Huiwu saw her distress and stroked her head. "I've already spoken to my master. Don't be too sad. Fen'er made such a great sacrifice so you could be happy.
As long as you live happily, she'll be happy too."
Wu Qiaoyun recalled the look in Fen'er's eyes just before she died. They had held shock, fear, grief, anger, and resentment, until everything finally faded into a pool of stagnant water.
At Huiwu's words, Wu Qiaoyun lowered her head without speaking. She had lied to him. Fen'er had never willingly sacrificed herself for her.
On the contrary, Fen'er had been the one stopping her from pursuing her happiness. She did not want to follow Wu Liang's orders and marry someone she did not like, especially someone her family had previously schemed against.
Putting herself in his shoes, she knew she could never treat someone who had once schemed against her particularly well. Simply refraining from revenge would already be generous, let alone treating that person kindly.
As for why she had not begged her parents for help?
Wu Qiaoyun understood her family's situation perfectly. To outsiders, her parents seemed to dote on her, but their love was nothing more than a knife coated in sugary icing.
It looked sweet and delicious, but only after putting it in her mouth would she discover how thin that coating was, and how much it hurt when the blade pierced her flesh.
So when she learned that her parents planned to marry her off to Shen Zexi—no, "marry" was not the right word. They were merely giving her to Shen Zexi as a concubine, a gift to make amends!
Wu Qiaoyun did not want to become anyone's concubine, much less marry a man she did not love when she already had someone she liked. So