A Stolen Romance - Chapter 32

Chapter 32: At the Cliff’s Edge

The faint morning sun shone on the top of Qinghui Cliff. The cliff, which was usually only visited by birds, was now swarming with people and exceptionally noisy.

Occasionally, there would be the hoarse sobs of a man. “Don’t stop me! I’m going down to search myself! You fools, how could you not find someone that big? My Ningning, ohhh!” Shi MinDa struggled desperately to break free from the guards who were holding him back and rushed toward the edge of the cliff. A group of guards had just come up, shaking their heads, saying they had seen nothing below. They didn’t know how high the cliff was; the bottom was shrouded in mist, making it impossible to see or find the missing Shi Yuning and Xie Zhaoran.

“Marquis, if I may be blunt, falling from this height at Qinghui Cliff makes the possibility of survival very slim. The soldiers searched all night and found no one. I’m afraid the outlook is grim. Please, Marquis and young master, prepare yourselves for the worst.” Chen Da was Shi Chao’s personal guard and a trusted confidant. He hated to see the Shi family’s only daughter possibly die like this, but the facts were in front of them. He only hoped the marquis and his son could accept reality soon.

Hearing this, Shi MinDa ignored the guards holding him and rushed toward Chen Da. “Nonsense! My Ningning won’t die!” After hearing that his daughter had gone missing after falling from a cliff, Shi MinDa rushed straight to Qinghui Cliff last night. If Shi Chao’s men hadn’t stopped him, this helpless scholar would have tried to climb down himself to find his daughter.

Shi Chao looked at his father’s bloodshot eyes—the red veins were more prominent than the wrinkles on his face. He hadn’t slept all night, his beard was unkempt, his clothes were disheveled, and his voice was hoarse from crying all night. Shi Chao couldn’t help but feel a wave of sorrow and his eyes reddened. “Tell the men to lengthen the ropes. Send another team up to replace the soldiers who have been searching all night,” Shi Chao ordered with a somber face.

Chen Da took the order and went to make the arrangements. Although he still felt it was a fruitless effort and felt sorry for the father and son, he thought they must have offended some god to be so unlucky. Their family, which the marquis had just found, now had one person missing at the bottom of a cliff and another kidnapped. He could only hope that Shi Chao’s wife was having better luck.

Just as he was ordering men to lengthen the ropes, a subordinate who had been sent to get news from Crane’s Call Temple returned. Chen Da quickly brought the man to the marquis. “Reporting, Marquis. The Duke of Xie’s side sent word that rescuing the empress dowager is of great importance, so the search here will be left to you.”

Shi Chao’s brow furrowed at the news, but Shi MinDa immediately started cursing. “What a ruthless family! Their daughter fell off a cliff, neither alive nor dead, and they didn’t even ask about her all night!” As he said this, he realized his words were inauspicious and slapped his thigh in remorse. “Bah, bah, bah! Ningning will definitely be fine because good fortune favors the kind!” He was about to curse the Xie family more but was cut off by Shi Chao’s look. “Hold your tongue.”

Shi MinDa snorted, no longer wanting to deal with another family’s business. He quickly asked the messenger, “Was anyone injured over there?” The guard shook his head. “No, both sides are in a standoff.”

Shi Chao nodded and sent the man away. Shi MinDa looked worried. “Father, do you think Chunhua will be okay?” He had been driven to the brink of madness all night, with his daughter missing and his wife kidnapped.

Shi Chao looked at the brightening sky and said in a low voice, “Don’t worry. Since Prince Yu wants to use the women to threaten the generals into not sending troops, and we are here searching for people and haven’t sent any troops, I imagine your wife will be fine.” Shi MinDa let out a small sigh of relief. It was good that Chunhua was safe, but he felt so much pity for his Ningning. He thought about how his wife would be heartbroken if she knew their daughter had fallen from a cliff and was missing. Although Tu Chunhua always said he and their daughter were equally important, Shi MinDa knew his daughter was the most important person in her heart. If something happened to Ningning, he couldn’t even imagine what his wife would do.

Thinking of this, grief overwhelmed him, and he began to cry loudly. “Ningning, my Ningning, you can’t leave me and your mother behind!”

Shi MinDa’s heart-wrenching cries echoed through the valley, moving all the soldiers present to tears. “Quick, lengthen these ropes again! I’ll go down and search myself this time.” Chen Da sighed, touched by Shi MinDa’s fatherly love.

Meanwhile, outside Crane’s Call Temple, the Duke of Xie had surrounded the entire mountain with his men. He ordered his men to tighten the encirclement every hour, and each time they did, he sent someone to warn the bandits inside the temple.

Xie Zhaoyi looked at his father’s resolute face, thinking of his wife and mother inside the temple, and worriedly reminded him, “Father, Mother and the others are still in their hands. Won’t this corner the dog and make it jump over the wall?”

The Duke of Xie looked down at him. “A man of great ambition must know how to make choices.”

Xie Zhaoyi’s heart pounded, and he cried out in alarm, “Father!” He had thought his father was just playing a psychological game with the enemy, but now it seemed his father’s intentions were different. “Father, why don’t we do as the Shi family did and use the excuse of searching for Zhaoran to stall and not send troops?”

The Duke of Xie gave him a cold look. “Womanly compassion. Your sister is a member of the Xie family and must understand the greater good. If the foundations of Daye are damaged because of her, how could she have the face to live on in this world?”

Xie Zhaoyi fell silent. He didn’t agree with his father. If a single woman could affect the foundation of a dynasty, then the dynasty must already be rotten to the core. He knew his father was still angry that Zhaoran had refused to be the empress, but Zhaoran was still his sister, and his father’s daughter. How could he just ignore her? He was about to try to persuade his father again when he saw the outer gate of Crane’s Call Temple slowly open.

Qinxiao, Zhaoran’s former maid, walked out, pushing Lin Feiying and Jiang Ming ahead of her. “Duke of Xie, if you don’t retreat, your wife and daughter-in-law may die right here.”

The Duke of Xie’s square face was filled with uncontrollable rage. The orphan girl he had brought back from the border was a spy. He felt deeply humiliated that this little girl had deceived him for so many years. “Fire!” The Duke of Xie refused to negotiate with a servant like Qinxiao and immediately gave the order to fire arrows.

“No—” Xie Zhaoyi cried out in panic. “No, Father! This will hurt Mother and Ming’er!” The Duke of Xie gave his men a look and had them take the troublesome Xie Zhaoyi away. “The Xie family is a family of loyal martyrs, and the women of the Xie family have the same integrity. What is there to fear in death? I, Xie Zhen, will not let a single traitor leave this mountain alive!”

“No, don’t fire the arrows—” Shi Yuning cried out, waking with a start from a nightmare. She had dreamed that Xie Zhaoran was surrounded and they were going to shoot her with arrows. Shi Yuning’s face was deathly pale, and her forehead was covered in sweat. She clutched her racing heart and looked toward the inner side of the bed. The bed was empty, with only a lone pillow. “Xie Zhaoran, where are you?”

Shi Yuning was shocked and looked around. The room was so small that everything was obvious at a glance, but Xie Zhaoran wasn’t in the room. The bench that had been by the bed was also gone. For a moment, Shi Yuning even suspected that everything from last night had been a dream. Xie Zhaoran hadn’t been saved; they hadn’t shared a bed; and there hadn’t been a confession of feelings. It was all a dream.

In a daze, she heard voices from outside. Shi Yuning sat bolt upright, quickly put on her clothes, and jumped off the bed without a moment’s delay, running toward the door. As soon as she opened the door, she saw the lame Xie Zhaoran using a bench as a support and talking to an unfamiliar woman.

Xie Zhaoran heard the movement behind her. She saw Shi Yuning’s pale face and uncombed hair and her heart skipped a beat, her brow furrowing slightly. Considering there was a stranger present, Xie Zhaoran waved to Shi Yuning with a reassuring smile and then said to the person next to her, “My sister is awake.”

The village chief’s wife, Li Juhao, had come to deliver medicine as the chief had instructed. She was so struck by Xie Zhaoran’s appearance that she almost thought she was seeing a celestial maiden. It was the first time she had ever seen a girl so beautiful that she couldn’t speak. When she saw Shi Yuning, she calmed down. With Xie Zhaoran as a benchmark, although Shi Yuning also had an outstanding appearance, she seemed much more approachable compared to the stunning Xie Zhaoran. “You two sisters don’t look much alike,” Li Juhao said, which was a polite way of saying she thought they looked nothing alike. One had a standard oval face and an ethereal, stunning presence, while the other had a small, round face and a friendly look, with no similar features in their eyes or brows.

Xie Zhaoran smiled and replied, “One looks like our father, and the other like our mother.”

Li Juhao said, “You’re both beautiful. I’m so envious of your parents for raising two such lovely girls. Come visit sometime, I have two daughters myself.” Li Juhao said a few polite words, then left after dropping off the medicine, as she had a pile of things to do at home.

Once she was gone, Shi Yuning walked over to Xie Zhaoran and asked, “Who was that?”

“The village chief’s wife. She came to drop off medicine. Oh, I told them we were sisters. Remember to call me ‘older sister’ when there are outsiders around.” Shi Yuning nodded obediently, with no objections. She looked Xie Zhaoran up and down and saw that her spirits seemed quite good. She couldn’t help but marvel at her strong recovery. If she had broken her leg and injured her arm, she would probably be in bed for ten days to half a month, demanding that Tu Chunhua take good care of her.

She knocked on the bench Xie Zhaoran was using for support. The long bench, which could seat four or five people, was now being used as a crutch. “You walked out here using this bench as a crutch?”

Xie Zhaoran nodded. When she woke up in the morning, she wanted to go to the outhouse. She saw that Shi Yuning was still asleep, and her peaceful look made her not want to wake her. She saw the bench, stood it up, and found that it was quite stable as a crutch. She took a couple of steps to show Shi Yuning. “How is it? Not bad, right?”

Shi Yuning pursed her lips, holding back a laugh. “Yes, it’s very good.” Except it looks a little silly. She looked up at the sky. The sun had already risen more than halfway from the east, and its rays scattered across the flowers and plants. The banyan tree in front of the house stretched out in the sunlight. In the yard was a small vegetable garden, where rows of green vegetables still had glistening dewdrops on them, sparkling in the sun. Everything was peaceful and contented. There was only the sound of the wind, birds, cicadas, roosters crowing, geese flapping, and a passing yellow dog barking twice at the strangers.

Everything was so calm and peaceful. Shi Yuning took a deep breath of the air that smelled of green grass. Today was truly a world away from yesterday. Shi Yuning squinted at Xie Zhaoran. Dressed in rough cloth, her hair casually tied up, and with no makeup, she was still breathtakingly beautiful, but she was no longer as aloof and cold as before. She thought of the things Xie Zhaoran had said last night. She blinked. It couldn’t have been a dream, could it? She really wanted to ask, but she didn’t know how to start.

“If you keep looking at me like that, I might not be able to resist.” Xie Zhaoran said with a smile, seeing that Shi Yuning had been staring at her for a long time without moving.

“Huh?” Shi Yuning snapped back to reality. “What did you say?”

Xie Zhaoran laughed inwardly. After a night’s sleep, this little dork is even dorkier. She looked around. Besides a few dusty little dogs passing by, there was no one else. Xie Zhaoran moved quickly, leaning in and kissing Shi Yuning’s cheek, a quick touch and a quick retreat.

“Like this. Not being able to resist.”

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