Chapter 53 First Time in Lord Yi’s Mansion

“Miss Ruxin, would you like to go with me?” Yun Hai carefully observed Ruxin’s expression, including any small hints on her face. Of course, he had noticed Ruxin was lost for a moment, which he secretly found pleasing. The more he looked at the woman in front of him, the more lovely she seemed to be. Yun Hai was older and wiser. He could tell that she wanted to go with him, and he also wanted her to come. Yet he still added, “Of course, I won’t force you if you’re not willing to come.” He started to play games with her! “If you don’t mind, I’d like to stay there for a few days.” There was no way she would say no. Ruxin had been planning this encounter for days. How could she let go of such an opportunity! Neither of them realized that it was actually not their first meeting. But only God knew if Yun Hai, Lord Yi, ever regretted it after his life was put in danger due to this beautiful encounter. A long time ago, before the old King Yun destroyed the other four kingdoms, Lord Yi was still a young man. At that time, Yun Hai was a big name in the entire Kingdom of Yun. Although he hadn’t been granted his royal title, Lord Yi, Yun Hai was well-known as a handsome young general. Skilled in using both the brush pen and the sword, he had stolen the hearts of many girls. However, he never fell in love with anyone. As polite and gentle as he was, Yun Hai didn’t actually care about any girl. Growing up, he always preferred enjoying the peace of life to climbing up in the political world, fighting with soldiers to being restrained by fame. He helped the old King Yun conquer the four kingdoms but only asked for Feng City as his reward. The old King Yun killed all of his siblings except him. He was the only one who survived, thanks to his personality. Yet what happened hit him too much. Since then he seemed to have lost interest in everything, which included choosing a girl as his wife. Yun Hai got married, but only for passing down his family name. But the old King Yun still didn’t allow him to go back to his fief. Yun Hai became silent. He resigned as general. Then he stopped showing up in the Congress. Eventually, he stopped participating in any gatherings. All he wanted to be was an idle aristocrat, but the king was still skeptical of him. He kept his only brother around to show that he had some humanity. It wasn’t until Yun Su came to power after the hunt four years ago that he could immediately take his wife and children away from the capital. Yun Hai didn’t want to attend the event that day, but he had to follow the king’s order. Planning to remain silent in the crowd, he happened to see a girl whom he had a crush on immediately. The girl was wearing a white mourning dress, an outrageous costume under that circumstance! Nobody could keep their eyes away from her, let alone him. To his surprise, the weak little girl was so brave. Her unyielding eyes seemed pitiful but strong. And he was deeply moved by her pure and sincere love towards the dying assassin. She resembled her mother Meng Xi very much. He had not seen Meng Xi many times, and he got to know most of her stories from his brother, the king. But he remembered the moment when the Kingdom of Shui collapsed. She was similarly strong, refusing to yield to King Yun. That day, the girl who was more than ten years younger than him engraved in his mind. He felt kind of confused, just like when he saw her mother Meng Xi for the last time, but this time the feeling was even stronger. He, who had already been a husband and a father, didn’t want to touch his wife again after meeting the young girl. Over the years, when he was at Feng City, he would often look for women who looked similar to her. Yet, no matter how much they resembled her, they weren’t her. He took them back to his mansion, but he had never touched them. Eventually, after a few days, he would send them away. Since Feng City was so far away from the capital, Yun Hai couldn’t know what she had been through. But a few years ago, he received an imperial decree saying that the whole country was looking for Princess Xi. Only then did he know that she had fled the palace. From that moment on, Yun Hai was looking forward to seeing her again. He was aware that she wanted revenge. And he, Lord Yi, was one of the generals who had destroyed the Kingdom of Shui. He was the first to break their defense and to kill their main generals. Perhaps the Kingdom of Shui would still have a chance if it was not for him. It was also he who had found the nine-year-old girl and gave her to King Yun. If he had known that he would like her so much, maybe he would have hidden her from the king and raised her up. Yet, of course, he wouldn’t know it then. Otherwise, it would be another story. But even if there was nothing he could change, even if she hated him, he was still desperate to see her. The carriage slowly turned around and drove back to the mansion of Lord Yi. It was a magnificent yet refined building. The vermillion-red front door was elegant, and it was wide open at this time. Two red pillars stood on the three-story gray stone steps. On both sides of the stone steps, there were two majestic stone lions, carefully guarding the mansion. Behind the pillars and in front of the gate stood two servants. Seeing the carriage back, they were quite confused since the lord was back so soon. But they still went to hold the horse and waited for their master to get out of the carriage. After the carriage stopped, Lord Yi jumped directly out of it without looking at any servant. Then he turned back, reaching out to hold the beautiful guest inside. Ruxin got out of the carriage. Along the way, Yun Hai didn’t say anything. He scanned her from head to toe, with a face that looked exactly like Yue, her lost lover, who used to be the sunlight in her dark world. She felt as if she went back to when she shared the same carriage with Yue, still in women’s clothing at that time. That day, Yue also looked at her like that, while she didn’t say a word. It was nearly impossible for her to stay calm as her heart was filled with unspeakable pain. The short trip seemed to have taken forever. Ruxin put her right hand on the carriage frame, obviously trying to avoid touching Lord Yi’s hand. Confronted with that, Yun Hai was not annoyed, but he secretly gestured at all the servants, signaling them not to help her. He kept his hand in the air, waiting for her to hold him. But Ruxin seemed determined to act against his will. She insisted on climbing down the somewhat tall carriage with her hands and feet together, even though she dirtied her white dress and broke her graceful manner. With her white dress stained with some dust, she even seemed a bit embarrassed when she got down. Yun Hai didn’t put his hand back, smiling at the beautiful figure. Without her all-time calmness, she was more real and cuter. Only when he saw her standing on the ground did he turned around, laughing along his way to the open gate. Ruxin felt a trace of grievance that she only had in front of Yue. She immediately closed her eyes, suppressed the emotions that shouldn’t emerge, and followed Lord Yi into the mansion. Maybe in her heart, she never really accepted Kong Yue’s death. She always believed he was still alive but couldn’t come out to meet her. Into the mansion, she felt like returning to Huaiyang City. Since most of the servants here were brought from there, they appeared quite well-behaved but still much more unrestrained than when they were in the capital. Seeing Lord Yi and Ruxin, the servants kept curtsying along the way until they reached the main hall. The princess consort and her two children got up and waited for Lord Yi, even though they didn’t know why he came so early either. As soon as he entered the main hall, Yun Hai saw his wife curtsying, “My lord.” He nodded to her respectfully, lacking the sweetness that a husband and wife should have, but his baby daughter did look pampered by him. His daughter Yun Youyun was a six-year-old little girl, cute and agile. When she saw her father, she rushed into his arms. Yun Hai lifted his obviously unruly little girl and kissed her on her soft cheeks. There was also a little boy next to the princess consort. He was a cousin of Yun Youyun’s who had accompanied her since she was born. As he lost his parents, the boy was raised by the princess consort, too. While walking in, Ruxin was deeply hurt by the image of a lovely family. Once upon a time, she was also kissed and hugged by her parents, like Yun Youyun. She remembered that her dad’s beard always pricked her face, but now she would die to be pricked again. In front of her, Yun Hai looked so similar to her dead lover. Tears dripped down her cheeks before she even noticed. Ruxin quickly turned around, wiped her eyes, and raised her head. She touched the pearl on her hairpin, pressing the tears back. She never expected her broken heart to hurt like this. Holding his daughter, Yun Hai felt Ruxin’s sorrow behind his back. A feeling of pity gripped his heart. He put down the child and let the princess consort take them to rest. It was then that the princess consort finally saw Ruxin at the door. “My lord, who is this girl?” “This is Ruxin, a singer.” “My lady.” Ruxin quickly calmed herself down, turned around, and curtsied to the princess consort. Although her eyes were still red and swollen, her alluring look successfully covered it up. Lord Yi often brought some women back, but the princess consort knew that none of them was the one he was looking for. He wouldn’t even touch them, just looking for the figure in the hunting field four years ago. Although the princess consort had never seen his dream girl, she had seen a portrait of her painted by Yun Hai. The singer obviously had the most similar face, but at the same time, she clearly felt the least alike among all the women the lord brought back. Despite that, the princess consort still felt uncomfortable looking at Ruxin. Maybe it was her instinct. She was kind of aware that Lord Yi gazed at her in a completely different way. Still, as a well-born lady, the princess consort didn’t show any unusual reaction. She smiled and held Ruxin’s hands, “What a lovely girl. Even I can’t turn my eyes away. I’m taking the kids back to their room. Have a good night.”