Chapter 49 Hundred Butterflies Fly "Just now, why did you wipe away my tears..."

Xue Chan switched between the two pens in her hands, adjusting the colors again and again.

But no matter how hard he tried to pick up the pen, he could never finish drawing.

The rain was too heavy, turning from a drizzle into a torrential downpour, rattling loudly against the windowpanes. Its force seemed to engulf the entire Fangchun Pavilion.

Xue Chan let out a long sigh and closed her eyes helplessly.

Her mind was not at peace.

The sound of the paint hitting the window was impossible to ignore; her mind was troubled, her thoughts were racing, and she simply couldn't continue painting.

Xue Chan stroked the pen, sighed softly, and placed the pen on the pen rest.

Yun Sheng handed her a cup of hot tea, and the tea warmed her as it went down her throat.

Xue Chan raised her eyes and looked at the painted screen. Behind the screen, Jiang Ce was sitting by the window, looking at the porcelain vase on the flower table below the window with a serious and focused expression.

Through the landscape painting screen, his face was vaguely visible, only the beautiful line formed by his forehead, nose, and chin could be seen.

Like those verdant peaks, it rises and falls endlessly.

His robes, trailing on the ground as he sat, revealed a long gown beneath his light blue gauze robe. The gown was ivory-red, and illuminated by the lamplight, it shimmered like scattered gold, making the gold flecks and subtle patterns appear exceptionally vibrant and dazzling.

It resembles a landscape painting.

Soaring through the clouds in the mountains, the valley is ablaze with fragrant blossoms.

Xue Chan suddenly thought: Perhaps this is also a beautiful scene in spring.

The rain outside seemed never to stop; the dampness clung to people, creating a somber and lingering atmosphere.

This persistent, inescapable dampness always evokes a multitude of dense, fragmented thoughts.

"Boom!"

A bolt of lightning, like a silver snake, flashed past, shaking the heavens and earth as it struck Fangchun Pavilion. The interior of the pavilion was instantly plunged into a terrifying, chilling white light.

All those sticky, throbbing emotions, all those gloomy feelings, were shattered into chaos by this thunderclap. The sudden, confused mixing left me breathless, dizzy, as if I were slowly sinking into it.

Jiang Ce's gaze quietly shifted from the porcelain vase to the screen, where he silently watched Xue Chan behind it.

Because of the sudden rain, the interior of the pavilion was dim, so a few lamps were lit. Separated by the landscape painting screen, which was only a thin veil of mist, he felt as if he were separated by thousands of mountains and rivers.

It's so far away, so far that it's almost annoying.

Perhaps we shouldn't have let them put that screen up.

Jiang Ce suddenly had a thought: if this rain really flooded, it could really rush into Fangchun Pavilion without any regard for anything else.

Is it possible to roll up that screen?

In this way, there will be no more obstacles. He will be able to see her clearly and truly.

Upon having such an absurd thought, Jiang Ce felt a wave of dread and disgust, and then laughed at himself for truly losing his mind.

He turned his head away and closed his eyes, as if he could clear his mind as long as he didn't see Xue Chan. But as soon as he closed his eyes, he heard the sound of rain outside the window even more clearly, as if it flowed into his heart.

Perhaps it was because summer was approaching, but lately he had been feeling inexplicably restless and thoughtful, as if every part of his body was burning with energy.

The more anxious he became, the faster these sparks ignited.

It burned into a fire, spreading out in patches.

The last piece of my heart, which had been burned to the ground, sprouted new green shoots from those absurd thoughts, like seeds falling into the soil.

Spring rain is as precious as oil, urging green shoots to emerge.

Watered by the fine drizzle, the tender buds began to sprout rapidly, growing new leaves and urging the flowers to bloom.

He thought: Let the rain fall harder and last longer.

It's so large it can cover everything, so large that no one will notice it. There's no need to hide those secret thoughts that quietly grow with the tide and rain.

He wanted to take another look at Xue Chan, so he gently raised his eyes. She was simply focused on painting, and nothing seemed to bother her.

Without wind, without rain, without the dust of the world, the space between heaven and earth is vast and boundless, a person and a painting.

Jiang Ce watched her tirelessly.

He was only momentarily distracted when the thin jade butterfly in Xue Chan's hair began to gently flutter its wings on her cloud-like hair.

Even though the two were inside the pavilion, with a screen separating them, Jiang Ce could clearly see the butterfly's wings shimmering under the lamplight, as if it were about to take flight.

The butterfly took flight.

It was nimble and light, fluttering around Xue Chan, but Xue Chan did not notice it.

Jiang Ce was so surprised that he stopped breathing, staring blankly as the butterfly kissed the peony in the hair.

It flew over the landscape painting and came toward him.

The butterflies circled around him, first landing on the flower stamens in the porcelain vase, facing Jiang Ce.

It took flight again, flapping its wings and circling around Jiang Ce.

He barely dared to move, and just as he gently raised his hand, the butterfly landed on his finger again.

Jiang Ce's throat bobbed, and he wanted to reach out and touch the butterfly. But before he could touch it, the butterfly suddenly flew up. It flew to Jiang Ce's chest, stayed for a moment, and then turned into light and merged into him.

He was so surprised that he couldn't even utter a sound, and could only look down at his chest.

He actually, actually, actually saw that his own chest was completely transparent.

The butterfly discovered a tiny patch of spring in his heart, so it stayed and fluttered about.

He didn't know when it had grown; when he finally looked, all he saw was endless grass, swaying gracefully in the breeze.

"bite"

With a crisp sound, the thin jade butterfly transformed into specks of light, fell down, and faded into darkness.

Jiang Ce's heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly woke up. He didn't know when he had fallen asleep by the small window.

He touched his chest; there were no butterflies, no flowers, only a steady, powerful heartbeat.

Jiang Ce took a few breaths and only raised his head after his emotions had calmed down.

However, Xue Chan was not behind the screen; only the palace servants were busy with their own tasks, and only Yun Sheng and Xue Qing were still arranging the scrolls at the desk.

Jiang Ce immediately got up and walked around the hall without making a sound.

"Where is she?"

The palace maid who was adding incense looked up and saw Jiang Ce standing beside her, asking softly.

She pointed to the wooden shelves on the west side where books and paintings were stored.

Jiang Ce walked quietly towards the back of the plane. He searched for each plane one by one, and finally stopped.

Xue Chan sat at the far end of the wall, leaning against it with her back slightly turned, a book spread out on her lap. Perhaps she was engrossed in reading, for she didn't even notice him approaching, her head still slightly lowered.

Seeing that she didn't move, Jiang Ce walked over. Afraid of disturbing her, he made his footsteps even lighter.

When Jiang Ce approached and stood in front of her, he realized that she wasn't engrossed in watching, but had fallen asleep.

He bent down to look at Xue Chan. At this moment, her body was trembling slightly, her long eyebrows were furrowed, and she was sobbing softly.

She was crying.

Why is that?

Is it missing a loved one? Or is it a nightmare? Will he appear in your dreams?

She sobbed, her long eyelashes trembling like butterfly wings, tears streaming down her cheeks, staining the pages. Jiang Ce instinctively reached out, and a tear dripped onto the back of his hand.

My heart skipped a beat, and I felt as if the tears were burning hot, like sparks, searing a hole through my heart.

But as if possessed, he reached out, bent his fingers, and with a slight tremor, gently wiped away her tears with the back of his fingers.

Xue Chan opened her eyes, and the two of them stared at each other.

As she awoke, her eyes were filled with tears, confused and sad. When she looked up at him, her tears resembled a lake after a heavy rain.

A sudden gust of wind and rain ripples across the green waves, breaking every root of the spring willow.

Jiang Ce's heart suddenly clenched, and he felt a sharp pain, like ants gnawing at his flesh.

"You, how come..." he could only stammer as he tried to sound arrogant, "Are you crying?"

Xue Chan snapped out of her dream. She immediately lowered her head, took a deep breath, calmed herself, and wiped away her tears with her sleeve.

She retorted, "What? Can't I cry?"

Jiang Ce choked up for a moment. He coughed, straightened up, and crossed his arms, saying, "What you just said made me think you were a heart of stone and would never shed a tear."

“But then again,” he thought for a moment, his tone wry, “young girls are always prone to overthinking and shedding tears.”

Xue Chan asked, "Does the Second Young Master never have moments of sadness and tears?"

Jiang Ce raised his chin slightly and said decisively, "Of course, how can a true man shed tears so easily?"

She smiled knowingly, wondering who it was last year who sat on the Buddha-asking stone at Jixiang Temple and cried.

However, Xue Chan didn't want to expose him. Anyway, Jiang Ce would definitely not admit it, and might even get angry and jump up and down in frustration.

Xue Chan stood up, looked into his eyes, and although she was smiling, her expression was serious.

"All people are born crying, and so am I. Crying and laughing are rights bestowed by heaven. When happy, laugh; when sad, cry. Why can't I cry? Why do a woman's tears represent sorrow? What difference is there between you and me, Second Young Master? Is it simply because you are a man and I am a woman that your tears are precious, while my tears are looked down upon because they are plentiful?"

"Everyone cries and laughs. Why should a woman's tears be considered shameful, while a man's tears are considered disgraceful?"

Jiang Ce was rendered speechless by her repeated questions, and his city was completely lost as she conquered and seized territory.

But then he heard her say, "Besides, tears don't mean you're weak or incompetent."

Tears do not signify weakness.

Jiang Ce frowned, puzzled.

But that's not what my father said.

When he was a child, he had a very beautiful little sparrow that everyone loved.

But one day, the little sparrow died. He sobbed and took a small rake to dig a hole, put the little sparrow into a box filled with flowers and millet berries, and buried it with reluctance.

He was heartbroken and couldn't even eat. The thought of the little bird he had hatched and raised, how beautiful and adorable it was, hopping around in his hands, brought tears to his eyes.

But my father said, "A real man should have the courage of a common man, how can he cry and act like a child!"

He never raised sparrows again after that.

That same year, his father went to war against the Western Rong and fought against the Western Rong general Yelü Xiong at Baizhang Cliff.

Although his father killed Yelü Xiong, he also died in the fierce battle from a hidden arrow piercing his heart and fell off a cliff.

The Hundred-Zhang Cliff is extremely dangerous and difficult to enter. No living creatures are seen there, and those who fall into the valley never return. His father, like those who strayed into the Hundred-Zhang Cliff, was never found. His body lies quietly somewhere at the bottom of the cliff, and he has not returned to this day.

He was very young then; he was only three when his father went to war and died at the age of five.

His father, at the age of sixteen, followed his father into battle, donned armor, and killed three enemy generals.

At the age of seventeen, with a goose-feather blade that gleamed like the silver moon over the desert, he decisively defeated the Tiannan Kingdom within three months, forcing Tiannan to retreat outside Changping Mountain for decades without daring to invade.

A young prodigy, shining brightly.

From a young age, he dreamed of becoming like his father. He wanted to protect the country, bring peace, avenge his father, and welcome his spirit back to Chaoxi City to rest in peace.

He remembered every word his father said and did everything he said.

What he doesn't remember or know, someone else has seen and knows.

He grew up to be exactly like His Majesty and the people's father.

But......

Xue Chan told him: Tears do not represent weakness.

This is not what my father said.

So, who was in the wrong?

"The rain has stopped."

Jiang Ce was distracted when Xue Chan pushed open a small window beside him. The rain that had been falling all afternoon was now light, the rain even on the mountain peaks was soft and gentle. Only a few fine raindrops remained, lightly blown by the wind.

The weather was clear, with a faint ray of sunlight on the horizon. The damp and gloomy atmosphere that had permeated the building had completely dissipated.

Xue Chan smiled and said, "The rain has stopped, it's time to go."

Why did the rain stop?

It came suddenly and left suddenly, catching everyone off guard.

Jiang Ce followed Xue Chan out of Fangchun Pavilion with a slight sense of loss.

The two descended the stone steps one after the other, about to part ways. Jiang Ce gritted his teeth, quickly said goodbye, and ran off.

"Second Young Master"

At Xue Chan's call, he stopped abruptly and stood under the clump of euphorbia flowers on the wall of the building.

"What's wrong?"

She slowly approached, looked up at him, and said gently, "Can I ask you a question?"

Jiang Ce said, "Go ahead and ask."

Xue Chan: "Why did you wipe my tears just now?"

Jiang Ce said dryly, "I've always been a kind-hearted person and can't bear to see a girl's tears."

Xue Chan then asked, "So that means, if it were anyone else, anyone at all, would the Second Young Master have wiped away his tears with his own hands in the same way?"

"Of course not!" he immediately retorted, but looking into Xue Chan's eyes, his expression became uncertain. "After all... we are bound by a marriage contract, so we are naturally different from others."

Xue Chan froze slightly, then nodded, her voice still carrying a gentle, slightly amused tone.

"Besides that, is there nothing else?"

"Is there anything else you want?"

Jiang Ce couldn't stand that gentle yet sharp gaze; he even wanted to cover it with his own eyes. But he didn't. He could only look away and say condescendingly, "You don't actually think that me wiping your tears means I like you, do you? You told me not to be sentimental, but I think you're the most sentimental one."

Jiang Ce thought she would get angry, or at least talk back.

But she just smiled and said, "Okay, I understand. Of course I won't presume to be so sentimental."

Jiang Ce opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything, so he simply shut his mouth.

Xue Chan bid him farewell: "The rain has stopped, you should go back now."

She turned and entered Fangchun Pavilion, and Jiang Ce subconsciously tried to stop her. But Xue Chan walked quickly and left in a few steps.

The Taiping flower pinned in Tu Sheng's hair fell gently into his palm.