Night Talk
Under the warm winter sun, red plum blossoms bloom in the snow. A letter from an old friend arrives from afar. She gently removes the letter from the white dove's leg, and familiar handwriting appears before her eyes.
Sheng Jingche quietly stood behind her. "Xuanji, are you planning to go back?"
Gu Youan tore the letter to shreds. "Jiannan is now in eternal slumber. You no longer belong to the Emperor's Ship."
Sheng Jingche saw her hair, dazzling in the sunlight. "I'm going back to Shengguo. I'll come to find you after he wakes up."
Gu Youan lowered his eyes. They knew it was just a lie. How long would it take for him to wake up?
Sheng Jingche took her hand and handed her a token. "This is what he left for you. With this token, you can freely control the Jing family's assets."
The cool touch suddenly made her nose sting. "He knew all along, didn't he?"
Sheng Jingche touched her face and said, "Don't be sad. You two were partners. Your martial arts skills are better than his. He chose to sacrifice himself to protect you. You must take care of yourself when he is no longer around."
Gu Youan turned around, tears streaming down her face. She didn't want others to see her vulnerability. Suddenly, she turned and hugged Sheng Jingche. Although they had the same body, Gu Youan knew clearly that they were not the same person. Jiannan was her support outside the story. The two of them supported each other and were both members of the Twelve Messengers.
“I’m waiting for him, Sheng Jingche. I’ll be waiting for him here.” She remembered what Jiannan said to her hairpin outside the Zhao residence that day.
Jiannan is Sheng Jingche's second personality. Jiannan is asleep, and Sheng Jingche must return to Sheng Kingdom to fulfill his obligations.
Gu Youan bid him a reluctant farewell. A wild goose landed on a branch, and she looked up at the four corners of the sky above. "If he doesn't wake up, I will send him a letter."
With a long spear and riding a horse, he left Biancheng and Dayong on a dark night.
Gu Youan sat by the window, holding a hand warmer. She looked at the night view outside the window with a sad expression. Xie Daoqing's illness had mostly recovered, but Xie Wanqing's illness was proving to be a problem for her.
Her antidote wouldn't be wrong, but Xie Daoqing's poison had been slowly subsiding, while Xie Wanqing's poison was increasing instead of decreasing. Gu Youan couldn't figure it out. She stayed in the Xie family, firstly to advance the plot, and secondly to cure the Xie siblings' illnesses. Now that the Emperor's Name had reappeared in the martial world, she had to go back and find out the truth.
A gust of cold wind blew by. Gu Youan was holding a hand warmer when a beautiful woman walked through the snow. Gu Youan looked up and saw Xie Wanqing wearing a long emerald green satin dress with a pink jacket over it.
Gu Youan scrutinized her closely. "You're not crazy?"
"Sister-in-law, I've come tonight to answer your questions."
Gu Youan shook her head, wondering if she was seeing things and experiencing memory confusion.
Xie Wanqing slowly came to her side, held her head, and gently placed her hands on her temples, massaging them lightly.
"Sister-in-law, leave the Xie family, leave my brother, this is not a safe place." The just-right pressure made Gu Youan feel intoxicated. She closed her eyes slightly, feeling her touch.
After a long while, Gu Youan gently opened her eyes, and she grasped her hand, "Why did you appear tonight?"
"My sister-in-law can't sleep at night because of my health, and I can't bear to see my brother suffer."
Gu Youan curled her lips. These words were very well said, but Gu Youan was no ordinary person. "I have been studying your poison. The poison you and Daoqing used came from the Western Regions. But Daoqing is not stupid, while you are crazy. Wanqing, why did you do that?"
"If you don't show up tonight, I'm afraid I'll have to fight fire with fire."
Her expression was calm, and Gu Youan couldn't discern any emotion. "You like your brother?"
The Xie siblings depended on each other for survival. Xie Wanqing was young, and Xie Daoqing was meticulous in his work, so it was inevitable that she would feel affection for her older brother.
Xie Wanqing shook her head. "I am not a daughter of the Xie family. Xie Daoqing is Emperor Zhaoyuan's companion and protects him from disasters, while I am an orphan chosen by the Xie family to protect the eldest princess from troubles."
Gu Youan was speechless for a moment. She didn't know how to talk about this. "You pretended to be crazy just so you could stay in the Xie family?"
She recalled the change in Xie Daoqing's expression that day. No wonder Xie Daoqing left his younger sister in the backyard. She was clearly a young lady of the Xie family, but the servants of the Xie family showed her no respect whatsoever.
"Daoqing, I hope your condition improves." Gu Youan looked at her delicate face.
Xie Wanqing withdrew her hand. "Sister-in-law, if I were to regain my senses, he would abandon me. My elder brother is not a kind person; he was born for Emperor Zhaoyuan."
Gu Youan raised her eyes, about to speak, but swallowed her words. Everyone has their own difficulties. She was not Xie Wanqing, and she did not know what had happened between Xie Wanqing and Xie Daoqing in the past. She simply stroked his back and said, "I believe Daoqing wants you to recover."
Xie Wanqing leaned gently against her back, touching her neck with her hand. Suddenly, she reached out and grabbed her, "Sister-in-law, has anyone told you not to open the door to strangers at night?"
Gu Youan's eyes rolled back as Xie Wanqing choked her. Suddenly, the woman unleashed tremendous strength, tearing at Gu Youan's arm with her hands. "Let me go! I have no grudge against you. Why are you trying to take my life?"
Xie Wanqing's smile was eerie and terrifying. Gu Youan turned to look at her, and Xie Wanqing pressed her head down with her hands behind her back, rolling onto the bed. The two of them wrestled together.
Smoke drifted in from the doorway. Xie Daoqing pushed a wheelchair, and Gu Youan saw him and shouted, "Are your whole family crazy?"
Xie Daoqing smiled eerily. Gu Youan's eyes darted around, and she suddenly realized something: this was a dream.
She kept telling herself, "Wake up, wake up."
She was lying face down in front of the dressing table, conscious but unable to wake up; she couldn't move her arms.
He kept waving his arms. Suddenly, she got up. The back of her neck was soaked with sweat. Her heart was pounding. She gently pressed her heart.
A face appeared at the window, and she recoiled in shock. "Ye Qingchen, what are you doing, playing tricks on me in the middle of the night?"
Ye Qingchen took out a handkerchief to wipe Gu Youan's sweat, but Gu Youan avoided him, saying, "You don't come here unless you need something. What do you want?"
"The winter air is so cold, I want to shield my sister from the wind and snow," she said softly. "Why is my sister always afraid of me?"
Gu Youan grabbed his hand, "Men and women shouldn't touch each other. You should go back. You shouldn't be here."
"Sister, are you afraid that others will find out that we know each other? Sister, I won't tarnish your reputation."
Gu Youan instantly became alert. She glared at him angrily. A delicate fragrance wafted through the air. She gripped his hand tightly. "Ye Qingchen, I have no grudge against you. Why are you approaching me?"
Ye Qingchen leaned closer, his breath close to her ear, "Sister, you saved my life, and I want to stay by your side."
Gu Youan stood up and looked at him. She sneered, "You used a sleeping potion on me just to get information out of me. I was just following orders back then. I wasn't your enemy, and the Ye family's enemy wasn't the Emperor's Ship."
Ye Qingchen handed a hairpin to Gu Youan, which had been left at the Ye family home that day. "Sister, you clearly crippled my martial arts, so why did you save me? Now that your martial arts are also crippled, we are a match made in heaven."
A wave of nausea washed over her; she had never felt so disgusted and uncomfortable. "Ye Qingchen, I didn't save you that day to spare the Ye family's lives. If you despise yourself, you will not have a good end."
"I'll pretend I never saw you tonight. You should leave immediately."
Ye Qingchen grabbed Gu Youan's hand, "Sister, don't send me away!"
Gu Youan closed her eyes, suppressing the anger in them, and said, word by word, "Please leave here."
She took out a dagger and pressed it against Ye Qingchen's chest. "I don't mind killing you tonight. You're just a servant in the Princess's mansion now."
Under the bright moonlight, amidst the lonely snow, the two figures were reflected on the snow. Gu Youan's eyes were sharp, and even without her inner strength, she did not back down in the slightest.
"Sister, you've crippled my martial arts and lost your own internal energy. Don't you think this is retribution?"
Gu Youan looked at him in shock, "If you want to go crazy, go somewhere else. I need to rest."
With a "bang," she slammed the window shut.
Ye Qingchen pressed down on the window, "Sister, do you know that the Xie family is not peaceful? Sister, you are clearly an eagle with outstretched wings, why do you trap yourself here?"
Gu Youan lost her temper: "What exactly do you want to do so late at night?"
She pursed her lips, her eyes devoid of any emotion, only filled with endless helplessness. "Ye Qingchen, when the Ye family suffered a great calamity, I was merely following orders. I sent you to the princess's residence, and you survived on your own. Now you are the princess's servant, and I am the daughter of the Gu family and the future daughter-in-law of the Xie family. If you want to reveal the truth, please go elsewhere. Pretending to be a ghost in the middle of the night to scare people—if I hadn't saved you before, I would have called for help tonight."
She looked around; no one was there. She looked at Ye Qingchen and said, "It seems I didn't completely cripple your martial arts that day."
Ye Qingchen looked at her face and slowly said, "Have you never suspected the Xie family?"
"Ye Qingchen, you are the only one in the Ye family who has survived by chance. Since you have survived, let go of the past. Ye family orphan, if your identity is revealed, you probably won't survive."
"Miss Gu, what is your true identity?"
Gu Youan smiled. "Me, a weak woman who can't even kill a chicken, would they believe you or me?"
The persimmon trees outside the wall turned redder and redder. Ye Qingchen looked out the window and said, "You probably don't want this year's persimmons to stain the Xie family's reputation, do you?"
Gu Youan looked at him calmly, "Don't make any rash moves. Do you still want the truth about the massacre of the Ye family?"
"Sister, I am all alone and helpless, how can I survive!"
Gu Youan smiled. "So you wanted to form an alliance with me! I agree."
Ye Qingchen's mind was filled with questions. "You just agreed so easily?"
Gu Youan pursed her lips. "I want to sleep. I know you have a lot to say, but I want to sleep."
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