Luzhou Moon - Chapter 147
Yue Ruzheng gripped his sleeves tightly with both hands, her knuckles sticking out as if she wanted to tear them apart. She pressed all her strength onto Lian Junchu, his heartbeat slow and clear, echoing distinctly in her ears.
Suddenly, she remembered being held in his arms like this when she was nineteen, listening to his heartbeat, and saying, "This is the sound of the sea."
Yue Ruzheng closed her eyes, as if she had returned to the vast blue ocean, accompanied by the ebb and flow of the tide, and listening to the cries of seagulls.
The moon has set.
Lian Junchu snapped out of his meditative state, while Yue Ruzheng was still nestled in his arms.
"Ruzheng..." he said with difficulty, sitting up straight. "Don't stay here any longer."
Yue Ruzheng was stunned, and slowly raised her head to look at him.
He could no longer fathom what Yue Ruzheng was feeling at that moment, and forced himself to remain calm as he said, "We can't keep hiding here."
"Are you leaving?" Yue Ruzheng's lips were cold, and her long hair fluttered in the wind.
"Leave?" Lian Junchu murmured, then slowly looked at her and asked, "And what about you?"
Yue Ruzheng stared blankly at the horizon, "What will happen to my aunt if I leave?"
He felt a sudden chill. "You're going to be with her?"
"Do you think I'm crazy?" Yue Ruzheng forced a smile, as if she had already expected him to react this way.
Lian Junchu smiled too, but that smile held an indescribable bitterness and sorrow. "Ruzheng, she killed my mother!"
"So you can no longer face her." Yue Ruzheng was unusually calm, her eyes devoid of tears, only a deep gray.
Lian Junchu was speechless.
As dawn approached, Lian Junchu made a compromise.
"Give me some time to think it over." He knew he wasn't a saint; no matter what, his mother's death and his own miserable state were wounds that were difficult to heal.
Yue Ruzheng quietly looked at his features, then said, "Little Tang, go back to Seven Star Island."
He was stunned and bewildered.
"Otherwise, can you stay here now and face your aunt and me?" Yue Ruzheng took a deep breath, her voice low but resolute.
Lian Junchu felt a bitter taste in his mouth. He looked up at her tired face and said, "Then you stay here... and wait for me to come back."
After a moment of silence, Yue Ruzheng nodded gently.
Leaving the summit of Qiongtan, Yue Ruzheng found Mingyu. She was still guarding Tang Yunlan's grave. At this moment, the sky was brightening, and the morning light shone through the forest, illuminating her strands of silver hair.
At this moment, she seemed to have regained her tranquility, and seemed to have forgotten her resentment towards Tang Yunlan. She kept clasping her hands together and bowing, muttering something unintelligible.
To avoid further upsetting her, Lian Junchu didn't appear before her, but stood at a distance among the pine trees. Yue Ruzheng silently walked to her side, looking at her current state, her heart filled with mixed emotions.
Perhaps, all these years, she has always exiled herself to the deepest hell, unable to escape.
Zixiao and Yingluo lay abandoned on the ground. Yue Ruzheng bent down and picked up the string of jade pendants that had once held a special place in her heart, and asked in a low voice, "Aunt, actually, I have absolutely no connection with Seven Star Island, right?"
Mingyu remained facing the tombstone, seemingly reciting scriptures. After a moment, she finally asked, "And how do you know anything about Seven Star Island?"
"Can you tell me who my parents are?" Although this question is no longer important now, Yue Ruzheng couldn't help but ask it.
Mingyu looked up, bewildered, at the now-cleared sky. "I don't know..."
Yue Ruzheng was taken aback.
"You're just an abandoned baby I picked up outside Suzhou after I left Seven Star Island."
Before leaving Chicheng Mountain, Lian Junchu wanted to ask Ruzheng again what her plans were for the future. But Mingyu was sitting not far away, and the look in her eyes was unbearable for him.
He thought Yue Ruzheng would see him off, but she just lowered her head, handed Yingluo back to him, and remained silent.
"Are you really going to stay with her?" As Lian Junchu was leaving, she still couldn't suppress her anger and asked her as calmly as possible.
Yue Ruzheng was still some distance away from him. She stood on the narrow and steep mountain path, her clothes emerald green, but splattered with mud.
She wanted to say something, but suddenly felt that in the current situation, nothing she said could undo the mistakes of the past.
So she just smiled wearily, turned and left.
Only when Lian Junchu's lonely figure disappeared at the end of the long mountain road did Yue Ruzheng's tears start to fall again.
The early spring sunshine is warm and bright; today is the ninth day of the second lunar month.
...Xiao Tang, we've known each other for four whole years.
I will never forget the surprise at first sight, the unease when changing his dressing for the first time, the anxiety when I first saw him eating, the heartache when we first argued, the pride when I first fed him snacks, and the tenderness when I first held him in my arms and gently kissed his lips... So many firsts, like shattered pieces of glass, each one flawless and crystal clear. I want to cherish them all, yet I'm afraid of breaking my heart.
She told Lian Junchu, "You can no longer face your aunt."
He remained silent.
In truth, there was one more thing Yue Ruzheng didn't say: "You can't face me anymore, can you?"
Chapter Eighty-Nine: A Dream of Returning to the Martial World
If he could, Lian Junchu would rather live as a guest in another place than return to Seven Star Island. In the eyes of others, he, the so-called island lord, might be quite useless. After traveling thousands of miles, he ultimately returned to this deep blue sea alone.
But he always remembered that he hadn't yet handed over the responsibility to someone else, so no matter how embarrassing it was, he still had to go back. Perhaps it was his dejected expression that made it so clear that even Danfeng and Chongming didn't dare to ask any more questions.
Lian Junxin couldn't resist asking a question indirectly, but he remained silent, his gaze cold.