Master is Also Running Away from Marriage Today (Transmigration) - Chapter 20

Mu Ling found herself in an unfamiliar ancient town. The locals spoke with a strange accent, yet oddly enough, she could understand them perfectly.

A maid gently supported Mu Ling’s arm and said, “Miss, the flowers in the backyard have bloomed. Let me help you take a look.”

Then Mu Ling realized she was standing up, moving slowly. The reflection in the lake revealed a delicate face, slightly pale, with an air of sickness lingering between the brows. A girl who appeared to be around ten years old.

This wasn’t her face!

Mu Ling was struck with horror, but her consciousness began to spin. In the last moment before she blacked out, she heard someone rush in from outside, shouting loudly, “Miss Luo Zhi! We found a dying little beggar in the back mountain.”

……

Luo Zhi was the only child of the City Lord of Luo City. Her mother had suffered complications during childbirth, leaving Luo Zhi frail since birth. The picturesque and serene Biming Town, nestled against the majestic Taiyun Mountain, became her long-term retreat for recuperation.

The backyard of Luo Zhi’s villa bordered Taiyun Mountain, the tallest peak on the continent. On the other side of the mountain lay Tu City unlike the prosperous and wealthy Luo City, Tu City suffered under the rule of an incompetent lord, its people living in dire hardship.

Thus, a nursery rhyme began circulating in Tu City: “Taiyun Mountain, mountain of peace crosses it, and eternal peace you’ll seize!” Desperate souls from Tu City began attempting the treacherous climb under cover of night, hoping to reach Luo City on the other side.

But Taiyun Mountain was perilous. Towering cliffs, venomous creatures, and savage beasts made the journey deadly. Not everyone survived the crossing.

Raised in luxury, Luo Zhi had never known hardship. The first time she saw someone emerge from Taiyun Mountain, she was shocked: a little boy, battered and bloody, with barely an inch of unbroken skin yet somehow clinging to life.

“Nanny, can he survive?” Luo Zhi looked up at her wet nurse. “Can I save him?”

The wet nurse stroked Luo Zhi’s head, her gaze filled with a compassion the young girl didn’t yet understand. “Miss, your kindness is boundless. If we can save even one life, it will surely bring you blessings and long life.”

Against all odds, the boy survived. Once cleaned up, he turned out to be unexpectedly handsome and treated Luo Zhi with deep reverence. Concerned about propriety, the wet nurse arranged for him to serve under the City Lord once he recovered. The boy proved diligent and clever, quickly earning the lord’s favor. He was adopted as a foster son and given the name Luo Huai.

Luo Zhi realized that rescuing people truly brought good fortune. After Luo Huai entered her father’s service, her father’s smiles became noticeably more frequent.

Thus, the sheltered young lady, confined by illness, took up the task of rescuing people in earnest. Every day, she sent guards to patrol the mountain, doing their best to save anyone they found.

For a long time afterward, however, the people Luo Zhi rescued were all strong, able-bodied adults. She sent them to join Luo City’s defense forces. Prosperous cities like Luo were often coveted by others, and its gates were always guarded by elite soldiers.

Then, on the day of her coming-of-age ceremony, Luo Zhi found a girl in the mountains. One about her own age.

That was the girl Luo Zhi had discovered herself. Ever since she developed a fondness for picking up strays, Luo Zhi would often wander around the back hills with her maids in tow. Surprisingly, her health improved significantly compared to before, allowing her to barely manage a hundred steps. Seeing this, the city lord and his wife indulged Luo Zhi, though they did assign more maids and guards to follow her closely.

Luo Zhi found the girl curled up in a bush, injured on her leg, just as Luo Zhi bent down to pick up a hairpin and their eyes met.

The girl was extraordinarily beautiful. Her spirit like autumn waters, her bones like jade, resembling a statue carved from jade. Luo Zhi had never seen anyone so stunning. Under the girl’s icy gaze, Luo Zhi’s heart, which had ached chronically from illness, gave a violent throb. Her face suddenly grew warm, and her breath hitched for a moment.

Luo Zhi firmly believed the girl was a coming-of-age gift from the heavens. Though the city lord and his wife were wary of the girl’s unknown origins. After all, it was nearly impossible for a strikingly beautiful young girl to have crossed the Taiyun Mountain. They couldn’t withstand Luo Zhi’s persistent pleading. Thinking a young girl couldn’t possibly cause much trouble, they tacitly allowed her to stay by Luo Zhi’s side.

Luo Zhi was overjoyed and gave the girl a name: Luo Yan.

In truth, the name didn’t match the girl’s temperament. Despite being called “Luo Yan” (meaning “Luo’s Smile”), she rarely smiled and seldom spoke. But Luo Zhi was convinced that with enough companionship, she could one day make Luo Yan smile, insisting on calling her by that name.

The girl herself, however, was utterly indifferent to what she was called. In fact, Luo Yan’s eyes remained perpetually cool and detached, as if few things in this world could capture her attention.

Luo Zhi didn’t understand what had come over herself. Perhaps because everyone around her doted on her excessively, encountering someone as aloof and indifferent as Luo Yan only drew her in further.

Luo Zhi stopped wandering the back hills all day. Instead, she spent her time with Luo Yan, clumsily trying to please her: offering precious treasures and delicacies, taking her to see the city’s beautiful sights, and even sneaking her into the ancestral shrine because Luo Yan loved winter plums. There were a few thousand-year-old plum trees planted there.

That was the first time Luo Zhi was punished by the city lord. Furious, he initially wanted to banish Luo Yan. Luo Zhi knelt outside the city lord’s residence for three hours until, out of love for his daughter, the city lord reluctantly rescinded his order. Afterward, Luo Zhi fell gravely ill.

Her body burned as if scalded in boiling oil, yet Luo Zhi felt inexplicably happy. Because in that cold ancestral shrine, Luo Yan had gazed at the plum trees, and for the first time, a hint of a smile had appeared in her usually impassive eyes.

“Flowers bloom for a thousand days. So, this is what it means.” Luo Yan murmured, her jade-like face softening with a rare smile. Red plum blossoms drifted down, dusting her white robes, making her look like a deity descended to the mortal realm. So breathtaking it made one’s heart tremble.

By then, Luo Zhi had read many mortal tales and was no longer the naive girl she once was. She knew that admiration and affection could exist between women. Perhaps she had fallen for Luo Yan the moment she first saw her. She clung to the hope that as long as Luo Yan stayed by her side, she would one day accept her feelings.

The physician once declared that Luo Zhi would not live past thirty. Initially, Luo Zhi had accepted that life and death were fated. But after meeting Luo Yan, she began to wish for a longer life at least long enough to grow old with Luo Yan, to watch the red plum blossoms together with silver hair.

Luo Zhi didn’t want Luo Yan to see her frail and sickly, so she ordered her attendants to keep Luo Yan from visiting. Yet in the dead of night, she would often catch the faint, cold fragrance of plum blossoms in the air. Someone would hold her shoulders and feed her a bittersweet liquid, and sometimes, she would hear a soft sigh by her ear. A scent and presence unique to Luo Yan.

But how could Luo Yan, an orphaned girl, bypass the guards and enter her chambers?

Luo Zhi thought it must be an illusion born of longing, and she fought desperately to recover.

Perhaps her will to live was too strong. In the end, she did recover, astonishing even the physician. After this illness, her withered meridians showed unexpected vitality, and according to her pulse, she might now live to see fifty!

Once well, Luo Zhi eagerly rushed to see Luo Yan, only to find a striking man in her courtyard. He stood beneath the plum tree with Luo Yan, the two of them a perfect pair, handsome and beautiful.

A bucket of icy water seemed to pour over Luo Zhi’s head. Luo Yan was smiling at him!

She had gone to great lengths just to coax a smile from Luo Yan, yet she had never seen her so at ease. When Luo Yan smiled at her, it always felt veiled, never reaching her eyes.

Luo Zhi didn’t know how she managed to walk up to them.

All she knew was that the moment Luo Yan saw her, the smile vanished, replaced by her usual cool tone: “This is Yu Chuan.”

Luo Yan was always like this. Never wasting an extra word in her presence, though she had been so animated with that man.

Yu Chuan studied Luo Zhi with a hint of amusement, stirring an instinctive dislike in her. Still, she forced herself to meet his gaze. “I’m Luo Zhi.”

“Of course, I know who you are.” Yu Chuan said with a light laugh, fanning himself. “Rumors say Miss Luo Zhi is kind-hearted and stunningly beautiful. Seeing you today, the tales do not disappoint.”

Luo Zhi didn’t know what possessed her. Every second watching them together was agony, yet she sat stiffly in Luo Yan’s courtyard, unable to leave.

Yu Chuan and Luo Yan discussed swordsmanship and techniques as if no one else were there. It was then that Luo Zhi learned Luo Yan was skilled in swordplay and calligraphy while her own parents had doted on her, never forcing her to practice, leaving her handwriting a messy scrawl.

She couldn’t bear it any longer. Stumbling to her feet, she fled the courtyard.

Behind her, Yu Chuan sounded puzzled. “Miss Luo Zhi’s eyes seem red. Is she alright?”

“Just childish temper,” Luo Yan’s cool voice replied. “She’s always been like this.”

It was the first time in her privileged life that the young city lord’s daughter tasted the bitterness of jealousy and heartache.

Swordplay was out of the question, but calligraphy was still within reach. Luo Zhi shut herself in the study like a madwoman, practicing her strokes. For some reason, Yu Chuan came by several times seeking an audience, but Luo Zhi couldn’t bear the sight of his detestable face. Aside from her sworn brother Luo Huai, she refused to let anyone else into the study.

Luo Huai remained as handsome and refined as ever. Now in charge of the city guard, he was widely regarded as the next city lord. Luo Zhi couldn’t fathom how he still found time to visit her so often, but his gentle and accommodating nature made her see him as an elder brother. She confided all her troubles to him.

“It’s about Luo Yan again, isn’t it?” Watching Luo Zhi immerse herself in calligraphy, Luo Huai’s handsome smile held a trace of bitterness, yet he still softly consoled her: “Zhi’er, you’re naturally gifted. You’ll surely master beautiful handwriting. There’s no need to rush.”

But Luo Zhi paid no heed to his advice. She practiced day and night, collecting authentic works from all over, straining her eyes until they were dry. Finally, after wasting dozens of sheets of paper, she managed to produce a decent imitation of a calligraphy scroll. Summoning all her courage, her cheeks flushed crimson as she sent it to Luo Yan…

It was an ancient love poem expressing admiration.