Chapter 95 A warm drop of liquid fell silently and landed on the side of the loquat's cheek.
The loquats kept running through the passageway where light and shadow mingled.
It was as if they were being chased by an invisible behemoth.
In reality, there was no one behind the boy; all that remained were his own hurried and disordered footsteps.
His breathing became heavy, and a hazy mist rose before his eyes.
The loquat gradually began to feel the strain.
Despite this, he continued running forward relentlessly...
Until his old, injured leg could no longer support him, his ankle suddenly buckled, and he fell unexpectedly onto the hard, bluestone-paved ground.
The moment her knees hit the ground, Pipa seemed to hear a faint cracking sound coming from the joints of her bones.
--Oops.
A thought flashed through Pipa's mind: "Won't this break my leg?"
But then he collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted.
He was panting heavily, listening to his heart pounding wildly.
I didn't feel particularly uncomfortable.
More often than not, it's numbness.
On his body...
In my heart...
Perhaps there was also a touch of bitterness that was hard to explain.
—How did it turn out like this?
Loquat thought.
The truth I've always believed in...
And what he believed to be a delusional dream...
Right under their noses, things suddenly intersected and reversed...
Those once familiar faces suddenly became ambiguous.
It didn't become completely unfamiliar, but rather gradually evolved into the form that Yu Qingzhou knew.
It happened so suddenly, yet so perfectly in unison.
It made Pipa start to wonder if... this was how the world was supposed to be.
The problem wasn't with those who repeatedly mistook him for Yu Qingzhou, but with himself—
It was my own mistake to wander into this world that should have belonged to someone else that caused all this misalignment.
But……
So, where did the original Yu Qingzhou go?
And what about oneself, who does not belong to this world? What will become of one's future?
Loquat doesn't know.
He was no longer able to make any judgments or think; he only felt a deep weariness, like a tide washing over his already dilapidated body before it had even aged.
Although I'm a little unwilling, it makes sense.
Young Master Lan's inexplicable kindness and care, and Li Xiao—
Pipa should have realized it sooner. How could someone who initially disliked her so much suddenly change their attitude, unusually showing her affection and even making a lifelong promise?
It all turned out to be because of Yu Qingzhou.
Pipa didn't know exactly how she resembled that Taoist Master Yu, so much so that people were so certain that they mistook him for him.
...Could it be because of this face?
As Pipa thought about it, she subconsciously reached out and touched it.
Only then did I realize that my cheeks were already wet and cold, and I didn't know whether it was cold tears or sweat.
Before this, Pipa had almost never looked closely at her own face. When she caught a glimpse of it in the mirror, all that remained was an unremarkable impression.
The scar on his forehead, in particular, adds to his otherwise unremarkable appearance, giving him the label of being disfigured.
Loquat also had some regrets.
Now, however, I suddenly feel genuinely grateful for this scar, because it seems that Master Yu would never have had a permanent scar on his face.
—He and he are different.
Pipa thought that even if one day he opened his eyes and everyone in the world mistook him for Yu Qingzhou, he would not agree.
Why should I, a living, breathing person, be treated like someone else?
If he were to be hated for this, he would naturally feel wronged. And even if he were to be liked, he would not be happy at all.
In Pipa's view, since it belongs to someone else, it will eventually be returned to its rightful owner.
Even if you deceive yourself into keeping it, you'll only be trapped in a state of anxiety and uncertainty, living in constant fear.
Therefore, it's better not to get what you shouldn't have in the first place.
Pipa slowly turned her body to the side to make the leg that was being pressed down feel a little better.
At the same time, he felt something poke him.
Upon taking it out, he realized it was the dagger he was originally going to return to Chen Yun.
The moment he saw the dagger, a strong thought suddenly popped into his mind.
If everything started with this face, then destroying it might end it all...
Thinking this, Pipa drew the dagger.
It was indeed an extremely sharp dagger, and even in the dim light, it still exuded a chilling aura.
It's said that cutting flesh with a dull knife is more painful, but using this might reduce the pain considerably.
It's a pity that the gift Shen Yun gave me ended up being used in this way.
Pipa silently apologized, then gripped the dagger and slashed it viciously at her face.
Even though she had made up her mind, at the moment of actually doing it, Pipa still subconsciously closed her eyes tightly.
The pain did not come as expected.
The downward force was blocked in mid-air. Pipa opened her eyes in surprise, only to see a completely unexpected scene.
In the flickering lights, a figure was clearly reflected in the boy's eyes.
Her face was snow-white, her shirt was jet black, and a red ribbon hung down in her equally black hair.
The red of the hairband was almost as striking as the blood that was constantly seeping from between the man's fingers.
“Deep charm…”
Pipa blurted out the person's name almost subconsciously.
At the same time, a warm drop of liquid fell silently onto the loquat's cheek.
Hearing the boy's call, the deep, dark eyes blinked slightly, and then he gave a firm "hmm".
The simple sound of that single word was like a drop of warm blood that had fallen on Pipa's cheek, almost burning a hole in his heart.
As soon as Pipa let go, the dagger was transferred to Chen Yun's hand.
Shen Yun sheathed her dagger and looked down at the boy on the ground.
"It must be a bone injury," he said.
Then, he bent down and squatted in front of the boy, pulled the latter's arm around his shoulder, and picked him up.
The sudden feeling of weightlessness made Pipa tighten his arms abruptly. He looked at Chen Yun in a panic, afraid that he might accidentally tire her out.
As if sensing something, Shen Yun turned her head and whispered that it was nothing.
But your hands—
Upon hearing this, Shen Yun seemed to smile slightly.
His voice was calm, as casual as ever: "A little flesh wound, nothing to worry about. If it were me, I would have been much more ruthless."
Upon hearing this, Pipa felt even more conflicted.
Her steps were steady and deliberate, the sound of her footsteps echoing softly in the quiet passage, giving one a strange sense of loneliness.
“Chen Yun,” Pipa couldn’t help but say.
"Um?"
"Actually, I've seen you in my dreams before—no, I should say I've seen someone who looks a lot like you, and that was before I first met you. That's why I kept staring at you back then. Every time I saw you, I would think of that person from my dreams."
Pipa finished speaking in one breath, feeling a little uneasy about having done something wrong.
Upon hearing this, Shen Yun's reaction was far calmer than expected.
As if he had expected it, the young man quietly echoed, "I see."
"Don't you... feel angry?"
"There's nothing we can do about this, isn't there?"
"What?"
Pipa was genuinely surprised by this completely unexpected answer. Then she heard Shen Yun say unhurriedly, "Isn't the human heart just that uncontrollable?"
After a pause, the young man added, "Besides, you didn't treat me like that person, did you?"
That's true.
Shen Yun was right about that.
"Or even the exact opposite."
At this point, Shen Yun seemed to smile softly.
From Pipa's angle, one cannot clearly see the other person's expression, but can feel a subtle disturbance in the airflow above their head.
"I'm sorry," Pipa said almost instinctively.
Shen Yun gently shook her head: "You've forgotten, I actually said this a long time ago. On the Lantern Festival that year, I said that if you missed this face, you were welcome to come find me anytime."
"..."
"However, later events proved that this face was not so memorable."
Pipa fell silent, overwhelmed with mixed feelings.
turn out to be……
Shen Yun recognized him as well.
I still remember the Lantern Festival that year.
When did you—
Pipa wants to ask, when did you recognize me?
Shen Yun's answer was: "I have never forgotten."
So I've always remembered.
"What is this..." Even the loquat couldn't help but mutter to itself.
They clearly remember it all, yet they never mention it to themselves.
It caused him so much unease, making him hesitate about whether he should acknowledge her, and he even felt a little disappointed.
But it turns out—
I can't quite describe how I feel right now.
The person holding him seemed to be the only piece of driftwood he could cling to in the turbulent water.
He knew he shouldn't have asked.
But a sliver of hope lingered in her heart, and Pipa finally couldn't help but speak.
Do you... know someone named Yu Qingzhou?
Shen Yun's answer once again surprised the boy: "I might know him, or I might not."
Pipa felt her heart suddenly pound with Chen Yun's words.
"What's the meaning?"
He really didn't understand what it meant to possibly know someone or not.
Hearing the boy's question, Chen Yun paused slightly, but did not stop walking.
He said, "Actually, I heard that song a long time ago. I heard it from my mother. She would always hum it secretly in a corner and walk away nonchalantly when she saw people, like a thief."
"..."
“I didn’t understand before, until I read my mother’s suicide note. The several pages were filled with expressions of love, hate and obsession with her husband—my father—and the rest of the notes were expressions of guilt towards a woman named Xiaorou.”
"..."
"When my mother was young, she fell in love with my father at first sight. In order to successfully marry her ideal husband, she did a despicable thing by betraying her best friend. After that incident, the woman named Xiaorou disappeared without a trace, and my mother was able to marry into the Shen family as she wished, becoming the rightful Madam Shen."
"..."
"Unfortunately, married life wasn't as wonderful as I had imagined. It was from that time that my mother began to regret her decision. She increasingly felt that her current predicament was a kind of retribution from heaven."
Perhaps because she had never heard Shen Yun speak so much at once, Pipa couldn't quite grasp the main point.
He didn't quite understand why Shen Yun was telling this story.
But suddenly a very bad feeling came over me.
But since things had come to this, all they could do was continue listening. Because Pipa was inexplicably very concerned about the woman named Xiaorou.
Then, Shen Yun said, "The letter mentioned some fond memories from my youth."
He paused for a moment, a hint of emotion creeping into his voice.
"For example, a few close friends might collaborate on composing a few pieces of music. This is their private little secret, so they don't tell anyone else."
"..."
"For example, when they were joking about naming their future children, the woman named Xiaorou said that if it was a girl, she would name her Qingyue, and if it was a boy, she would name him Qingzhou."
Upon hearing this, Pipa couldn't help but shiver.
He asked in a hoarse voice, "That woman named Xiaorou, could she be—"
Shen Yun nodded, confirming Pipa's guess.
"Out of curiosity, I looked through the case files from that year and found a case that basically matched the description. It was a case of a missing girl that happened eighteen years ago. The missing person was the daughter of a merchant. She was fifteen years old at the time, and her surname was Yu, and her given name was Rou."
“Yu Rou…”
Pipa tried to search her memory for the name, but to no avail.
Could his mother, that young woman whose face was always ashen and whose expression was gentle yet weary when she looked at him, have this name?
It left absolutely no impression.
However, another memory unexpectedly surfaced in my mind.
That happened before his mother tried to escape from the village with him overnight.
Why say it was an escape?
Oh, right...
Because at that time, chasing after them were not only their fathers who had returned early, but also a group of villagers carrying torches and pickaxes, looking quite menacing.
They shouted and chased after him relentlessly along the bushy path.
It was like a pack of wolves that they could never shake off, or rather, evil spirits.
In short, it was the most terrifying thing that Pipa could think of at that time.
Naturally, they were ultimately unable to escape; after all, how could a person easily outrun a pack of wolves and evil spirits?
Actually, it's not impossible.
If his mother had been a little more ruthless and had abandoned him earlier, he might have been able to escape.
But her mother was still soft-hearted, and so she missed what might have been the only chance in her life to go home.
Pipa didn't know where her mother's other home was.
All I know is that it's in a very, very far place.
So her plan to send a message to the outside world under the pretense of asking someone to choose a name was eventually leaked.
so……
This was actually a premeditated trap.
Because of this burden, his mother was taken back.
That was the first time Pipa had ever seen her usually taciturn father get so angry.
Even so, his father still refrained from laying a finger on his mother.
Instead, he grabbed a carrying pole and started hitting the loquat's legs, yelling and cursing as he did so, "Let's see if you can still run away, let's see if you can still run away!"
The loquat instinctively climbed up the tree, but was grabbed by the ankle and slammed to the ground.
Then the beating intensified.
Pipa couldn't remember the specific details, only vaguely recalling her mother's anxious cries and pleas for mercy coming through the door, as well as the sound of banging on the locked door.
One sound after another.
With a dull thud as the carrying pole struck down, one blow after another.
The final sound was the crisp crack of the carrying pole splitting in the middle...
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