"You’re back?"
Zhu E greeted them with a smile at first, but her expression shifted from joy to panic upon seeing blood on Chen Yi.
Chen Yi lifted the curtain and entered the tent, saying, "It’s nothing serious."
As he spoke, he casually pulled out a chair and sat down.
Though he said it was nothing serious, Zhu E didn’t hear it that way. She quickly took out the dicine box, scooped so clean water from the barrel, and busily attended to things.
Her nominal husband, however, was left standing aside as Chen Yi entered.
Qin Qingluo watched this scene, feeling a slight bitterness in her heart, but she said nothing.
The Prince of Annan didn’t look at the Princess bustling around that person. After taking a look around, he lifted the curtain and went into the study.
Upon entering the study, expecting to be alone, she unexpectedly saw Min Ning, the naturally heroic female commander, standing under the candlelight, leafing through a book.
"Reading the Sword Manual?" Qin Qingluo turned her face and asked.
Min Ning paused her page-turning hand, respectfully answering, "I heard from the Princess that there are martial arts secrets in the Prince’s study, so I borrowed them to take a look. I wonder if it’s an inconvenience? If it is, I’ll leave..."
"No need to be formal, it’s no inconvenience at all."
The tall woman laughed:
"Actually, you and I are like half a confidant."
Half a confidant...
Am I now considered half a confidant of a prince from another clan?
Min Ning blinked, feeling a greater sense of goodwill,
How could a young hero who hasn’t ventured much into the Jianghu handle such an honor?
"Do you have any dissatisfaction?" the female prince asked calmly.
Min Ning gripped the Sword Manual more tightly, chuckling lightly:
"No, being half a confidant is just right,
If I were a whole confidant, I might be unable to bear such a responsibility."
She spoke these modest words in the tone of a novel,
which, both in terms of emotion and reason, should make people take notice.
Unexpectedly, Qin Qingluo burst into laughter and said,
"You and I are confidants, why be so reserved?"
"In what way am I reserved?"
"If you’re not reserved, then why refer to yourself as ’in the humble opinion’?"
For a mont, the female commander was stunned, and her cheeks blushed.
Qin Qingluo looked at the female commander with a smile, wholly devoid of an air of superiority, instead coming across as approachable, while the latter awkwardly coughed twice.
"This is not being reserved,"
Min Ning, with her face still blushing, said as an explanation:
"The Prince surpasses in every way, naturally ’above’, if I don’t refer to myself as ’in the humble opinion’, it would be arrogant."
After saying this, Min Ning tried hard to maintain an expression devoid of visible emotions.
Qin Qingluo didn’t press further, as she had other things to say.
"Since we are confidants," the female prince stared directly at Min Ning and asked, "Let ask, why do you practice martial arts?"
Min Ning blinked, her mind racing with various thoughts, one particularly strong thought swirling within her, though she couldn’t voice it.
So she pondered for a while before saying, "To stand out and make a na for myself."
Qin Qingluo followed up with, "For fa?"
Min Ning nodded slightly.
And Qin Qingluo spoke longingly, "But fa is quite hollow."
Min Ning was full of confusion.
The study and the main tent hall were only separated by a curtain, and the shadows of Chen Yi and Zhu E were cast upon it by the candlelight.
Qin Qingluo glanced at them briefly, then continued, "One day, you might suddenly find yourself in a void state, where everything loses its aning, including your own existence... People call this state... refining the spirit back to emptiness."
She spoke these words, and even without looking, she inexplicably thought of the person who imparted this realm to her.
The indescribable emotions, like waves of the sea, barely letting her catch a glimpse before another wave ca crashing in.
Min Ning, after hearing this, fell into contemplation.
"Are you contemplating?" Qin Qingluo asked.
"Yes."
Min Ning paused for a mont, then slowly said,
"I don’t understand."
A glimr of light flickered in Qin Qingluo’s eyes before dimming; she said,
"You’ll have to face it sooner or later."
Min Ning scratched her head, not troubled by this, but laughed and said,
"But my current state is not ready to face it."
Qin Qingluo had nothing to say for a mont.
She turned her face and saw the woman in red bandaging Chen Yi, who took the opportunity to cry out in pain and misbehave. Zhu E slapped his hand away, showing a teasing expression and whispering complaints. Under the lamplight, this scene revealed a slightly surreal feeling, yet deeply pierced into Qin Qingluo’s eyes.
Qin Qingluo watched for a long ti, then finally said with a bitter smile:
"Then let put it another way, if the person who is best to you becos the one who owes you the most, what would you do?"
Min Ning pondered for a mont and said, "Forgive him?"
Qin Qingluo murmured, "I thought you’d want to kill him."
Min Ning was slightly taken aback.
Then the female prince asked again:
"Let ask you another question. If the person who owes you the most one day becos the best to you, what would you do then?"
Min Ning closed the Sword Manual, holding it in one hand, raised her eyebrows, and said,
"One must distinguish between gratitude and enmity, unless the enmity is deeply ingrained. If that person truly has a great favor, it’s okay to repay the favor first, then seek revenge."
"What if the enmity is deeply ingrained?" Qin Qingluo asked again.
Upon hearing this tricky question, Min Ning couldn’t help but ask,
"Why does the Prince ask such questions?"
Qin Qingluo didn’t answer, instead reaching out and pinching the almost extinguished wick, as if crushing petals, rubbing out the lamp’s light.
The study suddenly went dark.
Min Ning was slightly startled, then heard the female prince say,
"I once said, my martial intentions shattered once, now relying on the ’refining the spirit back to emptiness,’ it seems to be reforming, and the person helping reform is precisely the one who owes the most."
Except when facing Chen Yi, Min Ning didn’t have so much hidden scheming, so she didn’t think of Chen Yi for a mont. She just listened silently, then with a hearty laugh said:
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