Hidden Shadow – CH 233

Chapter Two-Hundred-Thirty-Three: The Female Neurotic

Upon receiving He Cai’s urgent letter, he did everything he could to finish his assignment ahead of schedule. On his return journey, he encountered Liao cavalrymen mysteriously hiding something and secretly followed them all the way here. Fortunately, he made an extremely wise decision! Fortunately, he appeared before her in time.

Chu Dingjiang had always thought his feelings for An Jiu were a kind of shared suffering and dependence, a man’s natural possessiveness towards a woman. However, just now, seeing her gradually engulfed in blue light, he felt a despair he had never felt before.

When he rushed over, he was not even sure he could calmly save her in such a critical situation. At that moment, his mind, which had been brewing countless schemes and tricks, was completely blank.

Looking back now, it was truly unbelievable.

Chu Dingjiang’s hand hung down along An Jiu’s shoulder, hooking his pinky finger around hers, then naturally grasping her blood-stained hand.

An Jiu awkwardly shook it off.

Chu Dingjiang smiled, tightening his grip even more. “I will finish my business early and stay here with you for two months. By then, you should all be recalled.”

An Jiu paused, then said with displeasure, “Let go.”

Chu Dingjiang ignored this slight awkwardness. In his eyes, An Jiu not drawing her sword was an acceptance. “Ah Jiu, after all this time apart, have you thought about me?”

An Jiu felt the warmth from his hand and sighed comfortably, saying carelessly, “Why would I think about you?”

“Not even for a moment?” Chu Dingjiang was a little incredulous. He had never given a woman even the slightest thought. This was the first time he’d invested his feelings, and he was being met with such complete indifference? It could not be…

“I have,” An Jiu said. “Mo Sigui has two tiger cubs. Once, I peeled pine nuts for them, and they were disgusted. Then I thought, if Chu Dingjiang were here, these pine nuts, full of my labor, would not go to waste.”

Food that tigers rejected? He was the only one who got to eat it?

Despite the setback, Chu Dingjiang asked persistently, “Besides this time?”

“There was another time,” An Jiu replied without hesitation. “The two tiger cubs only ate meat, but I did not know how to grill it. I thought if Chu Dingjiang were here, you could grill it for them. I could also have some.”

“…” Chu Dingjiang pondered for a moment, then reluctantly praised her. “You are very honest; that’s good.”

A smile appeared in An Jiu’s eyes, and she said happily, “I also feel that my mental state is becoming more and more normal.”

“Hmm.”

She seemed a bit more lively, but Chu Dingjiang still felt something was off. Would a normal person speak and act like this?

“I also talked a lot with that supervisor,” An Jiu said, omitting Zhao Ling’s reaction and giving Chu Dingjiang an example. “I used to be unable to communicate with people and was averse to strangers, but now I do not find it so difficult. Prolonged illness makes the patient a physician, and I’ve diagnosed myself. I am recovering.”

Chu Dingjiang chuckled, “Is the phrase ‘prolonged illness makes the patient a physician’ really appropriate for a patient like you?”

“Oh, an illness of the flesh. It is not quite the same as an illness of the mind.” An Jiu rarely listened to someone correcting her word choice.

Chu Dingjiang reluctantly corrected her again, “It’s the body.”

An Jiu considered herself a normal person now, and normal people should have the courage to doubt themselves. So she humbly asked, “What’s the difference between ‘flesh’ and ‘body’?”

“Well…” Chu Dingjiang thought for a moment. “Essentially, there’s no difference; it is just that this way of putting it does not sound very nice.”

“Flesh, flesh, flesh,” An Jiu repeated it several times, looking up at him. “What’s so unpleasant about it?”

Chu Dingjiang gazed into her bright eyes, a pause in his heart. She was indeed different from before, but this change was not the abnormal state she had during an attack. The fact that she could open her heart to him was a good thing. Perhaps, as she herself said, her condition had indeed improved.

“If you think it sounds good, then it sounds good.” Chu Dingjiang was too lazy to argue with her over such trivial matters. What was the point of a deep-thinking “old man” like him arguing with a mentally challenged girl?

Chu Dingjiang’s sudden appearance, besides initially touching An Jiu, also brought a strange sense of joy.

As a seasoned mental patient, An Jiu’s emotional reactions were quite adept. Her low moods or outbursts possessed a terrifyingly destructive power, and when she was happy, it was like she’d been injected with adrenaline. Although she did not act crazy, looking at her bright eyes and flushed cheeks, one might think Mo Sigui had given her some kind of random medication.

If An Jiu had to describe her current feelings, she would say that it felt like ten thousand Liao cavalry were galloping through her mind.

“Ah Jiu, laugh if you want to laugh; cry if you want to cry. Holding it in is not good for your condition,” Chu Dingjiang said, unable to suppress a smile.

Upon hearing this, An Jiu hesitated for a moment, then slowly relaxed her control.

In the days that followed, Chu Dingjiang deeply regretted saying those words.

On the first day, every night at midnight in Hejian Prefecture, a female ghost would laugh incessantly, so loudly that the residents of the city could hear her laughing until they were almost in tears. On the second day, in a large grove of trees on the outskirts of Hejian Prefecture, some people heard the female ghost shouting and chopping down trees at midnight; by morning, the grove was a mess. On the third day, there were no sounds, but some people said that a dark figure was darting around the city all night long, starting to crow like a rooster when the moon was high in the sky. On the fourth day, the largest winery in Hejian Prefecture was visited by the female ghost, who was said to be sitting in the cellar, drinking, singing, and crying…

On the fifth day, the people of the city began to hunt the ghost in groups. Chu Dingjiang searched the whole city and found her by the stream. She was holding a wine jar in one hand and a tree branch in the other, singing, “Bang bang, he shot me down. Bang bang, I hit the ground. Bang bang…” Chu Dingjiang could not understand, but he saw her pointing the tree branch at him, shouting, “Bang bang, bang bang.”

With Chu Dingjiang protecting her, the ghost-hunting operation in Hejian Prefecture undoubtedly ended in failure.

The next day, they considered seeking out masters from both Buddhism and Taoism to exorcise the ghost.

The entire Hejian Prefecture was filled with unease, while the “female ghost” sat coldly and solemnly perched on a tree outside the military governor’s residence, seemingly unmoved by anything.

Apart from Li Qingzhi, who was recovering from serious injuries, the other members of the team occasionally looked at her with strange eyes.

“My Lord, Fourteenth Young Lady…” Gao Dazhuang suspected that she had suffered brain damage during the Liao army’s surprise attack a few days ago.

“It’s nothing,” Chu Dingjiang said.

An Jiu was deep in thought; after venting her frustration, she immediately inquired about the battle situation.

As Chu Dingjiang had said, six days ago Ling Ziyue had decisively defeated 10,000 Liao cavalry. This news was exhilarating, and the victory report had already been sent to Bianjing by fast horse. This was the most brilliant battle in recent years. Although the Song army suffered nearly 10,000 casualties, the fact that such a large number of the Liao Dynasty’s proud cavalry was so devastatingly defeated was of extraordinary significance.