Hello guys! Hope you all had a good weekend. The rebirth team would like to clarify something regarding JR’s age. The text is not clear about the exact age, and her being 10 earlier was only an incorrect assumption, she might be a little older. The author has often mixed up timelines and ages so it was just a conjecture on our part. But seeing that ML is a lot older than her, we realized we might have misinterpreted.
Coming back to this chapter, with the no.of times it has been mentioned, this chapter might as well have been named – “The Youth Dressed in Black Clothes”.
Join us on to fangirl about this novel and many others in the meraki world.
Chapter 29: Exploited (Part II)
As the youth's gaze took stock of her person, Jiang Ruan knew that her current outfit was simple and crude. Due to deliberate instructions, her clothes were still the worn ones that were once altered at the residence. Therefore, she would definitely cut an extremely pitiful figure and perhaps that man might even be suspicious of her supposed status. She then added on, "Imperial Censor Wang and Official Li Mi are in the side room for the men. If anything were to happen to me, they would certainly be unable to shirk any responsibility. I am afraid they would investigate for a very long time."
The youthful figure simply eyed her and turned to stow away the decorative dagger in his hand. In her heart, Jiang Ruan heaved a sigh of relief and knew that the other person would not kill her. However, it was not necessarily on account of her threat that he would refrain from doing so.
Then the door was suddenly opened, and she saw a black figure barge in from the outside and greet the youth dressed in black, "Master[1], it has been arranged."
[1] Zhǔzi ( 主子 ) – Master (term used by servant) / Your Majesty
Looking around by just the faint light of the moon, a group of corpses could be seen, lying disorderly on the ground. They were all dressed in nondescript black clothes that were meant for nocturnal activities. Their fatal wounds were all similar; there were lines of blood slit at the throat which clearly indicated they were killed in one slash.
The man that addressed the youth as master raised his head, and upon looking at Jiang Ruan, was a little surprised. He did not seem to expect to see someone still awake in the temple and hesitantly enquired, "Master?"
Was he asking if he could silence her with murder? Jiang Ruan chuckled coldly in her heart and only heard the youth dressed in black indifferently speak, "No need."
Jiang Ruan's thoughts raced quickly, those people were evidently after this young man. And in just that short period of time, these people had then breathed their last breath. And even then, this matter was quickly resolved without alerting the other people in the temple. In all probability, this youth's influence was not small. Moreover, if she could make use of it…
Suddenly, she smiled, "Sire, there is still something that slipped through your net."
The youth turned to stare at her and Jiang Ruan continued, "Wait for a bit." Then she stood up and walked towards the room next door. In the neighbouring room, Bai Zhi and her other two maidservants had just bundled up the people who were knocked out. They were completely oblivious as to what had happened outside and saw Jiang Ruan enter the room. Lian Qiao questioned, "Young Miss, look…"
Jiang Ruan shook her head and placed a finger to her own lips as if to signal to her maidservant to remain silent. She then lightly remarked, "All of you will stay here and don't move." After saying this, strenuously, she dragged a person on the ground and backed out of the door. Lian Qiao wanted to follow suit but was pulled back by Bai Zhi, therefore, she could only remain behind in the room. Jiang Ruan went back and forth five times and finally managed to drag all of the five people in front of the black-dressed youth.
The youth and his attendant that stood beside him were both waiting for her to clear up the confusion. Jiang Ruan laughed slightly, "These people were drugged by fainting fumes and their bodies are unable to move. However, their conscious remains clear- if I converse with sire right now, then all of them will hear it. However, once awake, I am not sure what kind of problems they would give sire. So I am doing you a favour and brought this people to you, sire. Please handle them as you would see fit."
They were still going to be killed at the lonely temple on a snowy night, so actually, they ought to share a similar fate with the other group of assassins. Although she spoke in an extremely easy manner, it was as if she had given him a chance to take an enormously convenient yet immoral course of action. However, how could this method of getting someone else to do her dirty work not be seen through by the two people in front of her. Still, what she said was extremely reasonable, therefore, the youth in black slightly gestured with his hand and his attendant immediately went forward with his raised sword. In a split second, with five cold tips of the blade, the people on the ground had no reprieves from death.
In her heart, Jiang Ruan already understood. While this person's attendant was so brilliant, evidently his master would definitely not be ordinary. Although he had yet to reveal his face tonight, she was aware that he intended to lay low since concealing himself would definitely mean keeping another's lips sealed. He had not killed her who was the di daughter of the Jiang family- this was mostly likely due to all the trouble it would cause. However, for these five dubious people, he could just take care of them as he wished. Thinking back to how she had initially wanted to handle this matter herself, she felt that now there was a better option before her; the technique of an immediate slash of death. No matter what, the suspicion would not be able to land upon her and the accusation could be washed away from her cleanly.
As she thought this far, her mood became somewhat better. Jiang Ruan smiled towards the young man in black, "The path has been completely cleared, sire, please go ahead."
The youth dressed in black clothes glanced at her and his cold eyes showed an unreadable emotion that was cold, clear and unusual. Then, he suddenly turned and walked into the dark night. Jiang Ruan stared at the figure's back. As he walked, his movements were natural and effortless and she could only see an understated sort of elegance. It was as if this elegance was deeply carved and flowed into his every bone, so that it was superficially inconcealable and unconsciously revealed with every step. Such an outstandingly magnificent appearance, she had never seen this even in her past life. As she tightly furrowed her eyebrows, she wondered when did the Great Jin dynasty ever have this sort of person? Who in the world was he?
Translated by : irisu-san
Edited by : Anks & Ely