Guanshan Muyu

chapter 31

Qi Yan was half lying on the bed, looking weak and breathless like in the days when he had not yet recovered from his injuries.

Chen Jingyin looked at him worriedly, her face full of heartache: “I left the house in such a hurry that I didn’t bring any medicine with me! Did the doctor say what herbs are missing? I’m going to buy them for you! Ah, no… I don’t even have any silver with me…”

She looked downcast, but then perked up again.

“I still have my jewellery! I can trade it for herbs!”

“Miss Chen does not need to bother,” Qi Yan said gently. “I do not lack anything here. Please go back to the capital immediately, Duke Chen must be very worried about you.”

Chen Jingyin bit her lower lip, tears coming out of her eyes.

“Don’t worry about me, hurry up and get well! Looking at you now, it’s really…”

After a pause, she added.

“You don’t have to worry about my father either, I don’t know what kind of trouble he has encountered lately, but he is sulking all day long or hiding in his study and sighing. I can’t help him, and he doesn’t have time to think about me.”

Qi Yan said a few more words, while Xia Xun, unwilling to listen any longer, turned and left.

Xia Xun figured it out.

Qi Yan deliberately pretended to be weak just to arouse Chen Jingyin’s sympathy so that he could pry news of Duke Chen from her mouth.

He had done the same to Xia Xun before, hadn’t he?

With Qi Yan’s attention always on Xia Xun, he noticed him leaving at once. His eyes followed Xia Xun as he talked to Chen Jingyin.

It was only when Xia Xun disappeared from sight that Qi Yan reluctantly withdrew his gaze, slightly dazed, and only after Chen Jingyin called him several times did he come back to his senses.

Xia Xun escaped to the edge of the pond and stared at the goldfish in the water.

Zhi Gui followed him half a step behind, in a trance.

The two of them were each preoccupied with their own thoughts, neither of them speaking.

Not long afterwards, Chen Jingyin came out of Qi Yan’s room.

Qi Hui was taking her and the young man to the other side of the house to rest. When Chen Jingyin passed by Xia Xun, she walked straight towards him.

“Master Xia, I heard from Lord Qi that it was you who saved him from the assassins? You are so brave, I admire you so much!”

Xia Xun paused for a moment and said indifferently, “He lied to you.”

Chen Jingyin froze, not knowing how to respond.

Xia Xun picked up a few fallen leaves and threw them in the pond, causing the goldfish to peck at them.

He asked bluntly, “Why do you like Qi Yan? Because he’s good-looking?”

Chen Jingyin’s face flushed red.

She opened her mouth and stammered, wanting to say something but could not.

After a long time, she pulled herself together and said to Xia Xun, blushing:

“I’ll tell you, but don’t tell anyone else!”

Chen Jingyin was the daughter of Duke Chen’s concubine.

Unlike her sisters, born from his wife and having titles, she had nothing and could be considered at most a young lady from a wealthy family.