Chapter 23: Beloved Things
It was late at night. After cleaning twice, Jiaoran finally got it clean and prepared to go to bed. The young master didn't like the smell of dirt or oil on her body.
This whole day seemed like a whole year. She was exhausted and her mind was constantly thinking about the troubles of her senior sisters and brothers.
I was thinking too much and couldn't fall asleep for a while.
She just couldn't understand why two people who were doing well would end up in the current situation because of a grudge.
It is obvious that Senior Sister likes Bu Yue so much, and Bu Yue is mean to everyone, but Jiaoran knows that he really cares about Senior Sister. If there is anyone more important than himself, it must be Senior Sister.
Jiaoran opened the door and it was Shao Feng who knocked.
Without even looking at her, he muttered, "The Master wants you to come over."
Jiao Ran yawned, "It's not my turn to be on guard tonight. It's not my turn yet."
"I know, but the Master asked you to come over."
She turned and left, unwilling to look at Jiaoran again.
Jiaoran put on his coat. The wind at night was not cold, but carried the fragrance of flowers. When the beginning of summer came in a few days, the wind at night would be warmer, but the mountains were still not hotter than the mountains below.
On the wide corridor, Jiaoran actually met a phoenix chick.
But she just saluted, and there were eyes everywhere. They wouldn't be stupid enough to say more here.
The silver bead on the phoenix chick's waist seemed to have accidentally fallen to the ground, so Jiaoran bent down to pick it up.
When Jiaoran handed it to him, he heard him whisper, "To ensure the grand wedding of the young master, I will disrupt the guests during the wedding. You wait for my instructions."
Before she could react, the phoenix chick left, leaving her alone in silence in the night wind.
The young phoenix's words were further answered by the young master.
It is true.
As she held out her hand, waiting for the young master to apply the medicine, he suddenly said, "My uncle wants me to marry into the Yizhou Governor's Office."
He used a silver hairpin to pick up some ointment and gently applied it to the palm of her hand which was cut by the lens.
She wanted to say no, she was not that delicate at all, and that if she waited any longer it would heal by the time it was done. But she was worried about what he would say next, so she stretched out her hand without saying a word.
"Madam Cheng, you saw it too, right?"
Jiao Ran nodded, "I see."
He looked into her eyes and asked, "Do you like her?"
The lady of the Cheng family was about the same age as Jiaoran, about sixteen or seventeen years old, a graceful and beautiful lady.
She walked with the Chai family and other noble ladies of Xiu Tu, looking dazzling.
Not only is her clothing gorgeous, but her appearance is also different from that of ordinary women. She has the grace and nobility of women from the Central Plains, and her conspicuous high nose makes her more heroic than women from the Central Plains. If she is compared to a peony, the peony lacks her elegance. If she is compared to a winter plum, the winter plum lacks her splendor.
Jiaoran had never seen such a princess in the palace. If there really were such rich girls standing in front of her, she felt that they might not be as beautiful as the lady from the Cheng family.
Because she was beautiful, of noble status, and had a bad temper, the Governor's Office never made things difficult for her.
Jiaoran lowered her head and saw a cut on the palm of her hand, which was actually quite deep. When she was cleaning the mud at night, she didn't feel any severe pain, only a faint burning discomfort, which showed how insensitive she was.
"I heard from Xiaoju that you had a conflict with her?"
Jiaoran said no, "I accidentally slipped and fell beside her."
He listened carefully to her words, and accidentally pressed the silver hairpin in his hand hard. Jiaoran couldn't help frowning, "hiss——"
"I'm sorry, my hand isn't very accurate," he said with a smile.
Mu Jin continued, "Do you think she's the kind of woman your uncle described, someone who values her family and is graceful and elegant?"
Jiao Ran thought for a moment and said, "Well...I guess so."
He laughed a few times. Jiaoran felt that Mu Jin must really like that woman. Her manners did indeed exude a moving beauty, and it was not surprising that any man liked her.
He applied medicine to Jiaoran, and the ointment dried quickly in the wind. Jiaoran stared at the wound and thought of what his senior sister said: the mirror was broken, and even if it was repaired, the reflection of the person was also broken.
Jiaoran's mind raced, and he couldn't help but ask him, "Does the love between man and woman that the poem says, 'One day apart feels like three months,' really exist in this world?"
"Why are you suddenly asking me this?" Mu Jin looked at her.
"I'm just curious if it's hard to maintain a good start over time. Because people's hearts change all the time. Isn't that what the young master said?"
Hearing this, he asked Jiaoran to turn his wrist so that his palm was facing up. Jiaoran hesitated for a moment, but still did as he was told. Then he lowered his head, and half of his face, mouth and nose were covered by Jiaoran's palm.
His breath was like a silk thread passing through the wound on her palm.
Mu Jin's soft lips were imprinted in her palm.
The fog that had been covering her heart dissipated.
Something gradually became clear, and at the same time, it made her extremely anxious and uneasy.
For example, when she was on night watch, he always said he was afraid of the dark and asked her to sit by his bed and read, even if she read haltingly.
For example, during the cold rain in late winter, he insisted on going out to look for fireflies at night, and his shoes and socks were soaked. Jiaoran changed his shoes and socks for him, and used her hands to warm his cold feet and calves. His eyes followed her closely.
For example, when she picked crabapple flowers and gave them to him, he smiled so happily, as if he had never had any worries in his life.
…
How could she have thought that it was just a master's kindness to his servant?
When he raised his face to look into Jiaoran's eyes, she resolutely avoided his gaze and looked elsewhere.
He was silent, then gave a dry laugh, his face still as innocent as ever. "After I marry her, will Madam Cheng think I'm reckless if I kiss her hand like this?"
Jiaoran breathed a sigh of relief and stiffly withdrew his hand. His kiss mark still seemed to remain on his palm. "No, between husband and wife, how can I be so reckless..."
Then he said nothing more. He always finished what he started, but he forgot to wipe the ointment on the silver hairpin and just left it there.
Jiaoran was still sitting there. He had fallen asleep, and his breathing was steady, no different from usual.
It was as if nothing had happened between the two of them just now, and the conversation disappeared like smoke.
The next day soon arrived at the beginning of June and the weather became hot.
Everyone in Siyuyuan is preparing for the wedding, and many people in the mansion are also busy with it.
Everyone is waiting.
During this period, Jiaoran had already learned the hiding place of "Gao Shan Shou".
She found an opportunity to visit the place twice, and just as Fenghuangchi had said, the guards were very strict.
It would be impossible for her to accomplish anything with her mediocre skills alone, but fortunately, the people in the city were already prepared to sneak into the mansion.
The waiting process was arduous and long. Jiaoran was getting impatient, and so was Fenghuangchu. Compared to Jiaoran, he seemed to find it even harder to wait. Everyone was getting impatient.
Jiaoran felt that if she waited any longer, she would definitely go crazy. It would be better if she started stealing "Gao Shan Shou" tomorrow. That way, there would be a deadline for her life or death.
During the marriage, the young master fell ill again and the marriage had to be postponed. After this, his health became worse and he was restless. Sometimes he would even knock over the chess pot while playing chess and accidentally break the tea set while tasting tea.
Compared to this endless waiting, the changes that took place in Mu Jin were even more difficult for Jiaoran to accept.
He stopped teaching her calligraphy and reading, and instead started painting with Mrs. Cheng.
A match made in heaven.
For some reason, Cheng Yuan stopped making things difficult for her, but he still didn't look at her in a good mood.
When they were in the study, Jiaoran always went to serve them. Originally, there was a rule that men and women should not meet each other before marriage, but since Mrs. Cheng had already arrived at the Governor's Mansion, it would be very strange to detain her, so they simply stopped restricting her.
In the summer, she came more often.
On the day when the Impatiens flowers in Siyu Garden bloomed, Mrs. Cheng came again.
The weather was very good that day. The air in the mountains was fresh and clean. The sun became scorching hot at noon. There was a fragrance of flowers and a fishy smell of soil in the Impatiens bushes. Jiaoran and Xiaoju were there picking the juice of Impatiens flowers to prepare to paint Cheng Yuan's nails in the afternoon.
The clusters of buds of Impatiens are so bright that they make your eyes swell.
She sat beside the balsam bushes and talked to Xiaoju, but her eyes involuntarily looked for the young master.
So she saw through the window that the young man was painting. When she sat there looking at him, he seemed to be completely unaware of her gaze. His eyes were only on the lady from the Cheng family, and he was only concerned with talking to her.
She put her hands on his shoulders and stood behind him watching him paint orchids.
Then she said something and laughed with her. Mu Jin slowly held up one of her hands and kissed the palm of her hand.
Exactly the same thing he had done to her that day.
That's right, he was just using her to practice, for fear of offending the lady.
Jiaoran's tears came out as soon as she lowered her head. She blinked several times before she could stop them. She felt extremely aggrieved and her nose was so sore that she couldn't even smell the fragrance of the flowers.
The air grew even hotter, and the Impatiens flowers blossomed like fire. Sitting beside this "fire," how could she not feel hot? Jiaoran dusted herself off, picked up the flower basket, and said, "We've picked enough. Let's go."
Xiaoju was pulled up by her.
Seeing Mu Jin do this, she should have been happy. The more Mu Jin liked her, the faster their wedding would be held. Maybe they could find an auspicious day to get married at the end of June.
The end is coming soon.
She would leave the Governor's Mansion and return to Mianyuan to live the same life as before.
If A Niang and her friends get the secret book, they might be able to defeat all the other heroes in the martial arts conference held every four years. In the future, Huiyingmen will no longer be a low-ranking and unknown sect in the martial arts world.
Huiyingmen will grow stronger, and the senior brothers and sisters as well as the younger brothers and sisters will have a better life in the future.
But...Mrs. Cheng had pushed her so hard before, and Mu Jin was always so frail and pale. She was worried that one day she would accidentally break him or hurt him.
Could she accompany him through the long dark nights in the Governor's Mansion as carefully as she did?
Can she tell him stories about the heroes of the world when he tosses and turns in bed?
Could she hold his hand when he was as cold as a corpse in winter?
Yes, it should be. If they are close, Mrs. Cheng can also smell the fragrance of plants on Mu Jin's clothes, and she will sniff out his position in the dark room as if she is poisoned, just like her.
She turned her back and stopped looking. She felt that the sun above her head was too hot. The fragrance of the marigolds had never been so strong. It was so fragrant that it made her dizzy. Every flower and every blade of grass was unbearable for her.
After Mrs. Cheng left, Xiaoju asked Jiaoran to clean up the study.
She said nothing. The young master was sitting on the side reading a book. When he saw her coming, he said, "Some ink has smudged on the table. The paper is too thin these days. I'm going to tell my uncle to change it."
Jiaoran nodded, walked to the desk, and stacked the papers in a spiral shape.
The rustling sound of paper blocked the two from talking again.
It rained heavily that night, and there were constant thunders in the rain.
Jiaoran walked through the courtyard and pavilions to Mu Jin's room. The water in the corridor was very deep. Fortunately, the house was built on several stone steps and was not submerged by the water.
She waded through the rain, her shoes and socks soaked, and pushed open the door of Mu Jin's room.
There was no light in the room, and Jiaoran thought he was already asleep, so he didn't make any sound.
There was thunder and lightning, and the lightning suddenly illuminated the familiar figure in the house.
He just stood there, motionless, like a stone statue.
Jiao Ran was startled by him and asked in a trembling voice, "Master, why are you still awake?"
Xiaoju lit a lamp from behind the screen and said, "Damn it, I couldn't find a candle just now."
There was a constant sound of dripping water coming from the eaves. The rain was so heavy that the window could not be opened even a crack.
Xiaoju went out, and Jiaoran was about to follow her, but was stopped by Mu Jin.
He turned around and asked Jiaoran to take off his coat, then lay down on the bed and lay there motionless.
Jiaoran moved a stool and sat next to him as usual.
She thought, if only he said something, she would answer him, no matter what it was, it would be better than having nothing to say to each other.
It was as if all the air in the bedroom had been sucked out. She had difficulty breathing and couldn't sit still. When he seemed to have fallen asleep, Jiaoran could no longer bear it and stood up to leave.
She was more agile than an ordinary woman who did not practice martial arts, but perhaps the young master had anticipated that she would stand up at this moment, and was even more agile than her.
He casually grabbed her arm.
Perhaps she was distracted and did not expect him to do so. He pulled her lightly and pulled her to his side.
Jiaoran didn't know whether she didn't want to get up or the young master had recovered some strength recently. Just as she was about to move, he grabbed her with one arm as if in some kind of grappling position, and she couldn't move.
Her mind was blank. In the darkness, she could only hear his and her own breathing. Mu Jin was tall and thin due to illness, and his bones hurt her a little, but he held her down and she couldn't bear to break free. He had never practiced martial arts, and if she hurt him without knowing the severity of the problem, she would feel so guilty.
Things have come to this point, even if she was a fool she should have understood it long ago.
He purposely refused to speak, stopped being alone with her before the wedding, and refused to smile at her again.
It all started from this silent night.
When Jiaoran woke up the next day, the rain had already stopped.
She and Shao Feng dressed and washed the young master. His face was paler than usual. He didn't look like a man who was about to get married, but rather like a ghost about to enter the grave.
Shao Feng suddenly discovered that the young master's jade ring was missing.
Upon hearing the sound, Jiaoran also hurriedly looked for him in the room.
"Did you go out yesterday, sir?" Jiaoran asked Shaofeng.
Mu Jin stood there and said, "I didn't go out."
"So the ring must still be in Siyu Garden, and we will definitely find it." Jiaoran comforted him.
He nodded. "It doesn't matter if you can't find it. It's just a relic of my mother."
Jiaoran lay under the bed and looked, and finally saw something that was glowing green. She stretched out her arm to reach it, and it took a lot of effort to take out the ring.
"Maybe it fell down while he was sleeping at night." Jiaoran washed it with clean water, wiped it clean with a handkerchief and put it on him.
Shao Feng also breathed a sigh of relief, "It's good that it's not lost."
That's when he said, "If you want it, it's for you."
Shao Feng was stunned on the spot, staring blankly at Jiaoran who was putting the ring on the young master.
Jiaoran was also stunned as he held the ring. After a moment, he firmly pushed the ring onto his finger, shook his head and said, "This is your beloved thing, please keep it safe."
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