Chapter 26 Chapter 26

Chapter 26

1

Lin Chenxin looked at her bandaged hand and said softly, "That's good."

Chen Gujun pulled his hand back.

Neither of them spoke, sitting in silence in the dimly lit room.

A little while later, Lin Chenxin glanced at Chen Gujun and moved her chair closer to him.

Her eyes brightened slightly as she looked at his hair, which had regained its luster.

The effect really was immediate.

Seeing her relaxed expression, Chen Gujun's narrowed eyes grew exceptionally deep, but he soon let out a soft sigh.

Lin Chenxin looked ahead with a relaxed expression.

Come to think of it, this room had been Chen Gujun's place before she moved in, yet she found no trace of him here.

"Why is there nothing of yours here?" she asked.

Chen Gujun glanced at her and said calmly, "Before I was six, I lived in the ancestral hall."

Lin Chenxin's expression faltered.

"Why?" she couldn't help but ask.

Chen Gujun looked ahead and said quietly, "It was part of the process."

Lin Chenxin's heart skipped a beat.

What did he mean by a necessary process?

Seeing the vivid, eerie red sigils on Chen Gujun's body, she opened her mouth but then closed it again.

Chen Gujun hadn't been born looking like this.

Yet even after more than twenty years, there were still no traces of Chen Gujun to be found here.

It was as if he'd skipped the process of growing up.

He didn't need to eat or drink, and there was no proof of his existence as a human being.

There were no vibrant colors in his life either.

Chen Gujun turned his head, saw her distant expression, and looked away again.

After a moment, Lin Chenxin felt Chen Gujun move closer, his arm brushing against her shoulder.

She looked up at his face.

Chen Gujun wasn't looking at her, and his face, shrouded in shadow, made it hard to discern his emotions.

But in that instant, she sensed the tenderness beneath his silence.

After a brief hesitation, her gaze softened, and she gently leaned her head against him.

Chen Gujun glanced down at her, then looked ahead again.

In the silence, Lin Chenxin took Chen Gujun's hand resting on his lap.

Chen Gujun's fingers trembled slightly but soon steadied as he enveloped her fingertips with his broad, soft palm.

A faint smile touched Lin Chenxin's lips as she closed her eyes.

Outside the door, the wind chimes tinkled a few times, and the red lantern hanging on the door swayed, casting the shadows of its tassels.

Sensing Lin Chenxin's breathing slow, Chen Gujun's eyelashes fluttered slightly.

The next moment, a thin blanket was draped over Lin Chenxin, and her body gradually slid down, settling onto his lap.

He lowered his gaze, looking at Lin Chenxin's peaceful face.

Her face rested on his lap, completely unguarded, filled with trust and relaxation.

He involuntarily reached out, his dark fingertips about to touch her cheek, but they hovered in mid-air for a long time, unable to make contact.

In the end, he simply pulled the blanket up to cover her shoulder.

—

It had gotten even hotter, and the constant chirping of cicadas brought a clamorous, sweltering heat.

Servants in the courtyard were using nets to catch cicadas, lest they disturb the masters' peace.

In the flower-filled Changsheng Courtyard, colorful butterflies fluttered about, maintaining a vibrant spring-like vitality even in the sweltering summer.

The middle-aged woman saw off the young lady who had visited today and, turning around, saw the young master in the pavilion bent over, retching uncontrollably.

Her expression faltered, and she couldn't help but clench her fingers.

The young master didn't vomit anything, his face pale and colorless.

In just a few short days, he had lost a significant amount of weight.

At an age when he should be growing taller, he now looked like he was covered only by a thin layer of skin and flesh, appearing as frail and sickly as someone terminally ill.

When he bent over, his shoulder blades looked frighteningly thin.

Taking the handkerchief handed to him by the middle-aged woman, the young master said hoarsely, "Are there any more today?"

The middle-aged woman had intended to say there was one more, but seeing the young master in this state, she swallowed and said, "No more."

The young master breathed a sigh of relief, leaning against the railing and closing his eyes.

These past few days, he had been meeting no fewer than five young ladies each day.

Mr. Chen seemed unwilling to give him much more time, almost forcing him to choose one and get engaged immediately.

This invisible pressure weighed heavily on the young master.

He was even starting to have trouble distinguishing the faces of those young ladies, feeling they all looked the same, their smiles as false and blurry as those of paper dolls.

He opened his eyes and looked at the shimmering pond, suddenly feeling a suffocating sensation in his chest, as if he were drowning.

He clenched the handkerchief tighter, finding it harder and harder to breathe.

"Mother Chen, I don't understand," he said, his voice tight with pain.

Seeing him in such a state, the middle-aged woman's heart clenched.

She clenched her fingers tightly, her eyes filled with unmistakable heartache.

She had entered the Chen residence alongside Ms. Liang, witnessed Ms. Liang giving birth, and had helped raise the young master herself.

Now, watching the young master suffer, she felt his pain as if it were her own, her heart aching so fiercely it hurt to breathe.

But the Chen household had strict rules. Servants like her lived to follow orders.

What shouldn't be seen must not be seen, what shouldn't be heard must not be heard, and what shouldn't be said must absolutely not be spoken.

She had no right to question her master's decisions.

"Young master..." she managed to say.

"Mother Chen, I want to go back to school," the young master said, his voice thick with unshed tears.

The middle-aged woman's heart twisted into a knot.

From the moment she entered the Chen residence, she knew she'd never get out.

The entire Chen estate was a bottomless abyss.

She had no children of her own; the young master was as close as a son to her...

Seeing him like this now, her heart ached as if being sliced and drained of blood.

Looking at his thin back and recalling what Ms. Liang had said to the Second Miss that day, she gritted her teeth, her eyes blazing with a terrifying intensity.

——

At night, in the dead of night, the young master stood frozen, holding his luggage.

"Young master, I've gotten rid of the guards at the gate. You should go."

Hearing these words, the young master's heart jumped into his throat. For a second, he almost dropped the luggage to the ground.

"No... I can't..." His face was deathly pale.

If they were discovered, he couldn't bear to imagine the consequences.

And he had never even entertained the thought of fleeing the Chen family!

The middle-aged woman stared at him intently.

"It's alright. Once you're outside these walls, you can go wherever you wish. The Master and Madam love you so much; they won't blame you. Once this period passes, you can return."

The young master couldn't speak, feeling only that the luggage in his hands weighed a ton.

In that moment, what he felt wasn't nervousness or anticipation, but sheer terror.

"No... I can't, I can't go..."

Before he could finish, the middle-aged woman grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the exit.

The young master was frantic, shaking his head and struggling incessantly.

But before they could even step out, they saw Ms. Liang standing at the courtyard gate, her face calm.

There was no telling how long she had been standing there.

The young master froze; his body went limp almost instantly.

The middle-aged woman was also stunned, the impulsive heat in her blood instantly doused by cold water.

Ms. Liang stared at them, her face blank, then walked past them into the courtyard.

She was by herself.

"Come in," she said, her voice flat.

The middle-aged woman trembled, her face pale as she followed.

The young master was already beside himself with fear, his ashen face covered in cold sweat.

Ms. Liang sat in the main seat of the hall, regarding them with detached coolness.

She showed no anger, nor any particular emotion.

Yet the young master felt chilled to the bone. With a *thud*, he knelt in the center of the hall.

Seeing this, the middle-aged woman immediately prostrated herself on the floor, her voice hoarse as she said, "It was me... I lost my mind, I put the young master up to this..."

"Enough," Ms. Liang cut in coldly.

"Xiaozhi, take tomorrow off. I have spoken with your father. We will select a new group of matches more suitable for you."

Hearing the first part, the young master's eyes lit up briefly, but soon his face fell. He lowered his head and whispered with pale lips, "Yes."

Ms. Liang turned her gaze to the prostrate middle-aged woman and said without emotion, "Starting tomorrow, you're not to come to Longevity Court anymore."

The middle-aged woman's head jerked up.

Ms. Liang looked down at her, her eyes icy and devoid of any warmth.

The middle-aged woman clenched her jaw tightly, her hands pressing against the floor with force.

She glanced at the young master beside her, who seemed on the verge of collapse, and spoke with a strained voice.

"Yes."

She lowered her body, closed her eyes, and buried her face deeply in the cold floor.

As she walked out of Longevity Court's gate, Ms. Liang turned back to look at the vibrant, blooming flowers within the courtyard. What should have been a scene full of vitality instead seemed, under the night sky, to possess a decadent, rotting quality.

——

Lin Chenxin's wound was slow to heal; only after several days did it begin to show signs of closing.

She wasn't anxious about it. Instead, she used it as an excuse to demand, with righteous indignation, that Chen Gujun attend to her.

Sprawled on the recliner, she narrowed her eyes contentedly, propped her feet up, and said, "I can barely feel a breeze."

Chen Gujun glanced at her from the side and began to fan her.

She smiled slightly, then suddenly sighed, and said wistfully, "It would be lovely if someone could read to me right now."

Chen Gujun wasn't fond of talking, and he was doing this on purpose.

Sure enough, the fan in his hand stopped swaying and gently tapped her forehead.

She let out an "ouch," opened her eyes, and said unhappily, "I got hurt and bled for you. Is it too much to ask for you to read to me?"

As she spoke, she stretched out her hand for Chen Gujun to see.

Originally, Chen Gujun still had some misgivings. But Lin Chenxin seemed not to care at all, and instead brazenly used it to her advantage, leaving Chen Gujun unsure how to feel.

Seeing Chen Gujun remain silent, Lin Chenxin pushed her luck even further, sitting up and chattering nonstop.

"My wound hurts now, and I need someone reading to me or it won't heal. If you don't read, I’ll keep hurting until I can’t even sleep at night..."

Just as she said this, Chen Gujun grabbed her hand.

Chen Gujun shot her a sidelong glance, then looked down and gently kissed the bandage on her hand.

Whether it really hurt was for Lin Chenxin to decide.

Chen Gujun didn’t know how else to comfort her, so he could only rely on this heartfelt gesture.

Lin Chenxin’s chattering voice came to an abrupt halt.