Schatzkammer von Jianghu

Kapitel 86

Yuwen Xiaobai stood against the wind, silently watching Zhao Yingcheng approach along the rugged rocks.

"Young Master Zhao, I have no grudge against you, why are you pressing me so hard?" She tilted her head slightly, her eyes very serious. "I have already made it clear that I do not know you. If you continue to push me, don't blame Xiao Bai for being ruthless!"

Zhao Yingcheng stared at the unfamiliar and indifferent face, then coughed, clutching his left chest: "Can you come here? I'm worried you'll fall."

Yuwen Xiaobai moved his feet with some doubt, then lightly leaped over the thorny rocks scattered around him.

Seeing her stand still, Zhao Yingcheng's eyes filled with burning light, he couldn't help but reach out his hand again.

Yuwen Xiaobai used the sound to pinpoint the location, but the rugged stone path made it difficult to use his footwork. In a moment of panic, he twisted his sleeves with great force, and the corners of his sleeves, fluttering in the wind, slapped Zhao Yingcheng squarely across the face.

With a swift movement, a deep, glaring mark appeared on his pale, handsome face. Yuwen Xiaobai leaped away, shouting, "Don't come any closer! I get scared when you get near me! You'll force me to take action!"

Zhao Yingcheng smiled bitterly, still stubbornly reaching out with trembling hands: "Well done. If I could see your true face, I would be willing to do whatever you want to me."

Yuwen Xiaobai said anxiously, "Are you crazy? Why aren't you listening to me?"

“I’ve gone mad.” Zhao Yingcheng swayed and slumped against the rock. “My father was too hasty. I’ve severed all ties with him and promised him that after this battle, he would strip me of my official rank as heir and demote me to commoner status. That way, I can leave freely with Yaya.”

"What nonsense are you spouting? I don't understand it anyway. I'm leaving." Yuwen Xiaobai pouted and prepared to walk away.

“No, Yang Wan, think about it carefully, you will understand.” Zhao Yingcheng pressed his chest tightly and coughed. “You know better than anyone what you look like and what you are a woman.”

Yuwen Xiaobai remained silent, looking at the team surrounded by iron barrels, feeling quite distressed.

Zhao Yingcheng slowly rose, his face as pale as snow, and then slowly knelt down again: "There is a sword wound on the left side of your back, that's where I stabbed you. I know your heart is off by an inch, and in order to deal with Father's spies, I hardened my heart and stabbed you with that sword. When I did it, I knew you only had a 50% chance of surviving, but I still did it. That's why you've always been afraid of me."

Yuwen Xiaobai seemed to understand but not quite, and said blankly, "What are you doing? I really don't know you!" She began to panic, turned around and hurried away, "Please don't come any closer, my head is spinning."

The sea surged in waves, carried by the wind, howling and shaking the earth. Pure white snow waves surged one after another, their front pieces crumbling as the rear surged, their roars piercing the sky and shrilly into Yuwen Xiaobai's ears. She slightly adjusted her head and slowly moved forward.

"Yang Wan!" Zhao Yingcheng knelt on the rocky path and shouted, his voice drowning out the roar of the waves, "Let me see your face one more time, and I'll die content!"

Yuwen Xiaobai's steps faltered, but he continued forward.

"Yang Wan! I have to leave here immediately to continue doing what I need to do. I know that if I let you go today, we will never be able to meet again in this life. So I beg you, just let me see you one last time, and I will forget you after just one look!"

Zhao Yingcheng's trembling voice mingled with the mournful cry of the sea, booming and echoing across the sky. He bowed deeply, clutching his chest with one hand, as if he were in too much pain to straighten up.

Yuwen Xiaobai covered his ears and charged forward like a graceful snow deer, swift as lightning and agile as a dragon.

Zhao Yingcheng suddenly braced himself with his palms, using the force to spring up, his eyes burning with a fiery red, and lunged forward!

Behind the crowd, in the dense forest, Leng Shuangcheng, dressed in a light purple robe, fluttered gently in the wind.

The wind rustled through the treetops and leaves, softening its coldness and gently caressing her cheeks. Her eyes were clear as crystal, with ripples spreading across them like pale blue water. As her black hair brushed against the corners of her eyes, it finally brought forth droplets of tears.

Transparent tears flowed down like a winding river, never ceasing.

Qiu Yeyi asked her why she was so obsessed with Yang Wan's matter.

“Because my blood flows in her veins, I know all her pain.” Leng Shuangcheng turned his face to the handsome and indifferent face and said, “When Zhao Yingcheng killed her, regardless of whether there was a misunderstanding, he couldn’t regret it now that he had done it.”

Qiu Yeyi grabbed her wrist and pressed, "Are you really looking for your past life's shadow in Yang Wan? Are you really going to interfere in other people's private affairs?"

Leng Shuangcheng brushed his hand away and smiled bitterly: "I am not ignorant of my own limitations. Yuwen Xiaobai has her own path to walk. I am just going to keep an eye on Zhao Yingcheng and prevent him from hurting innocent people again."

When Qiu Yeyijian saw her smile, he was about to reach out and hug her, but she slipped away.

When Leng Shuangcheng saw everything on the sea cliff with her own eyes, the sorrow in her heart was like seawater crashing against the cliff wall, seeping into her limbs and bones.

Xiao Bai kept dodging, looking as panicked as a child, but her agility was more than enough to deal with Zhao Yingcheng. On the contrary, Zhao Yingcheng was hit all over by Xiao Bai's palm strikes, his blue robe was torn to shreds, and the wrinkles rolled up like waves.

She couldn't make a move, she couldn't make a move against Zhao Yingcheng.

She vividly remembered Zhao Yingcheng's figure standing atop Fengming Mountain with his back to her; those words, sharp as nails, echoed deep within her heart, a nightmare she could never forget.

But she didn't expect that Zhao Yingcheng truly loved Yang Wan. She understood what he was saying.

—From tomorrow onwards, Zhao Yingcheng will leave Qingzhou for the Northern Frontier, his future uncertain, precisely for the sake of state affairs.

—If he dies in battle, today will be the last time he sees Yang Wan.

The way he desperately called out to Yang Wan was nothing like the lonely prince who stood with his back turned back back to him back then.

The sea breeze carried scorching, anguished cries, rustling the leaves. The deep green leaves, fluttering in the wind, fell gracefully, scattering a chilling aura over the pale purple robes.

"Wild vegetables fill the meal, sweet and long-lasting; fallen leaves add fuel to the fire, leaning against the ancient locust tree," she said, watching the leaves fall, and a line of poetry taught by her father came to mind.

My father said that a prime minister, in order to commemorate his first wife, recorded every little detail of their impoverished days—how obedient she was when she married him, taking care of everything in his life—that kind of mutual support and affection, that warm, spring-like smile, overflowed from my father's eyes.

Overwhelmed with sorrow, Leng Shuangcheng silently watched everything, silently recalling Yang Wan's obedient and smiling face from her memory.

The leaves trembled and wept sadly. Leng Shuangcheng turned to look at the fallen leaves and ancient locust tree, raised her hand, and struck the tree trunk with her palm, her voice hollow, tears streaming down her face.

"Master Xie's youngest daughter was his favorite, but since she married Qian Lou, everything has gone wrong for her. Seeing that I had no clothes, he searched his meager belongings and even pawned his gold hairpin to buy wine for him..."

34. (Bonus Chapter) Tomorrow (Part 2)

The wind once brushed against my clothes

The rain once nourished my heart

I once waved my sleeves lightly

Sounds in the mortal world

I once heard from outside the mortal world

Your tears moved me deeply.

Your laughter strengthens my resolve.

Your wistful dreams of spring break my heart.

Farewell is imminent

Looking back, only a lonely figure and shadow remain.

Dismember the promise

fragments

Dismember tenderness

Each piece is stained with blood

I drew it with my tears.

The outline of your smile

This year

Catkins fall

The wind howled, the waves still roared, but the sunlight couldn't reach Zhao Yingcheng's shadow.

He stood there, looking lost and dejected, his black hair disheveled and blowing wildly across his pale face. His clothes were torn to shreds, as if ripped by knives and swords, and fluttered raggedly in the wind.

"Yang Wan, are you tired?" His jaw was clenched, but his eyes were still open, and his lips were dripping with blood. "I won't go over, but please don't leave. Just this once, please stay with me a little longer."

Yuwen Xiaobaixue's face was flushed, her eyes were slightly angry, and she was panting a little: "Young Master Zhao, you are really a strange person. You won't let me go, and you don't fight back when I hit you."

Zhao Yingcheng gave a bitter smile, silently watching her, a few strands of hair falling across his face, casting shadows on his brows and eyes. He tremblingly reached out his hand, his voice low and hoarse: "This is my last chance, of course I will cherish it, Yang Wan, look!"

Pointing to the white clouds, blue sky, and the sun shining brightly behind him, he said, "In two more hours, the sun will set, and everything will be different tomorrow."

Yuwen Xiaobai bit her lip and grabbed Bai Liansheng's robe: "You look really uncomfortable, but Xiaobai didn't mean to make you like this... I'm scared, I really have to go." She turned to leave again, her white robe fluttering in the wind.

Zhao Yingcheng's fingers drooped limply, and he chuckled softly, swaying his body. He laughed coldly for a long time, striking the rocks beside him with his palms, as if in rhythm, like a kindred spirit in the forest: "Life is like the stars, never to meet again. What night is this, that we share this candlelight?"

The voice was mournful, drifting away into the distance, a different kind of melody from a melodious song, until the words "Shen" and "Shang" were choked with trembling and dryness.

Yuwen Xiaobai adjusted his sleeves, walking forward while curiously glancing back. Zhao Yingcheng stood by the sea, his tattered clothes fluttering in the wind, the blue cloth like silk, his black hair dancing wildly, enveloped in a misty haze: "On the night of the nineteenth of February, at the hour of Yin, it is said that a man, having suffered the torment of being tortured by a severed rope, walked a thousand miles to the Fengming military camp, his clothes tattered and his limbs wounded..."

Zhao Yingcheng raised his palm, bloodied, and struck the stone surface, saying hoarsely, "Yang Wan, oh Yang Wan, it's hateful that Zhao Yingcheng only understands your pain now."

He leaned wearily against the rocks, his body limp and slippery as he slumped onto the stone path. Tears, like a barren stream, flowed silently, without grandeur or murmur, just a pale and feeble stream.

Yuwen Xiaobai turned her head, her eyes filled with a look of confusion and vulnerability, like fireworks scattering.

Zhao Yingcheng fell backward in despair, his dark hair and cracked lips trembling in the wind, his limbs motionless.

"Yang Wan!" His screams, mingling with the roar of the sea, echoed across the precipice. "The day and night are separated, forever apart... Yang Wan... Yang Wan, I only ask to see you one last time!"

Yuwen Xiaobai paused, then gathered his clothes and slowly walked away.

The roaring tide was like thunder, like firecrackers shooting straight into the sky. The waves were like a thousand horses galloping, howling like thunder in the wind.

Xiao Bai took a few steps when a heart-wrenching cry came from behind: "Yang Wan! Yang Wan! Zhao Yingcheng will repay the pain Yang Chao owes you by cutting off his own flesh and bones!"

The sea breeze howled past, taking away the only white light.

The silver spears gleamed like stars, pointing straight to the sky. Beneath their blades were faces as cold as ice, bodies as still as thunder. The guards witnessed the young master Zhao's agony, but without their master's permission, none dared to let Yuwen Xiaobai pass.

"Make way." A cold voice came from the dense forest behind them, and the people in the line turned around in unison.

Leng Shuangcheng's cold eyes were crimson, her face was pale, and a faint light shone through the branches, scattering around her, giving her an aloof and dignified air.

She stood tall and straight, like a poplar tree: "Let her go, let her come over here."

"Shuangcheng!" Yuwen Xiaobai burst into tears, rushing out of the guards' encirclement and tightly hugging Leng Shuangcheng. "Shuangcheng, Shuangcheng, why did you only come now? You have no idea how scared I was! My mind went completely blank the moment that person got close to me. Why did you only come now?"

"Believe me, we're confused and scared too." Leng Shuangcheng reached out her sleeve to wipe Yuwen Xiaobai's face and coaxed her softly, "Go back to the camp and wait for me. Don't cry... There are so many people watching, don't act like a child... I'll be back to you right away."

Leng Shuangcheng dispatched a thousand men to escort Yuwen Xiaobai back to the headquarters, and ordered another thousand men to stay behind. He then slowly walked toward Zhao Yingcheng.

Zhao Yingcheng's eyes were vacant as he looked up at the sky and wept silently. The wind could not dry his tears, which flowed down his eyelids and face like a river.

The sun blazed fiercely, and all things burst forth with vibrant, defiant life, yet those on earth could see no light.

With her clothes fluttering, Leng Shuangcheng walked steadily down the broken wall, step by step, until she reached Zhao Yingcheng's side and extended her right palm.

"Young Master Zhao." She bent down, her body steady and still, her palms slightly pale in the sunlight, gleaming with a cold, icy hue.

Zhao Yingcheng opened his eyes and stared blankly for a long time. Leng Shuangcheng remained motionless, finally prompting him to clench his fist and use the leverage to stand up. He stood like a puppet on the edge of the cliff, staring blankly at the sea.

Leng Shuangcheng gently brushed the stone surface and sat quietly on the rock. The sea breeze seemed to flow like a whirlpool, swirling around the cliff and tightly wrapping the two of them in their clothes.

Their black hair was curly and flowing, and the two of them stood and sat silently facing the vast sea.

The mountains are rugged and striking. The waves surge like fury, tearing at the heart.