Chapter 12 Heartbreak: My ship broke up?

Jinlan, who considers herself a diligent shipper, never imagined that when she descended the mountain, the entire story of the Emperor and Qiao Xi would be gone.

It's all gone.

No one spoke of the rumors about the two of them anymore.

Jinlan was puzzled and couldn't help but ask the woodcutter who came up the mountain. The woodcutter told him with great certainty, "These rumors are all false. Young people shouldn't believe these things."

Jinlan's feelings were conflicted. Even though he knew that the story of the Emperor and Qiao Xi was fake and that the two of them could never be together, he still wanted to ship them as a couple. The story of the forced marriage in the city was too exciting, but he used to hear some stories about it, but now no one talks about it anymore.

His granary disappeared overnight.

Wasn't it supposed to be a long and saga of the Emperor's forced marriage?

How come his romantic partner broke up after just a few days?

Oh no, Jinlan's heart is breaking. He's going to find his good friend Qiaoxi to listen to some melodramatic and tragic stories to ease the pain of his couple's breakup.

As he was struggling to climb toward the bamboo garden, leaning on a small bamboo cane, he encountered Morax.

"Greetings, Your Majesty." Jinlan stood up straight and bowed to Morax.

Morax nodded and said, "Yes."

Jinlan scratched his head sheepishly as he watched Morax leave.

It wasn't until Morax's figure disappeared that he realized something: the Emperor seemed to have come from the direction of the Bamboo Garden.

Based on her experience of entering and leaving the Bamboo Garden many times, Jinlan knew that the direction the Emperor was heading was Qiaoxi's Bamboo Garden, and there was no way she was wrong.

So they just met?

Regardless of the reason for the meeting,

But at this moment, Jinlan was so happy she almost fainted.

*

Qiao Xi, wearing Morax's black cloak, holding a bamboo umbrella, and wearing thick cotton boots, ran towards Jin Lan through the fine snow.

The unfortunate Jinlan saw Qiao Xi as if he had seen his own mother. He threw the bamboo pole on the ground with tears streaming down his face, feeling so wronged that he was about to cry.

Qiao Xi held an umbrella over him and asked with concern, "What's wrong?"

Jinlan was crying with snot and tears streaming down his face. Thinking that the Emperor had just met with Qiao Xi, the grievances in his heart dissipated a little. He looked at Qiao Xi's lovely face and sighed in his heart, "Why can't I be with the Emperor?"

These days, for the sake of his friendship with Qiao Xi, he has never dared to tell anyone that he ships Qiao Xi and the Emperor. He keeps it all to himself and finds solace in listening to stories.

Naturally, Qiao Xi was unaware that Jin Lan was shipping a couple.

Jinlan made up a story: "I'm freezing! Come inside and tell me some stories to warm me up."

Qiao Xi listened to the soft rustling of snowflakes falling on the umbrella, her face full of questions: "What's the connection between these two?"

Jinlan pushed her into the house: "Don't worry about that. Let's sit by the fire, drink some tea, and listen to you tell a couple of stories. It's such a wonderful holiday."

As she said this, Jinlan suddenly noticed that Qiaoxi had changed her cloak.

He remembered that Qiao Xi used to wear a bright red cloak with a hood covered in fluffy white fur.

This one is black, and it's not only too big and doesn't fit well, but it also looks more mature and sophisticated in terms of its sheen, texture, and overall feel.

Jinlan was thinking of something, probably the year he first came to Qianyan Army, which was also a winter.

He caught a glimpse of the Emperor from afar. The Emperor stood on a cliff, looking down with a solemn expression and an unassailable aura. He was wearing a black cloak.

Could it be...?

Jinlan watched as Qiaoxi gradually frowned.

Seeing Jinlan's dazed expression, Qiao Xi couldn't help but ask, "Have you gone mad?"

Jin Lan's eyes lit up as he tentatively asked, "Oh dear, I just noticed, has our little Qiao Xi changed into new clothes?"

Qiao Xi's lips twitched. Why did she feel like the other person was being a little deliberate?

Following Jinlan's gaze, she looked at the cloak she was wearing. She couldn't help but clutch the hem of the cloak, and pursed her lips, feeling a little lost.

Jinlan noticed her little gesture and frantically pressed down on her lips, her mind filled with thoughts like: Yes, that's the reaction, that's the expression, it's perfect, oh my god, I'm totally shipping them.

"It was a gift from Morax," Qiao Xi said directly.

Jinlan took a deep breath, clenched her fist, and thought, "It was worth it!"

He said, "The Emperor is such a kind person."

Qiao Xi agreed: "Right, he saw that my clothes were wet and gave them to me directly, saying it was a New Year's gift, but it's still too expensive. I plan to give him one too during the New Year. Jinlan, you've been here for a long time, what do you think is a good gift for him?"

Jinlan's inner thoughts: These two are already exchanging gifts, so how far away is marriage? Why bother with gifts at all? You might as well just give yourself away.

Seeing Jinlan lost in thought, Qiao Xi couldn't help but nudge her: "Jinlan?"

"Ahem," Jinlan came back to her senses, "I don't usually have much contact with the Emperor, so why don't you ask your two masters later?"

Qiao Xi: "You're right."

*

The two arrived at the bamboo house. Jinlan took off his coat, shivered, and quickly put it back on. He skillfully fetched a brazier and charcoal, took out a tinderbox from his pocket, and asked Qiaoxi as he started a fire, "It's so cold in your house, why don't you light a fire?"

"I'm afraid of carbon monoxide poisoning, so I'll just wear something thicker."

Jinlan frowned: "What kind of poison is carbon monoxide?"

Qiao Xi carefully took off Morax's cloak, hung it up, put on a floral cotton-padded jacket, moved a small stool over, sat down next to Jin Lan, and stretched out her hands to warm herself by the fire: "It's just a C and an O."

Jinlan: "...Speak like a human being."

Qiao Xi smiled sheepishly: "That's right, I'm afraid the air in the room will become suffocating."

Jinlan had known Qiaoxi for a long time and knew that she often said things that were incomprehensible, so she stopped asking.

He asked Qiao Xi, "Is there anything to eat? Don't waste the fire, put a couple of things on the grill?"

Qiao Xi: "It's piled up behind you."

Jinlan turned his head, picked up two ears of corn and two sweet potatoes. He paused, then, considering that Qiao Xi could eat a lot, picked up two more taro. When he felt that was enough, he threw them into the fire.

Seeing this, Qiao Xi added, "It doesn't seem like enough to eat. There are still potatoes, so add a few too."

Jinlan looked at Qiaoxi, slowly frowning in disbelief, but still put in a few more potatoes.

A small brazier was piled high with food, and through the scorching air from the flames, one could see the snow falling outside shimmering.

Jinlan asked, "What kind of story will you tell today?"

Qiao Xi: "Car accident caused amnesia?"

Jinlan shook her head: "I'm tired of hearing this."

Qiao Xi: "Entangled through several lifetimes?"

Jinlan shook her head: "I want to hear something lighthearted."

Qiao Xi: "You actually prefer something lighthearted?!"

Jinlan: "You have a stereotype about me."

Qiao Xi: "Then the white moonlight substitute?"

Jinlan shook her head: "I've been into pure love stories lately."

Qiao Xi frowned: "You're out of character, do you know that?"

Jinlan: "What do you mean, 'Oh'?"

Qiao Xi sighed, gazing at the snowman outside. She began to make up a story for Jin Lan, flipping over the roasted sweet potato in front of her and telling a tale of a magical boy who fell in love with a girl.

Jinlan rested her chin on her hand: "Don't girls have magic powers?"

Qiao Xi picked up a potato and peeled it little by little: "No, in the end the boy became an ordinary person, and the two loved each other for a lifetime and were very happy."

She took a bite of potato and glanced at Jinlan.

Jinlan clicked her tongue: "This feels a bit boring."

Qiao Xi frowned: "You still want to hear something melodramatic?"

“Yes.” Jinlan nodded and stuck a potato into his own plate. Although he didn’t know what “dog blood” meant, he knew that Qiao Xi was trying to express the meaning he liked.

After thinking it over, Qiao Xi asked Jin Lan, "Have I never told you a story about youthful campus love?"

Jinlan: "What is 'Youth on Campus'?"

Qiao Xi immediately perked up. She was tired of making up those same types over and over again, and today she actually found one she hadn't talked about before. So she explained it in words that Jin Lan could understand: "It's the kind of budding love that develops between two people while they are both studying."

Jinlan: "Will it be melodramatic?"

Qiao Xi: "Yes, you can too."

Jinlan: "Speak!"

Qiao Xi laughed: "I also have guys I like, so why didn't I think of this type of story?"

Jinlan: ?

"Stop, stop, stop! You have someone you like?"

Qiao Xi, biting into a potato, nodded earnestly and readily admitted, "Is it abnormal to have a crush on someone during school days?"

Jin Lan's heart shattered again. How could his newly rekindled hope for his partner be broken again? How could Qiao Xi like someone else?

His romantic pairing ended again, leaving him feeling utterly listless, and even the potato in his hand slipped and fell to the ground uncontrollably.

Qiao Xi, unaware of Jin Lan's subsequent emotional turmoil after the rollercoaster ride, quickly picked up the potato, wiped it on her floral cotton-padded jacket, and put it back in the brazier.

"Don't waste food."

Jinlan still looked completely lost.

Just then, Yi Xiao appeared. He was an immortal with keen hearing and sharp eyesight. He heard Qiao Xi and Jin Lan's conversation from afar, so he coughed lightly as he approached the door.

Qiao Xi looked up and smiled, "Master, what brings you here?"

Yi Xiao: "It's rare for me not to teach you for a day, so I'm a little unaccustomed to it. That's why I came to check on you."

When Jinlan saw Yixiao arrive, she mustered her strength and stood up, saying, "Greetings, True Lord Yixiao."

Yi Xiao: "Please sit down, please sit down."

Qiao Xi took advantage of the break to move a small stool for Yi Xiao.

After Yi Xiao took his seat, he asked Qiao Xi, "Since you're going to tell stories, I'll join in the fun too."

Qiao Xi and Jin Lan looked at each other. Given how outrageous their stories were, they were afraid that if Yi Xiao heard them, he would just kick them off the mountain with a stick.

Qiao Xi: "Maybe we should just forget about it."

Jinlan: "Yes, it's all just what we younger folks are listening to, it's really boring."

Yi Xiao: "Are you worried that I won't fit in with you young people? I just heard about it. Isn't it the story of Xiao Xi's crush on the boy she had in school? I understand all of that. It's alright to talk about it."

Qiao Xi: "You heard everything?!"

Yi Xiao: "You think I've wasted my time learning immortal techniques?"

Qiao Xi: "...Okay."

Qiao Xi thought that although she had a crush on Lu Tian in high school, the two didn't have much interaction because of the heavy academic workload and the fact that they were separated into different classes every year. So it wasn't a big deal to talk about it.

Just then, Morax arrived. Yi Xiao was sharp of hearing and sight, and Morax was even sharper of hearing and sight.

When he appeared at the door, Qiao Xi never expected that he would turn around and come back. When Jin Lan saw that it was the Emperor, he quickly stood up and bowed, and went to move the chair in front of Qiao Xi's desk.

Yi Xiao stood up, smiled at Morax, and said, "Xiao Xi is going to tell a story about the boy she liked when she was in school. It sounds quite interesting. Why don't you listen to it, Your Majesty?"

Jinlan's hand, which was carrying the chair, froze. For some reason, he felt a strange excitement.

He placed the chair for Morax and then stood obediently next to Qiao Xi.

Qiao Xi looked at Morax and smiled somewhat awkwardly.

Morax simply looked at Qiao Xi calmly and said, "Go ahead and speak."

A note from the author:

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