Chapter 23

Time flows differently in the illusion than in the outside world. In the blink of an eye, Meishan Ting turned eighteen. That year, it was the sixteenth of the month.

At eighteen, she should have been of marriageable age long ago. However, with her body that could fall to the ground at any time, any family of decent standing would avoid her. Although the Mei family held a prominent position in both the capital and the dynasty, who would want their daughter to be left alone in an empty room after marriage?

So, on this day, it seemed that Master Mei Lin finally remembered that he had a son named Mei Shanting, who was not young anymore and should be of marriageable age. So he casually found a girl from another family to match Mei Shanting with. His task as a father was thus completed.

Mei Shanting was summoned to the main hall and saw his father, whom he hadn't seen much in the past eighteen years. In the past, Mei Lin rarely stayed at the mansion, and the servants in the mansion rarely saw Master Mei either.

Besides Master Mei, there was a strange woman and some elders whom Mei Shanting didn't recognize in the hall. These were people who would normally give him a second glance, but now they were glaring at him menacingly. Mei Shanting had already anticipated this before coming. So he made an excuse to send Ying Yue to attend to other matters and came alone.

The woman standing in the center of the lobby was dressed in a fuchsia dress, both alluring and seductive, with stunning beauty. Every move she made exuded charm, and she seemed to carry a fragrance with her as she walked over.

Second Aunt patted the woman's shoulder and said, "Shanting, this is the daughter that Envoy Xuan recently found. She had been missing for many years and has now been found again. Shanting, we, the Mei family, are very grateful to her for her great kindness and virtue, as she doesn't mind our poor health."

Standing there, he was like a mess, someone who should be grateful to any respectable family's daughter who was willing to marry him. But no one ever asked him if he was willing, no one cared whether he was willing or not.

So this time, for the first time, he refuted and resisted the arrangements they made for him.

Unsurprisingly, no one cared about his thoughts or whether he was willing or not.

Mei Shanting was punished by being confined to the west wing to reflect on his actions. Mei Lin originally intended to give him a few lashes to teach him a lesson. The second concubine cried out, "That won't do! Shanting isn't an ordinary person!" The implication was clear: don't beat this sickly boy to death. Hearing this, Mei Lin chuckled. He then punished him by sending him back to his own courtyard for three months of confinement.

During this time, he even took the Xuan family's daughter with him without permission. She lived not far from him and would come to see Mei Shanting every few days. She tirelessly sent food to the west wing and shamelessly came to take care of Mei Shanting.

Since she came so often, Meishan Ting let her go as she pleased.

Seeing that Mei Shanting wasn't interested in her and couldn't impress him no matter what she did, Shen Huan, the daughter of the Xuan family, turned her gaze to Ying Yue, whom he stared at like the apple of his eye.

It's fair to say that with Shen Huan's arrival, Xie Wen, the vicious female supporting character, could be effectively sidelined. Her role was stolen by Shen Huan, and Xie Wen would sometimes come to Mei Shanting to cause trouble and have fun when she had nothing else to do. It's clear that the West Wing was already in chaos before Shen Huan even arrived.

On the surface, Shen Huan is on good terms with Ying Yue, but behind her back, she instigates the servants to isolate and bully her. As soon as Ying Yue leaves Mei Shan Ting's sight, she suffers terribly. While working, she is locked in a woodshed full of snakes and rats. While walking on the road, she is inexplicably covered with a sack and beaten. While fetching water, she is suddenly pushed into a well by a hand until she is almost suffocating before the hand is released...

Xie Wen, the villainous female lead, felt deeply that her "job" had been stolen. What was she supposed to do? The newcomer, Shen Huan, had already done all the bad things.

Xie Wen could only go home in resentment! Kneel down! Whip! Lash!

That was enough to vent my anger.

Yingyue, whenever she was bullied, would silently endure it and hide it, so that Meishanting would not find out.

She didn't want to implicate Mei Shanting; he had done enough for her. He was powerless to help, and telling him only made him lose sleep.

During the last month of his confinement, Mei Shanting's health deteriorated rapidly. For a period of time, he was bedridden for half a month, unable to move, and suffered from severe pain every night, coughing up large amounts of blood. At night, the sound of coughing could always be heard from the west wing, and the dim candlelight burned all night long.

Yingyue often dared not close her eyes at night, and every now and then she would carefully check his breathing to make sure he was still alive.

Yingyue just wanted to quietly spend these last days with him.

In the twelfth lunar month, the weather was freezing cold. Under the white sky, the pear tree in the courtyard stretched its bare branches forlornly. Early that morning, snow fell, piling up on the branches and gently drifting down onto the windowpane. Meilin seemed to have forgotten that he even had such a son.

Because Mei Shanting remained adamant in her stance and continued to be opposed to the marriage with Chen Huan, Mei Lin was furious. During her confinement, strict controls were placed on the entry and exit of the West Wing. The servants, being astute, treated the West Wing even worse. In the dead of winter, food was scarce, and there was no coal. The excuse was that the household was currently facing financial difficulties, and the servants had no choice but to comply.

Ke Yingyue sat on the edge of the bed, looking out the window, and heard a lively and festive atmosphere outside, as people prepared a grand banquet for the upcoming Lantern Festival.

The person in bed grew more and more haggard each day, his face as pale as paper, so thin he was unrecognizable.

Ying Yue thought, but he couldn't wait any longer. Perhaps he wouldn't live to see Jin Yan.

If he can wait for Jin Yan, then she will plead for him.

When the sun was just beginning to rise, Yingyue would push Meishanting out of the house to bask in the sun under the withered pear blossom in the yard. At these times, Meishanting would always be wrapped up in layers of clothing by Yingyue until he looked like a big steamed bun.

Seeing Ying Yue carefully wrapping Mei Shanting up completely, Mei Shanting didn't know whether to laugh or cry. As he laughed, his nose stung, and he felt like crying.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Mei residence, lanterns and decorations adorned the area, filling the air with festive joy. A grand banquet had been prepared long ago, with Master Mei, Mei Lin, seated high at the head of the table, surrounded by his concubines, young masters, and young ladies. The entourage was so large that the entire hall was packed with people. Servants bustled about, while entertainers and dancers tuned their instruments.

It's a lively and joyous day!

But on this auspicious day, Yingyue's beloved is about to die.

She knew that Master Mei Lin of the Mei family was not merely a gluttonous and dissolute man. The Mei family had a lineage of exceptionally talented cultivators, including a powerful figure who had even ascended to immortality. The divine artifact belonging to the Mei family was left behind by that ancestor. Therefore, the Mei family held a certain status among the immortal clans.

Mei Lin, as the head of the Mei family, also possesses a certain level of cultivation.

The banquet was about to begin. Merlin was in high spirits today, holding a wine cup, about to call for a musician to compose a piece, when suddenly, a servant, bypassing the many guards, knelt directly in the center of the banquet, pleading, "Master, please save the young master. He's dying."

Just this one sentence.

The lively and festive banquet suddenly fell silent. Everyone wore expressions as if they had been tainted by something bad.

Sitting next to Xie Wen, Chu Xianyue was hearing Ying Yue speak for the first time. He had always thought she was mute and unable to speak. But after hearing her today, Chu Xianyue was even more certain of his suspicions. The voice he had just heard from Ying Yue was exactly the same as that of the Ghost Palace Master.

At the Golden Banquet Center, Ying Yue only uttered one sentence. It was also the first time she had spoken, and it was for Mei Shanting.

Yingyue then kowtowed repeatedly.

A voice came from the banquet hall, "Raise your head."

Ying Yue raised her head as instructed, her back ramrod straight, her eyes resolute. Despite this pleading posture, there was no trace of subservience or humility in her.

The noisy banquet was further disrupted by Ying Yue's actions, with whispers swirling around and a group of people coldly glancing at Ying Yue, who was kowtowing repeatedly in the center of the banquet, as if watching a joke.

The banquet was chaotic, like a surging tide.

Just as Chu Xianyue was waiting for the decision of those at the golden banquet, he was suddenly bumped by a servant. The servant's apologetic voice seemed to float away. Chu Xianyue felt dizzy and hurriedly looked up. Suddenly, the world before his eyes had completely changed.

In the blink of an eye, the golden banquet vanished.

But has the Golden Banquet truly vanished?

Chu Xianyue opened his eyes again. It was the Golden Banquet again, and the same scene played out once more. Outside the hall, a young girl, dodging the flying snow and avoiding the guards, rushed towards the Golden Banquet. She knelt down once more, and the reactions of the crowd were just as exaggerated as before, their eyes filled with mocking amusement.

Yingyue pleaded again, "Please, sir, save the young master. He's dying."

The person at the golden banquet, "raise your head."

In the chaotic banquet, another servant bumped into Chu Xianyue.

He suffered a concussion. When he looked up again, he was in an antique-style room. He was still in the illusion, but several months had passed since the Golden Banquet.

Chu Xianyue's first reaction was that there was something wrong with the illusion.

I don't know what happened at the golden banquet, but that extravagant banquet, like the past glories of the world, vanished in an instant.

Chu Xianyue discovered that after that, the illusion began to become somewhat unstable, always jumping the plot without warning, and everything that happened afterward became so bizarre.

He felt that the events that unfolded before and after were completely disjointed, as if some major event had been suddenly pulled away. In just a few months, everything seemed to have undergone a complete upheaval.

Many things have changed between Mei Shanting and Ying Yue.

This is strange; the person behind seems to be a completely different person from the person in front. It's like they've been possessed.

The illusion became chaotic. Sometimes, it was daytime, but in an instant, it jumped to night. At night, Xie Wen slept peacefully in bed, while under the moonlight, Chu Xianyue lay on the ground, his bright eyes still open.

He couldn't understand it. Later, Mei Shanting really did come back to life. But at the same time, he drove Ying Yue away. Ying Yue also seemed to have no attachment to it, and later even gained the appreciation of Master Mei, and began to follow Mei Lin to cultivate immortality and practice swordsmanship?

There was no further contact between the two.

There has been no further contact.

They stayed by each other's side even during those difficult times. How could they possibly lose contact after things improved in Meishanting?

Chu Xianyue lay on his side, pinching his brow and closing his eyes. Suddenly, he realized something was wrong.

He suddenly opened his eyes, his pupils trembling.

Under the moonlight, the former splendor vanished. The soft, exquisite bed, the fine tea table and furniture, and the magnificent room all turned into a pile of dark ruins as the moonlight faded.

The illusion collapsed on its own? They returned to the present-day Mei Mansion.

Xie Wen woke up.

She felt her sleep was incredibly long and tedious. In her dream, she seemed to have become a vicious female supporting character, committing countless evil deeds and constantly causing trouble for the male and female leads. She also kept a male concubine, being affectionate with him during the day, but whipping him at the slightest disagreement at night.

However, why does the male concubine in the dream look exactly like Chu Xianyue?

Xie Wen: Could it be that she hates Chu Xianyue so much that she can't help but humiliate him like this even in her dreams?

But how come it's a little bit enjoyable even when it's just a dream?

Xie Wen had to keep this dream a secret. If Chu Xianyue found out that she had such a dream and was fantasizing about her, she might die hundreds of times over.

Xie Wen took a deep breath and sat up from the dark ruins. She immediately saw Chu Xianyue staring at her coldly, his gaze seeming to want to tear her to pieces.

Xie Wen: Could it be that Chu Xianyue discovered something?

Xie Wen was wary and called out "Master" with a guilty conscience.

Chu Xianyue hesitated: It seems that Xie Wen doesn't remember what happened in the illusion.

He seemed to breathe a small sigh of relief. He was still uneasy.

At that moment, a long howl pierced through the wall. Xie Wen and Chu Xianyue immediately became alert, gripping their sword hilts tightly, ready to draw their swords at any moment.

Yun Yan ran over, clutching her chest and panting heavily.

Xie Wen, Chu Xianyue: "What's wrong?! What happened?"

Yun Yan, still shaken, said, "I just had a nightmare. In my dream, I was a servant in a wealthy family. Every day, I had endless chores, clothes to wash, and floors to sweep. If I even took a breath, the foreman would kick me; if I made the slightest mistake, the young masters and ladies would order me to be dragged away and beaten! The moment I opened my eyes, it was time to work, the moment I opened my eyes, it was time to work..." Yun Yan seemed still reeling from the nightmare, looking dazed, as if he had been to hell. He muttered, "That was terrifying. Thank goodness it was just a dream, it scared me to death."

Xie Wen scratched his head guiltily, thinking to himself, "Maybe she's one of those young masters and ladies in Yun Yan's dream who would drag him away and beat him up at the slightest disagreement?"

Xie Wen: This is even more enjoyable! She won't tell anyone about this dream, hehe.

At this moment, a cool breeze swept through the desolate Plum Mansion from the void above, ruffling the hair on the foreheads of the three people. The chill went straight to their hearts. The voice of the Ghost Palace Master was faint and melodious, just like Ying Yue's voice at the Golden Banquet in the illusion, only with a hint of hoarseness and etherealness, "Have you thought it through? You only have one chance."

Have you decided where my true form is?