Chapter 43: He seems to like this smell (2/2)

Lin Ting couldn’t help but purse her lips that he had kissed: 

“It’s fine, I know you didn’t mean it, I won’t tell anyone.”

He was still looking at her.

Lin Ting averted her eyes first, pointing to the small cave: 

“It’s past midnight, it’s my turn to keep watch, if your clothes are dry, go inside and rest, I’ll wake you at dawn.”

Duan Ling retracted his gaze, breaking the branch: 

“Then I’ll trouble Miss Lin Qi.”

He walked into the small cave where he had slept.

Lin Ting glanced outside the cave, adding wood to the fire, waiting for dawn by the fire.

The latter half of the night passed relatively quickly, Lin Ting felt like she hadn’t waited long before dawn, extinguishing the fire that had been burning all night, wanting to wake Duan Ling to descend the mountain together. 

But before she could call him, he pushed aside the weeds at the cave entrance and walked out.

She stretched, looking at Duan Ling’s hand: 

“Your wound hasn’t worsened, has it?”

“No.” 

Duan Ling had been a medicinal test subject in his youth, immune to all poisons, with strong self-healing abilities, while ordinary people might take a month to recover from injuries, he only needed a few days.

Lin Ting saw that it hadn’t worsened either, stepping outside: 

“Then let’s descend the mountain now.”

Duan Ling walked behind her.

Without the fog and miasma during the day, the descent went smoothly, and near the mountain foot, they encountered imperial guards coming to look for Duan Ling.

The Great Yan had open customs, and Lin Ting had followed up the mountain to save someone, so no one would gossip, especially since these were imperial guards, the most tight-lipped, who would never spread rumors.

Lin Ting knew Tao Zhu must be very worried about her, so she hurried back to the city without stopping.

Upon returning to the Lin residence, Lin Ting went straight to Tingling Courtyard, using a hidden side door. 

Tao Zhu, seeing her return, eagerly asked if anything had happened, how she had followed those black-clad men for a night.

Lin Ting didn’t tell the truth, only saying that the ones who took Duan Ling were mountain bandits, and she had rescued him. 

“Mountain bandits?” 

Tao Zhu and the coachman didn’t know martial arts, their hearing wasn’t as good as hers, so they hadn’t heard the black clad men’s conversation with Duan Ling the previous day, thus didn’t hear the words “Prince Liang,” 

“Mountain bandits took Lord Duan?”

Lin Ting: 

“Yes, Duan Ling wasn’t wearing his flying fish uniform yesterday, they didn’t know he was an imperial guard, seeing him dressed like a noble young master, they wanted to take him and demand ransom from his family.”

The mountains outside the capital were often infested with mountain bandits, something long-time residents of the capital knew.

The government didn’t suppress the mountain bandits, letting them be because the mountains were easy to defend and hard to attack, and small bandits posed no threat to the court, so it wasn’t worth spending a lot of manpower, resources, and finances to deal with them.

Tao Zhu listened attentively: 

“But Lord Duan knows martial arts, why didn’t he resist at the time?”

Lin Ting continued to fabricate: 

“They used a muscle relaxant on Duan Ling, so he couldn’t resist.”

Prince Liang, Prince Liang had even died, she must have been scared out of her wits.

“Is that so?” 

Tao Zhu understood, 

“Then is Lord Duan alright now?”

If Tao Zhu knew the culprit was Prince Liang……

“He was slightly injured, but his life isn’t in danger. You didn’t tell my mother about yesterday’s events, did you?” 

Lin Ting had hurried back at full

speed, thirsty to death, quickly walking into the room to pour tea.

Tao Zhu followed her in: 

“I knew you didn’t want to worry Madam, so I didn’t tell her, and also told Uncle Chen not to say anything.”

“You did well.”

Tao Zhu didn’t feel happy even after being praised, hesitating: 

“Did you fall in love with Lord Duan while planning to take revenge on him?” 

There were also such plots in stories, where one falls in love with their enemy while seeking revenge, willing to risk their life.

The water in Lin Ting’s mouth sprayed out: 

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

Tao Zhu: 

“You went after those black-clad men for Lord Duan yesterday, even knocked me out, I’ve never seen you care so much about an outsider’s life before.”

Lin Ting held her forehead: 

“I do care about Duan Ling’s life, but I don’t like him.”

“Really?”

“If I lie, I won’t prosper.”

Tao Zhu believed her, as this was a very malicious and vicious oath for the seventh miss: 

“I believe you, Seventh Miss, you don’t like Lord Duan.”

The reason the seventh miss saved Lord Duan was because she knew she had the ability to save him, wanting to make him completely fall for her, it was quite a thoughtful move. 

Tao Zhu understood again.

This move was too strong, even if she remembered it, she couldn’t learn it, so she decided not to remember this move.

Lin Ting couldn’t read minds, didn’t know Tao Zhu’s little thoughts, put down the teacup: 

“How did you deceive my mother last night?”

Tao Zhu took a handkerchief to wipe her face: 

“Madam didn’t come looking for you last night, nor did she send anyone to ask why you didn’t come to pay respects, probably went to bed early, do you want to see Madam now?”

“No, I want to bathe, then sleep, go call someone to prepare water.”

“Alright.”

While bathing, Lin Ting asked Tao Zhu if Third Master Lin had gone to find Li Jingqiu recently.

Tao Zhu hesitated: 

“Since the day you lent Third Master Lin three thousand taels, he hasn’t visited Madam’s courtyard, angry that you lent him money and made him sign a contract, feeling you didn’t treat him as a father.”

“Hmph, angry then angry, I really don’t treat him as a father.” 

Third Master Lin had beaten and scolded her, how could Lin Ting possibly acknowledge him.

Tao Zhu felt indignant: 

“Third Master indeed isn’t worthy of being your father, Seventh Miss.”

“From last night until now, has anyone outside the east side of the courtyard released a sky lantern?” 

Even in the Lin residence, Lin Ting wouldn’t constantly watch outside the courtyard, having the servants keep an eye out for sky lanterns.

Tao Zhu shook her head: “No.”

No sky lantern, meaning Jin Anzai had nothing to ask her, the bookstore had nothing happening, she could rest easy, Lin Ting finished bathing, activated the instant sleep skill, and fell asleep as soon as she touched the bedding.

Unexpectedly, she slept until the next day, Lin Ting’s first task upon waking was to send someone to inquire if any major events had happened in the capital.

Tao Zhu gradually became adept at gathering information: 

“Nothing major has happened in the capital… oh, the princess’s consorts are jealous, fighting over her, does that count?”

Lin Ting: “That doesn’t count.”

Nothing major happened? 

The court hasn’t noticed Prince Liang’s disappearance? 

Was this also part of Duan Ling’s plan? 

Whatever, she wouldn’t worry about this, leave it to Duan Ling to solve. 

Lin Ting prepared to go to the bookstore, which hadn’t had any business for over a month. 

Every time she went to the bookstore, she wouldn’t bring Tao Zhu, this time was no exception.

Upon arriving at the bookstore, Lin Ting coincidentally ran into Jin Anzai who was about to go out, still holding the dog, she found it strange: 

“Are you taking the dog for a walk?”

Jin Anzai walked onto the street: 

“It’s unwell, I’m taking it to see the vet.”

Lin Ting had nothing to do, accompanied him to find the vet: 

“Did you feed it something wrong, do you not know how to raise a dog?”

Jin Anzai paused: “…” 

He had no experience raising dogs, it was possible, 

“Let’s see what the vet says first.”

“Alright.” 

Lin Ting guessed Jin Anzai had indeed fed the dog something wrong.

Sure enough, the vet said the dog was unwell from eating something wrong, prescribed some medicine, and told Jin Anzai to feed it to the dog.

On the way back, Jin Anzai protected the dog, not letting anyone bump into it. 

Lin Ting found it fresh, rarely seeing him so cautious: 

“Where did you bring it back from? So fond of it?” 

“Rescued it from the street, it resembles my past self, so I wanted to raise it.”

“I see.”

 Lin Ting remembered when she first saw this dog, it had many injuries, 

“I’ll find you some dog-raising manuals when I get back, don’t feed it the wrong things again.”

Jin Anzai: “…..”

Lin Ting was about to reach out to pet the dog, when she suddenly heard a chaotic sound of horse hooves ahead, followed by the exclamations of the street’s people. 

She looked over, seeing panicked pedestrians dodging and a horse running wild, with a young girl on its back.

The girl desperately pulled the reins, trying to control the out-of-control horse, her yellow palace attire fluttering in the wind, the gold hairpin on her cloud-like bun swaying dangerously, her delicately powdered beautiful face showing a hint of panic.

But she failed to control the horse.

And behind her, many people were chasing: 

“Princess! Princess!” 

Chasing the horse were consorts, palace maids, eunuchs, and some guards.

Just as the horse was about to collide with a defenseless old woman, Jin Anzai quickly placed the dog in Lin Ting’s arms, leaped forward, swiftly grabbed the reins of the out-of-control horse.

The horse’s hooves rose high in front of the old woman, narrowly missing her.

The onlookers all held their breath, Lin Ting was also terrified. 

Fortunately, the horse was controlled in time, and no one was injured.

The princess on the horse, her face pale, looked at Jin Anzai who had stopped the horse. 

He wore a mask, his true appearance unseen, but the hand that had grabbed the reins, due to the wrist guard being pulled up, revealed a small red plum blossom birthmark on the inner wrist.

The princess, seeing the red plum blossom birthmark, lost her composure, murmuring: 

“Brother Qi.”

Jin Anzai heard the “Brother Qi,” reacted differently and released the  calm horse. 

The princess dismounted, stopped him from leaving, initially wanting to call out “Brother Qi,” but seeing the eunuchs and palace maids catching up, changed to: 

“Young master.”

He ignored her and continued to leave.

The eunuch shrilly scolded: 

“The princess is calling you, didn’t you hear?”

The princess instead scolded the eunuch: 

“Don’t be rude to our savior, if it weren’t for him, how would the horse have stopped, relying on you bunch of useless fools?”

Jin Anzai bowed to her with utmost indifference and said, 

“This commoner pays his respects to the princess.”

The princess chased after him for a few steps but ultimately did not catch up, watching him walk away.

Jin Anzai then approached Lin Ting, taking the dog from her arms. 

“Let’s go. What are you staring at? Do you think this is a performance?” 

Lin Ting pouted, “Oh.”

***

In the stillness of the night, the North Town Military Command remained brightly lit. 

Duan Ling sat at his desk, reviewing recent case files.

It wasn’t until the fourth watch that he finally put down his brush and walked to the window, gazing at the handkerchief hanging on the clothesline outside.

This was the handkerchief Lin Ting had used to bandage his wound yesterday, now washed clean.

Duan Ling watched it for a while, about to turn and retire to the main room when a gust of wind lifted the handkerchief and it landed on his face. 

He should have removed it immediately, but he faintly caught a lingering trace of feminine fragrance.

It seemed he quite liked this scent.