Chapter 66 Heart’s Blood: “Don’t go. Stay with me awhile.”

Chapter 66: Heart's Blood: "Don't leave, just stay with me for a while."

Tian Qin ground her teeth, and had no choice but to emerge from behind the pillar, still carrying the small gift box.

Xian Qiu only then turned to notice her, a flicker of displeasure crossed her face at the interruption of their rare private moment.

Xie Tanwei stepped away from Xian Qiu, walking over to Tian Qin's side. His eyes lingered on the small box in her hand. "What is it?"

"Nothing." Tian Qin tucked it behind her back, her face turning a mortified shade of pale green under the moonlight.

Xie Tanwei stared at her calmly for a moment, then reached out and snatched the gift from her hand.

The half-moon jade bi of deep Buddhist blue weighed in his palm, catching the faint moonlight in the sky, making even the cheap item appear luxurious. He turned the jade over and saw her crookedly inscribed name on the back, a faint, elusive smile surfacing on his face.

"For me?"

Tian Qin pursed her lips in silence.

Xie Tanwei stroked her cheek with the back of his finger. "Really beautiful. Thank you, little sister. I'll wear it tonight."

As for the string of agarwood Buddha beads sent on behalf of Xian Qiu by the master from Mount Wutai, he set it aside.

Xian Qiu felt ill at ease, her sense of loss beyond words. It took great effort for her to struggle to force a smile. "So my husband has a fondness for jade."

Xie Tanwei pocketed the half-moon jade bi. "Not exactly."

His words were ambiguous, as if Tian Qin's gift was the rarer treasure.

Xian Qiu's expression soured further, though thankfully the darkness concealed it.

Tian Qin sat down to eat, but the food tasted like ash. After picking at it for a while, she set down her chopsticks. The Lord and Lady didn't join her—they had already eaten and were heading to the storehouse to sort through the valuable gifts.

Leaving Tian Qin alone by the lake under the moonlight, with the spring dew cold and the wind blowing through on all sides, her appetite waning.

As she was preparing to leave, that ever-present Zhao Ning appeared outside the Four Waters Return to the Hall, saying, "The Lord ordered that after finishing her meal, Miss Tian should wait at the 'All Beings Share Spring' garden."

Tian Qin was startled and instinctively refused.

The 'All Beings Share Spring' garden was Xie Tanwei's private residence, a place where even Xian Qiu had never stayed overnight.

Going to her brother-in-law's garden in the dead of night—the consequences were obvious.

"I'm not going. Lord Zhao, you must have misheard, right?"

Zhao Ning stood in front of her, sword held crosswise in front of him, and said, "Miss Tian, please don't put me in a difficult position."

Tian Qin was given orders, not options.

She clenched her fists in desperation.

Under the encroaching night, the 'All Beings Share Spring' garden was barely visible, only the mythical beasts on the upturned eaves were barely visible. The roofline rose in the dark night as if sighing, the interior cold and dim. The bright moon shone halfway up the wall, flower shadows cast upon the walls. A simple, elegant beauty of antiquity lingered, making one wander in a daze.

Tian Qin followed the winding stone path into the room. It was spotless and serene, items neatly arranged like a snow-white grotto. A bamboo couch lay askew with books casually tossed about; everything was leisurely, like his carefree, unconstrained personality. A ruler-straight wisp of incense smoke rose from the Boshan burner—the agarwood incense he was accustomed to.

Zhao Ning led her there and then closed the door as he left.

Tian Qin sat alone in this unfamiliar room, not even a maidservant in sight. Her eyes fixed on the silver anemones in the celadon vase until they grew sore, then she shifted her gaze to the silk scroll painting hanging on the wall.

So tense.

This place was entirely his domain, his aura permeating everything. Night was deep; she shouldn't be here.

A single lamp glowed no bigger than a bean, and the dim air was suffused with a greenish moonlight. The room's stark simplicity added to its desolate feeling. In the dead silence, footsteps sounded from outside the door.

Tian Qin stood up nervously. Xie Tanwei, clothed in snow-white garments, with a clear and elegant bearing, was supported in by two fawning young servants. His steps were unsteady, reeking of alcohol.

Xie Tanwei's drunken, wandering eyes caught sight of her. Immediately he pushed the servants aside and strode over to her in two or three steps. He lifted her chin, a smile that rippled like water. "How are you here? Why aren't you asleep at this hour?"

He seemed to have forgotten about summoning her.

Tian Qin was about to explain that he had called her there.

Before she could form the words, her body was suddenly lifted into the air. She let out a startled cry. Xie Tanwei scooped her up in his arms, his eyes, like a drunken galaxy swaying in spring water, pressing her tightly against his chest. The agarwood incense nearly enveloped her; she felt as if she were drowning, overwhelmed by the heat of his drunkenness, struggling incessantly. "Brother-in-law, you've mistaken me for someone else!"

This was the 'All Beings Share Spring' garden, the place where the Lord and Lady were married. The large bed was where her sister had lain on their wedding night—though because of Xian Qiu's stone disease, they had never truly consummated their marriage.

Xie Tanwei ignored all that. Sober, his mind was calm and sharp; drunk, he became frivolous and indulgent, doing as he pleased. He pressed her down onto the sunken bed, his breath landing in layers over her vulnerable neck as he held her. An object at his waist dug into her—it was the half-moon jade bi she had given him.

"Don't move..."

"Today, I was very happy."

His voice, low and drawn out, as if steeped in fine wine, was cold and light, languid and reliant, fully exposed—a tenderness Tian Qin had never heard in his voice. "I just want to hold you."

Tian Qin thought he must have mistaken her for Xian Qiu. Pain and embarrassment contorted her lovely face. Her defiant eyes flashed as she lifted her slender, proud neck, forcing out through gritted teeth, "Brother-in-law, sober up! I am Tian Qin!"

She struggled to get up, intending to call for a maidservant to fetch some hangover soup, but Xie Tanwei held her even tighter, firmly trapping her under the bed curtains. Her clothes were half undone, revealing her delicate, radiant skin.

Xie Tanwei's full weight pressed down on her, his mouth murmuring indistinctly, unintelligible yet full of affection.

He fumbled at his waist for a moment, found the half-moon jade bi, clutched it in his hand like a treasure, and kissed it. Then he lifted a strand of her hair, peaceful yet dazed. "The hairpin my little sister wore today was truly beautiful. I've never seen it before."

Tian Qin instinctively glanced at the hairpin hanging by her ear. It was very plain, the head set with a few clusters of tiny blue flowers. Nanny Chen had put it in her hair that morning.

"Brother-in-law... please," she said, her face losing color, a plea in her voice. "You really have mistaken me for someone else."

Xie Tanwei looked at her thoughtfully. "Who have I mistaken you for?"

Tian Qin didn't answer. She seized the moment to quickly get up and escape, but Xie Tanwei was faster, grabbing her wrist—pale and all but bloodless—his drunkenness not diminishing his agility in the slightest. With a suppressed, cold gasp, he said, "Don't leave, just stay with me for a while."

The corner of his eye still held the redness of the Tusu wine. His chin rested in the hollow of her neck, his will not quite clear, adding a touch of abandon, even a pleading surrender. He was a heavy drinker; lately, he always drank so much.

Tian Qin lay helplessly where she was, her limbs weak and limp, like melting snow.

Xie Tanwei contentedly curled her in his arms, his long lashes casting black light like wet feathers. He had intended to do more, but halfway through, his breathing gradually grew heavy, and he fell into sleep.

The next morning, birds sang under the eaves. The agate-like morning sun slanted into the bed curtains. Tian Qin shrank into the warm bedding, her hair half-spilling over her shoulders. When she opened her eyes, the sun was already high. Beside her, Xie Tanwei still slept quietly.

She sat up belatedly, clutching her tangled clothes. The chaos of the previous night was still vivid in her mind.

Seeing Xie Tanwei lying there, composed, with his robe loose and his belt undone, exuding an air of unrestrained elegance, his sharply defined brows and eyes casting deep shadows, fresh and clean as the morning breeze—the alcoholic fumes had completely dissipated.

Tian Qin pushed him twice to no response, then got up on her own, stepping over the scattered clothes. Just as she was about to make her escape, her foot suddenly touched a hard object—it was his silver fish tally, the emblem of a first-rank official, and the heavy seal of the Xie family.

He must have been truly drunk to carelessly toss aside such important things.

Yet the cheap half-moon jade bi she had given him was still clutched in his hand.

Tian Qin's heart pounded wildly.

She had used the Xie Clan Lord's seal once before, when Zhao Ning had taught her how to use it as she wrote a letter.

The seal held great power, allowing her to mobilize Xie family members, make decisions on clan affairs, influence the court... and even summon imperial physicians from the palace to treat illnesses.

On an inexplicable whim, she grasped the Xie Clan Lord's seal, tiptoed to the desk, pulled out a blank sheet of letter paper, and stamped a bright red seal on it. Then she hid the paper close to her body and returned the Xie Clan Lord's seal along with the silver fish tally to their original places.

In those brief moments of daring substitution, she had gone through a life-and-death ordeal.

Tian Qin's breath came in hot, scalding waves. Her heart still racing with lingering fear, she saw Xie Tanwei still lying quietly on the couch.

The warm spring sun shone gently on his face, like pale golden water flowing, with fine dust floating in the air—everything so ordinary.

Her heart pounded wildly like a drum. She went over to adjust his thin blanket, picked up her own clothes, and pretended to be calm as she left the bedroom, running out of the Wu Wo Tong Chun Garden.

When she reached the Painting Garden, Nanny Chen was startled by her extremely pale face. "Miss, what's wrong?"

Nanny Chen thought she hadn't drunk the contraceptive soup, but in truth, nothing had happened the night before, so there was no need for such a remedy.

Tian Qin didn't explain much; she closed the door and shut herself in, then pulled out the crumpled letter paper. At the bottom, the four bright red characters in Great Seal script representing the Xie Clan Lord were strikingly visible, exuding a dangerous yet authoritative charm.

This blank letter paper could be filled with anything.

Tian Qin took a deep breath, washed the brush, and dipped it in ink—her lungs felt like they might burst. Imitating his usual concise, commanding tone, she wrote down the plan she had long conceived, stroke by stroke.

After letting it dry, she didn't dare make a sound, and tucked the letter paper into the spine gap of the heaviest ancient book on the bookshelf.

The next few days were uneventful.

Qiutang Residence still called her for meals three times a day; Xie Tanwei still went to court and returned every day; the sun still rose and set.

Until one day, when both Xie Tanwei and Zhao Ning were away from the mansion, the two imperial physicians came again to the Xie mansion to diagnose Xian Qiu. Xian Qiu was groggy and soaking in a large wooden vat, surrounded by medicinal fragrance, undergoing an ancient herbal bath.

Men and women were separated; maidservants attended to Xian Qiu, while the two stone-faced physicians waited solemnly outside.

Tian Qin waited patiently until the physicians had a moment, then handed over the letter paper from her palm.

One of them opened it, and they read it together, their stone-faced expressions cracking with immense surprise. "Is this the lord's command?"

Tian Qin nodded firmly, with absolute certainty.

"My brother-in-law ordered you to do this."

The two physicians exchanged glances, hesitated for a moment, and said, "As you wish."

They led Tian Qin to a side room, prepared clear water, long needles, sour-smelling black medicine, gauze, writhing live insects, and many other strange objects Tian Qin couldn't recognize.

Tian Qin's breath caught, and she waited quietly, as if walking on a spider's silk at the edge of a cliff, where one misstep could spell doom.

They knelt down and asked her to extend her arm for the long needle. Just as they drew a small amount of blood into a clear water bowl, they suddenly stopped. "Something's wrong. To break the Love Gu, why isn't there any of the master's heart's blood?"

The other physician's gaze turned cold and fierce, interrogating Tian Qin. "Did the master truly order us to break the miss's Love Gu?"

Tian Qin dug her nails into her palms. "Heart's blood...?"

"To break the Love Gu, we need the master's heart's blood; otherwise, there's nothing we can do."

Their gazes toward Tian Qin turned into complete suspicion. They stopped everything they were doing, and demanded fiercely:

"The letter is fake—the master never issued such a command!"