Given Fu Shen’s usual temper, cursing or even throwing punches would not have been surprising. But now he only felt exhausted, wanting to find a place to close his eyes and sleep. Yan Xiaohan’s strike was too precise and ruthless, pinning him down completely.
Perhaps it wasn’t entirely Yan Xiaohan’s fault. Fu Shen himself was completely unprepared, practically inviting the strike.
“Fu Shen,” Yan Xiaohan called out as he was about to leave.
“I once told you that our identities are as different as the sky and earth.”
Fu Shen stopped.
“Hurting you was my mistake. But if today’s events were to happen again, I would still choose to do the same.”
The iron-hearted Feilong Guard finally tore off his impassive mask, revealing his ambition and desire for the first time, looking even more upright than a righteous gentleman.
Though I’m deeply sunk, I want to carve out a path of survival in this mud.”
Applause came from ahead. Fu Shen finally turned, his high eyebrows raised, a smile at the corner of his lips, contempt and mockery clear in his eyes.
“How touching. But I never thought that way,” he said softly. “Lord Yan, can’t you see? No one forced you. You chose to wallow in the mud.”
He finished speaking and walked towards the alley’s exit.
Fu Shen wanted to leave decisively, but with each step, the knife in his heart seemed to be pulled out further. Blood and pain, no longer contained, gushed from the wound.
In a daze, a figure appeared before him – a back not particularly broad, but exceptionally upright, half-crouching, gesturing for him to climb on.
Fu Shen suddenly went mad, turning back and smashing the clematis jade pendant hard on the ground.
“From now on, you and I are like this jade.”
He refused to look back, as if leaving everything behind. Yan Xiaohan stared at the fragments, seeming to see the reddened rim of Fu Shen’s eyes as he turned away.
Their friendship seemed no different from ordinary friends. This rupture was neither a complete severance of ties nor a ritual cutting of robes. He vaguely knew he had lost something deeper and more fragile than friendship.
What lay shattered was probably the unconditional trust and a young, innocent heart.
