A Nightmare of Wedding Dreams in Chang'an
Chapter Thirty-Nine
"Junior Brother Jiang Si!" Upon hearing the voice, the young stall owner who had just parted ways with Zhou Yulin and the others casually raised his eyes. He had changed out of his casual clothes and was now wearing a long robe with a dark blue and white cross-collar, with the front of the robe overlapping at an angle. The collar was embroidered with sparse bamboo leaf patterns in light blue thread. This was the disciple's robe of the Archery Academy of the Qingyun Sect.
Seeing that Jiang Si did not stop for a moment, the person who waved was not annoyed. He smiled and boasted to the woman in green beside him, "I told you, my junior brother and I have a very good relationship."
The woman opposite glanced at the departing figure and said meaningfully, "It was indeed very good."
"You two were just acquainted a second ago, right? The relationship between you two is now nothing more than strangers." Facing the mocking voice, the man lightly waved his fan, not angry at all, but as always, he brought up the old matter again, quite heartbroken, "Wanyi, the Arrow Academy's admissions are just around the corner this year, are you really unwilling to help me make the banner?"
It would have been better if this person hadn't said anything, because Xia Wanyi was so angry she almost laughed. "Banner? You mean the recruitment banner or your banner that looks like a fan meeting?"
"Heh, what senior student would hang their autographed photo on the recruitment banner?" Xia Wanyi had never seen anyone with such a high sense of self-worth as the person opposite her.
Mentioning this, the man paused in his fanning, as if deep in thought, before concluding, "Then how about..."
Just as Xia Wanyi was expecting this person to come up with a reliable solution, she heard someone say, "Should I also put up my junior brother Jiang Si's photo?"
Xia Wanyi: At that time, you'll probably have to compete with the hedgehog for the ultimate victory.
After all, this junior brother Jiang Si, whom they called "understanding," is no pushover.
Xia Wanyi glanced at the man's still-intact body in front of her, then looked at the setting sun and was genuinely puzzled. "How come you're already talking nonsense before it's even dark?"
The cynical man closed his fan. "The popular academies this year, like the Spirit Academy and the Sword Academy, have been eagerly anticipating this opportunity. Do you know how many people came to interview for the Qingyun Sect this year?"
Xia Wanyi hadn't really been paying attention lately, and gave a conservative figure, "Fifty thousand?" In previous years, it was always around 300 out of 500, so how different could it be this year?
"According to incomplete statistics, nearly 80,000 people have registered for the Qingyun Sect this year."
Xia Wanyi frowned. "How come there are suddenly 30,000 more people?"
"Do you know what has happened to the Xuanling Sect in the past three years?" The man did not elaborate, but sighed deeply. "Three outstanding figures of the Xuanling Sect have met with misfortune one after another. Now the decline of the sect is irreversible. The balance of power among the two sects and eight schools is about to change."
Xia Wanyi didn't quite agree, frowning as she reminded her, "The Xuanling Sect is, after all, a large sect with a profound foundation. Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. Why should we worry about it? It's utter nonsense. Besides, we're talking about the entrance competition. Why are you bringing up the Xuanling Sect?"
The man, who had been exposed, was not angry. He fanned himself with a smile and said, "I didn't want to say so much. It's too uncomfortable to keep these words to myself and have no one to listen to me. Besides, how can the Xuanling Sect be unrelated to our entrance competition?"
"These extra 30,000 are all people from the Xuanling Sect." Xia Wanyi's expression froze upon hearing this, seemingly surprised.
Until the man chuckled and said, "Just kidding."
"You actually believe that?" Xia Wanyi looked at this naive person speechlessly.
I am genuinely worried about the future development of the Arrow Academy.
For some reason, Xia Wanyi thought of the people who had been expelled from the sect recently, and wondered what had become of them.
*
The atmosphere on the way back was a bit strange; no one said a word.
After arriving at the inn, Zhou Yulin washed up and went to bed early.
The fiery red wedding dress was scattered in disarray. All that could be remembered was the young man's hands, which had held a bow during the day, now gripping her slender waist. The calluses on his fingertips brushed against her unintentionally, causing a slight itch, and even carrying a hint of ambiguity and suggestion.
The flickering candlelight and lingering incense, the double happiness symbol pasted on the window—it was the unfinished dream from last time.
"Fairy Lingyue, what's your decision?"
Zhou Yulin was confused. She had just entered this dream and knew nothing about what had happened in the first half. As she bit her lip, unsure how to answer, the gaze of the person on her grew increasingly cold.
“Since you and I are now husband and wife, naturally… we will be of one heart forever and live a long and happy life together.” At first, Zhou Yulin was too embarrassed to speak with her eyes closed, but when she reached the last few words, she opened her eyes and looked directly at Chen Muyao, her tone stubborn, “You shouldn’t talk to me like that.”
Although Zhou Yulin didn't understand why she had such an absurd dream.
Especially considering what happened tonight, she couldn't understand why she was marrying this person in her dream.
"May you be forever united in heart and soul, and live a long and happy life together?"
The man's mocking voice came from above.
Chen Muyao's grip on her waist tightened a bit. He noticed the red marks that immediately appeared on the woman's waist, and his brownish eyes gradually filled with a lust that didn't belong to him. He leaned down, and Zhou Yulin whispered slowly but sarcastic words in her ear, "If you hadn't taken advantage of my weakness and placed the Fate-Sharing Gu on me, do you think we would be in this situation today? Fairy Lingyue has really played a very big game."
Zhou Yulin's breath hitched, and only then did the words of her third senior brother flash through her mind: "That old man has finally come up with a new Gu, and he even gave it a strange and eerie name, called the Shared Fate Gu."
Zhou Yulin then remembered that she had heard of it before.
"That Gu would entangle the lives of two people, which was bad enough, but this vicious old man added a poison called the Empress's Corpse to the Gu in order to make the other person unable to leave him. The Empress's Corpse is a rare poison. When added to the Gu, it will make the other person fall in love with him uncontrollably and for no reason. The Gu will take effect on the sixteenth of each month and can only be cured by the yin and yang of a man and a woman. If the person who has been poisoned tries to endure it, they will suffer the pain of being slowly sliced to death. Otherwise, they will experience the ultimate bliss."
His chin was lifted, and a kiss slid down his forehead, burning both of them.
The sympathetic poison has taken effect.
She clutched her robes tightly, and he chuckled, "What are you hiding from?"
The young man's breath was hot, and without a word, he pressed down on her hand, his kiss, carrying the cold mist of cedar trees, landed on her collarbone. Zhou Yulin trembled all over, and the words she wanted to say were all melted away in his forceful kiss.
The nightmare ended with a knock on the door.
Zhou Yulin was panting heavily, her body covered in cold sweat from the dream.
She calmed herself down and went to open the door.
The person who came in was Gu Ling. Apart from being punched and having a slight swelling on his left cheek, he was in high spirits. Zhou Yulin did not deliberately ask him where he had been yesterday, but instead focused her attention on the lantern he was holding.
This lantern is almost identical to the one Chen Muyao was going to give her yesterday.
"You..." Before she could speak, the other person shoved the lantern into Zhou Yulin's arms without a second thought. "I said last night that I would buy you a lantern. If others have one, you should have one too."
Gu Ling's insistent attitude of not giving up after accepting the lantern gave Zhou Yulin a headache. Half-heartedly, she had no choice but to accept it.
Unfortunately, just as Zhou Yulin reached out to take it, she heard the door open next door. She turned her head and met a pair of dark, cold eyes.
The protagonist in yesterday's dream stood there with his arms crossed, his face extremely ugly. He sneered and said, "I thought some people didn't like lanterns, but it turns out they don't hate lanterns." The sarcasm in his words was almost overflowing.
In this awkward atmosphere, so awkward it could be a good time to cook some porridge, Zhou Yulin froze on the spot. It was the simple-minded Gu Ling beside him who spoke up, "Some people? Who are they? Young Master, you've been rejected!"
The first two sentences were fine, but the last sentence made Zhou Yulin's heart pound. She silently lit an incense stick for Gu Ling in her heart. Some things are better left unsaid; saying them aloud would mean something else entirely.
However, Chen Muyao didn't pay attention to Gu Ling who spoke, but glanced at Zhou Yulin and went downstairs without saying a word. Zhou Yulin and Gu Ling walked behind, and it was Gu Ling who spoke first, "Young Master went out very early this morning, I wonder where he went."
Zhou Yulin lowered her eyes to look at the person walking quickly ahead. The person tried to hide it, but she could still smell a faint smell of blood.
The thought of the Heart-Connecting Gu filled Zhou Yulin with lingering fear.
The thought of the Heart-Connecting Gu inevitably brings back that absurd and ridiculous dream.
Perhaps it was what you feared most that came to pass; when Gu Ling went to choose a meal, only Zhou Yulin and Chen Muyao remained at the square table.
Zhou Yulin lowered her head and pretended to eat, trying to minimize her presence, but unfortunately, the other party was not one to let her off the hook. "What did you mean by what you said yesterday?"
While Zhou Yulin was frantically trying to answer this question, the other party quickly dropped a second question: "What's the meaning of you taking back the lanterns this morning?"
In the past, Zhou Yulin would have simply spoken her mind, but things were different now. She didn't even dare to look up at the face that appeared in her dream. "I..."
"What? Zhou Yulin finished speaking." Her tone left no room for argument.
The answer to this question could be very simple: I just hate you. But after so much has happened, or rather, after so many relationships have been involved, her instinct tells her that she can't say that.
At least not now; there's still a use for Chen Muyao.
If the two cannot clearly define the boundaries like enemies, then they can only continue to be entangled like this. But who is Chen Muyao? He is too proud. Such a person would not allow himself to be in a subordinate position in such an unpredictable relationship. So he is forcing Zhou Yulin to speak up and decide on the definition of this relationship.
Perhaps because she saw things too clearly, Zhou Yulin found this question difficult to answer. "I will only answer one question."
"The first one." Without even thinking, Chen Muyao's voice fell.
The cries of vendors outside the inn drifted in through the window. It was just another ordinary day, with plain porridge and fried dough sticks—everything was just average.
It was this human touch that reminded Zhou Yulin of many things from her previous life.
She put down her chopsticks, finally looked at the other person, and said in a distant tone, "We are now in the same boat. I think Young Master Chen should understand the implication of these words."
The arguing of vendors outside and the clamor inside the inn faded into the distance. Then, with a clatter on the table, Gu Ling, laden with his purchases, wagged his nonexistent tail and exclaimed cheerfully, "I ordered so much delicious food! Come on, eat up! After we finish, we'll go register!"
Chen Muyao did not reply. Zhou Yulin couldn't help but feel grateful to Gu Ling for appearing at this moment, and breathed a sigh of relief.
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