The sudden kiss was like a skimming touch, fleeting and brief, leaving only a coolness and a hint of dampness with a lingering scent.
Lin Ting, surprised, took another half-step back, causing the gold hairpin in her hair to loosen and fall.
Duan Ling caught the falling hairpin in mid-air this time and put it back in place.
With a lowered gaze that resembled a jade-faced bodhisattva, he asked,
“What’s wrong? I thought you would like this kind of closeness, after all, that’s how you treated me in the South Mountain Pavilion.”
Lin Ting paused for a moment and replied, “I like it.”
The shopkeeper was about to approach them but was called away by a shop assistant:
“Sir, where is the gold bracelet that Lady Chen ordered?”
Duan Ling seemingly casually picked up a pair of purple jade earrings with gold inlays, calmly examining the few delicate little bells attached to the ends, and gently shook them to hear the bells chime against the jade:
“Since you like it, why haven’t you taken the initiative to be close to me lately?”
Lin Ting racked her brain for an excuse and said,
“Because I feel like all of this is a bit unreal, and I haven’t fully adapted yet.”
Duan Ling reached up and removed the tassel earring from Lin Ting’s earlobe, replacing it with the new purple jade earrings.
His fingertips held her earlobe: “How about today? Do you still feel like everything is unreal today?”
He had never helped anyone put on earrings before and was not very skilled at it.
It took him a few tries to align with the tiny hole and slowly push the top of the earring in.
Lin Ting’s ears felt inexplicably itchy.
Duan Ling’s hand was warm, while the purple jade earrings were cool and cold.
The interplay of these two temperatures made the person who touched them feel as if they were in a world of fire and ice.
Once the purple jade earrings were fully in place, her earlobe swayed slightly:
“That’s it.”
Duan Ling did not look at Lin Ting in front of him, but at the mirror opposite.
The mirror reflected their appearances.
Both had gorgeous looks, with delicate and profound features, clear contours, yet each had their own characteristics.
He leaned towards a gorgeous beauty, while she leaned towards a cold beauty, but her eyes looked very warm.
It had to be admitted that this was the first time Duan Ling liked a pair of eyes so much.
He really liked them.
Whenever she looked at him, he could feel a strong sense of pleasure, a kind of liking that could move the heartstrings.
Lin Ting followed Duan Ling’s gaze and first looked at his face, then at herself.
In the mirror, she was lightly made up, with her hair tied in twin buns.
Bright apricot-colored silk ribbons hung down on both sides, as if about to entwine with the two strands of long hair in front, occasionally brushing against her earlobe and the purple jade earrings on it.
Lin Ting was wearing a light purple wide-sleeved dress today, which matched the purple jade earrings very well.
Although her bone structure was cold and beautiful, her actual personality was lively, so her eyebrows and eyes carried a hint of mischief, with a unique liveliness and vivacity that belonged to a young girl.
After looking for a while, Lin Ting’s gaze gradually moved up and inadvertently met Duan Ling’s.
He was looking at her in the mirror, and she was looking at him in the mirror, as if seeing the real through the illusory.
Duan Ling’s lips slowly curved into a pleasing arc: “How about this pair of purple jade earrings?”
Lin Ting wanted to take off the pair of purple jade earrings:
“They are very beautiful. Anyone would like their appearance, but they are not quite suitable for me.”
Duan Ling held Lin Ting’s hand and stopped her:
“If you think they look good now, does it really matter whether they are suitable or not?”
At this time, Li Jingqiu came in with Tao Zhu: “This pair of earrings is beautiful. Did Second Young Master Duan pick them? You have such good taste. They really suit Le Yun. Tao Zhu, don’t you think they are very suitable?”
Tao Zhu responded woodenly: “Yes.”
She still couldn’t believe that Lin Ting would publicly propose to Duan Ling.
Seeing them standing together now felt both eerie and harmonious.
Was the seventh young lady truly willing to marry Director Duan, or was this also part of a revenge plan?
It should be the latter.
The seventh young lady had always despised Director Duan since childhood and couldn’t possibly change her mind about revenge.
But how would she carry out the revenge after marriage?
Would it be by neglecting Director Duan, emulating the princess who liked to keep male favorites, and using the Duan family’s money to find other men?
Leaving him to guard an empty room in the future.
Tao Zhu thought she had figured it out.
Lin Ting noticed the ever-changing expressions on Tao Zhu’s face and found it strange, but she didn’t have time to ask her.
She was caught by Li Jingqiu to look at other gold and silver jewelry.
Duan Ling didn’t stay in the jewelry shop for long.
The Northern Town Command sent someone to find him, saying there was urgent official business that needed his attention back at the office.
Lin Ting didn’t mind.
She was more comfortable when Duan Ling was not around.
Li Jingqiu, however, was a bit worried and suggested,
“Second, Young Master Duan is so busy. Won’t you two be apart more than together after marriage? What if your feelings fade because of this? You need to think of a way to keep him thinking of you all the time.”
Lin Ting casually touched the displayed gold and silver jewelry and said,
“Yeah, he is very busy. It’s for sure that we will be apart more than together after marriage. Maybe we should just break the engagement before we get married.”
Li Jingqiu thought she was just speaking sarcastically because she was unhappy that Duan Ling was too busy to spend time with her.
Lin Ting raised her eyebrows and muttered,
“There are still two months until the wedding. Maybe the Duan family will propose to break the engagement during this time.”
Li Jingqiu thought she was worried that the wedding wouldn’t go through and comforted her,
“Don’t be afraid. I can see that Second Young Master Duan has you in his heart, and Lady Feng likes you very much. The wedding will definitely go smoothly.”
After buying the jewelry, Li Jingqiu took Lin Ting to buy clothes, purchasing a few sets and ordering a few more.
Lin Ting, in turn, insisted on buying two sets for Li Jingqiu.
She knew that her mother couldn’t rely on Father Lin, who had always been frugal, trying to give her the best.
The dress Li Jingqiu was wearing was an old one bought two years ago.
Li Jingqiu initially refused, but she couldn’t persuade Lin Ting to change her mind, so she went behind the curtain and let the tailor measure her.
Lin Ting wandered around the ready made clothing shop.
Tao Zhu was not by her side.
She had just gone to buy some pastries for Li Jingqiu and hadn’t returned yet.
Lin Ting walked and stopped, feeling the softness of an orange waist-length dress hanging on the rack, curious about what kind of fabric it was.
Her family’s cloth shop seemed not to have stocked this kind of goods.
She wondered if she could find out where the fabric of this dress came from by asking the owner of the ready-made clothing shop.
As she was thinking about this, she suddenly felt someone staring at her and looked up abruptly.
Standing at the entrance of the clothing shop was a man.
Lin Ting carefully scrutinized his face and recognized him as the Eastern Factory supervisor she had seen a few days ago.
Seeing that she had noticed him, he walked in with a blank expression:
“Seventh Young Lady Lin.”
Lin Ting was on guard: “Supervisor.”
She couldn’t forget how he had scolded and beaten the young eunuch.
He had a kind of ruthlessness similar yet different from Duan Ling’s.
He didn’t come today to grab her and threaten Duan Ling like in those melodramatic TV shows, did he?
Duan Ling might have some affection and liking for her, but Lin Ting didn’t think this fresh liking could outweigh his future and life.
The possibility of successfully using her to threaten him was very low.
In the end, only she would suffer.
Lin Ting felt it was necessary to hint to the supervisor that no matter what differences or conflicts of interest they had in the court, Duan Ling would never give in for her sake.
But before Lin Ting could say anything, Tà XuÄ›nÃng spoke first.
He looked directly at her, with a gloomy expression that seemed hard to get along with, and asked rudely,
“Are you sure you want to marry Duan Ling?”
“What do you mean, Supervisor?”
Tà XuÄ›nÃng brushed off the non-existent dust from his sleeve and averted his eyes by saying,
“We are kindly reminding you that Duan Ling won’t be in the limelight for long. Marrying him won’t bring you any good days, and you might even be implicated by him.”
Although his voice wasn’t as shrill as that of ordinary eunuchs, it still sounded a bit strange.
Lin Ting naturally didn’t believe that Duan Ling’s political opponents would have good intentions towards her.
She responded tactfully, “I still don’t understand what you mean, Supervisor.”
Tà XuÄ›nÃng’s face became even gloomier:
“You should find an opportunity to call off the marriage.”
This person was too strange.
They had only met once before, and yet he was advising her to break the engagement with Duan Ling right away.
Although Lin Ting also wanted to do so, it didn’t mean she would be manipulated and used as a pawn.
She forced a smile and said smoothly,
“Supervisor, don’t joke with me.”
Tà XuÄ›nÃng wanted to say something more but held back, kicked the threshold in frustration, and walked out of the clothing shop with a flick of his sleeve.
The young eunuch waiting outside greeted him.
The young eunuch whispered, “Since the Commandant of the Duan Command is so ruthless to the Supervisor, should we capture Seventh Young Lady Lin?”
Tà XuÄ›nÃng slapped him hard:
“You are not allowed to touch a single hair of hers.”
The young eunuch covered his face and quickly agreed.
Passers-by glanced at them curiously.
Tà XuÄ›nÃng was wearing his regular clothes today.
Although his expression was gloomy, his appearance was still acceptable.
As long as he didn’t speak and reveal his voice, it was hard for others to tell that he was a eunuch who had lost his roots.
Tà XuÄ›nÃng glared at the onlookers menacingly: “What are you looking at?”
He muttered a few curses under his breath and got into his carriage.
Lin Ting, who was still in the clothing shop, didn’t hear their conversation.
She only saw Tà XuÄ›nÃng slap the young eunuch when he came out and thought it was strange, but she didn’t dwell on it and continued to examine the fabric of the dress.
In the following days, Lin Ting couldn’t see Duan Ling at all and had no chance to dissuade him from the idea of marrying her.
She could only worry and count down the days until the wedding, which was getting closer and closer.
The system, after completing the task on Duan Ling’s birthday, hadn’t appeared again recently, and she didn’t know what the next task would be.
At that time, when she heard Duan Ling’s answer was affirmative, she didn’t even pay attention to the system’s voice in her ear.
After much thought, Lin Ting decided to write a letter to Duan Ling, inviting him to go out of town for a spring outing to probe his feelings and see if he had any intention of changing his mind.
Otherwise, it would be too late by the wedding day.
Without delay, she sat down at the desk and called out: “Tao Zhu, grind the ink.”
Tao Zhu immediately came over to grind the ink for Lin Ting.
Seeing her take out paper and an envelope, she asked,
“Seventh Young Lady, who are you writing to?”
“Duan Ling.”
Tao Zhu was puzzled: “If you want to say something to Director Duan, why don’t you just go to his house and tell him in person? Why write a letter?”
Lin Ting dipped her brush into the ink and also said to Tao Zhu,
“Some things are not convenient to say at his house. I need to meet outside.”
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.