novelAbuy Chapter 461 - 451: Guarding the Bloom—Hua Jian Side Story 2
Chapter 461 - 451: Guarding the Bloom—Hua Jian Side Story 2
Hua Jian felt a chill in her heart as soon as she heard this, just as she stood up, she already saw the tall and slender silhouette of His Majesty the Emperor appear outside the hall door.Without waiting for Empress Tang to come out to greet him, he stepped into Lizheng Hall.
His gaze, as sharp as a sword, swept over Hua Jian with a glance.
Hua Jian bowed her head, hiding her face firmly.
In the past, she had a resemblance to Empress Tang in childhood, which His Majesty the Emperor intensely disliked, so much so that he nearly wanted to mar her face.
While she didn’t care about disfigurement before, she cared deeply about it now.
His Majesty the Emperor, without seeing her face, still snorted unhappily and asked, "What is she here for?"
"She said she can get up now, came to the Palace to express her gratitude." Empress Tang answered with a teasing tone, and it was clear she didn’t take Hua Jian’s words seriously.
"Let her get out." His Majesty the Emperor left this sentence, then took Empress Tang’s hand and left.
Hua Jian walked slowly out of Lizheng Hall, slowly towards the Palace gate.
Even though she walked very slowly, the moment she sat down in the carriage, she felt pain flare in her heart.
Hua Jian couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
With her skills from before, she wasn’t able to detect Mo Ji’s whereabouts, let alone now, not even a little of her subtle intuition remained.
It was as if he wasn’t there at all.
If only she could quickly repair her heart meridian and resume practicing martial arts.
However, she has recovered quickly, just one year equating to three or five years for Zhong Chuchu, all thanks to Tao Fen’s kind heart bringing her five Wine Heart Buds for medicine.
Wine Heart Buds are hard to find; it’s unlikely she could recover faster.
Holding her aching heart, Hua Jian frowned and ordered, "To the south of the city!"
...
In the south of the city, there is a hubing shop.
At the time Mo Ji was ordered to guard her, she would entice him to show himself for fun.
Once, when forced to appear, he looked somewhat hurried, with a piece of hubing still in his mouth.
Later, she searched throughout Capital City and eventually found the origin of that hubing.
It was just a normal hubing shop, frequented by peddlers and common folk.
But as soon as Hua Jian got off the carriage, she smelled a fragrance not belonging in a hubing shop – the aroma of wine.
Soon, she found the source of the wine aroma.
It was a piece of opened black coarse cloth, pressed down by a black pottery lid.
The pottery vessel the lid should be covering wasn’t there.
Pottery, wine aroma.
Hua Jian’s heartbeat suddenly sped up.
Is it just ordinary wine utensils, or... used to hold Wine Heart Buds?
She couldn’t help but tread lightly closer to that black pottery lid.
...
When Mo Ji returned, he found a young woman lurking sneakily near his parcel.
By instinct, he sent a palm strike through the air, quickly retrieving the parcel in his hands.
Looking back at it, there was only cloth and a lid.
He then remembered that the Wine Heart Buds were always with him; he had just taken them out to water with wine.
Luckily he was quick enough to catch the woman before she fell, preventing her from hitting the ground.
He took a glance at the woman.
She seemed to be around fourteen or fifteen, thin with a slightly pointed chin, large dark eyes, staring at him in shock.
She seemed a bit familiar.
Mo Ji looked at her again.
Then turned away, biting a hot hubing, covering the pottery jar containing Wine Heart Buds with the lid, wrapping the black cloth haphazardly, and walked away.
Returned to the Palace, delivered the Wine Heart Buds to Empress Tang to report.
But the next day, he was summoned by Empress Tang.
"Hua Jian was injured at the hubing shop in the south of the city yesterday." Empress Tang wore a barely concealed smile.
Mo Ji was silent.
"You can’t recognize her?" Empress Tang seemed amused about something.
"Not really familiar." Mo Ji said.
"Even if not familiar, you shouldn’t have hurt her, right?"
"At the time I mistook her for trying to steal medicine," Mo Ji explained, suddenly sensing something was off, "I knew how to control my strength."
When he struck, he had already assessed she wasn’t trained in martial arts and didn’t hit hard.
Nothing seemed unusual, so why did she get hurt when she went back?
"Would you like to expose her?" Empress Tang suggested.
Mo Ji remained silent.
"Perhaps send Mo Huan to do it instead." Empress Tang offered accommodatingly.
Mo Ji paused for a moment, then said, "I’ll go."
...
Though he’s confident about controlling his strength, he’s uncertain about Hua Jian’s physical condition.
When he saw her yesterday, she seemed so fragile.
In fact, perhaps more so than he thought.
If she really got hurt—
Thinking of this made Mo Ji’s headache worsen.
Guarded for a month just to collect Wine Heart Buds.
A month, ah!
Can’t let all go to ruin.
...
Hua Jian just lived near the Imperial Palace.
When Mo Ji arrived, the maids were outside the room, inside it was silent.
He wasn’t accustomed to showing his face openly, so he went around to the side window; just as he was about to push it open, remembered the young girl’s appearance yesterday, withdrew his hand, switched from pushing to knocking.
He knocked twice, but no response was heard.