The bed frame collapsed, and the two people on the bed unsurprisingly fell into the pit together. Xin Mei’s head also struck the bedpost, causing such pain that tears welled up in her eyes.
A hand suddenly gently pressed against the bump on her head. Xin Mei looked up and met a pair of blood-red yet gentle eyes.
“Causing trouble,” Lu Qianqiao said in a low voice, pulling her up from the pit with one swift motion, his palm gently massaging the swelling on her head. Seeing her looking up at him foolishly, he smiled, “Does it hurt badly?”
Xin Mei became excited again, her eyes welling with tears again, her lips trembling again.
Atmosphere—this was the atmosphere!
She threw herself into his embrace, her head burrowing in as if trying to drill inside, rubbing vigorously. Tears and snot came down together, dampening a large patch of his chest garment.
“You’re awake, you’re awake!”
All those beautiful words she had once planned and rehearsed repeatedly were completely forgotten when the moment came. Apart from repeating these three words, she couldn’t think of anything else, nor did she want to think of anything else.
Lu Qianqiao held down her wildly moving head.
At such times, he remained awkwardly unsure of what to say, so he could only repeatedly rub the swelling on her head and use the clean part of his sleeve to wipe her tears and snot.
He had experienced a very long dream where he married Xin Mei as his wife and lived through an ordinary person’s entire lifetime. He awakened fulfilled and without regret, only to face her endless stream of tears and snot.
The virtuous and gentle Xin Mei from his dream—well, indeed… it was just a dream after all…
But this was better.
His fingers slipped into her soft hair, helping her untangle her messy braids, combing through with his fingers carefully.
Xin Mei raised her red eyes that rivaled his own and murmured, “Say something…”
With only her being excited and emotional on one side, the atmosphere was completely gone.
Lu Qianqiao looked at her bloodshot eyes and said in a low voice, “Sleep for a while, we’ll talk when you wake up.”
“I won’t sleep. You speak now.”
He thought for a moment, his ears gradually turning red. He turned his head away, his voice even lower: “I… missed you very much.”
“What? You don’t have a radish stuffed in your mouth—I can’t hear clearly!”
“…”
His finger lightly tapped the swelling on her head. Taking advantage of her jumping from the pain, Lu Qianqiao pushed her away and walked straight toward the entrance.
“Be good, go to sleep. I’m here, I won’t run away.”
“You’re running away right now!” Xin Mei pouted.
Lu Qianqiao gave her an unprecedented smile that could genuinely be called “sweet and doting,” instantly dazzling her eyes.
“When you wake up, I’ll tell you some good news.”
…How was it that she felt completely enchanted? Xin Mei watched him leave the tent with a flushed face, taking a long time to come back to her senses. She turned to look at the bed with its collapsed pit, simply spread the blanket on the ground, summoned Qiuyue, and curled up under its wings to sleep.
He said he had good news to tell her—what could it be? Could it be—that he had made up his mind to consummate their marriage with her and become true husband and wife? Xin Mei rolled around under Qiuyue’s wings, spring feelings burgeoning, and fell into deep sleep filled with spring dreams.
Lu Qianqiao closed the tent flap. Looking up, he met the initially ecstatic then complicated gazes of Limin and Liyan.
Still red eyes, proving the power awakening was unsuccessful. The good news was that he kept his life and didn’t die. Such things had happened before, but how would their proud mistress accept this? She had even specifically set aside a day to come here and wait for the results. Based on their understanding of Li Chaoyang, she would definitely prefer her son to die rather than remain a waste who never awakened for his entire life.
The two War Ghosts silently made way, watching helplessly as he knocked on the door of that snow-white carriage.
The carriage door was pulled open, and a cold wind rushed toward him. Lu Qianqiao was slightly startled to see that inside what should have been a cramped carriage, with ice and snow severe and bone-piercing cold wind, there was actually a separate small courtyard—a whole different world.
This type of magic called “Universe in the Sleeve,” Lu Qianqiao was not unfamiliar with. His dimensional bag was similar to this. Opening up a vast and entirely new world within a small space was a commonly used spell by immortals.
Li Chaoyang wasn’t sleeping as Limin had said. Not only was she not sleeping, she held a massive square-pointed halberd in her hands, sweat dripping from her forehead. All the ice and snow, trees, pavilions and towers in the courtyard had been reduced to ruins—she was practicing martial arts. War Ghosts as powerful as her would never have a moment of relaxation.
Li Chaoyang picked up the snow-white outer robe set aside, slowly draping it over her shoulders. She turned toward the ruins and gently blew a breath—they instantly restored to their original appearance. The sharp, straight rooftops pointing skyward were the unique architectural style of the Western War Ghost native tribes. She sat alone in the small pavilion and spoke: “Come, sit.”
Lu Qianqiao sat across from her. When her pitch-black eyes met his red ones, they instantly transformed into a bloody color.
“You failed.” Li Chaoyang stared at him steadily. “This is the result of being interrupted mid-awakening. That little girl ruined everything.”
“It has nothing to do with her. It was my own fault.”
“I don’t need boring hypotheticals. A War Ghost who fails awakening lives only in shame, especially as the son of Li Chaoyang.”
Lu Qianqiao looked at her quietly, neither sad nor happy. After a long time, he finally said, “Shame lies in how one lives, not how one dies.”
The massive square-pointed halberd whistled upward, ruthlessly thrusting toward his chest. Lu Qianqiao quickly grasped the spear point, and their powers contested against each other through the halberd.
“…Some improvement from before.” Li Chaoyang said coldly, “But completely insufficient!”
She pushed forcefully, and he was sent flying backward along with the halberd, crashing hard into the thick ice and snow.
“You have the name of War Ghost but lack a War Ghost’s strength, yet you dare tell me that living is not shameful! How do you plan to make me feel no shame?!”
She walked forward. Unexpectedly, the halberd suddenly sprang up, shooting back toward her like an arrow. Too late to dodge, a strand of her beautiful long hair was sliced off, scattering over the ice and snow.
Lu Qianqiao half-crouched opposite her, looking up, his voice steady: “I will live on.”
Li Chaoyang sneered coldly: “You may live! But from now on, you are no longer the son of Li Chaoyang! But that little girl’s transgression is too great—the War Ghost clan cannot forgive her!”
The halberd traced a sharp gleam of light, roaring upward like angry waves.
Lu Qianqiao had been inside for nearly half an hour without coming out. The two War Ghosts waiting outside grew somewhat anxious. Liyan sighed, “The mistress wouldn’t really kill the young master, would she?”
“I think the mistress would prefer to kill Miss Xin.”