The Princess’ Shadow Guard – Chapter 67
by Little PandaDay by day, Ming Qin could feel her own physical condition improving more and more.
The thin mist covering her vision was dissipating bit by bit; she was always happy to be able to see Murong Yan more clearly.
April’s peony flower season is short and precious. Ming Qin sat on the wooden chair facing the wide-open window, feeling the gentle wind mixed with the fragrance of flowers from the courtyard brush past her cheek.
The afternoon sunlight sprinkled into the room, and as tiny dust motes floated, Ming Qin squinted her eyes, allowing the bright warmth to shine on her eyelids, and blinked gently.
“A Qin.” Holding a bamboo staff, Murong Yan undid her outer robe and entered the room.
The slight vibration transmitted from the floor made Ming Qin, who was looking out the window, turn her head. “Yanyan, you’ve returned.”
The Shadow Guard, seeing the person arrive, was about to get up to greet her, but was pressed on the shoulder and made to sit back down.
Casually tossing aside the staff in her hand, Murong Yan straddled Ming Qin’s lap, her arms wrapping around her neck, leaning against her intimately.
“Did you see Prince Yu?” Gently supporting the woman’s waist, Ming Qin lowered her head and lightly touched her lips to Murong Yan’s hair, which was done up in a single bun, asking in a muffled voice.
Today was the day for Prince Yu to return to the Northern Border. The two siblings of the Prince’s Manor had gone out of the city early in the morning to see their royal father off.
After this parting, it was unknown when they would be able to meet again. Murong Can, facing the father he both admired and resented, felt a little melancholic in his heart.
He dismounted his horse outside the city wall and poured a full cup of wine2 for himself and for Prince Yu; the two looked at each other, relatively speechless.
Only at the very end, the man who suddenly felt inexplicably old sighed before getting up, his eyes holding some guilt, and said in a hoarse voice, “Take good care of yourself and Yue’er.”
Murong Can performed a cupped-hand salute towards his own father and solemnly agreed, and then watched the party of people and horses depart.
And Murong Yan, from beginning to end, just sat in the horse carriage. Only at the very end did she lightly hook a finger, lift the curtain, and from a distance, nod towards her father on horseback.
Her expression was faint, her heart extremely calm.
If it were not for her older brother’s request, she probably would have found even the farewell send-off3 to be a waste of time.
After all, she herself was already cold-hearted; the bond produced merely by blood ties was already irrelevant. What’s more, the bottom of her heart had long been filled by something more important, leaving no spare capacity to accommodate other insignificant things.
Lying in the warm crook of the arm, Murong Yan thought absentmindedly.
“Don’t be sad.” Seeing that the person before her had no reaction to her question, Ming Qin was a little worried.
The Shadow Guard, who had never experienced familial affection, was deeply afraid that parting with her father would make Murong Yan feel upset in her heart, and clumsily patted the woman’s slender back to comfort her, “It’s alright, it’s alright, Yanyan don’t be sad.”
Don’t be sad because you’re parting with family, don’t feel afraid because you are all alone, don’t because you miss home… just follow them back to the Northern Border.
At least not before my body has recovered enough to be able to accompany Yanyan by her side…
“Yanyan will not be alone.” Ming Qin blinked her eyes, her tone incomparably solemn. “If Yanyan is tired, then rely on me to rest. If Yanyan is wronged, I will support your waist for you.”
She lowered her head to press against the woman’s forehead, feeling their breaths intermingle. “If Yanyan misses home… I will accompany you, don’t be sad because you miss the Prince Yu Manor…”
Having noticed Ming Qin’s unnecessary worry for her, Murong Yan, who felt no attachment to the Prince Yu Manor family, did not speak up to correct her, but just listened carefully to the words of love the person before her was unconsciously murmuring, a smile on her lips.
The dull-witted Shadow Guard did not notice the woman’s mischievousness, and was just a little incoherent, not knowing how to console nor how to express her own true feelings. She stammered, “It’s not to say don’t be sad… you can be sad, it’s just… um…”
Watching Ming Qin’s flushed face and flustered appearance, Murong Yan could not bear it, and gently picked up the Shadow Guard’s hand that was resting on her, and wrote something.
『Since mother’s death, everyone in the Prince’s Manor has been like strangers』
『I already had no home, from where would sadness come』
Each stroke was so clear, yet Murong Yan’s expression was as calm as still water, as if she were merely stating a fact.
But Ming Qin, having calmed down, felt an inexplicable sense of grief, substituting herself for Murong Yan in her heart, as if it were an empty and cold expanse.
She herself had been an orphan since childhood, but she had Song Shuqing who was as close as an elder sister, a shifu and shimu who were like parents, and a group of colleagues from the Shadow Guard Camp who were like siblings.
But for so many years, by Yanyan’s side… there was nothing…
A person who could unconditionally protect her at any time, who could open their arms to embrace her at any time, who could stand by her side without hesitation… not a single one.
Ming Qin hugged the person on her tighter, swallowed the bitterness in her throat, looked straight at her, and said like a promise.
“…I can be Yanyan’s family.”
Her eyes were pure, her tone nail-chopping and iron-slicing4. She was deeply afraid the woman would not understand, and raised her voice.
“From today on, I am Yanyan’s family, Yanyan is not a person without a home!”
After she finished speaking, Ming Qin could not clearly see the shape of the other person’s mouth, nor could she hear the sob that came from her chest; the Shadow Guard who had lost her senses could only feel Murong Yan’s surging emotions from the slightly trembling body on her and the salty taste that flowed into her mouth.
The blocked lips only in the gaps between, in a low voice, again and again, affirmatively repeated.
“Yanyan and I, are a home.”
As the end of spring arrived, Ming Qin, whose vision was gradually clearing, looked at Wang Wei who was taking her pulse.
“Imperial Physician Wang, you’ve gotten fat since coming to the Capital City! Is the food at the Imperial Medical Academy too good?”
Although she still needed to rely on touch to recognize words, Ming Qin, who could already see that the old man’s face before her had become rounder, was still in a very good mood.
“Hmph, isn’t it all because of you, Shadow Guard Xiao Ming!” Wang Wei’s eyes were wide, gesturing irritably, “If it weren’t for you, would I be under so much pressure that I eat eat eat eat every day?”
Although Ming Qin could not hear the response, watching the person before her jumping about in anger, she still had a wide grin on her face.
Wang Wei removed the hand that was on Ming Qin’s wrist, and extended his index finger to write forcefully in the palm of the person before him.
『You’re still smiling』
『Your condition is very bad do you know』
Song Shuqing had used some method to send Murong Yan away, and was waiting in the study. Therefore, it was a rare occasion that only Ming Qin and Wang Wei were in the room.
『Your body is depleted to a fatal degree』
“I feel like I’m getting better every day. Although I can’t return to my peak, my martial strength has also recovered by forty or fifty percent, I am very content.” Ming Qin felt the strokes in her hand, which were like a release of anger, and replied with a smile.
His nose about to breathe fire from anger, Wang Wei wrote again.
『Not martial strength it’s vital energy vital energy』5
『You’ve forcefully aged twenty years shortening your life6 do you understand』
『Are you a pig? You dare to eat anything』
『A white-haired person sending off a black-haired one7, are you happy?』
Wang Wei’s characters were crooked and messy, writing a frantic burst, not giving the half-open-mouthed Ming Qin any chance to respond, until the old man felt tired and sat down with a plop, crossing his arms over his chest as if in a fit of pique.
“Whimpering… Imperial Physician Wang, don’t be angry.” Feeling her palm being released, Ming Qin finally spoke cautiously, “I… it’s alright.”
“I know my body has been affected, not to mention the loss of senses, even my breathing is a bit heavy, I know all of this.”
Catching him before Wang Wei was about to erupt, Ming Qin quickly added, “But it’s really alright. Enjoying a normal person’s lifespan or whatever, I don’t need it, I don’t have to live too long…”
“I just need to live one day longer than Yanyan.”
“I wouldn’t be willing to let Yanyan watch me die, and I wouldn’t be willing to abandon her and let her live all alone, so I won’t die that quickly…”
Ming Qin placed her hands on her lap, sitting properly and obediently. “Shijie told me before, she once saw someone who had a terminal illness that even a divine doctor was helpless against, who after giving up treatment traveled everywhere, day by day, he lived every day happily and freely, and just like that lived for another year after another year…”
“I am also like that.”
Smiling, Ming Qin’s tone was firm, “As long as I stay by Yanyan’s side, I will definitely be able to live for a long, long time… Even if King Yama8 comes to collect me, I will definitely fight him for Yanyan’s sake.”
“So Imperial Physician Wang, you don’t be angry.” Ming Qin stood up and reached out to pat the old man’s shoulder. “Don’t be angry at me, and don’t be angry at yourself.”
Wang Wei kept his head down, just staring blankly at the tips of his own shoes, not replying.
After a long while, he came back to his senses and pushed away Ming Qin’s hand with a look of disgust, instructing fiercely, “Hmph, you’d better take your medicine properly, don’t smash my, this divine doctor’s, signboard.”
“I’m telling you, I, as a health and wellness expert, am going to live to be a hundred years old, there are at least forty more years, you have to hold on for me, no matter how bitter the medicine I prescribe is, you will swallow it for me!”
“What damned bodily depletion, watch me feed you and feed you a great ton, replenishing your vital energy so much that the crown of your head9 could fly to the heavens!”
Although she had no idea what the old man was saying, Ming Qin still nodded obediently when the man paused for breath, trying to let Wang Wei cool down.
An old one and a sick one were making a fuss in the room, not at all noticing the woman outside who had long since returned from the study, leaning her back against the doorframe with her head tilted up, trying to suppress the tears surging in her eyes.
The author has something to say:
Don’t worry, living for at least another twenty years is not a problem, after all, there is the help of a 21st-century health and wellness expert
In the comment section of Chapter 64, under one of the comments, the first Forest Brain Hole Cup competition was held, everyone is welcome to participate (laughs), the challenge is how to say the most heart-touching words without being discovered by this app~
(But there are no prizes for winning, that’s all)
LP: Re-translated on September 15, 2025
Footnotes
- 家 (jiā): This character has a dual meaning, signifying both “home” (a physical place) and “family” (a group of people). The title intentionally plays on this ambiguity, suggesting that the two individuals together constitute the concept of home and family for each other.
- 湛酒 (zhàn jiǔ): An archaic term for pouring a full cup of wine, often as a gesture of respect, a toast, or a ritual offering before parting.
- 践行 (jiànxíng): The act of seeing someone off on a journey, often accompanied by a farewell dinner or drinks.
- 斩钉截铁 (zhǎndīngjiétiě): A Chengyu (idiom) that literally means “to chop a nail and slice iron.” It is used to describe someone’s words or actions as being firm, resolute, and decisive.
- 元气 (yuánqì): A core concept in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) referring to the fundamental life force or constitutional energy inherited from one’s parents. It is considered the foundation of all bodily functions and vitality. Severe depletion of yuanqi can lead to chronic illness and a shortened lifespan.
- 折寿 (zhé shòu): Literally “to break or fold lifespan.” It means to have one’s life shortened, often as a result of illness, great sacrifice, or doing something considered taboo.
- 白发人送黑发人 (bái fà rén sòng hēi fà rén): A Chinese idiom that literally means “a white-haired person sends off a black-haired person.” It describes the profound grief of a parent outliving their child, which is seen as a reversal of the natural order.
- 阎王 (Yánwáng): The King of Hell in Chinese mythology. Derived from the Hindu deity Yama, he is the judge of the underworld who decides the fate and punishment of the dead.
- 天灵盖 (tiānlínggài): The crown of the head, specifically referring to the fontanelle area. In traditional Chinese culture and medicine, it is considered a crucial point for the body’s qi (energy).
0 Comments