………………
Feng rushed to the backyard, regretting that he never interacted with Kinnara and had never paid attention to which room he lived in. After several explosions, half the house had collapsed, so he decided to abandon the collapsed rooms and only search the intact ones—if Kinnara was unfortunately in one of the collapsed rooms, then it was just bad luck!
After searching several rooms, he finally found Kinnara in a half-collapsed room. Kinnara was still lying on the bed, wrapped in a quilt and fast asleep, completely unaware of the dust and pebbles that had fallen on him.
He clenched and unclenched his fists, wishing he could just sleep and die here!
Gathering his inner strength, he shouted, "King Kinnara!!" The sound resonated directly in his mind, and Kinnara suddenly sprang up from the bed, his eyes wide with confusion, asking, "What's wrong? What happened!?"
—Huh? Why is this room "ventilated"? Where's that half-wall over there?
………………
"Ning Xian!"
Ci Sheng tossed a longsword to Ning Xian, who caught it, drew her sword to avoid a direct confrontation, and attacked Chu Zheng. Watching her movements, a cold smile appeared on Chu Zheng's usually stern face, "It seems that Jia Ling is not only good at whip techniques, but also at swordsmanship."
"You talk too much nonsense!" Ning Xian stubbornly tried not to let him see her panic—yes, panic. She had never felt panicked towards an enemy before. Even if she was weaker, she would only fight with all her might, never feeling fear. Only this person, from the first moment she saw him, she felt a strange unease—she hated this person, both hated and feared him. Chu Zheng smiled coldly, "Everything's almost ready outside—the game ends here."
He attacked, his broadsword whistling through the air. Ning Xian barely dodged it, but he hadn't expected a follow-up move: a kick that struck Ning Xian squarely in the back of the heart.
She suddenly lost all strength and flew several feet away, crashing in front of the pavilion. Chu Zheng did not continue the pursuit. With a wave of his hand, he led his men out of the courtyard. Ning Xian realized what was happening and was horrified, but she was already unable to get up. She could only shout to Ci Sheng, "Get out of here!!"
In an instant, several lit gunpowder barrels were thrown in from the air, exploding with a deafening roar—
In an instant, she felt that slender and gentle body come to her, forcefully grab her under the armpits, pull her up, and drag her away desperately.
Chapter Fifty-Eight: Ci Sheng's Thoughts
Du Cisheng had wondered more than once when he would finally understand his true feelings for Ning Xian—whether it was resentment, or whether he had let go, or whether he would willingly submit to her.
Willing? How could I be willing? He wasn't an appendage, he didn't belong to anyone else! He was simply himself… simply Du Cisheng…
His family was destroyed, his gang was ruined, and the environment he had lived in since childhood was completely changed overnight. There were no more smiles. And he came here alone, just for the interest of 50,000 taels... 50,000 taels was his price.
He truly felt hatred, hating his elder brother for borrowing money from Youmingtian, hating Youmingtian, hating the woman who came to ruin everything... But even the hatred of the second young master of the Du family, who had always lived a peaceful life and grew up in the respect, love and kindness of everyone, was so weak and powerless.
What gentle and kind second young master? That was just a facade in his peaceful life. Once that peaceful life was shattered, what could he do? What could he accomplish? He hated himself for being like this, for being unable to do anything but complaining about his elder brother and Youmingtian, and... for not even knowing whether he should hate Ning Xian or not.
His calm and serene demeanor was merely an outward appearance; no one knew the turmoil within him. He was also afraid of being seen through, afraid of confronting himself...
He stayed by Ning Xian's side, watching her closely and observing everything she did, hoping to find a reason to either completely hate her or give up his resentment.
But he couldn't find her... Staying by her side would only make his feelings more chaotic.
He had also thought that perhaps, when Ning Xian faced a life-or-death situation, he could finally be certain of his thoughts and reach a conclusion...
But that time, it still failed...
However, he never imagined that when he saw the explosives detonate right under the wall not far from Ning Xian, his mind would completely stop thinking.
Debris rained down, and half a wall collapsed with a crash. Ning Xian looked at Ci Sheng, who was struggling to support her and running outside, with slight surprise. His profile was just like when they first met—a serene and composed profile, focused solely on saving lives, without a single other thought in mind…
He... didn't he resent her? Didn't he once want to harm her...?
“Ci Sheng…”
"Don't speak, just walk! Can you stand?"
Ning Xian pressed her hand to her chest, nodded, and stood up with his support, but a sharp pain spread from her back to her entire body, almost causing her to kneel down again. Ci Sheng gritted her teeth, squatted down, and carried her on her back, heading outside. Just as they were about to leave the area below the pavilion, a sudden rumbling sound rang out. Ci Sheng looked up; the roof above them was swaying precariously, and the pillar beside them was slowly tilting and collapsing—
Ning Xian felt her body being thrown heavily to the ground, a sharp pain shooting through her chest. The heavy pillar crashed to the ground in front of her, kicking up a cloud of gravel and smoke that hit her.
When she opened her eyes again, she felt a tingling pain in several places on her body, almost numb from the impact. Ning Xian tried to move her hand, but felt something wet and sticky below it. She struggled to get up, and all she could see were collapsed stone pillars and broken pieces. Ci Sheng was less than two feet away from her, almost half-buried in rubble. His blood slowly flowed out, mixed with sand and gravel, soaking her clothes.
"Ci Sheng!!"
She moved closer, patted Cisheng's cheek, and checked his pulse. Cisheng slowly opened his eyes; he hadn't lost consciousness. A wave of relief washed over her. Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, she quickly said, "It's alright, Cisheng, I'll go find someone to help you out—"
Ci Sheng suddenly grabbed her and gently shook her head.
"Cisheng, let go! You're bleeding a lot, you need immediate medical attention..."
But Ci Sheng stubbornly refused to let go, shaking her head calmly and saying, "Don't save me... please..."
"What nonsense are you talking about!?"
Ci Sheng lowered his head slightly, the corners of his mouth curving up as if he wanted to form a smile, but it didn't materialize. Only his voice remained calm and peaceful, sounding so light and gentle in his weak breath, "I don't want to live like this... Please don't save me, okay?"
Ning Xian followed his gaze and froze, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head, chilling him to the bone—his lower body was buried in rubble, but a heavy pillar had crushed his thighs and below...
She stood there stunned for a long while, her mind blank. Her gaze slowly returned to Ci Sheng's face, but she had no idea what expression to wear. Something was churning inside her, refusing to leave her. She didn't know what her face looked like now, yet Ci Sheng smiled faintly amidst her shock—gentle as a chrysanthemum, warm as jade. He had always been such a calm and peaceful young man, with a slight bewilderment, a slight hesitation, no different from his usual self… But his hand still gripped Ning Xian's wrist tightly, so tightly that it trembled slightly, betraying the fear and cowardice in his heart…
"Stay with me for a while, okay?"
Faced with death, who wouldn't be afraid, wouldn't feel cowardly? How much courage did he muster to beg Ning Xian not to save him? Yet, he would spend the rest of his life regretting that plea for help, even though Ning Xian was right beside him, even though he knew that if he had just made that one request, Ning Xian would have saved his life no matter what... But he didn't want to live like that...
Ning Xian swallowed hard, suppressing the bitter taste that threatened to overflow from his throat, and managed to squeeze out a strained "...Okay."
She looked again at the mangled body beneath the stone pillar and the ever-increasing blood on the ground. When she turned back, she tried to give Cisheng a nonchalant smile. She placed his head on her lap, half-hugging him, and used her arm to block his view of his lower body.
"You saved me again."
"I didn't want to save you... I haven't figured out whether I hate you or not... Although I've always known in my heart that it was never your fault, and I shouldn't hold a grudge against you, I can't help but hate, I can't bring myself to hate... Am I really that bad? I thought that if you were on the verge of death, maybe I could understand... But now that I'm actually facing it, I still have no answer... It's just that I can't bear to watch you die before my eyes, I can't... By the time I realized it, I had already tried to save you... Maybe if it were someone else, I wouldn't be able to just watch—in the end... there's still no answer..."
Every single time, because he couldn't bear to see someone die before his eyes, he would do everything in his power to help... Cisheng, this is your kindness, it has nothing to do with cowardice, nor with self-loathing, it is a kindness from the bottom of your heart that no one else can match...