Lan Jin is on pins and needles as he waits for Qiang Yu’s mother to arrive. He wouldn’t care so much if he had managed to pull away from Qiang Yu, but with her hiding her face in his chest with her body as stiff as a board, he really doesn’t know how he is supposed to explain this situation.
He only knows that, if it were him walking up on this scene, and if he had a daughter who was wrapped up in these circumstances, he doubts he’d have the wherewithal to be impartial with his judgment. And he would probably assume it was the guy’s fault regardless of who was laying on whom. And though he thinks his only mistake was not being successful in pulling his arm out of Qiang Yu’s grip, he doubts even an even-tempered person would see things his way without knowing exactly how the situation played out in the first place.
Lan Jin wants something to distract him from what he assumes is his encroaching doom. Unfortunately, the only people around are Qiang Yu and Lulu. And while Lulu is talking, she is mostly whispering comforting words to Qiang Yu whereas Qiang Yu is the reason why he’s in this mess in the first place.
But, for better or worse, Lan Jin only has to suffer in silence for two minutes before he hears the rapid swishing of a dress approaching their small group and, as a shadow covers him, Qiang Yu is ripped off of his chest and into the embrace of a frantic Sun Meirong.
As soon as he’s free, Lan Jin tries to scoot away from the three women. He even makes it several inches before Sun Meirong glances at him and he wonders if he should continue his escape. Eventually, he decides that escape is impossible, but at the very least he can stand up instead of laying on the ground.
So he does just that, and once he’s on his feet again, he looks at his new clothing and grimaces. He’d thought Qiang Yu was crying. But, as it turns out, she must have been biting her lip because the wet spot he felt forming on his chest wasn’t tears, it is blood. And though there’s not much of it, Lan Jin is pissed off because he hadn’t even been wearing these clothes for fifteen minutes yet, and they were already ruined!
Then he rubs his aching wrist and feels around his bruised eye with his fingertips only to confirm that it still hurts.
Lan Jin shoots Qiang Yu a glare and his fists tighten, but knowing that trying to do anything to her would be useless, even more now with her mother here than when it was just her and Lulu, all he can do is resent her.
He can’t even pity her as she struggles in Sun Meirong’s grip, and rather than comforting her daughter, it almost looks like Sun Meirong is suffocating her against her chest.
For several minutes, the only one making any noise is Qiang Yu, and all of it comes from her attempts to escape her mother’s grip. Eventually, she falls silent. And once she does, Sun Meirong releases her from her grip.
Almost immediately, Qiang Yu turns around and, with a vicious, humiliated look on her still-red face, takes one step toward Lan Jin only for Sun Meirong to stop her in her tracks with five frigid words that snap in the air like a whip across flesh.
“Don’t even think about it.”
Lan Jin reels back from her tone, and he doesn’t know how he should feel when he realizes Sun Meirong’s cold gaze is being reserved for Qiang Yu alone.
“But Mama, he—“
“Enough!” Sun Meirong snaps. “Do you think I’m stupid? Or do you think I’m blind? I can see the bruise across that boy’s face as well as the one around his wrist. They weren’t there when I saw him just a few hours ago, and judging by his clothes and the fact that we’re right outside a boutique, the only ones he’s had the opportunity to cross since I saw him last are you two.
“So tell me,” Sun Meirong begins interrogating her daughter with a glare so fierce that Lan Jin feels chills running down his spine, “how is it that one of your pranks went so poorly that you ended up in such a compromising position? And in public, no less!”
Lan Jin doesn’t know what she means about him being pranked, but he thinks it might have something to do with the fact that he and Qiang Yu are both wearing blue. But, if that’s the case, then he thinks it’s a misunderstanding on Sun Meirong’s part. It’s just that he doesn’t want to correct that misunderstanding when Sun Meirong is busy grilling her daughter.
“He— I just— I was only trying to get him to change clothes!” Qiang Yu complains loudly. “He’s unreasonable and refused to listen! And when I tried to stop him from walking away from me he forced that purple energy into my body!”
Qiang Yu looks at Sun Meirong, her eyes pleading, but Sun Meirong grants her no mercy.
Instead, she scoffs at her daughter’s face.
“Your point being?” She asks her daughter.
All of a sudden, Lan Jin feels like a weight was lifted from his chest. He doesn’t know if Sun Meirong is going to make problems for him yet, but at the very least, she doesn’t seem to think that Qiang Yu is in the right here.
Qiang Yu, on the other hand, looks like she’s fallen into despair.
“But Mama! I was humiliated!” Qiang Yu whines, her fists reaching out and grabbing onto the sides of her mother’s dress.
“And whose fault is that?” Sun Meirong gives her daughter another glare and brushes Qiang Yu’s hands off of her dress before turning to Lulu.
“As for you, Dewdrop, I honestly don’t know what to say. I value you as much as I do my own daughter, I give you all the nicest things and the resources you receive for your cultivation are equal to what I give my own flesh and blood. I forgive you your indiscretions and allow you and my little Trinket to call each other sisters instead of obeying a master and servant hierarchy, and the one thing I expect of you is that you keep yourself and your sister safe! But look at what’s happened! How many people saw my little Trinket holding a man in public while you stood by? Why is it that she hid her face in the chest of a stranger instead of seeking solace with you? And why didn’t you do anything to fix this situation?”
Qiang Yu and Lulu both blanch the moment they hear Sun Meirong calling them by pet names. And one after the other, they turn their heads to the ground and begin looking meek. But, even after several seconds pass, Sun Meirong is left unsatisfied as Lulu remains silent.
“Well, if you can’t answer, I sure hope Trinket can.”
Sun Meirong returns her glare to Qiang Yu and waits impatiently for her daughter to answer the question.
Several more seconds pass, and Qiang Yu begins fidgeting under her mother’s glare. But even still, she says nothing.
“So you have a reason but you refuse to say anything? Is it because it will embarrass you?” Sun Meirong glances at Lulu and then asks, “Or is it because you are keeping Dewdrop out of trouble?”
Neither of them speaks.
“Well then, if you two aren’t willing to help me understand, I will have to act accordingly. I do not know whose fault this is, and therefore I must punish both of you. Thankfully, since neither of you seems to care overly much about looking like fools in front of that boy, I don’t have to postpone your punishments until later. So, who is first? Or should I have that boy decide for you?”
Qiang Yu and Lulu both begin quivering under Sun Meirong’s gaze, and Lan Jin watches them panic as they act in unison to look at Sun Meirong, then him, and finally each other. And in less than a second, they seem to have come to some sort of agreement as Qiang Yu remains silent and Lulu starts speaking, her voice so small that Lan Jin can barely hear it despite only being a few feet away.
“Mistress, it should be because I teased Sister Yu earlier and called her shameless.”
Sun Meirong continues waiting, but when she realizes that Lulu has nothing else to add, she looks at her daughter and then back to Lulu with an incredulous expression growing on her face.
“That’s it? That’s the reason why you laid on a man’s chest in public? Something as stupid and childish as that and you abandon all of your dignity?” Sun Meirong’s glare intensifies, and Qiang Yu shivers as she shakes her head.
“It’s because he used that strange energy on me! I couldn’t control my emotions and my body became so sensitive that every movement made it difficult for me to think! It was terrifying! And I was so ashamed of myself that I couldn’t help but hide my face. I never would have done anything like that under normal circumstances!”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Sun Meirong asks. “Your emotions are unstable so your good sense leaves you? Do you think that is reasonable? In the time it took for you to explain what happened, I found several problems with your story. You could have rolled off of him and hidden your face in your arms, you could have had Dewdrop run inside of the boutique full of cloth and grab you something to hide your face. For heaven’s sake, you already ruined this boy’s clothing! You could have torn a piece of it off and used that! But instead, you laid on top of him and waited for me to arrive where anyone could peek at you! Do you know what people will say about this? Even if you have a reason for doing it, nobody else will agree with you!”
“Mama!” Qiang Yu complains bitterly. “If it had been you who was forced to absorb that energy, you would understand! This is all his fault! I might be guilty of grabbing him in the first place, but my actions after the fact are only because of his strange energy!”
“Really?” Sun Meirong asks with a scoff. Then she turns to Lan Jin and says, “Young man, the number of times you’ve come to my attention is far too many for someone who just arrived in the city. I don’t know if you have the worst luck I have ever seen, or if someone is pulling strings behind the curtains, but I do not like that you have become involved with my daughter. And especially not in this manner.”
Lan Jin opens his mouth to defend himself, but Sun Meirong holds up her hand and stops him.
“Now, from what I understand, what happened last night was an accident. I have already examined the piece of ribbon my little Trinket slipped on, and there was nothing special about it. And since these two girls both told me that you arrived before they did, and other people can attest to the fact that you never moved from your seat, I have no reason to suspect that you had anything to do with her accident. As for today’s incident, from what I have seen, my daughter is the responsible party. But—”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“But Mama! He—“ Qiang Yu speaks up, but her mother quickly shuts her down.
“Be silent!” Sun Meirong shoots a scathing glare at her daughter, and Qiang Yu is so shocked that she stumbles back as her face pales and her eyes begin to water. “You do not understand how lucky you are! That I am not standing over the corpse or the disfigured body of at least one of you is already a blessing. This young man is capable of controlling a dangerous spirit fire, and that he didn’t use it against you leads me to believe that he didn’t want to harm you. As for the humiliation you suffered, I only need to take one look at his wrist to see that he tried to escape your grasp. So unless you want me to turn my attention back toward you, I suggest you start acting invisible."
Qiang Yu trembles, and she gives Lan Jin an astonished look full of doubt and even a trace of fear, but Lan Jin doesn’t notice it as he’s too busy feeling amazed that Qiang Yu’s mother is speaking up on his behalf.
“Where was I?” Sun Meirong asks no one in particular and then pauses again before turning to Lulu. “Dewdrop, go bring the carriage. It is down this road, but it’s a little ways away. And do hurry, we’ve been standing here wasting so much time. If not for the people around here being loyal to that— to the Great Physician, we’d already be plagued by busybodies.”
Lulu bows her head, says, “Yes, Mistress,” and quickly runs off.
“As for you,” Sun Meirong glares at her daughter again, “go inside and apologize to Old Man Xing. His business is not your plaything, and I’m sure Xiao Xian has something to do with this. Bring her—“
“Ma’am,” Lan Jin speaks up. “I know you think your daughter pranked me, but Xiao Xian is innocent. She was very helpful and put in a great deal of effort to make sure my clothes were made properly.”
Glancing at him, Sun Meirong says, “Young man, that fabric is meant for pregnant women and it is only used for undergarments. That she even suggested you wearing such a thing—“
“She didn’t, though. I asked to see it and she advised against it. And she told me that this fabric was originally meant for women, but I didn’t really care. As far as it matters to me, the clothing that I normally wear is softer than this.”
Sun Meirong and Qiang Yu both give him disbelieving looks, but Sun Meirong recovers quickly and she starts rubbing the bridge of her nose.
“That you are protecting that girl from what you think is an injustice is admirable. But the fact that she allowed you to wear that color in the first place is clear evidence that she acted along with my daughter to play a prank on you.”
“What’s wrong with this color?” Lan Jin asks. “I may not wear pastels often, but this shade of blue matches my eyes and I think it looks pretty nice.”
Sun Meirong looks him over, and seeing that he’s serious, she turns to her daughter and, her voice not quite as certain as it was before, asks, “Trinket, did you or did you not try to prank him?”
Lowering her head, Qiang Yu nods her head once.
“And did you involve Xiao Xian?”
Once more, Qiang Yu nods her head.
Lan Jin immediately feels stunned. He has no clue how he was meant to be pranked, but he thinks Qiang Yu and Lulu did it very, very poorly. Was the point of their prank to make him wear clothes he liked? Or maybe it was to push him away from wearing black clothes? But Xiao Xian seemed pretty serious when she told him why people didn’t wear black, so he doesn’t understand how that could be the case.
He can’t make heads or tails of their prank, and as he looks at Qiang Yu, he feels there is something wrong with how her brain works.
“Seriously?” Lan Jin asks Qiang Yu, a condescending look on his face. “What was the whole point of your prank?”
Qiang Yu doesn’t respond. But, in her place, her mother explains, “I imagine she was trying to make you wear clothes suitable for a woman. And it seems she succeeded because that color is something only a woman would wear.”
Lan Jin looks down at his clothes and rolls his eyes.
With a blank face, he then looks at Qiang Yu and says, “Where I’m from, pastel colors are considered gender neutral. Your prank, if you can even call it that, is something that elementary school children would find boring. In fact, they’d do a better job at pranking me than you did. So congratulations. All you’ve succeeded in doing is getting me to wear a color that I would have worn in the first place.”
Qiang Yu’s eyes widen briefly before she glares at Lan Jin, but in lieu of responding, she turns her head and ignores him.
“And why the hell did you want me to change my outfit if this is how you planned on things turning out in the first place? Are you just on a power trip or something? Because you sure as hell didn’t look guilty about your ‘prank’ when you punched me in the face and tried to break my wrist!”
Qiang Yu glares at Lan Jin again and her mouth opens as if to say something, but instead, she ignores him again and Lan Jin is left to speculate on his own.
“Young man, I suggest you let things go.” Sun Meirong warns him. “I will take care of my own daughter.”
Lan Jin looks at Sun Meirong and wants to argue, but she had been surprisingly reasonable so far so he drops it. He still shoots Qiang Yu a glare, but then he looks back at Sun Meirong and does his best to ignore her daughter's presence.
“So, can I go? I still plan on getting lunch, and I’m going to have to wash these clothes to see if I can get the blood out. And I want to find something cold to put on my eye so it doesn’t start swelling up too bad.”
“No.” Sun Meirong says plainly.
Lan Jin’s eyes widen and he complains, “But none of this was my fault! You even said it yourself! The only reason I did that to your daughter was to get away from her. She’s the one who held onto me!”
Sun Meirong sighs and shakes her head. “That may be so, but you have to realize the situation you are in, and the situation my family is in because of my daughter’s interactions with you. Within a few hours, everyone in this city who has ears to the ground will know what happened between you and my daughter. And a few hours after that, there will be many, many missives coming to the City Lord’s estate demanding to know why and how it happened.
“After the incident last night and with how poorly my husband handled your arrival, people are already beginning to wonder if you are somehow connected to my family. Thankfully, at that time, nobody, including my daughter, knew who you were. And my husband is out of the city so nobody could question him. Consequently, they had no choice but to write the situation off as unusual but unremarkable even though my daughter was the one who gained the… benefits, from your interaction.”
Qiang Yu glares at Lan Jin again, but he ignores her as he listens to her mother with narrowed eyes.
“Now that something like this has happened, regardless of the truth, those suspicions will be confirmed. And since they will assume the truth out of a lie, I need to make sure that I am two steps ahead of them so that I can twist that lie until the truth they perceive is something that does not harm my family. And that means you will be staying in my sight until I find a role you can fill that will explain everything.”
“What does it matter if they come to the wrong conclusion?” Lan Jin asks. “I don’t care one bit about their thoughts, and your daughter has nothing to do with me. That she messed up and got me involved sucks, but that’s not on me, that’s on her. And whether the people in the city think we have some sort of connection or not, there’s nothing I can do to control their thoughts. So let them think whatever they want and they’ll find out that they’re wrong eventually.”
Sun Meirong laughs. “So simple? I don’t think you understand how narrow-minded people become when it concerns their interests. There are dozens of families and hundreds of young men who want to lay their hands on my daughter. And that she was draped across you in public will be a direct slap to all of their faces!
“On a personal level, I do think you are correct. I don’t care what any of those meddlesome families think. I can protect my family from them, and within the entire Southern Earth Spine Kingdom, there is nobody who can openly harm my husband or my daughter. But what I cannot protect my family from is intrigue and deception. And right now, whether you like it or not, people will begin to view your actions as related to my family’s position within the city. And until I know for certain that nobody can use you against my husband or my daughter, I will have to keep you firmly under my thumb.”
“That’s bullshit!” Lan Jin shouts. “You’re going to lock me up just to save your family from some people talking about you behind your backs? How does that even make any fucking sense? Won’t people talk even more if I suddenly disappear? I may not know how your city works, but I do know how people work. And the second they can’t get an answer to a question, they’re going to make one. All hiding me away will do is give them more ammunition against you.”
Sun Meirong rolls her eyes. “Do you think I’m a fool? I never said anything about locking you up. If I wanted to remove you, you wouldn’t be breathing right now. What I want is to control the situation as much as I can. And that means that you can be considered a temporary guest of the City Lord’s estate. And the best way for you to stop being a guest is for you to become someone other than the young man my daughter keeps falling on!”
Lan Jin’s eyes narrow further and a frown forms on his face. He even feels a twinge in his heart as she so casually discusses her ability to kill him.
But before he can think of a solution to his newest problem, a white carriage with golden trim pulled by two handsome horses that look like large palominos arrives and stops in the middle of the road. Sitting up front is a plain-looking man wearing purple robes with a sword at his hip. And from the carriage itself, Lulu hops out and waits by the open door.
With a glance at her daughter, Sun Meirong asks, “Why didn’t you apologize to Old Man Xing yet? Lulu is already back. Now hurry up, I want to leave.”
Qiang Yu looked aggrieved, but she dispiritedly walks into the boutique only to return less than a minute later with a tired old man wearing plain but well-made brown robes who looks incredibly uncomfortable. But he still gives Sun Meirong a respectful bow as he sees her before he turns his head and flinches as he notices Lan Jin in his new outfit.
Letting out a sigh, the old man says, “I am sorry that my granddaughter did you such a disservice. If you would allow me the opportunity to do so, I would like to make this right. Can I tailor you a new outfit? I can promise to deliver it anywhere in the city by the end of the day.”
Lan Jin blinks slowly and asks, “Really? Can I get a new outfit like this one?”
“Young man! What did I just tell you?” Sun Meirong huffs irritably. “Old Man Xing, if you wouldn’t mind, please make him a nice brown robe.”
“I don’t want to—“
Before he can finish his sentence, he receives a sharp glare from Sun Meirong and he closes his mouth.
“Young man, if you want this to be over with as quickly as possible, then I suggest you work with me. Because I have very few alternatives right now, and I doubt very much that you’d appreciate any of them. So please, demonstrate a little forbearance and I will do everything in my power to resolve this situation as quickly as I possibly can. Do you understand?”
Lan Jin scowls, but he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he glares at Qiang Yu who glares right back at him.
Then he starts wondering if the Great Physician can do anything to get him out of this predicament. He claimed he’d be able to protect him from anyone plotting against him openly, and this seems like one of those situations. Lan Jin just doesn’t know if he would protect him from someone Lan Jin assumes is a member of his family.
He also doesn’t know how he’s supposed to let the Great Physician know that he encountered a problem in the first place.
So because he doesn’t know what he can do, he waits. And while he waits, he considers how he might be able to escape from not only Sun Meirong, but also the entire Qiang City if the need arises. And to that end, he decides that looking up maps for the city should probably be added close to the top of his to-do list right after the Auspicious Tri-Colored Flame which is likely the origin of all of his issues. And he also needs to find some way to get hold of vicious beast meat because just getting out of the city would be a journey of a hundred miles if not longer.
While Lan Jin plots, Sun Meirong approaches him and says, “Go on, get into the carriage. We have a lot to discuss and our time is falling away quickly.”
Looking at her, Lan Jin says, “The Great Physician told me he’d protect me from people plotting against me.”
Rolling her eyes at him, Sun Meirong says, “That old fool is why I’m being so reasonable with you in the first place! Do you think I need to be polite to you? I could simply claim you assaulted my daughter and exile you from the city or just have you castrated, and either of those options would be expedient methods to solve all of my problems! But I would prefer to approach this situation in a more civil manner. So please, get in the carriage. I’m sure that fool will hear about this sooner or later and you can talk to him then. But until that happens, I expect you to play along.”
Lan Jin’s heart races when she mentions castrating him, but in the end he lets out a grunt and walks up to the carriage. If nothing else, she is right about not needing to be polite to him. And though he doesn’t agree with her logic or like the way she’s going about solving things, Lan Jin believes she’s actually trying to fix this problem. And she did say that he would be a guest at her family’s estate and not a prisoner. So while his life might become a little inconvenient until he gets a chance to talk to the Great Physician, he can argue that this is a decision he’s making to avoid even worse problems later.