Feng Ran lowered her eyes, hearing Xiao Lan Jue's desperate wish to dig a hole and leave.
"No, things are not what you see, nor what you think."
Feng Ran was trying to explain.
"That medicine was not because of me."
Feng Ran explained anxiously.
Xuan Yuan Heng, standing beside them, had a particularly grim expression. Although he knew Xiao Lan Jue was saying that intentionally, he didn't say much to Xiao Lan Jue. He knew very well what kind of person Xiao Lan Jue was.
He had originally intended to explain directly, but seeing Feng Ran trying so hard to distance herself from him, he felt incredibly displeased.
Her look of disdain, he thought, in her eyes, was he really so unworthy of her?
"Feng Ran, shut up," Xuan Yuan Heng said, his face dark.
Xiao Lan Jue glanced at Feng Ran, "No need to explain, this medicine actually..."
He thought it was time to tell the truth, after all, jokes should have a limit. Moreover, seeing Xuan Yuan Heng's dark expression, he dared not joke any further. Life was precious, and life was the most important thing.
"No, no need to explain. I have nothing to do with Xuan Yuan Heng at all."
Xiao Lan Jue's eyes were full of playful light, "Feng Ran, I didn't say you had anything to do with Xuan Yuan Heng. Why are you so anxious to distance yourself?"
"If you haven't done anything wrong, you wouldn't be like this."
Feng Ran looked at Xiao Lan Jue, remaining silent for a long time.
Indeed, as Xiao Lan Jue said, she was a bit too nervous, too concerned, which made her so emotional.
If she truly didn't care, then no matter what she heard, she wouldn't react like this.
Some of what Xiao Lan Jue said seemed to be true.
Xiao Lan Jue looked at the silent Feng Ran and said with a half-smile, "Feng Ran, that medicine was actually for your severely injured knee, and Xuan Yuan Heng asked me to bring it."
"This medicine is hard to come by even with a thousand taels of gold. But Xuan Yuan Heng, for you, sent people to threaten with their lives, forcing me to bring it. It seems your position in Xuan Yuan Heng's heart is indeed extraordinary."
Feng Ran's heart pounded upon hearing this.
However, she quickly suppressed her agitated heart. She kept reminding herself, had she forgotten all the torment she suffered back then?
"Young Master Xiao is the trusted confidant of His Highness. You should know better than anyone why His Highness wants to save me and worry about my safety."
"His Highness said that he wants me to 'live well,' and that I am to live in suffering for all eternity," Feng Ran said with deep sorrow, a smile on her face as she spoke these words.
"His Highness said that if I died, it would be liberation. He said he wouldn't let me have that."
Feng Ran scoffed mockingly, "Young Master Xiao, I am well aware of myself. I will not have unrealistic thoughts."
"Is that so? Then I hope it's as you say."
Feng Ran paused, "That's how things originally were." but her voice held a hint of guilt.
Xiao Lan Jue's gaze fell on Feng Ran. He didn't want to say these hurtful words. He just didn't expect her to say them so directly, as if what he was talking about had nothing to do with her.
"Feng Ran, have you ever thought that you are different in Xuan Yuan Heng's eyes?"
"If he didn't care about you, he wouldn't have said these things to you."
"Have you ever thought that, perhaps, he loves you dearly, but just doesn't show it?"
As Xiao Lan Jue was about to say something more, Feng Ran's sorrowful eyes made him close his mouth.
"Young Master Xiao, those things have already passed."
Xiao Lan Jue glanced at Xuan Yuan Heng standing not far away, then turned his gaze back to Feng Ran and said in a hushed tone, "Feng Ran, don't you want to try a little harder? Perhaps things would change."
Feng Ran smiled, but her smile was tinged with sorrow and mockery, "No, it won't change."
Xiao Lan Jue just watched the person before him quietly, for a moment, truly not knowing what to say.
"What has happened cannot be treated as if it never happened," Feng Ran's voice was filled with weariness. The light had long since vanished from her eyes.
The proud person she once was had disappeared.
Xiao Lan Jue looked at Feng Ran, his eyes filled with inquiry, wanting to know what had happened to her over the years.
The Feng Ran of the past had loved Xuan Yuan Heng to the bone. She had been crazy for Xuan Yuan Heng, even disregarding her own life and the dissuasions of her family to be with Xuan Yuan Heng. Now, how could she give up so easily?
In the past, Feng Ran would be overjoyed by a single word from Xuan Yuan Heng or a glance from him. Now, even though Xuan Yuan Heng had brought her back to the manor, her face had never shown a smile.
What had she experienced over these years to make her this way?
"Feng Ran, what exactly happened that makes you so resolute in letting go of Xuan Yuan Heng?"
Feng Ran lowered her head, her eyes filled with confusion, as if lost in her own world, and said in a low voice, "Let the painful things be in the past. Now, I don't want to bring them up."
"The Feng Ran of today is no longer the Feng Ran of yesterday."
Feng Ran had lost her former vivacity, her radiance, her carefree demeanor.
Xiao Lan Jue felt no aversion towards Feng Ran. It could only be said that he felt a sense of pity and distraction at Feng Ran's change.
"Feng Ran, I must take your pulse." Xiao Lan Jue said firmly. He seemed to sense Feng Ran's intention to evade, but he glanced at Xuan Yuan Heng, then back at Feng Ran, and said playfully, "Feng Ran, if you're unwilling, then the one to take your pulse will not be me, but the person standing over there."
Xiao Lan Jue's words completely stimulated Feng Ran. The previously hesitant Feng Ran finally agreed.
"Feng Ran, you are poisoned, and this poison flares up every month? Do you know that what you need most now is to recuperate?"
"By the way, a place like Chun Manyuan is really not suitable for you to recuperate."
"Feng Ran, who poisoned you? Looking at your pulse, this poison has been in you for many years. Who gives you the antidote every month?"
"Who would inflict such a cruel poison on you?" Xiao Lan Jue's gaze was probing, as if trying to see through her.
Xiao Lan Jue looked at Feng Ran and sighed helplessly.
The Feng family had helped him once, so he would naturally help Feng Ran if he could.
Seeing that Feng Ran said nothing, Xiao Lan Jue shook his head and sighed in helplessness.
He sighed helplessly at Feng Ran's stubbornness, thinking that anything more he said would be useless. He shook his head and walked out.
The words of comfort he had on the tip of his tongue could no longer be spoken.
"She is poisoned, and it's incurable in this lifetime."
Xiao Lan Jue shook his head, "I don't know who could be so vicious to inflict such harm."
"Truly heartless," Xiao Lan Jue shook his head.
However, as he said these words, he did not notice Xuan Yuan Heng's gaze upon him.