Chapter 138 A Dream Turns
On the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the twenty-first year of Jingyao, the Mid-Autumn Festival, a mutiny broke out in Qiyang City.
Inside the room, Lin Shuyue sat in a chair with her eyes closed. She touched her high, protruding belly, her expression seemingly calm, but her slightly rising and falling breaths still betrayed her tension.
Success or failure hinges on tonight. The eldest son, Zhao Ji, is imprisoned, and the third son, Zhao Tu, has led troops to surround Qiyang Palace. However, A Yuan has already brought the Northern Army, and with his master's help, judging by the time, he must already be outside the city!
At this hour and night, flames soared into the sky within the city, and the sounds of battle echoed. A series of screams and cries, heard from an unknown time, jolted Lin Shuyue awake. "Xiao Lan! Where in the manor is this chaos?"
The maid named Xiaolan bowed her head and said, "Madam misunderstood. It's from within the city. The guards in the manor have been protecting her the whole time, and there has been no chaos."
Lin Shuyue looked directly at her, "You didn't go out, how do you know?"
"Where is Xiaozhu? Where is she?"
Xiao Lan still didn't look up, but slowly, with a hint of apology, she said, "Madam, I'm sorry—"
The blade flashed with a cold light, and Lin Shuyue's heart skipped a beat. She focused her mind for a moment, then twisted her fingers to break her bones, and the blade turned to pierce her heart!
"ah!"
A scream rang out, and Lin Shuyue threw Xiaolan's body aside. Dragging her heavily pregnant belly, she got up, drew her knife, and stood in front of the door, mentally calculating everything that had happened that day. There was a spy in the mansion, screams and flames outside—it was an assassin, Gongzi Ji, Gongzi Tu, or perhaps Luo Shi…
The sounds of battle grew closer; it was too late. Lin Shuyue closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and finally drew her sword. Amidst the stench of blood, she left the house.
Dozens of assassins, dressed in black and masked, moved with practiced skill, their ruthless strikes stained with blood and fire. Amidst screams and cries, Lin Shuyue, protected by the guards inside the manor, slashed her way with her sword!
She swallowed her sweat, clutching her stomach. She pinched her own flesh amidst the bloody welts. The woman thought, "Wait a little longer, just a little longer. A-Yuan is outside, just outside."
If she just perseveres a little longer, A Yuan will definitely come, he will definitely come.
Again and again, cut after cut, her hands and legs began to tremble, and a dull pain came from her stomach, as if she could finally not hold on any longer. But she kept chanting in her heart, chanting again and again.
Hold on a little longer, go faster, raise the knife, just like your father taught you all those years ago, raise the knife and cut down, you can do it, you can do it, Lin Shuyue!
Raise your knife!
Lin Shuyue!
Lin Shuyue!
Her chest heaved until her hand trembled as she severed the head of the person before her. Gasping for breath, she was about to raise the corners of her mouth when she suddenly felt a gust of wind from behind her—
"puff--"
In the darkness, the woman's eyes were stained red with blood, and it seemed that even the moon turned red at that moment. With a clang, the sword fell to the ground, and Lin Shuyue looked tremblingly at the gentle and lifeless person in front of her.
Her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth, but could only hear the weak voice of the person in front of her.
"Xiaoman, hurry up."
Tears welled up in her eyes, and amidst the crimson blood, she screamed.
"mother!"
"mother!"
"mother……"
The woman, still pregnant, her belly swollen high, knelt on the ground, staring blankly and desperately at her mother lying in a pool of blood. She cried out and screamed, as if her life would be frozen in this blood-red moon—
On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, when bloodshed is imminent, how could you possibly be the one to shield me from it!
Mother, Mother, why have you come?
mother!
Lin Xiang looked tenderly at her daughter. "My child, I gaze at the stars every day, but I can't see any sign of life in you. But I've thought and thought and thought, and I still want to save you."
"ah!"
Lin Shuyue screamed shrilly as she saw her mother close her eyes. The pain in her stomach intensified, so much so that she couldn't stand and could only sit trembling on the ground. Suddenly, the flickering flames and the sounds of swords fell silent. In the deathly stillness, she stared intently at the person behind the group of men in black—
"The Gao family."
Such agility, wielding a curved saber and longsword—this is someone from the Gao family. Tonight, the Gao family intends to kill her!
"Tap tap tap—"
A series of footsteps sounded, the group of people in black dispersed, blood dripped from the tip of a sword, and a leader in black stepped out from the back.
"Ha, in the end, I couldn't even see my enemy's face."
Lin Shuyue clutched her stomach, enduring unimaginable pain as she read each word. At this moment, the woman was covered in blood, her forehead was wet with sweat, and blood was dripping from between her legs. Her heavily pregnant appearance was extremely wretched among the corpses.
Yet, her eyes were filled with sorrow and coldness, her words were like nails, piercing and sarcastic, leaving one to sigh in pity under the bright moon.
No wonder Miss insisted on killing you. How could Gongzi Yuan bear to abandon someone like you?
The leader of the men in black thought to himself, and for some unknown reason, he uttered those words to the pitiful woman—
"My young lady has already entered Qiyang Palace with the new emperor. Now that she is pregnant with the phoenix chick, she will soon be granted the title of empress, bringing glory to our family."
"Please, madam, may you be reborn in your next life,"
"Do not enter the imperial family again."
Hahahaha, with a phoenix chick in her belly and the empress in her body, thinking about it this way, Lin Shuyue really does seem pitiful, pitiful indeed.
As for Zhao Yuan, whether it's husband and wife, ruler and subject, whatever the case, I've done my utmost.
It's just a pity that the child, before even being born, will have to go with her.
The moon is full tonight; it seems she should be able to reunite with her parents...
In a hazy state, seemingly forgetting even the pain in her abdomen, Lin Shuyue closed her eyes, awaiting the final moment—
A gentle breeze stirred, carrying the scent of peach blossoms. For a fleeting moment, she mistook it for her master's voice, but the next instant, she heard a woman's voice.
"Can you deliver your own baby?"
Lin Shuyue opened her eyes and looked up at her. She was absolutely certain that she did not recognize this woman in red, but in the darkness, she quickly wiped away her tears and gritted her teeth, insisting, "Yes."
"good."
The woman in red casually replied to her, then turned and swung her peach wood sword. The crimson sword light was cold and had the chill of frost and winter. In an instant, demonic energy filled the sky, and everyone fell, their blood flowing like a river.
What a powerful monster...
Lin Shuyue thought this, but the next second the pain forced her to forget everything else. The woman in red turned around and glanced at her sitting in a pool of blood, and sighed silently.
The next instant, the peach wood sword transformed into a peach blossom hairpin. The woman casually stuck it in her hair, then squatted down and lifted Lin Shuyue up with a swift movement.
In the darkness of night, footsteps echoed outside the mansion, accompanied by the sounds of fire and weapons. Inside, the mansion was a scene of bloodshed, sword energy, and even demonic energy. Amidst this chaos, Lin Shuyue gasped for breath and looked at the woman holding her.
"Who are you?"
The woman glanced around and quickly said, "That's not important. Cheer up and tell me where you're going and what you need."
Lin Shuyue, using her last bit of strength, pointed the way, "Go left, that's the pharmacy. I need hot water... scissors... and thread..."
"Okay, you take charge, I'll help you."
As the woman in red spoke, she quickly and steadily led Lin Shuyue to the bed in the medicine room. She listened to Lin Shuyue's words deftly, cut open her clothes, boiled water, heated the scissors, and even rummaged around the mansion, pulling out clean cloths and swaddling clothes.
He seems to be someone who gives people a great sense of security.
...
"Ah! Ah!!! Ah!!!"
"ah!"
Lin Shuyue bit the cloth, tears and sweat mingling together. She tilted her head back and strained, straining and straining, hoping only to give birth to this child.
She clutched at everything she could in agony. She had already taken her own pulse; tonight was so chaotic that she was already exhausted. Her mother's death had completely devastated her. She knew she wouldn't live past tonight.
It seemed the pain was too intense, the despair too overwhelming. With tears streaming down her face, she screamed and looked up at the sky. With the last of her strength, she quickly gave birth to this child, a child whose fate had been fraught with hardship from the very beginning.
"Ah! Ah!!!"
With her piercing screams, the woman in red slowly gave birth to the child, until finally the tiny little bundle of flesh emerged completely. She looked up at Lin Shuyue with joy and said…
"She's out! It's a girl..."
The child emerged without a sound, instantly putting Lin Shuyue's heart in her throat. The woman in red took out the child, and the next second, the child began to cry weakly.
Lin Shuyue finally smiled after hearing the sound. Her hair and clothes were soaked, and she looked extremely disheveled, but she didn't care about anything else. In the stench of blood, she weakly directed the woman in red to cut the umbilical cord with scissors and tie it with silk thread.
It seemed that everything was finally over. Lin Shuyue lay on the bed, and the woman in red carefully brought the child, who was wrapped in a cloth, to her side.
Unfortunately, Lin Shuyue no longer had the strength to turn her head. Staring blankly at the roof beams, she said to the woman...
"Why did you come to save me?"
The woman, holding her child, looked softly at the pale-faced, lifeless woman on the bed, and said...
"The matter of cause and effect is beyond explanation. We are destined to meet, so there is no need for you to feel indebted to me."
Lin Shuyue smiled, closed her eyes, and tears streamed down her cheeks. When she opened them again, she looked at the peach blossom hairpin in the woman's hair, smelled the scent of the child beside her, and said…
"The peach blossom is of the highest quality, a gem among flowers."
"Call her Qiongying, Lin Qiongying."
"Take her away, anywhere is fine, take her away."
The woman looked at her and said, "What about you? I'll help you. Hang in there."
"Tonight is the Mid-Autumn Festival, a day for family reunion. Can you help me by letting me see the moon?"
Lin Shuyue swallowed the blood that welled up in her throat. She didn't answer the woman's question, but instead pleaded with her.
"One glance is enough."
The woman sighed silently. She slowly draped clothes over Lin Shuyue and gently carried her to a recliner. It was actually quite strange and sad. The woman, who had just given birth, was still bleeding, yet she insisted on looking at the full moon, no matter what.
Finally, Lin Shuyue, covered by her clothes, pale-faced, lay on the recliner, listless and gazing blankly at the full moon.
The woman in red stood beside her, holding a child, as if to say, "On your final journey, someone will always be there to see you off."
Tonight is the fifteenth of August, the Mid-Autumn Festival, a day for family reunion.
"But I was born on the 16th of August. That year, the moon on the 16th was rounder, fuller, and more beautiful than the one on the 15th."
“My dad said, let’s call it Shuyue, a special moon.”
“My mother said that being too full is not good, and that life is never perfect, so she gave me the nickname Xiaoman (meaning 'small fullness').
"Grain Buds, Grain Buds,"
"Xiaoman..."
The woman lay on the chair, bathed in the light of the full moon. She smiled, closed her eyes, and quietly lost consciousness.
"Life, at its most fulfilling, is perfect..."
From the beginning of the new moon to the end of the full moon, life is like a grand dream.
Just before she left, she suddenly remembered a very strange night.
That was her first time in Qiyang City. During the day, she met Gongzi Yuan in the palace. She found it very interesting. The older brother was handsome, aloof, yet kind, and she liked him.
She made a promise to him, saying, "I'll come visit you again tomorrow."
He agreed.
Because of that "good" comment, she was overjoyed when she went to sleep that night, constantly saying that she would dress up especially beautifully the next day.
Her father was comparing hairpins to her in front of the bronze mirror, letting the little girl dress up as she pleased, while her mother was rummaging through clothes in the trunk, choosing pretty dresses according to her wishes.
She sat on the dressing table, giggling, the little girl swaying her head as she listened to her parents talk.
Mother said, "Zhang Xuan! Xiaoman just changed into her new dress today, how come it's so dirty after going to the palace!"
Father laughed, "Ah, what the lady says is true, what she says is true... It's mainly because Qiyang Palace is too dirty, so we can't blame Xiaoman."
Xiaoman smiled, clapped her hands, and looked up at them. Xiaoman said, Xiaoman said... What did Xiaoman say back then...?
What did they say...?
Let her think about it, think about it, and think about it some more...
Let her go back to that time, let her hear it again, just once...
Xiaoman (Grain Buds)
What exactly did you say back then?
...
The lights were dim, their reflections shimmered in the mirror, and the red moonlight shone softly.
Xiaoman said,
Father, Mother.
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