Chapter 16:- A Hero Saves the Beauty

Jiang Rao, being especially considerate, deliberately lingered behind. She glanced left at a street vendor’s handmade trinkets, and then right at a flower girl’s freshly picked crepe myrtle blossoms.

She moved forward only a few steps after a long while.

When her Second Brother and Ge Ruyan turned the corner and their figures finally disappeared from sight, she was satisfied at last, and continued strolling alone in the direction of the Marquis’s residence.

She was walking leisurely when suddenly, a child of about seven or eight came running straight into her. Jiang Rao instinctively reached out to steady him but the child looked up at her, flashing a mischievous, unfriendly grin.

Then, with quick hands, he snatched her money pouch and tore away, sprinting off at full speed.

Caught off guard by the sudden turn of events, Jiang Rao froze for two seconds. When she came to her senses, anger rose within her, and she immediately gave chase.

What has the world come to, how could a child skip school and commit robbery in broad daylight?

Jiang Rao gathered her breath and chased him for two full streets before finally catching up.

Grabbing his arm, she scolded sternly, “You little rascal! Instead of learning something useful, you’ve gone and become a pickpocket, aren’t you ashamed?”

Unexpectedly, the child made a creepy face at her and said smugly, “I let you catch me on purpose.”

“What?”

He gave a wicked smile and motioned for her to look behind her. Then he said, almost boasting, “I brought her here, don’t forget you promised me ten taels of silver!”

Jiang Rao turned stiffly to look and saw three burly men standing at the mouth of the alley. Their faces were rough and menacing, and their eyes glinted with a vicious light as they stared at her.

They ignored the child’s words and shoved him aside. Their gazes on her were those of predators locking onto prey.

One of them stepped forward and seized Jiang Rao’s arm, shoving her roughly into a corner of the wall.

He spoke with a cruel sneer, “The little lady who was with you last time made things real bad for us brothers. We couldn’t beat her, but you, as delicate and tender as you are, let’s see what kind of skills you have.”

Only then did Jiang Rao realize that these were the same thugs who had been causing trouble in the southern part of the city recently. They had been beaten and humiliated several times by Ge Ruyan,
and now, seeing Jiang Rao, someone who had just been with her and happened to be alone they wanted to take revenge and vent their fury on her instead.

Her brows drew tight. Let alone fighting, she didn’t even have the strength to push them away.

“Let me go!”

She tried to struggle free, but the man only paused for a moment before bursting into coarse laughter.

“So you really don’t know a lick of martial arts. That’s better, soft and weak is what makes a woman charming. Much better than that fierce little shrew from before.”

Hearing the lewd teasing in his words, Jiang Rao glared at him, face cold with disgust.

Someone behind him muttered uneasily, “Big Brother… this girl’s jewelry looks expensive, and her clothes aren’t of an ordinary family’s make. Could she be a noblewoman?”

The leader’s fat ears twitched, but he snorted carelessly, “So what if she is? Once I strip off her clothes and take her jewelry, what’s left for her to be noble about?”

Panic flooded Jiang Rao in an instant.

She quickly shouted her identity in warning, “How dare you! I am from the Marquis of Jing’an’s household! If you so much as touch a single hair on my head, you won’t make it out of the capital alive!”

“I don’t care if you’re royal or noble,” the man spat. “We brothers live with our heads hanging from our belts, if we can have some fun before dying, then so be it.”

His gaze grew lewd as he stared at her. “Pretty girl, if you must blame someone, blame that friend of yours. She wronged my brothers, so if I take you, we’ll call it even.”

As he finished speaking, he lunged at her.

His two lackeys had already backed away, running off to stand watch at a distance.

In the deep, narrow alley, she had nowhere to run.

Looking at his greasy face and yellowed teeth, Jiang Rao felt sick to her stomach.

She shouted and beat at him in desperation, but it was useless as he easily hoisted her over his shoulder and carried her deeper inside.

Hopelessness flooded her mind.

In that instant, countless faces flashed through her thoughts; Father, Mother, her brothers and sisters, and Ge Ruyan.

All people she trusted.

But at the final moment, the name she screamed for help was “Chen Lian!”

“Help me…”

She called purely out of instinct, without a shred of real hope. She was certain she would fall into hell that day, beyond any rescue.

Yet the disgusting touch she expected never came.

The fat man who had been about to press down on her suddenly howled in pain and was flung aside,
rolling away from her as he clutched his thigh.

He stumbled backward, limping, cursing through gritted teeth, “Who’s the bastard that attacked me from behind?! Get out here!”

Tears streaked Jiang Rao’s face. She forced herself upright and finally saw clearly the face of the one who had come.

For a moment, she thought she was hallucinating. The man whose name had escaped her lips in panic now stood right before her eyes.

It was as if some mysterious bond had drawn him there; he appeared like a deity descending to save her from her suffering.

Jiang Rao wiped her tears, struggling to stand. Her legs were still trembling with fear. When she saw the thug rolling on the ground, begging for mercy under Chen Lian’s blows, only then did she truly believe that this was no illusion.

Chen Lian’s face was dark, his eyes burning with fury. He kicked the man viciously in the groin; the thug’s eyes rolled white as he screamed in agony, nearly fainting.

Only then did Chen Lian pull back, kicking the man aside in disgust. When he saw that the thug could no longer get up, he finally turned and walked toward Jiang Rao.

His face was tense, his gaze fixed on her yet he said nothing.

Under his stare, Jiang Rao grew uneasy. She tugged lightly at his sleeve, her voice small.

“Chen Lian… how did you…”

“Are the guards of the Marquis’s residence eating for nothing?” He frowned sharply, his tone heavy with anger and harshness. “They just let you wander around the streets alone like this?”

Half his expression was fury, half cold severity. Jiang Rao had never seen him like this before, and guilt rose within her.

It was all her fault for trying to be clever.

“Don’t blame anyone else; it was me who deliberately fell behind.”

She bit her lip, the fear on her face not yet gone. Her tear-damp eyes lifted slightly, and under Chen Lian’s stern gaze, her words grew softer and more pitiful, tinged with a choked sob. “I… I didn’t know I’d run into bad people. I just…just wanted to help Second Brother and Ruyan, that’s all.”

The sudden danger, the unexpected reunion, all of it had completely disrupted her previous plans.
But right now, she couldn’t think about any of that. She only wanted to soothe his anger.

“I’ll take you back to the Marquis’s residence.” His words were short and firm, the darkness in his eyes like a storm barely held in check. At last he forced it down and spoke again. “Where did he touch you?”

Jiang Rao sniffled, forcing herself to answer honestly. “My left shoulder.”

That man had grabbed her shoulder so hard that she’d nearly gone numb with pain. Only then did she truly understand what her mother had said, she’d been raised far too delicately, her skin soft as water, unable to bear even the slightest blow.

After hearing her, Chen Lian turned, took two steps back toward the man on the ground, and ground his boot viciously into the man’s left shoulder, again and again.
The scene was brutal. Jiang Rao quickly squeezed her eyes shut. Through the darkness she still heard several sharp cracks of breaking bone and those unbearable screams of agony.

The sound finally died away. Jiang Rao’s heart trembled, she instinctively tried to open her eyes to look, but Chen Lian was faster. He reached out and pressed his palm gently over her eyelids, cutting off her view completely.

“Don’t look. It’s filthy,” he said close to her ear.

His low, clear voice soothed her trembling heart.

Chen Lian took her wrist and led her away. Jiang Rao could faintly smell the iron tang of blood; terrified, she clung to his arm and let him pull her from the alley.

After turning a corner, the surroundings were empty and silent. Jiang Rao finally dared to open her eyes but the scent of blood still lingered. She frowned and looked down, noticing streaks of red across Chen Lian’s forearm.

“You’re hurt!” Her brows knit tight as she reached out in concern. Sure enough, he hissed sharply at her touch.

Only then did Chen Lian seem to notice it himself. He glanced down briefly, unconcerned. “A minor wound, that’s all.”

“But there’s so much blood!” Jiang Rao exclaimed, leaning closer to examine the depth of the cut.

Her sudden closeness made Chen Lian’s eyelids twitch. Then he simply said, “I’ll take you home.”

Jiang Rao insisted, “Not yet. Let me go back to the riding grounds with you, I’ll bandage it there.”

Though she was the one who had insisted on treating his wound, she hadn’t expected him to be so unreserved that he simply stripped off his upper garments right in front of her.

The two faced each other, far too close. Jiang Rao forced herself to appear calm as she cleaned the wound, but her gaze couldn’t help sliding toward the defined lines of his abdomen, the curve of his waist that trailed down into shadowy, forbidden places.

Realizing where her thoughts had gone, she startled so badly her hand trembled. Chen Lian looked over in puzzlement, and Jiang Rao hurried to scold him, flustered.

“It’s only your arm I’m treating, why did you take everything off?”

Her palms felt hot. She quickly finished cleaning and bandaging the wound, tying the last knot in haste.

Chen Lian glanced at the neat little butterfly knot she’d tied on his wrist. His brow twitched, but he only said lightly, “It was for your convenience.”

He did it for her? And his tone was even… upright?

“Does your shoulder still hurt?”

With him standing there, alive, vivid, half-dressed, how could Jiang Rao possibly keep a straight face?
She averted her gaze at once.

“It doesn’t,” she muttered. But then, remembering the violent shove that had slammed her into the wall, she frowned again. “It just still feels… disgusting.”

“Let me see.”

“No… no need.”

Her shy, flustered manner stirred a faint irritation in him. He wouldn’t let her escape; he suddenly pulled her into his arms, trapping her firmly between them, his movements commanding and fierce.

Caught off guard, Jiang Rao gasped, her heart racing. “Don’t strain your wound!”

He let out a short, cold laugh. “Worried about me now? You left me hanging for half a month as if I were nothing. I thought you truly were that heartless.”

Jiang Rao’s guilt rushed back. “I… I had no chance to leave the house.”

“Is that so.” His eyes half-narrowed, uncertain whether he believed her.

Then his gaze sharpened, cold and cutting. “That night…you toyed with me like that, watching me burn with desire, were you proud of yourself?”

“…”

He burned with desire?

Jiang Rao blinked at him, eyes wide with innocent confusion. She clearly remembered, he had looked perfectly calm that night.

Chen Lian’s frustration itched beneath his skin. He freed one hand, grasped her collar, and pulled it open, revealing her pale, smooth left shoulder. Jiang Rao gave a startled cry, the scene was hauntingly familiar.

Half a month ago, she had done the same to him. Only, she had gone even further then.

“Don’t…” she protested, trying to push him away. Her shoulder still ached faintly.

But the pain lasted only a moment then warmth and dampness replaced it.

He was biting her.

“Chen Lian…”

Her voice slipped out soft and trembling, each note sweetly fragile. Her body had already gone weak.

At the sound, his eyes darkened further; his movements grew rougher.

“That night’s debt is half a month overdue. My lady, shouldn’t you pay it back?” His pupils were black as ink, his tone serious, as though reasoning with her, even using the polite address of my lady.

But then his voice dropped lower, crueler. “Since it’s a debt, then repay it properly.”

A debt must be repaid but not with money.

Shame heated her skin, yet Jiang Rao knew this was the consequence of her own doing that night.
In the end, all she could do was plead softly again and again, “Chen Lian… be gentle…”

“Chen Lian, I’ll repay it, just please, be gentle…”

Hearing her call his name in that soft, trembling tone, Chen Lian frowned slightly.

That same strange, uncontrollable feeling rose in his chest again, the same one that had haunted him night after night these past two weeks, when in dreams he imagined losing himself with her completely.

For half a month, he had both longed for her and hated her bitterly.

Author’s Note:
Happy holidays, everyone~
Rolling around and acting cute….please add this story to your favorites!