Chapter 33 Something Always Feels Off

t woken up and is now taking a bath in her spacious bathtub filled with flower petals. She pays no attention to the crowd shouting outside.The maid took the clothes and gently placed them aside, then...Chapter 33 Always Feeling Something Is Off

The next three days, Qi Lin did not look for Mu Dan. She deliberately avoided any chance to meet with her. However, she still wrote a few sentences each day and had Lüzhu deliver them over. Most of the time, those words were just lyrics from songs.

"It seems like you've been doing well these days" Passing Qi Lin a teacup, Yumu said indifferently, "Do you like the tea that's being sent over"

Qi Lin sipped the tea slowly and closed her eyes contentedly. She licked her lips and nodded as she replied, "Mm-hmm... You're so meticulous, you know Those teas were really hard to drink—either terribly bitter or incredibly bland. If it weren't for your people delivering a pot of tea every day, I might have had to survive on stream water."

Hearing Qi Lin's words, Yumu didn't find them funny but had some questions instead. "What does 'super' mean"

"Super means... very, very," Qi Lin casually explained after accidentally using a new term. She put down the teacup and thought back to her interactions with that man over these days, realizing she hadn't rejected this life at all. It was strange.

Feeling Qi Lin's silence, Yumu softly asked, "Do you have something on your mind"

Although it sounded like a question, the tone of his voice was more declarative as if he had seen through everything about her.

Qi Lin let out a sigh and said, "Ah, Yumu. I'm asking you this... If someone hurts you and then comes back to find you, yet you don't reject them at all—why is that"

After she finished speaking, Qi Lin realized how foolish her question was. Just as she thought of giving up, she heard Yumu's answer.

"Two reasons." Fanning himself slowly, he said, "Firstly, his injury towards you wasn't thorough enough for you to care."

Is that it Qi Lin pondered carefully. Although that guy had taken her most precious first time and played tricks on her many times over, as a person from the 21st century, she was long past such matters. Even though she wasn't avant-garde, she could still accept them. More importantly, she understood that once something is lost, it's gone—no matter how much artificial assistance there might be in the 21st century to help her recover, it wouldn't be the same as before.

"What about the second reason" Qi Lin almost blurted out but quickly dismissed the idea. "No, let’s not talk about it."

She knew what Yumu would say, but that was impossible.

Fearing that Yumu might tease her at this opportunity, Qi Lin swiftly drank all the tea in one gulp and stood up to say, "Yumu, I've spent enough time here today. It's time for me to go."

Yumu nodded softly and said, "Alright, take care."

Rushing out of Bamboo Leisure Retreat, she just bumped into Mai Dong and Lüzhu. Qi Lin ran up with a smile and asked, "Mai Dong, where have you been"

However, Mai Dong kept his distance from her. He bowed respectfully and said, "Miss Hongxue, I went out to purchase tea just now."

Seeing how distant Mai Dong was, Qi Lin awkwardly withdrew her hand behind her back, rubbing it nervously. She nodded uncomfortably; she could understand Mai Dong's reaction but couldn't accept it.

Lifting her leg and giving him a swift kick to the groin, she pointed at him and said, "Mai Dong, you stinky brat! Idiot!"

Without caring about his suffering, Qi Lin grabbed Lüzhu and quickly left.

After Qī Lín left, Mài Dōng raised her eyes and curled the corners of her mouth up. Her eyes were full of smiles as she said softly, “That stinky brat is still the same.”

She pulled Lǜ Zhú to her rose garden, carefully closed the door herself, and had everyone else wait outside.

"How did it go" After everything was set up, Qī Lín asked anxiously as she held onto Lǜ Zhú's hand.

Lǜ Zhú wiped the sweat off her forehead and nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ve already given the letter to Miss Bù Yáo and also told Miss Mǔdān that you’ll be at the Peony Garden tomorrow when the sun sets.”

"Good," Qī Lín proudly curled up the corners of her mouth. Tomorrow, Zǐ Yìn and Lóng Yè will come back to patrol so as to receive Feng Changqing’s inspection. This was what Qī Lín planned.

This meant everything would depend on tomorrow's outcome.

However, despite this smooth process, a slight unease arose in her heart. She couldn’t explain why or how she felt it.

She went to bed early but had a very strange dream where she built a bridge and was about to walk across when someone stopped her from going forward. Another person walked up instead and stepped onto the bridge, only for it to break in the middle.

Waking up from her nightmare, Qī Lín thought it must be morning, but looking outside, she realized that it was only around five o'clock at night. Turning over in bed, she wanted to continue sleeping but suddenly felt something was off. She opened her eyes and saw the figure beside her.

Before she could scream out loud, a hand clamped firmly over her mouth; hair fell onto her face, and a familiar tea aroma made her instantly quiet down.

The man knew Qī Lín wouldn’t resist anymore, so he let go of his hold. "You had a nightmare I saw you sweating a lot."

Qī Lín sat up but didn't immediately respond to the man's question. She realized that her palms were wet with sweat, so she slowly held his icy hand.

The man hadn’t expected Qī Lín to react this way and didn’t refuse when he thought she was just scared.

She placed his hand in front of herself, lowered her head, opened her mouth, and bit down without hesitation.

"Ah"

The man made a muffled groan. He hadn’t expected Qī Lín to act this way, so he let go only when blood filled her mouth. Satisfiedly licking his lips and smiling smugly.

“When did you come” she asked the question that had been on her mind all along, but she could sense a cold anger from him. Acting as if it was nothing, Qī Lín patted his shoulder and said, “Don’t worry. I have good golden medicine here to treat your wounds.”

She didn't wait for the man's response before she groped around in the darkness to find the medicinal powder. It was given by Yu Mu; although there wasn't much of it, it was very effective.

The man didn’t reject Qī Lín’s actions and quietly watched as she sprinkled the medicine on his wounds. Most of it ended up off target, but seeing her serious expression, he said nothing.

Finally, unable to find any bandages, Qī Lín took out a silk handkerchief from beside her pillow and carefully wrapped it around him. She tied it hurriedly with a butterfly knot and patted his wound twice to indicate that the dressing was secure.

"Hehe, done!"

The man looked speechlessly at Qi Lin and asked, "What are your plans for tomorrow"

"Do what needs to be done," she replied without hesitation. But despite her answer, Qi Lin still felt uneasy.

The man said coldly, "Do you believe in Bu Yao Do you think she won't harm you" After all, fewer opponents mean more chances of success.

Qi Lin was taken aback. She knew about this rule, but she believed that Bu Yao wouldn't do such a thing.

This is the rule in the 21st century.

Qi Lin smiled slightly and said, "Yes, it's an understanding between her and me. You won’t understand even if I explain."

Since Qi Lin didn't elaborate, the man wouldn't press further. He glanced outside, noticing that dawn was approaching. Then he leaned over to whisper in Qi Lin’s ear, "Sleep a little more, you still have lots of things to do tomorrow."

Mm.

Before Qi Lin could react, the man quickly pressed two points on her body causing her to fall asleep immediately. He then carefully covered her with a blanket before stepping out of the room and said into the darkness, "Make sure Qi Lin doesn't appear tomorrow."

"Yes."

The voice that answered was actually female.

Qi Lin slept very soundly this time. When Bu Yao arrived at her bedside and poured a cold cup of tea on her face, she opened her eyes groggily and spat out the leaves in her mouth before lazily saying, "Let me sleep for a little longer."

Bu Yao refused to budge. With hands on hips, she kicked Qi Lin’s buttocks and loudly shouted, "If you don’t get up right now, I’ll burn down this place! Do you believe me"

Upon hearing about fire, all of Qi Lin's sleepiness vanished instantly. She sprang up from bed, looked around frantically with her wet bangs sticking messily to her forehead, and casually brushed them aside.

"Where’s the fire" she asked anxiously as she checked her surroundings but found only Bu Yao in the room. Qi Lin then relaxed and rubbed her temples saying, "Why did you come looking for me so early in the morning"

“Early morning” Bu Yao wanted to lift Qi Lin up and throw her out of the window so that she could see how high the sun was already in the sky. However, she held herself back and looked at Qi Lin with disdain as she said, "I’ve read through the plan Green Bamboo gave me. I’ll make sure Long Ye comes over when he’s supposed to. You should also take your chance to leave—don’t get caught up in whatever happens here or there. I won't care about you."

Hearing this, Qi Lin smiled slightly. That's what the rule is.

She nodded in agreement but was still hoping for a little more sleep when she received a sharp slap on her head that made stars burst before her eyes.

"Why" she cried out holding her forehead and feeling the pain of being woken up yet again.

Bu Yao, with hands on hips, glared at Qi Lin. "Don’t you know what time it is You still want to sleep Are you a pig or something"

Qi Lin looked at Bu Yao and could see the fire in her eyes—the kind that burned fiercely.

After getting dressed, Qi Lin was preparing to head over to Peony's place.

Their plan was for Qilin to get Mudan drunk – a drunken Mudan would surely lose control. Adding in the mandrake powder from Yu Mu, Mudan would definitely experience hallucinations and reveal her true form. At that moment, Bu Yao would bring Long Ye over; they would just happen to see this scene. Before Bu Yao arrives, Qilin would leave. This plan was simple yet effective.

However, on the way, Qilin still felt uneasy as if something wasn’t right, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

Finally, Qilin reached Mudan’s courtyard entrance and walked back and forth several times before finally telling Lüzhu to leave. She planned to go in alone since this wasn’t a proud thing to do.

But when Lüzhu was about to leave, Qiaoer came out of the room.

Qilin froze, awkwardly pulling at her lips, but unexpectedly, Qiaoer gave her an impish smile as if they were back in the laundry yard and she had smiled playfully at her before.

"Snow Sister, you’re here" She grabbed Qilin’s hand, only to find it cold. She frowned slightly, expressing worry: "What happened Did you catch a cold"

Qilin dumbly shook her head; just as she was wondering if this was all a dream, Qiaoer suddenly turned around and pulled Lüzhu.

"Lüzhu Sister, Miss Mudan asked me to fetch the new clothes she had customized. Do you want to come with"

Lüzhu froze for a moment, then looked at Qilin; seeing her nod in agreement, Lüzhu smiled slightly but gave Qilin a concerned look.

"Then, Snow Sister, we’re off!" Leaving Qilin with a dazzling smile, Qiaoer pulled Lüzhu away happily.

After watching Qiaoer leave, Qilin finally decided to step inside.

Although Qiaoer’s reaction was strange, she became much calmer after seeing her. With this mindset, Qilin entered the Mudan garden.

Today, however, the Mudan garden seemed unusually quiet; usually, even when Qiaoer wasn’t around, there would be maids cleaning up and organizing things. But today it was completely deserted. Was this because Mudan had driven everyone away in a fit of anger Seeing how cheerful Qiaoer was and hearing her call her Snow Sister for the first time ever made Qilin think that Mudan must have driven Qiaoer off.

Qilin walked a few steps towards Mudan’s bedroom; just as she was about to knock on the door, she heard strange sounds coming from inside.

Startled, Qilin leaned in to listen and blushed furiously. She knew what kind of sound this was – it was too embarrassing!

No wait, how could Mudan be making such a noise alone

This wouldn’t happen when someone is alone.

Covering her rapidly beating heart, Qilin still decided to go inside.

Just as she felt a chill on her back and was about to turn around, she suddenly felt intense pain at the base of her neck, causing her to collapse.

Before, when watching TV shows where someone attacked from behind, Qilin had always thought that one strike couldn’t knock someone out – actors were too dramatic, plots too absurd. But today, she clearly sensed the pain slowly seeping into her bones and taking away her consciousness.rrent situation, however, Qi Lin knew well enough to behave properly; only by following their instructions could she hope for safety. Fortunately, it seemed that one of those princes had done somethin...