Chapter 105 Qiu Han, do you want to sleep with me?
In October, as autumn begins, the forests are ablaze with color.
Since Yue Yining recovered from her illness, Deputy Division Commander Jiang has often come to see her, but he always leaves after only a few words.
Perhaps He Chan said something to the guards, or perhaps she realized that neither of them knew martial arts, so Yue Yining and Xie Qingyu were allowed to leave the cave briefly each day to walk around the camp, but they still had to stay under the watchful eyes of the other women in black.
Yue Yining's health was gradually improving. Taking advantage of the opportunity to go out for walks every day, she roughly figured out the terrain of this mountain camp, saw more unfamiliar faces, and had a better understanding of her initial guesses.
She wasn't in a hurry to leave.
For Yue Yining, being trapped here was no longer a troublesome problem; what troubled her was another small matter.
The cave where the two of them lived had only one earthen bed. The cave was not spacious. On one side was the earthen bed used as a bed, and on the other side were some baskets and other sundries. There was a passageway in the middle with a rolled-up straw mat, which could barely fit one person down.
Xie Qingyu sleeps here every day.
She was unaware of anything when she was in a coma due to high fever, which was alright, but since the fever subsided, she has been awake for most of the day and has to witness him sleeping fully clothed beside her every night.
This made her somewhat embarrassed.
Tonight was no different. Yue Yining was tidying up the bedding on the kang (a heated brick bed) and was about to lie down when the curtain was lifted from the outside.
The candlelight flickered wildly in the wind, and the faint glow on the walls suddenly trembled for a moment. She instinctively froze, looked up, and saw Xie Qingyu, who had just finished bathing, walking slowly in under the moonlight with her long black hair loose.
Yue Yining deliberately looked away, cleared her throat, and prepared to lie down facing the wall.
A man dressed only in a snow-white undergarment gracefully approached, knelt before the kang (a heated brick bed), and his wide sleeves fell onto the quilt covering her.
Yue Yining couldn't avoid him and had no choice but to look him in the eye. Outside the cave, the moonlight lingered, while inside, the candlelight flickered. In the dim light, steep shadows were cut out, and his high, straight nose was shrouded in shadow. Half of his profile was strangely bright, revealing his refined and handsome features.
She paused slightly before noticing that a bowl of water was being held in those slender, pale hands.
"Miss, drink some water before you go to sleep." His voice was low, clear, and melodious.
Yue Yining actually hated being controlled, but Xie Qingyu spoke gently and had a pleasant voice. When she leaned closer, a faint scent of pine mixed with a light soap sachet wafted over her, which was refreshing and comfortable. Her dark eyes were as clear as if they had been washed with snow water, and she stared straight at her.
You could say she was blinded by his good looks, but she really found it hard to refuse him.
Yue Yining accepted it obediently.
She only moistened her throat and didn't drink much; there was still more than half a bowl of water left. She handed the bowl to him and said, "You should drink some too."
She was quite at ease. After all, the conditions here were not as good as in the city, and He Chan had not provided them with many daily necessities. The two of them had been sharing a water bowl for many days.
Xie Qingyu stared at her lips, a vibrant pale red, just touched by water. Her wrist stiffened as she took the bowl of water from her, her gaze slowly falling to the rim of the bowl.
A little water stain remained on the rim of the bowl where her lips had touched.
Yue Yining was puzzled when she saw that he didn't react for a long time, but Xie Qingyu had already stood up and put the water bowl on the footstool.
She paused, then heard him say gently, "I think I won't drink it."
"Good night, miss."
As he spoke, his slender, white fingers touched the candlestick, his lips parted slightly, and he gently blew out the candle flame.
The cave suddenly darkened, with faint moonlight seeping through the gaps in the curtains.
Yue Yining slowly lay down, facing the wall. Behind her, she heard the rustling sound of clothes, and the other person had also lay down to sleep.
The woman, dressed only in her undergarments, lay on the earthen bed, wrapped in a cotton quilt. Her eyes were open, and for some reason, she was wide awake.
Yue Yining hesitated a bit.
She felt that Xie Qingyu had been avoiding her these past few days. It wasn't an obvious avoidance; he still took meticulous care of her, not allowing her to handle anything, even feeding her her medicine himself, claiming that the bowl of freshly brewed medicine would burn her. If Yue Yining objected, he would gently coax her, saying that she had just recovered from her illness and only needed to be taken care of.
But she still felt that he was avoiding her.
He was deliberately keeping his distance from her.
Just like before, I could share a water bowl with her, but I didn't dare drink the water she had just drunk in front of her.
Yue Yining turned over, staring at Xie Qingyu's back on the ground. He lay with his back to her, his cascading black hair falling from his shoulders like a piece of fine spring silk. Even in this state of disgrace, the eldest son of a noble family still exuded unparalleled nobility in the smallest details.
Yue Yining stared at him for a long time, then a thought struck her.
"...Xie Qingyu."
The cave was dark, and she felt the person lying on the straw mat sway slightly after hearing her soft call.
His voice was deep and clear: "Miss, what's wrong?"
Yue Yining stared intently at his retreating figure and asked, "Is the ground cold?"
It got a bit cooler the night before last. Although the rain has gradually subsided and the sun has been shining more often these past two days, both the withered golden leaves and the blooming chrysanthemums on the hillside are proclaiming that the autumn chill has already swept over this mountain.
He didn't respond for a long time. The cave was quiet and dark. A chill and a bitter smell seeped out from the moss climbing the walls.
Yue Yining heard his intermittent breathing and lowered his voice to say, "...I'm fine."
Yue Yining: "It's alright, but it's a bit cold?"
After a brief silence, Xie Qingyu spoke again, "What does Miss want to say?"
Yue Yining looked at his back, which was much more tense than before. Her mind became clearer, and a faint smile involuntarily appeared at the corner of her eye. "It's nothing."
"I'm just worried that it will be too cold for you to sleep on the ground."
She said only that one sentence, and then stopped, deliberately leaving him hanging in mid-air.
Xie Qingyu's heart almost stopped beating. She unconsciously opened her mouth slightly, and uneven breathing escaped from her lips.
I was worried that it would be too cold for him to sleep on the ground.
But if he doesn't sleep on the floor, where else can he sleep?
It's not cold sleeping on the kang, but how can he... how can he sleep with her?
Xie Qingyu was confused. He couldn't figure out what Yue Yining meant, so he could only lie there helplessly and stiffly, like a statue.
But she insisted on continuing to disturb his concentration: "Hmm? Have you thought it through?"
Xie Qingyu's mind went completely blank. He opened his mouth and heard the sound his dry, chapped vocal cords made: "...What?"
The shameful anticipation leaked uncontrollably from the cracks in her heart, and she couldn't stop it no matter what she did. Just as her breathing became increasingly rapid and broken, Xie Qingyu heard her chuckle softly.
"It's nothing, go to sleep."
He lay there stiffly, while Yue Yining had already turned over, tucked herself in, and gone to sleep.
As Xie Qingyu listened to the sounds she made, he had a vague feeling that Yue Yining was deliberately teasing him.
He dared not think any further, and convinced himself to close his eyes, but his eyelashes trembled slightly in the darkness.
Yue Yining was acting on a whim and got the reaction she expected. She was pleased and was thinking of going to sleep when a commotion suddenly came from outside the cave, just behind the curtain.
Xie Qingyu heard it too, and the two people who had been lying down immediately sat up.
Footsteps and shouts mingled in a chaotic cacophony, and torches lit up the dark valley, their shrill cries sounding like the wind or someone sobbing.
Yue Yining's expression hardened as the curtain covering the cave entrance was suddenly lifted!
Two women dressed in black strode in. Before Yue Yining could react to what was happening, one of them grabbed her by the shoulder and dragged her out of the bedding, twisting her wrist.
Caught off guard, Yue Yining was pulled off the kang (a heated brick bed). With a forceful pull, the woman in black forced her to lower her head. The pain from her wrists being twisted behind her back made her vision go black. The woman held Yue Yining down like a prisoner and then dragged her out.
Seeing her wince in pain, her eyes bloodshot, Xie Qingyu roared at the two of them, "What are you doing!"
"Let go of her! Let her go—!"
Yue Yining could no longer hear. Xie Qingyu was pressed down on the ground inside the cave by another person. She was then dragged straight out of the cave without even having time to put on her shoes. She walked up the mountain with one foot in mud and the other in gravel.
The area in front of the camp was open, with a fire flickering in the central pile of firewood, and people standing all around.
Yue Yining saw the figure lying on the ground, and her heart sank.
It's Yingying.
From a distance, it was hard to see clearly, but as you got closer, Yingying's small face was a mixture of pale and bluish-white, and even in the glow of the flames, it still showed no warmth, making it all the more unsettling.
She was escorted to the edge of the crowd. As she approached, the women dressed in black slowly dispersed. Yue Yining was pushed past them by the shoulders. Angry, inquisitive, resentful, and sorrowful eyes swept across her face. Dozens of eyes were staring at Yue Yining, and it seemed as if everyone around her wanted to turn their gazes into blades and stab them into her body.
Yue Yining was already in pain, and now she could barely breathe. In a flash, the woman who was holding her was thrown to Jiang Feiyan's feet.
Yue Yining propped herself up and stood up. In front of her were Jiang Feiyan's lowered eyes, which were deep and red, making it impossible for her to see clearly.
"What happened..." Yue Yining gritted her teeth, enduring the pain in her wrists and feet, "Why suddenly—"
"Yingying has been vomiting ever since she came back from Qinghuai City! She just suddenly fainted!" The woman next to Yue Yining, who had been glaring angrily at her, shouted. "She didn't eat anything today, she only drank that bowl of porridge made from disaster relief grain!"
"She was perfectly fine when she left, full of life, but now she's been poisoned!"
Yue Yining's pupils contracted.
She tried to stand up, but was pushed back to the ground.
She glanced at Jiang Feiyan sitting beside her and said urgently, "Impossible! My colleagues are in charge of the disaster relief grain. They would never use problematic grain for disaster relief, let alone allow their subordinates to do such a thing! They...!"
Yue Yining's voice suddenly faded away.
She remembered. Before she left, they didn't have much food left. Shen Liude and Qiu Yuebai would never do something like using moldy rice to pass off as good rice for disaster relief. But if they lost their composure because of her sudden disappearance and someone with ulterior motives took advantage of the situation, then who knows?
"Why did you stop talking?" someone shouted from the crowd. "Speak up, how can you guarantee that the disaster relief grain will be safe and sound?"
"What makes you so sure? Are you some kind of good official?! Who doesn't know that you were arrested and brought up the mountain by our general because you issued the price adjustment order? The general said he would keep you alive and give you a chance to redeem yourself. I think the general is too kind!"
A cacophony of angry and resentful voices erupted.
"What should we do? Unfortunately, Deputy Division Commander Jiang and the General have both gone to the nearby mountains, and there's no one in the camp who knows medicine..." Xiao Zhu knelt on the ground, hugging Yingying, almost crying, "Yingying, Yingying, say something, wake up, don't sleep...!"
"She looks like she's about to die..."
Yue Yining gripped her injured wrist, enduring the pain as she looked over and met Jiang Feiyan's deep, dark eyes: "Could you let me check on Yingying's condition first—"
Jiang Feiyan suddenly sprang to her feet.
Yue Yining staggered as she was grabbed by the neck, her clothes were torn, and she slammed hard against the stone wall!
"Do you even deserve to look at her?!" Jiang Feiyan gritted her teeth, her eyes bulging with rage as she stared at her, her appearance like that of a demon. "If it weren't for you corrupt officials using moldy rice as disaster relief food, how could Yingying have gotten into this mess?! Huh?!"
Yue Yining forcefully pried her hands apart, gasping for breath like a drowning fish, her voice slowly escaping her throat: "Jiang Feiyan... calm down..."
"The general was still speaking up for you back then! We actually wanted to trust you just this once! Is this how your companions proved themselves to us?!" Jiang Feiyan said through gritted teeth. "She's right, you should be killed! If you're spared, other innocent people will die in the future!"
Jiang Feiyan's strength was astonishing. Yue Yining was unable to say a word. Her feet gradually left the ground, and the scene before her eyes turned into a white light.
Jiang Feiyan gripped Yue Yining's neck, her fingers tightening, her eyes fierce and sharp, seemingly intent on killing him.
A faint cough suddenly sounded behind them.
Jiang Feiyan turned around abruptly. Yingying, being supported by someone, leaned against a wooden post, looking at her, and called out with difficulty, "Sister Yan..."
He loosened his grip on Yue Yining's hand.
The flashing white light before Yue Yining's eyes receded rapidly, and she was suddenly able to catch her breath, so she quickly took deep breaths.
Jiang Feiyan's figure disappeared from her sight. Yue Yining slumped to the ground, completely exhausted, clutching her neck which felt like it was on fire, and coughed violently with her back arched.
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