Chapter 91 Lifetimes of Unending Entanglement: I Want My Brother to Be a Ghost...
In the end, Jin Suiqing still shared a room with Jin Shiyu.
Fortunately, Huangfu Li could not stay long. Her secret trip to Jiangnan before the New Year had already attracted Huangfu Feng's attention, allowing her to take advantage of the situation and secretly search the Duke of Ying's mansion behind his back.
He had to keep a close watch on things at all times, and he couldn't afford to let any more mistakes slip by.
Before leaving, he pulled Jin Suiqing aside and said, "Sister Suiqing, stay here for two days. On the Lantern Festival, I will take you to the palace to discuss the marriage with the Empress at the banquet."
Jin Suiqing pulled her hand away from his, no longer wanting to look at him. She made a move to close the door, but Huangfu Li raised his hand to block the door from the crack, pulled the door shut, and glared at her fiercely, saying, "If you need anything, just ask the maid."
Jin Suiqing looked up and said, "I need tools, equipment, paper and pen."
“Nothing,” Huangfu Li said, wary of her. Why would she have something prepared here? But seeing her proud demeanor, his fingertips itched, and he pinched Jin Suiqing’s cheek. “If we get to the East Palace, whatever you want, I will give you.”
Jin Suiqing dodged his hand and smiled, "That's just wishful thinking, Your Highness. I won't take it."
Upon hearing these words, Huangfu Li felt an itch not in his hands, but in his heart. He clenched his fist in mid-air, endured for a moment, and then released the door, letting it close in front of him.
After looking at it again and again, Huangfu Li finally turned around and left with Li Han.
Not long after he left, Jin Suiqing quietly opened a crack in the door and poked her body out halfway. Before she could step out, the maid guarding the door suddenly asked, "Miss Jin, is there anything you need?"
Jin Suiqing blinked innocently, "I want paper and pen, parts, and..."
“None of these are available, but if Miss Jin is hungry, I will instruct the kitchen to prepare some dishes,” the maid said. “I heard that you enjoy the stewed lamb leg at Jinling Restaurant, so His Highness the Crown Prince specially brought the chef back with him.”
Jin Suiqing pouted, then thought, "I can't leave anyway, so I might as well eat." She ordered, "Two of them, steamed lotus root with sugar, stir-fried vegetables, and cold radish salad. Oh, and a light hot soup too."
The maid took the order and went to the kitchen. In the blink of an eye, the other maid was replaced.
Jin Suiqing's eyes darted around. She closed the door, grabbed a teacup, held it in her hand, turned and opened the window, casually tossed the cup out, and then closed the window again.
Soon, the window swayed gently, and the teacup, held upright on the windowsill, made no sound.
She clapped her hands, took down the teacup, and closed the window again.
Well, Huangfu Li has hired a death guard to watch over her; the security of this residence is probably even higher than that of prisoners in the imperial jail.
Struggling was useless now; what was giving Jin Suiqing a bigger headache was Jin Shiyu.
He was unusually calm. Before entering the house, he gestured for hot water and a towel. After warming it up, he took the towel and approached Jin Suiqing. He gently wiped her face first, then her hands, paying particular attention to wiping her wrists.
Jin Suiqing wondered why he was so fixated on these few points today. After thinking about it for a long time without finding a solution, she casually put it out of her mind and asked him in a low voice, "Aren't you in a hurry?"
Jin Shiyu shook his head, and the beaded curtain on his head swayed.
Fearing that someone might overhear, Jin Suiqing tiptoed and whispered in his ear, "I'm being forced to marry someone else."
Jin Shiyu raised his eyes, and for a fleeting moment, his expression was so cold that it was impossible to discern whether he was happy or angry.
Jin Suiqing shuddered, instantly realizing that he wasn't in a hurry, but if she really married him, Jin Shiyu would probably go and chop Huangfu Li up.
Jin Suiqing thought for a moment and then said, "We're all trapped here now, without even a pen or paper. How are we going to get a marriage certificate?"
I had planned to have Jin Shiyu go back to the Jin residence to retrieve the marriage certificate before returning to be with her, but I never expected Huangfu Li to be so ruthless. I doubt even a mosquito could fly out of this courtyard.
If Jin Shiyu were in a hurry, Jin Suiqing could fight desperately and perhaps break through the encirclement to get reinforcements. But Jin Shiyu was not in a hurry; her brother was always headstrong and wouldn't listen to her at all.
After Jin Shiyu wiped her face and hands, she carefully took her hair apart and changed it into a looser style that draped over her shoulders so it wouldn't interfere with her eating.
He neither spoke nor wrote anything, but pulled her to sit upright on the edge of the bed. After the maid had set out the dishes, he led her to the table to eat.
Jin Shiyu ate slowly and deliberately, showing no sign of worry, which only fueled Jin Suiqing's anger. Driven by her appetite, Jin Suiqing devoured both lamb legs completely.
Unsurprisingly, I ate too much.
Jin Suiqing lay sprawled on the bed, not wanting to move at all.
With his disguise still intact, Jin Shiyu couldn't wash his face. He only took off his hair, carefully wiped his body, and then returned to the bedside. Seeing that her stomach was bloated and she was hiccuping incessantly, he lowered his eyes, sighed quietly, went to the bedside, lay down on his side next to her, placed his large hand on Jin Suiqing's stomach, and slowly massaged her belly.
When she was little, she would eat until she was stuffed, and Jin Shiyu would massage her like this, with just the right amount of pressure, making Jin Suiqing feel extremely comfortable. Jin Suiqing looked up at him and hummed, "Are you really not in a hurry?"
Kim Si-ok shook his head.
Jin Suiqing scoffed and grabbed Jin Shiyu's ear, saying, "What idea do you have? Tell me quickly."
Jin Shiyu smiled and reached into her left breast through her inner garment. With a sharp tug, Jin Suiqing heard the fabric tear, and Jin Shiyu carefully pulled out a silk packet between two fingers.
He handed the silk package to Jin Suiqing, tapped her forehead, and asked her to open it.
Jin Suiqing mostly guessed what it was, but her heart still pounded wildly. She sat up abruptly, and with Jin Shiyu's smiling face, her hands trembling, she peeled back the layers of silk. He had wrapped it extremely carefully; after each layer, there was another layer of waterproof oil paper. By the time Jin Suiqing's hands were almost sore, the red paper inside finally leaked out.
Jin Shiyu said with a hoarse voice, "I've always kept it close to my body and it's never left my side."
Jin Suiqing was stunned.
During the Spring Festival in Jiangnan, no matter how late the two of them stayed up, Jin Shiyu always got up earlier than her. He was quiet and never woke her up. Occasionally, when she turned over and opened her eyes, she would see Jin Shiyu sitting at the table with a small lamp lit, mending clothes.
I thought they were mending clothes, but it turned out they were sewing the marriage certificate onto the lining of their clothes.
Jin Suiqing's nose tingled with emotion. "You sew every day?"
Kim Si-ok wrote on her shoulder: "Except when it gets wet, always sew it up, as close to the body as possible."
This was his hope, his destiny.
I dare not leave, for if I do, I will die, and I will never be able to wait for Jin Suiqing to return.
Jin Shiyu cupped her face, leaned closer, and gently licked away Jin Suiqing's tears. "Why are you crying?"
The original intention of this marriage invitation was to use it as leverage to show my sincerity and, incidentally, to lure him away so that he would no longer work for those two Huangfus. Unexpectedly, not only did he not use it, but he also protected it so tenderly, treating it as his lifeblood.
Knowing he was deeply troubled and thoughtful, and that this mattered so much to him, it was undoubtedly causing him pain. Jin Suiqing sniffed and said again, "Without paper and pen, how can we sign the date?"
Kim Si-ok wrote again: "Don't think too much, just write down the days you want."
"Whether it's early or late?"
The sooner the better, he thought, but looking at her, he smiled again and said earnestly, "Whatever makes you happy, sister."
Jin Suiqing: "Then you can choose whichever you prefer."
Jin Suiqing slipped on her shoes and went to the table, resting her chin on her hand and thinking about the days. Jin Shiyu came from behind, supporting herself on the edge of the table on either side of her with her hands. Her long, light hair shone with a soft golden light under the lamp, enveloping Jin Suiqing.
He looked down at her. Jin Suiqing made a quick decision, almost instantly. She looked up at him, and their eyes met for a moment. Jin Suiqing smiled and said, "Brother, how about choosing the day I come?"
Kim Si-ok's smile froze on his face.
The night Jin Suiqing came to the Jin residence, the July sun was blazing.
In the sweltering, chaotic night, Jin Shiyu nearly strangled Jin Suiqing to death.
He was in a daze that day, but his memory was not blurred. He clearly remembered his sister in his arms, looking at him with a confused expression. Her big, round baby eyes were full of confusion and bewilderment, which in an instant turned into an explosive fear, bursting out with her cries.
He didn't forget; he just dared not recall.
The memory sent a chill down her spine, a pain that pierced her heart. Kim Shi-ok swallowed hard, her voice hoarse, "If you really choose that day, aren't you afraid?"
"Of course I was scared," Jin Suiqing nodded frankly. "I almost died, how could I not be scared? So I have to try to make the day more fun."
Jin Suiqing laughed and said, "Look, whether it's happiness or pain, it's all given to me by you, brother. You're one of a kind in my life."
She was so small; people say babies have no memory. How could she remember that day?
But that slight doubt was quickly overwhelmed by a surge of emotion. She said she was happy, she was willing, and Kim Shi-ok was so overjoyed that her head was spinning. She asked again, "We'll choose that day, no changes?"
Jin Suiqing playfully grabbed his forearm, "Hurry up."
Without further hesitation, Jin Shiyu inserted his fingers into his jaw and clenched them tightly, causing blood to gush out immediately.
He bit so hard that Buddha wished he could tear off a piece of flesh. He picked up the hairpin on the table, his fingertips stained with blood.
Jin Shiyu held the hairpin heavily, yet wrote lightly, afraid that the characters would not look good, afraid of making mistakes, afraid that Jin Suiqing would change his mind. Therefore, his hand trembled, and he hesitated to put pen to paper.
Hesitantly, Jin Suiqing decisively grasped his trembling hand and wrote with him, saying as she wrote, "The 10th day of the 7th month of the 22nd year of the Holy Calendar."
After writing, Jin Suiqing reached out her index finger and pressed it against his bloodied finger, then pressed them together forcefully onto the marriage certificate.
Two fingerprints pressed together, the death pact is made, and there is no going back.
From then on, it was no longer just a piece of red paper that bound Jin Shiyu's fate, but a binding document that truly tied the two of them together for life.
She placed the bet so easily.
Jin Shiyu stared blankly down at her, and saw her put down the marriage certificate, hold his hand, and gently blow on his wound with a frown, "Why did you bite so hard? Does it hurt?"
His heart pounded with fear. He knelt down on one knee, took Jin Suiqing from his hands, and looked her in the eye. His eyes were filled with barely suppressed joy and sorrow. He said hoarsely, "Jin Suiqing, do you know what it means when a bloody handprint is left on the marriage certificate?"
"I know." She looked up and met his eyes, and said solemnly, "We will share the same bed in life and the same fur coat in death, and be entangled for all eternity."
“Brother, I have never believed in ghosts and gods. I heard from the elders that those who do not believe cannot become ghosts after death,” Jin Suiqing grabbed his hand, wiped the blood droplets that had not yet congealed on his fingertips onto her lips, and tasted the blood. Instantly, her smile was as bright as the morning sun. “So I used your blood. Brother, you must remember my mark. If you really become a ghost, you must haunt me for eternity; if you have the ability, then don’t let me go.”
*
The Lantern Festival, around dusk.
Jin Shiyu draped a cloak over Jin Suiqing, tied it up, straightened it, then held the back of her neck and kissed her forehead forcefully for a long time before taking her hand.
The hoarseness subsided slightly, but it still sounded somewhat frightening, so Jin Shiyu tried her best to speak gently, "Let's go, I'll take you."
Huangfu Li was already waiting for her outside.
Huangfu Li agreed to send Jin Shiyu back to the jewelry shop in the capital, and the two parted ways there. According to the plan, Jin Shiyu left first with the marriage certificate, and after shaking off Huangfu Li's men, they met at the Lantern Festival banquet.
But just before he was about to leave, Jin Suiqing grabbed him and held out her hand, saying, "Give me the marriage certificate."
Jin Shiyu lowered her eyes, avoiding her gaze.
Judging from their expressions, they clearly don't want to give it to me.
Author's Note: Jin Shiyu: Little sister, you said it yourself. Don't blame me if you get scared later.
Side story: The damp, true male ghost chases after his sister in the mortal world.
Hehehe, this is what my little sister wants, so I have to give her a big dose of vinegar.
To celebrate perfect attendance in October, everyone who leaves a comment on this chapter will receive a small red envelope!
By the way, (rubbing hands) that baby's... that nutrient solution... Vinegar wants that... (rubbing hands nervously and quickly)
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