Cang Lan Dao - Chapter 3.1

Chapter 3.1
Use Your Head To Celebrate My Wedding

His voice was too gentle. Looking at the person across from her, Luo Wanqing had a moment of trance. The time she had spent apart from him was not long. Since imprisoned, she had carved a cross on the wall every day, and this morning, she had just counted, and it had been sixty-one.

Sixty-one days was only two months, but now that she was seeing him and observing his face, she realized it felt like she hadn’t seen him for most of her life. His face in her memory had blurred. Until she saw it at this moment, her memory suddenly awakened. Only then did she remember that this was Jiang Shaoyan.

“Sit down.” Jiang Shaoyan withdrew his gaze and looked at the tea before him.

When Luo Wanqing heard the reminder, she withdrew her thoughts. While holding the dagger, she sat opposite Jiang Shaoyan with a feigned composure. Her mind was a mess. The countless pieces of information from her last life and the emotions of this life intertwined, causing her entire being to fall into extreme confusion. She lowered her head and didn’t say anything.

Jiang Shaoyan lowered his eyes to look at the stretching tea leaves and said softly, “Uncle Zhang said to me that today Miss is very different from the past, and now that I see it, it’s true, Miss has suffered here.”

Jiang Shaoyan raised his inquiring eyes calmly: “I wonder what Miss wants to say to me?”

He wasn’t like this before. Hearing this, Luo Wanqing raised her eyes to look at him. He was also quietly looked at her. His amber-colored eyes seemed to be caged with something, making it impossible to see. But she was sure he was calm and did not want to press her. He probably didn’t care about the answer to this question.

Do they love each other? In the past, when he saw her, not to mention being in such a sorry state, not to mention being as thin as she is now, even if it was just a bump, he would be anxious and worried. How could he be so calm and say, “You’ve suffered” without any pain?

She carefully observed all the changes in him. Jiang Shaoyan waited a while before finally reminding her, “Miss?”

“Why aren’t you in a hurry?” Luo Wanqing blurted out, and Jiang Shaoyan’s movements lurched.

Luo Wanqing stared at him, speaking extremely fast, constantly questioning, “Why are you not seeing me even though you’re here? You said I’m suffering, why aren’t you sad? Not worried? Not thinking of doing something for me?”

“Is Miss here to raise an accusation?”

Jiang Shaoyan seemed to understand. He raised his eyes to look at her, his gaze without sorrow or joy, and explained flatly, “Shaoyan is incompetent. I don’t dare to meet Miss. The Luo family’s case ……”

“Don’t lie to me!” Luo Wanqing snapped out. Her body trembled. Those ten years – a ruined family, homeless, and bitterly waiting for news of his death, filled her mind. She stared at the person before her, her teeth chattering, “It’s not that you can’t save my Luo family. You don’t want to, right, Third Highness? “

Hearing ‘Third Highness,’ Jiang Shaoyan’s movements were stuttered as if restraining some emotion. He raised his eyes and stared at Luo Wanqing, his tone slightly cold: “Who told you?”

He didn’t deny it.

The last bit of luck broke, and Luo Wanqing was scared to speak. She suddenly realized whether Jiang Shaoyan lied or whether he was good or bad was unimportant. The most important thing now was to save her family. If that dream was true, then she absolutely couldn’t let her family be exiled to Lingnan and die on the way! And now, the person who could most likely change this matter was Jiang Shaoyan.

He framed the Luo family because of the marriage edict. He wanted to climb the Zheng family. He worried that she was deeply in love with him and wanted to use the imperial decree to cause trouble. Or, he did not want to be labeled as ungrateful and damage his reputation. Then, as long as she resolved this matter, perhaps there was a chance to reverse the Luo family’s case. He could imprison the Luo family so he could get the Luo family out. A merchant only, life and death were just a matter of his thoughts.

Hence, she couldn’t turn her face from him. At this moment, no matter how much she hates him, no matter how much she resents, no matter how much she wants to kill him, she can’t turn her face from him.

Realizing this, she still steadied her mind even though the urge to draw her dagger filled her mind. She restrained her emotions, forcing herself to raise her hand and take the teacup. While lightly sipping, she took this opportunity to sort her mind, remembering all the news from the dream.

After she cleared her thoughts and organized her wording, she put down the teacup, pretending to be calm, “It doesn’t matter who told me. After all, I already know about you and Zheng Biyue. I also know the Emperor wants to bestow a marriage between you and me. That’s why you’re so busy harming the Luo family. It doesn’t have to be that way,” she raised her eyes, “There is a better solution to this matter.”

“A better solution?” Jiang Shaoyan repeated, seeming to understand something, and inquired with understanding, “What does Miss want to do?”

“I’ll withdraw from the marriage.” Luo Wanqing’s brain disassembled and analyzed the information in the dream, calmly saying, “The Inspection Department is here. You and Zheng Pingsheng framed my Father. Do you think no one will know? Doing bad things will always reveal the cloven hoofs. What you want is just a clean climb on the Zheng Family. Don’t worry. I know what I’m holding. As long as you release my family, I will immediately find someone to marry, and I will never dwell on it.”

“Looking for someone to marry?”

Jiang Shaoyan listened indifferently. He lowered his head, sipped his tea, and said lightly, “You don’t want to marry this prince and randomly find a person to marry. His majesty won’t believe it.”

“Then I will say that my heart belongs to another,” Luo Wanqing immediately voiced, “Our marriage is the parents’ order. I do not like you. I have long had a crush, and now that I have learned of your identity, I prefer not to break up the good couple. Is this reason not enough?”

“Crush?” Jiang Shaoyan’s movements gave a start. He raised his eyes, and his amber-colored eyes carried a cold killing intent, “Miss has a crush?”

Seeing that look, Luo Wanqing was shocked in her heart. Instantly, that one sentence from her dream suddenly came – it was a long way to the border, and I hoped Miss would keep your innocence.

Suddenly realizing something, she raised her eyes and looked blankly at Jiang Shaoyan.

Jiang Shaoyan, however, was more eager to continue than she was, probing: “Is it the person who handed you the news? Or the scholar who pretends to be sick every day in the name of seeking medical treatment? Or the peddler who sells pastries in front of the medical center?”

Jiang Shaoyan counted down the people she had forgotten, observing her emotions as if he intended to deduce the answer from them.

Looking at him, Luo Wanqing remembered his usual style of doing things.
He rarely let anyone get close to her. Soon after he came to the Luo family, he became her guard because she saved him and had excellent skills. From then on, the items she received and the people she met were always handed to him and sifted by him. He would have the maids report everything in detail even if he wasn’t there. Initially, she had complained, and Jiang Shaoyan answered her eloquently, “This subordinate is thinking of Miss’s safety.”

That time, this matter made her unhappy until a friend beside her advised her that this was not for her safety. It was jealousy and fondness. When she heard this, even though she didn’t show it on her face, her heart was much more comfortable.

Later, when the osmanthus cake seller sent her pastries, and Jiang Shaoyan returned them directly, she did not reprimand him. She only shook her fan and said: “Brother Shaoyan, I heard when someone likes a person, they do not want to let other people close to that person. Even food or drink, they do not want them to go through the hands of others. Is this true?”

When she said this, the young man beside her did not change his face but reddened his ears instantly.

Luo Wanqing looked at him smugly, turned around, and said, “Why don’t you retrieve that osmanthus cake? Accept it as a token of appreciation.”