CHAPTER 363: CHAPTER 361: THE PERSON LU YING HAS ALWAYS LIKED IS HER

Lu Ying stretched out his hand, covering the wound on his left arm. His lowered eyelashes cast a long, slender shadow at the corners of his eyes.

The wounds had already scarred and healed long ago, but because he hadn’t applied any medicine, the scars lingered on his skin.

He traced the texture of his skin, as if he were transported back to the days when he had to rely on poisonous insects to suppress his emotions. The old wounds on his left arm had not healed before new ones appeared, like the interminable drizzle of the plum rain season, endlessly lingering.

He murmured, "It doesn’t matter anymore."

"But I want to know," Shen Yinning handed him a fragrant soap paste. "Lu Ying, what have you done to yourself?"

Lu Ying reached out to take it, but Shen Yinning wouldn’t let go of her grip.

After a while, Lu Ying finally locked eyes with her. "Shen Xinghan used poison on you. Cui Ji sought Volcanic Ganoderma in the palace for your sake and turned his hair white overnight. Do you still remember?"

Shen Yinning thought of the streak of white in Cui Ji’s hair near his forehead and said solemnly, "Of course I remember."

"That night, I also brought Volcanic Ganoderma to Lotus Lane to see you. But I was a step too late—Cui Ji had already detoxified you. It was from that moment that I realized I’d always held you in great importance. Shen Yinning, your existence had already started to interfere with my life. To avoid being affected by you, I sought Qian Duobao for Desire-breaking Gu Worms that would suppress emotional attachment. Each time I thought of you, I would cut my skin open and feed a Desire-breaking Gu into my flesh."

Shen Yinning gently ran her fingers over the wounds on his left arm.

The scars were dense, numbering in the dozens.

While in Jiangnan, she had perused literature about poisonous insects. She recalled that just three to five of these Gu worms could be effective.

Yet Lu Ying had used so many...

She asked, "So, when you gave me to Lu Shiyan, you’d already started using these Gu worms? Did you send me to Jiangnan because you didn’t want to be affected by me?"

Lu Ying said nothing but his silence was an admission.

Shen Yinning recalled how, in the side chamber of the Yu estate, Lu Ying had drawn her likeness in secret on his copy of the *Analects* when he was younger. She became increasingly stunned.

In other words, the person Lu Ying had liked all along, from childhood to now, had always been her.

She looked at Lu Ying. "You like me?"

Lu Ying avoided the burning intensity of her gaze, the tips of his ears betraying a faint blush.

"Am I some kind of terrifying monster?" Shen Yinning pressed on. "Why have you always kept this buried in your heart, never uttering a word to me?"

"I thought... I thought I was being obvious," he replied.

"Obvious?"

"When we were younger, I’d often ask you to go for outings and strolls. Was that not clear enough?"

Shen Yinning let out a laugh out of exasperation: "Every time you invited me out, you’d keep three zhang away from me as we walked. I thought you were repulsed by me, reluctantly fulfilling your duties as my fiancé."

"During festivals, I would always send you gifts."

"What gifts were those? Brown sugar, candied dates, ginseng, and bird nests. For those in the know, those are gifts from a fiancé during festive seasons. For those unaware, it might as well be someone gifting delicacies to an elderly matron on her birthday."

For a moment, Lu Ying was at a loss for words.

The atmosphere in the bathhouse steamed and thickened, intermingled with the alluring floral scent of the fragrant soap paste.

Shen Yinning gazed at him through the white mist. Suddenly, she found herself liking the lines of his brows and eyes.

More than she ever did before.

She extended a slender finger and poked at his broad, firm shoulder.

Meeting Lu Ying’s gaze, she said, "After I finish my revenge, let’s leave the Capital, shall we? I want to go to the Northwest, to see the snowy mountains, the lakes at the border, and the exotic dances of the Western Regions... Lu Ying, by then, it’ll just be the two of us. We’ll be happy."

The girl’s phoenix-shaped eyes, inwardly curved and outwardly tipped, with pupils dark and glossy, glimmered with an unusually earnest look.

Lu Ying’s throat tightened as his Adam’s apple bobbed. His narrow eyes grew darker.

If it were before, he would’ve been overjoyed to hear such words.

But now...

He couldn’t distinguish between which of Shen Yinning’s words were sincere and which were lies.

Perhaps she truly desired to leave the Capital with him and roam the world, but the thought had come too late. He could no longer make himself love her.

Everything that had happened today was nothing more than a ploy to buy time and lower her guard.

His large palm caressed Shen Yinning’s face, and suddenly, he leaned in to kiss her lips.

The young girl writhed like a lively fish, but Lu Ying held her soft waist tightly, capturing her lips as he drew her into the bathing barrel.

Water splashed everywhere.

Entwined in passion.

From the bathhouse to the bedroom, it wasn’t until dusk that Shen Yinning emerged, clutching her waist as she walked out.

Haitang and Wei Yu kept their heads bowed, not daring to glance around as one of them whispered, "Lord Cui is already waiting for the Commandery Princess in the carriage."

Tonight was the night to assassinate Shen Yan.

Shen Yinning stepped into the carriage where Cui Ji sat sipping tea.

When he looked up and saw the faint blush dusting her pale pink cheeks, he instantly realized what she had been doing before she came out.

He tightened his grip on the teacup in his hand, then rolled up the bamboo curtain hanging over the carriage window. "It’s still early. I’d like to invite the Commandery Princess to Tianxiang Tower for a dinner first."

"The prices at Tianxiang Tower are exorbitant. A single cup of tea costs ten taels of patterned silver. A dinner would take up half a year of your stipend. Let me treat you instead." Shen Yinning sat across from him, glancing briefly at the pine-patterned sparrow-blue robe he wore. "Your wardrobe seems more tasteful than before."

Cui Ji wanted to tell Shen Yinning that he was well-off, as the Emperor had been privately subsidizing him.

With the Emperor’s funds, he had bought several storefronts in the Capital and hired people to run a business in scholar’s accessories. Now, the monthly income was fairly decent.

But when he thought about how paltry his earnings were compared to Shen Yinning’s Seven Treasures Pavilion, it felt like a drop in the ocean. Saying it out loud would only make him seem useless.

So he glanced at his robe and responded, "Last time, the Commandery Princess taught me to ’first respect the clothes, then the person.’ I specifically asked Miss Shangguan to help select the robes. If they now barely meet the Commandery Princess’s standards, it is my honor. By the way, I’ve already informed Miss Shangguan that I have someone I like and asked her to seek a better match."

Shen Yinning was momentarily speechless.

Shangguan Min was truly unfortunate. In a city filled with noble sons and scions, she could have chosen anyone. With her background, status, beauty, and talent, even becoming Empress would have been possible. Yet, she had set her heart on a stubborn man who knew nothing about romance.

Unwilling to meddle in Cui Ji and Shangguan Min’s affairs, Shen Yinning said no more, turning instead to quietly take in the scenery along the street.

The two had their dinner at Tianxiang Tower and didn’t set out for lande Street until the second watch.

Lande Street was already under curfew.

The street was silent, all doors shut tight, with only the shadows of lanterns swaying gently in the night breeze beneath the eaves.

Shen Yinning’s carriage stopped in a dark corner at the end of the street. After a short wait, a scout returned to report that Shen Yan’s sedan was heading this way.

Cui Ji lifted the curtain.

Shen Yinning saw two Shen family servants carrying lanterns to light the way. Behind them, four other servants carried a soft sedan. From the distance of a zhang, the stench of alcohol wafted over; Shen Yan had likely gotten drunk at tonight’s palace banquet.

She lightly snapped her fingers.

Six black-clad guards hidden in the shadows glided silently toward the sedan.

Each of them was an elite warrior personally trained by Shen Zhi, surpassing even the Imperial City Guard in skill.

In the next instant, the cold blades of their knives silently found the necks of the Shen family servants.

With just a single stroke, blood spurted out in arcs.

All six guards simultaneously caught the faltering bodies of the servants, lowering them softly to the ground. In one seamless motion, they took their places, lifting the sedan once more and carrying it at a faster yet equally steady pace toward Shen Garden.

Shen Yinning unfurled her gold-splashed folding fan, her smile radiant. "Let’s go. Tonight, we’ll give Uncle a proper welcome at home."