Chapter 40
Ever since Zhu Yun appeared, the oil-paper umbrella that Xuebao had conjured has stopped shining, and it doesn't dare to respond to Luo Yan now.
The lightning lingered in the sky for a few moments, and she saw the boy leap down with the lightness of a ghost. But before she could examine his features, her vision was plunged into darkness.
Luo Yan, her eyes fixed straight ahead, nervously reached out her hand and called out in a tearful voice, "A-Yun."
"Cough—"
The sound of a dead branch snapping came from the left.
In the past, Zhu Yun walked so silently that he always scared Luo Yan half to death. Later, she came up with a plan: whenever Changsheng was around, she would throw stones at him until he screamed. If Changsheng wasn't there, she would stomp on tree branches and shake the leaves to give Luo Yan a heads-up.
The voice was still the same familiar voice, and the code was still the same familiar code.
The beggar obsequiously offered a bowl of thin porridge from the roadside, which he gulped down.
"Your Highness is such a kind man! If it weren't for you, I would have starved to death on the roadside long ago, just to avoid the eyes of those nobles!"
The servant distributing the porridge raised his chin, glanced sideways at the beggar, and sneered.
"It's good that you know how kind-hearted the prince is."
The beggar fawned over the servant, who, in turn, became quite smug and started boasting.
"Our prince is truly gentle and refined, a true gentleman. He is not only kind-hearted and compassionate towards the people, but also enjoys sharing their joys. Seven years ago, the prince went to a tavern, but an accidental fire broke out, leaving only one orphaned girl in the family. She was exceptionally beautiful."
"Has Your Highness taken that orphan girl as a concubine?"
Upon hearing about the exceptionally beautiful orphan girl, the old beggar Dun Yun's eyes lit up, and he began to drool.
"Hmph, taking a concubine before marriage is a disgrace to the family. Our prince is not only kind-hearted, but also very principled. He only recognizes that girl as his sworn sister, treats her with fine silks and satins, and spends more money on her than he drinks water."
"Hehe... However, I happened to see that girl once, and her appearance... Heh! No wonder she was paid off with a lot of money!"
The servant and the beggar looked at each other and chuckled.
"Do you think it's possible that a man and a woman alone together...?"
The old beggar revealed a lewd smile.
"I wouldn't dare to talk nonsense."
The servant's expression changed instantly, and he turned and went home.
Inside the Prince's mansion, in the bedroom, several layers of red quilts were ruffled. Luo Yan wore a heavy seven-treasure necklace on her upper body, with tridacna shells and pearls trembling.
Zhu Yun found it in the way and gently moved the pearls on her necklace aside.
He considered himself a very restrained gentleman, but upon seeing Luo Yan, he made one mistake after another, leading to an absurd affair.
"Luo Yan, beg me."
She became like a bowstring stretched to its limit, completely overwhelmed. In her dazed state, she said everything he wanted to hear, and begged for mercy several times before Zhu Yun finally let her go.
A bright, gleaming mirror faced the bed, silently reflecting many secrets.
The bedroom was filled with the smell of cosmetics and fleshy skin. Luo Yan wore a proper necklace around her neck, with a light lotus-colored gauze bodice hanging on it.
The mirror reflected a panting beauty, adorned with jewels, kept hidden away in a room like a precious treasure.
With a snap—
Luo Yan threw the teacup onto the peephole, but the peephole remained unmoved, and the official kiln teacup shattered in two.
Zhu Yun impatiently pinched her chin.
"We've been providing you with the best food and drink, so why are you throwing a tantrum again? And what jewelry have you set your sights on this time?"
He wondered if he hadn't appeased her today. Of course, they had already tried all the common styles.
Ke Luo Yan was sulking over the mirror and wouldn't speak no matter how much she was coaxed.
He grew increasingly impatient with her, so he simply called in the maid Jinzhan to help Luo Yan change her clothes and return to her room.
Jinzhan was of average appearance and a bit older. She was very tight-lipped and always pretended to be deaf and dumb about the two's private affairs. Even in private, she would never mention a word to Luo Yan.
After taking a bath, Luo Yan lay lazily on the bed, letting Jinzhan apply luxurious rosehip oil to her body.
"The girl has a burn scar on her ankle. She's tried all sorts of ointments, but it just won't go away."
"It's just a scar... what does it have to do with you?"
Luo Yan mumbled as she turned over, smearing essential oil all over the bed.
Those were scars left by the fire that night, and Luo Yan didn't want them to disappear.
She hid from Jinzhan and secretly wiped off the ointment from the scar.
"Oh, Miss, don't turn over yet. If you turn over, we servants will have to change the sheets."
Jinzhan complained and brought over another steaming bowl of herbal medicine.
"Miss, you're not feeling well, please drink your medicine."
Luo Yan suddenly sat up, threw a tantrum, and spilled the medicine onto the carpet.
"I don't drink herbal medicine! I'm perfectly healthy! It's all Zhu Yun's fault for deliberately getting me used to drinking soupy things so he could sabotage me and kill me!"
Jinzhan quickly covered Luo Yan's mouth.
"Girl, some things can't be said... Ouch, why did you bite me! I'm going to find the Prince!"
Jinzhan ran off to complain to the prince without looking back. Luo Yan knew that the prince had eyes and ears everywhere in the mansion. She was nominally his adopted sister, but in reality, she was not even as good as a proper concubine.
Jinzhan was naturally sent by the prince to keep watch.
Luo Yan clumsily put on the elaborate and elegant clothes neatly and opened the drawer.
Inside was a copy of "The Story of Ying'er," a book that should never be found in the boudoir of an unmarried young woman, let alone with two explicit erotic pictures tucked inside.
Zhu Yun also sent someone to teach her a few characters, and once she had learned them, he found such books for her to read.
Upon seeing the erotic scene, Luo Yan felt disgusted, so she took a candle and burned it, then threw it onto the carpet.
The carpet was burned to nothing but a clump of golden threads in no time.
"Everything was fine just now, what are you doing? Why are you playing with fire?"
The prince walked in with a frown.
"Alright, this blanket isn't anything special, you can burn it if you want, but you can't skip your medicine."
Luo Yan said coldly,
"I'm not sick."
Zhu Yun pulled her to sit on his lap, put his arm around her waist, and whispered in her ear.
"You know it's a contraceptive, and if you don't take it properly, you'll probably suffer the most."
Luo Yan sneered.
"Ha, when I reach the capital, I will give birth to your child in the imperial court, killing both mother and child, so that others can see your family's shameful secrets."
Zhu Yun tightened his grip instantly, making her tremble, but she gritted her teeth and endured the pain without crying out.
“I ordered someone to brew another bowl for you, and I watched you drink it.”
Before long, Jinzhan bowed and carried in a bowl of medicine, not even looking up at the two's intimate behavior.
"The prince gave the young lady medicine out of brotherly and sisterly affection. Please, young lady, be considerate of the prince and drink the medicine."
Having spent a long time in the Prince's mansion, Jinzhan developed the ability to lie through her teeth.
Luo Yan was still wriggling around on his lap like a live fish, so Zhu Yun knew she wouldn't listen obediently. He took the bowl, pinched her chin, and forced the medicine down her throat.
"Luo Yan, you're almost twenty, and I should start thinking about your marriage. But it's too late tonight, let's discuss it tomorrow."
Jinzhan could tell that the prince was becoming increasingly impatient with her, so she simply helped her take off her clothes and go to bed before blowing out the candle.
"Young lady, I'm too old to stay up all night, so I'm going to sleep."
Luo Yan lay on the bed silently shedding tears, unable to sleep all night.
The mirror reflected not the prince's sister, but clearly a prostitute used for amusement.
She touched the small scar on her ankle.
Her parents were very loving and ran a restaurant together. Although they weren't extremely wealthy, they were never short of food and drink.
Thinking of marriage, she remembered when she was ten years old, a boy named Yun made her a rabbit out of foxtail grass. Her mother teased her for it, and Luo Yan blushed without saying a word.
She remembered how her mother playfully slapped her father twice, and how her father bought her the most popular face cream and rubbed it on her hands. Her mother told her father not to buy these things, but she looked at him with a smile.
Before she turned thirteen, Luo Yan always thought that she could marry the boy who gave her foxtail grass, and after marriage she could naturally live a life like her parents.
But a fire ruined her life.
Zhu Yun... He ruined her into a monster that was neither fish nor fowl. She could no longer be the pretty daughter of that little tavern, nor was she of royal lineage, nor was she so low as to be a prostitute in a brothel, nor did she seem to be a maidservant.
The thought of how Zhu Yun had seduced her filled Luo Yan with hatred.
Even if she dies, I will never let him get away with it.
The next morning, Jinzhan woke her up to wash and dress.
"A distinguished guest is coming today. He has just passed the imperial examination and achieved the second rank of Jinshi. Since he has just obtained his official position, he does not have enough money to settle down in the capital, so he has come to stay at the Prince's mansion temporarily. I heard that he is also a very handsome man."
Jinzhan called her to the study, and Luo Yan had a general idea of what the prince wanted to say to her.
The prince had become unusually polite to her today.
"Luo Yan, you're almost twenty. I've found you a husband named Zhen Fei. He passed the imperial examination with the second-class degree and will be moving into our mansion soon. After your marriage, everything will be the same as before, and you won't be wronged in any way."
Seeing Luo Yan's cold face and silence, with only the bright red rouge on her unmoving lips glaringly obvious, Zhu Yun continued speaking.
"You can rest assured, I have prepared ten thousand taels of silver as your dowry."
"Your Highness means that Zhen Fei is short of money and only married me for your dowry of ten thousand taels of silver."
This is not the husband Luo Yan wanted... She pursed her lips, the bitter taste of rouge lingering on her teeth.
"Zhen Fei is just short of money to settle down right now. After you two get married, I will remember your kindness and support him more."
"I don't want to."
Seemingly aware that Luo Yan was unwilling, Zhu Yun simply sighed and gently patted her shoulder.
"Anyway, you should meet him first."
Luo Yan bit her lower lip hard, and the bitter taste between her teeth turned into a mouthful of blood.
She hurriedly returned to her room, locked the door, and refused to see anyone.
Two Yunchen later, Jinzhan arrived at her door, only to find it locked, so she pounded on it.
"Miss, open the door quickly, that young master has arrived."
"What does the arrival of that young master have to do with me?"
Luo Yan said coldly.
“A young lady will eventually get married. Can she really stay by the prince’s side and refuse to leave? In my opinion, given your background, without the prince’s help, you would never have been able to marry a second-class scholar like Young Master Zhen.”
Jinzhan was annoyed when she heard Luo Yan kicking and smashing things inside the room. The "master" had made such a mess of the room, and in the end, it was her, a servant, who had to clean it up.
“Young lady, do you know that the prince and the noblewoman from the general’s family have already sent out invitations? If you stay here and refuse to marry, you will only be an eyesore to the prince.”
Upon seeing the demon mask hanging from his waist, he remembered Zhu Yun's true identity.
That's why he collapsed in Qingyuan Village covered in blood when he and Meng Jing fell out. Later, the expensive tonics he took and the constant flow of money must have all come from Lanyue Tower.
As for the two assassination attempts he faced after arriving in Beijing, including the figure he saw before his death...
"Ah Yun." Luo Yan looked up into his eyes and asked with complicated emotions, "You were also in the capital on my birthday, weren't you?"
Zhu Yun's lips curled up, radiating the arrogance of a victor, and he said casually, "Yes, I killed them all."
Initially, people in the martial arts world only knew him as the young master of Lanyue Tower, ranked seventh in the Jia-class, so they called him Meng Qi.
Two years ago, covered in blood, he indiscriminately killed people in the snow-covered capital. Eyewitnesses said he was worried that he would never see spring again, and over time, they began to call him "the one who never sees spring."
It's just a title; Zhu Yun doesn't care about it.
He took out a porcelain bottle from his pocket and fed her a bluish-green pill.
Luo Yan subconsciously took it in her mouth, her eyelashes trembling slightly. She thought to herself that A-Yun still treated her the same as always. Even though she had been "dead" for two years, she still carried around medicine to nourish her body.
Just as he was about to thank her to ease the tension, Zhu Yun coldly said, "This is a Nesting Gu. Anyone who stays more than a hundred paces away from me will die suddenly."
"vomit."
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