Eternal Night

Chapter 125

Yongye then realized he was still tightly embracing Yuepo's waist. His face flushed, feeling somewhat awkward, and he asked sheepishly, "How did you get in?"

Yuepo blinked and said, "I walked right in front of them. They couldn't see me." As she spoke, she took Yongye's hand and walked outside. "I came after I saw Feng Yangxi leave. It was hot in the afternoon, and the soldiers were most tired. I used a sleeping potion, so when they woke up, they would just think they had taken a nap."

Yongye was dragged away from the courtyard by him. Yuepo did not go through the main gate, but pulled Yongye towards the back gate. He seemed to be very familiar with the layout of the post station. Along the way, they only occasionally encountered a few soldiers who looked at them blankly.

Yongye waved his hand in front of the soldiers' eyes, making their pupils seem unfocused, and couldn't help but laugh: "Yuepo's skill in using poison is really not bad."

"Idiot, I'm going to kill everyone in this inn, and they won't even know how they died!" Yuepo tapped her on the head, and the two of them surprisingly made it out of the inn without any trouble. Yuepo put on a straw hat, put one over Yongye, and led her into a small alley.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, a sudden commotion erupted behind them. Yuepo turned around and exclaimed in surprise, "Is someone trying to kill you? Why is your courtyard on fire?"

Yongye gripped his hand tightly and laughed, "Let's go quickly, I set the fire."

"How did you start the fire after walking for so long?"

Yongye smiled and said, "I was making tea when the fire accidentally set my clothes on fire, which then set the house on fire. That's how it happened." She made it sound simple, but it took her a lot of effort to time the fire perfectly. She had originally planned to blend in with the crowd of people putting out the fire, but Yuepo beat her to it, which saved her the trouble.

Yuepo turned to look at her, smiled, and said, "I knew you would leave even if I didn't come. You've been in the capital for several days now without making a move, so I couldn't hold back any longer."

Yongye gazed at the thick smoke rising in the distance, thinking, "The weather is dry, and with five fires, it'll be difficult to extinguish them." He wondered, "What's the pronunciation of the character '口' with '火' inside?" He tilted his head, thinking for a while, then realized there was no such character and smiled.

Moon Soul was very familiar with the capital, and she led Eternal Night through the city, wandering east and west for a full hour before finally turning into a small alley.

"We're not leaving Sanjing?"

"If we leave now, we won't get far, and we might not even be able to get out of the city gates. Let's stay here for a few more days." Yuepo smiled slyly and pointed to a small courtyard in the alley, saying, "Your Ping'an Medical Clinic."

Yongye looked in the direction he was pointing and saw a small storefront, a dilapidated building, and a white sign with black characters that read "Ping An Medical Clinic". He was stunned.

Yuepo held her hand and whispered, "I told you, if you want a peaceful life, I can take you in." His hand, gentle yet firm, led Yongye into the house.

Just as Yongye had imagined, the house had a shop in the front and a courtyard in the back, where various herbs were planted, and there was even a piglet kept in the corner. As soon as they entered the courtyard, the pig started to grunt and squeal.

The sunlight shone in the courtyard, making it extremely hot, but Yongye only felt warm.

"It's not as nice as the inn where there's ice; it's too hot here," Yuepo said apologetically from behind.

"That's good. How's your business? I left without taking anything, not even a single copper coin."

"Business can't be too good. I can't be too famous," Moon Soul said with a smile.

"What if they search here?"

Yuepo smiled: "Take a look back."

Yongye turned around and was startled. Yuepo's face had been replaced by that of a middle-aged man. She looked at him carefully for a long time and sighed, "Your disguise skills are much better than mine. I always get recognized. Feng Yangxi saw through it at a glance."

Moon Soul smiled and said, "With me here, I guarantee no one will notice. I've been here for so long, the neighbors all call me..."

"What?" Yongye asked curiously.

Yuepo coughed lightly and said, "Call me Master Yue!"

"Haha!" Yongye was amused. "Why don't you change your surname? Old Man of the Moon... Haha!"

"What are you laughing at! I was just afraid you wouldn't be able to find me!" Yuepo awkwardly covered Yongye's mouth, but she slipped away like an eel. A smile bloomed on her face, and the sunlight seemed to shine entirely on her. A strange pang of heartache welled up in Yuepo's heart. She whispered, "Xinghun, never leave me again."

Yongye paused, lowered her head, slowly walked over, and put her arm around his waist, saying, "Last time... I was worried about my father."

Moonbeam gently stroked her hair and sighed, "I'm sorry, I only wanted it to be like that... How wonderful it would be if it could always be like that. I shouldn't have put sleeping pills in your soup."

Yongye shuddered, forcing a smile. For ten days in the mountains, she hadn't noticed anything amiss at first, but for someone who had lived in darkness for so long, whose energy was usually greater at night than during the day, the drowsiness after dinner was abnormal. Later, she discovered that Yuepo only made soup and always urged her to drink it every night. On the last night, she finally decided to vomit the soup and use the stream water to wake herself up.

For a long time, she avoided the matter. Just thinking about the soup Yuepo made made her heart pound with pain, like a thorn. But when Yuepo explained it to her like this, she was overjoyed. The pain of suspicion and being schemed against melted away like ice in the sunlight. She didn't want to doubt him; in this world, only Yuepo had protected her since childhood, from then until now. Thinking about Yuepo's scheming against her… Yongye's heart felt like a thin, hard piece of paper flashing across it; before she even realized the wound, she felt the pain.

She looked up and said earnestly, "I have never blamed you, and I really want to continue living like that forever."

Guilt and unease flickered in Yuepo's eyes. He looked closely into Yongye's eyes, which were clear as water, without a trace of impurity or doubt. He finally smiled with relief and took Yongye's hand, leading him to the west wing: "I prepared this for you. I'll sleep in the east wing."

"Where's Rose?" Yongye looked at the smooth bamboo mat in the room and the neatly folded white quilt with blue flowers, and suddenly asked this question.

Yuepo was silent for a moment before saying, "Last time I was afraid you would worry, so I didn't tell you. She fell into the hands of Youli Valley, and I escaped. Do you blame me?"

Yongye's heart tightened; the warmth of the sunlight streaming into the room couldn't melt the icy chill in her heart. Wandering Valley—was she going to fight Wandering Valley again?

"Star Soul!" Moon Soul called out softly to her.

Yongye tried to shake off the memories of Rose. She turned around and said softly, "Everyone has their own destiny. Let's not care about anyone else. Let's be selfish! Let's just live like this, okay?"

Her voice suddenly choked with emotion, and she tightened her grip on his arms. Yuepo hugged her back; in the sweltering heat, the guilt in his heart burned like fire.

"Knock knock!" The door was being pounded so hard it sounded like it was about to break.

The two were startled, and Yuepo decisively shouted, "Close your eyes!" He quickly wiped her head and face, pointed to the bed and said, "Your clothes are ready, change, I'll go deal with this first."

He turned and left the room. Yongye hurriedly changed out of his robes and put on the cloth clothes on the bed. Holding his robes, he didn't know where to put them, and in his haste, he stuffed them into the pigsty in the yard.

Just then, she heard Yuepo say in a hoarse voice, "It's just the two of us here..."

A group of soldiers rushed into the backyard. Yongye stared blankly at them as one of them yelled at her, "Is there anyone suspicious?"

She waved her hand and shook her head, not daring to show her teeth. How could an older woman have such a set of perfectly aligned, pearly white teeth?

"My wife is mute!" Yuepo stroked his beard, looking completely at ease.

The soldiers searched the small courtyard for a while before leaving. Yongye breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at the water vat. Reflected in the water was the face of a plain-looking middle-aged woman. She hadn't had time to put her hair up, nor did she know how; her hair was simply loose and tied back. Seeing the shimmering silver in her hair, she touched it and found her hands covered in silver powder. She then smiled, "I was really worried that seeing this black hair would arouse suspicion."

"Don't you even know whose skill it is!" Yuepo stroked his beard and looked up at the sky with extreme pride.