Chapter 182 - Fair Enough
The dead of night.
Walking daintily, pa.s.sing through the different areas.
Going into the greenhouse, which was located near the cliff.
When Lu Mingshu thought about it, this Flying Imperial Palace was rather weird. This greenhouse was a fine building. It was located in a bit of a weird geographical location, but it was filled with rare plants. It was obvious how much was invested in it, and yet she"s been here a few times already, and no one was ever watching over this place.
After some time, she heard the sound of a wheelchair nearing.
Lu Mingshu turned back to see Xie Lianzhen at the door.
He looked up and smiled at her. "Miss Lu, what brings you here?"
Regardless of how many times Lu Mingshu saw this face, she couldn"t help but feel that it was such a pity. What a pity… harmless is the only word to describe it, but the owner is otherwise.
"There"s a question that I want to ask Mister Lianzhen."
He smiled thinly. "Go ahead."
Lu Mingshu looked into his eyes. "Have you given up yet?" She emphasized each and every word.
No elaboration was needed. Both of them were well aware of what she was referring to.
Xie Lianzhen smiled softly. Instead of shunning her, he stared back into her eyes. "Miss Lu, are you perhaps… panicking?"
Lu Mingshu squinted her eyes and kept quiet.
Xie Lianzhen ignored her and continued. "I"m guessing this is the first time in your life that you have encountered such a situation. Sorry, but I"m not like others, who are afraid of your coldness. I am determined, and I even came with conditions to get what I want. Now that you can"t scare me away with your cold att.i.tude, you"re at a loss about what to do."
The wheelchair moved slowly, closing the gap between them. Xie Lianzhen then lowered his volume and mumbled, "The previous time, your manners were somewhat inappropriate."
As if she was being exposed, Lu Mingshu was left speechless for a moment.
During their previous meeting here, he wanted her to reject the challenge and promised to get her into the top ten.
She chose to make it clear.
After that, Lu Mingshu did regret her actions that day. However, the compet.i.tion was right in front of her eyes at the moment, and she had no excess energy for other matters.
"You"re afraid, aren"t you?" Xie Lianzhen asked gently. "You think that you"re invincible - that nothing can bring you down. But there"s somebody who keeps trying to favor you - to gain your attention in every possible way. You aren"t afraid of your stepmother plotting against you or your father driving you to the edge. However, you"re afraid of me. After your mother died, you see yourself as an orphan. There"s not much that you"ve received from others, so you cherish everything given to you. You"re afraid that you won"t be able to stand yourself because I"m too nice to you. You"re afraid that you can"t reject me."
He smiled thinly and looked at her with pity. "Such a kid. You"re only sixteen my dear, this is too much for you."
Lu Mingshu opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
"Why are you doing this to yourself?" The moonlight was reflected on Xie Lianzhen"s eyes, making him look way more caring and gentle. "You"re still young. You should live your life without the slightest scruple. Even though you may make mistakes on the way, there"s no need to force yourself to become so mature and behave like an adult to face all those conflicts. You aren"t willing to take a step back, even a small one. You choose to ignore all the mockery by pretending that you can"t hear it and brave your way at the front on your own."
Xie Lianzhen sighed, and Lu Mingshu"s heart slightly dropped. "Even though you are being looked at so much, isn"t it kind of solemn? This isn"t how a sixteen-year-old should be living her life."
Silence took over the greenhouse.
Xie Lianzhen didn"t continue, and Lu Mingshu was staring into s.p.a.ce.
Lu Mingshu was now speechless. When she made her way here, she had everything planned out. She was supposed to be firm and steady, but now it was going off-track.
As if peeling open an onion, the layers wrapped around her heart were now all removed. Her heart was exposed and shown to the world.
Some things didn"t hurt, or they were so insignificant that she didn"t even think about them. But as soon as someone else mentioned it, the feelings of having someone who understands her caused her feelings to gush up.
"Why do you treat yourself this way? You didn"t have the chance previously, but nothing will be the same from now on. You could have all the freedom you want and never have to worry about anything else because I will solve it all for you…."
Lu Mingshu"s mind suddenly flashed back to a folk tale she had seen in the Heavenly Wheel. In a distant sea, there lived a pack of sea demons with beautiful voices. Those who heard their voices would sink into the song and end up as their food.
"You rejected me because you were afraid, and you were evil to me because you hoped that I would back off. But why don"t you just follow your heart? If you"re strong enough to keep fighting in the face of idle gossip, why aren"t you willing to follow your desires?"
A soft and gentle voice like the voice of a siren, causing one to lose themselves.
Seeing her wavering, a smile was plastered on his face.
"Is this your revenge?" A cold voice broke the silence.
Xie Lianzhen looked at her in a daze, and he saw that her eyes were back to normal.
"To get back at me because I exposed the real you last time?"
Xie Lianzhen leaned back, and he suddenly had a flashback. "Ah, an eye for an eye, isn"t that fair?"
Taken aback by his response, Lu Mingshu sneered. "Didn"t you just say that I"m a child? Aren"t you being a little too harsh on a child?"
Xie Lianzhen drummed the sides on his wheelchair with his fingers. "You don"t seem to feel sorry for being harsh when you did the same thing to me!" He smiled.
"Heh…." Lu Mingshu tried to contain her laughter.
Lu Mingshu was nearly tricked by him, but luckily, he crossed her bottom line. The environment she was raised in was bad. Unlike other sixteen years old, she couldn"t have the freedom she desired. But what a good "brave your way at the front on your own," making her life sound way more pathetic than it actually was to deliberately make her more emotional.
This guy with an innocent face had a breadth of mind even smaller than the tip of a pin. She exposed him once, and now he was here to take revenge with the same method.
Lu Mingshu started to regret coming to meet him tonight.
"Okay. So, please tell me what you"re here for." Xie Lianzhen had a huge smile on his face as if something good happened.
Lu Mingshu took a deep breath to calm herself down.
Don"t get angry with him. The angrier you are, the happier he"ll be.
"Can you answer my question first?"
"First…?" Xie Lianzhen furrowed her eyebrows. "Oh, that!"
Seeing her panic, Xie Lianzhen burst out in laughter. "What would you do if my answer is no?"
"If it"s like that, I"d like to make a deal with you," she replied calmly, reciting the answer she had practiced in her heart for quite a time.
Chapter 183 - Pain
"Deal?" Xie Lianzhen bit his lips. "I don"t know what you have to come and make a deal with me, but I doubt the condition would be something that I"ll like."
Xie Lianzhen was straightforward.
To Xie Lianzhen, he didn"t have everything he needed, but he had everything he could get at this point. What could Lu Mingshu possibly give him? Money? Authority? I have way more than what she has.
"Actually, that"s not right." Xie Lianzhen smiled, "There is something you have that I don"t."
He took a glance at her and smiled. "Yourself."
Seeing that she had turned pale, Xie Lianzhen burst out laughing. "I"m just joking, there"s no need to be so tense."
Lu Mingshu eyed him coldly. "Does the Alioth Star Lord really have everything he wants?"
"There"s a lot of things that I want, but could you provide me with any of them?" Xie Lianzhen smiled thinly. "I want to have a normal family - a happy family - with two parents. I don"t want to be a p.a.w.n in everyone"s games. However, that"s only possible if time was rewound."
Lu Mingshu felt her heart sink.
If anything was possible, she wanted the same thing too… but how could that be possible?
"So, you don"t care about your legs?"
The smile on Xie Lianzhen"s face disappeared. He looked up to see her staring at his legs.
"If your legs could recover, it would make up for all that at least a tiny bit, right?"
Xie Lianzhen didn"t respond to her.
The sound of wind howling could be heard, and the strong wind caused the lamp to swing vigorously and hit the rooftop.
"Do you mean that… you can heal my legs?" Xie Lianzhen suddenly asked, but he sounded sore.
"I dare not say so with certainty… but there"s at least a seventy percent chance."
Seventy percent. Such a high percentage?
"You are aware of what"s wrong with my legs?"
Lu Mingshu shook her head. "I"m not. But as long as they"re still there, there"s hope."
That was the most sincere and best condition that she could come up with.
n.o.body knew what exactly was wrong with his legs. However, according to her observations, his leg should still be able to recover. Even though there was a defect, the legs didn"t seem to have a serious muscular atrophy. It was probably his veins or some other reason that caused him to be paralyzed.
As the queen"s precious son, he would have been to many doctors, but his legs were still paralyzed. The chance of recovery through a normal doctor was not very high.
However, just because the doctors in this world didn"t know how to solve the problem, that didn"t mean that doctors in other worlds couldn"t.
Lu Mingshu knew what Xie Lianzhen was like. Words meant nothing to him, and he had indeed helped her, so she should return the favor. In the end, she came up with this idea; if she could cure him, not only would she would be returning the favor, he wouldn"t need her anymore.
"Zhanghui!" Xie Lianzhen shouted.
An emotionless teenager came into the greenhouse. "Young Master."
"Take me back," he said coldly.
"Yes." Xie Zhanghui didn"t ask anything, he simply pushed Xie Lianzhen out of the greenhouse immediately.
Lu Mingshu stared blankly into s.p.a.ce. "Haish…."
What did I say wrong now?
Neither of them spared her another glance. Both of them went off immediately.
Lu Mingshu was left alone in greenhouse, staring blankly into s.p.a.ce.
What"s wrong? Isn"t that something that he desires? Because of his legs, he was constantly marginalized and received lots of criticism. If he was an idiot, that might not affect him so much, but he was smart and was definitely affected. If his legs recovered, he would get a brand-new life, and he would no longer need to suffer in this state. Why is he angry instead of being happy?
This turn of events was out of her expectations, and she was now lost.
However, Xie Lianzhen had already gone off, and she had no one to clarify.
She stood there for a while before making her way back.
As soon as she stepped out of the greenhouse, she saw a figure outside.
"Miss Lu."
This voice is familiar.
Lu Mingshu looked up to see a familiar face. "Gentleman Wei?"
It was Wei Chunqiu.
Lu Mingshu glance backward, and this route only lead to the greenhouse. Did he wait here for me specifically?
"I came here because I saw Junior Brother Xie coming here. When I arrived, I saw that you were inside too." As if he was able to read her mind, Wei Chunqiu answered her questions. "I was somehow worried, so I stayed."
Worried? Worried that I would beat Xie Lianzhen up, or worried that Xie Lianzhen would do something to me?
The day she first met Wei Chunqiu, he and Xie Lianzhen launched a joint attack to protect her from State Master Jiayan"s secret skill. Based on Xie Lianzhen"s attack that day, it was obvious that he was good. He might be even better than Yu Kuang.
"Do you two always keep in contact?" he asked.
Lu Mingshu didn"t say anything.
Wei Chunqiu knew the answer already though.
"Such an ill-fated relations.h.i.+p." He sighed.
"What do you mean?"
"It"s rare that he"s so serious." Wei Chunqiu pointed out. "Or rather, he is very persistent for you."
"So?" Lu Mingshu was extremely curious how Xie Lianzhen"s senior brother saw him.
"You…" Xie Lianzhen then shook his head. "Whatever, it"s not important what others thinks. He may seem well-tempered, but in reality, he"s as stubborn as an ox."
"You seem to know him well." Lu Mingshu was taken aback.
"He liked to stick to me during his younger days." Wei Chunqiu smiled at the memories. "He always said that it would be good if he had an elder brother like me. But…"
The Xie Lianzhen in Wei Chunqiu"s eyes was unlike anything she knew. He used to be so pure?
"Miss Lu, when Junior Brother Xie left, he looked extremely upset. What happened?"
Speaking of this, Lu Mingshu thought of her previous questions. Wei Chunqiu could answer them for sure!
"Nothing much. I just told him I could possibly heal his legs, and he suddenly stormed off in anger."
"You can help him recover?" Wei Chunqiu gasped.
"It"s just a possibility."
Wei Chunqiu nodded. "No wonder he"s angry."
Lu Mingshu was even more confused. "Isn"t it good if he can recover?"
Wei Chunqiu sighed. "Miss Lu, do you know why he took over the position of Alioth Star Lord at such a young age?"
"Because the previous Alioth Star Lord pa.s.sed away, and he"s the lord"s true disciple." This was something that everyone knew.
"Yeah, Junior Brother Xie is the true disciple of the previous Alioth Star Lord. Junior Brother Xie"s father died when he was still young, and his mother… in short, he was brought up by Master Granduncle Yan. "
"So? What"s wrong with that?"
Sadness filled Wei Chunqiu"s eyes as he told Lu Mingshu the story. "Do you know how Master Granduncle Yan died?" Before Lu Mingshu could respond, Wei Chunqiu continued. "He went to find medicine to treat Junior Brother Xie"s legs and died in an accident."
Lu Mingshu was flabbergasted.
"He was only twelve when that happened. From then on, he was no longer the Junior Brother Xie that I knew. We have a taboo in the Seventh Truth Platform, which is to never mention Master Granduncle in front of him. It"s something he"ll never forget, and it hurts every time."
Chapter 184 - Mental Illness
Lu Mingshu was aware that humans could have many sides, but the Xie Lianzhen in Wei Chunqiu"s eyes was totally unexpected for her.
When she first met Wei Chunqiu in the alley, his att.i.tude toward Xie Lianzhen made her think that they weren"t on good terms.
"But…" something suddenly crossed her mind. "even if that"s case, he should still try to heal his legs!"
"No need to try. There"s no way."
No way? It may be impossible for the doctors in this world, but that doesn"t mean that it"s impossible for doctors in other worlds! I even asked Brother Six and he said that the more powerful doctors could even grow limbs back!
"How do you know if I haven"t tried? I-"
Wei Chunqiu sighed and cut her off. "His legs are absolutely fine."
Lu Mingshu stared blankly at him. Fine? Then why…?
"Back then, Master Granduncle Yan brought back a medicine, and it successfully allowed Junior Brother Xie to walk. However, Master Granduncle Yan was seriously injured and died soon after. After that, Junior Brother Xie couldn"t walk, and he even came down with a bad illness. Senior Uncle Zhang said that, if his mentality doesn"t change, he"ll never be able to walk."
Wei Chunqiu then looked at her. "Now you know. Master Granduncle Yan"s death caused him to be in great pain."
"No wonder…." He said that he hoped n.o.body would have to sacrifice themselves for him. Was he thinking of Master Granduncle Yan?
"To be honest, when Master Granduncle Yan was still around, Junior Brother Xie was an optimistic and cheerful child. Even though he was a bit different and was taunted a lot, he would laugh it off. He practiced martial arts just as hard as us, and he never gave up on himself. Many would say that he was only able to reach his current realm due to the pills that the queen gave him, but in reality, he was able to catch up with us his on his own. Despite his legs slowing his cultivation down, he put in hard work that n.o.body else saw."
"Then why is he now…" Why has he become who he is now?
"Everything changed after Master Granduncle Yan"s death. Back then, he was young and paralyzed, so it was hard to say if he could ever break through to the Spirit Realm in the future. The Clan Master and Elders all opposed him taking over the position of Alioth Star Lord. However, the queen insisted. Despite the superior ability of all his senior brothers and sisters… after Junior Brother Xie recovered, he knew that he was just a fake lord."
Is that what he meant by "not forcing me to do what I dislike?"
"His legs used to be the problem, but now, it"s his mentality. The smile on his face gets faker, and he tends to isolate himself. n.o.body knows what he"s thinking, and now, it"s as if nothing in this world, not even himself, is valuable anymore." Wei Chunqiu then sneered at himself. "I tried to talk him through it, but that didn"t go well. You never know how bad his comments can be until you hear them. I never want to quarrel with him ever again in my life."
That"s why it was so tense when they first met that day in the alley.
"You still care for him, don"t you?"
Wei Chunqiu sighed. "Maybe it"s just because I"m too disappointed in myself. Watching a junior brother who"s just like my own brother falling and not being able to do anything when he"s at his toughest time, and now he has become this different person."
Lu Mingshu opened her mouth to say something, but she couldn"t find the suitable words to express her feelings.
After a while, she started, "Even if it"s not a physical problem, there"s still ways to solve it, right?"
"That"s what we thought too," Wei Chunqiu muttered. "But twelve years have pa.s.sed, and it"s only gotten worse. I"m afraid that he might do something silly. If Senior Uncle Xie was still here…"
"Senior Uncle Xie? You mean…?"
"His father." Wei Chunqiu nodded. "Master Granduncle Yan"s disciple, who was supposed to take over the position of Alioth Star Lord originally."
"…" Lu Mingshu looked up. "Can I ask a question?"
"Go ahead." Wei Chunqiu nodded.
"How did his father die? Between Senior Uncle Xie and the queen… the reason why Xie Lianzhen is who he is now may not be solely because of Master Granduncle"s death."
"I am not exactly sure what happened. All I know is that he died in the Yin Mountains."
"Yin Mountains?" Lu Mingshu gasped. Isn"t that where the barbarians lived? Perhaps his death was related to the barbarians? The queen specifically invited the barbarians here….
More and more confusing.
"I"m telling you everything." Wei Chunqiu shook his head and sighed. He paused for a while before continuing. "Junior Brother Xie isn"t evil. I hope Miss Lu will… not harm him."
Lu Mingshu gave a stiff smile in response. Not harm him? I"m the one that should be pleading for Xie Lianzhen to let me off!
"Miss Lu, is it too difficult for you?" Wei Chunqiu saw her expression and asked.
Lu Mingshu sighed and pull out the Mystic Dewdrops from her mustard seed pouch and waved them in front of him
Wei Chunqiu understood.
Wei Chunqiu wasn"t like the others, believing that Lu Mingshu thought she was too good for Xie Lianzhen or something. After the group fight, he knew what she was thinking; Lu Mingshu was just unwilling to become someone"s puppet.
"This is hard," he said. "The queen would do anything for him. As long as Junior Brother Xie wants it, it would be hard to help you. "
This angered Lu Mingshu. "Aren"t they afraid that I"ll be vengeful and do something to him?"
Wei Chunqiu laughed. "What can you do? Kill him? You can"t even defeat me."
Lu Mingshu didn"t understand.
"You won"t be able to defeat him if you can"t even defeat me. He can"t walk, but he"s way more than the trash that others see him as."
Lu Mingshu had never seen Xie Lianzhen as trash. That day when they met at the alley, she saw how Xie Lianzhen could break the shadowy fist even when Yu Kuang couldn"t, and then Wei Chunqiu had to step in. This showed that he was at least better than Yu Kuang, but not as good as Wei Chunqiu.
"Besides, the queen wouldn"t give you the chance anyone. You still have people at Nine Jade Palace that you miss, right?"
Lu Mingshu turned pale.
Slowly, her breathing turned back to normal. She then whispered to him, "Is there really no other way?"
"There is one."
Lu Mingshu looked up and stared at him.
"Find an a.s.similation Realm elder who is willing to risk angering the king of Zhongzhou for you."
"…" Lu Mingshu sighed.
a.s.similation Realm? Where am I supposed to find one of those? Zhuo Jiangui might help her in some matters for the sake of Lu Mingshu"s master, but this concerned the king of Zhongzhou, and the whole Line of Willow Woods would be dragged down with her. Would he risk that?
"Good luck." Chunqiu patted her and went off, shaking his head.
Lu Mingshu stood rooted to the ground for a moment before making her way back to her room.
She didn"t get to sleep for the whole night. She lay on her bed with her eyes wide open.