There was more than one road leading to Jun Mountain, but the easiest one to travel had been blocked by a giant boulder, so Meng Fu could only choose another path that circled around Luo Mountain.
On this cold rainy night, Meng Fu rode her white horse through the sparse and long streets, through the forest, across the plains, over the hills — in the distance, Jun Mountain was already drawing closer and closer.
The clatter of the horse’s hooves was drowned out by the rumbling thunder, and in Meng Fu’s ears remained only the urgent sounds of wind and rain. Before her eyes, there was only a dark outline; the distant mountain range stretched on like a wounded giant dragon. The dilapidated temples beside her were empty of people. A streak of silver lightning suddenly tore through the sky, once again lighting the path in front of Meng Fu. In the corner of her vision, the weathered Buddha statue inside the temple was smiling at her — yet in the blink of an eye, the thunder struck everything back into darkness.
The white horse ran faster and faster, faster and faster. Meng Fu gripped the reins on horseback, and in a daze, she felt as if a pair of strong wings had sprouted from her back — she spread her wings and soared with the wind through this vast world.
At this moment, Li Yue and the others had already arrived at Jun Mountain. The secret guards swiftly pitched tents here. Though not as comfortable as the original ones, they were more than enough to block the rain.
Li Yue was not that picky about these things. He had stayed in the northern frontier for so many years and had endured all kinds of hardships. For him, when it came to sleep, as long as there was a place to lie down, it was enough.
The other groups who came to Jun Mountain for the hunting event were still waiting at the original location. They had to wait for the weather to clear and the path to be blasted open before they could come over. By Li Yue’s side were only Gao Xi and several dozen secret guards. The guards were keeping watch outside. Li Yue sat inside the tent, while Gao Xi attended to him. He first lit the lamp and then quickly made the bed.
In the mountains, with rain falling, it was already quite boring. Now, beside Li Yue, there wasn’t even a person to talk to. The rain falling on the tent roof sounded like thousands of iron hooves sweeping over. The autumn wind blew through the gaps of the tent, the candle flame flickered, and the shadows cast on the tent swayed and jumped along with the flame, like a dance of demons.
Li Yue suddenly thought of Meng Fu again.
The rain was falling so heavily — he didn’t know how A’Fu was doing right now. What was she doing? Would that Xie Wenzhao be bullying her?
Even if Li Yue wanted to return now, it was too late. But he really couldn’t rest easy. After some thought, he simply sent two secret guards to the Xuanping Marquis Residence to take a look, just in case A’Fu was being wronged.
If A’Fu really had no way out, then she should go ask the Empress Dowager for help.
The secret guards memorized all of Li Yue’s instructions. His Majesty was becoming more and more considerate. But since he was this worried, why did he have them come back this morning in the first place?
The secret guards couldn’t understand the feelings between His Majesty and the Lady of Xuanping Marquis — but they were so tired.
Li Yue dismissed the guards, yet he still couldn’t fall asleep after much turning over in his mind. He snatched a romantic storybook from the guards and found it uninteresting after reading only two pages. After all these years, how had the guards still not outgrown such lowbrow tastes? He then had Gao Xi fetch a military strategy book instead. Though the strategy book was well written, His Majesty couldn’t really focus on reading it either.
This rain — who knew when it would stop?
Li Yue supported his chin with one hand, flipping through two more pages of the military book. Outside, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled. Fierce winds swept across the maple trees on the mountains, leaving behind a chorus of howling cries. After a while, a secret guard arrived at the entrance of the tent. Gao Xi saw him and hurried over with small steps to ask what the matter was.
The secret guard glanced at Li Yue, who was sitting inside reading, then leaned close to Gao Xi’s ear and whispered a few words. Gao Xi was shocked and quickly walked to Li Yue’s side, softly calling him: “Your Majesty.”
Li Yue stopped flipping the book and looked up. “What is it?”
Gao Xi replied, “The secret guard said, someone saw that lady riding a horse up the mountain.”
At first, Li Yue didn’t react at all. Instinctively, he was about to ask “which lady,” but as soon as the words reached his lips, he realized Gao Xi was referring to Meng Fu. He threw down the book in his hand, jumped up with a “teng” sound, and quickly walked outside.
Gao Xiheld up an umbrella and hurriedly chased after him. Li Yue asked the guard, “Where is she?”
The secret guard had just gone to the capital to notify them to prepare the firestones, to be sent to Luo Mountain as soon as the rain stopped. After delivering His Majesty’s order, he rushed back to Jun Mountain. On the way back, he saw Meng Fu riding in the rain. At first, he didn’t recognize that the rider was the Lady of Xuanping Marquis. He only saw her heading toward Jun Mountain and worried she might be a threat to His Majesty, so he paid more attention — and only then did he realize it was Meng Fu.
The secret guard replied, “Reporting to the Emperor, this subordinate arrived at the mountain foot together with Madam Meng. She should be arriving any moment now.”
“Which mountain road did she take?” Li Yue asked.
Before the secret guard could open his mouth to answer, a sudden long neigh of a horse came from afar. The horse hooves pounded heavily on the mountain road, splashing water everywhere. Further up were several layers of bluestone steps — Meng Fu had to stop the horse here. The remaining steps, she could walk up.
She had first gone to the forest where the assassination had occurred, but there was no one there anymore. Fortunately, some traces of carriage and horse tracks on the ground had not yet been completely washed away by the heavy rain. She followed those traces all the way here.
She hoped His Majesty would be safe.
Logically speaking, since the direction was toward Jun Mountain, His Majesty should not have had any accident. But before seeing him with her own eyes, Meng Fu still could not feel at ease.
Li Yue rushed toward the direction of the sound. At the bottom of the stone steps, Meng Fu was still sitting on horseback. Rainwater fell continuously from the top of her bamboo hat. The oilcloth coat on her body had long been torn ragged by branches, and the clothes inside were soaked through.
Meng Fu heard the sound coming from above and looked up. A streak of silver-white lightning almost split the whole night sky. The world was lit in a bright white. Her figure finally became clear in this downpour. Her face was deathly pale, but her eyes were bright — as if all the stars that hadn’t had time to appear tonight had fallen into her eyes.
She saw His Majesty standing on top of the stone steps. He didn’t look injured. Meng Fu pressed her lips together and gave Li Yue a smile.
The heavens were dim, the wind and rain urgent. Under the flash of lightning, she looked like a yaomei who had mistakenly wandered into the mortal world [妖魅, yaomei – seductive supernatural being or enchantress], yet more enchanting than any yaomei.
Li Yue felt as if his heart missed a beat at that moment. He thought, in his past life, he must have owed her something, which is why in this life, she would so stir his soul.
He took just a few steps and leapt down the stone steps, reaching out to help Meng Fu off the horse. As soon as he touched her hand, Li Yue frowned and said, “Why are you so cold?”
Meng Fu dismounted while smiling and said, “It’s nothing. I’ll be fine in a little while.”
Though she said that, her body really couldn’t hold on any longer. She had relied on one breath of energy to come from the capital to Jun Mountain. Along the way, her mind was filled with concern for Li Yue, so she hadn’t felt the hardship. Now that she had arrived and saw Li Yue was safe, that breath of energy finally released. Meng Fu swayed — if it weren’t for Li Yue supporting her, she would certainly have fallen to the ground.
Li Yue immediately took off his outer cloak and draped it over Meng Fu, then picked her up by the waist in one motion and strode quickly up the steps.
Meng Fu was startled. She cried out, “Your Majesty?”
“Don’t speak,” Li Yue said with a stern face, walking straight up the stone steps. He said to Meng Fu, “Why did you come over at this time? With the rain so heavy, and you still being sick — how can you come out like this? You’re a grown adult and still don’t know how to weigh light and heavy? You didn’t even bring anyone with you. What if something happened to you on the road?”
Meng Fu tugged gently on his sleeve and said, “Don’t be angry, okay?”
Li Yue lowered his gaze to look at Meng Fu. She was currently being held in his arms. Her eyes were filled with watery light, reflecting the lanterns in the secret guards’ hands on either side. Very captivating. Li Yue gave a cold snort and said to Meng Fu, “I’m not angry. Why would I be angry? What would I be angry about? You tell me — such heavy rain, and you don’t care at all about your own health. Wait until your illness is cured—”
Meng Fu suddenly cut him off and said, “I was worried about you, Your Majesty.”
She paused, her gaze shifting away. Her voice was soft, almost blending into the rain, but Li Yue heard it clearly. She said: “I was too worried about you. I was afraid you’d get hurt, afraid something would happen to you. I wanted to come see you… and also remind you not to forget to take your medicine tomorrow.”
At the end, Meng Fu couldn’t help but let out a quiet sigh in her heart. She didn’t even know if His Majesty would actually take the medicine.
Would His Majesty be mad at her?
Originally, Li Yue still had many, many things he wanted to scold this girl in his arms about. But after Meng Fu finished speaking, those words swirled around the edge of his mouth several times, yet he still couldn’t say them. In the end, he swallowed them all back. He lowered his head, looked into Meng Fu’s eyes, and earnestly said to her, “I’m fine.”
Meng Fu was silent for a moment, then said to Li Yue: “Why don’t you summon Divine Physician Pang tomorrow, let him take a look and see if you need to take medicine.”