Chapter 112 [VIP] Shadow Guard (Ending)
Nan Yan finally took the medicine obediently, but she still didn't wait until she recovered to seek justice, because Zhao Shiqi came to her first.
Ye Qiuchen was not at home that afternoon as he had gone out to buy medicine. Nan Yan felt the house was too stuffy, so she sat on a stone bench in the yard to get some fresh air, wondering how this world would end.
At this time, she heard a knock on the door. At first she thought it was Ye Qiuchen who had returned. She walked over and opened the door, only to find that it was the person she had always been thinking about, Zhao Shiqi, standing at the door looking at her.
Nan Yan's expression… was stunned.
She didn't seem to expect to see him at her door. They hadn't seen each other since the last time. She was a little surprised when she suddenly saw him.
But she reacted quickly, pursed her lips, and showed a faint smile to the person opposite her, with deliberate alienation.
"Prince...what are you doing here?"
She called him...Prince?
Zhao Shiqi's eyelashes trembled slightly. He didn't know why, but seeing her distant and indifferent attitude, he felt a little stuffy in his chest for a moment, as if an unspeakable bitterness was spreading and brewing in his chest.
In fact, after accidentally hurting her that day, he had been regretting it deep down. That regret seemed to have slowly taken root in his heart, making him feel a dull pain whenever he thought of her, and he had no interest in doing anything.
He wanted to come find her, but he was worried that she would show such a cold and distant attitude towards him, just like the look she gave him that day, which suddenly made Zhao Shiqi feel endless panic and uneasiness in his heart.
He pursed his lips and looked at the face of the person opposite him. After not seeing her for a few days, she seemed to have lost a lot of weight. Her chin had become pointed, her face was very pale, and her lips were also pale, without a trace of blood.
"Is your hand wound better?"
Zhao Shiqi asked almost subconsciously, his eyes fell on her fingertips again, and he felt a little regretful after he finished speaking, because the injury was caused by him accidentally.
Nan Yan seemed a little surprised. She didn't expect him to care about her injury. Her fingertips curled up and a calm expression appeared on her face. "It's just a minor injury. It's not a big deal anymore."
She lowered her head again after she finished speaking, her dark hair hanging down in front of her chest, occasionally messed up by the wind, sticking to her cheeks, making her face look even paler. She showed a relieved smile, "If you're here to apologize, then there's no need, because this is originally my own problem, and it has nothing to do with you."
"No, no, I'm not here just to apologize." Zhao Shiqi said it without thinking, but in fact he didn't know what was wrong with him. Some hidden thought in his heart drove him to come find her.
Especially after hearing what she said, he unconsciously remembered what Doctor Zhang said that day, and subconsciously asked, "I heard that you have a kind of life-saving dragon that can be used as medicine in Qixia Villa. I... Yanyan is sick, and the doctor said that only that dragon can save her life. I want to ask if you have it?"
He immediately regretted saying this.
He felt like he didn't know what was going on. Why did his mouth become so stupid when he was talking to her?
Obviously he didn't think like that in his heart. He just wanted to come and see her, apologize to her, and make up for the wrong thing he did that day. He really didn't mean to hurt her.
Nan Yan was a little stunned after hearing that. She raised her head, her eyes that were like crescent moons were clear and distinct, with a hint of disbelief in them, and she just stared at him blankly.
After a long while, she looked away, and then Zhao Shiqi heard her ask in a hoarse voice, "So, you came to me just to ask for medicine?"
Her tone seemed a little depressed.
Zhao Shiqi's breathing stopped for a moment. He didn't know that she would react so strongly when she heard about this. He was just making up an excuse. He didn't expect to gain anything from her, let alone make her sad again. He just wanted to have enough reasons to compensate her.
Zhao Shiqi's lips moved, and a hint of apology appeared in his eyes. He was about to explain something, but was interrupted by the other party's voice, "Do you know that it is difficult to raise that pig?"
She smiled at him, and there seemed to be no warmth in her eyes anymore.
Zhao Shiqi looked at her in a daze. He didn't know what to say. It seemed like he had done something to upset her again.
Nan Yan pursed her lips and sighed softly. Her eyes fell on the other person's stunned expression. Her voice suddenly became a little melancholy, as if she was distressed. "It's not impossible to give it to you, but what do you want in exchange?"
She tilted her head slightly, then pursed her lips and chuckled, staring at him half seriously and half jokingly and asked, "How about you marry me?"
Zhao Shiqi felt his heart shudder slightly for a moment. He didn't know why his heart was beating so fast at this moment, as if his whole body became tense. He looked at her without blinking, and suddenly felt a little timid. He didn't know whether what she said was true or false. She seemed to be just saying it casually, but there was an indescribable seriousness in her eyes.
Zhao Shiqi clenched his fingers unconsciously, looking at the calm eyes of the man in front of him, and finally suppressed the inexplicable emotions in his chest. He turned his head away uncomfortably, lowered his eyes and said in a muffled voice,
"I...I'm already engaged."
Come to think of it, this guy is indeed quite principled.
Nan Yan glanced at him and felt that the situation before her was just like when they first met.
This guy has a very bad habit, which is that he never directly rejects the thoughts that he is unsure of. This actually just shows that he is very hesitant at the moment, and even a little confused about his own emotions, just like he was reluctant to be with her in the beginning.
Nan Yan remained calm in her heart, pursed her lips and chuckled, then added, "It doesn't matter if you don't want to marry me, then can you stay with me for one night?"
Zhao Shiqi looked at her in a daze.
There was a flash of surprise in those black and white eyes. He pursed his lips. At this moment, he really didn't understand what she meant. Did she want to... Just when he was hesitating whether to agree to it, she suddenly laughed, with her eyebrows curved, like a pear blossom in full bloom.
Even her pale face suddenly became more lively, with a hint of freshness on her face. She said gently, "Prince, are you mistakenly thinking that I am going to do something bad to you?"
Zhao Shiqi's breathing paused for a moment, and he felt his ears were slightly warm. His eyes fell on the smiling face, and he felt inexplicably familiar. He moved his fingers subconsciously, but did not touch her.
Nan Yan seemed not to notice his actions and continued, "Actually, I don't have any other intentions. I just want you to pretend to be my fiancé and stay with me for one night."
She sighed again as she spoke. She was feeling a little down as she said this, and the smile on her face gradually faded.
"The time I spent with him... was so short, so short that the day he left, I didn't even have the chance to tell him that I loved him and that he was the only one I would love in my life."
After she finished speaking, her eyes slowly fell on the familiar face in front of her, examining his features inch by inch, her eyes were distant,
It was as if I was looking at someone through him. His face seemed to be covered by a layer of mist, which made me feel powerless and unable to grasp it anymore. There was also a hint of regret and nostalgia on his face.
"Because you look so much like him, so much so that every time I see you, I mistake you for him."
"I wonder if you are willing to agree to my request? Just treat it as fulfilling my last wish. I won't do anything else to you, and I won't make you do anything embarrassing, okay?"
The other person's serious look suddenly showed a hint of expectation. Zhao Shiqi felt depressed, especially when being stared at like this. He found that he didn't even have the slightest thought of resistance, and agreed almost without hesitation.
"Yes, I promise."
He said yes, but for some reason he had a strange feeling in his heart. Pretending to be the man she liked and spending a night with her made him feel inexplicably sad and even had an unspeakable feeling of... rejection?
Nan Yan didn't seem to expect that he would actually agree. When she heard his voice, she raised her head and looked at him, only to find that he was just looking at her intently.
She smiled a relieved and gentle smile again, "This is actually my own selfishness. I haven't really said sorry to you all along."
She lowered her eyes again, her voice apologetic, "Actually, what happened that day was because I was too impulsive. It has nothing to do with you. I have always been the one who made the mistake. It is normal for you to feel annoyed by my repeated entanglements. And because of this incident, your fiancée is bedridden. I am really sorry. Whether you are willing to agree to my request or not, I will..."
Before she finished her words, Zhao Shiqi subconsciously took a step forward and blurted out, "I'm not reluctant, I agreed."
His anxious attitude seemed as if he was afraid that Nan Yan would go back on her word and refuse to agree. He paused for a moment after he finished speaking, and even Zhao Shiqi himself found it baffling.
He felt as if something was out of control, something was about to burst out, but he couldn't remember anything. Many times, when facing the person in front of him, many things were completely based on his own instincts, and even he himself didn't know what was going on?
Nan Yan was stunned for a moment, then raised her eyes and looked at him. Perhaps because the other person's tone was too firm, the smile on Nan Yan's face suddenly became more genuine. Then she tilted her head and said to him, "Then I'll go back to the house to change clothes, and then you can accompany me to visit a temple to pray for peace and blessings, okay?"
Zhao Shiqi glanced at her still pale face, hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded in agreement.
The City God Temple Fair on the seventh day of August is also very lively. Various small stalls are set up on the nearby streets from morning to night, selling rouge, powder, talisman paper, sandalwood, and various painted sugar dolls. The small business is in full swing.
Zhao Shiqi has never been used to such crowded places. The same thing happened last time when he accompanied Du Yuyan out. He lost her when he turned around without paying attention. He searched for her on the street for a long time before finding her.
But now, he seemed unaware of his own abnormality. All his attention was on the woman in front of him who kept squeezing into the crowd. He followed her almost closely, fearing that she would be squeezed by others. He even pushed back those women who accidentally approached him one by one.
The two of them walked along the street. She seemed to be particularly happy tonight. She walked briskly, and she would pull his sleeve with one hand to urge him to walk faster from time to time.
"Hurry up, there are still a lot of fun things ahead."
Zhao Shiqi pursed his lips, wanting to remind her to walk slower, so as not to accidentally fall, but it was obvious that the other party was not listening at the moment, so he could only pay more careful attention.
Then the two of them walked to a jewelry stall. She suddenly turned her head and stared at him, with a look of joy in her beautiful eyes.
"Seventeen, won't you compensate me for the pearl hairpin?"
The way she called him Seventeen was particularly different. Seventeen and Shiqi are obviously the same name, but when she called him Seventeen, it sounded like the coquettish whispers of lovers. Her voice was filled with endless emotions, and his ears felt a little warm.
"…compensation?"
He glanced at her in confusion. Her moist and distinct eyes looked at him expectantly. Zhao Shiqi felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by her, and he looked away with slow breathing.
Nan Yan smiled and patted his arm, "Of course you have to compensate me. You accidentally broke one of my pearl hairpins last time. Hurry up and choose the most beautiful one and return it to me, otherwise I will be angry. Don't forget, you are my Ying Shiqi now. How can you not listen to the master's words?"
Master... Shadow Seventeen...
Zhao Shiqi's eyes fell on the stall in front of him, which was filled with all kinds of exquisite pearl hairpins. He felt that the scene in front of him seemed somewhat familiar, and an inexplicable emotion was churning in his heart.
But before he could think clearly, the person opposite him reached out and picked up a pearl hairpin and handed it to him, then smiled coquettishly at him and said, "This is it, I like this one, can you put it on me?"
Zhao Shiqi picked up the hairpin that was handed to him with trembling fingers, and then, under the other person's smiling gaze, he pinned the hairpin diagonally into her thick black hair.
They followed the flow of people down, and there were fewer and fewer people as they went further back.
They watched the river lanterns together and ate very sweet cakes. At the end, when he wasn't paying attention, she secretly stuffed the remaining half of the cake into his mouth. Then, she looked at the way his ears were burning and smiled with her eyes curved.
Finally, she leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Seventeen, when your ears get hot, does the little mole on your earlobe also turn red?"
Zhao Shiqi paused, and then his whole body froze, and then he slowly looked at her...
He seemed to have heard this sentence somewhere.
At this moment, Zhao Shiqi really felt that something was wrong with him. It was not that he had not checked her identity. He had investigated it since he returned that night. He initially thought that she was approaching him deliberately to seek revenge for Qixia Villa, but it seemed that was not the case. She had no ill intentions towards him.
He really didn't understand why he felt a dull, repressed and uncontrollable feeling in his chest the moment he saw her that night. He thought that this feeling was caused by Du Yuyan, because he felt distressed when he saw Du Yuyan crying. But he seemed to be wrong. He obviously cared more about the person in front of him. Even her look would make him feel a sour feeling in his chest.
In fact, he had investigated what happened before he lost his memory, but the details were not enough. Perhaps it was because his status was not high, so there were few traces left. In addition, he was attached to the mark of the servant on his arm, so he subconsciously rejected the past. But now...
Looking at the person in front of him smiling at him, Zhao Shiqi felt that the passion in his heart that was about to burst out was always trapped by a layer of mist, making him torn and unable to break free. He subconsciously grabbed her palm, his lips trembling, and a trace of panic welled up in his eyes.
"Yan Yan..."
He didn't know why he suddenly called out this name. His mind was completely blank and he had no impression of anything.
The girl in the red dress who was about to leave turned her head, her face becoming clearer under the light, her clear and distinct eyes looked at him, then she slowly leaned over, put her hands on his arms, and gently kissed his lips.
Lingering and nostalgic, gentle and serious.
Almost at the moment when the two men touched each other, Zhao Shiqi felt as if a string in his head suddenly broke.
He didn't know what was happening to him, but then a series of fragments of thoughts rushed into his mind like crazy. The chaotic images almost made him unable to stand steadily. The blood vessels in his head were throbbing and almost bursting. It was crazy and chaotic, completely distorting his originally calm face.
He seemed to remember something, those familiar scenes...
"Seventeen, you actually kissed me secretly?"
From the initial meeting to the subsequent heartbeat.
"You must not bully me in the future. You must stay by my side for the rest of your life, accompany me and protect me forever. You must not lie to me."
She happily agreed to his request, and they eloped together and lived in seclusion in a picturesque village.
"It's not impossible for me to have a little Seventeen, but we haven't even gotten married yet, and you haven't even given me a betrothal gift, yet you want to coax me into marrying you. How can such a good thing happen in this world?"
…
Everything that happened was vivid in his mind. All the memories of his time with Nan Yan came rushing back to him. The way she teased him with joy, the way she cried and was worried, and the way she ran towards him regardless of everything...
This made him almost unable to control his screams of pain.
The scene became clearer and clearer, with so many memories, each of which was related to her. From the beginning to the end, it was all her face, and in the end it was the sound of her helpless crying, which made Zhao Shiqi become more and more painful and desperate.
How could he...
How could he do that!
How could he forget something so important?
She was his Yanyan, his master to whom he could not bear to say even a harsh word when he was angry.
He liked her so much, so much that he was willing to give up everything to be with her, so much that it didn't matter if he gave up everything, but what did he do after he lost his memory?
Zhao Shiqi was in so much pain that his breathing almost stopped. He dug his fingertips into his palms and his whole body was shaking.
He would rather die than hurt her in the slightest. How could "he"...how could he make her suffer so much, how could he make her so desperate.
The moment his memory came back, it was as if all the blood in his body rushed to his head, and an extreme pain instantly spread from his chest to his limbs, so painful that he could almost feel a fishy sweetness in his throat.
The whole person almost collapsed.
…
Nan Yan, who was beside him, backed away after a light kiss. Her face became even paler. She then took out a small box from her arms and handed it to him, "Seventeen, do you still remember that I asked you to take me away from marriage?"
She smiled at him, but her eyes were a little wet. "The only son of the general who defended the city wanted to marry me as a concubine, not because he liked me so much, but because the pigs in Qixia Villa were raised by people. Now you understand why the life-extending pigs in Qixia Villa can extend the lives of others."
She pressed the box into his palm.
Zhao Shiqi didn't know when tears started falling. He remembered, he remembered everything. At that time, there was a word "slave" branded on his arm. She found it novel, so she showed him her arm. There was also a mark on the inside of her arm, in the shape of a plum blossom. It was the mark of a pig. This was the truth about the Qixia Villa raising pigs. The children of the Qixia Villa were all planted with these pigs since childhood, but very few could be raised. This method was like exchanging life for life!
How could he...
Zhao Shiqi saw the bandage marks on her wrist and the blood oozing out. At this moment, he felt that he was about to lose control. His throat felt sweet, and as soon as he opened his mouth, blood flowed out from the corners of his mouth, and his lips and teeth were covered with blood.
"Yan Yan..."
He wanted to get closer to her, wanted to reach out and hug her, wanted to say sorry to her, but he had no strength left in his body, and couldn't even stand steadily.
He accidentally fell down beside the willow tree by the lake, with only one hand left, still tightly grasping Nan Yan's wrist, with such a tight grip that it hurt.
"What did you give me...to eat..."
His voice was intermittent, with a hint of sobs. He used up almost all his strength to grab her wrist, and his tears flowed uncontrollably.
Nan Yan's body swayed a bit, her face turned pale, but she still gave him a very faint smile.
"It's the cake I just fed you. It contains some drugs that can make people powerless. I just don't want you to see me...in an ugly state after death..."
“Don’t… don’t go…”
Zhao Shiqi shook his head, his tears seemed to have broken off, his chest heaving violently, and the little strength he had left tightly grasped her sleeve.
Nan Yan took out the broken jade pendant from her arms again, and then put it into his arms, "Seventeen, I will return the jade pendant to you. From now on, you don't have to keep that promise anymore, and you can start over with the person you like."
Her tears dripped onto his eyelashes. After she finished speaking, she bent down and gently kissed his forehead, as if she was relieved and didn't want to care about it anymore.
Then, under those pleading and desperate gazes, she pried open his fingers without hesitation, turned around and left without looking back.
“…Don’t go!”
He was so anxious that his throat was cramped, he spat out a mouthful of blood, and fell down from under the tree.
Hearing the sound, Nan Yan seemed to pause for a moment, and the wounds on her body made her body a little unsteady.
Zhao Shiqi behind him was still struggling frantically. He tried hard to stand up, but it was impossible. He had no strength left in his body. He dug his fingers into the ground, and the gaps between his fingers were full of mud and blood. "Yan, Yanyan..."
"I know I was wrong...I was wrong..."
His chest ached terribly, his eyes were red, and he stared at the departing figure with despair, repeating it over and over again, his voice became increasingly hoarse.
"Don't leave me... I remember..."
"I remember everything now. Please don't leave me."
"Please, don't go!!"
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