We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real? - Chapter 441: Ruxue Has Always Been Ruxue, and Has Never Changed
“Xiao Mo, this is for you.”
“From now on, whenever you see this little clay figurine, it will be just like seeing me.”
“As long as you hold this figurine and say you want to see me, I will come to you~”
On the streets of the imperial city, a little girl stood before a small boy, her eyes curving into a smile as she spoke.
“General, come back!”
“Snow-Treading Dragon Cavalry! Stay close behind the General!”
“We will protect the General with our lives!”
“We will die alongside the General!”
On that vast, sprawling plain covered in bodies, the man wielding a silver-white spear and wearing the Shura mask had already broken through a great formation and slain the King of Qi but just as the Qin Kingdom’s great army believed the battle was drawing to a close, the enemy, using the battlefield’s blood and the souls of a million fallen warriors as offerings, laid down another great formation, trapping the leading general within it, and threw everything they had into killing that man.
Yet the man showed not the slightest fear.
“If I cannot break out of this formation, then I will break the formation itself!”
He fought until the very end. He broke through the formation, but in doing so, he also died within it and even as he drew his last breath, the man used his own life to shield the little clay figurine he had been cradling against his chest.
On the bed of the Yangxin Hall, Xiao Mo’s eyes snapped open.
Once Xiao Mo steadied himself and looked around, realizing that what he had just experienced was nothing more than a dream, he let out a slow breath of relief.
He climbed out of bed and looked at the mask and the little clay figurine resting on the table.
He tried to recall the dream he had just had but the dream was like a stone dropped into water. Once the ripples faded, the stone vanished without a trace.
No matter how hard Xiao Mo tried to remember, not a single fragment came back to him. All that remained was a lingering, heart-shaking sense of death, and a deep guilt toward a young woman.
“It truly is as they say, what you see by day, you dream of by night.”
Xiao Mo shook his head and stopped trying to grasp at what had already blurred beyond reach.
He found a box and placed the little clay figurine and the mask inside it, then walked out of his bedchambers.
At this hour, the sun was on the verge of setting. The blood-red evening sky, as though an immortal had swept a brush of ink across the heavens, dyed every rooftop and structure in the palace crimson. Xiao Mo looked out and could only see a sliver of the dying sun in the far distance.
That morning he had risen early, brought his two consorts to pay their respects to the Empress Dowager, and then gone to Qin Siyao’s chambers.
After returning to his own palace he had lain down for a nap, and had slept all the way until now.
“Your Majesty, it is nearly time for the evening meal. Tonight, which noble consort’s palace would Your Majesty like to dine at?”
Sili stepped to Xiao Mo’s side and said softly.
“Dining at a consort’s palace” was simply a tactful way of putting it.
In truth, wherever one dined for the evening was where one spent the night.
“Come, let us go to Ning Xue Palace.”
Xiao Mo thought for a moment before speaking, then strode out of the palace.
Xiao Mo figured that if both of his consorts had been ordinary women, he would certainly have gone to the Han Jiu Palace tonight to make it up to Mu Jiu but neither of his two consorts was an ordinary person, and he had spent the previous night in the Yangxin Hall as well.
There was nothing to make up for, to speak of.
By comparison, he found himself wanting to go to Miss Yan’s place, and hear what she had to say about the night before.
“His Majesty arrives!”
In less than half a stick of incense’s time, Sili’s voice carried into Ning Xue Palace.
The palace maids of Ning Xue Palace heard that His Majesty had come and quickly lined up on either side of the entrance, bowing in greeting and on the main path leading into Ning Xue Palace, Yan Ruxue walked forward to meet Xiao Mo with gracious ease, bowing before him. “Your servant respectfully welcomes Your Majesty.”
“I wish to dine with my beloved consort tonight. That should not be a problem, I hope?” Xiao Mo helped Yan Ruxue up and asked with a smile.
“What a thing to say, Your Majesty. Your servant could not be more delighted to dine with Your Majesty. How could it possibly be a problem?”
Yan Ruxue smiled warmly, then turned to Xiao Chun and said, “Go to the imperial kitchen and have the evening meal brought over.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Xiao Chun quickly gave a bow and walked out of the palace with a light and cheerful step, her heart full of happiness.
In Xiao Chun’s eyes, His Majesty spending two consecutive nights at Ning Xue Palace meant that in His Majesty’s heart, her young mistress was a great deal more important than the First Princess of the Qin Kingdom.
“Your Majesty, the night air is cold. Please come inside.” Yan Ruxue smiled gently.
“Mm.”
Xiao Mo gave a nod and followed Yan Ruxue into the room.
Yan Ruxue’s room was still decorated as it had been for the wedding chamber the night before.
According to the customs of the Zhou Kingdom, the decorations would be taken down after half a month.
“Please have a seat, Your Majesty.”
Yan Ruxue guided Xiao Mo to a seat, poured him a cup of tea, then sat down beside him and looked at him with gentle warmth.
“There are certain things that Fairy Jiang and younger sister Mu Jiu have most likely already told Your Majesty.”
Yan Ruxue said so herself, with a smile.
“Your servant also knows that Your Majesty has many doubts in your heart. But please set your mind at ease. Your servant will not do anything to harm Your Majesty, nor anything that would wrong the Zhou Kingdom. The thing your servant desires is also something Your Majesty has no use for.”
As she spoke, Yan Ruxue looked at Xiao Mo with a steady, meaningful gaze.
“Once your servant has obtained what she is after, she will naturally take it and leave. Before that day comes, if Your Majesty wishes to reclaim full power and authority, your servant is willing to help.”
“That will not be necessary. Matters of the court I will handle myself. I would not trouble Miss Yan for that.”
Xiao Mo shook his head and declined politely.
In Xiao Mo’s view, he had the Book of a Hundred Lives, and experiencing life brought its own rewards.
On top of that, after having undergone several rounds of bone marrow cleansing and body refinement, his spiritual root and physique were both at a respectable level.
His cultivation had been progressing smoothly enough.
Not to mention that in the court there were also quite a few ministers who remained loyal to the Xiao imperial house.
The day he would sweep clean the court and restore proper order was not too far off.
Besides, Yan Ruxue’s true identity remained unclear. If he were to accept her help now, and she came asking for something in return later, that would likely become an even greater headache.
Hearing Xiao Mo’s refusal, Yan Ruxue said nothing more, only smiled softly in quiet acknowledgment.
Before long, the evening meal was brought in, and Yan Ruxue attended to Xiao Mo as he ate.
After the meal was finished, Yan Ruxue attended to him again as he washed up.
The two of them were like a genuinely married couple, treating each other with mutual courtesy and warmth.
“Your Majesty, please stay the night here in your servant’s palace.” Yan Ruxue proposed.
“There are quite a few of the Empress Dowager’s eyes and ears within your servant’s Ning Xue Palace. If Your Majesty were to leave again tonight, it would be difficult to explain.”
“If Miss does not mind, then I have no objection whatsoever.”
Xiao Mo looked at Yan Ruxue’s gentle and gracious manner, and thought back over all the moments he had encountered her, a quiet wave of feeling rising in his heart.
“Is Your Majesty troubled by something?” Yan Ruxue asked.
“It is not quite a trouble.” Xiao Mo sighed softly. “It is more that I have a question, and I wonder if Miss would be willing to answer it.”
Yan Ruxue gave a gentle nod. “Your Majesty may speak freely.”
“From the first time you and I met, all the way until now, which version of you has been the real one?”
Xiao Mo lifted his head and looked directly into her eyes, waiting for her answer.
Hearing the question from the man she held in her heart, the young woman’s expression flickered with a moment of surprise, and then her eyes curved upward like a crescent moon.
Her peach-blossom eyes gazed at Xiao Mo, the tenderness in them blending seamlessly with the moonlight and the candlelight.
“Ruxue has always been Ruxue.”
“She has never changed.”
