A Lady’s Tranquility Chapter 17.2

Chapter 17(2): Fierce and Pure

Yan Lin took her to guess the lantern riddles.

Although the prizes for guessing the riddles were all worthless gadgets, the advantage was that it didn’t cost money so it felt like they got them for nothing. When she had a big bunch of things in her hands, she felt happier than if she had bought them.

The streets were full of beautiful lanterns.

As the night darkened, everything lit up.

Walking within was like wandering in a sea of lights.

There were also small vendors selling snacks on the sides of the streets.

Yan Lin saw one calling passerbys to buy their baskets of chicken-head rice. He suddenly remembered Ning Ning’s love for it hence dragged her over to buy some.

There were a lot of people who bought it so not many were left in the end.

Seeing Yan Lin so well dressed, the small peddler hurriedly smiled, “This was just shipped over from Suzhou. It’s top quality purple flower chicken-head rice that are delicious, would you like to try some?”

Chicken-head rice, also called prickly waterlilies, was generally planted in the South. It was named as such because its appearance resembled a chicken head but the edible part was the ‘rice’ inside once opened which was the kernel.

It is somewhat similar to lotus seeds.

Yan Lin picked up a few to take a look, “The condition on the Caohe River hasn’t been good over the past few days. How can such fresh chicken-head rice like yours have been shipped over from Suzhou? Even the lychees that have been sent on express from eight hundred miles away can’t arrive so fast. This is from the Shisha Sea right?”

That peddler immediately laughed, “Yes, yes, you are really sharp eyed. However this taste isn’t any lesser than Suzhou’s. Try it!”

Yan Li cracked one open, picked out the round nut inside and delivered it to Jiang Xue Ning’s mouth.

Jiang Xue Ning subconsciously opened her mouth.

“Is it good?” Yan Lin asked.

Jiang Xue Ning nodded.

“Give me all of the rest then.” Yan Lin said. He handed a piece of silver over and without waiting for the other party to find change, packed away the rest of the chicken-head rice and left.

Jiang Xue Ning played and ate the entire way and when she finally was tired, Yan Lin brought her to sit on the steps in front of the Baiguo Temple to rest.

There were large bunches of Ginkgo trees planted in front of the temple.

As it was late autumn, the leaves had all turned yellow, the fallen leaves spread all over the ground.

The evening classes in the temple had ended. The streets in the distance were bustling with activity but nearby, the evening bell rang, peacefully and quietly.

Yan Lin sat next to Jiang Xue Ning.

In the past few days, he had also heard about the matters within the Jiang Mansion and felt that she did seem to have some changes and wasn’t the same as before.

He wanted to ask.

But when he turned around, he saw her sitting on the steps with her feet curled, concentrating on eating the last piece of chicken-head rice. Other people would pick out the nut inside to eat but she was used to leaning in and eating it directly, like a chicken pecking at rice.

Thus, he laughed.

How was she any different? She was still his Ning Ning.

Yan Lin was also somewhat tired hence he lay by her side on the steps and looked up at that starry night sky. He smiled and said to her, “Ning Ning, it’s nearly my coming of age ceremony.”

Jiang Xue Ning paused her actions and fell silent.

She didn’t want to talk about the topic that he really wanted to chat about hence said, “I have someone I want to recommend you.”

Yan Lin was curious, “Who is it?”

“He’s called Zhou Yin Zhi,” Jiang Xue Ning replied, “He was originally a servant of our family’s and later worked for my father who found him a position in the Imerial Guards. These past few days, it seems like something has happened to some Commander Zhou so he came to beg me, wanting to ally with you.”

Yan Lin had heard of this person before.

He didn’t ask any further, simply saying, “Then ask him to bring his name card over to me.”

As long as he was able to, he would always satisfy her requests.

This response was pretty much the same as in the previous life.

Jiang Xue Ning then thought of Zhou Yin Zhi – she wanted to prevent the Yongyi Marquis Mansion from repeating the same mistakes in her previous life as well as save Yan Lin. However, she was currently a nobody and could only use this person. In the end, she had no confidence herself as to what she was doing and to what extent she can save them.

At this moment, she slowly lowered her hand.

She pinched a fresh chicken-head nut between her fingers. Her lashes trembled lightly before she suddenly asked, “Yan Lin, you’re so good to me, what exactly do you like about me?”

Although she is good looking, the other young ladies in the capital weren’t bad either;

As for her temperament, she was more capricious and spoilt than others;

Her skills were also extremely average and using the words of her own mother, they were ‘unworthy of being brought to the table’.

But Yan Lin liked it.

Yan Lin thought that she was being dumb so he said as if it was a matter of course, “The first time I met saw you, I knew that you were different to all the other girls in the Capital. Your eyes when you look at people are genuine and you don’t know how to hide anything. If you want something then you go and get it, when you’re unhappy you won’t give face to anyone, when you’re happy, you can coax anyone into sweetness and when you’re sad, you want to hide and cry. I thought to myself, this naturally is someone who should be cherished by others. It must be a very blissful thing if I can get her to put me in her heart every day, have her use that expectant gaze to look brightly and coax me with her heart.

Jiang Xue Ning felt her eyes grow astringent again, “But no one else likes me. Wan niang doesn’t like me, mother doesn’t like me, the servants in the mansion don’t like me and the others in the Capital all don’t like me either. Have you ever thought that you like the wrong person?”

Yan Lin, do you know –

I won’t always be that little girl who is content to be held within your palms.

I’ll grow up, I’ll turn bad.

Yan Lin finally noticed the quiver in her voice and slowly sat up on the stairs. He stared at her red rimmed eyes, his heart feeling suffocated and blocked.

He stretched out his hand to rub her head.

Then he laughed, “What nonsense. Think about it, your Wan niang didn’t actually have any obligation to let the mansion know that you and your sister had been switched. As long as she didn’t say anything, your sister would always be the eldest di daughter* of the Jiang Mansion. If she passed away then the secret would be buried in the ground with her. However, before she died, even though her own flesh and blood was alive but she was still willing to take the risk of causing her to suffer to send you back to the mansion. How can you say that she doesn’t love you?”
*[ Di daughter refers to the legitimate daughter from the official wife.]

Tears rolled down Jiang Xue Ning’s face.

She thought of Wan niang.

She also thought of the bracelet that Wan niang had stuffed into her hands to give to Jiang Xue Hui before she passed away.

She didn’t know why but although she tried hard to stop her tears, she cried even harder.

That chicken-head rice was soaked in tears.

Yan Lin felt heartbroken and took it from her fingertips then put it into his mouth, filling his mouth with a bitter and salty taste.

“My Ning Ning deserves the best love in the world.” He said.

Jiang Xue Ning buried her head and continued to cry.

Under the dim, hazy light, the young girl’s pink face was like a cold epiphyllum blooming under the moonlight and her tears that dripped down glistened with the light from the night stars. It looked pitiful and made one feel heartache.

“Don’t cry,” Yan Lin gently said again.

At this moment, he felt like he was possessed by a demon, he could neither control his thoughts nor his hands and feet. He unexpectedly leaned over and touched her face with his lightly trembling fingers then inched his lips over.

Little by little, he kissed away that tear stain.

Like a small animal that had grown teeth but was still docile, he had an instinct to get close to her.

Jiang Xue Ning was stunned.

Yan Lin though, felt his whole body heat up when his lips touched her cheeks, even his heart was pounding wildly inside his chest.

At this moment, he hardly knew what he was doing.

But his lips had already moved down and without realizing, had landed on her soft lips.

Hers were slightly cold.

His were burning hot.

The difference in temperature woke Yan Lin up the moment they touched. He looked into that pair of eyes that he couldn’t tell contained shock or astonishment. He immediately let go as if his hands had been scaled by a soldering iron and backed away.

“I, I…”

What did he just do!

Yan Lin’s young face suddenly turned bright red. Feeling ashamed for a moment, he quickly turned his back and started coughing, “I, I’ve been rude.”

Jiang Xue Ning: “……”

There was no sound from the steps in front of the temple for a while.

The teenager could only hear his own wildly thumping heartbeat.

He looked at the ginkgo tree that had nearly lost all its leaves and after a very long time, he said with his back towards the teenage girl sitting on the steps, “Ning Ning, after my coming of age ceremony, marry me.”