Jiangjiang the Skeleton Spirit - Chapter 5

Seeing that I was no longer determined to leave, he sat facing me.

I turned aside, refusing to meet his cautious gaze.

“My real name is Song Yuhuan.

“When I first met you, someone close to me had just betrayed me. So yes, I was wary of you.

“But that was only at the beginning,” he hurried to add. “After that, I held nothing back from you.”

He watched anxiously for my response. When I still didn’t turn to look at him, he continued explaining.

“I wanted to tell you many times. But whenever I thought about having to leave someday, I gave up the idea.”

I turned toward him.

Song Yuhuan pressed his lips together and lowered his head, looking for all the world like someone who knew he’d done wrong.

“And after that? Once I’d decided to stay, why didn’t you tell me?”

His eyes dimmed. “By then, I didn’t know how to tell you.”

I stood. “Because you didn’t know how to tell me, you had A-Pei and all the others keep it from me? You let me keep calling you by a false name like a fool?”

No wonder Qin Zhao’s attitude had changed so quickly on that first day.

She must have thought Song Yuhuan didn’t really care about me, and lowered her guard because of it.

He hastily stood and came to my side.

His voice was urgent. “No. That’s not what happened.”

He still wanted to explain.

But by then, my emotions had taken over. Without listening, I pushed him out of the room.

His shadow fell across the door. He showed no sign of leaving.

I don’t know how much time passed before A-Pei’s voice came from outside.

“General, there’s news of Wurile.”

The shadow paused, then he said, “Jiangjiang, I’ll leave the food box outside. Don’t go hungry.”

After he left, I picked up the box from the ground and brought it in.

Inside was my favorite Jade Lotus cream pastry.

It was Minglou’s signature specialty, sold in limited quantities. You had to queue early to get it.

And Minglou was far enough away that it took a horse to get there.

Thinking of that, I sighed.

Song Yuhuan really did treat me well.

Apart from this one thing, he’d never deceived me.

Just as he’d said, he’d held nothing back from me.

Oh, forget it.

I closed the food box again and decided to take it to the study and wait outside.

As I stepped onto the stairs, I stopped.

Song Yuhuan’s and A-Pei’s voices weren’t the only ones inside.

There was a woman’s voice too.

Qin Zhao’s.

They were discussing Wurile.

I remembered what Song Yuhuan had told me.

Wurile was the leader of the northern borderlands. Their two countries were at war; they were mortal enemies.

After what had happened to him, Song Yuhuan suspected that someone near him worked for Wurile.

So even matters of life and death weren’t reserved for me. He could discuss them with other people too.

Qin Zhao and I were the same to him.

It turned out he held nothing back from other people either.

At that thought, a sudden, inexplicable sadness filled me.

I couldn’t describe the feeling. I only knew I hated it.

A guard nearby saw that I hadn’t gone in and asked hesitantly, “Miss Jiangjiang, shall I announce you?”

I shook my head, answering wearily, “Never mind. Don’t disturb them.”

After seeing how Song Yuhuan really felt, I suddenly lost all enthusiasm for him.

Even when he came to see me, I kept my door shut. I stopped eating with him altogether.

I did hear the maids and older women in the household say that Miss Qin Zhao brought the general food every day.

How pointless. How dull these days were.

I suddenly began to miss life in the bamboo grove.

I chose a clear day to go back. There was so much I wanted to tell Sister Suhe.

After the long journey, I pushed open the bamboo door. Everything was arranged as before, but the place felt cold and deserted.

I called a few times. No one answered.

A woodcutter passed by. “Looking for Suhe?”

I nodded. “Do you know where she went?”

He waved a hand. “Suhe left long ago.”

“Left?” I was startled. “Isn’t she waiting for the man she loves?”

The woodcutter sighed. “He can’t come back. He died on the battlefield long ago.”

I watched his receding back, then looked at the empty bamboo cottage behind me.

All at once, my heart felt hollow.