Chapter 353 - 199: A Grand Wedding

Chapter 353: Chapter 199: A Grand Wedding

But that wasn’t actually the case.

Neither Zheng Xiu nor Xie Luohe ever acknowledged their relationship.

Xie Luohe was very busy.

During the day, she would go to the archery range to train her apprentices, only returning at sunset.

From time to time, she would take him to Sunset Mountain. They would observe the murals while the Sun Tribe held their banquets, hunt Vulture Crows on the peak, and feel the wind on their faces. They would watch the sunset paint the sky red, see the sky fill with stars around the moon, and sit there all night.

Finally, the two would sit side-by-side on a stone sarcophagus, quietly watching the sunrise until morning came.

They gradually became a part of this place, integrating into the local life.

Time slipped by quietly.

「One year later.」

"Mo! Mo! Quick, come with me to the archery range!"

Xie Luohe called out happily as she found Zheng Xiu in the Mohe Pavilion.

Inside Mohe Pavilion, three or five tables of customers were seated, some sipping tea, others drinking wine. Zheng Xiu had served each table a few slices of cured wild boar leg as a side dish.

Xie Luohe’s arrival prompted the regulars to call out, "Lady Boss!"

Xie Luohe greeted them all in return.

After dealing with the enthusiastic customers, "Gongsun Mo" took the towel from his shoulder and wiped his hands clean.

"What did you just say?"

Xie Luohe’s face was alight with excitement. "They’ve finally learned it! My Xie’s Archery Skill!"

Zheng Xiu was suddenly taken aback.

The promise he had made a year ago already felt like a lifetime ago.

If Xie Luohe hadn’t suddenly brought it up, Zheng Xiu would have almost forgotten about it.

"They actually learned it?"

Zheng Xiu was skeptical.

Xie Luohe grabbed Zheng Xiu and pulled him out the door, heading straight for the valley.

"Brother Di! Brother Di! Can you watch the shop for me!"

The people of the Sun Tribe all had single-character names and no surnames. Or rather, you could say their surname was "Ri."

Across from Mohe Pavilion was a small shop that sold animal hides, run by a cheerful resident of the Great Desert whose name was "Di."

Zheng Xiu usually called him Brother Di affectionately. His full name should have been Ri Di, but Zheng Xiu was too embarrassed to call him that.

Leaving the stall behind, Zheng Xiu was half-pushed, half-pulled by Xie Luohe all the way to Richan Valley.

Xiaomo and Xiaohe, the camel couple, were playing in Richan Valley. When the two camels saw their master and mistress running over, they excitedly galloped up to greet them, licking Zheng Xiu’s and Xie Luohe’s faces and leaving wet slobber marks.

「A while later.」

The two walked across a stretch of desert and arrived at an oasis.

A hundred people were shooting arrows at targets in the archery range. From a distance, they could hear the twang of bowstrings and the whistle of arrows cutting through the air.

As Zheng Xiu approached the range, he saw a boy with a shaved head, only about thirteen years old, let loose an arrow.

In the distance, two straw dummies were lined up, one behind the other.

The arrow bent in a bizarre arc mid-air, curving around the first dummy to strike the second one precisely between the eyes.

Zheng Xiu had just witnessed with his own eyes the stunning appearance of an "arrow that could turn corners."

He quickly asked Xie Luohe how it was done.

"It’s actually quite simple." In front of Zheng Xiu, Xie Luohe pulled an arrow from her quiver. She bit off a piece of the fletching, then used her tongue to slightly moisten it, tweaking the feathers into a strange shape.

Before the arrow was even nocked, Zheng Xiu vaguely understood her method. "It’s... the wind?"

"As expected of you."

Xie Luohe put the arrow back in her quiver. Her gaze swept over the Great Desert residents in the archery range—all of whom could be called her disciples—and her face filled with gratification. She tilted her head back and let out a hearty, joyful laugh.

"Yes, they are very talented."

"They did it! They all did it! I’ve already passed on the Twelve Linked technique to them. I hope that one day, they can pass down my, Xie Luohe’s, Archery to future generations!"

"Maybe in ten years, fifty years, or even a hundred years."

As she laughed, tears welled up in the corners of Xie Luohe’s eyes.

"You’ve... seen it, haven’t you?"

Before Zheng Xiu could grasp the meaning behind her tears, Xie Luohe turned her head, and the moisture in her eyes vanished as if it had been an illusion.

Zheng Xiu averted his gaze and said calmly, "I have."

Xie Luohe smiled. "That’s enough."

The two of them started back.

Xie Luohe had eagerly brought Zheng Xiu to the archery range, seemingly just to prove to him that her year of hard work had not been in vain.

On the way, as Xie Luohe rode atop Xiaomo, bouncing with the camel’s gait, she suddenly held up a single finger. "Well then, there’s only one last thing left."

The silent Zheng Xiu asked, "What about the painting?"

"We can do them at the same time,"

Xie Luohe said casually.

The sun sank low in the west.

Their shadows stretched long across the blood-red sand.

The wind kicked up, instantly erasing the footprints they left behind.

It was as if they had never been there at all.

"Go on."

Xie Luohe raised her eyes to the distance, her gaze narrowing and the corners of her lips curling into a smile.

"For an ordinary woman, what is the happiest moment of her life?"

Zheng Xiu’s heart skipped a beat.

"The third matter... if you won’t do it, I’ll find someone else."

Xie Luohe huffed. "At the very, very end, I, Xie Luohe, want to be like an ordinary woman, with a phoenix coronet and embroidered gown, red candles and colorful silks, and a grand procession! Even when I’m gone, I, Xie Luohe, want to go out in a blaze of glory!"

Under Zheng Xiu’s stunned gaze,

Xie Luohe looked at him meaningfully and declared, "The third matter is... I’m getting married!"

THUD!

The dumbfounded Boss Mo fell right off his camel and tumbled into the sand.