Read Novel Full Chapter 161: Side Story 1
T/N: These next 2 chapters are sort of an interlude. To be honest, I don’t know why the author inserted them here, but I decided to leave them to avoid messing up the chapter numbering. The main story will continue in chapter 163. This chapter is a short story about the past life.
“Big…..big brother!”
A small, tender, delicate and gentle like an early spring tender peach blossom little face lightly turned to the side, carrying a shallow smile, also carrying a strong milky tone, calling out again and again, “Big brother, big brother!”
Xun Che couldn’t help but smile too, putting down the painting scroll in hand and bending down to pick her up.
However, just as he was about to come in contact with his younger sister, a violent wave of dizziness suddenly consumed him. He seemingly got flung by a giant force, staggeringly retreating a few steps. When he finally steadied himself and lifted his head from the shock, the Xun Ying before him already turned into a delicate and refined young girl.
She was holding her newly obtained poetry collection in hand. On her fair and pretty lotus petal little face, it was still that soft smile. Even if half annoyed, she was still that gentle, “Older brother, don’t nag me anymore, why don’t older brother find a good older sister-in-law first. I still want to stay in my boudoir and comfortably read books for a few more years. Why don’t older brother indulge me, alright?”
“Alright……..of course, it’s alright.”
Xun Che wanted to nod his head and tell her, older brother naturally will love you and protect you all your life. You can do whatever you like and whatever makes you happy. But, when he opened his mouth, his voice wouldn’t come out no matter what. He wanted to go over to stroke Xun Ying’s head, but that enormous force once again assaulted him. This time, it wasn’t just stumbling, but rather like a thousand catty heavy punch, like thunder suddenly striking his stomach, making his insides twinge.
He struggled to lift his head again to look at Xun Ying. His younger sister before him was still smiling, just in that smile this time, it was full of tranquility. Her face was still that gentle and beautiful, her eyelashes that long, but her eyes were closed. The horrifying wound on her neck, the flesh was turned inside out. The bloodstains that have yet to be washed clean already congealed into a dark purple color.
But the corner of her lips was still that calmly smiling.
It was as if telling him, older brother, don’t worry, this matter, I’ve resolved.
“Ying’er……..Ying’er!” Xun Che finally could feel his own voice coming out, but in the next moment, he tasted a tinge of sweetness in his throat, followed by acute pain from his abdomen. With a ‘pfft’, he just vomited a mouthful of blood.
“Marquis? Marquis!” The person by his side was extremely anxious, and at the same time, also called out to the people outside. Qingyu Pavilion’s corridor swiftly lit with lanterns and candles. As the servant girls, medicine maid, guards, and attendants, disorderly ran around back and forth, the heavily overlapping shadows was like as if returning to that night of the palace rebellion.
Xun Che strugglingly opened his eyes, but what he could see in front was nevertheless blurry. The pain from his body was still the same as usual, just his breathing was still somewhat considered smooth.
“Marquis, did you dream of something again?” An extremely soft warm towel lightly pressed against his face, wiping away the sweat that filled his forehead, also wiping away the dark traces of blood by his mouth.
Xun Che at this time was finally a bit more awake, lifting his eyes to look at Yu Lingxin who was sitting by his sickbed. She sure enough slept fully dressed on the little couch to the side again, else how could she have come to his side this quickly.
“Not listening again.” Xun Che relaxed his breathing, not answering his wife, instead carrying a bit of reproach, “Didn’t Little Chi already say, it’s not good for you to constantly sleep here with me. There’s always sickness in the air. How come you won’t listen and return to your bedroom to sleep?”
TN: All translations outside of are stolen and reposted without permission!
“I can’t bear to part with marquis.” Yu Lingxin stared at the man before her whose figure was thin to the bones. His eyes clearly were filled with both weariness and concern, yet he insisted on adopting a reproachful look. Yu Lingxin just felt increasingly sad inside. Just, on the surface, she still smiled like always and also very naturally moved a bit closer, reaching out to grasp Xun Che’s thin and dry right hand, softly asking, “Did…..marquis dream of the second miss again?”
Xun Che slowly exhaled a breath and lowered his eyes.
Falling silent again, he was unable to say another word. All the anguish and grief inside interweaved into immense despair, further making him hard to breath even more than the poison in his body, and also hard to speak.
“Marquis, do you want to go out for a sit?” Yu Lingxin lightly asked again, “The weather currently is just perfect, neither cold nor hot. If going out in the daytime, the sun will inevitably be too strong, but now, although at night, it’s actually quite cool and refreshing. Little Imperial Physician Chi had said that if marquis can occasionally go out for some fresh air, it’s also good.”
Xun Che once again gazed towards Yu Lingxin, her face similarly filled with gentleness. Just, different from Xun Ying’s daintiness that was like a tender flower, Yu Lingxin’s gentleness also carried a hard to describe tolerance and firmness. When she gazed at him like that, it made his heart feel as if a sweet spring was slowly pouring in. Although the Wen’an Marquis Manor has fallen to apart, the incense fire[1] severing already becoming a set conclusion, she still let him, amidst the endless suffering, obtain a bit of comfort.
Marquis Xun who has always disliked pointless things the most in life finally nodded his head, “Alright.”
The attendants, guards, servant girls, and medicine maids immediately followed along the marchioness’s instructions carefully, having the haggard and thin Xun Che moved onto the soft couch, steadily lifting into Qingyu Pavilion’s flower garden that had just been decorated these recent few days, and then placing onto the recliner that was spread with soft fur and brocade. Afterwards, they all retreated out, dispersing in the distant, just leaving behind this couple that has been married for more than a year, yet their only close physical contact was just limited to holding hands.
The midsummer evening breeze sure enough was very gentle. As it gently brushed against the face, the slight coolness was even more pleasant. Xun Che raised his head, looking up at the stars that filled the sky, and then looked to Yu Lingxin who was sitting next to him, similarly gazing up at the night sky. His heart once again filled with a hard to describe feeling.
She……probably also liked admiring the moon and admiring the stars like this?
This was only natural. Romantic sceneries, which woman didn’t like?
Just, she married into the Wen’an Marquis Manor, and afraid, from here on also………
“Marquis, say, which star would be the second miss?” Yu Lingxin suddenly turned and gazed towards Xun Che, “In the past, I once heard the elders say that after a person dies, they will become a star in the sky. Good people will be a little brighter, while bad people probably can’t be seen anyone. That’s why, the second miss certainly must be the brightest one, right?”
“This is just something said to coax children.” Xun Che couldn’t help but scoff, “You heard when you were little, yet even now you still believe it?”
“Believe and don’t believe.” Yu Lingxin also softly laughed, “When I was little, I’d gone to Jingfu Temple with my grandmother to listen to the scriptures before. I vaguely remember a master saying, belief is the root of what one hopes for, the evidence to what has yet to be seen. In any case, I’m unable to verify, then to believe or not, doesn’t it just lie with me? If my grandmother has turned into a star now, then I can lift my head at night and see her, thus having comfort inside. Since the path on earth is difficult, then just let the matters in heaven be a remembrance. Perhaps, there will be a time when there’s light at the end of the road? Even if not, having this thought isn’t anything bad either.”
“You are rather openminded.” Having been married for more than a year, even if unable to consummate the marriage, unable to share the bed, they ultimately have been together day and night for more than three hundred and sixty days. Xun Che knew that she was never someone who was talkative. This long string of words today probably has been in her heart for some time.
After all, it was almost Xun Ying’s birthday. He has already continuously dreamed of his younger sister several times. Even for him to vomit blood at night, it also wasn’t the first time.
“Huijun.” Xun Che couldn’t help but call to her again, “You………”
“En?” Yu Lingxin gazed towards him, blinking her eyes, waiting for Xun Che to continue.
But, after their eyes met for a moment, Xun Che in the end just smiled, “Your words are very reasonable.”
Pondering for a moment, and another moment, he somewhat managed to lift his hand.
Under the summer night moonlight, Yu Lingxin suddenly felt that the eyes of the person before were actually just as bright as the stars in the sky. He although didn’t speak, she still felt that she understood.
As such, she obediently moved closer, letting his hand lightly stick to her cheek.
Xun Che caressed his wife’s face, also feeling that he didn’t need to ask anything anymore.
The long night was endless, but having her here was also more than enough.
[1] Representing the family bloodline. In the old tradition of ancestor worship, when a person dies, they join their ancestors in the afterlife and are provided for in the afterlife by the later generations through offerings such as incense and sacrifices. So if a family no longer has male descendants, then incense will no longer be offered.
T/N: I do like this chapter a lot, since it gives a look into Yu Lingxin and Xun Che’s relationship in the past life.
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