**Chapter 20: Behind Yelan, It Was Her**
Granny Ping and Cloud Retainer watched from the side as Yelan and Jingchen played games with Qiqi. They couldn't help but smile.
"It's been so long since we've seen such lively scenes," Granny Ping remarked.
"Indeed," Cloud Retainer agreed.
"Cloud Retainer, your disciple Shenhe seems to have something on her mind."
"Ah... I hope it's not about Jingchen this time."
***
As the banquet concluded, Hu Tao returned to Wangsheng Funeral Parlor as if nothing had happened.
Qiqi had already fallen into a deep slumber, and Columbina and Jingchen escorted her away from the Jade Chamber.
From the shadows behind them, a familiar voice called out:
"Would you two mind coming with me?"
Columbina clutched Jingchen's hand tightly, her wariness reaching maximum levels, like a kitten guarding its food.
*Damn it! Another girl trying to steal my Jingchen?!*
Jingchen, however, remained calm. After all, he and Columbina were Harbingers.
The woman who had long dealt with Harbingers in Liyue had finally arrived.
"Sigh, you still love hiding in the shadows, just like before. Come out."
The woman before them had short, blue-black hair with a distinctive slanted fringe. Her deep green eyes, light makeup, earrings, and jade bracelet complemented each other perfectly. She wore a blue and white leather jacket and the so-called "White Mantle of the Ice Queen," supposedly seized from the wealthy.
"Acting Tianquan Star, or does Harbinger sound better?!"
"Yelan, did Ningguang send you?"
Yelan nodded slightly, casually tossing a die.
"Indeed, Harbinger. She did send me."
"Yelan, you can still call me Jingchen, just like before."
Yelan picked up the dice she had just thrown. The result was a one.
She waved her hand dismissively, a faint smile playing on her lips.
"Oh no, I couldn't possibly address the Harbinger by name directly."
Jingchen sighed inwardly. He could tell that Yelan was still harboring some resentment toward his status as a Harbinger.
It was understandable, given her long history of fighting her colleagues in the shadows.
Her reservations about his position were only natural.
"Yelan, let me visit the Jade Chamber another day. Today, I need to take Columbina out for a walk to clear her mind."
Yelan continued waving her hand, then turned to someone behind her.
"Ningguang, did you hear that? 'My Columbina,' he said! Looks like you've missed your chance!"
Ningguang's figure slowly came into view.
In this long-awaited reunion, Jingchen and Ningguang stood in silence.
Jingchen was slightly surprised to see that Ningguang seemed even thinner than before.
The tear tracks at the corners of her eyes had, over time, developed a peculiar beauty.
As Ningguang took another step forward, Columbina tightened her grip around Jingchen.
Columbina carefully studied the Tianquan Star before her.
*Hmph, another one of these 'secondhand grass' types trying to challenge my position.*
These girls, one after another, only realized Jingchen's worth after he vanished.
*Only now do they understand how to cherish him?!*
Not everyone can be a white moonlight or a cinnabar mole.
Ningguang stopped walking, her gaze fixed on Columbina beside Jingchen.
Years ago, her informant in Snezhnaya had reported that a man had appeared among the Fatui, sharing the Third Seat, the Maiden's, position.
Their relationship seemed to be that of husband and wife.
Initially, Ningguang, consumed by longing for Jingchen and desperate to find any trace of him, paid little attention to this news.
But the informant's reports grew more detailed:
Silver-blue ponytail, crimson eyes, an Ice-type Vision.
Even then, Ningguang clung to denial.
"No! Absolutely not! It's just a coincidence! Yes, that's it—a coincidence!
There must be other men in this world who resemble Jingchen! And Ice-type Visions aren't unique!"
Driven by this desperate hope, she sought out the slightest possibility.
*Years ago, she had climbed the mountain alone to find Cloud Retainer.*
*"True Monarch, have you heard any news of your youngest disciple, Jingchen?!"*
*Cloud Retainer paused, momentarily surprised. Another confession to her little disciple, followed by rejection.
A regretful girl?!
"Tianquan Star, this immortal truly knows not where Jingchen is today."
Ningguang bit her thin lip tightly, slowly retrieving Guizhong's遗物 from her spatial pouch.
Cloud Retainer's eyes widened.
An exquisitely crafted jade mechanical flute?! Good heavens, wasn't that the one Guizhong used to—?!
She had promised Aping and me that she would destroy this flute.
Cloud Retainer hastily accepted the flute with her wing, striving to maintain composure as she said, "Ahem, I—no, this immortal already knows. If news of Jingchen surfaces, I shall inform you."
"Thank you, True Monarch."
Ningguang then produced several more exquisitely crafted envelopes and handed them to Cloud Retainer.
The memory abruptly ended, and the very scenario she had dreaded had come to pass.
Ningguang waved her hand, and Yelan, understanding her cue, retreated backward, gradually vanishing into the shadows.
Forcing a smile, Ningguang stood before the two figures.
"Esteemed Third Seat Harbingers, how fares Liyue?"
Columbina, her face taut with vigilance, gripped Jingchen's hand protectively, answering Ningguang like a kitten guarding its food.
"Liyue is indeed a wonderful place, but those 'second-chance' types really get on my nerves."
Ningguang listened with her usual faint smile.
"We can't entirely blame those 'second-chance' types, can we?"
"Oh?! If we can't blame them, then should we blame the girl who confessed her feelings, sang by his side, offered him salvation, and stayed with him through thick and thin?!"
Jingchen sighed, pressing a hand to his forehead. He frowned, still reeling from the Hu Tao incident.
*Ningguang... is she regretting things too?!*
*Ah, I don't want her to suffer either.*
*(Kamiko, Ningguang, and Jingliu share the same Chinese voice actress.)*
He couldn't quite define the feeling—it wasn't love, nor regret, but something akin to... fondness?
*Sister and brother... Ah, I can't remember.*
Jingchen quickly dismissed the thought. Columbina was all he needed.
Columbina had appeared during his darkest hour.
He couldn't let her suffer! He couldn't betray her.
Ningguang shook her head calmly. She knew it was too late, too late.
Regret was useless, but she truly, truly didn't want to lose Jingchen.
Ningguang stared blankly at Jingchen, her eyes filled with hesitation and longing as she responded to Columbina's earlier words.
"No one is to blame. It's just that I, who prided myself on my intelligence, was foolish for a moment."
Jingchen held Columbina's hand tightly.
"Ningguang, there's no such thing as a 'regret pill' in this world. Perhaps, as you once said, if you had always seen me as your younger brother, we could still be ordinary friends."
Ningguang pressed her thin lips together, fell silent for a moment, then turned and walked away.
She had lost. She had lost everything.
She regretted it, but no amount of regret could undo the past.
As she returned to the Jade Chamber, a fine drizzle began to fall from the sky. She couldn't tell if the wetness on her face was tears or rain.
Tears in the rain, rain in her tears—the man she longed for had become another woman's husband.
Yet letting go of everything felt so unfair.
The Tianquan Star, known for her strategic brilliance and keen insight, never imagined she could be so foolish and regretful in the face of so-called love.
.....
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(End of Chapter)