Chapter 66: Filial Piety, or Being Filial to One's Mother?

Luo Yunyao wore an expression that seemed on the verge of tears, yet she stubbornly held them back—precisely this look made one's heart ache the most. With a gentle and perplexed demeanor, she asked the question with the vulnerability of a startled, tiny beast: "Then why was it Jintai who died?"

Seeing Luo Yunyao's pitiful appearance and her slightly trembling hands, Qin Jinghao stepped forward gently and slowly, closing the distance between them. Unable to help himself, he reached out to comfort her, pulling his beloved into the safety of his embrace.

The moment Qin Jinghao drew near, Luo Yunyao hesitated not a moment as she reached out with trembling hands to grasp the Great General's hand. Slowly, she curled her fingers to intertwine with his, drawing warmth from his palm.

Her beautiful apricot eyes swam with glistening tears. She bit down hard on her lower lip, pressing her teeth tightly against it, murmuring as if she had originally intended to keep her thoughts about Yue Liuxi to herself. Yet her emotions refused to be reined in; unable to suppress the turmoil within, and trusting Qin Jinghao blindly, she cast all caution to the wind.

Regardless of what had transpired between Qin Jinghao and Yue Liuxi, or how they had first met, and regardless of the fact that Qin Jinghao was the person Yue Liuxi loved most and desired above all else in this world, Luo Yunyao spoke. "I thought Yue Liuxi simply fancied you. That she sought to harm me out of jealousy is something I can comprehend. The feelings of someone in love, I can understand; loving you is a sentiment I understand all too well." Lowering her head, she sounded as though she were merely talking to herself, though her words were plainly meant for Qin Jinghao. Yet as Qin Jinghao listened intently, he offered no reply or acknowledgment from start to finish. The Great General knew very well that Luo Yunyao was essentially addressing Yue Liuxi, arguing her case against her romantic rival.

Tucked within Qin Jinghao's embrace, feeling a mix of exhaustion and a strange sense of security, Luo Yunyao finally voiced what she could not comprehend, abandoning all restraint in a wave of venting frustration: "Yet I never stopped to think why Yue Liuxi would do such a thing. Is human life truly so worthless in the eyes of a Princess? Just because she is a Princess, does she have the right to act recklessly and take lives on a whim? We are all in the springtime of our youth; whose life is inherently more noble than another's? Was a maidservant driven to a staged death simply to drag me down into the mire? And what of Jintai, beaten to death? For what purpose did she suffer that?" Chaos reigned in Luo Yunyao's mind, yet in an instant, she seemed to grasp the crucial point.

Perhaps her earlier suspicion that Jintai might have been a spy planted by Yue Liuxi held water. Otherwise, Jintai truly had no reason to die. It could be that Yue Liuxi wanted to force Jintai into their service, but upon meeting Jintai's refusal, Yue Liuxi had flown into a rage and killed her. But... why resort to beating her to death? Was it simply because it was cruel enough to inflict maximum torture? Could Yue Liuxi truly be such a malicious person?

As Luo Yunyao pondered, her slender fingers brushing against the Great General's, she paused and looked up. Qin Jinghao's gaze met hers directly.

Looking into those clear, cool eyes of Qin Jinghao, Luo Yunyao slowly came to understand—perhaps this had been a process.

A process of Yue Liuxi slowly coercing Jintai to swear allegiance and absolute submission, where the moment Jintai refused, she was subjected to beatings until she finally yielded.

Just how agonizing must Jintai's final moments have been?

That day, the osmanthus spirit had fluttered before Luo Yunyao, and the wind's messenger had gently lifted the curtain of her sedan chair. Amidst the lingering, exquisite fragrance of sweet osmanthus, Luo Yunyao had caught sight of Jintai through the parted cloth. In the eyes of the girl who had sold herself to bury her mother, the light of the entire sky seemed to shatter; holding back her tears, she had stubbornly turned her face away from the murmuring crowd. It was precisely that turning of her head that caused Jintai to inadvertently imprint herself upon Luo Yunyao's vision.

And then... Luo Yunyao could clearly have provided Jintai with a much warmer home, yet she had kept her distance and avoided her entirely out of suspicion.

Jintai likely assumed that her savior, Luo Yunyao, simply disliked her.

For so long, Jintai must have misunderstood, for a duration so extended that Luo Yunyao could never hope to clear it up.

Luo Yunyao's previous blindness to Jintai—at times even lapsing into an indifferent and heartless attitude—stemmed simply from her belief that Jintai would be fine. Such an obedient girl, such a filial girl, surely Yue Liuxi would not mistreat her.

As it turned out... Luo Yunyao closed her eyes, unable to expel even a single breath of relief. In the end, both Yue Liuxi and she, Luo Yunyao, had failed Jintai.

"I always believed Jintai was a filial person, which was why she sold herself to bury her mother. Great General, did you know? Jintai's father actually serves within the estate of Yue Liuxi's family, the founding heroes of the dynasty. Therefore, I imagine it would be utterly effortless for Yue Liuxi to manipulate her." Speaking in a low, deeply remorseful whisper, Luo Yunyao continued, "Just as Yue Liuxi sought to ruin me, control me, or whatever else—provided you are not by my side, Great General, or if you happen to fall into her hands... Of course, Yue Liuxi and I share the same vulnerability. I refuse to believe she would harm you merely to get to me. But Qin General, if you were taken from my side, any news concerning you would drive me to madness, willing to cast aside all reason..."

This was her Achilles' heel, a person's most fatal weakness. Luo Yunyao's weakness was Qin Jinghao, while Jintai's weakness must have been her father, for Luo Yunyao knew Jintai to be a girl of deep loyalty and filial piety.

Qin Jinghao held Luo Yunyao tightly with one hand, while his other hand reached up to gently cover her closed, glistening apricot eyes. He listened as she softly and slowly spoke of another girl—a deceased girl, a misunderstood girl, a girl to whom Luo Yunyao felt deeply indebted.

"What grace did I ever show Jintai? How could such a tiny act of kindness ever outweigh her own father? Did I overestimate my place in Jintai's heart?"

The more Luo Yunyao spoke, the more extreme her thoughts became, shifting the blame entirely onto her own shoulders. Finally, the Great General could no longer stand by and watch the Minister of War's daughter torture herself in such a manner. Qin Jinghao had initially thought letting Luo Yunyao voice her thoughts and vent would be beneficial, but he had not anticipated how distorted her reasoning would grow.

The Great General thought to himself: *What a kind soul she is, my girl.* Always eager to shoulder the blame and take others' faults upon herself.

Watching Luo Yunyao in this state filled the Great General's heart with profound heartache, mingled with a deep sense of fortune. Fortunately, he was here; fortunately, Luo Yunyao had voiced her thoughts without reservation, allowing him to lead her out of this blind alley.

"Why did Jintai sell herself to bury her mother? Was it purely because she was filial?" the Great General asked nonchalantly. His tone made it sound as though he were merely prompting Luo Yunyao to recall her past with Jintai, or perhaps simply showing a sudden curiosity to learn more about the maidservant.

With her mind in complete turmoil, Luo Yunyao failed to immediately grasp Qin Jinghao's intent, despite the deep resonance between their hearts.

Seeing the bewildered, contemplative expression on Luo Yunyao's face, Qin Jinghao realized her thoughts were scattered and struggling to keep pace with him. At the same time, the Great General worried that Luo Yunyao might genuinely mire herself back into dissecting her past with the deceased maid.

In situations involving the departed, no matter how great the faults of the dead might have been, they tended to be overlooked and forgotten; conversely, no matter how minor their virtues or how small the moments that had once touched Luo Yunyao, those memories would be infinitely magnified. Thus, dwelling on the past for the living was an exercise in pure agony.

Naturally, Qin Jinghao could not allow Luo Yunyao to dwell any further on Jintai—especially since Luo Yunyao was convinced she owed the girl a debt, and especially since his beloved was a creature prone to overthinking and melancholy.

Timely and shrewdly, Qin Jinghao offered her a guiding clue: "Since this maidservant was a filial person, and you buried her mother for her, you gave her a new lease on life. Wasn't it entirely natural for Jintai to refuse to betray you out of gratitude?"

While Qin Jinghao gently attempted to absolve Luo Yunyao of her guilt, Luo Yunyao remained trapped within the confines of her own logic: "But Yue Liuxi threatened Jintai with her own biological father! What does someone like me, who merely buried her mother, even count for? And Jintai was such a filial person..."

Qin Jinghao repeated his soft, gentle prompt, seemingly wishing to awaken her yet reluctant to press too hard: "Was that maidservant truly such a filial person, then?"

Without a second thought, Luo Yunyao blurted out, "Of course she was..." before trailing off in sudden hesitation.

Knowing that Luo Yunyao could not extricate herself from her preconceived notions overnight, Qin Jinghao offered another prompt: "Was this maidservant truly filial, or... was she simply fiercely attached to her mother?"

Startled, Luo Yunyao parted her lips slightly in a quiet gasp.

If viewed in that light, everything suddenly made sense.

Why were Jintai's father and mother assigned as servants in entirely different locations? Granted, since they both served the family of founding heroes, the placement of their posts was hardly something Jintai's parents could dictate, yet such separation must have inevitably strained their relationship. Furthermore, the most crucial basis for the Great General's hypothesis was this: if Jintai's father also worked in the Princess's estate among the founding nobility, how could he possibly have allowed his daughter to reach the point of selling herself to bury her mother?

Jintai's parents must have had a fractured relationship. Perhaps because she grew up raised solely by her mother, Jintai felt an extraordinary closeness to her—to put it bluntly, Jintai and her mother had likely depended entirely upon one another for survival.

That being the case, while Jintai was indeed filial, that filial devotion had zero connection to the father who had remained entirely indifferent to them.

After her mother passed away, that very devotion transformed into absolute loyalty toward the Minister of War's daughter—Luo Yunyao—who had helped lay her mother to rest. This explained precisely why Jintai had endured a brutal, prolonged beating to death without once yielding to the overbearing Yue Liuxi.