Chapter 47: Golden HairPin (2/2)

Jin Anzai looked back at her: Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Lin Ting glared at him: It’s too risky. Duan Ling’s hearing is exceptional-he can detect people’s breathing. 

He’s caught me before. 

Even if Xie Qinghe hides, Duan Ling will hear him if he gets close.

Duan Ling watched their silent exchange, his smile seemingly growing brighter.

Jin Anzai turned and walked into the study, ending their unspoken conversation. 

Lin Ting had no choice but to agree. 

“Lord Duan, please come in.” 

Duan Ling asked thoughtfully, 

“Weren’t you in a hurry to return to the residence? Why are you staying now?”

Lin Ting, unfazed, replied, 

“I’m worried he might not be a good host. It’s better if I personally show you around the study. The matters at the residence aren’t that urgent.” 

Mainly, she was afraid Jin Anzai wouldn’t be able to handle the situation and that Duan Ling might discover Xie Qinghe’s presence.

Duan Ling’s gaze swept over her hand on the doorknob, her palm facing downward, her fingers slender, the tips tinged with a faint blush from being rubbed.

“Thank you for your trouble, Miss Lin Qi.”

Lin Ting responded, 

“It’s no trouble. I’ll just return to the residence a bit later-it’s nothing to worry about.”

Duan Ling brushed past her and stepped into the study, glancing at the books on the shelves. 

“Why did you choose to open a study here?”

The location was remote, with few visitors. 

Most people wouldn’t open a bookstore in such a place unless their goal wasn’t to make money.

Lin Ting understood the underlying meaning of his question.

She countered, 

“Actually, I didn’t open this study to make money.”

Duan Ling remembered that Lin Ting always wore a gold pendant of the God of Wealth and had once asked him for five hundred taels to buy medicine, though she never did. 

“Not to make money?”

Lin Ting began to weave her story. 

“Since I was a child, I’ve dreamed of owning my own study. Whether it makes money or not doesn’t matter. And I’m a bit short on funds, so I could only afford a place in a remote area.”

She put on a poor act-though, to be fair, she didn’t need to act. 

She really was poor.

Duan Ling looked at her with a smile. 

“Wasn’t your wish to make a fortune’? I remember you made that wish on a lotus lantern.”

Lin Ting replied earnestly, 

“In one’s lifetime, how can you have only one wish? Owning my own study was my childhood dream, and ‘making a fortune’ is my current one.”

“That makes sense.”

She changed the subject. 

“If you see any book you like later, I can give it to you.”

One book, not multiple.

Just one.

“Thank you in advance.” Duan Ling’s eyes curved slightly, and he asked casually, 

“Is it just you and Young Master Jin in the study usually?”

Lin Ting didn’t answer immediately. 

Instead, she pondered why he would ask this question. 

Had he heard Xie Qinghe’s breathing and realized there was a fourth person in the study besides them and Jin Anzai?

She didn’t take too long to think, afraid of revealing any clues. 

“No, there’s one more person.”

Duan Ling raised an eyebrow. 

“One more person?”

Lin Ting racked her brain for an explanation. 

“He’s a friend of Jin Anzai’s. He came to the capital to seek refuge with Jin Anzai and had nowhere to stay, so I let him stay here with Jin Anzai. Since the study doesn’t get many customers, it’s just sitting empty anyway.”

He listened quietly and then offered a bland compliment. 

“Miss Lin Qi, you are truly kind.”

She glanced around, trying to figure out where Xie Qinghe was hiding so she could cover for him. 

“We’re all friends. It’s only right to help each other out.”

Duan Ling’s ears twitched slightly. 

“Where is Young Master Jin’s friend? I’ve been here for a while, but I haven’t seen him. Has he gone out?”

Lin Ting hesitated. “He…”

“He’s here.” Jin Anzai emerged from the backyard with someone, his tone calm and unbothered. 

“Lord Duan, would you like to meet my friend?”

She quickly turned around and saw that Xie Qinghe was also wearing a mask. 

Disguising himself would have taken an hour, which they didn’t have. 

He had also changed into a black, fitted outfit with narrow sleeves, a dagger at his waist-more like a martial artist than a nobleman.

Jin Anzai’s public identity was that of a martial artist, so it was normal for him to have a martial artist friend.

Duan Ling remained composed. 

“It’s not that I particularly want to meet Young Master Jin’s friend. It’s just that I heard the breathing of a fourth person in the study and wanted to confirm whether it was your friend or an intruder.”

His gaze slowly swept over Xie Qinghe, whose face was hidden by the mask, and he smiled slightly. 

“Young Master Jin’s friend also likes to wear a mask?”

Lin Ting coughed lightly. 

“Jin Anzai wears a mask because he’s… not particularly good-looking. But he… he made too many enemies while traveling the martial arts world, so he wears a mask to avoid being recognized.”

Xie Qinghe remained silent.

Duan Ling took a step forward. 

“Too many enemies? That sounds dangerous. May I ask for your friend’s name? I’ve always wanted to meet more martial artists. I don’t mind their past. In fact, I recently asked Miss Lin Qi to introduce me to Young Master Jin.”

Lin Ting quickly came up with a name. 

“His name is Shen Jiangui. He’s mute.” 

Duan Ling had once been tasked with capturing Xie Qinghe, so he would recognize Xie Qinghe’s voice. 

Since Xie Qinghe couldn’t mimic voices, it was best if he didn’t speak.

Xie Qinghe looked at them and nodded, confirming her words.

Duan Ling took two more steps forward, his embroidered spring knife brushing against a nearby bookshelf. 

“So Young Master Shen cannot speak. My apologies.”

Xie Qinghe waved his hand dismissively.

Lin Ting subtly stepped between them, interrupting, 

“Let’s not dwell on this. Lord Duan, didn’t you want to tour the study? There are more books

upstairs. Let me show you.”

She didn’t suggest that Jin Anzai take Xie Qinghe out to the street and return after Duan Ling left. 

The streets were frequently patrolled by soldiers who would demand to see the faces of anyone suspicious.

Jin Anzai was indifferent. 

As a former prince, few people had seen his face.

Xie Qinghe was different.

Wanted posters with his image were plastered all over the city. 

Anyone who saw his face would recognize him as Xie Qinghe. 

The streets were more dangerous than the study at this moment.

Lin Ting grabbed Duan Ling’s wrist and led him upstairs. 

“I think the books upstairs are more to your taste.” 

The sooner they finished the tour, the sooner he would leave.

The three of them couldn’t help but notice her natural grasp of his wrist.

Jin Anzai’s expression was peculiar.

Xie Qinghe looked puzzled. 

What was her relationship with Duan Ling? 

From what he knew, Duan Ling appeared gentle but was highly cautious. 

In the prison, he had been like a demon. 

How could he let someone touch him so easily?

Duan Ling lowered his gaze and remained still.

Lin Ting, realizing they were all staring at her hand holding his wrist, immediately let go. 

She had only grabbed him in her haste to lead him away from Xie Qinghe. 

She acted as if nothing had happened. 

“Why aren’t you coming upstairs?”

Duan Ling rotated the wrist she had held, looking down at it as if she had pressed on an old wound. 

“Because I still have a question for Young Master Shen.”

Lin Ting, keeping a straight face, asked on Xie Qinghe’s behalf. 

“What do you want to ask?”

The candles in the study had been extinguished before Duan Ling entered. 

In the dim light, he looked directly at Xie Qinghe. 

“Young Master Shen, have we met before? Though I can’t see your face, you remind me of an… old acquaintance.”

Lin Ting’s heart tightened. 

“That’s impossible. Young Master Shen just arrived in the capital and rarely goes out. How could you have met him?” 

Duan Ling lifted his gaze to look at her. 

“That’s why I said it feels like we’ve met, not that we have.”

Jin Anzai casually pulled over a chair and sat down, leaning against a bookshelf. 

“It wouldn’t be surprising if you had. After all, he used to travel the martial arts world.”

“Young Master Jin is right.” 

Duan Ling smiled faintly and stopped looking at Xie Qinghe. 

He turned and walked toward the wooden staircase, lifting the hem of his robe as he ascended.

Lin Ting led the way upstairs.

After they went upstairs, Xie Qinghe didn’t return to the backyard. 

Duan Ling was naturally suspicious the more you tried to hide, the more he would doubt.

Since they had already met with him wearing a mask, it was better to deal with it a bit longer. 

Upstairs, Lin Ting quickly introduced Duan Ling to the study and then led him back downstairs, saying candidly, 

“Would you like to see the backyard? I have a few chickens and a dog there.”

Duan Ling replied, 

“Sure.”

She had only mentioned it casually to make Duan Ling think the study was normal, but she hadn’t expected him to want to see the backyard as well.

Fine, since he’d already seen Xie Qinghe, the backyard was no big deal.

Lin Ting thought to herself, 

“Let’s just get this over with.”

Jin Anzai sat by the first row of bookshelves, watching indifferently as the two descended the stairs, lifted the hanging curtain, and stepped into the backyard.

Xie Qinghe sat quietly across from Jin Anzai, staring at a bookshelf in deep thought.

The sight of Duan Ling reminded him of the day the Xie family was raided. 

A group of Imperial Guards had surrounded all the Xie family members, ignoring their explanations, and directly imprisoned them. 

The men were interrogated and then executed, while the women were sent to the government brothel to live as slaves for the rest of their lives.

The Imperial Guard who led the raid wasn’t Duan Ling but a deputy commander.

Duan Ling had only been tasked with capturing him later.

No matter which imperial guard led the troops to raid the Xie family, it wasn’t their fault. 

They obeyed the emperor’s orders, and every action was dictated by him. 

If the ruler demands the subject’s death, the subject has no choice but to comply.

Xie Qinghe would never forget the feeling of that moment-utter helplessness, despair, and hopelessness.

No one could save them. 

For three generations, the Xie family had served as generals. 

His brothers held military positions, while he, the pampered one who never learned martial arts, was the one who survived. 

They all died. 

Thinking of this, Xie Qinghe slowly clenched his fist.

He hated, how could he not hate.

At this moment, Jin’an tapped the bookshelf with the hilt of his sword, reminding Xie Qinghe to control his expression. 

Lin Ting and Duan Ling, who had entered the backyard, were about to come in.

Xie Qinghe quickly composed himself.

Lin Ting, seeing Duan Ling off, passed by Xie Qinghe and noticed the strap of his mask had come loose, the mask about to fall. 

Almost instinctively, she lunged forward and pressed it back into place.

For a moment, time seemed to stand still.

Xie Qinghe froze in place. 

When the mask was about to fall, he had felt it and intended to fix it, but Lin Ting had acted faster.

Duan Ling, seeing Lin Ting suddenly lunge toward Xie Qinghe, instinctively raised his hand to stop her but only grasped at the air, a testament to her incredible speed.

He lowered his hand and calmly watched Lin Ting, who was still firmly pressing Xie Qinghe’s mask.

The golden hairpin in Lin Ting’s hair, shaken by her swift movement, dangled precariously. 

The tassels swayed incessantly, their ends tapping against her hair until finally, the pin fell to the ground with a soft clink. 

Duan Ling’s gaze followed the golden hairpin.

The golden hairpin he had placed in her hair had fallen.