Da-da—
Lin Dongruan tapped twice lightly, and before she could strike a third time, the door swung open.
The man who opened it was tall, perhaps a guard hired by Ji Song. Noticing her medicine box, he asked politely, “Are you Physician Lin?”
Qiang Ning interjected, “How did you know we were coming?”
The guard replied, “In these ten miles and eight villages, who doesn’t know of Physician Lin’s art of bringing the dying back to life? After our master recovered, he spent every day talking about Physician Lin’s kindness. Our master didn’t actually know Physician Lin was coming, but since Physician Lin is standing here today with her medicine box, it must be out of a healer’s benevolence, coming specifically for our master.”
Qiang Ning asked, “Then where is your master?”
“Please wait a moment, ladies. This lowly one will go inform my master,” the guard said, setting aside the broom in his hand and bowing humbly toward Lin Dongruan. “Physician Lin, please wait here for a moment.”
Lin Dongruan was guided to sit near a stone table. Looking down, she saw a pile of lychee shells accumulated in the wastebasket beneath the table. There were indeed many, as if Ji Song had received a large quantity of lychees from a friend—so many that he could distribute them freely among the servants.
But could it really be such a coincidence?
As soon as they entered the gate, they saw piles of lychee shells, as if someone had deliberately placed them there to prove a point. When an answer is obtained too easily and coincidentally, it often radiates an air of falsehood.
“Sister, what are you thinking about? Why do you always look so heavy-hearted?” Qiang Ning sat close, turning her body toward Lin Dongruan and taking her hand. “Can you tell me? Or is it… are you angry with me? Did I do something wrong?”
Lin Dongruan shook her head. “It is just my own overthinking; it is not your fault.”
As they spoke, the guard returned, saying the master requested their presence and inviting them inside.
Qiang Ning followed Lin Dongruan through the door. Upon entering, they immediately heard the sounds of a woman’s flirtatious laughter and feigned rebukes. The squire Ji Song sat with a beautiful woman on his lap, who was feeding him lychees while they joked and flirted.
Qiang Ning cast a silent glance at Lin Dongruan. Sure enough, she saw that Lin Dongruan’s expression had turned quite sour.
Lin Dongruan spoke up, “Sir, you are still in the period of recuperation. How can you indulge in such lust and excess? Now that your last course of medicine is finished, I must provide a new prescription to continue nursing your body. You absolutely must not give up halfway.”
“Physician Lin is here! Sit, sit,” Ji Song said, the smile from teasing the beauty still hanging on his face, completely ignoring her words. “It is all thanks to you, Physician Lin, that this old man can enjoy a few more days of pleasure.”
A young servant immediately stepped forward to pour wine for Lin Dongruan, his smile forced and fawning. “Physician Lin, please enjoy. Would you like to hear some music?”
“You… this is truly…” Lin Dongruan brushed the cup of wine aside, clearly vexed. “Can you not even manage to abstain from sex and alcohol?”
Seeing her state, Qiang Ning stepped forward to comfort her. “Sister, let’s go. Don’t mind him anymore. Good advice cannot save a ghost destined for death.”
“Ji Song is not this kind of person. He is a respected figure in Wusang Town; he certainly would not disregard a healer’s advice.” Lin Dongruan remained silent for a moment, then raised her voice to ask the seated Ji Song, “May I take your pulse for a diagnosis? If your illness has indeed been eradicated, I will no longer interfere.”
Ji Song, who was drinking above, paused with a complex gaze. In the long silence, he sighed but did not speak.
“Master, if this woman wants to take your pulse, will she touch your skin?” The woman sitting on Ji Song’s lap looked displeased, speaking with a pout. “I don’t want her to touch you. You are mine; no one else is allowed to move.”
Ji Song sat stiffly, his face as dark as the bottom of a pot. “You… you are simply being too ridiculous.”
The woman shot a glare at Lin Dongruan, her weak, soft arms looping around Ji Song’s neck as she acted spoiled. “No, I just won’t let her touch you.”
“Fine, fine, fine.” Ji Song had no way to retreat and could only agree. He looked helplessly at Lin Dongruan and explained, “Lady Lin, you see it yourself. This newly taken concubine of mine is too spoiled; I have no way to discipline her.”
Qiang Ning pulled at Lin Dongruan’s arm from below, feeling the other woman trembling with rage. She was indeed thoroughly disgusted by this scene.
Qiang Ning curled her lips, revealing a successful smirk.
“Then I shall take my leave.” Lin Dongruan simply couldn’t bear to look at the two disgraceful people above any longer. She rose directly and departed immediately with a hint of indignation.
She left the crowd in the courtyard with nothing but the sight of her aloof back.
“Hey, Sister! The medicine box!”
Qiang Ning made a show of shouting behind her.
Then, she stopped her steps and turned halfway—
Behind her, the woman let go of Ji Song and lowered the sleeve arrow she had been using to threaten him. She bowed slightly toward Qiang Ning, silently calling out, Your Highness.
“Silence those who need to be silenced. Don’t cause too much of a stir again,” Qiang Ning spoke with great satisfaction. “This matter was handled well. All shall be rewarded.”
The tall “guard” from before dragged a lame old man out of the woodshed and approached Qiang Ning, respectfully calling her Your Highness.
—The original old man guarding the gate had been knocked unconscious; everyone in this courtyard had been replaced.
Although the time had been tight, in the end, Lin Dongruan had not suspected a thing.
Qiang Ning walked out the door satisfied, happily following Lin Dongruan.
After this incident, Lin Dongruan never neglected her again. The two seemed to have reconciled as before, and it appeared as though Lin Dongruan had laid down the doubts in her heart.
Until—
“A-Ning, let’s send Ruoruo home,” Lin Dongruan said, looking at Qiang Ning. “It’s been so long; she must miss her home.”
Qiang Ning was puzzled. “Why? Her mother hurt you, Sister. Since we’ve kept her in our house, she is ours now. Why send her back?”
“How can you have such a thought?” Lin Dongruan also found it strange. “Ruoruo has her own home. Although Butcher Zhou is gone, she has her own mother. No matter how much an outsider cares for her, it cannot compare to her biological mother. As the little girl grows up, the emotional bond missing during this time is something neither I nor you can give her.”
“I… I thought… Sister, you intended to keep her for a lifetime.” Qiang Ning’s tone suddenly dropped. For some unknown reason, she asked, “What if she refuses to go?”
Lin Dongruan said with certainty, “It’s impossible for her not to miss home. To her, we are ultimately just people met by chance on a journey. If given the choice, she would likely turn around and go home without hesitation.”
Qiang Ning covered her eyes in a moment of near-collapse and said, “Sister, have you always thought this way?”
Lin Dongruan nodded. “Always.”
“Sister,” Qiang Ning called her softly, her voice tinged with a sob. “You make me feel so like a stranger.”
Lin Dongruan replied, “If A-Ning refuses to let Ruoruo go home, it would make me feel like you are a stranger as well.”
“I lost my mother at a young age and rarely contact my father. Last year, when the snow blocked the mountains and I was taken in by you, Sister, you never proactively asked about my origins or my plans. Even when you did mention it, it was to say that I would surely leave you in the future. Is it… is it that… you never planned to spend a lifetime with me? To you, I am just like Ruoruo—just a person encountered by chance.” Qiang Ning grabbed her collar and asked, “You say you are willing to do your utmost to send me far away, but you have no long-term plans for me. You have been waiting for me to leave on my own, haven’t you?”
Lin Dongruan closed her eyes calmly. “Yes.”
“Between me and Ruoruo, or any person who comes to you for medical help, there is no difference at all.” Qiang Ning endured the heartache, questioning with a raspy voice, “It turns out I have no special place either. If it were someone else, you would still treat them this well. Sister, look at me and tell me—isn’t it laughable?”
“I do not know what it is that A-Ning cares about.” Lin Dongruan seemed not to understand her meaning, only appearing bewildered. “Is it that I have been inconsiderate in some way that made you feel wronged? Then… Sister will first apologize to you.”
No, it’s not that.
Qiang Ning clutched her head, feeling dizzy with frustration.
“Sister, have I ever told you that I like you very much?” Qiang Ning said.
“You have,” Lin Dongruan replied warmly. “Among everyone, A-Ning is also the one Sister likes the most.”
“No, it’s different. Why don’t you understand?” Qiang Ning was on the verge of collapsing again.
She simply stopped arguing with Lin Dongruan and went straight out the door to find Ruoruo playing in the courtyard.
“Ruoruo, do you miss home? Do you want to go home?” Qiang Ning crouched down to be at eye level with Ruoruo. “Sister Lin said she wants to let you go home.”
Ruoruo could not go home unless she died; she was the bargaining chip used to threaten Mother Zhou and the fuse holding the entire lie together. Once the secret was leaked, everything would completely fall apart.
Lin Dongruan would not be able to forgive the mistake Qiang Ning had made—not in this lifetime.
Ruoruo whispered, “Sister Ning, I miss my mother.”
“No, you tell Sister that you don’t miss her, and you don’t want to go home.” Qiang Ning would not allow that answer. She gripped the girl’s shoulders tightly, correcting her, “You must go and tell your Sister Lin that you don’t want to go home, that you want to stay with her for a lifetime. That way, she will soften her heart and keep you by her side forever.”
Ruoruo was frightened by her hostile tone and accidentally burst into tears. “I’m sorry, Sister Ning, I really miss home. Sister Lin cannot want Ruoruo for a lifetime. If Ruoruo doesn’t go home, she will be a child without a home.”
Qiang Ning was stunned. “But I cannot let you go, Ruoruo.”
Ruoruo pulled at one of her fingers and whispered, “Then Sister Ning, let me fall asleep too—the kind where I never wake up. I won’t say bad things about you, really.”
Qiang Ning let go of her hand and, after a long, long time, said, “Go home.”
Ruoruo wiped her tears and asked in disbelief, “Really?”
Qiang Ning said, “Really.”
Ruoruo didn’t even have time to turn back and say goodbye to Lin Dongruan; she simply ran toward the direction of her home.
“Ruoruo, when Sister Ning was little, she was like you—she lost her mother very early.” Qiang Ning watched the figure running into the distance and smiled slightly, mocking herself. “But in this world, it’s not necessarily true that you cannot live without someone.”
As long as she wanted, she could control Lin Dongruan and obtain that scarce love from her, even if Lin Dongruan’s care could not match her own passion and expectations.
Qiang Ning thought that she believed the love she offered was already cold enough, yet she hadn’t expected that Lin Dongruan was fundamentally a person without love. She would never receive the same return, let alone hope for more.
If things continued peacefully like this, she would never get what she wanted. She had to learn to fight for it herself and break that barrier.
“Men, take action,” Qiang Ning commanded, turning her back to the people in the shadows. “Don’t let the child see the bloody scene. Stay clear of her.”
Alright, let’s go home.