Novelas PaiPai

Capítulo 121

"It should be past midnight," I replied, adding, "Princess, you should go to sleep early."

"I won't sleep." She sighed sadly, "I'm afraid that when I wake up, you won't be by my side anymore."

The Lonely City Closes (The Princess Who Fell in Love with a Eunuch) Long smoke, setting sun, the lonely city closes, an empty robe

Chapter word count: 2623 Update time: 09-07-05 10:47

Empty shirt

(2334 words)

These simple words filled me with melancholy. I turned to look at her and saw a glimmer of light in her eyes, shimmering in the candlelight.

We didn't have much time left together, and I didn't want the ending to be a tearful farewell. So I smiled at her and said, "Princess, I will protect you from now on."

She turned and stared at me, looking somewhat bewildered.

“I will still be with you,” I told her. “When you admire the moon, I will be in some corner of this palace, bathed in the same moonlight as you; when you stroll in the garden, I will stand outside the palace wall where the gentle breeze that brushes against you can reach, and I can smell the fragrance of flowers wafting past you; when you practice the konghou, I will still be not far from you, perhaps taking out my flute and playing the same tune as you… although I can no longer be as inseparable as before…”

"The shadow is at the princess's feet, and Huaiji is in the princess's heart." The princess suddenly took over the conversation, bringing up this childhood joke, which stirred my heart and made me forget what I originally wanted to say.

She leaned slightly closer to me and whispered, "The inner palace and the Jiying Hall are separated only by a palace wall. In the palace garden, there grows a very tall peach tree, its branches and leaves extending over the wall. Every year on the day of Lichun (the beginning of spring), Huachao (the Flower Festival), Hanshi (the Cold Food Festival), Duanwu (the Dragon Boat Festival), Qixi Festival (the Double Ninth Festival), Chongyang Festival (the Double Ninth Festival), and Lidong (the beginning of winter), I will personally cut flower ornaments from colorful silk and hang them on that peach tree. On those festivals, go to the outside of the Jiying Hall and see the flower ornaments; that will be as if you have seen me."

I nodded and said yes. Sensing the sadness in her voice and the slight trembling in her body, I took her hand, using it to convey my unspoken comfort and warmth to her.

She lingered with me for a moment, then asked, "Huaiji, do you think people have an afterlife?"

I replied, "Probably. When a person dies, it's like they're asleep. When they wake up, they have a different body and identity and can start a completely new life."

"Then, in the next life, you must find me." She gave me this gentle command, then thought for a moment and added, "In the next life, I certainly won't be a princess, but just an ordinary woman in simple clothes... As for you, you'll most likely be a scholar in white robes... One day, I'll be picking mulberry leaves with a basket, and you'll be riding a fine horse, holding a silk whip, passing by on the path where I'm picking mulberry leaves, and you'll find the hairpin I've dropped..."

She imagined what that scene would be like, and a smile involuntarily crept onto her lips. I smiled along with her, but didn't forget to remind her, "If you were a simple girl picking mulberry leaves in plain clothes, you certainly wouldn't have spare money to buy hair ornaments."

"Oh, I see..." She frowned in annoyance, deeply disappointed that the scene often depicted in poetry was inconvenient to realize. After thinking it over, she still wasn't going to give up on the original plan and came up with a solution: "I can get up early and go home late, pick more mulberry leaves, earn more money, and then I can buy hairpins."

On a whim, I deliberately teased her: "Then you must work hard, stay up for days and nights, pick more mulberry leaves, and earn more money so you can buy two boxes of hairpins..."

She was puzzled: "Why buy two boxes?"

"You stick one box on your face, and then sprinkle another box on the road I'm about to pass by," I explained seriously. "Because you're in a hurry to marry me, only this way can you make sure I find the flower hairpin you 'lost'... Ouch..."

The "ouch" came from when she pinched me hard.

"Who wants to marry you?" she retorted indignantly.

I laughed and replied, "Oh, so I was just dreaming. I dreamt that someone asked me if I would be willing to have a wedding ceremony with her..."

She was both embarrassed and annoyed. She kicked me lightly, then turned her back to me and deliberately kept her distance, pretending to be angry and ignoring me.

I suppressed my laughter and called her softly twice, but she didn't move. So I moved closer to her and whispered in her ear, "Alright, I admit it. I was so eager to marry you that I rode around on horseback behind you all day... and held up a big fan, fanning you frantically..."

She was indeed surprised and couldn't help but ask, "Why are you fanning yourself?"

"So that your hair ornaments will fall off as soon as possible."

She chuckled and finally turned to face me: "If you're still being so cheeky and making me angry in your next life, I'll make you kneel on bricks every day."

I feigned sorrow and sighed, "Is it really that bad? I can bear living like this in this life, but am I going to be enslaved by you in the next?"

Perhaps worried that her words had hurt my pride, she quickly tried to salvage the situation: "I meant that I treated you this way because you made me angry. If you were doing well, who would torment you?"

Seeing that I didn't respond, she described a bright future to me: "I will treat you very well... When you study, I will light incense for you; when you practice writing, I will grind ink for you; when you paint, I will mix all the paints for you... Sometimes when you are tired and want to stretch your muscles, or practice sword dancing or pitch-pot, I will play the konghou for you beside you..."

Thinking about that scene, I couldn't help but laugh: "It's so noisy."

She glared at me: "That's like talking to a brick wall!"

Her enthusiasm remained undiminished. She looked up again, smiling wistfully, "During Qingming and Hanshi festivals, we can go out together to enjoy the spring blossoms; on Qixi and Mid-Autumn Festival, we can sit together under the eaves to admire the moon and stars... On such occasions, you will surely want to write poetry, so I will..."

Before she could finish speaking, I immediately interrupted, "You just sit here and eat taro."

She sat up, grabbed a beautifully decorated pillow with both hands, and started pounding it on my face, angrily saying, "I'm saying I'll sing along with you!"

I wanted to continue teasing her, but I was too tired to say anything more. She glared at me for a long time, but finally, the corners of her lips lifted, and her anger vanished without a trace. She lay down next to me again, hugged one of my arms, buried her face in my sleeve, and laughed nonstop.

As I listened to her series of light laughs, my smile gradually faded into the space where her gaze did not reach.

These past few days, I've seen her shed so many tears. Now I'm so glad we can still have such a joyful time together. I hope that the last thing I leave her is my bright smile, and that the indelible sorrow and pain will remain in my heart for now. Before I leave her, I absolutely cannot let her see them in my eyes.

When she looks up at me, I will smile at her again, trying to make her forget that the shrike and the swallow fly to opposite ends, and that will happen after dawn.

She kept laughing until she got tired and drifted off to sleep in my arms.

I held her in my arms, but did not close my eyes to sleep. When the moon disappeared and the stars shifted, and the incense burned out, I quietly got up, intending to leave, but found that a piece of my sleeve was under the princess's cheek and could not be pulled out.

I wanted to lift her head and then move my sleeve away, but then I remembered that she hadn't been feeling well lately and was easily startled awake in her sleep. Touching her like that would most likely wake her up. So, I left one hand in its original position, and with the other hand, I untied the sash, first pulling out that hand, then carefully shrinking away from the wide robe, and finally letting my still hand slowly slide out from the sleeve that the princess had been using as a pillow.

In this way, I could get away and leave, while the princess remained asleep, her head still resting on that sleeve.

I stood by her bedside for a long time, silently gazing at her, wanting to etch her image into my heart.

A short while later, the water clock started running again; it was past four in the morning, and I had to leave.

I slowly leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. She seemed to sense it; her eyelashes trembled slightly, but she didn't wake up. My hand unconsciously went to the chest of her empty shirt, and she leaned closer to it, as if she were still snuggling against me.

Resting her head on the empty shirt that still held my warmth, a slight smile played on her lips. Her sleeping expression was as serene and peaceful as that of a baby.

This was the last impression she left on me in her life.