NFBE Chapter 1996 You're Using Your Mother's Death
Chapter 1996 You're Using Your Mother's Death
The flame of the kerosene lamp in the room flickered, casting shifting shadows on Shangguan Wuji's face.
The snow was still falling outside the window, and the rustling sound came through the cracks, making the daytime seem particularly desolate.
Seeing her father's eyes momentarily glazed over, Shangguan Wanqing knew that her words had had an effect.
She knew her father too well. This seemingly heartless man always had a place in his heart reserved for his mother.
“My mother passed away on a snowy day just like this!” she said softly, her voice trembling deliberately. “I remember that day, it was extremely cold. My mother filled a hot water bottle for me, but no matter how hard the stove burned, it wouldn’t warm me up! My mother couldn’t bear it and went back to bed. It seemed like she had been sick for a long time! Her face was as white as the snow outside the window! She held my hand, and her palms were icy cold!”
Shangguan Wuji's hand curled up slightly.
"She said, 'Wanqing, you must listen to your father from now on and don't make him angry!'" Shangguan Wanqing continued, her eyes gradually reddening. "She said that her father had a hard life, supporting such a large family business all by himself. He suffered in his heart, but he never said it!"
"She also said..." She paused, then looked up at her father, "She said the person she felt most sorry for in her life was her father! If it weren't for her poor health, her father wouldn't have..."
"Enough!" Shangguan Wuji interrupted her, his voice a little hoarse.
But Shangguan Wanqing did not stop.
She can't stop either.
This was her only chance, the only way to use her mother's excuse to divert her father's attention and protect Li Xiangnan.
Do you remember the night your mother passed away?
As Shangguan Wanqing asked, tears streamed down her face. "You sat by her bedside, holding her hand, without closing your eyes all night! By the time the night watchman reminded us it was dawn, Mother's body was already cold! I hid outside the door, watching in fear, peeking out, and saw you crying! In all my life, that was the first and only time I ever saw you cry!"
Shangguan Wuji suddenly stood up, the chair legs scraping against the ground with a loud and ear-piercing sound.
"I've said enough!" he roared, his facial muscles trembling slightly with agitation.
The room suddenly fell silent.
Only Shangguan Wanqing's suppressed sobs and the howling wind and snow outside the window could be heard.
Shangguan Wuji had his back to his daughter, his hands on the table, and his shoulders were trembling slightly.
After a long while, he slowly spoke, his voice weary and aged: "Wanqing, you look a lot like your mother! Not just in appearance, but also... this intelligence!"
He turned around and looked at his daughter with a complicated expression: "You know how to pierce my heart, how to make me feel bad, how to make me ashamed! Your mother was like that back then. Whenever I did something she didn't agree with, she never argued with me or left. She would just sit there quietly and talk about our past. She would whisper sweet words to me and make me feel guilty and turn back!"
Shangguan Wanqing lowered her head, tears falling drop by drop onto the back of her hand.
“But Wanqing,” Shangguan Wuji’s voice suddenly turned cold, becoming utterly ruthless, “you are more ruthless than your mother! At least she knew when to stop, knew to leave me some room to maneuver, but what about you?”
He walked up to his daughter, bent down, and said, word by word, "You are using your mother's death to protect an outsider!"
Shangguan Wanqing was startled.
"I didn't..." she weakly lowered her head to defend herself, but even she seemed to feel that her words were somewhat weak.
"You did! I said you did!" Shangguan Wuji straightened up, looking down at her. "You've said so much just to soften my heart and make me not hold it against you! To remind me of my guilt towards your mother and let you go! To stop asking where you went last night, who you met, and what you said!"
He gave a cold laugh: "But Wanqing, what a pity! Your father has been saying this for over fifty years, having weathered too many storms, met too many people, and encountered too many things! Your little tricks are too naive!"
Shangguan Wanqing looked up, and through her teary eyes, she saw the expression on her father's face.
It was a complex expression, a mixture of disappointment, anger, and a barely perceptible hint of heartache.
“Father, I’m not lying, I really just went to see the snow!” But Shangguan Wanqing still insisted, “That plum blossom grove behind West Mountain was my mother’s favorite place! I remember that every year when it snowed, she would take me to see the plum blossoms covered in snow! Going there to appreciate the snow and remember my mother has become a habit of mine for the past few years! Yesterday, I just wanted to go there and miss my mother!”
She spoke more and more fluently, as if she were simply stating facts.
"I didn't ride a horse because it was freezing cold, and I was afraid the horse would get hurt. Besides, the old horseman was sick, and I didn't want to trouble him! I rode a bicycle there for peace and quiet! If I fell, that's only natural; the mountain roads are so slippery, I'm not used to them! I came back late because I sat in the woods for a long time. I missed my mother and those happy times!"
She looked at her father, her eyes sincere and sorrowful: "Father, do you think I would betray you and the Shangguan family for a man I've only met a few times? In your heart, am I that kind of person?"
That's a very clever question.
The question was thrown back to Shangguan Wuji.
It's not about whether she did it or not, but whether her father is willing to believe her.
Shangguan Wuji remained silent.
He looked at his daughter's red, tear-filled eyes, at her slightly trembling shoulders, and at the face that resembled his deceased wife so closely.
For a moment, he almost believed her.
almost!
But the man's words still resonate.
A woman's kindness can kill everyone.
And everything that happened in Nanluoguxiang today: Li Xiangnan's almost precognitive response, his thorough understanding of the Shangguan family's servants, and all his precise counterattacks...
What a coincidence!
It was so coincidental that he couldn't help but suspect something.
“Wanqing!” he said slowly, his voice resolute. “You’re right, your mother loved snow and plum blossoms the most! Every year when it snowed, she would take me to see it! The year she passed away, the snow was the heaviest in all the years, and the plum blossoms were the most vibrant! She said, ‘Wuji, when the snow melts, the three of us will go to the Western Hills to see the plum blossoms!’”
Shangguan Wuji's voice choked with emotion: "But she left before the snow melted!"
Shangguan Wanqing's tears immediately welled up.
“So, from then on, there were two things I hated most!” Shangguan Wuji looked at his daughter, his eyes icy cold: “One is snow, and the other is plum blossoms! Because they always remind me that I haven’t kept any of the promises I made to her!”
He walked to the window, opened it a crack, and let the cold wind in to calm himself down.
"Wanqing, remember this!" He turned his back to his daughter: "In this world, some things are more important than feelings, more important than memories, even more important than life! The Shangguan family cannot fall, the secrets of the Shangguan family cannot be revealed, what the Shangguan family wants must be obtained, and the enemies of the Shangguan family must be eliminated!"
He turned around, his eyes regaining the coldness of a family head: "Whether what you say today is true or false, whether you have any contact with Li Xiangnan or not, one thing will not change!"
"That means, a play that has been performed for decades must continue to be performed until the curtain falls! No one will quit halfway through!"
Shangguan Wanqing's heart sank.
She understood the unspoken meaning in her father's words.
Whether she admits it or not, her father is convinced that she has a connection with Li Xiangnan.
She will be sealed away by the Shangguan family and excluded from this game, so as to prevent her misplaced compassion from ruining the whole affair.
“So,” she asked softly, “what does Father intend to do with me?”