"Little sister, why would I play dumb with you?
I genuinely have no idea what act you're putting on."
Gu Qingfeng looked as if he wanted to cry but had no tears, saying, "What previous life?
Are you still hung up on that karma business?
Little sister, to be honest with you, although you've always said there's karma between us, even now I don't know what karma we actually share."
"I have never met someone as shameless as you!"
Su Hua stared at Gu Qingfeng, saying, "You lie without even blinking an eye. If I hadn't already learned the truth, I might have really been fooled by you!"
"Truth?
What truth?
The more I listen, the more confused I get."
Gu Qingfeng shook his head with a bitter smile, "Little sister, I think there must be some misunderstanding between us, right?"
"Misunderstanding?
You dare call it a misunderstanding?"
Su Hua could bear it no longer. She stood up abruptly, glaring furiously at Gu Qingfeng, and shouted, "I ask you, who is Emperor Jiuyou!"
Upon hearing Su Hua mention the two words 'Emperor Jiuyou',
Gu Qingfeng's heart couldn't help but stir. He stopped speaking, stopped refuting, and fell into a silent, wordless stillness.
At the very beginning, he had indeed been somewhat confused by Su Hua's questions, thinking the 'previous life' she spoke of was the one related to the karma of the Pathless. He hadn't expected it to be this previous life. It wasn't until Su Hua brought up Emperor Jiuyou that he gradually understood what was going on.
"Answer me, why won't you answer me?"
Su Hua demanded, "Don't you love to deceive people?
Go on, deceive me again!
Don't you love to toy with me?
Go on, toy with me again!"
"Little sister!"
Gu Qingfeng scratched his head and said, "Actually, I haven't deceived you, nor have I toyed with you..." Gu Qingfeng was about to explain, but as soon as he opened his mouth, before he could finish, Su Hua angrily retorted.
"How can you be so shameless? You've been exposed, yet you still dare to quibble?
You say you haven't deceived me?
Haven't toyed with me?
Heh...
Haven't you deceived me enough?
Haven't you toyed with me enough?
From the very beginning, you've been deceiving me, toying with me!"
"You clearly knew I was looking for Monarch Chixiao, and we met so many times, yet you never once admitted your identity. If not for that chance encounter over a decade ago, I probably still wouldn't know you are Monarch Chixiao!"
"If that were all, it might be one thing, but you clearly knew my previous life's identity, yet deliberately pretended not to recognize me."
"Little sister, if you say that me not admitting I am Monarch Chixiao was deceiving you, I'll accept that. But I truly didn't know your previous life's identity. Besides, you don't look the same as in your previous life. How could I possibly recognize you?"
"My appearance may differ from my previous life, but in my previous life, I was also called Su Hua."
"Little sister, now you're being a bit unreasonable, aren't you?
There are probably millions, if not tens of millions, of girls in the world named Su Hua. Based on just a name, I wouldn't dare assume it was you."
"Yes!
You're right, there may be many women in the world named Su Hua, but in all the heavens and earth, the Mysterious Maiden of the Nine Heavens named Su Hua—there is only me, Su Hua!"
At this, Gu Qingfeng fell silent again.
Because the fact was exactly as Su Hua said: there might be countless Su Huas in the world, but in all the heavens and earth, the Mysterious Maiden of the Nine Heavens named Su Hua—there was only one.
"You recognized me long ago, didn't you?
From the very beginning, you recognized me, yet you pretended not to know, kept it from me all along. You neither admitted to me that you are Monarch Chixiao, nor that you are Emperor Jiuyou."
"What's laughable is that I once even suspected whether you might be Emperor Jiuyou. For that, I even asked you. Do you remember how you answered me at the time?"
"I asked you if you were Emperor Jiuyou, and you actually said you didn't know any Emperor Jiuyou, hadn't even heard of him, and said my imagination was too rich?"
"Gu, how could you utter such words?
Don't you feel the slightest bit ashamed?"
Gu Qingfeng lay back in his chair, covering his face with his hand, extremely embarrassed. Being questioned like this by Su Hua, how could he not feel ashamed?
"What's even more laughable is that I, fool that I was, actually believed your nonsense. Not only did I believe your nonsense, I even told you in detail the process of how I first met, got to know, and became acquainted with Emperor Jiuyou back then..."
"And you? You actually listened to it all like an outsider, treating it as a story. If all this hadn't happened to me personally, I wouldn't even dare believe that there could be someone in the world as 'honest' as you—honest to a downright appalling degree!"
The word 'honest' from Su Hua's mouth was truly grating to Gu Qingfeng's ears, so grating he wished he could find a hole to crawl into.
Perhaps she was truly drunk.
Or perhaps there was simply too much grievance pent up in her heart. As Su Hua spoke, she began to weep uncontrollably.
Gu Qingfeng could least bear to hear a woman cry. Whenever he heard a woman weeping, it gave him a headache. Watching Su Hua sob bitterly, Gu Qingfeng stood up, walked over, patted her back, and tried to offer a few words of comfort. But before he could even open his mouth, Su Hua sprang up and began pummeling Gu Qingfeng wildly.
"You bastard, do you have any idea how happy I was when I met you back then!"
"Do you have any idea how lost I felt when I left you back then!"
"Wuuu!
Do you have any idea how worried I was when you clashed with the Great Dao back then!"
"Wuuu— Do you have any idea how despair I felt when I witnessed you being judged by the Great Dao with my own eyes!"
"Do you have any idea how heartbroken, how pain, how much I missed you after you disappeared!"
"Wuuu!"
Su Hua kept hitting Gu Qingfeng as if gone mad, venting the endless grievances in her heart. Gu Qingfeng didn't say a word, letting her hit him.
Perhaps she grew tired from hitting him. Su Hua then collapsed against Gu Qingfeng's chest and began crying again, pouring out the countless, immeasurable longing in her heart with her tears. Every drop of tear seemed to represent her longing for Gu Qingfeng. She cried for a very, very long time, and shed many, many tears.
Until her tears ran dry, until she cried herself to the point of physical and mental exhaustion, with not a shred of strength left, Su Hua unconsciously fell asleep, just like that, asleep in Gu Qingfeng's embrace...
And Gu Qingfeng held her motionless, his expression somewhat helpless, his eyes also carrying a trace of guilt.
To tell the truth.
It wasn't that he was unaware of Su Hua's feelings for him.
Precisely because he knew, even though he clearly knew she was searching for Monarch Chixiao, Gu Qingfeng had never admitted it. Precisely because he knew, even though he clearly knew her feelings for Emperor Jiuyou, he had kept it hidden all along.
It wasn't because he worried his existence would implicate her in some way.
In the past, he might have had such concerns.
But the Gu Qingfeng of today was not worried about implicating anyone, because he had the confidence, and the capability, to protect anyone from harm.
But that was only protection from harm.
Beyond that, he could guarantee nothing, much less give the other party everything they desired.
Because he knew his own nature all too well.
And he clearly knew that so-called emotions was, for him, nothing more than seasoning for emptiness and loneliness.
He knew even more clearly that he was a thoroughgoing bastard, who never took any relationship seriously.