Chapter 148: Seeing Ran Min Again
While Chen Rong was lost in her train of thought, Nurse Ping continued to lament for a while more before she could not help herself from advising: “They are your elders, after all. Despite every wrong they have done, since they have come to you in person, why don’t you just talk to Qilang?”
“You know what they say: that one should not burn her bridges. It doesn’t cost you much to say a few words, now does it?”
Chen Rong turned to look at her nurse before withdrawing her gaze and coldly saying: “You watched me grow up. Don’t you know me by now?”
She was not only vindictive, but also cruel. As long as there was a chance, she would exact her revenge on Chen Yuan’s entire family even if she didn’t have Qilang’s and the emperor’s protection.
Nurse Ping stared dumbfounded at Chen Rong’s humorless face. She eventually stammered, “But you’re an adult who understand things now.”
Chen Rong impatiently flapped her sleeves and strode away. Her heart had been beating a little erratically today. Time was passing very slowly for her.
When the sun was setting again the next day, she dismissed everyone and went to sit alone on a boulder behind the mountain. When she looked down from here, she could see the misty valley below and hear the calls of birds and monkeys, as well as human conversations from the temple.
She enjoyed this scene for a while and then lay back onto the rock.
The carefree clouds had been dyed by the sunset. Chen Rong laughed as she watched them join and disperse.
Her laughter was the moonlight that filtered through the clouds. For a moment, the haunting thoughts in her dreams seemed to have vanished.
When Chen Rong was about to fall asleep, she heard heavy footsteps approaching from behind.
She woke from her slumber, rubbed her eyes and sleepily said, “Bring me a bottle of wine.”
This person stopped walking.
Chen Rong yawned, stretched her arms and legs, and then hopped down to smooth her robe, adding, “Right, bring me my zither too.”
The person behind her made no movements.
Chen Rong frowningly turned around.
What she saw was a pair of muddy boots, above which was a black robe covered in dirt and dust.
Further up was a distinct Hu outfit entirely different from the fashion in Jiankang.
A shiver drove her sleepiness away.
She rounded her eyes at him and unconsciously swallowed. Her hands clenched under her wide sleeves, their nails digging into her palms…
Her eyes stayed at his feet, struggling to lift their gaze up to his face.
Then, the man came to her.
His footsteps were very real. When he was three steps from her, he spoke with a low, chilly voice: “Are you afraid to look at me?”
Chen Rong whipped her head up to see a handsome yet icy face. At the moment, his thins lips were drawn into a line; his dark eyes were coldly staring at her, a flame of anger flickering in them.
It was Ran Min!
This translation belongs to ha mster428.
For some reason, Chen Rong did not feel threatened by the angry look on his face but rather wanted to laugh.
She did not laugh, however.
“Where’s Chen Wei? Why didn’t you bring her with you?” asked Chen Rong, slightly knitting her brow.
Ran Min frowned in puzzlement. “Chen Wei?”
He paused, suddenly feeling that something was odd: Why is her first question upon seeing me about Chen Wei?
He had too much on his hands that he never paid attention to these details before. But he had come prepared this time, he had been watching her every move, and so he began to think.
“Do you dislike her?” His voice softened. “Didn’t you know that although she has a higher status than you in the Chen estate, she is only a concubine in my home?”
“Chen Rong, look up and answer me!” he ordered.
Chen Rong looked up.
On her beautiful face was a faint smile and eyes that were utterly serene… This woman wasn’t even ashamed to see him, nor was she pretending to put on a facade.
Ran Min’s eyes narrowed.
He took a deep breath and came two more steps. By the time he was behind her, he had collected himself.
He stood with his hands clasped behind his back. Looking down at the cloud-strewn mountain in the sunset, Ran Min’s hoarse voice slowly sounded behind her: “Why did you become a nun?”
Why did she become a nun?
The corner of Chen Rong’s lips tugged as she turned around.
She watched Ran Min’s handsomely sculpted profile.
At this moment he was clasping his hands behind his back. A red hairband adorned his forehead, behind which his long hair was flying… Chen Rong absently looked at him. In a distant time and space, she had once engraved this picture in her heart. And yet, all the memories that were clearly unforgettable were now suddenly a hazy dream. It was as though the past that drove her mad was just an illusion – it had never existed.
She stayed unspeaking for a long time.
Ran Min turned around and stared at her.
His stare woke Chen Rong up from her trance. Discomfited, she immediately took a step back.
She stopped when she saw a sneer from the corner of Ran Min’s mouth.
“Answer me!” Ran Min solemnly stared at Chen Rong and drily said, “I came all this way to Jiankang to find the truth!”
After he finished, the muscles on his face suddenly convulsed. It was as if agony was snaking its way around his heart and robbing him of his peace.
This was why he chose to say what he said. In his mind, as long as he said his piece and received an answer, the venomous serpent would be banished.
If there was one person in the world who understood Ran Min, then that person was undoubtedly Chen Rong.
She could hear his pain at this very moment.
She blankly looked up.
She stared at Ran Min, at his handsome face, his fierce yet woeful eyes, and his pine straight figure.
At long last, she cast her gaze down and suddenly burst into laughter.
Ran Min glared at her. “What are you laughing at?!”
His shout was as imperious and murderous as ever.
But Chen Rong did not seem to hear him. She was still laughing…
Two streams of tears escaped her eyes.
The angry Ran Min stopped at this sight.
At this time, Chen Rong slowly stopped laughing.
She used her sleeve to dry her tears, muttering to herself, “The culmination of two lives… I am finally freed.” Her rough wiping had reddened her skin. She looked up at Ran Min.
There was no laughter or bitterness in her eyes. If there was anything, then there was only the brightness of stars.
When she saw Ran Min’s questioning and outraged eyes, Chen Rong lightly smiled. Her smile was as airy as the wind and clouds.
Ran Min knitted his thick brows, unable from stopping his shout: “What were you laughing at?”
He really didn’t understand. He couldn’t understand.
Chen Rong did not answer him. She took two steps forward.
She came to his side and, like him, looked at the foggy peak in the setting sunlight. When Ran Min was about to pull her arm to demand a clear answer, Chen Rong’s voice sounded: “I hate Chen Wei.”
It was only four words but she had uttered them with the utmost despisal. Surprised, Ran Min withdrew his hand.
After Chen Rong delivered these four words, she formed a wry smile. “When I was still living at the Chen estate of Nan’yang, Chen Wei’s father, Chen Yuan, had several times wanted to give me away. Actually, I was given away when he sent me to the Prince of Nan’yang.” This was the first time Ran Min heard of this. It stunned him.
Chen Rong turned to look at him. “When his food cargo was robbed, I came to ask for your help, do you still remember?”
Of course he remembered. At the time, he had thought his life would be complete since he had found his Consort Yu…
Chen Rong did not know Ran Min’s thoughts; her eyes were bright and cold when she looked at him.
“Chen Yuan had taken me out from imprisonment that time. They had secretly held me. His wife was going to put me to death for my disobedience.”
She painfully smiled. “That night in the wooden house, I heard the guards talking outside about how to play with me before they were to kill me…” Ran Min’s brow furiously knitted.
Chen Rong’s voice rasped at the mention of the past. After she smiled, she turned and looked ahead, for she did not want Ran Min to see her vulnerability.
She opened her eyes to let the night wind dry them before continuing: “That was why I had come to you and asked you to punish them.” She hoarsely chuckled. “Too bad you still like Ah Wei… I’m a vengeful person, make no mistake about it. It is a lifelong regret that I cannot drive Ah Wei into ruination.”
Her words were so light that it was as if she had no idea this man was Chen Wei’s husband, as if she didn’t care that her target was this man’s love in both of his lives.
A drawn out silence.
At long last, Chen Rong turned to look at Ran Min.