This Waste Wood Burns For You - Chapter 17

It really hurt.

Chai Qing’s temple throbbed. She gritted her teeth and swallowed the cry of pain that was about to escape her lips. She kept pace with Jiang Rao without changing her expression.

‘Great Benefactor’ had given birth.

It took an hour to give birth to a black and white kitten.

The newborn kitten was pitifully small, its eyes hadn’t opened yet, its fur was slightly damp, pink and tender. Chai Qing, ignoring her appearance, lay on the ground to watch the mother cat lick her kitten. She blocked the entrance to the cat’s nest, deliberately preventing Jiang Rao from seeing.

Jiang Rao pursed her lips and pushed her unceremoniously, “Move.”

Chai Qing glanced back at her, and even more brazenly, she stuck her butt out at her.

Her perfect little butt filled the entire field of vision. Jiang Rao was eager to see the cat, and without thinking, she slapped it.

Slap!

The sound was strangely crisp.

It stunned all three of them.

Li Nu shrank her head, not daring to make a sound. Chai Qing was completely stunned, she turned around stiffly, with a look of “I’ve seen a live hooligan,” which made Jiang Rao uncomfortable, “What are you looking at, move!”

Chai Qing’s lips moved, “Besides my aunt, no one has ever dared to hit my butt. You’re the first.”

Since she came of age, her aunt hadn’t hit her butt anymore!

Why should Jiang Rao?

Her palm itched, she wanted to hit back, but then she was embarrassed by her own colorful thoughts.

Jiang Rao’s eyes were sharp, she could see through her thoughts. She immediately turned cold, “Don’t you want your other foot anymore?”

She was fierce.

Chai Qing endured the pain in her foot and made half a space for her. The two of them stood shoulder to shoulder. Getting closer, that intoxicating feeling rolled around in her heart again.

Her eyes were on the cat, but the bad seed’s heart was thinking about the beauty’s soft lips.

She was daydreaming, but Jiang Rao wasn’t affected. Her clear eyes sparkled with joy. Chai Qing tried to get closer to her, “Look, it’s a calico cat.”

Jiang Rao saw it, the corners of her lips curled up, “It’s very cute.”

She was a hardcore cat person. She loved furry little animals when she was young, but unfortunately, she was in the palace, so she kept her hobbies hidden.

Now that she could get close to a cat, the dormant beauty in her body suddenly came alive. Those captivating eyes rippled with the spring water of March and the crimson peach blossoms. Chai Qing saw the shadow of a familiar person in her mind, and she suddenly woke up!

No!

It wasn’t her!

“What’s wrong?”

At some point, Jiang Rao’s attention shifted from the cat to her. Facing those familiar eyes, Chai Qing’s face changed, her voice was wooden, “Nothing.”

She focused on watching the cat, Jiang Rao didn’t say anything else.

‘Great Benefactor’ had given birth to a ‘Little Benefactor’. Both mother and daughter cat were entrusted to Chai Qing, and she was responsible for making them white fish soup three times a day.

In a blink of an eye, it was the twenty-seventh of the twelfth lunar month.

Spring Water Town was filled with the atmosphere of the New Year. Children in thick cotton-padded jackets ran laughing through the streets. This was Jiang Rao’s first time going out since she arrived in the Kingdom of Yan.

Chai Qing walked half a step behind her, telling her about the local customs and traditions. Behind them, a long way back, were the guards responsible for the princess’s safety.

The December wind blew wildly and unreasonably. The sky was a bleak clear, the sun was faintly showing its listless face. The people passing by looked curiously for a few moments, but they couldn’t see the face behind the woman’s veil.

“Will you go out for the New Year’s Eve?”

“What’s there?”

“There’s a lot. There are monkey shows, shadow puppet shows, candy floss makers, and if you’re lucky, you can see someone break stones with their chest, and there are also six or seven-year-old children who can balance ten or more bowls on their heads.”

She had mentioned these things, which were common sights for the townspeople during the New Year.

Jiang Rao had never seen any of them, and she was intrigued, “Okay, we’ll go out again that day.”

Chai Qing looked at her soft red lips, wanting to kiss them again, but how could a ‘servant’ be disrespectful to her master?

Wearing the skin of ‘Yan Nu’, she couldn’t act freely.

She couldn’t help but glance at the tail that followed behind her, she clicked her tongue, “So annoying.”

Jiang Rao knew exactly why she was annoyed, but her personality wasn’t good, nor was it bad. She just wanted to watch Chai Qing act like a cat in heat, scratching and clawing.

She was grateful to the Assassin Alliance’s warriors from the bottom of her heart for bringing such an interesting person to her side.

The bridge leading to Qingyang County wouldn’t be repaired for a while, and the wedding procession would be staying in the town for at least two months.

Two months—a fleeting romance, but more than enough.

Li Nu looked up at the sky, she quickly walked forward, “Princess, we should go back. Otherwise, General Ronghua will be nagging again.”

Chai Qing was so annoyed that she gnashed her teeth. They had only been out for a quarter of an hour, and she hadn’t even taken her to try the sesame cakes from Old Man Zhang’s!

“Weave only been out for a quarter of an hour?” she asked.

“Yes.”

Chai Qing glared at Li Nu

Jiang Rao stood there, she was also unhappy, but she had been unhappy so many times in her life, this was nothing new.

She turned around and walked back the way they came.

Chai Qing played the role of ‘Yan Nu’ sullenly. Soon, the three of them were standing at the entrance of the Tai’an Inn.

Jiang Rao suddenly said, “Go and invite the courtesan of Spring Water Pavilion. This princess wants to see her.”

“Yes.”

Li Nu went away.

Chai Qing followed Jiang Rao into the inn.

Ronghua was just about to go find them with his red tassel spear. When he saw the princess come back, he hurried over, “Princess, there are many people with prying eyes in the town. You are a precious jewel. If this happens again, please bring this subordinate with you.”

“I know.”

This answer was clearly a perfunctory one. Chai Qing wanted to laugh. She had disliked Ronghua for a long time, but unfortunately, she couldn’t kill him yet.

Jiang Rao waited for a moment, her patience exhausted, “General, is there anything else?”

It was strange, whenever the princess asked this question, there was something he wanted to say, but Ronghua couldn’t say it. He could only bow and salute in frustration, “This subordinate will take his leave.”

Chai Qing helped the princess back to her room. When they entered, she smiled, her eyes narrowed into a line, “Your attitude towards him is so strange. Does he owe you money?”

“No.”

“Then?”

Jiang Rao took the teacup she offered, “He doesn’t owe me, but he deceived me.”

“Deceived you?” Chai Qing’s heart jumped to her throat, “What did he deceive you about?”

She looked unhappy, as if her possession was being coveted by someone else. Jiang Rao deliberately teased her, she didn’t speak for a long time. Chai Qing asked again, “What did he deceive you about? I’ll go kill him!”

What kind of good nature did a bad seed have? It was just that she had given her only good nature to the person she wanted to give it to. She respected Liu Mei, but as for Jiang Rao, it was seduction.

Chai Qing hated it most when she couldn’t get what she wanted. She asked, and Jiang Rao didn’t answer. She leaned down and pinched the beauty’s jaw, applying a little force, forcing Jiang Rao to frown, “Speak!”

She was like a dog, turning her face and denying everything.

Jiang Rao slapped her hand away, her expression calm and composed, “What’s the rush?”

Chai Qing stared at the faint finger mark on her jaw, regretting that she had used too much force. Her attitude softened, “I’m just afraid that he’ll bully you.”

Her reasons were not valid, and her attitude was not righteous. Jiang Rao kindly didn’t point out her crazy possessiveness. She used her hand to push the lid of the teacup, the mist was pushed away, “I met Ronghua when I was ten years old. He had just become the most valiant young general of his generation. My father gave him to me, to be my martial arts instructor.

Any dangerous activity, as long as I was willing, I could ask him to do it for me. The first thing he did for me was to sacrifice himself to feed the tiger.”

People’s memories are divided into many types: happy, sad, exciting, painful.

The day Ronghua appeared was the beginning of the darkest period in Jiang Rao’s life.

She hated this world, she hated the king’s power, she hated the upper class who were above it all.

She asked Ronghua to sacrifice himself to feed the tiger, which was tantamount to asking him to die.

Ronghua really went.

The youthful blood in his veins couldn’t accept the princess’s heart. Ronghua lost a piece of his arm, bitten by the tiger.

When the king of beasts aimed at his head, an arrow flew out, piercing the tiger’s body. The man strode forward, his tone was one of reprimand:

“Jiang Rao, you’re being reckless again!”

Jiang Rao lowered her head and took a sip of fragrant tea, “Do you want to hear more?”

Chai Qing sat up straight, “Go on.”

“Ronghua was saved. The Grand Marshal’s son almost died in the tiger’s mouth. My father only reprimanded me. Everyone said that the Ninth Princess was the apple of the king’s eye, the mountains and rivers, the sun and moon that he couldn’t bear to touch. Do you believe that?”

“It doesn’t matter if I believe it or not, the world believes it.”

The world believed it, so when the Kingdom of Jiang was defeated, King Jiang could only offer his pearl to appease the King of Yan’s anger.

“That’s how I met Ronghua. Later, my father betrothed Ronghua to me. On the day the marriage was decided, he ran over eagerly, knelt down and said with all his heart that he would be my dog. But he deceived me.”

Jiang Rao’s smile was sarcastic, “He’s really a good dog, he shouldn’t have risked his life to save me from the royal city, he shouldn’t have cleared the way for me, he shouldn’t have risked his life for me, should he?”

“What you’re talking about isn’t a dog.”

“What is it then?”

“It’s a fool.” Chai Qing said, “Only a fool would risk their own life for someone else’s.”

“Promises shouldn’t be made lightly. Once made, then broken, it’s worse than a dog. I don’t like being deceived.”

Chai Qing nervously rubbed her hands. Jiang Rao smiled faintly, “But I allow you to deceive me.”

The bad seed blushed, “Why?”

“Perhaps because you’re handsome.”

The princess stroked Chai Qing’s face, her sincerity evident, “Your face is much better looking than Ronghua’s, so I allow you to deceive me with sweet words.”

“You know I’m deceiving you?”

Jiang Rao smiled again, “Chai Qing, is this the first time you’ve deceived a girl’s heart?”

It was indeed the first time.

“You didn’t have to say that last sentence. I allow you to deceive me, but you were too straightforward, too out of character.”

Got it.

Chai Qing understood.

It was like a noble lady listening to a play in her own garden, and as she listened, she imagined becoming the character in the play.

It was quite self-deceptive.

“You should go make the fish soup.”

“…”

The topic changed too quickly. Chai Qing didn’t want to leave yet. Jiang Rao looked at her with anticipation. She had no choice but to leave.

As she reached the door, she suddenly turned back, her eyes shining, “Do you want to be good to me?”

Jiang Rao nodded, “Yes, even if you don’t become my cat, I’ll be good to you.”

This time, Chai Qing didn’t ask any unnecessary questions. She didn’t care why, she just wanted to drink Jiang Rao’s milk sooner.

She quickly left. As she went out, she bumped into her aunt. The aunt and niece exchanged knowing glances.

Li Nu led the courtesan of Spring Water Pavilion to the door, “Princess, she’s here.”

“Come in.”

The door opened. Before entering, Liu Mei was still wondering what was wrong with the bad seed. How could she suddenly become so energetic? Look at that spring sunshine on her face, how joyful.

She wanted to take a closer look, but the leading maid urged her on. She had no choice but to step inside.

A cup of hot tea was placed on the table. Jiang Rao raised her eyes and saw the courtesan, whose reputation was known throughout the town.

Seeing is believing.

She was truly a wonderful person.

The two of them shared a similar feeling, a silent understanding.

“Have you seen her?”

“Yes.”

Liu Mei, being a familiar person, said, “Even if she turned to ashes, I would recognize her.”

Let alone wearing a fake skin on her face.

Li Nu went out and closed the door, guarding the entrance.

Jiang Rao smiled, “You’re Chai Chai’s aunt, her only relative. So, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Tsk.

Now she was calling her “aunt”?

She had to admire Chai Qing’s ability to seduce people.

“On my way to Shang Xie, I probably won’t survive. So, I want to burn brightly in my limited life. Chai Chai and I hit it off immediately. She has feelings for me, and I have feelings for her. Yesterday, she kissed me, and I slapped her butt. Why don’t we just settle it, today?”

“Settle what?”

“An engagement.”