Feng Zhi Wei looked at him quietly. There was no distrust in her eyes, but there was a hint of scrutiny. After a moment, she asked, “Why can’t you trust me to take care of this?”
“You are planning to send him to the grasslands, aren’t you?” Ning Yi said, “Just as you don’t trust me with him, I don’t trust the grasslands. Too far, with too many uncertainties and variables. Moreover, Helian is openhearted and straightforward by nature. If Consort Qing were ever to learn of anything, then with her ruthless and meticulous methods, Helian might not be able to guard against her. Frankly, in all the world, the only people I believe can remain out of the reach of others’ schemes are you and me. I trust no one else.”
Feng Zhi Wei fell silent. She had to admit that Ning Yi’s concerns were reasonable. The grasslands were from the imperial reach, if anything really happened there, even she would not be able to do anything about it.
“What do you intend to do then?”
“This child must never come in contact with any place that is in possession of power and authority.” Ning Yi said decisively, “Not even the royal court of the grasslands. Rest assured, since I promised you I would spare his life, I will not go back on my word.”
Feng Zhi Wei raised her eyes and gazed into Ning Yi’s. He met her gaze frankly and steadily. In those dark, obsidian-like eyes, she could find no trace of scheming.
Feng Zhi Wei lowered her head again to look at the child in her arms. He slept soundly, softly smacking his lips, carrying a sweet milky scent. Feng Zhi Wei reached out her hand and gently teased his rosy cheek. Feeling the baby’s plump and elastic skin, smooth and soft, a hint of tenderness stirred in her heart.
Just as this feeling rose inside her, a vague thought suddenly flashed across her mind, like a lightning bolt, appearing and vanishing in an instant. When she furrowed her brow and tried to grasp what it had been, it had already slipped beyond her reach.
She had no choice but to set it aside and focus once more on the child. He was a tiny, fragile bundle, light in her arms, yet carrying a weight greater than a thousand pounds. Her gaze fell upon a corner of bright imperial yellow peeking from the swaddling cloth. Her heart jolted. She suddenly remembered that snowy year in Ningan Palace, when she had read her mother’s letter. Though her mother’s last letter had ultimately been consumed by flames, every word remained etched into her heart.
If mother were here, she would surely tell her to keep this child and use him to control Consort Qing and Ning Yi….
This was the last descendant of the Tiansheng emperor. As long as such a prince existed, it would increase the uncertainties in the succession to the imperial throne. Anyone with a somewhat sensible mind knows that if someone like Ning Yi– a grown prince of unfathomable depth and immense political skills were to ascend the throne, the obstacles to what she intended to accomplish in the future would become far greater.
She had always understood that.
Otherwise, she would not have spent an entire night pondering by the well, before quietly carving those two faint characters: “Imperial Ancestral Temple”.
The oath she had sworn, the countless entanglements, the endless hesitations and dilemmas of life.
Her whole life, she had always been decisive and ruthless, yet before this man, her resolve inevitably wavered again and again.
Feng Zhi Wei closed her eyes and let out a sigh in her heart.
Mother, forgive me.
I promise you, I will do my utmost to fulfill the oath I wrote in blood before your grave all those years ago. But please allow me to preserve a small measure of freedom for my own heart.
Let me give up this opportunity.
Let me try, once more, to trust him.
When she opened her eyes again, there was nothing left in them. Looking at Ning Yi, she gave him a faint smile. Without saying a word, she handed him the child in her arms.
Ning Yi accepted the baby calmly, but there was a slight tremor in his eyes.
Only he knew that this simple action was anything but simple for Feng Zhi Wei.
Only he knew that she was no ordinary woman. She had never known pure trust in her life. Her past and the choices she had made had left her incapable of trusting easily.
The moment he took the tiny baby into his arms, his hands trembled ever so slightly. Yet the smile that rose to his lips remained as calm and serene as ever, just like hers.
He thought, perhaps she doesn’t know the understanding he had of the moment.
Just as she thought, maybe he didn’t understand what she was letting go at this moment.
For people like them.
This was the closest their hearts had ever been.
Yet each believed the other was unaware.
==========
After handing the child over to Ning Yi, Feng Zhi Wei watched as he carefully wrapped the baby in his own cloak before mounting his horse and riding away.
The group of men in black had already wiped out Shao Ning’s men and were now efficiently disposing the bodies. Working in pairs, they loaded the corpses onto a pitch-black carriage that had appeared at some unknown point, then silently drove away.
By tomorrow, Shao Ning’s subordinates will have silently disappeared from this world. No one knew where they had come from, and likewise, no one would know where they had gone.
This was the first time Feng Zhi Wei had personally witnessed the hidden power struggle between the imperial siblings— fierce and decisive, with real blades and real blood.
There were the schemes and calculations concealed beneath the guise of court politics, but there was also the splattering of blood from real blades.
Human lives were nothing more than sacrifices for the imperial families, discarded without a second thought.
Every prince has a group of trained assassins under his command. Every prince who had survived to adulthood had also endured countless assassination attempts.
A chill rose in Feng Zhi Wei’s heart. She suddenly felt that even the early summer night wind seemed very cold.
She stood motionless in the alley, watching Ning Yi’s figure recede into the distance. Vaguely, she wondered where Consort Qing had gone. She also thought about the person who had forced her away from the wall of the Imperial Ancestral Temple earlier, causing her to “accidentally” stumble upon this deadly ambush.
Who was that person? And what connection did they have to all this?
She watched as Ning Yi’s men expertly filled in the tunnel. They even carefully placed the broken vat back where it had been. After thinking for a while, she decided to go back and get some sleep.
She retraced her original route. In fact, her place and Ning Yi’s place lay in the same direction, but guessing that Ning Yi would now be occupied with arranging the child’s future, she deliberately chose not to leave with him and let him handle the matter himself. There was also the matter of avoiding suspicion. (The author doesn’t explain if it was to avoid the suspicion that our heroine doesn’t trust Ning Yi, or to avoid being involved in the matter.)
She leaped over walls and rooftops, the wind whistling as she raced by. Even with the wind roaring in her ears, a faint gloom lingered in her heart, refusing to dissipate. She ran almost as though she were venting her emotions.
Then suddenly, she caught sight of a dark figure darting past ahead.
The figure’s movement seemed vaguely familiar from a distance. Feng Zhi Wei frowned and instinctively followed.
The person was extremely fast. She trailed far behind, careful not to be noticed. Ahead, a large tree blocked a secluded corner of an alley. Then in the next instant, the figure suddenly vanished.
Feng Zhi Wei had only just paused in surprise when she heard a faint sound of “poof”
The sound was all too familiar. On average, every so often, she would hear it seventeen or eighteen times. She had long since developed an instinctive sensitivity to it. The moment she heard that sound, she knew someone was going to die.
For some reason, her heart sank at the sound. It felt as though some secret hope, some cherished bit of beauty deep in her heart, had abruptly been severed and sent plunging into darkness by a sharp blade.
The inexplicable foreboding made her stop. She stopped on the wall, and for a brief moment, was unwilling to go any farther.
It was as if, the instant she stepped forward, something would shatter before her eyes, collapsing beyond all repair.
She hesitated on the wall for a single moment, then immediately wanted to turn around.
However, at the far corner of the alley ahead, someone had already emerged. Behind him, two others followed.
It was Ning Yi.
And Feng Zhi Wei’s gaze fell, at once, upon the bundle in his arms.
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com
ps.Quite a few posts ago, a reader commented that Ning Yi seemed to always be the one holding out his heart on a platter, while our heroine was always holding back her emotions. I do think that is a correct observation, but I also don’t really see how our heroine could possibly act any differently given her intelligence and circumstance. This scene gives us a glimpse into why our heroine could not and cannot allow herself the freedom of acting like a normal young girl in love. Even without her vow to her mom, trusting Ning Yi wholeheartedly without reservation is simply something our heroine cannot afford to do. If the cost of her trusting the wrong guy is simply her own life, I think our heroine would have thrown all caution to the wind by now. However, it was never that simple. The first time she let down her guard and trusted, her mother and her brother died. (That’s obviously a very unfair statement, but that’s what our heroine believes.) What else could she lose if she makes the wrong choice again in the name of love? Everyone she loves: Gu Nan Yi, Gu Zhi Xiao, Helian, Hua Qiong, Zong Cheng. The whole Bloody Pagoda Organization, sworn to protect her, would also be in danger. Our poor heroine. I think this scene shows us a glimpse of her yearning to trust and to love, but the price is just so, so heavy. She lets so few people into her heart, so losing any one of them would be devastating to her.
By the way, I do want to point out that this scene also hinted a few times that our heroine is starting to suspect that her encounters with Ning Yi at the beginning of the book were all carefully orchestrated by him. That, would be totally logical and doesn’t necessarily change my opinion of our hero. The reason our heroine had such difficulty trusting our hero was precisely because he probably would have acted fairly similarly towards her even if he wasn’t really in love with her. Gaining Feng Zhi Wei’s love thus gaining control of Bloody Pagoda along with all of her loyal followers, would be totally worth whatever manipulation Ning Yi had to do. Not to mention Feng Zhi Wei herself is a great prize in terms of aiding him in obtaining the throne. Ning Yi’s personality has never changed. His biggest mistake in life (if you think in terms of obtaining the throne) was the fact that he didn’t kill Feng Zhi Wei when every instinct inside him told him to do it. I don’t believe that at this point in the story, the thought had ever crossed Ning Yi’s mind to give up the throne for our heroine, since he is convinced he could have both no matthew what…, which makes me wonder if Ning Yi himself even knew (at this point) if he really had to choose between the throne or Feng Zhi Wei, which one he would choose.