Chen Wei didn't wake up until past noon, and when he did, the first thing he did was cry.
Shen Yue sat with him, not saying much, just letting him get through it. Garrow stood guard outside the door, quiet for once. Feng Yao brought in tea and set it down without a word, unsure what else to do.
"I kept twenty years of my own life," Chen Wei said finally, voice rough. "And none of it was real. Not the way I understood it."
"Some of it was real," Shen Yue said. "The work you did in that court. The cases you actually helped decide fairly. That part was you, not them."
Chen Wei wiped his face, embarrassed. "I don't know how to feel about any of this."
"You don't have to know yet," Shen Yue said. "Give it time."
Outside, Wei Liang sat with Wei Dong near the courtyard wall, both of them ti
