A Wicked Grin

She said with a frown to those soldiers who was about to capture her, “Don’t try to take me away from here if you don’t tell me what crime I have committed on earth . Capturing an innocent civilian out of no reason is by no means permitted by the strict law of the Great Yan Kingdom . ” .

She continued, “For eighteen years in my life, I’ve never committed anything evil, I’ve never let down my parents who gave me life, or my master who cultivated me carefully . ”

“If the government arrests me, a weak woman, as a wanted criminal without any reason, repute of the government must be damaged once the matter spread . ”

“I believe you don’t want the government to be considered as one where a good man's name got blackened and the innocent got disregarded, right?”

The soldiers didn’t expect the little girl to be so eloquent . For a moment all of them was silenced by her words .

“You need an accusation?” Then, a wicked voice came from the crowd .

It came from a young man who wore an embroidered golden gown, at the age of 25 or so, sitting on a black horse .

The young man had a greatly handsome face and exuded the regal dignity, which made the civilians present looked at him with awe .

His eyes were tightly fixed on Bai Qingqing’s face . When Bai Qingqing made eye contact with him, banter and playfulness seemed to have flashed across his eyes .

“If my memory serves me right, there is still an unfinished bet between us . ”

Bai Qingqing replied without hesitation, “Now that you can catch sight of me from the crowd, there is no doubt the bet is finished . ”

“No, it’s not over until the deadline . ”

“You are chopping logic!”

“It doesn’t mean you are not responsible for me even though I recovered from blindness, because there’s no way to guarantee other complications won’t recur before the deadline .

You left without a word, like a rat that's done something bad and sneaked away . Am I justified to think you have tampered with my medicine with an ulterior attempt and then seized the chance to slide away?”

Bai Qingqing almost died of anger by his words .

She cured his eyes with goodwill, only to find him requite love with hate and be convicted without any reason by this damn man .

The man, Zhao Yuchen, suddenly grinned and said, “Now you have nothing to refute, that is, your accusation was confirmed . ”

While speaking, he drove the horse forward and pulled Bai Qingqing who was still there into his arms on the horse, making her sit steadily in his arms .

His behavior was so unexpected that not only the crowd was surprised, even Bai Qingqing was greatly shocked at what he had done to her before the public .

She was shocked and gave a low cry . Her two hands tightly held the horse’s mane instinctively for fear of falling down .

Suddenly, his arm wrapped around her waist, fixing her tightly before him .

His wicked voice came from behind her ears, he said it like casting a spell, “You can never escape from me!”

Then, with the crowd’s boos and hisses, he raised the whip and disappeared into the crowd .

Hidden in the crowd was a young man in a black robe . Under the large bamboo rain hat, his eagle eyes stared closely at the troops disappearing in the street .

He squinted reflectively as the troops marching away .

Bai Qingqing never thought that she should be captured back to Ink Garden as a wanted criminal by Zhao Yuchen, this damn man, even she had never done any evil deed .

What does requiting love with hate mean? What he was doing now was a textbook example .

She made all-out efforts to cure his blindness, only to be captured back as a criminal in an imposing manner without any gratitude .

Now the whole Ink Garden plunged into mess, which definitely was mixed with much festivity .

For the owner of the Ink Garden, who had been blind for six years, finally recovered his sight . All his subordinates and servants were happy for his recovery from the bottom of heart .

The other reason for the mess concerned with Bai Qingqing .

No one in the Ink Garden expected that the village girl they had looked down on was even more superb than the Imperial Physicians who got salaries from the Court .

Not only did she cure their master’s eye disease in a short period, but their impersonal master showed emotions as a normal person that he had sealed up for years, thanks to her appearance .

No matter what others felt and thought, Bai Qingqing was absolutely angry with his domineering and unreasonable doing .

“We don’t hold any rancor or hatred against each other, so I see no reason to poison you . If you still suspect me, you can make Prime Minister Qin endorse my innocence, he is the last person you should distrust . ”

Since taken back as a criminal to the Ink Garden, Bai Qingqing had been grasping any chance to bring out facts and reasons, in order to persuade this damn man, Zhao Yuchen, not to go too far .

Her patience was not inexhaustible . If her bottom line was touched, she would resort to any means, leaving no stone unturned .

However, the fact was, no matter how indignantly she clarified, Zhao Yuchen was always looking her up and down with deep and unfathomable insight .

Ruoqing would have been 24 years old if she was alive .

But Bai Qingqing, the little girl standing here was only 18 .

The girl really looked pretty and exquisite despite the fact that she was in coarse clothes . Though not as beautiful and enchanting as Su Ruoqing, who was famous for her talent and beauty in the capital city, Bai Qingqing was also a rare beauty .

No wonder she was referred to as a village girl by Ming Hao and Huai Yue when he was blind .

She seemed to have been covering up her beauty deliberately to mislead others by wearing clothes in patches .

“Was the girl really Bai Qingqing who had been together with him for days from dawn to dusk and cured his eye disease?” Zhao Yuchen wondered .

This moment, Zhao Yuchen’s feeling was mixed and bitter .

Subconsciously, he saw her as Su Ruoqing who had reincarnated, because they had so much in common . But most importantly, he got a familiar feeling every time they spent time together .

Master Huijing in Putuo Temple never talked wildly . Now that Master  enlightened him with two precious sentences in person that year, it was possible that his fate was really going to have a big turnaround .

“Hey, are you listening to me?” Bai Qingqing was a little angry with his silence .

“My surname is Zhao, and my name is Yuchen . Yu as in majesty, and chen as in moments of beauty . ” Zhao Yuchen introduced himself in such a special way out of the blue .

His words made Bai Qingqing frown suddenly, and her memory was drawn back to the past .

She was 15 that year and went to the palace with her father to attend a feast of lotus admiring gathering .

There was a huge lotus pond built several years ago in the northwest of the palace . The emperor would summon the fourth ranking officials and above to take their families into the palace to enjoy lotus .

That was not the first time she went to the palace, but the first time she met Zhao Yuchen .

The feast was full of ladies in eminent family . Somehow, skinny Su Ruoqing was pushed by some malicious lady .

Before she nearly fell into the lotus pond, a slim and powerful arm tightly held her by the hand .

She was taken into a warm embrace by a strong force immediately .

She saw a handsome yet untamed face when she came to herself from the panic .

The young lad with fine clothes showed her an enchanting smile when embracing her steadily .

He said at first, “You are the famous talented girl, Miss Su? Su Ruoqing? My surname is Zhao, and my name is Yuchen . Yu as in majesty, and chen as in moments of beauty . ” It was the very first words he said to her .

Never had she known that the brief contact should change her whole life .

Seeing she was lost in thought, Zhao Yuchen couldn’t help raising his finger to lift Bai Qingqing’s chin . “What makes you so absent-minded? Do you mind sharing with me?” He asked in a bantering way .

Only then did Bai Qingqing regain consciousness from her memory . She instinctively stepped back, trying to avoid his touch .

However, she stepped back too much and forgot the round chair lying behind her, rendering her tripped over then completely leaned back .