Just a reminder that the italicized portion is Ning Yi reminiscing, the unitalicized portion would be Ning Yi’s thoughts, the bolded parts would be what Ning Yi actually writes to Zhi Wei. For this post we will be doing Ning Yi’s side first. 

That day in the chaos of the ancestry temple, she came running, dissolved the crisis before collapsing into his arms. That day, he knelt by her bedside, wiped her body in silence. Anguish filling all of him, thinking from that point on, everything would end.  

That time, he finally left her side. The army procession made its way to the area of the reed fields where he wrote that letter wishing she could listen to the music of the wind with him. That time, when he was sailing on the ocean and couldn’t sleep, he slowly glued the reef to a letter. He couldn’t sleep all that night as he remembered the wave of despair that had washed over him when he thought he would lose her. In those nights, he fumbled in the darkness as he wrote the letters, thinking over her every possible move as she tries to hide the letters. Enjoying the small happiness that washed over him in the dark silence. 

On that day, he handed the box full of letters over to Yan Huai Shi and could hear the obvious happiness and excitement in Yan Huai Shi’s voice. He suddenly felt at that moment that the future is bright and peaceful. Who would’ve known, the closest intimacy between them only occurred to make the eventual departure more violent and painful. Through all the twists and turns, until today…are we really now nothing more than a few polite words on a piece of paper? Is it really just Prince Chu’s polite greeting to Queen Shunyi, words that can be publicly shown to anyone and anytime? He suddenly stopped writing for a moment before writing speedily in one fluid movement as if the words are pouring out of him. 

“Zhi Wei, on that day of the snowstorm that was heavy enough to reach a person’s knee, I paced around the outside of the Peace Palace for a long time. I heard you had stayed there for a night. Out in the courtyard, there were fingerprints on a short squatty tree. (These are obviously not CSI sort of fingerprints. They would be indentions left on the tree trunks. As a fighter, it would be easy for our heroine to leave those when she is under emotional duress)  Were they left by you? Did you pretend the tree was me? It would be fine if that was the case. Why didn’t you wait until I arrived so you could personally clutch my throat with your hands? I was the sword that took two lives of your family yet you just left and ran off to the end of the world. That really doesn’t fit your personality. Zhi Wei, some people are destined to be your obstacle. No matter how far you hide, you won’t be able to avoid them. Perhaps it’s not your intention to hide but to simply lay low and gather your strength. Perhaps there will come a day you will lay waiting in my path to strike me down. If that’s so, then please make sure you don’t let me wait too long. Wei Zhi’s reward and promotion are still sitting in my drawer, waiting for you. You once promised to wait for me at the end of the road. Now that road has been stretched a bit too long but no matter how long the road is, if one is willing to keep walking then it will end one day. That box full of letters has probably either been tossed to be trodden under horse hoofs or thrown into a river somewhere, but that’s alright. The words written on those letters were truly on the ugly side so when I get time, I will rewrite them one by one. The reed field, the little reef, the special redwood (the thing the letterbox was made out of), none of them was the one and only in this world. What is truly one and only are the unforgettable memories that came from certain experiences. I don’t know where you have hidden those memories but mine is still with me, waiting for you to come personally dig them out. (As in dig out his heart…literally) Remember, don’t let me wait too long.” 

The letter sealed up, sitting silently on the table with the exquisite gift basket. Leaning slightly against the chair, facing the letter, he watched as the sunlight inch by inch climbs past the window to be replaced by the frost-like moonlight. The wind blows past the rooftop, singing a forlorn song, the nights at the capital are so very long. 

————————————————————————

Waving away the palace guards, Peony leads them through a series of long corridors until she finally pushes through a door “Here it is!” 

Feng Zhi Wei fastened her eyes on the interior of the room and was indeed hit over the head with the “Here it is!” The room is sure…festive. Red everywhere. (Chinese people use red to celebrate weddings and festivals) A red bed, red screen bed curtains, red sheets, red vases, red carpet, red painting. Vibrant reds all meshed together, making one’s eyes dizzy and the blood in one’s blood vessel beat like crazy. This wasn’t just the end of it. What was even more painful is that on each of the red objects there are pictures stitched or carved into them. No matter if the item is in the style of the wild grassland or not, every picture has the Chinese Han style of ducks playing in the water. (Two ducks frolicking in the water is a traditional picture to wish a newlywed couple bliss.) It would’ve been fine if it was just the ducks but then someone had to go and add a peony flower on it. Adding the peony could even be fine but since the ducks are green and the peony flower is yellow, then both are on bright red background…the combination is enough to send ones’ nerve into a tailspin. 

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Peony says proudly “Vibrant! Festive! Energetic! Prosperous! It took a long time for me to come up with this style!” 

Indeed, only Peony could come with such a bizarre combination. 

Pushing aside another door to the left, Peony rattles on “This room was originally my youngest son’s but he is probably no more so now we turn it into baby Zhi Xiao’s room! We don’t have too many rules here in the wild grassland, the child is still young, Yi Yi (Peony’s nickname for Gu Nan Yi) can just stay here with her.” 

Zhi Wei looks in and instantly felt an overwhelming sense of satisfaction towards her own room– at least her room is still a room but this one over here…what is it? Pink everywhere. All four walls are piled with pink cushions. Over half of the floor are soft mats that are covered with pink pearl studded bedding. There are also bells hanging in various areas. On the bells, there are all sorts of ribbons, flowers, color balls. Glancing down at the strange looking pink and white piles of stuff on the floor, Zhi Wei bends down to pick one up and realizes it is made of flannel, probably stuffed with cotton but the shape… Holding the thing that has five legs with ears of unequal length, Zhi Wei asks Peony “What is this?” 

“Rabbit.”

“Why does it have five legs?” 

Peony sneers at Zhi Wei’s bad eyesight, “Look clearly, that’s the tail, the tail!” 

Holding the incomparable long ear rabbit in her hand, no matter how Zhi Wei stares at it she still thinks the tail looks more like the legs than the legs themselves.  

“You made it?” Such astonishing handiwork, reminding her of the chest wrap so they probably came from the same person. 

Peony proudly puffs up her impressive chest. 

Zhi Wei turns her head to look pitifully at Master Gu– Sorry mister, you are probably going to have to sleep in this room that is covered in pink and kids’ toys….

The unfazed Master Gu stands behind Zhi Wei and calmly surveys the room. Other than feeling that Zhi Wei’s expression is a bit odd, Master Gu thought everything looked pretty good. 

Pulling Zhi Wei and Hua Qing with her a few more steps, Peony pushes open another door and says “Qing Qing, it’s almost your due date so it would be better for you to stay close by. This was originally…” Letting out a questioning “Eh?”, Peony suddenly stops mid-sentence as the door opens and someone slowly stands up on the carpeted floor. 

All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com

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