Don’t Be Scared
Ever since Li Ji acquired his special ability to “read minds”, almost all the inner voices that he could hear were mixed with calculations, suspicion, and hostility.
He’s grown used to it.
Living in the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty, where all the power is located, all sorts of conspiracies and calculations are necessary to survive. It’s impossible for him to escape.
But Hua Manman has become an exception.
She was like an outsider who had strayed into this world, and was seemingly on a different page than everyone else.
She really is pretty weird.
Hua Manman didn’t expect that the almighty Zhao-wang would be so unwilling that he wouldn’t even give her some soft bedding. But she could only scold Zhao-wang for being too stingy in her heart while pitifully retreating and settling for the next best thing.
“If bedding is not possible, I’m okay with a soft pillow instead.”
On the bamboo couch, even the pillows are woven out of bamboo.
While it’s nice and cool to sleep on in the summer, it’s too hard for Hua Manman and makes her head hurt.
She felt like if she continued to sleep with her head laying on this kind of pillow, her head will eventually become deformed.
Li Ji called in the mama in charge of the room and told her to bring a new set of bedding and pillows, specifically soft and comfortable ones.
The mama didn’t understand what he meant, but she didn’t dare to ask any questions and obediently complied.
Soon, the bedding and pillows on the bamboo couch were replaced with a new set.
Hua Manman sat on it, rubbing the left side and pinching the right side. It felt nice and soft to the touch, and she was very satisfied.
“Thank you Wangye for the reward!” she said, smiling so brightly that her eyes curved into crescents.
Li Ji had actually wanted to say that she didn’t need to go through all this trouble. If she found it uncomfortable to sleep on the bamboo couch, she could just sleep on the bed. It’s not like he would spend the night in her room everyday.
But just as the words reached the tip of his tongue, he swallowed them back down.
Forget it. In return for her risking her life to save him, he’ll continue sleeping in her room for a few more days.
It’s a good opportunity for everyone in his residence to see that he highly values her, in order to deter short-sighted people1 from trying to plot against her in the future.
So tonight, Zhao-wang continued to stay in Hua Manman’s room.
The maid who was originally in charge of night duty was kicked out by Hua Manman.
Hua Manman said that it was enough for her to serve the Wangye by herself, and insisted that there was no need for anyone else to stay in the room.
The maids all thought that Hua-ruren was going to do something unspeakable with the Wangye, so all of their faces were flushed red with shame as they quickly walked away.
But what they didn’t know is that nothing ever happened between Hua Manman and Zhao-wang.
The two slept in different beds, complete separate from one another like the Jing and Wei rivers.2
In a liminal space between wakefulness and sleep, Hua Manman’s mind was immersed in memories from many years ago in her past life.
She was only eight years old at the time, and her father’s company had just gone bankrupt from poor management.
As a result, her father became so depressed that he drank heavily all day long. Every time he was drunk, his temperament changed drastically, and he would become extremely violent and cruel, often beating and kicking his wife and daughter.
Her mother couldn’t stand it anymore, so she secretly ran away.
Her mother had left, but Hua Manman couldn’t leave.
Her drunk father looked like a demon when he grabbed her hair and slammed her onto the ground.
She struggled and cried desperately, but her strength was no match for that of a grown man’s at all. Her head hit the ground hard, and it hurt so much that she couldn’t help but cry in pain.
“If it weren’t for you, you cursed omen, my company wouldn’t have gone bankrupt! You are a scourge! An evil star! No one who gets close to you will end up well! Why don’t you die already?”
His voice overlapped with that of Rouwan-junzhu‘s.
Even the expressions on their faces seemed to overlap when they said:
“You are a scourge! An evil star!”
Hua Manman suddenly opened her eyes, waking up from her nightmare.
Her eyes rested on the house’s inner beam in front of her, decorated with colorful pictures of wealth and blooming flowers. Her surroundings were quiet.
The doors and windows were closed tightly. Without light, the room was extremely dim, and it was hard to see anything clearly.
She didn’t know what time it was, and she didn’t dare to call out for someone, so she could only quietly raise her hands and place them over her eyes.
It’s in the past.
It’s already all in the past.
Don’t be afraid.
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Notes
- “short-sighted people” = not literally near-sighted people, but meaning people who lack foresight.
- Jing and Wei rivers = now, my geography isn’t great, so this is a bit of a shot in the dark. But pretty sure the Wei river mentioned here is the largest tributary of the Yellow River; the Jing River is then the largest tributary of the Wei River. Despite this, the two rivers look completely different; the Jing River has clear and calm waters, vs. the Wei River’s turbid water.
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