An Outstanding Man

One pear blossom could be seen through the window. It was white, soft and delicate. Its fragrance wafted through the air as the moon shone on it.

The night breeze blew quietly and the candle flame resembled a tiny bean.

After a very, very long time, a sigh finally resounded in the room.

“Miss Song… You are really good at this.”

Linglong shut her eyes to collect herself for a while before opening them to look at Song Caitang again. Her gaze had a little indignation, but also some admiration.

Song Caitang breathed a sigh of relief inside.

Linglong had been a hard nut to crack, but she finally did it!

“No, no, you are far better than I am.”

Their gazes were full of emotion as they met each other’s.

These two lines sounded like it could be sarcastic disagreement, or a reflection of true admiration.

But Linglong really admired Song Caitang from her heart. Song Caitang had presented her a path that she could not help but take. A path that she would follow no matter how much she would have to suffer.

That…had really gotten to her.

She had had a rough life. Mistakes were made, chances were missed. The only thing that she focused on and remained obsessed with was this one person. She had buried him deep in her heart, hidden and protected him well, so that nobody would find out. He was the most charismatic, sunny and magnanimous man she had ever met. He had illuminated her path and given her the confidence and courage to live on.

He was her source of strength, her reason to live.

She knew that Song Caitang had made some conjectures, and she also knew that Song Caitang’s guesses were right. She also knew that Song Caitang was just trying to agitate her and make her confess.

But she couldn’t help but walk into this trap willingly.

He was a wonderful, wonderful man. The most wonderful man she had ever seen in her life. She simply could not allow anybody to say anything bad about him. He had lived his life with a clean conscience, and even in his death… He had died a brave and faultless man!

“I can tell you everything, but you must promise me something.” Linglong made her decision quickly. And once she had decided, she did not beat around the bush.

Song Caitang’s expression was solemn. “Please go ahead.”

“I’ve always known that if nobody found out about us, nothing would happen. But the moment someone finds out, I will not be able to escape…” Linglong lowered her gaze and she seemed to be tearing up. “But I still did all that.”

Linglong looked up again and said very gravely, “I’ll answer any questions you have. The authorities can go ahead and tell the public anything with regard to the case too. I’m not afraid of what others say about me. But I do not want anybody to know that he and I knew each other.”

“His name should not be put together with mine. It is not worth it.”

“Why?” asked Song Caitang.

Linglong just smiled sadly and did not speak.

Song Caitang regretted asking too. It didn’t take her long to figure out the reason.

Linglong was a strong-willed woman with wits and guts, but she also had a low self-esteem. She felt that she had let Jing Yan down, she felt she was not worthy of him.

She held their past carefully in the palm of her hands and did not let anybody know about it, as though it was an especially private matter. This story only had him and her, a sweet yet bitter story.

“He was a very good man. He did many things that others did not dare to do, or were unable to do. He was shouldering so many heavy burdens, yet he didn’t tell anyone about it. He was sometimes a little obtuse, but he was a man who took everything in his stride, a man who stood as tall and firm as a mountain.”

“His name…was Jing Yan.”

Linglong’s voice choked up slightly as she uttered his name. Tears filled her eyes.

Song Caitang gave her a little time to pull herself together before asking quietly, “Did you know who he was?”

“I didn’t know at first, but later on—” Linglong smiled, as though she had recalled something interesting. “He didn’t say, but I managed to guess.”

“How did you get to know him?”

Linglong lowered her gaze, folded her hands in front of her and assumed a prim and proper sitting position. The mere mention of Jing Yan made her behave differently. “He saved my life…more than once.”

“My name is actually Ling Yao. 18 years ago, there was a group of notorious bandits based on Beiqing Mountain. The army raided the mountain to get rid of the bandits, but I…was taken away by the bandits before that.”

Zhao Zhi’s information was right, and so was their guess. Linglong’s surname was Ling, so she was indeed the daughter of Ling Minfang, the craftsman who specialized in purifying mercury from cinnabar. The Ling family was eventually left with just this one daughter, but they didn’t want to lose their trade just because there was no male heir. So, the family told everyone they had a son and made Ling Yao dress as a boy as she learned from her father.

But she had pretty facial features, so even though she covered her face with mud, she still looked pretty. She was 12 back then, the peak of puberty. She happened to wash her face and was spotted by the bandits, so they kidnapped her.

Her father was a talented craftsman, but he kept to himself all the time, so he didn’t know anybody or what else to do. He barged into the bandits’ base and tried to reason with them, only to be captured instead.

After that, the army raided the mountain and it was a long and tough fight. Ling Yao didn’t die, but her father unfortunately did.

Ling Yao was not someone of high social status and she didn’t get lucky either. She didn’t get rescued and sent home like Madam Gu back then, and she didn’t get picked up by Zeng Deyong like Fourth Missy Gan, who managed to live a fairly quiet life after this ordeal. She leaped out of one fire only to land in another fire.

A bad person had seized the chance to sell her.

That person had made a fortune, but she ended up at a brothel.

She wasn’t a willing party at all and refused to listen to instructions. But the pimp at the brothel knew how to deal with girls like her. He tortured her so badly, she had no choice but to listen to him if she wanted to survive. She learned how to look like she was learning well and adapting well, she did a good job of everything she was told. But she never gave up her plan to escape..

But while she was clever, the pimp was not stupid either. He had seen plenty of girls just like her.

Regardless of how pretty the girl was or how much potential she had, as long as she was disobedient, the pimp had to teach her a lesson she would never forget.

That was when Jing Yan rescued her.

This was the first time.

Jing Yan was very busy and he had saved her out of goodwill and nothing else, so he left very quickly. Ling Yao was very touched, but she had no way of making him stay by her side.

She was extremely unlucky, and this society was very unfriendly toward women, especially a young, single and pretty woman with no family. Despite her clever plans, she simply couldn’t escape the control of men. She had peace for barely a year before she ran into trouble again. In order to save someone who had helped her before, she put her life in danger again.

And at just the right time, Jing Yan appeared once more and saved her.

“Both times, he did not show his face and kept it behind a thin veil. Ever since I was a child, and throughout everything I experienced in life, I never felt that men were anything good. But he was different. He didn’t know what I was thinking about and didn’t even remember that he had saved me before. He must have done such things so often.”

Linglong smiled as she said, “This time round, I was covered in wounds and needed someone to take care of me. He asked if I had any family or friends who could take care of me and I said I didn’t… I was hoping that he would feel bad and take care of me. And as I had hoped, even though he seemed tough and aloof, he was a kindhearted person, so he stayed by my side and took care of me…”

“He didn’t like to talk and did not come near to me unnecessarily. He never crossed the boundary but everything he did was filled with warmth and consideration for me. I saw how he spoke to the children nearby, how his laughter was so genuine, how his voice was so indulgent. I knew then that his tough exterior was just a cover. He didn’t want to get too close to anybody. Even though he helped me, he had already decided that once I was well enough, he would leave and we would have no contact ever again.”

“But how could I let that happen? I yearned for warmth like this, so I wanted to hang onto it. But he was very wary and we didn’t spend a long time together. I couldn’t even get him to tell me his name, so how could I even think of a future together with him? He ended up leaving and I couldn’t do anything about it…”

Linglong looked sad for just a moment before she brightened up again. “But life is always so unpredictable. Back then, I swore to myself that if I never meet him again, then I must forget all that happened between us and stop thinking about it. But if I meet again, then…I have to hold onto him with all my life and never let go again!”

And once again, she found herself in danger and met Jing Yan again.

“There are very few things in my life that I’m obsessed over or want very badly. But since the heavens had arranged for us to meet yet again, then I wasn’t going to let this chance slip.” Linglong had a twinkle in her eyes. “I had already sensed that this man was extremely wary and careful, a man with many secrets. If I wanted to stay in contact with him, I had to be a little smarter and take things slowly.”

“I put together the situations in which he appeared, what happened around us at that time, carefully asked around to find out where he had appeared before and analyzed everything in detail. What he was doing, what would definitely get his attention, what he was wary of… Not all my guesses were definitely right, but there were a few special people in his circle. So, even if he disappeared suddenly and I couldn’t find him, it wouldn’t matter. As long as I kept poking this group of people, he would eventually reappear.”

Thinking about what she did back then made her shudder in fear. Her actions had been very dangerous, but she just held onto the small chance that he would come back to her and was too afraid of missing this chance to give up. She was like a moth to a flame.

Thankfully, he turned up.

“He still refused to spend too much time with me, so I tried all means and ways. When gentler methods didn’t work, I resorted to threatening him. I told him everything I had found out about him and my guesses about who he was, and even put my own life in danger… He had no choice but to entertain me.”

Linglong lowered her gaze slightly. “I know he didn’t like me. He just treated me as a playful child. But I couldn’t let go. I had to work harder, I had to dig further and get more sensitive and reliable information, information that he really cared about. Then only would he…not let go of me. Even if he was wary of me, I wanted to keep him by my side.”

And so, little by little, Linglong found out about a lot of things.

She found out that someone was secretly shipping gold, about the river routes that were used, and that there was some secret on Beiqing Mountain 18 years ago…

“I held onto a lot of information and I…finally got to see his face and found out what his name was.”

“I knew his identity was special and he would be in danger if exposed, even though I still don’t know exactly what he was supposed to be doing…” said Linglong honestly. “I told him that he could just kill me and be done with all this, but he didn’t. He said his team would never kill anyone for no reason, that they would not kill the innocent. If others found out who they were, it was because they were incompetent. It was not the fault of others. They did not go around silencing people.”

“He was so gentle, so…I took advantage of that.”

“I used the information I had to negotiate with him. I said that he had to meet with me at least once a month. He agreed.”

Linglong turned her face slightly to look at the white pear blossom on the branch outside. “I thought I was very clever and I had managed to get what I wanted. But I had no idea that he had agreed not because he was giving in to me, but because he wanted to protect me.”

“It was because I knew too much. He could deal with me easily, but I would be a threat to his enemies, so…they would want to kill me.”

“Our relationship was not a romantic one. Or perhaps I felt that way about him, but…not him. He tolerated me and was good natured about it, but he was also very candid and honest, so he made sure I knew he was not interested in me at all. I guess you could say that he was cruel in that sense. He didn’t leave any space for ambiguity at all.”

“I’ve always felt that even if I had to choose all over again, I would still fall for him. He shouldered heavy burdens but was still able to stand tall. Even though he rejected me, he was honest and sincere about it, and did not give me any false hopes or lead me on. How could I possibly not fall for such an outstanding man?”

“Jing Yan…was a man who was worth being treated with love and care.”

“But he died.” Linglong stared at the floor. “Such a wonderful man ended up getting killed.”

“He was an Eagle Guard, he served the emperor with his life! He was constantly in danger in order to uphold justice and righteousness. Did he deserve to die? No! He didn’t deserve to die! Those people who killed him did!”

Linglong turned suddenly to stare intensely at Song Caitang. “Those people committed so much evil and so many people had died wrongful deaths at their hands. I killed them to mete justice! What’s wrong with that!”