The moment Shi Wuduan opened his eyes, he came face to face with Lanre, who flinched in shock. It was the first time she’d seen his eyes, and her impression was that they were deeply black. Perhaps because of his injuries, they seemed dim at first glance, though not on the second. Even the light in his eyes was hidden deeper than others.
Lord Sixth is oddly handsome, Lanre blushed as she thought.
Unlike most young girls, she didn’t scream or cause a ruckus. Instead, she quickly poured a cup of water and carefully elevated Shi Wuduan’s head, saying, “You must be thirsty lord sixth, have a drink of water first. I’ll go get the doctor and Si-niang shortly.”
She couldn’t tell if Shi Wuduan had heard her or not. He merely stared at her for a while, stared until Lanre started to get antsy, before slowly looking away and drinking half the bowl of water.
After Lanre helped him lay back down again, the rabbit, which had been snuggled in his arms under the blankets the whole time, squirmed its way to the front of the bed and curled up in the crook of his neck. Shi Wuduan glanced down at it, and though he couldn’t move, his expression softened as a smile fluttered at the corners of his mouth, a dimple popping up on his haggard cheek.
Lanre accidentally caught a glimpse and instantly turned her gaze away. She thought, if lord sixth was willing to smile at a girl like that, she’d probably be willing to follow him to the ends of the earth. It’s said that beautiful women bring disasters, but who’d’ve thought it’d be true of beautiful men as well.
Shi Wuduan was a very easy patient to take care of. It never took any extra effort to make him take medicine, his temper was so calm that staying on bedrest day in and day out never seemed to annoy him, and he’d do whatever the doctor told him to do. Ever since he’d woken up, Lanre hadn’t heard him make a peep of discomfort or pain again. If there wasn’t any need, he’d never inconvenience anyone else. Once he was able to speak again, the only instructions he ever gave her was to remind her to feed his bird and rabbit.
Sometimes, Lanre felt like Shi Wuduan would never run out of thoughts to think. When he sat there, holding his rabbit, completely silent, he could sit for a whole day, seemingly lost in thought. Only when Li Si-niang and the sirs visited would he liven up a bit and say a few extra words. Rumor had it that they were cultivators and that each one of them was unimaginably powerful, yet Li Si-niang and the doctor didn’t think twice about shutting them outside the door so that they wouldn’t disturb Shi Wuduan’s rest.
Only the goateed man named Sir Xia had once snuck into his room and chatted casually with lord sixth about what the other sirs had been doing recently. Before he left, he even indecisively called out Lanre, dithered for a while, then finally grit his teeth, begrudgingly counted out three silvers, and handed them to her, urging her to buy a few of lord sixth’s favorite snacks for him.
Lord sixth, still bedridden, let out a quiet huff of laughter – his chest was injured, so he had to hold it in. His eyes, when they curved into little crescents, were so very brilliant, as he said, “A thousand gold is easy to obtain, but a single copper from Sect Leader Xia is hard to come by. Being able to use Sect Leader Xia’s money is truly the honor of a lifetime.”
That stingy Sir Xia was so peeved he marched away at once.
Lanre was used to caring for other people; she was a pious girl who’d looked after her mother and father as they wasted away from sickness. Though she was young, the hardships she’d experienced had made her steady and level-headed. She was also a girl who was possessed of a sincere heart. Because of her gratitude towards Li Si-niang, she tended to Shi Wuduan with her utmost effort; and because of Shi Wuduan’s single order, she even treated the rabbit and bird just as well.
Thanks to Shi Wuduan’s youth and his upbringing in the Xuan Sect – cultivators had better constitution than normal people – it was only ten days before he was able to sit up on his own and speak a few more words.
The moment he was able to move around, he made Li Si-niang bring him the daily military reports. Before, it was mainly him who planned their next troop deployments, decided how to use the Merchant Association’s resources, etc. Gu Huaiyang issued strict orders that he was to focus on recovery and keep his hands off, but he still couldn’t resist making judgments about these affairs. He had no choice but to summarize his thoughts concisely as possible and have Li Si-niang write to Gu Huaiyang on his behalf.
Li Si-niang had arranged his messages as he’d instructed, when Shi Wuduan suddenly added, “Wait, Si-niang, don’t send it off yet. Add another word from me, and tell eldest brother that he must not, under any circumstances, detain the envoys entreating him to surrender. First, consolidate Penglai and Dongyue, agree to peace talks, and buy some time. Tell eldest brother and third brother to retreat for now, and to just leave a few people behind.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“What did you send people to the northwest for?” Li Si-niang asked curiously.
Shi Wuduan said quietly, “Things have been going badly in the northwest for a while now. Because there’s so many people disturbing public order, and the court doesn’t have any funds for disaster relief, so they’re ordering civilian merchants to deliver grains to the northwest.”
Li Si-niang, worried he’d overtax himself, instantly interrupted him, “Yes, it was an edict issued last year. Anyone who contributes more than fifty stones of grain can elevate their descendants from the merchant class and give them the opportunity to take the imperial exams. For those who contribute more than a hundred stones, the court has other rewards. You got merchants to infiltrate in?”
Shi Wuduan lightly chuckled, “The court’s just doing zero-cost business. The so-called reward amounts to nothing more than openly selling bureaucratic positions and noble titles. All the emperor has to do is flap his lips, write an imperial edict, and stamp his dragon stamp. That doesn’t cost the court anything, and the salary isn’t all that much either. Yet they can still trick rich families into willingly feeding them out of their pockets. Isn’t it a win-win?”
Li Si-niang laughed, “This tactic of Yan Zhen’s sure nets him both fame and fortune.”
Just then, there was a light knock on the door. Outside, Lanre said sweetly, “Lord sixth, it’s time to change dressings.”
Li Si-niang hurriedly put away all the missives and smiled, “Come on in.”
She watched as Lanre competently helped Shi Wuduan up and put new bandages on him, all while quietly exhorting something. She understood her duty and did it matter-of-factly. Even when she was removing Shi Wuduan’s robes, she wasn’t shy and awkward about it. It was actually Shi Wuduan who was embarrassed at having a girl change his dressings, but since it’d be difficult for him to tend to an injury on his chest, it couldn’t be helped.
Especially when Li Si-niang was still in the room. Shi Wuduan tried to hold it in, failed, and said, “Si-niang, can you… go outside first.”
Li Si-niang was usually gentle and even-tempered, but she was also a woman who chopped heads like vegetables and didn’t know the meaning of fear. Of course she didn’t understand Shi Wuduan’s “gentleman on the outside, hooligan on the inside” bashfulness, so she only impassively crossed her arms and stepped to the side. She laughed, “If you’re not afraid of Lanre looking, are you really afraid of me looking?”
Shi Wuduan knew she had a thick face, so he paused, then said, “If you look, you have to pay.”
Li Si-niang then flicked two coppers onto his bed and said boldly, “Take it.”
Shi Wuduan sighed, thinking that Meng Zhongyong, that reckless buffoon, and Li Si-niang, that violent harridan, were simply a match made in heaven; they ought to thank him in advance for the matchmaking he was going to do once he and his troops came back.
Lanre said tenderly, “Your injury’s quite frightening, lord sixth, don’t tire yourself out, alright? If anything hurts because I’m too rough or careless, you must tell me.”
Shi Wuduan hadn’t often had the chance to meet such a kindly young lady in his life; he was immediately flustered. A while later, he “Oh’ed” stiffly, and said, “It’s no big deal.”
Li Si-niang snorted with laughter. Seeing that Shi Wuduan’s condition was improving by the day, she wasn’t so worried anymore, so she said, “Exactly, don’t worry about it Lanre. Just do what you have to, his skin’s thick enough to handle it, he won’t break.”
Lanre lifted her head, meeting Shi Wuduan’s gaze by accident, then reflexively looked back down. Her long eyebrows, almost stretching to her temples, made her aura more sentimental than that of most girls’. Though she’d been born into poverty, her appearance was still outstanding; the shape of her eyes was especially moving. When she lowered her head, they angled up so very slightly, seeming indescribably tender and lovely.
There were many types of beauties: those who had plump cheeks, those who were stately and elegant, and those who had delicate, charming features on their peach-blossom face. Lanre resembled the latter. And for some reason, her features almost had a foxy air. Usually, it was hidden beneath her gentle demeanor; the only time when one could catch a hint of it was when she lowered her head.
Shi Wuduan suddenly felt that she was somewhat familiar, and unwittingly fell into a daze.
Lanre sensed his gaze and became even timider. A while later, her ears started getting red. Li Si-niang called Shi Wuduan twice before he came back to his senses. Lanre had already finished changing his dressings and was standing to the side, not knowing what to do.
Shi Wuduan coughed dryly and draped his robes back on as casually as he could. He hugged the rabbit, which had been unusually quiet, into his arms and said, “Many thanks, miss Lanre. There’s nothing else I need, so you should go take a rest.”
Lanre quickly murmured something in assent and rushed to leave.
Li Si-niang laughed teasingly, “Yes, many thanks, miss Lanre — ”
Too bad that Shi Wuduan’s face wasn’t any thinner than hers. Now that the unfamiliar young woman was gone, so were his misgivings. He glanced at Li Si-niang and said, “Only now that I’ve seen Si-niang today do I understand the meaning of ‘the benevolent sees benevolence.’”
The wise see wisdom, the lewd see lewdness.
Li Si-niang grinned as she took a seat and whispered to him, “Then you tell me, what were you staring at that young lady for?”
Shi Wuduan replied dispassionately, “She simply reminded me of an old acquaintance.”
The smile faded from Li Si-niang’s face as she figured out what he meant. She frowned and sighed, “Little sixth, you’re like a little brother to me, could you tell me what happened that day? Didn’t that Demon… Sir Bai, have a good friendship with you? How did it break just like that?”
Shi Wuduan’s silence stretched on for so long that Li Si-niang wondered if she’d asked something she shouldn’t have, and that he didn’t intend on answering, when he softly said, “The friendship we had…”
He laughed lightly, “The last decade or so, all I was concerned about in the world, was him alone; of course… it was very good.”
The last three words he uttered crashed like boulders to the bottom of one’s heart. Li Si-niang startled slightly and asked, “Then how…”
“It’s nothing, really. Things change with the passage of time; no one stays the same forever.” Shi Wuduan sighed, lowered his head, and met the gaze of his rabbit’s pitch-black eyes. He was caught off guard for a moment, then reached out and pet the rabbit’s head, “I know his status; I know it was Yan Zhen who freed him, and that he’s bound by the karma of breaking the seal on the Hall of Demons, as well as the karma of this land. The longer this country remains standing, the more powerful he becomes. Because of that, I had to take precautions against him, despite being friendly with him.”
Li Si-niang silently listened, and heard the sound of Shi Wuduan leaning back into his pillow. His voice was hushed, and he’d pause after every few words; his words were very, very slow.
“I thought, if I could be better to him, just a bit, and make him stay, wouldn’t that be wonderful? It’s just that the two of us were well aware of what exactly the other was doing. When neither of us brought it out into the open, we got along just fine. It wasn’t until Zou Yanlai came along and started burning Yin Corpse Fire that I realized that, in his heart, he’d always thought about killing me.”
“Isn’t it laughable, fourth sister? If that’s how things are, then why hide it beneath a loincloth, and drink wine from each other’s cups beneath a sham of friendship as I do with everyone else? Between the two of us, there’s really no point.”
Li Si-niang cautiously said, “I noticed that he was very kind to you. Third brother also said that he was out of his mind when he injured you that day. It really seems as though he didn’t do it out of his own will, and that he himself regretted it deeply. Are you sure there isn’t some kind of misunderstanding?”
Shi Wuduan laughed mirthlessly, “Misunderstanding? The Yin Corpse Fire is of the same origin as him, it can’t mislead his heart. The most it could do is make him face his true thoughts; not to mention that he’s only a half-demon, it’d take more than a ball of corpse fire to make him lose his senses and forget himself. I think he just… doesn’t feel like keeping up the act.”
“He wants everything to go his way; he can’t tolerate a speck of sand in his eyes. He only wants things wholly and completely, and he’ll destroy anything he can’t obtain,” Shi Wuduan said dully, “The things within my ability to give, even though I was unwilling, if he’d… given me a few years, I’d’ve probably gotten over it, and then it would’ve been okay.”
Li Si-niang didn’t know what he was referring to. Upon hearing his words, she startled for a moment.
Shi Wuduan shut his eyes, exhausted, and unwilling to speak further. Li Si-niang gently laid down his pillow and helped him lay down before leaving and closing the door behind her.
Shi Wuduan opened his eyes, turned his head, and stared at the bed-curtains — in his eyes, he’d already betrayed him when he’d chosen his path. When they were young, they hadn’t had disagreements, or at least, nothing that a fruit or a few words couldn’t solve. He hadn’t minded going along with him on everything, but that wasn’t the case anymore.
Is this the reason why you want to kill me so badly?
Shi Wuduan thought. He pressed his hand against the wound in his chest. He sneered and tossed the matter out from his head, not wasting any more time on it. He closed his eyes and focused on getting his rest.
Ah ah! The misunderstanding! Dammit
(ﾉ￣□￣)ﾉ ~┻━┻
I keep feeling that the rabbit is closely related to Bai Li. It’s always there when Bai Li is gone, and it ate the flower the other left. Maybe It’s a medium for Bai Li to spy on Shi Wuduan?
+1 I hope so!! I want it to be like….bai Li’s shred of humanity if that makes sense
+2 I like your theory 👏💐
Yes, I’ve been thinking the same. At first I even thought the rabbit was Bai Li, until Bai Li and the rabbit appeared in the same place.
I think they must be connected too, but i don’t think bunny is Bai’s agent, but his proxy. He was cultivating in the secluded mountain before, he must have something going on upstairs
💙💙💙
Read the end of this chapter with Offspring’s “Feelings” playing in the background for additional emotional damage….