Chapter 86: Bright as the Moon
It was raining outside the window, and the two people in the room were already fast asleep.
Mu Jin twisted a strand of her long hair and wrapped it around his fingertips. He slept on his side. The one sleeping outside was Jiaoran, who woke up in the middle of the night to listen to the sound of rain.
There seems to be a figure outside the window, it's raining so heavily.
She quietly got out of bed and put on her coat.
As soon as he opened the window, he saw a man punching out, and Jiaoran quickly blocked it with his palm.
Silent confrontation.
Both of them were knocked back half a step by the other's force.
The candlelight in the corridor flickered slightly, and Jiaoran saw clearly who the uninvited guest was.
She perked up.
With a somersault like a kite, he flipped out of the window.
Chai Roufen climbed onto the roof, Jiaoran had already closed the window and followed closely.
She knew that she had come specifically to see her.
The two of them shuttled between the pavilions and towers in the mountains, their shadows looming in the rainy night.
She attacked fiercely, and Jiaoran could only counter her moves temporarily.
The two men, one attacking and the other defending, used their bare-handed moves continuously, causing the rain to fly and the wind to dodge.
Chai Rou is the most formidable opponent she has ever encountered.
No wonder she could become Chai Che's first master. Some of her moves can indeed be found in Chai Che.
When Jiaoran first entered the Governor's Mansion, he was frightened by her disheveled hair, and later he was seriously injured by her. In the end, he suffered a lot at the hands of this lunatic.
In the midst of the fierce battle, Jiao Ran suddenly asked, "Why did you hurt me back then?"
She turned around a little too late, and was slapped on the shoulder by Jiaoran, and stopped. "You won't thank me?"
Jiao Ran said, "How can you thank someone after getting beaten?"
"But what if I opened up your blocked Ren and Du meridians?"
Jiao Ran was like a fool, and didn't even make a move. "Really?"
She was horrified and recalled that although she was in great pain at that time, she did make rapid progress in her practice afterwards.
"You just realized it now?" He slapped Jiaoran's abdomen with two powerful palms.
Jiaoran came here to talk to her and had no intention of fighting. He jumped down and turned around to land on a small boat in the pond.
At that time, she was in great pain and thought she was unlucky to have met a madman, but she didn't expect that this madman was here to help her.
But when she told her about this, she was very sad. It turned out that she was not a waste all the time. It was just that someone blocked her way of learning martial arts. You know, if a martial artist wants to practice well, he must start from childhood, but they actually intended to make her a useless waste.
She just felt confused. All these years of mother-daughter relationship turned out to be a joke.
"Poor child, it hasn't been easy for you over the years."
At this time, the rain in the mountains and forests was even heavier. The light boat was swaying on the water, but the two men's feet were as firm as nails and they did not move.
She said she was pitiful, and indeed, she had escaped from the wonderland of fish and dragons with great difficulty, and traveled a long way back to Huiying Gate, but was ordered to be hunted down by her mother on the spot.
In the heavy rain, there was no sound of anyone, and she only felt sad in her heart.
It turns out that these short twenty years were all a game.
The chess game had already begun since the day she left Huiying Gate, or perhaps even earlier, when someone had already set up this game without her knowing.
Now she just wanted to overturn the chessboard and see who was playing the chess.
After a long while, Chai Rou finally spoke out loud, tears in her eyes, "You look like your mother. If not seventy percent, then sixty percent."
Jiaoran's eyes were fixed on the waves, and the shadow of the purple-clothed woman with her clothes fluttering was floating in his mind.
She stepped forward and patted Jiaoran on the shoulder, then rose up on the waves. When she reached the pool, she suddenly let herself fall down. Jiaoran didn't understand, so she did the same. When they both sank to the bottom of the pool, Jiaoran saw a stone statue standing at the bottom of the water.
She walked around the statue and looked at it for a long time.
Until there was no more air in her chest to support her to look at the stone statue.
Then he jumped out of the water.
Both of them were soaked, but Jiaoran was dazed and seemed unaware.
It turned out that this was her mother.
She pointed to the bottom of the water and shouted, "Look at her, your mother Chai Ying. When she was alive, she made great contributions to the Chai family. But after her death, her statue was thrown into the water, never to see the light of day again."
Jiaoran suddenly woke up and choked up, "What on earth is going on?"
She said, "You should avenge her. The first time I saw you, I knew her child was back. Back then, they all said that the boy Mu Jin they found was her child, but I was the only one who knew that wasn't true. She wasn't pregnant with a boy, but a girl. What's more, that child didn't look like her at all."
Jiaoran was extremely sad. She learned a little bit about her mother from Chai Xiao, but she didn't know why she died.
Chai Rou said, "Your mother is so pitiful. She has always been so trembling with fear for the great cause of the Chai family and has never been willful. But she made a mistake in just one thing and it has brought her to ruin."
Thinking of her sister and herself now, Chai Rou felt even more miserable.
Jiaoran wanted to ask more, but she laughed wildly, "Hahahahahahaha... Sister, you're leaving! Good riddance! Didn't you want to escape your fate? Death is also a kind of escape, but it's a pity that your death was not glorious. Fortunately, you still have a daughter. She can take back what rightfully belongs to you."
Seeing her laughing crazily, Jiaoran couldn't help but take a few steps back.
She pulled her into her arms and coaxed her gently, "Jiao Ran, do you know why you are called Jiao Ran?"
Jiaoran himself didn't know.
"At first I didn't think your name was related to her. Then I thought about it night after night, and remembered what she said once in the army. She pointed to the bright moon and said, 'What good is a firefly? It's better to be the bright moon, shining with the sun and the moon.' If she is the bright moon, then her child will naturally be the bright moon."
That's how her name came about.
"They all wanted to kill her, so how could she escape? No one in this world could help her. The people she trusted, considered family, and could depend on for her life, were all using her. When she no longer wanted to be used, they thought she was a threat."
"I couldn't protect her either, damn me!"
"This is not your fault. Where is her grave?"
Jiaoran advised her not to cry, but he himself was already in tears.
"Tomb? What tomb? Her body is incomplete. I heard it was already ground to dust. This stone statue is my only way to pay tribute to her."
After hearing this, Jiaoran sat on the shore and stared at the water. The rain had stopped, but she didn't even have any tears.
"Who wanted to kill her? Chai Xiao said she had fallen into depravity. Why did they say that about her?"
Chai Rou laughed bitterly, "She's fallen into depravity. The Chai family devoured her and then said she was tasteless. Hahahaha, how shameless! If it weren't for her repeated achievements, how could the Chai family have put down the rebellion so quickly? And she should have been supported by the people, a princess with fine clothes and food, but she survived a near-death experience on the battlefield. After finally stopping the war, they want her to marry the Lu family, saying that the new emperor will need the support of the aristocratic family after he ascends the throne."
Jiaoran asked cautiously, "So...did she marry a man from the Lu family?"
Chai Rou suddenly jumped up and said angrily, "Humph, they think they can marry my sister? What wishful thinking."
After a moment, he continued, "Mrs. Lu deserved death for not helping someone in need back then... However, my sister's fiancé, Lu Yuan, is actually a decent man."
She talked about the battle.
The late emperor issued an edict, ordering Chai Yu to defend Tongshan to the death.
General Fei Ying was invincible in every battle, so he could certainly do it this time, not to mention that there were only two thousand rebels.
Unexpectedly, the news was wrong. The rebels gathered as many as 6,000 local people, but he only brought 1,000 people with him.
Can't be saved.
More than 700 out of 1,000 men died in the battle, and the few remaining ones defended Tongshan tenaciously. If Tongshan was lost, these rebels would disrupt the court's plans at the time.
Chai Yu was seriously injured. He thought that this battle was just a gathering of incompetent and defeated rebels and would not amount to much, but Chai Yu did not expect to lose face so much.
At this moment, another Chai Yu broke in from the periphery and severely damaged the rebels. These people even thought they had seen it wrong. The Chai Yu who was trapped on the mountain was obviously seriously injured, but in the blink of an eye, he broke through the siege.
He led a team of only three or four hundred people and broke through the enemy's camp like a quick arrow.
They thought they could turn the tide in this way, but for some reason, the rebels started with 6,000 people and gradually gathered more and more people, now totaling 10,000 people.
Chai Yu doesn’t even have one tenth of it now.
The real Chai Yu was so frightened that he hid in the tent and dared not come out, leaving more than 200 people to surround and protect him.
And the Chai Yu who came later tore off his disguise, revealing a woman's face.
Chai Ying's disguise skills have really reached the level of perfection. As long as she wants, she can make her words, actions and facial features exactly the same as her brother's.
In addition, she is good at onomatopoeia, and most of Chai Yu's military achievements were due to her.
No one else knew about this except the Chai family.
In that battle, Chai Ying fought for three days and three nights without closing his eyes, and he only had the strength to breathe.
The world belongs to the Chai family, and the people who guard the world are also members of the Chai family. Chai Ying does not feel it is a pity to die here. She just feels that she has never lived for herself in this life.
Either she died here today, or if she won today, there would be another battle waiting for her. If she was seriously injured today and could never lift a sword again in the future, then she would have to start preparing for her marriage with the man from the Lu family.
She swung her sword endlessly, bathing the battlefield in blood until even her horse's legs were broken.
Just when I thought I was going to die here, someone led a group of soldiers and horses to come.
Thanks to his arrival, Chai Ying turned defeat into victory. With food and soldiers, she took a short rest and wiped out the enemy in one fell swoop. However, the man who came to support her was her fiancé Lu Yuan, whom she had never met.
Lu Yuan was seriously injured on the battlefield and was dying. He asked someone to call Chai Ying. At this time, Chai Ying was still wearing a disguise, but he already knew that it was a disguise.
She took off the mask, not expecting that the first and last time she met him would be the last.
Chai Ying lingered beside him for a while, silent.
He said, "Don't be sad. I've relieved you of your worries today, not to ask for anything from you. You don't have to pay for my life. I borrowed this army from my uncle's territory, and it will be your private army in the future."
Chai Ying asked, "Why are you doing this? Is it just because I'm your future wife?"
He said, "Although you have never seen me, I have seen you countless times in the crowd, even if it was not your face."
She was stunned for a moment, "Did you know I could disguise myself?"
It was strange. Her disguise had clearly reached the pinnacle, but he still saw through it.
He then smiled and said, "You can disguise yourself temporarily and gain military merit for him, so that he will be more favored when His Majesty appoints a crown prince in the future. But do you have to work for your branch of the Chai family for the rest of your life?"
Chai Ying had never thought about the future before.
"Have you ever thought about what you want to do?"
“Never.”
Lu Yuan smiled and said, "Then you can think about it slowly, but promise me that after I die, you will no longer be coerced by Chai's family affection. You must do what truly makes you happy."
"What will really make me happy?"
She pinched her sword gestures, and the sword was like the wind, a ray of green light floating in the tent.
Her swordsmanship is exquisite. The sword blade sweeps down, and in an instant, she changes several moves.
Before the sword force was withdrawn, a new sword move was launched, and this move was even more exquisite.
He said, "I admire you, I admire you!"
Chai Ying suddenly smiled and said, "I know what I want."
Lu Yuan nodded, "It's martial arts, right?"
She was very puzzled, "How do you know?"
He said, "Just now, when I saw you dancing with a sword, I thought, maybe what you like most is not leading troops in battle, nor staying at the princess's mansion and not caring about worldly affairs. In fact, you prefer the unrestrained life in the martial arts world."
"But, I'm a princess, I can't..."
He said slowly, "What you have done for the Chai family is enough."
"I……"
"Just pretend I've never been here. Today, you have died fighting for the Chai family in Tongshan. From now on, you will be the real you. Stop being Chai Ying and be your true self."
Chai Ying stared at him blankly, tears silently falling.
Lu Yuan's breath was getting weaker and weaker. He finally shook her hand and said softly, "Go..."
The pond rippled after the rain. Jiaoran listened to Chai Rou's story, and a complex emotion surged in her heart. She finally understood that her mother was not as bad as Chai Xiao said, but a pitiful person bound by her family.
"What happened next?" Jiaoran asked softly.
Chai Rou sighed, "She did leave later, but how could the Chai family let her go so easily? They sent people to search everywhere and finally found her in a remote town. At that time, she was already... pregnant."
Jiao Ran's heart was shocked. "Who is my father?"
Chai Rou shook her head, "No one knows. She refused to say it until her death." Her voice choked.
Jiaoran clenched her fists, her nails digging deep into her palms. She finally understood why her Ren and Du meridians were blocked—someone was afraid she would inherit her mother's talent and become the next Chai Ying.
"So, you helped me open up my meridians so that I could avenge my mother?"
Chai Rou stared at her, "Not entirely. I hope you can live out the freedom that she failed to achieve." She pointed to the stone statue in the water, "Look, she has always been there."
Jiaoran looked out at the water. Under the moonlight, the stone statue's outline seemed much softer. She suddenly felt something burning in her chest, a heat she hadn't felt in twenty years.
“What should I do?”
She asked, "What do you think you should do?"
"You want me to kill those who hurt her?"
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