Chapter 112 How could they be enemies?
Lu Jinlan sighed, stroking the cold stone statue, and whispered, "She is my... aunt."
In the now unrecognizable old Gu family mansion, Lu Jinlan confessed her true identity. "This matter is extremely confidential, and my mother and I have decided to keep it quiet. Please keep this a secret for me as well, and let bygones be bygones."
Xiang Ruzhen said in shock, "Why didn't you tell us sooner that something so serious happened to you? Just thinking about how you've been suffering alone for so long, and having to pretend everything's fine every day, makes my heart ache..."
Lu Jinlan shook her head. "It's okay. I was at a loss when I first found out, but I've calmed down now. Actually, there are many things in this world that are better left unsaid, whether you know them or not. Perhaps sometimes, it's better not to know."
“My mother wants me to live a peaceful life, and I don’t want to cause any more trouble. Let all the disputes and disturbances be in the past. We still have to live our lives, don’t you think?”
Yan Wuxin frowned, seemingly lost in thought, while Xiang Ruzhen remained puzzled.
“I don’t think things are that simple. Since someone killed your biological father and then hunted down your aunt and you when you were just born, what if she encounters you again? Would she not let you go?”
Lu Jinlan said, "No, the situation is very different now than it was back then. She has no reason to kill me anymore, unless..."
Unless she already knows that I have learned the truth about what happened back then.
Lu Jinlan didn't say these words aloud. She smiled calmly and said only, "Unless you make a big fuss about it and spread the word."
Xiang Ruzhen quickly said, "Of course we won't tell, but I think it's still too dangerous for you if we don't find the real culprit."
She looked around and said, “I have a feeling that the inscription on this tombstone is so vague and suspicious. Perhaps this tomb was erected by the person who harmed Gu Feiqing. Let’s search around here and maybe we can find some clues.”
Before he could finish speaking, Yan Wuxin decisively turned and went out, saying, "I'll go find it."
Xiang Ruzhen squatted down to examine Lu Jinlan's expression. "Have you already reached a further conclusion?"
Lu Jinlan nodded slightly, "Yes, but I don't want to think about it further. As things are now, there's still room for maneuver. Going further might lead to a dead end, and when there's no way out, it won't be so easy to turn back."
Xiang Ruzhen frowned. "I don't understand."
Lu Jinlan sighed, "I hope you never understand. Come on, come with me to clear the weeds from the grave."
As the two walked out, Yan Wuxin was rummaging through the weeds by the grave.
Xiang Ruzhen quickly leaned closer, "What did you find?"
Yan Wuxin said, "There's a broken sword here, which was shattered into several pieces by a master using his internal force and is stuck in the ground. Watch out so you don't step on it. Oh, right, I suddenly remembered something urgent, so I have to go back first."
Lu Jinlan said, "Then you go first, we'll tidy up here before we leave."
The two squatted down to pull weeds, and Xiang Ruzhen suddenly felt that the location of the broken sword was a bit strange.
Logically, it should be evenly distributed, but one area is relatively empty.
She gently brushed aside the surface soil, revealing a fresh gap, clearly indicating that someone had just pulled a broken sword from there.
Xiang Ruzhen exclaimed in surprise, "Wu Xin, you..."
Lu Jinlan quickly pressed down on her wrist, signaling her not to speak.
Yan Wuxin had just reached the courtyard gate when he heard the sound and turned around abruptly. "What's wrong?"
Lu Jinlan smiled, "Be careful on the road."
Yan Wuxin laughed and said, "I know, why are you all getting more and more talkative? Calling me father-in-law."
She leaped onto her horse, waved goodbye, and disappeared from their sight.
Xiang Ruzhen sighed, "What's wrong with you two? We're such close friends, always open and honest with each other, why are you hiding things today?"
“She took the things without saying a word, and you wouldn’t let me ask. If there’s any misunderstanding, can’t we talk it out face to face? Keeping it all bottled up will only make the misunderstanding worse. We’re friends who’ve been through thick and thin together, don’t let something so trivial cause us to drift apart.”
Lu Jinlan pursed her lips and asked her only one question: "What if it's not a misunderstanding?"
Misunderstandings can be cleared up. But what if it's the truth? A truth that no one can face? What then?
*
Yan Wuxin hid a broken sword because the character "津" was engraved on it.
Almost without hesitation, she immediately and firmly concluded that the person who shattered the sword and then stuck it here was her mother.
Actually, she had begun to have some doubts when Lu Jinlan recounted his background.
Gu Feiqing held a high official position and helped the emperor ascend the throne. That was a meritorious service in supporting the emperor's rise to power. Who could possibly harm her?
Since Gu Huaiyu was the emperor's legal husband, his daughter would naturally be the emperor's eldest daughter.
The murder of two people of such high status, and the fact that they went so far as to hunt down a newborn baby, doesn't seem like a private revenge; it seems more like a gang resorting to any means for profit.
Without Gu Feiqing, without Gu Huaiyu, without the eldest princess, who would benefit the most?
She immediately thought of Ling Zhijing and Yan Weijin. These two people had jointly assisted the emperor in ascending the throne, and after Zhao Mincheng took power, they were the most meritorious officials who benefited the most.
Although the Ling family held considerable military power, they had no reason to harm the eldest princess.
The Emperor's way of winning over the Ling family was by marrying his younger brother to Ling Zhijing; he did not marry any man from the Ling family. There was no competition between him and the eldest princess.
If we eliminate the distracting options, then there's only one possibility left.
When the eldest princess Zhao Zhiyu first met the three, she used the alias Yan Yu.
Her biological father's surname is Yan.
Yan Wuxin had heard from his elders that when the emperor ascended the throne, he had appointed a man from the Yan family as his imperial consort, and that man soon gave birth to a daughter for the emperor.
Unfortunately, she was in poor health and died less than three months after giving birth.
That daughter must be the eldest princess, Zhao Zhiyu.
Although, by all accounts, Zhao Zhiyu and Yan Wuxin are distant relatives.
However, the royal family was cold and indifferent, and the Emperor's consort, Lady Yan, had died young, making it impossible to establish any kinship ties. Before visiting Fengchun Tower, Yan Wuxin had never even met Zhao Zhiyu.
Following this line of thought, Yan Wuxin reasoned that since the Yan family was highly suspicious, her mother should be the prime suspect.
Counting the timelines, the emperor ascended the throne, Yan Weijin became prime minister, and a member of the Yan family entered the palace to become the emperor's consort—it was all such a coincidence.
It was as if it had been planned in advance; everything seemed to be a meticulously calculated exchange of interests, and the Gu siblings and the newborn Lu Jinlan were probably the conditions of that exchange.
Gu Feiqing studied at the Royal Academy, so Mother must know her. But this person looks so much like Lu Jinlan, and Mother sees Lu Jinlan often, so why doesn't she ever mention her?
Yan Wuxin desperately hoped that he was wrong, that it wasn't like that, it couldn't be like that.
How could her most beloved mother and her dearest friend be enemies?
She took the broken sword not to prevent Lu Jinlan from learning the truth. She merely harbored a sliver of hope that there was some misunderstanding. She wanted to clear up this misunderstanding before telling Lu Jinlan the truth.
She hoped she could tell her with a laugh, "I was terrified! I hid it right away, afraid we'd become enemies. Luckily, it was just a false alarm."
She had even thought of those lines, but she never got the chance to say them.
*
Lu Jinlan had been pulling grass for a while, and her hands were stained green. Just as she was about to tell Xiang Ruzhen to leave, the Akhal-Teke horse outside the door let out an uneasy low neigh.
Lu Jinlan's internal strength deepened day by day, and his hearing became more sensitive than that of ordinary martial artists.
She asked Xiang Ruzhen softly, "Did you bring Wuxin here from the Yan family's old residence today?"
Xiang Ruzhen said, "Yes, she's been staying at the old house these past few days and hasn't gone back to her own private residence. What's wrong?"
Lu Jinlan weighed the broken sword in her hand. "It's nothing. I just lamented how fate had brought it all to light. She finally found out."
"who?"
Before he could finish speaking, dozens of masked assassins leaped over the wall.
Lu Jinlan hurled the broken sword in her hand, and the assassin at the front was immediately struck, his throat slit and blood gushing out as he fell straight down.
The other assassins were slightly taken aback, then pounced even more fiercely.
Without saying a word, the two immediately engaged the newcomers in battle.
*
On her way back, Yan Wuxin saw the group of assassins walking towards her.
Even though the other person was masked, she could smell their scent as they passed by face to face. They were people who frequented the old house and were close to her mother.
Yan Wuxin quickly reined in his horse. It seemed there was no need to rush back; there was no misunderstanding at all.
There is only the past that we are unwilling to face, and the future that we are even less willing to face.
Yan Wuxin stood on high ground, watching Lu Jinlan and Xiang Ruzhen fight against a group of assassins.
She knew that these assassins were skilled in martial arts, but they were definitely no match for Lu Jinlan and Xiang Ruzhen.
They don't need her help, but she has to step in.
She had never been so eager to prove herself. She wanted to show them through her actions that she would never stand against them and that she would not stand idly by.
This time, there was no rush, no hesitation. She only hoped they wouldn't blame her for arriving too late.
*
Lu Jinlan had just snapped an assassin's neck when she suddenly heard the rapid sound of approaching hooves.
She turned her head and saw Yan Wuxin leap into the fray, nimbly kicking the longsword stuck in the corpse into the air with his toe, then gripping it with his other hand and resolutely stabbing it into the assassin's vitals.
Lu Jinlan and Xiang Ruzhen exchanged a glance, secretly alarmed.
They had fought alongside Yan Wuxin several times, but rarely had they seen her use such ruthless and fierce moves.
Every move was deadly, as if he harbored an overwhelming hatred for these assassins.
But Lu Jinlan knew that Yan Wuxin didn't hate the killer; she hated fate.
That damned God, He's done us a terrible disservice.
In the blink of an eye, corpses littered the ground. Yan Wuxin was the last to stop; apart from the three of them, there were no other survivors.
Lu Jinlan looked at her, her heart aching, and forced herself to ask, "Why did you come back?"
Yan Wuxin planted the blood-stained blade in the ground, silently avoiding her gaze. "I was in such a hurry that I forgot to give you a piece of evidence."
As she spoke, she took the broken sword from her bosom, her voice tense, "Here, this is a clue. It might help you find the murderer who killed your biological father and aunt. You... take it."
Lu Jinlan moved her hand, but seeing Yan Wuxin's hand trembling with nervousness, she ultimately did not take it.
She looked into Yan Wuxin's eyes and told her firmly, "I've already said that I don't want to talk about the past anymore. Who the murderer is is no longer important to me."
She forced a smile, "My parents are healthy, and my dearest friends are by my side. Having you all here for me is the most important thing to me."
"I don't want to pry into who the murderer is. I'm telling you about my hidden past today simply so that you, like me, will be aware of what's going on. That's all. Do you...do you understand?"
A layer of mist rose in Yan Wuxin's eyes. She nodded vigorously and put the broken sword back.
On the way back, the three of them were unusually silent.
At the moment of parting, Xiang Ruzhen suddenly grabbed Lu Jinlan and asked, "Did I do something terribly wrong?"
Lu Jinlan shook her head. "Someone did commit a terrible mistake, but that person is not you, not us, and certainly not Wuxin."
"Even Heaven has committed a terrible mistake, but what can we do about it? Everything is the arrangement of fate, it was destined from the moment I was born."
"When we cannot control our destiny, destiny has already controlled us."
"Therefore, we should not be too hard on ourselves. No matter how aggressive fate may seem, we all have the right to resist it. We should not be fooled by fate, nor should we overthink things; we should just live our lives well."
Xiang Ruzhen frowned and let out a long, helpless sigh.
*
Yan Weijin, who was usually calm and composed, was somewhat restless today.
She sat alone in the pavilion, waiting for news. But the longer she waited, the more solemn her expression became.
Finally, something happened.
She stared intently as a man entered through the gate, almost entirely covered in blood, causing a flurry of panic among the servants.
Yan Weijin quickly stepped forward and realized that it was her daughter, Yan Wuxin.
"Xin'er, what... what's wrong with you?"
She quickly wiped the blood off her face, and Yan Wuxin smiled slightly, "It's nothing. Jinlan, Ruzhen, and I went outside and encountered a group of assassins."
Yan Weijin's brow twitched. "And then?"
"Then, we took care of all the assassins, leaving none alive."
Yan Weijin swallowed nervously. "Who sent the assassins? Why did they want to kill you? You...did you discover something?"
"I don't know," Yan Wuxin replied blankly. "We didn't find anything, except an old grave."
"Anything else?"
Yan Wuxin sighed, "There's another stone statue that looks a bit like Jinlan. We guessed it might be a relative of Jinlan. But Jinlan said she didn't want to delve into the past. There are many people in the world who look alike. Besides, even if they were related, it was many years ago, and she didn't want to dredge up old stories."
Yan Weijin took a deep breath and nodded slightly.
"Mother, Jinlan is not going to pursue this further. People should look forward, right?"
Yan Weijin said, "Of course, no one will dwell on the past."
Yan Wuxin hurriedly said, "Alright, then let's all look forward and live a peaceful life."
*
Lu Jinlan changed her clothes outside before returning to Zhongyong Garden. Her family, unaware of the situation, surrounded her as usual, offering words of comfort and concern.
Lu Jinlan exchanged pleasantries with her parents for a while with a smile, and then hugged each of the children.
That night, she told Lin Cheng, "I want to be alone for a while. Tell them not to bother me."
Rin Cheng was somewhat worried and had some questions in his mind, but he still nodded.
Lu Jinlan sat at her desk, facing the solitary lamp on it. The moonlight outside the window was cool and clear, but her heart was far from at peace.
The door creaked open, and Lu Jinlan was about to frown when she realized it wasn't her husband, but her father, Madam Yan.
Madam Yan arrived with Qing'er, both carrying things in their hands.
Lu Jinlan was taken aback. "Dad, why are you here so late?"
Madam Yan smiled and said, "I heard you've changed your ways, so I came to see you. What's wrong? Our young mistress Lu has become so celibate. Has something happened outside?"
Lu Jinlan shook her head. "No, it's nothing. Dad, you don't need to worry. Your daughter is all grown up now, nothing can stump me, so you don't need to worry about me."
Madam Yan sighed, "I always tell you to take care of your health, but you always think I'm nagging. But there's nothing else I can do to help you with. This is ginseng soup that I cooked myself. Drink it while it's hot and go to bed early."
Lu Jinlan nodded. "Dad, you should go to sleep early too."
Madam Yan smiled and said, "I know, it's rare that you're willing to listen to me today. By the way, I made you a pair of shoes. Qing'er, quickly bring them over for your eldest daughter-in-law to try on."
Lu Jinlan said helplessly, "Father, how old are you? I've told you before that needlework is hard on your eyes. You can have the servants do it. If all else fails, there's Lin Cheng and the others."
Madam Yan said disdainfully, "Lin Cheng? Forget about his craftsmanship. Others might be able to make them, but none can fit as well as your father. While I can still make them, I'll make you a few more pairs. When you get old and can't make them anymore, you won't be able to wear them anymore."
Lu Jinlan was forced to try on the shoes and even walked around the room a few times. "Is that enough? It's the middle of the night, you don't expect me to go out and run around, do you?"
Madam Yan chuckled, "You child, you're a mother now, yet you're still so irresponsible, never home. I wonder when you'll become more mature, when you'll ever grow up."
Lu Jinlan held his hand and stroked the fine lines on his fingers. "Dad, I've grown up now. I'll stay home with you and Mom more often from now on."
Madam Yan's eyes reddened, and she laughed, "Do I not know you? You say you're keeping me and your mother company, but actually you're keeping your husbands company. But it's good to spend more time with them. Having more children will make the house more lively."
After muttering a few words, Madam Yan took Qing'er out.
Lu Jinlan was holding the ginseng soup and had just taken a sip when she suddenly heard a scream outside.
"Father!" Just as Lu Jinlan was about to get up, the assassins poured in through the doors and windows.
The newcomer's sword was stained with blood. Lu Jinlan's eyes turned cold. Without the slightest hesitation, she used her fastest and most ruthless move to finish off the enemy and rushed out, but it was still too late.
Two corpses were lying on the ground.
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