In my name, I will protect you (Volume 1 Final Chapter)
Consciousness, like something slowly rising from a bottomless, warm ocean.
Yu Jinli's long eyelashes trembled slightly.
Various familiar yet unfamiliar voices came to my ears.
There was the regular ticking of medical equipment, the faint chirping of birds outside the window, and... the hoarse breathing of a man suppressing immense pain.
She struggled to open her heavy eyelids.
What comes into view is a pure white ceiling and crystal-clear IV bottles hanging in mid-air.
The smell of disinfectant, mixed with a faint scent of cedar, lingered around my nose.
She... is she still alive?
Shouldn't she have been instantly killed by that old pervert Feng Jinhong in one move?
She moved her fingers and felt weak all over, as if she had been run over by a dozen trucks repeatedly, without any strength.
But apart from weakness, it seems... there's nothing seriously wrong.
She turned her head and saw the figure sitting beside her hospital bed, a figure that seemed to have blended into the darkness.
It is the sealing of the profound mystery.
He wasn't wearing his usual sharp suit.
Despite wearing only a simple black casual outfit, he still couldn't hide his innate aloof and noble temperament.
He just sat there quietly, head down, motionless.
The faint morning light filtering through the window cast a deep shadow on his handsome yet haggard profile.
A bluish stubble had sprouted on his chin.
Those usually sharp, eagle-like black eyes were now bloodshot, looking tired and dull.
Yu Jinli's heart clenched for no apparent reason.
Could this guy... have been guarding this place all along?
She opened her mouth, as if to say something, but her throat was as dry as the Sahara Desert.
He only managed to utter a single, weak, hoarse syllable.
"……water."
That single, faint syllable was like a thunderclap, instantly waking the man who was immersed in his own world.
Feng Jinxuan suddenly raised his head, and the moment he saw her awake, his bloodshot eyes burst forth with a light of almost ecstatic joy that Yu Jinli had never seen before.
He practically scrambled to the bedside.
"You're awake?" His voice was hoarse, trembling with disbelief. "How are you feeling? Is anything bothering you? Doctor! Call a doctor quickly!"
As he spoke, he frantically tried to press the call button by the bedside.
"I...I'm fine." Looking at his disheveled appearance, Yu Jinli felt a soft spot in her heart. "It's just...a little thirsty."
The man then realized what was happening.
He quickly poured a glass of warm water, carefully lifted her head, and brought the glass to her lips.
His movements were clumsy, even somewhat stiff.
But that carefulness, that fear of hurting her, was clearly conveyed through every inch of their skin that touched.
After drinking the water, Yu Jinli felt like she had finally come back to life.
Looking at the man in front of her, whose eyes were dark and whose chin was covered in stubble, and whose whole body exuded the message that "I look haggard," she couldn't help but make a joke.
"Boss, did you... get boiled by the Shadow Devouring Sect? You look more like a patient than I do!"
Feng Jinxuan ignored her banter.
He simply reached out and gently wiped away a drop of water from the corner of her mouth with his calloused fingertips.
Then he just stared at her, without saying a word.
That look in his eyes was very complicated.
There was the relief of surviving a disaster, the lingering fear of regaining what was lost, and a deep, overwhelming emotion that she couldn't quite understand.
Yu Jinli felt a little uncomfortable under his gaze and subconsciously tried to look away.
"Um... how did the birthday banquet go? Is the old man alright? What about Feng Jinhong?" She asked a series of questions, trying to break the somewhat awkward silence.
"Grandpa is alright." Feng Jinxuan finally spoke, his voice still hoarse. "Feng Jinhong is dead. He committed suicide by poison."
Yu Jinli's heart sank.
The trail went cold.
“However,” the man looked at her, his dark eyes deep, “before he died, we still learned some… very important things.”
He paused, seemingly considering his words.
For the next hour, Feng Jinxuan relayed to her everything the old man had said in the study that night, in an extremely calm, even somewhat cold, objective tone.
From the connection between the Feng family and the Tianyan Pavilion to the mysterious bloodline within him.
From the safety amulet his mother risked half her life for to give him, to the old man's years of forbearance and hardship.
This also includes... Gu Yanzhi's last, earth-shattering guess about her background.
Yu Jinli listened quietly.
She felt as if she were listening to a legendary tale of love, hate, and passion from a wealthy family that had nothing to do with her own life.
The protagonist of the story is very pitiful.
The plot of the story is very melodramatic.
But for some reason, as she listened, tears started falling uncontrollably.
It turns out that beneath his cold armor lay such a heavy, bloody past.
It turns out that his seemingly cold and aloof demeanor was merely a clumsy tenderness to protect those around him.
“…So,” Feng Jinxuan finished telling the whole story, his voice already hoarse, “Gu Yanzhi said that you are the daughter of the Tianyan Pavilion Master. He said that only they can save you, and only they can…save me.”
He looked at her, his eyes filled with a vulnerability that he himself was unaware of, almost a pleading look.
"Yu Jinli, will you... leave?"
Yu Jinli did not answer immediately.
She simply raised her hand and gently stroked the man's face, which was etched with weariness and unease, with her uninjured hand.
She could feel the coldness of his skin on his cheeks and the tension in the muscles beneath.
“Feng Jinxuan,” she looked into his eyes, uttering each word slowly and deliberately, asking a completely unrelated question, “you still haven’t told me why you are so determined to protect me?”
"Why is it that every time danger strikes, whether on a cruise ship, at a construction site, or at a birthday banquet, you instinctively shield me from it?"
The man's body stiffened, and his eyes began to dart away.
"Is it because of guilt?" Yu Jinli looked at him, pressing him relentlessly, "Because of that accident three years ago?"
"Because you transferred your guilt towards Grandma onto me?"
Feng Jinxuan suddenly raised his head, and his dark eyes instantly surged with a stormy sea.
"How could you..."
“I guessed.” Yu Jinli interrupted him, a smile that looked more like a grimace on her face. “Because I saw it. While you were unconscious, I saw the deepest nightmare in your heart.”
"Chase did not die in an accident."
"He died... an unforgivable self-judgment."
The man fell completely silent.
All his pretense and all his strength crumbled before the girl's clear, all-seeing eyes.
“Feng Jinxuan,” Yu Jinli looked at him, all her jokes and playfulness gone, her eyes becoming more gentle and firm than ever before, “Listen carefully.”
“You are not wrong. The ones who are wrong are those rats hiding in the gutter who can’t stand the light.”
"Your grandmother would never want to see you like this."
She stretched out her arms and slowly embraced the man in front of her, who was trembling slightly, like a child who had been lost for a very long time.
She gently pressed her face against his cold cheek.
"So, please stop carrying this all alone, okay?"
"Give me half of your past, your pain, your sins..."
Feng Jinxuan's body froze completely.
He could smell the familiar, warm, and pleasant scent emanating from the girl.
He could feel his heart, which had been frozen for three years, starting to beat uncontrollably and violently.
Their eyes met, and the air was filled with the warmth and tacit understanding of surviving a disaster.
Yu Jinli looked at him, wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, and revealed a smile that was brighter than the sunshine, weak yet firm.
She looked at him and said softly:
"Feng Jinxuan, I don't care who you were in the past, and I don't care who I will be in the future."
"From today onwards, it's my turn to protect you."
(End of Volume 1)
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