Chapter 68 Questioning and Arguing: "Did Madam Xue embroider this?"
"...You're injured?!"
Xue Rongyue sat not far from the window, without looking up. The sunlight filtered through several layers of blurry window paper, casting countless lines. The sunlight quietly swirled between her eyebrows and eyes, illuminating her delicate skin until it was translucent and flawless. Her thick, curled eyelashes drooped slightly, casting a small patch of shadow under her eyes.
Although the wound had stopped oozing blood and the bloodstains on her neck had been wiped clean, the long scar on Xue Rongyue's snow-white neck was still very noticeable and impossible to ignore.
Qin Jin strode over, his brows furrowed.
"I was accidentally cut when I was threatened by the bandits." Xue Rongyue raised her hand to touch her neck. "It's nothing, Jingnu has already applied medicine for me."
"Don't touch it, or the wound will ulcerate."
Qin Jin grasped Xue Rongyue's raised wrist, bent down to examine the wound, his tightly furrowed brows never relaxing: "The medicine Jingnu applied for you is not good. I'll go and bring you a bottle. Remember, be very careful. Not only should you avoid certain foods, but you must also absolutely not get it wet."
After saying that, he was about to leave to get the medicine.
No rush.
Xue Rongyue grabbed his sleeve and gestured with her chin, indicating that he should sit down first.
"That bandit had tattoos on both arms, three grotesque intersecting scars on his left arm, and a scar on the web of his right hand. He had an ordinary appearance and dark skin. Oh, and there was an old knife wound near his mouth."
After Qin Jin sat down, Xue Rongyue pointed to the wound on her neck, glanced at Qin Jin, and said in a low voice, "Young Master Qin, he not only cut me with a knife, but also offended me with his words. You must avenge me."
Based on her very detailed description, Qin Jin immediately recalled the person's appearance and name: "How did you get injured? Did something happen?"
“Didn’t you say that bandit surnamed Luo is suspicious by nature? I was afraid that if things went too smoothly, he would belatedly become suspicious, so I took Jingnu to resist appropriately.”
With his gaze fixed on her wound, Qin Jin said, "Be more careful next time. Don't act rashly again. They are all vicious people."
"We must do our best to dispel the suspicions of the most vicious and wicked people, otherwise life on this mountain will be extremely difficult."
Xue Rongyue spoke eloquently, then asked, "So, has he become suspicious of my identity?"
"No."
Qin Jin noticed her worry and comforted her, saying, "You played the role of Lady Xue, who is brainless, domineering, cowardly, bullying the weak and fearing the strong, and naive, extremely well. Luo Hongfang has no doubt about it."
"......"
Xue Rongyue slowly turned her head to look at him, and asked expressionlessly, "Are you praising me, or taking this opportunity to scold me?"
Qin Jin met her gaze with a sincere expression: "I'm praising you, absolutely praising you. To remain calm in the face of danger and to act so convincingly is truly rare."
"Is that so?" Xue Rongyue maintained her expressionless face, but her foot under the table had already kicked out hard, and she said through gritted teeth, "Then I really have to thank you for your praise!"
Qin Jin had to endure two kicks to quell Xue Rongyue's anger.
Glaring at him, Xue Rongyue said irritably, "What kind of time is this to be teasing me? He definitely won't believe it so easily; he just thinks I can't cause any trouble, but..."
"He'll definitely take this opportunity to blackmail you. Tell me, what do you want to do by threatening me?"
Qin Jin suddenly looked up at her, his brows furrowed slightly, his eyes deep: "Are you afraid?"
"What?"
Xue Rongyue was taken aback.
Qin Jin asked, "Are you afraid when facing them?"
Xue Rongyue pouted: "What's there to be afraid of?"
Qin Jin smiled, but there was little joy in his eyes. His gaze was fixed on Xue Rongyue's eyebrows and eyes, his deep eyes seemed to be able to see through everything. His voice was low and hoarse: "How could I not be afraid? Look at your forehead, it's covered in sweat, and your makeup is all ruined."
"......"
Xue Rongyue pulled away, leaned back, and looked at him lazily, a cold smile playing on her lips: "I'm not wearing makeup."
"..." Qin Jin was caught off guard. "Huh?"
Xue Rongyue continued to sneer: "Ever since that night at the pavilion when we parted, I haven't worn makeup when I see you."
Qin Jin awkwardly touched his nose: "Ah."
"Your Highness, even if you want to change the subject, don't be so abrupt and obvious, okay?" Xue Rongyue glanced at him. "Since you don't want to talk about it, then I won't ask."
Qin Jin said helplessly, "It's not that I don't want to say, but that I can't."
Xue Rongyue understood a bit: "So it involves matters of the imperial court."
She wisely replied, "Then I won't meddle in other people's business."
"How could it be meddling in other people's business?"
Qin Jin suddenly leaned towards her, a hint of curiosity in his eyes: "Madam Xue, why did you paint your face like that the night we parted?"
Xue Rongyue remained silent for a moment, then leaned forward, pointed to her face, and asked earnestly, "Your Highness, take a good look at my face. How does it look?"
Qin Jin listened attentively and carefully examined her. His deep gaze began to slide down from a few wisps of hair on her forehead, down to her long, curled eyelashes, her bright, round almond-shaped eyes, her delicate, upturned nose, and finally to her rosy, full lips.
She had just finished drinking tea, and her delicate lips still glistened with moisture. As she inhaled, the perfume she wore filled his nostrils. He struggled to look away and uttered two words hesitantly: "Good, beautiful."
Xue Rongyue: "?"
Qin Jin couldn't help but steal a few more glances, then coughed lightly and said with certainty, "Very beautiful."
Xue Rongyue: "......"
Her beauty was unparalleled in Chang'an, and she was already praised by many. Many poets who had seen her had written about her in their poems, and she had long been used to it. But for some reason, when faced with Qin Jin's earnest praise, she suddenly felt embarrassed and her face became noticeably hot.
She attributed this to Qin Jin's overly harsh and simplistic language. Calming herself, she retorted irritably, "Do you even need to tell me? I'm showing you my displeasure, not admiring my beauty!"
"Excuse me."
Qin Jin lowered his eyes upon hearing this, gave a casual reply, then raised his eyes again to examine her face, honestly answering, "A little red..."
Before Xue Rongyue could get angry or embarrassed, he belatedly realized, "It seems a bit... ugly."
"So you know it's ugly!" Xue Rongyue snorted coldly, her words flowing like a string of pearls, giving him no chance to react or interrupt.
"Ever since you returned to Chang'an, I've tried my best to avoid discussing that night at the pavilion with you, precisely because I didn't want you to bring it up. And yet you still dare to say it! You managed to avoid it in Chang'an, but now you're bringing it up here! Don't you have any sense of propriety? Can't you see I don't want to talk about it? You keep asking, keep asking, keep asking! I haven't even settled the score with you for that night, and you dare to laugh at me? I went to see you off, and you dared to laugh at me, and laugh so loudly! Laughing so loudly is one thing..."
Not content with just talking, Xue Rongyue kept her mouth moving and her feet under the table running.
Qin Jin initially maintained a respectful attitude and listened to a couple of sentences, but later his gaze became fixed on her, and his mind was no longer on what she was saying.
Xue Rongyue noticed and kicked him with some force: "What are you staring at? Did you hear me?!"
"I heard it, I heard it."
Qin Jin patted his robe. It was pitiful that he had fought and killed people without getting his clothes on, not even a drop of blood on them. But now it was clear that he couldn't save them.
In just a short while, he had already taken several kicks from Xue Rongyue.
Xue Rongyue looked at him suspiciously: "Then tell me your story."
Qin Jin: "......"
Before Xue Rongyue could deliver her next angry kick, he lazily concluded, "Don't mention that night again."
Xue Rongyue barely managed to pass him: "Remember it."
Qin Jin hesitated for a moment, then nodded reluctantly after meeting Xue Rongyue's threatening gaze, and said perfunctorily, "I will remember it, I will remember it."
Xue Rongyue then stopped and asked him, "When can I see Shuman?"
After a moment's thought, Qin Jin replied, "Let's wait two more days. The bandits will come down the mountain with Luo Hongfang then, and we'll arrange for you two to meet."
"What do you think of the method we discussed back then?" Xue Rongyue asked.
“It’s feasible, but if everything goes smoothly the day after tomorrow, we won’t need to go through all this trouble,” Qin Jin said. “We won’t even need to pretend to agree to the marriage agreement anymore.”
Xue Rongyue's eyes lit up: "That's great, it will save us a lot of trouble."
Looking at Qin Jin, Xue Rongyue's tone softened immediately, and she smiled and said, "Then I'll trouble you, Your Highness, to take care of this matter."
A soft snort escaped Qin Jin's nose as he glanced at her sideways: "Madam Xue's tone seems to have changed; she wasn't speaking like this just now."
Xue Rongyue narrowed her eyes, tilted her head, and feigned ignorance: "Was that just now?"
"..." Qin Jin keenly sensed the danger in her eyes and knew that it was not the right time to push his luck. He put on a fake smile and said, "You were gentle just now, and you're even gentler now."
"You're smart to know what's good for you."
Xue Rongyue rested her chin on her hand: "You came to see me, won't that arouse suspicion?"
Upon hearing this, Qin Jin smiled and said, "If I didn't come to find you, it would arouse suspicion."
"That's true, since we're now engaged."
As soon as she finished speaking, Xue Rongyue frowned, and an inexplicable dissatisfaction appeared on her face: "You came to the bandit's den to infiltrate, and even made up a fiancée for your fake identity?"
She looked Qin Jin up and down, her tone suspicious: "Are you here to infiltrate legitimately?"
Qin Jin was speechless: "Tell me the truth. It's not that I want to make up a fiancée out of thin air, or that Qin Ang already has a fiancée."
"Really?"
"How could this be fake? Otherwise, why would the wealthy Xue family of Liangzhou be willing to cooperate?" Qin Jin paused slightly, staring intently at Xue Rongyue, a slight smile playing on his lips, and asked, "Madam Xue, why do you care about this?"
He sat facing the sunlight, the bright light falling on his eyebrows and eyes, merging into his eyes. His eyes were dark, like the long, boundless night, with a glimmer of unreadable light flowing in them. As his thin lips curved upwards, a hint of a smile appeared in his eyes.
For some reason, Xue Rongyue suddenly felt a pang of panic: "What... what's there to care about? I was just asking casually."
Now it was Qin Jin's turn to ask the question: "Really?"
"What's the difference between real and fake?" Xue Rongyue retorted, glaring at him. "Otherwise, tell me, what else could it be for?"
Her tone was firm and resolute: "Everything I said is true, I never lie!"
"......Yeah?"
Qin Jin lazily lowered his eyes, picked up a pastry from the table, and hummed slowly and meaningfully, "That's not necessarily true."
Xue Rongyue's first reaction upon hearing this was guilt. After all, she had indeed deceived Qin Jin countless times since childhood, far more than she could count on two hands. Upon hearing this, she immediately lowered her eyes, mentally calculating which lie she had told that had been discovered.
He refused to back down verbally, asking, "What do you mean by that, Your Highness?"
Qin Jin lifted his eyelids: "It seems that Madam Xue has not had any free time since I left Chang'an. Her embroidery skills are so good, yet she still goes out to buy purses."
These words caught Xue Rongyue completely off guard: "I really don't understand what you're saying, Your Highness."
Qin Jin's expression softened slightly, and he raised an eyebrow, saying calmly, "Does Madam Xue truly not understand?"
Xue Rongyue blinked and shook her head, saying, "I really don't understand."
Qin Jin's smile vanished completely, his jawline tightened, and he took out a purse from his pocket, placing it in front of Xue Rongyue. His gaze remained fixed on Xue Rongyue, not moving an inch, and his expression revealed a hint of indifference, as if to say, "Let's see how you try to argue now."
Xue Rongyue picked it up and looked at it closely: "Isn't this the purse I gave to the young master?"
Qin Jin demanded an explanation: "Madam Xue, do you still remember what you said when you gave me this purse?"
Xue Rongyue felt as if she were being questioned and accused, and was quite confused. After thinking for a moment, she replied, "The purse I embroidered was for the young master. That should be all."
Seeing her so self-righteous, Qin Jin was so angry that he laughed: "Did Madam Xue embroider this?"
"Of course I embroidered it."
"Then why," Qin Jin crossed his arms, sneered, and raised his voice, which was now clearly tinged with gritted teeth, "why did Guang Sheng's wife also buy him an identical purse?"
"..." Xue Rongyue finally understood the situation and asked in return, "Why can't we have it?"
Before Qin Jin could speak, Xue Rongyue said, "The purse in the young master's hand was embroidered by me, stitch by stitch, but..."
She held up the purse, raised an eyebrow, and asked Qin Jin, "What do you think of the style of this purse, Your Highness?"
Along the ferry crossing, rows of emerald bamboos rustled their leaves as they fell, creating ripples on the water. A hazy moon reflected in the water, interacting with the green leaves.
How could this style be bad?
With his Adam's apple bobbing, Qin Jin responded softly.
"That settles it."
Xue Rongyue said matter-of-factly, "Such a fine design should naturally be sold for money. The purse in the prince's hand was embroidered by me personally. As for the purses sold in the embroidery shops in Chang'an, they were all embroidered by the embroiderers I employ."
She said with no small amount of pride, "The embroidery patterns I designed are excellent. They are the most fashionable patterns in Chang'an City right now. Many embroidery shops want to imitate them, but unfortunately, the embroiderers under their names are not skilled enough to imitate the essence."
"It's only natural for Guang Sheng's wife to buy it and give it to him. What's the matter, Your Highness, making such a fuss?"
Qin Jin: "......"
Qin Jin: ""
Before confronting Xue Rongyue, Qin Jin had considered that she might be angry and embarrassed, deny it, or admit it, but he never expected that he would get such an answer.
He was incredulous, speechless for a long time before finally finding his voice. He took a deep breath, met Xue Rongyue's innocent almond-shaped eyes, and squeezed out a broken voice through gritted teeth: "You...!"
"What's wrong with me?" Xue Rongyue's tone was somewhat displeased. "The young master is actually questioning me about this. Did I give the young master a purse in a wrong way?"
Giving a purse is such a transgression. If this purse weren't so common in Chang'an, she wouldn't have given it to Qin Jin so openly, lest she have given him a handle to use against her.
The shock on his face was hard to calm down. Qin Jin was in a daze, and his ears were ringing. He hesitated to speak, but after a few breaths, he couldn't help but say, "You actually took this style of purse out to sell."
Xue Rongyue swallowed back the words she was about to say, looking at him with surprise and uncertainty, completely baffled.
“So,” Qin Jin suddenly looked at her, as if he had thought of something, took a deep breath, and said in a helpless and strained tone, “When I asked you if this was your answer, you nodded. You were just trying to appease me, weren’t you?”
Xue Rongyue's face immediately turned unnatural. She chuckled twice and replaced her answer with a clearly guilty silence.
With her elbows resting on the table, Qin Jin saw the look on her face and understood everything. She had finally given up.
He took another deep breath, closed his eyes, but still couldn't exhale the pent-up anger in his chest. He covered his face with his two large, slender hands and didn't utter a word for a long time.
Xue Rongyue gradually sensed something was wrong during the eerie silence. She swallowed hard and cautiously peered at him, asking, "Your Highness, are you... are you alright?"
At the same time, Qin Jin's muttering to himself rang out again: "I thought, I thought at worst you just thought this purse was nice and could express your feelings, so you bought it and lied that you embroidered it yourself, then gave it to me..."
"Huh?" Xue Rongyue was completely confused. "What's the difference?"
What's the difference?
Qin Jin couldn't face the cruelty of this moment: "Is there no difference? The difference is enormous..."
One is a natural progression of mutual affection, the other is... a ridiculous case of wishful thinking!
Qin Jin even began to regret it. He should have pretended not to know. Why did he ask? Why did he insist on an explanation?!
If you pretend you know nothing, you won't get an unexpected answer, and you won't have to put yourself in such an awkward and disappointing situation, facing such a cruel and cold reality.
Why did he have to ask that question?
Qin Jin suddenly stood up.
Xue Rongyue was startled, looked up, and stared at him blankly: "What's wrong?"
She found herself increasingly unable to understand Qin Jin. He seemed erratic, incoherent, and prone to sudden outbursts. Could he be possessed?
Qin Jin remained calm and silent as he walked outside.
Xue Rongyue quickly grabbed him: "Where are you going?"
Qin Jin said calmly, "Find a cave."
Xue Rongyue, puzzled, frowned and asked, "A cave? Why would we need to find a cave out of the blue?"
"settle down."
-----------------------
Author's Note: One day, Xue Rongyue found the cave where Qin Jin was living in seclusion. She thought she would see a wild man, but when she got closer to the cave, she saw a hemp rope hanging down from above. Qin Jin's head was hanging on the rope, and his body was swaying with the wind that rushed in.
Xue Rongyue frowned: "Qin Jin, no swinging in the cave!"
*
Yes, if "White Lotus" is about a fake innocent girl versus a genuinely straight man, then "Mortal Enemy" is about a haughty guy versus a genuinely straight woman, and the prince has to understand that his road to winning her heart is long and arduous [shy].
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