Chapter 126
Duan Ning rode his horse around in the courtyard for a while, then drank a pot of tea and ate a few plates of snacks under the eaves.
She was dressed in a smart riding outfit today, looking very energetic. Even while resting, she wouldn't put down her riding whip. Seeing that she was about to finish the osmanthus cake that had just been brought to her, the maid next to her reminded her, "Miss, it's been more than an hour, why haven't you come out yet?"
Duan Ning crossed his legs, glanced at the tightly closed door on the inside, and said nonchalantly, "What's the rush? They need their dressing changed, and there's no one to help them. They're in so much pain, don't rush me."
The maid thought for a moment and asked, "How about... I go in and help?"
Duan Ning grinned and said, "Then you'd better be prepared to be silenced. I doubt many people in the entire Yunhua Palace know she's a woman. If you go in, be careful she doesn't kill you."
The maid was taken aback, then chuckled awkwardly, "It wouldn't be so bad as to kill me..."
As the master and servant were talking, the long-silent room was filled with the sound of dragging footsteps. Soon, the two wooden doors were gently pushed open, and Meng Jing, dressed neatly and wearing the cloak given to her by Duan Ning, came out.
For several days in a row, the Cang County was sunny. The bright sunlight made Meng Jing's pale face appear somewhat translucent. She coughed twice, covering her mouth with a handkerchief, and said to Duan Ning, "Sorry to keep you waiting."
Duan Ning glanced at her, brushed the crumbs off his hands, and stood up: "All done? Let's go then."
The group left the courtyard and strolled to the backyard, where there was a separate woodshed. Several fully armed guards stood watch outside, and a heavy iron lock hung on the door.
“During the days you were recovering from your injuries, I had him subjected to severe torture, but that guy was stubborn and didn’t say a word,” Duan Ning gestured to the guards to unlock the iron locks. “You’ve only just been able to get out of bed and move around. Once you’re inside, don’t argue with him, so you don’t get angry. If you’re angry, just slap him a couple of times to vent your anger. But don’t die before he does, or I won’t be able to explain it to your Yunhua Palace.”
Meng Jing grunted in acknowledgment and opened the door himself without asking the guards for help. Duan Ning was about to follow him in when she saw Meng Jing raise a hand and place it in front of her, saying, "Thank you for your trouble."
Duan Ning rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything, and wisely withdrew his foot.
The guards reached out and closed the door. Duan Ning stood outside, unsure whether to leave or stay. The maid who had been there earlier muttered again, "What's going on? We've been waiting for her for so long, and she still won't let Miss in."
Duan Ning rolled her eyes at her and raised an eyebrow, saying, "Why are you so talkative? Go! Bring me a chair."
Meng Jing stood by the door, not immediately looking to see where the man in black was. She took out a pill from her bosom and swallowed it. After a moment of silence, she lifted the curtain and entered the inner room.
Inside, there was a small mountain of firewood, and the air was filled with a musty smell. The man in black who had tried to kill her that night was now leaning against the wall, taking a nap with his eyes closed. He was tightly bound by iron chains, covered in wounds, and had been beaten black and blue by Duan Ning, looking disheveled.
Hearing the noise of someone approaching, the man in black slowly opened his purplish-blue eyes. Upon seeing Meng Jing, he showed no surprise or fear whatsoever. Instead, he chuckled softly and said mockingly, "You're lucky, kid. You didn't even die after all that."
Meng Jing walked slowly up to him, looked down at him, and without wasting words, asked bluntly, "Why did you kill my parents?"
The man in black relaxed, stared at Meng Jing for a moment, and said, "If I tell you, will you let me go?"
Meng Jing nodded expressionlessly.
The man in black sneered, "Are you kidding me? If I told you, you would immediately kill me to avenge your parents. Don't give me that. I'm not someone who can be easily fooled."
Meng Jing said, "I can kill you now too."
The man in black said provocatively, "Then why don't we make our move now?"
Meng Jing didn't say anything, but reached into her sleeve and pulled out a gleaming dagger. The man in black sneered again at her action, but he didn't expect that Meng Jing wasn't trying to scare him. As soon as his laughter subsided, Meng Jing knelt down and swiftly and ruthlessly plunged the dagger into his chest.
In an instant, an indescribable pain spread, blood splattered, the black-clad man's pupils contracted, and a painful scream immediately escaped his throat.
“You need to understand, I am a medical professional,” Meng Jing said, slowly pulling the dagger out. “I know where I won’t hurt vital organs, and I also know where I can kill you instantly. So if you don’t cooperate, I can make you wish you were dead in many ways.”
"You—!" the man in black cursed through gritted teeth, "...you little bastard!"
Meng Jing wiped the blood splattered on his face with a handkerchief and said calmly, "Why did you kill my parents?"
Seeing that she was serious, the man in black softened his disdain and spat before replying, "Don't you know what kind of people your parents are? They take money and harm the innocent. I killed them to uphold justice!"
Meng Jing looked at him calmly, without replying.
Thinking that her words had touched a raw nerve, the man in black smiled again, mocking, "You should know that in my eyes, your parents are no different from ants on the road. I don't need any reason to kill them; I can kill them whenever I want. I was originally ordered to capture Yin Qiu, but who knew that she was taken away by Man Jiangxue, leaving you to take the blame for her. If you really want to talk about it, you should seek revenge on Man Jiangxue. If she hadn't taken Yin Qiu away, your family wouldn't have ended up like this."
Meng Jing wiped the dagger in her hand, showing no sign of anger after hearing these words. She said calmly, "If you had said this to me a few years ago, I might have believed it, but now it's completely useless." She paused, then asked, "Why did you arrest Yin Qiu?"
The man in black grinned wickedly: "Guess?"
Meng Jing said, "I'm too lazy to guess."
After saying that, she plunged the dagger in her hand into the man in black's chest once again, but this time she deliberately chose a different spot.
The man in black let out another scream.
“I know about Yin Qiu’s background. That year was the first time she was found since she started wandering around,” Meng Jingfu pulled out the dagger again, his face expressionless. “I heard that the Ziwei Sect was the first to learn about her, but you found her before the Ziwei Sect. Who told you that she was in my house?”
The man in black hissed in pain and dared not speak again. He was drenched in sweat as he said, "...I am a disciple of the Jingyue Peak's secret guards. Since Man Jiangxue is going down the mountain to find her, I only need to follow Man Jiangxue to find out where Yin Qiu is."
Meng Jing paused for a moment and said, "If that's the case, then you should know that if your martial uncle finds Yin Qiu, she will definitely take Yin Qiu with her and will never hand her over to someone else to take care of. This is obvious. But you are with our family of three. Why is that?"
The man in black took a breath and replied, "Naturally, it's because we can't be sure whether Man Jiangxue personally took Yin Qiu away. She's very perceptive, and we didn't dare follow too closely along the way, for fear of being noticed by her. By the time we arrived, you had already split into two groups. If Man Jiangxue deliberately pulled a switcheroo and gave Yin Qiu to Ji Wanshu, and if we all went after Man Jiangxue while leaving Ji Wanshu alone, wouldn't that mean Ji Wanshu would take her away? The reason we followed you was just in case."
Upon hearing this, Meng Jing paused in the act of wiping the dagger.
"...Just in case?" She pondered these four words, then suddenly smiled. "Just for the sake of 'just in case,' you deliberately murdered my parents?"
The man in black felt a chill run down his spine when he saw her sudden smile. He hesitated and said, "There's a saying: 'Better to kill a thousand innocent people than let a hundred guilty people go free.' From our perspective, there's nothing wrong with that."
“Who says otherwise?” Meng Jing smiled slightly, but there was no trace of a smile in his eyes. “You are all right. The ones who are wrong are my parents. They were greedy for money and deserved to die, didn’t they?”
Before the man in black could reply, Meng Jing continued, "You killed them to uphold justice and punish evil; you are good people."
The man in black, who had been somewhat relaxed, couldn't help but feel impatient again upon hearing her words. He said in a deep voice, "Alright, stop with the sarcastic remarks. If you're going to kill me, just do it quickly!"
"Quickly? You'll only get a quick settlement after you've confessed everything," Meng Jing said. "Who are you working for? Why are you targeting Yin Qiu?"
The man in black ignored her, looking straight ahead past Meng Jing, and said, "Give up on that idea. Even if you kill me now, you won't get a single truth out of me."
Meng Jing seemed to have anticipated his reaction, so he wasn't in a hurry. He simply said in a low voice, "Don't be so absolute. I can give you a chance to consider it."
"No need to think about it anymore!" the man in black shouted. "Kill me now!"
Meng Jing looked at him indifferently.
The man in black sneered, "What, too scared to make a move? Have you ever killed anyone?"
Meng Jing twirled the dagger, making a few vague gestures at his heart, and said, "I haven't killed him."
Even those two pokes she made earlier were the first time in her life she had ever done that.
"Then why not give it a try?" the man in black urged her. "Killing people is such a simple thing. Even if you kill a hundred villains, it's not as good as killing one enemy. Now is the perfect opportunity for you to take revenge. What are you hesitating for? You coward!"
Faced with his malicious instigation, Meng Jing showed no reaction whatsoever; she was calmer than ever today.
"You're suffering here, unable to live or die, aren't you?" Meng Jing said, putting the cleaned dagger back into his sleeve. "If you really want to die, you can sever your own heart meridian. There's no need to incite me to do it. You don't want to die at all."
The man in black, having reached his limit, demanded, "So what exactly do you want?!"
Meng Jing stood up, looked down at him, and said, "Besides being my enemy who killed my family, you are also someone who ambushed my martial uncle and is also someone who wants to deal with Yin Qiu. You want to die? It's not that easy. I can't take your life because of my own selfish desires. Although I really want to do it, I can consider the bigger picture and take you back to Wei City to be dealt with by my martial uncle."
Having said that, she walked step by step to the door, and before leaving, she turned back and said, "Or, you can choose to sever your own heart meridian, then it depends on whether you have the backbone."
After saying this, she gently opened the door and went out.
Duan Ning waited outside for a long time, eavesdropping the whole time, but she heard nothing except the screams of the man in black. Meng Jingren came out, but Duan Ning was still focused on listening to the window and had become lost in thought.
"Miss!" The maid quickly patted Duan Ning and whispered a reminder.
"Huh...?" Duan Ning snapped out of her daze and realized that Meng Jing was already standing at the door, looking up at her. She couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed and said, "Oh... have you finished asking?"
Meng Jing nodded without saying anything. She went down the steps by herself, ignoring everyone, and left the courtyard, quickly disappearing from sight.
"How terrifying! There's blood on her face..." the maid exclaimed in horror. "Could she have killed that man?"
Several guards rushed into the room to check the situation, and soon rushed out again, shaking their heads at Duan Ning.
“I even encouraged her to slap someone,” Duan Ning said, glancing at the man in black again. “I underestimated her; I didn’t need to say a word.”
The maid looked at Duan Ning with a strange expression: "Then why are you smiling so happily...?"
Duan Ning flashed a bright white smile and said, "Did I smile?" She raised her hand and touched her face. "Oh, yes, I smiled."
The maid asked, "What are you laughing at?"
"Don't you think she's... well, you know?" Duan Ning asked with interest. "She's interesting, I like her."
The maid was completely bewildered: "What...what?"
Duan Ning said, "Oh dear, it's that thing! How can you be so stupid!"
Maid: "What is it...?"
Duan Ning had no interest in paying attention to her. Like a rabbit, she hopped out of the corridor and strode after Meng Jing in the direction he had left.
·
When the moon climbed above the eaves, Yin Qiu finished her meal and sat in a rattan chair waiting for Man Jiangxue to prepare her change of clothes.
Two days ago, when she first woke up, she wanted to take a bath, but the doctor said she was weak and worried that the little energy she had managed to build up would be washed away, so he stopped her. Yin Qiu had no choice but to endure it for two more days. After dinner tonight, she felt she really couldn't continue to be so slovenly, so she begged Man Jiangxue to secretly take her to the bathhouse. However, Man Jiangxue didn't agree immediately, but consulted the doctor before making a decision.
The window was half-closed, and a crescent moon, like a small boat, hung on the window frame, illuminating the newly planted clivia in the courtyard. Man Jiangxue handed the clean dress to Yin Qiu, then bent down and picked her up.
These past two days, Yin Qiu has hardly moved around on her own. She stays in her room and doesn't go out, lying down to recuperate. Occasionally, she goes out for some fresh air, but her feet don't touch the ground. Man Jiangxue always carries her, taking her everywhere.
Night had fallen, and the disciples in the mansion had all returned to their rooms. All around was quiet, and the moonlight was bright everywhere. The two walked through the long corridor and entered the bathhouse. Disciples had already prepared hot water. After Yin Qiu took off her clothes and sank into the bath, Man Jiangxue came out from behind the screen and knelt down to wash her hair.
The room was filled with white steam, the boiler was burning brightly, and someone was even there to keep watch and add firewood, so there was no worry about running out of hot water. Yin Qiu leaned against the pool, and suddenly seemed to remember something, turning to ask Man Jiangxue, "I haven't seen Bai Ling and Senior Sister Ji these past few days, where did they go?"
Man Jiangxue rolled up her sleeves high, revealing arms that were as white as cold jade. She brushed the foam off Yin Qiu's ears and replied, "Go and find out who selected that group of secret guard disciples."
Yin Qiu paused for a moment, then said softly, "Have all the people been counted?"
“Yes,” Man Jiangxue said, “only one is missing, the rest died in the bamboo forest.”
Recalling that night's experience, Yin Qiu still finds it hard to believe.
These past few days, she has been trying to stop herself from thinking about it, but the facts are right in front of her, and there's always a time to face them; she can't help but think about it.
"I had so many dreams during the days I was unconscious." Yin Qiu was still a little weak, and she was panting uncontrollably as she spoke.
"What dream?" Man Jiangxue asked.
"I can't remember very clearly," Yin Qiu tried her best to recall, but her mind was full of fragmented images, "It's all very messy."
Man Jiangxue glanced at her and, seeing Yin Qiu's furrowed brows, touched her earlobe and said, "Then don't think about it."
Yin Qiu paused for a moment, looked down at her reflection in the water, and said, "When I left the palace, there were still quite a few candies in the cupboard that I hadn't eaten."
Man Jiangxue used a wooden ladle to scoop water and rinsed her hair clean, saying gently, "It's been several months, and it's no longer suitable to eat. I'll buy you some new ones."
Yin Qiu didn't speak for a moment before whispering, "My senior brothers are gone, and there's no one to watch over things for me. The room is probably infested with rats, and all the candy must have been eaten."
Looking at her quiet yet somber profile, Man Jiangxue sighed softly, "Xiao Qiu..."
"I still can't accept it," Yin Qiu said, bewildered. "How could they be bad people?"
Man Jiangxue stared at her, unable to answer her question.
Not to mention Yin Qiu, even she couldn't help but be surprised when she saw the corpses of those secret guards in the bamboo forest.
Over the years, although she hadn't interacted much with the Dark Guard disciples and rarely communicated with them, she had still spent so many years with them. Many of them were just greenhorns when they first came, and Man Jiangxue had watched them grow up little by little.
But she never expected that these people were sent to monitor her.
Life is unpredictable. She is not a prophetic immortal. She also has times when she is negligent and is plotted against. She cannot be on guard against every aspect at all times. However, she can accept this matter quickly. Yin Qiu, on the other hand, cannot. She is still too young. Moreover, she has not yet truly experienced many ups and downs. She needs time to digest and understand the betrayal by those around her. Although the process may be cruel, as long as she gets through it, she can benefit from it. In some ways, it may not be a bad thing.
Even though Man Jiangxue didn't really want Yin Qiu to go through such a thing, she was caught up in the ways of the world and had no choice but to protect her. No matter how much she wanted to protect her, there would always be times when she missed something.
Just like that day when she was invited to Jiuxiantang, if she hadn't taken Bai Ling but instead took Yin Qiu, perhaps this whole thing wouldn't have happened.
Unfortunately, there's no going back in life; once a choice is made, it cannot be changed.
“Forget about them,” Man Jiangxue said softly after a brief silence. “From now on, there will only be you and me on Jingyue Peak. Isn’t that good enough?”
Hearing this, Yin Qiu's dazed eyes lit up. She turned to look at Man Jiangxue, pursed her lips, and said, "Of course it's great. As long as I can be with my martial uncle, I'm not afraid of any danger."
As she spoke, a gentle smile graced her face. Although she had not yet fully recovered and her complexion was still somewhat pale, the warm candlelight enveloped her, making her unadorned face appear clean and translucent, like a pear blossom in spring, innocent and flawless.
In that instant, Man Jiangxue's lowered eyes were filled with Yin Qiu, and nothing else could accommodate her. She slightly raised the corners of her mouth, reached out and cupped Yin Qiu's face, and softly asked, "Do you want to be with me?"
Yin Qiu rubbed her hand against hers like she did when they were little, and said with a smile, "I have been thinking about it, I've always wanted to, didn't you know, Shishu?"
Man Jiangxue said, "I know," she moved her fingertips and touched Yin Qiu's fan-like long eyelashes, then said, "but I don't know how long you want to be with me."
Without hesitation, Yin Qiu replied, "Of course it's for a lifetime. How long is a lifetime? That's how long I want to be with my martial uncle."
Her serious expression made Man Jiangxue laugh: "A lifetime? Hmm... let me think, a lifetime seems too long, it would get boring."
"How could I get tired of it?" Yin Qiu quickly said, "I won't get tired of it, it's my martial uncle who will get tired of me."
Man Jiangxue said, "I will never get tired of you, but by the time you grow up a little more, I will be old."
Yin Qiu said, "No, my martial uncle won't get old, and even if he does, I'll still love him."
Man Jiangxue's eyes softened as she stroked Yin Qiu's cheek and asked, "Do you like me?"
For some reason, Yin Qiu's heart raced at those words. She knew perfectly well that Man Jiangxue had no other meaning in asking the question, but she still couldn't help but be moved and said sincerely, "I like it."
Man Jiangxue stared at her without saying a word.
Yin Qiu really wanted to ask her, "Does your martial uncle like me?", but she held back the thought and didn't dare to express it.
But the next moment, Man Jiangxue spoke up herself: "My martial aunt also likes you."
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