“What are you doing?” Lin Dongruan chided her for the mischief, pushing her head away. “How old are you, still doing such things?”
Qiang Ning lifted her head, her gaze filled with a transgressive, wild desire: “Sister, do you truly not understand, or are you just pretending?”
How could she know nothing at all? When Qiang Ning had impulsively done such a thing, her heart was filled with both trepidation and excitement. She was glad that Lin Dongruan hadn’t resisted much, but displeased that the other woman seemed devoid of desire—even after being treated this way, Lin Dongruan wouldn’t take such behavior seriously.
Qiang Ning thought that in Lin Dongruan’s eyes, she was probably like a playful cat or dog—anything but a person. The other woman didn’t treat her as a mature woman and had no idea that two women could even be together.
In short, her heart remained unawaken to love.
“Sister, have you ever liked anyone before?” Qiang Ning tried to lead her. “Have you ever felt your heart race for someone?”
Lin Dongruan paused and met her gaze: “What is ‘liking’? Why should the heart race?”
Qiang Ning was speechless. She didn’t understand it well herself, so she could only guess: “Perhaps it is simply wanting to be with that person all the time.”
“That is ‘need’,” Lin Dongruan said. “Needing someone implies having an agenda, a request—it is a personal emotion born of ulterior motives.”
Qiang Ning nodded. She thought that she indeed had designs on Lin Dongruan.
This wasn’t just liking, nor was it merely love.
She wanted to take Lin Dongruan away, to have her eternal counsel and help. Not only that, she wanted to possess her body, making her belong to her entirely, body and soul.
Qiang Ning admitted she didn’t like Lin Dongruan that much; it was simply because of the other’s uniqueness and irreversibility.
“Sister, if one day we have enough money to buy a large house, would you be willing to leave with me for a more prosperous place?” Qiang Ning tested her. “After all, staying in Wusang Town forever is quite dull.”
Lin Dongruan looked at her with a gentle smile: “If we have money, I will send you away from here. You will never have to live such a hard life again.”
Qiang Ning froze and asked, “What about you?”
Lin Dongruan replied: “If I follow you, I would be a burden. If funds are tight, I am willing to give everything I have to help you fly high.”
This person was as noble as ever, selfless to a fault. Qiang Ning had never met anyone so selfless in her life. Although she didn’t need the other to go to such lengths, she was still moved by those words.
“I said, I never want to be apart from you for a lifetime,” Qiang Ning said. “If I become successful one day, would you be willing to leave Wusang Town with me?”
Lin Dongruan shook her head: “No, you should go.”
Qiang Ning couldn’t understand: “Why? Why won’t you come with me?”
“Why should I go with you?” This time it was Lin Dongruan’s turn to be confused. She asked, “Why would you even ask that?”
Even though Qiang Ning didn’t have much sincere feeling, she still felt a sense of frustration and dissatisfaction when questioned this way. It felt as if she valued Lin Dongruan more, while Lin Dongruan didn’t care at all about spending their lives together.
The woman could give up everything to help her succeed or shield her from a blade without hesitation, yet she was unwilling to abandon this broken, tiny house to follow her.
Why?
Qiang Ning frowned deeply, growing unhappier the more she thought about it.
“Because I like you, Sister. I want you to accompany me for a lifetime.” Qiang Ning had never proactively expressed her feelings to anyone like this; it made her feel inexplicably inferior. She had always preferred the feeling of being high above others. Expressing love so actively—even if it was just a deception—felt awkward and difficult.
“You are obedient, sensible, and lovely; I like you as well.” Lin Dongruan was clearly talking about a different kind of affection. She spoke sincerely and uprightly, leaving no room for misunderstanding. “It is not easy for us to have met and accompanied each other by chance; this fondness is indeed precious. But you only ‘need’ me for a moment, not a lifetime. You must think clearly; the fate between people is often just for a certain stage. When it fades, it is time to part.”
Qiang Ning’s face instantly darkened. She had humbled herself to coax the woman, yet Lin Dongruan not only failed to appreciate it but was lecturing her with boring principles.
“I don’t want to hear it.” Qiang Ning gripped her clothes tightly, unsatisfied with the answer. “I want to hear you say you’ll stay with me for a lifetime.”
Lin Dongruan: “You cannot possibly need me for a lifetime.”
“I said it’s not ‘need’, it’s ‘liking’!” Qiang Ning grew angry, her voice rising sharply. “It’s not needing you; it’s liking you! I want to live with you forever. ‘Liking’ isn’t just for a stage; liking is for a lifetime!”
Lin Dongruan seemed to be coaxing her like a child: “Then do you like the little foxes on the mountain? I’ll catch a few tomorrow so they can accompany you instead. In the future, if you want to leave, you can take them with you, alright?”
Qiang Ning was so angry that tears welled up in her eyes. She wiped them away while turning her back huffily.
Lin Dongruan moved closer to wipe her tears: “Don’t cry, don’t cry. Shall I… go catch them now?”
Qiang Ning swatted her hand away: “I don’t need you to care!”
Lin Dongruan’s hand shifted, pulling at the wound on her back, causing her to frown slightly in pain.
“Does the wound hurt?” Hearing the faint gasp, Qiang Ning immediately snapped back to reality to check the injury. “Did it tear open again? I’m sorry, Sister, I didn’t mean it.”
“It’s no matter. I’ll go outside; you calm down for a while.” Lin Dongruan stood up, saying nothing more.
Qiang Ning knew that although she was gentle and cold, she still had her own temperament. She must have been too unreasonable just now, making the other feel disappointed.
“But, I really don’t know how to take you away.” Qiang Ning lowered her head in frustration, sitting alone with her arms crossed for a moment, her eyes clouded with loss.
This time, Lin Dongruan left with her injury for a very, very long time. When Qiang Ning went out, she heard Song Luo say that Lin Dongruan had gone home.
“It’s fine.” Qiang Ning stood in place silently, waited a bit, then turned back. “Let her go back. I’ll just sleep at the clinic.”
Because of the young girl, RuoRuo, that broken little house could no longer fit three people. Thus, Qiang Ning finally had the chance to handle some matters alone, and as Lin Dongruan was occasionally busy, they spent even less time together.
Qiang Ning held a grudge in her heart and didn’t want to take the initiative to find her. They continued to live through lukewarm days until—
That day, as she came downstairs, she saw Lin Dongruan holding RuoRuo in her arms, teaching the girl how to write.
In an instant, it felt as if someone had set a fire in Qiang Ning’s chest. Intense emotions—jealousy, resentment, anger—rushed to her head. She clenched her jaw. For a moment, she hallucinated another scene: perhaps years ago, this woman had treated her Emperor the same way, personally holding their hand to write stroke by stroke.
On what basis? Why?
Why wasn’t she the one who got the Imperial Preceptor since childhood? Why wasn’t it the Imperial Preceptor who accompanied her for years?
Why wasn’t she the one whom the Preceptor cared for in her youth? Just because she had been sent out of the palace early due to a sickly body and wasn’t the heir, she couldn’t have the Preceptor’s love.
Qiang Ning’s eyes burned with jealousy; she wished she could lock Lin Dongruan away forever. The woman’s next few decades had to be hers!
“It’s Sister A-Ning!” RuoRuo wasn’t focused on her writing. The moment she saw Qiang Ning, her eyes lit up as she called out. “Sister A-Ning, do you want to come write with us?”
Qiang Ning walked downstairs with a face like thunder. RuoRuo slipped from Lin Dongruan’s embrace and skipped over to hug her leg.
“RuoRuo, go play outside first. I have something to discuss with your Sister Lin.” Qiang Ning didn’t want to make things hard for the little girl, so she made an excuse to send her away. She took some money from her robe and handed it to RuoRuo, saying, “Go buy some pastries.”
The little girl had no hidden worries; hearing there was food, she left happily.
Qiang Ning stood before Lin Dongruan with a stern face, demanding: “Lin Dongruan, what is wrong with you?”
Lin Dongruan continued writing with an unperturbed hand: “I am teaching RuoRuo to write. Is there a problem?”
Yes, she was just teaching someone to write—of course there was no problem. Now that they were alone, Qiang Ning suddenly calmed down. In hindsight, she realized she had been too impulsive. Why should she be angry just because Lin Dongruan was holding RuoRuo to teach her writing?
Qiang Ning snatched the brush from Lin Dongruan and forced it onto the mountain-shaped brush rest: “Did you teach others like this before?”
“I did not.” Lin Dongruan raised her eyes and glanced at her. “A-Ning is truly making a scene out of nothing. I wonder whose jealousy you are eating, yet you claim you don’t have the temperament of a child.”
“I’m not jealous; I’m just annoyed,” Qiang Ning said. “You’ve never taught me how to write.”
Lin Dongruan: “Since you already know how, why should I teach you?”
Why?
Because the Imperial Preceptor’s original calligraphy was worth a thousand pieces of gold. The surviving ink treasures had been sealed away by the young Emperor, who wouldn’t even allow people to copy them. Thus, the world only knew of the legend that the Preceptor’s writing was as graceful as bamboo; few could ever see the original, let alone be taught hand-in-hand.
Who would have thought? The world-renowned Imperial Preceptor was now living incognito in the tiny Wusang Town. The hand that once wrote decrees for the Crown Prince and the current Emperor was now writing medicinal prescriptions for the local commoners every day, as if they cost nothing.
Fortunately, the locals were mostly illiterate and couldn’t recognize that this was the Preceptor’s own hand.
Of course, Qiang Ning knew. She spoke sourly: “I didn’t have anyone teaching me hand-in-hand back then.”
“Then come here,” Lin Dongruan could only coax her jokingly. “Continue learning to write.”
Qiang Ning’s eyes lit up, thinking the woman had actually agreed to her unreasonable request: “Really?”
It wasn’t real; Lin Dongruan had only said it in passing.
But Qiang Ning didn’t think so. Although she asked if it was real, she didn’t wait for a refusal. She unreasoningly leaned in and sat on the other woman’s lap, looking at her expectantly, wanting to be taught hand-in-hand.
Lin Dongruan was momentarily stunned, then helplessly took her hand.
Qiang Ning was easy to please; when her wish was satisfied so quickly, the gloom in her heart vanished instantly. She leaned over and gave Lin Dongruan a heavy kiss on the cheek.
Lin Dongruan: “…”
The passing “fake” manager, Song Luo: “…”
What was that sound?
When he saw the scene of Qiang Ning sitting on Lin Dongruan’s lap, he blinked as if he’d seen a ghost. Taking another look, he saw Qiang Ning hugging and kissing Lin Dongruan with a satisfied smile.
Song Luo thought that one really could see ghosts in broad daylight, so he immediately lowered his head and left.