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“Xie Tao.”
She heard him softly call her name and said, “Or perhaps, your affection is so easily withdrawn?”
Like being in a boundless dream, Xie Tao finally found her voice after a long while:
“What do you mean?”
Her knuckles gripping the phone tightened, her voice inexplicably dry.
“I am different from you.”
“What I said that day, still holds true today.”
Perhaps at this moment, she stirs his heart somewhat, but it hasn’t reached a deeply profound level yet.
After all, by their own admission, they are two people who have never met.
But this vague affection cannot be faked.
Perhaps it is precisely because they have never met that there’s more room for imagination between them, allowing his empathy to grow and deepen over time.
Had she truly stood before him from the beginning, perhaps he wouldn’t have developed any additional thoughts about her.
After all, the torment and pain he’s endured in this world have deeply scarred him, making it difficult for him to let his guard down around anyone.
He never liked anyone getting too close all of a sudden.
If Xie Tao did not come from another world, if there wasn’t a copper pendant or a floating astrolabe between them, perhaps he wouldn’t have felt this empathy.
Maybe it’s the silence of each deep night, or maybe it’s because he’s acutely aware of the two utterly different worlds separating them, that in her inexplicable trust in him, he found himself lowering his guard without realizing when.
Even sometimes, when overly tired, looking at her letters would inexplicably relax him.
Wei Yun had lived for twenty-two years and had never been moved by anyone before.
Perhaps it’s because of the guard he couldn’t let down, or perhaps it’s because of his father’s influence.
He once thought that romantic love was the most useless thing in this world.
But who would have thought that at this moment, he would feel annoyed because of the girl’s sudden retreat.
Now, everything has reached an unavoidable point.
And Wei Yun has never been the type to shy away from facing it.
This is also the only time in all these years that he’s indulged his heart.
Even though he doesn’t know if there’s a future for them across the boundaries of time and space, at this moment, he suddenly wants to be willful.
Just this once.
Throughout his life, he’s always been alone, but now, he finds himself hoping for this girl.
He hopes, this choice, is the right one.
And at that moment, upon hearing his words, Xie Tao stared with her apricot eyes, reddened from crying, dumbfounded, unable to say a word for a long while.
“Xie Tao?”
After not hearing her response for a long time, Wei Yun’s brow furrowed slightly, and he called her name again.
Little did he expect that after this gentle call, he would once again hear her crying.
Unlike her previous restrained and suppressed sobs, this time she cried out loud.
Upon hearing her cry, Wei Yun was first startled, then he rubbed his brow and sighed, “Why are you crying again?”
Xie Tao cried with a hiccup and, after a long while, she sobbed and said, “I feel… like I’m dreaming, this is just a dream, right?”
Before Wei Yun could speak, he heard her suddenly cry out in pain, and then he heard her chokingly say, “It’s not a dream…”
“What happened?” he asked.
“I pinched my thigh…” Xie Tao wiped her tears with the back of her hand while sniffing her nose.
Hearing this, Wei Yun couldn’t help but curve his lips slightly.
Xie Tao seemed to hear his very light laughter, her face momentarily flushed with warmth, she felt a bit embarrassed and shouted, “What are you laughing at!”
“Silly.”
He sighed softly.
Xie Tao thought that from this night onwards, the boyfriend she had just gotten on her eighteenth birthday would be lost forever.
But she wasn’t.
That night, Xie Tao didn’t know exactly when she fell asleep; lying in bed, she talked to Wei Yun on the phone, and gradually, there was no more sound.
The candle had burned down significantly, and Wei Yun’s eyebrows were tinged with a hint of tiredness. In the floating astrolabe, there was no longer the sound of a girl talking, but he could hear her shallow breathing.
Occasionally, there were a few dream talks.
He even heard her unconsciously call his name.
For some reason, Wei Yun never fell asleep that night. He sat in front of the desk, listening to the girl’s breathing until dawn, when he finally picked up the copper pendant on the desk.
At that moment, the floating astrolabe disappeared, and her breathing sound also vanished from his ears.
He held the copper pendant in his hand, gazing at it for a long time until suddenly, Wei Jing knocked on the door.
“Sir, it’s time for you to attend the court.”
Wei Yun responded indifferently, “I know.”
After changing into a crimson silk robe and tying the belt from the screen on, his eyes and brows relaxed, his expression revealing a rare warmth.
“Sir, did you not sleep all night?” Wei Jing noticed the light blue shadows under his eyes.
“Mhm.”
Wei Yun casually adjusted his sleeves, then said to him, “Let’s go.”
Wei Jing had no choice but to bow his head and follow behind Wei Yun, leaving the room.
Following the previous visit of Prince Zhao Zhengrong to the Astrology Pavilion to meet with Wei Yun, Wei Yun was summoned to the Forbidden Palace that very night to meet with Emperor Qi He.
Even though Wei Yun appeared calm at the time and did not hide anything about the content of their conversation, how could Emperor Qi He not know?
The Forbidden Palace is Emperor Qi He’s domain, where nothing can be hidden from the current sovereign.
Yet even so, Wei Yun was well aware that Emperor Qi He might not fully trust him.
As the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, his recent aspiration towards the immortal Taoist way was driven by a desire to extend his reign on the Dragon Throne.
For someone so concerned with power, how could he tolerate others snoring beside his couch?
Not even his own son Zhao Zhengrong, nor his appointed crown prince Zhao Zhengtan… While he was still alive, he would never allow them to covet his possessions excessively, nor would he permit court officials to form factions and conduct private dealings.
Thus, during today’s court session, Emperor Qi He tested Wei Yun numerous times.
But for Wei Yun, these were merely trifles.
However, on his way to the palace gate after the session, in a corridor he had to pass, he encountered the current Prime Minister, Song Jinian.
At that moment, Song Jinian was speaking with another minister.
Seeing Wei Yun approach, the minister bowed slightly to Song Jinian and then to Wei Yun before hurriedly leaving.
Upon seeing Wei Yun, Song Jinian gestured to leave with a wave of his sleeve.
“Prime Minister Song.” Wei Yun suddenly spoke.
He then approached Song Jinian, and looking at the elderly Prime Minister, he smirked, “Why the hurry, Prime Minister Song?”
“There’s nothing much to talk about with someone like you!” Song Jinian snorted coldly, his long beard quivering as he spoke.
“But I have a question that I must ask Prime Minister Song.” Wei Yun’s voice remained calm.
“Did you receive the ‘great gift’ I sent to the Prime Minister’s residence yesterday?”
Hearing this, Song Jinian’s expression changed drastically, glaring at Wei Yun, “What are you trying to say?”
That so-called “great gift” was actually the arm of one of his spies.
“I just want to advise Prime Minister Song.”
Wei Yun’s expression gradually turned colder, with a barely concealed sharpness, “If you dare to reach into the Imperial Advisor’s residence again, it won’t be as simple as this time.”
This was not advice, but a threat and a warning.
Song Jinian’s face turned pale, pointing at Wei Yun, unable to utter another word for a long time.
“I believe those so-called secret messages have already taught Prime Minister Song a lesson.” Wei Yun’s lips curved slightly, his voice cold and mocking.
The secret messages stolen by the spy from the Imperial Advisor’s residence were merely trivial matters.
“Wei Yun!” Song Jinian was utterly infuriated.
As Wei Yun finished speaking, he glanced at him lightly before stepping forward and walking away, no longer concerned with whatever expression was on the face of the Prime Minister behind him.
By the time he returned to the residence of the Imperial Advisor, Wei Bo had already prepared breakfast.
As Wei Yun sat at the table to eat, the copper pendant he kept inside his clothing emitted a scorching temperature just in time.
He paused, his hand holding the spoon, then lifted his eyes to Wei Bo, “You may leave now.”
“Yes.” Wei Bo immediately bowed and withdrew to the door before turning to leave.
The room was left with only Wei Yun.
When he took out the copper pendant from his clothing, a faint golden light surged out, and a letter gently landed on his dining table.
He put down his spoon, picked up the letter, and opened it.
“Wei Yun, Wei Yun?”
She seemed to like calling his name over and over again.
A faint, barely visible smile appeared between Wei Yun’s brows. He stood up and had just taken a few steps when he seemed to remember something. Turning back, his gaze landed on a plate of pastries on the dining table.
In the end, he turned around, picked up the plate of pastries, and with the other hand holding the letter sprinkled with gold, he left the hall and walked towards the study in the backyard.
“Awake?”
Holding a pen in front of the desk, he pressed the letter under the copper pendant.
Xie Tao’s reply always came quickly:
“Mm…”
“That, I wanted to ask you, did you drink fake alcohol last night?”
She sent two messages, which turned into two letters on Wei Yun’s end.
Upon seeing the line of ink on the second letter with gold sprinkles, a fleeting smile appeared in Wei Yun’s eyes, followed by a shallow helplessness.
So, he picked up the pen again:
“I am not you, I do not act inconsistently like you.”
He deliberately mentioned it again, with a hint of teasing, “Or is it that you were actually retreating in order to advance last night?”
“I did not!!”
Xie Tao tapped on her phone screen, wanting to argue a bit more, but after typing a lot, she deleted it all. In the end, she could only reply in frustration:
“Anyway, I can’t win against you, I won’t talk to you anymore!”
At this moment, Wei Yun could probably imagine her expression upon seeing this sentence on the letter, so he chuckled softly.
Then, he took a wooden box from under the desk, placed the plate of pastries inside, and set the copper pendant on top of the box.
With a flicker of golden light, the box vanished without a trace, and the copper pendant, losing its support, fell onto the desk, making a sound.
After more than half a month, Xie Tao once again received a notification from the parcel locker.
When she went downstairs to open the locker, what was placed inside was still a wooden box.
And when she opened the wooden box, inside was a plate of pastries. When she reached out to take a piece, it was still slightly warm.
Still without any courier packaging, just such a box.
Xie Tao knew that this could not have been put in here by a courier. It was as if it had appeared out of thin air.
Holding the box, Xie Tao stood downstairs for a long, long time.
From that day on, the relationship between Xie Tao and Wei Yun seemed to return to their previous mode of interaction, yet there seemed to be something slightly different.
She still made it a habit to voice call him every day, still accustomed to sharing many of her own matters with him. Sometimes, she would even tell him jokes, and get huffy when he didn’t get her sense of humor.
And he, compared to before, seemed to be much more patient, finally more talkative, and appeared to exude a faint, gentle warmth.
He seemed, different.
Yet behind this seemingly calm life, Xie Tao felt increasingly puzzled.
He still sent her a lot of delicious things, many of which she had never seen before. Sometimes, he wanted to send her some valuables, like the box of gold ingots from last time.
But she refused.
However, every time she looked at the things he sent her, her doubt grew deeper.
She could no longer convince herself, telling herself that there was nothing mysterious about these matters.
Xie Tao found that she could no longer ignore this issue.
So, on a Saturday afternoon, Xie Tao sat at her desk, staring at the WeChat chat interface on her phone for a long time.
She wanted to verify some things.
As if hesitating for a long time, she finally took a deep breath, stretched out her finger, and just as she was about to touch the “video call” option on the screen, her finger curled up.
After hesitating back and forth like this several times, she never managed to press the “video call” option.
She hung her head down, laying on the desk, dispiritedly rubbing her hair.
This won’t do.
She thought.
As if silently doing mental preparation for a long time, she once again mustered the courage, stretched out her finger.
With a burst of energy, she tapped twice, and her gaze no longer moved away from the screen, she even involuntarily held her breath.
In just a few seconds.
The video suddenly connected.
In that instant,
The person appearing on the phone screen was dressed in splendid attire, with a golden crown and jade belt, his long hair dark and thick, and his face with distinct contours was even more stunningly beautiful than the painting she had set as her phone wallpaper.
Like the most expressive blank space in an ink landscape painting, truly a radiant and hard-to-find elegance in this world, dazzling in appearance.
Unprepared, Xie Tao met his astonished eyes, and at that moment, she couldn’t describe the sudden tremor in her heart.
At that time, everything was silent around her, her eyes widened, the hand holding the phone suddenly trembled, even forgetting to breathe momentarily.
She could only hear her own heart inside her chest, thumping and churning.
Sound after sound, wave after wave.
As if there was a drum set up in her heart, being continuously beaten by something.
As she foolishly gazed at him, her expression dazed, unable to come to her senses for a long time.
Until, she saw the astonishment in his eyes recede, as if he had already understood, suddenly curved his lips into a faint smile.
As if right by her ear, she heard his clear voice, gently calling her:
“Tao Tao?”
