#575 - Lonely sandbar cold
Half an incense stick's time later.
Inside the brightly lit military tent, Wei Changtian saw Li Wutong, who had clearly lost a lot of weight.
Although the latter was much thinner and her face was terribly pale, her appearance was still the same as before, without much change.
Only her appearance remained unchanged, but the way they looked at each other could never return to the beginning.
“Gongzi, I'll go out first.”
Her long skirt swaying, Yang Liushi, who had been here taking care of Li Wutong, stood up, softly said a word, and lifted the tent flap to leave.
And with her departure, only Wei Changtian and Li Wutong remained in the tent.
“You must have suffered a lot these days.”
Sitting down opposite Li Wutong, Wei Changtian's expression was calm: “But it's good that your body is fine.”
“Gong, Gongzi...”
Tears instantly filled her eyes, and Li Wutong didn't know why, but after hearing Wei Changtian say a word, she couldn't hold back her tears any longer, her voice choked with sobs.
“I, I know I was wrong, I'm sorry for you...”
“I shouldn't have trusted Ning Yongnian, I shouldn't have believed him!”
“I hate myself for being so stupid!”
“I, I'm sorry, really sorry...”
“...”
Like a mermaid's tears on the jasper sea, they fall on her clothes, half-vanishing.
Tears streamed down her cheeks, dripping onto her clothes, blurring into a patch of wetness.
Li Wutong's cries and apologies echoed in the military tent, seemingly mixed with boundless regret and guilt.
She bit her lip hard, constantly looking at Wei Changtian, her shoulders trembling violently.
She wanted to throw herself into Wei Changtian's arms, but felt unworthy, so she didn't dare.
She hoped to hear even a single word of comfort from Wei Changtian, but the latter remained silent.
Then.
Just like that, after who knows how long, Li Wutong heard a voice in the whistling wind outside the tent, a voice so calm that it frightened her.
“I...”
Her voice seemed somewhat bitter, and then became extremely painful in the face of that unwavering gaze.
Li Wutong trembled as she looked at Wei Changtian, taking a very, very long time to finish telling him what he wanted to know, sentence by sentence.
And Wei Changtian's response to this was only a simple sentence.
“Okay, I understand.”
“...”
The wind was still howling, incomparably fierce, faintly echoing between heaven and earth.
Li Wutong's body swayed violently, and her heart suddenly became empty.
The flickering candlelight and the bright military tent seemed to disappear everything in the world in this mournful wind, all comings and goings were just a dream.
Even Wei Changtian's voice became ethereal.
“Princess, your father is not in my hands.”
“The matter of robbing the execution ground was not actually done by me.”
“I don't know if he is dead or alive now, but I guess he should be able to survive...”
“...”
After briefly explaining Li Qi's situation, Wei Changtian looked at the distraught Li Wutong and stopped speaking.
Although his expression had been calm, his heart was inevitably a little complicated at this moment.
This was a very difficult emotion to describe.
Having already learned the ins and outs of everything, Wei Changtian of course understood that his importance in Li Wutong's heart was far less than the concept of the Great Feng nation.
In other words, if Li Wutong was really given a chance to choose between the survival of the Great Feng and his own life or death, she would most likely choose the former.
As for his attitude towards this...
It may sound a little unbelievable, but Wei Changtian really didn't care about such an order, nor did he think there was anything wrong with it.
He didn't want to be ranked first in everyone's heart, and even hoped that the people around him could have such a pursuit.
But Li Wutong was wrong in that she abandoned all her bottom lines for this.
Not stupid, not foolish, not impulsive.
Just the bottom line of “something to do, something not to do”.
From this point of view, she and Ning Yongnian were quite similar.
Therefore, Wei Changtian couldn't talk about “forgiving” now, but rather “accepting”.
And since he would decide to rebel because of the Yuanzhou City massacre, he would naturally not accept Li Wutong.
It was that simple.
“...”
“Princess, what are your plans next?”
After a long while, Wei Changtian finally asked again: “The situation in Great Feng will not stabilize in a short time. Have you ever thought about where you want to go in the future?”
“I...”
As if sensing something, Li Wutong's breathing suddenly became rapid, her voice urgent and flustered.
“Gong, Gongzi, I'll listen to you!”
“It's, it's fine to go anywhere! I will never be like before again!”
“You, you believe me, okay? Believe me...”
“Listen to me?”
Wei Changtian nodded: “Since that's the case, then you should leave.”
“I don't care where you go, and you don't have to tell me.”
“But you must know that if you fall into Ning Yongnian's hands again, I will not save you again.”
“Princess, I never owed you anything.”
“You don't have to feel guilty either, because you don't owe me anything.”
“So from now on, we will be strangers, each going our own way.”
“...”
After saying the last sentence, Wei Changtian stood up without hesitation and walked straight towards the tent flap.
His extremely ruthless actions were not an act, but just as he was about to lift the curtain, Li Wutong suddenly staggered over, grabbing the corner of his clothes tightly with a face full of tears.
There was no hysterical crying, no heartbreaking pleas.
The latter didn't even dare to have physical contact with him, just tightly grasping that strand of clothing, repeating the last sentence over and over again in the smallest, most humble tone.
“Don't, don't leave me, okay...”
“Please, please you...”
“Don't leave me...”
“...”
Wei Changtian paused, his chest feeling a little stuffy.
He closed his eyes, then opened them after a few breaths, and then suddenly reached out and lifted the tent flap.
“Zhang San!”
His gaze turned to Zhang San, who was guarding outside the tent, his tone still as cold as ever.
“Prepare a horse! Send the princess away immediately!”
“Also, release the news early tomorrow morning, saying that Princess Wuping was poisoned by Ning Yongnian and died tonight!”
“Yes! This humble one understands!”
“Well, go do it.”
Leaving the last sentence, Wei Changtian immediately waved his hand to cut off the corner of his clothes, and then strode into the night.
Li Wutong subconsciously wanted to chase after him, but was stopped by Zhang San after only taking one step.
“Princess, please don't make things difficult for this humble one.”
“...”
Li Wutong suddenly stopped, her body stiffening for a moment, and then as if she had lost all her strength, she grabbed the tent flap and slid down little by little until she completely fell to the cold yellow earth.
“Say that Princess Wuping was poisoned and died tonight!”
The cold voice seemed to still echo in the night sky, and the distant figure was only a faint outline left.
A waning moon hangs on sparse parasol trees, the night watchman's drum ceases and people begin to rest. Who sees the secluded one wandering alone, a lonely wild goose's shadow, ethereal.
Startled, it looks back, harboring resentment no one understands. Choosing every cold branch, it refuses to perch, lonely on the cold sandy isle.
“...”
“Gongzi Wei! You have to marry me when we meet again!”
“You promised me!”
“...”
The cold wind was like a knife, messing up Li Wutong's short hair that barely reached her shoulders.
She slowly closed her eyes, finally feeling the cold.
