Chapter 150: A Night Meeting |
Under a hazy moon, in a secluded courtyard within Zhanliu Manor, a beautiful woman in refined court dress reclined lazily by the window.
She was quite striking in appearance, with a scroll of a book in her hand, gazing at the candlelight on the table as she read with quiet concentration.
The moonlight filtering through the agarwood window lattice blended with the candlelight, casting a warm halo of light around her, giving the room a serene and peaceful feeling in the stillness of the night.
"Madam, the hour is late. It is time to retire."
At that moment, an elderly serving woman came over to her side, speaking softly to remind her.
Hearing this, the beautiful woman furrowed her brow slightly, looked up at the old woman, and was just about to respond.
But in the very next instant, the old woman's eyes suddenly rolled back, and she toppled stiff as a board right in front of her.
The beautiful woman was startled, and quickly rose to her feet. Her gaze swept sharp and cold around the room as she called out in a cutting voice, "Who is there?"
"Don't be alarmed, cousin. It's me."
In the room fragrant with sandalwood incense, a middle-aged man appeared as if from nowhere, dressed in a moon-white long robe and wearing a scholar's headband.
His attire was, it had to be said, quite elegant and refined, but unfortunately his frame was somewhat stout and his face rather full and round, straining his clothing to an ungainly bulge that was far from a pleasing sight.
This middle-aged man was naturally none other than Hu Rui'an, and had Li Musheng been there to see him at this moment, he would certainly have been quite taken aback.
The man had clearly left in night-traveling garb. Exactly where he had managed to find such a flamboyantly refined change of clothes was anyone's guess.
At this moment, the beautiful woman Ruan Zhenhui, upon seeing Hu Rui'an, very nearly let out a startled cry.
The cold, forbidding aura that had radiated from her receded in an instant like an ebbing tide. She looked at Hu Rui'an with an expression of obvious disbelief, saying, "Cousin, how did you come to be here?"
Hearing this, Hu Rui'an looked at the beautiful woman before him, his eyes filled with quiet tenderness. After a moment of silence, he said, "I happened to be passing through Zhanliu Manor on some business, so I thought to take the opportunity to come and see you."
He paused here, as though there were many things he wanted to say to the woman before him, but in the end he did not know where to begin, and could only look at her with something left unspoken, saying, "Have you... been well... these past years..."
Ruan Zhenhui gently pressed her lips together, her gaze meeting Hu Rui'an's, her own eyes equally soft with an unspoken warmth.
But very quickly, she turned her head away and stopped looking at him. Something like a mist seemed to gather in her eyes, and her voice became abruptly cold and indifferent, saying, "How kind of Commissioner Hu to ask. I trust Commissioner Hu has been advancing splendidly in his career in Great Li all these years, and has long since had no more regard for a woman of the martial world like me."
Hearing this, Hu Rui'an opened his mouth, looked at the side of Ruan Zhenhui's face, and in the end only let out a sigh, saying, "Just as I expected. You are still blaming me for what happened all those years ago."
With that, he was quiet for a moment, then suddenly spoke again, saying, "In truth, when I broke the promise we had made to each other and left you behind, I had reasons I could not help."
Hu Rui'an looked at the side of the beautiful woman's face with eyes full of deep feeling, and said in a low, sincere voice, "I will not hide it from you. Tonight may well be the last time I ever see you, and after this there will likely be no further chance. So I want to say the things I have kept buried in my heart for so many years."
"That way, even if I die, I will have no regrets..."
Even hearing Hu Rui'an lay open his heart in this way, Ruan Zhenhui still had her head turned stubbornly to one side, refusing to look at him.
Even so, she heard every word he said without missing a single one, and was just preparing to listen to how Hu Rui'an would explain himself, when she realized that his words had suddenly trailed off into silence.
Ruan Zhenhui immediately furrowed her brow and turned her head in puzzlement.
She found Hu Rui'an, in his moon-white long robe, suddenly swaying where he stood in the middle of the room, his expression utterly dazed.
"Cousin!"
Sensing something was wrong, Ruan Zhenhui moved quickly to his side and reached out to support his arm.
And to his credit as a Heaven-Human expert, though the depth of Hu Rui'an's poisoning was second only to Li Musheng's, he still retained the barest thread of consciousness, and said, "Bad. Poisoned..."
Before he could finish, his eyes rolled back and he went silent.
Seeing this, Ruan Zhenhui's mind was thrown into a panic, and grief surged into her heart in an instant.
She felt as though the last meeting Hu Rui'an had spoken of had come so suddenly and without warning, and that he had not even had the chance to finish his dying words.
Even so, she quickly noticed that Hu Rui'an did not appear to be dead, only unconscious from the poison.
Seeing this, Ruan Zhenhui gathered her emotions and immediately reached out with concentrated True Qi to examine the situation within Hu Rui'an's body.
Then she gave a light sniff, and caught the distinct, rich scent of wine emanating from him.
"Linglu wine. The Drunken Immortal's Death."
Ruan Zhenhui understood at once what poison had been used.
Even so, her brow furrowed. The antidote to the Drunken Immortal's Death was only in Shen Liancheng's possession, and she had no way to administer an antidote herself.
She thought briefly, then helped Hu Rui'an to the edge of the bed and laid him down, before sweeping a quick glance at the old serving woman on the floor.
Setting her aside for the moment, Ruan Zhenhui stepped quickly toward the door, preparing to go to Shen Liancheng's quarters to find the antidote.
But just at that moment, a young woman's voice suddenly drifted in from outside the courtyard, saying, "Mother, are you asleep yet? I cannot sleep. Could I come and talk with you for a while?"
Hearing this, Ruan Zhenhui immediately stopped in her tracks, her expression shifting.
The next instant, she moved quickly, picked up the unconscious old serving woman, and pushed her under the bed, then let down the bed curtains to conceal Hu Rui'an's body.
Having done all of this, Ruan Zhenhui composed herself slightly and deliberately adopted a languid tone as she called out toward the door, "Anran, I am feeling a little tired this evening. If you have something to say, it can wait until tomorrow. You have been putting so much effort into the competition these days, you should rest more as well."
At the same time, outside the gray stone courtyard wall shrouded in darkness, a slender figure stood amid the shifting shadows of bamboo.
The young woman in green was graceful in bearing, her skin like white jade, a dark sandalwood hairpin loosely binding her long raven-black hair, with a few loose strands falling softly at her ears.
Her bright, clear eyes reflected the dim moonlight as she looked with mild surprise toward the room in the courtyard, her brow furrowing slightly.
In Shen Anran's memory, her mother had always doted on her and had never once refused any of her requests. This seemed to be the first time.
Shen Anran was quiet for a moment, but then nodded toward the courtyard and said, "Rest well, Mother. I will not disturb you then."
With that, she turned and left unhurriedly through the courtyard gate.
Seeing this, Ruan Zhenhui inside the room let out a small breath of relief, and pulled the door slightly open, peeking through the gap to look outside.
After confirming that Shen Anran had gone, she pressed her fingers together and pinched out the candle flame in the room.
Then Ruan Zhenhui slipped out the door, pulled it shut behind her, and with a swift movement hurried out of the courtyard.
Before long, however, Shen Anran's slender figure stepped silently out from behind a roadside tree.