Waiting for You for a Long Time, But You Haven't Arrived - Chapter 39

The Prime Minister Has Arrived

“Master, there is a dog outside that keeps trying to break in. We can’t drive it away no matter what we do.”

Just as Ming Yishu and Ji Zijun were talking, someone outside suddenly reported these words.

Ji Zijun looked back. “Just give it a beating. Beat it until it doesn’t dare to come in anymore.”

“I’ll go take a look.”

Ming Yishu stood up and was about to head out when she was pulled back by Ji Zijun, who placed a beaded veil over her face.

The beaded veil was exquisite and extravagant, beautiful to the extreme, but it did nothing to actually conceal her features. Ming Yishu raised her hand to take it off and exchange it for another, but Ji Zijun pressed her hand down and found a strip of white silk to cover her eyes as well.

Ji Zijun looked at her with satisfaction and said, “Not many people here know you. If you cover your eyes, no one will spare a second glance at a blind woman.”

Ming Yishu listened to Ji Zijun and did not further oppose her.

She walked downstairs and, from a distance, saw the “dog” that kept trying to force its way in—Heyi. It was her Heyi.

“Stop.” How could Ming Yishu bear to watch the little wolf cub she had raised be chased and cornered like this? She stepped forward and, through the hazy thin silk, leaned down to gather Heyi into her arms.

The servants of the Red Jade Pavilion knew she was a guest of honor to the pavilion’s master; seeing her intervene, they all backed away.

Ming Yishu intended to carry Heyi upstairs, but the wolf cub struggled, no longer wanting to be held.

“Heyi, be good. There are many people here.” Ming Yishu tried to soothe it through touch, simultaneously applying slight pressure to keep Heyi pinned to her chest, fearing it might get lost.

She quickened her pace, never daring to look back. She didn’t even want to think too much about it… Why did Heyi run out? How did it find this place? During the time Heyi was repeatedly breaking into the Red Jade Pavilion, would it have attracted the attention of the Prime Minister’s Estate?

During this time, Jiang Qionghua had been searching for her, surely carrying a great deal of hatred. Taking Heyi away was indeed risky for Ming Yishu, but she was even more afraid that Heyi would be found by Jiang Qionghua first. That person was cold-hearted and would surely kill the wolf cub.

Ming Yishu took a deep breath and held Heyi tighter.

The white silk covering her eyes was very thin; she could still see, though the images before her were very blurry. Consequently, Ming Yishu did not walk fast. As she slowly lifted her skirt to climb the stairs, she still had to be careful of her footing.

“Everyone, clear the way!”

“No one is permitted to leave the Red Jade Pavilion until the search is complete!”

Ming Yishu’s heart skipped a beat as she continued up the stairs.

The ground floor instantly became chaotic. She heard a servant ask:

“Sirs, who are you looking for?”

The newcomers were aggressive in their aura, as overbearing as bandits. Ming Yishu heard them say they were here on the orders of the Right Prime Minister… Jiang Qionghua had not only sent out everyone from the Prime Minister’s Estate to find her but had even mobilized the official guards.

How great was the enmity that it deserved such a massive mobilization?

No, that wasn’t it either. When she left the Prime Minister’s Estate, she truly hadn’t considered that person’s feelings. It was only natural for the other party to be driven mad with rage.

Ming Yishu quirked the corners of her mouth in self-deprecation. She mocked herself for still having such self-demeaning thoughts—at a time like this, did she still need to consider Jiang Qionghua’s feelings? She shouldn’t. She really shouldn’t.

She asked herself honestly: the self-preservation maneuvers she performed before leaving weren’t that bad for Jiang Qionghua. Compared to the vile acts that person had committed against her, it wasn’t excessive at all.

When she loved the other party, she could overlook many things, but they could no longer return to the way they were at the beginning. Since they had broken apart and separated, she, Ming Yishu, would not speak to that person with soft and gentle words as she had before.

Not a single spark of soft-heartedness was allowed.

She would not jump into the same fire pit twice.

The first time, she was willing; she was paying the price for her own passions while she was still clear-headed. The mistake had been made, and the love had been worn away until nothing remained. It was time to give up.

Ming Yishu’s mind wandered for a moment, and Heyi took the opportunity to struggle out of her arms and onto the ground. Before she could react, it ran toward the guards downstairs.

“There’s a dog here!”

“Where did this dog come from?”

Because of the guards, the people in the private rooms had all come out. Those people finally noticed Heyi as well, their gazes landing one after another on this troublemaking wolf cub.

In the crowd, someone muttered in confusion—”Isn’t this the dog from the Prime Minister’s Estate?”

Ming Yishu’s heart sank.

As soon as those words were spoken, not only did the guards fall silent, but everyone else dared not utter a sound. The servants of the Red Jade Pavilion stared at the dog on the ground in terror, defending themselves by saying they hadn’t treated the little thing harshly.

Ming Yishu closed her eyes, regretting that she hadn’t looked after Heyi properly just now.

It was strange as well; Bai Heyi had always been very obedient to her. She didn’t know why it had become so unruly just now—perhaps the crowd in the Red Jade Pavilion had caused the wolf cub to suffer a stress response.

Fortunately, Heyi never harmed people; even after being driven away many times, it never bit anyone. This was the only thing Ming Yishu felt lucky about.

She didn’t dare linger any longer. Since Heyi refused to follow her, she could only protect herself first and stay away from this place of trouble… Going directly to find Ji Zijun was out of the question. Ming Yishu didn’t want to involve her friend, so she randomly found the most secluded stall and walked inside.

A strange male voice asked in a low tone: “Master, this medicine takes effect after two hours. Even a Great Immortal couldn’t save them. After taking this poison, the liver and intestines will rupture. The death is very gruesome. Do you really want to…”

Who were they trying to harm?

Ming Yishu instinctively held her breath, quietly leaning against the wall to hide her figure.

Immediately following that, a familiar voice rang out: “A gruesome death is not necessarily a bad thing. I want Jiang Qionghua to see with her own eyes how Ming Yishu died because of her. I heard she’s recently seen the error of her ways and is searching the whole world for Ming Yishu. I want her to realize she was wrong only after the deed is done, just like years ago. Evildoers live for a thousand years; all our efforts over the years couldn’t harm her, so we can only make her strike herself.”

This person…

Ming Yishu bit her lip in pain, silently reciting the other person’s name in her heart.

Ji Zijun.

A fellow countrywoman in a foreign land, one of the few people in this world she thought she could trust. The two of them had come from the real world together. She had thought they were of one mind to complete the task, but she hadn’t expected the other party to keep the truth from her.

Perhaps because she had already been tormented once by Jiang Qionghua, Ming Yishu’s heart found it difficult to feel any more sorrow. Even upon hearing such horrifying news, she could calmly continue listening.

Ming Yishu felt a chill in her heart as she silently listened to how Ji Zijun intended to use her to plot against Jiang Qionghua.

It was true; she had been too careless, blindly trusting the other party without thinking carefully about the oddities over the years. Ji Zijun was afraid she was getting too close to Jiang Qionghua, yet she demanded that she stay by Jiang Qionghua’s side. The words she often said were “Don’t let the Prime Minister become suspicious of you.” The other party said she was looking for a very important item in the Prime Minister’s Estate, but she never once told her what that object actually was. After staying in the Prime Minister’s Estate for so many years, if there was something to be found, it would surely have been easy to locate… but her teacher had never told her.

Was it a lack of trust?

Ming Yishu leaned against the wall, her eyes full of disappointment.

The two people deep in the room were still conversing in low voices. Ming Yishu heard that they seemed to be looking for a dagger—using that dagger to kill Jiang Qionghua or handing it over to someone.

Was it a dagger?

Ming Yishu recalled the past and remembered seeing a wall in Ji Zijun’s secret room, covered densely with cold, stern blades. So the other party was looking for a dagger.

Why did she never tell her?

Listening to the male voice, Ming Yishu knew he was likely Ji Zijun’s subordinate and not from the real world like them… So why was her teacher willing to mention these things to a stranger but not speak deeply with her?

And she even wanted to kill her…

And chose such a painful poison…

Ming Yishu didn’t know what exactly she had done wrong. These people were always plotting for her life. Back then, Jiang Qionghua had deliberately forced her to take poison or submit; now, Ji Zijun was determined to have her appear before Qionghua having died a gruesome death.

How deep was the grudge between these two? Was it worth tormenting each other endlessly for so many years? Ming Yishu couldn’t understand the thoughts of madmen. She knew she was still normal and wouldn’t spend all day full of hostility and violence, but it seemed her living was an obstacle to others, something she couldn’t avoid no matter what.

No, she was being shallow. Coming to this place through a book was never meant to be a smooth journey. In these six-plus years, she should have found a way to complete the task and escape, rather than placing her heart on Jiang Qionghua. Using passion to numb herself meant she would eventually be dragged into this farce.

Ming Yishu wondered if it was because of the transmigration that the people staying here always became extreme, their emotions as flat as if they had been forced into a mask. She thought that perhaps a long time ago, that “Investor Sister” had been a normal person too. It was only repeated failures that made her so manic, faintly becoming a match for Jiang Qionghua.

Failure would have consequences; that much was obvious.

Ming Yishu would rather believe that Ji Zijun became like this due to uncontrollable forces than face the reality that the other party wanted to kill her with her own hands.

The last person she was willing to trust had also gone mad. How far was she from going mad herself?

Ji Zijun said they could complete the task and leave this place soon. Ming Yishu had once believed her, but now that she had heard this conversation, she no longer thought so. If it were easy to leave, Ji Zijun wouldn’t have been trapped here for so long, and she wouldn’t have been pulled in as the second transmigrator.

Thinking of this, Ming Yishu was suddenly overcome by a great sense of exhaustion.

Everything seemed to have become meaningless. The world was not large; where could she hide? Jiang Qionghua wanted to capture her, Ji Zijun wanted her dead, and Heyi was no longer obedient. In the end, she still had nothing.

Ming Yishu leaned against the wall, lowering her head in sorrow.

She couldn’t avoid this poison, simply because the sponsorship over those years had been real. Perhaps to Ji Zijun, that kindness was just a small effort, but to Ming Yishu, it was the actual money that changed her fate. If not for the other party’s kindness, she wouldn’t have been able to walk out of her confinement; her original family would have trapped her inside and made her life a tragedy.

Gratitude had to be repaid. Ming Yishu’s conscience wasn’t dead; as long as she owed someone, she would grit her teeth and pay it back.

Even though she had witnessed the event she was about to face, she did not leave quietly. She silently vowed that after being poisoned this time, her debt of gratitude to Ji Zijun would be considered settled.

She, Ming Yishu, would no longer be used by that person in the future. She would rather vanish from this world than stay and help her.

If her task failed, she would die. She knew this, and she was at peace with it.

Life in reality had been miserable enough; she didn’t want to live that kind of life here again. It didn’t matter if she couldn’t go back; she had no attachments or concerns, and she was willing to go to her death.

She no longer wished to live; she would rather escape this way.

Ming Yishu kept her head down, her eyes shifting from numbness to calmness in just a moment. The voices of the people inside gradually faded, and a skirt appeared in her vision—it was Ji Zijun walking out.

“I heard…” Ming Yishu was about to speak to the other party when her mouth was suddenly covered and a pill was forced down her throat.

Ji Zijun took advantage of her lack of awareness, giving her the medicine first before saying: “It’s fine, it won’t hurt. Teacher died once too; it won’t be long before you are resurrected.”

Ming Yishu let out a laugh.

She hadn’t expected that the other party wouldn’t even give her a chance to speak, insisting on giving her the medicine before any further communication. As expected, she had been naive. Everyone here had deep schemes; she couldn’t compete with their calculations.

“Is that so?” Ming Yishu laughed until tears came. She raised her hand to wipe them away as if nothing was wrong and said, “Teacher, you know, don’t you? Intense, unbearable pain cannot be faked. Even if it could be faked, it wouldn’t fool Jiang Qionghua. You know I don’t have a system to block the pain, so you deliberately brought such a fierce poison… You still think I’m ‘dirty’ and want me to be resurrected clean and pure. But people aren’t objects; you can’t just refurbish them and start over. Even if wounds heal, they leave scars. I will not choose to be reborn, and I will not get involved in the struggle between you two again. I wish the two of you an early victory—no matter who wins, it has nothing to do with me. I have used my life to repay your kindness; it’s best if we don’t meet again.”

Ji Zijun hadn’t expected that she had heard everything. For a moment, she listened to a series of words about cutting ties, her brow furrowing as she didn’t know how to continue speaking to her.

Ming Yishu didn’t wait for her to continue. She waved her hand, tore off the jewelry the other party had personally put on her—which had been bothering her—and turned to leave.

“Don’t go out. Jiang Qionghua’s people might find you,” Ji Zijun called out to her, saying, “I don’t know why you have such a strong resistance. You should know that after transmigrating into a book, life and death are not major matters. Fate can be modified many times. You are being too childish.”

Ming Yishu stopped in her tracks but did not look back.

She answered softly, “Yes, life doesn’t have to be treated as life here, but what I seek is not just to survive. How long I live makes little difference to me.”

Ji Zijun frowned. “Then what are you doing now, being so dramatic with Teacher?”

“It’s been six years. You never contacted me before, never revealed your identity to me. Even when you reunited with me recently, you wouldn’t tell me the truth—once you said that in this place, only we two are modern people who can truly trust each other. But how have you treated me? Did you disclose the truth? Truth and falsehood, reality and illusion… if you ask yourself, did you ever trust me? Did you ever treat me as one of your own?” Ming Yishu asked her. “You say you are fond of me, but you were willing to boldly leave me in the Prime Minister’s Estate. For six years, we only interacted under the false identity of a teacher. You never explained that you came from the same place as I did. From your perspective while observing me, did you feel like you were watching a play? Was it interesting to keep me alone in the dark? Was it fun?”

Ji Zijun was pushed into a corner by her continuous stream of words, unable to answer.

Ming Yishu opened her mouth to call her Ji Zijun, but halfway through, she gave another self-deprecating smile. “Forget it, you never even told me your real name, so… in the future, don’t use the word ‘love’ to insult people.”

Ji Zijun stood silently before her, never speaking her name.

Ming Yishu didn’t hold out much hope that she would explain much, but the fact that the other party never offered her name was ultimately very chilling.

Really… not going to say it?

In her extreme disappointment, Ming Yishu nodded in despair. “Fine, I understand. I will follow your wishes and get revenge on Jiang Qionghua. You two keep fighting, keep struggling against each other to the death.”

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