Chapter 104 (1/2): If I lie to you, I will die

Duan Ling’s untreated wound continued to seep blood outward.  

Lin Ting immediately pulled him away from the spot, returning to the room to find healing medicine.  

She first cleaned his wound carefully, then wrapped it tightly with strips of cloth.  

Because she was afraid of hurting Duan Ling, her movements were slow.  

By the time she finished bandaging him, a quarter of an hour had passed.  

“Don’t do this again.”  

She had to die once from illness herself—no matter how much she drank his medicine or his blood, it wouldn’t change anything.  

Besides, how could she drink Duan Ling’s blood?

How could she even bring herself to do that?  

Lin Ting turned to look at the few handkerchiefs stained red on the table.

Those were the ones she’d used to wipe his blood.

A faint metallic scent still lingered in the air around them.  

Duan Ling lowered his eyes and said softly, “Since it’s useless, I naturally won’t do this again.”  

Lin Ting’s hand, resting on Duan Ling’s wrist, slowly moved down to caress the back of his hand, where the blood vessels were faintly visible beneath the skin.  

She traced along his slender fingers, finally settling on his slightly reddened fingertips.  

His fingertips twitched but didn’t push her away, allowing her to hold his hand warmly in her palm.  

Outside the window, the wind rose, and a withered yellow leaf drifted down from the courtyard’s great tree.  

Lin Ting sat with her back to the window, facing Duan Ling, unable to see the falling leaf—but he saw it.  

The winter cold wind was merciless, carrying away leaf after leaf.  

Lin Ting pondered for a moment, then said seriously, “After I die, you must personally send me off at my funeral.”  

The funeral would be held on the seventh day after death, the Shouqi.  

Duan Ling said, “I’m going to send you off?”  

She looked him straight in the eye.

“We are married. I am your wife, and you are my husband. Isn’t it only natural for you to personally send me off? Or do you not even want to do that much for me?”  

He repeated, “You won’t die. If that’s true, why should I send you off?”  

Lin Ting clung to him stubbornly, forcing him to agree: “I don’t care. After I die, you must personally send me off.”  

After a moment of stalemate, Duan Ling relented as she wished: “Fine. After you die, I will personally send you off. Are you satisfied with that?”  

“Really?”  

He nodded, “Really.”  

Even so, Lin Ting wasn’t entirely reassured, fearing he was only pretending to humor her.  

“What if you’re lying and don’t send me off?”  

Duan Ling stroked her cheek and smiled lightly by saying, “If I lied to you, I wouldn’t die a good death.”  

“I don’t want that kind of cursed oath.”  

His fingertip lightly tapped her eye corner again, patient.

“Then what do you want?”  

Lin Ting thought for a moment.

“Swear by the person or thing you care about most in your heart. If you lie to me about this, you will forever lose the one you care about most—whether in this life, the next, or the one after that.”  

Duan Ling didn’t swear immediately.  

Lin Ting didn’t miss a single expression on his face.

“You won’t swear by what I said—does that mean you were lying to me just now?”  

In the end, he swore: “I, Duan Ling, Duan Ziyu, swear today that if I lie to Lin Ting, Lin Leyun, about this matter, I will forever lose the one I care about most. Whether in this life, the next, or the one after that.”  

After swearing, Duan Ling took out a hand warmer and placed it in Lin Ting’s lap.  

She pressed her hand on it.

“You ask.”  

Duan Ling looked at her without blinking and asked, “Have you always faced death so calmly?”  

“No.”  

He seemed not to feel the pain in his wound, lifted the teapot with his injured hand, poured some tea, and asked again, “Did you come to accept it recently?”  

Lin Ting took the teapot from him and poured him a cup.

“Yes. Recently.”  

Duan Ling sipped his tea and asked again, “Was it before or after you learned you might die?”  

Lin Ting hesitated a few seconds then replied, “After I learned I might die.”  

More precisely, after she learned she could be revived after dying from illness—otherwise, she would have been the most anxious person alive.  

“Why are you suddenly asking this?”  

Duan Ling finished his tea and said, “I’m just curious. I’ve seen all kinds of people in the prison. Some are very afraid of death, some die unwillingly but unafraid, yet I rarely see anyone change from fearing death to not fearing it in such a short time.”  

Lin Ting:  “……”

After he finished drinking, his hand still holding the cup, “Are you really going to die?”  

What did it mean, really going to die?

Lin Ting averted her eyes.

“I don’t want to die either, but so many doctors say I have an incurable illness and will definitely die.”  

Duan Ling rubbed the tea cup and said, “I don’t want you to die. Will you stay for me?”  

Before Lin Ting could answer, he muttered to himself, “Look at me, foolish. You can’t control your life or death and don’t want to die. How can I ask you to stay for me?”  

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.  

A servant said through the door, “Second Young Master, Factory Supervisor wants to see you and Young Madam. He’s currently in the main hall. Do you want to see him or not?”  

If Duan Ling refused, they would find an excuse to send Ta Xuening away.  

Duan Ling glanced at Lin Ting.  

Lin Ting knew he was asking her opinion.

“It won’t hurt to meet him.”  

He followed her lead.

“Then we’ll meet him.”  

The servant withdrew.  

Lin Ting threw away the bloodstained handkerchiefs, washed the residual bloodstains from her hands, then put on a cloak and went to the main hall to meet Ta Xuening.  

In the main hall, Ta Xuening’s face was darker and more gloomy than before.  

Upon seeing Lin Ting and Duan Ling, his gloom didn’t dissipate; instead, it deepened, his entire presence colder than the sky.  

He lightly tapped his tea cup with his fingers, not even bothering to stand or greet the hosts.

“Miss Lin, Commandant Assistant Duan.”  

Lin Ting no longer bothered to bow.  

Ta Xuening first looked at Duan Ling, then at Lin Ting, and finally at the green tea cup in his hand.  

“I heard that Miss Lin is ill?”  

Lin Ting thought to herself, no wonder the Eastern Depot’s news was as swift as the Imperial Guard’s.  

She then asked in return, “So what if I am?”  

Ta Xuening slowly set down his tea cup and cleared his throat.

“The thing is, I happened to acquire a hundred-year ginseng root. If you need it, I wouldn’t mind…”  

Lin Ting caught his meaning and replied, “Thank you for the Factory Supervisor’s kindness, but I don’t need it.”  

He stood up abruptly, puzzled and said, “This hundred-year ginseng isn’t something you can just buy with money. It’s very beneficial to the body and can cure many strange illnesses. Are you sure you won’t take it?”  

At first, Ta Xuening had planned to send the ginseng to the Duan Family with others, not come personally.  

But after a night of hesitation, he decided to come himself and see how this sharp-tongued Lin Ting was doing.  

Lin Ting looked at his gaunt face and politely refused.

“No reward without merit.”  

Ta Xuening sneered, “No reward without merit? You’re nearly dead, and you still care about these things? Or is it that you dislike the hundred-year ginseng because it’s been handled by me?”  

Many thought eunuchs were neither male nor female after castration and considered things they touched to be unlucky, so generally tried to avoid contact.  

Never mind, why argue with a girl.  

Ta Xuening’s face darkened, “Miss Lin, rest assured, I haven’t touched this hundred-year ginseng at all. It’s been held by others the whole time.”  

A guard beside him stepped forward, offering a brocade box containing the ginseng to Lin Ting with both hands.  

Lin Ting spoke sincerely, “Factory Supervisor, you misunderstand. I don’t mean that. Actually, there’s another reason I don’t want your hundred-year ginseng—it won’t help my illness.”  

Ta Xuening fell silent.  

Before he could say more, Li Jingqiu entered.  

After seeing the doctor-seekers this morning, Li Jingqiu couldn’t get Lin Ting out of her mind and came straight over, unable to wait for the afternoon.  

Upon arriving at the Duan Family residence and hearing Lin Ting was in the main hall, she headed there directly, unaware that they were seeing a guest.  

So when Li Jingqiu saw a stranger in the hall, she stopped, wanting to leave quietly.

“Sorry, I didn’t know there were visitors. You continue; I’ll wait outside.”  

Ta Xuening instinctively turned his body away the moment he saw Li Jingqiu.  

Even though his appearance had changed, and she might not recognize him, he didn’t want to face her with this eunuch’s look.  

Lin Ting stopped Li Jingqiu from leaving.

“Mother, we’ve finished talking.”  

Out of courtesy, Li Jingqiu asked, “Who is this?”  

Lin Ting had shown her two portraits, one of which was this person, though Li Jingqiu still didn’t know his identity.  

Ta Xuening’s hand clenched involuntarily inside his sleeve, a faint panic flashing in his eyes as he longed to leave the Duan residence immediately.  

Lin Ting timely explained, “This is the Factory Supervisor of the Eastern Depot.”  

She said no more.  

Li Jingqiu was somewhat surprised.  

She knew the Factory Supervisor of the Eastern Depot was a eunuch, but this man, though very thin, was still tall and didn’t look like a eunuch—at first glance, he resembled an ordinary court minister.  

However, although surprised, Li Jingqiu didn’t show it, fearing to offend or implicate her daughter and son-in-law—after all, the Eastern Depot Factory Supervisor was no minor official.  

“Factory Supervisor.”  

Ta Xuening heard her address him as such.

His nails dug into his palms, his tone lukewarm: “Mm.”