Cang Lan Dao - Chapter 32.2

Chapter 32.2
Cui Guanlan, you’re the softhearted one

Xie Heng was stunned. Luo Wanqing was half kneeling on the bed, her hair scattered and her clothes slipping, revealing her bare shoulders and neck. Her lips were still red from drinking his blood; her chest was bloody; her complexion was pale and tender as jade; if not for that face, she should be as beautiful as a demon.

The blade of the knife cold against his neck, and Xie Heng froze; looking at her, he heard the woman in front of him staring at him fixedly, stubbornly saying: “Touch it.”

After hearing this ‘touch it,’ Xie Heng finally realized what she was doing. She refuted his sentence, “Your sword can’t even touch me.”

Xie Heng was speechless. It was the first time in his life that he had had a knife pressed against his vitals. He looked at the girl in front of him with some surprise.

Luo Wanqing rose slightly and got close to him, her breath entwined with his. She stared into his eyes and reminded him, “Cui Guanlan, you’re the softhearted one! I’ll ask again: Why don’t you ask me what I did?”

Hearing this, Xie Heng raised his eyes and looked into her eyes. Her eyes were beautiful. From the moment he met her, there was a hidden blade in them; he polished it and watched the blade reveal itself bit by bit. He instructed, guided, and personally molded her bones and everything around her related to him. When he realized this, his heartstrings trembled slightly. His gaze fell on the wound on her chest, feeling like it was a blooming begonia flower.

For the first time in his life, he felt lusted over someone who held a knife against his neck. He closed his eyes, seemingly finding it unbelievable but ultimately accepting. He laughed softly.

“You’re right.” He was the softhearted one, and he was the one who lost. After saying this, he raised his hands and gently held her shoulders.

Luo Wanqing froze, then watched as the youth moved towards her without hesitation, bending down and lowering his head.

He came with determination. He was close. Luo Wanqing’s sword could only retreat.

Not waiting for Luo Wanqing to react, he buried himself in her chest and pressed his lips onto her wound.

Luo Wanqing trembled and was about to say something when she felt the youth open his lips and gently sucked on her wound. Her blood flowed into his lips, binding the two people together in some unspeakable relationship.

Luo Wanqing stiffened, and she only realized what he was doing. She held back the wariness that was sucked out of her, consoling herself that he was saving her, and turned her head stiffly without making a sound.

Cui Heng sucked her poisoned blood clean and spat the ooze onto his handkerchief before he raised his head to look at the woman who was barely pretending to be calm. His lips were blood-stained like a demon, gazing at the woman coldly.

Luo Wanqing stayed rigid, not daring to look at him.

Cui Heng looked at him for a moment and laughed softly. “You were just holding a knife against me, but now you’re ignoring me.” He raised his hand to pull on her clothes for her, but as soon as he touched it, she was trembling, and then, as if suddenly awakened, she hurriedly said, “I’ll do it myself.”

Cui Heng silently watched her put on her clothes. The two sat quietly on the bed.

After a few moments, Cui Heng asked tiredly: “Speak up. What bad thing did you go and do this night? Assassinate the Department Master?”

Luo Wanqing shook her head.

Cui Heng thought momentarily, then figured out, “You’re interested in Li Guiyu?”

Zhang Yiran’s place just happened to be Li Guiyu’s next door. She gave her flute to Zhang Yiran. Tonight, when Li Guiyu came, Zhang Yiran played the flute, and it was clear that the person she was staring at was Li Guiyu.

Luo Wanqing never expected Cui Heng to be so wise, so she said nothing. After thinking about it, she knew that Cui Heng knew that the flute was at Zhang Yiran’s place. She didn’t think to understand and only asked, “You went to Zhang Yiran’s place?”

“Yes.” Cui Heng’s voice went cold.

Luo Wanqing was puzzled. “The signal I agreed with him is different from yours. Why did you go?”

“Do you think a lot of people have this flute?” Cui Heng knew what she was thinking when he heard it, glanced at her, and said faintly, “Recognizing the sound of the flute relies on the timbre, not the signal.”

Hearing this, Luo Wanqing knew that this flute was something that Cui Heng got through the back door. She hesitated, “I didn’t expect it to be so valuable.”

Cui Heng did not want to hear her say this. He twisted his head and gasped for a while, and Luo Wanqing said nothing. The two were silent, and after a long time, he sighed, seemingly helpless, “Next time, just lie to me. It’s fine to lie to me.”

“I don’t want to lie to you.” Luo Wanqing said truthfully.

Cui Heng moved briefly and then shook his head. “I’ll never listen to your nonsense again.”

“Then don’t lie in the future.” Luo Wanqing said softly, “What you give me is what you give me, and I get what I deserve. There is no need to lie to me.”

“I just like to lie to you.”

Cui Heng was impatient. He got up from the bed and said lightly, “This poison is too intense; I’ll find someone to dispense medicine for you. Rest well.”

“Cui Heng,” Luo Wanqing called out to him, pursing her lips, “You can tell Master. You don’t need to shield me.”

Cui Heng looked back at her and saw Luo Wanqing’s serious eyes: “I appreciate your kindness to me, but I don’t want to implicate you.”

Cui Heng hooked up the corner of his mouth and laughed coldly, “You want to kill Xie Heng, right?”

Luo Wanqing moved and hesitantly said, “Not necessarily.”

Seeing Luo Wanqing being so honest, Cui Heng was furious. Not necessarily, so there was still the idea to kill. He took a deep breath and waved his hand, “Got it. I’ll talk to Master. You rest first. After saying that, he pushed the door and walked out.

Luo Wanqing looked at his back, pursed her lips, and finally lay down. With Cui Heng’s promise, although she was apprehensive, not knowing how Xie Heng planned to deal with her, she was eventually much more comfortable.

Cui Heng cared for her too much, more than usual. She did not know for what reason, but no matter what, as long as he was good for her, she did not want to implicate him. What she did may not be tolerated by the Inspection Department. Cui Heng was, after all, the staff of the Inspection Department or perhaps Xie Heng’s cousin. Cui Clan can stay in the Inspection Department because of Xie Heng’s help, and Cui Guanlan will always stand on Xie Heng’s side. She can ignore and pretend to be a fool, but if she uses other people’s feelings to achieve her goals, how is she different from Jiang Shaoyan? Furthermore, it was good that Cui Heng was disappointed in her. She said Cui Heng was softhearted, but what was the difference with her?

Cui Heng is gentle and charming; the longer you get along, the easier it is to indulge. But in her journey, how can she allow softness? It was better if he wasn’t kind to her. She lowered her eyes, quietly looking at the blood-colored bright wound on her chest, and listened as he walked away. Only when his voice disappeared completely did Luo Wanqing relax and become paralyzed on the bed.

Tomorrow, Xie Heng should know about this matter and will summon her. She still had to calculate exactly how to use Xie Heng well.

When Luo Wanqing started to make plans in her head, Xie Heng walked out of the room and stepped up the mountain. Qing Ya was bringing the paperwork over when he saw Xie Heng. Qing Ya hugged the paperwork and followed behind Xie Heng, softly saying, “Young Master, Xuan Shan and Zhu Que turned over the entire Inspection Department this night, but they didn’t find anyone.”

“En.” Xie Heng answered, pondering.

Qing Yao glanced at Xie Heng’s expression and saw that he did not pursue the matter. He understood that Xie Heng knew who was eavesdropping. There was only one person who could make Xie Heng protect her.

Qing Ya smiled, “Is it Liu Xiniang?”

“Yes.” Xie Heng fiddled with the strings of beads on his hand and answered directly, “I intend to have her to meet me tomorrow.”

“Meet you?” Qing Yao was a bit surprised, “So soon? I thought you were planning to raise her again.”

Xie Heng did not say anything as he stepped on the steps, thinking about the knife against his neck for a long time before he stated, “Qing Ya.”

“Young Master, please speak.”

“She put the knife against my neck.”

As these words came out, Qing Ya froze for a moment.

Xie Heng spoke calmly, “This beauty knife is too sharp; I couldn’t sharpen it more. She has to choose whether she wants to use it to help me or against me.”

Hearing Xie Heng’s words, Qing Ya relaxed. He smiled and said gently, “Young Master has his plans.”

Xie Heng tugged at the corner of his mouth as he sniffed, not saying much.

Plans? What plans? He had miscalculated. In the past, he had always thought that sharp knives needed attention, but now he realized that this kind of unsharpened precious knife was the most dangerous.

She enticed him to polish it, and he thought he could grasp it, so he cultivated and indulged her. It wasn’t until this night that he suddenly realized that the blade was ready to be placed against his neck. Perhaps those eyes were too attractive, perhaps the moment she was covered in blood and driving her horse toward him was too stunning, or maybe he molded her bones, or possibly because she grew too fast and made him feel accomplished —

Whatever it was, it was undeniable that she could put a knife to his neck when her identity was undetermined. She asked him why he was angry, why he didn’t ask him anything else. He thought about that for a long time, too. Why angry? Perhaps it was because he had watched her grow up and had become so absorbed in the ‘neediness’ she gave him, and without realizing it, he had drawn her into an overly intimate boundary. He was not a gentleman. He loved to eat alone when he was a child, and his violent temper has not changed even after he grew up, but he hides it well. She was guided to the door by his hand; he molded all her bones. He naturally thought she was his knife; she belonged to him, that he could use for himself, and everything was under his control. Yet, looking back now, he suddenly realized that he hadn’t. He never controlled her.

On the road to Dongdu, he thought she was a killer, wanted to test her, and intended to kill her, but in the end, she fought for her life, so that he felt pity for her and molded his bones for her. She participated in the examination, protected Qin Jue, and killed Zhao Yuyan. The whole Inspection Department wants to deal with her, but he took her as a chess piece to play with others, wanting to tame this unknown origin sharp blade for his use. But finally, on this night, her knife was against his neck. He treated her with intentions and tenderness, wanting to conquer her, but she trusted Qin Jue more than him. On the other hand, he felt annoyed and embarrassed.

……

Everything about her was too much out of his expectations. Thinking himself to be the hunter, only to be bitten in the vitals by the prey, could there be anything more absurd than this? Xie Heng smiled to himself. It would be fine if she were an ordinary woman, but she was not. She was closely connected to the Feng Yu Pavilion; her identity was suspicious; if she was indeed an assassin, she might kill him someday. Such a danger alerted him quickly, and he could even be said to have made a hasty exit. Far more than he had intended.

Xie Heng pondered, glancing back at the small building where the woman lived not far away. The wind whipped through his black hair, tinged with thin sweat. As he watched that small building light up with lamps, his lips could not help but want to gently call out that name.

Xiniang. Calling her like this, he realized why he liked calling her name so much. It turned out that name was a command and seduction.

Xiniang —