TCN: Mei Gongqing

Chapter 113: Jealous

Chapter 113: Jealous

Chen Rong softened her voice to reassure him: "What can happen to me with the general here?"

Old Shang sounded an affirmation, but when he did, he still glanced at Ran Min dubiously.

Chen Rong knew that he must have many questions – many things he wanted to ask, but now wasn't the time to say anything to him.

The carriage clickety-clacked along the street.

"Here's fine," Ran Min's voice was shortly heard.

Old Shang gave a jolt, replying: "Aye."

When the carriage came to a stop, Ran Min took Chen Rong's hand and jumped down, then turned and walked toward the small lane ahead. Old Shang had wanted to follow, but Chen Rong looked back at him with a shake of her head.

He watched Ran Min's clasp on Chen Rong's hand and their linking shadows. Countless questions were lodged in his throat with no opportunity of ever being asked aloud.

The two of them eventually disappeared from his field of vision.

Before long, they had returned to the alley and entered the dilapidated couryard.

Ran Min made the jump, pushed the boulder aside and waved to Chen Rong. Without waiting for her, he stooped down and went on.

Chen Rong jumped down.

Soon after, the boulder slowly closed and silence was once again restored to the ancient well.

Chen Rong followed behind Ran Min and, just like that, quietly left Nan'yang.

Outside the tunnel, Ran Min raised his head looking at the city. His thin lips drew into a line. A while later, he somberly smiled. "It's but a surname."

Thus spoken, he turned his head and strode away.

Chen Rong quickly followed him.

They hadn't gone 300 paces by the time they saw hundreds of soldiers with bright torches encircling his fiery steed. Ran Min mounted his ride and, paying no attention to Chen Rong, gave a holler before bolting away.

Chen Rong stared after his figure amid the flying dust. "Can you ride, miss?" a soldier asked.

She quickly turned around and replied, "Aye, I can." She climbed onto horseback and pursued Ran Min into the wilds yonder.

By the time the new moon rose, the troops had caught up to Ran Min.

The man and his horse were standing among the vast wilderness, fine and tall. In the night, they appeared both hazy and distant. Chen Rong softly sighed.

She rode up behind him.

Her soft and light voice sounded in the midst of clopping hooves: "How many aristocrats can boast of your heroic feats? Your valory and intelligence are unparalleled. On paintings and in annals, there your name will remain for thousands of years. All the nobles and literati will have to look up to you. Why is it, then, that you are unhappy, my general?"

She had recited these words thousands of times in her previous life with the hope of saying them to him at an opportune time. At the time, she was convinced that if she could tell him at the right occasion, she would be able to win his high opinion.

For that reason, her speech had been articulate and tender; there was even her own sense of loss mixed in that tenderness...

Under the new moon, Ran Min turned around.