The Side Character Who Wins by Doing Nothing

Lu Sangjiu didn’t mind Cangming’s assessment of her in the slightest. She just diligently refilled his cup the moment he drained it.

At first, Cangming just drank in silence. Later, whether from the alcohol or the boredom, he took the initiative and began speaking to Lu Sangjiu.

”You mentioned before that you like someone. Who is it?”

As he spoke, he took a sip of wine, a scornful smile playing on his lips. ”It’s not one of your two senior brothers, is it?”

Lu Sangjiu wanted to trick him into talking, so she knew she had to bait the hook. She didn’t refuse his question, simply shaking her head. ”Of course not.”

Cangming raised an eyebrow. ”Who is it, then? But you’ve been my captive for so long, and I haven’t seen him come to rescue you. I suppose he can’t be much of a person.”

Lu Sangjiu retorted unhappily, ”Who says? He’s just tied up with something urgent and can’t get away... Once he’s dealt with his own business, he’ll definitely come for me.”

Cangming found this increasingly amusing. ”Dealing with his own business before coming to save you? Do you really think you’ll live that long?”

Lu Sangjiu’s expression stiffened slightly, but she put on a brave face and insisted, ”He’ll come, one way or another!”

Cangming burst out laughing. ”Stop lying to yourself. The truth is, you’re just not that important to him.”

At this, he seemed to recall something, and a cold sneer touched his lips. ”He would only abandon you to do other things because you aren’t that important to him.”

”But he’ll never understand the torment and disappointment of the one left waiting desperately for him...”

Lu Sangjiu: ...?

As she listened, she got a strange feeling. ’It sounds like he’s not talking about me?’

She carefully observed Cangming’s condition and, sensing he was getting a little drunk, grew bolder. She asked probingly, ”How do you seem to know so much about it?”

”Could it be... that you once waited for someone you loved to come save you, but she never showed up?”

The moment she asked the question, the air seemed to fall silent.

Cangming remained silent for so long that Lu Sangjiu thought he wouldn’t answer. Then, she suddenly heard him say in a very quiet voice, ”Yeah.”

Lu Sangjiu froze, then a wave of elation washed over her. ’As long as he’s willing to talk! It looks like I might really get the story of his ”white moonlight” out of him tonight!’

Suppressing her excitement, she cleared her throat and said, ”Really? You’re so powerful, would you ever need someone to save you? Who was she? Was she even more powerful than you?”

A corner of Cangming’s mouth twitched. He suddenly turned his head to look at Lu Sangjiu. ”Trying to get me to talk?”

Lu Sangjiu froze and quickly waved her hands. ”Of course not! I was just asking casually, hehe... If you don’t want to answer, that’s fine.”

Cangming stared at her, his gaze slowly growing hazy. Then, he suddenly reached a hand toward her, as if to caress her face.

Startled, Lu Sangjiu quickly jerked back and forced a laugh. ”Have you had too much to drink? I’m Lu Sangjiu. You need to look clearly.”

Clarity instantly returned to Cangming’s eyes, and he withdrew his hand as if nothing had happened.

”Of course I know you’re Lu Sangjiu.”

”Your personality is a lot like hers. It’s just a pity you can never be her, because she was far more powerful than you. And... she’s already dead.”

’Someone very powerful, who always rejected him, and is already dead... Why does that sound so familiar?’

Lu Sangjiu suddenly thought of something, and a look of shocked uncertainty crossed her face.

After watching Cangming down another cup of Moon Clear Wine, she finally couldn’t resist asking tentatively, ”The person you mentioned just now, the one who likes drinking Moon Clear Wine... it couldn’t... it couldn’t be her, could it?”

As she asked, Lu Sangjiu’s heart pounded in her chest. She desperately hoped Cangming would slam his cup down and angrily retort that it was impossible.

However, under her expectant gaze, Cangming just gave a self-mocking laugh. ”...Yeah.”

He looked at the cup in his hand and said faintly, ”I disliked everything she liked, and she disliked everything I liked... So, I suppose it was always fated that she would never like me, right?”

Lu Sangjiu: ”...”

Her expression was as if she’d been struck by lightning. It was... completely unbelievable!

’Cangming’s ”white moonlight” was her???’

’How is that possible! In what way did Cangming ever like her? She hadn’t sensed a single thing, for crying out loud!’

Thinking back on the hundred-odd years before her death, Cangming had almost never shown her a pleasant face. Whenever they met, they would bicker over their conflicting ideals. Later, Cangming simply stopped staying at the Moon Palace, spending most of his time waging campaigns on its behalf.

’This... This is what you call ”like”???’

Lu Sangjiu was bewildered. For the first time, she felt she didn’t understand the meaning of the word ”like.”

Cangming finished his cup and waited for Lu Sangjiu to pour another, but after a long moment, she hadn’t moved.

He impatiently rapped his cup on the table. ”What are you staring blankly for? Pour the wine!”

Lu Sangjiu snapped back to reality and looked at Cangming with an expression that was hard to put into words...

Her thoughts were a mess, but she quickly latched onto the biggest paradox in it all.

’If Cangming liked her, then wasn’t he the one who killed her back then?’

’But if it wasn’t him, who else could have possibly acted against her so secretly?’

Lu Sangjiu poured Cangming another cup of wine, then mustered her courage and pressed on, ”You said she was very powerful, so why did she die? How... how did she die? Did you avenge her?”

Cangming froze, as if the question had struck a raw nerve. He fell into a long, sudden silence.

After a moment, he suddenly looked up at Lu Sangjiu. His lips parted slowly, revealing a sinister, terrifying smile. ”You want to know?”

Lu Sangjiu found his expression unnerving, but... she really wanted to know!

He was only getting drunk tonight because he’d allowed himself to. She was afraid that after tonight, she would never have such a perfect chance to learn the truth again.

So, gritting her teeth, she took a deep breath and gave a slight nod. ”...I do!”

”Haha... HAHAHAHA...”

Cangming suddenly burst out laughing, his laughter utterly crazed.

When he finally stopped laughing, his smile vanished. He stared intently at Lu Sangjiu and said, word by word, ”...I killed her.”

Lu Sangjiu’s pupils constricted. It was one thing to have suspected it, but to hear him admit it was another matter entirely!

Her fingers clenched as she stared back at Cangming, her voice trembling.

”...Why? Didn’t you say you liked her?”

”Yes, I do like her.” Cangming took another hazy, drunken sip of wine and chuckled softly.

”But she didn’t like me. No matter what I did, she never saw my efforts, always rejected me, and would never... belong to me.”

”So... you killed her?”