Chapter 33: Letting go and letting go of the past

Wen Shi's bleeding stopped and his condition stabilized. The doctor wrote two prescriptions, one for the servants to boil and the other for Wen Ranqi. He also found some plasters and applied them to Wen Ranqi's feet.

Qiqi and Wen Ranqi sat next to each other, carefully placing a charcoal brazier beside them and draping a blanket over Wen Ranqi's legs. Wanming sat next to Wen Shi. Ever since he'd followed Wen Shi, Wen Shi had become more like a brother to him. He'd seen how cruel and heartless Wen Shi could be to others, yet Wen Shi had kept him by her side, giving him the greatest trust, the most forgiveness, the most care.

Wen Ranqi was a little puzzled and asked, "Did you arrange this a long time ago and just hide it from me? Why did you do this?"

Wan Ming watched Qi Qi holding Wen Ran Qi's hand, then turned to look at Wen Shi, whose face was pale and bloodless. He shook his head and said, "I don't know. The patriarch told me a long time ago that I only needed to cooperate with him and not to say anything else. It's just that I didn't expect him to sacrifice himself, and I don't know why he did that. I just followed his orders."

"So when did he start? Did you start planning today?"

"It started more than half a year ago. When he captured you, he was originally planning to torture you. But why did he change his mind? It probably started with that time when you went crazy."

Qiqi held Wen Ranqi's hand distressedly. Wen Ranqi asked, "Then, what does my nightmare have to do with him?"

"I don't know, but after seeing you like that, he changed a little the next day after he came back. He asked me to spend more time with you, to follow your wishes, so that you wouldn't think about your nightmare anymore. So I went back to see you as soon as I had time. He asked me to see how you were doing every day, to prevent you from cutting your own throat again or doing something else."

"Did you really do that?" Qiqi lifted up Wen Ranqi's collar. A long, thin scar indeed lay across Wen Ranqi's neck. He carefully closed the collar and asked, "Does it still hurt?"

Wen Ranqi shook his head. "It was a long time ago. It was a nightmare. I don't know. It's all right now, don't worry." He turned around and asked, "What about my second brother? How did you know he was going to poison me?"

"Before, the chief just asked us to keep an eye on all outsiders. He knew that Qiqi and your friends would come back to save you one day, so he would let me personally check and supervise any new items brought in before mealtime."

"I was behind the kitchen, and Wen Yuhan didn't know martial arts, so he couldn't detect me. He thought his plan was foolproof, but in fact, I had already replaced his fish, and I just went with the flow."

"The chieftain is cruel to everyone, but he seems to have changed towards you. He started to care about your life, your mood, and everything about you. He even asked me to save your apprentice, but I didn't expect your friends to be so loyal. Mu Sen's son is even more of a ruthless character."

"Then why didn't he let me go? Wouldn't it be better if he let me go?" Wen Ranqi looked at Wen Shi and asked Wan Ming, but she still had doubts in her heart, "Did Wen Shi really change his mind? Why did he change so suddenly? Or did Wen Shi just discover something for me that forced him to change?"

"But who told him to do this?" Wen Ranqi muttered to herself. Qiqi asked, "Master, what are you thinking about? Does your foot hurt? Let me rub it for you."

Wen Ranqi shook his head and refused. He suddenly thought of something and asked, "Have you met someone?"

"Who?"

"He's very impressive in a black robe. He comes and goes without a trace."

Wan Ming thought about it carefully. He had been with Wen Shi for so long and had never met such a person. If there was such a person, Wen Shi would also ask him to keep an eye out for him. Wan Ming said, "No, I have never seen one."

Wen Ranqi sighed, his guess was interrupted again, but according to his assumptions, Wen Shi would never change his mind so easily. It is easy for a person to change a habit, as long as he persists for a month, he can change it, but a person's character is deeply influenced by the innate environment and is difficult to change.

But now Wen Shi hasn't woken up yet, so they can't leave, and he can't ask Wen Shi whether he has seen the mysterious man.

The sky was growing darker, and the night snow was falling heavily.

Wanming asked someone to prepare some side dishes and send them to Wen Ranqi's room. After eating, he washed up, took off his daytime clothes and changed into clean underwear. Since Qiqi was there, Wanming transferred the maids in the house to other places and only left a few night guards in the yard. He was thoughtful for Wen Ranqi, so that Wen Ranqi and Qiqi could spend some time alone together!

"Master, I've changed. I found a separate quilt in the closet so I won't pull yours."

Wen Ranqi stole a glance at Qiqi's mature and muscular body after practicing martial arts, and felt a palpitation in his heart. Behind Qiqi's back, he scratched his face frantically, and cried in his heart, "Wen Ranqi, we are all men, what's wrong with sleeping with him? You said you like him, so of course he should sleep with you, but you become like a woman, being so shy."

"Master?" Qiqi asked, standing a meter away with a quilt in her arms. "If you mind, I'll sleep on the floor. It's fine. I have a charcoal basin so I won't feel cold. I'm in much better shape now."

Qiqi tidied up for a while, made the bed on the floor, and placed the charcoal brazier in the middle of the room. Then he wrapped himself in a quilt and fell asleep next to Wen Ranqi's bed.

Time passed minute by minute, and Wen Ranqi woke up from a short nap. It was snowing even harder outside. He wrapped himself tightly in the quilt and turned over. He saw Qiqi shivering in the quilt like a worm, which looked both funny and pitiful.

"Qiqi, are you asleep?" Wen Ranqi called out, but Qiqi didn't move. He wrapped himself in a quilt and quietly walked to the charcoal brazier and added a few more pieces of charcoal. When he passed by Qiqi, Wen Ranqi remembered that when he first arrived here, Qiqi was still a little childish. However, she had just become an adult and was only about twenty years old. Why did she sometimes look more mature than him?

Qiqi has deep facial features, deep eye sockets, and sharper contours. Wen Ranqi is more handsome and gentle, looking younger, even though he is five years older than Qiqi. Wen Ranqi sat on the edge of the bed, feeling conflicted. He couldn't bear to see Qiqi trembling, so he called out, "Qiqi, Qiqi!"

Qiqi was suddenly surprised. He touched the pillow and found no sword. He looked around and found that he was in Wen Ranqi's room. Only then did he relax his guard and turn around with an innocent look on his face.

"Come up, the snow is getting heavier, and you'll be quite cold sleeping on the floor." Wen Ranqi took the initiative to move inside. Qiqi wrapped the floor mat and went to bed with the quilt in her arms. Qiqi's face was full of smiles, and she closed her eyes and continued to sleep. Soon she heard Qiqi's soft cry. Wen Ranqi carried Qiqi on his back. In the first half of the night, he was stiff as a steel bar. In the second half of the night, he fell asleep and bent over. When he woke up, he found himself stupid and ashamed.

When Wan Ming saw Qi Qi walking out of the room with a bright smile on her face, he deliberately said loudly into the room, "Did you sleep well last night? It's always warmer when two people sleep together than when one does. Unlike me, who was wrapped in a cold blanket all night long."

Wen Ranqi blushed and yelled, "Qiqi, where is my face wash water?"

Wen Shi was unconscious for three days. On the fourth day, he barely regained consciousness, spoke a few words to Wan Ming, and then fell asleep again. After seven or eight days of coming and going, Wen Shi finally had the strength to sit up and talk to everyone.

There is always one person who is thicker-skinned and the other thinner-skinned between two people. Qiqi ignores other people's opinions and follows Wen Ranqi wherever she goes. They hold hands as if they don't see outsiders.

Wen Ranqi was not resisting, he was just really embarrassed.

After Wan Ming helped Wen Shi use the medicine, Wen Ranqi and Qiqi came into the room. Seeing Qiqi holding Wen Ranqi's hand, Wen Shi's eyes became colder.

"You could have left a few days ago, why haven't you left yet?"

"If you give the order, even if we leave, we will still be hiding. Wanming told me everything you did."

Wen Shi raised his eyes and looked at Wen Ranqi, and a trace of reluctance flashed in his eyes.

"I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing this for myself. You don't have to take it too seriously. Just think of it as me putting an end to what I did to you before." He did do things partly for himself, but he said one thing and meant another. He just didn't want to show weakness in front of others.

Wen Ranqi moved to sit next to Wen Shi. He knew that Wen Shi had let them go, not only because of some secret he didn't know, but also because it took perseverance and courage for Wen Shi to overcome his own inner thoughts. He wasn't a saint, but he was grateful to Wen Shi. As someone from another world, he let go of his hatred for Wen Ranqi and saved Wen Ranqi from harm.

Wen Shi was startled by Wen Ranqi's sudden strange handshake. Wen Ranqi shook hands with him and said jokingly, "Brother, Xiao Ran has never been angry with you. I just can't understand why you wanted to kill me four years ago." The look in Wen Ranqi's eyes was like seeing the familiar Wen Ranqi who had no grudges against him in the past.

Wen Ranqi continued, "Although I don't know why you changed, thank you for not really killing Qiqi. He is a very important person to me. Big brother, I forgive you, and you have to get better too. You are more suitable to be the patriarch than I am, and father was not wrong about you."

Wen Shi took Wen Ranqi's hand and asked, "Wen Yuechu, what did he say to you?"

"My father always told me, 'Big Brother, you are always decisive and resolute in your actions. Unlike me, I am hesitant and cautious, and I have no masculinity at all.' He was always very strict with you because he wanted to mold you into someone stronger than himself."

"I always secretly showed my eldest brother the sword manual, and he didn't stop me. He even asked me to tell you everything I learned. I learned faster than you, so he told me to study hard and become your right-hand man. I'll be responsible for martial arts, and my second brother will be responsible for literature."

"My second brother is his stain, but he's also his biological son. Everyone thinks my father doesn't care about him. In fact, he does, but he can't show it openly to everyone, as that would only make him even more ridiculed. Only by keeping my second brother obscure in the eyes of others can he do what he wants and what he enjoys doing."

Wen Ranqi smiled warmly. He looked at Wen Shi and said, "Brother, father never stopped loving us. He just used different ways to express it. He just didn't expect the final result. I told you all this because I want to tell you that none of us hate you."

Wen Shi couldn't believe it. Hearing Wen Ranqi's words was like a bolt from the blue. It was even more painful than watching Wen Ranqi die in front of him. He released Wen Ranqi's handshake, a strange expression on his face, and yelled, "Go, go! Never show up in front of me again! Go! Go!"

Qiqi pulled Wen Ranqi out in panic, while Wanming helped the excited Wen Shi to lie down. Wen Shi pulled Wanming's clothes and said angrily, "Let him go, the farther the better, I don't want to see them again."

Wan Ming nodded, comforted Wen Shi, and walked out. Wen Ranqi felt like he had just dreamed, and left Wen Shi's room, as if possessed by something, and listened to Wen Shi yelling at him.

Wen Ranqi asked Qiqi, "What happened to him?" Qiqi said in surprise, "Master, you don't remember? Forget it, it's not the first or second time."

"What do you mean it's not just once or twice? Then we can go now, right?"

"Well, he told me to go."

Wan Ming called a carriage, loaded it with some winter rations, wine, and sleeping clothes and bedding, and quietly sent Wen Ranqi and Qiqi away from the backyard.

Wen Ranqi looked back at the huge villa. Although he didn't know what had just happened, he knew that Wen Shi had really let them go. He and Qiqi would return to Yuemu Town first and then head north next spring. They should still have time.

"Qiqi, don't rush the car. Come in. Let's go back to Yuemu Town first. I will go to the north next year."

"Oh, yes, Master."

Wen Ranqi searched through the luggage for a long time but couldn't find a wooden box. What was he looking for? Wen Ranqi said disappointedly, "My mahjong, I asked Wen Shi to find someone to make it with carefully selected stones, what a pity."

"What is Mahjong?"

"It's a game consisting of several colors..."

The snow stopped, and a carriage slowly moved through the snow. The people inside were talking about a game called Mahjong...