Chapter 12: Are you faster in hiding or is my arrow faster?
The clusters of peonies in the garden are in full bloom. From a distance, they look like a burning cloud, which is gorgeous and dazzling.
Jiang Lan stood beside the flowers, her elegant dress seemed even more pale against the gorgeous peonies, giving her a tranquility as pure as a chrysanthemum.
Led by Cui Jingshu, the group walked and looked around until they reached the waterside pavilion.
A corridor built on the water leads to the Shuiyue Pavilion, where a group of brightly colored koi swim around underwater.
"Let's go to the pavilion and rest for a while." Cui Jingshu's suggestion was agreed by everyone.
Jiang Lan looked at the shimmering water and didn't want to get close to it. Even at home, she would not easily get close to the pool. She stood there hesitantly, and the next moment she was pulled away by a girl of similar age. She remembered that the other party was the third lady of Changxing Marquis Mansion, Gu Xuaner, who seemed to have a good relationship with Cui Jingshu when they were admiring the flowers before.
The pavilion could not accommodate so many people, so the maids stayed on the shore. Then Qiu Tong found an excuse to lead away the maids, including Qing'er and Gui'er, saying that her young lady had lost an earring, which must have fallen in the place where they went to appreciate the flowers, and asked everyone to help find it.
After seeing Qiu Tong leaving with the maids, Cui Jingshu winked at Gu Xuaner. Gu Xuaner walked behind Jiang Lan and reached out to push her, but her hand missed.
Jiang Lan also noticed that the maids had left, so she was on guard.
"Don't let her get away."
At Cui Jingshu's command, the other girls immediately surrounded Jiang Lan.
"I heard that you were in the limelight a few days ago. You are just the daughter of a minister. Do you really think that no one can teach you a lesson?" Cui Jingshu looked at Jiang Lan as if she were looking at an annoying ant.
There is a kind of people in this world who cannot stand others being in the spotlight and will not allow them to be overshadowed by others.
Cui Jingshu was such a person. No matter whether Jiang Lan's popularity was good or bad, she would teach her a lesson as long as it was an eyesore to her. That's why she asked her mother to send an invitation to the Shangshu Mansion, and specially added Jiang Lan's name on the invitation so that she could come together.
"Second Miss, today is your grandmother's sixtieth birthday. If you want to teach me a lesson, can't you pick another day? Do you really have to disrupt your grandmother's birthday party?"
"I need to choose a day to teach you a lesson. Besides, you fell into the water accidentally. What does it have to do with us?" Cui Jingshu changed the subject. "But if you kneel down and beg me, I might consider letting you go."
Jiang Lan naturally didn't believe such nonsense. Even if she really did what she said, she would still be pushed into the water. The other party just wanted to play tricks on her. Even if she showed weakness, she would only be humiliated more.
"Still want to run? Push me down!"
Gu Xuan'er and others worked together to push Jiang Lan out. She immediately lost her balance and fell into the water with a splash.
When she struggled to raise her head from the water, Cui Jingshu had a bow in her hand, and the arrow on the bow was aimed at her head.
Since you both like shooting people with arrows so much, why don’t you just get together as a couple!
"Let's see who can dodge faster, you or my arrow." As soon as Cui Jingshu let go, the arrow deliberately shot through Jiang Lan's shoulder. She struggled to swim to the shore. She didn't know whether it was because the arrow just now made her suddenly nervous or because she couldn't swim, but her legs cramped at this time, and she was immediately submerged in the water.
The cold and suffocating feeling enveloped her without a chance to breathe. She wanted to calm herself down, but her brain, lacking oxygen, made it impossible for her to think. She felt that her vision was getting darker and darker, as if she had fallen into a bottomless abyss.
This feeling made her feel scared and strangely familiar.
She seemed to have fallen into the water before, but she seemed to have forgotten...
She felt her body getting heavier and heavier, so heavy that she didn't want to struggle anymore, but a glimmer of hope aroused her desire to survive.
She couldn't die here. She still had too many things to do. She had to wait for her eldest brother to come home and reunite with her. She had to make sure Zhang received the punishment she deserved. She also had to find out who had shot her to death in her previous life...
While struggling, she grabbed a life-saving straw, and that life-saving straw grabbed her as if it had hands, pulling her out of the endless darkness. A ray of light gradually spread in her pupils, becoming brighter and brighter... until she was completely out of the cold darkness underwater.
Someone patted her on the back and she spat out a mouthful of water. Someone patted her again and she spat out more water. Someone patted her again and she couldn't spit out any more water.
Then she felt herself being picked up, and heard a voice coldly say, "Miss Cui's arrow shot, this marquis will remember it."
It was unknown how long it took before Jiang Lan gradually regained consciousness and was able to see the things around her clearly. She first heard the ethereal sound of a copper bell, then saw Qi Wuhan's face, and then found herself lying in his arms, covered with his coat.
She struggled to sit up, feeling dizzy, and let him lift his hand and press it into her arms.
"If you move again, I'll insult you."
She glared at him angrily and wanted to curse him, but she could only make a hoarse and strange sound, which was a bit embarrassing.
"If your throat is sore, don't talk. It's like quacking a duck."
“…”
roll!
She conveyed this word clearly with her eyes, but in his eyes she saw a pair of big watery eyes, looking at him like a puppy asking for a hug, so he hugged her a little tighter.
"I saved you. How should you thank me? I don't mind giving you your body."
“…”
She wanted to kill him with a headbutt!
"My Lord, please stop talking." Ling Feng reminded him of the truth outside the carriage.
"I think she quite likes listening to me."
“…”
The pair of peach blossom eyes looked at her with a smile. Jiang Lan simply closed her eyes, thinking out of sight, out of mind. She was afraid that she would be pissed to death by him again after just coming back from the gates of hell.
After the carriage stopped, Jiang Lan had recovered a little strength and firmly refused to let him carry her out of the carriage again. However, when she pulled aside the curtain and saw the Marquis' Mansion in front of her, she refused to get off the carriage no matter what, fearing that she would be locked up by him again as in her previous life.
Seeing that she looked like she was about to cry, Qi Wuhan sent someone to the medicine house.
The door of the medicine house was locked. Qi Wuhan simply pulled it open, pushed the door open and took Jiang Lan in.
Ling Feng thought that he would have to pay compensation again when Master Ye came back.
The Black Armor Guards had already prepared clean clothes.
Only after changing her wet clothes did Jiang Lan feel a little warmer, and then the black-armored guards brought a charcoal brazier to warm the room.
"Are you feeling better?" Qi Wuhan came in with a bowl of ginger soup to dispel the cold. He had also changed into dry clothes. His white clothes were whiter than snow, and he walked very slowly, as if he wanted her to appreciate his ethereal appearance.
Jiang Lan turned her head away from him. He came over and sat down next to her. She stood up to leave but he held her back. "Drink it first." Qi Wuhan lowered his head and blew lightly on the ginger soup on the spoon before feeding it to her. Jiang Lan turned her face away and asked him to put it aside and she would drink it later.
"Do you want me to feed you by hand or mouth?"
He could really do the latter thing.
Jiang Lan drank the ginger soup silently, her expression like a brave warrior ready to sacrifice himself for justice.
After drinking the ginger soup, Qi Wuhan asked her to go to bed, but Jiang Lan said she wanted to go back.
"Do you want me to carry you over or hold you?"
Then she succumbed to his tyranny once again... probably to the rogue.
"Just lie down here and rest," Qi Wuhan sat down beside the bed and tucked her in. "I'll take care of the General's Mansion."
"Go away, I'm fine." Jiang Lan turned over and faced away from him, her tone as indifferent as ever, deliberately drawing a line between them as strangers.
Hearing the subtle sound of clothes rustling behind her, she knew he was getting up to leave. A sense of strangeness flashed through her mind, but she immediately ignored it.
"If you run away secretly, I will tie you up and lock you up in a small room. You are not allowed to go anywhere."
His casual voice seemed to hold an elegant demon captive.
When she heard the door closing softly, Jiang Lan turned her head to take a look. Seeing that the person had really left, she breathed a sigh of relief and temporarily let down her cold defense.
After her nerves gradually relaxed, a feeling of fatigue swept over her like a tide. A faint fragrance lingered in the quilt, which smelled very pleasant and made her fall asleep quickly.
When Jiang Lan woke up, she felt a little hungry, and then she saw Qi Wuhan sitting against the head of the bed.
He closed his eyes, as if he was asleep.
Her gaze shifted to the bone fan in his hand. In her previous life, whenever she thought of escaping, he threatened to turn her into a fan.
At this moment, a thought suddenly popped up in her mind: could it be that the fan in his hand was made by another substitute? . . . .
Thinking of this, she wrapped herself in the quilt and moved away silently.
"You're so afraid of me,"
He paused deliberately, opened half an eye and glanced at her.
"Flirting with you?"
“…”
"Don't worry, if I wanted to be flirtatious, I would have done it a long time ago. There's no need to wait for you to wake up."
"roll."
"Are you hungry? Eat something first."
"Not hungry."
Gu~~~
"Although I am a beauty to behold, you don't need to be so greedy."
God damn it, she wanted to bury him right there!
…
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