"One side promised another year of life, the other a chance of waking up or possibly dying. I couldn’t make that decision for General Jih. The old general left the choice to Jih Heng, who decided to administer the dicine to his father."
Jiang Li’s heart clenched tightly as she heard this. She already knew the outco, as Situ Jiuyue had told her earlier, but she still couldn’t help feeling pained for Jih Heng at this mont.
"Every one of us hopes for a miracle. Jih Heng never believed in fate. Before he gave the dicine to General Jih, he also went to worship his mother. Unfortunately, as Jih Heng himself said, even the opera troupe’s cody on stage is too unreal, and no miracle happened. I failed, and General Jih died."
Snowflakes twirled down, landing on Situ Jiuyue. She seed completely unaware, neither brushing off the snowflakes nor opening an umbrella, allowing the cold to settle on her. Jiang Li even thought that Situ Jiuyue might be shivering.
"This isn’t your fault," Jiang Li said softly, "nor is it Jih Heng’s."
"Of course, I know." After a while, Situ Jiuyue spoke. "But after General Jih died, I still left Yanjing, and didn’t co back until last year."
Last year was when Jih Heng asked Situ Jiuyue to treat Xue Huaiyuan’s illness.
"I don’t like being in anyone’s debt, but after that incident, I still felt I owed Jih Heng. If it hadn’t been for Jih Heng asking to treat Xue Huaiyuan, I would never have returned to Yanjing City in my lifeti. So, given any chance to make ands, I would do my best. That’s why when you ask why I treated Xue Huaiyuan, why I treated Xue Zhao easily, it’s rely because three years ago, my poison killed his father."
Jiang Li couldn’t help but repeat, "It’s not your fault, Miss Jiuyue, you’ve done your best."
"Yet the outco is the sa. If I feel this way, one can only imagine what Jih Heng feels. I’ve never seen soone so dedicated at one thing in their life. Since I’ve known him, he has built this garden to detoxify his father. Sadly, over the years, he could only watch the poison spread little by little, powerless to stop it. In the end, he could only watch General Jih die because he made the wrong decision."
Jiang Li fell silent, imagining the depth of despair Jih Heng must have felt in that mont.
Situ Jiuyue finished picking the last flower and stood up. "That’s the answer. I actually thought that after his father died, he would dismantle this garden, but it’s still here. Maybe it’s to deceive others, maybe it’s just in case."
Jiang Li asked, "Then, where is General Jih buried?"
"Nothing conspicuous could be done, to avoid arousing suspicion, and it was also his father’s last wish before death. His body was cremated into ashes and placed in his mother’s tomb."
Jiang Li caught the key point in Situ Jiuyue’s words, "To avoid arousing suspicion? Was General Jih poisoned deliberately by soone hiding in the shadows, still in the capital?"
Situ Jiuyue looked at Jiang Li: "Correct. Since you’ve guessed it, there’s no need for to say more, but there are many other things I don’t know. Jih Heng wouldn’t fully trust anyone, maybe you’re an exception, but to protect you, he wouldn’t tell you much. So the ugliest truth may only be known to him."
At this point, Jiang Li suddenly understood why Jih Heng was the way he was. They say he was rcurial and bloodthirsty, and that might be true. But after going through such experiences, and possibly more horrifying truths, a young Jih Heng learned to face darkness alone, and soone who walks out of darkness, if they want to protect what they cherish, must first learn to survive in that darkness. To turn him into soone like Ah Zhao, as upright and honorable as Xue Huaiyuan, is impossible – in Jih Heng’s eyes, even naively ridiculous."
Jiang Li couldn’t pinpoint her feelings, feeling only as if a stone weighed heavily on her heart, so heavy she could hardly breathe. This garden, with its layers of bright and beautiful flowers, each one a hope Jih Heng had nurtured since his youth, sadly the flowers still blood in abundance while the hopes had all been dashed.
She also rembered that night she ca to the Duke Residence, when Jih Heng was planting a tree in the courtyard, working exceptionally slow, his eyes on the garden full of flowers yet so lonely.
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