Chapter 46 Full Moon "Pry open her pearly teeth..."

Ruan Yang descended the mountain in the dark. She asked a nearby inn for a fast horse, and the horse carried her galloping wildly through the misty night, while her tears fell like broken beads in the air.

Based on her vague memory, she ran to the Lu family's house. Just as the nun in the temple had said, there was red silk hanging on the plaque, and the character for "happiness" was posted everywhere. The red paper scraps left from the firecrackers on the steps had been swept away.

The mansion, which should have been bustling, was eerily quiet. Ruan Yang moved her stiff legs toward the steps, but faintly heard crying.

"Who dares to trespass into the Lu residence?"

The guard standing at the door saw a beautiful young woman in a wrinkled blue robe about to rush in with tears in her eyes, so he drew his sword from his waist and held it to the girl's neck.

Ruan Yang lowered her eyes, the gleaming silver blade stinging them. Her fingers, hidden beneath her long sleeves, clenched tightly into her palms: "Is he... really dead?"

The guards exchanged glances: "A funeral is being held in the mansion. You still want to go elsewhere to beg for alms?"

Ruan Yang looked up, and finally couldn't help but let out a sob. After a long while, she trembled and said, "I want to see your general. I want to see him."

She took a step forward, and the sharp blade sliced ​​through her delicate skin. At that moment, servants placed the body, covered with a white sheet, in the front hall.

Hearing the noise, Ruan Yang's gaze focused on the snow-white cloth in front of her. She knelt down and sobbed, "Please let me in, let me in, let me see him one last time."

Seeing that the guards remained unmoved, Ruan Yang threw herself onto their arms, pushing her way forward, crying out, "Wenjin, Wenjin..."

The sky was beginning to lighten, but the thick fog of the night had not yet dissipated. A slender girl in a gray-blue robe knelt in the misty air, sobbing with tears streaming down her face, looking utterly pitiful.

The guards dared not harm any innocent people at this critical moment, so they sheathed their swords and prepared to escort Ruan Yang to Lu Wenjin. However, the young woman who had looked very bulky just now suddenly darted to the corpse like a little wildcat.

The leader sighed, "Quickly report this to General Lu, and bring a few more people to help me pull that crazy woman away, otherwise the funeral will be ruined and Aunt Lu will cause another big scene."

"yes!"

The person getting married at the Lu residence today is actually Lu Wenjin's cousin.

As for why such an important event as marriage was to be held in someone else's house, it was because [name omitted] had squandered all the inheritance left by his father in his early years, and had also used the house deeds to pay off debts.

In early spring of this year, having nowhere else to turn, the mother and son brought their family to Shu County to seek refuge with Lu Wenjin.

Now that Lu Wenjin has military merits and his career is progressing rapidly, all his brothers and sisters who have some connection with him are eager to help him, saying that they gave him a meal when his family was in trouble back then.

All of Lu's relatives, big and small, were eyeing Lu Wenjin like a piece of fat meat. Even the dowry money for marrying the daughter of the wealthy Li family was borrowed from Lu Wenjin.

Although it was called a loan, everyone in the household knew that the money was borrowed and would never be repaid.

Using Lu Wenjin's official position, he acted arrogantly and unreasonably in Shu County, offending many wealthy young men in the county. Now that his enemies have come knocking, he deserves to die.

As dawn broke, the sound of roosters crowing in the distance drowned out the faint sobbing, and the bright paper lanterns gradually dimmed.

After burning incense for the □□ and calming down the Li family, Lu Wenjin cleaned up the mess for the □□ on her own, and was exhausted by then.

Although the war with the North had been at peace for several months, Lu Wenjin could not let his guard down. He was wary of Ning Xian and kept a close eye on Ning Xian's movements. Yesterday, when the army finished training, the sun had already set.

Stepping out onto the veranda, Lu Wenjin smelled the incense and candle scent mixed in with the damp air, instantly waking her up from her drowsy state.

When he looked up, he saw Ruan Yang kneeling on a headless corpse, crying uncontrollably.

Lu Wenjin frowned and rubbed his tired eyes.

"...Ruan Yang?"

Ruan Yang was so confused from crying that she raised her head when she vaguely heard a familiar voice. After a long time, the young man, who was only in his early twenties, looked tired. Although his back was still straight, you could still see the worry in his eyes.

Ruan Yang's eyes widened, and she covered her mouth, taking a few steps back.

Lu Wenjin was still standing in front of her, perfectly fine.

The feeling of losing something and then regaining it made Ruan Yang disregard the traditional boundaries between men and women, and she took a step and ran into his arms.

Standing before Lu Wenjin, Ruan Yangding resisted the urge to hug him. Clutching her clothes, her eyes red, she scolded, "Nothing's wrong, why did you scare me? This isn't fun at all. If you died, I would..."

Lu Wenjin touched the hat on Ruan Yang's head and thought that Ruan Yang looked quite cute as a little nun. He smiled softly and asked, "What will you do?"

Ruan Yang sniffed and glared at him, saying, "I...I will...immediately leave Jizhao Nunnery and find a suitable husband to marry. I will never stay and guard your memorial tablet for the rest of my life."

Lu Wenjin smiled and said, "I'm sorry, then I'll send you a message every day to let you know I'm safe."

"Actually, although life is fragile, I am not as easy to die as you think."

After speaking, the two remained silent for a long time. Ruan Yang looked up at him, and Lu Wenjin also looked down at Ruan Yang. The girl's face and the tip of her nose were flushed red by the morning breeze.

He didn't intend to force the person to stay, so he said, "You must be tired after traveling all night. I'll have someone drive you back right away."

"Go...go back? You're letting me leave?"

Ruan Yang stammered, her eyes wide.

Lu Wenjin nodded: "Yes, if you don't like it here, then you shouldn't stay too long. I also have official business to attend to later."

"What official business?"

"My lord, the carriage to the Jing family is ready!"

The servant called out from under the eaves not far away. Ruan Yang's heart skipped a beat. The Jing family... she remembered that they were the family that had come to the Lu residence to discuss marriage last time.

Ruan Yang snapped out of her daze and, feigning nonchalance, said, "In that case, I'll leave now and won't bother you any longer..."

Lu Wenjin said calmly, "Yes, Xiao Ye, take Miss Ruan back."

When Ruan Yang saw that Xiao Ye had come to pick her up, she felt empty inside and silently turned her back to leave through the morning mist.

Perhaps unwilling to accept it, Ruan Yang took a few steps and then turned back to look. It would have been better if she hadn't looked, because once she did, her heart shattered.

She didn't expect that Lu Wenjin wouldn't even turn his head this time, and that figure was getting further and further away from her.

Ruan Yang stopped, biting her lip.

Although the Jing family's daughter is good, she is ultimately someone else, and this time she doesn't want to give Lu Wenjin away to someone else again.

Ning Xian, Ning Xian, his cold-heartedness seems to have become his only virtue at this moment. After so many years of no news, that person has probably let her go.

Ruan Yang convinced herself to catch up quickly. She suddenly wrapped her arms around Lu Wenjin's waist, her small face pressed tightly against the young man's back, just like when she was a child.

Lu Wenjin's heart skipped a beat: "What are you doing?"

Ruan Yang walked around to Lu Wenjin's side, looking up at him with pleading eyes: "I don't want to leave, because I don't want to see you marry someone else. I want you to be with me, okay?"

Lu Wenjin rubbed his hand against the girl's wet cheek and said, "Be with me? But my mother really likes that girl and is willing for me to marry her."

Ruan Yang was stunned for a moment, then gradually relaxed her grip. Her head was buzzing: "You...."

"Do you really like that woman?"

"Of course, otherwise, wouldn't it be a mistake for them if I took the initiative to propose marriage?"

Lu Wenjin pried open the fingers that were covering his waist and faced her, saying, "Ruan Yang, my beloved is the best girl in the world. I fell in love with her at first sight when I was ten years old."

"But she always hurts me. I've seen her laughing in other men's arms so many times. When we finally reunited, she started bullying me again and even completely forgot about me. But even so, I still like her a lot. Don't you think I'm stupid?"

Ruan Yang was stunned. No one knew the bad woman Lu Wenjin was talking about better than her.

Ruan Yang suddenly realized. She slowly approached him, shook her head, and choked up, saying, "She's not stupid. The stupid one is that woman. She was persecuted by treacherous people, so she didn't know that there were people who were genuinely good to her behind her. She didn't bully you. She was just cowardly and weak, afraid of implicating innocent people, and worried that she was not worthy of the best person in the world."

Upon hearing this, Lu Wenjin's eyes revealed an indescribable emotion.

Is she trying to coax him?

The young man felt that the girl who had suddenly come to visit the Lu residence must have been so overwhelmed by the thought of life and death that she was in such a hurry to come see him overnight.

He knew that Ruan Yang was kind-hearted and easily influenced; she would probably be just as heartbroken if anyone who had helped her died.

Lu Wenjin sneered, "Not good enough for me? Ruan Yang, I wonder if you still remember when I was a beggar with festering sores and tattered clothes, you secretly ran away from home to give me cotton clothes and food, risking damage to your own reputation to save me from others time and time again, and even let me learn to write and read from you."

"It's not your fault that you believed Ning Xian who was wearing a mask. Even if, as you say, Ning Xian comes back with all his might to take you away, I won't blame anyone. I will bear all the consequences alone."

Upon hearing this, Ruan Yang could no longer hold back her tears and burst into tears. After leaving Ning Xian, she stopped taking the mind-loss drug and slowly began to remember everything from the past.

Whether it was Ruan Xi, who died at Ning Xian's hands on the eve of her wedding, or Ning Xian's cold smile as he pointed an arrow at her heart after she fell off the cliff.

She raised her wrist, intending to snuggle into Lu Wenjin's arms and cry her heart out, but then she suddenly remembered something and sighed, "I want to show you something. If you feel disgusted after seeing it, I promise I will disappear immediately."

With the doors and windows closed, only she and Lu Wenjin were inside. Ruan Yang's fingers rested on the buttons for a long time, and the humiliations she had suffered in the past surged into her heart like a raging flood.

She turned her back and took off her robe, then slowly removed her undergarment until her uneven skin was completely exposed to the air.

The girl's soft, white breasts and waist were covered with the man's teeth marks. Because the wounds were not treated in time and were often reopened, they left dark and ugly scars.

Ruan Yang stood almost naked in front of Lu Wenjin. No girl in this world would want to have scars on her body.

She bit her lip, lowered her eyes, and sobbed softly, "...I'm really ugly. I'm no longer the pretty little sister you used to know."

Lu Wenjin stared intently at the girl's body, his eyes devoid of any desire. He silently gritted his teeth, re-fastened Ruan Yang's robe, and then embraced her: "So? Is this why you've been ignoring me?"

Lu Wenjin unbuttoned her shirt, revealing her left chest and shoulder, and laughed, "Look, I have the same scars on your body. Doesn't that prove we're a match made in heaven?"

Ruan Yang was stunned by the sight before her, and couldn't help but touch Lu Wenjin's twisted, centipede-like scars with her fingertips, some of which had even turned into calluses.

Her nose stung with tears. With so many wounds, he must have suffered a lot along the way.

Lu Wenjin took her wrist and said, "Ruan Yang, even if you become a wrinkled old woman in the future, you will still be a cute little sister in my heart."

Feeling the warmth of Lu Wenjin's cheek, Ruan Yang approached him with a guilty conscience and gently stroked his earlobe and neck with her fingertips.

As her vision blurred, she decided to go all out and do something crazy.

A sudden gust of wind blew the closed door open with a "bang," and the autumn wind, carrying with it the petals of the crape myrtle in the courtyard, rushed in, adding a few splashes of color to the girl's gray-blue robe.

She said, "Take care, Lu Wenjin, let's live a good life together from now on."

Despite his joy, Lu Wenjin tried his best to remain composed as he carefully held Ruan Yang's waist and embraced her amidst the blooming flowers.

Ruan Yang's breathing quickened. After a moment's hesitation, she stood on tiptoe and, under Lu Wenjin's surprised gaze, kissed his lips deeply.

Lu Wenjin froze for a moment, realizing there were still many servants in the corner. His face flushed red, and his heart pounded like a drum. He awkwardly yet forcefully began to pry open her teeth, responding to her...

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Author's Note: The next chapter is coming soon. Good times are always fleeting; the male lead is coming back...