The Hopelessly Muddled Mrs. Long San
Long San didn't say anything for a long time, he looked over the room, then called Xiao Qing over: "Who has come to Furen's place in the last few days?"
Seeing Long San's expression, Xiao Qing was somewhat nervous: "There wasn't really anyone, only Yu Mama comes over from time to time, Doctor Chen came to check her illness, there's also the servant who brings the meals, otherwise, it would be two days ago Xia Er came over to deliver a new handkerchief." Xiao Qing paused, and then added: "It was a new handkerchief from each courtyard."
When Xia Er's name came up, Feng Ning's heart stirred, could it be that the one who took the silk rope was also her? Long San's countenance was normal, but he told Xiao Qing to tell the servants to prepare hot water, explaining that Feng Ning had gotten a fright from falling into the water while she was outside, and needed to soak in hot water to cleanse and relieve fatigue. Xiao Qing received the order and left, Long San turned to Feng Ning and said: "I will arrange for two guards to come and keep watch over your place here every day. If anybody is to go out, we will make sure to investigate thoroughly, besides Xia Er, there may be others keeping a low profile."
When Feng Ning heard this, she felt extremely moved, she was clearly a suspect for his attempted murder, there was also a chance that she may have had inappropriate relations with another man, but he really didn't blame her, and even protected her, Feng Ning at once went forward and hugged Long San: "Thank you."
In such an unfamiliar and ruthless place, with an empty and helpless past, an unfathomable and unreliable future, fortunately she had him.
"I won't keep anything from you anymore, it's all my fault." If she had just spoken up earlier, with someone like Long San to handle matters, maybe that Xia Er wouldn't have been able to leave; perhaps now, even if everything had been asked, she wouldn't have had to die for no reason, and she herself would not have had to suffer the pain of drowning.
In the middle of this, two male servants came in carrying a large wooden basin filled with hot water, Xiao Qing and another maid followed in from behind holding the bathing equipment; seeing this, Feng Ning was going to let go of Long San, but unexpectedly, Long San held her tightly, and rather loudly while using an intimate tone, said: "Come on, don't panic, it's already all over, you have me. Now that I know everything, I'll take care of everything in your place."
Feng Ning's mind moved fast, understanding the situation, she very correspondingly and softly said: "Husband, you're so good to me." Her fake act of coyness caused Long San's body to stiffen, the servants and maids were all shocked.
Long San hugged her tight, and said into her ear: "You had better stay a little fiercer, so you don't scare anyone." Once he finished speaking, he let go, and once again smiled as usual and said: "Have a nice soak and rest early, I will come see you again tomorrow."
Feng Ning was left fuming from being secretly mocked by Long San, but she could not blow up in front of the servants, so she could only fake a smile and send him off. She turned around, saw the big bath basin full of water, and felt a little faint; she inwardly said not good, this phobia of water is getting increasingly serious.
The servants and maids had all withdrawn, Feng Ning stood to the side of the bath tub, not daring to go in, finally with no other choice, she called Xiao Qing over, had her pull open the screen, stand on the other side, and speak with her; just like that, dispersing her thoughts, continually reminding herself that she couldn't drown in the bathtub; only now could it be regarded as having taken a bath without a hitch.
Long San was in the middle of going over secret reports sent from all over Jiang Hu, when he heard the pounding sound of knocking from outside, he opened the door, and only saw a Feng Ning who had used a cloak to thickly bundle herself into a sphere, before Long San could say anything, Feng Ning had already rolled into the room.
Seeing the light lit, files placed on the table, and a tidy bed, Feng Ning said: "Oh, you haven't slept yet. Great."
Long San was about to say: "Even if I haven't slept, I still don't want to chat with you." But before he could speak, he saw Feng Ning throw her thick cloak off, beneath the cloak she was actually only wearing her middle garments[1], with her hair undone, and on top of that, she was even carrying her clothes and pillow, it was no wonder she was so round.
Long San blinked, but before he could recover, Feng Ning had already climbed onto his bed with lightning speed, spread out his blanket, burrowed herself in, and lied down.
"What are you doing?" He was dumbfounded for a long time, and finally recovered his voice.
"I had a nightmare." Feng Ning shrank into the blanket, wrapping herself in it.
"A nightmare?" Long San walked to the edge of the bed intending to pull her up: "I don't care for matters of dreams."
"Don't drive me away." Feng Ning only had her head exposed, her large clear eyes revealing a miserable and pitiful feeling. "The moment I close my eyes, I start sinking into water, I'm scared."
"Once you close it a few times, you'll get accustomed to it." Long San certainly did not want to indulge her, this woman, really, you give her an inch, and she wants a mile.
"I can't get used to it, it's frightening, I've woken up twice now, I'm unable to breathe; I'll die. Tomorrow, you'll find a corpse in my room."
"Then go find Xiao Qing to sleep with you."
"But I have more peace of mind here." Feng Ning even rubbed her stomach, and said: "Mm, as expected, I'm not scared anymore."
Long San was not happy: "If everyone was like you, having a nightmare and running over to find me, would I get any sleep?"
Feng Ning opened her eyes wide: "Are you saying those female friends of yours?" She thought about it and also got upset, pouted, and retorted: "They aren't your wives, I am. I can come to you if I have a nightmare, if they have a nightmare, they can go find their own maids." She covered herself with the blanket, and mumbled from inside: "In any case, I'm not leaving."
Long San stood next to the bed glaring at her: "Covering yourself with the blanket, isn't it the same being suffocated?"
"You're right." Feng Ning poked her head out: "So don't drive me away, I'm afraid of suffocating." She looked at Long San's extremely unwilling expression, and cajolingly said: "I won't inconvenience you, look, I even brought my own pillow."
"What about the blanket?"
"The blanket's too big, not convenient to carry over."
"The bed?"
"You're not sleeping anyway, you go work, and I'll sleep first. Once you're done, wake me up, and we can switch." As she spoke, she actually even delicately yawned, bleary eyed, she really was tired.
Long San was extremely angry, she was even able to come up with this kind of negotiation, he intended to reach out, drag her up, and drive her out, but Feng Ning pitifully begged: "I'll only sleep for a while, really, don't drive me out, I'm really tired."
She shut her eyes, the hand he reached out paused, and he actually felt his heart soften. Never mind, just let her sleep for a while, he hadn't finished looking over his files anyway. He very fiercely warned her: "I'm only letting you lie down for a while, later when I want to sleep, you have to get up."
"Mm." Feng Ning answered softly, and very quickly appeared to have fallen asleep. Long San stood by the bedside and looked at her for a while, hearing her soft, lingering breathing, he thought for a bit, then turned around to go look at his documents.
After looking for a while, Long San was somewhat absent-minded, suddenly realizing he had been distracted, this entire time, he didn't turn a page, he also didn't take in anything that he read, on the other hand, he was exceptionally and distinctly aware of Feng Ning's breathing.
He got angry, gave her a quick glare, and decided to look at the files for a little longer and then force her up; why should she be able to sleep soundly, while he sat on a hard chair hard at work in the middle of the night. He glanced at her again, but found that she wasn't breathing, he walked over, checked her breath; she really wasn't breathing, he was just finding it strange, when he suddenly saw her struggling as she twisted and turned; alarmed, he hurriedly pushed her: "Feng Ning, Feng Ning……"
Feng Ning suddenly opened her eyes, opened her mouth wide, and breathed in hard, with a look of panic, she subconsciously grabbed his hand, and hugged his arm. "Long San, Long San….."
"You had a nightmare?" Long San leaned over, and moved the hair from her face, seeing her empty eyes, he couldn't help but start feeling anxious.
Feng Ning panted, and after a long time, finally recovered; she glanced at him, once again exhaustedly shut her eyes, and very quietly murmured: "Hold onto me, don't let me fall into the water."
Long San frowned, softly patting her: "Alright, I'll hold onto you, don't be afraid."
That night, Long San didn't sleep, not only did he not sleep, but because his arm was being hugged by someone, he could not move, so he leaned his body onto the bed, and half of it had been pressed numb.
The next day, Feng Ning slept until she woke up naturally, feeling rested and refreshed, she was in an extremely good mood, Long San with a dark face, his pent-up frustrations flaring up. The rumor of these two husband and wife sleeping in the same room spread quickly, Long San and Feng Ning's different expressions let everyone's imagination run wild with all kinds of thoughts.
Upon hearing this gossip, Feng Ning excitedly ran over to find Long San: "Have you heard?"
"Heard what?" Long san was in a foul mood, when he thought of how he had stayed up all night for this crazy woman, he would make him angry; and now, she was acting as happy as though she had picked up a treasure, and this made him even angrier.
"The servants are all saying, Long SanYe has been 'seized' by Mrs. Long San."
Long San's gave a cold smile: "Congratulations to you Mrs. Long San."
"Ayy, same, same." Feng Ning outspokenly clapped Long San's shoulder: "Your scheme prevailed, didn't you want everyone to think that we're very close, let the assassin hear of it, and let him think that I've definitely told you his secret, so as to expose him?"
Long San was not at all surprised that she understood his intentions, she is clever, and he was aware of that, but he was still angry: "This plan only needed us to stand closer together, chat, go out and roam the streets and eat, to accomplish its goal, there was no need for you to come and steal my bed."
Hearing this, Feng Ning looked at Long San for a while, then spat out a complaint: "You're so stingy." Once she finished speaking, she ran off.
Long San watched her from behind, making up his mind, tonight, no matter what, he would not open the door for her.
Long San didn't know why he guessed so accurately, at night, Feng Ning really came again, she knocked on the door, he wouldn't open it, coldly telling her through the door to go back, he secretly looked out the window; she was like yesterday, bundled in a large cloak, round and plump; definitely carrying her pillow, clothes, and whatever else.
Feng Ning knocked for a long time, Long San just wouldn't let her in, so she fumingly sat in front of his room's door, and said: "Long San, you're not opening the door, your guards in the distance are all peeking, and this is humiliating."
"If you're afraid of being humiliated, go back."
"Tomorrow everyone will say, Long San and Furen lost affection after one night." As she spoke, Feng Ning peered around everywhere as if she were a thief, she had though it would be as smooth as yesterday, charging in and taking a good nap, in the end, it turned out to be this difficult.
Long San very smoothly replied: "That's perfect, the assassin will think I already know the secret, and then swiftly kicked you aside, this way it'll be even easier to convince him."
"So mean." Feng Ning hugged her pillow against her knees, leaning against the door and said: "Long San, tomorrow they're taking me to a Buddhist Temple to exorcise me, if by chance I am driven away, you won't see me again."
"Do you think you're an evil spirit? What do you mean "being driven away"?"
"Who knows, if by chance I really am possessed, once they exorcise me, I will cease to exist. At that time, you'll be heartbroken."
"Many thanks for your concern, no need for you to worry if I am heartbroken or not." Long San was really not in a good mood, is this crazy woman ever going to finish.
"Long San, the way we're speaking separated by the door, it's the same as if we were sitting in the room speaking."
"I don't even feel like speaking through the door, I'm going to sleep."
"Then why are you still speaking?"
"……" Long San for a moment, choked with nothing to say, turns out he was equally foolish. Very good, then he won't speak anymore, he was really going to sleep.
"Long San, Long San……" Feng Ning waited for a long time, there really wasn't any more movement inside, she despondently said: "Are you really ignoring me?" No one responded, she waited a bit, and then said: "You really don't care about me anymore?" Still no one replied.
After a long while, she said again: "Did you fall asleep?" There was no sound from the room. She once again waited a long time, then said: "If you get nightmares, I'm right here with you, don't panic ah."
Long San fumed and grinded his teeth, just endure it and ignore her. But after a while, he heard her voice again: "Long San, good night, I won't disturb you."
Inside the room was very quiet, Feng Ning leaned against the door, feeling a little cold, she wrapped herself tightly, and spoke again: "Long San, tomorrow, first thing in the morning, the servants will pick me up from the front of your door, there will certainly be a new rumor. They will definitely say Long SanYe is indeed very charming, see that Mrs. Long San, kick her and she still won't leave."
The more she spoke, the more she chattered on without thinking, talking to herself: "I would definitely tell them, I really like SanYe. In this lifetime, I will follow only him, and will never part."
In the middle of her incessant talking, the room's door finally opened, Long San with a dark face, towered above, glaring at her: "What exactly are you trying to do?"
Feng Ning had been in the middle of speaking, when the door opened, almost causing her to fall over, she raised her head, with her pitiful dark eyes like a small deer looking back at Long San: "Don't abandon me ah, Long San."
[1] 中衣 Zhong Yi - The layer between the outer and the undergarments.