Chinese animation: Starting with Bad Guys

"Nongyu, you have achieved your wish. From this day forward, you are free."

Nongyu was slightly taken aback, and raised her misty, tearful eyes.

This word was completely foreign to her.

She looked into her father's weathered yet resolute eyes, her mother's reliance on him after surviving the ordeal, and then into Qin Chuan's unfathomable, calm face.

It was he who single-handedly tore apart the despair and darkness that had shrouded their family for over a decade.

The word "freedom" alone is far from enough to repay this debt of gratitude that is heavier than a mountain.

Moreover... her gaze swept across the flower hall, over Wei Zhuang, Yan Ling Ji, Mo Ya... the chess game in Xinzheng had just begun, and the storm had already started.

She couldn't leave alone with a clear conscience.

Nongyu did not respond immediately.

She helped her parents up and, at Zi Nu's suggestion, led them to a side hall to rest.

The flower hall fell silent again, with only Mo Ya reporting other details to Qin Chuan in a low voice. Yan Ling Ji stood with her head bowed, but her thoughts had already wandered far away, filled with her younger brother's possible appearance and Qin Chuan's promise.

Wei Zhuang remained by the window with his arms crossed, his gaze fixed on the brightening sky outside, lost in thought.

Time flowed silently, the night outside the window grew deeper, and dawn was not far away.

In the side hall, Nongyu looked at her parents' sleeping faces, who had survived the ordeal and were now leaning on each other, and her heart was filled with mixed emotions.

Freedom... what an alluring word.

To travel far away from her parents and live a simple, peaceful life... This was almost the dream that sustained her through countless dark nights.

However, with her dream within reach, she hesitated.

Qin Chuan's image lingered in her mind.

That all-encompassing power, that unfathomable calm, and... that almost imperceptible, fleeting tenderness when Chi Meng nestled beside him.

He may seem to be surrounded by powerful figures, but the only person who can truly get close to his heart is perhaps that lively and carefree girl with purple hair and silver butterfly hair.

He had just fulfilled his promise to her, giving her a family reunion.

This kindness is too heavy.

Zilan Pavilion is his stronghold, and Xinzheng is his chessboard.

He needs eyes, ears, and hands that can soothe hearts and convey messages.

Her music might be the only clear sound in the eye of this storm, for him and for herself.

Nongyu's eyes gradually became clear and firm.

She gently tucked the thin blankets around her parents, stood up, straightened her simple dress, pushed open the door to the side hall, and walked lightly and steadily toward the flower hall where Qin Chuan was.

She was going to tell her master her choice—to stay and repay this mountain-like kindness with her music and her life.

Inside the flower hall, the candlelight illuminated the darkness in the corners, but could not dispel an invisible solemnity.

Qin Chuan sat upright in the main seat, dressed in black with composure.

Chi Meng nestled beside him, like a weary bird.

She was emanating an increasingly clear, dreamlike purple halo. The light was not dazzling, but it carried a mysterious quality that transcended the mortal world, enveloping her entire being.

The tiny silver butterflies adorning the tips of her hair fluttered their wings wildly, emitting a faint, almost inaudible buzzing sound.

“Big brother…” Chi Meng’s voice was thick with nasal tone. Her small hands tightly gripped Qin Chuan’s sleeve, and her big eyes were filled with reluctance and glistening with tears. “The time… is really coming soon.”

She could feel a pull from the depths of her soul; the world was gently yet firmly rejecting her.

Qin Chuan looked down at her, his cold and stern features appearing particularly striking in the flickering candlelight.

He reached out, his large palm covering her small hand that was clutching his sleeve.

The hand was still warm and soft, but it seemed to be losing its real texture, becoming somewhat illusory and transparent.

He didn't speak, but simply tightened his grip on her hand slightly.

The purple halo grew stronger and stronger, its light swirling like a tangible mist.

Chi Meng's body began to blur in the light, her outline gradually becoming indistinct.

Just then, the beaded curtain at the entrance of the flower hall was gently lifted by a fair and slender hand.

Nongyu walked in.

With a calm and resolute expression on her face, she was about to express her feelings to Qin Chuan.

However, the scene before her made her freeze in place, her gentle eyes widening in shock and confusion.

She saw the lively and carefree girl with purple hair and silver butterfly-like features, whose body was enveloped in a strange purple light, becoming as blurry as a reflection in water!

Meanwhile, the powerful man in the main seat, who controlled everything, was holding the girl's hand tightly. On his usually calm and composed profile, there seemed to be an extremely subtle yet real shadow of parting.

Chi Meng also saw Nong Yu at the door. A final glimmer of light appeared in her eyes, as if she had grasped something.

"Sister Nongyu!" Chi Meng's voice carried a strange penetrating power, clearly reaching Nongyu's ears, and also Qin Chuan's ears.

She forced a bright smile, but tears finally streamed down her face, glistening like amethysts in the purple light. "You've come at just the right time!"

She squeezed Qin Chuan's hand tightly, as if using her last bit of strength, then turned to Nong Yu, her voice clear and resolute, carrying an undeniable trust:

"Sister Nongyu! I have to go back now! My little brother... he sometimes gets lonely when he's alone! Promise me you'll take good care of him for me, okay?"

"Talk to him, play the piano for him! Pick some pretty flowers for him to see! And..."

Her voice began to become intermittent and ethereal, and her body became almost completely transparent.

"Don't let him...always be alone...okay? With Sister Nongyu here...I...I'll feel at ease..."

The pure trust and pleading in those eyes were like a warm current, instantly washing away all the astonishment and hesitation in Nongyu's heart.

Watching the girl's tearful eyes fade in the light, and seeing the silent yet tightly clenched hand on the main seat, Nongyu's heart was struck by a tremendous sorrow and sense of responsibility.

Almost instinctively and with utmost solemnity, she nodded forcefully at Chi Meng's fading figure, her voice tinged with a barely perceptible sob:

"Don't worry, Chi Meng! Nongyu... I remember! Nongyu will definitely take good care of her master!"

Chi Meng received the promise she wanted, and a final, radiant, and reassuring smile bloomed on her face.

She took one last, deep, and lingering look at Qin Chuan, as if trying to etch his image into the depths of her soul.

"Little brother..."

The purple light suddenly intensified to its peak, like a silent explosion!

The light instantly collapsed and dissipated inward.

The flower hall suddenly went dark, leaving only the flickering candlelight.

Chi Meng's figure vanished without a trace.

It was as if it had never existed.

Only a faint, extremely subtle, herbal scent belonging to Raojiang lingered in the air.

The faint phosphorescence of the little silver butterfly at the tip of her hair, which flickered like a teardrop before disappearing completely, testifies to its brief but vibrant existence.

Qin Chuan's hand remained in a loosely clenched position, suspended in mid-air.

My palms felt empty, leaving only a fleeting coolness.

The candlelight illuminated his cold, handsome profile, and in the depths of his deep, pool-like eyes, there seemed to be some extremely subtle ripples spreading out before quickly returning to silence.

Nongyu remained standing in the same spot, maintaining her nodding posture, her fingertips slightly cold.

Chi Meng's final trusting entrustment and her fleeting figure were etched into her heart like a brand.

The decision to stay, which I had just made after careful consideration in the side hall, was now imbued with a heavier and warmer meaning.

She was not only repaying a debt of gratitude, but also carrying the concerns of that girl from another world.

She took a deep breath, suppressed the pounding in her heart, and slowly walked up to Qin Chuan, her posture more respectful and resolute than ever before.

She bowed deeply and with utmost solemnity:

"Young Marshal, Nongyu has made up her mind after careful consideration. Her parents have received your kindness in giving them a second chance at life, and there is a way for them to follow. Nongyu wishes to stay in Zilan Pavilion and serve her master. She will use her music to ease her worries and serve him with her humble self. She has no regrets in this life and earnestly hopes that you will grant her wish!"

The voice was clear, carrying a resolute determination.

Qin Chuan shifted his gaze from his loosely clenched hands to Nongyu.

His gaze remained calm, as if the brief and dreamlike farewell had never happened.

He looked at Nongyu for a moment, and finally nodded very slightly.

In a word, the dust has settled.

Nongyu felt a sense of relief, followed by an even deeper sense of determination.

She silently rose and stepped aside to stand, but her gaze couldn't help but drift back to the spot where Chi Meng had disappeared. There was nothing there except the shadows cast by the candlelight.

In the shadows of the corridor not far away, Zi Nu leaned quietly against a pillar.

She took in everything that happened in the flower hall—Chi Meng vanished like a dream, Nong Yu made a solemn promise and choice, and the empty palm of the figure in the main seat.

Her heart was filled with complex emotions that were difficult to express. Nongyu's decision to stay had long since gone beyond simply repaying a debt of gratitude.

That elfin girl from another world, with her final entrustment, gave Nongyu's zither music a new mission, and tied an invisible, warm thread to the Zilan Pavilion, which was about to be engulfed in a deeper storm.

She looked at the resolute light in Nongyu's eyes, made even more determined by the entrustment, sighed softly, and turned her gaze to the window.

Beyond the window lattice, the inky blackness of the eastern horizon was finally torn apart by a faint, cold wisp of pale white light.

As dawn approaches, a new day is about to begin, carrying with it the aftershocks of the Blood-Clad Marquis's death and the silent entrustment and promises just made within the Purple Orchid Pavilion.

Chapter 28 Qin Chuan with the Icy Face

The midday sun, with its scorching heat, pierced through the exquisite window frames of Zilan Pavilion, casting bright spots of light on the floor.

The air was filled with a delicate fragrance and an invisible, tense silence.

However, at the heart of this silence, the man in black robes sitting in the main seat exuded a chill even deeper than that of Snowcloak Fortress.

It wasn't an intentionally emanating pressure, but rather a deep-seated melancholy and emptiness that was hard to dispel.

The soft rustling of the beaded curtain broke the silence.