What If...I Remember?

Chapter 39

⚠︎ Long chapter ahead! ⚠︎

"Heavenly Lord!" Su Jin stumbled into the Grand Hall, crashing to the floor when she forgot about the ledge at the entrance of the Hall, and murmurs rose at once as Hao De rose to his feet, "Su Jin? Whatever has happened to you?" "Heavenly Lord, please help me with my injustice!" Su Jin cried, her clothes mopping the floor as she crawled forward, trying to find her way to the center of the hall, and Hao De felt his subjects' eyes on him as he cleared his throat, "Oh? What injustice do you have?"

"My fellow uncles, you must help me too!" Su Jin cried as tears and blood mingled, much painfully, "I have been treated most unfairly by that Bai Qian of Qing Qiu!" "The Crown Princess?" One general spoke up, rather surprised, "Su Jin, pray tell us more on how she treated you." "She took my eyes, Heavenly Lord, and she threatened me...she threatened me to own up to things I did not do, and she said...she said that if I didn't admit to them, she would harm me further!" Su Jin wailed, her act gaining all eyes on her as she snivelled further.

"Oh? Things you didn't do? Such as?" A clear voice rang in the Hall, and everyone sank to their knees as they greeted and unison, "Greetings to Di Jun." "No need for formalities. Rise." Di Jun was rather relaxed as he looked down at Su Jin, "Now, Su Jin, what counts under the things you did not do, but have been forced to admit to?"

Behind him, Lian Song shuffled uneasily. He had told Di Jun that Feng Jiu most certainly would have wanted to straighten things out with Su Jin, but suddenly in hindsight it might not have been such a smart thing to do after all. "Replying to Di Jun, Bai Qian...Bai Qian said...that I must own up to being behind Su Su jumping off the Zhu Xian Terrace ultimately." Su Jin's breath took a hitch, and Di Jun raised his eyebrows interestedly, "Oh? How would she know about the mortal? Has the topic not been silenced?"

"She claims more, Di Jun..." Su Jin lifted her head as she turned blindly, trying to locate Di Jun just by sound, "She claims that...she claims that she was that mortal, Su Su." "Bai Qian of Qing Qiu, that mortal? Impossible." The Heavenly Lord snorted, almost laughing when another clear voice pierced the Hall, "Grandfather, what is so impossible about that, may I ask?"

There stood Bai Qian beneath the sun, casting a long shadow through the doorway as she lifted her shadowed face, staring straight at Hao De, and there was some element of her stare that somehow sent chills down his spine, and it suddenly dawned on him that Su Jin would not have said that out of nowhere, and Bai Qian most certainly would not have just sprouted nonsense out of nowhere to threaten someone. She would have known better than to use nonsensical ideas for a threat.

"You...are?" Hao De spoke slowly, not quite coming to his senses, and Bai Qian was in no hurry to reply as she looked up at Hao De, smiling as she spoke truthfully, "Grandfather, I am Su Su."

A silence overwhelmed the mutters of the Hall, so powerful that it was almost as if Bai Qian had sent a wave of magic across the Hall, striking everyone dumb. "So, you took Su Jin's eyes? Have you not learned from what you did? Your eyes were given to her because you pushed her down the Zhu Xian Terrace, and you should not have taken them back!" Hao De descended the stairs, only to be stopped by Di Jun, who gave Su Jin a lazy glance, before he looked back to Hao De, "Heavenly Lord, I think that we should revisit what actually happened back then."

"Oh? You imply that I had not settled the matter back then correctly, Di Jun?" Hao De was tense, and Di Jun shrugged almost casually, meaning that it was just a suggestion of his own, although his azure eyes did fix on Hao De with a slimmer of accusation, "Su Jin was one of your consorts, Heavenly Lord. It was fully within your control the simmer down the situation, with the bias present as well."

"Do you think I would bring harm upon myself, Di Jun?" Su Jin paused in her sobbing to ask the question, attempting to make it even clearer that she was sure Bai Qian had pushed her, "I would never do such a terrible act of self-harm!" "Ah, yes." Lian Song suddenly broke into a laugh, his smile purely interested as he glanced down at Su Jin, "Su Jin, it seems this is a second case that you have denied a possibility of self-harm, hmm? It seems too much of a coincidence to have everyone against you, in my opinion."