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Shangguan Tou could hardly believe his ears. He sat up straight, looking at her in astonishment:
"Zhi'er, are you sure... you're talking to me?"
Xuezhi didn't say anything, but just hugged him tighter.
The sunlight was dim. In the southern mist, the jungle was silent, save for the mournful cry of a lone wild goose. At this time of year, it seemed as if all living things were quietly weeping.
She still clearly remembered the first time she saw Shangguan Tou when she was sixteen, also in October, at the Heroes' Gathering. At that time, he was wrapped in a snow-white cloak and very gentlemanly stood up for her, but it annoyed her.
It wasn't until these past few days, after the two had spent so much time alone together, that Xuezhi realized that the feelings she had invested in this person were irretrievable.
But after autumn, winter will come.
“You’re right. If I didn’t have so much to do, I would probably wish I could be like other girls, not having to practice martial arts day and night, growing up with my parents, and then marrying a man I could entrust my life to. If I could choose… I hope that person is you.”
Shangguan Tou looked at her somewhat helplessly.
Suddenly, he pulled Xuezhi into his arms and kissed her deeply.
The sun hangs high in the sky, and the early frost has melted. The trees are becoming bare, and the old trees stand alone, their coats long since stripped away by the autumn wind. Only patches of bluish-brown moss remain, covering their wrinkled forms.
In the bleak autumn, the parting confession burned everything away.
The two kissed for an unknown amount of time before reluctantly parting.
Shangguan Tou stroked Xuezhi's long hair, his eyes half-closed, leaning against the rock as if extremely tired.
"I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't feel uncomfortable at all, but I just feel very sleepy."
Xuezhi suddenly looked up: "No!"
"I'll only sleep for a little while." Shangguan Tou held Xuezhi's hand and slowly closed his eyes. "...I'm really sleepy."
"No, no, you can't sleep!" Xuezhi shook his shoulder hard and said urgently, "Don't leave me."
"Never." Shangguan Tou's eyes were closed, his voice growing weaker and weaker, yet a faint smile lingered on his lips. "Zhi'er, I love you too..."
In the end, she could no longer hear his voice at all.
In the woods, the river flows gently. Apart from that, only the mournful cry of a lone goose occasionally breaks the silence.
At the same time, Xuezhi suddenly had a feeling that frightened her.
The moment Shangguan Tou closed his eyes, it seemed as if everything had lost its meaning.
The lone goose lingered in the air for a long time, then flapped its wings and flew away from the high sky above the forest.
Xuezhi lay on Shangguan Tou's body, crying her heart out. Her cries echoed through the forest where only the sound of water remained, sounding desolate and sorrowful.
The old man said that it's okay to cry when you're sad, but you still have to keep going after you've cried.
I've cried... but I still have to keep going.
The forest is vast, and the fallen leaves are tiny.
The world is vast, and she is very small.
But I wonder what she will be able to use to motivate herself to live on in this boundless world and keep going strong in the days to come.
"They're all gone, all of them are gone." Xuezhi wiped away her tears and murmured to herself, "Brother Tou, if there is an afterlife, we will definitely be together for a lifetime."
She gently pried open Shangguan Tou's fingers that were holding hers, then cupped them in her hands, holding them in her palms:
"...It definitely will."
Why wait until the next life?
“Because you have already—” Xuezhi started to say, but then suddenly looked up.
"I don't believe in reincarnation." Shangguan Tou sat up and placed his other hand on Xuezhi's hand as well. "A person only has one life. If you miss it, you'll never have it again. Since you like me so much, then be with me."
Xuezhi stared at him in disbelief: "You...you're not dead?"
"I just said I wanted to sleep for a while, when did I say I was going to die?"
"But your pulse stopped just now."
"I think it might be because of the antidote; I really lost consciousness just now. When I woke up, I heard you crying."
"Didn't you say you didn't find Man Feiyue to get the antidote?"
Did I say that?
"I didn't say that."
"Didn't you say that the poison would spread throughout the body in just one day?"
"Yes."
"Since you've already said that!"
Is there a problem?
"..."
Two days later, Suzhou. Yingzhou, a fairyland.
As Qiu Hongxiu ordered the dishes to be served, she nodded and said, "So, Yi Pin Tou's use of handsome men to threaten Man Feiyue has been quite effective?"
"Yeah, since they escaped from inside, they must have gotten the antidote. Baldy never does anything he's not sure of. That girl's a fool; she was fooled in just a few words." Zhong Tao peeked out and saw the two people standing by the river. "I just wonder what Baldy tricked her out of. Why is she still throwing a tantrum?"
"Why do you care so much about other people's business? Someone did come looking for a girl yesterday, but it was too late, so I turned him down. He said he'd come back today."
Red lanterns, green boats, small bridges, flowing water, and traditional houses.
"Aren't you going to talk to me?" Shangguan Tou fiddled with his folding fan, walked around to Xue Zhi's side, and looked completely innocent. "What did I do wrong?"
"Get away!"
Shangguan Tou's lips curled slightly as he used the handle of his fan to lift Xuezhi's chin.
"Zhi'er, the angrier you are, the more you care about me. Don't be angry, come back to my arms."
Shangguan Tou's words finally allowed him to eliminate Lin Fengzi and rise majestically to the top of Chong Xuezhi's list of most hated people.
Author's Note: My goal for today is 5 chapters!
This is Chapter 5!
Haha, it's done.
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival everyone!
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Soon, the person who said he was coming to find Xuezhi arrived once again in front of Xuezhi's house in Yingzhou, the Immortal Mountain.
If it weren't for the gourd at his waist, Xuezhi would never have recognized him: he was dressed in all black, wearing a large bamboo hat, and his face was partially obscured by a black veil, but it was also covered with white cloth strips, making him look quite terrifying even in broad daylight.
No wonder Qiu Hongxiu said that a strange person was looking for her.
Xuezhi walked over and asked, "What are you doing?"
Feng She's voice was weak: "I fell and passed out in the woods. Luckily, a farmer took me to see a doctor, which is how I got here. But the thing wrapped around my face was too conspicuous, which is why I ended up like this."
How did you fall?
"Because my senior brothers are chasing me." Feng She's mouth was smiling, but his eyes were completely hidden. "However, their little tricks can't do anything to me."
"Wait, where's the farmer?"
"He's dead."
Xuezhi exclaimed in shock, "Dead? How could that be?"
“He knows where I am. If he doesn’t die, he’ll be threatened to death by my senior brothers.” Feng She chuckled. “So, I might as well repay him and let him die without any pain.”
"you……"
Feng She sighed deeply: "That's how things are in the martial world; they're hard to explain and can't be explained clearly."
Xuezhi held her breath and said again, "Don't tell me you killed that doctor too."
"Yes, and everyone in that pharmacy too. You don't know how valuable the Xuanhuang Mingdan is. Its current market price is over sixty taels of silver. Only the leaders of major sects can afford to consume it if they commit suicide. I gave this to all of them."
Enraged, Xuezhi clenched her fists and punched his straw hat off: "Feng She, you have no humanity!!"
Xuezhi was shocked by his face: his neck, forehead, and the area below his eyes and above his mouth were all wrapped in bandages, and there were large patches of bloodstains on his prominent nose.
"You damn woman, you knocked my hat off!" Feng She covered his face and ran out to pick it up.
Xuezhi stopped him, frowning as she asked, "How did you get injured like this?"
"No, it's just that my nose is a little more serious." Feng She pointed to his nose, but Xue Zhi stopped him. He could only spread his hands and say, "It's because my face hit a big rock head-on. The doctor said that my nose bridge is relatively high and narrow, which is why it was injured like this. Otherwise, it would just be a scratch and some bleeding at most."
"So what's going on now?"
"It seems like the bone is broken."
"What will happen if we take it off?"
"It seems there will be a gap."
How big will the gap be?
Feng She thought for a moment, then used his fingers to measure the length; it was about the size of a fingernail.
"You sit here for a while, I'll be right back." Xuezhi went out.
In October, the river is cold, and fallen leaves beat against the window.
The sky was a deep, clear blue, cloudless and as pure as ice. The autumn sun cast a golden, damp glow, enveloping Suzhou and painting the roads.
Passersby would always turn around and look at the three people on the bridge.
All three were tall, but two of them were so tall and strong that the third appeared considerably shorter. Although he was the youngest among the two giants, it was immediately obvious to others that he was the master of the other two. He still wore his peacock hairpin and dressed in snow-white robes, adorned with nothing else, yet needing nothing else. Standing on the Changliu Bridge, he was undeniably handsome and dashing.
A man like that would make any woman who passed by take a second look.