Chapter 212

She truly never let go. She forcefully transformed herself into a completely different person and became the city lord’s wife.

Then there was the storyteller’s remark.

“The city lord suffered damage to his sea of consciousness and had weak spiritual energy from birth. Fortunately, he later traveled far and wide and found an unexpected opportunity in the frontier city, Sha Zhang city.”

What if this opportunity was not the Lone Moon Lotus but witnessing the scene of an demon cultivator using a woman as a sacrifice to refine a living soul?

Ning Ning could feel her heart racing.

During the flower festival years ago, Song Xianning did not meet Luo Yuanming but Luan Niang, who had grown up in the Hundred Flower Deep since childhood.

What was the name of the painting she saw in that shop?

“The Xian Ning Shatter.”

(T/N: the name of the painting that Ning Ning saw inside the shop was supposed to be The Xian Ning’s Shatter, not Fragrant Shatter; hence, that is why Ning Ning said that the name of the painting is the same as Song Xianning..I mistakenly translated it as fragrant shatter. Sorry…but done fixing back the chapter-ch208.)

The sunlight in the painting pierced through the clouds.

Xian Ning is the ‘Yun’.

(T/N: Xian Ning is the Yun (cloud)… this is probably playing with words.. In chapter 208..the author describes the painting that Ning Ning saw as an endless sky, with soft, gentle sunlight filtering through layers of condensed clouds. — In Song Xianning’s name, the 纤 (Xiān) character means “delicate,” “fine,” or “slender.” It often conveys a sense of subtlety and refinement. Whereas the 凝 (Níng) character means “condensed” or “coagulate” It implies something that has been gathered or solidified.… Together, “纤凝/Xian Ning” can evoke imagery of something delicate and condensed, which can be metaphorically related to clouds due to their delicate and ethereal nature in a literary and poetic sense.. Furthermore, in ‘condensed clouds’ the Ning character is the same as the Ning character in Song Xianning’s name,so this is indirectly giving the clue that Xianning (Ning) is ‘Yun’ (cloud)…..This one is super tricky to translate..Hopefully I get this correctly..huhu..and if anyone had better suggestions/better explanation, you may put them in the comment..huhu……)

“He Zhizhou!”

Ning Ning, feeling a sense of enlightenment, asked seriously, “Did you find out what Luan Niang’s original name was before she entered the brothel?”

“Huh? Oh, oh, that old lady mentioned it once.”

He Zhizhou, roughly understanding the significance of her question, answered honestly, “We were by the river at the time, and she looked at the boats and said, Few people know that Luan Niang’s original name—she was called Meng Tingzhou. Although there’s a ‘zhou,’ character, it has nothing to do with ‘Zhou Yun.'”

“How does it have nothing to do with it?”

Ning Ning smiled with relief, “The grandma who sold the paintings said she often saw two youths in men’s clothing walking side by side. If one of them was a girl in disguise, why couldn’t the other one be too?”

Both He Zhizhou and Lin Xun were stunned.

“Do you remember? When the grandma recalled the boy’s name, she said—”

Ning Ning’s heart pounded, and her tone unconsciously rose a bit, “They were a boy and a girl. Sometimes the girl called the boy ‘Zhou,’ and sometimes ‘Yun.’ What if these weren’t parts of one name, but the names of two people?”

“Two people?”

Not only Pei Ji but Cheng Ying also listened intently. After a moment of realization, he took a long breath and said, “I get it! I will always love Ning Ning! As expected of you!”

Pei Ji listened quietly, his gaze never leaving her starry eyes, blocking out Cheng Ying’s passionate exclamations in his heart.

“‘Zhou’ is not ‘Zhou,‘ but the ‘Zhou’ in Luan Niang’s name; as for ‘Yun’—’Xianning’s other name is Yun.”

(T/N: The Zhou Yun name consists of two names (zhou is for Luan Niang and Yun for Xianning), and the Zhou is not a surname for Zhou Yun.)

Ning Ning suddenly understood, and her tone lightened, “Song Xianning was a lady from an official’s family, and her family would never allow her to frequent the brothel area. Luan Niang was very famous on that street, and calling her name in public would cause unnecessary trouble—so they both disguised themselves as men and called each other names that others wouldn’t know. This way, their interactions would be much more convenient.”

The grandma who sold paintings only saw them from a distance and never had actual contact. Once both were dressed as men, she could only hear their voices during their conversations.

She assumed they were a boy and a girl and automatically attributed the female voice she heard to the same person. This is why she sometimes heard ‘Zhou’ and other times ‘Yun.’

And these two names never appeared together from one mouth. So, when Song Xianning was seriously ill, Luan Niang was often seen communicating with someone, not conspiring but unable to sleep due to her friend’s illness.

Therefore, after Song Xianning’s death, Luan Niang sealed off her former residence, not allowing Luo Yuanming to step in. The townspeople thought she was narrow-minded and intolerant, but the real reason was entirely different—

She knew Song Xianning’s death was connected to Luo Yuanming and didn’t want that man to hypocritically defile the place where her friend had lived.

Ning Ning’s heartbeat quickened.

That’s why Luan Niang took that painting of them sitting side by side by the river.

One reason was that she met Song Xianning by the Longyin River, and the other was because…

They were both women, and when they were dressed in men’s clothes, they did not look any different.Only the ‘glanced back’ clearly separated them into a man and a woman walking side by side.

This was never an entangled love drama. Hidden beneath layers of veil was a simple, ordinary story known only to two girls.