The archivist stood upright in front of the courtyard, with lowered eyes:
“Not yet, but I’ve found out that someone else has also been secretly investigating Fu Chi’s whereabouts.”
He put down the tea set with a crisp sound, kicked the archivist fiercely in the leg, and spoke in a mocking tone:
“Of course I know the Jinyiwei is also looking for Fu Chi. Do I need to investigate that?”
“A bunch of good-for-nothings who can’t even stand on their own. After scolding, Treading on Snow Mud threw the teacup again.
This kick knocked the man to the ground and made him spit blood.
The teacup also knocked a considerable bloody hole in his forehead.
The young eunuch not far away was terrified, trembling with fear.
The archivist endured the pain, got up without wiping the blood, and continued to stand:
“It’s not the Jinyiwei. According to the scout’s report, it’s two young ladies. One of them claims to be Fu Chi’s fiancée.”
Treading on Snow Mud finally stopped hitting:
“Young ladies? Fu Chi has a fiancée?”
The young eunuch’s inner garment was soaked with sweat, and the archivist who had been hit by him wasn’t much better, with blood and sweat flowing together:
“I specially sent people to Yangzhou Lingze to check. Fu Chi has no fiancée.”
Treading on Snow Mud furrowed his brows, got up, stepped over the teacup shards on the ground, and walked around the archivist a few steps:
“Pretending to be Fu Chi’s fiancée to look for him? What’s her background?”
The archivist, fearing another blow from Treading on Snow Mud, replied very quickly.
“The girl showed up wearing a veil. When she exited the Wen Chu Academy, she was extremely vigilant, and her maneuvers bore a resemblance to the ‘anti-tailing tactics’ often seen in martial arts.”
“Our operatives had initially been tailing her, but she managed to slip away from them.”
Her martial arts skills are not high, but her “anti-tracking technique” is superb, which the archivist also admires.
Treading on Snow Mud pondered for a long time and said in a sinister tone:
“People from the martial world? Does Fu Chi have dealings with people from the martial world? You go and find out her real identity. Maybe she knows something too.”
The archivist had a hard time in his heart.
How could he find this out, yet he had no choice but to agree:
“I will definitely try my best to find out this woman’s identity.”
Lin Ting knows nothing about this.
She was confined in the mansion by Lady Li to learn embroidery, and all ten of her fingers were broken, pricked by the needle.
Everyone has their own expertise.
Lin Ting is simply not cut out for learning embroidery.
Tao Zhu, who embroiders with her, does it quite well.
In contrast, her embroidery is neither flower nor grass.
When asked what it is, she herself doesn’t know.
Lin Ting listlessly embroiders a flower that looks like a spider, thinking about how to slip out of the mansion.
But Lady Li is watching her, and she can’t get away.
Even when she goes to the bathroom, there is an old woman following her.
Lin Ting throws away the embroidery cloth and needle, lies down on the Arhat couch, and plays the victim:
“I won’t embroider anymore! My hands are bleeding from the needle pricks. Mother, look, it hurts so much, it’s killing me.”
Lady Li lifts her eyelids to look at her:
“You say you are a girl, but you can’t even embroider a flower. How will you make clothes for your husband in the future?”
She rolls around on the Arhat couch and makes a fuss.
“So what if I’m a girl? Does being a girl mean I must know how to embroider? I can’t, I can’t, I just can’t. Besides, why should I make clothes for my husband? Can’t he make them for me?”
The maids and old women serving in the room are all stunned.
They have never heard such words.
Lady Li slaps her bottom:
“What nonsense are you talking about, girl? Where has there ever been a husband making clothes for his wife? If you can’t make clothes, at least learn to make a sachet.”
Lin Ting hums: “I don’t care. I won’t learn anything for others. I will only learn what I want to learn. Mother, just give up on this idea. I would rather die than give in.”
Lady Li scolds: “You would rather die than give in? You are just making a fuss.”
She lies there motionless, like a corpse.
“Well, if you are tired, just take a break. Nothing can be accomplished in one step,” Lady Li has no way with Lin Ting and takes a step back.
The old woman goes to close the small window, lights the calming incense, and reminds Lady Li that it is noon and time for a nap.
Lin Ting also knows that Lady Li has the habit of taking a nap at noon and thinks this is a good opportunity to slip away:
“Mother, you rest. I will go back to Tingling Courtyard so as not to disturb you. I will come to greet you again in the evening.”
Lady Li is indeed a bit sleepy and sits on the bed with the help of the old woman:
“You are just going back to Tingling Courtyard, not running outside, right?”
“Yes, just going back to Tingling Courtyard.”
Lady Li understands that it is not good to push her too hard and gives in:
“Go back then.”
Lin Ting feels like she has been pardoned and runs away in a flash.
She doesn’t go back to Tingling Courtyard but asks Tao Zhu to stay in the courtyard and deal with things as they come.
She heads straight outside the mansion.
Last night, she lied to Lady Li that she didn’t go to South Gate Street to watch the iron flower show, so she couldn’t say that Duan Xiangning fainted because of the emotional fluctuation due to the fire at the Yellow Crane Tower, where she and Duan Ling were trapped.
They just met yesterday, and they are not newlyweds who need to stick together all the time.
If she goes to see her again today, Lady Li might become suspicious.
Therefore, Lin Ting has to deceive Lady Li and visit Duan Xiangning.
When Lin Ting arrives at the Duan residence, Duan Xiangning is still resting in bed, but her complexion looks much better.
Zhilan has prepared some nourishing and invigorating medicine for her, but Duan Xiangning dislikes its bitterness and refuses to take it.
Seeing Lin Ting arrive, she puts the medicine bowl aside.
Zhilan, who is at a loss with Duan Xiangning, looks at Lin Ting:
“Seventh Miss Lin….”
She wants Lin Ting to persuade Duan Xiangning to take the medicine.
Lin Ting picks up the still warm medicine, smells the bitter and pungent odor, and instinctively leans back.
The medicine is indeed bitter, and she also dislikes taking it:
“Come on, let me feed you the medicine.”
Duan Xiangning can’t refuse Lin Ting and reluctantly opens her mouth to take the medicine she is fed.
It is so bitter that she frowns and has to eat a piece of candied fruit after each sip.
She also coquettishly says that she doesn’t want to take it anymore, but Lin Ting rejects her.
It took half a quarter of an hour to feed the medicine.
Lin Ting is not tired of feeding her and casually asks:
“Where is your second brother?”
Duan Xiangning, holding a piece of candied fruit in her mouth, says:
“I heard from the servants that my second brother didn’t come back last night and hasn’t been seen back in the mansion today. He should still be at the Northern Court Marshal’s office. What’s up, do you have something to do with my second brother?”
“Nothing,” Lin Ting feels a little awkward when thinking about having to kiss Duan Xiangning’s second brother, Duan Ling.
“There is only one sip of medicine left. Hurry up and drink it. Rest later after you finish.”
Duan Xiangning:
“I won’t rest anymore. I have been sleeping since last night and am not sleepy at all. Sleeping too much is also not good for the body.”
“I will chat with you for a while then,” Lin Ting originally wanted to feed Duan Xiangning the medicine, leave the Duan residence, and go to the study to chat with Jin An about business matters.
After hearing this, she decides to stay and keep her company for a while longer.
The room is filled with the smell of medicine.
Duan Xiangning asks Zhilan to open the window to air out the room and also asks the other maids to light the incense burner, fearing that the smell might bother Lin Ting.
Lin Ting eats the candied fruit left over from her taking medicine.
Duan Xiangning wipes the sugar crumbs from the corner of her lips with a handkerchief and suddenly recalls the fire at the Yellow Crane Tower, feeling a lingering fear:
“Last night, how did you and my second brother leave the Yellow Crane Tower?”
Lin Ting briefly summarizes what happened last night: “This is how we left the Yellow Crane Tower.”
She can’t help but mention the silk again,
“The silk used at the Yellow Crane Tower is really good.”
“Is that so? That silk did save your lives,” Duan Xiangning sighs.
“But I have one thing I don’t understand.”
Duan Xiangning leans against the soft pillow, sitting up, and holds Lin Ting’s hand:
“What is it?”Lin Ting asks curiously:
“Your second brother is a Jinyiwei, and I have also seen his skills at Nanshan Pavilion. He doesn’t seem like someone who would faint easily. But he fainted last night. Do you know the reason?”
“This….” Duan Xiangning glances at the servants on both sides, “You all leave first.”
The servants quickly leave.
After they close the door, Duan Xiangning tells Lin Ting the reason why Duan Ling felt dizzy in the fire.
Lin Ting initially suspected that Duan Ling was pretending to faint last night, but upon hearing this answer, she is convinced that she overthought it.
Lin Ting doesn’t mention the assassin to Duan Xiangning, not wanting to worry her.
After a while, Duan Xiangning gets up from the bed and says she wants to read books with her.
They have read books together like this several times before, and Duan Xiangning particularly enjoys the feeling of discussing the books with her while reading:
“How about it?”
“Sure,” Lin Ting agrees, “What books do you have in your room?”
“The books in my room, I have all read them, and they are boring,”
Duan Xiangning takes her to another courtyard, pushes open the door of one of the rooms,
“What book do you want to read? The books here are very comprehensive.”
Lin Ting looks inside.
This study is twice as large as the room she lives in.
There is a desk, chair, and stool in the middle of the entrance, and a window facing the small courtyard at the back.
Sure, let me continue the translation from where we left off:
She could turn her head to look at the flowers and plants in the courtyard when tired of reading.
There were also a few small green plants on the table, simple yet elegant.
Lin Ting walked over, lowered her eyes to look at the well-cared-for butterfly orchids, and accidentally noticed a white puppy tied up in the courtyard outside the window.
Lin Ting turned to look at Duan Xiangning:
“Is this study set up by your family?”
Duan Xiangning’s eyes dodged: “Yes, this study was set up by my family.”
In fact, this was Duan Ling’s study, but he rarely came back, so she had secretly come in to read a few times.
Duan Ling’s collection of books was rich, with many rare copies that couldn’t be bought in bookstores.
She didn’t tell Lin Ting the truth, fearing that she would be too cautious to touch anything and would leave immediately.
Thinking of this, Duan Xiangning pulled her towards the bookshelf:
“Feel free to browse, don’t be too restrained.”
Lin Ting: “Okay.”
Before her awakening, she rarely came to the Duan residence, not wanting to face the good family background that Duan Xiangning had.
She usually only met Duan Xiangning outside, so she was quite unfamiliar with the layout of the Duan residence.
There were several bookshelves on the east and south sides of the study, but only one on the west side.
Lin Ting unconsciously walked to the bookshelf on the west side.
Duan Xiangning suddenly remembered something she needed to tell the maid, but she hadn’t brought the maid with her.
“Le Yun, wait here for me. I’ll go find Zhilan to handle something. Take out any book you like. I’ll be back soon.”
Lin Ting nodded:
“You go ahead.”
She picked a few books from top to bottom, read a few pages, and put them back, not very interested.
Towards the end, Lin Ting bent down, picked and chose again, and took out a book from the bottom corner.
Strangely, as soon as she removed the book, she heard the sound of wooden boards moving.
Lin Ting was slightly stunned for a few seconds, and then looked up in surprise.
The bookshelf in front of her automatically and slowly opened to both sides, revealing rows upon rows of glass jars filled with eyeballs.
Suddenly, a voice sounded behind her:
“Miss Lin Qi.”
The book in Lin Ting’s hand fell to the ground.
Duan Ling, who had unknowingly entered the study, was standing right behind her.
Lin Ting’s body stiffened, and she turned to look.
He was wearing a bright red flying fish robe, his overly bright face hidden in the shadow not touched by sunlight.
At the same time, with a “bang,” the door of the study closed, plunging the room into darkness.