“That girl will wait for you.”
Yes, Xin Mei would wait for him. He understood this clearly. Whether five years or ten years, if it were her, she would definitely wait steadfastly without question, waiting for him to come home.
He wasn’t a good husband, always making her wait.
But, Xin Mei, I will definitely come home.
In this world, only where you are can be my home.
Four years later, May third—
Another May third. Xin Mei rose before dawn as usual, grabbed a meat bun steamed the night before from the kitchen, blowing on it because it was too hot, while climbing the slope for her routine gaze into the distance.
If Lu Qianqiao was coming back, he would definitely take this road. Today was her twenty-first birthday – he should be able to make it back, right? If he didn’t return soon, she really would become an old woman.
Two days ago, Li Min had come to deliver a letter and gift – Lu Qianqiao wrote to her every month and included a present, sometimes pearl earrings, sometimes a necklace strung with seashells from the seaside. She remembered once he had killed some demon beast and, hearing that the creature’s liver was highly beneficial, had Li Yan carry it with both hands, bloody and across thousands of miles, to deliver to her.
The result was that during cooking, the liver gave off an overwhelming stench that made all the demons in the Imperial Tomb cry out in distress. Even Li Yan covered his nose with a pale face, refusing to eat it. She reluctantly took one bite to give Lu Qianqiao face, then buried the rest in a hole.
What Li Min had brought two days ago was a pink gauze skirt embroidered with peach blossoms. The fabric was supposedly some rare thousand-year silkworm silk that, besides being light and beautiful, also emitted fragrance.
He had said: “Young Master instructed that with spring here, you should wear new clothes – he might return any day.”
Xin Mei frowned: “What do you mean ‘might return any day’?”
“How would I know? When Young Master returns, ask him yourself.”
This hateful man! Four years ago on her seventeenth birthday, she had waited all day on the slope and he hadn’t come, only having Li Yan deliver a hairpin and a letter with stiff, rigid wording: 【Wait for me. Will return within five years.】
Was he so certain she would wait? Now four years had passed, and he was playing this mysterious game again – might return any day?
“Oh, then go back and tell him for me that if he doesn’t return soon, I might find myself a pretty boy any day.”
Li Min was completely unmoved: “The Imperial Tomb is full of demons. There are no pretty boys.”
Xin Mei was somewhat angry: “Li Yan counts as a pretty boy! Send him next time!”
Li Min remained very calm: “He can’t come recently. His twenty-five-year transformation trial has arrived.”
Over these years, young people in the war ghost clan had been encountering transformation trials one after another. Two years ago it was Li Min, who passed smoothly. Though he didn’t become a perfect war ghost like Li Chaoyang, as a pure-blood war ghost who survived the transformation trial, he could be considered formidable fighting power. This year it was Li Yan’s turn. He was also pure-blood, so the transformation should be no problem.
It seemed that precisely because new fighting power kept joining recently, the southern fox clan finally couldn’t hold out and evacuated their ancestral home where they had lived for generations, hiding to avoid the war ghosts’ pursuit. She heard that recently someone had even written peace proposal letters, though she didn’t know if it was true or false. Judging from Li Min and Li Yan’s attitudes, they were no longer as tense as before, so the dispute between the two clans was probably nearing its end.
“By the way, Young Master also has a birthday gift for you.”
Li Min expressionlessly placed a half-person-high wooden box from his back bundle on the ground and opened it. Inside were two lifelike dolls. One wore armor and carried a whip at the waist, looking majestic and imposing. The other had her hair up in a gauze skirt, graceful as if smiling, holding a small tofu-carved figure in her hands.
“Ah…” Xin Mei was shocked.
These two dolls… weren’t they just miniature versions of her and Lu Qianqiao! The eyebrows, eyes, nose… even her carefree, smiling expression that didn’t worry about anything was exactly the same!
“Young Master said this is called… this is called…”
Li Min frowned, very reluctant to say such mushy words.
“This is called ‘Perfect Match Made in Heaven.'”
His heart was bleeding. That Young Master who was wise, mighty, cold, and ruthless on the battlefield – how could you casually say such mushy, romantic words!
Xin Mei picked up both dolls, looking at this one, then kissing that one, smiling so widely her mouth wouldn’t close, completely forgetting her earlier threat about finding a pretty boy.
“Then tell him for me – say Lu Qianqiao, I miss you so painfully, my heart rains every day, and only when you return will my heart be filled with sunshine…”
“Stop!”
Li Min couldn’t bear it anymore, rubbing the goosebumps on his arms.
“Five words or less.”
“Oh, then tell him to come home soon.”
…
She didn’t know if Li Min had delivered that message. Xin Mei waited on the slope for an hour as usual, seeing not a single human figure, though she did see several fierce ghosts from the burial pits.
A quarter past the hour of Chen, Xin Xiong waved to her from below the slope: “Little Mei, come eat!”
Two years ago he had handed over the Xinxie Manor business to several disciples, bringing his wife’s memorial tablet to live at the Imperial Tomb with his daughter, enjoying his twilight years. When idle, he taught Tao Guoguo and her brother to read, helped Si Lan plant vegetables, and discussed with Official Zhao how to write his plays to be more engaging.
However, Xin Mei thought his most impressive skill was constantly lecturing Miss Yinglian on life philosophy with eloquent persuasion, turning wrong into right, actually convincing her to consider marrying the bear uncle from the north who kept proposing.
About this, Xin Xiong was quite proud: “Your son-in-law is a vigorous young man after all. Having a beautiful female demon constantly pining away in secret could lead to trouble. Dear treasure, just rest assured – Father will solve these problems for you!”
Her father truly was a miraculous existence. Having lived twenty-one years, Xin Mei was increasingly certain of this.
“Can’t your son-in-law make it for your birthday again this year?”
During the meal, Xin Xiong casually asked.
Xin Mei frowned: “Don’t know, but it’s not the first time. Doesn’t matter anymore.”
Xin Xiong thought for a moment: “Dear treasure, after eating, let’s light incense for your mother?”
After Xin Xiong moved to the Imperial Tomb, a room north of Guihua Hall that had been used for storage was cleaned up into a small ancestral shrine with an altar and memorial tablet. Daily fresh water, flowers, and incense – Xin Xiong never missed a day.
After lighting two incense sticks, they stood before the memorial tablet in silent prayer. He suddenly spoke: “Your mother was a disciple of an immortal cultivation sect, upholding justice and traveling the world – very capable.”
Xin Mei was startled. Though her father often spoke of how good and gentle her mother was, he had never mentioned what she did. She had always thought her mother was just an ordinary girl.