As Wei Yun wished, that afternoon, Xie Tao and Wei Yun obtained their marriage certificate.
That night, the man from another distant time and space, who lived in a completely feudal era, put the ring he had bought on Xie Tao’s hand.
Under the crystal light, the diamond on the ring sparkled with a dazzling light. Xie Tao touched it and said, “I already have a bracelet, Wei Yun. You really didn’t need to buy this…”
“It’s not the same.”
Wei Yun pushed the male version of the wedding ring into her hand, didn’t say much, just stretched out his own finger towards her.
Xie Tao’s gaze rested on his distinct knuckles, and when she slipped the ring onto his ring finger, she looked for a while, her lips curving into a smile involuntarily.
Wei Yun seemed finally satisfied.
“Don’t take it off.”
Finally, holding her hand, he added one more piece of advice.
“Got it.”
Xie Tao, lying in his embrace, cheerfully complied.
Wei Yun also thought about whether to hold another wedding ceremony right there but was rejected by Xie Tao.
To her, just that one time was already enough.
So later on, Wei Yun and Xie Tao only invited Fu Miaolan and Fu Hua, along with Xie Lan, Meng Lichun, and Nian Jitang to join them.
As for Old Xi, where Meng Lichun was, he always didn’t want to come.
But he was also clear that this day was very important to Xie Tao, so that evening, he still came.
Perhaps he had also realized that some things, some people, even if he avoided them for hundreds of years, were ultimately unavoidable.
It was when Meng Lichun, leaning on Nian Jitang’s shoulder, had her face flushed from drinking, that Old Xi pushed open the door of the private room and just stood there.
The gaze of everyone in the room instantly paused on him, including the drunken Meng Lichun.
This woman, who always liked to wear red dresses, was still wearing a sleeveless wine-red knee-length dress tonight, her makeup exquisite. The lipstick on her lips, bright red, had been unintentionally smeared off a lot by her own hand.
Yet she was still stunningly beautiful.
For a moment, Old Xi was slightly dazed, as if he had returned to the Yi Dynasty of hundreds of years ago.
The girl, bright as fire in her dress, riding a horse across the long street, wielding a long whip in her hand, flying like a silver snake.
And now, she seemed to have not changed much from those days.
Today, Meng Lichun seemed to carry a lot of things in her heart. When she arrived, her eyebrows and eyes were already laden with heavy emotions. The usually neurotic, joking, laughing her was very quiet today, other than wishing Xie Tao and Wei Yun well, she barely spoke, just pouring the wine in front of her into her mouth glass by glass.
She had not expected that this person, whom she had always wanted to see but never managed to meet again, would suddenly appear at the door of the private room at this moment.
At that moment, Meng Lichun’s pupils contracted slightly, and the wine glass in her hand fell onto the table, splashing wine everywhere.
The atmosphere in the room suddenly became a bit strange.
But in the end, whether it was Old Xi or Meng Lichun, they both withdrew their gazes from each other, as if they were two strangers who did not know each other.
The room became lively once again. Xie Lan, having drunk too much, pointed at Wei Yun over and over again, saying, “Wei Yun, if you dare to treat Tao Tao badly, see if I don’t beat you to death!”
Later, he also tearfully instructed Xie Tao, “Tao Tao, if he ever does anything wrong, you must remember to tell me. Brother Lan will help you deal with him!”
After this meal, as Old Xi had requested, Wei Yun and Xie Tao took the drunken Xie Lan, along with Fu Miaolan and Fu Hua, back home.
And Nian Jitang had run off much earlier.
On the dimly lit street, the orange-yellow light weaved through the branches and leaves of the roadside trees, scattering shattered patterns of light and shadow on the ground.
Meng Lichun staggered along the road, remaining silent throughout.
The person she had once been so eager to meet was now quietly following her, yet at this moment, she, uncharacteristically, seemed to want to say nothing and refused to glance back at him.
It wasn’t until she removed her high heels and tossed them aside, continuing barefoot, that she seemed to hear a soft sigh in the quiet of the night.
“Lichun.”
This was not the voice of a middle-aged man burdened with the vicissitudes of life, but more like that of a young man, gentle and clear.
It was a familiar voice that had haunted her dreams for many years.
At that moment, Meng Lichun found herself unable to take another step.
When she turned around, she saw the middle-aged man who had aged, standing against the light, holding the pair of high heels she had thrown away in anger.
Amid the hazy halo of light,
She saw his figure, between the pale golden flow of light and the sudden smoke, gradually shedding the weathered look of a middle-aged man.
His face seemed to rejuvenate instantly, with all traces of age that time leaves on mortals disappearing from his visage.
Standing there, he gave Meng Lichun an illusion of having returned to the past.
It was the face of a young man, with such eyebrows and contours, gentle and handsome, tranquil as water.
In that instant, tears unconsciously fell from Meng Lichun’s eyes.
Her heart felt as if it was being tightly clenched by a hand. She just looked at him, with memories of the past stacking up in her mind, like sharp blades, fiercely stabbing into her flesh.
“Have you finally decided to see me?” It seemed like a long time before Meng Lichun finally managed to speak with difficulty.
Her voice was uncontrollably trembling.
Facing her with a young face, Old Xi stood there, gazing at the woman several steps away for a long moment, finally showing some ripples in his eyes.
Immortals do not age.
And naturally, Old Xi does not either.
But he had grown accustomed to manifesting himself as a middle-aged man, as if longing for the years to leave some mark on him, even if just a wrinkle.
Only then could he truly feel the passage of time, making life seem not so endless and void.
But this was, after all, just self-deception.
Yet, at this moment, he felt uneasy.
Fearful that this person, separated from him for hundreds of years, would forget his appearance.
So, for the first time in many years, he acted with the impulsiveness of youth, hastily dispelling his illusion, revealing his true appearance to her.
“Lichun, I’m sorry.”
As if after a long deliberation, Old Xi finally spoke.
This apology was a debt he had owed her for hundreds of years.
But still, it was too insubstantial.
The prolonged pain he brought to her, how could a mere “sorry” possibly resolve it?
But Old Xi said it anyway.
Upon hearing his words, tears still shimmered in Meng Lichun’s eyes, but she suddenly scoffed, as if she had heard something extremely amusing.
She suddenly wiped the tears from her face, took a deep breath, and at that moment, she seemed calm enough.
Meng Lichun looked at him, “Whose half of an immortal bone is this?”
Her sudden question instantly stunned Old Xi, his expression changing as if it took him a long time before he moved his lips, “What… have you learned?”
His voice was inexplicably hoarse.
“It’s yours, right?” Meng Lichun stared at him tightly, her voice still carrying a slight tremble as she spoke.
Lao Xi seemed to want to say something, but looking into Meng Lichun’s eyes, he ultimately couldn’t say anything.
At this moment, stripped of the illusion’s concealment, he appeared like a gentle and jade-like young noble.
“Wen Xi, why did you save me?”
Meng Lichun finally couldn’t control her emotions, her chest heaving violently, her eyes already red, “You knew everything back then, knew that your father and brothers were using you, harming you, knew that you would end up dying miserably because of them… So you didn’t care about your own life, and you wouldn’t let me care about whether you lived or died, right?”
He was a servant of the god monarch.
He threw himself into the chaotic world to ensure the god monarch’s safe passage through calamity.
He knew everything, knew his own misfortunate fate, knew he was on a path to death, he was always clear-headed and rational, so he would never allow himself to neglect his mission for personal love.
That’s why he didn’t hate his father and brothers, that’s why he didn’t hate the world, because from the beginning, he was already an outsider.
Because he was preoccupied with his mission, even falling in love with a girl, he would never admit his love for her.
Love is but the most useless thing in the world.
Wen Xi, in his youthful pride, thought he could forget completely.
Yet, he kept this girl in his heart for hundreds of years, never freeing himself.
“Only I, from beginning to end, only I!”
At this moment, Meng Lichun pointed to her own chest, tears streaming down, “Only I, like a fool, cared about your life and death, about all the suffering and pain you endured in your short life. I wanted to save you, but in the end, even you never cared about that life.”
How ridiculous.
The young man she cherished in her heart was like a fleeting bubble on the vast sea.
To him, it might just be a brief and insignificant memory, after all, being born a god, how could he care about the mortal world’s affairs and the red dust of thousands of miles?
But that memory, to Meng Lichun, was a personal experience wrapped in blood and tears.
What about being a time traveler?
In such a chaotic era, she was still the smallest grain of sand.
She was never an outsider; she would be devastated by the tragic deaths of a close friend, a loved one, or even many who had been kind and helpful to her.
At this moment, Lao Xi’s eyes were also slightly warm, his Adam’s apple moved, his voice still somewhat dry, “Lichun, there are some things, I can’t choose.”
He had a lot to say, but at this moment, it seemed as if he didn’t know what to say.
Finally, he said, “I would rather you just think I really died in front of Prince Liang’s palace back then. I shouldn’t see you again in this lifetime.”
He lowered his eyes, smiled bitterly, “But you just had to meet Tao Tao.”
It was at this time that Lao Xi finally deeply understood, fate is such, what’s meant to come will always come.
No one can avoid it.
“Who wants to see you? I won’t want to see you again in this lifetime!”
Meng Lichun was very agitated at this moment, her eyes red, a faint blue light twinkling in her hand, her eyes still misty, “Who cares about your immortal bones? Who cares about sitting in the seat of the bureau chief? Whatever I owe you, I’ll give it all back to you!”
“I, Meng Ke, don’t need your charity!”
Like Meng Lichun, who had been mad for several hundred years, at this moment, finally remembered her original name.
Meng Ke.
