The Double
Chapter 766 - 227: Silencing Witnesses_3

Chapter 766: Chapter 227: Silencing Witnesses_3

"One side promised another year of life, the other a chance of waking up or possibly dying. I couldn’t make that decision for General Jih. The old general left the choice to Jih Heng, who decided to administer the medicine to his father."

Jiang Li’s heart clenched tightly as she heard this. She already knew the outcome, as Situ Jiuyue had told her earlier, but she still couldn’t help feeling pained for Jih Heng at this moment.

"Every one of us hopes for a miracle. Jih Heng never believed in fate. Before he gave the medicine to General Jih, he also went to worship his mother. Unfortunately, as Jih Heng himself said, even the opera troupe’s comedy on stage is too unreal, and no miracle happened. I failed, and General Jih died."

Snowflakes twirled down, landing on Situ Jiuyue. She seemed completely unaware, neither brushing off the snowflakes nor opening an umbrella, allowing the cold to settle on her. Jiang Li even thought that Situ Jiuyue might be shivering.

"This isn’t your fault," Jiang Li said softly, "nor is it Jih Heng’s."

"Of course, I know." After a while, Situ Jiuyue spoke. "But after General Jih died, I still left Yanjing, and didn’t come back until last year."

Last year was when Jih Heng asked Situ Jiuyue to treat Xue Huaiyuan’s illness.

"I don’t like being in anyone’s debt, but after that incident, I still felt I owed Jih Heng. If it hadn’t been for Jih Heng asking me to treat Xue Huaiyuan, I would never have returned to Yanjing City in my lifetime. So, given any chance to make amends, I would do my best. That’s why when you ask me why I treated Xue Huaiyuan, why I treated Xue Zhao easily, it’s merely because three years ago, my poison killed his father." _{fre ewe bnove l.com}

Jiang Li couldn’t help but repeat, "It’s not your fault, Miss Jiuyue, you’ve done your best."

"Yet the outcome is the same. If I feel this way, one can only imagine what Jih Heng feels. I’ve never seen someone so dedicated at one thing in their life. Since I’ve known him, he has built this garden to detoxify his father. Sadly, over the years, he could only watch the poison spread little by little, powerless to stop it. In the end, he could only watch General Jih die because he made the wrong decision."

Jiang Li fell silent, imagining the depth of despair Jih Heng must have felt in that moment.

Situ Jiuyue finished picking the last flower and stood up. "That’s the answer. I actually thought that after his father died, he would dismantle this garden, but it’s still here. Maybe it’s to deceive others, maybe it’s just in case."

Jiang Li asked, "Then, where is General Jih buried?"

"Nothing conspicuous could be done, to avoid arousing suspicion, and it was also his father’s last wish before death. His body was cremated into ashes and placed in his mother’s tomb."

Jiang Li caught the key point in Situ Jiuyue’s words, "To avoid arousing suspicion? Was General Jih poisoned deliberately by someone hiding in the shadows, still in the capital?"

Situ Jiuyue looked at Jiang Li: "Correct. Since you’ve guessed it, there’s no need for me to say more, but there are many other things I don’t know. Jih Heng wouldn’t fully trust anyone, maybe you’re an exception, but to protect you, he wouldn’t tell you much. So the ugliest truth may only be known to him."

At this point, Jiang Li suddenly understood why Jih Heng was the way he was. They say he was mercurial and bloodthirsty, and that might be true. But after going through such experiences, and possibly more horrifying truths, a young Jih Heng learned to face darkness alone, and someone who walks out of darkness, if they want to protect what they cherish, must first learn to survive in that darkness. To turn him into someone like Ah Zhao, as upright and honorable as Xue Huaiyuan, is impossible – in Jih Heng’s eyes, even naively ridiculous."

Jiang Li couldn’t pinpoint her feelings, feeling only as if a stone weighed heavily on her heart, so heavy she could hardly breathe. This garden, with its layers of bright and beautiful flowers, each one a hope Jih Heng had nurtured since his youth, sadly the flowers still bloomed in abundance while the hopes had all been dashed.

She also remembered that night she came to the Duke Residence, when Jih Heng was planting a tree in the courtyard, working exceptionally slow, his eyes on the garden full of flowers yet so lonely.