Luzhou Moon - Chapter 84
He paused for a moment, then said indifferently, "I just happened to see her injured."
"Really?" Lian Junqiu raised her delicate eyebrows, scrutinizing his expression. After a long while, she forced a smile. "Little brother, you're very different from before."
Lian Junchu's gaze was distant, as if fixed on a faraway ocean. His voice was almost a soliloquy: "Shouldn't the master of Seven Star Island be like this?"
Lian Junqiu slowly stood up, gazing at his handsome yet indifferent face with sorrowful eyes: "But you feel like a stranger to me."
He raised his head, his eyes dark and cold.
"You've always wanted me to be taken care of, haven't you?" He stood up, casually shifting his shoulders. "I've told you before, I don't want to be a burden to anyone."
"Who would consider you a burden?!" Lian Junqiu became agitated, grabbing his shoulder, only to feel a sharp pain in her palm. She exclaimed in surprise, quickly releasing her grip, her expression one of astonishment. "What happened?! What are you wearing?!"
Lian Junchu turned her face away and lowered her voice, saying, "It's just something for self-defense."
"Let me see." Lian Junqiu approached him and stood behind him, but Lian Junchu refused to turn around.
"Let me see!" she shouted, disregarding his emotions, grabbing his collar tightly and trying to pull him down.
Lian Junchu struggled for a moment, but worried that she might be hurt by the sharp weapon hidden in her sleeve, so he dared not break free forcefully. Lian Junqiu moved closer to him and ripped off his dark blue brocade robe in one swift motion.
The iron weapons attached to his arms were suddenly and abruptly displayed before her eyes, the spikes covering his shoulders like a thousand arrows ready to be fired, gleaming with a cold light.
Lian Junqiu was stunned. She walked up to him, and in a daze, reached out her hand, touched the cold spikes, and then slid it down his shoulder, touching the end of his arm that was fitted with iron.
"What is this?" She looked at his "arm" in astonishment, and then saw that a silver chain extended from the end of the iron object into his inner shirt. Before he could answer, Lian Junqiu had already reached out and unbuttoned his inner shirt.
Four silver chains, like serpentine snakes, tightly bound his body, fixing the iron spike firmly to his arm.
She held her breath, staring at the bizarre sight, seemingly unable to believe her eyes.
"Why have you become like this!" she suddenly shouted, her face pale and her lips trembling.
Lian Junchu stubbornly pursed her lips, her chin curving into an arc.
"Did Father do this to you?! Has he gone mad?! Why would he do this to you?!" Lian Junqiu's hands trembled as she touched the cold silver chain.
Lian Junchu forced a smile, shook her head, and said, "No. He just wanted me to inherit the Lian family sword technique, but I have no hands."
"I don't need any swordsmanship to manage Seven Star Island!" Lian Junqiu said sadly. "Take all these things off! How will this help you practice your swordsmanship?!"
Lian Junchu looked at her, took a step back, and said, "It's possible." As she spoke, she moved her shoulders, and two narrow swords suddenly pierced out from the tips of the iron cones.
Even Lian Junqiu, with her vast experience, was taken aback by the sight. She cried out in surprise, staring blankly at the two swords, then looked up at Lian Junchu, and suddenly reached out to grab his shoulders tightly, trying to tear off the silver chains.
Lian Junchu swayed and struggled, saying, "Big sister! Don't move, or you'll shoot out hidden weapons!"
Lian Junqiu was taken aback, glared at him, and said sharply, "Lian Junchu, look at yourself! Do you still consider yourself a normal person?! Yes, you can use dual swords now, and you can even throw hidden weapons! But do you like yourself as you are now?!"
Lian Junchu's face turned deathly pale. She turned her head to look at her "arm," then looked up at her with a cold gaze: "What's there to like or dislike? It's already like this, so what does it matter?"
"Why?! Did Father force you?!" she said desperately.
He paused for a moment, then suddenly turned to the side and looked out at the gloomy sky.
After a long silence, he finally spoke: "After you left, there was no successor on Seven Star Island... Lian Junxin is unwilling to be in charge."
Lian Junqiu said in a trembling voice, "So Father forced you to become like this, to be the young master?"
"No, he just wanted me to succeed him. He originally thought the Lian Family Twin Swords had no one to carry on the legacy. It was my suggestion; I thought it could be used this way." He even chuckled. "So he found the most famous craftsmen in the martial world, and it took them two months to develop this device. At first, I could only use my shoulders and arms to control the sword, but later I felt that I was also a descendant of the Tang Clan and should also be able to launch hidden weapons, so I added another mechanism."
Lian Junqiu looked at him with disbelief. Lian Junchu's appearance hadn't changed much, but his twin swords and his tone made her feel as if she were facing a complete stranger, strange and bizarre.
"Junchu, tell me, why are you doing this to yourself?" Lian Junqiu looked directly at him and asked seriously.
"Do you think I'm torturing myself?" He saw through her thoughts and smiled arrogantly.
"Besides this reason, I can't think of any other reason." Lian Junqiu stared into his eyes. "You've changed. The Junchu in my memory will always be that boy who lived in the mountains and only knew how to gather herbs. Now you've become the renowned Young Master Lian, yet you've trapped yourself in these messy double swords and hidden weapons. Do you really want to be like this?"
Lian Junchu lowered her arms, the tip of her sword gleaming with a bright white light.
He remained silent for a long time, then suddenly smiled and said, "I'm willing. It's nothing. I'm no longer the useless person I used to be. I can do it. I can do anything that people with hands can do, or even things that they can't... In three years, I can completely change myself. This isn't torture; it's just choosing to start a new life. Sister, don't be sad for me. I have my own path now."
Lian Junqiu felt a chill run through her heart after hearing his words.
If he admitted to self-torture, perhaps she could have helped him resolve his inner conflict. But he said he was completely changing himself, even starting with his own body, to become a completely different person.
She smiled coldly, her eyes filled with desolation: "Fine, if it weren't for what happened with Yue Ruzheng three years ago, would you have considered changing yourself?"
Lian Junchu showed neither anger nor sorrow, calmly stating, "There are no 'what ifs.' What's done is done. I can only move forward, not backward."
"Lian Junchu, stop deceiving yourself!!" Lian Junqiu pointed a trembling finger at the unconscious Yue Ruzheng. "Do you think I can't see it? You still care about Yue Ruzheng! You crawled on the ground for her, your legs covered in blood! And you're pretending to be indifferent? Are you afraid I'll kill her? I know, I knew long ago you'd never like me, and I wouldn't cling to you. But I don't want you to become like this because of a woman who lied to you!"
Lian Junchu turned his face to the side, his handsome features becoming even more distinct under the light and shadow, yet also showing a hint of thinness and aloofness.
"Why are you silent now?! Aren't you so good at making things up?! Let's see how you tell me what you were doing, crawling on the ground to rescue her! If I hadn't found you, were you going to keep crawling all the way to the village, all the way to the market?! Don't you have any self-respect?!"
She became more and more agitated as she spoke, and suddenly raised her hand and slapped him across the face.
Lian Junchu's cheeks turned red from her slap. He looked up in surprise and stared at Lian Junqiu, whose eyes were full of tears.
Lian Junqiu's hands trembled in mid-air. Suddenly, she hugged his neck and cried, "I'm sorry, Junchu!"
Lian Junchu took a deep breath and said in a hoarse voice, "Big sister, if you're feeling sad, just hit me."
"Do you know how heartbroken I am?" She buried her face in his chest, sobbing uncontrollably. "If... if I hadn't left... things wouldn't have turned out like this!"
"Back then..." Lian Junchu stood ramrod straight, muttering to herself, "That wasn't your fault."