The door was shut by the wind.
A gentle breeze also blew in through the half-open wooden window facing the backyard, stirring a few strands of Lin Ting’s hair that were hanging on her cheek.
A book fell beside her feet and lay there quietly.
Despite the dimness of the room, the transparent glass jars on the bookshelf were particularly eye-catching.
The eyeballs floating in the potions seemed to move faintly, with dark blood vessels coiling around them.
Lin Ting saw that the transparent glass jars contained eyeballs, pairs of them.
Her breathing involuntarily became lighter, as if afraid to disturb the eyeballs in the room.
Although she only glanced at them a few times before turning around at Duan Ling’s voice, she saw them very clearly.
Row after row of eyeballs created a strong visual impact, which was still replaying in Lin Ting’s mind, unable to be shaken off and extremely profound.
Even though she was now facing away from the eyeballs, she had the illusion that they were staring at her.
Lin Ting stood there, wanting to call out to Duan Ling as usual, but felt as if her throat was stuffed with a piece of cotton, unable to utter a word.
Perhaps she hadn’t fully recovered from the shock yet.
The air seemed to stagnate for a moment.
Lin Ting watched as Duan Ling walked up to her, then watched him bend down, reach for the book beside her feet, and pick up the book that had fallen to the ground.
Duan Ling’s hands were slender and well-proportioned, holding the book with a beast skin cover, which was quite pleasing to the eye.
However, Lin Ting’s focus was not on Duan Ling’s hands or the book, but on the transparent glass jars behind her.
Duan Xinning said this was her study.
Did she know that there was a whole wall of eyeballs hidden behind the bookshelf?
From what Lin Ting knew about Duan Xinning, she didn’t seem like someone who had a penchant for collecting eyeballs.
Lin Ting was confused.
Although she really wanted to run away from this place, unfortunately, her legs were weak and uncooperative.
Duan Ling put the book back in its place, and then pushed the bookshelves that had been pulled apart to the sides back together, gradually merging them until they returned to their original state, blocking the bookshelf embedded in the wall that contained the eyeballs.
She heard the sound of the wooden boards moving again and couldn’t help but look back.
When her gaze met the transparent glass jars, and made eye contact with one of the pairs of eyeballs, she immediately averted her eyes.
He simply looked at her calmly and said,
“Miss Lin, why are you here?”
Lin Ting bit her lip, letting the slight pain bring her back to her senses, and spoke somewhat incoherently,
“She, I, it was Lingyun who brought me here. She said this was her study and let me come in to read.”
Duan Ling’s calmness reached an eerie level.
After putting the book back, he straightened up.
Due to the angle of his standing position, his shadow covered Lin Ting, like a black vortex, swallowing her up.
He said softly,
“She deceived you. This is my study, not hers.”
“Ah?” Lin Ting immediately wanted to grab Duan Xinning and give her a good scolding for deceiving her.
And just her luck, she got caught by Duan Ling.
That wasn’t important anymore.
What she really wanted to know was the situation with the bookshelf full of eyeballs.
Did he like collecting human eyeballs?
Where did he get so many eyeballs?
Could it be… Lin Ting couldn’t hide her emotions for a moment, and her facial expressions became even more colorful than the books in the study.
Duan Ling took in all of Lin Ting’s expressions but said nothing, slowly walking around the bookshelf, waiting for her to speak up.
Who knew that her first words would be,
“Sorry for intruding into your study.”
He paused in his selection of books, bypassing the “Tao Te Ching” and landing on the “Luo Zhi Jing”:
“Miss Lin, why are you apologizing? It’s not your fault. It was Lingyun who brought you in.”
Lin Ting discreetly moved her left leg, but unfortunately, her leg was still weak and almost caused her to fall onto Duan Ling.
Fortunately, she had strong core strength and managed to stand firm on her own.
Duan Ling seemed not to notice Lin Ting’s little action and took down the “Luo Zhi Jing.”
She pinched her thigh, trying to make the weak leg behave, and then quietly took a small step towards the door:
“Anyway, I should apologize to you for inadvertently invading your privacy.”
Duan Ling turned his head:
“Privacy?”
Lin Ting immediately froze, pretending to dust the bookshelf, even though there wasn’t a speck of dust:
“It’s something you don’t want others to discover. Rest assured, I will keep what happened today a secret.”
He took a few steps towards her, shortening the distance between them, and said in a low voice,
“Do you think I like collecting human eyes because it’s something to be ashamed of?”
Lin Ting denied it: “Not at all. I just think it’s not right to casually talk about others.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Duan Ling’s lips curved into a gentle smile, and his naturally slightly upturned eyes also bent a bit:
“I didn’t expect to hear such a remark from Miss Lin one day.”
By the time she realized what he meant, she was so embarrassed that she felt like her head was smoking.
The person least qualified to say “not to casually talk about others” was “Lin Ting” herself.
She had commented on Duan Ling countless times in the past, criticizing him from head to toe without leaving a single part unscathed.
Lin Ting’s head ached again.
All the stones that the former “Lin Ting” had lifted had now fallen on her own feet.
Lin Ting tried to change the subject:
“Growing up and reading more books, I’ve learned some principles. It’s true that reading more books is always beneficial.”
Duan Ling went along with her:
“Indeed, reading more books can sometimes even save your life. Didn’t you learn the method of saving someone by transferring breath from Zhang Zhongjing’s ‘Jin Kui Yao Lue’ last time?”
Mentioning the method of saving someone by transferring breath, Lin Ting subconsciously glanced at his lips.
Duan Ling flipped through a few pages of the “Luo Zhi Jing” written by Lai Junchen during the Wu Zhou period, showing no significant reaction to the cruel punishments described inside.
He put it back on the bookshelf and reached for another book on a different shelf.
Whether intentional or not, Duan Ling picked up the “Jin Kui Yao Lue,” and the page he opened happened to be the one recording the method of saving someone by transferring breath.
He quickly read through it.
Lin Ting didn’t pay attention to what book he had picked up.
She wanted to open the door, mainly because she felt insecure.
However, Duan Ling was standing in front of her, and the passage was so narrow that it would be too obvious to step over him to open the door.
It wasn’t that Lin Ting didn’t want to be alone with Duan Ling, hoping to complete her mission sooner.
The eerie atmosphere and the timing just didn’t feel right.
She suppressed the urge to open the door and tried to adapt to the dimly lit environment as much as possible.
“Mr. Duan, may I ask where you obtained so many… human eyes?”
When she asked this question, Lin Ting’s eyelid twitched violently, and her eyes felt a phantom pain.
“Miss Lin, have you forgotten? I am the Deputy Commander of the Jinyiwei. The place I spend the most time in is the Northern Town Commandery’s prison. And there, there are plenty of corpses. If you want human eyes, it’s as easy as pie.”
The criminals who enter the Northern Town Commandery’s prison are usually high-ranking officials and royal relatives.
Under a collapsed nest, how can there be unbroken eggs?
Once these people fall, the families behind them will also fall apart.
If they die, their bodies might not even be claimed and will be dealt with by the Jinyiwei.
Therefore, the Jinyiwei has the authority to handle their corpses, whether to cremate them, throw them into a mass grave, or feed them to wolves and dogs.
Lin Ting understood.
Although she still felt uneasy about the wall full of eyeballs, she respected Duan Ling’s hobby of preserving human eyeballs as specimens for appreciation.
It was similar yet different from those who liked to collect plant and animal specimens.
Since she had been transported into this book, Lin Ting had always remembered a modern saying: respect the diversity of species.
She forced a laugh and said, “Mr. Duan, your… hobby is quite unique.”
Duan Ling caressed the paper with his fingertips, which were scraped by the sharp corner of the paper:
“Don’t you feel disgusted?”
A tricky question.
She quickly replied, “Ahem, ahem, ahem, Mr. Duan, your hobby is indeed quite rare, but it’s not necessarily disgusting.”
There are even human body specimens in modern times, as long as no innocent people are killed.
He let the paper corner scrape his fingertips, causing a deep red blood droplet to appear on the paper, and asked with a smile that was not quite a smile,
“Does Miss Lin really think so?”
“Yes.” Lin Ting looked at him straight in the eye and nodded vigorously.
She was telling the truth.
It wasn’t disgusting, but it was a bit terrifying.
After a moment of eye contact, Duan Ling glanced at her slightly trembling legs, closed the
“Jin Kui Yao Lue,” and casually put it aside.
He kindly asked, “Your legs are trembling. Are you feeling unwell?”
“Maybe I’ve been standing for too long, and my legs are tired. I need to find a place to sit, otherwise, I’ll just… leave first…”
Lin Ting was looking for an excuse to leave the study.
He pulled out the chair from under the desk:
“If you’re tired, just sit down. There’s no need to be so formal.”
Lin Ting: “I really appreciate it.”
Lin Ting sat down stiffly, thinking how Duan Xinning hadn’t come back yet.
Had she forgotten that she was still here?
Come back, come back, come back, she silently chanted three times, as if performing a spell.
Duan Ling said in a friendly manner,
“You’re welcome. As Lingyun’s close friend, and being her second brother, I should properly entertain you. You came in to read, right? Feel free to do so.”
Lin Ting didn’t want the surroundings to become quiet, as it would feel chilly, so she started making small talk:
“Mr. Duan, have you just come back from the Northern Town Commandery?”
“Sort of.”
She hadn’t been sitting for long when she pretended to choose a book to read and walked over to the bookshelf near the door:
“Are you investigating last night’s assassins?”
Duan Ling didn’t even look up:
“Yes. As Miss Lin mentioned before, the assassins would strike within seven days. The fire at the Yellow Crane Tower last night was their plan, aimed at killing me.”
Lin Ting spoke purely by accident: “Even so, I still couldn’t be of much help.”
“Miss Lin is referring to identifying the spies the assassins had planted within the Jinyiwei by listening to sounds? I’ve already found them out.”
He said, pushing open the half-closed window to reveal the complete view of the backyard.
Unrestrained birds perched on the branches for a while before flying away, leaving only a small dog tied with a rope, digging the ground patiently.
“Did you find them out?”
Lin Ting’s mind was completely on the conversation, and while Duan Ling was facing the window with his back to her, she tiptoed towards the door.
Duan Ling lightly tapped the windowsill, and the dog tried to run over but was stopped by the rope.
“I found them out today. Thanks to your early warning about the spies within the Jinyiwei, I was able to devise a plan to expose them.”
With that, he suddenly turned his head.
Lin Ting reacted even more quickly, swiftly retracting her leg that was moving towards the door, and pretending to browse the books on the shelf by touching her chin, appearing to be very focused on choosing a book.
Duan Ling looked at her.
“Miss Lin, what book would you like to read? Feel free to tell me, and I’ll find it for you.”
Lin Ting randomly picked up a book:
“I’d like to read a storybook. This one seems quite good. I can choose it myself. You’re busy with your own things.”
Duan Ling glanced at it and reminded her,
“That shelf is full of history books, not storybooks. I do have some supernatural and strange storybooks here, but they are on the second bookshelf on the east side.”
She realized she had picked up the “Collection of Qin and Han Historical Theories” and put it back: “I made a mistake.”
He smiled without speaking.
Lin Ting, under Duan Ling’s gaze, left the bookshelf near the door and walked over to the bookshelf on the east side, since she had said she wanted to read a storybook:
“Mr. Duan, am I disturbing you here?”
Duan Ling sat down at the desk, didn’t call for any servants, and began to grind ink and write by himself:
“No, you can treat this place as an ordinary library.”
She forced a smile and said, “Okay.”
Okay, my foot.
Lin Ting kept glancing at the door.
It was bad enough that Duan Xinning had lied about this being her study, but she had also left her alone to face Duan Ling.
Under normal circumstances, Lin Ting would have been more than happy to be alone with him in order to complete her mission of kissing him.
But not today.
She needed some time to process what she had seen today – the wall full of eyeballs.
Another quarter of an hour passed.
There was still no movement at the door.
Lin Ting was so annoyed that she could have resurrected ten evil sword spirits with her resentment.
But when facing Duan Ling, she still kept her tone polite: “Mr. Duan, I’d like to go find Lingyun.”
Duan Ling had finished annotating a document and placed the pen on the pen holder:
“Not going to read anymore?”
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