Chapter 68 A Mistaken Kiss After that, there was no more Meng Shutai, only a humble one...
The lotus-colored bed curtains swayed slightly as Meng Shutai pressed down on them, and the intertwined shadows were elongated by the candlelight, appearing deep within the bed curtains like closely spaced hills, indistinguishable from one another.
His wound pressed against Le Jin's round shoulder, the blood seeping into her nightgown like a sob. Galloping recklessly on horseback, Meng Shutai's hair was cold and disheveled, like a long-wandering puppy nestled against Le Jin.
He hadn't felt wronged in many years. Who could make him feel wronged? And what could possibly make him feel wronged? Nothing.
But all that happened today, or rather, all that happened since his marriage, was like a blood-red thread that burrowed into his heart, wandering around like it came alive. It wasn't enough to just shatter his heart; it had to tear him apart, spilling out his intestines, liver, lungs, pancreas, and the twisted cravings that he himself didn't know the origin of.
Le Jin is different. She is a girl from another world, with an immortal soul, transcending the physical body.
Meng Shutai told himself again and again that all he wanted was for her to offer up that strange soul, like the mermaid lamp in the legendary First Emperor's underground palace, to dedicate her life to his boundless loneliness and boredom, and to give him a little bit of happiness.
As for lifelong love, companionship between two hearts, and unparalleled devotion... those are just the self-imposed limitations of ordinary people, mediocre fools.
However, day after day, a voice in his heart howled day and night, like the roar of a lion.
A single gust travels a thousand miles, the light of the sky ripples through the clouds.
He didn't want Le Jin to look at others, think about others, smile at others, or get angry at others. Her joys and sorrows, her glances and expressions, everything about her, from her hair to her nails, from her tears to her bodily fluids, should be swallowed by him.
It was swallowed into his throbbing lower abdomen, where he would hold it with peace of mind for the rest of his life.
Her death and resurrection, weren't they all related to herself? In her three thousand worlds, he was probably the only Bodhisattva.
Meng Shutai was secretly delighted. Shouldn't Le Jin be his? But he never expected that unfulfilled possessiveness would cause such a huge uproar.
He startled himself when he threw the object. It was too reckless, too vulgar, too unattractive... but it was satisfying.
Thinking of the man who had provoked her, Meng Shutai felt a surge of grievance and rubbed her cheek against Le Jin's trembling neck.
"Ah Jin..." he called her softly, his voice like a sob in the dim candlelight, "Do you have anything prepared for me? Just one thing, even as small as a grain of sand..."
Something prepared for him? Le Jin was so frightened by the madman covered in blood who crawled into her arms in the middle of the night that her mind was filled with psychedelic radio waves, but the last bit of rationality she had left still reminded her of something about Meng Shutai.
Ivory dagger.
She gritted her teeth and spent four months' salary to have an ivory dagger crafted, hoping that Meng Shutai could be as sharp and ruthless as the dagger and not be worn down by fate.
How sincere she was back then! She poured her purest and kindest heart into this dog!
The power of resentment overwhelmed the fear of the strangeness of the night, and Le Jin coldly replied, "No."
"There are so many people in the Meng household serving you, why do I need to prepare anything..."
Her voice was soft, carrying a hint of indignant doubt and petulance. Indeed, with so many servants and maids in the Meng household, why would they bother the young mistress with everything? Even if the young mistress were to make the arrangements, Ke Le Jin would find it troublesome.
Everything was perfectly reasonable, but Meng Shutai's heart ached uncontrollably, as if it were being squeezed and unable to beat.
He knew that it was Le Jin who was controlling him.
The candlestick was the one he brought back from the ship, the one that killed Xie Xianheng. There was only one candle lit in the whole room, the light was dim and hazy, just like the tender whispers between a young couple.
Meng Shutai slightly lifted his chin from Le Jin's neck, searching for her lips in the ambiguous light.
He wanted to kiss her; he had never kissed her before.
It's okay if I don't give him a gift; he can take it himself.
However, when Le Jin sensed his breath approaching, she gasped in horror, immediately turned her head away, and tightly closed her lips to avoid him, not even daring to breathe.
For some reason, she remembered the zombie movies she used to watch in front of the TV when she was a child; how ridiculous, she and a man were pulling at each other in bed like they were dodging a ghost.
Le Jin didn't want anything else, she just wanted a talisman to fall from the sky and kill him.
She stubbornly refused to "die for her cause," and after feeling Meng Shutai's eyelashes brush against her chin, leaving a slight itch, she stopped moving.
Unable to hear, Le Jin felt a pang of sorrow and repeatedly asked Meng Shutai: How could you be so heartless and cruel? You won't even grant me this small act of kindness?
In an instant, Meng Shutai suddenly felt the world turn upside down.
She was clearly the Bodhisattva, and he devoutly prayed at her feet for the sweet dew to quell his inner turmoil. From then on, there was no more Meng Shutai, only a humble and twisted believer, chanting the supreme doctrine that consisted of only the two words "Le Jin".
The little red goldfish from his dream swam before his eyes again, blinked, and then leaped into Le Jin's tightly closed crimson lips.
Meng Shutai chuckled knowingly, pressing his forehead against Le Jin's collarbone and murmuring in a cat-like voice, "It hurts so much, A-Jin, have pity on me..."
Seeing that he no longer had any intention of kissing her, Le Jin took a deep breath, grabbed his arm and pulled him away, "What happened? Didn't you set off with the ceremonial procession? How come you're covered in injuries?"
He was some distance away from her, and only then did Le Jin see that half of his body was soaked in blood. She didn't know if he had been stabbed or chopped. The air was thick with the stench of blood, and he was barely recognizable as a human.
She was startled, and her voice was tinged with anxiety. But Meng Shutai seemed to have grasped some treasure; his eyes lit up instantly, shining brightly in the dark night.
She was worried about him. Whatever her reasons, she cared about him!
Meng Shutai smiled gently, took Le Jin's hand and found that her palms were sweaty, so he rolled up his other sleeve, which was still clean, and gently wiped them for her.
"There were many people in the ceremonial guard, and they had a verbal argument with someone. It's nothing serious."
"You call this not a problem?!"
Le Jin almost lost her voice, but Meng Shutai smiled even more brightly. He shook Le Jin's hand and asked her in a soft voice, "Where's the medicine I gave you? Now is the time to save your life."
"medicine……"
"Um?"
Meng Shutai watched Le Jin's unease with a calm and composed smile.
"I'll get it for you." Le Jin stepped over him, rolled out of bed, and took out a packet of medicine powder from the bottom drawer of the dressing table.
"There's not much left, is that enough for you?"
"They didn't send them all out?" Meng Shutai's heart skipped a beat, overjoyed, but his smile remained gentle and tender.
"That's enough." He took it, and took the opportunity to hook his little finger around Le Jin's and shake it. "Thank you, A Jin, for saving my life."
Le Jin recoiled as if electrocuted, turning her body away from him. "Should we call a doctor? Did you sneak back? Does anyone know? Are you still going to escort the Buddha's relics?"
Touching her rapidly beating heart, Le Jin couldn't believe that Meng Shutai, a wealthy and noble man whose family had been officials for generations, had abandoned the prosperous nation and run away in the middle of the night!
He's insane, always doing things on a whim...
She grumbled to herself as Meng Shutai led her back to bed, carefully tucked her in, and then picked up the small iron tongs from the edge of the charcoal brazier to make the fire burn brighter.
He rushed back, his cloak billowing in the snow, making sure he didn't pass the chill on to her.
"I still have to go. Don't worry, no one will know I'm back. I just need to get back to the ship before dawn."
He warmed his cold hands for a while until they were warm before rubbing Le Jin's face.
"wait for me."
He sat on the edge of the bed with his back to the light, the candlelight outlining his shoulders, neck, and body, creating in Le Jin's eyes a still nighttime portrait of a beautiful woman with only blurry patches of color.
Ambiguous, hazy, quiet, eerie... It's like a dream, unbelievable.
When Le Jin woke up the next day, Bao Yin wrung out a wet towel, stood on one leg and bent the other on the bed to wipe Le Jin's face.
"Get up quickly, my lady. Didn't you want to visit Fourth Sister Jiang? Your husband left yesterday. You can sneak out today."
"He...he came back yesterday."
"What?"
Bao Yin chuckled, thinking Le Jin was still half asleep, and teased, "My lady, did you dream that your husband came back? That's the imperial procession; how could you possibly get away?"
Le Jin's head was throbbing, and her eyelids were still heavy, but she clearly remembered the terrifying events of last night.
"It's true, he's back..."
Before Le Jin could finish speaking, Bao Yin helped her up from the bed. The blanket slipped onto her lap, revealing large and small patches of fresh blood on her light-colored nightgown, the color of which hadn't even faded yet.
"ah!!!"
Bao Yin screamed in alarm, pointing at the blood clot: "My wife is injured!" She turned to call for help, but Le Jin grabbed her and shook her head, saying, "It's not my blood, it's your son-in-law's."
"What?"
Le Jin looked down and realized that she had actually slept with Meng Shutai's blood on her body all night. A chill ran down her spine and down to the back of her neck.
She frowned, untied her nightgown, took it off, and handed it to Baoyin.
"Burn it."
What bad luck.
When her gaze fell on the candlestick on the dressing table, where one candle had already burned out, a strange feeling welled up in Le Jin's heart.
Did Meng Shutai bring this back? Why would he bring a candlestick all this way? And why is it on the dressing table, reflected in three mirrors, as if there are many candlesticks there staring at her?
The candlestick was covered with piles of melted red wax, but you could still vaguely see dried reddish-brown liquid on the base, the nature of which was unknown.
"Baoyin, take that candlestick with you, and don't let me see it."
For many days in a row, every night, Le Jin would pull Bao Yin to lie down together. Before falling asleep, she would keep her eyes wide open, as if she would see something terrifying if she closed them. Every time she fell asleep, Bao Yin would have to coax her for a long time.
It wasn't until the seventh day of the lunar new year, when the joyous occasion she had been longing for finally arrived, that Le Jin finally snapped out of her state of anxiety.
Meng Shutai issued orders to the entire Meng family, making it virtually impossible for Le Jin to leave. However, she discovered that there was still a slight variable within this seemingly impregnable mansion.
"You want me to take you to the wedding at the Prince of Pingning's mansion?"
"Mmm." Le Jin nodded obediently, her bright, round eyes fixed on the person in front of her.
"no!"
Meng Cizhang shook his head firmly, picked up the precious wooden blocks he had collected, and turned to leave.
I shouldn't have come out to dry the wood on such a nice day; of all things, I ran into her...
"Hey, hey, hey!" Le Jin grabbed him, nimbly moving in front of him and spreading her arms to block his way. "I'm begging you just this once! As long as you take me out this day, I promise I'll behave myself and not go anywhere while your brother is away!"
Meng Cizhang frowned, and the soft sunlight danced lively on his gold-embroidered jade eye mask, sparkling like little stars.
I don't believe it.
Her brother had suffered enough at her hands, so Meng Cizhang hardened her heart and refused to agree.
Seeing that he wasn't buying it, Le Jin decisively changed her approach, even making her voice sound tearful.
"Cizhang, you know better than anyone how incredibly boring this mansion is. Can you really bear to watch your sister-in-law lose her freedom? Can you bear to see Jiang Si Niangzi and the young master lose a sincere blessing?"
Meng Cizhang relaxed, then glanced at Le Jin, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back.
Hehe, I knew this kid was easily swayed!
Behind Le Jin were the corridor stairs. She deliberately took a step back, cried out in pain, and twisted her ankle. She hugged the vermilion pillar and squeezed out tears.
"Cizhang, will you promise your sister-in-law..."
Meng Cizhang was blocked by her unreasonable behavior. His heart was pounding like a drum, and he could hear the sound of countless butterflies fluttering in his ears. The buzzing was enough to make him dizzy.
He hugged the piece of wood in his arms even tighter, his forehead beaded with sweat from his anxiety. He glanced at Le Jin one last time before quickly looking away, then stepped over the stairs and ran off without looking back.
"Huh?" Yue Jin stared in disbelief. "This guy!"
Like a bucket of cold water being poured over her head, Le Jin angrily blew on her non-existent beard, crossed her arms, and glared at Meng Cizhang's back as he continued to breathe without stopping.
This is a bit tricky. Meng Cizhang refuses to help. Is she really going to crawl through a dog hole? Does the Meng family even have dog holes?
Frustrated and restless, I waited until the seventh day when dawn was breaking. Suddenly, someone knocked on the door and handed in a set of maid's clothes.
Le Jin and Bao Yin exchanged glances, while the person delivering the clothes outside whispered:
"Young Madam, our young master says that if he wants to go out, we'll have to trouble you for one more day."
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Author's Note: Meng Shutai: Feeling wronged, I need a kiss from my wife.
Le Jin: Can you get lost?
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