After a long moment, Feng Zhi Wei took a deep breath, raised her eyes to meet Helian’s gaze straight on, and said softly, “Helian, your words truly make me happy…but, I can’t.”
This was the first time she had so directly responded to Helian. Helian looked at her, there was no disappointment in his expression. He had tried, he is still trying, thus the result was not important.
As long as she is well.
“Then promise me that whenever and wherever, as long as you need me, you will summon me.” Helian did not let go of her hand this whole time, “Don’t be like this time at Xiliang, casting me to the side out of fear of dragging the Wildgrass Land into the mess.”
“Then you too need to promise me to fill up the vacancies of the ten beauties in the king’s tent soon.” Feng Zhi Wei naturally withdrew her hands and tightened the cloak straps for him.
Her head was slightly lowered, her snow-white fingers deftly threaded through the purple-gold ribbon. From Helian’s angle, he could see her thick eyelashes trembling slightly in the wind.
He stared steadily at her, a smile curving his lips. The smile was bright and open, yet concealing a hint of desolation.
He replied, “Alright.”
=================
When Helian left, his departing figure crushed the fallen leaves scattered across the early winter ground. Before long, a thin layer of snow accumulated on the leaves— Xiliang of that year, miraculously had a snowfall.
Being located in the southern border region, Xilian rarely saw snow. The entire court was in a festive mood, saying that a holy ruler had descended from heaven and bestowed auspicious signs. The layer of snow was so thin that it could barely cover a straw mat, but it was nonetheless treated as a grand event. They even held elaborate snow-viewing banquets and hosted snow-treading gatherings.
The snow, of course, disappeared as soon as it was stepped on, but the scholars still managed to wax poetic over the resulting muddy puddles. During the banquet, they composed a total of 180 poems on snow appreciation….all of which were later taken by Young Master Gu to light the stove.
Young Master Gu did not live in the palace. He bought a house near the palace and came into the palace every day. Consort Mi initially seemed to have expressed some dissatisfaction, but after Feng Zhi Wei ordered people to stick knives into every stool in her chamber one night, she never expressed another opposition concerning the matter.
Feng Zhi Wei understood people like Consort Mi very well. It had not been easy for her to survive, so she would live even more cautiously from now on. No one’s life would ever be more important than her own. Which is why Feng Zhi Wei used such a rogue-like method to tell her one fact— you can use any means to get in my way, but if any of my people suffer the slightest mishap, then I will fight you to death.
She trusts that once Consort Mi has thought things through, she will no longer make things difficult for Master Gu. After all, they are all trying to protect the same person.
On New Year’s Eve that year, a very dusty Zong Chen arrived after a hurried journey. He wanted to complain when he saw Feng Zhi Wei, but looking at the majestic imperial city, he sighed and said nothing. For the New Year’s Eve dinner that night, Feng Zhi Wei had originally wanted to let the mother and daughter celebrate the New Year for the first time. However, when evening arrived, Gu Zhi Xiao had sent someone to fetch her, Young Master Gu, and Zhong Chen to the palace. When the palace gate opened, Gu Zhi Xiao, wearing a long cloak that reached her ankles, was wrapped up like a ball and waiting for them in the freezing winter wind.
The massive palace gate opened to a vast, open emptiness. The child’s shadow stood in the center, shrunken into a tiny ball. Seeing her from afar, a sudden pang of sorrow hit Feng Zhi Wei deep inside.
Young Master Gu quickly walked over and pulled her into his arms.
Holding his daughter, he turned around and looked at Feng Zhi Wei from afar. With a hand on the palace gate, Feng Zhi Wei pursed her lips and gave him a smile of understanding.
Young Master Gu lowered his eyes and, without saying a word, carried Gu Zhi Xiao slowly into the palace.
The three people’s figures cast long shadows on the white stone ground, as the palace walls silently and majestically towered over them from all sides.
That night, the four of them sat together celebrating the New Year. Surprisingly, Consort Mi tactfully did not disturb them. Since Gu Zhi Xiao had not yet formally ascended the throne, there were no grand ceremonies. The voting had reached the final stages, and Lu Rui was already preparing for Gu Zhi Xiao’s ascension to the throne in the first month of the new year.
Gu Zhi Xiao was already nodding off, but insisted on staying up all night to celebrate the New Year. The four of them sat around the brazier and ate dinner in silence. At midnight, a half asleep Gu Zhi Xiao threw her arms around Young Master Gu and whispered, “You promised to stay with me.”
Gu Nan Yi patted her gently, but his eyes were on Feng Zhi Wei. Feng Zhi Wei averted his gaze, pursed her lips, and after a bit, said with a forced smile, “Daddy will stay with you.”
Gu Nan Yi suddenly reached out and grabbed Zong Chen, who was standing silently to the side, “Protect her.”
After thinking for a bit, he then added, “With life.”
Thinking some more, seemingly feeling that his demand was a bit too much, he added, “I will make it up to you.”
What he meant was that since he was asking Zong Chen to risk his life to protect Feng Zhi Wei, if one day Zong Chen really lost his life because of it, then he would also repay Zong Chen with his own life.
Feng Zhi Wei coughed and said with a forced laugh, “It’s New Year, what sort of talk is this, we all need to stay well.”
She stood up as if she was fleeing and pulled Zong Chen into a room and said, “I have been waiting for you to come and remove this poison for me.”
The parasitic poison planted by Jin Siyu required an antidote every New Year’s Eve. But after Helian located the source of the parasitic poison, Zong Chen spent more than half a year researching it. Based on the unusual and unique internal energy within Feng Zhi Wei’s body– the strange sort that becomes stronger when encountering a stronger counter energy, Zong Chen found a method that did not require Jin Siyu’s antidote. The method is that each year, when the poison is about to flare up, Zong Chen would use his golden needles on the acupoints right at the moment of poison onset. Not only does this remove the poison layer by layer, but it also helps Feng Zhi Wei’s internal energy to grow. Previously, Zong Chen had been using medicine to prepare Feng Zhi Wei’s body so that he could remove the poison from her this day. He won’t be able to clear the poison in one shot, but according to his plan, the poison will be gone in three years.
This was also why Feng Zhiu Wei did not accept Jin Siyu’s offer of the antidote. Her body was already under preparation to follow Zong Chen’s plan. If she had accepted Jin Siyu’s antidote, it would only have messed Zong Chen up. She would rather risk her life under Zong Chen’s hand than live as someone’s puppet for the rest of her life.
That night, Master Gu stood guard outside the door, not leaving for a single moment. Knowing that the process of removing the poison must be painful and dangerous, he was ready to protect Feng Zhi Wei at any time. However, the room stayed quiet and silent. As dawn approached, he heard an exchange in low voices. Zong Chen asked, “…Why did you choose this method? Taking Jin Siyu’s antidote would have been much easier on you.”
The room was silent. Gu Nan Yi pressed his face against the door and waited quietly. After a long while, he finally heard Feng Zhi Wei’s tired voice.
“Because this way, I will become stronger, so he doesn’t have to worry about me anymore.”
After the brief exchange, the room fell silent again. The faint sound of Feng Zhi Wei’s coughing could be heard. Gu Nan Yi’s face remained pressed gently against the door, motionless, as if he had fallen asleep. Only when the wind brushed past his veil did it reveal a thin layer of mist on his long lashes.
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