Chapter 42042 Let’s get married, okay?
…
The trees cast dark shadows and their branches are twisted.
Thick miasma obscured the path five steps ahead.
Ah Huai stopped in front of a dead tree and did not move forward.
A butterfly was perched on a branch, its wings tightly folded, like a quiet dead leaf, silent and motionless.
It didn't move, as if it had already merged into the branches and become a part of the tree.
The leaves around it trembled in the wind, but it remained motionless. It was hard to tell whether it was a living thing or a paper sculpture forgotten here.
Ah Huai's eyes narrowed slightly, and his fingers curled up under his sleeves. Maybe for a second he wanted to stretch out his fingers to touch the butterfly, but in the end he didn't.
He walked a few more steps along the path of the tree. His cloak was already wet by the mist from the miasma. Less than fifty meters away, he saw a mound.
The soil there had been turned over and was unnaturally loose, as if... someone had tried their best to bury themselves in it.
Ah Huai's breathing stopped for half a second, he walked forward slowly and squatted down.
His palms were pressed against the damp mud, and he couldn't feel even the slightest vibration coming from below.
But after hesitating for just a second, he began to dig the soft and moist soil with his bare hands.
The soil peeled off layer by layer, and soon, a pale and slender arm was revealed.
His palm touched the stiff and cold wrist, and he held it and took out a pair of hands.
Throughout the process, the owner of the limb ignored him, as if she was already a corpse sleeping in the ground.
There was no resistance or punishment towards the disturber as the little snake had mentioned, but there was no reaction either.
Ah Huai's eyes couldn't help but darken. He pursed his lips and quickened his movements, carefully lifting the person buried in the soil bit by bit.
The weight of Zhuang Rong'er's entire body was on his arm, and she seemed to have lost consciousness, but he seemed to know that this was not the case. She had simply cut off her connection with the world in a decisive, somewhat ridiculous and clumsy way.
There was an indescribable bitterness in his heart. He couldn't feel how ridiculous this behavior was. He just felt it was... pitiful.
Even at this moment, using the word "pitiful" made him feel a stinging sensation like being pricked by a needle.
He knew that behind this seemingly ridiculous and pathetic stupid thing was the collapse of all her patience and the critical point of collapse.
"It's all right," he whispered, as if to himself, "I dug you out."
Zhuang Rong'er was covered in mud, her hair was messy and stuck to her face, her eyes were closed, her lips were pale, and her breathing was so weak that it was almost undetectable.
He had never seen her in such a miserable state, and it was not due to a fight with external forces, but due to her own inner struggle.
What happened during the process of her detoxifying Yu Huansheng?
The pain she was experiencing at this moment was definitely not entirely due to the so-called "using her body to refine the Gu".
"Valley Master." He called her softly, not expecting her to respond.
But Zhuang Rong'er opened her eyes.
But her eyes were empty, she seemed to be looking at him, but also seemed to be looking at nothing.
Just like the butterfly resting on the tree trunk, their vitality is rapidly dissipating.
"Rong'er...Zhuang Rong'er." He gently pinched her fingers, "Don't cry."
In fact, she didn't cry.
She had no expression at all, with mud still smeared on her face, like a clay doll that had just taken shape in the hands of a clay craftsman and had no emotions yet.
But why did he think she was crying?
He didn't want her to cry, even if it meant thinking of him as that person.
If only she could stop being so sad.
"Don't cry, I'm here." Ah Huai carefully raised his hand to brush away the dirt on her face, untied his cloak, put it on her, and carried her out.
The wind blew in from the miasma, bitingly cold. He lowered his head to look at the person in his arms and lowered his voice to a very low voice: "I'll take you back."
…
The road down the mountain was slippery and difficult to walk on, but Ah Huai took every step steadily.
The crying seemed to come from when he was almost at the bottom of the mountain.
The sobs in his arms, the warm tears, the hands finally around his waist - the clay doll slowly released her emotions, and it would always be much better to cry for real, even though he didn't want to see her cry before, now he felt relieved.
If you go any further, you will run into the palace maids sent by Nian You to guard the foot of the mountain.
Ah Huai did not accept their request to escort him up the mountain, but instead asked everyone to wait at the foot of the mountain.
He stopped.
Until Zhuang Rong'er calmed down, he would not take her through the curious or surprised gazes of others.
He didn't let her go either. Zhuang Rong'er nestled in his arms, holding him tighter and tighter, and she felt a distinct pain in her waist.
He simply held her tightly in his arms, caressing her head and patting her back with his hands, as if this was not the first time he had tried to coax her like this.
And he hoped that she could cheer up again after shedding her tears, just like she did last time.
Even if she turned her back on him and pushed him away, looked down on his clothes soaked with tears, got angry at his transgression, or even wounded him with a sword again...it didn't matter.
…
Zhuang Rong'er grabbed Ah Huai's clothes as if he was grabbing a life-saving straw.
It is clear that this life-saving straw may actually be a fatal poison to her?
Just like her feelings, although seemingly persistent, they are also... not very despicable.
She would rather never know that Jing Huai came to look for her and waited for her before the Battle of Jiyuan.
She would rather never know that the rescue in the back mountain of Tianque Sect was not his mercy on the weak, and the mechanical bird he gave to her was not his joke on the stalker.
She would rather never know that he had looked at her intently and seen her.
But she actually fell in love with another person who looked like him in the hundred years after his death.
What should she do?
How should she deal with her feelings?
Every second she was close to Ah Huai reminded her of her despicableness. Thousands of people had wronged Jing Huai, and she must be the most hateful one among them.
But every second she was away from Ah Huai made her more painful.
She didn't know what to do.
She had no answer.
She was left with only instinct.
…
After her crying subsided, she said in a hoarse voice, "Let's get married, okay?"
“…”
…
Nian You instructed the pharmacist to look after Yu Huansheng, and rushed to the foot of the mountain without stopping.
The night lights in the palace servants' hands lit up into a string of stars. Under the dim light, one person walked down the mountain holding another.
There was a lot of mud on the two men's clothes, but inexplicably no one noticed their embarrassment.
Several palace maids took advantage of the late night and heavy dew to look at Ah Huai's eyes and eyebrows, but unfortunately they could not see what Zhuang Rong'er in his arms looked like.
Nian You was dazed for a second, but she felt a huge weight lifted off her chest. She waved away the palace maids, stepped forward, and asked hurriedly, "Is anything serious?"
"I just fell asleep in the forest." Ah Huai answered conservatively.
"What's going on? Is there anything we can do to help?" Nian You's lips were almost bitten and bleeding. Although she knew that detoxification would not be an easy task, she did not expect it to be so difficult. To make Zhuang Rong'er suffer like this, it must be extremely painful.
It is conceivable that if Yu Huansheng really died at her hands because of his incurable disease, how great a disaster would the entire Yingyue Palace face?
The Palace Master's suicide was already a huge change. If the scandal and the interference of the Tianque Sect were added, he might be completely wiped out from the world of cultivation.
Fortunately, there is Zhuang Rong'er, fortunately, there is Zhuang Rong'er...
She already owed her countless favors and had no way to repay them.
Just the whereabouts of the Ganoderma Lucidum is too little as a return gift. What else can she offer?
At a certain moment, Nianyou was extremely anxious and seemed to be hallucinating. She saw a scene before her eyes -
The entire valley was dotted with red candles. Young men and women in wedding attire held hands tightly in the house, and wine glasses flickered past their lips. The bride's face was undoubtedly Zhuang Rong'er. Then, was the groom... Ah Huai?
A quick glance revealed a sudden shift in the scene. An explosion occurred in the attic, and someone shouted, "Evil Zhuang Rong'er, you colluded with the Jiyuan forces, you shall not die a good death!"
Amidst the hail of swords, spears, and arrows, a flash of sticky black mud passed by. In her prophecy, this was the symbol of the Abyss...
Nianyou was horrified. In her last glance, she saw the groom lying in a pool of blood. Then everything went dark before her eyes and she could not see anything clearly.
"Goddess...?" The palace attendant called out to her cautiously. Nian You was startled to find herself drenched in cold sweat, but she had no time to process the meaning of the flashbacks she had just seen. All she could do now was brush them off and find some alone time to sort out her thoughts...
Seeing that Ah Huai was about to take Zhuang Rong'er away, Nian You quickly said, "Send her to the Longevity Spring to recuperate. I've asked someone to prepare some tonic..."
She was interrupted by another palace attendant who had arrived with the message. The person whispered carefully in her ear, "Goddess, the Young Master has awakened."
Knowing that Nianyou still had a lot of things to deal with, Ah Huai nodded to her and took Zhuang Ronger back to Dongshan.
It was not late when we left, but now it was already halfway through the night.
On the way, he met the little snake who was fidgeting. He widened his eyes, rubbed his hands on his clothes helplessly, walked over and followed him, but didn't dare to say a word.
He looked at Ah Huai and saw that there was some dirt on his body and face. Maybe he had suffered a lot.
But I guess the master didn't throw this kid up the tree... Damn, if he had known that the master is now more tolerant of being disturbed by others, he would have gone to find someone!
Now the master was completely buried in the cloak. He couldn't see her condition with his naked eyes, but he could feel a deep depression.
But if you listen carefully to his breathing, it seems steady. It looks like he is indeed asleep?
Could it be that the master was also knocked unconscious by the miasma in the mountains? This is impossible!
While the little snake was still hesitating, Ah Huai had already put Zhuang Rong'er down.
"Then I... will go get clothes for my master." The little snake hurried back to the house.
Steam rose from the Longevity Spring, and only the unconscious Zhuang Rong'er and Ah Huai were left by the pool again.
Ah Huai smoothed her hair, staring at her brows that were still furrowed in her sleep, and said in a very soft voice, "Not good."
——He answered Zhuang Rong'er hesitantly.
Getting married? Not good.
Zhuang Rong'er can use him as a substitute.
But if I also regard myself as a substitute, there will never be a chance for me to surpass "him" and be seen by her.
And he is a greedy man.
It has always been like this.
So, not now.
He didn't want to be a balm for her pain.
He wanted to be the one who made her happy, when she could finally let go of "him".
——Can he wait until this day?
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