25. Another Wave Rises

"You're awake." I opened my sleepy eyes and yawned widely.

"Who are you?" I asked, looking at the person who approached. She was a teenage girl with big, blinking eyes, looking very innocent. If it weren't for the strong smell of the sleeping potion in her arms, I would have liked her even more.

"My name is Ke'er, and I serve you, young master. It's getting late, young master, please change your clothes."

"What?" he asked, yawning.

"The Left Protector wants you to stay with him in bed." She looked at me innocently, as if everything was normal.

"So they brought me back to keep me company in bed," I muttered to myself. It seemed they hadn't seen through my disguise; I was just a stranger brought back to be their male concubine. Calling me a male concubine is a bit too sophisticated; I guess I was a gigolo.

"Since you know Young Master Lianxi, aren't you two kindred spirits?" She looked at me, trying to get something out of me.

"How is Lianxi?" I rubbed my temples and looked at her.

"He is very good; the Left Protector dotes on him so much."

"Then why do you want me to stay with him?"

"The Left Protector has already shown great favor and tenderness to the young master. Normally, no one else gets to enjoy the Left Protector's favor twice," she muttered to herself, as if it were an immense blessing.

"In other words, pity is something you can summon at will and dismiss at will." I sneered, startling her.

“It was also a voluntary act of pity for the young master; after all, he couldn’t resist the charm of the protector.”

"Understood." I was dressed in an exquisite silk garment, incredibly soft yet breathable. It was a bit chilly, but since I was being treated this way, I couldn't complain. Besides, this was the most comfortable place I'd been in all these days; the food and lodging were top-notch.

"Feiwu?" Lianxi looked at me from outside the door, her eyes red. "I'm sorry, I've dragged you into this."

"What are you saying, you fool?" I patted his head. "But you, have you seen his true colors now?" Lianxi bit her lip, tears welling in her eyes. "I can't blame him. He's doing this to get revenge on me because I didn't protect myself... I gave my first time to the prince..."

"Stop talking!" I interrupted his self-pity. The fault isn't yours, so why is it that you're so heartbroken? That fool didn't know how to cherish you, so why are you torturing yourself like this? Pity you, pity you, let me help you through this, for I've witnessed too many tragic marriages, especially the desolate look on my master's face before his death—it's an image that will never fade from my mind. It's made me afraid to love again, afraid to fall in love. I'm so afraid that one day, I'll be like my master, my deepest feelings turning into the oldest resentment, sinking to the bottom of the cold pool, lost for a thousand years.

As the door closed, Lianxi, standing outside, looked on with worry. He stretched out his thin, small hand and collapsed to the ground, sobbing. He clutched his collar, looking utterly pitiful. If he had a heart, why would he be so heartless towards you? Lianxi, let me help you see through the illusions of this world.

"He didn't even flinch after manipulating so many people; it seems you're quite valuable to him." The Left Protector looked respectable, but because he was in a bad mood, he couldn't find any good words to describe him.

He was tall and burly, with a fierce face, looking almost like a demon.

"How pathetic. How could she possibly fall for someone like you?" I looked down at him with disdain.

"Enough with the nonsense. If you want to live, come and serve me." His icy voice echoed.

"Poor thing, he was tricked by the prince, and after failing to kill himself, he's now being tricked by you. I wonder if he can even get through this. Sigh~" I sighed deeply, my tone utterly desolate.

"What did you say?" He suddenly stood up, only then realizing that his clothes were disheveled and that he appeared to have deep and shallow scratches on his body. This showed how intense the encounter had been.

"Although you can't see anything on his wrist now, if you look closely, you can see the knife marks. The cuts he made were truly terrifying," I continued, muttering to myself. "It fully demonstrates his determination to die. If that old woman hadn't been afraid that Lianxi would die and stop earning money for her, she wouldn't have risked her life to save him. However, after what you've done, and without the old woman threatening suicide, I'm afraid Lianxi's time is up..."

"Shut up!" He suddenly walked over and slapped me hard across the face. Although it felt like a tickle, I pretended to be seriously injured and fell to the ground.

"Pity! Save me!" I cried out in utter despair, pounding my chest, as Pity burst through the door. His bloodshot eyes, torn lips, pale face, and heart about to explode trembled as his frail body swayed precariously.

"Why don't you believe me? Why do you humiliate me? Why won't you even spare my savior? You want to torture me to death, don't you? Then I'll take your life in return." He went mad, and as he spoke, he pulled out a bottle. "This is the Herbal Red you gave me. Back then, you said that if I betrayed you, you would drink it. No need, my heart is dead. Consider it returning it to you."

"Pity!" He made his move, but he wasn't as swift as Pity's determination to die. He watched helplessly as the tragic figure swallowed the entire bottle without hesitation. My heart turned cold. If I didn't possess the ability to cure all poisons, I would have already run over and called him a fool.

The man collapsed, speechless, only tears streaming down his face, a mocking smile playing on his lips. "I didn't submit to the prince, I... that night... was drugged by the old nanny..." he stammered. "You don't believe me... you don't believe me... I wanted to prove... my... innocence... with my death... Now... whether you believe me or not... is irrelevant to me..."

“Lianxi! Lianxi! I believe you, I believe you now, Lianxi, don’t die, please. Lianxi, why, Lianxi…” He knelt beside Lianxi, pounding his body repeatedly until he vomited bright red blood. “I deserve to die, why did I push you to this point, Lianxi, this isn’t what I wanted, I believe you now, come back! Open your eyes and look at me… Lianxi, I did all this because I care about you… Lianxi, look at me… Lianxi… why… did I push you to this point?” Silent tears flowed, and Lianxi smiled, a sweet smile. “He rescued me from the prince… for my sake… let him go… consider it your last… for me…” Lianxi fainted.

"Pity!" A heart-wrenching cry echoed from within the vast palace.

Silence, silence, weeping, weeping

Heartbroken, heart dead, heart wounded, heart gone.

Speechless, I ask Heaven: if Heaven truly has eyes, why does it manipulate the truth of time?

"Get away! If you keep crying like this, it'll become a river." I pushed away the already broken idiot. He didn't even have the strength to resist, just kept crying and hitting himself.

I scratched my wrist with my fingernail and put it into Lianxi's mouth. After a while, Lianxi's face turned rosy, and he coughed.

"How are you feeling? Are you feeling better?" I helped her sit up. "Take it easy, it's alright. I'm here, everything will be fine."

"Lianxi?" The impetuous man pushed aside my lifesaver and hugged Lianxi tightly. "You're alive! That's wonderful! Lianxi, look at me, talk to me, Lianxi. Tell me I'm not dreaming."

"Let him go! You're shaking him so much, even a living person would be shaken to death."

"Pity?"

"I'm not dead? Fei Wu, what's going on?" Lianxi, who had just been resurrected, looked at me weakly.

"Pity you big idiot, have you seen this guy's true colors now? There's nothing left for you to miss, is there? Come on, let's go back to Hangzhou." I said, pretending to be casual.

"No. Lianxi can't go anywhere. Lianxi, don't go, don't leave me."

"You?" Lianxi pushed him away. "I've seen through you. Our fate has come to this. I've repaid all that I owed you with my life. My life is now free of mist." Lianxi said this on purpose, but I knew he was just angry.

"Have pity. Please."

"No matter how much I begged you, you wouldn't believe me." Lianxi looked at the ghost on the ground with emotion.

"Pity, you are so kind, please."

"Feiwu, shall we go?" Lianxi looked at me.

"No! I won't let you leave. You can't go anywhere."

Let them argue all they want, you lovely children. I closed the door for them. And locked it too.

"So your name is Fei Wu?" A person standing at the door, watching the show, asked.

"So it was you. Didn't anyone tell you that you shouldn't look at things improperly? It turns out the Khitans and the Demonic Sect are indeed colluding." I looked at the smiling person and suddenly frowned.

"So it was Young Master Fei Wu who saved my life. I haven't even seen your true face yet, Fei Wu. Now, you can't escape, can you?" The person who didn't learn from his mistake reached out to grab my mask again.

"You really don't know what's good for you."

"Of course, I can also go to the Left Protector and wait for him and his little lover... Fei Wu, let me see your true face, the legendary Purple Beauty Fei Wu, dancing alone. What kind of charm do you have?"

He dared to use pity as leverage. I glared at him, watching his claws deliberately linger on my face, yet he didn't immediately tear off my mask.

"Not fog, is it?" he chuckled. "I'm looking forward to it."