After Transmigrating into a Book, I Was Entangled by the Paranoid Eldest Princess - Chapter 7

Chapter 7

When they grew tired of walking, they found a restaurant to sit down.

The group took a seat by a window on the second floor, ordered some signature dishes, and waited peacefully while sipping tea. When they sat down, Mrs. Chen, who had been leading the way all morning, tried to decline, protesting that as a servant she could not dine with the masters. It took Wen Chenqing’s firm insistence to make her sit.

This earned her a subtle, unreadable look from Si Jinghua.

The second-floor windows were open; while eating, Wen Chenqing only had to look up to see everything below. She had just swallowed a piece of bamboo shoot from the stir-fried quail when the sudden clamor below caught her attention.

“That little girl was hit by a horse!”

It wasn’t just their table; almost every diner sitting by the window leaned out to peer down at the accident. Since it was mealtime, the crowds on the street were thinner than before. Some diners who had witnessed the scene began recounting the event, reconstructing the whole process.

It turned out to be a young girl, about eight or nine years old, wearing a grey cloth bag slung across her shoulder and clutching a book to her chest. She had been heading toward the wonton stall across the street to find her parents when a horse suddenly rounded the corner at a gallop. In the blink of an eye, the girl was knocked to the side of the road, crashing into and scattering a straw stand used for selling candied haws.

“Such a small child, how piteous.”

“Galloping through the streets like that… truly wicked!”

“The girl looks like a student. Sigh, I hope she’s alright.”

The injured child had already been taken to a clinic by her parents, and the offending horse had vanished along with them. As the excitement died down, the diners sighed a few times before their attention was diverted elsewhere.

Perhaps the midday interlude had sparked a passion for gossip, as the atmosphere on the second floor became quite lively. The people sitting at the next table had likely drunk too much; their voices were so loud the group could hear every word.

“Do you—do you guys know? A huge event happened recently at Yun Family Manor!”

Si Jinghua’s brows furrowed. This kind of dining environment made her irritable.

“What happened? Stop keeping us in suspense, out with it!”

“Didn’t the head of Yun Family Manor die not long ago? Then there was trouble with the silk business. It looked like the Yun family’s wealth was about to vanish. Tsk tsk. The man the Manor Mistress later married—that guy surnamed Du—took charge along with the clan elders. They decided to marry the beautiful eldest daughter of the Yun family to the eldest son of Qian Fu. A marriage alliance: the Qian family helps the Yun family.”

“You’re just a peddler; how do you know all this so clearly?”

“I heard about it because it turned into a huge mess! Think about it, Qian Fu’s eldest son is old enough to be her father. He already has several concubines, and people say he has a penchant for hurting people. Didn’t you see how his previous wife was tormented to death, and his father had to clean up the mess? Sending Miss Yun into a family like that—isn’t that Du guy just pushing her into a fire pit?”

“Doesn’t that Du fellow have a daughter of his own?”

“Tsk tsk, that’s his own flesh and blood. This eldest daughter has nothing to do with him.”

The two sighed. The friend asked again: “You said earlier it turned into a huge mess. How so?”

the peddler’s face was flushed red from drink as he hollered: “Naturally, someone died! The eldest Yun daughter wasn’t willing and fled in the middle of the night. The Yun family went to chase her. They didn’t find the person, but they found a pool of blood near the hunting grounds. I heard that eldest daughter has been weak and short of breath since childhood. In the dead of night, with the wolves, leopards, and tigers kept at the hunting grounds and her being a frail woman, her life was surely forfeit. Yesterday, Yun Family Manor just held the funeral and set up a cenotaph.”

“When did this happen?”

“Three or four days ago? Let me think… she must have run away three nights ago. The Yun family started hanging the white funeral banners the very next day.”

“How cold the world is. The Yun family used to be so glorious…”

Having had their fill of food and talk, the neighboring table paid and left.

A wealthy family, three nights ago, short of breath, bloodstains. Could there really be such a coincidence in this world?

Wen Chenqing looked at the person opposite her and asked, “A-Jin, did you hear what they were talking about?”

Si Jinghua’s face still bore a lingering trace of irritation. “I heard.” So noisy. I want to have their mouths sewn shut so they never have to speak again in this life.

Wen Chenqing asked tentatively, “Does any of it feel… familiar?”

The word “No” was already at the tip of her tongue when Si Jinghua suddenly had a flash of inspiration. She noticed Wen Chenqing’s expression. Recalling what those two noisy men had said, a playful glint appeared in her eyes. Wen Chenqing wouldn’t take me for that eldest daughter of the Yun family, would she?

Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea.

Si Jinghua hadn’t failed to notice that beneath Wen Chenqing’s urgent desire to find her family lay not just kindness, but a wish to send her away. These past few days, the food and lodging had been a bit simple, but after seeing the investigative reports sent to her and comparing their interactions, Si Jinghua found Wen Chenqing’s personality truly interesting. She couldn’t fathom how such a massive personality reversal had come about; she was determined to solve this riddle.

If her interest faded before the mystery was solved, Si Jinghua wouldn’t mind using forceful means to reveal the answer. But she hadn’t played enough yet.

Using her increasingly practiced acting skills, Si Jinghua touched her forehead. “What familiar feeling? My head hurts a bit. What is happening?”

Ah, perhaps she’s being triggered by hearing something familiar? Wen Chenqing thought hesitantly. Since it wasn’t confirmed yet, she decided not to tell her for now.

“Perhaps it’s the wind from the window. I’ll close it.”

After closing it, she heard A-Jin ask in a soft, supple voice, “A-Qing, what did you mean by what you asked just now?”

The eyes A-Jin turned toward her were filled with heavy trust and reliance. Those phoenix eyes were too beautiful and clear; Wen Chenqing almost didn’t dare meet them. As her gaze brushed past the snowy-white wrist exposed by A-Jin’s hand on her forehead, Wen Chenqing’s sharp eyes caught a small red mole dotting the flesh where the pale blue pulse throbbed.

She realized for the first time—why is there a mole there?

Wen Chenqing had once stumbled upon a post online where the poster started a poll asking where a small mole was most “sexy.” Beauty marks between the brows, tear moles, moles on the tip of the nose. Those three answers sat at the top, with the “tear mole” leading by over twenty votes. The post included several pictures; in one, on a face that could be described as “plain,” the tear mole at the corner of the right eye acted like the only anchor point on a sketch, instantly transforming the look from bland to stunning.

At the time, Wen Chenqing had liked a specific comment: “The tear mole is the finishing touch of Nüwa’s craftsmanship. Thank you, Nüwa!”

But today, she suddenly discovered a mole even sexier and more worthy of being called the best accent in Nüwa’s handiwork. Beneath the translucent skin, the stream-like pale blue veins pulsed; every slight throb was a rhythm of life. A red mole on a blue vein was like an externalized heart, a beauty that struck the soul directly.

Or rather, it was “sexy.”

The backs of her ears were heating up. Wen Chenqing’s breathing remained calm, but she suddenly felt quite restless. She felt a sense of despair. Good heavens, what kind of messy things am I thinking about? Rhythms? Hearts? Am I really this shameless?

A-Jin’s tone held a hint of confusion: “A-Qing?”

Maintaining a steady facial expression, Wen Chenqing appeared perfectly normal. “…I was just thinking that if you walked around, you might encounter familiar places or people, and if you would remember anything.”

After explaining, she—having already finished her meal—hastily grabbed another mouthful of food and shoved it into her mouth, looking down and acting busy chewing and swallowing as if she hadn’t had enough. Ginkgo quickly refilled her tea.

Just an explanation, is it necessary for your ears to turn red again? Si Jinghua looked suspiciously at the head-bowed Wen Chenqing, feeling something was odd.

Lowering her hand from her forehead, Si Jinghua rested her chin in her hand and watched the woman opposite her. She waited until Wen Chenqing finished eating, picked up the freshly refilled warm tea, drank it, and then looked up to meet her eyes.

A curve appeared at the corner of her lips. Si Jinghua gave her a soft, harmless smile. In response, Wen Chenqing froze for less than a heartbeat before hurriedly and guiltily looking away, as if she had a guilty conscience.

This piqued Si Jinghua’s curiosity. She had noticed over the past few days that Wen Chenqing had a habit: she liked to look people in the eye when speaking. This kind of hurried, guilty avoidance was highly unusual.

Did something special happen just now? Ordinary conversation, ordinary movements. So where exactly did Wen Chenqing start becoming “wrong”?

Her pinky accidentally brushed against her own lip. Si Jinghua watched Wen Chenqing, who had risen guiltily to pay the bill, and suddenly revealed a meaningful smile.

Ah, I remember. It turned out the “wrongness” started from the moment she was staring dazed at her while she was intentionally touching her forehead and faking pain.

Armed with a lead, Wen Chenqing was anxious to confirm the truth. She found someone to inquire about the Yun family.

Having been paid, the scout returned quickly. Not only did they bring back detailed information, but also a portrait. Keeping it from A-Jin, who was taking a midday nap, Wen Chenqing listened to every detail and took the portrait back to her room.

Before opening it, she didn’t have high hopes for ancient painting styles. Accustomed to modern photography that was almost a one-to-one recreation, and recalling the character portraits she had seen hanging in museums, she didn’t think she could tell much from a painting. The portrait was meant to be supporting evidence; having heard the details, Wen Chenqing already had a theory in her heart.

But unexpectedly, this portrait of the eldest Miss Yun was very clear. The artist’s skill was profound, with precise control over the character’s lines. At the first glance, Wen Chenqing recognized the person in the picture was A-Jin.

She looked at it for a while, her expression complicated as she tucked the portrait away. She hadn’t expected that A-Jin, whom she had taken in by chance, had such a turbulent and jagged past.

With her suspicion confirmed, she couldn’t quite describe the feeling in her heart, but she couldn’t keep this from the person involved. Wen Chenqing rolled the portrait back up and tied it, intending to tell A-Jin everything when she woke up.

Time passed silently in waiting. Sitting alone in her room, Wen Chenqing held a book, staring blankly into space.

Miss A-Jin… what should she do from now on?