Still Secretly In Love With My Enemy Today - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I dreamed of Xie Huaishuang again.

A Xie Huaishuang hidden beneath strings of pearls, clad in ornate robes and wielding a longsword—tilting the blade, flicking his wrist, leaping, his sleeves snapping like banners, moving like flowing water.

The sound of clashing metal mingled with the snap of mechanical parts. Amidst a chaotic flurry of sword shadows came a piercing thrust that forced me to stagger back several steps, barely managing to parry his slender silver sword. Our labored breaths intertwined for a split second amidst the rising mist.

Still so difficult to handle…

At such close range, I was desperately thinking of a countermeasure when the pressure that made it hard to breathe suddenly vanished. Before my eyes, all those pearls dissolved into mist. Beneath the mist, those deep green pools stared at me blankly. His phoenix crown had somehow slipped; in the line between heaven and earth, only suppressed gasps remained.

—”Xie Huaishuang!”

I snapped my eyes open. In the pitch blackness, I heard the sound of muffled coughing coming from behind the bed curtains.

After a moment’s daze, I scrambled up, fumbled the oval hand-lamp from my waist, twisted the iron ring, and raised a small circle of light.

By this light, I walked to the bedside and leaned in: “Xie Huaishuang?”

I forgot he couldn’t hear. I pulled back the curtain slightly and patted his shoulder.

The sight of him sent a shock through my heart.

In the faint circle of light, the cold sweat on his forehead and the unnatural flush on his face were glaringly obvious. His right hand was clenched into a fist pressed tightly against his lips, and the quilt was a mess of wrinkles from his grip.

What was wrong now?

Fortunately, I had specifically changed the water earlier, and it was still warm. I hurriedly sat down, not caring if he might try to assassinate me, and propped up his shoulder to help him sit up a bit. “Drink some water—drink a little, it’ll help.”

Xie Huaishuang didn’t seem fully conscious and didn’t resist. He leaned his head over, pressing his entire weight against my shoulder.

He coughed for a long time after every sip. It was only after half a cup of water that he eased up slightly. Half of his face was hidden behind his long hair, eyes closed.

His shoulder blade felt like a ridge of jagged, thin stones in my hand. As I watched him, the lingering fear from my dream gradually faded, and my mind wandered.

It looked like he was either severely injured or poisoned. How exactly did he end up like this? Who would—who could make him like this?

A man even I couldn’t best. Who had the ability to get close to him, destroy his meridians, and sell him to a place like this?

Spring had arrived, and with two mattresses padded on the floor, it wasn’t actually that cold—though, of course, Xie Huaishuang’s earlier plan to sleep on the floor himself was pure fantasy.

Once I was sure he had settled down again, I tucked him in and lay back down on my floor pallet, but I tossed and turned, sleep completely eluding me.

The person who hates Xie Huaishuang most in the world should be me. Every day I wake up hating him, and I go to sleep hating him. I hate how he doesn’t speak or smile, I hate his cold indifference, and I hate how he chose to be the Temple’s sword, a mere puppet. But even someone who hates him as much as I do wouldn’t do something like this. Who on earth ruined him?

The Temple’s attitude toward this is also very murky; they even found someone else to replace him.

And then there was yesterday—the person in black who shoved half a page of an account book into my hand and told me to find him.

A fleeting flash; height, gender, and face were all unclear. The only detail was that when the person in black shoved that paper into my hand, the hard calluses on their hand brushed against my index finger.

—This person also used a sword.

If this person harmed Xie Huaishuang, why did they tell me to find him? If they didn’t, how did they know where he was?

There’s definitely more to this than meets the eye. What kind of scheme is the Temple cooking up?

…

“Why won’t you come with me?”

I watched Xie Huaishuang take the cloth I gave him, slowly bury his face in it to wipe it clean, then bite onto his turquoise hair ribbon to gather his hair together, tying it low. He sat at the edge of the bed, hands resting properly on his knees once more.

Unlike my hair, which was tied high and barely reached my shoulders, his hair hung long, reaching down to his waist.

Once he finished tidying up, I took his hand and asked the question again.

Whenever my fingertips touched his palm, I’d see his fingers twitch. I immediately asked: “Do you dislike me touching you like this?”

Xie Huaishuang had been staring blankly at the window. When I asked, he shook his head.

I grew suspicious. I took off my left glove and wrote on my own palm a few times, only to realize that being traced like that is actually very ticklish.

“…”

I thought he was a statue carved from stone, but it turns out he knows pain and itchiness just fine.

But then again, he’d rather endure it in silence than tell me. Like I said—detestable. He hates talking to me.

“It’s no matter,” he explained with a very serious expression. “It’s nothing.”

What’s a little tickle? Back then, he could keep chasing and hitting me even with an injured hand. What was a little itch to a Great High Priest like him?

Such a pretender.

I let out a cold huff and applied a bit more pressure with my fingertip on his palm.

“Is this better?”

Xie Huaishuang nodded, blinking his eyes slowly.

He still hadn’t found my exact position; his gaze was off by half an inch, resting on the tassel hanging from the bed curtain.

Wait, I was supposed to be interrogating him. How did we get sidetracked by this nonsense?

“Why won’t you come with me?”

This time I wrote with more forceful strokes to let him know I was asking this very seriously and with a bit of anger.

Even if I’m going to kill him, I have to know the answer to this first. Seeing as he probably won’t tell me today, I suppose I won’t kill him today either.

Xie Huaishuang remained silent, seemingly lost in deep thought. I waited for a while before hearing him say: “I can’t leave.”

“Why can’t you leave?”

He thought for another moment and, as expected, gave a very slight shake of his head.

Refusing to tell me again. Detestable. Why can’t he trust me? We’re all…

…Then again, whether as a “passerby” or a “rival,” if he trusted me right now, that would be truly bizarre.

I realized my way of thinking is very strange, always instinctively gravitating toward things that defy common sense.

It’s all Xie Huaishuang’s fault. I don’t know how it’s his fault, but blaming him first is usually correct.

“Then will you come outside with me?”

I’ve felt out of place in this room since last night—the scent is cloying, and the decor is gaudy. Xie Huaishuang standing in the middle of it was even more of a mismatch.

I already hate him, and this place is ugly; it only makes him seem more annoying.

“Outside?”

“Yes.”

I had already invented some simple symbols. For instance, tapping twice on his palm meant “Yes.”

“You won’t leave with me, but surely you’re willing to go out for half a day to get some fresh air?”

I’ve always been like this—doing whatever comes to mind immediately. It was only after writing it down that I froze, realizing the absurdity.

To be honest, I didn’t know the purpose of this sudden whim to invite my most hated person for a walk. Is this also a necessary step in killing him?

I couldn’t figure it out.

But then again, maybe this is a common activity between rivals, and I’m just being ignorant. Regardless, I surely have my reasons for doing this.

Xie Huaishuang raised his eyes blankly. There he was again, looking at me and blinking once, then twice.

“Where to?”

“Where do you want to go?”

Xie Huaishuang pursed his lips and shook his head. I understood—I suspect that since he came to this hellish Linlang Pavilion, he hasn’t stepped foot outside.

The last time I saw him was six months, fifteen days, and three hours ago. How long had he been trapped in this cage of rouge and powder?

I couldn’t ask. I shouldn’t ask.

“When I came here, I saw a marketplace, a pond, and a teahouse nearby.”

I only remembered these from my brief glimpse last night, so I told him plainly.

“Is there anywhere you want to go?”

Xie Huaishuang’s eyebrows lifted ever so slightly; if I weren’t right in front of him, I never would have noticed. But it was only for a moment before they fell back.

He pointed to his eyes, then to his wrists and ankles, and shook his head: “Taking me… is a lot of trouble.”

When he said this, he only lowered his eyes. His face remained calm, showing no emotion.

—But even I remember how he used to descend from ten-story buildings as if they were flat ground and cross hundred-foot-wide rivers without a splash. I used to have to rely on every mechanical advantage just to barely hold my own against him. How could he not remember?

“Just follow me, it’s no trouble.” I was annoyed, and when I’m annoyed, I start talking nonsense. “If you don’t come with me, I’ll have to go out alone. I’m a stranger here, and I won’t even have someone I know by my side.”

Xie Huaishuang was stunned, his brows furrowing.

“I walk very slowly.”

“I’m not in a hurry.”

“If people see us out there…”

“I’ll find a way to make sure they don’t.”

I sighed. “So, have you decided? Where to?”

Xie Huaishuang pondered. The sun was getting high; a bit of sunlight hit his eyes, making that deep green look semi-transparent, and the color seemed a bit lighter.

He was silent for so long I thought he didn’t want to go, but then I heard him ask softly: “Can I only choose one place?”

Wait a minute.

Something in my chest leaped violently. I almost instinctively closed my eyes and opened them again.

The build, the scars, the calluses, and most importantly, the “feeling” he gave off—this person was that detestable High Priest, no mistake about it. But why was he so different from my memory?

This person never used to pay attention to me; for ten years, our only interaction was beating each other up. What kind of person was he really?

I could only rely on my imagination. In my imagination, Xie Huaishuang looked down on me coldly from amidst the stars, his whole body seemingly made of ice; dreaming of him once could make me cold for half the night.

But the real Xie Huaishuang—I looked at him and saw a thin, silent man, like a piece of jade with sharp edges, yet his long hair was soft, and his right hand rested quietly in my palm.

Looking at him now, he seemed to resemble the shadow in my imagination in some ways, but in others, there was no connection at all.

For example, I never would have imagined him sitting in front of me like Senior Brother’s cat, tilting his head, squinting slightly in the sunlight, and staring at me motionless.

…It seems when he’s not opposing me, he’s not that annoying.

“Only one, is it?”

He asked again. I snapped back to my senses and drew an “X” on his hand.

Xie Huaishuang didn’t speak. Looking at him, I understood—we would just visit all the places. It was no big deal…

Wait.

In his current state, if I let go of his hand, he’d be lost.

I hesitated, rummaging through my things for a long time before pulling out a length of retractable rope. I looked at it and fell silent.

When I chose the red fabric for it, I did so because it was eye-catching—a bright color I liked. Who would have guessed its current use?

“There are too many people… it’s easy to get separated.”

Gritting my teeth, I brought the rope near his wrist: “…Is this okay?”

Xie Huaishuang blinked, thought for a long time, and scrutinized me with a blank expression for a while before slowly extending his left hand, palm up.

I looped it loosely a few times, tied a slipknot, left a foot of length, and wound the other end around my own wrist.

It was just a rope. Neither of us was a girl; we were perfectly honorable. This little tie would have zero impact on our fundamental nature as rivals.

Yes, zero impact. What did this count as? Nothing at all. Senior Brother He once fell into a valley with his most hated enemy and spent half a month facing him every day; the two of them used each other as crutches to limp out. Afterward, they still fought vigorously, exactly the same as before—maybe even harder.

Besides, Xie Huaishuang can’t see, and I can pretend I didn’t see either.

After finishing my mental preparation, I looked at Xie Huaishuang and asked again. He still didn’t speak, so I took it as silent consent. I grabbed the cloak I had tossed aside earlier and wrapped it haphazardly around him. I tugged the rope, then pulled his wrist over to check the knot I had just tied.

It was at that moment that the door burst open with a “BOOM!”

“Little Zhu! Are you alright? Who took you—”

Before I could react, I turned around and came face-to-face with Senior Sister Chen, who had violently kicked the door open. I was still holding that bright, unlucky red rope.

I saw her expression shift from worry to bewilderment, then to massive shock, and in an instant, it turned into uncontrollable rage as she pointed a trembling finger at me.

“Senior Sister Chen, it’s not… I…”

I couldn’t even finish my own sentence.

This is just great. In a brothel, I get caught red-handed by my own senior sister tying a red rope to my rival’s wrist. The latter now looks like she’s ready to whip me.

…If I said I only did this because I was planning to kidnap him, would Senior Sister Chen believe me?

Xie Huaishuang was born to oppose me. Just as this thought occurred, I saw his face pop out from under the veiled hat to prove he was a completely free human being, and he even asked: “What’s wrong?”

“…”

The carved door creaked back and forth. I closed my eyes, not daring to open them, thinking to myself: Life is really just about seven or eight of these ten-year spans anyway.

If I just endure, it’ll pass.