Chapter 202: Won't retain you further

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

"Got it," Lu Mingshu answered unenthusiastically.

The servant girl kept quiet and rearranged the cushion.

"No need for the trouble," Lu Mingshu said. "Go ahead with your chores, I'll rest on my own." She proceeded to stand up.

"Let this servant help Miss up."

Lu Mingshu waved her head. "It's just a minor injury. During the competition, I had to fight with an injury too. I'm not that pampered."

She lifted up her blanket and got down the bed. The servant girl hurried over, draping a jacket on Lu Mingshu shoulder and helping her comb her hair.

She saw Lu Mingshu sit down beside the window and checked that everything was fine, then left with ease.

Seeing the servant's girl cautious attitude, Lu Mingshu somewhat felt like laughing. Does she think that I'm a porcelain doll?

The fragrance of flowers came through the courtyard to the room. She closed her eyes and inhaled the smell.

When she opened her eyes, someone had entered the room.

A deep blue gown, reflecting a bright and clean face under the sunlight like jade.

Xie Zhanghui slowly pushed the wheelchair closer, stopped it in front of the window, and left. The servants who were nearby had all left.

"Are you okay?" Surprisingly, Lu Mingshu was the one who started the conversation. She spoke in a monotone; not too intimate nor estranged.

Xie Lianzhen smiled. He reached out and grabbed a flower, handing it to her. "I'm fine now. You?"

"I was fine to start with."

Lu Mingshu took the flower and fiddled with it.

"When are you planning to leave?"

Lu Mingshu looked up at him.

Her ice-cold eyes seemed gentle paired with the beautiful flower.

Xie Lianzhen looked back at her. "I prepared something for you," he said softly.

Lu Mingshu continued to stare at him even though they were separated by the window.

"Are you happy now?" Xie Lianzhen smiled.

Lu Mingshu nodded.

"Will you come to Zhongzhou again?"

"If I have the chance," she said.

"Okay."

Neither of them continued the conversation.

A distinct whistle could be heard from the sky. Both of them looked up to see the Nine Jade Palace's emerald-coloured vehicle flying past their head, sending wave-like patterns across the sky.

After it could no longer be seen, Xie Lianzhen looked down and sighed.

"I'll get going."

"Mhmm."

"I'll be going into seclusion after this, so I won't send you off. I'll get them to pass you the things I prepared."

"Okay."

Xie Lianzhen smiled thinly. "You're still not willing to talk much even now, huh?"

Lu Mingshu pondered for a while before starting. "...I don't know what to say."

This made him smile.

He held out his hand as if he wanted to have a handshake with her, but he held back and put it down.

"I'll get going."

"Okay."

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

Lu Mingshu watched him leave silently, slowly disappearing from her sight. She looked down at the flower in her hand and sighed. She then entered the Heavenly Wheel.

The six-coloured streamers surrounded her. The Heavenly Wheel was still as peaceful as ever.

She placed the flower on the ground and leaned on the tree.

"Xiao Sang."

"Here."

"Were you ever a human?"

For the first time ever, Xiao Sang didn't give her an answer.

But Lu Mingshu didn't mind. She just wanted to have a chat.

She bent her legs and fished out a thin, dark green disk.

"It's quite troublesome to be a human!" She liked talking to Xiao Sang, perhaps because it was like talking to herself. "I wanted to end this righteously and formally, but who knew I would get it in this way."

Ding Qingqing had still been in good condition. With her intuition, Lu Mingshu decided to fix her attention on Ding Qingqing, so when Ding Qingqing tried to attack Xie Lianzhen, Lu Mingshu saw everything.

She didn't know that a human could react so quickly. It was so fast that she almost couldn't keep up with herself as she activated her spiritual tool and took the attack for Xie Lianzhen.

It looked scary, but in fact, Ding Qingqing's attack didn't injure her that badly. The shock she received was just too overpowering, which was why she fainted.

"I used to hate him. The people who tried to stop me during the challenger's fight were either him or the queen. Even though he did help me out, I hated feeling like I was prey!"

She loathed the Nine Jade Palace because it was a place filled with rules and regulations that had to be followed strictly. The Zhou Family or the elders, they were all playing a game called "power." They had high positions and took pleasure in the game. One had to follow their rules closely; fairness and freedom didn't exist there.

Someone like Xie Lianzhen, who was just as engrossed in that game, why wouldn't she loathe him?

But...

"Why would he... do that for me?"

Before she fainted, she heard him screaming like a wounded beast, pouncing on Ding Qingqing like he wanted to take her down with him.

Twelve years - his legs recovered twelve years ago, and he had never once stood up. However, he did it that day.

He was aware that Ding Qingqing was in the Spirit Realm, having higher cultivation than him. What he did was like digging his own grave.

Why would he do such things after constantly toying around with me?

She had never taken his courting seriously, and he only longed for Lu Mingshu due to curiosity. But now...

"You're afraid of someone else's sincerity?"

"I guess?" Lu Mingshu smiled. "Such a fickle person like me isn't fit to take someone's feelings for me. I'll feel guilty."

"You pity him?"

"Nope." Lu Mingshu shook her head. "He forced me into that position. I was just helping myself out."

For a long time, she always hoped that she would gain enough bargaining chips to move the queen and stand a chance of speaking for herself. She didn't wish to scheme against others and use their feelings to accomplish her goal. It would just become an addiction.

Xie Lianzhen knew this well, yet he left her with no choice but to act like that. If it wasn't for this incident, she may have needed a long time to win her war.

Not that it would've been a difficult task. She already had Xie Lianzhen's weakness, all she needed was the right time.

Ding Qingqing's rebellion simply gave her a chance to get out earlier and see another side of Xie Lianzhen.

"I... do not have a heart of stone. Somebody put me above their own life. I should be touched."

Finishing, Lu Mingshu mocked herself. "This also counts as using other's feelings, huh? I shouldn't do this in the future."

...

Half a month passed, and Lu Mingshu went to bid the queen goodbye.

Only

The queen had already recovered from the betrayal, and she was in glowing spirits.

The king of Yijun was imprisoned in the Seventh Truth Platform, and Ding Qingqing lost her place as an emissary and was sent to accompany him. Perhaps it was with evil intentions, or perhaps the queen gave them her blessings.

For this matter, the king of Zhongzhou respected the queen's decision totally.

"Not staying for a little longer?" The queen hummed as if she had never forced Lu Mingshu to stay.

Lu Mingshu shook her head. "No. I'll become lazy if I stay for too long."

The queen nodded. "Since you have already made up your mind, I won't keep you any further. Shan, send her off for me."

Xiahou Shan came out. "Okay."