My Gentle and Pure Sect Leader Husband - Chapter 43

Yan Hongyin’s desire to leave Jinling and return to the capital wasn’t something she could just do on a whim.

Wang Lianhua’s presence was one obstacle, but the bigger problem was that the vortex of succession struggles in the capital was becoming increasingly chaotic. Yan Hongyin’s return might be interpreted by both factions of princes as taking a side, or perhaps the Jinyiwei had found something that needed to be presented directly to the emperor.

Before Yan Hongyin could think of the most prudent and suitable method, she continued going to the medical clinic every day as usual. The difference was that she left little Ximen at home, completing recently assigned homework together with little Hua.

Yu Luocha hadn’t gone out these past few days.

His injuries weren’t fully healed yet. After being “boiled” by Yan Hongyin the other day, the bruises that hadn’t surfaced before all rose to the surface. His entire body below the neck was covered in blue and purple marks, a pitiful sight. It hurt to move, so he simply sprawled like a large cat on the lounge chair under the pear tree, his limbs drooping.

–Incidentally, the meals were purchased from restaurants by Lu Xiaofeng, whom Yu Luocha paid with silver. As compensation, their dining table gained another half-grown boy.

Wang Lianhua clearly took a free-range approach to this disciple. Lu Xiaofeng had been following him for nearly four years, but apart from providing lodging and clothing, Wang Lianhua didn’t much concern himself with Lu Xiaofeng’s meals. However, this approach had clearly turned Lu Xiaofeng into an extremely resilient child with remarkable survival skills.

Compared to the two youngsters at home, Lu Xiaofeng could be considered quite a tough free-range child.

But for these meals, Lu Xiaofeng would steel himself almost daily, enduring his master’s quiet stare from behind as he awkwardly headed next door to freeload.

“What are you guys doing?” Lu Xiaofeng, now dressed in ordinary boys’ clothes, squeezed between Hua Manlou and Ximen Chuixue, looked left and right, and finally settled at the edge of the table without moving.

Hua Manlou was a child with very high standards for himself. He was only seven years old and had just started practicing writing after becoming blind, but although his brush technique was still somewhat soft and scattered due to a child’s lack of wrist strength, the paper showed no trace of dirt apart from the characters. Anyone looking would never imagine these were written by a blind person.

Ximen Chuixue was ten years old and had naturally studied reading and writing before, but this time Yan Hongyin had him write in tiny fly-head script, with each character restricted to a specific size. He could barely complete one sheet after more than two hours, which had made him increasingly irritable these past two days.

Furthermore, Ximen Chuixue was still holding a grudge over previous events and didn’t pay much attention to Lu Xiaofeng. Instead, Hua Manlou, who had previously been fierce, returned to his smiling, little-sun demeanor.

“We’re practicing calligraphy,” he answered Lu Xiaofeng, then changed the subject, “Doesn’t your master teach you to read and write?”

“My master… my master taught me where to get hit without it being fatal,” Lu Xiaofeng replied glumly.

This statement made Ximen Chuixue pause in his writing.

Hua Manlou frowned slightly. “Do you get hit often?”

Lu Xiaofeng couldn’t answer this question. After all, the one who hit him wasn’t actually his master, but was still intricately connected to his master….Thinking of this, Lu Xiaofeng buried his face in his arms and withdrew.

“Don’t be sad,” Hua Manlou seemed to sense his little friend’s dejection and moved toward the edge of the table, laying out a sheet of paper for Lu Xiaofeng. “Lu Xiaofeng, would you like to practice calligraphy with us?”

Lu Xiaofeng sniffed, feeling that the little beauty was truly the most understanding and gentle friend he’d ever made!

As the three wrote, Hua Manlou asked seemingly casually, “Is your master still staying next door these days?”

“Yes, he stares at me every time I come over here. It’s kind of scary,” Lu Xiaofeng replied automatically. “But looking at him, it seems he wants to come over too, but can’t bring himself to do it. Actually, my master, though peculiar in temperament, isn’t… really a bad person…”

As Lu Xiaofeng spoke, he looked at his little friend’s house that had been almost completely renovated inside and out, and his voice grew increasingly quieter with guilt.

“It’s alright, Aunt Yan and Uncle Yu said not too many things were damaged,” Hua Manlou smiled with curved eyes. “But counting like this, Lu Xiaofeng, you should be my and big brother’s martial uncle.”

Ximen Chuixue coldly glanced at Lu Xiaofeng.

Lu Xiaofeng’s spine chilled, his hair standing on end. He hurriedly waved his hands. “No, no, no! It’s really not like that! I asked my master afterward, and he said he only has two disciples, me and my senior sister. Your master is definitely not my senior sister!!”

“But that day we all heard Aunt Yan call him master,” Hua Manlou reminded Lu Xiaofeng.

That day, the three of them had been in the secret chamber below and hadn’t heard much of what the adults were saying, as their voices weren’t loud. But Hua Manlou’s confident tone made Lu Xiaofeng scratch his head with some hesitation.

“…But master… how do I put it, he’s the kind of person who will only answer in roundabout ways, but he won’t lie or deceive people.”

“Besides… I feel his attitude toward Doctor Yan isn’t like that of a disciple at all.”

As Wang Lianhua’s disciple, Lu Xiaofeng thought about himself, then about his senior sister who always behaved like a mouse seeing a cat when she saw their master, and shrank his neck.

“Really not like it!”

The two disciples were actually somewhat afraid of their master, but the way the master had been looking at him when he came to this courtyard to eat these past few days—it wasn’t exactly disapproval, but rather something like… jealousy?

Lu Xiaofeng shuddered again at his own thoughts, shaking his head repeatedly and emphasizing, “Doctor Yan is definitely not my senior sister! My master is never so pleasant with his disciples!”

Under the tree, Yu Luocha, sprawled lazily, made a hmmph sound.

“Uncle Yu must be cold,” Hua Manlou heard and said somewhat embarrassedly to Lu Xiaofeng, “Wait a moment, I’ll get Uncle Yu a blanket.”

Lu Xiaofeng watched as Hua Manlou went inside to bring out a blanket, then walked precisely to Yu Luocha’s side and covered the man. He let out a light “hiss” and murmured, “You really can’t tell at all…”

Lu Xiaofeng was a clever child. When he first saw Hua Manlou from the wall, he had noticed the dull, lightless eyes, but he had never mentioned it.

“Ah Lou is really so nice…”

Lu Xiaofeng lay on the table, staring unblinkingly at the tall and small figures talking under the pear tree, his eyes full of envy.

He also wanted such a little brother, or failing that, a close friend would do!

But Ah Lou clearly had reservations about him because of his master’s situation… Sigh, adults’ matters were so troublesome.

Ximen Chuixue glanced at him, his eyebrows moving slightly.

His eyes held a kind of exasperation, as if looking at a little fool.

……

Under the pear tree, Yu Luocha and Hua Manlou hooked their pinky fingers together, whispering, “Well done!”

Hua Manlou swung Yu Luocha’s finger back and forth. “Uncle Yu taught me well~”

When the three children were in the secret chamber below, they certainly hadn’t heard the adults talking above. The previous conversation was clearly orchestrated by the man and boy to extract information from Lu Xiaofeng.

Perhaps it was because children like Hua Manlou naturally made people lower their guard and not overthink, but after being pumped for information, Lu Xiaofeng still wore an expression of complete ignorance.

“Uncle Yu, what should we do next?”

“Does Ah Lou like being friends with Lu Xiaofeng?” Yu Luocha asked.

Hua Manlou hesitated for a moment, then said, “He gives me a comfortable feeling, so I think I like him?”

In fact, Hua Manlou rarely had friends his own age. Those who had previously visited Hua Family Fortress with their elders were mostly just passing acquaintances. Lu Xiaofeng was the first person to directly approach him saying he wanted to be friends.

“Then go make friends,” Yu Luocha patted Hua Manlou’s head. “His background and experiences are different from yours, as are the things you’re good at and your personalities, but he’s a very good child. Perhaps you’ll become very good friends.”

Hua Manlou blinked, hesitating, “But his master hit Uncle Yu…”

Yu Luocha touched his chin, revealing a meaningful smile.

“Adult matters are complicated. Who knows, perhaps before long, Uncle Yu will be drinking with his master on the rooftop?”

****

Since Yan Hongyin had exposed his identity, Wang Lianhua had been quiet for two days, but then began disguising himself with various faces to cause trouble around Yan Hongyin.

Yan Hongyin watched as an old man walked in with difficulty, clutching his waist, her face showing a mixture of unspeakable embarrassment and irrepressible resignation. She remained silent for a moment, not examining the injury, and just said directly, “Lie down.”

As she spoke, she took a needle kit from the side and unfolded it with a swish.

The old man’s eyelid twitched as he looked at the expressionless Yan Hongyin, and somewhat aggrievedly lay down on the examination bed, back up.

Yan Hongyin lifted his clothes and said flatly, “I thought you would at least take care of your back a little.”

Wang Lianhua, with an old man’s face but tight, full muscles below the neck, created a strangely distinct contrast.

“You only care about him. When I’m injured, you don’t even ask once,” Wang Lianhua said gloomily.

Yan Hongyin scanned Wang Lianhua’s back for quite a while before finding a fingernail-sized red swelling. After a moment of silence, she asked, “This is from leaning against a tree and getting poked, isn’t it?”

“Don’t know, maybe,” Wang Lianhua lay still. “Is this it?”

Yan Hongyin replied, “Still a bit off.”

Wang Lianhua grunted.

Given Yan Hongyin’s character, for Yu Luocha to squeeze into her heart in such a short time, though not yet in that position, was quite an accomplishment on Yu Luocha’s part.

Wang Lianhua closed his eyes. “Doesn’t he think you have too many things in your heart?”

Yan Hongyin responded by stabbing a needle into Wang Lianhua’s numbness acupoint.

Wang Lianhua didn’t take such minor irritations seriously. “…I’m talking about serious matters. Xiao Yin, why are you getting embarrassed and angry?”

Yan Hongyin let him talk without responding, needles rising and falling, soon turning Wang Lianhua into a porcupine.

“You can’t deny the existing problem,” Wang Lianhua sighed. “He and I are the same type of person. Our kind, if we want something, we want it to be completely and entirely our own. We can’t stand even a bit of it being touched by others.”

“As for when we can’t have it…” Wang Lianhua smiled faintly without continuing.

Yan Hongyin suddenly spoke, “Yet I don’t see you killing Senior Shen and Heroine Zhu.”

Wang Lianhua was choked for a moment. Talking about his youthful past in front of Yan Hongyin made him somewhat uncomfortable, but then he realized Yan Hongyin didn’t know her relationship with him, so that discomfort faded. He just coughed and said, “Sometimes even I must admit that there are some people in the jianghu who aren’t easy to deal with and are blessed by heaven.”

Yan Hongyin directly exposed him, “Just say you couldn’t beat them.”

Wang Lianhua, who indeed couldn’t beat Shen Lang and was repeatedly frustrated before finally joining him: “…..”

“It’s not the same thing,” Wang Lianhua decided to bypass this topic. “I’m a playboy, but that creature you’re keeping isn’t like one.”

“A passionate man’s deep feelings are often like cheap grass—easy to pick up and put down. But that kind of genuinely devoted yet sharp-tongued cat can bite through your throat and take your life when you’re not careful.”

“You’re meddling too much,” Yan Hongyin rolled up the needle kit, ignoring the needles stuck in Wang Lianhua’s back, and lifted the curtain to walk outside.

“Alright, alright, let’s not talk about this,” Wang Lianhua quickly said. “Let’s discuss another matter. Even if I didn’t teach you disguise back then, how could you reveal flaws in something as simple as cross-dressing as a man?”

Yan Hongyin paused, turned back, and let the curtain drop as she faced Wang Lianhua.

Wang Lianhua: “…Turn around first.”

Yan Hongyin guessed what he was going to do. The movement behind her was quick, and when Yan Hongyin turned around again, the withered, thin old man in coarse cloth had transformed into a handsome young gentleman in red.

Yan Hongyin looked at his face but couldn’t detect any trace of disguise—yet Wang Lianhua couldn’t possibly be this age with this face.

In the art of disguise, there was probably no one in the world who could compare to the Thousand-faced Gentleman Wang Lianhua of years past.

“That night, you were missing something here,” Wang Lianhua raised his hand to point at his throat, his face bearing a lazy smile.

Yan Hongyin knew what he meant.

That day, acting in haste, she had left off her neck armor when meeting Hua Ruling. Given Hua Ruling’s sensitivity, he might have guessed or suspected something and gone to investigate, catching the attention of Wang Lianhua’s people.

Strangely enough, Wang Lianhua had taught Yan Hongyin many things, taught her how to identify whether someone was in disguise, but had never taught Yan Hongyin his most prized skill of disguise.

Wang Lianhua seemed to guess what she was thinking and said, “Of course I wanted to teach you. Xiao Yin, everything I have, I wanted to give to you with my own hands.”

He stepped closer to Yan Hongyin, leaning in to whisper in her ear. “But you’ve worn your mask for too long, so long that you’ve forgotten your true appearance. The highest level of disguise is to become another person completely, from inside to outside, from body to mind. But if you put on layer after layer of disguised faces, you’ll go too far.”

His tone lacked any hint of frivolous teasing, but rather carried a kind of cherished admonition.

Yan Hongyin turned her head slightly to look at him, her eyes filled with inquiry.

Just then, Doctor An lifted the curtain and stepped inside, seeing this scene and freezing in place.

Yan Hongyin and Wang Lianhua both looked over, not feeling anything was amiss.

Doctor An started to speak, then stopped, then started again several times before finally saying: “Doctor Yan, this…isn’t quite proper, is it?”

Being an open-minded person who had run a medical clinic for many years and seen much, Doctor An naturally knew that Doctor Yan’s husband had married into her family and didn’t have much of an occupation. But for Doctor Yan to be like this outside with a young, handsome gentleman… Oh dear, this could lead to domestic trouble!

Yan Hongyin: “…”

Wang Lianhua: “…”

Yan Hongyin still needed to stay at the clinic for a long time. She didn’t want Doctor An to misunderstand, not for any other reason but because the good old man had only one fault—he liked to talk on and on. If this wasn’t explained clearly, Doctor An would keep going on about it.

“Doctor An, it’s not what you think. He is my…” Yan Hongyin faltered.

Wang Lianhua stood beside her and, seeing this, acted as if watching a show, not speaking but instead leaning his body toward Yan Hongyin, appearing intimate.

Doctor An naturally believed in Doctor Yan’s character. Seeing this, he carefully looked at the two for a few glances, then exclaimed in sudden realization, “Could you be blood-related siblings?”

Yan Hongyin was stunned.

The smile on Wang Lianhua’s face dimmed slightly.

“Your bone structure and features, they’re very similar!”

****

The night wind blew the pear blossom branches, making rustling sounds.

Yu Luocha sat cross-legged in the chair, raising his hand to prop up his chin as he watched Yan Hongyin, who had been sitting at the dressing table without movement for quite a while.

Yan Hongyin gazed at the mirror in a daze. “Today… someone said we look very much alike.”

Yu Luocha’s eyes, however, showed no surprise. His gaze flickered slightly as he said, “How do you know Wang Lianhua was using his own face when he went to see you today?”

“I didn’t say it was him, yet you already knew?” Yan Hongyin raised her eyes to look at Yu Luocha through the mirror.

Yu Luocha just smiled without speaking.

Yan Hongyin certainly didn’t know whether Wang Lianhua was using his own face.

Besides Wang Lianhua, no one knew which of his faces was real and which was false, or how much he had altered his own skin in the false one.

But Yan Hongyin just had an inexplicable feeling that was difficult to articulate.

–A strange concern about that statement.

“Doesn’t Wang Lianhua have a sister?” Yu Luocha had clearly looked into Wang Lianhua’s information afterwards. “Does Ah Yin remember what your mother looked like?”

Yan Hongyin remembered, but precisely because she remembered that face with complete Southern gentle grace, she was increasingly confused.

Moreover…

“Bai Feifei is not his biological sister; the two are not blood relations,” Yan Hongyin paused. “He… should have no blood relatives left.”

“Then… Ah Yin, your father…” Yu Luocha started to say, but swallowed the rest when he met Yan Hongyin’s gaze.

Yan Hongyin looked at herself in the bronze mirror, suddenly feeling lost.

She was not the orphan girl that Yu Luocha knew. Not only was she not, but her father was the emperor above ten thousand people. She was born in the imperial back palace, recorded in the imperial jade genealogy at birth, and her imperial father trusted her greatly, even giving her control of the powerful Jinyiwei.

But who… was she really?

Who was that mother, always gentle and delicate in her heart, as clear and beautiful as pear blossoms?

And who was the previous Zhenfu Division Jinyiwei Dark Division Commander, her master who had raised her since childhood, with a relationship as close as mother and child?

In the courtyard separated by a wall.

Wang Lianhua, sitting on the roof ridge with a small jar of wine, raised his head to look at the pear tree in the neighboring courtyard, closed his eyes, and sighed softly.

From the moment he appeared before Xiao Yin, he knew that some things were destined to be reopened.

But not only could he not prevent it, he had to push Xiao Yin to investigate, to see, to ask on her own.

Xiao Yin’s personality was suspicious yet strong. If he rashly revealed the whole truth, it would not yield the most beneficial effect.

Raising his hand to wipe the wine from the corner of his lips, Wang Lianhua fell back onto the roof ridge, murmuring:

“…This is really giving me a headache.”

Even more of a headache than twenty years ago, when he mysteriously received that letter on the island.