Shi Minglang glanced at Chu Yueying and gently shifted his gaze away.
Without a word, Chu Yueying ran off.
The Crown Prince looked at Shi Minglang with a complex expression, feeling rather uncomfortable inside.
He couldn't even utter a single word of comfort.
Shi Minglang's face was ashen. It felt as if his whole heart had been dug out and repeatedly beaten. The pain was indescribable.
Daoist Qiu stared at him intently, making Shi Minglang a bit uncomfortable.
Those eyes were weather - beaten, as if possessing the wisdom to see through everything.
"Yo yo yo, you made that poor girl run away. Do you think you're so great? You leave the pain to yourself and safety to Yueying?"
Daoist Qiu sneered.
Shi Minglang felt inexplicably guilty, but his mouth was as stubborn as his surname. "I don't think I did anything wrong."
"Really? Well, you should be glad you're not Liang Yuzhou. Liang Yuzhou made the same mistake as you and got two big slaps from Song Wanchu."
Daoist Qiu looked at him leisurely. "Yueying probably wouldn't have the heart to slap you, but you're just as deserving of a beating as Liang Yuzhou."
Shi Minglang suddenly felt a bit flustered.
He knew about the incident where Liang Yuzhou, thinking his eyes would never recover and fearing he'd be a burden to Song Wanchu, ran away and was later found.
He even laughed at Liang Yuzhou for being stupid at that time.
But now he couldn't laugh.
It seemed that he wasn't much smarter than Liang Yuzhou.
Daoist Qiu watched as Shi Minglang's expression changed several times. There was a hint of regret in his eyes. Then he added fuel to the fire in a timely manner. "You're finished, you know? Yueying, an unmarried girl, abandoned her reserve to save you. You've practically had physical contact. But then you said you didn't want to marry her. What do you call this?"
He signaled the Crown Prince with his eyes to cooperate.
The Crown Prince cleared his throat and said seriously, "This is called being a hooligan. According to the laws of the Great Zhou, one should be whipped fifty times. For those with extremely bad behavior, they should be imprisoned for three years."
The Shi family was a family of judges. Shi Minglang's father used to be the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, and his uncle was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He himself had been exposed to laws and punishments since childhood.
He knew better than the Crown Prince what a crime he had committed.
Daoist Qiu's eyes now showed disgust. "Liang Yuzhou is stupid once in a while, and Wanchu is magnanimous enough to forgive him. But you're in big trouble. Your image in Yueying's heart is probably that of an irresponsible hooligan now."
Cold sweat broke out on Shi Minglang's forehead.
"If you quickly explain to that poor girl that you just woke up and your mind wasn't clear, and that what you said just now was nonsense and doesn't count, she might still believe you."
Shi Minglang wasn't a stubborn person. He was willing to listen to advice.
He also realized how stupid a mistake he had made.
But there's no turning back once an arrow is shot. He was a Shi, but he wasn't heartless. He couldn't drag Yueying into the abyss of danger just for his own selfish desires.
But how on earth could he explain it clearly?
Shi Minglang was torn inside.
To everyone's surprise, Chu Yueying came back.
She seemed to have been crying. Her eyes were red, like a pitiful little rabbit.
"Why? I want an explanation from you!"
The little girl had a lot of courage.
She must have given herself a long - time psychological hint before she dared to ask such a question in front of so many people.
"We've even exchanged tokens of love. You say you won't marry me just like that. In your eyes, am I a girl who can be easily despised?"
Daoist Qiu and the Crown Prince both admired Chu Yueying's courage.
She could speak her mind straightforwardly.
How many young ladies from good families were taught to be silent, especially when it came to matters of the heart?
Even if they were wronged or criticized, they had to swallow their anger for their own and their family's dignity and reputation.
Shi Minglang panicked. His eyes were full of self - blame and heartache. He was so anxious that he wanted to get up, but his whole body was wrapped like a mummy. The slightest movement seemed to tug at all the pain nerves in his body, and cold sweat immediately broke out.
He could only lie there stiffly, his lips trembling. "No, of course not!"
"Good girl, come. Listen to what he has to say before scolding him."
Daoist Qiu said with a smile. He pulled Chu Yueying into the room and brought her in front of Shi Minglang. He didn't forget to glare at Shi Minglang.
Then he and the Crown Prince left tacitly.
Chu Yueying stared into Shi Minglang's eyes without blinking.
Shi Minglang's hand unconsciously touched the sachet on his waist and traced the pattern on it with his fingertips.
It was an embroidered budding lotus, standing in the water, shy yet elegant, beautiful but not coquettish.
And the girl standing in front of him was the embodiment of this lotus, haunting his dreams.
How could he bear to hurt her...
The two stared at each other silently.
"Is it snowing heavily?"
Shi Minglang suddenly asked out of the blue.
Chu Yueying answered him patiently, "It's the heaviest snow I've ever seen."
"The year my father died, the snow was even heavier than this one. I was only eight years old then. It was the Lantern Festival, a day when families should be reunited, watching lanterns and fireworks."
Those memories were like icicles, with sharp spines that pierced through his skin and into his flesh.
Shi Minglang felt as if ice water had been poured into his internal organs, cold and uncomfortable.
His voice hoarse, he continued, "My father received a report of a case. He left in a hurry without even finishing dinner. I waited and waited. By the time the lanterns on the street had all gone out and the lights had dimmed, my father still hadn't come back. I was young and hot - tempered. I was angry with my father and complained that he was always busy with official business and didn't even spare a bit of time for his family during festivals.
My uncle suggested that we go wait at the entrance of the Ministry of Justice so that he'd see his family as soon as he came out, giving him a surprise. My mother agreed. Afraid that my father would forget to eat, she even brought him a bowl of hot glutinous rice balls. But when we got to the corner of the alley closest to the Ministry of Justice..."
This tough - looking man's eyes suddenly turned red, and his voice choked with sobs.
Chu Yueying even held her breath, her heart tightly clenched.
Shi Minglang took a deep breath to steady his voice. His voice was clearly trembling. "I saw my father lying there in his official uniform. All the snow around him was dyed red with his blood.
He had been stabbed eighteen times, each stab fatal. By the time we found him, his body was already cold and stiff. There was also a flattened little tiger lantern beside him."
He choked out the last sentence. "I'm a Tiger in the Chinese zodiac. My father had always loved me silently, but I had lost my temper with him before he went to the government office that night. When he left, I was so angry that I hid.
Do you know what the last words my father heard from me were? I said, 'Since you like solving cases so much, why don't you let the cases be your son!'"
Chu Yueying's heart ached too.
"My father was killed by his enemies. He once said that once you became a judge, you were putting your head on the line when handling cases. The number of enemies would only increase."
"Your father was a great man," Chu Yueying said softly.
Shi Minglang's eyes fluttered a few times. "He left behind a great reputation, but the one who suffered the most was my mother. She was not even thirty years old and had to become a widow. My uncle was only sixteen then and hadn't started his own family or career.
She had to raise her son and take care of her younger brother - in - law. She endured so many gossips. She never mentioned her hardships, but I often heard her crying secretly at night. She missed my father, but during the day, she became that tough and strict mother again.
Later, my uncle became the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He found out the murderer who killed my father back then. He raided that corrupt official's house and found evidence against him. That corrupt official was sentenced to the execution of the entire family.
My father's revenge was avenged, but he would never come back. The hardships my mother had endured over the years had turned into her white hair and wrinkles. Time could never turn back."
At this point, Chu Yueying finally understood.
All his long - winded talk before was just a prelude, and this last sentence was the key.