Chapter 85: If Line 2

Chapter 85: Alternate Timeline 2

◎Why Are You Here?◎

It wasn't until the carriage had passed that Qiao Wan finally looked its way.

She knew it was Princess Zhaoyang's carriage, and that Mu Chi and Qiao Qingni were surely inside. Yet, as she watched it disappear around the street corner, an indescribable feeling still stirred within her.

"Has Princess Changle lost her mind?" Jing Lan had never been so thoroughly ignored before, and his displeasure was evident.

Qiao Wan finally snapped back to reality. Looking at the carefree Jing Lan before her, she recalled how, in her previous life in Yandu, he had tearfully told her, "Qiao Wan, you truly have no good fortune."

In this life, he hadn't yet endured those hardships, and was still so full of youthful vigor.

Qiao Wan still found the dashing, spirited Jing Lan before her more agreeable—unburdened by the woes of love. Perhaps other challenges would force him to mature later, but at least he wouldn't be as dejected as when he had left Lingjing.

Thinking this, she took a half-step back, glaring angrily at Jing Lan, who showed her no kindness. She mused to herself how truly benevolent she was now, facilitating happiness for one person after another.

"Yicui, let's return to the manor," she said, directly helping Yicui onto the carriage.

Jing Lan stood rooted to the spot, his face dark. He had been the only one speaking just now, making him look like a clown!

Did that old man at home really want him to marry her? Dream on!

The princess's manor was not unfamiliar to Qiao Wan. After all, there was a manor in Yandu almost identical to it. Even after she entered the palace and became empress, she would occasionally stay there for a few days during breaks.

Thus, upon returning to the princess's manor, Qiao Wan immediately retreated to her bedchamber to rest.

She thought that if all of this were a dream, she could jokingly tell her Mu Chi about it after waking up, complaining about how detestable he was in the dream.

But when she woke again, she was still in the princess's manor, weighed down by the oppressive pain in her chest.

She hadn't gone back.

Instead, Yicui brought news that Seventh Prince Qiao Yan's residence had taken in a guest skilled in the *guqin*, and everyone speculated it was Young Master Mu Chi from the Songzhu Pavilion, marveling at Young Master Mu Chi's good fortune.

Qiao Wan was not surprised at all.

Qiao Qingni cared about her reputation and would definitely not let rumors of sheltering a male entertainer circulate about herself. Qiao Yan was her biological younger brother, and a prince taking in a guest was nothing out of the ordinary.

Qiao Wan stayed quietly in the manor these past few days, never going out to play. Sometimes she would drift into thought, wondering if this life was the real one and her previous life was just a dream.

—A beautiful dream she conjured up while trapped in Lingjing daily, a fantasy she'd created of successfully escaping Lingjing, having a healthy body, and receiving love.

Until that day, when Yicui came excitedly to find Qiao Wan early in the morning: "Princess, someone from Yuxiu Pavilion came to say that the jewelry and headpieces you paid for earlier have arrived. They're waiting for you to go make your selections first."

Qiao Wan ultimately loved these ornate trinkets, so she was delighted to hear this. Especially when she recalled Jing Lan saying in her previous life that the owner of Yuxiu Pavilion had been sad for a while after her departure, she wanted to go even more.

But when Yicui brought over a fox fur coat embroidered with golden thread, auspicious clouds, and phoenixes, Qiao Wan immediately remembered that on this very day in her previous life, she had brought Mu Chi to Yuxiu Pavilion to buy clothes. A man named Li Zhen had spoken disrespectfully to Mu Chi, and she had taught him a lesson, only to be stopped by Jing Lan.

She and Jing Lan had fought fiercely, and it was Mu Chi who protected her. She had heard the sound of her own heartbeat clearly for the first time.

Yet, on that same day, Mu Chi had handed her sachet to Jing Lan, attempting to push her away.

But in this life, she didn't have Mu Chi by her side, so everything must be different.

Thinking this, Qiao Wan relaxed slightly and went to Yuxiu Pavilion with Yicui.

Everything indeed went exceptionally smoothly. Qiao Wan picked out a few pieces of jewelry she liked at Yuxiu Pavilion and then walked toward the carriage with Yicui.

Completely different from her previous life.

Perhaps everything had already changed the moment she made her decision at the Songzhu Pavilion.

As Qiao Wan was lost in thought, a commotion of cries and shouts suddenly erupted nearby. Qiao Wan looked over and then froze.

Li Zhen, who had spoken foully to Mu Chi in her previous life, was now grabbing a woman's arm and attempting to abduct her in broad daylight.

The woman was quite beautiful but dressed simply, suggesting she came from a poor family. As Li Zhen forced himself on her, no one dared to step forward and intervene.

Qiao Wan faintly felt as though fate was pushing her forward. But seeing the despair in the woman's eyes, she ultimately couldn't hold back. She drew her golden whip from her waist and lashed it fiercely toward Li Zhen.

Just as in her previous life, Li Zhen knelt on the ground, continuously wailing and begging for mercy.

Qiao Wan let the woman leave first. Only after watching the woman quickly flee did she manage a slight sigh of relief. But when she looked down, she saw Li Zhen glaring coldly in the direction the woman had left, likely holding a grudge against her.

Furious, Qiao Wan pushed all thoughts of her past and present lives to the back of her mind and raised her golden whip to strike him again.

Then, a red figure flashed by, and the golden whip was caught.

Along with it came an all-too-familiar voice: "Qiao Wan, with your vicious and ill-mannered nature, I, Jing Lan, would rather die than ever marry you."

Qiao Wan stared wide-eyed at Jing Lan in his vermilion robes, feeling as though fate was pushing her back onto the predetermined path.

She couldn't help but glance around, searching to see if Mu Chi was also here.

Jing Lan, thoroughly ignored by Qiao Wan once again, grew annoyed and tried to forcefully pull the golden whip from her grasp.

Qiao Wan instinctively tightened her grip, causing her to lurch forward a few steps. She dodged by bending forward, evading Jing Lan's move.

Jing Lan frowned in surprise, staring at Qiao Wan's familiar moves.

Her movements were soft, but each move closely resembled the style of the Jing family's martial arts.

But the Jing family's martial arts were taught to him by the old man, and he had never taught them to anyone else. The old man stayed at the border all year round and couldn't possibly have had any contact with Qiao Wan.

Thinking this, Jing Lan unconsciously stepped forward and executed a few more combinations, wanting to see clearly.

In her previous life, after Qiao Wan was engaged to Jing Lan, he had taught her a few whip techniques while "mocking" her. Later, when they reunited in Yandu, he would wield his whip, and she would instinctively respond in kind.

Now, faced with Jing Lan's moves, she habitually responded.

But just as Jing Lan swung his whip toward her and she instinctively dodged, a searing pain erupted in her chest, and her limbs went weak. She could only stand helplessly as the golden whip lashed toward her face.

At that moment, Qiao Wan felt a white figure flash before her eyes. A familiar, crisp, cold fragrance enveloped her as she was pulled into an icy embrace.

An alabaster hand held the back of her head firmly, and the golden whip landed heavily on the back of the person in front of her.

Qiao Wan stood there in a daze for a moment before pushing the person away.

Earlier, she had looked around but hadn't noticed this figure in immaculate white robes. Yet... Mu Chi was truly standing before her, having taken a whip strike for her.

The next moment, Qiao Wan suddenly thought of something and quickly looked down at her waist.

The sachet was still there.

Qiao Wan couldn't help but frown deeply. She looked up at the person before her and asked hesitantly, "Mu Chi?"

Was it him? Had he returned too?

Mu Chi’s eyes flickered, his expression equally astonished as he stood there, pale with shock, gazing at the woman before him who glowed with warmth like a flame.

Last night, he had a dream—a dream in which he deliberately used his own body as a shield to protect a woman inside a jewelry shop.

Even in the dream, he could clearly hear the sound of her heartbeat.

He was using her, yet here she was, developing feelings for him.

After waking, he vaguely felt that if he didn’t go, he would surely regret it.

Guided by the dream, he arrived at this place. Everything seemed like a subconscious reaction, and it wasn’t until he shielded the woman in front of him that he belatedly came to his senses.

Mu Chi frowned, puzzled by his own actions, but when he met Qiao Wan’s gaze, his brows tightened further. He lowered his eyes and said, "Your servant greets Princess Changle."

Hearing his distant form of address, Qiao Wan’s expression faltered, and she gradually calmed down.

It wasn’t him.

But when she saw the whip lashes that left his back torn and bleeding, and his complete indifference to his own injury, she couldn’t help but sigh softly.

Aside from the palace, only her residence had the White Jade Ointment.

"Since Young Master Mu Chi was injured on my behalf, let’s go to my residence to apply medicine," Qiao Wan instructed. Without waiting for Mu Chi’s response, she turned and walked away first. A moment later, as if remembering something, she turned back and walked up to the frowning Jing Lan, intending to retrieve her golden whip.

Jing Lan instinctively tightened his grip, but remembering how he had nearly hurt her earlier, he felt somewhat guilty.

Qiao Wan looked up, raised an eyebrow, and smiled. "Does Major General Jing wish to keep my belonging as a keepsake?"

Upon hearing this, Mu Chi, standing nearby, knit his brows slightly.

"Impossible!" Jing Lan retorted almost immediately. After a pause, he shoved the whip back to her but couldn’t help stealing a few more glances.

Having retrieved her whip, Qiao Wan thought to herself that this time, she likely wouldn’t have any further entanglements with Jing Lan. She breathed a soft sigh of relief, turned to leave, and whispered to Yicui, "Find the woman Li Zhen harassed earlier, give her some silver, and advise her to leave Lingjing if possible."

She could protect her once, but she would have to leave eventually anyway.

Yicui hurriedly agreed.

Back at the princess’s manor, Qiao Wan looked at Mu Chi, who was sitting quietly in the outer chamber of her bedroom, holding the White Jade Ointment. She was surprised that he had actually followed her back.

But now, he had no reason to use her, nor had he secretly given the sachet to Jing Lan—there was no justification for him to protect her...

The more Qiao Wan thought, the more confused she became. In the end, she simply stopped overthinking it, took the ointment, and walked over, instructing him to remove his clothes.

Mu Chi was frowning deeply. He didn’t know why he hadn’t refused when Qiao Wan suggested bringing him here to tend to his wounds. It felt... as though it was meant to be.

But he should have been repulsed.

It wasn’t until a tingling sensation spread across his back that Mu Chi suddenly snapped back to attention.

Qiao Wan’s warm fingers, coated with the White Jade Ointment, were carefully applying it to the wounds on his back.

Mu Chi thought of the ugly scars on his body that no one else had ever lived to see, and his face paled slightly.

He should have felt disgust, but what rose in his heart was... an uncontrollable sense of inferiority. Yet, when he noticed that the person behind him wasn’t frightened by the scars and was treating them as though they were ordinary wounds, a twisted sense of pleasure welled up inside him.

Qiao Wan had seen these scars countless times before—crisscrossing marks covering his snow-white skin, both terrifying and heartbreaking.

Even though this wasn’t the Mu Chi from her past life, she still felt a pang of sorrow.

Then, Qiao Wan’s finger accidentally brushed against the small of Mu Chi’s back, and his body shuddered abruptly.

Qiao Wan’s fingers paused.

Mu Chi’s lower back had always been exceptionally sensitive, just as it was in their previous life.

Sometimes, when they were intimate, she would hold him gently and deliberately stroke the small of his back.

Whenever she did, he would tremble, panting near her ear, whispering her title—"Princess"—in a suggestive tone, before intensifying their intimacy until she could barely endure it and begged for mercy.

It seemed this trait hadn’t changed in this life either.

Qiao Wan glanced at Mu Chi’s tense body and, thinking of his coldness toward her now, playfully pressed against the small of his back with deliberate pressure.

Mu Chi immediately straightened up, letting out a soft, shuddering gasp.

Seeing his familiar reaction, Qiao Wan was momentarily stunned, suddenly feeling like a lecherous villain.

She had promised herself that this time, she would let him choose.

If he didn’t want to stay with her, she would let him go.

Pursing her lips, Qiao Wan withdrew her hand and placed the ointment on the table. "You can apply the rest yourself."

Feeling the sudden absence of her warm fingers on his back, Mu Chi slowly opened his eyes. His cold body, now deprived of that slight warmth, felt even colder.

Puzzled, he frowned, turning to look at Qiao Wan, then at the medicine bottle on the table.

Hazily, he felt... this wasn’t right.

At the very least, it shouldn’t be like this.

She should have finished applying the medicine for him, then blushed and told him not to refer to himself as a servant anymore.

But those memories were hazy and indistinct.

Meeting Mu Chi’s misty gaze—his damp eyes set in a face of jade-like fairness, so reminiscent of the way Mu Chi had looked at her in their past life—Qiao Wan felt her heart soften.

Irritated, she turned away. After a long silence, she finally snorted coldly and said deliberately, "Your body is too weak. I really don’t know how my imperial elder sister raised you."

Mu Chi’s brows furrowed tightly.

Qiao Wan added, "Snow Bodhi could help strengthen your body, but such a precious herb is kept at the Prajna Temple. How could it be easily given to you?"

Mu Chi’s long lashes stilled, and he looked up at Qiao Wan’s profile.

For a moment, he couldn’t tell if she was truly foolish or just pretending—to so easily reveal the whereabouts of the Snow Bodhi.

"What are you looking at?" Qiao Wan shot him a glance and was about to say more when the door was knocked twice.

Qiao Wan opened the door and immediately saw the attendant following behind Yicui, with Princess Zhaoyang’s waist token hanging from his belt—likely sent by Qiao Qingni for Mu Chi.

Instantly regretting her earlier moment of softness, Qiao Wan turned away irritably. "Young Master Mu Chi, it’s time for you to leave."

Mu Chi had already put on his outer robe. Upon hearing her words, his figure stiffened momentarily.

Going to Qiao Qingni’s side, obtaining the Snow Bodhi, and incidentally delivering a "grand gift" to Li Muxuan had originally been his plan.

But being pushed away by Qiao Wan again and again, far from feeling pleased, he only grew more agitated.

That day at the Pine Bamboo Hall, he saw it clearly—her eyes were filled with awe and fascination.

Yet moments later, she pushed him toward Qiao Qingni.

Today, she brought him back and personally applied medicine for him. He had thought she would ask him to stay, and he was even considering how to refuse. Never did he expect that she would send him away again.

"Are you still here?" Qiao Wan turned her head impatiently and glanced at him.

Mu Chi’s hands, hidden under his wide sleeves, clenched reflexively. Only after a long while did he slowly exit the bedchamber.

She was just a little princess he had never paid much mind to, nothing special.

Mu Chi told himself this in his heart.

But as he walked out of the princess’s residence, a stone seemed to settle in his chest. As the princess’s estate grew farther away, his heart gradually grew still and hollow.

In the following days, Qiao Wan occasionally wandered about, revisiting her memories of Lingjing, but most of the time, she remained in her residence.

Then, one evening, Qiao Wan heard that an intruder had broken into the Prajna Temple. Fortunately, the temple guards noticed in time and protected the temple’s treasures, and a city-wide search for the intruder was underway.

Qiao Wan didn’t need to think twice to guess that the intruder was undoubtedly Mu Chi. She just didn’t understand why he had become so reckless as to barge in.

But considering his resourceful nature, she figured he probably didn’t need anyone to worry about him.

Qiao Wan didn’t give it another thought. After finishing her dinner, she went to bed early.

In the dead of night, half-asleep and half-awake, Qiao Wan heard the faint sound of roof tiles breaking above her bedchamber, followed by the soft creak of the latticed window being gently pushed open.

Qiao Wan opened her eyes and saw a figure swaying unsteadily beside her bed, his right hand pressed against his left arm.

He was watching her.

Squinting at the familiar silhouette, Qiao Wan, in her dazed state, thought she was still in her past life and mumbled drowsily, "Why are you only coming back now?"

As she spoke, she shifted slightly, habitually scooting over to make space beside her.

Hearing her words, the figure by the bed froze and remained silent.

After waiting for a long time without any movement behind her, Qiao Wan opened her eyes in confusion. The strong smell of blood suddenly jolted her awake.

She sat up and looked in surprise at the tall, slender figure by her bed. His white robes seemed to shimmer with a hazy, ethereal glow under the moonlight.

But his face was expressionless.

After a moment of silence, Qiao Wan asked, "Why are you here?"

Author's Note:

The dog: In the dead of night, who was she waiting for? Which beast was she waiting for?!

Wan Wan: 🙂

Today’s a day where the injured doggy obediently seeks out his princess (or rather, his master)~