Fate Trading System – Chapter 380

Plan B

Mandarin Ducks 10

In the snow, the tidings of spring have already arrived,
The winter plums adorn the rich, jade-like branches,
Their fragrant faces, half-open, are graceful and charming.
In the courtyard,
A beauty like jade emerges from her bath, her makeup freshly washed.
Creation itself must have had a preference,
Thus bidding the bright moon to shine so softly,
Together we enjoy the golden goblet where the green-ant wine settles.
Do not refuse to get drunk,
This flower is beyond compare to all the others.

——Li Qingzhao¹, 《Fisherman’s Pride》²

This flower is beyond compare to all the others.

When Lin Suhuai walked in, Su Xin grabbed onto her, and half of her soul was lost to her.

To continue on like this, for a long, long time, was also very good.

The General’s wife stayed here for no more than two or three days before departing in secret.

They couldn’t be away from the capital city for too long. If by any chance someone with ill intentions discovered where they had gone, their secret would be exposed. The operation might not succeed, and then all previous merits would be completely abandoned³.

The General’s wife was full of melancholy when she left. She hadn’t spent nearly enough time with her daughter-in-law yet; her daughter-in-law was just so adorable. The General’s wife had practically started raising her as a second daughter.

She, ah, could only raise her own daughter as a son. Now that she had a lovely daughter-in-law, of course she would dote on her properly as a daughter.

Lin Suhuai had never imagined that she could live such a peaceful life.

Every day, aside from some necessary business dealings, she spent most of her time in the residence alone with Su Xin.

The two of them would chat, read storybooks⁴ together, talk about the sky and speak of the earth⁵, and occasionally play the zither and recite poetry together. It was exceedingly harmonious.

Su Xin was embroidering.

That’s right, embroidering.

Before this, Su Xin never thought she would do such a thing. How could hands that held a gun perform such delicate work? But because she was in a different body, Su Xin’s feel for embroidery was actually much better. Stitch by stitch, she actually found some amusement in it.

But if she were to go back, she wouldn’t be in the mood for this. She wouldn’t even have enough time for her phone, computer, games, and training, so why would she be embroidering? The thought alone was horrifying.

Su Xin wasn’t in a hurry to complete her mission; it wasn’t something that could be rushed anyway. She peacefully settled into her role at home as a beautiful wife.

Other than occasionally going out for tea or visiting shops to look at interesting trinkets, she generally stayed at home, not being one to go out much.

In everyone’s eyes, she was more or less a celebrity. After all, a woman who was still unmarried at eighteen was not a common sight. Naturally, many people knew the reason why. The incident back then had caused a stir that was neither too big nor too small. Although it seemed to have ended without much of a ripple, many people still sighed with emotion behind closed doors.

They said that Old Master Xu was a good man for not beating the mandarin ducks with a stick⁶ and even providing money to support them. They said the Third Miss of the Xu family was a woman deeply in love. The story of the two of them had even been used in a storybook once.

But three years had passed, and Liu Yunyi had not returned. The attitude of those who still remembered the matter had begun to change.

Now that she had married someone else, those people treated the past affair as a joke. Fortunately, they weren’t people without verbal decency. This sort of thing was fine to laugh about at home, but there was no need to discuss it in public. Doing so wouldn’t make people think you were knowledgeable; on the contrary, it would make them think you were vulgar and of poor character.

The Third Miss of the Xu family had waited for a man for three years, and then married another—also a wealthy man. She had no worries about food or clothing, and the betrothal gifts from her husband’s family were considerable. She still had a good fate that many envied.

In the beginning, Lin Suhuai didn’t actually understand much about business. After all, she had always been brandishing swords and spears on the battlefield, her mind occupied with how to repel the enemy.

But these winding complexities didn’t seem difficult for her to grasp. She had indeed borrowed someone else’s identity and changed her name. At first, someone else handled things on her behalf, but now she was fully capable of managing it herself, albeit only on the surface. After all, this wasn’t her business. This whole experience had been quite interesting. In the future, when she could take off her armor and return to the fields⁷, no longer serving as a general or navigating the imperial court, perhaps she could support herself and her wife through commerce. Though, even after retiring, she would still have plenty of savings.

Lin Suhuai’s thoughts drifted far away as she stepped into the courtyard with a smile.

The temperature was gradually rising. The period of late spring cold had passed, and the weather was now mild and very comfortable.

Su Xin was sitting on a stone bench in the courtyard, embroidering a sachet⁸ while basking in the sun.

“What are you embroidering?”

“Mandarin ducks.”

Su Xin looked up and smiled, then lowered her head again to continue with her little project.

“It’s beautiful. Is it for me?”

Although the craftsmanship couldn’t be called the most exquisite—it certainly couldn’t compare to the embroideresses from the embroidery workshops—in Lin Suhuai’s eyes, it was the most beautiful thing in the world.

It was well-formed and very pretty.

Su Xin was a little smug. She originally didn’t know how to embroider these things, but she had the original owner’s memories, so when she handled these items, they didn’t feel unfamiliar, and her hands felt quite capable.

But cooking was truly her Achilles’ heel, a skill she just couldn’t seem to learn. It wasn’t that she hadn’t thought about training herself to do these things in the static space⁹, but she found the mere thought of it troublesome. Being rather lazy, she wasn’t willing to do it.

Cooking was truly a magical art, but unfortunately, she had no desire to learn it.

It was probably because she hadn’t reached a point where she absolutely had to. In the last mission world, she learned music because the mission required it. If she needed to cook to coax someone, she would definitely learn, but that time hadn’t come yet, had it?

“Mhm, I’ll give it to you when I’m done. Consider it my first gift to you.”

Su Xin nodded. When she started embroidering this sachet, she had originally intended it just to pass the time. But hearing Lin Suhuai say that, she thought she might as well give it to her. Fortunately, when she chose the fabric color, she hadn’t picked anything too flashy. This was the first gift she had personally made in this mission world.

“I brought a gift back for you.”

Lin Suhuai brought her hands out from behind her back, holding a long box carved with patterns in both hands, and placed it before Su Xin like she was presenting a treasure.

“What’s this?”

Su Xin put down her needle and thread, placing them on the stone table, and took the box with one hand.

Inside was a beautiful jade hairpin¹⁰. She felt it looked a bit familiar. Wasn’t this the item she saw when she passed by a jewelry shop while out today?

She had thought it was quite pretty at the time and had even tried it in her hair for a moment.

But the price of this hairpin was rather expensive, and Su Xin didn’t have that much money on her. She had originally thought about having Xiao Qin, who was with her, go back to fetch the money, but then decided it was too much trouble and gave up on it. It was indeed pretty, but she wasn’t someone with a strong desire to shop. She already had plenty of accessories at home, so it was fine to have it, but it was also fine not to.

But she never expected Lin Suhuai to bring it back for her.

“Xiao Qin told me today that you particularly liked this but didn’t buy it.”

“That silly little girl.”

Su Xin said with an amused tone.

“Help me put it on.”

Lin Suhuai took the hairpin out of the box and carefully placed it in Su Xin’s hair.

“Beautiful.”

Su Xin didn’t wear many accessories since she was at home, where it was fine to be dressed a bit more casually.

“My wife is so beautiful.”

Lin Suhuai embraced Su Xin, gently closing her eyes.

If only life could always be this peaceful. But there is an idiom that says good times don’t last long¹¹.

But it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, just that things were becoming more turbulent.

Someone could no longer hold back and had taken the initiative to jump out. Lin Suhuai and the emperor’s original intention was to wait a little longer, but they hadn’t expected some people to receive news and become even more impatient than them.

Lin Suhuai burned the small paper slip in her hand. She had to return to the border pass¹² now to stabilize the situation. She had no choice but to appear.

Through Fourteen, Su Xin saw the contents of the note.

The foreign tribes¹³ had, from somewhere, gotten news of Lin Suhuai’s disappearance and were wriggling and about to move¹⁴, gathering their forces, and preparing to invade.

They had already brazenly sent several teams to probe the situation.

But that person within the army still hadn’t exposed themselves. If she went back now, that person would likely pull back and hide their actions. Trying to root them out again might not be so easy.

Yet, the other matter was also one where not a moment’s delay is permissible¹⁵.

Lin Suhuai speculated that it was possible the Empress Dowager’s people had sent the message, or perhaps it was a spy the foreign tribes had planted among them. Regardless of which it was, neither was a pleasant thought.

The Empress Dowager was skillful at heart-plans¹⁶, which was why the emperor was so wary of her. After five years of struggle, the situation was still one of equilibrium. The empress’s maternal relatives¹⁷ had been able to grow powerful not only because of the previous emperor’s favor towards the Empress Dowager, which led to her family adding offices and advancing in noble rank, but also because of the Empress Dowager’s own methods. When the emperor had just ascended the throne and his position was not yet stable, she had worked hard to expand her own power.

Lin Suhuai hesitated. How should she arrange for Su Xin’s safety?

Should she send her to the capital to be with her own parents, placing Su Xin in front of everyone, or should she take Su Xin with her to the border? Or perhaps take her far away to a secret location?

This place was not safe. If they were discovered and Su Xin was taken away by the Empress Dowager’s people, the consequences would be unbearable to contemplate. She would definitely become a constraint on her.

But the journey to the border was long. She would use a fast horse and add a whip¹⁸ to rush back, and with all the jolting along the way, Su Xin certainly wouldn’t be able to bear it; her body would suffer.

If she took her somewhere else, away from her side, she would still be worried.

Lin Suhuai made a sound of grief and sighed. She had to make a decision quickly, because she had to meet the emperor soon and tell him her thoughts.

“What’s wrong? Making sounds of grief and sighing.”

Su Xin walked over and placed her hand on the back of Lin Suhuai’s.

Of course, Su Xin had her own idea. She absolutely had to go with her; they wouldn’t be separated even if it killed her. This was the thigh she needed to hug, and she would hug it from beginning to end, no matter what.

Su Xin wasn’t afraid of hardship or fatigue; everything was negotiable.

Fourteen, can you help me adjust this body’s pain nerves? Can you make them less sensitive?

【I can, but it cannot be adjusted individually. All sensations will be reduced.】

In other words, when the mandarin ducks were playing in the water¹⁹, it wouldn’t be as ecstatic, as soaring, as joyful.

Su Xin thought for a moment and chose to agree.

“Wife, there is something I must tell you.”

“Go ahead, I’m listening.”

“The situation is like this. My identity…”

After Lin Suhuai had explained everything clearly, she looked at Su Xin with some trepidation.

“You said it before, I am your person now. Naturally, the husband sings and the wife follows²⁰. To the edge of the sky and the corner of the sea²¹, I will follow you.”

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The author has something to say:

Following in sorrow and joy, every move in accord, turning humility and gentleness into an absolute. ——《Puppet Show》²²

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