“What I want—surely you know what that is?…”
Outside the banquet tent, faint sounds of playful commotion could be heard, yet inside, the silence was oppressively heavy.
The sash had been tied, but Helan Ying did not step back. She was waiting for Nan Liujing’s answer.
Nan Liujing clenched her hands. “If I hand her over to Your Highness, how do you intend to deal with her?”
Helan Ying’s expression remained indifferent as she twirled a strand of Nan Liujing’s hair around her finger. “What else can be done? Only the dead can keep secrets, isn’t that right?”
A cold sweat broke out on Nan Liujing’s back. She shook her head. “She won’t say anything… I can vouch for her with my life…”
Hearing this, Helan Ying finally shifted her gaze from the mirror.
She tilted her head, her eyes fixed intently on Nan Liujing’s pale face. “You don’t even know what secret she stumbled upon, yet you dare vouch for her? Even risk your life for her?”
“…”
Helan Ying’s tone suddenly changed, becoming aggressive and unreasonable. She raised her voice in accusation—
“Just who is she to you?”
“When did the two of you become so close?”
“You’re protecting her so fiercely, it’s making even me jealous.”
“Nan Liujing, aren’t you supposed to be closest to me?”
Nan Liujing’s ears buzzed, and her head throbbed painfully.
Princess Shou’an had always spoken and acted this way.
One moment, they were discussing Jiang Ziliu’s life and death, and the next, she was acting like a child, fussing over who was closer to whom.
One sentence here, another there; some true, some false.
Sometimes near, sometimes distant; sometimes clear, sometimes stormy—always keeping others in the dark, never allowing them to guess her thoughts at first glance…
“Not only the dead can keep secrets.”
Nan Liujing did not follow Helan Ying’s line of questioning. “If Your Highness is uneasy, I can poison her to make her mute, or lock her away, never letting her see the light of day… As long as her life is spared, anything can be done.”
Helan Ying stared at her for a moment longer, then suddenly curved her eyes into a smile.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re most adorable when you’re ruthless?”
She pinched Nan Liujing’s cheek playfully and gave it a shake. “It’s not impossible for me to spare that physician’s assistant. But what will you offer in exchange? I mean you, not her.”
“…What does Your Highness want?”
Nan Liujing’s speech was slightly muffled by the pinch on her cheek.
“What I want—surely you know what that is?”
Helan Ying released her grip, placed her hands on Nan Liujing’s shoulders, and gently turned her around to face her. Then, leaning in, she narrowed her long, phoenix-like eyes and spoke word by word, “I want you to make a clean break with Pei Liuyu.”
Nan Liujing’s breath caught.
Finally…
After all the circling, it had finally come back to Pei Liuyu…
She frowned, troubled, unsure how to respond.
First Pei Songjun, now Helan Ying. Each of them, thinking themselves clever, had tried to persuade her to leave Pei Liuyu through both soft and hard tactics. It was a pity they had eyes but failed to see who between her and Pei Liuyu truly had the right to speak of a “clean break.”
“Either leave Pei Liuyu, or hand over that physician’s assistant…”
Helan Ying patted her shoulder, not too lightly nor too heavily, the threat growing more palpable. “While I’m still willing to give you a chance, choose.”
“…”
Trapped before the mirror, Nan Liujing’s face grew paler and paler.
Her frail, sickly body could hardly withstand the ordeal in the water, and now, with Helan Ying’s overbearing and relentless pressure, both her physical and mental defenses were on the verge of collapse.
Her still-damp hair dripped with water, the chill spreading through her body with the cold mist, making her hair stand on end and her head ache as if splitting. She could only grip the edge of the mirror frame behind her, barely steadying herself.
Suddenly, a commotion erupted outside the banquet tent.
“Young Master Xiao! The princess is changing!”
“Young Master Xiao, you cannot enter!”
“Young Master Xiao!”
The tent flap was thrown open, and all noise abruptly ceased.
Hearing the commotion outside, Helan Ying frowned.
She quickly released Nan Liujing, casually grabbed a red robe nearby, wrapped her tightly, and pushed her behind herself.
Nan Liujing snapped out of her daze, mustering her strength to straighten her clothes.
The next moment, Xiao Lingguang strode swiftly around the screen.
Seeing Helan Ying disheveled before the mirror and the rustling, panicked figure behind her, he furrowed his brows, abruptly turned his back, and retreated behind the screen.
“What are you doing?” he demanded coldly.
Helan Ying adjusted her collar and stepped out from behind the screen, not a trace of a smile on her face.
“Xiao Lingguang, how bold of you! This is my banquet tent! How dare you barge in so recklessly?! My royal uncle is troubled by my marriage prospects—are you offering yourself to enter my princess manor?”
“Put your clothes on properly and spare me the disgust,” Xiao Lingguang retorted stiffly.
“Who disgusted whom first?” Helan Ying laughed in anger. “What do you want with me?”
Xiao Lingguang finally turned around, his gaze passing over Helan Ying and meeting Nan Liujing, who had changed her clothes and stepped out.
Seeing her disheveled wet hair, pale face, and looking as though she had lost most of her spirit, Xiao Lingguang’s frown deepened.
Today was the Flower Festival. Old Madame Xiao, who always enjoyed such lively occasions and was anxious about his marriage, wished he would immediately marry a noblewoman to stabilize the Xiao family against its lurking evils. She had set up a tent by the lakeside, ostensibly to reminisce with old friends but actually to have him meet the young ladies brought by the noblewomen.
Just as he was struggling to find a way to escape, his subordinate reported that an old woman from the Nan family sought an audience, saying that the fifth daughter of the Nan family had been taken by Princess Shou’an and that the princess had long been at odds with her lady. She begged him to intervene.
Xiao Lingguang knew exactly what Helan Ying was like.
He had initially been reluctant to meddle in such trivial matters, but wanting to escape Old Madame Xiao’s matchmaking gathering, he decided to come and take a look for Pei Liuyu’s sake.
Unexpectedly, Helan Ying truly had no sense of restraint and had tormented the girl into such a pitiful state.
Xiao Lingguang abandoned his intention to remain uninvolved and called out directly to Nan Liujing, “Why are you still standing there? Are you coming or not?”
Helan Ying was stunned.
Nan Liujing’s heart suddenly relaxed, and she rushed past Helan Ying as if fleeing, stumbling toward Xiao Lingguang.
Before parting with Nurse Fu, she had just caught sight of the Xiao family’s tent. Fearing the worst, she instructed Nurse Fu that if she heard any rumors, she might try her luck with Xiao Lingguang.
She never expected Xiao Lingguang to actually come!
A savior descended from heaven. Nan Liujing now found his cold, fierce face to be nothing but kind and amiable.
“Thank you, Lord Xiao…”
She called out in a hoarse voice, so faint it was barely audible.
On the other side, Helan Ying snapped back to reality.
She glanced incredulously at Xiao Lingguang, then at Nan Liujing. “You two…”
Belatedly realizing the reason for Xiao Lingguang’s presence here, she found it absurd. “You barged into my palace like a madman… for her?”
Xiao Lingguang invoked Pei Liuyu. “I was entrusted with a task and must fulfill it faithfully. Pei Liuyu asked me to look after her.”
“Pei Liuyu?”
Helan Ying sneered. “He’s under house arrest and still causing trouble? Go back and tell him that his Shaoshao just promised me she would cut all ties with him and never see him again…”
Xiao Lingguang glanced at Nan Liujing.
Nan Liujing was too weak to speak, only shaking her head.
Helan Ying’s expression darkened. She stepped forward but was blocked by Xiao Lingguang. “Enough. Don’t go too far.”
With that, regardless of Helan Ying’s reaction, he grabbed the veil hanging at the entrance of the banquet tent, placed it over Nan Liujing’s head, and led her out.
Watching their figures disappear outside the tent, Helan Ying stood still, her expression shifting through several emotions before all feelings receded like the tide.
“Your Highness?”
A martial maid’s voice came from outside the tent.
Helan Ying coldly withdrew her gaze. “Come in.”
By the time the martial maid entered, Helan Ying had already returned to her dressing table, calmly combing her hair without a ripple of emotion.
“Your Highness is just letting Nan Wu Niang leave like that?”
“With Xiao Lingguang storming in, how could I possibly keep her?”
“But that female physician is still at the Nan residence.”
The martial maid walked behind her and tentatively whispered, “Should I send someone to Chaoyun Courtyard to quietly take care of her…”
She made a throat-slitting gesture.
Helan Ying half-closed her eyes, her combing motion not faltering in the slightest. “No need. Let her be.”
A light, dismissive statement, utterly unlike someone whose secret had been exposed, and completely different from her earlier demeanor when she pressured Nan Liujing to hand over the physician.
The martial maid was somewhat stunned.
Hadn’t today’s grand, elaborate banquet and the invitation of the Nan family’s fifth young lady all been to capture that physician? Why was she now letting it go so easily, acting as if it didn’t matter at all?
“But that physician knows Your Highness’s greatest secret… How can Your Highness just let her go?”
The martial maid couldn’t understand and grew anxious. “And that Nan Wu Niang, she might know too. Is Your Highness holding back because of Pei Qilang, because of the Pei family?”
Receiving no response from Helan Ying, she still didn’t notice anything amiss and continued on her own. “Your Highness is being far too cautious. Not to mention she hasn’t even married into the Pei family yet—even if she truly became a woman of the Pei clan, when it’s time to eradicate the roots, one must still eradicate…”
Crack.
A sharp, shattering sound suddenly rang out.
The martial maid’s words cut off abruptly. Looking down, she saw the jade comb that had just been in Helan Ying’s hand now smashed at her feet, broken into pieces.
“I said—”
Helan Ying abruptly stood up, turned, and looked down at her. Those stunningly beautiful brows and eyes were tinged with a chilling coldness, sharp and foreboding like an impending storm. “Let. Her. Be!”
The martial maid’s knees buckled. She knelt in terror, unable to utter a single word of plea.
The next moment, the fiery red skirt swept past her vision, accompanied by a ruthless and icy voice.
“Starting tomorrow, you need not serve by my side any longer.”
Xiao Lingguang had just won a battle, was personally appointed by the Emperor as the Jianwei General, and commanded the Longxiang Army—his future was boundless. The princess’s guards stationed inside and outside the tent watched as he barged into the banquet tent and left with someone, yet none dared to stop him.
As soon as he stepped out of the tent, Nurse Fu hurriedly rushed forward.
Xiao Lingguang stepped aside, revealing Nan Liujing behind him, stumbling along with her face veil still on.
“Miss!”
Nurse Fu’s face instantly changed. She rushed over to support her, anxiously examining her. “Miss, are you alright?”
“I’ve brought her out. She fell into the water. Take good care of her when you return.”
With that, Xiao Lingguang prepared to make his exit.
He hadn’t taken two steps when a startled cry suddenly came from behind him.
Xiao Lingguang halted and turned around. He saw the veiled young lady swaying twice before collapsing limply toward the ground. The old nurse beside her caught her with both hands but then seemed frozen in shock, standing stiffly in place, only repeatedly calling for help.
“Someone, quickly, someone…”
The surroundings were filled with the princess’s people, so naturally, there was no response.
“…”
Xiao Lingguang frowned.
The veil of the face covering was blown open by the wind, revealing a glimpse of her face. Her usually pale cheeks were now flushed with a deep crimson blush, spreading all the way to her ears, layered and dense, even extending a faint rosy hue to her chin and neck, burning hotly.
Nurse Fu half-embraced her, frantic and unsure what to do, when suddenly a shadow loomed over her.
Immediately after, a cold, impatient, yet reassuring voice sounded from above.
“Let go.”
As soon as the words fell, Xiao Lingguang reached out, lifted the unconscious young lady from Nurse Fu’s arms, and scooped her up horizontally into his arms.
Although he knew this woman was frail, when he actually held her, he couldn’t help but startle. The person in his arms was unbelievably light, as thin as a sheet of paper, as if a gust of wind could tear her apart…
Xiao Lingguang adjusted his hold, gently shifting her weight, and strode forward expressionlessly. “Where is your carriage?”
Nurse Fu was stunned for a moment before hurriedly rushing ahead to lead the way.
Xiao Lingguang followed behind, carrying the young lady, and soon arrived at the Nan family’s carriage.
“Thank you, General Xiao! Thank you so much!”
Nurse Fu lifted the carriage curtain, nearly on the verge of tears.
Xiao Lingguang’s expression remained stern as he wordlessly placed her inside the carriage. Just as he was about to withdraw, a delicate, slender hand suddenly emerged from beneath the veil.
The hand waved aimlessly in the air, accidentally landing on his hand. As if grasping a lifeline, it suddenly tightened around his fingers, startlingly hot.
“Elder Brother…”
A tearful murmur pierced through the thin veil, striking Xiao Lingguang’s ears.
Author’s Note:
: Slapping oneself in the face