novel
| ← Ch.239 | Ch.241 → |
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
At the one end of the bridge, Zhuge Yue sat atop his horse, dressed in a robe.
Fang Chu informed him quietly, "Master, Lady Chu has arrived." Just as he finished his sentence, a group of people appeared on the horizon. The leading lady wore a white cape, and donned a bright smile while rushing towards Zhuge Yue.
"Lady!" Meixiang was originally sitting on a stone, and seeing Chu Qiao, she immediately jumped up in happiness.
Chu Qiao quickly reached the first group. As she stopped her horse, she jumped down and was locked in an embrace with Meixiang. Crying, Mei Xiang wept, "Lady, I thought you were lying and would not come."
Jingjing, Pingan, and the others all happily rushed over as Chu Qiao asked about their experiences. Pingan even elaborated on the battle that time with many details, seemingly rather satisfied with his own performance. He Xiao did not have any family, and as a result he did not wish to stay in the Tang Empire and followed Chu Qiao. Although he had never met Yue Qi before, they both had heard of each other's reputation, and before long, they were chatting away.
The only exception in this scene was Zhuge Yue. With a face of steel, he coldly looked at Chu Qiao, who was fawning over Meixiang, while clenching his teeth until they seemed like they would break.
Finally, that killer gaze disrupted this jubilant reunion. Smiling, Chu Qiao walked over. Just as Zhuge Yue moved, she immediately raised her hands and shouted, "I surrender! This will be the last time! I promise!"
Zhuge Yue wanted to give her a beating to make sure she remembered this lesson. But after lifting his hand for a while, he was at a lost where to hit her. Seeing how she merely cowered and waited for him to hit her, he felt rather frustrated and bellowed, "Why didn't you try to block me?"
Chu Qiao opened her eyes, and pouting, she looked rather pitiful as she explained, "I am really trying to apologize."
"You knew that you should apologize?" Zhuge Yue looked at her from the corner of his eyes. Ignoring the amused looked from the subordinates around, he stretched out and pinched Chu Qiao's skinny face as he firmly asked, "Did you suddenly become so forgetful that you did not reply to all my letters?"
"I did not have time!" Chu Qiao frowned as she tried to explain.
"You had no time to reply, but you had time to burn my letter?"
Chu Qiao continued to try to find excuses."If I did not pretend I was so determined, Sun Di would never have believed me. If he did not believe me, the others, like the King of Jingan, would be even less trusting of me."
Zhuge Yue stared at her and continued to question, "Then why did you not inform me earlier, resulting in me running so far to comehere?"
Chu Qiao cowered, and as she blinked, she seemed like she finally had no more excuses.
"Quickly, own up!"
"I merely followed what Li Ce wanted me to do. If you are so courageous, you can look for him."
Zhuge Yue seemed exceedingly frustrated, and finally he uttered, "Fine. If there is one more time, I will go and take over all of Li Ce's territory. By then you can't even be a consort!"
Keep pretending. Chu Qiao quietly giggled in her mind, yet she pretended to be obedient and said, "Of course, how could I? I will keep my promise. This will be the last time."
Zhuge Yue pretentiously shook his head, as though his ego had been greatly fulfilled.
"Wah!" A loud cry of a baby came from the carriage that Chu Qiao brought. That sound stunned everyone. Chu Qiao quickly lifted up the veil of the carriage, only to see that two nannies were carrying a baby that seemed only four to five months old. The baby had just woken up, and was currently practicing its only skill―crying.
Chu Qiao quickly lifted the kid up and started to soothe it.
"What is this?" Zhuge Yue seemed rather gloomy as he coldly asked.
Chu Qiao gave his a weird look as she honestly replied, "A baby."
"I know!" Zhuge Yue was getting impatient and bellowed, "Whose kid is this?"
Chu Qiao suddenly remembered that she had not yet explained the entire situation. She started to elaborate, "This is the third son of Li Ce―Li Qingrong. Although we may need to give him a different name from now on. His mother was named Zhan Ziming. Before death, Li Ce handed this kid to me and informed me to bring this kid out from the palace in fear that this young child would be hurt if he remained in the palace."
"Li Ce's son?" Zhuge Yue frowned, only so see the child's crimson lips and pure white teeth with the pair of pitch black eyes looking ad him. At this moment he was playing with the decoration that was hanging on Chu Qiao's clothes, his eyes rolling around. At one glance, his demeanor seemed exactly like a certain friend who had passed away.
His heart suddenly felt a certain gloom. Just as he was about to speak, the kid suddenly turned to him. With his eyes rolling around, the kid started to cry with all its strength again, seemingly disturbed by something.
"What happened? Why is he crying?" Chu Qiao seemed rather perplexed.
Meixiang rushed up as well, and asked the nannies, "Could the kid be hungry?"
The nanny immediately shook her head, and explained that he had just drank milk a while ago. Meixiang dug out the kid's underwear; it was clear that he had not wet himself either.
Chu Qiao suddenly thought of something as she turned and spoke to Zhuge Yue, "The kid might not like you."
Zhuge Yue's face paled, and he bellowed, "Why would he dislike me?"
"Try to distance yourself to see if it is true."
A certain person felt unable to accept that suggestion as he frowned and countered, "Why? I did not even beat him up."
"Some people are simply not good with others. Perhaps you are of this category."
"Indeed, brother-in-law, try walking further away. Perhaps Rong'er will not be so afraid after seeing that you are walking away." Jingjing continued to fan the flames at the side.
"What are you talking about?" Yue Qi weakly retorted at the side in an attempt to help his master."Actually Master is actually rather kind and friendly..." And with that, his voice trailed off into, turning inaudible.
Finally, Zhuge Yue walked off. Li Qingrong suddenly stopped crying. Although he was crying loudly previously, he seemed to be still weeping, but one could already see the grin on his cheeks. Before long the entire crowd exploded into laughter. It seemed like the kid had accidentally hurt his head while playing with Yue Qi's sword, and ended up angrily biting Yue Qi's shoulder in return.
Zhuge Yue sat on a rock far away, and looking at the crowd smiling in the distance, he muttered in his heart, "This young kid is really just like his dad."
Chu Qiao rushed over and sat beside him.
Even the all powerful Yue Qi and the others were at a loss as to how to handle this kid. Soon after they handed the kid to the stunned Fang Chu and called out, "Oh gosh! The kid seemed so surprised. Come, you shall hug him first. Oh gosh! I told you to hug him, just take him!"
Chu Qiao hugged Zhuge Yue's arm and leaned her face onto his shoulder. She looked at him from the side while heaving a sigh of relief and saying, "The incident finally ended."
"Are you tired?"
"Somewhat." Chu Qiao closed her eyes as the golden light of the sun washed onto her face."I am worried that you may have been worried, so I tried to rush everything."
Zhuge Yue still felt rather upset, and continued to ask, "Why did you not read my letters?"
"I did not know if I could succeed." Chu Qiao lifted her head up and smiled to Zhuge Yue."I was not certain if I could succeed, that I could die. I was worried that after reading your letters, I may not have had enough courage to continue."
Chu Qiao smiled like a flower in a manner that Zhuge Yue seemed to have never seen before. She smile without any worries. She continued, "You are my achilles' heel. You make me unwilling to stay strong."
Looking at her, Zhuge Yue's face turned gentle. Pulling her over, he told her in a calm, deep voice, "When you are by my side, you need not be strong." As he finished, he kissed her forehead.
"Ah! That is so embarrassing!" Jingjing shouted.
The sky was so vast, as the landscape red with autumn leaves stretch in to the horizon.
Chu Qiao had never seen Zhuge Yue sleep so much in one go before. The moment he boarded the ship at Cangzhou, he slept and did not open his eyes for an entire day, and was not even aware when Chu Qiao entered his room. Yue Qi said that he had not slept properly since setting off from Zhen Huang City. He was probably dog tired by now.
Zhuge Yue's condition did not seem all that well. In the past few days, she had seen him discreetly eat some black medicine. She had went to ask Yue Qi about it, yet he tried to hide it from her. Meixiang knew a little about medicines, and later informed Chu Qiao that Zhuge Yue probably was too tired and had caught a cold.
Being too tired and caught a cold...
Chu Qiao sat on the chair while cupping her chin. The boat proceeded rather smoothly as there was no wind nor waves. Even though the windows were shut tight, one could still see the vague silhouette of the distancing scenery.
She was once again reminded of that time when she had been forced into an escapade by Zhao Chun'er. At that time, Zhan Ziyu and Zhan Ziming were merely exiled nobles, and Li Ce was still well and alive as the carefree Prince of the Tang Empire. Mister Wu, Lady Yu, and others were all still well and alive, fighting for their dreams. Yan Xun―her closest friend and her beloved. As for her herself, she was full of confidence that she could contribute something to this battered world by herself, aided by friends of similar faith.
Yet, the most cruel killer in the world is time. Now, Li Ce was gone, Mister Wu was murdered, Lady Yu died in her embrace, Zhan Ziyu dragged his family along with his ambitions. Her closest friends were never so loyal to the cause, and most left her. Even Yan Xun eventually turned into a stranger.
With the passage of time, even the vast achievements were covered in dust as dreams vanished like mist, and like the tall grass at the end of autumn, swaying in the wind with the withered leaves, mocking others in laughter at their past promises.
Indeed, no one could not change. Even herself, could she say that she was the same person?
Turning her head back slowly, Zhuge Yue seemed to be still asleep. He had always been a stubborn and awkward person. Even as he slept, his brows were firmly furrowed together. With his usually cold eyes covered by his eyelids, his handsome, well defined features seemed more obvious than ever. It was rumored that people who looked like him were cold and emotionless. Yet, only he was so firm in his emotions, and clung onto his feelings for so long that even she felt pity for him.
The Tang Empire was darker than expected as the undercurrent swept about without forewarned danger. That was rather different from the conflict that the Xia Empire displayed, and was mostly in the form of an unseen arrow. Wrapped with layers of frills and decorations, the hidden arrows could kill people before one could even grow aware of the murderer. In the end, she was able to find out that even the death of Li Ce's father was due to Li Ce's mother.
She had repeatedly tried to kill the Emperor in a variety of methods ranging from poison to assassination. In the process, she almost succeeded a few times, yet the old emperor always let her off and did not publicize those incidents. The old emperor was also rather furious, and had threatened hurt to the King of Luo and her family. He had also tried to evoke her jealousy by giving all his attention to the other ladies in the harem, and had held her under house arrest countless times. Yet, he still could not win his over own conscience. As he grew older, he dismissed his entire harem and gave all his attention to her alone. She seemed to have been touched by him, and finally gave him a few years of peace.
| ← Ch. 239 | Ch. 241 → |