My enemies became my companions

Chapter 673 Other People's Homes

Supported by a maid, Min Ning staggered back to the guest courtyard, his steps unsteady and unsteady.

Upon returning to the front of the guest courtyard, she suddenly broke free and pushed away the two maids who were supporting her. The maids gasped and fell to the ground.

Min Ning herself stumbled a bit, but ignored it and staggered into the dimly lit room.

She seemed to be so drunk that she couldn't get any drunker, and she tried to get as drunk as possible, wanting to use the strong alcohol to completely cover up the scene that kept recurring in her mind.

There were no lights on inside, only the faint moonlight filtering in from the window.

Min Ning leaned against the cold wall, panting heavily. Her mouth was dry and her head was throbbing. She groped around and called out in a hoarse voice, "Tea... hangover tea... where is everyone?"

She called out a few times, only to find that there wasn't even a single maid on duty in the guest courtyard; it was so empty that only her heavy breathing and the howling wind outside the window could be heard.

She leaned on the chair by the table, barely able to stand, her face completely shrouded in shadow, feeling only chills and nausea.

Suddenly, a lamp was lit in the inner room, and a figure carrying a candlestick came out.

"I sent them all away."

Min Ning squinted, blinded by the light, and looked up, only to see Yin Weiying through the blurry light.

Yin Weiying was dressed in plain clothes with a shirt casually draped over his shoulders, clearly having gotten up after hearing the commotion.

She looked at Min Ning's disheveled appearance, a hint of surprise flashing across her face, but it was quickly covered up by her usual calm expression.

Min Ning had no time to care why she was there, and repeated in a hoarse voice, "Hangover tea..."

Hearing Min Ning's incoherent shouts, Yin Weiying raised an eyebrow but didn't ask any questions. He turned around, poured a cup of strong hangover tea that had been prepared and was now cold, and handed it to her.

She watched as Min Ning practically snatched the bitter juice and gulped it down.

Min Ning drank half of it, then coughed violently several times, his face appearing obscured by the candlelight.

"You went to such lengths to find that King of Annam before," Yin Weiying asked after she had recovered, puzzled, "I originally thought... that you and that King of Annam would definitely have some serious conflict, but you didn't end up fighting?"

Her tone was flat, making it impossible to tell whether she was disappointed or something else.

She did indeed have this idea in mind. If the two of them really started fighting, she, as the first wife, could step in to mediate and appease them. This would not only show her magnanimity and ease tensions with Chen Yi, but also allow her to establish her authority—a win-win situation.

Min Ning gulped down the cold, bitter tea. The icy liquid seemed to suppress some of the churning alcohol, making her a little more sober. But this sobering up didn't bring relief; instead, it was like tearing away layers of drunkenness, allowing a deeper pain to surface clearly. Her brows furrowed tightly, and her face looked even worse than before.

Yin Weiying sensed something amiss, her fingertips twitched slightly, and a faint, soft light flowed from her fingertips, gently touching Min Ning's forehead.

This is a technique for calming the mind and spirit, which helps to gather a chaotic mind.

A slight coolness seeped in, and Min Ning's violently heaving chest seemed to calm down a little, but the pain in her eyes did not lessen much.

"What's wrong with you?" Yin Weiying withdrew his hand, his tone sounding concerned, but the slight upward inflection at the end of his sentence carried a hint of sarcasm. "You've actually been driven to the point of drowning your sorrows in alcohol? That's not like you."

Min Ning suddenly looked up, her sharp gaze piercing her, though tinged with the bloodshot eyes of drunkenness, it was still like a knife. "Yin Weiying, are you concerned about me, or are you gloating?"

Yin Weiying was taken aback by her question, then thought for a moment and smiled in a cold smile, saying, "What are you saying, Miss Min? You have been kind to me, how could I gloat over the misfortune of my benefactor?"

These words sound nice, but they don't seem to convey much sincerity.

Min Ning scoffed, a deep self-deprecation in her voice, "Is that so? Then I'll take it as you being concerned." She couldn't be bothered to discern the truth in the woman's words.

"So, what exactly happened?" Yin Weiying pressed. "I saw that you seemed to be in a state of great emotional turmoil and unable to control yourself just now."

Min Ning remained silent for a moment, the candlelight flickering in her eyes. She finally spoke, her voice hoarse: "Upstairs at Hanhai Tower, I sat and drank with her... Qin Qingluo."

Yin Weiying raised an eyebrow in surprise: "You still have the leisure to discuss heroes over wine with her?"

This is really not something Min Ning would do.

“Of course I didn’t have that kind of time to do it!” Min Ning’s tone suddenly became agitated, then quickly dropped. “At that time… besides the feelings of reunion after a long separation and catching up with old friends, I more or less… had the intention of stirring up trouble.”

She confessed, with a hint of resignation.

"I want to suppress her, I want to win Chen Yi back. So what if Qin Qingluo is the Prince of Annan? If she wants to marry him, at least... at least she has to ask me first!"

Upon hearing this, Yin Weiying inwardly grumbled, "Did I ask you? When did Chen Yi need to ask you, Min Ning, who he married? If anyone should be asked, it should be the mistress of the house."

And Yin Weiying naturally agreed.

However, she didn't say it aloud, but instead asked, "Then why did you end up... drunk and walking back alone? Could it be that... you didn't hit her?"

These words were like a needle, gently pricking me.

Min Ning didn't answer immediately. Instead, she looked up and stared straight at Yin Weiying, asking in return, "Do I look like a stray dog ​​right now?"

Yin Weiying was taken aback by her question. This really did voice a thought that had just crossed her mind. Of course, she couldn't nod, but simply shook her head slightly and said in a flat tone, "It's not that serious."

"Ah…"

Min Ning chuckled softly and stopped pressing the issue.

She took a deep breath, as if to muster her courage, before slowly saying, "I saw something in her martial intent..."

"Things?" Yin Weiying frowned.

“Hmm.” Min Ning’s gaze drifted to the dark night outside the window, her voice becoming somewhat distant, “Her martial intent was vast and boundless, as heavy as a mountain, it was the clash of weapons and the ancestral temples of the state… but in the deepest part of that place, I saw… a small family.”

She paused, as if the image was becoming clearer again, and her throat tightened as she said, "A very ordinary, yet peaceful little courtyard... with bamboo horses for the children... and a cloth tiger..."

These words were light, yet they carried an indescribable weight.

Min Ning's thoughts seemed to drift back to a long time ago. She murmured, "Back in the capital... my grandfather, my parents, and my sister Min Ming... our Min family was like that too... Although there were many rules and heavy responsibilities, it was still a family..."

Images from the past flashed through her mind like a revolving lantern: her grandfather, whom she had admired since childhood, always smiling happily; her silent and reliable parents; her older sister, who always secretly took her out to play... Those warm and secure memories that had been buried for so long were now slowly surfacing because of the martial intent of another woman.

Yin Weiying turned his gaze to the side and, by the flickering candlelight, saw a single tear silently slide down Min Ning's cheek and quickly disappear into her temple.

Min Ning seemed to realize it, and suddenly raised her hand to wipe it away forcefully. She took a deep breath and let out a very faint, suppressed sob.

She slowly lowered her head and chuckled softly:

"How can I, someone who has already lost my family, go and destroy someone else's home?"

(End of this chapter)