Unrepentant

Chapter 6:Each stroke of brush portrayed those last 10 years

　　Gu Hong Jian reminisced. She realized that she and Lin Si Ze have known each other for 20 years, yet not once had Lin Si Ze spoken to her with love.

　　Contrarily, the amount of times he spoke to her with hatred or loathing was simply abundant.

　　Though admittedly, she also hadn't ever spoken to Lin Si Ze with love.

　　The number of times she spoke to him with hatred or loathing eclipsed even the frequency Lin Si Ze spoke negatively towards her by far.

　　Lin Si Ze was, in fact, a very honest and blunt man. Although he often appeared to be inscrutable, his feelings of love and hatred were very clearly conveyed. If he spoke with hate, it was precisely hatred. If he spoke with love, it was precisely love.

　　He loved Zuo Ning Yan, so he painted her and wrote poems about her. With her reddened eyes in mind, any thoughts of her would bring up deep love, gentleness, and cherished memories, as if he was reminiscing about the heavenly moon.

　　Gu Hong Jian's personality was vastly different. Every time she had a large fight with Lin Si Ze, she would spew fierce words, saying, "'Lin Si Ze, I loathe you!' 'Lin Si Ze, why don't you go to h.e.l.l?' 'Lin Si Ze, I want to kill you.' 'Lin Si Ze, I hate you...'"

　　Even though in truth, her heart would always say, "Lin Si Ze, I like you."

　　This essentially was a certain unique tsundere characteristic.

　　At first, the cold winter of Wànshùn Year 30 brimmed with famine for who knew how long. The spring of Wànshùn Year 31 had ended up arriving slowly. Gu Hong Jian and Lin Si Ze truly met each other for the first time then. How could Gu Hong Jian have antic.i.p.ated that their relations.h.i.+p would change in such a direction in the future?

　　If she had known of the future, she wouldn't have slacked off and ran off to an empty palace instead of sweeping the floor late at night in accordance to her slavery. She wouldn't have ended up meeting Teacher Meng, who had broken through security and climbed over the palace walls.

　　Gu Hong Jian naturally wouldn't expect such events to occur in the future though. Her stay in the palace was rapidly approaching two years. Nearly seven years old, Gu Hong Jian had laid down her broom and slipped away to a corner of a cold, empty palace. She hid up in a tree to slack off and rest.

　　She then saw a figure nimbly climb over the wall before noiselessly dropping to the ground as gracefully as a purebred Persian cat would. That person appeared to be rather tall and wore black clothes from head to toe, giving a slight impression of a demonic spirit. Gu Hong Jian jolted, scared upon seeing him. She accidentally knocked over the broom beside her. In a few seconds, that man flashed towards Gu Hong Jian's side. His gaze was ice-cold, as if he was going to take Gu Hong Jian's life at any moment.

　　Upon seeing that the curled up Gu Hong Jian was merely a little girl, however, that man paused before immediately inquiring, "Are you a palace maid?"

　　Gu Hong Jian was frightened, tears streaming down her face. She didn't dare to look at him, so she tightly closed her eyes. "Yes. But I didn't see anything, so don't kill me."

　　The other person felt amused, retorting, "And if I absolutely want to kill you?"

　　"Then, then I'll scream. If someone discovers you..." Gu Hong Jian didn't need to continue her threat.

　　That man appeared to be quite appreciative as he said, "For such a young age, your courage and cleverness are actually rather great. It's a pity that you're a girl."

　　'It's a pity that you're a girl.' Gu Hong Jian had heard this line very many times.

　　She grew up very bright and hardworking, helping her parents with work and such. There always seemed to be someone, however, who would sigh and say, "It's a pity that you're a girl."