Still Secretly In Love With My Enemy Today - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

In the silence between us, Xie Huaishuang spoke first.

“It’s not like that.”

“I have already memorized most of the layout of Linlang Pavilion.” Xie Huaishuang paused for a moment before continuing, “I stayed here to wait for an opportunity. The women here are trying to find a way to get me a usable weapon… I think I can still hold a sword.”

“Even in my current state, I should be able to hold them off for a while when the time comes. As for where to run—I don’t know, but they said they have their own plans.”

His brow furrowed, then relaxed. “There are many things… I haven’t figured out yet, but they are different from what I originally thought.” He repeated slowly, “I don’t understand why, but I think what they say makes sense. One doesn’t need… any divine power to accomplish these things.”

He seemed hesitant, pausing every few sentences, but he finished his thought and raised his eyes.

This was an answer I truly hadn’t expected. I had always thought the altar was too high, that those standing upon it couldn’t see the people below. That was a major reason why I felt I had to hate him.

So, it wasn’t like that?

Looking into his eyes, my heart gradually quieted down, only to suddenly tense up again.

—I realized that Xie Huaishuang had said “let them leave,” not “take them with him.”

“What about you?”

“Me?”

Xie Huaishuang froze. The frost on his features melted slightly, replaced by the same expression he had when he received the sugar figure.

“I’ll leave it to luck.”

Leave it to luck? There were at least dozens of overseers in Linlang Pavilion. For a man who couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, and couldn’t use his internal energy, how much luck would he need to escape unscathed?

How could he say it so nonchalantly?

Or had he actually used the word “luck” to deceive himself?

The alarm, resentment, and lingering fear that had been constant since last night surged up once more. I had almost failed to find him, and now that I finally had, he was going to “leave it to luck” again.

Why should the world exist without Xie Huaishuang—and why the hell did he not include me in his considerations?

Perhaps it was irrational, but I wanted to demand: What about me?

My days and nights were filled with his shadow. How could he not think about what I would do if Xie Huaishuang were no longer in this world?

I’ve always been like this—acting on whatever I think. The City Lord and the others have told me many times, but I can never change.

In a fit of heat, I ignored my “passerby” identity, grabbed his hand, and asked: “What about you—what about me?”

“What?”

Xie Huaishuang was dazed for a moment, seemingly failing to grasp my meaning.

“Why do you treat yourself like this?”

“And why treat me like this? You’re ‘leaving it to luck,’ but what am I supposed to do?”

A hot current rushed to my head, making me dizzy. I wrote faster and faster on his palm: “If I can’t find you, what am I supposed to do?”

Xie Huaishuang seemed even more confused now. His brows knit together in a look of great astonishment. He opened his mouth, closed it, and stared blankly at me.

“I thought…”

He cut himself off and went silent. He lowered his eyes, then raised them again. After a long while, he whispered, “I’m sorry.”

My hand paused. I froze, only then realizing what he had said.

A cold wind blew in through the collar of my robe. I suddenly snapped out of it, realizing I had just said something incredibly unreasonable.

He was doing what he wanted to do; why should he consider any of my nonsense?

Xie Huaishuang’s eyelashes lifted, trembled, and fell again. He withdrew his hand, just as he had at the start of last night.

—I felt certain I would dream of this scene tonight and then wake up and slap myself twice.

“I didn’t mean that.” I pulled the silent Xie Huaishuang a bit closer and wrote slowly on his hand: “I misspoke—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it… I’m sorry.”

First I misunderstood him, then I offended him. I thought I should say “sorry” to him several more times.

—He was the one who apologized first, but I was the one who apologized the most. I didn’t lose the upper hand.

The expression on Xie Huaishuang’s face softened slightly. He shook his head. “I don’t blame you… I understand. I won’t blame you.”

“But I truly cannot just walk away by myself.”

I stared into his eyes, momentarily at a loss for words.

He was clearly a man of the Temple, someone who had served them for over a decade. How could he say and do such things?

I never imagined there would come a day when he and I would stand on the same side.

The magnolia petals rustled overhead, brushing against my hair, yet the sensation felt as if it were brushing inside my chest—an itchy, indescribable feeling. I felt a surge of unknown impulse, but I couldn’t say what it was. After hesitating for a long time, I simply pressed into his palm.

“Let’s go back,” I wrote slowly. “We’ll talk back there. Don’t ‘leave it to luck’… I’m joining you in this Linlang Pavilion business. I’ll help you.”

I won’t think about the Temple’s mess for now, and the Linlang Pavilion matter doesn’t need to wait. I won’t let him “leave it to luck,” and no one in Linlang Pavilion will have to rely on luck either.

I suppose acting on a whim isn’t always a bad thing.

A ripple appeared in those deep green eyes. Xie Huaishuang’s gaze stayed on my face for a long time before he asked, “Truly?”

“Truly.”

“But…”

So much useless chatter. Does he not know that staying in the cold wind too long is bad for him in his current state?

I wasn’t prepared to keep arguing with him here; if we did, we’d miss the last armored car. I wrapped his cloak tighter. I had intended to tie the rope again like I did this morning, but seeing the faint red mark on his wrist when he raised his hand, I weighed it in my palm for a moment and then put it away.

Xie Huaishuang looked up in confusion. I hesitated, then took his wrist through his sleeve and led him back toward the lights of Linlang Pavilion.

“No more rope?”

“If it’s uncomfortable, why couldn’t you tell me yourself?”

“It wasn’t actually that uncomfortable.”

“…Just tell me next time, okay?”

Xie Huaishuang opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it. After a long while, he whispered, “Fine.”

…

The windows had been open all day, and the air in the room was finally fresh.

I let go of Xie Huaishuang and turned to close the window. I heard the rustle of him taking off his cloak, then he suddenly paused. “Who else… is here?”

I almost forgot. The ugly trash from last night was still stuffed in the corner.

I lit the lamp and looked toward the corner. He was half-awake—half because the effect of the acupoint strike hadn’t worn off, and half because of hunger.

I raised my hand, lowered it, and raised it again. I didn’t know how to say it—The guy who bullied you last night? Saying it that way made him sound so pathetic…

Wait. Why do I care if he’s pathetic?

“The person from… last night, is it?”

He asked the question after only a moment’s thought. I pulled him to the bed to sit down, scrawled a “Yes,” and then asked: “How do you want to deal with him?”

The authorities and the Temple wouldn’t care about such things.

“Deal with him… me?” He blinked, his brow furrowing. “But I’m currently…”

His voice wasn’t loud, but it was enough for the person in the room to hear.

“What are you doing… I’m telling you, don’t do anything reckless! I am, I am…”

Hearing him was irritating. I kept my eyes on Xie Huaishuang and didn’t turn around; I simply flicked a silver dart from my sleeve-case. The noisy babbling was cut short by the sound of the dart piercing the wall, leaving only the fading hum of the vibrating metal.

“You just talked big about taking them away,” I wrote the final stroke, my fingertip tentatively brushing the callus on his thumb. “Won’t you try it—the feeling of holding a sword?”

Perhaps because he was blind, his eyes usually had a hollow quality, but when I mentioned the sword, those two points of deep green suddenly flickered and slowly focused.

Previously, he and I had no communication other than fighting, but I knew he was aware of his genius for martial arts and must be proud of it.

Yet just now, he had said with that self-deprecating, low voice that he could “probably” still hold a sword and “barely” hold someone off.

He shouldn’t speak such lonely words.

“The calluses are still here.” I watched his expression, unsure if I was saying it to him or myself. “Your sword is also always here. If you don’t believe it, try it yourself.”

Xie Huaishuang’s hand instinctively reached to his right, but this time he paused in mid-air. I looked at my weapon.

Cloud-Severing Blade had been sitting on the table since last night. Although I don’t like others touching my weapons, I didn’t actually mind lending it to him.

—I’ve never told anyone, and I don’t allow myself to think it, but I have indeed been curious: with a swordsmanship as good as his, what would it be like if he held a blade I had forged?

Black iron, heavy and cold. I looked at Cloud-Severing Blade for a moment, then turned and shoved it into Xie Huaishuang’s hands, who was dazed by my sudden movement.

“Make do with this.”

I held his other wrist and tapped the tip of the blade against it so he would know the approximate length.

The moment he touched the cold blade, Xie Huaishuang’s expression froze, and his eyes widened.

At first, his fingertips just trembled against it. Then his knuckles slowly moved closer, and his fingers naturally slid from the tip downward. With a swift flick of his wrist, the sword was held flat, reflecting his focused and cold features.

Exactly as I thought. Even in this state, as soon as he picks up a sword, he is still a swordsman.

Thank goodness. Thank goodness.

“Now,” I asked him, “will you strike?”

Xie Huaishuang closed his eyes, then snapped them open. He stood up with the sword. I followed him, holding a corner of his sleeve to guide him.

“You… don’t do anything crazy…”

Xie Huaishuang couldn’t hear, and I pretended I couldn’t either.

“I-I said the wrong things, okay? May you two be happily married for a hundred years, a match made in heaven, staying together every day—is that enough? I’ll never visit a brothel again…”

My footsteps paused. I didn’t know if this man had a serious problem with his eyesight or if he was just babbling in terror.

…Happily married for a hundred years?

I never thought such a phrase would ever be used for Xie Huaishuang and me. If I thought about it at night, I’d probably have nightmares.

The sound of the sword tip dragging on the ground brought me back. Xie Huaishuang was one step ahead of me, his shadow falling over the corner. The face in the corner, which was already ugly enough to hurt one’s eyes, was now scrunched into a mess of terror, fawning, and despicableness.

To think Xie Huaishuang had been scarred and bled by such a person, forced to drink wine by such a person, and humiliated by such a person.

“This way.”

I had just tugged Xie Huaishuang’s sleeve when the talking abruptly stopped. In a flash of silver, the scent of blood spread.

Xie Huaishuang turned around. A drop of crimson had splashed onto his pale cheek, three inches below his phoenix eye, illuminated clearly by a pillar of moonlight coming through the window.

The silver sword had tasted blood.

So, this is what the weapon I forged looks like in his hand. The best sword truly deserves the top swordsman.

“And… what now?”

He seemed stunned for a second, then habitually flicked the sword to clear it before reversing his grip. His strength was far less than before, but his movements were still sharp. His chest heaved violently, and his eyes were bright.

“Will others find out? We should…”

He stopped talking because I was wiping his face with a cloth. I held his head with one hand and rubbed firmly with the other. He tilted his head slightly, seemingly failing to react.

I found the sight unpleasant. If he’s going to be stained, it should only be with my blood—only I have the right to be his rival. What did this trash count for?

While wiping his face, I couldn’t talk to him. Meanwhile, Xie Huaishuang was muttering to himself: “Was my aim… still accurate?”

Compared to his slender silver sword, my weapon was wider and heavier; it must have been awkward for him. Even so, that strike just now—aside from the unavoidable lack of power—was still a shadow of his former self.

He hadn’t grown rusty. Even without a sword, I realized he must have replayed his forms in his mind ten thousand times during those days and nights in Linlang Pavilion.

Wounds like that don’t leave scars on the body, but on the soul.

“Accurate.”

I folded the cloth and tossed it aside. My gaze fell on his hand again, brushing over the years of sword calluses.

I thought it was probably better not to kill him today. Or rather, better not to kill him until the Linlang Pavilion matter was resolved.

Thinking that I didn’t have to agonize between killing and not killing him for at least half a month made my heart feel lighter. My writing on his hand became more cheerful: “And… you don’t need to worry about the rest. Throwing out the trash—I’ll do it.”

Xie Huaishuang likely had his own standard of judgment; his strike was fast and precise, but he had ultimately spared the man’s life.

He tilted his gaze, squinting to search for a while until his eyes slowly landed on my face. He was gradually becoming able to find my position.

He asked, “Why are you so happy?”

Nonsense. It was just that I didn’t have to kill him, that’s all. How could that be called “happy”? Besides…

I wrote quickly on his hand: “How do you know if I’m happy or not?”

Xie Huaishuang pursed his lips, the corners turning up in a faint, almost imperceptible arc. He gave a quick shrug.

“I guessed.”