cold clothes

"Sister Nuandong is right to praise me." Yunqiu smiled again, seemingly oblivious to the chill emanating from Nuandong that was even colder than early winter, and approached her. She smoothed Nuandong's hair at her temples, a soft light flashing in her fox-like eyes, before carefully placing the silver hairpin back into Nuandong's hair. Nuandong didn't resist or stop her; her face, besides its coldness, revealed a deep weariness, shrouded in sorrow.

Yunqiu stopped smiling and stared at Nuandong. Nuandong seemed to dislike her gaze and turned her face away. Yunqiu sighed deeply and turned into a thick fog in the air.

“Warm Winter, you know that instead of being angry with me, you should try to persuade Qingchun. If she can think things through, she will have a good ending, at least better than me.”

Nuandong gritted her teeth, her brows furrowed into a deep frown, her expression a mixture of sorrow and anger. She could no longer hold back and leaned towards Yunqiu, saying, "With Qingchun's temperament, how could she possibly give up on Wang Yiqing? She has fallen in love with Wang Yiqing. More importantly, Qingchun is different from you; she doesn't want revenge."

“Yes, she doesn’t want revenge because she doesn’t need to.” Yunqiu’s expression also turned cold. “She and you, Nuandong, are pure and innocent people born here. How could you have such ugly feelings of hatred? You are so noble, born prostitutes.”

“There’s no need to be sarcastic, Yunqiu,” Nuandong’s tone suddenly became more serious. “We can’t really empathize with you, but why didn’t you tell Qingchun beforehand that your enemy is the Wang family? That way, she might not have any connection with Wang Yiqing.”

“Just like I said, none of you have any hatred. You were dragged into this mess by Aunt Hu, me, and Liu Xia. You are innocent. We didn’t want to involve you any more, so we didn’t tell you about our plans at all. Besides,” Yun Qiu changed the subject and said sarcastically, “Look at how obsessed and crazy Qing Chun is with men now. If she knew I would target Wang Yiqing, she might come after me instead. She’s ruthless, but she’s soft-hearted when it comes to men.”

Warm Winter's face paled slightly, because she couldn't refute it. But deep down, she felt things shouldn't have turned out this way...

Yunqiu tilted her head: "Sister Nuandong, don't look at me like that. It really makes me feel like I'm the one who's pathetic."

Yunqiu laughed as she spoke, but the laugh was not charming or beautiful; instead, it appeared stiff and distorted.

Nuandong was slightly taken aback. Yunqiu's sudden smile made her heart flutter. However, after so many years together, she knew Yunqiu was unpredictable. But Yunqiu's words made her realize that the emotion that had been lingering in her heart these past few days was sadness.

She cared more about Ningbi than Qingchun's injury because she felt Ningbi was being irresistibly dragged into the mire. The child with those blue eyes, the child like a golden boy under a celestial being, was also sinking into this bottomless quagmire, which infuriated her. But what exactly was she angry about? She couldn't understand, but Yunqiu saw right through her. It was sorrow, so it was sorrow. Ningbi and Yunqiu never truly wanted to poison Qingchun, but fate had pushed them to this point, unwilling and helpless, and that was what caused her sorrow. No, perhaps it wasn't just that. Wasn't she herself swept up by fate? Who had ever asked her if she was born wanting to be a prostitute? But being "born" doesn't depend on whether you "want" it or not.

She sees through it all now, but it's useless, and that's the saddest part.