Chapter 45: Old Traces
"This is the Yuansong Residence you asked me to stay in. Last night you were at the Yilan Pavilion and seemed to have been poisoned. You were a little confused. I can't send you back to your residence to avoid making a big fuss."
He came closer and stood in front of the couch, looking at her.
Although they were three feet apart and she was clearly wearing clothes and covered with a quilt, under his thoughtful scrutiny, Qiandeng felt as flustered as if she were not wearing any clothes.
She forced herself to remain calm, ignoring the gurgling blood vessels beside her eardrums. She squinted her eyes and pretended to be drowsy. "Yeah, what happened last night? I remember finding a jade pendant. Then, maybe I was too sleepy, so I fell asleep while talking. I even had a long dream about my family..."
He looked at her meaningfully and said calmly, "Oh, that jade pendant was a relic of Meng Lanxi's family. He was worried about losing it, so he tampered with it. Now you have applied the antidote, so you're fine."
She raised her hand and bent her fingers a few times. The areas that were burned, red and swollen last night had returned to normal and were flexible.
So... he was the one who gave her the medicine?
She looked up at Ling Tianshui, and when he met her eyes, he coughed lightly and turned away, then turned and walked to the outer hall: "It's almost dawn, you should go back now, maybe no one will notice it yet."
Seeing that he had no objection to her concealment, she felt relieved and a little bolder.
That's right. She was drugged, so she recognized the wrong person, lost her common sense, and forgot everything after waking up. It was natural and reasonable. Why shouldn't he believe it?
While his back was turned, Qiandeng patted her blushing cheeks, took a deep breath, lifted the quilt and got out of bed.
Pulling at her wrinkled clothes, she tried to calm herself down: "Sorry to bother you tonight. Um, what happened here..."
Hearing the hidden meaning in her words, he responded, "Don't worry, what happened last night was just a mistake made in a hurry. You and I will just pretend it never happened."
Qiandeng secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and seeing that it was getting late, he hurried out.
As she walked past Ling Tianshui, her eyes unconsciously swept over the envelope in his hand.
Ling Tianshui was just throwing the letter into the drawer. She only caught a glimpse of a crescent moon slanted diagonally in the upper right corner of the letter. It was a semi-transparent mark made by a fingernail, a wax mark.
Her heart suddenly trembled, and she looked up at Ling Tianshui.
A strong jawline, neat and straight shoulders and neck, a broad and strong chest——
It was the body she had embraced last night when she lost her nature, and it seemed to be... the body she had unexpectedly bumped into in the dark inner hall in her memory.
Once she started to think about it more carefully, she couldn't help but shudder and couldn't help but clench her trembling hands.
That crescent mark... She would not mistake it. It was the one she accidentally pinched on the envelope when she was burned by candle wax.
The letter that Cui Fufeng helped her deliver to the Shuofang Army's camp in Beijing appeared in Ling Tianshui's hands just one night later.
This man was strong and tall, tyrannical and ruthless, and as oppressive as Prince Linhuai. Even when they first met, the look he gave her was like a sharp blade piercing the air, piercing her chest and making her tremble.
Ji Linyou's words flashed through her mind, and she lowered her eyes calmly. When she passed him, she suddenly tripped, kicked the door sill, and almost fell.
She stopped and fell back, bumping heavily into Ling Tianshui's right arm, and only managed to steady herself by grabbing his sleeve.
"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention to my feet for a moment." Qian Deng quickly apologized, then raised his arm with concern and rolled up his sleeve to check, "Are you okay? I think I just bumped into..."
Ling Tianshui remained calm, holding her hand and lowering his sleeve: "It's okay."
But just this moment was enough for Qiandeng to see that there was indeed an old scar on his wrist bone, which had been chopped vertically across his strong arm. He must have been seriously injured at the time.
Qian Deng was stunned for a moment, looked up at him, and subconsciously asked: "How... did this come about?"
"It's been too long, I can't remember clearly." He said lightly with his hands hanging down.
Qian Deng's heart was in a state of confusion. He nodded, stepped out of the door, and walked towards the front yard along the bluestone road.
In the dim morning light, the flowers and trees in the backyard were hazy, and the rugged rockery blocked her way. The strange black shadows enveloped her, making her steps slower and slower until she came to a standstill.
She couldn't help but look back at Yuansongju, which was shrouded in the last ray of darkness before dawn.
I have clearly moved away from him, but the feeling of hugging him tightly last night seems to still linger on every inch of my skin and cannot be shaken off.
Ling Tianshui...Prince Linhuai...
Now that she thought about it, the way Ling Tianshui forced her to abandon all her illusions and face the rotting corpse in the charity cemetery was exactly the same as the teachings of King Linhuai who forced her to shed her grief and face hatred when she was in despair after losing her mother.
Just as ruthless and relentless; just as forcing her to abandon her established path as a noble lady; just as forcefully placing the thorny single-plank bridge before her, certain that it was her true desire...
Even though it's unbelievable, even though I feel it's absurd deep down, but...
Qiandeng lowered his eyes and looked at the faint traces of ointment left on his hands, his heart in turmoil.
Don't ever...
She took a deep breath and forced the strange guess out of her mind.
Especially after she did such an absurd thing to him, and he kept her overnight and carefully applied ointment to her.
She couldn't bear even the slightest possibility.
Quietly returning to the front yard, Qiandeng looked at her wrinkled clothes that had been wet and then dried, and cursed the man who had thrown her into the spring last night a hundred times in her heart.
I can't go back like this, I'm sure people will suspect me.
Qian Deng, who had been competing with Aunt Xuanji in wits and courage since childhood, went around to the carriage area of the attached courtyard, picked up two sticks, walked to the well in the front yard, drew a bucket of water and placed it on the edge of the well, then slipped and fell to the edge of the well with the bucket, soaking her all over.
It was already autumn, and the cold water made her shiver. She hugged her arms and cried out in a sobbing voice, "Someone help me!"
The maids who had gotten up early heard the noise and hurried over. Seeing the county lady in such a state, they were all panicked and hurriedly helped her up and took her to the back hall.
At the back hall door, Aunt Xuanji hurriedly arrived, her clothes tied in a sash, completely different from her usual meticulous image as a female historian: "County Lady, what...what's wrong with you?"
Qian Deng had come all the way here, short stick in hand, just waiting for her to ask this question. She dropped her props onto the porch and said with a mournful look, "Oh, I woke up early today, and seeing you all soundly asleep, I didn't wake you up and went out to practice a few times somewhere deserted. But on my way back, I was thirsty, and I fell while drinking water at the well. Look, my clothes are all soaked!"
It was not the first or second time that she went for morning exercise alone. Everyone could only helplessly help her wash up and give her some cheese to moisten her throat.
Aunt Xuanji kept muttering to herself that she shouldn't go out alone so early in the morning, while ordering someone to clear the moss around the well.
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