Chapter 69: Sun and Moon Brilliance

Jiaoran's revenge plan was interrupted by her senior sister's wedding date before it could be carried out. She thought about it carefully for four or five nights, and she couldn't sleep well. She thought so much that she couldn't close her eyes, but she still couldn't make up her mind.

She wanted to teach Mu Jin a lesson, preferably taking half his life. Why not just his life? Because she felt that although Mu Jin had plotted against her many times, at least she was not dead. To be fair, she had to show some mercy.

Alas, I was too kind-hearted. Jiaoran tossed and turned several times before falling asleep.

In fact, she couldn't sleep well not only because of this incident, but also because Chai Xiao came to say goodbye to her before leaving.

She looked at Jiaoran in silence for a long time. Finally, even Jiaoran herself couldn't bear it anymore and asked her to speak frankly.

"Miss Jiaoran, I am sorry for you."

It's too late to apologize now! Jiao Ran folded her arms and turned her head away, "How dare this servant accept Sixth Miss's apology?"

She wanted to hold Jiaoran's hand as she did before, but Jiaoran had expected this and crossed his arms with a look of disgust.

"I'll be leaving the Chai family soon."

"Well, what's wrong?" Jiaoran said angrily. None of the Chai family members were easy to deal with. She really hated them.

"To tell you the truth, I don't regret it at all."

Hey, what trouble she caused. The young master of the Lu family almost lost his life, and she was almost framed as a murderer. As a result, the real murderer said here that he had no regrets at all.

How shameless!

I admire you so much.

"You must think that I am shameless and cruel, right?" she pressed Jiaoran.

Jiao Ran said, "You already know it yourself, why are you asking me?"

"Miss Jiaoran, even if I tell you, you won't understand my pain. From childhood, I've always worn ill-fitting shoes, always slightly smaller than my feet. Although they fit, I just feel cramped. They say that I'm a lady from a noble family and my feet need to be a little smaller. I want to practice bow and arrow, wield swords and sticks with my brothers, but they say that's not for girls from noble families. I hate studying, I hate women's rules, and I hate that when I grow up, adults will look at me as if I'm a bargaining chip. You've always lived outside the palace, and you don't know how precious freedom is to me."

Jiao Ran said dissatisfiedly, "So you can deprive others of their freedom just for your own freedom?"

"You said Lu Xu, he deserves to die." Chai Xiao's eyes were filled with venom.

"Who told him to be so persistent and insist on marrying me?"

Jiaoran recalled the old lady weeping beside Master Lu's bed and said, "Actually, he was quite wronged. Your marriage was arranged by the two families to unite their strengths."

"So what? He didn't refuse, so he deserves to die."

Is this girl really the Chai Liu girl who was always smiling and coquettish in front of her? Jiao Ran inexplicably thought of Xu Mengchou, who had developed a arrogant and selfish character in a wealthy place.

"Have you ever thought that even if he didn't marry you, there would be other men."

"Then I will continue to kill until there is not one left."

Jiaoran's eyebrows jumped. Is it so cruel? "Do you really want to kill your husband? Then we can't not get married."

"My parents forced me to this point, but if I kill them for freedom, wouldn't I be a beast?"

Jiao Ran held her forehead with her hand, helpless, "Then you killed your husband for freedom, is that right?"

"Don't argue with me about right or wrong, Miss Jiaoran. I've always wanted to call you sister, but I've never really told you. Playing with you every day is like my fourth and fifth sisters are still by my side. I wish you were my real sister."

Jiaoran was speechless. This was so hypocritical. If she really regarded her as her sister, she would not have framed her.

"Believe it or not. After this, I will leave the Governor's Mansion and fly freely. I may never meet you again. I don't want us to become enemies."

"The revenge has been made, what else do you want from me?" Jiaoran said.

"I want you to forgive me!"

Jiaoran looked at her arrogant appearance, and for a moment he had an illusion of Chai Hui. It seems that people from the same family are alike. They are really like siblings cast in the same mold.

"So far, the obedient appearance you've put on in front of me is actually just like your disguise, it's all a disguise, right?"

Chai Xiao looked at her and said, "In this family, everyone wears a mask. Even my second brother is so frank. Go ask him, is he the real him?"

Sometimes what Mu Jin said was true. He said that there was no one in this family who could be trusted. It seemed that he had already figured out the daily life of the people in the Governor's Mansion.

"Do you remember the owner of the short arrow I mentioned?"

Why are they talking about other people again? Jiaoran continued casually, "Yes, that woman named Ying, Mu Jin's mother."

"Dad didn't allow us to mention her in the mansion. Over time, she became a taboo in the Chai family."

Since it is a taboo, why mention her at this juncture? Jiaoran doesn't understand.

Her eyes gleamed with longing, revealing her true colors at this moment. "I told you then that she was just a self-degrading, insignificant woman. That was a lie, a complete lie. No matter how my father and the Chai family slandered her, no matter how much the civil and military officials slandered her, in my heart, she is as radiant as the sun and the moon, unerasable."

Seeing that Jiaoran was unmoved, she sighed, "You will never understand me, nor her."

"If this is the way you and she live, then I really can't understand it."

"I hope that when we meet next time, you will have forgiven my misbehavior." Chai Xiao said.

Jiaoran did not go to see her off, and neither did anyone from the Chai family. If she left Xiutu, her fate might not be much better. She was born into a wealthy family, but when she went outside, she suddenly found that the tiles that used to protect her from the wind and rain had become a canopy, and her humble servants had become petty-minded people in the market. She would probably regret the freedom she had talked about.

What's even more terrifying is that she is unaware of the dangers of the world.

Would it be better in the Governor's Mansion? Jiaoran couldn't be sure, because when she revealed her true self, he saw clearly the bandit and thief spirit in her, which was definitely not the temperament that a noble lady should have. Perhaps being trapped in the splendor was more of a torture for her than being outside.

Two months after she left, when the Governor's wife had not yet recovered from the grief of separation from her daughter, Cha Che told her that he was going to get married, and that he was going to marry the woman from the martial arts world who had one hand crippled.

His father naturally disagreed, but among his three sons, only Cha Che could not be completely controlled by him.

The wedding date was set. Originally, it was Miss Chai Liu who was getting married, but now it was Young Master Chai Er. Coincidentally, they switched places, becoming brother and sister.

Zhuxing lowered his head and saw that the uppers of his brocade shoes were shining slightly, and the shoes were inlaid with priceless pearls.

She had never embroidered a single stitch of her wedding dress herself, even though she was good at needlework.

The gold thread on her wedding dress sparkled in the light, reflecting the pearlescent glow of her phoenix crown.

The maids lowered their heads and helped her dress up, secretly watching her with envy and jealousy in their eyes.

Jiaoran stopped what he was doing and stared at them fiercely. After a moment, he felt that he could understand. Perhaps in their eyes, senior sister was not much nobler than them. She did not have a good background, nor was she a girl from a noble family. Overnight, she became a golden phoenix from a sparrow climbing to the top of a phoenix tree.

But the senior sister was in a daze, as if in a dream. Just as she was about to reach out and ask Jiaoran to come closer, the maid beside her immediately brought up some tea that was not too hot.

Jiaoran had served the young master in this governor's mansion before. She knew that for people like them, let alone a cup of tea, even if she really wanted the stars in the sky, there would be someone who would find ways to send them to her.

But the senior sister was still unhappy, and she suddenly decided to marry Chai Che. Jiaoran couldn't understand it at first, but later he felt that her choice was the right one.

Compared to Bu Yue, Chai Che is more like the ideal partner of senior sister.

No matter what, Chai Che is not inferior to his senior brother Bu Yue. In terms of family background, talent, martial arts, and even appearance, Chai Che is a hundred feet ahead of Bu Yue.

"All of you go out," she said to the others in the room.

She called Jiaoran over, and Jiaoran bent down beside her knees to adjust her wedding dress. "Senior Sister, what do you want to tell me?"

She pressed her chest and said, "I feel like I've been pricked by a needle here."

Jiaoran was silent, she didn't know how to persuade her.

"Do you really want to marry Chaiche?"

She didn't answer.

She wrinkled her sleeves, making them crumpled. "It fits perfectly."

Jiao Ran smiled and said, "There may be many suitable people in this world, but there are very few people you truly like, Senior Sister. If you regret it and don't want to, I will take you away immediately, no matter what the cost."

Zhuxing knew Jiaoran would keep his word. If she said she didn't want to, she would take her away immediately. However, she gritted her teeth, tightly controlling her tears and smiled at Jiaoran, "Look at me today, am I not beautiful?"

Jiaoran leaned against the dressing table, and after a while, nodded.

She heard her senior sister say, "Being Chai Che's wife is a huge bargain for me. I can't express how happy I am."

"Senior Sister, I feel that this kind of thing cannot be said to be taking advantage or suffering a loss. Whether you are willing or not, whether you are devoted or not, is the choice you should make."

Chai Che is good in everything and better than him in everything. Bu Yue will always be far behind him, but why can't she forget him?

The closer it got to the wedding, the colder her hands and feet became. If she hadn't had any makeup on her face, I imagine her complexion would have been very bad.

Jiaoran suddenly wanted to go back to her childhood. If only her senior sister and she were still children, then her senior sister would always be as happy as she was before.

Zhuxing suddenly grabbed Jiaoran tightly, and said, "Don't stay too far away from me for a while. I'm scared."

As she spoke, she closed her eyes and two lines of tears slid down her cheeks.

Jiaoran couldn't understand why she had to make things difficult for herself. "I'll say it again, if you don't want to marry him, let's leave immediately. There are not only Bu Yue and Chai Che in this world, and you don't have to choose between them. Chai Che is good, everything about him is good, but if he's not good, then he's not good. If you don't like him at all, how can you force yourself to do that?"

She slowly raised her hand, "Jiao Ran, I'm already a useless person."

Jiao Ran was helpless and said anxiously, "If you think that losing a hand means losing the whole person, then—" As she spoke, she had already grasped a sword in the room and raised her hand to chop off her own hand. She heard Zhu Xing scream, "No!!!"

Jiao Ran paused in mid-air. "I know Senior Sister hates me. It's because of me that you lost one of your hands. If I can also lose one of my hands so that Senior Sister won't punish me, I can do anything."

She stood up, carrying her cumbersome wedding dress. Almost as soon as she stood up, she slapped Jiaoran, but her broken hand didn't allow her to exert much strength. "If you dare to hurt yourself, I will never forgive you."

Jiao Ran was full of fighting spirit. "Then come with me. You don't want to marry Chai Che at all, but you force yourself to do this. What's the point?"

She said, "Jiao Ran, you are different from me. You - you will never understand me."

"I want to know what you are thinking, and I have always wanted to know." Jiaoran said.

"I envy you for not stopping and worrying about anything. Even sadness can't stay in your heart forever. You can do many things alone. From childhood to adulthood, you are willing to play with us, but also willing to play alone. Loneliness is not parasitic on you. You don't know that when I am alone, that loneliness tightly wraps around me and makes me extremely afraid. I am more afraid of loneliness than death."

Jiaoran looked at her senior sister blankly, trying to understand her, just as she was trying to understand Chai Xiao who wanted to escape from the cage. One of them was going inside, and the other was going outside, and they both had their own reasons.

For some reason, she thought of the deceased woman, Chai Ying, whom Chai Xiao mentioned before leaving.

Did she choose to be an outlier in the eyes of others because of freedom or loneliness?

What kind of person is the real Chai Ying, the woman who made the hexagonal purple arrow?

"Senior Sister, I hope you make a decision you will never regret."

"But people always have regrets in their lives. Don't you have any regrets?"

Jiao Ran thought for a moment and sighed, "Yes, I regret taking on the Phoenix Young mission and leaving Huiying Gate."

Zhuxing held her hand and said, "This is not your fault. Never regret this."

"Why?"

Zhuxing hesitated to speak, "In short, don't look for fault in yourself. Everyone may have made mistakes in what happened back then, but you didn't. You are innocent."

Jiaoran had a hunch that her senior sister was hiding something from her, but if she continued to ask, it seemed that she wouldn't say anything, so she simply stopped asking.

"The last time Archer came to you, he said he had something to tell you. Why didn't you go?"

"I don't want to know more about Mu Jin. I have no interest in him at all."

Zhuxing rubbed her face and said, "You, don't just judge a person by their eyes, and don't just judge a person by what others say. You have to look at them with your heart."

"He is not worthy of my sincere attention."

She said helplessly, "Do you really know who he is?"

"I don't care anymore."

"From my perspective, Master Mu Jin cares most about you."

Jiao Ran sneered, "So I should thank him for wanting to kill me again and again?"

The senior sister wanted to say more, but Jiaoran had already covered her head with the veil, "It's a good day, so don't mention those who are too unlucky."