Chapter 323: The Long Night Has a Limit

Not sparing this body......

Not sparing this body......

Clearly, it should be not sparing this body.

Chen Weifang had drifted for many years, long forgetting the taste of stability from his youth.

Everyone called him a poisonous strategist, saying he was vicious and ruthless, and he himself came to believe it, telling himself that to achieve his goals, he could use any means.

But upon hearing Du Shanü say that today, he realized it wasn't that he was vicious enough; it was merely that others' viciousness had never truly harmed him before.

That sheet of paper, in the end, was loosened by Chen Weifang and drifted onto the documents.

Chen Weifang slumped into the chair, slowly covering his face, letting that dampness gradually soak his palms:

"The Wise Lord turned out to be...... despising me."

His bearing had always been restrained, tranquil, and elegant.

Du Shanü had also once thought, he seemed like a still deep pool, like a clear cold moon......

However, upon closer look——

What mystery could there be in heaven and earth?

This place still has only a single wisteria vine, entwined, awaiting death, with deep obsession.

Its hanging flowers like curtains, it habitually lowers its gaze and brows, dislikes showiness, preferring to hide deep within the courtyard.

It blooms in late spring, easily tinged with dusk and fine rain, inherently hazy, an unresolved melancholy.

To outsiders it appears to bloom in secluded harmony, but Du Shanü had only just spoken a sentence when she secretly shed tears without cease.

Chinu glanced more than once at his own Wife Master; Du Shanü understood what that look meant, yet she still held her tongue:

"Afang, I mean this seriously."

"Think carefully again: if you now, for money, become dizzy-headed, and should the day truly come when I rise to prominence, how will you and Chunri Jian conduct yourselves under my command?"

Especially......

How could it appear before Ruier?

One cannot forever tug and pull ambiguously in front of a child, can one?

Moreover, if the child were to learn that his teacher once sold himself over a mere fifty taels of silver, what would he think in his heart?

Chen Weifang teaches the classics and rites; whenever he must assume the bearing of a teacher, if his past were known, could he still straighten his back?

Life is short; we cannot judge by what a person says, but by what he does.

Chen Weifang constantly says he seeks fame, fortune, and stipend, saying he wants the yellow-broth topic to make up......

But everything he has done has long surpassed the realm of chasing fame and profit.

He now 'sells himself,' and it is not even for himself, but to raise silver for Du Shanü to seize territory......

Thus, even if this flower withers again, Du Shanü could not possibly watch him die helplessly.

"You previously said you could go borrow; I originally thought Chunri Jian would record everything as my share......"

Du Shanü slowly stepped forward, circling the documents, each step planted firmly:

"But upon reflection now, all of that is indeed too distant."

She did not know how, throughout history, those founding emperors, with just a few brief lines in the histories—'originating from xx place, building up, then taking x prefecture, x commandery, defeating xx, occupying xx, and finally seizing the realm'—were actually accomplished.

Perhaps, throughout the ages, talented people abound, with conspiracies both overt and covert that she cannot break.

Perhaps, it is also the Spring and Autumn annalistic style of the histories, which has deleted many of the struggles akin to hers.

Later generations cannot know, and naturally take everything for granted.

Du Shanü also previously took it for granted.

Fortunately, whenever she treads a perilous step and slightly relaxes, heaven itself comes to slap her.

This time she thought they had already seized Zhoufu, and Chunri Jian ought to raise the stakes further, to exchange for greater returns.

Thus, when Chen Weifang earlier mentioned it to her, she did not deeply consider on what basis the other party would increase the wager, nor how many chips they actually held, and simply took for granted that the other's purse was her own......

But she forgot that those 'returns' are now ultimately just a solemn promissory note, an IOU whose redemption date is unknown.

They—indeed, even Du Shanü cannot see how the future will unfold, nor know how long they will struggle on this path......

Thus, before dawn, everything remains unknown.

Since it is unknown, on what basis would others devote their lives and offer their fortunes for you?

It is utterly unreasonable.

Everyone ends up with nothing but IOUs.

It's merely that some people......

Some people are just born a bit foolish, that's all.

Chinu and Chen Weifang follow her wholeheartedly, both for her life and death, and for her painstaking schemes.

But this, too, is not something that ought to be taken for granted.

She cannot enjoy this favor while also thinking that all of this is merely what they ought to do.

When she first met Chinu, he said, 'The Grand Ancestor is wise, yet he says...... I ought to have died for the Young Emperor.'

At that time, Chinu also said, 'No one is born destined to die for another.'

In fact, the answer has always been on the surface of the riddle.

"I am willing to die for you" and "You want me to die for you" are fundamentally different.

"I do not despise you."

Du Shanü stood beside Chen Weifang, reaching out to try to pry open his hand covering his face.

But Chen Weifang perhaps also felt embarrassed; she pulled a few times, yet could not move it, and after a moment's thought, could only draw in both hand and head, embracing her own Afang entirely, letting him listen to her belly not yet fully showing pregnancy:

"Not the slightest bit do I despise you."

Just as you said, our Afang is a renowned flower among ten li and eight villages; how could we bear to despise her?

I merely like you too much, I also know you surely like me, and I very much want to raise this child, so I came to persuade you.

Some things, at the moment, perhaps don't seem like anything.

But once one falls, it is an abyss of ten thousand zhang.

Although Chunri Jian indeed gazes at Afang with salivating desire—oh no, it's deep‑rooted affection.

But Afang had already said long ago that he feels nothing for Chunri Jian; if he really did that, he'd probably be disgusted for a lifetime.

That is not good for Afang.

That is also not good for the child's upbringing later.

Du Shanü reached out, generously stroking Afang's black hair in her bosom, and gave her obedient slave a look that said "quickly throw away that ominous plea for help," then spoke softly:

"Don't worry, Afang, about the money—I'll think of a way."

"This should originally have been my responsibility; you've done so much for me—how could I keep troubling you?"

Her voice was extremely soft and slow; clearly just a caress, yet it seemed to exhaust all her lifetime tenderness.

Du Shanü actually had some reservations about Chinu's earlier mention of the ant theory.

But tonight, the morning star has not yet dawned.

Beneath the vaulted sky, by chance encountering immortals leaves no trace, and human footprints vanish.

What Du Shanü could see, the dying candlelight cast shadows—clearly just a few small ants huddling together for warmth.

Ants are good.

Only ants are good.

In this world, there are fundamentally no heroes.

There are only larger ants and smaller ants, and both are merely striving for themselves to contend with fate.

Du Shanü let out a long sigh in her heart; after a long while, she then laughed and said:

"The fortune‑teller earlier read your palm and said you lack the fate of the Yellow Intestine Topic Match; I therefore insist on defying heaven, to carve out a destiny for you."

"And before that day, whatever others tell you… you must not believe."

Hey hey! We, Shasha, are really not an unfeeling and unjust person…