Chapter 222

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Protagonist:

Shaowei

Liu Qi

Shaowei looked at Liu Qi's hand gripping her wrist, then raised her eyes to Liu Qi: "…What are you saying?"

Having never seen him this nervous before, Shaowei grew nervous too, not knowing what calamity had occurred.

But before Liu Qi could answer, he first went around to stand in front of her, the movement seeming to carry a certain silent solemnity, and also seeming to fear she would not let him finish and thus block her path, circling a few inches of complete conversation space, before summoning the courage to speak: "Shaowei… my leg no longer needs to trouble the Venerable Teacher for examination; it has already healed completely as normal."

Shaowei was greatly surprised, looking at his left leg, and asked in quick succession: "Then why didn't you say so sooner? Who healed you? When did this happen?"

Her questioning voice held much surprise, but also mixed with a trace of naturally bursting joy; this joy made Liu Qi feel increasingly ashamed, triggering a retreat from not daring to face her directly.

The injured bone grew on his body; as long as he had the mind to conceal it, no one could specifically verify it, he could claim it healed yesterday or the day before, thereby avoiding the terrible guilt…

But when the words reached his lips, they vanished in an instant; if honesty were merely to exchange for a way to continue covering up lies, that would be a thorough defilement and betrayal of her sincere joy, and if his motives were so sordid, let alone how she would be, even he himself could not bear it.

His body was stained with too much blood; Liu Qi admitted he was by no means a noble person, but this god-given pure sincerity, he could not betray no matter what.

On an autumn afternoon under the corridor, the youth took a deep breath, his shoulders silently tensed, and answered seriously: "March… March it had already healed."

Shaowei was already suspicious: "…Three months ago, or this year's March?"

Under excessive nervousness, Liu Qi forced out a stiff smile: "That year… that year, three months after the injury, it had already completely healed."

The various expressions on Shaowei's face slowly receded, only her pair of eyes gradually widened.

Suddenly all around fell silent; the girl's widened eyes moved down inch by inch, staring fixedly at the long legs beneath the long robe.

Her gaze was like a sharp blade; anger and danger gathered in the breeze; the youth's leg that had committed a great wrong seemed guilty and fearful, retreating a step on its own, and the other innocent leg, fearful of being implicated, followed with a silent retreat.

Shaowei took a large step forward to press closer; Liu Qi retreated again.

"—Liu Situi!"

Accompanied by a gnashing shout, Liu Qi was like a startled eagle, his soul scattered and spirit fled, feathers as if several were frightened off, he turned and fled in panic.

Shaowei drew her leg and chased.

Liu Qi knew he could not win, so he took another path, changed course midway, propped his hand on the corridor railing, flipped and leapt out of the corridor; either because his legs and feet no longer needed disguise, or because he was fleeing for his life, his figure was agile to an unbelievable degree.

Shaowei chased out of the corridor; Zhan Zhan saw the situation and followed, rushing and flying like a feathered arrow, while shouting: "Apprehend the fugitive! Apprehend the fugitive!"

The Jiang Zhai today was no longer its original size; the left and right courtyards had all been bestowed as the Ling Shu Hou Fu, connected and renovated, and were still not completed.

On the ninth day of the ninth month, climbing high to remember the past, court officials were on leave, and the craftsmen working did not come today; the half-completed courtyard garden, originally quiet like a wild forest, was suddenly intruded upon by uninvited guests, scattering flock after flock of birds nesting and foraging.

The clothes Shaowei wore today trailed long on the ground; beneath her skirt her legs were bound, and her movement was restricted; besides, she cared for the new tiger shoes her elder sister had made by hand, so she had to avoid mud and chaotic branches; and perhaps because in her heart she deemed this not a fight to the death, she could not deploy all her lightness skill, merely chasing by instinct.

The sparrows that loved to gather news chirped and twittered in the air, surrounding Zhan Zhan, asking the participant Zhan Zhan what great crime the fleeing youth had committed.

A blue-gold robe, a light blue gauze outer garment over a skirt with light red trim; two brilliant shadows, one before the other, fled and chased, rushing into the autumn afternoon sunlight, stepping over layers of golden fallen leaves, crossing the newly dredged narrow stream, running past the blue-white flower cluster of chrysanthemums.

The youth running in front was nervous and guilty, yet also carefree and unrestrained; this long-absent true running cast off all disguises, forgetting at this moment all human grudges and bitterness, leaving only this one thing to do; between heaven and earth there were only him and her two people.

This was the most guilty yet also the most beautiful autumn escape of his life.

The pretender recovered his true self; the genuine one had always been original; the two people were like dragons soaring and tigers leaping, no longer invaders of this quiet heaven and earth; at this moment heaven, earth, and man all arose naturally, the clear breeze and white clouds flowing with them, all things at ease.

The chase was cut off by many Taihu stones half a person's height ahead; Liu Qi went around the giant stone group not yet properly placed; Shaowei, her patience exhausted, flew under her feet, propped one hand on the stone, and directly flipped over the high stone, intercepting her prey.

Because the movement was violent, her dress was torn, and the bead flower on her head was shaken off; Liu Qi, his path blocked, instinctively reached out to catch the birthday bead flower she surely cherished, hurriedly holding it with both hands to return it, bringing an apologetic gesture of goodwill.

But Shaowei did not look at the bead flower at all; she raised her right foot and swept a kick toward Liu Qi's left leg; Liu Qi did not dodge, taking the kick hard, gasping in pain; the next moment, Shaowei pounced and threw him to the ground.

"You lied to me, and still want to run!" Shaowei pressed her left arm to pin Liu Qi's collarbone, her right leg kneeling on his leg, her right hand propped beside his shoulder, holding him firmly, staring at him, expressing her anger directly: "I am truly angry!"

Meeting her slightly red eyes, Liu Qi's heart was in great turmoil; his earlier escape was meant to let her cool down, but unexpectedly she took it as evidence of his bad attitude, wrong upon wrong.

He had no qualification to cry injustice; he could only hurry to explain and apologize: "Shaowei, sorry, it was I who should not have deceived you, committing this irreparable great mistake! However, I did not intentionally deceive you to gain pity; it was truly—"

"I know!" Shaowei interrupted him, saying: "At first you deceived me; I could understand; back then you and I were not familiar, and I also concealed much from you, so you had no reason to spill your secrets to me right away!"

She had her own set of principles, clear and distinct; even the disappointment in her eyes was especially clear.

"But why after that did you still refuse to say?" Shaowei: "You had to wait until today when Jiang Fu saw through it and you could no longer hide it before speaking; this shows it was not out of sincere honesty!"

Liu Qi hurriedly said: "Not so; I have been thinking about this matter all along; it's just that you were in seclusion, and I had no suitable opportunity… today I truly speak with sincere honesty, not because circumstances forced me!"

"I cannot fully trust you anymore!" Tears gathered in Shaowei's eyes from anger as she spoke her true feelings: "Jiang Fu also deceived me; I cool my anger easily because I have always known she deceived me—"

"But I did not know from beginning to end that you were deceiving me; I trusted you like this, always caring and worrying about your leg illness!"

Liu Qi was stunned, feeling himself utterly wicked.

Because she had truly been deceived, it was true deception; therefore anger, grievance, and even wounded self-esteem.

The deceived person was undoubtedly in the inferior position; at this moment she must occupy the superior position, so almost out of animal instinct she pressed him beneath her, to compensate for her wounded self-esteem.

Shaowei had always been a person of extremely strong self-esteem; she possessed the most primal desire for revenge in this world, skilled at an eye for an eye; if she was sad, she demanded tenfold repayment; but because she had no method, she did not know how to say to take revenge on the person before her; but seeing those eyes full of panic and shame, as if out of some tacit understanding of youthful intent, Shaowei vaguely realized something, without time to distinguish, she blurted out the words in her heart without any adornment:

"That day Liu Cheng said you are deep in scheming, far less obedient than him; I originally did not believe it, thinking in my heart that no matter what, I would not discard you!"

Finally a tear gathered in Shaowei's eyes; with her earth-shattering words, earth-shattering tears fell: "Now it seems he was not wrong at all; I was indeed deceived by you!"

The cool tears landed on Liu Qi's nose tip, and also landed in his heart.

The girl's clumsy revenge counterattack was surprisingly apt; by mistake it struck at the most vital point; then catalyzed by this tear to the extreme, it became a tremendous punishment.

And she felt shedding tears was shameful; she held back the tears not yet fallen in her eyes, and raised her sleeve to haphazardly wipe away the tears already fallen from his face; the soft sleeve roughly rubbed across the youth's nose bridge and cheeks; Liu Qi, as if waking from a dream, propped his hand on the ground, straightened his waist and back, and opened his mouth to nervously say: "How am I not as obedient as him? Don't believe him!"

He suddenly stood up and drew near; Shaowei moved her upper body back, her leg still pressing his leg; she categorically retorted: "I am not believing him; I believe myself; it is you who lied!"

"Shaowei, these are two different matters…" Liu Qi's words were pale; at this moment he only hated that his left leg was not truly crippled; his mind was in chaos; the excuses he had thought of on the way were all shattered and forgotten; at this moment he could only instinctively say:

"Yes, deceiving you was my fault; after realizing this matter, I have always wanted to confess; but at first I knew you did not fully trust me, and would not care about this matter… after you truly trusted me, I became afraid instead; afraid precisely that you would think me deep in scheming and full of lies; from the time you and I reunited in Wuling Commandery, the me you saw was one with a record full of faults and unscrupulous means; I only feared that once I could not explain clearly, you would from then on refuse to trust me!"

And he never imagined that today he would hear from her mouth the words "no matter what, I will not discard you," a promise gathering the greatest fortune in the world…

"Will not discard me…" The youth's beautiful eyes held pleading: "Can this sentence not be taken back? As for deceiving you, I can accept punishment; I can do anything."

Shaowei's face still bore unspent anger, yet looking into this pair of eyes so near at hand, her chaotic heart thumped and pounded, as if some strange, unfamiliar new creature were about to burst forth.

And he continued to confess his faults: "I am wrong not only in this matter, but in many others; these past days I have kept thinking that back on Tianlang Mountain, even if I could not stop you, I should at least have given you some hemostatic Suyao, and then a cloak to ward off the cold..."

"And in Yundang Mountain, when you suffered such a grave injury, I had no right to forcibly drag you over, surely it must have tugged at the wounds on your body."

Back then he had regarded her with the eyes of a mere observer, but now, recalling it, he felt he was wrong in every way, improper in all matters, indebted everywhere: "Bringing you back to the Wuling Commandery Prince's Mansion, I should have first tended to you well, first let you eat to heal your wounds and calm your mind, instead of deliberately taking advantage of your weakened body and defenseless spirit to probe you further, wanting to claim you for myself..."

The more he confessed, the more his faults multiplied, and his remorse was endless.

Finally, he seized one of Shaowei's hands, turned to her the most ashamed and regretful face in the world: "Shaowei, I beg you, hit me; I will not run again."

Shaowei's wrist was caught by him; she saw the tendons in his neck slightly tense from the turned face, and the gently rolling Adam's apple betrayed his tension.

Her heart grew even more chaotic; Shaowei suddenly withdrew her hand, stood up abruptly, did not hit him, turned and walked away.

She left in long strides, and Liu Qi hurriedly rose to chase her; their positions were reversed from when they came, and chasing someone was even more panicked than fleeing.

Shaowei did not run wildly, but her steps were large and she walked quickly.

Liu Qi did not want to let her go, yet dared not forcibly stop her again, so he could only get one or two steps ahead of her, walking backward in front of her while explaining his apology; since he could not see the road behind him, his foot sometimes tripped, and his left leg, which had been kicked, now truly limped a little.

And apart from making amends and apologizing, the rest of his words were:

"What else did Liu Cheng say? Why did he want to say these things to you?"

"He does not know at all what you want; this promise is not the right remedy, and how much genuine obedience could it have? Moreover, he must listen to many people, while I truly listen only to you alone—"

"Then I will let you go." Shaowei stopped, finally spoke, and issued her blunt command: "I want to be angry alone."

Others at most want to be alone to calm down, but she wants to be alone to be angry; how could Liu Qi be at ease? He was at a loss for a moment, only to hear her ask again with a serious expression: "You have always told me not to be angry, but since you are at fault, am I not allowed to be angry?"

"Of course you may; this is Heavenly Principle." Liu Qi explained: "I did not mean to tell you not to be angry, only to let your anger subside; how can your anger subside?"

Shaowei furrowed her brow, seeming truly to be thinking, then looked at his shoulder and said: "That night at the Lingxing Terrace Great Sacrifice, you blocked this arrow for me; I have always remembered it. This matter can serve as an offset, with gratitude and grudges written off in one stroke, and then I will not be angry."

Liu Qi felt as if struck by five thunderbolts and immediately said: "It cannot be written off!"

Once written off, it would sever the bond, and they might as well become strangers.

"This matter was done willingly by me; it is not suitable to offset your anger at this moment." Liu Qi pleaded: "Shaowei, think of some other way to subside your anger."

"I cannot think of one for now." Shaowei firmly expressed her demand: "You go first; I will tell you when I think of one. Before I think of it, do not come find me."

Seeing him would only make her more chaotic, and she would grow more and more chaotic the more she thought.

Liu Qi felt uneasy in his heart, but had no choice but to nod: "Alright, I will listen to you..."

Because he was overly self-blaming and dispirited, and Zhan Zhan kept chattering incessantly, Liu Qi had not noticed two little girls running up behind him.

The somewhat older one was responsible for recognizing footprints and tracking, while the smaller one gripped a stick; at this moment her gaze was like a torch, fixed on the stranger blocking the Young Master's path.

Xiao Yu had been brandishing a stick to wish the Young Master a happy birthday this morning, but because she made a wrong move she fell flat on the spot, then shut herself in her room and cried for a while, not daring to see anyone for half a day.

Until she heard Zhan Zhan chattering about something like "apprehending fugitives," did Xiao Yu push the door out, ask the Head of Household passing by about the situation, and was told by the Head of Household with a perfectly serious expression: a peerless thief had broken into the house, the Young Master was doing his utmost to apprehend him, and why had she not hurried to help?

The child of not yet seven years old had but one thought at once: the time to achieve merit had come.

Xiao Yu, eager to achieve merit, was now panting as she chased to this place, and hearing Zhan Zhan shout at the other "Cheat! Big cheat!", she realized the other was both a thief and a swindler, two crimes together, and could not be let go; she should quickly surround him and cut off his rear escape route.

Xiao Yu came running with her stick raised without stopping: "Young Master, Xiao Yu has come to support the formation!"

The stick wind assailed him; although it was for forming a formation to block and not for directly striking him, Liu Qi still subconsciously flashed his body to dodge.

Upon close approach, he vaguely sensed the atmosphere was not like catching thieves, so the rushing Xiao Yu no longer acted rashly; she only gripped the stick with both hands, planted her legs firmly, glared with angry eyes, and protected the Young Master in front.

?? The month is over, hehehehe, asking for a monthly ticket^