A spring breeze brushed past the threshold, rustling a beaded curtain and thinning the thick smell of medicine in the room.
“Achoo!—”
Zheng Mei sniffled, set the empty bowl aside, and ate a few candied dates. After the sweetness rolled over her tongue, she hesitated, then spat the dates out. The bitter taste of the medicine still lingered in her throat.
She couldn’t swallow solid food for now, and couldn’t speak loudly. All thanks to Lu Zhiyao.
“Miss, why not report him to the authorities? If that’s no good, at least tell the master and mistress.”
Zheng Mei’s maid applied ointment for her, looking at the purple bruises on her neck with lingering fear. Yesterday, she’d gotten the message to pick Zheng Mei up at the back gate. She arrived to find her soaked through, draped in a guard’s outer robe, her voice hoarse and awful—the picture of a victim.
“And have my face completely ruined?” Zheng Mei rasped, barely a whisper.
Her threat to report him yesterday was just to scare Lu Zhiyao. If she actually did, wouldn’t the whole of Cangzhou know she’d made advances only to be thrown in the water?
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Gde yp qsa Nw Hbkuys, obyv oyp ps pnyau ycswv alrsavkdt bkx? Mblu rascyczu nswzed’v lhld nyvnb bkx. Jlvvla vs pvakjl yv bkp olyjdlpp ekalnvzu, xyjl bkx altalv lhla nasppkdt bla.
“Ebyv byhl usw qswde swv?”
“Rv’p yzxspv esdl,” vbl zkvvzl xyke alrzkle, yrrzukdt vbl xleknkdl. “Fkdnl nsxkdt vs Uydtgbsw, bl lkvbla nsxlp vs swa alpkeldnl vs qkde Nk Swspbwk sa tslp vs vbl vlybswpl kd Zydzkw Gzzlu vs zkpvld vs pvsauvlzzkdt. Lsvbkdt lzpl.”
“Mbyv psav sq vlxrlayxldv… kq bl olald’v ps eydtlaswp, bl alyzzu oswze pwkv xu vypvl.”
Hbldt Ylk pbssj bla blye, rwpbkdt vbl vlaakqukdt vbswtbv yoyu. “Jwv bkp alzyvksdpbkr okvb Nk Swspbwk kp wdwpwyz.”
Fbl zssjle swv vbl okdeso, zspv kd vbswtbv. Fbl nswzed’v vbkdj sq y oyu vs tlv alhldtl fwpv ulv. Gqvla yzz, Nw Hbkuys xktbv pllx tldvzl, cwv pbl’e lmrlakldnle bkp vlxrla dso. Tl oyp rascyczu kxrlahkswp vs alypsd.
Uswzed’v clyv bkx, nswzed’v swv-nwapl bkx… oypd’v vbkp vss qawpvayvkdt?
“Ykpp, obu dsv ts swvpkel qsa psxl yka? Mbl esnvsa pyke usw nywtbv y nbkzz. Zsw dlle xsal pwd.”
“Alright.”
The two walked to the mansion’s garden to rest and soak up the sunlight. In the blink of an eye, they spotted a flash of goose-yellow flitting around the rockery, very conspicuous.
Just from the skirt hem, Zheng Mei knew it was Li Ruoshui. Most people in the Zheng household preferred steady, sober colors. Even though she mostly wore blue. The only person in the whole estate who could wear such a bright, eye-catching color was her.
Zheng Mei and her maid exchanged a glance, shifted their position quietly, and stood in a blind spot of the rockery to look over.
They saw Li Ruoshui pacing back and forth, looking at a letter in her hand, expression serious, as if thinking hard.
And near her, Zheng Mei saw, unsurprisingly, Lu Zhiyao.
He sat by a stone table, stroking a long string of scarlet sage flowers, also seemingly deep in thought.
One in snow-white robes, one in goose-yellow. They looked like a patch of brilliant sun dyeing a snowy mountain peak. A perfect match.
Though not speaking, the atmosphere between them was harmonious. Even from this distance, Zheng Mei could sense the peace.
Lu Zhiyao raised the scarlet sage flowers in his hand, shook them slightly, a smile touching his lips. He tilted his head and “looked” toward their hiding spot.
Her neck seemed to hurt again. Zheng Mei instinctively shuddered, took a step back, and couldn’t help but avert her eyes.
“Miss?” The little maid supported her, patting her back. “He’s just blind. Don’t be afraid.”
Zheng Mei took a deep breath to bolster her courage. In the end, she couldn’t resist her curiosity. Tentatively, she looked over again.
She wanted to see how these two actually interacted.
“This is interesting.”
Li Ruoshui looked at the letter in her hand, her face blank as she uttered these three words. She just felt a headache coming on.
Because Lady Zheng’s comment yesterday about “holding off on children” had truly shocked her. She planned to first uncover the person poisoning Zheng Yanqing within the household, then quickly get a divorce.
Once the poisoning truth came out, the guards transferred to protect Zheng Yanqing would be reduced significantly. The letters should also be found soon.
In short, she planned to spill the plot.
In the original story, the servant who administered the poison was someone who’d been with the Zheng family for many years. She just needed to ferret that person out.
The method was simple. But there was one problem: she couldn’t remember that servant’s name. She only vaguely recalled his surname was Chen.
There were many “Chens” in the Zheng household. Eleven were raised in the Zheng family from childhood. Eight had access to medicine. Five were male.
Li Ruoshui stared sternly at the five names on the paper, trying to jog some related memory. But no memory surfaced. Instead, a clear meme appeared in her mind.
A meme about Ma Dongmei. 1TLN: Not sure what this is referring to actually
…
Of course. Remember the useless stuff perfectly, then forget the important ones.
In the original, Lu Feiyue happened to catch the servant poisoning, tailed him for several days to get evidence, then exposed him.
But she wasn’t Lu Feiyue. She had no chance of stumbling onto that.
Li Ruoshui simply tossed the paper onto the stone table, planning to relax and change her train of thought.
She turned to look at Lu Zhiyao studying the flowers and walked over to sit beside him.
“So? Figured out how to eat it?”
This cluster of scarlet sage was planted in the Zheng family garden. Though it was only the fourth month, many had already bloomed, standing bright red in their pots.
“Eating this is boring.” Lu Zhiyao closed his eyes, smiling as he handed the flowers to her. “Didn’t you say you had to walk for a full hour before you could sit?”
She’d come to change the subject precisely because she didn’t want to walk!
Li Ruoshui leaned over, resting her arms on the table. A clear, sharp clang rang out, startling Zheng Mei and her maid behind the rockery so much they jumped.
They peeked out, looked over, and both their eyes went wide in unison, mouths slightly agape.
Beneath Li Ruoshui’s loose sleeves, two iron manacles were revealed, gleaming a cold black, clamped tightly around her wrists. The contrast of black and white was stark.
Her wind-blown skirt hem also revealed glimpses of black, glinting with a metallic sheen.
Zheng Mei covered her mouth, stifling the gasp about to escape. Her heart was unexpectedly moved. So was Li Ruoshui’s daily life difficult?
Unaware of being pitied, Li Ruoshui was trying to figure out how to get rid of these two pairs of shackles.
The iron manacles scraped against the stone table with a piercing screech. She dragged her hands closer to him, pretending she hadn’t heard his question. “There’s nectar inside these. Very sweet. Try it.”
She plucked a small blossom and offered it, lightly tapping his lips. Her voice was clear. “Open up and try. Just suck it.”
The unique softness of the flower brushed against the corner of his mouth. It tickled, and felt cool.
Lu Zhiyao paused, then parted his lips slightly, taking the flower into his mouth. He gently sucked the nectar onto his tongue.
It was sweet. But he wasn’t really interested in food.
Seeing no look of surprise on his face, Li Ruoshui thought he hadn’t gotten any. She pushed the flower in a little further, her fingertip accidentally touching the tip of his tongue.
Li Ruoshui jerked her hand back. The weight of the manacle dragged her wrist down, and it slammed hard against the edge of the stone table.
“Ouch!—”
The embarrassment that had just begun to surface was immediately crushed by the pain.
Coming back to his senses, Lu Zhiyao took the scarlet sage flower out. He reached over and touched the spot Li Ruoshui was clutching. “Should I rub it for you?”
No, he just wanted to press on her injury. Make it hurt.
“No, it doesn’t hurt. I can manage.”
Hearing this, Lu Zhiyao retracted his hand with a hint of regret and played with the scarlet sage on the table.
Li Ruoshui looked at his expression, thought of how he’d made her bite him before, and couldn’t help asking, “Do you actually like making others hurt, or making yourself hurt?”
Once she figured it out, she could adjust her strategy accordingly.
Lu Zhiyao’s eyes curved. He handed his sword to her, his expression more sincere than a martyr’s. “Why don’t you stab me with this and see? I won’t dodge.”
Li Ruoshui: “…”
If she actually believed that, the Zheng residence would probably be hosting a funeral tomorrow.
Li Ruoshui rubbed the sore spot, pretending it hurt to attract his attention, but her eyes were carefully examining the iron manacle on her wrist, thinking how to open it.
The manacle was just a simple flat circular ring, shaped like a modern wrist guard, biting into her tightly with no gap to be found.
Li Ruoshui subtly used two fingers to pull at the manacle, trying to pry it apart. She strained until her hands trembled, but didn’t succeed.
Lu Zhiyao had closed them so easily this morning. Why was opening them so hard?
Li Ruoshui wasn’t one to give up easily. She took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and strained again, an involuntary grunt of effort escaping her throat.
The person beside her chuckled softly, his fingertips tapping the stone table, smiling as he waited for the result of her efforts.
The locking ring inside the manacle seemed to shift. But after that one movement, there was no further change.
Li Ruoshui turned it over a few times, no longer hiding her actions. She simply asked directly, “Why won’t this open?”
Lu Zhiyao leaned over. Just as Zheng Mei thought Li Ruoshui was about to be in trouble, Lu Zhiyao reached out and opened the manacle on her wrist.
Zheng Mei: “…”
Where was the person who’d thrown her into the water at the slightest disagreement yesterday?
“These are to train your hand strength. The day you can pull them apart, you won’t need them anymore.”
After the explanation, not giving Li Ruoshui any time to recover, the cold black manacles clamped onto her wrist again, as if it had just been a demonstration.
Li Ruoshui: “…”
Her freedom had been brief.
Lu Zhiyao handed the sword to her, like a good teacher passing out candy to students. “Practice the basic sword forms. I taught you.”
Seeing this, Zheng Mei couldn’t help but clench her fists, feeling Lu Zhiyao was utterly unreasonable. How could such a person exist in the world?
“If the hands can pull the handcuffs open, what about the feet?”
Zheng Mei’s angry expression froze. She saw Li Ruoshui lift her foot onto the stone stool, revealing that pair of heavy, ugly leg irons.
The goose-yellow skirt hem slipped down, exposing a pale ankle. Between the yellow and white was a slash of cold black.
She wiggled her foot. The leg irons clanked together with a ding. “Do we need to train my feet until they can pull the leg irons apart?”
Li Ruoshui wasn’t angry. She didn’t mind the leg irons either. Instead, she responded with a teasing tone, like a clear mountain spring—refreshing and not carrying a hint of coldness.
Lu Zhiyao’s lips curved, his gaze softening. He reached out, touched the hem of her skirt, felt his way down to the leg irons, and with just a light pull, they sprang open with a click.
They both knew the leg irons were opened by hand. But that question had clearly made Lu Zhiyao happy.
As long as he was happy, she could ask for anything. This was a sentence Li Ruoshui had engraved in her brain.
Li Ruoshui flexed her ankle, picked up the thin sword with her sore arms, and listlessly went through the sword forms.
Though she didn’t know the exact reason, practicing swordplay definitely increased his favorability. It was tiring, but worth it. Hopefully.
Regarding the strategy, though there were occasional setbacks, she still felt she had a handle on it.
Li Ruoshui grunted with effort, sounding like she was practicing vigorously, but her arms only rose half an inch. The sword tip pointed at the ground, the blade drawing weak circles in the air.
Slacking off—she was always good at that.
“I can hear you.”
Lu Zhiyao sighed softly, walked behind her, and grasped her upper arm, raising her hand until it was parallel to the ground.
Then he tapped the spot on her throat, smiling. “Sounds of pain should come naturally. How can you fake them?”
Li Ruoshui lifted her sore arms to practice, and sure enough, genuine sounds of pain escaped her mouth in the form of groans, making the corners of Lu Zhiyao’s mouth twitch upward uncontrollably.
He stood behind her, listening carefully to the sound of the wind, occasionally moving to adjust her posture.
For some people, killing them made him happy. For others, tormenting them brought him joy. Li Ruoshui was probably the latter.
Zheng Mei watched the two, many thoughts flashing through her mind. Finally, her gaze settled on Li Ruoshui’s ankle.
For some reason, she had a distinct feeling that even if those leg irons were still clamped on Li Ruoshui’s legs, she’d find a way to open them. They couldn’t really restrain her.
It looked like Li Ruoshui was the one being controlled. But the initiative between them seemed to have always been with Li Ruoshui.
Zheng Mei unconsciously clutched her skirt, watching the two practice swordplay, her brow slightly raised.
She thought she knew how to get back at Lu Zhiyao now.
EDN: Oh dear.
TLN: Oh poor Zheng Mei 😀
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