The Princess’ Shadow Guard – Chapter 6

Gullibly Swindled by a Scoundrel

Layue​¹ was approaching, a time so cold that dripping water turned to ice.​²

Although she had been granted a month of sick leave, Ming Qin had been lying around for eight or nine days and felt like her body was about to grow mold.

            

Only after she proved she was fine by flying over eaves and walking on walls,​³ leaping all over the camp, did her Master finally relent and allow her to go out.

“It’s rumored that a black monster once appeared in the jungles of the Western Regions. Its face was like a monkey’s yet also human, its body was enormous, its arms were covered in muscle, and it could still swing freely through the treetops even after being shot with three arrows. This beast was called Jingang.”​⁴

Lin Yan looked at his shimei with some confusion, watching her hastily departing back. “Master,” he said, “I suspect Qinqin and Jingang are distant relatives.”

            

Beside him, an old man with half-white hair was shirtless, his solid chest crisscrossed with scars. “Qinqin has been a bit strange lately.”

“Yeah, on her rest day​⁵ in the ninth month, she vanished right after lunch too. Could it be she’s found a sweetheart?” Lin Yan chuckled, then thought about it and shook his head, feeling it was unlikely. Qinqin’s martial arts were superb, but her disposition was as simple as a child’s, with no interest in matters of love. “She’s probably found another pastry shop in the market that caught her eye.”

The old man didn’t reply, merely stroking his beard in contemplation.

            

With her tattered cloth bag hanging against her chest, Ming Qin leaped across the rooftops carrying a newly bought basket of steamed dumplings.

Master and the others were being too dramatic.

It was just excessive blood loss; it wasn’t like she’d lost an arm or a leg. Every one of them acted like they wanted to tie her to a bed to recuperate for the rest of her life.

            

After lying down for so long, although she was only about fifty or sixty percent recovered, it was enough for her to climb Cang Yue Tower without easily falling to her death.

Thinking of her promise to the Commandery Princess, Ming Qin couldn’t sit still for a second.

She had to get the steamed dumplings to the Commandery Princess before they got cold.

            

Ming Qin picked up her pace, but her foot accidentally slipped on a frosted tile. Her body dropped three feet, and she hurriedly exerted her strength, her five fingers digging into a shallow crack in the wall as she hung there ungracefully.

The sound of a suppressed cough reached her ears. Gritting her teeth against the tearing pain in her wounds, Ming Qin gathered her strength and pushed upward, forcing a window open and tumbling into the room. Murong Yan was slumped weakly over her desk, forcing her eyes open to look at her.

Seeing the Commandery Princess’s pale face, Ming Qin quickly set her things down, walked straight over, and pulled up her sleeve to carefully take her pulse.

            

“Pardon my forwardness.” Ming Qin’s expression was focused, and she didn’t see Murong Yan’s wide eyes staring at the wrist she was loosely holding.

“I didn’t expect you to know medicine,” Murong Yan said faintly, suppressing the discomfort in her eyes.

“Only the basics.” A Shadow Guard’s work was like dancing on the tip of a knife;​⁶ Master had always told Ming Qin to study her medicine lessons diligently, for even if her skills were poor, she could still save herself at a critical moment.

            

Though her abilities were limited, Ming Qin could tell that the Commandery Princess’s vital energy​⁷ was depleted. The cold from the deep winter had seeped into her lung meridian,​⁸ and her weak body simply couldn’t withstand it.

“Where is the doctor? Are the other servants just useless rice buckets?”​⁹ The usually gentle Ming Qin’s face was flushed, a rare hint of anger showing.

Ever since she had lost her leg, Murong Yan disliked seeing imperial physicians and hated the touch of skin against hers during pulse-taking even more. Before she could reply, her throat tickled, and another piercing fit of coughing began.

            

Striding quickly into the room, Ming Qin lifted the bedcovers, reached out, and grabbed the quilt from the bed. She walked back to the chaise lounge, wrapped Murong Yan up thickly in the quilt, and supported the woman’s body, gently patting her on the back.

Murong Yan coughed until she was drained of strength. In the end, she was just shivering weakly, letting out a series of muffled groans.

Ming Qin’s heart ached watching her. She pulled aside the woman’s collar, reached for her clavicle, and pressed her thumb on the Tiantu acupoint.​¹⁰

            

“Don’t be angry, okay? It’ll be better soon,” Ming Qin coaxed softly, looking at Murong Yan, whose eyes were glistening with tears from coughing.

Murong Yan looked up at the audacious person before her, the corners of her eyes red as she gasped for breath.

At such a close distance, it was the first time Murong Yan had carefully studied her face.

            

To put it nicely, Ming Qin’s features were regular. To put it bluntly, they were unremarkable. Neither beautiful nor ugly, everything was just right. Thrown into a crowd, she would immediately disappear—the perfect appearance for a Shadow Guard.

Strangely, whenever she looked up, Murong Yan found she couldn’t bear to pull her gaze away from those pure, clear eyes, so limpid and bright they seemed capable of dispelling darkness and illuminating any place they fell upon.

They hadn’t seen each other for over a month, yet there was no sense of distance.

            

There was gauze taped to her forehead, and a thin scratch on her cheek had already scabbed over. Her scent, which should have been clean, was now like she had been soaked in medicinal wine. She must have just come from the Medical Hall.

After about the time it takes for one stick of incense to burn,​¹¹ Murong Yan finally managed to catch her breath. The thin calluses on Ming Qin’s thumb scraped painfully against her skin, making her squirm uncomfortably.

Murong Yan ordered Ming Qin to help her up. She smoothed her collar, ignoring the other’s worried expression, and pointed a finger at the steamer basket that had been left on the table for some time.

            

Only then did Ming Qin remember. She hurriedly opened it, only to find that the crescent-shaped dumplings inside were already cold and hard.

Annoyed, Ming Qin was about to put the lid back on when Murong Yan spoke. “Bring it here.”

“But it’s already cold,” Ming Qin said dejectedly.

            

Tap, tap.

Murong Yan’s fingers tapped on the tea table, a silent command.

Only then did Ming Qin reluctantly place the steamer basket in front of the Commandery Princess, biting her lip as she watched the princess pick up a dumpling with a peaceful expression, as if she didn’t mind, and place it in her mouth.

            

Murong Yan chewed the small dumpling for a long time. Just as she swallowed it, Ming Qin cried out as if she’d remembered something. The Shadow Guard frantically pulled her cloth bag from her chest and took out a grimy oil-paper package.

“This is the gift I promised to bring you! Not the steamed dumplings.” She pinched her sleeve and vigorously wiped the surface of the oil-paper package before handing it to the woman in front of her.

Murong Yan didn’t show any disgust. She put down her chopsticks, took the package, and untied the hemp string, revealing a slightly crumbled tea brick. She lowered her head and sniffed it lightly. “Green tea leaves? Did you go to the Min Region?”

            

Ming Qin’s hand, which was adding charcoal, suddenly froze, her expression alarmed.

Seeing the flustered Ming Qin, Murong Yan understood and thoughtfully didn’t press the matter.

Ming Qin, sighing in relief, handed the boiled water to Murong Yan and began to chatter endlessly. “I never knew there were so many types of tea before. My head was spinning just listening to the introductions. The lady at that teahouse said this is the best tea in the whole world, and that only Min… only their shop has it.”

            

Having almost let it slip, Ming Qin secretly glanced at the person opposite her. Seeing that Murong Yan’s expression was still composed and her hands were steadily pouring water to steep the tea, she relaxed and continued, “That lady even patted her chest and swore that if it wasn’t good, I could go back and find her. I never knew tea was so precious. This small half-jin cost me three months’ salary. It was really so expensive,” she said, gesturing dramatically.

Murong Yan listened as she poured tea for herself, gently swirling the jade cup in her hand before lowering her head to take a sip.

The initial taste was rich, the tea’s aroma strong but fleeting, followed by a subtle, distant scent of fresh flowers, with a burnt fragrance in the aftertaste.

            

Hm.

It was extraordinarily common.

Commonly terrible.

            

Murong Yan looked at Ming Qin, who was staring at her with expectant eyes, and found it amusing.

It seems she was swindled by some malicious person in the Min Region.

So silly.

            

“How is it?” Ming Qin swallowed, her expression tense.

“Mm…” Murong Yan’s throat was dry and itchy, and she let out a light cough. Looking at the crumpled oil paper the tea was wrapped in, which still had some unwiped bloodstains on the outside, she uncharacteristically went against her conscience. “It’s acceptable.”

Hearing this, Ming Qin jumped up happily and poured herself a cup of tea, gulping it down in one go, unafraid of the heat.

            

“It’s delicious!” she said with a serious expression. “I think this tea is delicious too! The lady at the teahouse really didn’t lie to me. This truly is the best tea in the world! I’ll have to go buy another twenty jin another day and thank her while I’m at it.”

Murong Yan’s hand trembled slightly as she refilled Ming Qin’s cup, unable to hold back her amusement.

How could she possibly tell what good tea was when she drank it like an ox drinking water?​¹² But seeing Ming Qin’s sincere expression, she felt the tea didn’t taste so bad anymore.

            

“Forget the twenty jin.” Murong Yan took a light sip of tea with a smile. “Don’t buy any more tea. I don’t drink tea in the winter,” she fibbed.

Without waiting for Ming Qin to reply, Murong Yan deftly changed the subject, bamboozling the simple Shadow Guard until she couldn’t find north.​¹³

The atmosphere was harmonious.

            

It wasn’t until dark that Ming Qin reluctantly left.

“Qinqin, come here.”

Just as she stepped through the door of her room, the young Shadow Guard saw her Master sitting on a wooden stool, looking at her with a grave expression.

            

“We need to talk.”

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The author has something to say:

Thank you to all of you who have read this far. I hope you eat well, sleep well, and have a pleasant day. (Or a pleasant tomorrow?)

            

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LP: Re-translated on June 02, 2025

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