Chapter 24: Excessive Cleverness Brings Harm

Once her third sister returned from performing the autopsy, Song Ruozhao seized a perfectly valid excuse to escape that household of eccentrics.

The exquisite carriage rolled along the road. Within the curtains, incense burned with a tranquil scent for a long while. The third sister sat in deep contemplation, longing to voice the questions weighing on her heart, but seeing her second sister’s long lashes lowered in a drowsy nap, she ultimately suppressed her mounting curiosity.

As the signs of human habitation faded outside the carriage, the sound of a bird call—unnatural for the city outskirts—echoed from a deep ravine. The third sister felt a sudden sense of alarm and pinched her own thigh to stay alert, refusing to be seduced by the intoxicating incense.

The curtain was pulled aside, and a familiar, grating voice drifted in: "That moron Song is lucky. Xiao Hualiú’s blade at Qujiang failed to finish her off."

The speaker was none other than the object of the third sister’s hatred. As the curtain was drawn fully back, that arrogant, insolent face intruded upon the space.

"Chen Yan, you are despicable. Prepare for the prison cell," the third sister said with venom. As she spoke, she secretly squeezed the last drop of ink from the pouch in her hand. A spot of ink, black as lacquer, bloomed on the floor like a flower blooming toward the gates of hell.

The deep affection and intimacy of the past had become a public joke once their masks were torn away. In the prime of their youth, they had met like the legendary golden wind and jade dew, their bond so profound that when he descended from the heavens to save her from the clutches of street thugs, she had fallen hopelessly for him. She had been the jade dew, but he was never the precious golden wind of the world. He was the thug himself, a piece of trash cut from the same cloth as Xiao Wu, his entire life stained with the grime of his depraved habits.

The man stood tall, looking even more smug. "Song Ruolun, I am the master of the prison. What can you possibly do to me?" He then ordered the driver, "Drag this moron away. Someone has bought her life. There will be people to meet you at the slopes of Zhongnan Mountain outside the city."

The third sister watched as the familiar yet strange face of her second sister seemed about to vanish beyond the sharp ridge of the mountain, drifting further and further away. A profound, inexplicable indifference took hold of her; she felt as if the person disappearing was of no consequence.

Suddenly, that face opened a pair of almond-shaped eyes.

Beneath those eyes, a pair of long legs kicked out, dislocating the driver’s jaw. The very rope intended to bind Song Ruozhao was snatched up and wielded like a whip, forcing the driver to hang upside down over the cliff’s edge. The driver was so terrified his urine seemed to flow backward into his throat; as he looked out, the world of the living appeared to him as a chaotic, inverted mess.

"If someone wants to buy my life, I fear even a city’s worth of gold would not be enough."

Those almond eyes were clearly gentle, yet sharp as the sword in the hands of the legendary Gongsun Dainiang.

Chen Yan had already entered the carriage, expecting to fulfill a long-coveted desire, but he was interrupted by the screams. Pulling back the curtain to look, he could not help but sigh in disdain: "Weakling, you can’t even beat a woman."

Just as he was about to step out, a round face and a square face appeared out of nowhere before him.

"Master Chen, we meet again," the round-faced one said with a grin.

The square-faced one reflected on the past, finding fate quite amusing: "The cycle of heaven is truly mysterious. This time you play the bandit, and we play the heroes saving the beauty."

The third sister remembered clearly: three years ago, when she fell into the clutches of thugs and Chen Yan came to "save" her, this same square-faced and round-faced pair had been the masterminds.

Chen Yan, flushed with rage, clapped his hands to signal. In the surrounding woods, several archers stood ready. As his hand slowly descended, a volley of arrows flew, aimed at lethal points; apart from the fleeing wildlife, everything else in the vicinity was turned into a pincushion.

A sharp arrow tore through the air, heading straight for Song Ruozhao’s chest. In a flash of instinct, the third sister pushed her aside. The arrow veered off course, burying itself deep into her own slender arm.

Song Ruozhao was surprised. It seemed the third sister’s heart was not as wicked as she had first assumed.

The square and round heads worked well together; understanding the principle of capturing the ringleader first, they seized the opportunity while Chen Yan was isolated to pin him down.

"Stop shooting!" Chen Yan signaled frantically, terrified for his own life.

Alas, it was too late. A bow fully drawn like the moon released its arrow, flying straight toward the man’s hand. A piercing pain shot through his palm. "You blind fool, you’re shooting your own master!"

Perhaps from years of oppression, the archer, seeing his master lose his footing, found the courage to speak the truth hidden in his heart: "If I were blind, I wouldn’t have hit you."

"It’s precisely because I’m not blind that I could hit you!"

Chen Yan: "......"

A horse galloped rapidly toward them; the fourth sister had followed the trail of ink. That ink was a rare treasure—Hui ink, famed for the saying, "Gold is easy to find, but Hui ink is hard to come by." It was something the third sister had begged from the third young master of the Liu family, Liu Wenyu; she would never have wasted it had it not been a last resort.

"Magistrate Liu, the third sister and the others are right ahead!" The fourth sister was followed by a detachment of elite soldiers from the Capital Magistrate’s office.

Chen Yan felt a chill against his throat, while beads of cold sweat broke out on his forehead. A snake was coiling flexibly beneath his eyes, appearing almost sentient.

The round-faced one poked the square-faced one in the ribs, showing off with spring-like pride: "See? The family heirloom you despised is being kept safe by our boss!"

Song Ruozhao felt quite weary. On this drowsy summer afternoon, with her morning crankiness still lingering, she had to personally handle the binding of this master and his servant.

"You’re late," she said, seemingly tinged with reproach, as she kicked the two men to the feet of Liu Wenxu.

Seeing business to be done, Gouya hurriedly ordered his underlings: "Lock them up!" He then stole a glance at Song Ji, who was dressed in women’s clothing, truly unable to fathom why a young gentleman would have such a penchant for cross-dressing.

He decided to expose this hypocritical facade and said resolutely to his master, "Master, I’ll tell you the truth—actually, he is a wom—"

At that moment, he saw the look in his master’s eyes—so full of tender, blossoming spring, like weeping willows bowing to love the spring waters. Gouya felt as if he had uncovered a earth-shattering secret! No wonder the master never showed interest in women! So that was it!

Gouya immediately shut his mouth. Having suffered twenty lashes for his loose tongue just yesterday after revealing the secret of his mistress's undergarments, he had finally understood the truth that excessive cleverness leads to suffering.

Sensing something amiss, Liu Wenxu said gently, "Gouya, if you have something to say, say it. I won’t punish you this time."

Gouya’s mouth felt as if it had been sewn shut with a needle; he clamped it even tighter.

"Speak less, do more!" He rushed off, eager to get back to work, and dragged the trussed-up duo away.

They were in the wild outskirts, far from the capital. Since the third sister had suffered an arrow wound, they had to rest on the spot.

By a shallow stream and green meadow, a roaring bonfire was lit. Its light illuminated the horizon like a brilliant red glow. Song Ruozhao was picking herbs on the slope while the fourth sister gathered firewood at the base. The soldiers were happily catching mandarin fish in the stream. Liu Wenxu looked for that "speak less, do more" figure, only to hear a chorus of snores rising toward the heavens.

......

"The hero-saving-the-beauty drama three years ago was directed and performed by Chen Yan. You can let go of that beautiful first meeting you’ve been clinging to."

Song Ruozhao applied medicine to the third sister’s arm, stating the truth in a few short sentences. As she turned, she happened to meet the gaze of that face, which was rounder than a pancake, his bovine eyes wide with shock.