189.1 – Gone Missing

“Oh… then I’ll be called a poor host.”

“It’s okay, I happen to be thirsty.”

“Huh, is that so? Then what else can I get you, Commander Luo?”

With that, Gong Tianqing intends to get out of bed once more. When he heard that, Luo Hong almost spit out the water in his mouth.

“I’m fine, I’m fine!”

“Oh…” Unease emerged in Gong Tianqing eyes, and she stared at Luo Hong, “Are you really fine?”

“Yes, yes, I’m fine.”

“Then okay.”

Gong Tianqing breathed a sigh of relief, and then suddenly assumed an expression of remembering something.

“Commander Luo, do you want–”

“No need!”

Luo Hong flatly rejected Gong Tianqing’s kindness. Gong Tianqing’s eyes dimmed.

“If you make a commotion because of me and startle Xue Qilin, I will have to bear the consequences… If she learns that I sneaked into the Merak Temple, she will definitely be mad…”

“That’s… true. Sorry for, for causing you trouble…”

Gong Tianqing lowered her head. Luo Hong sighed helplessly.

“If someone is to blame then that would be me, since I am not able to see you during daytime.”

Upon hearing this, Gong Tianqing suddenly raised her head, and then said anxiously as if to defend something, “How, how could that be! According to Aunt Teacher Luo [1], you are a law-abiding and dutiful person who punished many wicked people, you are a good person, Commander Luo!”

“It’s not like that… Qing [1] was a kind person. She was white [2], and so everything in her eyes was to some extent stained with white. I’m just a dog, that’s all. I may be considered as a good dog if the owner is upstanding. But if the owner is crooked, then I am a bad dog.”

“Is, is that so…”

Gong Tianqing doesn’t quite understand.

Luo Hong nodded, and then uttered in a heavy and stiff tone.

“And my current owner can’t be regarded as–”

When he reached this point, Luo Hong, who appears to have suddenly noticed something, shook his head bitterly.

“I seem to have spoken too much. Young Lady Gong, pretend you didn’t hear that…”

Gong Tianqing opened her mouth to speak. But before she could say anything, she was blocked by Luo Hong’s words — “let’s get back to the main point”.

Luo Hong restrained the feelings that finally emerged in his eyes and gazed at Gong Tianqing with an expressionless look on his face once more. His eyes are deep and profound, as if they can draw people into them.

“Young Lady Gong, I was entrusted by Officer Gong to send you a message.”

“Grand–” Gong Tianqing was greatly shocked, “Grandfather?”

“Yes, it was Officer Gong Jing.”

Gong Tianqing didn’t know how to react for a long time.

She showed a rather complicated look on he face, and her lips quivered, not saying anything for a while Indescribable emotions broke out inside her and gripped her heart tightly, making her feel breathless.

As things stand, why would grandfather… Gong Tianqing lowered her head and quietly gazed at the quilt half-submerged in the dark.

“Don’t you want to know what the message is?”

Luo Hong’s voice seems to come from under a tombstone.

Gong Tianqing trembled and finally raised her head. She asked stammeringly, “Wh, what is it…”

Luo Hong didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he poured himself another cup of water.

As he slowly brought the tea cup to his lips, he finally said in a quiet, virtually emotionless voice, “Your brother is sick in bed.”

“Little, Little Yang?”

Gong Tianqing opened her eyes wide and uttered thusly in a high-pitched voice.

“Yes, he is too sick to get out of bed.”

As her heart began to beat fiercely, Gong Tianqing asked worriedly, “Is, is it that serious?”

“Mhm, medicine and acupuncture have no effect.”

A weak cry, as if it emerged from the friction between bones, rose from deep in her throat.

In an instant, Gong Tianqing’s eyes lost all spirit and turned into lifeless holes filled with endless darkness.

Brother is dying? Really?

“How could…”

Gong Tianqing murmured thus in a hoarse voice, as if she hadn’t had any water in a long time.

Although she had long since predicted that such a day would come, she didn’t expect that it would come so soon. She broke out in a cold sweat.

–it’s all because of me.

Grief was followed by intense self-blame.

–I am unnecessary.

The deformed flower rooted deep in her heart, which was sidelined for a while, bloomed again.

If it weren’t for me, mother wouldn’t have died… brother wouldn’t be so weak. Mhm, it’s all my fault, it’s my fault that brother’s life is coming to an end early.

Gong Tianqing bit her lower lip unconsciously, and striking bright red flowed out. However, she doesn’t seem to notice it. She’s just whispering “it’s my fault” again and again.

There has to be something that can be done… there has to be something that I can do! Gong Tianqing is craving worth.

As if seeing through Gong Tianqing’s thoughts, Luo Hong suddenly said a word.

“–but.”

His voice seems to carry a sweet fragrance, luring Gong Tianqing to reflexively ask “but what?”.

She sounded both eager and impatient, like she’s clutching at a straw. Because the word “but” may herald a turn for the better — or in other words, a glimmer of hope.

For some reason, Luo Hong was silent for a long time. Although Gong Tianqing asked several times, but he didn’t say anything, as if brewing something.

In the end, when he sighed and put down the tea cup–

“You can save him.”

He uttered thusly in a plaintive tone.

“I…?”

Gong Tianqing looked straight at Luo Hong. In her almond eyes, there are intense, undiluted feelings.

Under the lass’s gaze, Luo Hong slowly stood up and extended his hand to Gong Tianqing.

“Young Lady Gong, I am here to pick you up. Your clan –”

His eyes are deep but bright and his voice is calm and clear.

“– needs you.”

Like a sun that suddenly appeared in the dark, these words illuminated Gong Tianqing’s world in an instant.

But in her world full of light, there is no path.

–path to her happiness.

＊

[1] – Aunt Teacher Luo / Qing is Luo Qing (died in Vol.1). By the way, the surname Luo of Luo Qing (洛青) and Luo Hong (罗轰) are different characters

[2] – white is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity

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