Switch Mode

The Young Man from Miaojiang is a Black Lotus 133

He Sui'an, Do You Love Me? (Part 2)

 

He Hua quickly asked the old woman to describe the pouch. After hearing the description, He Hua realized it must be He Sui’an’s pouch. But how did it end up in her bundle?

 

Could it be that He Sui’an accidentally dropped it in when helping her move the bundle yesterday? Very likely. Qi Buyan must have recognized it; otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken He Sui’an’s pouch directly.

 

He Hua continued writing: “Did that young man ask you any questions?”

 

The old woman said he did.

 

He asked if they knew a girl named He Sui’an. They had only heard a little girl at Auntie Cui’s house call He Hua’s name but had never heard anyone call that girl He Sui’an, so they said no.

 

Then the young man asked if they had seen any other girls around He Hua.

 

They realized they shouldn’t say too much to strangers, even if he knew He Hua’s name, so they exchanged a glance and said in unison, “No.”

 

Then he left.

 

The old woman, unsure if she had done the right thing, hesitantly asked He Hua, “You don’t know that young man? Did he trick us?”

 

He Hua wrote: “I know him. No, he didn’t trick you.”

 

What puzzled her was that Qi Buyan didn’t show the small pouch to her or question her about He Sui’an’s whereabouts. She couldn’t figure out what he was thinking.

 

After a brief pause, she quickly wrote a letter and entrusted the old woman to deliver it to He Sui’an when she returned to the village after buying things. The old woman agreed, “Alright, don’t worry.”

 

At this point, He Hua had no choice but to inform He Sui’an through a letter.

 

*

 

He Sui’an was rolling around in bed.

 

Her swollen eyes had recovered, but she was incredibly bored, doing nothing but daydreaming. As the day of Liu Yan’s action approached, He Sui’an became increasingly anxious, constantly thinking about it.

 

They had to wait for Liu Yan to act. Once he mobilized a large group of people controlled by Spirit Gu worms to attack the Nanliang’s wedding convoy and prince, it would be considered rebellion, defying the emperor’s orders.

 

With no way out, Su Yang and the others could justifiably kill him.

 

Without bearing any guilt.

 

He Sui’an had previously thought about forcing Liu Yan to mobilize a large group of people controlled by Spirit Gu worms.

 

But later, she realized it wouldn’t work.

 

Liu Yan wouldn’t use that many people to deal with just a few of them, which wouldn’t constitute a rebellion. As a prince, even if he killed them, he wouldn’t be guilty, and Emperor Duan Jing wouldn’t intervene.

 

Involving rebellion made it vastly different. Even the benevolent and brotherly Emperor Duan Jing would have to step in, and they could then get his military support.

 

They needed that military support.

 

That was the crucial point.

 

In the original story, Liu Yan drugged Emperor Duan Jing’s food before acting.

 

While he used the Spirit Gu-controlled people to attack the Nanliang’s wedding convoy, Emperor Duan Jing was in a drugged sleep. Liu Yan forged an imperial edict, telling the court ministers that the alliance with Nanliang was a ruse.

 

Emperor Duan Jing’s actual intention was to go to war with Nanliang and revive Great Zhou.

 

Unfortunately, Emperor Duan Jing fell ill, so Liu Yan brought the forged edict to inform the ministers and led the action himself.

 

Hardly anyone in the court dared to question it. Some ministers thought Liu Yan was seizing the throne, while others believed his story and supported the war against Nanliang.

 

One person did stand up to question it—Xie Wenqiao.

 

But it was useless.

 

Liu Yan proceeded with his plan.

 

The content of He Sui’an’s letter to Su Yang was to enter the palace as a princess and stay with the empress, adapting to the situation, and closely monitor Emperor Duan Jing to prevent him from consuming any drugged food.

 

This was a small contingency plan He Sui’an came up with, though she didn’t know if Su Yang would adopt it. She might have a better plan.

 

He Sui’an thought of Qi Buyan again.

 

What is he doing now?

 

“Miss He, come out for breakfast,” Ah Xuan came over to call He Sui’an out. Every day, he would cook the meals and call Aunt Cui and her to eat.

 

He Sui’an, who was still rolling around in bed, stopped, smoothed her messy long hair, put on her shoes, and walked out. “Okay.”

 

Outside, she saw Aunt Cui leaning by the window, lamenting how cold it had been these days.

 

He Sui’an thought it would get even colder in the future, with the spectacular sight of snow in April. Although she knew these things, it was impossible to tell Aunt Cui.

 

She sat at the wooden table set with several dishes. Aunt Cui came back from the window and sat beside He Sui’an, with Ah Xuan sitting opposite them. He was a man of few words and rarely spoke unless necessary.

 

After taking a few bites of food, Aunt Cui suddenly asked how long He Sui’an planned to stay when she said she would stay for a while.

 

He Sui’an’s cheeks were stuffed with food, and hearing this, she widened her eyes and quickly swallowed her food, suddenly not daring to eat so much.

 

“What’s wrong, Aunt Cui?”

 

Aunt Cui saw through He Sui’an’s little thoughts and laughed. “Eat as much as you want. I’m not complaining that you eat too much. The ten taels you gave me are enough to feed an ordinary family for a year.”

 

He Sui’an picked up her wooden bowl again but didn’t eat. “Then you…”

 

“Just asking casually,” Aunt Cui’s gaze swept over He Sui’an. The girl’s skin was excellent, rosy and slightly plump, clearly well-nourished. How could she let her get thin here?

 

Aunt Cui resisted the urge to pinch He Sui’an’s little face and picked a few pieces of fresh meat for her. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

 

It wasn’t really important.

 

“Oh,” He Sui’an picked up her bamboo chopsticks again and buried her head in her food, eating the pieces of meat Aunt Cui had picked for her. She loved meat and couldn’t do without it.

 

Ah Xuan glanced at her.

 

Yesterday, he had secretly told Aunt Cui that a large part of the meat he bought was eaten by He Sui’an. He couldn’t understand how He Sui’an, who looked so small, could eat so much.

 

He Sui’an didn’t know what Ah Xuan thought of her. Once she was full, she took her bowl to wash.

 

Returning, she saw that there wasn’t much charcoal left in the stove, so she willingly took an umbrella to buy charcoal from the old man in the small village. Not only did she not cause Aunt Cui any trouble, but she also helped with some chores.

 

There weren’t many people in the small village, and even fewer ventured out on rainy days. Only He Sui’an, in her red dress, walked slowly along the path.

 

As she walked, she stopped.

 

Ahead was a dark blue figure.

 

He Sui’an blinked and blinked again, thinking she was hallucinating. But she wasn’t. Even without moving, the distance between her and the dark blue figure gradually shortened.

 

The rain poured down, the sound of the rain pattering, splashing along the paper umbrella He Sui’an held, forming strings of raindrops that blurred one’s vision. Despite this, she still saw him.

 

A quarter of an hour earlier, the woman who had taken He Hua to Chang’an returned to the small village.

 

But she chose to go home first to check on her sick child before asking her husband to deliver He Hua’s letter to He Sui’an at the stone house. As it happened, He Sui’an had gone out to buy charcoal, so the woman’s husband missed her.

 

He left the letter with Aunt Cui.

 

Meanwhile, He Sui’an, who had narrowly missed the letter, encountered Qi Buyan, who had secretly followed the woman back to the village. She felt her heart being gripped by an invisible hand, yet it still pounded loudly.

 

The rain washed over Qi Buyan’s pale face and clothes. Thunder and lightning flashed, illuminating his face and making it appear even more translucent. At a glance, he seemed eerie and terrifying, like a ghostly figure emerging in the human world.

 

Both extremely beautiful and extremely sinister.

 

A prolonged gaze might ensnare one.

 

Scared, He Sui’an instinctively wanted to turn and run, even dropping her umbrella. She didn’t care if her dress got dirty; she just wanted to run faster.

 

Like playing hide-and-seek, she had been hiding well, but the next second, she was caught. Before being caught, He Sui’an wanted to make a last-ditch effort to escape.

 

But it was too late.

 

He Sui’an had barely taken two steps when Qi Buyan’s snake slithered up along her feet. The cold, slippery touch slid across her ankle. She stomped her foot, but couldn’t shake off the red snake.

 

The red snake first bit onto the sleeve of her left hand, then flung its long tail to her right hand. It tightened around her hands, winding a few times like a rope, binding her wrists.

 

The snake’s body exuded a chilling cold.

 

He Sui’an froze, her hands and feet stiff. She looked up in the direction of Qi Buyan.

 

Qi Buyan walked over step by step, bent down to pick up the paper umbrella from the ground, and held it over He Sui’an’s head. She stammered, “Why are you…”

 

He took out a small sachet that He Sui’an was very familiar with and placed it in her palm.

 

She instinctively looked at her waist.

 

The small sachet was indeed missing because she had given all the ten taels of silver it contained to Aunt Cui, leaving her penniless.

 

To buy charcoal from the old man in the village, she could temporarily use Aunt Cui’s name for credit, so she hadn’t noticed the missing sachet.

 

Qi Buyan didn’t explain how he found the sachet.

 

He Sui’an glanced at the red snake on her hands, feeling very uncomfortable, and gently tugged his sleeve. “Can you make it let go of me?”

 

The red snake looked at Qi Buyan.

 

He didn’t say a word, just extended his free hand to He Sui’an.

 

Without hesitation, she took his hand.

 

The red snake had bound her wrists, but her fingers could still move freely. When she held Qi Buyan’s hand, she seemed to hear the butterfly silver chain hidden in his sleeve jingle.

 

Qi Buyan took He Sui’an to find the village chief of the small village to rent a house. While they were talking, He Sui’an hid behind him the entire time, worried that people might see the snake on her hands.

 

However, she managed to hide it somewhat with her sleeves, making it less noticeable.

 

The village chief took Qi Buyan’s silver, handed over the key, and pointed to the direction of the house from the doorway. “That one over there.”

 

“The bedding is new. My wife made it a few days ago and kept it there as a spare. We haven’t used it yet, so it’s all yours.” The village chief took a puff of his grass pipe and went back inside his house.

 

Following the village chief’s direction, Qi Buyan led the way, while He Sui’an hesitated to speak.

 

They soon arrived at the house. Qi Buyan released He Sui’an, unlocked the door with one hand, and waited for her to enter. He then asked where Aunt Cui’s house was, as he needed to retrieve her clothes.

 

He Sui’an provided the location.

 

Qi Buyan left.

 

She wanted to walk to the door to look outside, but the red snake on her hands tightened, forcing her to return to her spot. After a moment, Qi Buyan returned.

 

Without a word from him, the red snake automatically released He Sui’an’s hands and slithered away.

 

Qi Buyan closed the door, walked over to her, and began to untie her damp skirt, intending to help her out of her wet red dress.

 

He Sui’an held his hand.

 

She said, “I’m sorry, I made my own decision. Please don’t be angry, okay?”

 

“Angry?” Qi Buyan looked down at He Sui’an’s rain-soaked face, lifted his other hand to gently stroke her, “I’m not angry.”

 

His tone softened as he asked, “He Sui’an, do you love me?”

 

He Sui’an was stunned.

 

Her mind seemed to go blank.

 

Qi Buyan bent down, smiling into her eyes. “You probably don’t love me because you don’t want to be with me all the time, nor do you never want to be apart from me.”

 

Unable to resist, the young man kissed the corner of He Sui’an’s lips and whispered, “But that’s okay. I’ve thought of a solution.”

 

Comment

5 1 Cast your magic spell here!
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

1 Comment
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

 

Tired of waiting for chapter drops? The fully translated e-book is ready for you on Ko-fi!


Own the complete story and read it straight through—no cliffhangers, no delays.

 

Unlock Full Story ✨

⛔ You cannot copy content of this page ⛔

Options

not work with dark mode
Reset
1
0
Would love your thoughts, comment away!x