Chapter 103 Like Strong Wine (Fifteen) I couldn't ask for more. ...
The spring breeze is gentle, and the sun shines on the stone path, its rays gradually receding with the shadows of people.
Zhi Rou turned around, looked behind her and saw no one. She glanced at Su Du with a questioning look, genuinely puzzled by his provocation of Song Qiyu.
Zhi Rou couldn't help but ask, "They say you should plan before you act. Do you just do things on a whim?"
"Aren't you the same?"
Back on the grasslands, she offended the witch doctor for a man named Jingyao. It was out of loyalty, but she ended up in a sorry state. Wasn't that just following her own heart?
Zhi Rou frowned slightly and looked at him, saying, "I'm not like you."
She certainly acted on impulse, but everything she did in Beili was carefully considered for the consequences. She wanted to return to the capital alive, to see her mother alive; if she were trapped on the grasslands for the rest of her life, her mother would be all alone…
Seeing the shadow beside her stop, Su stopped and turned around, the golden light partially covering her face.
After a moment of eye contact, he slowly said, "In your eyes, I am a bad person, am I?"
During the attack on Suyuan, he nearly killed her; upon returning to Beili, although he tried his best to treat her kindly, he could tell that she was afraid of him. This was not surprising, as everything he did was stained with blood, and he had no reputation to speak of.
It's understandable that she didn't want to have anything to do with him.
"Whether you are good or evil has nothing to do with me." Zhi Rou stepped forward and walked quickly along the Wu King's path. Her long black hair followed her, exuding a calm and indifferent air.
Su Du remained silent for a moment after hearing this, whether he frowned or smiled, it was hard to tell, before lazily following behind. He deliberately walked very slowly, and Zhi Rou would stop every now and then to turn around and glance at him.
Once they were in sync, his gaze lingered on her face for a moment: "How much did Mother tell you about Father's matter?"
Zhi Rou gently curled her fingers.
Perhaps she wasn't used to having a second person in the world call Lingxi "Mother".
Zhi Rou's expression changed several times. She wanted to say more, but she was afraid that if she did, it would seem that her mother was holding back from her. So she pursed her lips and did not answer him.
Before leaving the artificial hill, she uttered her last words, which, although not entirely agreed with by Su, still left him feeling confused.
As he walked, he glanced at Zhi Rou.
Feeling the urge to be touched by the gazes that kept coming her way, Zhi Rou looked back for a moment and said, "Just say what you want to say. It's making me uncomfortable to keep staring at me."
She began to speak, and Su Du slowed her pace slightly: "Do you think what I'm doing is wrong?"
"Which matter?"
"The Chang family."
Zhi Rou glanced at him indifferently for a moment, and his hard features fell from her eyes onto her heart, making her feel a little depressed.
"I don't understand what you're thinking, but in my opinion, given Young Master Feng's status alone, you have no chance of getting close to the Emperor. Even if you were truly capable of succeeding, you would still die in the end. You endured humiliation to return to Yanjing, yet you choose to do something so foolish, pleasing your enemies and your friends..."
Before she could utter the last word, "pain," she suddenly realized that her voice had become tinged with emotion, so she quickly stopped and replaced it with a calm tone.
“No,” she said simply. “I don’t think you should do that.”
The words I heard were inexplicably offensive.
Su turned her head slightly, her tone carrying a hint of coldness, and looked back at her, saying, "What brilliant idea does Miss Song have?"
"What do you mean?" Zhi Rou raised her eyebrows.
"Su Du, do you think I'm inferior to you?"
Zhi Rou's emotions were quite stable at the moment. She stated frankly, "I don't know Chang Yu, and I can't judge whether he is as the world says. Even if I had spent time with him and had the same feelings for him as you do, I would not have acted like you. That's why you think I'm cowardly, but I think you're quite heartless."
The wind brushed her hair behind her back, her face shrouded in light and shadow, her eyes retaining their usual sharpness.
"Do you know why I said you're different from me?" Her eyes remained unmoved. "I have someone I'd risk my life to protect, but you don't."
Upon hearing the last sentence, Su was suddenly stunned.
He assumed that because they were blood relatives, their values, and their stances should be the same. He forgot that she had grown up with her mother since childhood, while he had been alone since the beginning of his exile, and before she came into his life, he didn't even know he had any relatives alive.
He no longer cared about life or death, nor did he ever think about protecting anyone. Even after seeing his mother, his desire remained unchanged.
Zhi Rou had never fully accepted him, and now she felt a slight aversion to him, so she didn't want to linger with him and walked away.
Su Du tightened his stiff, numb fingers, took two more steps to catch up with her, and looked at her profile: "Are you angry?"
"Who are you angry at?" Zhi Rou's eyes darted around, her gaze turning cold as she looked at him, and she scoffed, "You?"
He had no choice but to back down, lowering his voice: "I'm sorry."
Zhi Rou pretended not to hear, but her lips kept pursing, and she felt a sense of irritation.
A short while later, another voice came from beside him: "In your opinion, what is the right thing to do?"
Zhi Rou made up her mind to ignore him, and then she secretly frowned, trying her best to suppress her anger.
"Find evidence that he did not betray the country."
Reaching a secluded spot, she stopped again, her bright eyes meeting his: "I also want to ask you, do you want to clear your name, or are you just venting your anger?"
“If it’s the latter, I’m just as angry as you, because that person made my mother endure for over a decade. My hatred may be different from yours, but it won’t be any less. If it’s the former, clearing my name isn’t like you do.”
She didn't want to see her mother sad.
The dappled light under the eaves spread in the stillness, Su Du's long eyelashes drooped, and there were still some aftershocks in her chest.
Indeed, once he arrived in the capital, he was eager to end things and didn't want to wait a moment longer. But she was right; his father's old troops alone were far from enough.
The Chang family's former subordinates had followed their father through thick and thin, but after so many years, not all of them were willing to abandon their families and livelihoods to help him clear his name. He, too, due to his paranoia, took charge of killings in the capital.
Su gradually calmed down; he did need more time and evidence.
He remained silent for a long time. Seeing his expressionless face, Zhi Rou regretted saying too much. She shook her head and continued to pull off her boots: "Let's go."
Zhi Rou quickened her pace slightly, and when she heard someone following closely behind her, she didn't stop for a moment until the footsteps sounded familiar. Finally, she stopped and turned around.
It was indeed Wei Yuanzhan.
His gaze was gentle, yet tinged with anger: "I also have things to say to you."
Zhi Rou paused for a moment. Although he was holding her hand tightly, the corners of her mouth still involuntarily curled up slightly after hearing his voice. The movement was so subtle that it was almost imperceptible.
Wei Yuanzhan came to "rescue" her, Zhi Rou suddenly realized.
Wei Yuanzhan saw that fleeting smile, but almost thought he was seeing things, because she quickly frowned and turned to Su Du: "It's not far from the front yard, can you walk by yourself?"
Sunlight shone on her beautiful face in the corridor, revealing the surprise in her eyes and brows as she faced Wei Yuanzhan.
Su Du glanced at Wei Yuanzhan and said in a normal tone, "If Miss Song has some free time, you might as well go to the Feng residence. I will be waiting for you there."
Zhi Rou remained silent for a moment before saying, "I understand."
After everyone left, only Zhi Rou and Wei Yuanzhan remained on the corridor. His somewhat aggrieved yet scrutinizing gaze lingered on her face, examining her inch by inch.
Having received no news of her for days, he was shocked to find her walking with Su Du upon arriving at the Song residence. He felt a blatant and unreasonable betrayal.
So when he saw them, he stopped alone behind them, somewhat angry. Later, when he heard that she had rejected Song Qiyu and insisted on seeing the guests off herself, he was so angry he laughed.
But just now, her attitude towards Su Du wasn't particularly warm, which he couldn't quite understand. What was it between them that he couldn't possibly know?
Zhi Rou felt wronged being stared at like that by Wei Yuanzhan, but she still called out first, "Wei Yuanzhan?"
He didn't respond, so she pulled her hand away, took half a step closer, and, just like when she was a child, tilted her head back and forth, slowly looking around at him, calling out a series of questions: "Young Master Wei? Cousin Wei... Senior Brother?"
Her voice drifted into his heart like silk threads, binding and pulling at him. Wei Yuanzhan's ears burned instantly. He turned to the side, still angry, and snorted, "Looks like you're all better now."
Zhi Rou didn't answer. She looked down at his left hand and asked, "Where's your hand?"
Wei Yuanzhan casually flashed the camera at her: "It's alright, Changhuai has already checked it for me."
"Just Changhuai?" Zhirou raised an eyebrow. "He didn't go...?"
Her voice was slightly soft, almost a murmur, and Wei Yuanzhan sharpened his gaze: "Who is he?"
As he asked the question, he suddenly remembered that a doctor had come to their door that day, but was stopped by Steward Qin. Changhuai had told him about it, saying that the doctor was a charlatan who had come to their manor to swindle people.
Wei Yuanzhan realized what was happening, and his tone turned sharp: "Did you hire that itinerant doctor?"
Zhi Rou sat down next to the King of Wu, swung the short sword hanging at her waist, and lifted her eyelids: "He's not just some random quack doctor, he's my master's friend."
On the day of the Lantern Festival, the man who drove the oxcart past her was none other than Mr. Dai. Zhi Rou, wanting to know news of her master, sent someone to find him.
Wei Yuanzhan watched all her actions and heard her admit it herself. He was overjoyed; she still remembered his injury.
He hesitated again. Why didn't she come to see him?
He walked over and said in a somewhat childlike tone, "I've been waiting for you, do you know that?" His eyes were deep and his clothes carried a strong, warm scent, just like him.
Zhi Rou lowered her brows and remained silent.
These days, she spends her time alone in her room trying to understand her past. Occasionally, when she thinks too deeply, she gets lost in a misconception, believing that her own existence has harmed her mother.
If it weren't for protecting her, her mother could go anywhere and do whatever she wanted.
Instead of living a mundane and boring life in a small courtyard, barely speaking, and sacrificing himself to ensure her safety.
Caught in this vortex, Zhi Rou began to feel apathetic towards many things, gradually stopped thinking about anything, and only hoped that she could get a good night's sleep.
When she was rarely afraid, she would think of Wei Yuanzhan.
Just like back in Beili, whenever she was humiliated or embarrassed, as long as she thought of Wei Yuanzhan and her mother, she would get up again and continue to face it.
They were very important to her, so she dared not see them until she had sorted out her thoughts.
Nevertheless, Zhi Rou couldn't help but wonder how he would react if he knew everything about her. Even though she seemed to know the answer deep down, she still hesitated.
Wei Yuanzhan could sense that she had something she wanted to tell him that night, and he could also sense that they were special to each other.
He had been waiting for a long time, so a little longer wouldn't make a difference.
It's quiet here, even the spring breeze is considerate, gently caressing you.
Zhi Rou raised her eyes, her gaze fixed solely on his image. After a long struggle, she finally made her decision: "Wei Yuanzhan... can I be honest with you?"
Wei Yuanzhan gazed at her from his high vantage point and gradually smiled.
"I couldn't ask for more."
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