When love draws near, it's like snow

Chapter 74

"Has everyone left?" I asked Xiuyu tentatively in a low voice as I heard the door close.

"Yes." Xiuyu stared at me in surprise. "Sister Qingyang, what are you going to do?"

"Let me breathe!" I let out a long sigh, lifted the bright red veil from my head, and complained repeatedly with a pout, "Phew! I'm exhausted! If I had known that getting married would be this troublesome, I would never have agreed to marry Huaiyuan! That big liar dared to promise me the simplest wedding! How is it simple? I've been busy since early morning and haven't even had a sip of water! Xiuyu, quickly give me something to eat, I'm starving!"

"Sister Qingyang! You can't lift the veil yourself! This is something Brother Jiang has to do, you... sigh!" Xiuyu's beautiful eyes widened, and she growled in exasperation. Seeing my tired and pitiful eyes, her heart softened, and she finally stopped nagging, resignedly bringing over a few plates of pastries: "Eat some first, don't overeat! When Brother Jiang comes later, you'll have to drink the nuptial wine..."

I nodded haphazardly, my mouth stuffed with a piece of cloud cake, a lotus leaf pastry in my left hand, and a jujube paste cake in my right, my cheeks bulging as I ate, my eyes darting around, taking in the surroundings. I couldn't be bothered with Xiuyu, that nagging brat! I really don't know how Zhang Bing can stand her endless chatter!

Strangely, I've lived in this room for almost fifty days, yet it still feels so unfamiliar today—whether it's the pair of red candles burning brightly on the table or the festive paper-cut decorations on the window, they all give me a dreamlike, surreal feeling, just like the phoenix coronet and embroidered robe I'm wearing right now.

Yes, just today, a quarter of an hour ago, Huaiyuan and I got married—although Grandpa Jiang and Grandpa Guan didn't arrive on time, so we didn't have any elders to pay our respects to, we still went through all the complicated procedures and became husband and wife—and it wasn't until yesterday that I finally understood the true meaning of Huaiyuan's words that day, "I'll give you five more days at most, or I won't wait!"

I recalled Huaiyuan's cold face and his unyielding tone as he refuted my concerns: "I've already sent the message. Whether they can get there in time is their problem! Anyway, it's us getting married. As long as the two of us are there, what's the point of having so many people?!" Today, this wedding, which had been so confidently planned to be just for the two of us, had suddenly devolved into a chaotic scene with hundreds of guests. And now, Huaiyuan was still in the front yard, being held up and forced to drink by those shady characters, unable to escape.

Listening to the distant sounds of traditional Chinese string and wind instruments, the clinking of glasses, and the occasional bursts of laughter and boisterous laughter, I suddenly found the sweet, delicate pastries in my hands utterly unappealing. I couldn't help but look up at the only person beside me in the room: "Xiuyu, is today really the day Huaiyuan and I get married? Am I dreaming?"

"Absolutely true." Xiuyu smiled lightly and walked towards me, picking up the red handkerchief I had carelessly tossed aside and placing it over my head. "Don't overthink it, Qingyang. Now that you've eaten, sit still! So you won't..."

"What are you saving?" She suddenly stopped talking, and I couldn't help but become curious. I reached out and lifted the veil that was in the way, gasped, and my smile froze on my face: "Rumei...?"

"Ye Qingyang? It's you? I never imagined you were a woman!" Lu Rumei, dressed in a loose red dress, couldn't hide her already protruding belly. Her beautiful face was filled with disbelief and suspicion. She scrutinized me carefully from head to toe, her bright eyes slowly filling with contempt: "So you're the vixen who seduced Brother Mo Hui! No wonder Brother Mo Hui, who never likes crowds, let you live next door to him! No wonder I couldn't find out about the woman who was with Brother Mo Hui in Wushan! So you've been by his side all along, shamelessly clinging to him!"

"What did you do to Xiuyu?" I was too lazy to argue with her. I glanced indifferently at the beautiful silver whip that gleamed with a cold light against my neck and looked at her calmly.

"You won't die!" Lu Rumei sneered at me, "Now that things have come to this, you should worry about yourself! With just a little effort from me, you'll be splattered with blood in the bridal chamber, and you can forget about ever becoming the mistress of the most prestigious manor in the land!"

"Don't worry, I've never cared about the position of the manor lord's wife." I replied with a faint smile, "All I want is a husband who truly loves me, nothing else."

"True love? Don't dream!" Lu Rumei was agitated, wildly waving the whip in her hand in front of my eyes. "Mo Hui could never truly love you! He was just... just temporarily blinded by your allure! He's not thinking straight! He doesn't know what he's doing! The person he loves isn't you at all! It's me, it's me!"

I watched her quietly, without refuting her words—poor woman, how long will she remain immersed in her fantasies before she finally wakes up?

Ru Mei, enraged by my gaze, retorted, "Look closely! I'm pregnant with Mo Hui's child! He loves me! He's just playing around with you; he would never abandon us, mother and child! Just you wait! He'll soon tire of you! He..."

I remained calm, looking at her knowingly, and sighed softly, sincerely advising her: "You know the child isn't Huaiyuan's, so why deceive yourself? Face reality! There are definitely more than one Jiang Mohui in the world, and Jiang Mohui is definitely not the best man in the world! Why suffer for him your whole life? Let go of a man who doesn't love you!"

"You're talking nonsense! This child is of course Mo Hui's!" Lu Rumei's cheeks flushed even more with anger, her bright eyes gleaming with confusion. "How could Mo Hui not love me? He looked at me so tenderly, kissed me so passionately, held me so affectionately, and doted on me so tenderly… Since my mother died, no one has ever treated me so gently! Tell me, how could he not love me?!" —Lu Jianfeng, what sins have you committed?! If you want revenge, go ahead and do it openly against Huaiyuan. Is it fun to so arbitrarily crush a woman's devoted heart? Is it courageous? Is it fulfilling?!

"How ridiculous! You idiot, still won't you wake up?" With a cold laugh, a slender figure gracefully strolled into the bridal chamber. She was dressed in white, pure and ethereal, like a solitary orchid in a secluded valley. Unfortunately, her exquisite face bore a cruel, incongruous smile: "If the child in your belly were truly Mo Hui's, how could he possibly abandon you to marry someone else?! In your eyes, is Mo Hui such a shameless scoundrel? It's laughable that you yourself are so shameless, fooling around with other people, and then trying to pin all the trouble on Mo Hui?"

"No, no! I didn't do it with anyone else! I only like Brother Mo Hui!" Ru Mei shook her head frantically, her expression dazed, tears streaming down her face. "I can't be wrong! I didn't, I didn't..."

"Shut up! Can't you see she's almost gone mad? Why are you trying to provoke her?!" I couldn't help but feel deep sympathy for Ru Mei, and glared angrily at Lu Ru Lan—although I don't like Ru Mei, Lu Ru Lan's words as her younger sister were far too direct and hurtful! While the truth is always cruel, the words could have been spoken more tactfully—after all, Ru Mei is pregnant!

"When did it become your place to speak?" Rulan sneered as she walked towards me step by step. "You androgynous wretch! You're as dry and withered as a dead straw, completely lacking any feminine charm! You actually dare to flirt in front of Brother Mo Hui, and even made that shameless old man Guan Dingshan dizzy and become your bodyguard! How dare someone like you stand next to Brother Mo Hui?!"

"Hmph! According to you, the only person in the world qualified to stand beside Huaiyuan is you? Wait a minute, what do you want to do?" I couldn't help but mock her—such sharp and sarcastic words, such deep-seated resentment, to say that she had no feelings for Huaiyuan would be a lie!

"Of course it should be me! For over a decade, I've worked tirelessly to learn martial arts, needlework, music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, sparing no effort to reach Mo Hui's side! When he was poisoned and disappeared, I didn't hesitate to venture into the martial world, joining the Wuji Sect as the Qingfeng Hall Master, all to find him! When the Heartless Decree appeared, I meticulously planned everything, sending Yun Xian to approach you, monitor you, plot against my second sister, and drive you away… I schemed and plotted, but I never expected that you would snatch it away when I was only one step away from success! Tell me, if it were you, what would you do?" Lu Rulan's finger moved swiftly, easily striking Ru Mei, who was extremely distraught. She picked up the wine pot on the table, casually poured a cup of wine, and placed it in front of me, a nearly ferocious smile on her beautiful face: "Seven years ago, I didn't poison my second sister, but Mo Hui accidentally drank the poisoned wine, allowing her to escape death by chance. Tell me, seven years later, will you also have the same good fortune as my second sister, with someone drinking this cup of wine for you?"

"What? You're the legendary Cold-Hearted Fairy? You're the one who poisoned Huaiyuan?" My fear burned away with intense anger. I trembled with rage, glaring at her: "Why did you poison him? You crazy woman!"—I never imagined that the one who poisoned Huaiyuan would be Rulan, who was only fourteen years old at the time!

"Why? Because Mo Hui was originally mine! He never liked Second Sister! Because he never smiled at Second Sister!" Ru Lan was lost in her memories, a faint smile appearing on her lips. A slight blush made her fair face even more delicate and beautiful, and her sharp eyes softened. A soft halo shone on her, making her look like a dream: "But, Mo Hui smiled at me! When Second Sister pushed me into the icy pool, Mo Hui reached out to me like a god, taking me from hell to heaven! He pulled me ashore, gently comforted me, wiped away my tears, smiled, patted my head, and handed me a piece of almond candy. From that moment on, I knew that Mo Hui liked me!"

"Are you crazy? You were only eight years old when you fell into the water!" I laughed in horror. "Anyone who saw you would have saved you, right? A pat on the head, a piece of candy, and you'd be devoted to me? Ridiculous!"

"What do you know? Since Mother died, Mo Hui was the first person to reach out to me, the first to smile at me, the first to care about me! And the only one!" Lu Rulan's smile vanished, her icy beauty filled with indignation: "Mother can die; eldest brother can run away from home; second sister can do whatever she wants; father can marry third sister! Why am I forced to live in a nunnery and leave for a distant land?!"

I gasped, speechless. I almost felt heartbroken that Rulan, at such a young age, had to endure so much pain beyond her years. Jianfeng's extremism, Rumei's arrogance, Rulan's madness—what intractable knot was binding this family together?

"I've long understood that only the strong survive in this world! So, put away your useless sympathy, I don't need it!" Ru Lan sneered, pinching my chin and pouring the wine into my mouth: "Why don't you drink this cup of wine quickly and without shedding a single tear, so that you at least look worthy of being Mo Hui's woman!"

I struggled desperately, but I was no match for her slender, white wrists, which seemed as fragile as if they could snap at the slightest touch. I could only watch helplessly as the cup of poisoned wine slowly approached my lips, and a breathtaking smile bloomed on her orchid-like lips, like a bewitching poppy flower…

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I'm still a bit groggy and don't even know if I've finished correcting the typos. Could you guys help me find them? I'll correct them again when I have time. Thanks!

[Volume 4, Finale: Chapter 19 - Intending to Miss the Auspicious Day]

With a soft "clink," Rulan swayed and collapsed. The cup in her hand shattered, shards flying everywhere, spilling wine onto the ground, emitting wisps of white smoke and hissing.

"Who goes there?" Rulan asked in a low voice, her beautiful face turning deathly pale in an instant.

"Me." A dark figure darted in through the window, striking several of my pressure points with a single finger, then turned and stood gracefully beside Rulan—I'm saved! This was the first thought that flashed through my mind. Before I could even smile, I recognized the person, and my heart sank to the bottom—it was Lu Jianfeng, a hundred times more troublesome than Rulan. It seemed that the three siblings of the Lu family were determined to make things difficult for Huaiyuan and me tonight, one after another coming to cause trouble.

"Big brother?" Rulan breathed a sigh of relief upon recognizing the person, then questioned with displeasure, "Why did you stop me from killing this bitch?"

Something flashed in Lu Jianfeng's eyes, too fast for me to catch. He frowned slightly and said in a low voice, "If I kill her, who will I ask for the treasure map? Wouldn't all my hard work over the past year be wasted?"

"Is that really the reason?" Lu Rulan glanced at Lu Jianfeng suspiciously, then sneered coldly, "It better be that this is the only reason!"

"What other reason do you think there could be?" Lu Jianfeng replied coldly, "I didn't even spare Ru Mei, so who does she think she is?" — Seeing the two siblings facing each other coldly, suspicious and wary of one another, and recalling their intimacy when they first met in Jiangning, he felt like he had just woken up from an absurd dream — which one was real?!

Rulan glanced at Rumei, who had been thrown unconscious in the corner, and then sneered, "Indeed, I didn't expect you to be so heartless towards your second sister. You actually disregarded the bond between siblings and actually had someone get her pregnant, creating a bastard. You really went too far!"—Although her words were harsh and unpleasant, upon closer examination, there was a hint of indignation on Rumei's behalf. Clearly, she didn't know that Jianfeng and Rumei were not biological siblings.

Jian Feng's expression changed, as if he was about to explode in anger. He took a deep breath and finally refrained from doing so, but his hands, hanging at his sides, clenched into fists, his knuckles almost white, revealing his extreme rage. He asked in a calm voice, "It was agreed long ago that after it was done, I would get the treasure map, and Jiang Mohui would be yours. Now what do you plan to do?"

"What to do? Of course, we'll make it a fait accompli!" Lu Rulan walked towards me with a cold smile, removing the phoenix crown from my head. Then, her slender hands began to undress me—I never dreamed that the person removing my wedding dress on my wedding night would be a woman! If this hadn't happened to me; if Rulan's expression hadn't been so serious, her smile so eerie; I think I would have burst out laughing—let alone whether this substitution trick would fool Huaiyuan; even if she succeeded, did she really think Huaiyuan would take responsibility for her actions for the rest of his life?! This woman is either incredibly naive or utterly foolish!

"You brat! How dare you get married without waiting for your grandfather? No way! That doesn't count! You bring out that skinny bamboo pole and have him perform the wedding ceremony again!" Guan Dingshan's loud voice rang out from afar—my heart leaped with joy, ah, finally someone's here?!

Hearing the sound, Jianfeng swiftly moved to the corner, bent down and carefully picked up Rumei, then kicked Xiuyu off the bed before disappearing behind the screen. Rulan's expression changed; she shoved me into the wardrobe, covered her face with a veil, and sat quietly on the edge of the bed.

With a creak, I heard a cacophony of footsteps. Then Huaiyuan's deep, gentle voice rang out: "Qing'er, Grandpa and Grandpa Guan are here. Greet them." — Hearing his voice, my heart ached, and tears I had held back for so long suddenly burst forth like a flood. "Huaiyuan, Huaiyuan, I'm here," I cried out in my heart.