Startled, the girl immediately shut her mouth obediently, placing her delicate hands on her knees, slightly trembling. Did I really look that much like a villain?
Li Tan sighed helplessly and injected his true energy into the girl’s abdomen.
Investigating the interior of a person’s body could be accomplished with spiritual awareness; however, Li Tan’s current spiritual awareness was as weak as that of a newborn infant, far too fragile to achieve such a task. Thus, he reluctantly resorted to using true energy as a substitute.
Infusing true energy into another’s body was actually very risky. If one was unfamiliar with the various meridians in the body or made operational errors that triggered the body’s rejection response, it could lead to extremely serious consequences, ranging from fatal injuries to severe damage to the dantian.
However, as the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Li Tan never had such concerns. His control over true energy was among the best in the entire Jiuzhou region, so naturally, this level of investigation posed no problem for him.
His true energy entered the body, following the meridians inward until it reached the uterus. Li Tan searched meticulously, spending nearly half an incense stick’s worth of time before obtaining a satisfactory result. He slowly retracted the energy, withdrew his hands, and sat back down in the chair.
“Little girl,” Li Tan said helplessly, his tone changing slightly. “Why would you do something like this?”
“What are you talking about?” The girl suddenly looked uneasy.
Li Tan picked up the short rod from the table and gently lifted the red veil from the girl’s face, revealing a pure and fair complexion. Beneath a pair of delicate eyebrows were tear-filled, glistening eyes that showed both stubbornness and fear, a sight that evoked sympathy.
Everyone appreciates beauty, and even Li Tan couldn’t help but glance at her a bit longer. However, he quickly regained his composure and calmly announced the conclusion he had just reached: “You’re not even pregnant.”
The girl’s face showed surprise, her expression somewhat flustered, but she quickly gritted her teeth and stubbornly replied, “I am, and it’s not your child. Don’t say I didn’t warn you—if you don’t leave now, it’ll be too late. I’ll follow you around with a child for the rest of your life!”
Her face turned rosy red, as she mustered great courage to say these shocking words.
The girl’s little ruse seemed rather amusing and even a bit endearing to Li Tan. It further clarified for him that the girl’s fabrication of being pregnant likely had something to do with leaving Cheng Mansion, or something similar.
Li Tan said, “What do you have? Well then, if you’re really pregnant, tell me how you’re going to give birth. I’m curious.”
“Er… two people sleep together… Then what?”
“Then… then…” Born into an official’s family, her father was the current Minister of Rites. She had always received strict education since childhood, learning only poetry, literature, etiquette, and music, with little exposure to any females other than her maids, and almost no contact with men other than her father. She was as innocent as a blank sheet of paper, her understanding of intimate relations between men and women limited to merely sleeping together.
Seeing the girl’s embarrassment, Li Tan decided not to press her further. He put down the rod and tried to make his voice as gentle as possible: “You must have some unspeakable difficulties. If you’re willing, tell me. Perhaps I can help.”
Realizing she had already been exposed, the girl no longer tried to hide. She bit her lip, lowered her head, and said, “You can’t help me,” as tears began to fall. Suddenly, she felt something smooth and warm gently brush across her face, wiping away her tears. Without knowing why, she lifted her head. The rogue before her smiled gently, making him seem somewhat unfamiliar.
“How can you be sure I can’t help you?”
These words seemed to have a magical effect, giving her an inexplicable sense of calm. After deep contemplation, she finally made up her mind.
“I like someone…” “Why do you like him?”
“Uh…” It seemed a bit off. Shouldn’t he be asking who that person was at a time like this?
The girl looked at Li Tan in surprise, who showed no interest in knowing who the person was. “Because… well, I don’t really know why either. He’s been very kind to me.” “So you want to marry him?”
“Mm-hmm.” “Can you tell me about you and him?”
“Mm.”
The story the girl described was very simple, without grand vows or heart-wrenching separations, so simple it was almost boring.
It all began a month ago when the string of the girl’s kite suddenly broke, and it fell outside the courtyard wall. As she was getting anxious, a young man returned the kite to her, and the two got to know each other. The boy often played the xiao flute outside the girl’s house, and she loved the sound of it so much that she would accompany him by playing the qin. Then, they fell in love. The girl described the young man as if he were a god descended from heaven, perfect in every way, as though he had come especially to rescue her. After knowing each other for only a month, she had fallen head over heels for him.
Li Tan listened in silence, thinking that if all the girls in the world were like her, then the millions of single men in Jiuzhou would vanish entirely, and no one would ever worry about finding a partner again.
Still, he could understand the girl’s situation.
She had been cooped up in the mansion all day, her only playmate a maid several years younger, leading to years of boredom. Suddenly encountering a man who showered her with sweet words, it wasn’t strange that she had been deceived.
After asking a few more questions and employing some tactics, Li Tan fully understood the beginning and end of this farce.
The boy had confessed his love to the girl, promising to marry her. However, since their families were political rivals—in the girl’s own words, her father had a very poor relationship with the boy’s family—her father would never approve of the marriage. How considerate the boy was! He immediately pulled out a bottle of medicine from his pocket, claiming that it could temporarily make the pulse feel like a pregnancy pulse. He told her to drink it, make a big scene, and say it was his child, turning raw rice into cooked rice.
“But my father still wouldn’t allow our marriage in the end, so he decided to hold a bride-choosing ceremony with a tossed bouquet,” the girl sobbed again.
Li Tan listened in exasperated silence, not knowing quite what to say about the girl. Putting it nicely, she was innocent; less kindly, she was just plain foolish. The guy immediately suggested such a terrible idea, clearly not a good person. Combined with the fact that their families were political enemies, the situation was already quite clear—the guy definitely had ulterior motives. Yet she had still gone so far as to throw herself at him.
Li Tan decided to be straightforward, listing one piece of evidence after another to show that the guy was just trying to trick her.
The girl was instantly stunned, as if the sky were falling, her expression dazed. Yet she seemed to still harbor a sliver of hope, insisting she would only believe it if she heard it directly from the guy himself.
Li Tan really didn’t want to get involved in this mess anymore, but considering he had already been dragged into it, he compromised a bit: “I’ll take you to find him, so you can give up for good. Then you’ll tell your parents everything and end this farce. How does that sound?”
The girl hesitated for a moment before nodding.
“Then it’s settled.”
Li Tan said, stood up, and walked a few steps forward, beginning to take off his clothes because they were making him very uncomfortable. However, the girl blushed and quickly shrank onto the bed, grabbing the quilt. “Wh-what are you trying to do?”
Li Tan replied, puzzled, “Sleeping, of course.”
“Sleep?” The girl looked a bit displeased.
Li Tan understood her childish thoughts and explained helplessly, “You’re not planning to go find him tonight, are you?”
The girl actually nodded. Li Tan gave her a look and said, “Do you want to be hunted down by your father’s secret guards if you go out now?”
Realizing how foolish her suggestion was, the girl blushed a little.
“I’m not interested in you, so rest assured. I’ll take you there at dawn.”
Li Tan took off his constricting groom’s outfit, changed into his own clothes, and sat properly on the chair to begin meditating.
The girl blinked, confirmed she was indeed safe, and softly asked, “What’s your name?”
Li Tan replied indifferently, “Li Tan.”
“Oh, I’m Cheng Xuan.”
Li Tan nodded to show he had heard. The girl stared at the motionless Li Tan for a while. As her mind relaxed, a wave of tiredness washed over her. Leaning against the wall, she fell asleep immediately. This was probably the first time in her life she had fallen asleep without changing her clothes, likely because she was extremely exhausted—or had been scolded badly enough by her father.
When the girl fell asleep, Li Tan opened his eyes. He looked at the sleeping girl twice, then stood up, gently picked her up, positioned her properly, and covered her with the quilt. Accidentally, he noticed a bruise on her left wrist. Carefully pulling down her collar, he saw many bruises below her collarbone as well.
“Truly ruthless,” he murmured, covering her with the quilt again before resuming his meditation.
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