Chapter 121: Dream Broken
Translator: Antonia
“…” Mo Qianxue stunned.
“Originally, I should have died when falling off the cliff, but I wasn’t willing to die like this, so my will power within my body was triggered and summoned you here.”
Mo Qianxue turned around and stared at Xue, “Summon? I was summoned here by you? You mean I was summoned by your cryptic technique from the modern world?”
She looked a little excited and looked at Xue full of expectancy.
“Yes.” “Then can you get me back?” She still wanted to see again her parents and her younger brother to tell them that she got married and led a happy life here.
“Sorry, I can’t.” Xue shook her head and saw the excitement in Mo Qianxue’s eyes was instantly replaced by disappointment, “Sorry!”
Sorry? This word could easily concluded everything? One moment she was sipping tea and the next she was here. Then, she had suffered a series of events, being sold out, being chased and almost murdered, worrying about her husband’s health all day long. This wasn’t an easy life at all.
Thinking of Ning Shaoqing, she felt more or less warm. Even if she could go back to the modern world, she wouldn’t be willing to because of Ning Shaoqing. Therefore, she ceased to be disappointed, but she still needed to vent out the rage, “Why didn’t you just die? Why did you summon me to this world? Why?”
Xue lowered her head, “Because… I had no other way to survive. Even if I could, I didn’t want to face those filthy calculations anymore…”
Mo Qianxue snorted, regarding as her a selfish person. No one wanted to face those things. Should Mo Qianxue face those for her?
Xue didn’t stop her narrative because of Mo Qianxue contempt and continued murmuring into the sky, “but, I didn’t want those murderers get away easily. Why should they get off scot free after killing my parents? I want them get their punishment.”
Her voice grew louder and louder and began to contain bloodthirsty, something poles different from her frail appearance.
“I was born with special talent, so I had been in poor health. My parents had wanted to utilize internal strength to make me healthier, but to their surprise, the special talent just didn’t allow me to cultivate internal strength. When I was six years old, the first trace of internal strength was developed in my body, but I was almost killed by the conflict between the special talent and the internal strength. At last, a master helped seal the faint internal strength in my body so that I had survived until…”
Mo Qianxue wasn’t interested in the internal strength at all but was quite intrigued by the special talent, so she asked, “Then does it mean that when I use your body, I also have the special talent to travel between different times?”
“No. My special talent lies within my soul, so as I dissipate, it’ll disappear too, then your body becomes normal.”
Xue answered Mo Qianxue’s doubts and continued, “Because of a trace of missing deep down, this dream was created at the last moment of triggered the will power…”
Speaking of the missing, her bashful face flushed a little, “I just wanted to see him for the last time. Now that I’ve seen him, this dream is going to break. As it breaks up, I’m gone too, either to enter into reincarnation or to dissipate in the universe. Anyhow, I won’t appear again.”
The voice turned from soft to sorrowful, making Mo Qianxue’s heart soft too.
Mo Qianxue certainly understood that she was talking about Feng Yuchen. Actually, Mo Qianxue wanted to tell that they were cousins and shouldn’t marry each other genetically, but on a second thought, anyhow the soul was leaving and the body would be hers, meaning whether to marry the cousin was up to her, so she just shut up.
Talking of Feng Yuchen, Mo Qianxue thought of the unwillingness that the soul had mentioned, fearing that what it might asked her to do was revenge, asking, “I won’t go to the capital because of the conspiracy. I really hate it to be locked in a big mansion and live in calculations.” Back in modern times, in order to get the position, she already had made too much calculations. Now she was really sick of it.
In the face of Mo Qianxue’s sudden question, Xue only sneered with slyness, “You will. As long as you’re alive, those people won’t let you get away. As long as you want to live, you must fight back. You must figure out the murderers.”
Mo Qianxue asked, “Is this want you want me to do?”
Xue shook her head, “No! You will do it without my request.”
Xue said it casually, but Mo Qianxue wanted to greet its mother. Yet, at the thought that she was going to use its body, its mother would be her mother too.
However, she knew that Xue was right.
Even if she didn’t mess with those people, they would come to her door one day. Without figuring out the murderers, she wouldn’t have a peaceful live.
Mo Qianxue looked gloomy, but Xue didn’t look her and only begged, “Please, please be nice to cousin. He’s a good person; he has been taken care of me all the time.”
He had taken care of you, not me. Why did I have anything to do with me? Because of you, now I’m loaded of huge troubles. Mo Qianxue stood there, motionless.
“I only have one request. Never let him know that I’m dead. In the future, no matter what he might do, don’t stand opposite him. You already have Ning Shaoqing and couldn’t marry cousin, so you treat him as your own brother, okay?”
Mo Qianxue didn’t think so, “Why should I say yes?” Without her consent, it had summoned her over and thrown at her so many troubles. Now it wanted her to treat one of the troubles as her own brother? Why?
“You will.” Xue took out a black wooden tablet, “This is my father’s martial tally which is able to mobilize a troop of 200,000 riders. It’s the symbol of your identity and an amulet of your life.”
Mo Qianxue gazed at the wooden tablet, hesitant. One more brother, and an amulet of life.
This world appeared at its peak, but soon it would be on the verge of collapse. Since they had gotten here, when it was inevitable, she and Ning Shaoqing would for sure go to the capital one day. It would be hard to predict the situation in the capital by then.
Besides, even if she didn’t have the wooden tablet, everyone would think she did.
She stopped hesitating and replied, “Okay. I promise you. As long as he doesn’t hurt me and Ning Shaoqing, I won’t stand opposite him and will treat him as my own brother.”
Handing her the wooden tablet and telling her how to use it, Xue no longer talked but looked into the void in her soft expression as if she had seen Feng Yuchen, “Then I’m relieved.”
Afterwards, the bashful shadow waved her hand, and Mo Qianxue heard the sound of a dream breaking…
*
Riding for a long time, Feng Yuchen calmed down. He stopped the horse and glanced backed. It was far away from the Wang village.
When his two guards caught up with him, he directly made two orders.
On the hillside downwards was a peach forest with numerous buds to be blossom. With breeze, faint scent of floral fragrance floated in the air.
Feng Yuchen pointed at the guard to his left, “Feng Luan, hurry and sneak back to the Wang village. Pay attention to lady’s action and report to me at any time.”
“Yes.” Feng Luan took the ordered and rode away at once.
Then Feng Yuchen looked at the other guard, “Feng Bo, hurry and report lady’s situation to old master and old madam. If there is any leak of the news, you come to meet me with your heading holding in your hand.”
“Yes.” Feng Bo took the order respectfully and then remembered that lord just now had vomited blood, so he added, “Lord. Do you need me to dispatch over your FengYun Eighteen Guards and the other sixteen?”
“No. they are already on the way.” Smelling the floral fragrance, Feng Yuchen subconsciously made the horse turn around.
“Yes. I’ll go. Take care, lord.” Seeing that lord didn’t have much desire to talk, Feng Bo said goodbye, spurred the horse and galloped away.
The clatter of horse hoofs faded away. Feng Yuchen didn’t look back but stared at the peach forest at downhill.
What greeted his eyes was peach trees laughing proudly in wind.
What he saw was two figures shuttling in the forest, and what he remembered was the days they played and laughed happily together.
His body moved along with his heart. In a dive, he leaped into the peach forest.
The cuckoos perching on the branches were startled and flew away, kept twittering, “cuckoo, cuckoo—”
Once upon a time, they stood side by side. Now, it was only his single figure hearing the cuckoo (sounding like don’t cry in Chinese), which broke his heart and unsparingly drained tears out of his eyes.
His beloved one was just over there, but she couldn’t stay by his side…
He feared that she calling him cousin was merely an auditory hallucination. Yesterday, she had looked him like an absolute stranger. He couldn’t forget determined resistance and unfamiliarity in her eyes…
He hated… But, whom should he hate? Heaven? That man? Or himself? Or the one who had created the incident? … He raised his palm and hit on a tree trunk whose tiny thorns instantly stabbed into his palm. It seemed that only physical pain could slightly dispel the terror and scare deep in his heart.
But for the beautiful memory and sweetness filling all his life, he wouldn’t have been so heartbroken like now.
A man won’t shed tears until there is no other resort. If live wasn’t this bitter, he might have been crying.
However, as long as a person had feelings, every kind of feeling might turn into bitterness. And the bitterest among all kinds of bitterness was losing a beloved one and regret that couldn’t be made up for.
*
In the sound of a dream breaking and the sight of everything before her dissipating like a frog and of a soul that had countless connections with herself dissolving in wind, Mo Qianxue couldn’t help feeling sad and didn’t close her until a long while.
When she opened her eyes again, the first thing she saw was Ning Shaoqing’s gentle face and staring reddish eyes.
Mo Qianxue’s heart squeezed. She was reminded of what she had seen in midair. Xue’s words must have hurt him. However, she couldn’t explain, nor did she have a reason.
The more she explained, the more troubles he would get into!
Gazing intently at Ning Shaoqing, Mo Qianxue said gently, “Shaoqing, we shall never separate for a life time. Okay?” She had never said similar words, even when she was most touched.
Ning Shaoqing was shocked. Just a second ago, he was worrying that after she woke up, she might push him away again and struggled to find her stupid so-called cousin.
Originally, he had planed to asked her that whether she forgot him and questioned what her relationship was with her cousin. Yet, her words acted like a drug that instantly set his heart at ease and blocked all what he had wanted to say within his mouth.
These words were enough. Why bother to ask those questions? In her eyes, he only saw himself. This was enough already!
When he realized what was going on, Ning Shaoqing only felt his heart tiding up and down with rolling emotions. All the bone-penetrating pain was dissolved by her words. With a sigh of relief, he took Mo Qianxue into his arms and pressed hard against his chest, as if he wanted to melt her into his bones and blood and never separate again.
The ear-pleasing cello voice rang next to her cheek, “Yes. We’ll never separate for a life time.”
Mo Qianxue felt her bitterness unbearable. Although she had planned not to explain, but her words rushed out of her mouth quicker, “It won’t happen again.”
These words seemed to pop up from nowhere, but Ning Shaoqing hugged her even tighter.
The two remained hugging and silent, when Caixia came in with a basin of water and saw this at the door, having no idea whether to get in or out.
Hearing the sound, the couple quickly separated. Ning Shaoqing coughed slightly and pointed to the basin rack, “Put the water there.”
Caixia responded, “yes”, put the basin on the rack, walked away and was about shut the door when she suddenly remembered what she needed to report.
Then she turned back, “Lady, the two girls who claimed to be your servants were still kneeling at the gate. Should I have them driven away by guard Asan and Awu?”
Hearing Caixia mentioning the two girls, Ning Shaoqing put on his cold face. Of course it was up to Mo Qianxue whether to drive them away, but at present she was too fragile to meet those girls. Hence, he ordered, “Let them kneel there.”
“Yes.” Caixia shut the door, her face red and heart beating faster, and went out like escaping.
After Caixia left, Ning Shaoqing walked to the basin, soaked a handkerchief in water, twisted it and then wiped face for Mo Qianxue.
Caixia’s mentioning of Chuyi and Shiwu reminded Mo Qianxue of the murderers behind the scene that Xue had told her, so she asked, “Shaoqing, who will be the biggest beneficiary if I died?” The one who would become the biggest beneficiary was mostly likely to be the one behind the scene.
Ning Shaoqing’s hand wiping her face stopped for a second, “Of course it’s the Mo family. As long as you died, unmarried, your title will still belong to the Mo family.”
Put down the handkerchief, Ning Shaoqing caressed her face, “Don’t say that word again. As long as I’m breathing, I don’t let you hurt.”
Mo Qianxue felt warm but went on to ask, “If my parents are gone, then who will be the biggest beneficiary?” What Xue meant was that her parents had died for another hidden reason. Indeed, her mother had taken her own life to follow her father, but her father must have died for another more complicated reason other than sacrificing his life in a war.
She wasn’t familiar of the political structure of Tianqi Dynasty, so in order to dig out the potential enemies, she must resort to a person who was an expert in it.
This question wasn’t a simple one. Ning Shaoqing, face turning stern, contemplating for a while, and answered, “The Emperor, the Su family, and the Cang Nation in the west…”
“The Emperor?” Mo Qianxue was a little surprised at this answer.
The Su family boasted military power, so it could be counted as a political enemy. The Cang Nation was the enemies that her father fought against to protect the country. These two were easy to understand. But the Emperor? Her father’s death meant the lose of a powerful general to him.
“Father boasted military power. If he deceased, without a general, the troops and the military power would be naturally returned to the Emperor…” Ning Shaoqing answered, squinting his eyes. Of course, he knew what Mo Qianxue’s question meant.
His answered quite made sense. For a time, Mo Qianxue was speechless. Heaven! Did Xue want her to fight against the Emperor, the Su family and the Cang Nation in the west at the same time?
Fighting against the Emperor meant fighting against the whole royal family! Fighting against the Su family meant fighting against part of the country’s military power! Fighting against the Cang Nation meant making enemies against a whole country…
Mo Qianxue shivered. Either of them was able to kill her like killing an ant with a finger.
Yet! Xue had told her that the black wooden tablet could dispatch Mo troop of twenty hundred thousand riders. She couldn’t have lied to her. There must be unknown facts.
Mo Qianxue touched the tablet in her pocket. Luckily, it had really gotten out of the dream with her.
Seeing Mo Qianxue lost in a daze, Ning Shaoqing patted her shoulder with concerns, “I’ll make further investigation into the reasons of father’s decease. Don’t think too much.”
If that was what she wanted, he would help her sparing no effort. If they couldn’t lead an ordinary life with each other, then why not overturn the world and live a dramatic one?
Sensing that kind of low air pressure, Mo Qianxue returned to reality, her little hand touching the big one on her shoulder, looking at him seriously, “Don’t! I just asked casually. Father died in war. It can’t be wrong.”
If Ning Shaoqing really looked into the secrets behind father’s death, he must be getting into quaking dangers. She didn’t want to put him at risk.
Fine. She only wanted to remain alive and live a peaceful life with him. If anyone came to her, then she would just fight back. Don’t make it complicated!
Ning Shaoqing sighed and didn’t say more. He was afraid that even if they wanted peace, others wouldn’t want the same for them.
Mo Qianxue shook her head violently, as if trying to shake off all those troubles, forced a smile to Ning Shaoqing and then ordered Caixia, “Caixia, get Chuyi and Shiwu in here.”
There were things that she must face head-on. In addition, the story they were telling last time hadn’t finished yet.