Chapter 5 Shameless Scoundrel "He even went to our door to provoke us again!"...
"How is Madam Xue?"
The spring breeze tinkled the bronze bells hanging on the window lattice. Inside the hall, on a rosewood table, a jade incense burner slowly emitted the fragrance of dew. Under the wisps of smoke, Princess Yu'an sat at one end of the chessboard, playing chess with Qin Jin.
The female official bowed her head and reported, "The qi and blood attacked the heart and liver qi, causing the person to be unconscious for two days before finally waking up last night."
Seeing that defeat was inevitable, Princess Yu'an lost interest in the game. She awkwardly put down her black pieces and asked in confusion, "Why did I suddenly faint from a stroke?"
Xue Rongyue fainted, which frightened her so much that she couldn't sleep for two nights.
...Yes, why am I dizzy?
Qin Jin subtly raised an eyebrow, seemingly lost in thought.
Especially when he fainted, the look Xue Rongyue gave him was filled with a complex mix of emotions, beyond the usual disgust and anger. It was so incomprehensible that he couldn't understand it. Even now, thinking back on it still gives him a strange sense of dread and gives him a nightmare all night.
Princess Yu'an looked at Qin Jin with suspicion in her eyes: "Did you do something?"
With a slight protrusion of his wrist bones, Qin Jin played with a white jade chess piece with his slender, clean fingertips. After thinking carefully for a moment, he answered sincerely, "I just smiled at her."
He had smiled at her before.
In order to successfully provoke the other party, he would practice diligently in front of a bronze mirror, making sure that he could perfectly present the emotions he wanted to express through his smile.
Could it be...
His gaze fell on a bronze mirror not far away. Qin Jin wondered if it was because he had recently mastered a particular skill and was laughing in an unusually twisted and mocking way that had made her faint.
That can't be right.
Qin Jin was also unable to determine the answer at the moment.
Princess Yu'an naturally didn't believe it. She snorted and looked at the shiny fighting rooster in his arms: "Can you find out who administered the drug?"
Upon learning of the matter concerning the Taoist boy, Princess Yu'an was naturally furious. She sent the boy to the Dali Temple for interrogation and was even more curious as to why Qin Jin, a notorious playboy, would suddenly investigate a foreign merchant who sold forbidden drugs. She learned that his beloved pet, Ba Wang, had been unconscious for several days after stealing his soup and had almost lost its life.
Qin Jin regarded Ba Wang as his own son and vowed to investigate thoroughly, which led to a series of subsequent events.
With his deep, dark eyes lowered slightly, Qin Jin looked at his unconscious pet in his arms: "There are too many people on the list, from the powerful and wealthy to all sorts of people, it's hard to get to the bottom of things in a short time."
When Princess Yu'an saw him like this, she felt her headache flare up again. She lowered her head and stroked the jade ruyi on her lap, trying to avoid seeing him and getting annoyed: "I sent some generous gifts and tonics to the General's Mansion for you."
"?"
Frowning, Qin Jin asked displeasedly, "Why?"
"Why? Tell me why!" Princess Yu'an was exasperated. "Her father is favored by His Majesty and has subordinates all over the court. You will be of legal age in two years and will also be entering officialdom and getting married. How can you continue to be at odds with her and give others cause for gossip? If you two don't have any deep-seated hatred, why not give up now and have some peace?"
When the topic of entering officialdom and getting married came up, Qin Jin's tall and handsome body leaned back on the jade pillow again, concealing the fleeting melancholy in his eyes.
His brows furrowed, and a perfectly measured hint of impatience appeared on his face. He replied lazily, "Tomorrow's business can wait until tomorrow, and we can worry about the future later. Why worry about the future when we can enjoy life to the fullest?"
Princess Yu'an was furious, but she also knew that he had been unruly and willful since childhood, and that further persuasion might backfire. After taking a few sips of hot tea to calm herself down, she decided to throw caution to the wind: "Anyway, the gifts and tonics have already been sent in your name, and they are very generous. I hope that, for the sake of these things, your feud can be eased a little."
How could that be?
Qin Jin placed the white jade chess piece face down on the chessboard and lowered his eyes, remaining silent.
Someone might think he's deliberately provoking them, and become even angrier.
As if he had already anticipated Xue Rongyue's furious reaction to this generous gift, Qin Jin calmly raised an eyebrow, a faint smile playing on his lips, which vanished in an instant.
***
Xue Rongyue stepped down from the carriage with an air of arrogance, her delicate, jade-like hands caressing the dazzling gold-inlaid jade begonia and butterfly hairpin at her temple. She was secretly pleased with herself and determined to steal the show at Princess Yu'an's grand banquet.
Little did she know that this seemingly glamorous feast concealed a deadly trap, and a conspiracy was quietly unfolding around her, waiting for her to rush towards it with joy.
Many years later, she had long since lost her noble birth, and her once proud talent and beauty had faded away in the passage of time. The once peerless Xue Erniang now huddled uneasily in that dilapidated temple where she had found refuge, barely clinging to life, tears streaming down her face.
She regretted it day and night. If she had been less arrogant and smug when she went to the banquet that day, if she had sensed the impending danger, and had dragged out the culprits, the Xu mother and son, instead of falling into the water, and if she hadn't been ruined and imprisoned in the Taoist temple because of the strict separation of men and women at the time of her rescue and the broken engagement with the Liu family, perhaps she could have found a different path, and perhaps she would be less embarrassed today.
Unfortunately, she was too proud and complacent, too naive and ignorant at that time, and could not have imagined that a few trivial matters she had never paid attention to would lead to an absurd and ridiculous misunderstanding, becoming the first turning point in her fate.
On a damp, rainy night with overcast skies, rainwater seeped through the broken bricks and tiles, pattering onto Xue Rongyue. For a moment, it was impossible to tell whether it was the cold rain or bitter tears.
She squeezed her eyes shut and could only pray desperately, hoping that when she opened them again, she would find that it was just a nightmare.
Having narrowly escaped the first hurdle in the original story, the booklet slowly unfolds, revealing the first chapter that foreshadows Xue Rongyue's fate.
As a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character, she announced her destined tragic ending to the readers in her first appearance in the original work. The system originally thought that she would be angry and decadent, and would be so unwilling that she would become hysterical, but she did not.
Her fingertips, painted with peach pink nail polish, stiffly traced each word on the booklet. Xue Rongyue's once vibrant and full red lips had lost their color, and her expression was numb. She seemed somewhat cold, curled up, but her face remained calm.
The system waited for half an hour before hearing her hoarse voice: "What happened to the General's Mansion?"
System: [In the latter half of the story, your entire family was executed, but you miraculously survived.]
The corners of her mouth twitched slightly, forming an ambiguous arc, but Xue Rongyue's expression quickly returned to calm, as if she had accepted it with equanimity: "So... it was me who survived."
The system remained silent, waiting for her to continue asking questions.
Xue Rongyue stopped speaking.
She had been lying in bed for several days, but she was not feeling well. She felt thirsty, had a sore neck, and felt weak in her limbs. She dragged her stiff steps to the table, picked up a glass of cold tea, and gulped down several mouthfuls to relieve her swollen, dry throat.
After a short while, Xue Rongyue walked to the desk, grabbed the corner of the desk with one hand, and began grinding ink with the other.
The system, still puzzled, finally couldn't help but ask, "This booklet is the original work. Every story that appears is closely related to your fate. Apart from the General's Mansion, is there anything else you want to ask?"
Picking up the brush, dipping it in bright vermilion ink, Xue Rongyue opened the original book.
Looking at the pages filled with stories of regret, Xue Rongyue's eyes darkened, a hint of mockery in them.
She picked up her pen and, without hesitation, forcefully wrote two large characters on the page—
ridiculous.
The system was stunned.
Xue Rongyue casually tossed the calligraphy brush aside.
Even if she were to fall into such a state one day, she would never waste her days and nights in regret, nor would she be content to be a pathetic rat, huddled in a dilapidated temple, living an uneasy life.
This could never be her.
The system remained silent for a long time before the voice sounded again, carrying a strong warning tone.
[Whether the host likes it or not, it must be clearly stated that due to unforeseen circumstances beyond the original plot, the character [Xue Rongyue] has accidentally drowned. I am forced to appear and bind with the host ahead of schedule, but in return, the host must complete the strategy and cannot fail.]
Having been ill, Xue Rongyue's face was deathly pale, except for her bright, dark almond-shaped eyes. She took a deep breath and asked, "What is the price of failure?"
System: [Life deprived; revert to the drowning death ending.]
Feeling as if a boulder was blocking her heart, with a knot of resentment that was hard to untie, Xue Rongyue sat quietly in the chair and slowly closed her eyes.
Her curled eyelashes cast a crescent-shaped shadow beneath her eyelids. The bright sunlight streamed in through the window, illuminating her delicate face, but only making her pale, fragile, and haggard appearance appear more pronounced.
After sitting quietly for an unknown period of time, the door opened, and Jingnu came in, bringing in the prepared medicine and quietly handing it to Xue Rongyue.
In fact, Xue Rongyue woke up that night, but before Jingnu could even breathe a sigh of relief, she was chased out by Xue Rongyue, who was pale as a ghost. She didn't say a word, and wouldn't allow anyone to come in to serve her. She hid in the room and wouldn't see anyone.
Jingnu had only encountered such a situation once before, nine years ago.
That year, when she first entered the general's mansion to serve, she found the Xue family lady she was to serve in that dark and damp ancestral hall, and knelt with her in the sunless ancestral hall night after night.
Eight-year-old Xue Rongyue neither cried nor made a fuss, appearing lifeless, like a puppet without breath and with empty eyes.
Jingnu tried everything she could, but only managed to get eight-year-old Xue Rongyue's pupils to move slightly. Her bright and stubborn black eyes were either numb or stiff as she stared at her for a long time before she finally spoke her first words to her.
A sharp pain pierced her heart, and tears welled in Jingnu's eyes. She lowered her head in worry, her mind involuntarily replaying how she had persuaded the eight-year-old girl to bow her head and lead her out of the ancestral hall—
Searching through her memories, Jingnu's eyes suddenly lit up, and she finally remembered.
She cautiously took two steps forward, cleared her throat, and said in a deliberately feigned tone of anger and seriousness, "My lady, just now Prince Qin actually sent someone to deliver a cartload of lavish gifts and tonics!"
Sure enough, as soon as Jingnu finished speaking, Xue Rongyue, who was sitting in a daze, suddenly blazed with anger.
She jumped to her feet, clenched her fists, and gritted her teeth: "What?! Watching me make a fool of myself wasn't enough, he wants to come right up to my door to provoke me, to chase after me and kill me, is that it?!"
"Shameless!"
A note from the author:
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A couple who hate each other but understand each other very well—a pure-hatred couple.
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