Chapter 99: All is Silence
On the night of the Little New Year, countless fireworks were set off in the Governor's Mansion.
Although the fireworks shine briefly in the night sky, they are brighter than the sparse stars in the gray winter sky.
When the fireworks appear, the brilliant colors can even temporarily steal the brilliance of the bright moon.
Moments are actually eternal twin sisters, like two flowers blooming together. The former retains a moment of brilliance, while the latter slowly releases her light.
The study was empty at this moment. Cheng Yuan looked out of the window and saw the colorful fireworks above the Governor's Mansion. Zhen'er was taken out by Chai Lie and others to set off fireworks. She seemed to like Chai Lie more than her, perhaps because she was his flesh and blood.
A woman's radiance is actually roughly like the two kinds of night sky: the eternal dim stars and the dazzling colorful fireworks for a moment.
She doesn't want to be as short-lived as fireworks, nor does she want to be as long-lasting as the cold moon and sparse, dim stars.
Cheng Yuan was holding the divorce letter she found in the study. Although there was no date written on it, the fact that she found it here today was not because she was so smart, but because someone deliberately wanted her to see it.
She thought Mu Jin had given up on Jiao Ran and was willing to return to her. No matter what he wanted her to say or do, she was willing to do it regardless of the consequences.
But he didn't care, he would approach her when he needed her, not sparing a smile, and when he no longer needed her, he would return to his beloved.
As the fireworks bloomed in the night sky, she clutched the letter of release tightly and lay on the desk where Mu Jin often practiced calligraphy, as if his orchid-like scent was still lingering there.
Why is God so unfair? The person she loves tries his best but refuses to even look at her, while the person she hates haunts her like a ghost.
She hated her own cowardice even more.
If she had known Mu Jin would come back, she shouldn't have gone looking for a new backer so early.
When she thought of the dazzling look in Mu Jin's eyes when she looked at Jiaoran, she felt so sad that she wanted to die immediately.
She felt that apart from Zhen'er, it would be difficult for her to have any other joy in her life.
However, if she had to use Zhen'er to turn back time and reconcile with Mu Jin, she would do so without hesitation.
She murmured softly, "No, no..."
Only when her tears suppressed her voice did those words slowly stop.
She didn't want Mu Jin to leave her, even if he had other women in his heart, she was unwilling to divorce him. She also accepted the marriage that was in name only.
Closing her eyes, she imagined that the woman in front of Mu Jin was her, but she felt ashamed when she just replaced Jiaoran's face with her own.
Mu Jin didn't want to get close to her, probably because he had already felt disgusted with her after catching her and Chai Lie having an affair that night.
On the eve of the Chinese New Year, the lights in the mansion were on, and the cold wind blew, bringing not only frost and snow, but also the laughter of everyone in the mansion and the sound of clinking glasses to her ears.
Amidst the hustle and bustle, she felt extremely lonely.
In Si Yuyuan, he is the hostess, but Jiaoran can come openly and even regard her husband as her man.
And she could only lie here, chewing on loneliness, trying to avoid being completely overwhelmed by hatred and unwillingness.
At the same time, after hearing the words from the servant, Chai Lie handed the child to Chai Hui and Lu Xieying, asking them to take Zhen'er back to Siyu Garden first, and he would come back in a while.
In the second half of the night, the light of the fireworks in the sky had disappeared, and the water flowing through the Governor's Mansion was whimpering in the north wind.
Joy is fleeting.
Chai Lie has calmed down.
Ai Yangtai presented a book of internal energy secrets that he had collected. Although it was not "Gao Shan Shou", he said that there was a demon sect in Nanzhao in the past. The leader of the demon sect conquered all the small sects in Nanzhao in less than half a year by practicing this kind of martial arts, and made them convinced.
Chai Lie took the secret book, opened it, took a look, and sneered.
Then his sword pointed at Ai Yangtai.
"Young Master, what do you mean?" Ai Yangtai seemed a little flustered.
"Who are you? Tell me!"
He smiled and tore off the human skin mask on his face.
Phoenix Chick pushed his sword away with a kick of his fingertips, because he could see that Chai Lie didn't want to kill him yet.
"Master, if you really kill me, you won't be able to practice this secret book."
Chai Lie threw the thin secret book on the ground, "What on earth is this?"
"'Gao Shan Shou'." The Phoenix Chick uttered these three words slowly.
Chai Lie's mouth opened slightly, "You mean this is——"
"But how did it end up in your hands?!"
Phoenix Chick patiently picked up the manual, dusted himself off, and said, "Master, do you know why the Second Master is so gifted in martial arts?"
He shook the secret book in his hand, "It's all thanks to this. When the Second Young Master was sent to Chang'an as a hostage in his early years, he felt guilty, so he used this method to make up for his guilt towards the Second Young Master."
"Since my father doesn't want Ah Hui and I to practice, he must have his reasons. Besides, in the secret room before, my father aged like a monster without drawing blood. This shows that this secret book is not a good thing."
"That's because the governor is too greedy."
"What do you mean?"
"'Gao Shan Shou' is divided into several sections, of which the techniques are only one part. The most important thing is the secret of immortality. However, immortality is a dream that mortals should not pursue. He wants both techniques and immortality, but hasn't he gone astray? You see, the Second Young Master only chose the techniques, which allowed him to surpass all the heroes and remain undefeated both in the martial arts world and among the military officials in the court."
"You mean, as long as I choose the technique and abandon the part about immortality, I won't be like my father?"
Phoenix Chick nodded and offered it with both hands, "Whether you want to practice or not depends on your decision."
Chai Lie didn't believe him so easily. "Since the secret manual is in your hands, why don't you practice it yourself? Why would you be so kind as to let me practice it instead?"
Phoenix Cub said, "Of course not. I stole it and gave it to the eldest master because I wanted to be attached to him. It's not that I don't want to practice. How can I not have selfish motives when I tried every possible means to obtain it? It's just that this secret manual belongs to the Chai family. Apart from the Chai family, no one else can practice it, and they can't even see it."
After saying that, he asked the eldest son to call his personal guard.
This was a close confidant of Chai Lie who had followed him since childhood, so naturally he would not lie to him.
"What did you see?"
The guard opened it, and there was nothing inside. "Nothing."
"Take a closer look."
He picked up the secret book, looked at it again and again in the candlelight, and shook his head again, "There's nothing here, no patterns, no writing, nothing at all."
"You go down."
"Yes, sir."
Chai Lie was still worried, he always felt that this was a trap.
He shouldn't have jumped like that.
But the biggest difference between humans and ordinary prey is that sometimes people know the danger, but still weigh the pros and cons before doing it, even if it is a wrong choice.
Phoenix Chick added fuel to the fire, "Young Master, you should think about Miss Zhen'er and Madam Cheng. Do you really want them to be Mu Jin's wives and daughters for the rest of their lives? Once the Governor passes away and the Second Young Master takes power, he will definitely stand on Mu Jin's side. Doesn't the Young Master know his character best? He always likes to claim to be fair and righteous. Madam Cheng is so disappointed in the Young Master because she sees no way out with the Young Master."
Chai Lie's sword pierced the heart of the assassin, and blood dripped along the sword.
This strange internal martial arts technique made his blood surge when he practiced it.
Extremely painful.
But he endured it all. As Chai Che's elder brother, he could never be as good as his younger brother.
Compared to that humiliation, he could endure the current pain.
He could not be suppressed by his younger brother for the rest of his life, nor could he watch his father hand over power to Cha Che.
Under the guidance of the Phoenix Chick, he discovered that killing people could ease this pain.
He had to kill someone. Only by completely taking the other person's life could the pain in his body be relieved.
The New Year was so lively that no one paid attention to the corpse being carried out of Shoulin Garden late at night.
Because everyone is immersed in their own happiness.
Chai Lie's sword pierced the soldier's left neck and came out from the right neck, cutting off his throat.
After the sword was drawn, blood spurted out and a red mist rose.
The red color spread throughout the Governor's Mansion.
Qianlinyuan was even more delighted because when he came back from Siyuyuan that day, the genius doctor took Zhuxing's pulse and found that she was pregnant.
No one had ever seen Chache so happy.
He ran around the yard holding his wife, just like a child.
Zhuxing was so scared that she hugged his neck tightly and asked him to put her down.
The swordsman who became famous in his youth, in the small courtyard, seemed to have no trace of his past killing spree.
Zhuxing even almost forgot the terrifying aura that kept strangers away from him when he first saw him in the forest.
In just one day, Chai Lie killed countless assassins.
He didn't dare count how many people he had killed.
He just forced himself to calm down.
When the good news came from Qianlin Garden, his sword became faster and his heart became colder.
The fireworks burned out, and the mist gradually dissipated in wisps in the wind among the mountains and forests.
Jiaoran slowly stood up and went to close the window because the smoke was really unpleasant.
When she turned around again, there was already someone lying on the bed.
She stared blankly at Mu Jin who was pretending to be asleep.
"Senior Sister asked me to come back and stay with her for a few days. Why did you come along? Won't Zhen'er cry if she can't see you?"
His arm reached out, asking her to come over.
"What's wrong?"
"You've only been gone for a day, and I already miss you."
Jiao Ran couldn't help laughing, "That's too corny. You should leave early tomorrow morning, otherwise Senior Sister will see you following us and laugh at us."
He suddenly sat up, pulled her into his arms, and kept saying sweet words about how much he missed her.
"Zhen'er has her own father and mother. What does that have to do with me? I'm not her father. Weren't you jealous before? Why are you so generous now?"
She suddenly realized that Mu Jin's face had moved closer to her, so she moved away and covered her mouth. "Why are you so affectionate after just a few words? Don't you think we've been too close lately?"
He couldn't help but caress her lips. "You're really hard to predict. A while ago you said you'd take me away and hide me, and not let me go back to Siyu Garden. Now you're tired of saying that?"
Jiaoran reached out to pull him, "Hey, don't go, don't be angry, I just said something, why are you so angry?"
He turned around and got a glass of wine.
"Wouldn't it be nice of you if I left? No, I'm going to stay."
Seeing him bring the wine, Jiao Ran asked in confusion, "It's so late, why are you still drinking?"
He said, "I don't drink it, I give it to you."
Jiao Ran burst out laughing, "We're all going to sleep, who wants to drink? I won't drink either."
He slowly lay down and poured a cup of wine over his chest.
Jiao Ran was helpless, "Then remember not to make too much noise later."
The spicy wine flowed over her tongue, and he suddenly felt dizzy.
Jiaoran's eyes were also hazy. The light from the lamp embedded in the wall dimly illuminated the porcelain in the room and Jiaoran's emotional face.
"Let's have one, too, okay?"
Before Jiaoran could say anything, he quickly covered her mouth. She wanted to laugh, but he kept pursuing her with his lips and tongue.
New Year’s Eve is coming soon.
This day is the same as every year.
The children of the Chai family have always practiced martial arts. When a family banquet was held, the children were asked to draw lots. Whoever drew the lot would perform sword dance for everyone.
The governor held Cheng Yuan's child on his lap and played with him. After holding him for a while, his wife took the child away and fed him some broken cakes. The child made a mess of the dishes in front of the governor's wife, but the lady loved the child very much.
Perhaps she and the adults knew whose child this was, but no one told them, and they continued to live in confusion.
This is a tragedy.
No one expected that the ultimate happiness would be followed by human tragedy.
It was Chai Rou who rushed out with her hair disheveled. She was extremely panicked when Chai Lie caught Wu Jian's note. Seeing that her madness had broken out at this time, Chai Yu asked Chai Che to go up and force her back, and lock her up again until she woke up and came out naturally.
His sword is so fast and so fierce.
Before they expected it, Chai Lie rushed towards Chai Che.
Chai Che had no weapon in his hand and took the sword with his bare hands.
He was too careless, perhaps because he was immersed in the joy of his wife's pregnancy, or perhaps because he was facing his brother, a brother who had never really swung a sword at him.
Blood flowed from between his fingers as he held onto Chai Lie's sword.
But he did not stop his moves, he pulled it out of Chai Che's hand and came back, his eyes turned blood red.
Chai Yu was shocked and stepped forward to stop it personally.
But for a while, he couldn't be subdued with one move.
When the servants in the mansion saw that the eldest son had gone mad, they did not dare to rush forward and fight for their lives without the commander-in-chief's order.
Chai Hui was terrified and was about to go forward, but Lu Xieying stopped him and said, "If you go up, you will die. Even your father can't stop you. You will only be beheaded if you go."
Many years later, the only Cheng Yuan left in Jiaoran's heart was the Cheng Yuan of that day.
She forgot their argument, forgot Cheng Yuan's hateful look, and forgot Cheng Yuan's smug look in front of her.
She shouldn't have gone forward.
But she thought, if there really was someone who could bring him back to his senses.
Then it must be her.
His sword was too fast and his heart was too cruel. When facing his loved ones, he became like a beast.
Jiaoran was pulled by Mu Jin for just a brief moment, the blink of an eye.
She had already rushed out, a woman with such poor skills, a woman who could almost be considered to have no martial arts skills, no one knew why she had such decisive courage.
When his sword pierced her body, cutting her in half, and her blood gushed out in the cold wind of New Year's Day, staining the dishes, the ground, and people's faces red, she finally understood something.
In fact, there is a possibility that she does not love Chai Lie, otherwise why would she joke about her life.
Love is such a strange thing, she never understands it.
But before she died, she was very clear in her mind that she was afraid that they would accidentally kill him when they could not control him, so she was eager to help him regain his sanity. She was also afraid that he would kill his brothers and sisters in a fit of madness, and then he would be in great pain when he woke up.
He is jealous of his brother, but he may not love his brother.
They were brothers who shared the same blood as him.
With such a crisp sound, it turns out that cutting off a person's body is so fast.
His world stopped, he could hear nothing, including the pain and hatred screaming from his body.
Until the child's voice broke the silence of blood and snow.
She called out softly, "Mother——"
But no one answered her.
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