Entangled Love GL - Chapter 31

Duan Min had always known that Mu Ye was an exceptionally clever and capable girl, but after hearing her words this time, she still felt that she had consistently underestimated her. And for her to discover all these details, Lady Yun must have played a crucial role.

Duan Min couldn’t figure out why Lady Yun would entrust all her personal matters to an outsider without saying a word to her.

Whether she understood it or not, it was already a fact. Duan Min remained silent for a long time before finally admitting, “Your guess is very reasonable. We can skip the details. I just want to correct two mistakes. First, my father didn’t help the Empress with this matter. Although he has always been unable to forgive himself, he did nothing wrong at that time. Second,” Duan Min paused slightly, sighing softly: “I am not a princess.”

Mu Ye, who had been listening expressionlessly, was suddenly startled. Her face seemed to thaw like ice and snow, her eyes instantly regaining their bright, lively look, and her voice became vibrant: “Really? I was wrong?”

“Yes, you were wrong.” Duan Min examined her with a slight guard and asked, “What does my identity have to do with you?”

Mu Ye suddenly smiled radiantly: “If you were a princess, no one could stop you from returning to the palace, but since you are not, can you please not impersonate one? Can you come with me?”

Duan Min was momentarily unable to follow the situation and had no words to answer her.

Mu Ye didn’t wait for her reply and continued happily, “That night, you said you didn’t like Yang Mei, so I thought you could come with me. I know you have something on your mind, and I’ve been working hard these two days to find out quickly and help you finish it. So, I was really disappointed when I thought you were a princess and all my effort was in vain. Now it’s fine. I’ve guessed most of it. There’s no need for you to hide it from me anymore. Can you tell me what you plan to do? Are you going to tell the Emperor the truth? Then there’s no need to listen to Prince Xuan’s bad idea to impersonate a princess. We can think of other ways…”

“Wait a moment!” Duan Min had listened to her for a long time without a single point being relevant. She couldn’t help but ask, “Why do you want me to go with you?”

Mu Ye seemed very surprised by her question and said as a matter of course, “I’ve been traveling south and north alone for four years. It’s very lonely. I get along well with you. Wouldn’t it be great if we traveled the world together as companions, simultaneously performing heroic deeds and treating the injured?”

Duan Min still felt very strange and immediately asked again, “Don’t you have a lot of dissatisfaction with me?”

Mu Ye calmed down a little at this point. She thought for a moment and said, “In the future, I will protect you well so you can feel at ease, and then you can be a good person.”

Duan Min couldn’t help but smile, thinking, you truly believe I’m not a good person. That was fine, but you were being a little naive to think of changing me and making me the good person you envision. Just as Duan Min was about to ask what a good person was like, she suddenly thought of someone. That night, Mu Ye said that just looking at Shu Hongxiu made her tired. Could it be Shu Hongxiu?

“Do you think I resemble someone?”

Mu Ye chuckled softly, her mood clearly dropping: “Min-jie is truly clever. But while you two look very similar at first glance, you are actually very different.”

After saying this, Mu Ye softened her tone and said, “It doesn’t matter whether you look alike or not. I won’t be seeing her anyway.” She quickly changed the topic again, “Min-jie, let’s not stray off-topic. We should be discussing what exactly you want to do? How can I help?”

Duan Min scrutinized her and solemnly shook her head: “This matter might be insignificant to you. You only spent two days and guessed most of it. But it is very important to me. I have been pondering it for many years. I don’t need your help, and I won’t tell you more.”

Mu Ye looked at her, then smiled carelessly: “Alright. I’m idle anyway. I’ll just investigate myself then!”

The next day was the Chrysanthemum Fair at Qingfeng Temple. Yang Mei arrived at the Quiet Garden early to go to the fair with Duan Min and Mu Ye.

Qingfeng Temple was in the north of the city. The temple had a spacious garden called the ‘Sui Han Garden’ (Garden of Three Friends of Winter), which originally only had pines, bamboos, and plum trees, looking very simple and elegant.

Thirty years ago, the former Emperor visited and admired the scenery greatly. That autumn, he bestowed three thousand pots of chrysanthemums, tribute from Qingzhou, to the garden for the public to admire. He said, “Quiet places are good for cultivation, but skill is demonstrated in lively settings. There should be at least one day out of the three hundred and sixty days of the year to let loose a little.” The Daoist priests of the temple dared not disobey, and thus, every autumn, they held the ‘Sheng Feng Chrysanthemum Fair’ (Chrysanthemum Fair in Honor of the Sage). They even engraved the saying, “Quiet places are good for cultivation, but skill is demonstrated in lively settings,” onto a stone tablet and placed it in the garden.

Duan Min and the other two each donated ten wen of incense money at the entrance and entered the Sui Han Garden. There were many visitors today. The Three Friends Pavilion, the Endless Pavilion, the Crane-Awaiting Pavilion, and the Holy Light Pavilion in the garden were all full of people. The winding long corridors were also very crowded. Fortunately, the chrysanthemums in the garden were truly exquisite, offering changing scenery with every step, which was quite delightful.

Mu Ye had never been here before and had never seen many of the chrysanthemums, so she was the most excited, constantly asking questions about everything she saw.

Duan Min recognized the most, answering things like, “This is the Golden Calyx Drooping Silk Chrysanthemum,” “This is a flower variety imported from the Southern Kingdom,” and “This chrysanthemum takes three years to fully grow.” Talking and introducing them like this made her a bit more cheerful than usual.

Yang Mei was naturally also happy. She stayed by Duan Min’s side, sometimes asking questions, and sometimes just watching her quietly.

After touring half the garden, the three of them found a less crowded spot in the corridor. They called for a vendor selling cold tea, ordered three bowls, and sat down to rest and drink.

As they were sitting, they saw a crowd of people gathered in front, doing something unknown. Someone nearby had just returned from checking and said, “A Daoist priest is lecturing there on the numbers of the flowers, saying something about how the arrangement of five flowers represents certain concepts…”

Mu Ye and Duan Min were not interested in these things, but Yang Mei remembered something and asked the two of them to wait a moment while she went to listen.

A moment after Yang Mei left, a child with a tiger-like head ran over and said to Mu Ye, “Are you Sister Peach Blossom? A big sister over there asked me to pass a message. She said she has something important to tell you and asked you to meet behind that pine tree.”

The child pointed to a large pine tree not far away and quickly ran off.

Mu Ye couldn’t think of who would be looking for her, but she was both highly skilled and bold. She had to investigate when her curiosity was piqued. Moreover, seeing the large number of ordinary citizens around and no suspicious figures, she said to Duan Min, “Min-jie, please sit here for a while. I’ll go check it out and be right back.”

Duan Min didn’t think much of it and said, “Don’t rush. I’m just tired, so I’ll rest here and wait for you both.”

Duan Min sat in the corridor, watching Mu Ye walk toward the pine tree, then turned to look at Yang Mei. Yang Mei had already entered the crowd and was almost invisible. Duan Min found it somewhat amusing, thinking how Yang Mei had such a peculiar interest, which was utterly unnoticeable usually. Just as she was thinking this, someone sharply chopped the back of her neck. She instantly felt her vision go black and the world spin. Before her mind could fully register “This is bad,” she lost consciousness.

When Duan Min woke up, she only felt muddled. Her eyes wouldn’t open. After stabilizing herself with her eyes closed for a while, she felt a throbbing dull pain in the back of her neck. Her senses gradually returned, and she heard the sound of fighting.

Duan Min fully woke up then. She quickly opened her eyes and found herself leaning in Yang Mei’s arms. She couldn’t help but feel relieved.

Yang Mei saw her wake up and asked anxiously, “How do you feel?”

“I’m fine.” Duan Min sat up and turned her head. Ten meters away, Mu Ye was fighting a person.

The person was a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl, small in stature but extremely agile, wielding a crescent-moon ring-dao. Every strike of the saber grazed Mu Ye, looking extremely dangerous.

Yang Mei knew Duan Min was a novice and quickly reassured her, “Don’t worry. Miss Mu will be able to capture her soon.”

Just as she was speaking, Mu Ye’s dagger left her hand and plunged into the girl’s left leg. At the same time, a punch landed squarely on her lower abdomen. Then, taking advantage of her stumble and loss of footing, a palm chop struck her wrist, disarming her of the ring-dao. Mu Ye stepped forward and brought the saber down toward her shoulder.

Seeing that her arm was in jeopardy, the girl was greatly shocked. She quickly leaned back, barely dodging the saber, but was caught off guard by a foot kick added to the saber strike, hitting her in the lower back. She fell backward onto the ground. When she tried to get up again, the ring-dao was already pressed against her neck, immobilizing her.

“Speak! Who are you? Why did you attack Min-jie?” Mu Ye reached out and pulled out the dagger. Bl00d immediately gushed out. The girl was in tears from the pain, but she gritted her teeth and refused to speak.

Yang Mei and Duan Min also came over at this point. Mu Ye added, “If you speak properly, we might spare you. If you keep stalling like this, you’ll bleed to death!”

Hearing this, the girl angrily “hmph-ed” and said, “You are a recognized figure as well. It’s not shameful for me to die here! It’s just laughable that you are deaf and blind, not even knowing why I came!”