Miss, Please Respect Yourself - Chapter 10

Wen Qian had already memorized the Tang family’s Treasure Pavilion location  beforehand. She carefully avoided crowded areas, moving with careful and deliberate steps.

Yet, for some reason, as she descended the steps from the stone bridge, the stairs felt longer than usual. Though the distance seemed short, it took her quite a while to reach the bottom.

By the time she was off the bridge, dusk had settled in. A light mist began to rise within the Tang Mansion, and the surroundings grew eerily quiet. It was just before the evening banquet, and the servants and maids were likely all busy in the front courtyard, leaving this area uncommonly serene.

The setting sun was like blood. After just a few steps, she caught sight of a tall figure striding toward her in the hazy mist. When the figure was just a few meters away, she recognized him as Yang Jin.

Wen Qian was momentarily stunned. Without thinking much about it, she put on a smile when she saw his stern face and greeted him casually, as if they were merely chatting over tea, “Lord Yang, you’ve subdued Tang Shi so swiftly? Impressive, very impressive.”

He seemed uninterested in idle chatter, cutting straight to the point, “Where is it?”

Sure enough, he was here for the keys. Wen Qian cautiously took a few steps back, raising a hand to block his advance.

“Hey, hold on a minute.”

She knew she couldn’t win in a fight against Yang Jin, especially since that hothead neither responded to soft nor hard tactics and has never played the “tender and protective feelings for the fairer sex” game. If he truly decided to hit a woman, she would undoubtedly suffer a loss.

With this thought, she softened her tone after only a moment’s sternness and offered him a polite smile instead. “Sir, shall we negotiate a little?”

Yang Jin’s expression remained unchanged, as rigid as ever. However, just as Wen Qian thought he was about to lecture her again, his next words caught her completely off guard.

“I want everything in the Treasure Pavilion.”

The desire for wealth and comfort is the nature of most officials.

His appetite wasn’t small after all; what was with the act of being a true gentleman earlier?

Wen Qian scoffed inwardly but outwardly conceded, “Alright, you’ve worked hard; I understand. But I also have a small request… In the Treasure Pavilion, there’s a vine, entirely black, called ‘Yuli Hanxiang’. It’s used in medicine, not worth much money, and would be of no use to you. I ask for nothing else, just that one item. How about it?”

She thought Yang Jin would be easy to convince, but to her surprise, he still coldly repeated, “I want everything. Not a single item less.”

You want the medicinal herb too? I hope it chokes you!

Seeing no way out, Wen Qian had no choice but to use a delaying tactic. Reluctantly, she nodded in agreement, thinking she would figure out another way once they opened the Treasure Pavilion’s door.

“Go ahead and wait for me. I’ll be there soon.”

He seemed to be in a hurry. With that, he brushed past Wen Qian without another word.

This series of actions left her bewildered and confused. She had no idea what this Embroidered Uniform Guard officer was up to. After standing there in a daze for a while, Wen Qian finally started moving forward again. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss, but she couldn’t pinpoint what it was. Any fleeting suspicion was quickly overshadowed by thoughts of how to get what she needed from under Yang Jin’s nose.

The Treasure Pavilion was in the northwest corner of the Tang Mansion. She wound her way through the garden’s narrow paths. The sky darkened, and the road beneath her feet seemed to stretch endlessly. At some point, the mist around her had grown even thicker than before.

Just as Wen Qian thought up seven or eight different ways to escape, she abruptly halted. She lifted her head and scanned her surroundings.

The scenery was blurry and indistinct.

It was obvious.

She was lost.

Wen Qian had studied the Tang Mansion map a few times and had a general impression of it, but she couldn’t claim to know it by heart. Especially under these poor visibility conditions, losing her sense of direction was understandable.

She tilted her head back, turning in circles to survey her surroundings, hoping to find some clue through the thick mist.

However, she found no ‘clues’, but she did hear some human voices. Although the hazy sky made it difficult to distinguish humans from livestock at a distance, it didn’t affect her hearing. Wen Qian clearly sensed someone approaching from behind.

Without a sound, she pulled out two embroidered needles from her sleeve. The moment a hand lightly tapped her left shoulder, she spun around and thrust the needles backward like lightning.

With a sharp ‘snap’…

Her wrist was intercepted halfway.

The pair of eyes she met were the same slightly angry ones as always. Judging by his uneven breathing, it was clear that he had hurried all the way.

Yang Jin plucked the two silver needles aimed at him from her hand, his face gloomy. “Miss Wen, is this how you repay kindness with enmity?”

“Misunderstanding, just a misunderstanding.” She smiled. “I didn’t know it was you, My lord.”

Yang Jin released her wrist, suppressing his annoyance. “What are you doing here? Are you still after Tang Shi’s treasures?” After saying that, he stretched out his hand towards her. “Hand over the keys.”

Wen Qian found his words odd. “Lord Yang, weren’t you the one who told me to wait for you at the Treasure Pavilion?”

Thinking she was making things up, Yang Jin’s tone turned harsh. “When did I ever say such a thing?”

“No? Just now you said we’d split the things evenly, fifty-fifty.”

“Who wants to split fifty-fifty with you?!”

For once, Wen Qian didn’t retort and remained silent.

After staring into her eyes for a long moment, Yang Jin suddenly asked, “When did you encounter me?”

“Half an incense stick ago…” Before she could finish, Wen Qian narrowed her eyes, seemingly coming to a realization.

“That person wasn’t you?”

She finally realized something was wrong. She had been running forward since leaving Tang Shi’s study, and Yang Jin was behind her. How could he have come from the front?

No wonder she felt a strange sense of inconsistency. So, it was like this.

But at that time, she had clearly seen Yang Jin’s face, even his voice was exactly the same. No matter how good the impersonation, it couldn’t have been done to such a degree.

Who could that person be?

She recalled what Yang Jin had told her about the strange occurrences at the Tang Mansion when they first entered. Now, it seemed more and more like something eerie lurked in every corner of this mansion.

“Lord Yang,”  Wen Qian frowned, her eyes scanning their surroundings cautiously, “Have you noticed the mist has grown thicker?”

The mist that had been as soft as silk earlier, was now so thick it could not be dispersed, rolling like waves upon waves.

How could he not have noticed?

The mist hadn’t just thickened, it had almost obscured vision entirely.

If it had been like a faint ethereal mist earlier, now it was like a murky malevolent cloud, obscuring even the shapes of the hills and rocks within the mansion.

Yang Jin suddenly felt something was wrong. “Miss Wen, hold your breath!”

As he spoke, his hand swiftly covered Wen Qian’s nose and mouth.

Years of wielding knives had left calluses on his palm, which made contact with her skin slightly uncomfortable.

Wen Qian was momentarily stunned by his unexpected move.

However, it was still a step too late. As Yang Jin’s hand covered her mouth, her vision had already blurred, and her eyelids felt unbearably heavy. A moment later, she collapsed.

“Miss Wen!”

Yang Jin hurriedly caught her around the waist. The dense mist clung relentlessly around them. For a brief moment, he almost lost sight of where Wen Qian was. As he reached for her wrist to check her pulse, something fell from Wen Qian’s sleeve.

It fell to the ground with a clang.

※

Her cheek was slightly damp, and she could faintly smell a sharp, pungent smell. Wen Qian opened her eyes to see Yang Jin kneeling beside her on one knee. Noticing that she was awake, he finally stopped splashing water on her face.

Almost as soon as Wen Qian regained consciousness, the thick mist that had filled her vision began to dissipate, revealing the uneven walls behind the white haze. The surroundings grew dim in an instant. As she glanced around, it became clear they were in some kind of dungeon.

“Lord Yang…”

Wen Qian propped herself up from the ground and sat up.

Yang Jin released his hold on her and rested his hand on his knee. “You’re awake.”

“What is this place?” Wen Qian scanned the area. Aside from stone walls, there was nothing but more stone walls. Even the ceiling was covered by a thick, black layer that blocked out any light—an airtight confinement. “Who brought us here?”

“No one else.” He said calmly, “We walked in here ourselves.”

Wen Qian squinted and chuckled. “Is that so? We held hands and jumped into the pit together?”

Yang Jin paid no heed to her teasing and slowly stood up, “Don’t you understand yet?”

“We’ve been drugged.”

Wen Qian’s smile faded as she furrowed her brows at him. “Drugged?”

“Have you ever heard of a plant that grows abundantly in the Kingdom of Tianzhu[1] known as Datura?”

She nodded.

“This kind of flower will cause hallucinations and blurred consciousness after ordinary people inhale it. I’m not certain whether the drug we’ve encountered is made from that exact plant, but it’s definitely something similar.”

This would explain why the Embroidered Uniform Guard sent to Tang Mansion had reported being unable to find their way in and why their accounts were so inconsistent and chaotic. It seemed they had encountered the same predicament as Wen Qian and Yang Jin today.

“If what you say is true,” Wen Qian paused, “then who drugged us? Was it Tang Shi?”

She lowered her eyes and pondered as if talking to herself, “Impossible. From beginning to end, I didn’t even touch the tea… Could it have happened earlier, when we first entered the Tang Mansion?”

Yang Jin shook his head. “There’s something else you may not have noticed.”

“What?”

“The incense.” He said, “The incense in the study.”

Wen Qian recalled it.

The gilded incense burner, with white smoke curling up from within.

That subtle fragrance that hit the nose as soon as one entered the room.

It was obvious that Tang Shi’s initial target was likely just her, but he hadn’t anticipated Yang Jin’s arrival or his hidden presence above the rafters. As a result, both of them had fallen into the trap.

“Looks like we got outplayed, eh, Lord Yang?” Wen Qian, having grasped the situation, showed no signs of panic. She laughed instead, “You had a trick to substitute the plum tree for the peach tree[2], but the other party is making you unaware of the oriole behind[3]. Now, here we are, two birds with one stone, buy one and get one free. What a big mess.”

She spoke with such amusement, as if she were not stuck in the same predicament as Yang Jin.

“Not necessarily.” He raised his hand, feeling along the stone wall. “Tang Shi used a drug, which means he didn’t intend to harm your life. My appearance was unexpected, and it’s hard to say whether he’s figured out who I am.”

The signal flares he carried for emergencies were still in his lapels. Right now, the most important thing was to find an exit—or at least a place where he could fire the signal.

Wen Qian, unlike him, didn’t have the energy to leap around. She rested her chin on her palm and sat quietly for a while. She found it odd: if they had truly been drugged, how had they awakened so quickly?

As she pondered, her foot nudged something smooth and round. Wen Qian glanced down.

As she pondered, something round brushed against her foot. Wen Qian looked down. 

The bottle of calming medicine that Lou Yan had given her had fallen to the ground, its round belly rolling and spinning. She bent down to pick it up, smelling the familiar pungent scent as she held it in her hands.

Who would have thought that this little accessory she had dismissed so many times could prove so useful in such a moment?

Wen Qian sighed as she put the bottle cap back on.

Physician Lou’s medical skills were truly hit or miss…

It’s hard to say whether to praise him or not.

Footnotes:

[1] 天竺 (Tiānzhú) is an ancient Chinese name for India.

[2] 李代桃僵 (Lǐ dài táo jiāng): lit. “the plum tree withers in place of the peach tree”. It’s a Chinese idiom meaning to substitute one thing for another or to sacrifice one thing to save another.

[2] 黄雀在后 (Huáng què zài hòu): lit. “the oriole is behind”, which comes from a proverb, “The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.” It is used to describe a situation where someone, unaware of the danger, is caught by a hidden predator.