Though the doctor also thought she didn’t need any medicine, he didn’t agree right away and looked to Duan Ling for direction, troubled.
“Sir, this…”
Duan Ling smiled kindly and said, “She said there’s no need, so there’s no need. You may go.”
“Yes.” The doctor picked up his medicine box and left.
With only the two of them left, Lin Ting was about to get back into bed for a nap, but seeing that dawn was near and the hour of the dragon wasn’t far off, she sat up straighter.
“Shall we sit for a bit before going downstairs?”
Duan Ling suddenly brushed her eyes with his hand and asked, “Lin Leyun, are you hiding something from me?”
Lin Ting’s heart skipped a beat.
She retorted, “And you aren’t hiding something from me? You still haven’t told me why you became a medicine man.”
He smiled and asked, “If I told you, would you confess what you’re hiding from me?”
She hooked her pinky finger around his, saying nothing.
Duan Ling looked down at their linked fingers, then hooked hers back, lost in thought.
“Is it something you absolutely can’t tell me?”
Lin Ting still said nothing.
With his other hand, he pressed lightly at the corner of her eye, pressing until it turned a little red before slowly letting go.
“Can I ask—”
But she interrupted, “I like you.”
It wasn’t an answer to his question, but it was pleasing to hear.
A genuine smile rose in Duan Ling’s eyes.
He was about to speak when he suddenly heard something.
With a flick of his wrist, he drew a hairpin from his hair.
As his long hair tumbled down, the sharp end of the hairpin shot toward the window.
The hairpin sliced through the air, making a whooshing sound as it pierced the window paper and shot outside.
Lin Ting stared, dumbfounded.
That hairpin wasn’t the Jade Hairpin she’d given him, but it was still jade.
Duan Ling really was wasteful, just tossing a jade hairpin out like that.
Even though Lin Ting guessed he’d sensed someone outside and was using the nearest thing as a weapon, did he have to use a jade hairpin?
Before she could finish the thought, she saw Jin Anazai jump through the window, holding the jade hairpin.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I have something important to tell you.” Jin Anazai had seen the doctor enter and leave their room, confirming they were awake before coming over.
He’d happened to hear Lin Ting say “I like you” to Duan Ling, which made him feel a bit awkward.
He’d heard about Lin Ting proposing to Duan Ling in public, but that was just a rumor.
Hearing her say something like that with his own ears felt different.
His first thought was: ‘Lin Ting had this side to her? Remembering how she’d always beaten and scolded him, he instantly regretted giving her the Golden Apple.’
Jin Anazai walked into the room and returned the hairpin to Duan Ling.
“Sorry to interrupt, Lord Duan.”
Duan Ling took it but didn’t use it again.
Lin Ting hurried over to lock the door, then returned and looked Jin Anazai up and down in his courier station uniform.
“Just as I thought, you’re here to assassinate the Crown Prince again? You’re really as hard to kill as a cockroach.”
He focused on her last words.
“What do you mean, ‘as hard to kill as a cockroach’?”
“It’s a compliment.”
Jin Anazai glanced at Lin Ting, then said truthfully, “I didn’t come to the Courier Station to assassinate the Crown Prince. I’m here to find the Treading Snow Mud Sect’s Supervisor. No, I mean Ying Zhihe—Lord Ying.”
Speaking of Ying Zhihe, Jin Anazai’s expression became complicated, a wave of long-forgotten pain rising in his heart.
He couldn’t believe the other had turned out this way.
Lin Ting looked at him with satisfaction.
“Good, then I don’t have to collect your corpse for now.”
She’d told Jin Anazai in Ancheng that Treading Snow Mud might be the former minister Ying Zhihe, but she didn’t know why Jin Anazai had chased all the way to the Courier Station to find him.
If he wanted to catch up with Ying Zhihe, he could wait until they returned to Jingcheng; there was no need to risk it under the Crown Prince’s nose.
“Why are you looking for the Supervisor?” Only after asking did Lin Ting remember Duan Ling was there and didn’t know Jin Anazai’s identity.
She paused and glanced at Duan Ling. “He…”
Jin Anazai picked up on her hesitation.
Lin Ting probably felt it wasn’t right to reveal his identity to Duan Ling without his permission.
So at least she wasn’t putting romance above friendship.
But Jin Anazai didn’t care if Duan Ling knew anymore.
He used to fear Duan Ling would throw Lin Ting into the Zhaoyu, but not now.
So Jin Anazai confessed, “I am a prince of the former dynasty.”
Duan Ling didn’t ask much, his tone calm, “I see.”
“That’s it?” Lin Ting felt his reaction was too calm.
When she’d first learned the truth, her mind had been in turmoil—maybe she just hadn’t seen enough of the world?
Duan Ling laughed and asked, “What do you want me to do, arrest Young Master Jin and take him to the Zhaoyu for interrogation?”
In the past, he might have done so, but now he wouldn’t, because Lin Ting would be unhappy.
At some point, he’d started unconsciously basing his actions on Lin Ting’s feelings.
Duan Ling lowered his gaze.
Lin Ting pulled out a chair and sat down.
“That’s not it. I trust you wouldn’t do that.”
She threw the topic back to Jin Anazai.
“You still haven’t answered. Why are you looking for the Supervisor? Changed your mind and want to rebel?”
Jin Anazai shook his head and replied, “I just want to clear something up before we return to Jingcheng—why Lord Ying is helping the Xie Family Army rebel. If it’s to restore the former dynasty and put me on the throne, I’ll persuade him to give up.”
“If it’s for revenge, I hope he succeeds, and I’ll help him. After all, his downfall is connected to me. If he hadn’t secretly helped my mother and me escape, Emperor Jiade wouldn’t have wiped out his whole family.”
Lin Ting understood. “And the Supervisor—”
She corrected herself, “—Lord Ying’s answer?”
Jin Anazai wasn’t wearing a mask today, and his face was expressionless.
“It’s for revenge. So I’ll help Lord Ying from now on.”
“How?”
Jin Anazai thought for a moment and said, “Whatever Lord Ying wants me to do, I’ll do it.”
Lin Ting didn’t ask further.
He had always repaid kindness and revenge alike.
But Duan Ling suddenly asked, “What is the important matter Young Master Jin wanted to tell us?”
Jin Anazai got back to the point.
“That general under Xie Qinghe, Uncle Gui, knows you’re escorting the Crown Prince back to Jingcheng. They’ve set up an ambush on the road ahead from this Courier Station. You’d best take another route.”
He’d considered taking advantage of the chaos to get revenge and kill the Crown Prince, but ultimately chose to warn Lin Ting and Duan Ling to keep them out of danger.
Revenge could wait; if he lost his friends, they’d be gone for good.
So Jin Anazai decided to wait until they returned to Jingcheng to seek revenge, not implicating others.
Duan Ling listened quietly, calmly using another hairpin to fasten his loose hair.
“We never planned to take that road.”
“Did Lord Duan already know they’d set an ambush on your return route?”
Duan Ling smiled slightly.
“No. Just being cautious. Still, thank you for coming to tell us.”
“That’s good, then. I’ll take my leave.” Jin Anazai realized he was being overly concerned.
With the Imperial Guard and the Eastern Bureau both present, even if something happened, they could handle it.
Lin Ting called after him, “Jin Anazai, you said the Crown Prince owes you a life. Is it…”
Jin Anazai understood what she wanted to ask.
“He killed my mother.”
Back then, Ying Zhihe had helped him and his mother escape, and they’d lived together in Suzhou, no longer concerning themselves with court matters, just wanting to live out their lives in peace.
But fate was unkind.
His mother fell gravely ill.
To save her, Jin Anazai went through countless hardships to find a rare medicine.
But while searching, he fell off a cliff and was badly injured.
Afraid of worrying his mother, he had a trusted person deliver the medicine and planned to return after a few days.
Who would have thought that when he returned, his mother had not recovered; she was sitting in the courtyard waiting for him, but all that awaited him was terrible news.
Jin Anazai could not help but hate.
After answering Lin Ting, Jin Anazai left.
Lin Ting watched him go, sitting in a daze.
Duan Ling opened the wardrobe and took out their luggage and said, “Let’s go downstairs.”