Chapter 113 - I Keep the Lantern, You Wield the Blade - Part 1
A fierce northern wind howled like a knife flaying the night, shaving icy flakes from the snow under the dark sky.
In Gemhill County, within the inner district of Silver Creek, Courtyard No. 9, people slept on, unaware.
“Feng’er!” Yan Yu jerked awake, breathing hard in the darkness. Gradually, her breathing calmed, and she nestled closer to the man beside her.
“A nightmare?” Li Yuan asked.
“Mhm...maybe it’s from seeing too much suffering today,” Yan Yu murmured. “Back then, when we were the ones struggling, all I felt was fear. But now, watching other people suffer, especially the children, my heart only aches further.”
Li Yuan chuckled softly. “A saintess’ heart is merciful, unwilling to see the masses suffer. Seems those people outside weren’t wrong to call you one.”
Yan Yu blushed, shaking her head. “A saintess? Don’t be silly. Anyone who’s well-fed and warm would feel some sympathy.”
“I don’t,” Li Yuan said lightly.
She sighed. “I know, Husband. You don’t because you’re cautious above all else, always making sure everything is perfectly secure. That’s precisely why Xue Ning and I feel so safe under your roof. We’ll take care of kindness; you focus on keeping us all protected.”
She paused, then added, “Where I grew up, there was a temple with a Bodhisattva statue. One side of its face was smiling, but the other side looked stern and frightening. When I asked the abbot, he said that Buddha feels both compassion and righteous wrath. The same Buddha who keeps the lantern can, if needed, raise a blade.”
“And?” Li Yuan yawned.
Yan Yu said softly, “I keep the lantern; you wield the blade.”