Chapter 30: The Struggle Without Struggle
The lights in Su Mengzhen's bedroom were already off.
The room was pitch black; even breathing was barely audible. The wooden desk, bookshelves, flowers, and orchids were all obscured by the gloom, as if they too were suffering from a chronic illness. Only the cold moon hanging high outside the glass window managed to cast a few rays of light in, barely illuminating the edge of the wooden bed and the knife rack on the bedside table. The blood-red sword on the rack gleamed coldly, reflecting the shadow of a person crouching beside it; it seemed to be awake.
The one squatting was Xie Huailing. She was simply bored out of her mind, staring at Su Mengzhen on the bed from left to right. But the light red curtains were like a thin layer of mist, especially in the dead of night. How could she possibly see a face clearly in the dark when one needed a lamp to make it visible?
A quarter of an hour or two ago, she returned to the Golden Wind and Drizzle Pavilion. There were only two hours left until dawn, and Su Mengzhen had gone to sleep. Logically, she should have gone back to sleep and reported her findings to Su Mengzhen the next day. However, as mentioned above, she was too idle. People eventually can't sleep after staying up all night; it's not as good as pulling an all-nighter. That was her situation. Why not drag her boss out of bed too? Why should her boss be able to sleep if she doesn't?
With this in mind, Xie Huailing went straight to Su Mengzhen's room after returning to the building. She possessed the Lord's token personally bestowed by Su Mengzhen, which was equivalent to seeing the Lord himself. Even if Su Mengzhen was already asleep, the guards on both sides would have to let her in. She rejected the guards' suggestion to "wake up the Lord," and insisted on opening the door herself, squatting down next to the sleeping Su Mengzhen.
She was such a bored person; she just squatted there watching Su Mengzhen sleep for fifteen minutes. Then, because her legs got sore, she stood up and massaged them, so it was practically a full fifteen minutes without a break.
After glancing at it a few more times, Xie Huailing began to dislike the bed curtains. She lifted the curtains, but she still couldn't see Su Mengzhen's face clearly. She could only see that the shadows around her eyes were deeper, her eyes were sunken, and her cheeks were so thin that they looked like they were made of bone.
Her index finger was a little itchy, and Xie Huailing gently rubbed it, but an itchy hand wasn't so easily relieved. She stood up, bent down, and slowly poked Su Mengzhen's face with her sinful hand.
The change happened in an instant.
Su Mengzhen suddenly opened his eyes. His gaze was completely obscured in the shadows, but the killing intent was unmistakable. A demonic, devilish blade aura swept in like a storm. In a mere instant, faster than Zhongyuan Yidianhong and Chu Liuxiang, his thin, bony hand gripped Xie Huailing's neck, pulling her downwards with overwhelming force. In an instant, the world spun, everything turned upside down, and everything within sight was caught in a vortex of dissipating, collapsing, and fading vision. Before she could even scream, she was switched places with Su Mengzhen, her neck trapped in his web of skin, firmly pinned beneath him.
Then, with another flick of her sleeve, the lamp on the table lit up, its eerie light flickering between the two. Her ears rang constantly; she could almost hear the sound of the red-sleeved knife being drawn, and she could vaguely see the King of Hell.
Oh, it wasn't the King of Hell, it was her boss whom she didn't love.
"Why is it you?"
Su Mengzhen frowned. He pressed down on her, the person beneath him so close. Her usually expressionless face, devoid of desire, joy, or sorrow, flushed crimson under his control. Thankfully, he hadn't struck first, so she could still breathe. But having her delicate face completely under his grasp, his index finger sinking into her cheek, made him feel quite uncomfortable. He watched as she tugged at the sleeve of his white undergarment, unable to budge him an inch, and finally gave up, her struggles futile to the extreme. The difference in their martial prowess had always been vast.
Su Mengzhen didn't release Xie Huailing immediately. Instead, he pressed her head to turn her face, revealing the graceful lines of her jawline, and then repeatedly rubbed her smooth, creamy skin to confirm if she was disguised. After a few rubs, his fingers suddenly stopped, as if he realized the inappropriateness of the position, since they were still alone together... But it wasn't until the next second, when Xie Huailing's curses escaped from his grasp, that he immediately came to his senses and released her.
Xie Huailing began to pant beneath him, her breath rapid and weak, like the candlelight on his desk, her hands covering her reddened skin as she tried to catch her breath, or like a lotus flower in early summer battered by a sudden rainstorm. She didn't pay him any attention at first, probably because she was still a little breathless; only her voice, mixed with her exhalations and gasps, filled the bedroom for a moment, the only sound the sound of her panting, her heart rising and falling with each breath.
Only after she had truly caught her breath and the pain in her neck had completely disappeared did she pay attention to him again, but her tone had changed, adding a different cadence: "OP, you're abusing me."
“…I didn’t.” Su Mengzhen retorted first, though he was also embarrassed. His gaze involuntarily drifted away, and he remained silent for a long time before asking again, “Why are you by my bed?”
Xie Huailing was weak, but even in this state, she didn't forget to shirk her responsibility: "I came to find you because I have something to say, OP. This is all your fault... I saw you taking a nap before. Can't you recognize me just by my footsteps?" Such long and complicated sentences were still too difficult for her now. After she finished speaking, she was panting for a while.
Su Mengzhen lowered his eyes, sighed, and explained to her, "Doctor Shu changed to a new prescription, which had a slight impact. I will have him change it again tomorrow. I'm sorry about this."
He got out of bed, tied all the curtains up, and started rummaging through the drawers and cabinets. Xie Huailing was in so much pain that she really had no strength left, let alone the strength to sit up. With her last bit of strength, she rolled over onto the side of the bed.
Then Su Mengzhen found the medicine for bruises and sprains, sat back on the bed, and pulled out the stopper. He poured the medicine into his hand, rubbed the oily ointment, and touched Xie Huailing's face with the back of his hand, indicating that Xie Huailing should raise his neck. Xie Huailing couldn't refuse the medicine, and it was rare for him to listen to him.
As soon as the cool medicated oil was applied, she gasped. If she hadn't been too weak and had nowhere to escape, she would have run away from him: "Hiss, so cool! So cool! Master!"
"Keep your voice down. This is the best medicine. The wound will look worse if you don't treat it. You don't want that, do you?" Su Mengzhen said.
He was still quite clumsy at applying the ointment to her wound. He first circled the edge of the bruise, then gently covered it with the white ointment, applying it little by little to match the wound. Xie Huailing felt a little itchy and reflexively tried to avoid it, so Su Mengzhen had to hold her hand to keep her in place.
This posture seemed endless. By the time they finished wiping it once, Xie Huailing couldn't take it anymore and pushed him away, saying, "Wait a minute, Master, I have something to tell you first."
Su Mengzhen's actions were interrupted by her. She withdrew her hand and asked, "What is it?"
Xie Huailing moved to the side, keeping a distance from him, and said, "I went to see Chu Liuxiang, but something happened."
After all, this was what she had come to him to tell him, so Xie Huailing spoke frankly. She first mentioned that Chu Liuxiang was injured because he had encountered the 'Bat Prince,' then she talked about how the 'Bat Prince' had a dispute with those around him, which made Su Mengzhen thoughtful, and then she mentioned the appearance of Zhongyuan Yidianhong, how she cleverly tricked the assassins and protected Chu Liuxiang. The amount of information piled up was thicker than a city wall, and Su Mengzhen was indeed attracted to it, wiping the medicinal oil off his hands.
As he wiped himself, he asked, his mind clear despite just waking up: "It's been one wave after another. You made the right decision to go tonight. What do you think of all this?"
What do you think? Xie Huailing had already thought it through. The appearance of Zhongyuan Yidianhong only strengthened her idea. She was just waiting for Su Mengzhen to ask her. In a flash, everything was clear in her mind. She slowly said, "I don't have any opinion. I only have a very interesting guess."
She carefully avoided the medicine on her neck and said somewhat awkwardly, "The matter of Wuzheng Manor and the matter of 'Bat Prince' might be the same thing."
Su Mengzhen paused for a moment, then almost immediately followed Xie Huailing's train of thought. He had said that there was no doubt between them, not even for a moment. As he pondered further, the first thing he noticed was the overlap between the two events. Although there weren't many, the connection was so perfect that it put Xie Huailing's guess on the table.
He said, "Yuan Dongyuan needs to use Liufenbantang to do shady things. The 'Bat's' whereabouts have been suddenly and quickly covered up recently, and the methods used are completely different from before. The 'Bat Prince' had a fight with someone older than him at night and then attacked Chu Liuxiang together. Yuan Dongyuan is exactly sixty years old this year. His martial arts skills are not top-notch in the martial arts world, but they are still outstanding. But why does Yuan Dongyuan want to do this? Once his actions are exposed, the reputation of Wuzheng Manor for three hundred years will be ruined."
Xie Huailing wanted to tilt his head, but he pulled at his wound and couldn't stop himself from spitting out a smirk: "Hiss... The reputation of Wuzheng Manor is indeed important, but what if the person who committed heinous crimes under the identity of 'Bat Prince' is none other than his only son?"
“Yuan Suiyun?” Su Mengzhen announced the name.
Then, his emotions surged like a tide, and within that tide was Xie Huailing's suggestive gaze, which dispelled the fog for him. Yuan Suiyun, the only son of Yuan Dongyuan in his old age, and also the sole heir of the next generation of Wuzheng Manor. He was exceptionally gifted from a young age, proficient in all the arts, including music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and was also handsome and highly skilled in martial arts. However, people in the martial arts world rarely talked about him, for one reason only: he was blind. At the age of three, Yuan Suiyun suffered a serious illness and lost his sight, destined to live a life of darkness, so people in the martial arts world always avoided him.
Once you hear this name, all the mysteries are solved. Why does the "Bat Prince" use a bat as his name? Why does he seem to have divine assistance in the dark? Why does he have powerful backing on his first mission? Why does he conceal his identity and not dare to act openly? Why was he able to hire Zhongyuan Yidianhong in a single day? Why would Yuan Dongyuan do all this? It's all because he is Yuan Suiyun, and because Yuan Dongyuan could not abandon his only son, the sole heir of Wuzheng Manor.
Su Mengzhen made the final decision, saying, "I will have Yang Wuxie investigate in this direction."
Xie Huailing waved his hand and made a lazy gesture, saying, "No need for that much trouble, we only need to do one thing to verify it."
She rested her head on Su Mengzhen's bedside table, her forehead against the cool vase, a few flashes of dim light overlapping with the shimmering reflection of the vase: "Go check if there are any signs in Bianjing recently that are spreading bad news about Yuan Suiyun."
Six and a Half Hall wouldn't let such a lucrative opportunity as Wuzheng Manor slip by. Lei Gun's plan to conceal Yuan Dongyuan's pandering to Di Feijing and Lei Sun would be a different story; they'd have to see if he had the ability. Seven or eight days had passed; Di Feijing couldn't possibly be unaware and would surely be taking action. Six and a Half Hall believed that no one in Bianjing knew about this, Chu Liuxiang only had a vague understanding, and Jin Feng Xi Yu Lou was completely ignorant. Therefore, they were even less likely to make a scene or resort to coercion.
The best approach, of course, is to capitalize on Yuan Dongyuan's desire to protect his son, expose Yuan Suiyun's affair, and force Yuan Dongyuan to back down again and again, abandoning all dignity for his son, ultimately leaving him with no choice but to be swallowed whole by Liufenbantang.
Su Mengzhen understood immediately and nodded in agreement, thus concluding the discussion. He straightened his collar and rolled up the sleeves that Xie Huailing had torn out of shape. Xie Huailing, thinking it was finally over, slowly moved to the edge of the bed to get out.
Unexpectedly, Su Mengzhen's hand touched her neck again. She almost sprang to her feet, but he swiftly pressed her down, leaving her powerless to resist, her long black hair spreading across the bed. In her dizziness, Su Mengzhen slowly pressed on her still-reddened skin, a result of his miscalculation. He was glad he hadn't used too much force.
The red gauze descends from the peaks, layer upon layer, the figure perhaps a mountain, perhaps a river. He is clearly looking down at her, yet suddenly he dares not look; the candlelight burns his eyes, lingering there.
Can she see his face clearly, or should she not?
The two were already quite familiar with each other, and Xie Huailing was no ordinary woman. Su Mengzhen knew she would try to escape, which was why he took coercive measures. Because of these two reasons, pressing her down and massaging the medicine would not make her feel awkward. Only he felt a mix of emotions. His touch became much gentler, something he had never done in all these years: "Don't move. The medicine needs to be rubbed in properly."
Xie Huailing stopped resisting and simply started ordering him around, occasionally giving him orders and acting incredibly picky. Su Mengzhen, after all, lacked experience in dealing with women and was still the same kind of guy who couldn't take hardship. He had to be careful about everything, so he just let her be. When she said something harsh, he would soften his tone, as if he were kneading a cloud.
But ultimately it was still his fault, or rather, a large part of it. Even though she hadn't made a move yet, Su Mengzhen thought she would probably start causing him endless trouble from the moment he let go, just like now when she was rambling on and on: "Hey, how long will it take to get better? Do I have to apply the medicine every day? Can I skip the medicine?"
"Nonsense, your neck will be red for at least two or three days without medicine." Su Mengzhen pressed on her collarbone. "Come and bother me again when you're healed. You can do whatever you want. You can also take some things from my private treasury. It was my fault, and I won't deny it."
The lights were lush and bright, and he sighed again, but he didn't know what he was sighing about.
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I've revised this based on reader feedback.
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