Chapter 128: Sustained Some Injuries

The room was plunged into a silence so profound it felt chilling.

Weishao Qianyu seemed not to comprehend, offering no reaction at all. For a duration that felt as long as a lifetime, Feng Jinye looked at her and felt as though she were an apparition, a mere phantom.

After an age, Feng Jinye and Lu Liguan, who stood outside the room, finally heard her murmur a few words: "No... impossible..."

Impossible! Absolutely impossible!

Weishao Qianyu refused to believe it, yet Lu Liguan’s words—uttered with such heartache—that "Your brother came today to stop you from saving Lu Yanran," left her in a state of utter turmoil.

She remembered calling Lu Liguan "cousin" years ago, only for him to insist, "Call me brother."

But none of this made any sense!

Over the years, although the Lu family treated her well on the whole, Madam Lu held a prejudice against her, shielding Lu Yanran at every turn. Weishao Qianyu clutched at this logic, a desperate gap in her reality, as if to refute the doubts tearing at her heart. Yes, that was it—it had to be that way!

"Qianqian..." Feng Jinye’s heart and eyes were filled with nothing but tenderness as he softly called her name.

"Feng Jinye, you lied to me!" Weishao Qianyu shoved him away.

Outside the room, Lu Liguan felt a crushing weight in his chest, yet he did not move. He knew Weishao Qianyu well enough to know that if he appeared now, she would only force a facade of calm; she could only lean on Feng Jinye with her whole heart.

Feng Jinye sighed and leaned closer, coaxing her: "Very well, I lied to you."

With that single admission, the tears Weishao Qianyu had been holding back surged like a broken dam, yet she remained silent. She collapsed onto the bed, lacking the strength to strike out at him.

She felt utterly drained. Even though the sun was shining brightly outside, she felt as though she had fallen into a snow-covered cliff in the dead of winter, her entire heart plummeting into a dark, frozen abyss.

Feng Jinye had no reason to use the Lu family to deceive her. Weishao Qianyu knew deep down that the admission "I lied to you" was the real lie—a mercy, meant to allow her a safe space to break down. Had it been any other time, she might have fought him, but now, she had no strength left.

Why had it come to this?

Everything was false. Everything!

Weishao Qianyu had always believed that the concept of "empathy" was a fallacy, that no one in this world could truly feel what another felt. Yet, she was experiencing something akin to it. She felt the original owner’s heartbreak—perhaps because they shared the same body, this was what they called "empathy."

From the trauma that followed the Weishao family—watching their home consumed by raging flames, seeing her mother die cruelly at the hands of enemies, losing her voice, and finally, the original owner’s life coming to an end through poisoning at a poetry gathering when she was thirteen—Weishao Qianyu could not recall many other memories, but she could feel the visceral, skin-deep pain of those events.

And since waking up after that poetry gathering, the Lu family had been her most important kin, outside of Weishao Zhantian.

She had heard tales of "the civet cat replacing the crown prince," read storybooks, and listened to legends of loyal generals and righteous souls who, to protect their lord, would marry off their own daughters or sacrifice their own sons. It was always hailed as a tragic, heroic act.

But now that something similar had happened to her, Weishao Qianyu only felt... it was truly pathetic and laughable.

And what was the Lu family’s motive? Self-interest? A moment of greed? To take a living human life, born only to be sacrificed, used as a tool, a shield—how could they stoop so low?

As she pondered, a sudden laugh escaped her. It was too funny, truly hilarious.

She thought of the day Duke Lu asked her to protect Lu Yanran, as if she were made of iron, incapable of pain or death. Yet, how many times had she almost died? And how many of those injuries were caused by Lu Yanran herself?

It was absurd. For years, she had been a shield, absorbing the very strikes directed at her by the girl she was meant to protect. After Lu Yanran returned to the Lu family, Weishao Qianyu had been indulgent, often thinking she had indeed stolen the affection that should have belonged to Lu Yanran.

Yet in the end, everything had rightfully belonged to her. The grandfather, the father, the brother—they were all hers. She should have accepted it with a clear conscience.

Even if Lu Yanran’s life had been difficult, at least...

Weishao Qianyu shook her head. She could not weigh these things, nor could she calculate them. She didn't even have the right to blame them, for she was not the original; her soul was neither the original Weishao Qianyu nor Lu Qianyu.

But she was sad—a sadness that she could not overcome.

She gradually grew quiet, through the sunset, through the night, until dawn broke. She sat in silence for the entire night. Feng Jinye sat with her, and Lu Liguan stood outside the door, all through the night.

"I need to sleep for a while..." After the night passed, her voice was weak and hoarse, her face as pale as death.

Feng Jinye rose and carried her to the bed. The moment he lifted her, he had a haunting sensation, as if she were hollow, weightless.

By the time dusk fell the next day, the evening glow was beautiful as ever. When she awoke, Feng Jinye had gone to the study to see Lu Liguan.

Weishao Qianyu leaned against the window, watching her surroundings. Nothing had changed; the setting sun and the colorful clouds remained as stunning as ever, as if her sorrow and her inability to move past this were utterly insignificant.

She smiled. One should have self-awareness; she was indeed insignificant. Only her heart knew it had been wounded.

From this moment on, the Lu family would also become insignificant.

"Letting go, understanding—I'm used to it. What else can I do?"

"This city is so good at lying; affection is just an expensive shop window."

"The journey is gorgeous and bright, displaying sweet illusions. Whoever takes it seriously is the one who gets fooled."

She hummed softly: "Giving up, despairing, would be simpler, yet I am still unwilling."

When Feng Jinye returned to the bedroom, he found her leaning against the window, listlessly humming those lyrics.

"I actually thought you would be different, but why should you be different?"

"Because loneliness is too cold, the warmth I fabricated has no reason to last until dawn."

Feng Jinye listened, dazed. He was suddenly reminded of the day at Xuanying Pavilion, when Feng Qingxuan had attacked Dong Nuan, and Weishao Qianyu had said to him, "Feng Jinye, I thought you were different, but why should you be different?"

She had been just as heartbroken then. A sharp pain bloomed in his chest. He still did not understand her well enough.

Lu Liguan, standing behind Feng Jinye, also listened to her soft singing.

After a few lines, she fell silent. She was about to call for Qingxia to prepare some food when she turned and saw the two men behind her.

She smiled faintly, as if she had never heard anything of yesterday. Lu Liguan had stood outside the door and heard Feng Jinye tell her everything, otherwise, he might not have noticed her change.

She ordered food, and the three of them sat down in silence.

Feng Jinye reached out and took her hand in his. As the warmth of his palm seeped into her skin, she looked up at him, wanting to pull away, but found she could not bear to.

"Qianyu, I am still your brother," Lu Liguan said, breaking the silence.

She did not speak. After a long while, she replied, "Very well."

After that single word, the room fell back into a stifling, heavy silence.

Finally, Lu Liguan nodded, stood up, and prepared to leave.

Only then did she speak: "Brother!"

Hearing the word "brother," Lu Liguan’s heart surged. She knew he was her true, blood-related brother; this was the first time she had truly called him that.

"Let us pretend you never heard what was said yesterday," she stated calmly.

Lu Liguan paused, his eyes reddening slightly, then he nodded and turned away.

After he left, Feng Jinye felt the atmosphere between him and Weishao Qianyu turn cold and stagnant.

"Qianqian..." he called softly.

She did not respond.

This version of her made him feel that she was difficult to approach, that she was drifting far away from him.

After a long time, she said faintly, "So, the Lu family girl you were searching for all those years ago—you really hadn't found the wrong person after all, had you?"

Feng Jinye froze. Her words sounded as if he had never been looking for her in the first place.

"The imperial marriage decree..."

She began again, but before she could finish, Feng Jinye leaned in and kissed her, stifling the words on her lips.

He was angry. He knew she was about to bring up that decree, just as she had brought up the comment about the Lu girl—speaking as if the person betrothed to him wasn't her.

But despite his anger, his kiss slowly turned gentle, filled with nothing but pity and love.

No matter how strong or cold she pretended to be, she craved his tenderness and loved his gentleness. Her heart began to soften.

Perhaps breaking the false makes it easier to see the truth.

Feng Jinye was real.

In a state of confusion and passion, she felt as if she were dreaming, hearing him murmur, "Qianqian, I don't care who you are. You are my Qianqian..."

Her heart trembled.

At her lowest, she had thought with despair that many things did not belong to her. She did not want to live for Weishao Qianyu, nor did she want to become Lu Qianyu.

In the end, both were just identities. She wanted to live for herself, selfishly, for her own sake.

But thinking further, she had always lived for herself. Why concern herself with whether she was Weishao Qianyu or Lu Qianyu? She was, ultimately, herself.

And as for the Lu family, she decided it was no longer important. It simply didn't matter.

Even if she were to tear her heart out, scream until she was hoarse, and make a scene to settle accounts with the Lu family, it would only result in the total severance of their ties. So why make a scene? Why scream? It was better to simply end the bond.

It was cold, and she would cut them off without hesitation, but that was who Weishao Qianyu was.