chsdbacks Page 68
Page 68
In reality, what came out of Jiang Cheng's mouth were the same cold words he had only witnessed during their first meeting. His right hand, forged of steel, clenched into a fist and then slowly extended his fist.
Why did he say three days?
Even though I thought of several possibilities, I still knew that none of those answers were correct.
I don't want to stare.
Even though the person who understands you better than anyone else is right in front of you, you feel an urge to blind yourself.
I do not want to see.
I do not want to see.
I do not want to see.
……
Chapter 74 The Cold-Hearted Boy and the Cherry Blossom Below
However, I still saw it.
Then, I understood it.
"I will only give you three more days to prepare the steps to bring Rin out. After those three days, I will bring Rin out without hesitation, regardless of whether you can accept it or not, and I will find a doctor to treat the Achilles tendon that your father severed."
……
The boy's posture at this moment was exactly the same as when they first met, when he chose to retaliate after being attacked—drawing his sword to fight back without hesitation.
Do not……
That attitude is more in line with his personality.
This less-than-gentle demeanor is what belongs to a young man.
It's not the kind of cherry blossoms that you can see everywhere, or the kind of beautiful blossoms that you can touch and admire just by running around.
It was consistent with the long sword he held in his hand, and with the weapon he called Jizo Mitama that slung across his waist.
Regardless of their appearance or past experiences, no matter how gentle they may seem after a close conversation, they are still essentially weapons of murder.
The feelings I had before, and the urge to preserve this beautiful moment, were essentially just due to her—Yae Sakura's—ignorance.
But it shouldn't be like this.
It shouldn't be like this.
Although, in theory, the boy was only showing his true self, revealing the gentle and easygoing side beneath his outward appearance, deep down, in his soul, and everywhere else, he was clamoring that he was unwilling and unable to accept this.
—The person named Jiangcheng is not like that.
This sentence was played on repeat endlessly.
Everything that belongs to her, everything that belongs to Yae Sakura, is denying the fact that the indifference before her is real.
Like a simp, even when faced with cold, hard facts, they will spontaneously imagine a goddess in their minds.
……
……
"I understand you so well."
The boy finally broke the monologue.
“I know your hesitation, I know your weakness. Although I don’t want to blame you, because it’s reasonable, there are always times in the world when you can’t be weak.”
"And I don't actually want to criticize you for being too slow. What I really want to deny is your weakness. In the end, if I saw in you that if anyone dared to lay a hand on Rin—your sister, you would not hesitate to draw your sword against them and make sure you could protect everything around you, then I wouldn't be urging you here."
Everything before me was not incomprehensible at all; on the contrary, it was all too easy to understand.
The strange change in affection from the girl named Yae, and the fact that she wanted to live here after only five days of meeting, becoming an important part of her life, a core element like her sister, is also quite reasonable.
People instinctively stay in their comfort zone and follow all the actions they are forced to take. Even if something good happens in their current comfort zone, even if it is only a tiny thing, even if they know that changes might lead to better results, it will still work together to form the most stringent blockade, sealing off any possibility of change—this is the underlying logic of human nature that young people understand best.
Knowing all this, he would not ask the girl for an answer. He never asked Raiden Mei to give an answer before watching him kill the entire school, nor would he ask Yae Sakura to give an answer at this moment.
Eating is like sleeping in late. Even today, he can't control himself from going to bed early and getting up early every day. So how can he criticize someone else's lifelong habits?
Ultimately, unrealistic accusations and feeding everyone the same motivational platitudes are essentially just scolding those stuck in the mud for not being able to run like others.
That's something only idiots/good-for-nothings would do. Anyone who says something like that is either blind, stupid, or has a malicious heart and is deliberately trying to hurt others.
"Life is for the sake of comfort. In other words, it is precisely because people feel that living is hopeful, meaningful, and necessary that they choose to live."
"I won't deny your comfort and your preferences, but I must remind you that when your comfort zone is invaded, you should also learn to fight back against the invaders."
But I am just a priestess.
Those rules, those responsibilities...
And Father...
The girl, who subconsciously wanted to give up and escape, was instead met with that loud declaration—
“They’ll all turn to bones under your knife,” he said, picking up a piece of trampled wood from the ground and showing it the clear cut marks still visible at the edges, a surface almost comparable to a machine-made product, without any burrs or flaws.
“You need to realize one thing: you are the one who wields violence. Even if the people in the village know your weakness, none of them dare to interfere in your life any further, except for the matter of Rin, right?”
"You can cut wood so well, let alone cut people. Besides, you are both a priestess and a warrior. With your martial arts skills, you will be a guest of honor wherever you go. There is no need to worry about changes."
"In short, I'm too lazy to offer any more superfluous words of comfort. All you need to do is recognize that you are now facing the oppression of me—Jiang Cheng."
"I might be a little arrogant, but I think the sense of pressure I can bring is definitely much stronger than those damn old fogies in the village."
Do not……
It's not oppression.
Even the most mentally unstable person should realize the true nature of the matter by now. Even a idiot or a psychopath wouldn't do something like hitting glass with a rubber band anymore—this is genuine concern for a teenager.
However, when the girl could no longer bear it and wanted to tell everyone, she looked up again and only saw the boy's back.
Just like at the beginning, after saying cold/soft words, they immediately chose to withdraw, never lingering in front of me for even a second longer.
why?
Why is this so?
It's because even though they showed compassion and empathy, and even though they chose to lend a helping hand from a higher perspective, they didn't show any contempt. Instead, they were willing to discuss things from the same angle... Choosing to acknowledge and accept something would be seen as weakness, illness, or individual incompetence by others.
Even though we've only known each other for less than five days, the boy's willingness to say—that it's useless to be demanding of yourself because of your current illness, that you've already done the best you can—has been displayed without restraint for the past four days.
Even the most incompetent person wouldn't need four days to realize the true nature of a treasure, because the brilliance of something beautiful can be captured in an instant.
That would never be a false lie. People who cannot truly empathize will only tell lies that are a series of falsehoods.
That must be the correct way.
Then why bother to cover it up?
cover up……
gentle……
……
……
I can't stay here any longer, so I have to go home. Jiang Cheng has already turned away, and I can't bother him anymore. There's no point in staying in a place without him.
When she saw Rin again in the room, the girl suddenly realized that she hadn't been paying much attention to her younger sister for several days, recalling what the boy had said earlier.
"Feel sorry……"
"I……"
I've been neglecting your feelings lately—I didn't even have a chance to say that, because before I could finish speaking, the girl stopped me with all her might.
Even with her crippled legs, she managed to crawl off the bed and onto the edge with her hands, quickly extending her fingers to cover those soft lips.
"No matter what the problem is, sister, never apologize to me, because I already know what kind of treatment I will receive. Father and their actions and thoughts are too blatant... But it seems you've come a little too early today."
"Did something happen with Jiang Cheng, or did you just come to pick up something? The latter is more likely, right? According to you, Jiang Cheng is a very gentle person..."
Rin kept talking.
It seems she wants to say everything she hasn't been able to say in the past few days.
It also showcases the curiosity that, despite physical disabilities, still extends its wings and yearns to fly beyond the heavens.
"—She is indeed very gentle."
It's better to speak out against oppression.
You also need to help yourself escape your predicament.
Even in situations where respecting someone would be disliked by everyone, misunderstood by everyone, and seen by everyone who would try to dissuade them from changing their weak ways.
Even if you don't know why you're hiding it, and you're using such crude methods, it's as if you've never lied to anyone in your life, and if you have, it's just a small lie. Jiang Cheng's gentleness has been fully revealed.
True gentleness is not simply saying nice things, which only enhances one's image in the eyes of others. True gentleness and care means being willing to be disapproved of or even disliked by others in order to help them, even if it means suffering losses yourself.
The pure heart of a young boy, so innocent that he couldn't even suppress it, and his acting was so clumsy, was excessively gentle and naive, as if he had lived in a tower for decades.
While saying that they are now going to threaten and be tough, they still can't help but insert a few seemingly unintentional words of comfort.
The girl even found it hard to understand why there were such people in the world, with such complex personalities, whose entire being seemed to be stitched together from contradictions.
Strength and gentleness, wisdom and humility...
People who possess only a little power tend to be irritable.
Even those with only a little wisdom become arrogant.
A person like this, who can empathize with and understand even someone like himself, is so humble. He possesses the power to cut everything in half with a single swing of his sword, yet he is still willing to communicate with himself in a gentle manner.
The key point is that a boy like this has only spoken to himself for so long. No matter how arrogant this idea is, the release of self-awareness inevitably makes him happy about the fact that Jiang Cheng seems to only want to talk to me and has always been so gentle only to me.
Because this is probably the first time I've experienced this in my life.
At least from a subjective perspective, it is the only, unwavering choice.
If Rin had been born 500 years later, and was lying in bed looking at her phone instead of a book, this scene could be accurately described with a single sentence.
Too humble.
sister.
However, nowadays, as someone with a relatively certain level of education, I can hardly find any ordinary versions of the girl in the books I collect, so I can only look at her with a different eye—a truly different eye.
"Since you're back early today, sister, you should pack your things as soon as possible and plan your departure route with Jiang Cheng tomorrow."
"We can't get caught just because we don't know the way. As an outsider, we certainly don't know much."
in this way.
That can only be the case.
They used serious matters to distract themselves.
The only saving grace is that Yae Sakura, as the older sister, is still quite reliable. Beneath that emptiness and despair that Kallen, who could be described as having almost no emotional intelligence and who only thought about leaving with the black box, occupied a huge portion of her heart in a very short time, the skeleton and skin that filled it were still that aloof priestess who was very cold as long as she didn't speak.
After being slightly reminded, the girl got up again and started packing her things, counting on her fingers the supplies she needed for daily life.
Food, weapons, and essential daily necessities...
It's not that they never lift a finger.
On the contrary, a girl who is reliable during her prime is indeed someone that anyone would admire.
Despite carrying large bags and small packages, one can still maintain a steady pace of thinking and moving while walking.
The physical attributes of a martial artist, the extraordinary abilities and combat power of the holder of the original holy mark were revealed silently, until the process of acting almost entirely based on instinct and memory was interrupted by a seemingly authoritative voice—words that were deliberately serious were forcibly instilled into his ears.
"Sakura, what have you been up to lately?"
It was as if they had been struck by something.
Her body froze in place, as if her very soul had been nailed to the spot.
She dared not resist, resisted with fear, and could not resist... The girl, who would completely collapse from killing her own sister, was unable to resist, unable to refuse the orders of others to carry out the butcher's knife. If any other question were asked at this moment, this helpless being would surely reveal everything in an instant.
However—you don't need others interfering in your life. If you really can't do that, then let me put pressure on you. My sense of pressure should be much stronger than theirs, right?
The words that belonged to that person seemed to echo in my ears.
"nothing."