Лучшая актриса - Глава 78
"Are you really planning to wait here to die? What happened just now only provided a slight relief. Without the antidote, your wounds will never heal, do you understand?" Lian Junchu's usual composure seemed to have been defeated by Yue Ruzheng's stubbornness, and she even spoke somewhat recklessly.
Despite the pain in her right arm, Yue Ruzheng forced herself to sit up straight and said fiercely, "I just don't want to go back! I don't want to cause any more trouble for others! And you don't need to force yourself to come find me!"
"You think I came here to see you?" Lian Junchu sneered. "I just wanted to see who saved Danfeng."
"I saved her, not because she's from Seven Star Island!" Yue Ruzheng struggled to her feet, leaning against a tree, panting as she spoke, "It's just that I hate the people of Bliss Valley, so I took her with me for a while!"
Lian Junchu pursed her lips, glanced at her, and then said, "I understand!"
"Then why are you still here?" she asked firmly, tears welling up in her eyes, which she stubbornly held back.
Lian Junchu then gave a dismissive laugh: "You want me to disappear immediately?"
"I'm the one who should disappear! I'm the one who used your identity to get onto Seven Star Island, and I'm the one who sneaked into the Forgetful Pavilion without your knowledge! I feel like a complete liar!" Yue Ruzheng's face was pale, tears streaming down her cheeks. "But I don't know how to make amends... Seeing you makes me panic and lose my way!"
Looking at her weak yet stubborn appearance, Lian Junchu couldn't help but laugh angrily: "In the end, I shouldn't have seen you at all, right? Yue Ruzheng, you just want me to stay on Seven Star Island forever, never to appear before you again?! But don't get it wrong, if you hadn't intervened time and again, I wouldn't care what you're doing now, much less come looking for you! Since you don't want to see me, don't pretend to help my subordinates! You think this is atonement? Let me tell you, I don't need it!"
Yue Ruzheng stared blankly at the person in front of her, her tears suddenly stopping. After Lian Junchu finished speaking, he also stared at her with his lips tightly pressed together. If his gaze were a weapon, Yue Ruzheng felt that she would have been stabbed all over in his eyes long ago.
After watching for a while, Lian Junchu suddenly turned and strode back the way he came. Yue Ruzheng leaned against a large tree, watching his departing figure, her heart filled with sorrow and grief. Seeing that he was about to turn past that patch of reeds, she finally couldn't hold back anymore, and, leaning on her sword, chased after him.
"Little Tang!"
"Tang Yanchu!"
No matter how loudly she shouted, he wouldn't stop. Yue Ruzheng was heartbroken, feeling that whatever she did was wrong, and no amount of making amends would be in vain.
"Lian Junchu!" She threw the Lonely Fragrance Sword in her hand violently behind him as if venting her anger.
The pale pink tassel of the sword fluttered in the twilight as the sword slammed heavily onto the ground behind him. He stopped, his eyes lowered as he stared at the sword at his feet.
Yue Ruzheng took a step forward, her body swaying, her steps unsteady, tears still wet on her face, and a sorrowful smile on her lips.
"Only if I call you Young Master Lian will you acknowledge me, is that it?"
Lian Junchu didn't answer, but instead raised his handsome eyebrows and asked, "Weren't you telling me to leave? Why are you still calling me?"
Yue Ruzheng lowered her eyes and asked, "Where are you going?"
"Go find someone to bring you back to Yinxi Xiaozhu, then tell your senior brother or master to quickly find the people of Bliss Valley and get the antidote."
"I've said I don't want to cause any more trouble..."
Lian Junchu glanced at her sideways: "You don't want them to know why you were injured, do you?"
Yue Ruzheng bit her lip and turned her face away from him.
He stepped forward and lightly stepped on the sword's tail that had fallen to the ground, then kicked it, sending the Lonely Fragrance Sword flying towards Yue Ruzheng's hand.
"Still calling yourself a江湖人 (jianghu person), yet you don't even want your sword anymore." Lian Junchu said with a hint of sarcasm, then turned and left. However, this time his pace was slightly slower than before, and Yue Ruzheng hesitated for a moment before following him at a distance.
May Fourth Movement: My melancholy is hard to express; today is not yesterday.
"Is Mo Li still in Luzhou?" Lian Junchu, who had been walking ahead of Yue Ruzheng, suddenly asked.
Yue Ruzheng maintained a respectful distance from him throughout, and did not approach him at this moment. She walked weakly, saying, "It should be. Before I carried Danfeng out, I went back to the vicinity of Yinxi Xiaozhu to check the situation. The people of Jile Valley are all guarding Luzhou, demanding that we hand them over to Master Yu."
Lian Junchu slowed her pace and asked casually, "Why is Bliss Valley looking for Yu Hezhi?"
"I don't know." Yue Ruzheng was walking with difficulty. At first, only her right arm was sore and weak, but now even her legs were gradually becoming numb. She could barely move her feet. Her heart was also filled with unspeakable depression, so she no longer had the energy to think about the question he had raised.
Hearing her soft voice, Lian Jun turned her head and glanced back: "You wait here."
Although Yue Ruzheng's wound had stopped bleeding, she was still experiencing waves of indescribable dizziness. She tried her best to hold it in and at least not show it in front of him.
She felt utterly awful. Why did she become like this after he appeared? Perhaps in his eyes, Yue Ruzheng was nothing more than using her vulnerability to gain his sympathy.
She didn't want to owe him any favors; she couldn't repay the ones she already owed, so why add new ones?
So she shook her head firmly, pretending to be casual, and said, "No need, I can walk by myself."
Before she could finish speaking, she suddenly felt her legs give way and she stumbled forward. Lian Junchu instinctively stepped in front of her to block her fall. The moment Yue Ruzheng's palm touched his shoulder, she felt as if she were being pricked by countless sharp needles. He suddenly snapped back to reality and immediately pulled away. Yue Ruzheng couldn't stop herself and fell to the ground. Her injured wrist slammed into the ground, causing her to break out in a cold sweat from the pain.
Lian Junchu paused, then looked down at her. At this moment, he had already sheathed the short swords in his sleeves, leaving half of his sleeves empty and hanging at his sides.
He looked at her silently for a moment, then said softly, "Get up yourself."
Despite the pain, Yue Ruzheng used her left arm to support herself as she stood up and stumbled to the roadside to sit down.
She didn't know what was wrong with his shoulder, why she couldn't even touch it. Ever since she saw Lian Junchu again at Tingyu Manor, Yue Ruzheng had been very uneasy. She always felt that the person in front of her was no longer the Tang Yanchu she knew. From the outside in, there was almost no trace of the past.
"Stay here." Lian Junchu said without looking at her, and then walked ahead alone.
His figure gradually faded into the distance, disappearing into the night. Yue Ruzheng's vision also blurred. Over the years, she had thought countless times about how she should explain everything that had happened back then if she were to meet him again. Sometimes, she even wanted to go back to Nan Yandang Mountain to see if he was still living alone in that mountain valley.
But when she actually met him, all she could do was humbly apologize. His aloofness made it impossible for her to continue speaking, and she felt an unprecedented sense of helplessness and futility.
It turns out that he had already left Nan Yandang. He used to face the silent green mountains alone, but now he is left to guard the vast East China Sea.
Yue Ruzheng couldn't imagine what else had happened to him over the past few years, how he had gotten through those years, and how he had become the person he was now...
Around midnight, three people on horseback approached in the dim light of the night. Yue Ruzheng straightened up, feeling a little nervous. The first person reached her, jumped down, and clasped his hands in greeting, saying, "Miss Yue."
At first, Yue Ruzheng hadn't seen clearly, but now she remembered that it was he who had brought people to the vicinity of Yinxi Xiaozhu that morning to look for Danfeng. She pushed herself up and stood up, saying, "How did you end up here?"
Yinglong said, "We came following the markings." He then turned back, took the reins, and led over the horses. "Miss, you are injured. Please mount the horse, and we will take you away."
Looking at the young men before her, Yue Ruzheng felt a sudden, inexplicable sense of loss. She hesitated, wanting to speak but holding back. Yinglong helped her onto her horse, while the other two followed slowly behind. After traveling for a while, Yue Ruzheng, filled with inner turmoil, couldn't help but ask, "Didn't you encounter Young Master Lian?"