24. Changing Faces (Part Six)
I saw the crabapple blossoms in her hair.
The game was over. Lou Shuang left the study and looked up at the white walls and black tiles of the mansion, as if sensing something. But it was empty and there was nothing there. He stood there for a long time before lowering his head and leaving.
Ran Qinghe watched him leave. For a moment, she even felt that Lou Shuang's ability to see them standing on the courtyard wall must have been an illusion.
Now that the grudge had been resolved, the black aura of the vengeful spirit beside her dispersed, and just then, a gust of wind blew it away without a trace. A begonia petal happened to fall into her hair, and was then silently plucked by the person behind her.
Ran Qinghe turned around as if she sensed something, only to see Lou Tinglan suddenly clench his fist. She noticed this subtle movement of his, a hint of doubt flashed in her eyes, and she reached out to try to pry his fist open.
Although their levels of cultivation were not significantly different, she still childishly used brute force to pry his fingers open.
Even after all five fingers were pried open, his palms remained empty.
She was slightly taken aback. Could it be that she had misread it?
She quickly put the incident out of her mind and turned to ask, "Do you also want to know what that letter said? I'll go get it and take a sneaky look, what do you think?"
Lou Tinglan shook her head: "A storm begins with a ripple." Even a tiny change in the Mirror of Past Lives could affect how things develop later.
She pursed her lips, thinking, "Never mind, even without looking, I can roughly guess."
The sixteen-year-old Prince An has a strong and pure love for Ran Qinghe, a sincerity untouched by worldly erosion, and a clumsy but genuine heart, though true feelings are ever-changing.
At the age of twenty-one, Emperor Jingming's love would only be a condescending bestowal, accompanied by weighing and testing.
Perhaps, the sixteen-year-old Prince An subtly sensed that Lou Shuang possessed the ability to change the past, so he wrote a letter and gave it to him. If he had betrayed Lou Shuang's sincerity, he could help him win him back.
However, Emperor Jingming had completely forgotten all of this.
After the two emerged from the Mirror of Past Lives, only Shen Zihuai remained in the main hall, sitting in the highest position, his sword tip touching the ground, the blade stained with blood.
The hall was in a mess, even worse than before, clearly indicating that a fight had taken place here when the two of them entered the Mirror of Past Lives.
Lou Tinglan calmly said, "He's shackled, and with Qi Feng guarding him, he shouldn't have gone very far."
After closing his eyes and scanning for traces of spiritual energy, he said firmly, "Found it, come with me."
Ran Qinghe vaguely felt that something was wrong. She was the one who wanted to run away at the beginning, so why did she collude with the people of the Discipline Hall in just a few days?
No, it can't be called colluding; perhaps "going along with the crowd" would be a more appropriate description.
Although that's what she thought in her heart, her body still followed Lou Tinglan and chased after her.
It's the Imperial Preceptor's residence again.
She and Lou Tinglan passed through the moon gate, skimmed over the larkspur grass, and entered the central, open-air pavilion.
All four huge sliding windows were raised high, with fine bamboo blinds hanging above them. Lou Shuang sat on a bamboo couch in front of the window, picking up a white stone.
Ran Qinghe was momentarily dazed. This scene was exactly the same as the one in the mirror of the past, the only difference being that Shen Zihuai was missing from the other side.
She sat down opposite her without any hesitation, dropped a chess piece, and broke the chessboard. Lou Shuang was indeed faster than her.
"What, you finally couldn't take it anymore, so you beat up Chen Zihuai and ran away?"
Lou Shuangyi couldn't maintain his gentlemanly demeanor when he met her. He said angrily, "Why do you, an outsider, meddle in the affairs of the Discipline Hall?"
Ran Qinghe leaned against the low table, picked up a chess piece, tossed it high into the air, and caught it again.
"Who knows? Maybe I'm just bored?"
Lou Shuang was momentarily speechless. After a pause, he casually asked, feigning nonchalance:
"How is she?"
Ran Qinghe asked knowingly, "Who are you talking about?" Then she suddenly realized, "Oh, that vengeful spirit? What else can we do? The grudge hasn't been resolved, so we have to forcibly exterminate her."
After saying that, she winked at Lou Tinglan, who was standing behind Lou Shuang, signaling him to be quiet.
Lou Shuang suddenly stood up: "How could that be? Didn't you take her to see Shen Zihuai?"
Ran Qinghe shrugged: "Who knows? Maybe the person she wants to see isn't Shen Zihuai?"
Lou Shuang clenched her fists. "How could it not be?"
Ran Qinghe leaned closer and stared into his eyes. Although his face was covered in scars, his eyes were pitch black. With the scattered light, one could vaguely make out the shadow of a handsome young man.
Lou Tinglan silently sat down between the two, keeping them a little distance apart.
Ran Qinghe glanced at him strangely, then said to Lou Shuang, "Tell me, why did it initially conclude that you carried Chen Zihuai's aura?"
Lou Shuang avoided her probing gaze: "What else could it be? It mistook me for someone else."
Lou Tinglan pondered for a moment, then said seriously, "Wraiths recognize people by their aura. Everyone's aura is different, which is why they can haunt their vengeful master until death."
Lou Shuang, seeing that he had been exposed, changed the subject in a sarcastic tone, saying, "You, a little old-fashioned person who has been guarding the Discipline Hall for a hundred years, actually know quite a lot."
Ran Qinghe chuckled. It turned out she wasn't the only one who thought that way. Sure enough, anyone who saw him would laugh at him for being such a stickler for tradition.
Lou Tinglan was not angry, and retorted seriously, "Sixth Elder is wrong. It's not that he has been guarding the hall for a hundred years. Sometimes he also takes on tasks outside the hall."
Lou Shuang snorted: "That old bastard Lou Yi, what good things could he have left you? It's probably all leftovers that others picked and chose before dumping them all on you. No wonder you're bullied since you have no parents."
Ran Qinghe suppressed her smile: "You don't need to force a change of topic. Tell me, you've tried to save Ran Qinghe time and time again, is it really because of your agreement with Shen Zihuai? I don't think so."
Lou Shuang astutely noticed the flaw in her words: "How did you know about my agreement with Shen Zihuai? It did indeed see Shen Zihuai, so has it resolved its grudge?"
Ran Qinghe said frankly, "Yes, but..."
Lou Shuang's heart tightened: "But what?"
Ran Qinghe said, "But what it saw was not only Shen Zihuai, but also you, who was opposite Shen Zihuai. Tell me, who was it that made it resolve the grudge?"
Lou Shuang feigned composure and said, "What does this have to do with me?"
Ran Qinghe took out the Mirror of Past Lives: "It's fine if you don't tell me. I'll just go into this mirror again and look for your whereabouts, Grand Preceptor, to see if you once encountered a girl while wearing Shen Zihuai's face?"
Lou Shuang slumped his shoulders, looking utterly dejected, and said in a low voice, "Since you've already guessed it, why bother asking me?"
Indeed, it was clearly him who met Ran Qinghe first.
After escaping from the Tower of Babel, he hid in the mortal realm, concealing his presence and pretending to be no different from an ordinary mortal. However, his face, gnawed by vengeful spirits, made him repulsive to everyone. Even when he was peacefully living as a beggar, people would deliberately sabotage him and push him into the street.
It was at that moment, as she rode through the streets, that he tumbled under her horse's hooves. She clearly saw him, yet she did not try to avoid him. Just as he was about to risk using his skills, she tightened the reins and leaped directly above him, narrowly avoiding his body. He had to admit, she was the most skilled equestrian woman he had ever seen.
She nimbly rolled off the bed, reached out her hand to him, and showed no disdain for his face. Perhaps it was the gentle sunlight that day that shone on his profile, making him appear less frightening.
But deep down, he knew that her beauty deserved the most handsome man in the world. Knowing it was despicable, he still used the forbidden face-changing technique to steal the face of Shen Zihuai, whom he had met once before.
But later, she met the real Shen Zihuai, and the two hit it off immediately. Indeed, who could abandon a virtuous and upright gentleman for such an ugly and repulsive face?
He could only hide in the shadows, like a maggot, spying on their great love.
Each time, she was willing to run into the gleam of Prince Yong's spear for the sake of Shen Zihuai, and even if she hesitated only once, he would save her.
He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, as if trying to get rid of all the thoughts in his mind.
He used to mock Lou Yunya for being willing to die for a woman and even fall into mortal evil, but when it came to himself, he was also imprisoned.
Love is truly a deadly thing.
He frowned, suppressing his emotions, and changed the subject, asking, "Why are you two still lingering here?"
Lou Tinglan said, "I'm sorry, Sixth Elder, it was already wrong of you to use the forbidden face-changing technique, and you also stole the Mirror of Past Lives, disrupting the normal operation of the mortal realm several times. Therefore, please come with me to the Hall of Discipline."
Lou Shuang, with a calm smile, unhurriedly retorted:
"Where's the evidence? If you're talking about forbidden face-changing techniques, my face is perfectly fine here, disgusting others. What face did I change to? Besides, if I stole the Mirror of Past Lives, why is it on her now?"
"Could it be that you're trying to frame me to protect your sweetheart?"
They both blurted it out at the same time.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Ran Qinghe raised her hand and slammed the chessboard to the ground.
"Elder, be careful what you say." Lou Tinglan stood up abruptly.
He pointed to a swallow that had somehow landed on the windowsill and said, "The Discipline Hall has the Eye of the Swallow that recorded everything that happened before. If the Sixth Elder wants to defend himself, he can come with me to confront him in court."
Lou Shuang's eyes flashed, and he raised his hand to strike down Fei Yan, but his hands and feet were bound. He stared at Lou Tinglan and sneered helplessly: "It's been so many years, and this damned swallow that Lou Yunya created is still so annoying."
The words implied something.
Lou Tinglan's eyes flickered slightly as she used magic to drive Fei Yan away: "What exactly does the Sixth Elder want to say?"
Lou Shuang leaned back and said slowly, "What do you want me to say? What do I have to say?"
Lou Tinglan said coldly, "Elder, you've mentioned my father repeatedly. Don't you have something to say to me?"
Lou Shuang laughed and said, "You are indeed very smart, just like your father. But you are also very good at trusting people." After saying that, he looked at his waist.
Lou Tinglan fumbled around for a moment and pulled out a neatly folded yellow talisman from the inside of his belt.
Judging from the style of the talisman, it is another voice transmission talisman, and it is also a voice transmission talisman that has already been activated.
He looked down at Ran Qinghe, his expression complex.
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