After hearing what Luo Yunzhu had said, Feng Tianlan looked up at her and asked, “What if two men were willing to die for you at the same time? Would you love them both?”
Luo Yunzhu’s expression darkened. She glared at Feng Tianlan and said, “Fine. It looks like you’re still not going to open up.”
What kind of ridiculous question was that?!
To even meet one man willing to die for her, a girl would have to offer incense for eight lifetimes. What to speak of two? Luo Yunzhu dared not even dream of it!
“Yunzhu, I really don’t know what it means to love someone. I used to think that I understood, but then …” Feng Tianlan looked away. She felt a chill in her bones when she thought about how, in her previous lifetime, Jiang Ying had smiled as he’d peeled the skin off her face.
Luo Yunzhu anxiously asked, “What? What happened later?”
“When someone is extremely nice to you, the feelings you have for that person may not actually be genuine.” Feng Tianlan looked down as she thought about the feelings she’d had for Jiang Ying. When she thought about it now, she realized that she probably hadn’t ever really like him in that way at all.
“If that’s not liking someone, then what is it? Is it the feeling that you mentioned earlier? Feeling moved? Grateful? But that’s all liking someone, right? Otherwise, what is?”
Feng Tianlan went quiet for a while. Finally, she confessed, “I don’t know. But for me, I feel that liking someone means that, even if I’m all battered and hurt, the moment you mentioned him, I would still like him and love him uncontrollably.”
But she didn’t have those kinds of feelings for Jiang Ying. All she felt was hate, and even that hate had not arisen because someone she loved had deceived her. The bigger issue was that someone she had trusted had betrayed her.
“Liking someone like that is too lowly. It doesn’t suit you,” Luo Yunzhu replied. Tianlan was too bold and too proud. She assumed that, even if Tianlan fell in love with someone, the romance would be flashy and dramatic, not lowly like this.
Feng Tianlan smiled faintly. “When someone is willing to give up his own principles for another, to go against his ethical boundaries, then that’s probably true love.”
Luo Yunzhu used her slightly numb leg to step on the floor a few times. “Isn’t that what His Highness has done?”
From her point of view, the Wargod had really given up his principles and defied his ethics for Tianlan. He had gone from avoiding contact with all women to going only near Tianlan. He had clearly pushed through his boundaries in so many ways. Unquestionably, His Highness truly loved Tianlan, right?
“But I didn’t,” Feng Tianlan said and looked up. Her black eyes were like a chasm. They were deep for anyone to see the bottom. “Feelings are supposed to be mutual, not one-sided. You can’t be together just because someone is nice to you and true.”
When she saw how Feng Tianlan had spoken so solemnly and sincerely, Luo Yunzhu blinked a few times. She asked, “Tianlan, why do I feel like your heart is filled with holes?”
Tianlan hadn’t cared for anyone else besides Si Rong. Was there some other scumbag out there who had broken her heart and made her ignore her feelings?
“Is that so?” Feng Tianlan calmly smiled with a hint of bitterness in her eyes.
Luo Yunzhu nodded vigorously and hobbled over to Feng Tianlan. She said, “Tianlan, I still think that you like His Highness, but you’re overthinking things. You insist on drawing a clear line between liking and gratefulness. Why can’t you just set aside all the things he has done for you and simply consider whether you like him as a person?”
“Hmm?”
“Think about it this way. If the Wargod hadn’t done any of these things for you, just based on who he is, his personality, would you like him…” But before she finished speaking, Luo Yunzhu twisted her mouth and cut herself off. “Forget it. You’ll argue with me until I’m completely speechless.”
She couldn’t win an argument with Tianlan!
She decided to give up!
When Tianlan heard what Luo Yunzhu had said, she looked down and thought of the first time they’d met. He’d been like a fairy from the heavens when he’d suddenly landed in front of her. His hair had touched her face, carrying that faint minty smell. And that voice had made her go numb the first time she’d heard it. It was all still deeply etched in her mind.
The second time had been at the restaurant. She had eaten at the same table as Si Mobai, and he’d had that little smile, which was hardly detectable. Then, there was the first kiss that they’d shared…
“Come on. Let’s go to town,” Feng Tianlan said and suddenly stood up.
“Whatever for? You’re not going to guard His Highness anymore?” Luo Yunzhu hobbled after Feng Tianlan.
“I’m going to get the herbs to make a Beautifying Pill.”
