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Chapter 136: Chapter 136: Do you have corns on your face?
Vermilion Bird coughed lightly and said, "Well, the Master wants to find some highly skilled and clever Hidden Guards to protect Miss Zhan Lan. You guys have been selected!"
Yun He grumbled, "Leader, we thought it was some important mission. It turns out it’s just to protect a girl! I’d rather not go!"
Vermilion Bird kicked him and said, "Are you stupid? Ah! What mission could be more important than protecting the future Madam?"
Yun He’s jaw almost dropped, the Master appeared to be a playboy on the surface, but in reality, he was an iceberg who distanced himself from women!
They even deliberately sent the Master beauties, but he disdained them so much that he threw them out along with their quilts; and they ended up getting thirty board lashes.
Now, how come there is a future Madam?
"But but but... what about Miss Qingcheng?" Yun He asked with some heartache.
Vermilion Bird kicked him again on the butt, "Have you got water on the brain? The Master has always treated Miss Qingcheng like a dear sister. Do you have cataracts that you can’t see it?"
Vermilion Bird raised his index and middle finger and poked Yun He’s eyes.
Yun He rubbed his butt and said, "Oh, I understand now!"
The other Hidden Guards suppressed their laughter, their faces solemn. Yun He glared at them, "Don’t tell me you weren’t thinking the same thing. If you have cataracts, just admit it!"
The men struggled to hold back their laughter, but they were the elites among the Hidden Guards, the experts of experts; they could not laugh.
Vermilion Bird waved his hand, his expression serious, "Alright, you must act covertly. You’re not there to spy on Miss Zhan, but to appear at the critical moment to protect Miss Zhan. Any slip-up, and you can take your heads to see the Master!"
"Yes!" The men immediately reverted to their usual unsmiling expressions.
They had never heard their leader say before that if there was a slip-up in their mission, they would have to present their heads.
One could imagine the importance of this task. The men immediately vanished into the night.
...
The bright moon hung high, at Chu Residence.
Chu Yin knelt in front of her parents without saying a word.
Chu Xiong looked at his daughter and asked, "What’s the matter? Where did you go just now?"
Chu Yin’s voice was firm, "Father, I want to break off the engagement with Zhang Cheng. Even if you beat me to death, I’m going to do it!"
Chu Yin’s mother, Mrs. Liu, was the daughter of the acupuncturist family head Liu Changchuan. She had been pampered since childhood and continued to be cherished by Chu Xiong after marriage, which made her frank and fiery.
Mrs. Liu shielded Chu Yin with her arm and looked coldly at Chu Xiong, "I dare you to touch my daughter. We haven’t settled the score from the slap you gave Yin’er last time!"
"Oh dear, Madam, you..." Chu Xiong immediately prepared to soothe his wife.
Mrs. Liu, crying, said, "What ’you’? If you dare to hit my daughter, I will take Chu Yin back to my parental home and never return. You can live alone!"
"Mother!" Chu Yin also started to cry.
Chu Xiong looked at his wife and daughter helplessly and said, "It’s my fault. I didn’t realize that the seemingly refined Zhang Cheng was so filthy inside."
"If it wasn’t for the promise I made to Zhang Cheng’s father before, I would never have hit her for insisting on breaking off the engagement. Yin’er, your father apologizes!" Chu Xiong changed from his usually cold public demeanor, showing deep contrition to his wife and daughter.
Thinking about Zhang Cheng fooling around with two prostitutes, Mrs. Liu felt disgusted, and she cried, "The promise you gave to Zhang Cheng’s father, you can marry him yourself. In any case, our Yin’er cannot marry such a despicable man!"
Thank goodness her daughter hadn’t married into the Zhang Family; otherwise, what would they have done!
"Alright, alright, I’ll go to the Zhang Family to break off the engagement tomorrow. Is that okay?" said Chu Xiong resolutely.
Chu Yin’s eyes brightened as she looked at her father, "Is what you said true, Father?"
Chu Xiong helped Chu Yin up and said, "Absolutely true. I would never let you marry a scoundrel like Zhang Cheng. If you had married him and your father learned of today’s incident, I would have killed him and brought you back home to take care of you!"
Chu Xiong’s words moved Chu Yin to tears. Mrs. Liu scolded, "If only you had been this way earlier!"
Chu Yin acted coyly in her mother’s embrace while thinking that now was not a good time to make her relationship with Zhan Hui public.
She was unsure whether Zhan Hui’s affection for her was just a momentary infatuation or more. She decided to observe further before deciding whether or not to marry him.
Back in her boudoir, she opened the letter from Zhan Hui.
Envelope-protected in oil paper, the letter was wrinkled upon opening. But reading the content still made Chu Yin’s heart pound like thunder.
The letter read: Yin’er, as if seeing you in person, I do not know when we will meet again in this trip. Perhaps we’ll be parted by life and death. Serving in the battlefield, there is no set time for reunion. A handshake and a long sigh, tears nourish the parting sorrow. In life, one hopes to return; in death, to pine evermore.
If we cannot be together in this life, would you be willing to marry me in the next? Perhaps there will never be an answer. Maybe it’s unrequited love of mine, the last bit of greed. If you remember me, this life was not in vain...
Chu Yin, cheeks flushed, put away Zhan Hui’s letter, filled with happiness.
To be liked by the one she liked, how wonderful that felt.
...
Just when the crisis on Chu Yin’s side was about to be resolved, Zhan Hui was being punished by Zhan Xinzhang and Zhan Beicang, kneeling in the ancestral hall.
Zhan Beicang looked weary and displeased, "Haven’t I reminded you that Chu Yin has a fiancé? Today, Mrs. Zhang came looking and said things that were simply unbearable!"
Zhan Hui knelt silently, listening to his father’s preaching.
"She said you hit Zhang Cheng, and also that you flirted with her engaged daughter!"
Zhan Beicang closed his eyes. Although he had sent Mrs. Zhang away, if word of this incident spread, neither Chu Yin nor Zhan Hui would have a good standing.
Zhan Hui finally spoke, his voice firm, "Grandfather, Father, it’s my fault. I liked Chu Yin first, but if a man and woman are not yet married, why can’t I be with her?"
Zhan Beicang was so frustrated by Zhan Hui that his head ached. Zhan Xinzhang, who was wiping the ancestral tablet nearby, finally spoke, "Hui’er, there are some things that your grandfather didn’t want to say. But at this time, if you don’t want to harm Miss Chu Yin, it’s better not to be with her yet."
Zhan Hui looked seriously at his grandfather as he continued, "Right now, those above are wary of the Zhan Family, and our fate is uncertain. You are the Zhan Family’s legitimate son; if you were marrying a girl from a minor family, your grandfather would not object. But now you’re marrying a daughter of a Minister ranked second class. Such an alliance between our families will only make some people more fearful. Do you understand?"
"Do not blame your father; he also likes Chu Yin very much. But because of this, we cannot harm her."
Zhan Xinzhang walked up to Zhan Hui and patted his shoulder, speaking earnestly, "In the current situation, it’s uncertain whether the Zhan Family can retire with success. Child, the decision to marry Chu Yin is yours to make."
