True Happiness

46. Hidden Truth (Part 3)

The clan's elders insisted on how dangerous she was, claiming that they couldn't let her roam free at Cloud Recesses. Qingheng Jun was angered, although he was aware of everything that had happened.

His brother Qiren spoke to him, trying to make him reason, "I can't believe you ruined everything all because of her."

"You don't understand, Qiren," Tiaohe said.

"No, I don't get it. You weren't like that. Where's the righteous and good brother I admired?" Lan Qiren questioned

"It never existed," Tiaohe said.

"Yes, he did. Until you saw her! It's her, right? She's that woman vou became infactuated with."

"It's not a whim. It's always been her," Tiaohe said.

"This has to end," Lan Qiren fumed, "End all this madness!"

"I can't," Tiaohe said, "you won't understand unless you have been in love yourself, Qiren."

"Are you going to let our master's death go unpunished? I don't recognize you. I don't recognize you at all!" Lan Qiren was turning three shades darker.

"And what do you want? To lock her up for the rest of her life?" Tiaohe asked.

Lan Qiren put on a little smile and nodded. They couldn't have avoided that marriage, but they could have punished her in some way. The elders would be happy with that decision, even if it hurt to see his brother like that.

"You know this is the best. If she is locked up, so am I. You will be my heir, Qiren. You will be in charge of guiding the sect into the future," Tiaohe said bluntly.

"Xiongzhang, no! I don't want that," Qiren said.

"It's what you get with this decision, so congratulations," Tiaohe said and left Qiren standing there in disbelief.

Qingheng Jun ended up locking Aiyan in the Jingshi, declaring that he himself would enter voluntary seclusion for having married his master's killer.

Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji had never felt so angry and sad at the same time. Seeing that the rules were still the same in the memory as they were now, they broke so many of them. Lan Xichen, being the leader, was going to make some changes and Wangji was going to help him. He was sure Wuxian would be all for helping as well. Wangji knows that he has to talk to Wuxian about this. He didn't want his love life to be like this. Not ever.

The first days were horrible. Aiyan was unable to leave Jingshi, a decision that he learned from Lan Qiren, and she also didn't see Qinghe-jun, disappearing from her life as if nothing had happened. He had seen her freedom vanish, like everything she wanted to do, suddenly disappear.

However, after a week in which she almost went crazy, at night, she was visited by Qingheng Jun. Although not consciously, Aiyan herself caught him leaving food in front of the door.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Nothing I do will serve to ask your forgiveness," Qingheng Jun said.

"That doesn't answer my question," Aiyan said.

"I can't let you starve," he said.

"Your elders would surely be delighted with it. Maybe you should listen to them and-"

"Aiyan, no!"

Thus began a series of nightly visits in which, at first, Aiyan, without opening the door, only listened to Qinghe-jun's apologies, questions about how she was and the desire that she would rest for the night. They did nothing else. Aiyang refused to speak to him, in fact, ignored him all the time. Qingheng Jun would never do anything to annoy her, not after taking away the smile from her face, her happiness, her freedom.