She Is Such A Jerk, And Yet She’s The One Crying! - Chapter 9

It was only at this moment that Qiang Ning realized her lies weren’t actually that clumsy. The people of Wusang Town knew Lin Dongruan could refine poisons, so they feared her. This was why the three butchers who had come to demand money hadn’t dared to simply rob them, and her lie about “scaring the butchers away by taking out a medicine bottle” was perfectly logical.

Qiang Ning held Lin Dongruan in an infatuated embrace. In a daze, she felt that heaven was biased toward her; Lin Dongruan didn’t doubt her in the slightest.

Qiang Ning, who had been iron-hearted her entire life, rarely felt soft-hearted. She was so moved by a few words that she lowered her bottom line, even going as far as to make a concession. Instead of finding an excuse to leave Lin Dongruan to handle court affairs, she accompanied her to the medical clinic to idle away the time.

It’s not just that Lin Dongruan is good to me, Qiang Ning thought. I am also very good to Lin Dongruan. After all, no one else in the world has ever been able to make me go this far.

This kind of treatment was reserved for Lin Dongruan alone.

The next day, while following Lin Dongruan to the clinic, Qiang Ning held the other woman’s fingers tightly the whole way. She rarely enjoyed the care of an elder; her mood was pleasant and her heart was at ease.

The medical clinic had already been brought under the control of her subordinates. Qiang Ning led Lin Dongruan inside, and after watching her subordinates settle Lin Dongruan in, she made an excuse to go upstairs and look around.

Lin Dongruan suspected nothing and nodded. “Go ahead. Don’t be away from me for too long.”

With just that one sentence, Qiang Ning’s head began to spin again. She discovered that she was very easy to coax; the occasional glimpse of concern from Lin Dongruan could make her heart throb incessantly.

Perhaps it was due to her congenital heart defect, but Qiang Ning’s heart beat exceptionally fast. As she went upstairs, she felt like she was floating up two steps at a time. Halfway up, she stopped to rub her cheeks, waited for her heart to calm down slightly, and then looked back down.

On the first floor of the clinic, Lin Dongruan sat there with a cold and upright demeanor. When no patients were present, she sat with her head lowered, copying out prescriptions. Her wrists were fair, her fingers slender, and her brushstrokes gentle, leaving behind rows of elegant and spirited handwriting.

Qiang Ning thought, .her hands are truly wonderful to kiss.

“Princess, this is…”

While she was lost in thought, a subordinate beside her suddenly spoke, interrupting Qiang Ning’s train of thought.

“What?” Qiang Ning’s brow furrowed, and she spoke irritably. “You idiot, don’t call me Princess in the clinic. Lin Dongruan has sharp ears and eyes. All of you be careful and don’t let any slips happen.”

The subordinates, having been scolded, shut their mouths like frightened quails and cautiously led her to the inner room upstairs.

Because the clinic was her own territory, Qiang Ning felt relatively at ease. She didn’t give any further instructions or order anyone to keep an eye on the floor below. During the brief moment she was gone, an inconspicuous shop assistant suddenly lifted the back curtain and ran tremblingly toward Lin Dongruan.

This person was the very assistant who had witnessed Qiang Ning’s persecution of the clinic’s original owner.

Lin Dongruan stopped her brush and asked in confusion, “It’s you? It’s been a long time.”

The assistant was a young man. His elderly mother had previously been saved by Lin Dongruan’s medical skills, so he felt deep gratitude toward her. However, he had been restricted in his personal freedom and had been unable to inform Lin Dongruan of the truth.

For a long time, those villains had been closely monitoring his every move. Even when he returned home, he was under surveillance. He had no chance to let the truth be known to the world. Only once did he seize a gap while his guards were occupied to rush out and try to tell someone, but before he could say a second word, the person in front of him was knocked unconscious by a pursuing hidden guard—and he, since then, had been made mute.

The injustice was deep in his bones. He knew he was not a person of great heroism; between saving his own life and seeking revenge for another, he had selfishly chosen his own life.

But even the most cowardly slave wants to stand up and speak one day, let alone when Lin Dongruan was his mother’s savior.

Doctor Lin…

In his heart, he subconsciously addressed her as “Doctor” rather than “Lady Lin” as he had before.

“Why can you no longer speak? Are you ill? You should have come to me sooner.” Lin Dongruan smiled and reached out to take his pulse, but just as she was about to perform the examination, she saw the assistant suddenly burst into tears.

He was crying?

Lin Dongruan stood up hurriedly, feeling a bit helpless. “What happened? Don’t cry. Is your body in pain?”

No, it’s not that.

The more anxious and frightened the assistant felt, the more he didn’t know what to do. He was indeed timid; because he feared the people controlling him would reappear, not only were his hands shaking, but his legs were also trembling uncontrollably.

With a “thud,” he simply knelt before Lin Dongruan, gesturing urgently with hand signs, trying to warn her to be careful of the snake-hearted woman by her side.

“Why are you doing this? I don’t deserve such a grand gesture. If there is something you need, just tell me directly; there’s no need for this.” Lin Dongruan tried to help him up, but the man on the floor shook his head while weeping, refusing to rise.

Lin Dongruan saw that he was desperate to tell her something, but the man didn’t actually know sign language; he was just gesturing wildly based on feeling. Even if she understood sign language herself, she couldn’t decode it.

“I don’t understand.” Infected by his urgent and desperate emotions, Lin Dongruan also felt inexplicably flustered. She spoke with a sense of powerlessness, “Can you gesture more carefully? Slower. I really don’t know what you’re trying to say… Or, can you write it down? Write it on paper, and I will look.”

Hearing her words, the kneeling assistant’s eyes filled with even more pain.

He had never regretted not learning more characters as much as he did now. Growing up in such a remote town where there were no teachers, no matter how much he wanted to learn, he had no way to study for official exams. He could only stay in a small clinic, stealing glances at the doctor’s writing, bit by bit, learning characters while dispensing medicine. He would steal scrap paper and copy the doctor’s prescriptions over and over… Later, his attempt to learn was noticed by the owner, who viewed it as stealing medicinal secrets and strictly forbade him from learning. From then on, he could only do menial tasks like brewing medicine and sweeping floors.

Living a life of weak obedience, he hadn’t argued with the owner and had timidly compromised.

A single thought of hesitation had led to a lifetime of regret.

At this moment, even though his heart was full of grievances, his mind couldn’t produce many characters.

The more anxious he became, the more the characters slipped from his memory.

His vision was already blurred by tears. Drops of water fell onto the paper, smudging the handwriting Lin Dongruan had just written…

Please, let me remember some words. What was he going to say? What was he going to write…

The assistant’s head throbbed, and his hands shook violently. While crying, he struck his forehead hard, trying to calm down and write the truth of the matter.

“Don’t rush, write slowly.” Lin Dongruan looked at the marks on the paper, becoming even more puzzled. “I still don’t understand.”

The assistant finally let go of the brush, collapsing onto the floor in despair.

Lin Dongruan lowered her eyes, her expression compassionate yet helpless, but she still sensed the immense sorrow and pain coming from the other person.

What exactly had happened to this person to make him so desperate and sad? What did he want to tell her, and what did he want her to do?

On the other side, Qiang Ning closed the door and first looked through several urgent memorials. Recently, while she had been away from her fief and the court, many troublesome things had occurred. By the time the memorials had traveled thousands of miles to reach this place, the matters had mostly cooled down.

“How can this be acceptable? What is the difference between staying in this tiny, broken place and being exiled?” Qiang Ning irritably tossed aside a month-old memorial and snapped, “I truly cannot stand this place anymore.”

A subordinate carefully advised, “Why doesn’t Your Highness simply take the Imperial Tutor away?”

“Do you think I don’t want to?” Qiang Ning ultimately didn’t want to tear her relationship with Lin Dongruan apart so soon. She knew the other woman disliked being deceived; every time she lied, that person would be silently angry for a long time, let alone for such a serious deception.

“She is very hard to coax!” Qiang Ning raised her voice in annoyance. “Am I not staying in this broken place and acting out this drama of ‘sisterly affection’ and ‘depending on each other’ simply because I can’t bear to lose her? If she wouldn’t get angry over such things, would I need to wrong myself like this?”

the subordinate dared not speak.

Talking to herself, Qiang Ning picked up another memorial to look at the recent mess. “If she were the type to be impressed by power or greedy for wealth, it would be much easier. I wouldn’t even need threats or bribes; just giving her some money or power would be enough to take both her person and her heart away.”

The subordinate whispered, “The Imperial Tutor is not that kind of person. If you take her by force, the result you and the Emperor get will be the same.”

“I don’t need you to remind me, I know.” Although Qiang Ning knew in her heart that Lin Dongruan would rather be a broken piece of jade than a whole tile, she still felt very uncomfortable being reminded. “Yes, yes, I cannot compare to the Emperor’s position in her heart. Those two have a tender teacher-student relationship of many years. What does a newcomer like me count for?”

The subordinates lowered their heads, looking at their noses and their hearts, realizing their slip of the tongue.

The Eldest Princess and the new Emperor rarely met and didn’t get along well. They shouldn’t have mentioned the “Emperor” in front of Her Highness—especially in such an angry situation. The Eldest Princess was like a piece of half-burnt charcoal; she would ignite at the slightest spark.

“I am also very frustrated. Every day I have to pretend to be soft and weak, coaxing her word by word. Occasionally, if I make her unhappy, I have to endure her cold face.” Qiang Ning was very irritable when she encountered frustrating matters, and this memorial didn’t bring good news, making her even more furious. “How long ago was this broken memorial? Even using it to start a fire would be bad luck. In the future, don’t bring such outdated things for me to see.”

The subordinate replied, “This area around Wusang Town is sparsely populated. The people coming and going are all locals who know each other. Our unfamiliar faces from the capital are already prone to suspicion. There are the Emperor’s people in the nearby counties and prefectures, likely to monitor the movements of the Imperial Tutor. We are acting cautiously this time; how could we dare to ride fast horses to deliver memorials?”

How annoying.

Qiang Ning was well aware of the new Emperor’s movements. Although he had already formed a harem and established an Empress, he still harbored feelings for the Imperial Tutor. To avoid disturbing her, the little Emperor had secretly stationed people in the surrounding counties. Once the Imperial Tutor no longer wanted to stay or intended to leave Wusang Town, he would use some method to quickly and safely escort her back to the capital.

His heart refuses to die, was Qiang Ning’s evaluation.

“Lin Dongruan is someone I have set my sights on. I have the ability to leave my fief and come here personally to find her. Can the Emperor do that? He doesn’t even dare to come here and look at her with his own eyes. On what basis does he claim he wants to snatch her away?” Qiang Ning arrogantly raised her exquisite chin and said coldly, “Let the Emperor keep dreaming. Lin Dongruan belongs to me; no one can take her away.”

As they were speaking, the sound of a heavy object hitting the floor suddenly came from the first-floor hall. Instantly, several people were on high alert, focusing all their attention.

“What was that noise?” Qiang Ning pointed to a subordinate and ordered, “You, go down and see what happened.”

The subordinate bowed and accepted the order, retreating to investigate.

Qiang Ning cast a disgruntled eye over the rest of her subordinates and suddenly noticed a problem—looking at the numbers, all these idiots had followed her up here. No one had stayed to watch the people on the first floor. None of them were secretly protecting Lin Dongruan!

A bunch of useless trash!

Qiang Ning was full of rage, and a sense of fear gradually welled up in her heart. She didn’t know what she was afraid of, but she couldn’t sit still without even waiting for the subordinate to return and report.

“Forget it, I’ll go downstairs and see for myself.” Qiang Ning stood up, straightened her clothes, retracted her aggressive aura, and walked toward the stairs.

Downstairs.

In his panic, the assistant had knocked over the inkstone. The heavy stone rolled to the ground, making a loud noise. Ink splashed everywhere instantly, and the assistant’s face went completely pale.

Because he was so terrified, his limbs even felt weak. The assistant looked at the scene before him, his teeth chattering as if he had gone mad.

The hidden guard playing the “owner,” wearing a fake, peaceful smile, walked down the stairs step by step. The sound of footsteps drew nearer. “Doctor Lin isn’t hurt, is she? Was it a clumsy assistant who knocked over the inkstone? It was my lack of supervision. I’ll take him away now so he doesn’t disturb Doctor Lin’s consultations.”

Lin Dongruan felt there was an indescribable strangeness to the scene before her.

She was right. In the next instant, the assistant beside her knelt straight on the ground and kowtowed three times heavily toward the counter.

One kneels, three kowtows—a silent condolence.

Lin Dongruan looked toward where he was kowtowing—it was the place where the former owner most often stayed. That slightly plump middle-aged man loved money dearly; he always guarded that small counter, and when there were few people in the shop, he would secretly use the corner of his clothes to polish the silver he had collected.