Of Course, Forgiveness

At the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy, Ju Zi sat in the innermost seat of the library.

Several thick books were piled up in front of him, one of which was half-open and discussed the energy ratio of the Soul Tool Array.

She had intended to finish reading this chapter today, but the diary entries kept churning in her mind, the words flooding her consciousness like a tidal wave.

She closed the book, leaned back in her chair, and decided to focus on reading her diary.

Huo Yun'er was a name she had never heard of before. According to the description, she was an ordinary woman who was slowly worn down and killed within the high walls of the Duke's Mansion, outside the power struggles of the imperial court.

Ju Zi unconsciously twisted her cuffs, a small gesture she made when she was thinking.

In the end, Huo Yuhao was recognized by his ancestors and returned to his clan, changing his surname to Dai. It was a happy ending.

Ju Zi tried to understand this choice, but she couldn't.

In her world, if someone has been treated that way, she will settle the score one by one.

Whether Huo Yun'er can forgive Dai Hao is Huo Yun'er's business.

But Huo Yuhao has no right to forgive her on her behalf, much less the right to remove the "Huo" from his own name.

Ju Zi looked down at her fingers, which were twisted until they were red and raw, and a chill ran through her.

She rarely showed sympathy for others, but Huo Yun'er's story made her heart tighten for once.

Perhaps it's because she knows what it's like for a woman to live her whole life in a man's shadow.

After all, her future self seems to be similar to Huo Yun'er, except that Huo Yun'er is Dai Hao while she is Huo Yuhao.

[There's one more thing I must mention: Huo Yuhao revived Huo Yun'er and brought his mother back to his side, which seems like a sign of filial piety.]

But upon closer inspection, the logic here is somewhat strange.

Huo Yun'er suffered countless injustices in her life, and even in death, she still loved Dai Hao. What would such a woman want most after being resurrected? Probably to return to Dai Hao's side and be reunited with her family.

Huo Yuhao granted her wish, and also granted Dai Hao's wish.

Thus, the tragedy of the entire story was erased by a "resurrection".

The suffering that Huo Yun'er and Huo Yuhao endured was all illuminated by the light of the Divine Realm, leaving no shadows.

This is so convenient, it's almost suspicious.

Was the suffering that preceded it never intended to be taken seriously?

If a death can be easily reversed, then all the suffering before death becomes cheap.

All the tears Huo Yun'er shed and the blood she coughed up in the side courtyard were diluted by this ending into a cup of lukewarm water—not scalding, but tasteless.

The Far North.

Ice Empress suddenly chuckled, the sound cold and brief in the wind.

Snow Empress stood behind her, not asking what she was laughing about.

Ice Empress turned around, a hint of mockery in his eyes. "Humans are masters of this kind of thing. First, they make people suffer, then they give them a little something sweet, and all the resentment and bitterness will vanish."

Snow Empress didn't speak, but instead cast her gaze into the distance.

Ice Empress continued, "That Huo Yun'er, after being treated like that her whole life, was still willing to return to that man's side in the end. That's not deep affection; it's clearly because she was so ruined that she didn't even dare to hate him anymore."

Snow Empress gently shook her head. "You shouldn't judge her by our standards. She was born in the weakest corner of humanity. Just surviving has exhausted her strength. Love and hate are too much of a luxury for her."

Ice Empress fell silent. She wasn't unaware of this principle; she just felt stifled.

Human life is so short, yet suffering is so great.

Even though one Huo Yun'er is gone, countless Huo Yun'er live on in the world.

Huo Yuhao was able to resurrect his mother, but what about those who weren't?

Who will give an explanation for their suffering?

The wind passed between the two of them, like an unfinished sigh.

So, going back to the initial question, was it wrong for Huo Yuhao to acknowledge his ancestors and change his surname to Dai?

Legally speaking, recognizing one's ancestors and returning to one's roots is a matter of course.

Logically speaking, there are too many things that don't make sense here.

Huo Yun'er never had a good day in her life, and in the end, she couldn't even keep her surname.

Having reached that position, Huo Yuhao no longer needs anything from the Dai Clan. Why would he bother to return to the family that once kicked him out?

Was it to fulfill Dai Hao's wish? Or to resolve his own regret?

The more I think about it, the more I feel that this step is too ambitious, so ambitious that it swallows up the most precious part of Huo Yuhao.

He was originally a man who had climbed out of the mud on his own, but in the end, he took the initiative to bend down and pick up the whip that had once lashed him, handing it back to the Dai Clan, calling it his final resting place.

When Xiao Xiao saw the last sentence, it felt like something was stuck in her throat.

She used to be most afraid of those action-packed stories where the protagonist would end up back where they started, making all their hard work go to waste.

Huo Yuhao went even further. His origin was a place worse than that of an ordinary person, and when he returned, he left his most precious possession outside the door.

The surname Huo Yun'er gave him was that thing.

Xiao Xiao felt that if she could meet Huo Yuhao one day, she probably wouldn't ask anything else, she would only want to ask him one question: Does your mother know that you changed your surname?

But then she thought again, wasn't Huo Yun'er resurrected in the end? Of course she knew that.

Even if a mother knew, she would just smile and say it's okay.

Thinking of this, Xiao Xiao's eyes suddenly welled up with tears.

She quickly looked up at the sky, forcing back her tears.

She didn't know who she was grieving for. Maybe it was for Huo Yun'er, maybe it was for the boy who walked out of the Duke's Mansion's mansion, maybe it was for everyone who had once thought "things would get better."

Those hardships truly existed, and they shouldn't be so easily covered up by a happy ending.

Xiao Xiao was actually a little disappointed, as she had always had a very good impression of Huo Yuhao.

Whether it's because of what Lin Ye said about Huo Yuhao having Protagonist Halo, Xiao Xiao just can't bring herself to dislike Huo Yuhao.

Even though Lin Ye said so many bad things about Huo Yuhao in his diary.

Of course, it can't be called bad talk; it's just repeating what Huo Yuhao will do in the future.

Does recounting future actions equate to speaking ill of others? She disagreed. After all, if you admit to speaking ill of others, wouldn't that prove that the actions you'll take in the future are the truly bad ones?

However, it was only on this matter that Xiao Xiao truly felt some resentment towards Huo Yuhao, or rather, anger at his lack of ambition.

Because what Huo Yuhao did was extremely unethical.

To understand why Huo Yuhao ultimately became a god, it was because of his mother's hatred.

Hatred for the entire Dai Clan, for Dai Hao, for the First Madam, for the Dai brothers (Dai Huabin and Dai Yueheng), and for the entire Duke's Mansion drove Huo Yuhao to cultivate diligently, bit by bit.

But in the end, you have to forgive your enemy.

Does this mean that Huo Yuhao, who has already become a god, let go of his hatred on behalf of the seven- or eight-year-old Huo Yuhao?