57 join forces
She wanted to ask him, "Why are you unhappy?"
The room was silent. Ying Jianhua's mind was racing. He silently said to Du Zhijin, "Find a place to hide first."
Du Zhijin disagreed. If it really was the great demon on the map, he would probably fall into danger again.
Last time, Huan Yao had already imprisoned him, and this time she would not release him no matter what.
A figure flickered on the door. Ying Jianhua was getting anxious, so she simply pushed her onto the couch without saying a word and ripped off the gauze curtain.
The Marquis's residence has two bedrooms, an inner one and an outer one. The inner bedroom is located at the back, and the bed is a canopy bed covered with a gauze curtain. You can't tell that there is a person hiding inside unless you look closely.
Du Zhijin lay back on the couch, stunned as he listened to him say in a low voice, "Whether it's human or demon, we'll know soon enough. Let's make a deal: if I say 'Huaizhou,' you'll come out, okay?"
"Huaizhou" was her courtesy name, which he had never called her before, and he would never rashly call her by the wrong name.
Having said that, he lifted the gauze curtain, and his figure disappeared into the white curtain shadows.
Ying Jianhua had his reasons for not wanting Du Zhijin to appear. He wondered, why did these monsters always find him first, time and time again?
Last time, Du Zhijin killed the demon before it could answer. Perhaps this time he can find the answer from the demon.
Having made up her mind, Ying Jianhua pulled out the jade hairpin and hid it in her sleeve, while simultaneously ruffling her hair and pretending to have just woken up.
He opened the door, but didn't let Wu Ti in immediately. Leaning against the door, he spoke calmly, "Miss Wu, is there something you need?"
Wu Ti bowed slightly, the hair ornament on her head swaying as she did so. Ying Jianhua observed her movements and quickly judged in her mind: whether in terms of clothing, speech, or behavior, Wu Ti perfectly met the standards of a young lady from a noble family.
She was virtuous, beautiful, and gentle and polite in her dealings with others... far superior to the demons she had encountered before.
Was she hiding it too well?
"My aunt woke up this morning and asked me to bring you some things." Hearing this, Ying Jianhua noticed that she was carrying a food box and had to step aside to let her in.
Once inside, Wu Ti didn't look around. She placed the food box on the table and took out a plate of...steamed shad?
The pupils should appear slightly constricted in the painting.
He wouldn't mistake it; this was the same steamed shad that Du Zhijin had served him at the family dinner, even the orchids served as a side dish were exactly the same.
Why would the kitchen be making this so early in the morning? Unless, she instructed them to.
He remembered that Wu Ti had given him a special look during the family dinner. Could it be that she had been eyeing him ever since then?
A chill ran down his spine, and he unconsciously took a half step back, quietly gripping the jade hairpin tightly, his fingers poised to press the mechanism at any moment.
"...Thank you for your trouble, Miss. If there's nothing else, Miss Wu can go back now."
Upon hearing this, Wu Ti raised his head and glanced at him.
She had a pair of gentle almond-shaped eyes, and her eyebrows were drawn into a light and thin willow leaf shape. Logically speaking, he should be secretly pleased to be looked at by such a beauty.
But Ying Jianhua only felt a deep sense of fear.
It's so similar... The monster and the human, the eyes, the expression, even the rhythm of the pulse... it's unbelievable how similar they are.
She seemed to sense his tension and said softly, "Why is Young Master Mo so wary?"
"We share the same goal; we are kindred spirits."
As soon as he finished speaking, Ying Jianhua heard a very soft sword clang, which was Du Zhijin's way of signaling that she was ready.
The arrow is on the bowstring.
"Huai..." "Are you willing to watch your beloved marry someone else?"
The words "Huaizhou" were on the tip of his tongue, but he abruptly stopped himself with a cough. He suddenly covered his mouth and coughed violently, using this to hide the hurried footsteps inside the room.
Wu Ti was startled and poured him a cup of tea when she saw it on the table. He took it but didn't drink it, fearing she had poisoned it.
After a slight pause, he gripped the cup and asked hesitantly, "What did Miss Wu mean by what she just said?"
Yu Guangzhong, the gauze curtains were shaking violently, indicating that she was also puzzled.
Wu Ti, unaware of the commotion inside, spoke to him as usual: "Young Master Mo, are you unaware yet? The Lady of the Marquis takes a great liking to Miss Mu and is already selecting an auspicious day to have my cousin marry her."
Marriage? Du Zhijin and Zhao Zhonggan?
Seeing his furrowed brows, Wu Ti smiled instead: "As expected, I wasn't wrong. Young Master Mo, you are in love with Miss Mu, aren't you?"
Ying Jianhua: "...But what does all this have to do with you?"
He wanted to refute, to deny, to explain that he did not have feelings for Du Zhijin.
But... what will Du Zhijin think after hearing this?
Wu Ti chuckled softly, slowly raising a pair of long, delicate hands, white as jade, as if sighing and reminiscing: "When I was very young, these hands weren't like this. Just because my cousin recited the line 'The woman by the wine shop is like the moon, her fair wrists like frost and snow,' I never touched the zither, lute, or pipa again, for fear of breaking them. Every winter, I would deliberately immerse my hands in the icy spring water for half an hour at a time."
“But none of that matters. My cousin loves travelogues and poetry, so I want to learn that too; my aunt often reads Buddhist scriptures, so I want to learn that too; my uncle loves the Four Books and Five Classics, so I want to learn that too. Besides that, I want to learn music, chess, calligraphy, painting, household management, and so on. I studied for eight years, from the age of seven to fifteen. At that time, everyone told me that my aunt liked me and that I would marry my cousin and become the next Lady of Jianchang.”
She looked at him, her eyes filled with sorrow: "But now, my cousin is going to marry another woman, his senior sister... Young Master Mo, tell me, if it were you, wouldn't you resent it?"
The painting should leave one speechless.
If it were him, and his meticulously planned revenge failed and his years of hard work went up in flames, he would not only resent but also hate.
“I want to be the future Lady of Jianchang, but you don’t want Miss Mu to marry someone else. Why don’t we join forces and get things back on track?”
Her words were reasonable and well-founded, which fully explained why she suddenly came to him and said, "We are the same kind of people."
But... "Have you ever considered that Miss Mu... Miss Mu didn't even know about this marriage?" Ying Jianhua couldn't help but ask.
This is absurd. Although he knew that Lady Hou intended to matchmake Du Zhijin and Zhao Zhonggan, and that Zhao Zhonggan also had some feelings for Du Zhijin, it was impossible no matter what!
"She is a Taoist, and she rarely gets involved in worldly affairs."
"You'd remain unmoved even in the face of immense wealth?" Wu Ti shook his head, his gaze filled with a hint of pity. "Is that what she was saying to you?"
Ying Jianhua opened his mouth, and for the first time understood what it meant to be a mute eating bitter melon, leaving him somewhat amused and exasperated.
"...If I agree to join forces with you, what will you do?" After a long pause, he decided to follow her lead and try to find out more information.
Seeing that he finally relented, Wu Ti smiled with satisfaction: "You don't need to do anything. Just lead Miss Mu to the shore of Qinyun Lake at the second quarter of Shenshi (3:45 PM)."
Finally, she glanced at him and added, "Don't worry, I won't hurt your sweetheart."
Ying Jianhua really wanted to ask her to stop referring to her as "my sweetheart." Du Zhijin was inside; with her hearing, what couldn't she hear?
Having achieved his goal, Wu Ti did not linger. He turned and headed towards the Lady Hou's room, presumably to attend to her illness again.
To be fair, this cousin cared a lot about her aunt, even though there were other motives involved.
"The red dot disappeared when Wu Ti was talking to you."
Du Zhijin's voice came from behind. Ying Jianhua was taken aback and asked, "What does it mean?"
She shook her head: "I don't know. This demon is very mysterious and unpredictable. Maps often can't track it."
"Then, can we confirm that Wu Ti is a demon?"
Du Zhijin looked serious and shook his head again: "If the map lights up again next time, that's fine, but not now."
All that effort for nothing.
However, when Ying Jianhua glanced at her expression, her heart tightened, and she felt that her efforts had not been in vain.
"Will you... marry Zhao Zhonggan?"
"No." The answer was firm and resolute.
A lull in her throat, followed by a wave of bitterness, like drinking very bitter medicine. Because she said:
"I will not marry anyone."
After saying that, she blinked and added cautiously, "I wouldn't marry him."
He loosened his grip on the jade hairpin, lowered his head, looked at her clothes with the same pattern as his own, and said softly, "I know."
I know you will not linger in this world. You will fly to the high mountains, cross the clouds, and stand on the Bright Moon Palace to stand shoulder to shoulder with your master.
I know what you pursue and what you hate, and I happen to be the kind of person you hate.
A breeze swept through the hall, lifting the corners of two similar garments, whispering sweet nothings to each other.
He suddenly smiled.
Even if he went to great lengths to wear the same clothes as her, they were ultimately not the same kind of people.
When will the prophecy of never seeing each other again in this life come true?
————
Du Zhijin felt that something was very wrong with Ying Jianhua.
Although he didn't show it on his face after meeting Wu Ti, the months they spent together convinced her that he was feeling lost.
It was a very complex emotion that she couldn't describe. She just felt that when he was staring blankly at a cloud, she wanted to become that cloud.
Become a cloud, become the wind, become a speck of dust, so that you can see his eyes instead of being avoided by him.
This wasn't the first time she'd felt this way. She thought for a moment, and finally dredged it up from a corner of her memory.
The day after he wore the blue gauze robe last time, it was the same.
He pretended not to care, but his eyes and brows were full of the wetness of rain.
She wanted to ask him, "Why are you unhappy?" If Doctor Ying was also a sword cultivator, then she could use sword cultivator methods to make him happy again. They could fight, win or lose, and if necessary, she could even lose to him.
But Ying Jianhua was different. He liked to read books she couldn't understand, so she could only find answers in books.
She opened the book that she had brought all the way from Wanze City to the Marquis's residence, and paused on the first page.
"My beloved..." Wu Ti seemed to have said something similar. She said, "Are you willing to watch your beloved marry someone else?"
Wu Ti seems to have mistaken her for A Mo's sweetheart. Is A Mo angry because of this?
She didn't know.
But the thought of that possibility casts a shadow over my heart.
————
At 3:45 PM, by Qinyun Lake.
Du Zhijin took the initiative to ask to come, and Ying Jianhua had no choice but to agree.
Wu Ti had clearly made ample preparations; not only were they present by the lake, but also the Marquis of Jianchang, his concubine, his second son, and his third daughter.
Looking at the people in front of her who largely overlapped with those at the family banquet, Ying Jianhua had a vague sense of unease.
This setting... and it's by the lake... it shouldn't be what he's thinking, right?
Du Zhijin: "Ah, Madam Hou and Xiao Zhao have also arrived."
Following the sound, Wu Ti and Zhao Zhonggan were seen supporting Lady Hou on either side, seemingly intending to come here to admire the flowers. The two groups met, and the concubines and others bowed to Lady Hou. From a distance, Ying Jianhua could not hear what they were saying.
Du Zhijin, who could read lips, relayed the story to him in broken sentences: "...Last night's events...were a close call, but thankfully the Lady Hou was blessed...the elixir is very useful, we should stock up on more...I heard it was that new young master Mo who saved her, ah."
"What's wrong?" she suddenly stopped, and he asked, puzzled.
She said, "They're arguing. Xiao Zhao and his dad are arguing again."
Ying Jianhua sensed something was wrong. Looking up, he saw that the Marquis of Jianchang was agitated, and sure enough, the crowd on the bridge began to shove and push. Coincidentally, Wu Ti was protecting the Marquis's wife right by the bridge.
"ah!"
With a piercing scream, Wu Ti fell into the lake. Lady Hou was pushed to Zhao Zhonggan's side, crying out in panic, "Ti'er! Zhonggan, quickly save Ti'er!"
"Cousin, save me!" Wu Ti struggled in the lake, the splashes growing smaller and smaller, and he was about to lose consciousness. Zhao Zhonggan no longer hesitated, stepped onto the railing and was about to jump down when suddenly, a figure leaped into the lake, a long arm scooped Wu Ti up and pulled him out of the water.
Wu Ti was dumbfounded.
Ying Jianhua closed her eyes.
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