Chapter 272 (1/2)
Chapter 272
Translator: Nyoi-Bo StudioEditor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
I merely want to be a clam. With time and my own flesh, I will care for my pearl.
In the middle of the night, snow suddenly began to fall. There was no wind, and as such, the snow fell like cotton drifting down from the heavens. The entire garden of plum trees blossomed in the night; the red flowers were like blood, dying the branches with drops of crimson.
Meixiang entered in the middle of the night to replenish the coal, only to see Chu Qiao sitting on the bed. Slightly taken aback, Meixiang stepped forward and lightly called out, ”Missy, what happened?”
Chu Qiao donned her white cotton pajamas as her hair was like black silk, yet she seemed like a stone. Her complexion was rather pale as she lightly shook her head and said, ”I am merely feeling a bit uncomfortable.”
Meixiang heard that and lightly smiled as she teased, ”The fourth master just left for two days, yet Missy is already missing him so much that you cannot sleep?”
Even though Zhuge Yue occupied Qinghai, he was still holding the position of a subordinate of the Xia Empire, and regarded Zhao Che, who currently governed the northern lands, as the master. As such, he was still a King, and Chu Qiao the Lady. Meixiang did not change how she addressed the two of them. Chu Qiao laughed, and Meixiang left her alone.
In the quiet night, without him around, the room seemed so empty. She thought about the dream that she just had. The woman in her dream had a rather blurred figure, along with a pale complexion. Yet the smile that the woman donned was gentle and calm. Wearing a robe of pure white, she quietly stood in the beautiful garden and looked at her quietly. The white flowers blossomed behind her, falling with the wind.
In this dark night, for some reason the wind suddenly began to blow. The plum blossoms fell with the winds, pitter-pattering on the windows in a soft rhythm. Chu Qiao quietly looked out of the window, suddenly feeling a sense of pain. She knew not why nor for whom.
It was the 4th of December, two days ago, when Zhuge Yue had left for Gongyue to settle some military matters. In the Qianhua Palace within Xingyue Palace, Chu Qiao had a dream of an unfamiliar woman standing outside her window, standing for a long while before leaving.
Half a month later, Zhuge Yue finally returned from Gong Yue.
Zhuge Yunzhou frowned his small brows and started complaining to his mother before he even got off his carriage. ”Zhou'er will never head out with father again. He kept rushing the journey. It was not fun at all.”
Li Qingrong was already eight-years-old, and looked exceeding like his father, especially how he loved colorful clothing. In his actions, he exuded the aura of that person. As he lazily leaned on the stone pillar before the palace, Li Qingrong yawned and muttered, ”I told you long ago. You did not believe me and insisted on going.”
Chu Qiao ignored them both and walked straight to Zhuge Yue, brushing off the dust on his clothes, and asked, ”Was it tough on the journey?”
Zhuge Yue embraced her and pecked her on the cheek. ”It was fine.”
”Ah!” Zhuge Zhouyun sighed as he noticed that nobody replied to him. He got off the horse by himself. As he got off, he sighed while shaking his head. ”In this era, it is ever so difficult to predict peoples' hearts. Even though we are all family, the treatment is so different.”
On the other hand, Li Qingrong pretended that he could not bear to look on anymore as he covered his eyes with one hand and used his other hand to feel the way back to the palace.
On that night, the Xingyue Palace held a huge banquet. All kinds of food were presented in turn, as dances and music filled the palace. The palace was filled with people and laughter. Yet, all this prosperity was nothing compared to the gaze of the person beside him. With the piling of the snow outside the doors, the plum trees swayed with the fluttering snowflakes.
After drinking some alcohol, he was in a particularly good mood. Even though his subordinates teased him about how he was worried about his family and rushed back through the nights, he merely childishly glared and put on a show that he was angry.
That night, as the banquet was dismissed, the palace doors were closed shut. In the lightly swaying silk veils, their flushed skin brushed against each other as their bodies were entangled. After their merrymaking was over, he lightly kissed her earlobe and whispered in her ear, ”Xing'er, the Nalan Empress has left.”
Left? Where to? For a moment Chu Qiao was still caught in a daze as her heart had yet to recover from the intense lovemaking. Leaning in his embrace, she thought in a daze Nalan Empress? Which Nalan Empress?
”It was rumored that she died from a sudden illness, and it has been almost two weeks since. After hearing that, I was particularly afraid as I recalled how you were so sickly. Since then I had an intense desire to rush back.” Zhuge Yue lightly spoke as his arms embraced her from behind, his chest tightly pressed on her silky smooth back. He hugged her so tight that she felt as though she was about to pass out.
Chu Qiao's body gradually froze up as coldness emerged from her fingertips like the coldness of the Yan Bei highlands, capable of freezing boiling water in a flash. As the wind blew past beyond the windows, one could hear them howl. The branches of the plum trees swayed before the window like a lady shaking her body.
She suddenly remembered how she woke suddenly from her sleep covered in cold sweat that stuck to her body. After so many days she had already forgotten what that person looked like, and the clothes that that person wore. But Chu Qiao could always vividly recall how that pair of eyes were so calm, so fleeting, like the clouds in the sky. That gaze landed on Chu Qiao and passed through her into the distance.
The wind swept up the corner of her clothes and the flower petals flew past her pale face. They had never met before, and the only time they crossed paths in this entire life was merely that one instance when she caught a glimpse of the letter. In the messy words that were written on the scented letter, the poems were a mess as the tears of that lady dripped down and seeped through the paper, dissolving the ink into messy blotches.
In this strange twist of fate, only Chu Qiao managed to see the deep pains of this lady who stood at the pinnacle of power.
The mountain nurtured trees, yet the trees nourished their branches; My heart sought your happiness, yet you had not known…
Whoosh, a dark shadow swept past the window. She suddenly froze up, and even her fingers turned frigid. Zhuge Yue noticed her frigidity and hugged her as he propped his body up and called out, ”What was that?”
A wave of rushed footsteps sounded out as servants replied, ”My King, it was a raven that was flying in the night.”
”Inform the archery units. Shoot all of them in the area.”
”Understood, Your Highness. This servant will leave now.”