Bone Painting Coroner

It must be said that Miss Ye’er was uniquely devoted to Wen Xian. And for Wen Xian to never ever light a lantern inside his room in memory of her death? Also a besotted fool.

Little Xiyue carried her lantern and danced circles inside the room.

In the courtyard was a scene of perfect joy and harmony. The Kongming lanterns have already risen far up into the sky and disappeared from sight, but Jing Rong was still wondering. Just what did that woman write?

Mo Ruo had also appeared on the roof some indeterminate time ago. He looked up towards the moon and intoned, “how brightly the moon shines, my heart too burns brilliantly.” As he finished, he started to praise himself, “Mn, this poem isn’t too bad.”

Pfft, how shameless. Jing Rong rolled his eyes. “Did you see it clearly?”

“You mean the words on the Kongming lantern?”

“Mn.”

“I saw it.”

“What was it?”

Mo Ruo thought back for a moment, “It seemed to be: Together in life; inseparable in death.”

Jing Rong was speechless. “That’s what I wrote.”

Pfft. Mo Ruo almost vomited blood and looked at him judgingly, “You’re sickening.”

People may laugh at him for being sickeningly sweet but he in turn would scorn them for not knowing love. With a step, Jing Rong leapt up onto the roof and sat down beside Mo Ruo. He glanced around and asked in surprise, “Where’s your wine?”

“Tonight’s a rare good night. I’m not drinking, I’m admiring the moonlight instead.”

“What a miracle!”

“What? Haven’t you always been persuading me to drink less? Shouldn’t you be happy that I’m not drinking today?”

“This prince never forces anyone to do what they don’t want to. You may drink if you like, but it wouldn’t do if you drank too much and died in front of this prince. I won’t be so nice as to prepare a coffin for you.” Jing Rong smirked. His legendary poisonous tongue strikes again!

Mo Ruo had long since gotten used to it. He tipped his head and laid back on the tiles, looking exactly like a salted fish drying on the roof with its belly facing up. “Jing Rong, don’t worry. Even if I were to die one day, it wouldn’t be in front of you. So there wouldn’t be a need for you to prepare a coffin for me.”

“Of course you won’t die in front of me. Because if someone else wanted to kill you, I would kill them first.”

“Then… what if you wanted to kill me?” Their surroundings suddenly turned quiet. Mo Ruo didn’t know why he would suddenly say such a thing either.

Jing Rong was also struck dumb for a moment. His brows furrowed deeply as he replied sincerely, “You’ll never lose your life under my blade.” Two pairs of eyes met squarely. This was brotherhood. [1]

In a moment, Mo Ruo smiled again. He tucked both his hands behind his head, crossed one knee over the other and looked up at the full moon. “We will never become enemies, and there will never be a day where we point our swords at each other.”

Mo Ruo is certainly one of the many people that were willing to die for Jing Rong, and likewise, Jing Rong was also willing to die for Mo Ruo. From that day Jing Rong’s Consort Mother had died and he was sent out of the palace, his childhood memories were filled with Mo Ruo and Kong Yu. He had long considered them to be his family, the family for whom he was willing to dive into boiling water or walk on fire. Even if he had to sacrifice his own life, he would not hurt a single hair on their heads.

Soon after, Tang Si’s voice drifted across, complaining that they didn’t ask her to join in releasing Kongming lanterns. That voice really was too high pitched and shrill.

Mo Ruo instinctively stuffed his fingers into his ears and scoffed, “Whoever marries a woman like this surely has met with eight lifetimes’ worth of bad luck.”

However, Jing Rong tossed out enigmatically, “I hope that unlucky person won’t be you.”

“Of course it won’t be me! Whoever it is, it definitely won’t be me.” Are you joking? Would I like this type of woman? I wouldn’t do such a thing even if you beat me to death.

The two of them stayed there with their backs facing the courtyard, one sitting, one lying down. It made for a lovely picture. If one of them changed into female clothes, the picture would be even more beautiful. [2]

The next day, Ji Yunshu woke up early and was watering the plants in the courtyard with a gourd ladle. She had scattered the seeds for these flowers the second day after they moved in. Some of them had only just started to sprout while others had already started to bloom. She spent some time on the flowers, ate breakfast, then had Shi Zijin prepare a carriage for a trip to Wen Xian’s mansion.

However, she had just stepped in when she was met with the scene of a vigorous fight. Wen Xian and Zhao Huai were battling it out. One of them was already weak and sickly, while the other had lost an arm and was lacking in strength. Thus, the two of them were equally matched and were stuck in a stalemate.

The two of them didn’t notice Ji Yunshu’s arrival, but Wen Panshi, who had been observing them at the side, did. “Little Heir, why have you come?” He was puzzled.

“General Wen, this one has come to look for Young Master Wen.”

“They…”

“I know, let them fight.” Although she was opposed to senseless violence, she had no objections towards venting emotions via fighting. That’s right, venting.

Zhao Huai had killed Lin Feng. Wen Xian naturally couldn’t take the loss of his best friend lying down. The wretched feeling of seeing someone he considered his brother die in front of him had tormented Wen Xian from the moment he had been locked up in jail till now. This was also the reason why the two of them had started fighting.

Who was she to obstruct that? Just let them fight it out!

However, the fight dragged on. Neither one of them seemed to be winning or losing. Their audience started to worry.

After about the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Wen Xian’s sickly, frail body finally started to falter. Zhao Huai then seized the moment to gain the upper hand and pressed his advantage to rest his sword against Wen Xian’s neck. The edge of the sword pierced through skin, creating a tiny wound on Wen Xian’s neck. Bright, carmine blood seeped out and dyed the gleaming blade. “Wen Xian, the sword doesn’t differentiate between friend or foe. Don’t blame me if you get hurt.”

Wen Xian glared angrily, “If you could kill even Lin Feng, why don’t you dare to kill me too?”

“You also saw the situation then. He was so obsessed with his own motives that he didn’t hesitate to sacrifice the Little Heir’s life. If it happened once, it could happen again, so I had no choice but to do that.”

“Did that mean you had to take his life? Lin Feng merely wanted to take revenge on his father’s behalf. He did not mean to hurt the Little Heir.”

“That’s what you thought. In short, anyone that threatens the Little Heir’s life, should be killed.” Zhao Huai’s tone was steely and resolute. His reasoning was indisputable.

Wen Xian lifted his chin defiantly and scoffed, “Even so, his crime did not merit death.”

“...”

“Why don’t you kill me as well today? Otherwise, I’ll definitely take my revenge on you.”

Zhao Huai narrowed his eyes and sighed heavily. He then withdrew his sword and slid it back into its scabbard. “Wen Xian, I know that you grew up together with Lin Feng. I also know that his base character is good, and that he was only impulsive because he had yet to reclaim vengeance for his father. However, he was too willing to ignore everything else in order to achieve his goals. Then, it would lead to a day where he would be so blinded by his anger that he would desire the Little Heir’s life, or even all of our lives too. Just for this reason, I couldn’t let him live.”

What a righteous reasoning! Wen Xian didn’t understand his methods nor his reasoning. He scoffed again and flung his own sword onto the ground with a harsh clang.

[1] Cough. This is the prequel to a BL.

[2] THE AUTHOR IS DEFINITELY SHIPPING THEM. My mental image here.