Xie Tao acted as a temporary mediator.
Meng Lichun had never intended to take her life before.
Had the original plan not failed, had there been no unexpected moves from Wei Yun’s side, she wouldn’t have decided to actually kill Xie Tao.
That was always an innocent girl.
She was always clear about this.
So in the end, Meng Lichun couldn’t convince herself to kill her.
“But Sister Chun, isn’t the adult innocent too? Why must you kill him?”
After hearing Meng Lichun’s words, Sheng Yueqi was silent for a moment before suddenly asking.
Meng Lichun closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
In the end, she only said, “It’s not for me to decide.”
“This is an order from the third timeline.”
“Then, if the adult never does anything to disrupt the order of the timelines, would you from the third timeline still kill him?”
Sheng Yueqi asked again.
Meng Lichun shook her head, “I’m not clear about this either.”
Wei Yun stood there, almost never speaking.
It was as if he had carefully gone over what Meng Lichun had said in his mind. When he lifted his eyes again, the blade in his hand still cast a chilling light near Meng Lichun’s neck.
“If you want to kill me, it won’t be an easy task for you.”
He suddenly spoke, his voice cold and unemotional.
Meng Lichun heard it but didn’t understand what he meant.
“But if I intend to, you might not always arrive just in time.”
He casually took a folded piece of paper that was stuck to the door from Wei Jing’s hand and said such a sentence.
This was an undisguised threat.
After hearing this, Meng Lichun’s expression indeed changed.
“Wei Yun!”
Wei Yun smirked, his seemingly affectionate but always distant peach blossom eyes now held a mocking expression. He suddenly sneered, “So, Meng Lichun, you better behave.”
“If you want to kill me, come at me openly,”
His smile faded, and his brows knitted with more fierceness, “But you shouldn’t drag Xie Tao into this.”
As he said this, his speech slowed, his voice light, yet it oppressively made it hard to breathe.
At that moment, he twisted his wrist, the sword’s edge moved forward, directly cutting her neck’s blood vessel, leaving a deep gash visible enough to see the flesh opened, hence bright red blood instantly flowed out, staining her clothes, dyeing a large area red.
He then threw the bloodied long sword on the ground, drops of blood from the blade blossomed into droplets on the floor.
Seeing Meng Lichun’s face turn pale from the pain in her neck, her brows tightly furrowed, Wei Yun coldly watched. After a while, seeing the wound on her neck slowly heal, he then said, “You might not die, but that doesn’t mean you won’t feel pain.”
“Meng Lichun, if you dare to target Xie Tao again, if you can’t kill me next time, I will bind you here like today and flay you piece by piece.”
Every word was bone-chillingly cold.
At that moment, Meng Lichun’s back was soaked with sweat, facing such a mortal, she uncontrollably began to feel fear.
This was clearly just a mortal.
But she was deeply intimidated by his gaze, his words.
Meng Lichun was stunned there for a moment, unable to utter a word.
A moment for a cup of tea quickly passed, the woman originally bound by the net to the chair turned into a faint blue light and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Just like everything before, as if it had never happened.
But the bloodstain on the long sword lying quietly on the ground remained.
Finally, Wei Jing fell down from the door, he lay on the ground for a while, gradually regaining his strength.
This night, all the clouds and mists shrouding in front of Wei Yun’s eyes were gradually dispersed in an instant.
He finally understood the intentions of this mysterious woman named Meng Lichun.
He also finally realized why, after the Yi Dynasty, these two timelines developed in completely different directions.
Because originally, it was after the Yi Dynasty that they started to split into two separate timelines.
After the Yi Dynasty, the development of the two timelines was like two rivers that could never intersect, rushing for thousands of miles, never overlapping.
Having sat in the study for an entire night,
Eventually, it was to the sound of the rotating astrolabe that he came back to his senses.
In the light screen on the copper talisman, appeared the girl’s fair and clear face, her eyes always sparkling with light when she looked at him.
“Wei Yun, you have dark circles under your eyes!”
Xie Tao noticed at a glance the light blue marks under his eyes.
Then she saw the setup behind him, “Are you in the study? Haven’t you slept again?”
The tension that had been in his mind all night seemed to finally relax at the sight of her.
His dark eyes, too, seemed to be touched by the morning light shining through the window, casting a few strands of warm light on them, his shoulders carrying a faint golden halo. Sitting there, even with a hint of tiredness between his brows, he still looked more picturesque than any scene in the courtyard.
“Why aren’t you sleeping, Wei Yun?”
Xie Tao slapped the table, annoyed, “Is the emperor making you work overtime again? No overtime pay and still so tiring?”
“Don’t be so honest, can’t you slack off a bit? If you want to sleep, just sleep. He’s not watching you anyway…”
Xie Tao then resumed her chatterbox nature.
“It’s not good for you to stay up like this. What if you ruin your beautiful eyes? You can’t just stay up all night!”
Later, she pointed at his dense long hair, deliberately saying, “Also, staying up late can cause hair loss. Look at your nice hair. If it starts falling out and you become bald…”
She suddenly found herself unable to continue.
Because she couldn’t imagine what Wei Yun would look like if he were bald… Would he still be a good-looking bald man?
Xie Tao couldn’t imagine it.
And didn’t dare to think further…
“…”
Wei Yun suddenly felt his hair crown a bit tight.
“Alright, hurry up and light the incense, I’m coming over!”
She simply stopped talking and urged him, “Hurry up!”
Wei Yun sighed helplessly, but a shallow smile appeared in his eyes. He took out the brocade bag containing gold powder, sprinkled some in the incense burner, and lit it as usual with a fire starter.
As the smoke thickened, her figure slowly emerged in the fluctuating haze.
The moment Xie Tao saw Wei Yun, she squinted her eyes as if hesitating, but then she opened her arms and hugged his waist.
Wei Yun could clearly feel that from that day on, this girl seemed to become bolder.
She especially liked being close to him.
Although Wei Yun inevitably stiffened,
He couldn’t deny that deep inside, he didn’t reject her closeness, and there was even a faint joy.
But these feelings, he would absolutely never show.
He would never allow himself to show the slightest flaw.
Thus, his expression became even more serene and detached.
“You said you would take me out to play today, right?” she looked up at him, her almond-shaped eyes sparkling with a bright light, the shadow named anticipation.
“Mm,” Wei Yun responded softly.
Perhaps due to a sleepless night, his voice was somewhat hoarse, and his eyebrows always seemed a bit tired.
His temples also throbbed slightly.
It was probably because he had sat by the window last night, blowing in the wind all night, and now he had a bit of a headache.
Xie Tao was originally smiling, but when she saw him close his eyes and press his temples, she pursed her lips and suddenly grabbed his sleeve.
Wei Yun opened his eyes and looked at her, “What’s wrong?”
His voice was still somewhat hoarse.
“Let’s not go,” she said.
“Why?” Wei Yun’s eyes showed a bit of confusion.
Holding the jade pendant hanging from his belt, Xie Tao said, feeling its coolness, “You’re too tired, you should take a nap.”
Her words of concern made Wei Yun’s eyes soften even more. He shook his head and touched her head, “If I promised you something, I naturally have to do it.”
But Xie Tao insisted.
She pulled Wei Yun’s sleeve and led him to sit down at the table in the inner room.
Before Wei Yun could speak, a pair of soft hands began gently massaging his temples.
He was momentarily stunned.
She didn’t say anything, just stood behind him, massaging his temples.
The charcoal fire in the inner room had already gone out, but Wei Yun felt as though the residual warmth of the charcoal fire was still there, trickling down through her fingertips, little by little, into his heart.
“Sleep here for a while.”
After massaging his temples, Xie Tao’s hands were sore. She rubbed her wrists and pointed to the soft couch next to him, saying.
In such a quiet moment, Wei Yun was almost asleep.
But hearing her voice, he opened his eyes again.
Wei Yun was almost never so compliant, but at this moment in front of Xie Tao, he seemed to have carefully put away all his sharp thorns, a bit cautious and tender as water.
When he lay down on the soft couch, Xie Tao took the large cloak from the screen next to them and covered him with it.
Then she squatted there, hands propping her chin, and smiled at him, “Sleep quickly.”
After looking at her smiling face for a moment, Wei Yun closed his eyes.
Xie Tao stood up, closed the half-open window, and then sat at the table, taking out a workbook from her backpack to do exercises.
The room was quiet for a while, and the air seemed to still linger with a light scent of gold powder.
But soon, Xie Tao’s eyes involuntarily drifted towards Wei Yun, who lay on the soft couch.
She suddenly put down her pen, deliberately lightened her footsteps, and walked over to the couch. Squatting down, she cradled her face in her hands and gazed at him.
His thick, long eyelashes, fanned out because his eyes were closed, looked like little fans.
And his face, no matter how many times she saw it, remained stunningly beautiful.
Suddenly, she stretched out her hand and gently placed two flowers she had just plucked from the orchid in the vase onto his dark hair.
She covered her mouth, daring not to laugh out loud.
But when her gaze landed on his thin, reddish lips, she blinked, her eyelashes trembling.
The morning light filled the space outside the window.
Snowflakes fell from the sky above this deep courtyard.
Yet, the room remained dim.
Xie Tao lowered her eyes, gazing at him for a long time.
Was it because the window was closed? That the wind couldn’t blow her mind clear.
Otherwise,
Otherwise… why would she suddenly think of kissing him?
Such a dangerous thought.
It was as if something was tempting her, making her lower her head, gradually, inching closer to him.
Just half an inch away.
She was almost breathing the same air as him.
