Chapter 25#
Opportunity#
Yin Yuheng was seriously injured and unable to walk, so he lay in bed all night.
Actually, he had originally intended to force himself up and return to the palace, but as soon as he struggled to get up, he was pressed back onto the bed by Zhu Anning, whose eyes were red.
Yin Yuheng turned pale with pain, yet he still smiled to comfort Zhu Anning: “I’m fine, it’s just a small injury from being careless.”
Zhu Anning’s eyes felt sour listening to this.
A small injury?
If this could be considered a small injury, then what counted as a serious one?
When he was a child, having his flesh cut and blood taken was already unbearable pain; how much despair must there be in carving out a piece of one’s heart?
And he was the root cause of the despair brought upon his senior brother.
Zhu Anning felt cold all over, and at this moment, Yin Yuheng continued to speak.
“Why so sad,” Yin Yuheng raised his hand and gently rubbed Zhu Anning’s face, “Are you crying?”
A hint of a smile appeared in Yin Yuheng’s eyes: “Don’t cry. As long as you are well, it’s worth it even if I suffer a bit of injury. Have you taken your medicine? Is your body feeling any better?”
Hearing the word “medicine,” Zhu Anning finally couldn’t hold it together, his fingertips trembling slightly.
He lowered his head, the metallic taste of blood rising in his mouth again, accompanied by waves of dry heaving and nausea. Clearly, the reconstructed spiritual veins were smoother than ever before, yet Zhu Anning felt that every single one of them was in excruciating pain.
It hurt so much that he wanted to take a knife and gouge them out one by one.
He finally couldn’t bear it any longer, looked up at Yin Yuheng with a forced smile: “Senior brother, I… I’m going to step out for a moment. You rest first.”
Zhu Anning stumbled to his feet and fled out the door in a panic.
… He didn’t dare, didn’t dare to look into his senior brother’s eyes.
Zhu Anning stood in the wind and snow outside the courtyard. Snowflakes pelted him, making him a bit more sober.
Zhu Anning stood dazed for a long while, then suddenly raised his wrist and swiped at a silver bracelet. This silver bracelet was a sound-transmission magical tool given to him by the person who helped him disguise his identity.
The silver bracelet flashed with a bright light. Zhu Anning’s heart was filled with teeth-grinding hatred. He spoke coldly: “You’ve been lying to me all along!”
A light chuckle sounded from the bracelet.
“Remembered?”
Yes, he remembered it all, remembered how many bastards’ things he had done.
Zhu Anning was so miserable he couldn’t straighten his back and had to lean against the nearby plum tree. However, before he could speak, the voice from the other side leisurely interrupted him.
“What, want to report me?” the voice sneered. “Zhu Anning, everything you have now was given by me. I know everything you’ve done. Even that book in the Library Tower about taking heart’s blood to reconstruct spiritual veins was placed there by me for you.”
“…” Zhu Anning’s hand dug into the tree trunk, his nails splitting and bleeding.
“Go ahead and expose me then? Tell everyone all the good deeds you’ve done. Do you think you can still stay in the State Preceptor’s Manor, or stay by your Young Master’s side?”
“Zhu Anning, do you dare?”
Zhu Anning’s face turned pale with despair.
… He didn’t dare.
The other party was still laughing: “My Highness is so pitiful. Tell me, if he knew his little junior brother was the culprit who caused him such misery, how much pain would he be in?”
“Shut up!” Zhu Anning’s eyes were red, nearly hysterical.
He leaned against the wall, drained of strength, lost and helpless.
He hated so much—hated the people who lied to and used him, but he hated himself even more.
“Think about it carefully,” the voice in the bracelet had a hint of seduction, “If you continue to do things for me…”
“Impossible!” Zhu Anning’s eyes flared with anger.
“One last thing. If you help me complete it, I will help you keep your past a secret,” the other side said leisurely. “I won’t make it hard for you. I just need you to stall Yin Yuheng for a period of time and not let him return to the palace.”
*
Zhu Anning didn’t dare enter the room, so he could only stand outside the window, watching his senior brother inside.
He suddenly remembered that once, he had also watched his senior brother leaning by the bed coughing up blood like this. At that time, his heart was still full of hatred for his senior brother, and he had deliberately used Li Guanghan to provoke him.
What did his senior brother say then?
“I wish you get what you want.”
Now that his senior brother was lying in bed, sicker and more severely injured than before, did he really get what he wanted?
He couldn’t think too deeply about the bits and pieces of the past; the more he thought, the more he hated himself.
But words spoken and deeds done were like spilled water, impossible to take back.
After standing in a daze for an unknown amount of time, Zhu Anning suddenly saw Yin Yuheng get up from the bed. His expression changed, and he almost wanted to rush in, but he forced himself to stop.
Through the window, Zhu Anning saw his senior brother take out a sword.
His senior brother raised his hand, stared at it blankly for a long time, and then tried to swing it. However, even with such a simple movement, his forehead became covered in cold sweat.
Zhu Anning watched as his senior brother powerlessly tossed the sword aside, bowed his head, and slumped by the bed.
Only at this moment did Zhu Anning suddenly realize what the greatest harm he had done to his senior brother was.
Everyone in the world knew that the Crown Prince of the Li Dynasty, Yin Yuheng, was a celestial talent.
From the moment he was born, he was above tens of thousands, second only to one. He was exceptional in everything he did, learned everything the fastest, and even his blood was medicine to help someone reconstruct their bones.
Such a person, a person of such stature, now couldn’t even pick up a sword because of him.
No matter how deep the enmity in the world, it could not compare to this.
Zhu Anning staggered back a step, face bloodless.
He understood with absolute clarity that if all the truth came to light, there would not be a shred of affection left between him and his senior brother.
Zhu Anning closed his eyes, pushed open the door, and walked into the room.
Yin Yuheng looked up abruptly, pursing his lips tightly, seemingly not wanting Zhu Anning to see his pathetic state.
How could Zhu Anning dare to ask more? He stepped forward and gently took Yin Yuheng’s hand: “Why did senior brother get up?”
Yin Yuheng was silent, then suddenly said after a while: “Do you… do you have anything you want to say?”
Zhu Anning was stunned for a moment, feeling there was more to his senior brother’s words. But his mind was full of other things, so he didn’t think too much and lowered his head, rubbing against his senior brother’s palm.
“Senior brother, your injuries are too severe. Just rest here properly for a day, okay? Don’t be in such a hurry to return to the palace…”
Yin Yuheng remained silent.
Zhu Anning suddenly felt a pang in his heart, as if he had lost something important.
*
In the sea of consciousness, Xiao Bai silently watched the whole process.
It finally couldn’t help it and whispered: “Brother Heng, you, don’t be too sad either…”
“I’m not,” Yin Yuheng sighed, “just a bit disappointed.”
Xiao Bai was speechless for a long time.
Zhu Anning would never know what he had missed.
He missed the only chance for repentance, the only possibility of being forgiven.
Ever since Xiao Bai knew Yin Yuheng, it had only felt that Brother Heng was decisive and showed no mercy, never seeing him give anyone a chance to redeem themselves.
Zhu Anning was the first.
Ever since he woke up, Yin Yuheng had been waiting—waiting for Zhu Anning to apologize voluntarily and tell him everything.
But in the end, he didn’t get it; what he got was just another new lie.
“I thought, since Zhu Anning is young and lost his memories, he was deceived by Shen Liyuan into doing the wrong things,” Yin Yuheng said indifferently. “I could give him a chance. After all, he is a child I put my heart into saving.”
“When I saved this child back then, I was sincere in being good to him. I taught him a lot, and every word was from my heart. I hoped he would have a free and easy life, a bright and dazzling future, and live the life that I couldn’t.”
“Unfortunately, in the end, I didn’t teach him how to take responsibility.”
Yin Yuheng smiled helplessly.
“Silly child. How can things that have already happened be hidden for a lifetime?”
“If he doesn’t confess himself and waits for me to find out, then there will be no room for redemption.”
*
Li Guanghan was meditating at the Wentian Terrace.
Zhu Anning had just reconstructed his spiritual veins, so he should have spent more time with him. But as if possessed, Li Guanghan had returned to this Wentian Terrace.
This was his place for quiet cultivation, with no extra furnishings around. The bloodstains on the floor had already been cleaned up, leaving no trace.
But Li Guanghan knew perfectly well what had happened here.
Li Guanghan sat for an unknown amount of time before opening his eyes again.
He couldn’t calm his mind.
Rarely encountering such a situation, Li Guanghan sat in silence for a while, then suddenly got up and walked towards the lotus pond.
There were no more lotuses there, only a pond full of charred remnants.
Snow fell incessantly into the empty pond water.
It was too empty, making one feel inexplicably uncomfortable.
… Never mind.
Another day, he would ask Anning what flowers he liked and plant them for him.
Li Guanghan stood quietly for a while, took out a small jade pendant from his robe, a look of nostalgia in his eyes.
The jade pendant had an internal radiance, clearly fine jade. Unfortunately, the carving on it wasn’t very good, depicting an ugly big bird—it was hard to tell if it was a phoenix or a crow.
This jade pendant, which clearly came from a novice, had been carried close to Li Guanghan’s person for many years.
This was the only thing that young boy had left him back then.