It was already the third watch of the night, and the night market was coming to an end. Yuling and the man stared at each other in silence.
It was Yuling who spoke first. "You might as well take this golden lotus lantern, Young Master. I only guessed the riddles for fun; since I've already had my enjoyment, I don't care much about who keeps the lantern. You can take it home to please your wife at home, which will make up for the hardships of tonight."
The man finally softened his tone a fraction and said in a low voice, "I have no wife at home."
The man's murmurs were barely audible, and she didn't catch them clearly. "What did you say?"
"I said you should take it, Little Lady! A big man like me has no use for such a lantern."
"Then is there no one in your heart that you care for?"
The man remained silent.
Yuling toyed with the lotus lantern made of gold foil, suddenly feeling that working so hard all evening just for this was indeed a bit not worth it—she might as well just consider it money spent on buying some happiness. So she generously said, "If Young Master has nothing better to do, why not follow the vendor's suggestion and come with me to float lotus lanterns on the river? We can also take the opportunity to entrust a wish to the person you hold dear in your heart. That way, our efforts tonight won't have been in vain. What do you think?"
"Since Little Lady is willing, naturally I will not refuse. Walk toward the north side of East City and you'll find the Bian River. I'll lead the way."
"Let's go then!"
Holding the lotus lantern, the woman followed behind the man in white brocade, looking all the more petite and charming.
When she wasn't talking, her appearance was actually quite poised and refined. What a pity... appearances really could be deceiving.
Most of the pedestrians on the street had dispersed, leaving only scattered pairs of lovers whispering sweetharts' talk. After the third watch night market, the fifth watch morning market would begin; coupled with the festive atmosphere of the Lantern Festival, it was naturally brightly lit and went on day and night.
Before reaching the riverbank, they could already see from afar lanterns shaped like peonies and lotus flowers floating on the surface of the Bian River, forming a fiery red expanse. The reflections of the candle flames shimmered upon the ripples of the water, looking exceptionally striking under the moonlight.
Withered trees were planted along the riverbank. The two of them stepped onto the stone bridge over the river, and a chilly wind swept past. The man turned around and looked at her, a faint, ambiguous smile still lingering on his face. The sky was pitch black without a single star, yet his eyes were so brilliant that under the moonlight, they eclipsed any starlight. Facing her against the wind, he looked at her and continued walking backward.
The two quickly reached the bridgehead. A gust of breeze blew past, and the light veil on Yuling's face was whipped off by the fierce wind. Fluttering and swirling, it was swept into midair and finally plunged into the pitch-black river water, instantly swallowed up.
Instinctively, Yuling wanted to grab her veil, but alas, it was already too late. The chain reaction of such a sweeping movement was that her foot slipped, and she nearly tumbled down the steps. Fortunately, the man before her had quick eyes and nimble hands; he grabbed the woman firmly and pulled her into his embrace.
Only then did Yuling notice that in the chilly wind, the man's embrace was unexpectedly warm, and the moonlight reflected the silver embroidered floral patterns on his white robe—which turned out to be clusters of dense violets.
The man looked into her eyes as if they were about to ripple with water. With a single hand, he untied the ribbons of his white feather mask, the white feathers fluttering wildly against the night breeze in his hand, and his voice was laced with amusement: "Little Lady Yuling, you must watch your step when walking!"
"It's you! Young Master... Bai."
"Indeed it is."
"Then just now..."
"I have truly witnessed the formidable skill of Little Lady Yuling during those riddle-guessing sessions! I am thoroughly prostrate in admiration."
"How terribly impolite of me." A twinge of guilt unexpectedly arose in Yuling's heart. After all, in her mind, Young Master Bai was still a decent sort—modest and scholarly... It seemed that was just a facade as well. Cold sweat began to bead on her forehead.
"Earlier, the two of us could also be considered a match made in heaven, complementing each other perfectly."
Wasn't it more like a life-or-death struggle where both fish and net perish?
Yuling could only offer an awkward, echoing laugh. After all, the man had just saved her; otherwise, had she tumbled down such steep and long steps just now, she truly would have made a complete fool of herself!
She glanced back at the towering stone bridge stairs under the pitch-black night, and cold sweat instantly broke out in her heart.
Without withdrawing his arm, the man held her by the back and guided her all the way down the bridge toward the riverside. Her heart was still fluttering with lingering fear, so she didn't notice that their actions at the moment were slightly too intimate.
"I've been in East City for quite some days now, and I've wandered through all four cities—East, West, South, and North. I've found that only West City is filled with blooming snow-white plum blossoms, while the other three cities are entirely filled with withered branches. Why is that?"
"The Lord of West City loves white plums, and that hasn't changed for decades. Tracing the past, it's because the City Lord misses his late wife, so he filled the city with plum blossoms like a snowy plain to commemorate her. She loved plum blossoms above all else when she was alive. In the other three cities, peach trees are mostly planted, but since it's not the season yet, they are just withered branches."
"Then the Lord of West City is truly deeply devoted to his late wife." Yuling placed the golden lotus lantern into the Bian River. As the ripples drifted, the lantern floated dozens of meters away, complementing other half-extinguished and half-burning lanterns.
"The Lord of West City in Bianjing was originally a relative of Your Majesty by marriage. Twenty years ago, during a war to repel the enemy, he wiped out the invaders from the northwestern wasteland who were attacking the Central Plains. As a frontier fortress defending against the enemy and a stronghold guarding the Central Plains, West City was not breached by the enemy forces; instead, it protected the three central cities in the rear. Your Majesty was exceedingly pleased. At that time, Fang Tianba was originally only an imperial vanguard commander temporarily guarding West City as a royal relative. After the great victory in this battle, Your Majesty bestowed promotions and honors upon him, and also appointed him as the Commander of the Imperial Guard and Grand General of the Western Guard to continue guarding the peace of the imperial capital. Although he held the nominal official title of the Imperial Guard, the common people in the city privately still habitually called him the Lord of West City. Your Majesty granted him special permission to independently decide all matters, large and small, within the city. Because his late wife loved music, Fang Tianba opened more than a dozen vaudeville houses in West City, where the stages year-round performed the various types of puppet shows, story-telling, and ballad suites that she had loved during her lifetime. Out of sympathy for his deep yearning for his late wife, Your Majesty turned a blind eye to such minor matters."
"I never imagined the Lord of West City to be such a devoted man. How did his late wife pass away? Was she ill?"
Bai Molian dismissed it with a smile. "Those are all bygone matters."
Seeing this, Yuling did not press further.
Sighing, she steered the topic away from this somewhat sorrowful tale, murmuring and sighing softly, "What a pity. Such a beautiful and lively night view, yet not a single peach tree is in full bloom. Just imagine if there were groves of peach trees, pink petals falling like rain, and a fragrant scent filling the air, reflecting the lanterns along the entire river tonight—that scenery would truly be peerless! It's just a pity that good things in the world never last, colorful clouds are easily scattered and glazed glass is easily broken, and it is hard for good things in the world to be complete. It seems we are destined to miss such beauty tonight."
The man chuckled, a brilliant glazed light dancing in his eyes. With a grand wave of his hand, starlight-like purple beams overflowed from his palms and landed on the rows of withered peach tree branches along the riverbank.
In an instant, all things revived; branches and leaves grew, flowers bloomed in profusion, connecting into a continuous sheet of pink smoke and clouds that stretched for miles.
Passersby on the street were all stunned by the revived beauty of the peach grove. Young couples stepped forward to admire the flowers, some kissed under the cover of the peach grove, and others strolled along both banks of the river.
Noticing this momentary spectacle, she turned to the man beside her and said, "Did the weather suddenly warm up? Why did all the peach blossoms open in a split second?"
"Perhaps your sincerity moved the flower goddess."
"How could that be?"
"Haha!"
A fierce wind blew, and peach blossoms fell tree by tree, scattering all over the ground. Looking at the thick layers of petals carpeting the earth, she couldn't help but sit down right there on the ground, even lying gently upon nature's peach blossom blanket, and slowly closed her eyes. Another breeze swept by, and tiny, oval peach blossom petals landed on her face and lips, dusting her pink-and-white gauze dress.
"Still, this peach blossom rain is truly beautiful!"
She felt as though she were about to fall asleep.
After who knows how long, she suddenly jolted awake.
She had a nightmare.
In the dream, the man before her was holding the ancient divine artifact she had tirelessly searched for—the only thing in this world capable of repairing the cracks in her Crystal Stone—the Kongming Mirror. She reached out to take the mirror, but the man slapped her hand away. His face wore a hideous, terrifying smile, devoid of the gentleness and refinement she remembered; instead, it radiated an unfamiliar, bone-chilling terror and a cold aura. His robes and hands were stained with fresh blood, and his fair face was likewise smeared with gore. Even more shocking was the smile on his face—so desolate, shattered, mad, and utterly devoid of mercy.
In the dream, she looked down at herself and found that she was still lying on the peach blossom blanket beneath the tree. The difference was that her dress and the petals beneath her were soaked in dripping blood, and all her internal organs had been hollowed out and emptied, leaving behind only a nearly cold torso. Her blood was draining away drop by drop, the warm blood gradually growing cold and congealing.
And she was powerless to resist any of it. Completely defenseless.
She tried desperately to summon the Crystal Stone within her, only to find she could summon nothing at all.
Using the last of her strength, she raised her eyes to look at the man opposite her. She saw his handsome visage twisted by a bewitching, cruel, and savage grin. Tiny specks of purple radiance emanated from his body, and the Crystal Stone obediently fell into his palm. With an incantation, the Crystal Stone obeyed him, dissolving into nothingness within his body. Having absorbed all the purple light and calming everything down, he remained clad in immaculate white robes, a warm and benign smile on his face as he gazed calmly at her. Gazing at—her already cold, shattered corpse.
The scene was far too horrifying; she abruptly jolted awake from the dream.
She could feel that the sunlight was glaringly bright, most likely past noon of the next day. But she did not open her eyes, merely feigning sleep as she secretly pondered everything she had seen in the dream. She always felt that what happened in the dream felt too real to be dismissed as groundless, but after all, it was just a dream—what proof could it offer?
Was all of that real? Or was it some kind of warning? She was baffled. Who on earth was the man in the dream? He indeed wore Bai Molian's face, but why was he so bone-chillingly terrifying?
She couldn't understand how she could have such a dream—bizarre, grotesque, and utterly inexplicable.
Who on earth was Bai Molian?
In the dream, he actually possessed the Kongming Mirror, an item she had sought for so long but could never obtain! Recently, the cracks in her Crystal Stone had grown increasingly severe, giving a palpable sense that they were on the verge of shattering. Otherwise, why would she have been so internally weak yesterday by the bridge that she almost tumbled down the steps without the ability to save herself, relying at the very last critical moment on the support of the man beside her?
This eerie dream left her harboring a certain degree of vigilance and wariness toward this mysterious Bai Molian of unknown origins.