《THE CUNNING VIGILANTE》22. Before The Wedding
Advertisement
The outskirts of the household of Chen is melancholic, as if someone has died. The morning was blue, the noon is sunny yet it's freezing. In the night, it was like having a nightmare. Li Jie's brothers were as quiet as the vast land. The household is somewhat peaceful yet not at the same time. Not that Li Jie couldn't handle it, but his brothers didn't even move their lips when they are eating their supper. This was supposed to be a good time for the brothers to laugh and having a bonding since all of them were present. But, they can't even look at their youngest properly. Li Wei was sighing as he served the dinner for the brothers. They didn't even noticed the servant who was along with his master all day. Li Jie was helpless, it's not like he has a choice. If he will not do this, the safety of his family will be at risk. Liu is persistent to kill him. But, if he will become his wife then the safety of his family will be at the General's responsibility. For him, this is just a game marriage. Because he knew, the General will let him go after he dispose that Minister.
The house was quiet. Only crickets echoed way louder in the night making the situation more awkward. Or maybe, it is because they were asleep in the middle of the night. However, he could feel them. They weren't asleep.
Li Jie was in his room staring at the red hanfu hanging on the left side of the bed. He remembered how he first woke up in this world. He was frantic that time, and to his surprise, he also wore a luxurious red hanfu. He never would have thought that he would wear such dress again.
He wanted to become a doctor, not a housewife. He wanted to invent some miraculous things such as penicillin, making doctor apparatuses, and help his family grew wealthier. And now he reflected himself to that dress, he furrowed his brows and his nose scrunched. He tightened his grasp on the sheets of his bed. He was currently sitting on the bed and his clenched fingers crumpled the sheets as it was clearly supporting his body.
Li Jie was sad. He was sad because he was going to apart from his family. Not that it was his real family, but he grew a deep connection with them. However, it is good that the former owner of the body didn't experience the bitter encounter of the past events that Li Jie himself thinks that it was nerve wrecking. He wasn't even sure that the past owner could have escape from the dangerous den alive. Even if he had been alive, he was still going to die. At least, he didn't experience any pain. Or maybe, the only pain and fear of the former owner of the body is being separated by his family. If not, then Li Jie wouldn't have experienced deep pain in his chest just now.
Maybe, after the scheming Minister will meet his fall, he will be free again. After all they had an agreement. No matter what, he will not fall in love with the General. He swore to himself that he will not going to fall from the General.
Advertisement
For him he believed that he will not happen. After all, he was a man.
If that is possible, then he hoped that it will not happen. He don't want to be hurt.
Li Jie sighed, and plunged himself to his bed.
"Master." Li Jie heard Li Wei's voice outside his door and opened it for his apprentice.
"It is already deep in the night. Why are you still awake?" Li said as he looked at his apprentice who was lowering his head.
"I can't fall asleep. Maybe master could accompany me." Seeing Li Wei's dainty appearance and was pouting his lips as he carried his little doll, Li Jie's heart soften as he silently praised his apprentice for being so cute. Honestly, why did the daughter of Minister Liu let such child participate in assassination? Li Jie looked at his weak apprentice and sighed. Even if he was an assassin in his early days he didn't look like this dainty one.
Li Jie let Li Wei enter his room and let the 14 year old boy sleep in the bed with him. Li Jie was just like having a little brother on his own and his mood lifted up because of that.
"Master, are you really going to get married tomorrow?" Li Wei asked as he shifted his body towards Li Jie's side and looked at him. Li Jie glanced at his peripheral vision and smiled faintly. He was glad that his apprentice was worrying about him.
"Yes."
"Are you not going to teach me? Are you going to leave me alone?" Li Wei asked again with concern flashed his eyes. Li Jie couldn't help but wonder, is he really a 14 year old kid? Why is his mentality just like a 5 year old?
"Silly little Wei. Of course you're coming with me. How am I going to teach you if you're not with me?"
"Really?!" The light in the child's eyes flickered with admiration making Li Jie smiled even more. He ruffled Li Wei's hair and ushered him to fall asleep.
"But I can't sleep. All around me is too gloomy. I don't want a nightmare." Li Wei couldn't fall asleep well when he was still in the Liu Manor. Every time he fell asleep, he always got nightmares in the middle if the night. But when he was in the Chen household, he had a decent sleep for days. But right now, he just can't fell asleep. No matter how he closed his eyes, he still can't. He was afraid of having a nightmare and unable to get up. That's why, he wanted to sleep with his master because he felt comfortable with him.
"Don't be a baby and sleep. If you got nightmares, your master will help you escape from that hell. Okay?"
"Okay." From that then, Li Wei fell asleep.
"Silly." Li Jie smiled and got up from the bed. No matter how he tossed around the bed, he could not fall asleep. He covered Li Wei's body with a quilt to prevent him from the cold. His head was was the only one shown.
Advertisement
"He said he can't sleep yet he was drooling. What a cute liar." Li Jie poked his cheek making Li Wei's nose scrunched. He giggled silently and went out of his room.
Li Jie went into the kitchen and poured a glass of water. He still remembered how he clumsily drank the hydrogen peroxide and unwittingly caused his death. If he was not careless at that time and was still alive, will he be able to go outside of the cell again together with his fathers and live a decent life? Will he become a teacher despite having criminal records? Somehow, he was sad again. Clearly, he was the one who died, yet why is he the one who mourned for his death? Everyday he wondered if his parents have ever attend his funeral. Did he have a decent burial?
He stared at the water in the glass and drank it. He felt the emptiness in him yet he chose to not mind it, for now. He doesn't want to cry. It made him look weak. In the previous life, no matter how he was being tortured inside the torture room, he didn't shed a single tear. No matter how he was trampled on the iced floor, he didn't uttered a single word. No matter how he had been humiliated by the society, he didn't care. Instead, he only told himself that it was alright. He have people who cherished him. There are people who took care of him. He have sworn to himself that he would take care of them, got out of the prison or having a decent life outside the prison. Maybe in the outskirts of the city, in the mountains, in the rivers, or in the Mars, Li Jie have sworn to himself that he will built a mansion just for the seven of them to live. But, he didn't expect that he died in a dumb way.
"I'm such a fool." He smiled bitterly. Yes he died, but he was transmigrated into an alternate world. He thought he got a chance to live a good life, but this is not what he have expected.
He was just going to change his lifestyle, live a normal life with his family, and be a good man. He even wanted to be a monk, bit he ended up in this kind of situation. 'This is too much.' he thought.
He was going to get married tomorrow, with a man at that. He doesn't even know him if he was bad or not. His freedom is on the General's hands. He just hoped that after this matter, the General will release him and have his freedom.
He just don't want to become a prisoner anymore.
.
.
.
The sun has risen and his brothers wake up early. They dressed his youngest brother with a fine silk of red hanfu. The patterns of golden narcissus embroidered the tip of his sleeves and between his belt. The mark of the Feng clan was on his dress. Cheung Chao painted his brother's forehead with cinnabar colored paint of narcissus; a sign that he is the Madame of the Feng Clan.
Cheung Chao looks at his brother with tears on his eyes.
"Little brother is so beautiful." He caressed his little brother's cheeks, sniffling with his handkerchief. Li Jie also teared up not even minding the make-up will scatter on his face.
"Calm down brother. I'm still here. I will visit you, I promise!" He hugged his brother Chao and looked up to his remaining brothers and apprentice who was looking at him without blinking. Jin Ping clenched his fist on the back as he smiled at his younger brother. Tu Fai teared up and smiled he nodded towards his brother and gave him a hug. Chang Bao doesn't glance at him and sighed heavily, Li Jie could hear the broken voice of his brother and that made him dejected.
Min Zhe was in his guard uniform, his hand was clenching with his sword that Li Jie could hear the scabbard shaking. He was expressionless yet his feelings were turbulent.
Jiang Hua smiled at his brother. But he could see clearly on his face that he was in deep pain, he doesn't want his brother be exposed to harm. How could he just calm down?
"Don't worry! Delun won't leave me alone. If he does, I'll cut his d*** off!" 'If he will do something to me then I really will cut his d***.'
"Okay then. Don't hesitate to cut his d*** when necessary." Chang Bao, for the first time after he announced his marriage to the family, had spoken for the first time.
His brothers agreed to the eldest brother's reply and Li Jie chuckled. He then gave them a group hug.
Li Wei was just chewing his biscuit as he witnessed the family's drama as if he was watching a soap opera. Imagine that biscuit was actually a popcorn, then he really think that he was watching a soap opera.
"The sedan chair has arrived!" A servant from the Feng Clan yelped in front of the Chen household. A sedan chair painted with red was being lifted up with six men on the poles. Li Jie was nervous. He then looked at Li Wei and signaled him that it's time to go. Chang Bao grabbed Li Wei's shoulder resulting Li Wei glanced at the eldest brother.
"Take care of my brother. And you too." Chang Bao said with a hint of embarrassment. Chang Bao also see Li Wei as his younger brother. Li Wei smiled and said to him.
"I will take a good look for my master well. I will take good care of him" Li Wei bowed and helped Li Jie to enter the sedan chair. After Li Jie entered the sedan chair, he closed it with a red curtain and signaled the six men to lead the way. Li Wei followed his master to the Feng manor.
Li Jie was sweating coldly, glancing at his side and guarding his apprentice. He looked up to the road and blurted out his favorite sentence.
"Not interesting at all."
Advertisement
- In Serial98 Chapters
Fantasia
Arwyn has just bought Fantasia, the first fantasy-based VRMMORPG, with 99% realism that you can play while you sleep. In the game, she becomes Fey, a moon elf starting in the magical Elvenwood. Join her (and her snarky narrator who likes to interject sarcastic comments in parentheses) on her exciting, often hilarious adventures inside this magical world full of every fantasy creature you've ever encountered in books, games, and movies, and a few that you haven't. Oh, and there's something strange about the NPCs in this game... See if you can figure it out before Fey does. (No, they are not self-aware AIs.) -Cover art credit goes to A. Noviant
8 151 - In Serial34 Chapters
Grimoire Knights
A world of magic, where the system seems to no longer be present. Follow along as Cara who has a cursed bloodline and is fed up with having the world, her peers and even her own bloodline get in her way. When attempting to go through the motions to return back to her regular life, she is soon thrown in over her head. The pillars of knowledge that her world operates on are fundamentally flawed.When performing a ritual to summon either an item of power or a familiar, she summons and binds...him...Part familiar, part mentor, a world's underlying system of knowledge is about to be upturned and the source, a small girl in a back water town. Knowledge is dangerous and dangerous people desperately desire dangerous knowledge.Follow Cara, her best friend Jessica and their familiars and some friends on some adventures that will surely get out of hand, and possibly how the underlying fabric of the system will shift for the universe(*) as a whole.----- Please note, I will be jumping between multiple different POVs to initially build the universe before I settle into something more stable. Thank you if you take the time to read my fever dreams of the past decade that I've finally decided to put down for everyone else to maybe enjoy or at least ensure I do not repeat the beginning as much in my dreams. *Cover is a mash up of a few pics, if there is an issue, I'll remove.
8 218 - In Serial8 Chapters
I’m The Demon Lord In An MMO
14 year old gamer Nate just bought an MMO that he was looking at the second it released. As he loads up the game he finds a special reward… Join Nate and his demons on a journey in a fantasy MMO world!
8 96 - In Serial24 Chapters
Pathless Origin: Bane of the Gods
After a failed suicide, 16 year old Artillian Skye wakes up as an armoured soldier. With only a spear in hand, he is thrust in the middle of a battlefield with thousands of soldiers. Somehow he had entered the Gaia domain. A place were spirits, demons and demi gods run rampant in their quests for power. Artillian learns that he was given a second chance by the fallen goddess Hestia, she had given him the last of her divine essence to bring him back to life. Thus he makes it his life's mission to restore her to her former glory, however to do that he needs to get stronger himself. He needed to become stronger than the gods! For her he would kill any god, do anything, even searching all from the heavens to the nine levels of hell if need be, for she had given him something he had never had...A reason to live. So he made her a promise: "I shall make the bottomless sky your ground, the boundless universe your domain and the unending infinite your sky!" Cover by sagezulu
8 138 - In Serial13 Chapters
Rewind The Classics 2021
Rewind The Classics is officially back! Hosted by 33 English, 26 International, and 3 Community profiles, Rewind The Classics 2021 will be rewinding and retelling hit classics this year.All Wattpaders who speak English, Turkish, French, German, Sinhala, Chinese, Thai, Hindi, Dutch, Portuguese, Korean, Indonesian, Arabic, Russian, and/or Spanish are welcome to participate in this international contest of four great categories and dynamic activities.What are you waiting for? Climb aboard the pumpkin carriage and meet us at the magnificent sky-high castle at the pinnacle of Wattpad Classics. Together we'll say "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo!" Then...Let's REWIND THE CLASSICS!
8 73 - In Serial103 Chapters
AWAKEN
"I'm apart of him and that's what scares me the most." Amara Solo, second born to General Leia Organa and Han Solo, is determine to follow the foot steps of her family name. She is determine to bring peace, even if it means facing down her older brother. {PoexAmara} {The Force Awakens ✔}{The Last Jedi ✔}{Rise Of Skywalker ✔}{originally written 1/13/20}{reuploaded 7/18/21 - 12/31/21}
8 199

