Chapter Twenty: Letting It All Go

After the ordeal he suffered last night, Gu Zhiheng had only managed to lie down after cleaning himself up and applying medicine. It was already three in the afternoon, yet he still hadn’t woken.

Thinking back to the events of the previous night, Gu Zhiheng was furious enough to want to strangle Mo Han—what a brute! No, that cold-blooded animal! It would have been enough to use a regular ointment, but who knows what madness seized him; he insisted on slathering on a foul-smelling, sickly-looking salve.

What had that man said last night? “This is a secret healing balm of the Black Serpent clan, never passed to outsiders. Don’t be ungrateful, just use it like a good boy for me!” The shamelessness of it! Gu Zhiheng grew angry just thinking about it.

At first, he adamantly refused to use the paste Mo Han brought. In the end, that brute actually tied him up with a rope! Right there, in front of his sister and Chen Yuan, paying no heed to his feelings, he bound him in full view of everyone. At that moment, Gu Zhiheng wished he could dig a hole and crawl into it from sheer embarrassment.

It had started out fine, but then that man stripped him down to nothing but his underwear—again, right in front of his sister and Chen Yuan. If he hadn’t known Mo Han’s intentions were only to treat his wounds, Gu Zhiheng would have suspected something far more sinister.

Thankfully, the cold-blooded creature untied him as soon as the medicine was applied, but his dignity was long gone. In front of girls, how could he be treated so? Didn’t he see the way his sister and Chen Yuan were grinning from ear to ear? Their aunt-like smiles were enough to blind him.

Afterward, finally freed, he lay down to rest. Yet, before sleep claimed him, he overheard Chen Yuan and his sister next door laughing heartily, teasing each other about “shipping” them together. Shipping, what nonsense! Love and all that—it was just a waste of time.

...

“That kid isn’t brain-damaged from the beating, is he? How is he still not up this late in the afternoon?” Mo Han didn’t give last night’s incident a second thought. He’d also heard the conversation between Chen Yuan and Chu Xingran, but paid it no mind.

Chu Xingran understood perfectly well that Gu Zhiheng was sulking in bed after being humiliated. He’d been like this since childhood—whenever the Gu family elders forced him to study, he’d play the scoundrel after a while. She hadn’t expected that, even as a grown man, he’d still resort to such antics.

“It’s nothing. He’ll get up when he’s hungry. You go about your business,” Chu Xingran replied indifferently. She herself was exhausted these past few days, pretending to be enamored with Mo Han, pretending to be mad at Gu Zhiheng.

Running back and forth between them, she was truly worn out.

“You don’t have to make things so hard on yourself. Just be who you are—no one will blame you.” Mo Han gazed at her, and after reflecting on the past few days, realized some things were better spoken plainly. “I know you don’t like me. Don’t force yourself to do what you don’t want. I simply like you, that’s all.” He spoke lightly, but why did his heart ache?

Silence fell. The atmosphere grew awkward.

Sensing it was time to leave, Chen Yuan stood up and slipped away. There were some things an outsider was better off not knowing—knowing too much rarely ended well.

Chu Xingran felt guilty toward Mo Han, but she hadn’t expected him to lay things bare so suddenly, least of all in such a moment. “Han, I’m truly sorry. I can’t lie to my heart,” she murmured, head bowed, her expression sincere.

Yes, after five or six centuries, she had only ever loved that one person.

Even knowing their story had no ending, she was willing to wait for his return. Even if what returned wasn’t him, but only a new soul reborn in this world, she still hadn’t forgotten him.

“Aran, do you think Ye Zheng could really come back?” That man, who once ruled over everything—could he return?

Hearing Mo Han’s question, Chu Xingran felt uncertain as well. “I don’t know. All I can do is fulfill every promise I made him.”

Ye Zheng—Chu Xingran’s beloved. He was Gu Zhiheng’s first incarnation. He changed the fate of the Gu family, sealed away their ancestors. The pain the Gu family endured for generations was all at his hand. Back then, he was unmatched, reigning over all, the master of the world. Chu Xingran had been the woman he most cherished, and for her, he would have forsaken everything.

Had the chaos of the three realms not erupted, he would never have sacrificed himself for the sake of all living things. Still, Chu Xingran had no regrets—Ye Zheng had done what he was meant to do.

“You know all this, and you still insist on liking me? Anyone else would be a better choice,” Chu Xingran suddenly brightened, as if a weight had lifted. She couldn’t accept Mo Han’s affection, nor could she stop him from feeling it—that was not her problem. Affection and love, these involuntary things, can’t be willed away by force.

Mo Han gave a helpless smile, leaned his head on the sofa, and looked at her with earnest eyes.

Her heart was vast, filled with six lifetimes of Ye Zheng.

Her heart was small—there was never room for him.

So be it. Forget while waiting, waiting while forgetting. Knowing there will be no result, why force oneself to taste love’s bitterness?

“Han, you promised Zhiheng. Will your family elders really let you go?” Whether it was the Mo family or the Black Serpent clan, would they ever agree? After all, Mo Han was no ordinary man—he was their clan chief, the key to the Black Serpent tribe.

“It’s nothing. I’ll just say I’m going out to train. No one would dare stop me.” As long as he could be by her side, that was enough.

“Let’s go out for drinks tonight—my treat!” Chu Xingran was suddenly transformed, radiant and lively.

“Great, I’m in! Tonight, drinks are on me!” A voice rang out from the staircase, and everyone turned to look.

Well, well, he was finally up.

But credit where it’s due—the ointment Mo Han applied worked wonders. By morning, all of Gu Zhiheng’s wounds had healed. Feeling reborn, he was no longer bothered by last night’s indignities.

Hearing they were going out for drinks, he was determined to tag along. In his twenty-three years of life, he still didn’t know what alcohol tasted like; tonight, he’d have to try it.

“Oh? You’re buying? Then let’s drink at the Four Directions Bar,” Mo Han raised an eyebrow with a sly smile, already planning to take full advantage.

He was, after all, the owner of the Four Directions—a chain of upscale bars, though no one knew he was behind them. The prices there were steep; the four of them would easily spend hundreds of thousands tonight.

Let’s see if this will teach the kid a lesson for going so hard on him last night. If it hadn’t been for the old one intervening, Mo Han would be either a fool or in his grave by now. So what if he made a little money off him tonight? Mo Han would sleep soundly.

“The Four Directions? Isn’t that your business? You just want to scam my money!” Each time he took a beating, Gu Zhiheng would find new memories surfacing. He had no idea why, but since it didn’t seem to do him any harm, he let it be.

But Mo Han, never one to back down, played the rascal, insisting that Gu Zhiheng was just stingy and unwilling to pay up, leaving Gu Zhiheng to stomp downstairs with a dark face.