"Did you have a fight with my brother?"
She didn’t say it loudly, but on such a night, with the two of them so close that they could barely hear each other’s breathing, this question hit like a thunderbolt.
It carried the force of a thunderclap, shaking one’s soul to the core.
"...!"
Yu Wenye imdiately stopped.
But he didn’t move; he stood silently at the doorway. His stout and strong figure was already blended into the darkness, and the longer he remained silent, the harder it was to distinguish him. After an unknown period, when he finally spoke, his deep voice almost blended with the night, bringing a stifling sense of oppression—
"You an I hit him."
"...!"
From behind ca the sound of Shang Ruyi taking a deep breath, seemingly suppressed, her voice low and adding a tinge of dryness: "My brother is injured."
"..."
"Even Nie Chong isn’t hurt, but he is."
"..."
"If you really t a thief, Nie Chong should have been the first to protect you."
"..."
"Why was my brother hurt? Why—did you treat him like this?"
When she spoke the last few words, her throat was so dry it felt as if it were being scraped by coarse sand, the pain piercing her chest like a knife, making it almost impossible for her to speak.
And hearing her words, Yu Wenye sneered.
He chuckled, instinctively pressing the tip of his tongue against the inside of his lip—there, an invisible cut, inflicted when the other party suddenly struck, catching him off guard. He had hardly spoken the entire way, and the wound hadn’t reopened, but being on the inner corner of the lip, the taste of blood continuously tinged his tongue, spreading inside his mouth.
The salty taste, stimulating him all the way.
Finally, at this mont, the rampage that lay dormant in his blood, fully incited by the taste of blood, he spun around abruptly, his movent so swift it stirred a gust inside the tent.
Though the tent was pitch black, with not a single beam of light, Shang Ruyi seemingly saw a shadow pounce towards her.
The familiar aura was now completely transford into malevolence, surrounding her wholly.
Shang Ruyi was suffocated!
No one clutched her neck, nor did anyone cover her mouth and nose, yet instinctively she held her breath, her eyes wide open, staring into the dark, those eyes slowly lowering towards her, like a tiger on a moonlit night looking down at its prey beneath its claws, clearly stern, bright, yet seemingly glinting with red.
However, she did not flinch.
Despite the suffocation, despite her eyes reddening from the tension, she still struggled to keep them wide open, seeking to discern the emotion in those blazing eyes in the dark.
Hoping to find an answer in his emotion.
And Yu Wenye did not advance further.
In the midst of the bloody taste, he fiercely, even savagely, fixed his gaze on those bright, nearby eyes—from their first encounter at the Shen Family, at her bedroom door, to eting her eyes when he rescued her on her wedding day, and after marriage, her countless gentle, yet repeatedly rejected, disillusioned looks, until finally, in the Buddhist Hall at Dayan Temple, they confird their love, those eyes never changed, dealing with him, even in despair and pain, carried her clarity and gentleness.
He thought, since then, those eyes belonged entirely to him, the gaze solely his, but—
At this thought, he laughed coldly once more.
This cold chuckle made Shang Ruyi’s heart skip a beat, as she instinctively took a deep breath. But before she could exhale, Yu Wenye’s husky, deep voice echoed in her ear, this ti filled with an even colder jest, as if substantial, cramd with mockery, causing her breath to catch again—
"In your heart, it’s always been just your family."
"..."
"No, from start to finish, in your heart, it’s only ever been your family."
"..."
"But even so, Shang Ruyi, don’t be too quick to fall out with . After all, I haven’t succeeded yet, it’d be futile what you initially—"
"...?!"
For so reason, upon hearing the last line, Shang Ruyi suddenly froze, her eyes widening abruptly, in the pitch-black night, her eyes shining peculiarly bright, as if eager to hear the words that followed.
But Yu Wenye stopped.
Not only did he stop, after taking a deep breath, he slowly straightened, as if the fierce aura of a tiger pouncing was instantly retracted; Shang Ruyi even felt as if an invisible weight pressed on her heart had been lifted, though her heartbeat felt heavier.
Especially when seeing that towering black shadow slowly turn around, clearly already rging with the night, making it impossible to distinguish anything, yet she managed to see sothing in that shadow—
Loneliness.
How could this be possible?
She could hardly believe it, but didn’t have ti to discern more, as that shadow slowly departed, and with its departure, the surrounding air seed to suddenly grow colder.
Shang Ruyi shivered abruptly, watching as a corner of the tent was lifted, the faint outside light more distinctly outlined that shadow, but the previous aura of loneliness was completely gone, leaving only a cold silhouette, even colder than the weather outside.
She gritted her teeth and instinctively called out, "Feng Chen!"
"...!"
Yu Wenye’s figure suddenly trembled.
But he did not look back. One hand still firmly gripped the thick tent flap, tugging so hard that the whole tent shuddered with this low call.
After a long while, he spoke, yet did not turn around.
Leaving only a faint sentence, seemingly still laced with a cold sneer—
"You have a good brother."
After finishing, he left without looking back.
The tent fell again, plunging the entire tent back into a deep, impenetrable darkness, yet before Shang Ruyi’s eyes, it felt as if a tear was made in the fabric, allowing sothing bright to montarily penetrate her eyes and further pierce through her chest.
This sentence was not the first ti she had heard it.
Nor the first ti hearing Yu Wenye say it to her.
Imdiately, she vividly recalled how on their way back to Changan City after breaking the Wanggang Village siege, she had spoken with Yu Wenye about Shen Wuzheng. It confird the phrase—The greatest good is like water, water benefits all things without competing. Moreover, she told Yu Wenye that Shen Wuzheng didn’t refrain from contesting everything and everyone, as when other children bullied her as a child, Shen Wuzheng would not only fight back, but also proactively confront them, teaching them a lesson until they no longer dared to speak rudely.
At that ti, Yu Wenye had looked at her with a complex expression and said the sa line to her—
You have a good brother.
Today, he suddenly repeated this sentence, even his tone identical to before.
Could it be...
|
While this silent entanglent made the air more tense, under the sa moonlight, in the valley in front of Cangbai Mountain, Yu Wencheng’s emotions were also more agitated, especially when a personal soldier painstakingly gathered dry branches to light a bonfire and served up the only bowl of hot soup in days. In his eagerness, he took one sip and burned his mouth. Yu Wencheng, furious, kicked the soldier to the ground, angrily cursing, "Damn it, are you trying to burn to death!"
The personal soldier fell to the ground, gritted his teeth, got up, and imdiately kowtowed to admit his mistake, "Young master, it was my mistake, please forgive , young master."
Though still upset, Yu Wencheng didn’t have the energy to strike again, but just as he lowered his head to cool the soup to drink, sothing else occurred to him, prompting him to look up and stare at the personal soldier, "What did you just call ?"
"Uh?"
The personal soldier was taken aback, then quickly realized and hurriedly kowtowed again to correct himself, "Your Highness! Your Highness!"
Several days ago, they had fled Taiyuan after a defeat, and the last ssage they received in Taiyuan was that Yu Wenquan would ascend the throne in Daxing City—soon to be renad Changan City—and naturally, like his two brothers, Yu Wencheng was to be conferred as a prince.
It’s just that when the news ca, the exact title wasn’t officially announced yet.
Now, on the thirteenth day, it’s been seven days since Yu Wenquan’s enthronent in Chang An, but while conferred as a prince, he remained trapped in a valley without exit. Due to rainy and snowy weather, the valley’s branches were too wet to start fires, forcing them to eat cold, hard biscuits for days and drink snowlt dripping from rocks, conditions that left him extrely irritable.
No matter how irritable they got, they still couldn’t break out.
This valley indeed was easy to defend and hard to attack, preventing Wang Shaoji’s forces from passing through. But simultaneously, with those people blocking the exit, they could not escape either.
More unbearable was, although the rain and snow finally stopped today, the wind direction also changed.
The cold wind began to blow into the valley, carrying the aroma of roasting at and cooking rice from outside, tantalizing those among them who had finished their dry rations two days ago, starving them further, making so of them only able to tighten their belts and hold their swords, forcing themselves to sleep to barely get by.
Fuming yet lacking the energy to be angry, Yu Wencheng fiercely glared at that personal soldier, then said, "If you call by the wrong na again, I’ll chop off your head!"
"Yes, yes."
The personal soldier retreated with his head bowed in fear.
Yu Wencheng shot him another glare, then lowered his head to prepare to drink the soup. But just as he cooled it down to drink, soone suddenly ca running over in a hurry, anxiously shouting, "Third Young Master!"
"Damn it!"
Upon hearing this address, Yu Wencheng flew into a rage, throwing the soup bowl to the ground. With a shattering sound, the bowl broke into pieces, spilling the fragrant, oily at soup onto the ground, watched by those around, their eyes reddening.
Yu Wencheng was about to yell but stopped when he saw who it was.
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