Her voice, as if stained with the cold sharpness of blood, carried a light, dismissive tone, a warning or perhaps a claim of ownership.
Gu Sijun, his blood now boiling, suppressed the innate fear of his father and the guilt of being caught after running away. He struggled in annoyance, like a stubborn calf, using all four limbs to wriggle free from Liu Jiang Fusheng's embrace and onto the ground.
"Mother... let me go, I want to find Mother! I don't want you!"
Listen to such rebellious words and... such childishness. After three years away, he had almost completely discarded the etiquette and teachings he had learned in his younger years. The bad habits picked up outside had made him both oblivious to the immensity of the world and utterly unreasonable, speaking without restraint.
Liu Jiang Fusheng looked down at him with a headache. The boy's tender, fresh face was filled with unwillingness and rebellion, but when he looked at Gu Junshi, he transformed as if a different person. His dark, stubborn eyes, like stars erupting in the darkness, were a brilliant galaxy, shining brightly.
It was a radiance that Liu Jiang Fusheng had never seen in his eyes before.
He was like a sorrowful father who couldn't keep his child after a divorce, his voice hoarse and helpless, "Jun Jun..."
Liu Jiang Fusheng rarely called his nickname so affectionately and gently. Most of the time, their interactions consisted of him trying to misbehave, and his father's gentle expression growing rarer, replaced by a stern frown and a reprimand calling his full name.
Gu Sijun shivered, realizing he was quite unaccustomed to this mode of interaction.
"Dad!"
At this moment, Lebao called out to him in a bit of panic. He couldn't bear the oppressive atmosphere that was gripping his heart.
A child of five or six, though not emaciated, Lebao was slightly thinner than the usually more spirited Gu Sijun.
He had delicate eyebrows and clear eyes, a fair and pretty face, with exquisite features lacking any flaw or excess. Especially his eyes, larger than those of ordinary people, held a childlike innocence, and were adorned with long, slender eyelashes, exuding a lively intelligence.
Although he and Gu Sijun were twins, they weren't very alike. Lebao was like a miniature Liu Jiang Fusheng, looking like a celestial child descended to the mortal realm. Therefore, by all accounts, he was more endearing than the perpetually sullen and stubborn Gu Sijun from childhood.
However, now his mother's eyes didn't seem to see him, preferring Gu Sijun instead. His father also seemed to be vying for his attention. His eyes were slightly red, and for the first time, he experienced the feeling of being ignored by everyone while standing right there.
Although he felt wronged and distressed, at the same time, he seemed to understand what Jun Jun's expressionless stance, his perpetually resentful and forlorn look like a lone wolf, had meant in the past.
Lebao had been frail and prone to illness since childhood, a consequence of his time in the womb, and also an initial choice by his father. He had chosen to protect Gu Sijun's health, making him bear all the consequences and sickness.
His father had told him all of this without reservation later, but Lebao didn't blame him, nor did he blame Jun Jun.
Because even though he had suffered the consequences of being chosen between two, his father had later made every effort to restore his health, even at the cost of his own. And although Lebao hadn't intentionally done so, he had, in fact, occupied the share of fatherly love that belonged to Jun Jun, leaving him alone and lonely.
But Lebao still felt Gu Sijun was too childish and ignorant. He would often do things that caused headaches out of momentary impulse, even running away from home. He thought no one would worry about him or look for him if he left; he truly believed he could survive and grow up on his own.
He guessed that Gu Sijun would never know that all his "lucky" escapes from danger and all his fortunate turns of events on his reckless and ignorant journey were the consequences his father had borne.
Lebao couldn't help but speak out, "Dad didn't intentionally neglect you and cause you to be lost. We've been looking for you all these years."
But Lebao's persuasion could not calm Gu Sijun's emotions. The knots that had accumulated over the years were not so easily untied. He didn't say he didn't believe it, but simply retorted, "Then why... did Father only keep you by his side, while I was handed over to others to care for? A father who forgets my birthday and cannot even visit me when I am sick, tell me, does he love me?"
Liu Jiang Fusheng's face turned slightly pale and stunned at Gu Sijun's resentful accusation.
That was because, at the time, he was truly unable to divide his attention. Lebao had been in a state where he could not be left unattended for even half a step; all his focus had to be on him.
He admitted that he had neglected Gu Sijun because of this, and he couldn't even recall if he had personally held him when he was a child...
Gu Junshi raised his arm, and a dark light vibrated outwards, like black embers after the burning of purple-blue flames, sparkling with stardust.
Her figure suddenly appeared, and just as she was about to snatch Gu Sijun from Liu Jiang Fusheng's arms, she saw his subtle and tense clenching of his fists. His breathing was caught in his chest, as if he were so oppressed by her imposing presence that his muscles couldn't relax.
No matter how angry he was, he wouldn't want his biological father to be hurt.
Gu Junshi understood the unspoken meaning of his tension.
Her power was merely the tip of an iceberg, yet it made everyone around clearly feel an insurmountable gap.
If she were to truly fight, would they have the strength to resist?
Liu Jiang Fusheng saw her retract her claws and fangs like a fierce beast being mindful of a delicate flower. His eyelashes, redrawn with cinnabar and ink, were tipped with a deep, fallen crimson. He provocatively provoked her with a wicked, leisurely gaze, "Gu Junshi, by what right and in what capacity are you trying to snatch the child from me? You know the situation back then clearly. Only one child could survive with you, yet you are alive and well in the world, what are you still hoping for?"
Gu Junshi savored how he had stripped away all pretense, chewing up all the obedience and tenderness he had shown her before. He was like a sharp, bloody blade now, his eyes moist and lingering, but containing not tears of sorrow, but scarlet blood from trampling his own wounds.
"You resent me, you hate me. As I said, you can come find me for revenge."
She could still say these words to him so calmly.
Just as in years past, she still had no heart for him.
His expression seemed to be submerged in an unfathomable, sinister darkness.
"Revenge?" He murmured the word softly, his tone very plain. But then, he became like the inscrutable weather of June, his voice hoarse like a flickering candlelight, dimming and brightening: "If you believe Sijun is your child... then Gu Junshi, do you know how children born prematurely were preserved in such harsh and difficult circumstances? Do you know what great price had to be paid?"
Gu Junshi remained silent for a long time. His questions were precisely what she couldn't understand, but sometimes people have inexplicable senses. She had always been a person who didn't easily form good impressions of others, yet she felt an inexplicable innate fondness for these two children.
This was illogical.
The ages also didn't match...
And they were twins...
But no amount of confusion could outweigh the answer she truly sought in her heart. When it came to necessary moments, her patience and temperament were unexpectedly good. She could even forget all irreconcilable contradictions and escalations. Her calm, deep pupils gazed at him: "Tell me, Sijun and Lebao, are they?"
Liu Jiang Fusheng, however, felt great hatred for her indifferent attitude. People could only be so composed when facing matters and things they didn't care about.
Just like him, before truly meeting her, he had rehearsed countless scenarios in his heart. He didn't want to always appear embarrassed and unable to forget the past in front of her. He thought he could do it, but upon actually seeing her, every movement, every glance, every casual word, and even the breath she exhaled when she got a little closer, could stir up a storm in his calm, suppressed heart.
He felt unhappy, and some spiteful, self-abusive words slipped out, "No, they are born of me and another woman."
Gu Junshi had always appeared very calm, even tolerant, not because she was indifferent, but because she was accustomed to measuring and delineating everything that existed with the utmost composure. Moreover, she actually harbored a repressed anger that had been accumulating for years. She had been searching for Liu Jiang Fusheng's whereabouts for seven years.
During these seven years, as he had expected, her attitude towards him had transformed from that of a paper figure to a more intense and vivid impression. To put it bluntly, she had begun to see him as a real person, no longer the "little pampered husband" in a doll game or the "Dragon Ascending the Heavens" in a story.
She undeniably developed some possessiveness towards him. She hadn't had this concept before; even his romantic entanglements with other female leads or supporting characters weren't within her consideration. She only needed him to "fall in love" with her feelings.
Only later did she realize that for humans to truly fall in love with a paper figure that existed only as a story or a prop in her eyes, he had to be real, flesh and blood, possessing traits that she couldn't let go of and that could move her.
If she couldn't be moved by him, how could she like him?
"Oh, who?" Gu Junshi thought of Fu Wanyan, who was with him. She was his female lead, essentially his official pairing. Or perhaps the second or third female lead. She asked, "Fu Wanyan? Or Fang Rui? Or someone else?"
A terrifying and horrifying stream of air swept out from her. The previously calm space was as if being ravaged, squeezed, and twisted by a powerful force, like malice that couldn't reach its border yet was endlessly rampant and spreading. This vast, solid, and serene underground palace, however, was as fragile as a piece of paper before her inadvertently revealed true power.
Lu Ziyin, witnessing the former husband and wife arguing as if their quarrel was about to cause mountains to collapse, felt the unstable bluestone foundation and the ominous bubbling on the lake surface, like magma erupting. All of this gave him a trembling terror, as if he would be beheaded or have his throat slit the next moment.
He quickly shouted, "Fusheng, if there's a misunderstanding, talk it out properly. You are a male virtue exemplar of purity, a role model for us all. I believe you would never act recklessly. But you refuse to explain when asked. Not only are you suffering yourself, but do you also want all of us to be buried with you?"
Was he playing the misunderstanding and angst trope?
Regardless of whether Gu Junshi would regret it later, the fact that their lives were hanging by a thread at this very moment showed that continuing to play this game would be costly!
Liu Jiang Fusheng's body suddenly tensed. Seeing that his words had angered Gu Junshi, who cared about her blood kin, he realized that by testing her limits and extinguishing her hope and speculation, he was essentially poking a tiger's eye.
But at this moment, whatever he said would only add fuel to the fire. He understood her; she wasn't easily angered, but her anger couldn't be easily appeased by a few words of explanation. Like a king's wrath, both rain and dew were bestowed by the ruler.
However, Liu Jiang Fusheng felt a long-lost joy because of her anger. The feeling of longing for something unattainable was so strong that even a little extra attention and emotion from her could allow him to turn the pain she inflicted into sweetness, chew it, and savor it slowly.
He couldn't act, but Li Sheng, seeing that the situation was about to escalate uncontrollably, stepped forward. He tried to approach Gu Junshi, who was at this moment extremely dangerous, like an ignorant and innocent pure white rabbit, not retreating but bravely walking towards her.
But he could never get close to her. A wall formed by a black, transparent gaseous medium blocked him.
He knocked on the wall, trying to break through this barrier. The young man possessed the beautiful qualities most meticulously bestowed by the creator: kindness and sincerity, bravery and compassion. He knew no hate, no resentment. To this day, he still regarded Gu Junshi as a life-saving benefactor whose exterior was cold but whose heart was soft.
His clear, pleading voice echoed, "Hua Mi, calm down. You will destroy Ci Bei City like this!"
His voice seemed to be transmitted through a water film, reaching people's ears with a delay, a blur, and a soft, ethereal quality, lacking any jarring shrillness.
Gu Junshi's true anger wasn't as grand as she showed. She was merely performing for Liu Jiang Fusheng, who had been anticipating and yearning for it.
Sometimes, the dynamics between men and women differed somewhat from confrontations with enemies.
With enemies, one only needed to constantly attack, crush, and even strike them until they were destroyed. But the dynamics between men and women were more like a tug-of-war; both loosening and tightening were forms of testing. If one showed no weakness and only attacked, the other would eventually become prey.
At this moment, young Sijun broke free from Liu Jiang Fusheng's embrace with a strong push. He let out a sob and quickly ran to Gu Junshi's side, hugging her tightly.
He passed through unimpeded; even those strange and dangerous air currents parted for him.
"Mother, let's go quickly..."
Don't get hurt.
Gu Junshi felt the child's slightly trembling body. His arms were held very tightly, fearing her inherent dignity while refusing to let go. Only then did her terrifying aura gradually subside.
Gu Junshi bent down, picked up Gu Sijun, and soared away.
Liu Jiang Fusheng remained still. All emotions had faded from his face, only his gaze was immersed and profound.
She had no weaknesses, but now he had given her one. With Gu Sijun, the give and take on this end of the rope was no longer hers to decide alone.