The Princess’ Shadow Guard – Chapter 35
by Little PandaA Reward for Ah Qin
The cold wind was mixed with fine snow.
Ming Qin stood alone by the well, washing her nose. The water drawn up in the wooden bucket was mixed with crushed ice; even in such an extremely cold temperature, her expression did not change.
It’s probably because I was injured, plus running up and down, that my nose is bleeding.
Ming Qin thought absent-mindedly.
For her, who felt no pain, it was truly of no great consequence, but this ceaseless bleeding was indeed a headache.
She lowered her head and submerged her face in the wooden bucket, hoping the ice-cold water could suppress the warmth inside her nasal cavity.
After a while, discovering that she was indeed no longer bleeding, Ming Qin changed the bucket of water to wash her blood-stained inner lining and outer robe. Her fingers, soaking in the icy water, were chapped and cracked, yet she did not feel any pain.
After hanging the washed clothes to dry in the warm stables, Ming Qin then returned to the room.
The room was a complete mess. Ming Qin wanted to clean up the patch of bloodstains on the floor, but saw Murong Yan hugging her arms, curled up on the bed planks, her thin body trembling slightly.
“What’s wrong?” Ming Qin noticed Murong Yan’s strangeness and hurried forward to embrace her.
“Ah Qin!” Murong Yan saw the person who had come and reached out to touch her cheek, her expression panicked as she checked back and forth. “Blood, so much blood just now. Ah Qin, does it hurt?”
“It doesn’t hurt, I’m fine.” Ming Qin pressed against her hand and said in a warm voice, “Your hands are cold. How about I boil some hot water for you?”
Murong Yan did not reply, only repeatedly confirming with a trembling hand whether the person before her was unharmed.
Seeing that she did not answer, Ming Qin was about to turn and walk towards the charcoal stove, but was frantically hugged around the waist.
“You’re not allowed to go!” Murong Yan shouted, then hugged Ming Qin tightly, her body shivering as she choked out, “Where are you going?”
Ming Qin bent down slightly, her tone patient as she said, “I’m not leaving. I want to go boil some water for you.”
“No!” The woman seemed to still be in a state of terror, stubbornly refusing to let go. “I don’t want water. You’re not allowed to go.”
Looking at the somewhat abnormal Murong Yan, Ming Qin thought she was just frightened by the bloody scene from before and gently coaxed her, “Alright, alright, I won’t go.”
Ming Qin helped the woman lie down and prepared to sleep on the bed planks with her clothes on, one hand gently coaxing her to sleep.
But that night, Murong Yan slept extremely poorly.
She tightly gripped the person beside her, not daring to loosen her grip in the slightest. In less than an hour, she would suddenly wake up sweating and reach out to confirm Ming Qin’s breath.
Only after confirming she was indeed still breathing would Murong Yan once again grab the corner of Ming Qin’s clothes and lie down. In one short night, she confirmed it like this no less than ten times.
Ming Qin, who was always woken up by the slight movements beside her, was not annoyed. She just soothingly stroked her back every time the woman’s eyes flew open in panic, until the person in her arms fell asleep again.
The sky was not yet light. Just as Ming Qin was about to quietly get up and leave the bed, her wrist was grabbed by Murong Yan, whose eyes had suddenly flown open.
Tightly gripping the person before her, Murong Yan’s fingertips trembled as she cried out in terror, “Where are you going?!”
“I’m getting up first to wash up and prepare the horses. You sleep a little longer,” Ming Qin explained, her tone peaceful.
“No, you’re not allowed to go!”
Murong Yan struggled to sit up, saying anxiously, “You cannot leave me!”
Ming Qin felt a little strange in her heart. Supporting the unsteady woman, she comforted her, “I’m not leaving. I’ll be back in a little while.”
“No.”
Murong Yan insisted, her voice trembling, “I’ll go wash up with you. I don’t want to sleep anymore.” One hand still gripped Ming Qin, while the other grabbed the prosthetic limb at the head of the bed and haphazardly put it on. Her hair, usually combed neatly, was in disarray.
Looking at the carelessly fastened leather straps and the woman’s anxious appearance, Ming Qin couldn’t bear it and knelt down, gently securing her right leg for her, and then lightly carried her in her arms to wash up.
Murong Yan’s abnormality only then began to cause Ming Qin worry.
Whenever she was about to leave Murong Yan’s line of sight, she would become panicked and desperately pull at her hand, not letting her leave.
Even when she persuaded Murong Yan with a good voice and good reasoning to let her, who urgently needed to urinate, leave, through the thin door panel, she would ask if she was still there almost every few tan zhi1.
And Murong Yan, in doing anything, likewise needed her to accompany or hold her to complete it, whether it was washing her face, cleaning her teeth, or even relieving herself, which she had previously been most unwilling for her to help with.
Although Ming Qin had no complaints about this, looking at Murong Yan’s reddened eyes and haggard expression, she still felt this was not a solution.
Especially when, braving the light snow, Murong Yan still insisted on not entering the warm carriage and had to drive the horse outside with the shadow guard, Ming Qin’s worry reached its peak.
“This won’t do.” Ming Qin frowned, looking at the woman in her arms who had started to cough uncontrollably, and said worriedly, “It’s too cold outside, you’ll get sick.”
“Cough… cough cough, I’m not going in… You’re not allowed to leave.” Murong Yan’s throat was itchy, and she tightly clutched Ming Qin’s collar. Even though she was weak, her expression remained firm. “Cough… Not allowed to leave… leave my side.”
“I won’t go, I won’t leave you. I’m just driving the horse outside,” she continuously assured the woman, but Murong Yan just shook her head desperately, which made Ming Qin very distressed.
She flipped through the map at hand. The journey was still long. Unclear why the woman was suddenly like this, Ming Qin made a pained face and muttered, “But what are we to do if this goes on? Your body can’t take it.”
She looked at the reins placed on her lap, and a flash of inspiration suddenly appeared.
Stopping the horse, Ming Qin suddenly reached out, hugged the thin woman, and jumped down into the snow. She opened the carriage door and placed her on the soft cushion covered with a huqiu2, then said, “Wait for me here for a moment.”
“Ah Qin! Ah Qin! Where are you going?” The sudden disappearance of warmth beside her made Murong Yan’s heart panic, and she anxiously wanted to pull back the person who was about to turn away.
But Ming Qin just gently yet firmly held her down, and whispered softly in her ear, “Half a ke zhong3, half a ke zhong at most. Wait for me here.” Then she turned, closed the carriage door, and sped away.
Murong Yan clung to the door handle, “Ah Qin, come back!” But the door was blocked by something and did not move a bit.
“Ah Qin!” Her slender hands frantically slapped the door, a feeling of panic and unease filling her brain. The intense desire for Ming Qin to stay made her speak without thinking. “This Palace commands you to come back! Ming Qin, come back! This Palace… cough… cough cough.”
A fit of coughing that pierced her heart and lungs made Murong Yan involuntarily bend over. The pain in her chest felt as if it would pierce through her lungs. Having coughed until she lost her strength, she curled up on the seat, trembling involuntarily, and whimpered with a muffled voice.
“Ah Qin…”
Murong Yan only felt as if she were in darkness. An emptiness that pained her to the bone marrow spread throughout her body, making her suffer as if ten thousand ants were gnawing at her heart.
Where did Ah Qin go?
Does Ah Qin not want me anymore?
What if Ah Qin is dead?
Countless questions tumbled in her mind. The nearly explosive sense of panic made every breath she took unbearable, as if she would faint in the next second.
Just as her consciousness was fading, the sound of a chain faintly reached her ears.
The carriage door opened. Inside the warm carriage, Ming Qin, with snow accumulated on her shoulders, bent down and came in, helping the weak woman on the seat up.
“Ah Qin?” Murong Yan returned to her senses, and forcing back her trembling, she said through gritted teeth, “Where did you go?”
Ming Qin smiled, but her expression was a little troubled. “I just ran to a small village over there.”
In her hand, she held a thin chain about eight chi4 long. She looped the leather cord at the end onto Murong Yan’s hand. “I originally wanted to find a hemp rope, but unfortunately, I only found this.”
The young shadow guard said this while fastening the iron ring at the other end around her own neck.
“You stay inside the carriage. If you want to confirm if I’m here, just pull this iron chain. Don’t come outside and get frozen.” Handing the key to the stunned woman before her, Ming Qin continued, “This was probably used for chaining a newborn calf, don’t worry! I left a bag of silver at the door of that household, so it doesn’t count as stealing.”
Seeing that Murong Yan was just biting her lip and not answering, Ming Qin became a little nervous. “Don’t be angry with me, okay?” Her tone was a little aggrieved. “Don’t not talk to me, it’s quite scary.”
Murong Yan stared fixedly at the chained person before her, her throat feeling so sore and tight she couldn’t speak. After a long moment, she squeezed out an off-key voice and choked out softly, “Ah Qin… why are you so good to me?”
Ming Qin scratched her forehead, the sound of metal clashing coming from her neck. “Does being good to someone need a reason?”
She was perplexed.
Shaking her head, Murong Yan pulled the iron chain in her hand and hugged Ming Qin’s head, as if not knowing what else she could give, just silently kissing her over and over again.
“What’s wrong?” Closing her eyes to feel the lips brushing across her eyelids, the woman’s long silence made Ming Qin ask worriedly.
“…It’s a reward oh, a reward for Ah Qin.”
Mixed with the tears that meandered down, it was both sweet and salty.
The author has something to say:
PS. I’ve put the synopses for two new stories in my author column.
The first is a future online gaming story (?).
The CP is a melancholy, gentle beauty and a world-weary mass murderer (?).
(I know it sounds weird, but this story is just in my head, I can’t help it….)
The second is a campus + city romance story.
The CP is a sunny and sincere younger veterinarian and a gentle, healing older flight attendant.
(A teacher friend of mine told me to never write a campus story because she feels physically uncomfortable every time she reads one, but I can’t help it, the story is in my head…)
You can take a look at the synopses for both. If you like them, please add them to your collection~ (I’ll be more motivated?)
However, I don’t want to battle with wits and courage against the censors anymore, so it probably won’t be as risqué as this Commandery Princess and Shadow Guard story (don’t be disappointed ah!).
If the genre you like isn’t in these two, I will write others later, so you can still look forward to it.
It’s just that after I finish this book, I might want to rest for a bit, accumulate a backlog of drafts, and it will probably be a while before I can start a new story (it’s really so tiring oh~).
As always, I pray for you, and hope you are happy~
LP: Re-translated on July 20, 2025
Footnotes
- 彈指 | tán zhǐ | Literally “a flick of the fingers.” A traditional Chinese measurement of a very short period of time, roughly equivalent to a few seconds. It is used to convey a brief, almost instantaneous interval.
- 狐裘 | húqiú | A robe, cloak, or pelt made from fox fur. In historical Chinese contexts, it was a luxury item signifying wealth and status, prized for its warmth and beauty.
- 刻鐘 | kè zhōng | A traditional Chinese unit of time, equivalent to one-quarter of an hour (15 minutes). A ‘half ke zhong’ would be approximately 7.5 minutes.
- 尺 | chǐ | A traditional Chinese unit of length, roughly equivalent to a “foot.” Its exact length varied by historical period, but it is standardized in modern China to be approximately 33.3 cm (1.09 feet).
we should add BDSM to the novel tag LMAO
well okay then. this escalated into something i did not expect. but the author wrote this so well it forces me to accept this. lol
im not complaining.
O.O
we should add BDSM to the novel tag LMAO
well okay then. this escalated into something i did not expect. but the author wrote this so well it forces me to accept this. lol
im not complaining.
O.O
I’m glad we get to see this side. Well not glad, but is interesting to see this part of the princess explored.
I’m glad we get to see this side. Well not glad, but is interesting to see this part of the princess explored.
ayo this is getting kinda kinky
It always was
ayo this is getting kinda kinky
It always was