect. And the Wuji Sect has always been against our Jingyou Manor, or rather, against me! I said those things about you in front of him just to prevent you from becoming one of his targets. Fortunately, although he didn't completely believe what I said, he was still somewhat skeptical. So he chose to target Rumei instead of you. However, he is indeed cunning; he actually used a three-birds-with-one-stone strategy!"

"You mean, the person who impersonated you that day was Lu Jianfeng?" I shuddered. "He's Rumei's own brother! How could he do this...?"

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It's a bit late to update, haha! Goodnight everyone. I'm going to sleep early too, yeah, I always stay up late!

[Volume 4 Finale: Chapter 12 Exploring Plum Blossoms in the Snow]

"Hmph! I can barely be considered an older brother, but I'm not necessarily related by blood!" Huaiyuan snorted coldly, his expression quite complicated.

"Could it be that Lu Jianfeng is not the biological son of Master Lu?" I couldn't help but feel doubtful. "Even so, Rumei has known you since childhood. How could she not be able to tell the difference between you and Lu Jianfeng?"

"Whether he's my biological son or not, we'll find out in a few days when someone comes to Bianjing." Huaiyuan glanced at me sideways, a hint of resentment in his smile: "Even you were fooled by him back then, so it's not surprising that Rumei couldn't tell the difference between me and Lu Jianfeng, is it?"

"How can they be the same?" I felt a pang of guilt and forced a defense, "I only glanced at her from afar, but she was..."—I was beginning to understand: the reason Ru Mei couldn't tell the difference was probably because Huai Yuan had never had any intimate physical contact with her. If it were me, I definitely wouldn't have made such a blatant mistake. Sigh! Thinking about it, Ru Mei is really pitiful! She probably still doesn't know who the father of the child in her belly is!

"You know you were wrong, right?" Huaiyuan chuckled and ruffled my hair, casually changing the subject: "But you, why did you suddenly start pleading for Zhao Gou? And why didn't you let Zongwang play polo?! What did he mean when he said you were terrified?!"

"Uh, it's nothing, I just felt sorry for him, really!" Subconsciously avoiding Huaiyuan's scrutinizing gaze, I began to stammer. Finally, I closed my eyes, leaned against him, and started to whine, "Cough, Huaiyuan, I'm so tired, can we talk about it tomorrow?"—I couldn't very well tell him: "Because I know Zhao Gou will become emperor in the future, I'm doing him a favor, can I?" Think about it, if the emperor owed me a favor, wouldn't our lives in the Song Dynasty be much easier?!

But what if Rumei insists that her child is Huaiyuan's? Why is Lu Jianfeng targeting Huaiyuan at every turn? And what exactly are the three birds Huaiyuan meant by "killing three birds with one stone"...? These many questions lingered in my mind, unanswered for the time being. But for now, I could only suppress my worries and curiosity, letting the overwhelming weariness carry me into a peaceful sleep...

"Xiuyu, do I really have to drink it?" I frowned, staring at the large bowl of dark, black medicine in front of me with a bitter expression—when will this end?

"Okay." Xiuyu nodded firmly, and seeing my troubled expression, she couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Hurry up and drink it, dear sister! Look, I've prepared all the dried fruit from Babaozhai for you!"

"What's the use of that?" I muttered under my breath, reluctantly taking the bowl and placing it on the small bedside table. "Alright, just leave it here. I'll drink it later."

"Sister Qingyang." Xiuyu looked at me with a long face—this girl is getting bolder and bolder, she actually dares to give me attitude now?!

"It's too hot now! Let it cool down before you drink it." I replied lazily, then quickly changed the subject: "Xiuyu, why is Zhang Bing here?" — Actually, what I was more curious about was how Xiuyu could forgive Zhang Bing.

Xiuyu blushed, lowered her head, and twisted the hem of her clothes. "Well, not long after my sister and I came to Bianjing, my aunt passed away. Binglang buried her, sold all his belongings, and came to the capital." She then raised her head, bravely facing me. "Actually, the reason Binglang treated me that day was because the doctor said my aunt wouldn't live much longer. Binglang didn't want her to die in peace, so… Sister Qingyang, you won't blame me for forgiving Binglang so easily, will you?"

Looking at that hopeful little face, how could I bear to say anything to blame her? Besides, after everything that's happened, I've suddenly realized—matters of the heart cannot be fully understood simply by looking at the surface of things! More often than not, what's needed is to use a sincere heart to understand, to forgive, and to be tolerant. How can outsiders presume to judge right and wrong?

"Xiuyu, are you happy? Are you joyful?" I held Xiuyu's soft, jade-like hands, staring intently into her bright, clear eyes, and asked gently—Xiuyu blushed, and lowered her head shyly.