Chapter 145 An Old Friend
"We've been through so much to get to the point where we can walk side by side. Are you going to let me go now?" Xiao Mingxuan suddenly remembered what Liu Yuan once said.
Opposing positions may never be just about identity.
Zhao Xihe had not experienced the ten years of turmoil that Xiao Mingxuan had gone through.
Xiao Mingxuan could not understand the shackles of compassion placed on Zhao Xihe.
There is no absolute empathy in the world.
Everyone can see the inevitable outcome, but the reason we've been entangled with it until this point is just because we're unwilling to accept it.
"Why not?" Xihe looked up suddenly. "This world is not incapable of life without someone else. The same is true for humans."
Then he said: "Xiao Mingxuan, I am no longer the silly little girl in your memory, and you are no longer the person I once wanted to bring back to the human world. Let's leave it at that."
As soon as I said it, the imagined sense of relief did not come, but instead I felt endless emptiness, as if somewhere in my body had been completely hollowed out.
It turns out that she is not as ruthless as I imagined.
The flowers...still fell.
*
The two parted on bad terms, and Xihe still let Xiao Mingxuan go.
On the third day, Zhao Chengning brought the seriously injured Zhao Jinyuan back to the general's mansion. When Xihe arrived, the doctor had just come out.
"How is second brother?" Xihe asked hurriedly.
The doctor was about to bow, but Xihe interrupted him, "No need to bow, doctor, how is my brother?"
The doctor took a look inside, hesitated for a moment, and said, "The Second Prince was seriously injured, with damage to his internal organs and a severe head injury. Although his life has been saved, there is a possibility that he will never wake up."
Xihe held on to the pillar behind him with one hand to steady himself. After a long moment, he said with difficulty, "What I mean is that my second brother might spend his whole life..."
The doctor nodded with regret, "It's very likely."
Xihe opened her mouth, only to feel a ringing in her ears. She could no longer hear the doctor's voice. Only the word "unconscious" lingered in her ears for a long time.
After a long time, she said with difficulty: "Thank you, doctor, I understand."
The doctor sighed and left with his medicine box.
Xihe walked forward step by step, as if there were thousands of heavy burdens under her feet, dragging her down and making it difficult for her to move forward.
Zhao Chengning still had his armor on, his hair was disheveled, his face was covered in blood, and the wound on his arm was still bleeding. He seemed to feel no pain, leaning against the bed with a numb expression, quietly looking at Zhao Jinyuan on the bed.
"Big brother." Xihe called out three times in a row, and Zhao Chengning finally realized what was going on and turned around and smiled at her.
"It's Xihe."
Xihe suddenly stopped talking.
Zhao Chengning was a role model for the princes, dignified and steady. But the Zhao Chengning before her, with his red eyes, lonely expression, and decadent and fragile dejected expression, seemed particularly unfamiliar to her.
"Brother, Second Brother will wake up, he will definitely wake up."
The moment she heard the doctor's explanation, Xihe subconsciously wanted to summon the space, but that place was already empty and was used by her to make a deal with Mingche.
Zhao Chengning didn't say anything. They all knew that the possibility of Zhao Jinyuan waking up was very small. He wanted to pull Zhao Jinyuan's hand, but suddenly thought of the dirt on his hands and stopped a fraction of a second.
"It's my fault. I made him like this."
"Brother, what are you talking about? If there is any fault, it should be Xiao Mingxuan and me. What does it have to do with you?" Xihe knew that Zhao Chengning was heartbroken, but she didn't understand why the other party would blame her.
Zhao Chengning smiled bitterly and shook his head. "Xihe, my father has already issued an order allowing me to negotiate cooperation with Beili. This matter will be carried out with or without you. How can I blame you?"
"That's not your fault! Brother, this was just an accident that no one expected." Xihe wanted to make Zhao Chengning sober up, but it was of no avail. She could only repeat a few words dryly.
"Xihe, you don't know that this operation is under my full authority."
Over the past few decades, every time Zhao Jinyuan went on an expedition, it was Zhao Chengning who was fully responsible for planning and deploying troops, and this time was no exception.
"Nangong Yan's familiarity with the Beili military camp was a great help. We should have escaped unscathed, but... due to my poor decision-making, Jin Yuan fell into the tiankeng and was severely injured by the Beimo assassins who had been ambushed there long ago."
In the past ten years, Zhao Chengning has never failed. The only time he failed was this time, and the price was Zhao Jinyuan's coma.
"It's my fault. It's me... who hurt him like this. Why wasn't I the one lying here?" Zhao Chengning lost his composure, his expression full of madness, his spirit was on the verge of collapse.
"Brother, please don't be like this." Xihe hugged Zhao Chengning distressedly and choked with sobs, "You are a human, not a god. Victory and defeat are common in the military. When you made the decision, you didn't know it would turn out like this. Don't blame yourself anymore. If my second brother were awake, he wouldn't want to see you like this!"
"Wash your face and take a rest for a while, okay?" Xihe looked at the dark circles under Zhao Chengning's eyes and knew that Zhao Chengning had not had a rest since he went out the day before. She asked someone to bring a bowl of calming soup for Zhao Chengning to drink.
Unexpectedly, after just two sips, he vomited it all out.
Zhao Chengning vomited out all the medicine as if his stomach was on fire. He leaned weakly on the edge of the bed, his eyes red, and laughed softly.
"Brother!" Xihe felt bad and quickly wiped Zhao Chengning's face with a handkerchief. She knew Zhao Chengning's body had reached its limit, but no matter how she persuaded him, he wouldn't go back. He couldn't eat anything and vomited out all the medicine he had taken.
She patted Zhao Chengning's back gently to calm him down. "Brother, I know you feel bad, but you can't ruin your body. If Second Brother wakes up and sees..."
Xihe's words got stuck in her throat, and her eyes suddenly widened.
"What's wrong? Brother is fine, it's just..."
"Brother, second brother's mouth just moved!" Xihe said in surprise.
Zhao Chengning was stunned. He ignored the dull pain all over his body and looked up at Zhao Jinyuan, who was lying on the bed with a pale face.
"Jin Yuan?"
Although it was only for a moment, Xihe knew clearly that he was not mistaken. "Brother, I really was not mistaken. Second brother's mouth really moved."
Zhao Chengning smiled through his tears, the corners of his lips curled up slightly. He closed his eyes with a sense of relief and lay down on the soft quilt. His spirit, which had been tense for a long time, finally relaxed. "You will wake up! Jin Yuan... wake up. We haven't drunk the wine you buried under the tree yet. Don't... forget it."
Zhao Chengning fell asleep, and Xihe did not wake him up again. She asked someone to bring a thin blanket to cover Zhao Chengning, and then left.
Except for that day, no matter what he said, Zhao Jinyuan never responded.
After Zhao Chengning woke up, he finally stopped vomiting and ate something, but he was still not in good spirits. The affairs of the General's Mansion still fell on Xihe's shoulders.
Seven days later, an old friend came to the general's mansion.
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