A white cloth was tied over Ruan Jiu's eyes.
Since that day, she had been completely blind.
However, Xiao Wang still didn't let her go.
She had thought that once she lost these eyes that resembled Song Qingyu's, Xiao Wang would stop being so obsessive.
But she had underestimated him.
Apart from feeling the gradual warming of the weather in the darkness, she had no idea how long she had been staying in the Eastern Palace.
Nor did she know what was going on outside.
Gradually, she seemed to stop expecting to ever leave this cage of the Eastern Palace.
It was as if she had gotten used to the darkness before her eyes.
"Lan Yu."
Ruan Jiu softly called out.
"Master, I'm here."
In the darkness, Ruan Jiu could only hear Lan Yu's voice.
Ruan Jiu stretched out her hand and said in a soft voice, "I'd like to write for a while."
After saying that, Lan Yu helped Ruan Jiu walk towards the table.
She skillfully spread out the rice paper and placed a writing brush in Ruan Jiu's hand.
Ruan Jiu groped around and slowly started to write on the white rice paper.
Since she had gone blind, writing was the only way for her to kill time every day.
What should she write today?
After much thought, she only wrote five characters on the paper.
'I'm sorry, A Jing.'
Then, she lifted her wrist and held the paper in front of her eyes, pretending as if she could still see, and carefully examined it.
Presumably, the words she wrote in the dark must look extremely ugly.
It was a pity that she could no longer see them.
"Lan Yu, please put this in the box for me. I'm a bit tired."
Lan Yu took the paper from Ruan Jiu's hand and asked, "Aren't you going to write anymore today, Master?"
Normally, Ruan Jiu would write for a long time, filling the paper with her longing for Xie Jingchu.
Ruan Jiu shook her head.
No more writing.
She would never write like this again.
"Lan Yu, when he comes for dinner today, please prepare some wine for me. I haven't had any for a long time, and I'm craving it."
-
As usual, Xiao Wang would accompany Ruan Jiu for dinner every day, whether she liked it or not.
As soon as Xiao Wang entered the room, Ruan Jiu smelled the ambergris on his body.
Since she had gone blind, her sense of smell had become even sharper.
"You're here?"
Hearing Ruan Jiu's voice, Xiao Wang was a bit surprised.
For such a long time, this was the first time Ruan Jiu had taken the initiative to talk to him.
Looking at Ruan Jiu's expression, it seemed as if she had been waiting for him.
After Xiao Wang sat down, he saw the wine glasses filled with wine on the table and frowned.
He asked in a low voice, "Why do you want to drink wine today?"
"Some words can only be spoken after having some wine."
After saying that, Ruan Jiu groped for the wine glass and drank it all in one gulp.
"Xiao Wang."
"Hmm?"
Ruan Jiu suddenly let out a deep sigh. "Actually, we could have been good friends, but why has it come to this?"
"A Jiu, I just want you to love me."
"Don't you understand? Not all love can be reciprocated. My heart is very small and can only hold one person."
With her eyes covered by the white cloth, Xiao Wang couldn't see Ruan Jiu's expression.
But from her tone, he could tell that there was no anger or rage, only a bit of helplessness.
Xiao Wang slightly parted his thin lips, glanced at the wine glass on the table, and then tightly closed them.
After a long silence, he finally managed to ask the question he was most afraid of.
"Do... do you hate me?"
"Of course I do." Ruan Jiu didn't hold back. "You imprisoned me in the Eastern Palace and made me lose my eyes. How could I not hate you?"
Suddenly, Ruan Jiu smiled and continued, "But now, I don't hate you anymore."
After saying that, Ruan Jiu groped for the wine pot and poured herself another glass of wine.
If Ruan Jiu's eyes hadn't been blind, she would surely have seen the complex look in Xiao Wang's eyes at this moment.
A flash of surprise, followed by loneliness.
"Why don't you hate me anymore?"
Ruan Jiu didn't answer. She just smiled and picked up the wine glass in front of her.
"Xiao Wang, let's have a drink together."
Hearing this, Xiao Wang's gaze fell on the wine glass in front of him again. His fingers tightened.
"Do you really want me to drink?"
"It seems that we've never had a good drink together."
Xiao Wang's expression became solemn.
Since Lan Yu had told him that Ruan Jiu had specially prepared the wine today, a sense of uneasiness had been rising in his heart.
The Eastern Palace was full of his people. How could he not know that Ruan Jiu had been hiding the aconite from the medicinal dregs every day?
I'm afraid the drink in front of him was not wine but a deadly poison.
Ruan Jiu held the wine glass but didn't hear the sound of the glasses clinking for a long time.
Suddenly, she pulled the corner of her mouth and laughed a few times. "Don't tell me you think I've put poison in the wine and want to kill you?"
"Isn't it?" Xiao Wang said in a deep voice.
Ruan Jiu continued to smile. "I've already said that I don't hate you anymore."
Ruan Jiu seemed to be smiling a lot today.
It made Xiao Wang get lost in it again and again.
"Xiao Wang, aside from the grievances between us, I know you're a good person."
This was the first time Xiao Wang had heard Ruan Jiu praise him.
But Ruan Jiu still didn't hear the sound of the glasses clinking.
So, she picked up the wine glass and drank the wine.
"You understand court politics and strategies, and you're well aware of the sufferings of the common people. You'll surely become a great king in the future.
I hope that for the sake of millions of people, you'll let go of your obsessions and stop being bound by love."
Ruan Jiu's words made Xiao Wang's eyes tremble.
Why did these words sound like a farewell?
Suddenly, a deep red color slid down the corner of Ruan Jiu's raised mouth.
Xiao Wang was shocked. He immediately stood up and knocked over the wine glass that hadn't been picked up on the table.
The glass rolled to the ground and shattered into pieces.
Then, Xiao Wang stepped forward and tightly held the weak Ruan Jiu in his arms.
"A Jiu! What's wrong with you?"
Ruan Jiu felt her eyelids getting heavy.
"Xiao Wang, I'm so tired, really tired. I don't blame you anymore, and I don't hate you either. You just don't know how to love someone."
Xiao Wang's hands trembled as he wiped the blood from the corner of Ruan Jiu's mouth.
But he couldn't wipe it clean. Instead, more and more blood came out.
So, those aconites were prepared for herself!
Xiao Wang's whole body trembled uncontrollably.
A huge sense of fear instantly filled his whole body.
"Ruan Jiu, I'm sorry! I was wrong! Don't die! I won't allow you to die!"
Xiao Wang cried out hoarsely.
Why couldn't you wait a little longer!
Since that day when you stabbed your own eyes with determination, I've already known I was wrong!
I kept you in the Eastern Palace these days to find a way to cure your eyes.
But why couldn't you wait?
If you die, how can I atone for my sins!
Ruan Jiu's eyelids were getting heavier and heavier. She could feel her consciousness gradually leaving her.
But she didn't feel afraid at all. Instead, she felt an unprecedented sense of relief.
She just had so many regrets.
For example, she hadn't heard Shen Yu's son call her aunt yet. She didn't know if her father and mother were still waiting for her to go home.
Another example was that she hadn't seen Su Wan put on the wedding dress yet. She wondered if Chun Tao and the old employees in the silk store had been slacking off while she was away.
Oh, and the three masters of the Xie family. She didn't know if they had made up yet. Nor did she know which girl the playboy Xie Yanchuan had fallen in love with now.
However, her biggest regret was that she couldn't accompany Xie Jingchu until old age.
On that New Year's Eve, she had promised to accompany A Jing for a lifetime.
She hadn't broken her promise. It was just that her lifetime was too short.
"Xiao Wang, I only ask one thing of you.
Don't tell A Jing that I'm dead.
I've fallen into darkness, but he mustn't..."