Chapter 34: Wei Sheng Holding the Pillar (Ten) “Let’s not see each other again…

Lian Qiang struggled to lean over from the wheelchair, trying to catch Mrs. An's frail body, but An Chen was faster than her.

He trembled and caught his wife, who looked like an autumn leaf. "Shuzi..."

Wu Shuzi had no spiritual power to protect her, so the knife might not have been fatal to them, but it was not the case for her. The dagger seemed to have pierced her lungs, and she coughed violently, spitting out large mouthfuls of blood that stained her clothes.

The rain was heavy, but it couldn't wash away the overflowing blood and dirty thoughts.

"Jia'er..." Wu Shuzi didn't look at An Chen's expression. She turned her head stubbornly and stretched out her hand with difficulty, trying to pull Lian Qiang.

"I... I'm not An Sijia..." Holding Wu Shuzi's hand tightly, Lian Qiang bit her lip with regret. How could she not think that when the three of them were together, she and Chi Xingji entered the illusion, so why couldn't Mrs. An enter this illusion?

Unexpectedly, Wu Shuzi raised the corner of her bloody lips: "...I know, I heard your conversation just now, and even the last conversation..."

"Then why did you..." Lian Qiang choked with sobs. She couldn't understand why one or two people would sacrifice themselves for her?

"But this body still belongs to Jia'er... I can't bear to see her... die again... I'm very happy to see her again..." Wu Shuzi wanted to raise her other hand high to wipe away the tears for her "daughter", "Don't cry... If it happens again, I will still..."

She could no longer spit out blood, but she still insisted on speaking: "At least... in this illusion... let me protect her, her once... I, I can do it..."

Unfortunately, she didn't even touch "An Sijia's" face - just a hair's breadth away, and her hand fell heavily.

Lian Qiang burst into tears, An Chen was at a loss, the accident happened too suddenly, he stared at his wife's face for a long time, her eyes still open in death, and suddenly screamed!

"Shuzi, Shuzi, wake up..."

When Chi Xingji arrived, he saw three people in the courtyard. An Chen was as crazy as a madman, Lian Qiang was in a state of despair, and the remaining Mrs. An was unknown whether she was alive or dead. He frowned, unable to understand what had happened. Then he saw a white light emerge from Wu Shuzi's chest, gradually engulfing her, followed by An Chen who was holding her, and then Lian Qiang, and slowly spreading to every blade of grass and tree around...

——This is a sign of the illusion collapsing.

Lian Qiang raised her hands. It turned out that this was the crux of An Sijia's heart.

When she died, she may have felt confused and resentful towards her biological father, sorry and guilty towards Xuze for breaking his promise, and disappointed and disgusted with An Ziliang for informing on her, but none of it could compare to her longing for her mother.

What was An Sijia's last thought before she died? Did she think her actions and the news of her death would make her mother sad? Or did she simply want to see her mother one last time?

With doubts in her mind, Lian Qiang thought she would return to reality, but unexpectedly, she was still in a white light.

"An Sijia?" she asked tentatively. Sure enough, the surrounding white light responded: "...It's me."

"Is this... your residual soul?" Given An Sijia's powerful spirit, this was not surprising. Lian Qiang then asked, "Why did you leave me alone?"

In addition to this question, Lian Qiang actually has many questions she wants to ask, such as why she created such an illusion, and since she still has the energy left, why doesn't she go find Xu Ze or confess everything to her mother?

"Don't be anxious, I will tell you slowly. You can be my assistant, but you have been lonely for too long." The female voice contained some loneliness and bitterness. Lian Qiang listened quietly after hearing this.

"In the eyes of many, I have a background that others can hardly reach. I'm exceptionally talented, and my parents are deeply in love. If nothing unexpected happens, I'll be the envy of many people throughout my life. I'll have a fulfilling life, right?"

Lian Qiang nodded involuntarily.

As in many stories, An Chen and Wu Shuzi were a loving young couple. Their only flaw was that they had been childless for so many years. Finally, their wish came true when Wu Shuzi gave birth to a pair of adorable twins, a boy and a girl.

The elder sister was quiet and steady, sometimes so quiet that she didn't seem like a child; the younger brother was lively and active, not like the eldest sister. At that time, Wu Shuzi was more partial to the younger brother, but An Chen was different. He felt that An Sijia was more like him.

When An Sijia was one year old, his thoughts became more and more determined - his sister was found to have excellent talent for cultivation and strong mental strength, while his brother was mediocre in talent. Almost everyone believed that An Sijia would be the next city lord.

The couple also trained her in this direction, and An Sijia never disappointed their expectations, showing amazing learning talent. However... until she was three years old, she could not stand or walk independently, while her brother of the same age had already learned to jump.

Realizing that something was wrong, the two of them immediately sought out famous doctors from the surrounding area for her, but they all came to the same conclusion - An Sijia would never be able to move her legs like an ordinary person in her lifetime.

They were unwilling to accept this fact and searched and consulted again and again, but the result was always the same.

An Chen still didn't give up and urged An Sijia to practice every day, hoping that one day she would be able to stand up with the help of spiritual power.

But it is useless.

During this period, they spent too much time on An Sijia, but ignored An Ziliang, who was also young and in need of care.

If they could have discovered An Ziliang's faults early and educated him in time, An Ziliang might not have grown up to be the domineering and self-deprecating person he is today, and An Sijia would not have had to feel like running away because of too much expectation and pressure.

Fortunately, the relationship between the two siblings has always been good.

"...At that time, I envied Ziliang very much. While I was studying and training hard, he could go down to the river to catch fish, climb trees to catch birds, and live a free and easy life that I could never even imagine. I could only use my spiritual power to explore what was beyond the sky and walls in all directions."

An Sijia's world was constructed through repeated explorations of spiritual power and her brother's narration.

"At first, I thought it was just because I had a disability and my parents didn't want me to get hurt, so they tied me up. I used to think... my father really did it for my own good."

That day, she casually held a scroll of obscure book in her hand, intending to knock on the door of her father's study to ask him a question. However, before her hand touched the door, she heard voices from inside the room.

"Sijia is a really hardworking kid, quite like me when I was young."

"Don't talk nonsense. How does your daughter look like you? Don't flatter yourself."

The love between their parents was always a topic that siblings enjoyed discussing. An Sijia, overwhelmed with joy at being praised, was about to knock on the door when she heard her father say, "What a shame, what a shame... If only Ziliang and Sijia could swap bodies. How could the Lord of Lin'an be confined to a wheelchair..."

An Sijia's movements froze for a moment. She was bewildered and confused. What... did this mean?

Do you hope that she is as healthy as her brother, or do you hope that her brother can have the same talents and characteristics as her?

...Can this be called a compliment? Even if An Sijia was confused at that time, she knew that this was definitely not a compliment.

She also hoped that her mother would speak out to refute him, but Wu Shuzi did not. She just sighed deeply and said, "Nothing can be perfect after all."

At that moment, the young An Sijia saw the injustice from fate or her parents.

An Sijia thought sadly that she would never be "perfect" in their eyes in this life.

She then understood their intentions. Her brother was simple and lively, and did not have the qualifications to take on big responsibilities, so he could do whatever he wanted. She was the most suitable candidate, but she was born with limitations. No matter what, she would be confined to this world forever.

An Sijia retreated quietly, then cried alone in her room for the entire afternoon. An Ziliang came to see her and was startled, raising his fist as if to seek revenge for her, but An Sijia still said nothing.

She had no way to express her distress even to her brother.

"From now on, with every effort I make, I will doubtfully ask myself: Am I doing this enough? Have I grown to the point where they can overlook my shortcomings?"

An Sijia's voice was very calm, but Lian Qiang could hear the young girl questioning herself helplessly and distressedly again and again.

"...This isn't your fault," Lian Qiang said firmly, "No one is born to respond to other people's expectations."

...No one should be eliminated just because they don't meet anyone's expectations.

However, once the seeds of doubt are planted, they will never have a chance to sprout again.

"Yes. It's a pity that I realized it too late. Maybe if I had met you earlier and you told me all this, I would have been able to let it go sooner." An Sijia said lightly.

For a long time, she thought she would live like this for the rest of her life, unable to see the road ahead, living in a seemingly hard-working but actually muddled way - then, Xuze appeared.

That day, her parents and younger brother were out. An Sijia was already used to the feeling of being left behind, but she suddenly had an inexplicable idea: to go for a walk outside.

Everyone thought that Lord An's eldest daughter was obedient and secluded, so no one knew that she was actually not allowed to go out. This made things easier for An Sijia, as at least no one could recognize her.

She successfully left home through a remote gate. She had never seen such a magnificent scene in the world before, and the four words "live and work in peace and contentment" that had been vague in her mind suddenly became clear.

It happened that at this moment, a small dog-like animal was running around in the market, knocking people and horses to the ground and making a mess. An Sijia used her spiritual power without thinking, and the dog let out a strange cry and fled away.

An Sijia continuously sent several spiritual energies towards it, forcing it into a corner. Seeing this, An Sijia laughed, "It's actually a fox..."

Before she could maintain her smile for a moment, her fragile throat was already tightly grasped by sharp claws, and her eyes were filled with exasperation: "We have no grudges against each other, and I didn't do anything wrong. Why did you hit me!"

With her back pressed firmly against the back of the chair, An Sijia didn't react to how a fox suddenly turned into a human form, but she laughed first.

It was obvious that if he just tightened his claws slightly, he could kill her on the spot, but Xu Ze didn't do it after all. Instead, he slowly let go of her as she watched.

As the saying goes, there is no acquaintance without fighting. Even Qiang could guess the general story that followed.

A quirky girl who has been living in seclusion for a long time meets a young and ignorant fox demon who walks the world. An Sijia teaches Xuze the ways of the world, and Xuze tells her that she has never been to a distant place.

Under An Sijia's guidance, Xuze was able to smoothly express what he saw and heard in words. When he talked about interesting stories with great enthusiasm, the girl's expression could only become more gloomy.

Day after day, year after year. An Sijia's yearning for the outside world grew stronger and stronger. It was not that she could not understand Xu Ze's eagerness to continue exploring, but the increasingly heavy workload was making her breathless. She could only make up her mind to give up something.

At that time, An Sijia thought that her interactions with Xu Ze were an "accident" that could be avoided.

"Let's not meet again."