Ink Burns

Chapter 199 Synchronized and Aligned (The Chubby Chapter)

The next day, as the sun rose in the east, its white light shone through the paper covering the windows and into the room, like bubbles blown by a child with soapberry water.

As the rooster crowed, the foam burst with a "poof".

Xue Xiao turned over, threw off the covers, his expression clear, put on his black boots, pushed open the door and went straight to the west wing, which was separated by an old locust tree.

The courtyard between the east and west wing rooms had just been turned over, and was densely covered with tender green seedlings of unknown species.

The swift wind guarding the door hurriedly caught up.

"Where is Clerk Wei?" Xue Xiao strode forward, his eyes calm, and asked.

He spent a sleepless night worrying about the situation in the West Wing, but he couldn't keep asking about it—that would make him seem dull, anxious, and not very steady.

Jifeng quickened his pace: "As dawn approached, at the hour of Yin, Wei Sibu left the west wing, and Wang Erniang led him to Yuzhang Pavilion to rest."

Xue Xiao strode around the corner: "Where is Madam?"

"He got up before the rooster crowed, and now I don't know what he's doing."

"May breakfast be served?"

"Not yet, Second Aunt is in the inner room."

A question and an answer, and they have arrived at the West Chamber.

Xue Xiao stood outside the drawn bamboo curtain of Xiaoxiang, glanced at Ji Feng who seemed to want to speak but hesitated, and said in a deep voice: "Ask away. I'll give you one chance, but I will not answer afterwards."

Jifeng poked around in his sleeve, raising his eyelids eight times before finally speaking: "My lord, Luofeng is useless. You must severely punish him as a warning to others! Make him distinguish between what is important and what is not! Make him feel ashamed and then strive to improve! Make him regret his actions!"

Xue Xiao watched the swift wind in silence.

After his initial excitement subsided, Jifeng shrugged and said cowardly, "But at least don't kill him; that little thing is kind of fun."

That gust of wind is infuriating!

Instead of staying by his sister-in-law's side and completing the assigned task, he went to the docks to put out a fire with a bathtub!

He and Luo Feng, one a scholar and the other a warrior, were like a hidden dragon and a phoenix.

He pursued a career in culture, while Luo Feng pursued a career in martial arts. Although the two of them were quite ruthless in vying for the position of "number one" by the master's side, he was still willing to lend a helping hand to Feng Chu when things really came to a head!
After all, every phoenix chick in the world is one less!

Xue Xiao frowned, glancing at Ji Feng out of the corner of his eye. After a long while, he finally raised his hand and knocked on the door frame, his brows furrowed tightly.

There was no one behind the door.

Luo Feng remained where he was. Xue Xiao walked around the flowers and paused for a moment. Through the narrow screen made of hollowed-out elm wood, he could vaguely see Shan Yue with her back to him, her clothes slipping down to her shoulders, and only two very thin indigo ribbons hanging around her long, slender neck.

Wang Erniang was holding a wooden clip with hemp gauze attached, and she was pressing it with the dark medicinal soup onto Shanyue's left shoulder.

Wang Erniang's hand was clearly a bit heavy.

The shoulder wound was penetrating, making it the most strenuous.

The force with which Wang Erniang pressed down made Xue Xiao involuntarily furrow his brow.

Shan Yue's slender shoulders trembled noticeably in the air, like butterfly wings.

Second Aunt Wang asked, "Does it hurt?"

The small head, with its back to the person and all its black hair pulled to one side, gently shook its head: "It doesn't hurt, you can continue."

Why doesn't it hurt?

Xue Xiao walked around the screen and stepped inside.

Qiu Tao, standing to the side, glared and opened her mouth to shout.

Before Qiu Tao could even open her mouth, a fleshy hand descended from the sky and covered her mouth and nose.

Qiu Tao turned her head in a daze and saw Huang Zhi covering her mouth and nose with one hand, pulling Erniang back with the other, and hooking the low table where the medicine soup was placed over with one foot. After standing on one foot, she frantically winked at Xue Xiao, her eyelids blinking so hard they were almost cramping.

Each part of the body was busy with its own tasks, fully demonstrating the strength of the top steward of the Southern Prefecture.

Huang Zhi didn't say anything, but she seemed to hear a gust of wind shouting in the air: "Go! Go now!"

With admiration, Qiu Tao followed the independent golden rooster and tactfully withdrew.

Xue Xiao took the wooden clip soaked in medicinal soup from the second aunt's hand, lowered his head, and saw the palm-sized, bloody and mangled wound.

and many more.

Beside that fresh wound, there were densely interwoven bruises and pink marks from newly grown flesh.

So many, so many old wounds.

Xue Xiao's pupils contracted sharply, but an indescribable sour feeling welled up in his throat: he had always been able to guess how bitter Shan Yue's past was, but he did not know that the shock brought by seeing it with his own eyes far exceeded his expectations.

"Second Aunt, are you done applying the medicine?" Shan Yue bent her head to prevent her black hair from swaying and brushing against the still unhealed wound.

Xue Xiao took a deep breath before gently applying medicine to Shan Yue, as if serving a precious treasure.

The cool sensation of the medicine returned.

There was no pain as expected. Instead, the hemp gauze soaked in the medicinal soup gently caressed the wound like a snail climbing on a leaf, slowly passing over the edge of the wound.

Shan Yue turned her head to look, but was suddenly struck by what she saw—the man had a lowered chin, a narrow face with thick eyebrows, and a straight nose, like the misty mountains stretching out beyond the eaves, distant mountains and mansions, vast and boundless, the world blurred, but his eyes, like smoke beneath his long, straight eyelashes, were very clear and specific. "Lord Xue." Shan Yue's back stiffened, and she immediately prepared to roll up the clothes she was holding between her arms.

"Don't move." Xue Xiao's gaze remained fixed: "The edges of the wound are a bit red. It needs to be cleaned and treated properly. Otherwise, it will cause pain and swelling at best, and high fever and pus at worst—this hand will be useless."

Shan Yue dared not move again, and turned her head to look for the people in the west wing, but did not see a single one.

The linen that was just gently caressed instantly turned into a scorching hot iron.

Shan Yue pursed her lips and broke the silence without seeming too embarrassed: "Why is it you? Where's Second Aunt?"

“If Second Aunt is willing, I recommend that she go beyond Shanhaiguan to find another job—scrubbing backs in a bathhouse.” Xue Xiao said with a focused expression: “With Second Aunt’s skill and superhuman strength, she will surely be able to make a fortune every day and have a constant stream of customers.”

Shan Yue's lips unconsciously curled up slightly as she defended her second aunt: "Second aunt has a strong hand. If a woman like her, all alone, were not strong enough to kill a chicken, she would have been devoured by this world long ago." Shan Yue paused: "It was precisely because she had a strong hand that when her husband beat her, she hit him hard on the head with a hoe, killing him. She also fled everywhere, losing her home."

Xue Xiao raised an eyebrow: "So Second Aunt always says 'Those who have killed people know'. So, she really has murdered someone."

“It was self-defense.” Shan Yue patiently corrected, “It wasn’t murder, it was self-defense.”

Xue Xiao dipped his brush in the medicinal soup again, his eyes not rising: "So you and Wei Sibu, walking a bloody and treacherous path, were also acting in self-defense?"

Shan Yue was taken aback.

Xue Xiao didn't ask any more questions. After the wound was soaked with medicine, he leaned over and put down the wooden clamp. As if he hadn't spoken, he changed the subject: "Wei Sibu should stay in the South Mansion these days. Even if there are guards disguised looking for clues, they can all give the same story: Wei Sibu probably fell into the sea that night and has not been found since."

Shan Yue was pleased to see Xue Xiao return to the main topic, let out a long sigh, and slowly said, "Alright—"

Chang Yusu escaped from the capital, his destination clearly being Qiushui Ferry. Therefore, why not temporarily create the illusion for the Chang family that he successfully assassinated Shui Guang? Chang Yusu has always acted erratically and recklessly; his wanderings after escaping the capital, instead of returning to his residence, are consistent with his usual reputation. The Chang family will simply assume he has vanished somewhere and won't immediately search for him.

This timing is their advantage.

"Is Chang Yusu alive or dead now?"

As Shan Yue spoke, she quickly put on her clothes.

"Alive, I am now at Tianbao Temple."

Xue Xiao's voice was deep. He stood up and looked away: "That brat is tough, stubborn, and has a bad temper. He knows nothing about anything. He was hung in the dungeon for two whole days without drinking a drop of water or eating a grain of rice. He was so hungry and thirsty that his eyes were bulging, but he still didn't utter a single word."

In the Duzhou dam breach case, the bribery ledgers of Liu Hezhou were only enough to identify a suspect, but they did not provide any further clues.

The case has stalled.

Among the bribes Liu Hezhou received, he had the closest dealings with Princess Jing'an, the Chang family, and a painting studio called Guan'anzhai.

The Chang family must have played some role in the Duzhou dike breach, but Chang Yusu refused to say anything: perhaps he was too young at the time to know, or perhaps he was simply asking for trouble.

Upon hearing that Chang Yusu was imprisoned alive at Tianbao Temple, Shan Yue immediately nodded in agreement: "That night, at that time, killing Chang Yusu was the simplest thing to do. Whether it was the pointed wooden pole thrown by Qiu Yu or the sharp arrows shot by Xue Xiao like timely rain, they would have been enough to seriously injure Chang Yusu."

Even severely wounded, she could still slit his throat with a single stroke.

That's too lenient on him.

That's too good for him!
You must pry open his mouth and ask him about the secrets of the Chang family and the secrets of the Grand Princess Jing'an; you must greet him with a mixture of fiery passion and icy warmth, so that he feels fear, pain, and torment! You must keep him alive, leave him with a breath of life, as a bargaining chip for unforeseen circumstances!

She was terrified that Xue Xiao would kill him!

Even in her dream, she desperately tried to stop Xue Xiao: "Don't kill him! Don't kill him! Don't kill him so easily!"

Upon learning that Chang Yusu was still alive, Shan Yue was initially surprised, but the surprise quickly passed, followed by the expected and reasonable conclusion—what she could think of, Xue Xiao would definitely be able to follow suit.

"Boom boom boom——"

In this room, there is only one heartbeat.

She couldn't tell if it was hers or Xue Xiao's.

Shan Yue blinked, and Xue Xiao in her eyes was like a dark and gloomy rain, and a streak of cloud light suddenly appeared in the boundless misty mountains. The cloud light became clearer and clearer slowly as her gaze moved.

The clouds and the moon over the mountains resemble a long scroll painting in rich and vibrant colors.

"It was not self-defense."

"It wasn't murder either."

"It's revenge."

"Just like you want to seize the Chang family's weakness and kill the Grand Princess Jing'an who murdered your mother."

"Shuiguang and I are also seeking revenge for our mother's tragic death."

“My surname is He.” Shan Yue’s eyes flickered. “I am not called Liu Shan Yue, I am called He Shan Yue.”

Shan Yue told him to use his real name, as if extending a hand to get to know him again.

Xue Xiao suddenly looked up, and everything before him expanded rapidly. All things grew, branches and leaves brushed against the bank, as if a pent-up emotion was about to burst forth.

Shan Yue's eyes no longer flickered, but instead lowered slightly, quickly avoiding Xue Xiao's burning gaze: "After being allies for so long, it's truly unfair that I'm only now showing my true colors—"

Let's get down to business; that's the safest way.

Shan Yue quickly added, "If it's convenient, I'd like to go to Tianbao Temple to meet Chang Yusu."

Alliance. Allies
They remain allies.

Xue Xiao's throat moved slightly, and everything in his chest seemed to shrink back, but his expression remained unchanged. In fact, his voice became even softer: "Alright. First, we'll drive to the capital for a stroll, and then go to Tianbao Temple—to let everyone see that our Madam Xue is oblivious to the world around her and lives a pure and innocent life in the capital."