Encountering Rain at West Lake

The rain sketched the staggered city streets, and in the darkness, sparse patches of light spread across. You can search: \(Complete Book God Station\) to read excellent literature for free.

A "crackling" sound rang out, and a cluster of sparks flew over the short eaves, returning to darkness in the falling rain. Rain dripped from the eaves, forming a curtain, and the sound of water flowed freely in the dark courtyard. Rain and darkness were the themes of this night, and the torch on the wall was the only light source in this small space, illuminating a small area in the wind and rain.

In the heavy rain, everything seemed very quiet except for the sound of the rain. There was no moonlight or the sounds of early autumn insects. The outlines of the clinic and the academy on the side were no longer visible.

On previous nights, the clinic was always noisy. The sounds of doctors and assistants moving busily, the sounds of medicine being brewed in the small kitchen, the groans caused by various injuries and illnesses, and the curses all blended together. On the road outside the courtyard gate, pedestrians would come and go. Those who dared to walk at night were mostly soldiers or Jianghu (Martial World) people, drunk or having lost a fight, spouting nonsense as they approached, then gradually faded away.

But on this night, everything was isolated.

The girl changed a torch under the eaves.

The new torch was embedded in the wall. The torch that was burned down to only half of its length fell to the ground. In the light and shadow, the girl's figure was somewhat flustered, and then she kicked the torch into the rain. The light flickered, then swirled and disappeared in the water.

The wall of the house was broken, and the torch was embedded in the opening, illuminating the outside and the inside. The young man in scholar's robes read a book inside, occasionally looking up to speak. The girl walked across the eaves, sometimes sitting on the threshold, resting her chin on her hands. It was a simple rainy night. The house was half-broken, and the master and servant occasionally had only simple conversations.

"I washed the dishes just now," Xiao Chan said, counting on her fingers, "and then washed the clothes, but there's no place to hang them..."

"Hmm?"

"So they're still in the basin... I wonder if it will rain so hard tomorrow..."

…

"A few days ago, Grandpa Liu from the clinic said there's a kind of herbal tea that's good for your injuries, Master..." Xiao Chan said, suddenly remembering.

"Herbal tea?"

"Yes, yes, I didn't pay attention at the time. I'll go ask Grandpa Liu tomorrow, and I'll help out at the clinic too..." The little maid nodded.

…

"Master, there were so many people with broken arms and legs in the clinic yesterday. Do you think they're wounded soldiers transported back from Jiaxing?" She lowered her voice.

"Probably not, it's too far."

"Oh, it would be nice if they were from there." Xiao Chan looked up, "When will this war end..."

…

…

Time passed like this, making it difficult to pinpoint. The night might already be deep, or perhaps it would be a long time before midnight. Xiao Chan might not really have the desire to speak and thus opened her mouth, but only used the sound to confirm that she and Ning Yi were still together in some form.

Of course, in the past, it was common for the master and servant to chat about a lot of things when they had nothing to do. But tonight was different. Xiao Chan wanted to say something, but her words seemed a little forced, giving the feeling of trying to find something to say but not daring to really say much. Most of the time, she still sat on the threshold watching Ning Yi, or watching the roof with a large hole where raindrops kept falling, or finding something to do herself. As a maid, she shouldn't disturb Ning Yi's reading time. After an unknown amount of time, Ning Yi looked up and saw the girl's gaze looking over, and after looking at each other for a moment, he heard her say softly, "Master, do you miss Miss and the others?"

Being together in such a situation and environment was often an extremely depressing thing. In times of war, people were like ants. Since being captured, Xiao Chan had been with Ning Yi. In the first few days, she even had to hold Ning Yi's hand to fall asleep. She even thought that if anyone wanted to separate her from the master, she might have to die.

This didn't happen, but there were doctors, injured people, and the two guards were always watching, and there might be other people secretly keeping an eye on them. Even though they had said some comforting words to each other, they hadn't really talked too much about the current situation, so as not to let others see their thoughts or understand the fear in their hearts. Xiao Chan just told herself that it was good to be with the master, and she shouldn't ask too much, it was useless to ask. If the master had a way and needed her, he would always speak up. If not, she would only cause trouble for the master.

Within a short distance, everyone was the enemy. In an atmosphere where it seemed like someone was watching all the time, both of them subconsciously remained quiet. They tried to heal, work, and live as usual, so as not to collapse. But it was also in the temporary safe atmosphere of this night, where it seemed like the whole world was isolated, that Xiao Chan was able to ask this kind of question in a low voice.

Ning Yi looked at her for a long time, then closed the book: "I miss them too. I wonder how they are."

"Miss and Juan'er, Xing'er jie (sister), they should have returned to Huzhou, right?"

"Your Miss has too stubborn of a temper, but..." Ning Yi thought for a while, "She also knows the importance of things. If nothing unexpected happens, I think she'll be fine."

Xiao Chan nodded, hugged her knees, and rested her chin on them. After a long while, she looked over again and said softly, "Master, can we... can we go back?"

She might have been holding this sentence back for a long time, knowing that it didn't make much sense to ask, but girls always hoped to have a pillar of support. Ning Yi nodded, not wanting to perfunctorily answer like the previous question: "There's a chance. They caught us but didn't punish us. There are always opportunities. Besides..." Ning Yi paused, then just nodded, "Don't worry, just like when we escaped, there will always be opportunities. Maybe I'll catch a flaw and bite them hard."

Xiao Chan pursed her lips: "Then please don't get hurt again, Master..."

"Heh..." Ning Yi smiled, but then his gaze turned cold, "Actually, we were caught, and it might not just be that Fang La's people are strong. Our people are also quite strong."

"Huh?" Xiao Chan widened her eyes.

"According to what you said, Xiao Chan, before we were separated, there were already faint rumors in Fang La's army that they wanted to catch me. I was unconscious at the time and didn't know about this, but at that time, Fang La's army had already reorganized and was being beaten all the way. They sent a large group of people to protect me, but the fact that we were discovered again might be Tang Xiuxuan, or Chen Xingdu. These people are using me as bait..."

"W-what?" Hearing Ning Yi say these things calmly, Chan'er immediately clenched her small fists and stood up from there, "How could they do this? You saved all of them..."

Ning Yi looked at her indignant appearance, smiled, put down the book, reached out and took Xiao Chan's hand, and pulled her over. The little maid who had just been angry immediately blushed, but Ning Yi didn't stop there. He was originally sitting on the only stool in the room, but now he hugged Xiao Chan and sat her on his lap. The action was too natural. Xiao Chan shrank back, not daring to resist, and only heard Ning Yi speak beside her.

"There's nothing strange about it. First, these people have been manipulating power all their lives. My achievements are too great, and it might only highlight their incompetence. The situation in the middle is very complicated. Second, the Liu Dabiaozi (Big Biao Liu) who wanted to catch me should have a strong background. They chased after us relentlessly, and the pressure here was also great. Using me as bait might just be a preemptive idea. It came true because I was unlucky... If I hadn't fallen ill at the time, I should have been on guard."

Ning Yi smiled: "Of course, on the other hand, if I hadn't been ill, they wouldn't have dared to do such a thing so easily. Heh, in that situation, creating a small team to protect me, but not being with the army, what meaning would it have if the enemy charged over? Now that they're going back, I'm not there, and the credit will all be in the hands of Tang Xiuxuan and Chen Xingdu, and they'll avoid the possibility of being compared to me. This is the real perfect, all-around joy. These days, listening to you talk about the situation at that time, I roughly understand."

Xiao Chan suppressed her blushing: "If they do this... if we go back, if we go back..."

"What happens after we go back, we'll talk about it after we go back. It's useless to be angry now. I'm actually a little worried about your Miss and the child in her womb. Someone should come to chat with me these days. I'll ask him, and there should... be results. Actually, I already feel like it's a little late, but the later it is, the better it will be. If possible, Xiao Chan, I'll send you back, but it's hard to say now. It's more likely that we'll probably have to stay here for a long time..."

Ning Yi's words were a little chaotic. Xiao Chan was being hugged by him at this time, and her head was a mess, making it difficult to analyze the issues of chatting, early, or late, but she could always understand the last sentence: "I, I... wherever Master is, Xiao Chan will be."

"Hmm." Ning Yi nodded, "Well then, it's getting late. It's actually time to sleep."

"Uh..." Xiao Chan's body suddenly tightened, "But..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Ning Yi had already picked her up. Xiao Chan's head instantly went blank, and she almost shrank into a ball in Ning Yi's arms, but she stiffly didn't dare to move. The rain was falling outside.

There was only one bed in the room, and she was placed on the bed.

Actually, some things might not really be completely unprepared. For both of them, it was the same. Since Ning Yi fell from the roof in the afternoon, and her little bed could no longer be slept on, the little maid might have already thought of certain things.

Xiao Chan's emotions of trying to find something to say but not daring to really say anything all night probably stemmed from this. As a girl, she couldn't talk to Ning Yi about these things, and she didn't dare to mention them. Later, when Ning Yi talked about his thoughts, including that there probably wouldn't be anything wrong here, that there were some opportunities, including that they might live here for a long time, including that his capture was actually due to a plot, it either calmed her mind or made her think of other things, successfully distracting her attention, and only at this time did he somewhat forcibly and somewhat naturally put her on the bed.

If it were according to Ning Yi's original idea, there should be a formal wedding ceremony, a formal wedding.

But now there are no such conditions.

In this situation, they depended on each other for survival. How things would be in the future was impossible to see clearly. Ning Yi had encountered similar dangerous situations before, but there were times when human strength was exhausted, which referred to this kind of situation. Willpower, temperament, and planning could only increase the survival rate to a certain extent, but the overall situation was uncontrollable, and nothing could be said for sure. He sometimes inevitably felt anxious in this kind of situation, let alone such a girl.

There would actually be more opportunities.

Although he didn't know too much about the outside situation right now, or Fang La's army's view of him, or the intention of keeping him here, under his design, he had made a mess of the situation in Huzhou. Thousands of people died because of him, and he didn't know how many related generals in the rebel army had died. In this situation, he wasn't killed, but was placed here in this way, which meant that someone must be protecting him.

One thing was important: if he was killed, there might be a unanimous opinion among the rebel army. If he was protected, there would inevitably be conflict, even more than half would advocate killing him. In this situation, if there was no Xiao Chan, his choices would actually be much greater, including provoking both sides after becoming familiar with the situation, and finding a gap to escape from the city on a similar rainy night could be considered. But with Xiao Chan, these things didn't need much consideration, and for the time being, he could only wait for the other side to make the first move.

Of course, these things didn't need to be known by Xiao Chan. Ning Yi had seen the fear in her heart these days, but she didn't dare to say it and could only try to endure it. Now, some things didn't need to be considered in detail. This was probably the best thing to do right now.

And for Xiao Chan, throughout the whole evening, including now, the only idea that should be maintained was probably: Anyway, I'm Master's, anyway, I'm Master's.

So, not long after, when Ning Yi went to bed, he just watched the girl, who was already past her teenage years, close her eyes and lie there stiffly and nervously. Xiao Chan was already seventeen years old at this time, which meant that she had been an adult for a long time. Although her appearance was biased towards childishness, her body had already grown. At this time, her hands were folded on her lower abdomen, and her slender legs were tightly together.

Not long after, the rain was still falling, and the girl on the bed was stripped of her clothes. This evening, in a corner of this city, when countless complex things were pressing down on their lives like a torrent, the two of them, in this gap where they could only catch a little breath, imprinted a mark of depending on each other for survival...

******************

The rain stopped silently in the dead of night.

When he opened his eyes, Ning Yi saw the clear light of the night shining down from the broken opening of the house. The air after the rain was soaked in light, like blue amber. Looking out from the huge opening, he could see the Milky Way flowing in the sky.

No matter in which era, only this Milky Way might be the only thing that was eternally unchanging. He had seen it many times, in different places, with moonlight and starlight shining down, with different identities, different positions, and different moods. There were some scenes, with tall buildings, airplanes, and ships, and then they turned into those ancient buildings and courtyards in his mind.

"Master, Master..."

"Master, Master, Xiao Chan..."

"My name is Xiao Chan..."

The feeling of hearing this voice for the first time seemed to rise in his mind, and then his thoughts pressed over like a tide. He hugged the girl in his arms tightly.

He had been here for two and a half years... (To be continued. Vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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