Chapter 23

Liu Ruyan said anxiously, "Put me down, idiot! You're bleeding..."

As Chang'an set Liu Ruyan down, he chuckled. "This is nothing!" He narrowed his eyes and studied her expression. Seven parts worry and anxiety, three parts bashful charm—unlike her usual dignified elegance, she possessed a different sort of allure, beautiful beyond measure.

Liu Ruyan said angrily, "Fight addict!"

Chang'an laughed even more happily. That was the finest praise. He looked at Liu Ruyan with blazing eyes.

Liu Ruyan grew even more embarrassed. She glared at Chang'an and said, "Take off your shirt!"

Chang'an nodded and removed his shirt, exposing his upper body.

Liu Ruyan immediately frowned, her gaze strange.

Chang'an said awkwardly, "There is indeed a bit too much fat!"

Liu Ruyan stared directly at the three bone-deep wounds on Chang'an's chest and said, "These were inflicted by the Green Bamboo Swordsman's Bamboo Rhyme Sword Qi. The Green Bamboo Swordsman attacked you?"

Chang'an smiled. "I defeated him! His sword broke."

Liu Ruyan extended one finger and viciously jabbed the wound that was still steadily seeping blood. Chang'an instantly bared his teeth in pain and staggered, nearly falling over. Only then did Liu Ruyan snort. "If you take such risks again, I'll never cook fish for you again."

Chang'an suddenly stopped smiling. His expression turned serious as he looked at Liu Ruyan. "Who was that man?"

Liu Ruyan carefully wiped away the blood on Chang'an's body and tended to his wounds. She gave a soft acknowledgment, but did not answer.

She seemed unwilling to answer.

Chang'an kept watching her, watching with great care as she cleaned his wounds, applied wound medicine, and carefully stitched them closed bit by bit. He saw every movement, even every tiny detail, with perfect clarity.

Liu Ruyan's brows gradually drew together.

Chang'an said, "You really don't want to tell me at all?"

Liu Ruyan began wrapping gauze around Chang'an. Her hands were nimble yet strong, and she wrapped it very, very tightly. Liu Ruyan said, "Do you really want to know?"

Chang'an nodded firmly.

Liu Ruyan suddenly smiled. "I'm getting married!"

Chang'an's expression turned strange. "That man came to propose?"

Liu Ruyan nodded.

Chang'an hurriedly asked, "You agreed?"

Liu Ruyan smiled bitterly. "I have no choice!"

Bang! Chang'an slammed his palm onto the table, making the objects atop it leap. Blood gradually spread across the freshly wrapped snow-white gauze. Chang'an's body stiffened as he slowly said, "Do you have to marry him?"

Liu Ruyan remained silent.

Chang'an said, "If you're unwilling, refuse him. No one can force you! If you can't say it, I'll say it for you."

Liu Ruyan shook her head. "Don't."

Chang'an let out a long sigh. "You're not someone who resigns herself to fate. Why this time?"

Liu Ruyan said, "Because I can't wait any longer, can't wait any longer... Ning Chang'an, do you know?"

Chang'an froze, astonished beyond measure. "Ning Chang'an! How do you know that name?" He was certain that very few people knew it; they could be counted on one hand. And Liu Ruyan was not among them.

Liu Ruyan said, "He told me!"

Chang'an asked in a deep voice, "Who exactly is he?"

Liu Ruyan smiled bitterly. "His surname is Tang!"

Tang was the imperial surname of the Great Gan Dynasty. At last, he understood why that man possessed such grand resources and such noble bearing. That white-robed man was undoubtedly a member of the Great Gan Dynasty's imperial family, because not even a general could possibly have a group of Armored Warriors equipped like that at his side.

What a Young Master Tang!

Chang'an said coldly, "He can forget about laying a finger on you!" Once he had made up his mind, he would spare no effort to stir up trouble. The moment he heard that Liu Ruyan was going to marry, his thoughts had become a tangled mess. Every thought in his mind wanted only to keep Liu Ruyan by his side. Only now did he realize that he was, in truth, a man of deep feeling, and that he could no longer let Liu Ruyan go.

Liu Ruyan stared blankly at Chang'an. "He knows everything about you. He has even grasped everything that you yourself don't know. Chang'an, could you please stay out of this? He'll harm you."

Liu Ruyan liked the name Ning Chang'an. The first time she heard it, she felt an indescribable stir in her heart, and decided that she would call Chang'an that from then on. Chang'an had always been called Chang'an, for more than ten years. Yet Ning Chang'an was the name his parents had truly given him. He had not decided to let everyone know, because his father was named Ning Chang'an—the Great Gan Dynasty's Great General Who Pacified Chaos. The fact that he was alive was, in itself, a secret tied to the name Ning Chang'an.

Now, it seemed that this secret was no longer a secret.

Young Master Tang might know his background very well, yet when they first met, he had not recognized him. After all, Chang'an had changed far too much. He was now a fat man; anyone unfamiliar with him would never recognize him.

But Ning Chang'an knew that the next time they met, Young Master Tang would certainly recognize him. What Ning Chang'an did not know was that Young Master Tang had known who he was at first sight. It was not that he had failed to recognize him; he simply had not wished to expose it before Liu Ruyan at that time and place.

Ning Chang'an said, "Am I very stupid? You must think so!"

Liu Ruyan froze. After a long silence, she said softly, "You really are very stupid! You don't understand a woman's heart at all."

Ning Chang'an also fell silent. He truly did not understand women's thoughts. Take Su Yueru, for example—he still had not understood why that night of passion had happened. He truly regarded her only as an elder sister, a real elder sister, unlike the way he had passively played the role of a younger brother with Liu Ruyan.

Liu Ruyan sighed. "I'm different from Su Yueru. Must you insist on treating me as your elder sister?"

Ning Chang'an said, "Before Su Yueru left Moon Concealing Pavilion, I met with her. She and I... After that, fear has always lingered in my heart! I always regarded Su Yueru as an elder sister, and believed that she regarded me as a younger brother. Such things should not happen between an elder sister and a younger brother. I was already confused, even inexplicably afraid! When I saw you again, you told me that story about your younger brother, and I became completely lost. I don't want to repeat the same mistakes, nor can I see your heart clearly! Is it the love between a man and a woman, or the affection between elder sister and younger brother? You've never drawn a line between them... and so I cannot see clearly either!"

Liu Ruyan fell silent. Perhaps she could understand Su Yueru's thoughts and difficulties, but she truly had not expected Ning Chang'an to carry so many concerns and confusions.

In the end, all she could do was sigh.

She suddenly wanted to cry, to drink, to get drunk.

So she brought out a jar of old wine and drank with Ning Chang'an.

The two of them drank for an entire day.

For the first time, the proprietress of Spring Breeze Tower did not appear upstairs to drink alone. In the latter half of the day, Spring Breeze Tower was packed to the rafters, yet at that fixed place on the second floor, at that fixed hour, the proprietress did not appear for the first time.

The two of them drank themselves into lonely oblivion.

Liu Ruyan held Ning Chang'an as they slept, still clothed.

That night, moonlight shimmered faintly.

Liu Ruyan quietly opened her eyes. Her slender jade fingers gently caressed Ning Chang'an's face, feeling every inch of its contours. Her eyes were gentle and bright. Looking at the face so close before her, she saw that it was indeed somewhat plump, making those eyes once filled with stubborn and unyielding light seem much softer. She studied him with utmost care, as though she wanted to etch this face forever into her heart.

She was drunk, yet suddenly sober.

Only when she wished to be drunk would she become drunk. When she did not wish to be drunk, even if she was already drunk, she would immediately sober up.

In her dreams, she had dreamed of Ning Chang'an.

It had been a lingering, heart-wrenching spring dream.

And so she awakened from it.

Liu Ruyan lay lazily on her side, quietly watching Ning Chang'an, tranquil as a beautiful scene frozen in time.

Young Master Tang was a prince of the Great Gan Dynasty. This time, he had personally come from Panlong Province to Changshan Province for only two purposes. One was her; the other was Ning Chang'an.

Everything was within his plans, without the slightest mishap. Liu Ruyan knew deeply that if Ning Chang'an had not encountered Young Master Tang before Spring Breeze Tower, he would likely already have met with disaster. The power behind Young Master Tang was far more than those twenty Armored Warriors. Those twenty Armored Warriors were merely one squad of his personal guards. If he wished, he could even mobilize the local government troops. Before the Great Gan Dynasty's mighty official army, any martial arts force could only be considered a rabble.

Before someone of such exalted status and towering authority, even Liu Ruyan, whose standing in the martial world was extraordinary, was utterly powerless. Any son of an official who proposed to her could be refused by her without a second thought or the slightest reservation. But Young Master Tang was not the son of an official—he was imperial blood, a prince, a dragon's seed, a prince qualified and ambitious enough to contend for the throne. Authority weighed upon common folk like a mountain; even Liu Ruyan, a goddess among women, could not resist.

Once she refused, everyone and everything around her could suffer a catastrophe that would topple the sky and crush the earth.

She knew that Young Master Tang was absolutely capable of such things, and that he would not show the slightest mercy.

Moreover, Young Master Tang had already seen through the ambiguous relationship between Ning Chang'an and her. He would absolutely not spare Ning Chang'an. The bitterness and struggle in Liu Ruyan's heart could not be spoken to anyone, not even Ning Chang'an.

If she wanted to protect Ning Chang'an, she had no choice but to make a choice.

The only choice was to accept Young Master Tang's proposal.

A painful choice that shattered the heart!

Fate?! Destiny?! Or was Heaven deliberately—or carelessly—playing tricks on them?!

At dawn, Ning Chang'an slowly awoke and found Liu Ruyan in his arms, curled up as she held him, her face pressed against his chest as she slept sweetly.

Ning Chang'an did not move. He quietly admired Liu Ruyan's slightly adorable sleeping face, never tiring of looking at it. Just like Yu Fu's brows and eyes, he did not want to share it with anyone else.

Liu Ruyan suddenly opened her eyes. She lazily yawned, her eyes blinking as she gently lifted her head and saw Ning Chang'an's absorbed gaze. She smiled softly. "Have you seen enough?"

Ning Chang'an said, "There'll never be enough. Even seeing you every day wouldn't be enough!"

Liu Ruyan flashed him a radiant smile, rolled over, and sat up. Leaning over, she opened the cabinet beside the bed and took out a stack of brand-new clothes, handing them to Ning Chang'an. "Get up. I have something for you!"

The clothes had been sewn stitch by stitch by Liu Ruyan herself. When Ning Chang'an put them on, they fit perfectly.

The fabric was a fine, moon-white satin. Worn by Ning Chang'an, it gave him a scholarly air. It suited his plump figure quite well, making him look invigorated and rather heroic.

Liu Ruyan slipped on her embroidered shoes and lightly walked to a tall pearwood cabinet by the window. Standing on tiptoe, she took down a long object wrapped in silk from the top of the cabinet.

"Guess what it is?"