I am invincible, that's why I lie down. You're using your entire clan to rebel?

Chapter 529: One letter completely crushes Xu Fenghua.

As Qin Mu watched all this, the smile on his lips slowly deepened.

This was a move he had been planning for a long time.

From the day he received the letter, he knew that one day he would put it in front of Xu Fenghua.

He wanted her to see with her own eyes how heartless and ungrateful the younger brother she was desperately trying to protect was to her.

He wanted to make her give up completely, to make her understand that her only place to belong was with him.

Qin Mu took out a handkerchief from his sleeve, walked up to her, squatted down, and gently wiped away the tears on her face.

The movements were very light and gentle, like wiping a fragile piece of porcelain.

His voice was very soft, as if he were whispering to a lover.

"Consort Hua, stop crying."

Xu Fenghua raised her head, her eyes blurry with tears, and looked at his smiling face, which she couldn't see through. Her heart felt heavy and suffocated, as if something was blocking it.

She didn't know what to say, who to hate, or who to blame.

She just looked at him, at him squatting in front of her, like a mountain blocking the cold wind.

Qin Mu reached out and gently placed his hand on her slightly protruding belly. His palm was warm and pressed against her skin through her clothes.

"We are now a family. You are carrying my child, and I have you and the child. Don't you want to see our child grow up healthy?"

Xu Fenghua's tears welled up again, silently and hot, streaming down her cheeks.

His palm rested on her lower abdomen, and she could feel its warmth, like the only ray of sunlight piercing through the clouds on a winter's day.

She lowered her head and looked at the slender, well-defined hand, which rested quietly on her lower abdomen, like a promise, or a noose.

She didn't know if he was telling the truth or not, or how much of his sincerity and how much of his calculation were in front of her.

But at this moment, she only felt so tired that she didn't even have the strength to think.

She didn't want to struggle anymore, and she didn't want to think about those things she would never understand.

She closed her eyes, gently resting her forehead on his shoulder, her voice hoarse and broken. "Your Majesty... I... I'm so tired."

Qin Mu neither pushed her away nor said anything.

He simply squatted there quietly, letting her lean on him, offering her warmth, comfort, and the most reassuring support.

Qin Mu's hand remained on her lower abdomen, without moving away.

The morning light outside the window grew brighter and brighter, illuminating the entire room.

The scraps of paper lay quietly on the blue bricks, like a pile of forgotten memories that could never be pieced back together.

Xu Fenghua's sobs gradually subsided, but her shoulders were still trembling slightly.

She leaned on his shoulder, like someone who had finally run out of energy and found a place to rest, then sat down and refused to get up again.

The scraps of paper drifted through her fingers and fell to the ground like ashes scattered by the wind.

Xu Fenghua was still clutching the last piece of paper, her knuckles white, her whole body like a hollowed-out clay sculpture, kneeling there.

Her shoulders were still trembling, very slightly, as if she had used up all her strength.

Qin Mu squatted down in front of her, reached out his hand, but did not touch her. He simply opened his palm and placed it on her knee.

His palm was empty, as if waiting for her to place her hand on it.

He didn't say anything, just squatted there, waiting for her to catch her breath.

The room was quiet, with only Xu Fenghua's suppressed, fragmented sobs, like a bird soaked by rain fluttering its wet wings in a corner.

After a long time, she finally raised her head.

Her face was streaked with tears, her eyes were swollen, and her lips were covered in bite marks.

She looked at him, her lips moved a few times, her voice hoarse like sandpaper.

"How could he... how could he say that..."

Qin Mu looked at her, his gaze calm. "What he said isn't important; what matters is what you think."

Xu Fenghua shook her head vigorously, tears streaming down her face again. "I don't know... I really don't know... He's my brother, I watched him grow up, I taught him to write, I taught him to ride horses, I was the one who picked him up when he fell off... How could he possibly write like that..."

She crumpled the piece of paper in her hand into a ball, the crumpled mess in her palm. "A bastard...he said my child is a bastard..."

Xu Fenghua never expected Xu Longxiang to say that.

Those are her own flesh and blood.

In Xu Longxiang's words, it was nothing more than an illegitimate child, something that could be easily aborted...

Qin Mu did not respond.

He extended his outstretched hand forward, but his palm was still empty.

Xu Fenghua stared at that hand for a long time before finally placing her own trembling hand on it.

His hands were warm, enveloping her fingertips like a flame about to go out.

Her tears welled up again, more fiercely and urgently than before, as if the dam in her heart had completely collapsed.

She leaned towards him, her forehead against his shoulder, and sobs squeezed out from her suppressed throat, muffled, like water that had been held back underground for a long time and was finally surfacing.

"I don't understand... I really don't understand..."

Qin Mu didn't move, just let her lean against him.

He raised his other hand and placed it on her back, patting it lightly twice.

"You don't need to understand him. You just need to understand yourself."

Xu Fenghua trembled violently in his arms, her shoulders heaving, and she cried intermittently.

"I want to save him... I really want to save him... but I can't... there's nothing I can do..."

"You can."

Qin Mu's voice came down from above her head, not loud, but steady. "You read the letter he gave you, you let your heart break, you shed the tears. Then stand up and keep living your life. That's all you can do."

Xu Fenghua didn't say anything, and cried even harder.

She buried her face in the crook of his shoulder, curling up like a wounded little animal, trembling and sobbing uncontrollably.

Jiang Zhaoyue sat on the embroidered stool, the scroll in her hand still open, but her gaze was no longer on the pages.

She watched Qin Mu squat there, watched Xu Fenghua cry on his shoulder, and watched the hand on Xu Fenghua's back pat her gently and patiently.

Her lips twitched, as if she were trying to force a smile.

She couldn't quite describe how she felt.

It's a bit bittersweet, a bit stifling, and tinged with a vague sense of envy.

She lowered her head and looked back at the pages of the book, but none of the words entered her mind.

Yunluan stood at the door, her gaze falling on Qin Mu, then on Xu Fenghua, without any expression.

Qin Mu took out a handkerchief from his sleeve. It was neatly folded and made of clean, plain white cotton.

He gently wiped her tears with a handkerchief, his movements so light it was as if he were handling something fragile. "Don't cry. It's bad for the baby."

Xu Fenghua's body trembled violently, as if she had been struck by something.

She raised her face, looking at him through teary eyes. His face was blurry, only his eyes were clear.

Those eyes were brimming with tears, so bright they were almost blinding.

Her lips were trembling, but she didn't speak.

She just watched him, watching him wipe her face clean little by little with a handkerchief.

She suddenly remembered when she was a child, she had fallen and scraped her knee, and her father had knelt down in front of her and used a handkerchief to wipe away the blood and mud.

At that time, she felt that she wasn't afraid even if the sky fell down.

But my father is no longer here.

Her younger brother, the one she raised herself, just wrote to her asking her to abort her child.

The man before her, the man she had once hated, feared, and wanted to escape from, was now kneeling in front of her, wiping away her tears with a handkerchief.

It felt as if something inside her had collapsed, yet something else was rising again from the ruins.

She reached out and grabbed his wrist.

My fingertips were icy cold, and I was gripping them tightly.

Qin Mu neither dodged nor moved, letting her hold on.

Xu Fenghua slowly moved closer, close enough to see her own face reflected in his pupils.

His face was a mess, streaked with tears, his hair disheveled, and his eyes swollen like peaches.

But there wasn't a trace of disgust in his eyes.

Her lips pressed against his.

It was very light, like a leaf falling into water.

With the saltiness of tears and the astringency on the lips, clumsy, tentative.

Qin Mu did not push her away.

He paused for a moment, then raised the hand that was resting on her back and gently supported the back of her head.

He kissed her back.

Unhurried and patient, like soothing a cat that has finally come close, warm and gentle.

Xu Fenghua's tears welled up again, sliding down her cheeks and into the gap between their lips, salty and bitter.

She didn't let go of him, nor did she loosen her grip; she simply tightened her hold, as if afraid that if she let go, the warmth would dissipate.

Jiang Zhaoyue turned her head and looked out the window at the increasingly bright daylight.

Her fingers gently brushed against the pages of the book, her fingertips feeling slightly cool.

She didn't say anything.

The morning light outside the window grew brighter and brighter, illuminating the entire room.

The scraps of paper were still scattered on the ground, like a pile of old dreams that could never be pieced back together.

But Xu Fenghua's hands stopped trembling.

........

........

The next morning, when it was broad daylight.

As Xu Fenghua walked out of Qin Mu's room, the morning light slanted in through the window at the end of the corridor and fell on her face.

Her cheeks were flushed with a faint blush, as if they had been touched by the morning light, or something else entirely.

She walked slower than usual, her posture was somewhat awkward, and she took each step carefully, as if afraid of disturbing something she shouldn't.

She kept her head down, the stray hairs hanging down by her temples swaying slightly, and the pink tinge around her ears still lingered.

As she walked past Yun Suxin, Yun Suxin caught a whiff of the faint sandalwood scent mixed with another indescribable aroma emanating from her, and her gaze involuntarily followed her.

Yun Suxin sat on a low stool by the corridor railing, holding a cup of tea that had gone cold.

She watched Xu Fenghua's back, her slightly stiff walking posture, and her slightly curled fingers hanging at her sides, her nails neatly trimmed, gripping the edge of her sleeve.

Yun Suxin's brow twitched slightly.

Not right.

Something's really wrong.

She had known Xu Fenghua for quite some time.

From Yanmen City to Huaiyuan City, she knew exactly what kind of person Xu Fenghua was.

She was respectful, awe-inspiring, and even slightly ingratiating towards Qin Mu.

But that wasn't genuine feeling; it was just the instinct to survive.

Like a wild cat locked in a cage, huddled in a corner, outwardly compliant, but secretly always looking for a way out.

But now?

Yun Suxin looked at Xu Fenghua's appearance, at her reddened ear tips, and at her slightly pursed lips.

The corners of his mouth clearly couldn't be suppressed, like a piece of candy that had been secretly peeled away.

When did that stray cat voluntarily retract its claws?

She clearly heard crying last night.

The suppressed, broken sobs, like sobs forced out from the depths of a throat, could be heard clearly even through the walls.

She was all too familiar with that crying sound; she herself had made that sound countless times in the dead of night.

She thought Xu Fenghua had finally given up.

She even vaguely felt that the crying contained a final struggle, like someone walking to the edge of a cliff, looking back, and then preparing to jump.

But now?

She came back from the edge of the cliff.

Yun Suxin's fingers slowly tightened on the rim of the cup, her nails pressed against the porcelain surface, feeling slightly cool.

She stared at Xu Fenghua's back, at that figure gradually disappearing into the morning light, its steps awkward yet inexplicably light, and felt a string in her heart tighten.

She suddenly remembered a word—"fall".

She couldn't believe that this word was related to Xu Fenghua.

But her eyes didn't lie.

Xu Fenghua's smile was genuine; that irrepressible curve was real.

When she looked towards Qin Mu's room, the light in her eyes was real, dazzlingly bright.

There was no fear, no apprehension, no cautiousness as if walking on thin ice.

She was like a piece of ice that had been melted, lying there glistening with moisture, even her bones seemed to glow.

Yun Suxin placed the teacup on her lap, then looked back at the back of her hand.

She suddenly felt cold.

A chill rose from the depths of my heart.

She couldn't help but think.

What if one day, Qin Mu uses the same methods to deal with her?

She heard crying last night, and she knew that kind of crying all too well.

Xu Fenghua must have cried for a long time last night, crying her heart out.

But what happens after you've finished crying?

She came out smiling.

What are tears anyway?

It is the embers of struggle, the last futile burning before resignation, but after it is burned out, the whole person is handed over cleanly.

Yun Suxin pursed her lips.