The Princess’ Shadow Guard – Chapter 7

Get Lost with Your Sympathy and Pity (Misunderstanding)

“Master?” Ming Qin looked at the person in front of her, somewhat surprised by his rare sternness. “Is there a new mission?”

“Ming Qin, where did you just go?” Master He Jingshou crossed his arms, although he was sitting, he managed to make Mingqin feel pressured.

“I went to Cangyue Tower on Changshou Street,” Ming Qin honestly replied, placing her hands respectfully behind her back.

Frowning, He Jingshou asked in a deep voice, “Do you know who resides in Cangyue Tower?”

“It’s the daughter of Prince Yu, Princess Chongwen, Murong Yan,” Ming Qin spoke up, unconsciously straightening her posture.

He Jingshou slammed his hand on the table and shouted, “You actually knew who it was, and yet you still dared to go there!” The mahogany table bore a deep imprint from his palm. “You’re trying to drive me crazy!”

Ming Qin felt a mixture of fear and anxiety in her heart, wanting to defend herself, but seeing her master’s face turning red with anger, she could only obediently stand there without uttering a word.

After grumbling and scolding for a while, He Jingshou finally took a deep breath. “You possess great martial arts skills, but you lack understanding of the world. I know that,” he said, looking at his obedient disciple. Thinking back to how she had struggled to complete the mission, barely clinging to life, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of tenderness.

He sighed, placing his hand on his forehead and spoke in a softer tone, “However, the situation in the capital is tumultuous now. Your nature is simple, and you don’t understand the complexities involved. Please refrain from getting involved randomly. Don’t see her again in the future.”

Upon hearing this, Ming Qin, with her hands hanging down, quickly raised her head and anxiously called out, “But Master…”

He Jingshou stood up and sternly shouted at Ming Qin, “Qin Qin! Don’t talk back, listen to me.” Seeing his disciple shrink her neck and fall into silence, the man nodded in satisfaction and swirled his robe as he left.

Ming Qin stood in the room for a while, feeling bewildered. Her master had just angrily rattled off a bunch of words, but she couldn’t quite understand them.

Why couldn’t she go to Cangyue Tower just because of Murong Yan?

What does the tumultuous situation in the capital have to do with going to Cangyue Tower?

What did she get involved in again?

Removing the bandages from her body, Ming Qin sprinkled medicinal powder onto her open wound. She had always believed in her master, thinking that his decisions were always the best, and she never questioned his orders, always obedient to him.

But now, she was starting to wonder about the reasons why she couldn’t see Murong Yan anymore.

The next day, Ming Qin went to buy breakfast with panda eyes.

She listlessly gnawed on a steamed bun in the corridor, watching the snow. She had tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep, trying to make sense of her master’s words in her mind. She racked her brains but still couldn’t understand why she couldn’t go see Murong Yan.

Ming Qin, with a worried and troubled look on her face all day, startled her junior brothers and sisters.

Lost in her thoughts, Ming Qin had a mournful expression as she inadvertently dislocated the arm of her sparring partner, Junior Brother Xu Jun. It was only when Xu Jun cried out in pain that she snapped out of her reverie and released her tightly held grip on his arm.

“I’m so sorry.”

Ming Qin felt guilty, and with the deepening snow as dusk approached, she said, “Let’s call it a day for now.” She dismissed the young disciples and, before leaving, helped Xu Jun relocate his dislocated arm.

As the wind and snow grew heavier, the cold breeze rustled the branches, carrying a bone-chilling chill. Amidst it all, Ming Qin suddenly thought of Murong Yan, who was likely coughing at her desk, and she furrowed her brow tightly.

Arriving at the medical clinic, she looked at Doctor Ren, who was examining her wounds. Without thinking, Ming Qin asked, “Doctor Ren, can you prescribe some medicine to nourish vitality, suppress coughing, and moisten lungs?”

Doctor Ren looked at Ming Qin, who had a rosy complexion and was brimming with vitality, aside from the crisscrossing scars and scabs on her body. Puzzled, he said, “Shouldn’t you be asking for a prescription to promote healing, blood production, and dispel stasis?”

“It’s not for me!” Ming Qin explained. “It’s for a friend who has a weak constitution and can’t tolerate the cold weather.”

Doctor Ren agreed. Just as Ming Qin was about to leave the clinic happily, she suddenly turned around and went back inside.

Murong Yan’s body was so weak, delicate even. It would be better if she brewed the medicine herself.

Ming Qin took a cauldron and porcelain cup from the kitchen and set up a charcoal fire in a corner of her room. Squatting on the ground with a small fan, she intermittently stirred and checked the medicinal decoction. The inferior charcoal produced smoke, causing her eyes to turn red and teary.

As the junior sister who had come to seek guidance entered the room, she immediately saw Ming Qin, her senior sister, crying on the ground with red eyes. Startled, she quickly retreated outside the door.

The process of brewing the medicine was tedious and boring, making Ming Qin yawn repeatedly. However, she still fought to keep her eyes open as she slowly fanned the fire.

By the time the medicine was ready, it was already midnight. Ming Qin tightly wrapped the porcelain cup with cloth and tied it to her back. Then, she left the camp, moving stealthily across the rooftops, illuminated by the moonlight.

She carefully climbed the high building, fearing that a single drop of the medicinal decoction might spill from the cup.

Silently peering through the window, she saw that the room was dark, with only a small oil lamp lit by the bedside in the distance, casting a faint halo of light.

Using her keen eyesight, Ming Qin saw a figure behind the bed curtains, and Murong Yan had already fallen asleep.

Great!

Ming Qin thought to herself.

This way, she won’t have to see the princess. Master said she shouldn’t see Murong Yan, but he didn’t say she couldn’t deliver medicine to her.

Feeling relieved, Ming Qin finally entered the room, flipping over and entering inside.

The shadow guard placed the porcelain cup on the tea table and turned to leave. After hesitating for a moment, she thought about the princess’s difficulty in moving. She picked up a stool and placed it by Murong Yan’s bedside, placing the porcelain cup on top of it.

Considering the princess’s sensitivity to cold, Ming Qin hesitated for a while. She added some charcoal to the stove by the bedside to make the room warmer and more comfortable. Worried that the medicine in the porcelain cup would cool too quickly, she moved the small stool closer to the stove. Finally, she took a pen and ink and wrote down instructions for taking the medicine, placing it in front of the bed.

Satisfied, Ming Qin nodded and turned to leave.

For seven consecutive days, Ming Qin delivered medicine to Murong Yan. Despite returning home late every evening, she felt light and refreshed.

The small panda-like bags under her eyes had long disappeared from her face.

Today, Ming Qin prepared the medicine early. Even before the hour of Hai¹, she was already perched on a branch of a book tree, tilting her head back, waiting for Murong Yan to turn off the lights and go to sleep.

Ming Qin was exceptionally skilled in Qinggong. Despite the strong wind, she stood on a single foot on the branch, her figure unmoving as white snowflakes fell on her shoulders.

However, Ming Qin was now somewhat worried. Murong Yan seemed to have already fallen asleep on the bed, her silhouette covered by a thin blanket. The window was partially open for some unknown reason, allowing the cold wind to blow in, even causing the distant pages of a book to be blown over.

This would only worsen her condition. Ming Qin bit her lip, feeling distressed.

Seeing that the figure remained motionless, appearing to be deeply asleep, the next second, the branch trembled slightly, and the young shadow guard adeptly climbed up the high building.

After turning over, Ming Qin quickly closed the window and quietly approached the sleeping woman. She looked at her pale face, bent down, and wrapped her in a blanket before lifting her up.

The body in her arms was icy cold, making Ming Qin doubt whether she had taken the medicine properly.

The slender body in her embrace hung like a willow branch, seemingly weightless, and the shadow guard’s movements became increasingly gentle.

She gently placed the person in her arms onto the soft bedding and covered her with a blanket. Ming Qin removed the porcelain cup from the bedside table and placed it on the small table.

As she attempted to lower the bed curtains, her gaze met Murong Yan’s open eyes.

Her expression was clear and composed, nothing like that of someone who had just been fast asleep.

Oh no!

Master said she shouldn’t see her!

A surge of emotions flooded her heart, and Ming Qin’s ingrained instinct to obey orders screamed throughout her body, urging her to leave immediately.

However, for some reason, a strong emotional force held her gaze, and her feet remained glued to the ground, unable to move an inch.

Murong Yan watched Ming Qin’s tangled and vexed expression on her face, pursing her lips. Then she spoke, “What’s wrong? Does my awakened state trouble you?” Her voice was cold and distant. “If you don’t want to see me so badly, why did you force yourself to come?”

Ming Qin felt as if there were a thousand pounds weighing on her chest, her fingers fidgeting and her tongue frozen, unable to explain herself.

Seeing Ming Qin’s stiff expression, Murong Yan became even more certain and sneered, “Sneaking up the building every day, it must be quite a burden for the esteemed shadow guard.”

She laughed coldly, struggling to sit up.

“I… I…” Ming Qin had never hated herself for felt so foolish. Seeing Murong Yan laboriously trying to rise, she instinctively reached out to help.

“Don’t touch me.” Murong Yan slapped away the shadow guard’s outstretched hand, suppressing the itch in her throat. “You make me sick.”

Taking a few steps back, Ming Qin’s eyes welled up with tears.

“Get out of here.” Murong Yan grabbed the medicine by the bedside and hurled it at the person with their head hanging low, as if using every ounce of strength in her body.

“Take your false sympathy and pity and leave!”

Ming Qin didn’t dodge, and the porcelain jar smashed onto her still-healing left shoulder, shattering abruptly.

The scalding medicine poured over her body, but Ming Qin felt nothing. It was only when the princess ordered her to leave that she felt a sense of reprieve. Her tense body shot out of the window in an instant, like an arrow released from a bowstring.

Ming Qin gripped her own clothes, her heart trembling.

It wasn’t her heart that was struck, so why did this place feel so sour?

The person in the room collapsed weakly onto the bed, unable to stop coughing.

Her own frailty seemed to agitate Murong Yan. As she looked at her thin wrists, she slowly curled up her body.

In reality, she was even more agitated by her uncontrollable sadness, as well as the feeble cries of weakness deep within her heart.

Stay! Stay!

Whether it’s sympathy or pity, don’t leave me.

Please stay!

The corners of her mouth curled up slowly as the woman revealed a bitter and mocking smile.

Sure enough, she had nothing left.

Not even her dignity.

Murong Yan closed her eyes, praying to escape this world as quickly as possible.

Fortunately, she lost consciousness before dawn.

The author has something to say:

Spent a huge sum of money to buy a cover, spending money to make myself happy, yeah!

Also, I’ve noticed that sometimes when I post an article, and then I realize there’s a typo that needs to be corrected, I have to wait for it to be approved again, and the wait feels particularly agonizing because it takes a long time.

So I try my best to avoid typos, but if there really is a mistake that slips through, as long as it doesn’t affect the reading experience, let it go~

LP: Re-translate on December 5, 2023

1. The “hour of Hai” refers to a specific time in the traditional Chinese timekeeping system, also known as the “Shichen” system. In this system, a day is divided into twelve two-hour periods, each represented by an animal from the Chinese zodiac. “Hai” corresponds to the twelfth and final period, which ranges from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. in modern timekeeping.