Quick Transmigration: Counter Attack Of Various Characters

Ning Fu had come to The Imperial Palace on a whim.

Since the banquet had ended, he had felt restless and his feet had taken him to this place without a conscious decision on his part.

He had arrived just as Zhou Sheng and His Majesty had started talking and he couldn't put his feelings into words as he heard their fight.

It seemed that The Empress Dowager and his own guess had been wrong.

The monarch wasn't in love with this boy but with someone else and from their talk it was clear that Zhou Sheng had been friends with that person.

Whatever had happened had been experienced by the monarch, his beloved and Zhou Sheng and though the three of them had been close, the incident seemed to have built walls between Zhou Sheng and His Majesty.

From Zhou Sheng's words, Ning Fu could infer that the other person didn't agree with the actions the emperor had taken.

But what?

What had happened?

Before the two of them could continue, Nung Fu stepped on a twig and cursed his luck when both of them turned around vigilantly.

He could feel his heart beating a mile a minute. If he was caught in the imperial premises without a summons and eavesdropping on the monarch's conversation, he would be sent to the gallows without a moment's notice.

Thankfully, the other two didn't pay him much mind and continued with each other.

Zhou Sheng once again whirled around to face Princess and questioned sharply, "Riddle me this. When you decided to bend your knee to save your beloved, did you ever think about your father? Did you ever think about how he would feel? Did you ever think about your family's prestige?"

In front of Su Li's dumbfounded eyes, he continued, "Did you ever think about all your subordinates who were depending upon you to take them to greater heights? Did you ever think about everyone who had put their faith in you?"

When no reply was forthcoming, he sneered at her, "I know you loved him dearly and you simply wanted to leave him with a path to live, no matter what it took. But in bending your knee to someone who meant both of you harm, you let everybody else down - even the person you love."

With a pained sigh, Zhou Sheng softened his tone, "Did you even think about how that person felt? You were harmed that day and it wasn't a grazing wound or a light concussion. You were fatally wounded. Did you ever think about how much he must have hurt to see you in that position? You do know that he lost more than he gained that day, don't you?"

Su Li was shaking her head in denial - as if the action itself could disapprove her friend's words.

"That person loved you and would have gladly given his life for you. However, when he saw his own hands dyed red with your blood while you lay limp in his arms, his heart shattered."

"Don't...don't say anymore." Su Li tried to talk above the sharp pain in her c.h.e.s.t.

"Why? You don't like hearing the facts? I know you love that person. But tell me where did I go wrong? Did you ever think about me for a second? Did you ever wonder how I felt when I realised that the person I was closest to was ready to give up her life to save someone else?"

"Zhou Sheng, I...I didn't...." Su Li couldn't find words to refute what the other person had said.

"I know I shouldn't have sung that song today but I am even more afraid that you would end your life if you get tired of yearning and waiting one day. You haven't even processed everything that happened and are just trying to act normal."

"I wouldn't do that." Su Li countered.

"Yeah, not right now. You wouldn't commit suicide now but can you say the same about the future when your pain turns unbearable? Since the day I came here, I have never seen you give one heartfelt smile. Why?"

"That's an exaggeration and you know it." Su Li refuted.

"Don't lie to me. I can smell your lie from a mile away. I can understand that you are hurt and in pain and nothing anybody says can make it better. I won't even be callous enough to ask you to try and love someone else. Because I know better. Your heart only ever had that person."

"Atleast, you are tactful enough not to try that line of reasoning." Su Li gave a wan smile.

"But does that mean your life has no meaning without that person? Do none of the other people matter to you? Even I don't matter any longer? Is that it?"

The atmosphere once again turned strained at those words and when no reply was forthcoming, Zhou Sheng retorted, "Atleast, do me the courtesy of replying, won't you? Help me understand why only that person mattered and everybody else was relegated to a far off secondary position in your heart?"

Su Li looked at Zhou Sheng and she knew that he wouldn't stop talking and hurting both of them until and unless she gave him an adequate response and the answer could be nothing but the una.d.u.l.terated truth.

"Zhou Sheng, the thing is that with others, I could never trust anybody else completely and I always had something holding me back."

Zhou Sheng hadn't thought to hear such words from her. He questioned, "What do you mean?"

A fleeting pain-filled smile etched on Su Li's face and she replied, "With father, I always had the niggling doubt that if it ever came to a point where he had to choose between me and others, he might not choose me if I wasn't beneficial to him. I know it is an irrational fear but I could never be sure."

Turning her face away from her best friend, Su Li continued, "With others, it was similar. As humans, we have the inherent nature to improve ourselves so I could never be sure that others wouldn't put themselves or their future above my own interests."

Su Li balled her fists and stared at them in anger and pain.

She was unaware of the desolation visible on her face and the helplessness in her eyes but two other people were not - Zhou Sheng and Ning Fu.

Zhou Sheng was shocked to hear such words from his best friend. It seemed that he hadn't been as close to her as he had thought. Otherwise, he would have realised that she kept herself aloof from everyone.

He watched her with a tender sort of affection - as if he was afraid that she would break any moment.

"You never even trusted me?" He asked in a strangled voice.

Su Li whirled around at his words and shook her head, "I did. Atleast, as far as I could. Don't...don't think like that. Except him, you were the only one I ever trusted. Maybe because I met you at a time when I was running away from my own troubles."

"Well, that's good. Otherwise, I would really have to rethink about our friendship, wouldn't I?" He tried to lighten the mood with a joke.

The words fell flat.

A few minutes later, he tried once again, "We'll talk about it sometime next when our nerves and emotions are not so frayed. I'm going back to sleep and you should too. Night."

When Zhou Sheng was about to leave, he heard her voice once again, "Zhou Sheng, promise me something."

He had a faint idea of what she would ask of him but still, he asked with a sobering sadness, "What?"

He had seen her flinch countless times in the last few minutes of their talk and he knew that the sadness she felt wasn't solely from grief over what had transpired.

She had gone through the deepest loss one could imagine - ripped away from her family, her beloved, hell! even away from her time, and it was a kind of loss that Zhou Sheng himself barely understood because he had simply regained consciousness out of the blue one day in Li Rong's body without any previous memories.

He didn't have that familial connection to yearn for and the only person he had felt attached to was in front of him in this world as well.

He also understood on a visceral level that nobody would ever be able to fill the gaping hole in her heart except that one man but he would try with all his heart and soul to not let her be so lonely.