Chapter 133: What is the Request?
"Sitting and watching the tigers fight, waiting for both to be exhausted, is indeed a good idea."
Wang Yunmeng leaned casually against the soft couch, as soft as a white cloud about to float away. Her beautiful hair was slightly askew, her clothes were half-loose, and her gaze shifted before settling on Xie Huailing: "Good child, you are much more capable than the other juniors. Thanks to you, I finally have the opportunity to take revenge myself."
She agreed to Xie Huailing's request for a final appearance to deal with the wounded Chai Yuguan without a second thought. For nine years, she had thought about this every single day, and now that she had the opportunity, how could she possibly watch Chai Yuguan die at someone else's hands?
Xie Huailing lowered his eyes, appearing obedient to Wang Yunmeng as if he wouldn't utter a single word of rebuttal, and said, "It's nothing more than what I should do. I promised Madam from the beginning, so I will naturally do it."
Wang Yunmeng smiled gently, placing her completely cold hand on Xie Huailing's, and said, "That's why I said you're a good child. You're calling me that so awkwardly now. Once you marry my son, you should change how you address me. As for what I promised you, I won't shortchange you. Don't worry, once that damned person is dead, I'll immediately explain everything to you."
She was as cold as a dead person, her palms soft as cotton, yet her life force was faint, as if possessed by a ghost. Xie Huailing remained unmoved, letting her take his hand, and replied, "Thank you for your trouble, Madam. By the way, there's also the matter of asking Young Master Wang to make a replica of the human skin mask. My subordinates should deliver the head around tomorrow morning."
“This is easy to do. I’ll have someone go and tell him. He wouldn’t dare not do it,” Wang Yunmeng said with a smile. “The latest he can come and pick it up is tomorrow evening.”
As evening approached, she glanced to the side and saw that the light outside the building was dim and not yet dawn. Several rouge-colored lamps were being lit across the blue sky, indicating that it was the end of the day, exactly the same time she had just mentioned.
Wang Yunmeng smiled even more warmly and said, "It's getting late, why don't you stay here tonight and sleep with Lianhua? Your other subordinates have come with you, so even if you have things to do tonight, just arrange for them to do them. You two are getting married soon, so you should cherish each other."
Xie Huailing's expression was unclear, but her face remained calm as she said, "What you say is true, then I will stay."
After finishing her conversation, there was nothing more to say, so she took her leave. She didn't really want to understand why Wang Yunmeng insisted on urging her; her intuition told her that it wouldn't do any good except induce vomiting. Xie Huailing turned around, placed her hand on the door, and was about to push it open to get a good breath of the air outside, free of the scent of aromatherapy.
Wang Yunmeng called out to her from behind: "Miss Xie, there is one more thing."
Wang Yunmeng casually asked, as if it were nothing, "Is the subordinate who delivered the mask the one who's always with you? I remember, her surname is Bai?"
“It’s not her, you must have misheard.” Xie Huailing pushed open the door and answered casually, “Her surname is Huai, but I knew her from outside the Great Wall, so when we’re together, I always like to call her by the name from outside the Great Wall.”
Wang Yunmeng then said, "I must have misheard you, it's nothing."
The door closed softly. There were no maids in the corridor, but Xie Huailing kept her head down, suppressing the turbulent emotions within her. When she raised her head again, she was still as serene as a flower reflected in water, without a trace of scheming. She walked along the wall, holding onto the handrail as she descended the stairs.
As luck would have it, Xie Huailing heard familiar footsteps just one floor down. She wouldn't hide, but that didn't stop her from feeling speechless for a moment. It seemed to have become a conditioned reflex; by the time Wang Lianhua's face appeared around the next corner, she didn't want to say a word.
Wang Lianhua was sure he would find her here again; all these highly skilled martial artists were like that. But he didn't hide; he just wanted to bump into her directly, then pretend it was a coincidence, and with a smile, he said, "What a coincidence, Huailing. Did you just come to see your mother?"
"What a coincidence, are you blind?" Xie Huailing didn't say anything, she just stared at him.
This man wasn't about to give way to her; he took two steps and stood in front of her. Perhaps the time she mocked his height had really hurt his delicate pride, because this time he climbed the steps and stood with her at the corner before lowering his head, bringing his face as close to her line of sight as possible: "Not going to talk? Fine, just listen to me. I have a lot to say to you, but the maid should have taken it all. So, did you come here today, too, to see me?"
"I feel like throwing up." Xie Huailing was still attacked. When will he finally give up these methods that hurt the enemy a thousand while harming himself a thousand more? Doesn't he feel disgusted with himself?
Xie Huailing stared at him coldly: "Can you stop blocking my way? I don't have as much free time as you."
Seeing that she had forced her to speak, Wang Lianhua felt a little smug and said, "Leisure? How can I be leisurely? I still have a lot to do after seeing my mother. Besides, this is not blocking the way. It's my land, so of course I can stand wherever I want."
Xie Huailing thought to himself, "I really want to boil some water and splash it on him."
However, she didn't intend to say that outwardly, lest he easily interpret it as a sign of victory. She planned to attack him from Wang Yunmeng's perspective, asking him if Wang Yunmeng had slapped him after he returned, calling him an incompetent man.
But she didn't "thoughtfully" ask it aloud. The maid sent by Wang Yunmeng arrived late to change the incense. She was initially delighted to see Xie Huailing, but seeing the two of them facing off, she didn't sense any discord. She simply said with relief, "Greetings, young master and young mistress. Isn't this just in time!"
She was already quite familiar with Wang Lianhua, and smiled at him, "It seems I don't need to lead the way anymore, young master. Madam has arranged for the young mistress to stay at your place tonight."
Wang Lianhua opened her eyes wide in surprise, then looked over with affection and whispered to Xie Huailing, "Since there is such an arrangement, then I will have to come and talk to Mother again tomorrow. I can't neglect Huailing, right? It's just that my injury hasn't healed yet, so it's a bit inconvenient. Huailing may have to sleep on the ground. Although it's cool at night, Huailing shouldn't mind."
Xie Huailing's hand slid down his waistline and twisted him hard where the maid couldn't see. This time she didn't miss and actually twisted him.
She said softly, "What Young Master Wang said is right. Of course I don't mind. After all, it sounds like Young Master Wang is just pretending to be recovering from his injury, and is genuinely shy. Although we are engaged, there is no need to avoid suspicion, but Young Master Wang is as shy as a girl, so I can only accommodate him."
"..." Not only was he countered, but his weakness in cross-dressing was also attacked. Wang Lianhua recalled all the unpleasant memories and then fell silent.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Xie Huailing tried to walk around him, but at the last moment he smiled through gritted teeth and grabbed Xie Huailing's wrist.
Wang Lianhua said gently, "...I misunderstood, you are right. Then Huailing should not sleep on the floor. I will go and talk to Mother, and the two of us will sleep in the same bed."
Xie Huailing turned around abruptly and stared intently at the man.
This is no longer a matter of injuring the enemy a thousand while losing a thousand of your own; this should be called mutual destruction. She dares to guarantee that the injuries she inflicted on him are far from healed. Even so, does she still want to make things difficult for him? He'll just have to wait and see.
.
Deathly silence. As the name suggests, it is a silence as if one were dead.
But sometimes, this can also be interpreted as a silence that desires the other person to die.
Xie Huailing remained silent, for she had nothing to say. She simply stared at the exquisite and intricate carvings on the ceiling, her heart, like those carvings, was lifeless, and she wished the person lying beside her would also become lifeless.
Why couldn't Wang Lianhua be a dead person? She pondered this question.
Unfortunately, this guy was not only a far cry from being dead, but he was also laughing and joking. Despite the huge bed, he still wanted to squeeze in. His long hair was loose and disheveled, and under the light of the two red candles in front of the bed, it was hard to tell whether he was male or female: "Aren't you going to sleep? You don't really want to talk to me about something else, do you?"
"Stop trying to glorify yourself." Xie Huailing turned over, turning her back to him. "Don't come any closer, and behave yourself."
Wang Lianhua wouldn't listen to a word. He raised an eyebrow, put his hand on Xie Huailing's shoulder, and turned her back over, making her look at his face while he looked at hers: "Anyway, you don't look like you're going to sleep. Why don't you play a little longer? I still need to make you a human skin mask tomorrow, so you have to please me a little."
"Dreaming is even faster." Xie Huailing pressed down on him with one hand, not really intending to move him, but even more unexpectedly, he didn't dodge.
He was still looking at her, his gaze flowing like water through her fingers in the dim red light and the hazy moonlight, as if he were intently pondering: "But we can't sleep, let's find something to do."
Wang Lianhua leaned against her, her face in Xie Huailing's palm. Xie Huailing remained silent for two seconds, her eyes as cold as swords: "The person you care about doesn't want to be with you, and you want me to be with you?"
This trick still worked every time. His feigned relaxed and carefree expression was like a shattered piece of porcelain, falling off the terracotta warrior piece by piece. Each piece represented a fragmented and disjointed emotion, the newly emerging expressions incoherent, starkly fixed on his face. His sudden arrogance crumbled, falling away along with the porcelain shards.
He pulled her hand down and pressed it against the pillow. The next moment, he rolled over and was on top of her. The red candlelight cast shadows, and Wang Lianhua took a few soft breaths.
What a stunning face! He smiled again, turned his head away, then immediately turned back to her and said, "Yes, I want you to come and keep me company. It's a pity that some people only learn to speak properly when they're in a terrible situation; otherwise, they seem to have no idea that people are also made of flesh and blood. But it's okay, there are other things we can do besides talking."
With a single index finger hooking open his collar, Wang Lianhua loosened his clothes, his slender chest about to be revealed, and his beautiful face, in this situation, became irresistible.
Wang Lianhua smiled, her eyes sparkling with joy: "You don't need to talk to me about whether you're willing or not, Xie Huailing, stop pretending."
He didn't mind showing himself at this moment. His beautiful face was like a misty veil, a scarlet curtain of beads, a thin veil hanging down, and every ray of light from the red candle fell on his veil. After all, there were some sensitive things that he always knew existed between the two of them, from beginning to end: "You actually 'like' it very much."
At that moment, he also wanted to touch her face.
"So, just say yes."
Xie Huailing remained calm.
She was so calm as if she had never considered that she had never had any flaws or worldly thoughts, and that she was still a celestial being. She gazed at Wang Lianhua, who was undoubtedly beautiful and stunning, but deeper within him lay an indistinct phantom, a trapped, hazy longing, and something even deeper still, something that his age and experience were insufficient for him to understand.
But it is absolutely not the desire for red waves, absolutely not.
Xie Huailing looked at him and said, "But Wang Lianhua, is this really what you want?"
"I can agree to that, but is this really what you want?"
Wang Lianhua was stunned.
Stunned is a state, or perhaps blank is a more accurate description. It means that his arrogance and the nonchalance he forced himself to maintain are all rapidly slipping away before one's eyes. This time it's even faster than peeling away, because he has nothing left to prove. Although he seems to still want to laugh, a carefree laugh is often used to cover up his true feelings, and it's a tactic he's used to employ. However, in the end, the laugh never materializes.
His face remained blank; blankness is filling, blankness is reality.
The blank space is the interior.
Because all those unanswered thoughts and restless nights that had been filled with emotions were poured out.
If a person is an object, then what is the essence of a person? If a person named "Wang Lianhua" is an object, then what is the essence of Wang Lianhua?
Wang Lianhua grasped the outline of the answer. He searched his body, his eyes, his voice, and finally found it. But in the next second, he was filled with hatred once again. So much disdain, so much arrogance—having touched the soul of the answer, it all seemed utterly shameful.
He ignored everyone and stopped speaking. He rolled over, lay back on his half of the bed, and didn't utter another word.
Wang Lianhua kept his eyes open, no longer thinking about anything, just staring at the candle. He watched the red candle burn out, forgetting his own senses, wondering what his feelings were.
Her breathing was steady, as if she were in a dream. He was bewitched and refused to close his eyes, not wanting to sleep or wake up.
But emptiness is reality, emptiness is the interior.
The night is long, but the night will eventually end.
He suddenly felt an urge to cry.
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