Chapter 94 "I actually raised someone else's pet for over ten years..."
After the poison in her body was temporarily suppressed, Leng Cuizhu rolled off the man's face, leaned against the bed and gasped for breath. She straightened her clothes, pursed her dry lips, and turned to glance at the man sitting on the floor next to her, also leaning against the bed.
Seeing that his face was soaked with sweat, and he was sitting with his knees drawn up, deep in thought, she handed him a handkerchief and said, "Wipe yourself."
The man blinked and came to his senses, turned his head to look at her, and suddenly took the handkerchief, clutching it in his palm.
She frowned and reminded him, "Wipe your face."
“…Hmm.” Only then did Yin Yuan make a move, carefully folding the towel, lowering his head to silently wipe the water from his face, staring ahead, lost in thought.
"Were you crying just now?" she sneered. "I'm the one who's been trapped here for almost a month, why are you crying? It's ridiculous..."
"Lingniang." The man looked up, his eyes filled with a sense of loss. "I will find a way to cure your Gu poison."
She had originally intended to retort with a sarcastic remark, but the man's unexpected question caught her off guard, leaving her speechless. All her harsh words were swallowed back down, turning into a single question: "Why?"
"I don't want you to be trapped by these things..."
“But Yin Yuan,” she chuckled softly, “the one who binds me the most is you.”
"I know."
After a long silence, he said, "Because I love you, but you don't love me... I know that even after you're disappointed in me, you still won't leave me, not because you really want to give me a chance to start over, but because you can't leave. You need to get the freedom you want from me. What you want is that piece of paper, not me."
"I know……"
Leng Cuizhu's eyes widened. She hadn't expected Yin Yuan to expose this. She thought he couldn't bear it, and that he would at least leave some room for both sides and save face.
But he cruelly tore away that last veil of shame, stripping both of them of their dignity and turning them into wild beasts to be torn apart at will.
“So,” she sighed, “you know what you’re planning to do to me, how you’re going to get revenge on me…”
"Oh, you've already trapped me. You've got a good plan, sir."
The man said, "...I will let you go."
"But not now. Get your illness treated first, then we can talk about this."
“I don’t understand why you’re helping me cure this ailment,” she said, hugging her arms tightly. “Is it also because of love? When did you become so devoted and selfless?”
The man's brow furrowed even deeper: "No..."
On the contrary, it's because of selfishness.
Love at first sight, but ultimately ending in tragedy, arguments that leave both sides hurt... He didn't want to end this clichéd story.
Because of love, because of hate; because of selflessness, because of selfishness.
Like a shard of glass deeply embedded in flesh and blood, its sharp beauty, over time, merges with the flesh and blood, becoming one with it, and with each embrace, it becomes a little deeper.
Anyway, I will cure your illness.
"And what about you?" she asked, tilting her head. "Do you need to get your ailments treated too?"
"If it's not curable, it doesn't matter anymore." His hurtful words, his silence and coldness had wounded her so much that she had become numb, or rather, she no longer cared.
Yin Yuan said he would help her cure the Gu poison, so she untied him and let him go, leaving herself alone in the room day after day, waiting for him to come one day.
That day came quickly. Just then, she had almost fully recovered and was able to get out of bed and walk around.
"Is this the method you mentioned?" She stood at the doorway, crossed her arms, and stepped aside to let the maid pass, her gaze falling on the medicinal soup the maid was carrying.
"Where did you find this? Can this medicine really cure Gu poison? It can't be that easy..." She initially thought Yin Yuan was joking, but he was serious. She had originally planned to spend her life battling the Gu poison within her, seeing who would die first...
"Sit down and drink your medicine." Yin Yuan looked away without saying anything more.
She was slightly puzzled, but still sat down at the head of the bed and took the medicine bowl handed to her by the maid.
She sniffed it; it was just an ordinary Chinese herbal soup, except for a slightly fishy smell. The fishy smell was unique, unlike the astringent and bitter smell of medicinal herbs; it was a fishy smell with a hint of sweetness and sourness, indescribable.
"Does this really work?"
The man shifted his gaze: "...You don't have to drink it."
"Lingniang, you don't have to drink it. Whether you drink it or not is entirely up to you."
She tilted her head and sighed, "It's alright, I'll drink it."
As she spoke, she tilted her head back and poured the medicine down her throat. The man's eyes widened suddenly.
Before she could finish drinking the medicine, the man flicked his sleeve, overturned the bowl, smashed it on the ground, and spilled the remaining medicine all over the floor.
“This isn’t medicine,” she glared at the man, wiping the medicine stains from her lips with the back of her hand. “It’s poison, isn’t it?”
"I knew it. You weren't that kind-hearted to compromise with me. You even said you didn't want me to be trapped... Ha."
She eagerly awaited the poison to take effect, waiting for the man to reveal his true colors and seize her by the throat, but all she received was a single sentence.
“Lingniang, it’s not poison,” Yin Yuan frowned, his voice hoarse, “it’s medicine…”
"Whose illness are you treating?" She stood up. "Yours?"
The man said anxiously, "I don't know..."
She opened her mouth, about to question him, when suddenly her wrist warmed up, the heat spreading from her wrist throughout her body like a gentle rain, nourishing every inch of her form. She couldn't help but purse her lips and moan softly, turning her head to sit on the bed.
She lifted her collar, revealing her arm, and ran her hand over the gradually receding bulge beneath her skin, looking up in astonishment: "This..."
It really was a cure for the poison.
The man stared at her, then silently turned away, raising his hand to wipe away his tears.
"Lingniang, do you know what was used as the ingredient in that bowl of medicine?"
Several servants carried in a cabinet, opened it in front of her, and took out the man curled up inside.
"Leng Zhen!"
Leng Cuizhu knelt down in front of the man, shaking his shoulders and calling his name, but she couldn't wake him up. When she saw that Leng Zhen's face was pale and her body was stiff and cold, she suddenly realized and got up to rush towards Yin Yuan.
"You killed him! This was all your doing!" She grabbed the man's collar, her face filled with shock. "Why would you do this... Are you insane?"
Yin Yuan let her push him, raised his hand to wipe away the hot tears that kept overflowing from the corners of her eyes: "He is the medicinal ingredient."
"Him?" She covered her lips, her mind blank, and murmured with her head down, "Why could he be... How could he possibly be the antidote..."
The man watched her mutter to herself with a cold eye, then smiled slightly and said, "Lingniang, the son pays for the father's debts."
"As a bastard who can never see the light of day, this is the best end for him."
The son pays for the father's debts.
She bit her lip until it bled, and said hoarsely, "How could you be so cruel..."
"And what about you?" The man closed his eyes, his voice trembling. "Aren't you just as heartless?"
"Didn't you say you loved me before? Why did you lie to me again... Was that love fake too? Was it all premeditated from the beginning, without a trace of true feeling?" he said in a deep voice. "You said that having a child with me was the luckiest thing that ever happened to you. Turns out, it wasn't luck, it was something you had to do."
"I actually raised someone else's child for over ten years, and I always thought I was the biological father, even using that as a source of comfort..."
How did Yin Yuan learn about this?
She struggled to suppress her panic, shaking her head repeatedly: "No, that's not true, I didn't betray you..."
"No betrayal?"
"If there was no betrayal, why could Leng Zhen's blood cure your Gu poison?" The man suddenly realized, "The letter said that only the person who cast the Gu poison and someone with blood ties to the person who cast it can cure it."
"Ling Niang, tell me, why was Leng Zhen able to solve this?"
"...A letter? What letter?" Her eyes widened. "Don't listen to hearsay! Let me explain..."
"How else do you want to lie?"
The man took the letter from the servant, unfolded it, and read aloud: "Sister Xiaozhu, I hope this is a letter from you."
He paused, looked up at her, and repeated, "We are destined to be apart. Before I met you, I was all alone, living a life of idleness. After meeting you, my days are numbered. I know my sins are grave, having harmed you and wronged you greatly. Therefore, when I die, all the property deeds and land deeds stored in the furnace will be yours to manage. Furthermore, Leng Zhen is a kind and virtuous woman, and she is my only remaining bloodline in this world... If you wish to cure the Gu poison, you can take her heart's blood."
"This is his last letter to you. I didn't read a single word. If you don't believe me, you can read it yourself."
"Heart's blood?"
She suddenly ripped open Leng Zhen's collar and saw that the skin on his chest was ulcerated and red.
"Even if what you say is true, and Leng Zhen isn't your child, you can't treat him this cruelly! Don't you have any conscience? Don't you care about the friendship you've built over a decade?"
"So you admit it..." the man murmured, "So in your heart, I only have feelings for you, and I'm just someone you can use."
Leng Cuizhu held Leng Zhen tightly, speechless for a moment.
“Now that the poison has been cured, there’s no need to bother with me anymore.” Yin Yuan lowered his eyelashes. “Oh, right… and the contract… your contract is still with me…”
As he spoke, he flicked his sleeve to dismiss the servants, then half-squatted beside her, gently stroking her pale face with the back of his hand: "Your illness is cured, and you no longer need to be driven by desire to feign affection for me. The only child who could hold you back is gone... You must be eager to leave me, right?"
“Yin Yuan…”
The man turned away, ignoring her words.
A moment later, a servant returned with a silver box. Yin Yuan unlocked it, took out a dusty paper contract, and laid it flat on the table.
"I will return the silver I used to redeem you as your travel expenses. In addition, I will give you three hundred taels for relocation, five hundred taels for resettlement, and four hundred taels..."
She interrupted, "Are you really going to kick me out?"
The man looked up and shouted, "It's all your fault for making things this way!"
After he finished speaking, seeing that she was stunned and confused, he lowered his head, furrowed his brows, and silently turned away.
“I’m sorry, but I really…can’t accept it.” He folded the contract neatly. “Anyway, you don’t love me, and you’ve suffered so much with me for so many years. If we continue to entangle ourselves like this, neither of us will have a good ending. So, it’s time to put an end to it.”
He gripped the paper contract tightly, brought the tip of the paper close to the candle flame, and let the paper burn, gradually turning to ashes.
"You can go now. The manager will deliver the money to you later."
"Yin Yuan." She stood up, wanting to say something to him, but her gaze fell on his trembling hands as he leaned on the table, the scars on his arms, and finally she closed her lips.
“Over the years, I have wronged you,” the man sighed, “causing you to suffer and endure hardship… However, you also lied to me, so we can barely call it even.”
"Life is still long. You are in your thirties and still have a lot of youth left. Lingniang, from now on, cleanse yourself of the past and start anew. Do not repeat the same mistakes."
Leng Cuizhu frowned, silently left the house, and walked into the snow-covered landscape.
Halfway there, her legs sank into the soft snow. As she pulled her legs out, she turned around.
The man stood in the room, the clear, snowy light reflecting on his face, tears streaming down his cheeks.
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