The next day, Luo Ran, who had spent a restless night filled with anxiety, went to feed Yan Ge’er in a weary state.
After feeding him, the maid caring for Yan Ge’er took the child to the garden to bask in the sun.
Luo Ran gathered the small clothes Yan Ge’er had changed out of and prepared to wash them.
Unnoticed, a figure appeared behind her.
A shadow fell over her, carrying with it a faint, elusive scent of cold fragrance.
Startled, Luo Ran turned around abruptly to find Chu Jin standing behind her, uncomfortably close.
Frightened, she let go of the clothes in her hands, scattering them across the floor.
She tried to step back but found herself pressed against the wardrobe with nowhere to retreat.
When she bent down to pick up the scattered clothes, Chu Jin stood so close that she would bump into him if she lowered her head.
Frozen in place, she could neither pick them up nor leave them be.
Chu Jin had clearly come to see Yan Ge’er.
His gaze swept across the room, finding only Luo Ran, and he asked in a low voice,
“Where is Yan’er?”
Luo Ran kept her head down, her voice trembling slightly,
“Master, the young master was taken to the garden by Granny Li to enjoy the sun.”
Chu Jin gave a faint “Hmm.”
But he showed no intention of leaving.
Luo Ran could feel his gaze fixed on her, heavy and oppressive, making her scalp tingle.
She kept her head lowered, staring at the finely embroidered belt around Chu Jin’s waist, wishing she could shrink into herself.
Suddenly, her cheek tightened.
Chu Jin reached out and pinched her face, his rough fingertips applying just enough pressure to force her to look up.
“Didn’t I tell you last night to look up when speaking?”
Forced to lift her face, Luo Ran met a pair of deep, penetrating eyes.
Those eyes were fixed on her face, tracing from her brows down to her cheeks, where they finally settled.
Only then did Luo Ran realize Chu Jin was looking at one side of her face.
There, two grayish-blue marks stood out starkly—not smudges of dirt but bruises.
They were left by the pressure of his fingertips when he covered her mouth the night before.
On Luo Ran’s already pale face, the bruises looked particularly jarring, stark against her fair skin.
Having slept poorly, her eyes were rimmed with red and glistened with unshed tears. Under his intense gaze, she trembled with fear, and the vivid bruises on her pale cheeks made her appear utterly pitiful.
Chu Jin stared at the bruises and let out a soft scoff.
“Are you made of dough?”
His thumb brushed lightly over the bruised area on her cheek. “You bruise at the slightest touch.”
Watching as her teary eyes reddened even more at his words, Chu Jin couldn’t help but feel a flicker of amusement.
She trembled at the slightest raise of his voice, on the verge of tears.
A mere touch left her bruised and battered.
If he were to truly do something…
Would she cry herself hoarse and be unable to leave her bed for days?
His gaze darkened, and he felt a sudden discomfort at his own wandering thoughts. He released her.
Luo Ran, unnerved by his intense stare, quickly lowered her eyes, not daring to look at him again.
But Chu Jin’s eyes remained fixed on those unsightly bruises. After a pause, he spoke,
“Go to the manor physician and get some ointment to apply. I can’t have the women in my household walking around injured—people might think I, Chu Jin, bully women.”
Without waiting for her response, he turned and walked out to see Yan Ge’er.
Luo Ran dared not disobey Chu Jin’s words.
After hesitating for a while, she steeled herself and went to the manor physician.
The manor physician was a kindly old man. Hearing she had been sent by the master, he didn’t ask further questions.
Just as he was mixing the medicinal ointment for her, a sudden commotion erupted outside.
Several servants hurriedly carried a person inside.
That person was covered in blood, lying face down on the stretcher, barely clinging to life. The flesh was so mangled it was almost unrecognizable as human.
Luo Ran took only one glance and turned pale, instinctively taking two steps back.
The servants who carried him in wiped their sweat as they explained to the physician,
“This fellow stole something from the master’s study and tried to sell it. The master found out and ordered him whipped fifty times with a barbed whip soaked in saltwater. He looks about to breathe his last. The master, in his kindness, wants you to treat him before throwing him out. Don’t let him die in the manor—it’s bad luck.”
The physician began tearing the clothes off the man’s back.
The fabric had long since fused with the bloody flesh; each pull revealed a blurred, crimson mess.
Luo Ran’s stomach churned. She turned her face away, unable to look any longer.
She was just thinking of quickly taking her medicine and leaving when she heard one of the servants speak again, chatting idly with another.
“The master has always hated this kind of thievery the most. Just like that village woman last year who stole from him while he was gravely injured. Wasn’t the first thing the master did upon waking to order the village at the foot of the mountain turned upside down, searching house by house for nearly a month…”
Luo Ran’s heart clenched violently, her feet rooted to the spot.
She instinctively pressed for details, “Someone as high-ranking as the master could also be ambushed up close?”
Her voice was soft and delicate, tinged with a hint of timidity.
The two chatting servants, hearing this gentle voice, turned to see a fair-skinned, delicate young woman.
She was staring at them with dark, intense eyes—her gaze urgent yet tinged with a timid curiosity that made one’s heart soften.
The two immediately perked up, leaning closer to explain in detail,
“It happened around the end of last year. The master was ambushed by enemy forces on his way back to the capital to report. He was pushed off a cliff and nearly lost his life.”
“They say he was pushed from a cliff thousands of feet high. Those sent to search thought it was unlikely he’d survive.”
“But the master is blessed by fortune. He was actually saved by a village woman passing by…”
“Such a pity, though. That person had sticky fingers. It started as a virtuous act of saving a life, but she got greedy and stole something important from the master.”
“Otherwise, the master wouldn’t have been so furious. The first thing he did after waking was send people to question every household in the village at the foot of the mountain.”
Luo Ran’s heart pounded like a drum. She tried to keep her voice steady,
“And… was that person caught in the end?”
“Who knows? There hasn’t been any news lately. Probably caught, I suppose.”
“If you ask me, that village woman had some nerve, daring to take the master’s things. Well, now she’s probably already been reincarnated…”
Luo Ran’s face paled a few shades further. She murmured, “The master seems… fierce and cold, but… but he’s not that cruel, is he? Just for some things…”
The other servant chimed in, “Who knows… Maybe searching for the thief was just an excuse. Who’s to say that person didn’t do something else to offend the master while he was gravely injured…”
Luo Ran lowered her head and didn’t respond further.
A wave of fearful relief washed over her heart.
Fortunately, that day, to dig for herbs, she had gone to a more distant mountain, so she hadn’t been discovered.
But this flicker of relief was immediately drowned by deeper panic.
Something else to offend the master…
Her face paled even more.
Luo Ran fed the baby with a heavy heart, her mind wandering all day long.