The master and the servants chatted in the house for an entire afternoon and didn’t stop until the little nun came to deliver dinner.
After the dinner, Ran Yan sent her servant to sleep early, and she laid down on the couch for a while. Ge Lan was an intelligent woman, not as emotional as Xing Niang or as careless as Wan Lu. Sooner or later, she will find that the owner of this body was not the old Ran Yan.
Ran Yan didn’t want to arouse suspicion from such loyal people, so she planned to tell Ge Lan the truth. If she could accept the truth, she would stay. If she couldn’t accept it, Ran Yan would provide her with the proper arrangement to leave. The worst plan was to be exposed. Ran Yan seldom took such risks, but there was always a thing or two in her life that was out of her control. Sometimes, she has to gamble.
However, today was not a good time. Ran Yan, dressed in a plain white robe with a lantern in her hand, walked to the corridor. She glanced at the side room where the lights have been extinguished and sat in the corridor.
It was already Autumn; there were fewer mosquitoes during the rainy season than usual. Ran Yan quietly stared at the rain outside the curtain, her heart feeling melancholic. The various events in her previous life were like fleeting clouds, slowly turning into her dreams. Every time she woke up from those dreams, she felt as if she was the only one in this desolate world, filled with loneliness.
Ran Yan stared at her delicate hands through the dim lantern light. In the past, her hands have dissected thousands of corpses, but it did not look like this.
After an unknown amount of time, gentle footsteps sounded from the corridor. Ran Yan raised her head to see Ge Lan carrying a satin robe in her hand as she walked towards her.
Ge Lan sat down beside her and draped the satin robe over Ran Yan. Ge Lan looked at her with suspicion: Why isn’t Miss asleep?
“I can’t fall asleep. You too?” Ran Yan asked.
Ge Lan smiled and nodded.
“Let’s talk.” Ran Yan said.
Ge Lan nodded once again. She got up and went inside the room. She took out a pen, paper, and inkstone.
After she sat down, Ran Yan said, “Don’t you have anything to ask me?”
Ge Lan was slightly surprised. Her clear, spring-like pupils were filled with emotions. She quietly stared at Ran Yan for a while before lowering her eyes to the paper. She crouched on the ground and with a brush on her hand, she wrote:
“This servant feels that Miss is both familiar and unfamiliar. Has Miss suffered a lot during the past two years?”
Ran Yan glanced at the content of the paper and knew that Ge Lan was still confused. She was so familiar with the old Ran Yan that if she were to stay with her, the new Ran Yan, Ge Lan’s doubts would surely deepen.
“She had suffered a lot that she couldn’t get up in June.” Ran Yan spoke slowly, her eyes calm. “Do you believe that person has a soul?”
Ge Lan’s expression froze. Her already pale face turned ashen. She stared at Ran Yan in disbelief; as if she wanted to see through those calm eyes into her soul.
After some time, Ge Lan seemed to have come to an understanding. She waved her hand on the paper, and wrote,
“She’s gone?”
Ran Yan watched as Ge Lan wrote these two words in a trembling manner. She sighed in her heart. With just a few ambiguous words, she had guessed the truth. Ge Lan’s intelligence was more than what she had imagined, Ge Lan had drawn the connections from just these words.
“Yes, she died in early June. I was reborn in this body.” When Ran Yan said this, she suddenly heaved a sigh of relief. Perhaps it was because she had died once, so she wanted to reveal the truth to put herself at ease, she didn’t care so much about the outcome.
The hand holding the pen froze in midair. A drop of ink on the tip of the pen dripped onto the paper, forming a black flower. Then, two drops of water dripped on the paper. Ge Lan’s hoarse voice sounded, especially in the quiet rain.
Ran Yan looked at Ge Lan’s thin body curled up into a ball. She buried her face against her legs. Her shoulders were trembling non-stop. She looked so heartbroken.
It was understandable that, apart from her deep feelings, she had sacrificed her life in exchange for Ran Yan’s survival. Just when she was overcome by joy at the fact that she had survived and was able to meet her Miss again, she realized that her two years of suffering had amounted to nothing. That person was already dead!
Joy has turned into grief. How could she not cry? Ran Yan felt that she was heartless, but she wanted to deal with this mess from its roots. Feeling pain now would be better than later. Neither did she know if this was good or bad for Ge Lan, nor did she know if it would be good or bad for her as well. This was her style of doing things.
Ge Lan cried for a long time until her hoarse voice couldn’t even come out. She wiped her tears away and sat up straight, solemnly bowing to Ran Yan.
“Since I have told you the truth. You have to decide whether to stay or not. If you want to expose me, go ahead. But I want to remind you that I’m not like your weak Miss and I won’t go back on my word.” Ran Yan looked at her and said word by word.
Ge Lan pursed her lips tightly. She lowered her eyes and spread out a piece of paper. She thought a moment before writing,
“Since it was the Heaven’s will to have you live in Miss’ stead, this servant will neither blame nor harm you. It’s just that this servant requests Miss to let this servant stay by Miss’ side.”
She paused for a moment before continuing writing,
“Avenge my Miss.”
How the old Ran Yan had died of illness was something that Ge Lan didn’t need to deeply think of. That Madam Gao had always tried her best to force her to death. She had calculated everything and finally succeeded.
Ever since Ge Lan was sent to the Ran manor, her fate had been tied to the first wife of the Ran family. She had been forced to protect Ran Yan because of the circumstances. Madam Gao was a cautious person and never trusted others easily. Moreover, she was also the lady of the house. If she wanted to surrender to Madam Gao, Ge Lan had to pledge to be Madam Gao’s servant forever. If she didn’t do so, with Madam Gao’s personality, she wouldn’t be able to hold her place as the position of the first wife.
Ran Yan was the daughter of the Ran family’s first wife, and her mother was from the Xingyang’s Zheng family. To support a wife with such noble birth was easier than to go under the Gao family’s wings.
The most important thing was that Ge Lan had been following Ran Yan for more than three years when she started planning out her future. Although Ran Yan was timid, she did not even have the slight air of a noble family lady. She had a good temper and trusted her very much. No matter what, Ge Lan had no reason to betray her.
However, it had been more than ten years since they had met each other. Up to now, Ge Lan was no longer protecting Ran Yan for her own sake. Although they were master and servant in name, their relationship was more like sisters.
Ge Lan once again bowed at Ran Yan and asked to stay.
“All right.” Ran Yan’s eyes shifted towards the dark rainy sky, her voice slightly cold, “I won’t stand in your way when you deal with Madam Gao. If necessary, I’ll assist you. This is how I’ll use her body to repay, but please remember that your Miss’ death had nothing to do with me. If one day I find out that you did something against me, don’t blame me for not showing mercy… I’ve never been a schemer, but if I wanted someone to die, they would not be able to survive.”
Ge Lan fixated her eyes on Ran Yan’s back, a complicated expression flashed through her eyes. This person in front of her was clearly her Miss, but she could not be her Miss. The Miss she knew of couldn’t speak these words with such confidence.
After a moment of silence, Ge Lan wrote down a few words on the paper and handed them to Ran Yan. She respectfully bowed before standing up to put the inkstone in its original place. She then walked into the side room.
Ran Yan opened the piece of paper, the first sentence on it was:
You are a person worthy of this servant’s admiration.
The second sentence was:
Miss should sleep early.
It wasn’t just admiration but also respect. For someone like Ge Lan, if Ran Yan couldn’t make her pledge her loyalty, she would have to wait until Ge Lan was subdued. Ran Yan curled her lips slightly and took out the paper strips, slowly burning them in the lantern. In front of the light, Ran Yan’s eyes squinted, her dark eyes reflected a cluster of flames that could not be extinguished.
The mountain breeze blew the ashes as they scattered in the night rain.
After sitting quietly for a while, Ran Yan tightened up her tight-fitting satin robe, and picked up the lantern, returning to her bedroom.
Ran Yan’s foot had just entered the inner chamber when she smelled a familiar sweetness.
It was the smell of blood!
She slowed her footsteps as much as possible and retreated to the door. After taking two or three steps, a cold and weak voice sounded from the room. “Don’t be afraid. It’s me.”
Ran Yan heaved a sigh of relief and returned to the room. As soon as she had entered, the stench of blood intensified, almost filling up the entire room. Ran Yan slightly frowned. She knew a human body like the back of her hand. To form such a bloodthirsty smell, that person must have lost a lot of blood.
“Why did you get hurt again?” Ran Yan’s tone was indifferent as she lit up the lamp beside her bed. Although she had expected this, she was still startled by the scene in front of her.
Su Fu, dressed in black, was leaning against the window with his sword. His entire body was covered with traces of being cut by a sword. His body was soaked with blood, causing his clothes to show every shape of his muscle. A pool of blood had gathered under his body. There was no wound on his handsome face, but the paleness of his face itself was frightening. His deep blue eyes were devoid of their former luster.
Ran Yan squatted beside him to check on his wounds.
Su Fu suddenly laughed. His laughter was low and hoarse, but it was incomparably carefree as if he had been freed. Ran Yan raised her head to look at him in surprise, but she only saw a stunning smile on the pale, handsome face. Amidst the dim light, it was dazzling.
Ran Yan frowned. “Who injured you like this?”
Ran Yan couldn’t accept this fact. She hadn’t personally seen this perfect body of his, yet she was forced to look at this perfect scene now. She should have died a thousand times.
“I am free!” Su Fu laughed until he was exhausted, causing the wounds on his body to open up again.
Ran Yan went out to fetch a basin of water and took a box of herbs from the corner of the room. She quickly unfastened Su Fu’s clothes as she dipped the white cloth in water and wiped the blood off of his body. As she did so, she splashed wine onto the wound and quickly cleaned his upper body. The large wound was swiftly disinfected with wine and stitched together. After cleaning up the wound, she applied for the medicine and cut out the cloth into clean white stripes.
Then, without putting much thought into it, Ran Yan began to take off Su Fu’s bottom part. She loosened his clothes, but her wrist was grabbed by a large hand.
The master and the servants chatted in the house for an entire afternoon and didn’t stop until the little nun came to deliver dinner.
After the dinner, Ran Yan sent her servant to sleep early, and she laid down on the couch for a while. Ge Lan was an intelligent woman, not as emotional as Xing Niang or as careless as Wan Lu. Sooner or later, she will find that the owner of this body was not the old Ran Yan.
Ran Yan didn’t want to arouse suspicion from such loyal people, so she planned to tell Ge Lan the truth. If she could accept the truth, she would stay. If she couldn’t accept it, Ran Yan would provide her with the proper arrangement to leave. The worst plan was to be exposed. Ran Yan seldom took such risks, but there was always a thing or two in her life that was out of her control. Sometimes, she has to gamble.
However, today was not a good time. Ran Yan, dressed in a plain white robe with a lantern in her hand, walked to the corridor. She glanced at the side room where the lights have been extinguished and sat in the corridor.
It was already Autumn; there were fewer mosquitoes during the rainy season than usual. Ran Yan quietly stared at the rain outside the curtain, her heart feeling melancholic. The various events in her previous life were like fleeting clouds, slowly turning into her dreams. Every time she woke up from those dreams, she felt as if she was the only one in this desolate world, filled with loneliness.
Ran Yan stared at her delicate hands through the dim lantern light. In the past, her hands have dissected thousands of corpses, but it did not look like this.
After an unknown amount of time, gentle footsteps sounded from the corridor. Ran Yan raised her head to see Ge Lan carrying a satin robe in her hand as she walked towards her.
Ge Lan sat down beside her and draped the satin robe over Ran Yan. Ge Lan looked at her with suspicion: Why isn’t Miss asleep?
“I can’t fall asleep. You too?” Ran Yan asked.
Ge Lan smiled and nodded.
“Let’s talk.” Ran Yan said.
Ge Lan nodded once again. She got up and went inside the room. She took out a pen, paper, and inkstone.
After she sat down, Ran Yan said, “Don’t you have anything to ask me?”
Ge Lan was slightly surprised. Her clear, spring-like pupils were filled with emotions. She quietly stared at Ran Yan for a while before lowering her eyes to the paper. She crouched on the ground and with a brush on her hand, she wrote:
“This servant feels that Miss is both familiar and unfamiliar. Has Miss suffered a lot during the past two years?”
Ran Yan glanced at the content of the paper and knew that Ge Lan was still confused. She was so familiar with the old Ran Yan that if she were to stay with her, the new Ran Yan, Ge Lan’s doubts would surely deepen.
“She had suffered a lot that she couldn’t get up in June.” Ran Yan spoke slowly, her eyes calm. “Do you believe that person has a soul?”
Ge Lan’s expression froze. Her already pale face turned ashen. She stared at Ran Yan in disbelief; as if she wanted to see through those calm eyes into her soul.
After some time, Ge Lan seemed to have come to an understanding. She waved her hand on the paper, and wrote,
“She’s gone?”
Ran Yan watched as Ge Lan wrote these two words in a trembling manner. She sighed in her heart. With just a few ambiguous words, she had guessed the truth. Ge Lan’s intelligence was more than what she had imagined, Ge Lan had drawn the connections from just these words.
“Yes, she died in early June. I was reborn in this body.” When Ran Yan said this, she suddenly heaved a sigh of relief. Perhaps it was because she had died once, so she wanted to reveal the truth to put herself at ease, she didn’t care so much about the outcome.
The hand holding the pen froze in midair. A drop of ink on the tip of the pen dripped onto the paper, forming a black flower. Then, two drops of water dripped on the paper. Ge Lan’s hoarse voice sounded, especially in the quiet rain.
Ran Yan looked at Ge Lan’s thin body curled up into a ball. She buried her face against her legs. Her shoulders were trembling non-stop. She looked so heartbroken.
It was understandable that, apart from her deep feelings, she had sacrificed her life in exchange for Ran Yan’s survival. Just when she was overcome by joy at the fact that she had survived and was able to meet her Miss again, she realized that her two years of suffering had amounted to nothing. That person was already dead!
Joy has turned into grief. How could she not cry? Ran Yan felt that she was heartless, but she wanted to deal with this mess from its roots. Feeling pain now would be better than later. Neither did she know if this was good or bad for Ge Lan, nor did she know if it would be good or bad for her as well. This was her style of doing things.
Ge Lan cried for a long time until her hoarse voice couldn’t even come out. She wiped her tears away and sat up straight, solemnly bowing to Ran Yan.
“Since I have told you the truth. You have to decide whether to stay or not. If you want to expose me, go ahead. But I want to remind you that I’m not like your weak Miss and I won’t go back on my word.” Ran Yan looked at her and said word by word.
Ge Lan pursed her lips tightly. She lowered her eyes and spread out a piece of paper. She thought a moment before writing,
“Since it was the Heaven’s will to have you live in Miss’ stead, this servant will neither blame nor harm you. It’s just that this servant requests Miss to let this servant stay by Miss’ side.”
She paused for a moment before continuing writing,
“Avenge my Miss.”
How the old Ran Yan had died of illness was something that Ge Lan didn’t need to deeply think of. That Madam Gao had always tried her best to force her to death. She had calculated everything and finally succeeded.
Ever since Ge Lan was sent to the Ran manor, her fate had been tied to the first wife of the Ran family. She had been forced to protect Ran Yan because of the circumstances. Madam Gao was a cautious person and never trusted others easily. Moreover, she was also the lady of the house. If she wanted to surrender to Madam Gao, Ge Lan had to pledge to be Madam Gao’s servant forever. If she didn’t do so, with Madam Gao’s personality, she wouldn’t be able to hold her place as the position of the first wife.
Ran Yan was the daughter of the Ran family’s first wife, and her mother was from the Xingyang’s Zheng family. To support a wife with such noble birth was easier than to go under the Gao family’s wings.
The most important thing was that Ge Lan had been following Ran Yan for more than three years when she started planning out her future. Although Ran Yan was timid, she did not even have the slight air of a noble family lady. She had a good temper and trusted her very much. No matter what, Ge Lan had no reason to betray her.
However, it had been more than ten years since they had met each other. Up to now, Ge Lan was no longer protecting Ran Yan for her own sake. Although they were master and servant in name, their relationship was more like sisters.
Ge Lan once again bowed at Ran Yan and asked to stay.
“All right.” Ran Yan’s eyes shifted towards the dark rainy sky, her voice slightly cold, “I won’t stand in your way when you deal with Madam Gao. If necessary, I’ll assist you. This is how I’ll use her body to repay, but please remember that your Miss’ death had nothing to do with me. If one day I find out that you did something against me, don’t blame me for not showing mercy… I’ve never been a schemer, but if I wanted someone to die, they would not be able to survive.”
Ge Lan fixated her eyes on Ran Yan’s back, a complicated expression flashed through her eyes. This person in front of her was clearly her Miss, but she could not be her Miss. The Miss she knew of couldn’t speak these words with such confidence.
After a moment of silence, Ge Lan wrote down a few words on the paper and handed them to Ran Yan. She respectfully bowed before standing up to put the inkstone in its original place. She then walked into the side room.
Ran Yan opened the piece of paper, the first sentence on it was:
You are a person worthy of this servant’s admiration.
The second sentence was:
Miss should sleep early.
It wasn’t just admiration but also respect. For someone like Ge Lan, if Ran Yan couldn’t make her pledge her loyalty, she would have to wait until Ge Lan was subdued. Ran Yan curled her lips slightly and took out the paper strips, slowly burning them in the lantern. In front of the light, Ran Yan’s eyes squinted, her dark eyes reflected a cluster of flames that could not be extinguished.
The mountain breeze blew the ashes as they scattered in the night rain.
After sitting quietly for a while, Ran Yan tightened up her tight-fitting satin robe, and picked up the lantern, returning to her bedroom.
Ran Yan’s foot had just entered the inner chamber when she smelled a familiar sweetness.
It was the smell of blood!
She slowed her footsteps as much as possible and retreated to the door. After taking two or three steps, a cold and weak voice sounded from the room. “Don’t be afraid. It’s me.”
Ran Yan heaved a sigh of relief and returned to the room. As soon as she had entered, the stench of blood intensified, almost filling up the entire room. Ran Yan slightly frowned. She knew a human body like the back of her hand. To form such a bloodthirsty smell, that person must have lost a lot of blood.
“Why did you get hurt again?” Ran Yan’s tone was indifferent as she lit up the lamp beside her bed. Although she had expected this, she was still startled by the scene in front of her.
Su Fu, dressed in black, was leaning against the window with his sword. His entire body was covered with traces of being cut by a sword. His body was soaked with blood, causing his clothes to show every shape of his muscle. A pool of blood had gathered under his body. There was no wound on his handsome face, but the paleness of his face itself was frightening. His deep blue eyes were devoid of their former luster.
Ran Yan squatted beside him to check on his wounds.
Su Fu suddenly laughed. His laughter was low and hoarse, but it was incomparably carefree as if he had been freed. Ran Yan raised her head to look at him in surprise, but she only saw a stunning smile on the pale, handsome face. Amidst the dim light, it was dazzling.
Ran Yan frowned. “Who injured you like this?”
Ran Yan couldn’t accept this fact. She hadn’t personally seen this perfect body of his, yet she was forced to look at this perfect scene now. She should have died a thousand times.
“I am free!” Su Fu laughed until he was exhausted, causing the wounds on his body to open up again.
Ran Yan went out to fetch a basin of water and took a box of herbs from the corner of the room. She quickly unfastened Su Fu’s clothes as she dipped the white cloth in water and wiped the blood off of his body. As she did so, she splashed wine onto the wound and quickly cleaned his upper body. The large wound was swiftly disinfected with wine and stitched together. After cleaning up the wound, she applied for the medicine and cut out the cloth into clean white stripes.
Then, without putting much thought into it, Ran Yan began to take off Su Fu’s bottom part. She loosened his clothes, but her wrist was grabbed by a large hand.
