Anti-Knochen-Scharlachlied

Kapitel 33

She isn't... She has to do something!

“Uncle, I understand. Although I am not entirely to blame for what happened today, it was caused by me. I dare not ask for your forgiveness, but please believe me. Zhao Dezhao is not a great man. You can rest assured.”

Zhao Guangyi scoffed. He was a rather arrogant man, and he made no attempt to hide his sarcasm towards Jiao Wanlan's words. "Why should I believe you? I've watched Zhao Dezhao grow up. Do you think I'll believe you just because you say 'I believe you'?"

"Wanlan!"

Zhao Defang, terrified, hugged Wanlan's swaying body. Seeing her pale face and clenched chest, she glared at Zhao Guangyi and said sharply, "Uncle, stop! Wanlan is just concerned about me. Why are you so relentless? I don't know what grudges she had against you in the past, but Wanlan has lost her memory. Can't you put aside your grievances and be fair to her?"

Zhao Guangyi glared back at him angrily, then fell silent.

“I know…you won’t believe me,” Wanlan gripped Zhao Defang’s arm tightly to keep from collapsing. This attack had come on too quickly… “So what I want to say is, I’m not…I’m not Jiao Wanlan at all! I came from another time and space, only my soul is residing in Jiao Wanlan’s body. What’s happening here…or what’s about to happen, I can clearly know in my world. Please…don’t pressure Zehua anymore. He’s not unaware; he just wants to hold onto some simple, beautiful things…”

As she uttered the last word, her strength and perseverance seemed to have reached their limit. The last thing she saw before closing her eyes was Zhao Defang's terrified face, but she could no longer utter any words of comfort.

She actually... chose such a terrible situation to say these things, and she said them so vaguely. Maybe when she opens her eyes, everyone will look at her as if she's crazy.

She was too impulsive...

Chapter 37, The Storm Is Brewing (3)

"You really should go."

"Uncle, I need to wait until Wanlan wakes up to make sure she's alright." Zhao Defang sat motionless on the edge of the bed and said calmly, "You told me to leave Bizhuang today, but I'm no longer here. Even if my elder brother really comes back tonight, he can't interfere with my affairs with my wife."

After Wanlan fainted, he carried her away from Bizhuang and found this inn in the city to stay in. He avoided the message Wanlan had conveyed before she fainted, wanting only to stay by her side and watch her wake up safely and smile at him.

Zhao Guangyi stopped arguing with him about the topic. He looked at the sleeping woman on the bed and hesitated before asking, "Defang, what did she mean by what she just said? Did you understand?" What does it mean to come from another time and space?

"No..." He didn't understand, and he didn't want to understand. "Wanlan is just delirious from her illness and talking nonsense, how can you take it seriously, Imperial Uncle?"

“Defang, stop deceiving yourself.” Zhao Guangyi turned away with his hands behind his back, utterly exasperated by his youngest nephew’s stubbornness. “Regardless of how bizarre her words are, I never believed her claim of ‘amnesia’ from the beginning. How could someone who truly suffers from amnesia face everything so calmly? Besides, don’t you remember how much she used to reject you? Even if someone who was so hostile towards you has amnesia, they couldn’t possibly completely trust you, could they?”

Zhao Defang tightened his grip on Wanlan's hand, his head bowed so that his expression was impossible to discern. He seemed oblivious to Zhao Guangyi's words, sitting motionless on the bed like a frozen statue.

He wasn't deceiving himself; he understood everything his uncle said.

He simply never cared about external things. When Wanlan approached him, he didn't dwell on the differences between them, and the same was true of his elder brother's true purpose today. Watching her collapse before his eyes, the agonizing pain that gripped all his senses terrified him. His uncle was right; he was too cowardly to face anything he couldn't accept. He no longer wanted this excruciating pain.

"She actually said I forced you."

Zhao Guangyi slowly walked to the window. The simple wooden lattice window was half-open. Looking down through the window, he saw that the lanterns under the eaves had already been lit, casting a warm yellow light on the ground. He looked at the yellow circles spreading out and thought, "It's rare that she understands you so well."

Turning around to look at Zhao Defang, whose posture remained unchanged, he chuckled, "Defang, this woman is definitely not Princess Deqing, but she cares about you more than Princess Deqing does. I'm not forcing you this time, but if you truly care about her too, you can't back down anymore. Do you understand what I mean?"

Zhao Defang sat up halfway to tuck the blanket around the woman on the bed, turned around to meet the gaze of the person below the window looking at him, and finally opened his mouth to say, "Uncle, I have never understood why you insist that I do it? Isn't it more suitable for my elder brother than me in terms of seniority? You know I don't want it, so why don't you let everything develop naturally?"

Zhao Guangyi sneered, "Your elder brother? He does have some ability, but he takes everything too lightly! Your father did give him opportunities, but he didn't take them. Why is he doing something so misleading now? I don't care what he wants to do, but he can't be allowed to interfere in this matter anymore!"

"Royal Uncle—"

"Your Highness!"

The door was suddenly flung open, startling the two people inside. They had previously instructed Lan Wen not to disturb them unless absolutely necessary, but now it was Lan Wen himself who had broken in.

Lan Wen's face was deathly pale, and Xuan'er, who was following behind, also had red eyes. This made Zhao Defang feel a sudden sense of fear. "Lan Wen, what happened?" They had only left Bizhuang for half an hour. Even if their elder brother had returned and found them, Lan Wen and the others should not have this expression.

“Lan Wu…” Lan Wen gritted his teeth, abruptly turned his eyes away, his voice hoarse and unable to speak.

Zhao Defang and Zhao Guangyi exchanged a glance, then turned to Xuan'er, "What happened?"

Xuan'er bit her lip and whispered, "Someone is looking for the Prince; they're right outside the door."

"Let him in."

The visitor was about forty years old, dressed in a gray-blue long gown, of medium build. After bowing to the two men upon entering, he handed them a letter. The handwriting was strong and vigorous, a style Zhao Guangyi was quite familiar with. After Zhao Defang took out the letter and read it, he slowly began to speak:

"What is the purpose of Prime Minister Xue's letter to you?"

Zhao Defang gripped the letter tightly, his voice heavy with suppressed emotion, "Miss Xue fell ill in Junzhou and was brought back to the capital by men sent by Prime Minister Xue. Her life hung in the balance, and what caused her illness... was that Lan Wu died tragically before her eyes while protecting her..."

As he finished speaking, two suppressed sobs echoed in the room. Zhao Guangyi suddenly opened his eyes, his hands clenched, and he gritted his teeth and growled, "Zhao Dezhao! How dare you!"

Zhao Defang closed his eyes, turned his head somewhat blankly to look at the woman on the bed, and met her shocked eyes without warning. He forced a bitter smile.

Lan Wu is dead.

The suspicious person he discovered at the Qiaofeng Inn that day was the person Zhao Dezhao had left at the inn to meet him. After Wanlan was taken out of the city, that person stayed at the inn to secretly investigate whether anyone suspected the Prince of Yan. The day Lan Wu went to the inn happened to be the day that person left the capital to go to Junzhou to report back.

In his letter, Prime Minister Xue also mentioned that, according to Xue Suxin's fragmented words, Lan Wu was discovered by the Prince of Yan's men in Junzhou and was nearly driven into a corner. Xue Suxin provided cover for him, but Lan Wu ultimately failed to escape. Furthermore, the Prince of Yan deliberately revealed Wanlan's whereabouts to Xue Suxin, intending for her to inform him. If he hadn't informed Prime Minister Xue of Xue Suxin's location while sending Lan Wen back to the capital to request the Empress to send someone to fetch Wanlan, Xue Suxin herself might have perished in Junzhou.

He did all this just for the position that would eventually belong to him. How could his elder brother be so foolish?

"Defang! If you continue to be so cowardly, are you going to just watch everyone around you end up like Lan Wu?"

Everyone is pressuring him.

The elder brother's fierce anger, the imperial uncle's fury, Lan Wen and Xuan'er's resentment...

There is also the illness of Wanlan.

Zhao Defang fixed his wandering gaze on Wanlan, who was slowly sitting up. Meeting her calm, clear eyes, a slightly trembling voice broke through his hoarse throat—

"Uncle, let's return to the capital."

Chapter 38, Do Not Lean Alone on the High Tower Under the Bright Moon (1)

The continuous rain made us unaware that spring had passed; only when the sun shone did we realize how deep summer had become.