Even as Wei Jing started to strenuously try to break free from his restraints and stop the woman’s actions when she reached out her hand, he could only watch helplessly as she pulled a copper pendant out from his collar.
But just as the woman raised her eyebrows in delight, holding the copper pendant in her hand, a sharp arrow flew through the air, grazing her fingers, cutting a bloodstain, and pinning the copper pendant, which was attached to a tassel, to the wall.
The woman was dumbfounded on the spot.
Wei Jing turned his head and saw a slender figure standing at the end of the deep alley, not knowing when it had appeared.
Under the dim light, Wei Jing could only see a corner of the man’s crimson purple robe, and he joyfully called out, “My lord!”
Upon hearing Wei Jing’s call of “My lord,” the woman subconsciously turned her head to look towards the end of the alley.
In the slightly dim light, she saw a young nobleman dressed in a crimson gauze robe walking towards her with leisurely steps. In his clearly defined hand, he casually held a bow, with a long arrow resting on it as he walked.
By the time the woman clearly saw him, he had already drawn the bow fully, the arrowhead gleaming with a cold light. As it flew towards her, cutting through the air, it made a faint sound.
She widened her beautiful eyes and quickly dodged backwards.
Seeing the copper pendant pinned to the wall, she still didn’t give up and made a move to go forward and grab it.
Yet another sharp arrow came flying towards her, forcing her to flip over and dodge it again.
It seemed to anger her. When she extended her hand, a faint blue light had already condensed in her palm. But when she turned around, she saw the young gentleman had already discarded his bow and arrow, drawing a long sword from its sheath instead. The sword’s blade was cold and sharp, emitting a chilling light.
The blue light in her hand extinguished like a flame in an instant.
The woman cursed softly, “It’s over, I’m done for this time!”
As if she was wary of something, she couldn’t bring herself to strike the young gentleman who was gradually closing in on her.
In the moment that Wei Yun’s sword swept towards her, the woman’s form turned into a faint blue shadow and vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye.
Wei Jing simply didn’t know how to describe everything he had seen before him. When the blue light that bound him disappeared, he stared in astonishment at the spot where the woman had vanished, unable to recover for a long time.
At that time, Wei Yun had already walked over to the wall. When he reached out his hand, he pulled out the long arrow stuck in the wall and then clenched the copper pendant in his hand.
Perhaps because it had been soaked in the mud for too long, the copper pendant, although briefly wiped by Wei Jing, still had many traces of dirt embedded in its surface patterns.
When Wei Yun turned around and saw Wei Jing still standing there in a daze, he spoke, “The events of tonight must not be spoken of.”
Wei Jing snapped back to reality and quickly bowed his head in agreement, “Yes.”
But after a moment, he couldn’t help but say, “My lord, the woman just now was really too strange…”
“Let’s return to the mansion first.”
Wei Yun cut him off and turned to leave.
Seeing this, Wei Jing had no choice but to quickly follow.
On the long street after passing through the alley, the carriage of the Imperial Advisor’s mansion was conspicuously parked there, with several guards standing in front of it. The horse that Wei Jing had run away with was also standing there, flicking its tail.
As soon as Wei Yun finished dealing with the matters at hand, he directly ordered someone to go to the deserted courtyard outside the city.
But as soon as he came out, he encountered the horse that belonged to Wei Jing.
At that moment, Wei Yun got off the carriage and, near the alley, saw once again the mysterious light screen he had seen several times before. It seemed as if shadows of people were walking through it, along with various colors of lamp shadows, all blurred together, making it difficult to see clearly.
He keenly sensed that something was amiss.
So, he ordered everyone to wait there and walked over alone with a bow and arrow.
After returning to the Imperial Advisor’s mansion, Wei Yun went to the study.
The room was already lit. He casually took off his belt and threw it on the side of the screen, then sat down in front of the desk.
Leaning back in his chair, Wei Yun closed his eyes. The image of the mysterious woman he had seen earlier flashed through his mind. He furrowed his brows, his expression somewhat solemn.
Clearly, the purpose of this mysterious woman was the copper pendant in his possession.
Moreover, she possessed unusual powers.
But for some reason, she seemed to be hesitant about something. She dared to make a move on Wei Jing, but she never dared to use her unusual powers against him.
And Wei Yun remembered clearly that Xie Tao had mentioned to him before that someone had bound the fate of another person to her, threatening her life, originally intending to take the life of the person whose fate was bound.
The two people bound by their fates should feel the same pain. Therefore, when Xie Tao had a dispute with someone, he also felt it as if it was his own.
All the events previously went through Wei Yun’s mind over and over again, and he reorganized all the details.
He was not clear about the origins of the mysterious woman, but what he could be sure of was that this woman was definitely involved in these matters.
Opening his eyes, Wei Yun tapped his fingers on the desk and after a long while, he let out a silent cold laugh.
Since the opponent had already shown their tail, it was not necessarily a bad thing.
Thinking this way, when Wei Yun looked at the copper pendant he was holding in his hand again, he squatted for a moment and then took a clean brocade handkerchief. He meticulously wiped the dirt off the copper pendant by the lamplight.
The usually cold and dust-free pupils seemed to finally be touched by a few strands of warmth from the lamplight, as he continued to wipe the mud embedded in the copper pendant.
The moment Wei Yun discovered the loss of the copper pendant, he couldn’t describe his inner feelings.
Since the little girl broke off contact with him, his heart had always been filled with some unfamiliar emotions, causing him some inexplicable irritation.
And the loss of the copper pendant, what Wei Yun could not ignore the most was the sudden panic that came over him at that moment.
Fear?
The big fire at the Wei family’s house that year had already burned away all his fears.
And the years of wandering and hardship as a youth had also made his once soft and fragile heart, through repeated trials of life and death, gradually become hardened and cold.
In this world, what else is there for him to fear? After all, he has always been alone, without any attachments.
Even at this moment, Wei Yun did not want to admit the half-inch of panic that burned in his heart when he lost the copper pendant.
But suddenly, the copper pendant he held in his palm emitted a scorching temperature.
As Wei Yun came back to his senses, he saw the copper pendant begin to emit a pale golden light, each wave stronger than the last.
Then one, two, three… letters floated gently onto his desk, piling up together.
Wei Yun was momentarily stunned, and after a long while, he finally put down the copper pendant, stretched out his hand, and opened one letter after another.
“Wei Yun, Wei Yun, I lost my phone before, but now I’ve finally found it back!”
“Are you there, Wei Yun?”
“Why… can’t my message be sent?”
“Three days now.”
“Why can’t it still be sent…”
“Five days now.”
“Eleven days.”
…
More than a dozen letters, Wei Yun spread them all out on his desk, his eyes dyed with the light of the lamp staring at the gold-sprinkled paper and the lines of ink on each.
He could almost imagine the tone in which she said these words.
“Wei Yun, are you… never going to talk to me again?”
Until his gaze landed on the last piece of paper, with just a few numbers, but in such a careful and lonely tone.
In that moment, he hardly had time to think more before he directly picked up a brush, but as he dipped it into the inkwell, his wrist stiffened mid-air, and he held the pen, unable to put it down.
Just then, it seemed as if there were a faint ringing in his ears, like a clear bell.
He looked up to see a star disc emerging from the copper pendant, floating in mid-air, and as the star disc rotated, the next moment, he heard a familiar voice:
“Wei Yun?”
Still with that timid and soft voice, and at that moment, his eyelashes trembled slightly, as if he felt he had not heard her voice in a long time.
And Xie Tao, for many days now, had become accustomed to checking her WeChat regularly.
Just now, she suddenly found that the red exclamation marks in front of so many messages she sent to Wei Yun had disappeared, she widened her eyes for a moment, even thinking she might be hallucinating, she even rubbed her eyes, and when she looked at the screen again and saw that those red exclamation marks were still not there, she almost thoughtlessly pressed the voice call button.
But the moment it connected, she had just spoken out, and the impulsiveness of before had receded like the tide, she only called his name, then dared not speak any further.
Sitting at the desk, wearing a thin nightgown, the girl looked out the window at the occasional flicker of neon lights in the night sky, holding the phone to her ear, maintaining that position, motionless for a long time.
As if, if he did not speak up after a long time, she would not dare to make a sound again.
“Mhm.”
After a long while, she finally heard him softly respond.
It was just such a simple response, but when Xie Tao heard his voice, her eyes suddenly warmed, and then tears started to fall without warning.
She reached out to wipe them away, but couldn’t stop the tears from falling, one by one.
Xie Tao had always been restrained when crying. She bit her lip, refusing to make loud noises, but Wei Yun still heard her soft sobs clearly.
At that moment, he couldn’t quite articulate his own emotions.
After a while, he gently said, “Don’t cry.”
Perhaps it was because his voice unintentionally softened when he said those words, Xie Tao wiped her face with her sleeve, but couldn’t hold back her tears.
Sitting in front of the desk, the young gentleman looked at the twinkling star chart, listening to the cries of the girl from another world. In his amber-like eyes, there seemed to be a hint of helplessness for a moment.
In the silent night, his soft sigh was crushed by the gentle breeze:
“Why do you cry so much…”
