Chapter 102 A Thousand Years Later
Luo Zhaohan lowered his head, then mustered up the courage to quickly look up at him, then lowered his head again. After repeating this several times, something seemed to be choking his throat and then slowly dissolving.
She tried hard to calm her overly rapid heartbeat and slightly dry throat, and finally raised her head again, looking at the man in front of her whose name would be entangled with her for the rest of her life.
The warm winter sun gently enveloped the two of them, casting their shadows on the ground. Holding her breath, she softly, with a certain solemnity, carefully uttered those two words for the first time, as their eyes locked:
"Ah... Ji?"
The sound is not high, and even has a slight tremor that is not noticeable when you first try it, but it is clear and soft.
Pei Ji was shocked.
"I'm here, Zhao Zhao."
The sunlight poured down silently, immersing the quiet side room in warmth.
Behind the warm curtain, Fuyuan General Luo Dinglian stood quietly at the narrow gap behind the screen, squinting his battle-hardened, eagle-like eyes, and cast his gaze with great dissatisfaction at his daughter's embroidered shoes that were parked by the window, too close to the toe of one of her boots.
Tsk, what is that little bastard doing so close to you?
The winter sun filtering through the window panes still shone like golden fragments, and the air seemed to still linger with the warmth brought by each other's affectionate address.
Luo Zhaohan's gaze gradually calmed down.
She tilted her head slightly and looked at Pei Ji's profile, which still had a hint of blush on it, and spoke softly, as if she was afraid of disturbing something.
"Aji, that day in the Imperial Garden...the thing you asked me..."
She saw Pei Ji's eyelashes tremble very slightly, and it was obvious that he had buried the doubts at that time deep in his heart. "You said you had some strange dreams. I didn't tell you everything at the time."
She paused, Pei Ji didn't say anything, but just turned slightly and listened very attentively.
Luo Zhaohan met his gaze, and in those always deep eyes, there was only tolerance and encouragement at this moment.
This look gave her great strength.
"Since we are so connected and have pledged to spend our lives together, there are things I want to tell you honestly. Perhaps you already have some suspicions, but you're just not sure."
"Aji, I'm reborn."
The air around seemed to freeze for a moment.
Pei Ji's pupils suddenly shrank at that moment and his body tensed instantly.
But soon, the overly taut string strangely relaxed.
A hint of surprise flashed across his face, but after the initial shock, he didn't ask any questions or doubt, he just stared at her.
Go on, I'm listening.
A surge of warmth suddenly surged in Luo Zhaohan's chest, nearly welling up in his eyes. This unspoken trust was more powerful than any words.
She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, there was a distant watery light in her eyes.
"My past life was ridiculous," she said, attempting to open this heavy memory with a lighthearted, even self-deprecating tone. "I lived for over twenty years, and with you, Master Pei, um, Ah Ji," she corrected her address and forced a smile, which was uglier than crying, "in that life, we didn't have much in common. You were the Junior Minister of the Dali Temple, and I was just Xie Luo, trapped in the inner courtyard of the mansion."
"My husband is Xie Wuqi." When he uttered this name, Luo Zhaohan's voice became noticeably colder, with a hint of disgust. "The days after I got married were like being thrown into a dark, deep well. The rules of the Xie family are like a solid wall, and Xie Wuqi's thoughts are even more unpredictable than the deep sea. To outsiders, she may appear to be the second wife of the Xie family, but in reality, she is just a trapped beast locked in a gorgeous cage.
It took me a long time to understand that he never considered me his wife, but just a thing that had to exist to decorate the facade, a chess piece that could be manipulated at will..."
"I struggled, but eventually I accepted my fate." She tilted her head back slightly, blinking hard, trying to force back the tears welling up in her eyes. Her voice was choked with sobs. "Like a burnt piece of dead wood, I never thought of finding a way out. Day after day passed in vain, and my heart grew completely cold and empty. Until..."
Next, he described the chaotic scene of the collapse of the Xie family building. Luo Zhaohan's tone was as heavy as if he had fallen into a cold pond.
The sudden collapse of the family, the embarrassment and fear of falling from the clouds into the mud, and the chill of Xie Wuqi's ferocious fangs.
"He is a madman! A complete madman!" Huge fear and despair suddenly hit her like a tidal wave, breaking all the calmness she had tried so hard to maintain.
Luo Zhaohan was shaking violently all over, clutching his arms tightly with both hands, as if he wanted to embed his flesh and blood into them to get a little support.
Tears welled up in her eyes and she bit her lower lip hard, but it only made her sob more violently.
"He doubts everything! Everyone is a discarded pawn on his chessboard that can be destroyed at any time! When the Xie family, this huge ship, could no longer bear the weight of his crazy desires and began to sink, he dragged me along with him! He hates everyone, including me! I don't understand... why..."
Pei Ji had already held his breath.
He listened to her narration, and every word felt like a heavy lead weight hitting his heart.
Those vague fragments that lingered repeatedly in his dreams now overlapped perfectly with her story.
That was the purgatory she had actually experienced.
"At the last moment... that rainy night... he looked at me... as if he were looking at a stain that needed to be removed... He raised his sword... so cold... so bright..."
"My father..." Luo Zhaohan burst into tears, the huge grief almost drowned her, "Dad came to save me...but..."
She couldn't hold on any longer, she covered her face with her hands, and curled up:
"It's him...it's Xie Wuqi! He killed my father...and he wants to kill me! My father is standing in front of me...blood...all blood..."
She trembled like a leaf in the wind. "In the end, I stabbed the knife into his heart with my own hands... We fell together in the blood and mud... He hated me until his death..."
"No——" A roar burst out from deep in Pei Ji's chest.
He couldn't bear it anymore.
What he saw was not a vague dream, but his own brightness!
It was his Zhao Zhao who was experiencing the hellish pain, she was tearing herself apart with the devil in despair!
Pei Ji suddenly opened his arms and hugged the curled up, crying figure, which was so thin and fragile that it seemed like it would disappear at the next moment.
His arms were incredibly strong, squeezing her bones so hard that they ached, as if he wanted to use this strength to completely crush the cold past and despair that surrounded her.
"Don't say anymore... Zhao Zhao... Don't say anymore... It's all over..." He buried his face deep in her sweaty and cold temples. He could no longer hold back his scalding tears, which seeped into her hair. His voice was hoarse and broken. "It's over... It's all over... I'm here! I will never let you experience that kind of pain again in this life, absolutely not!"
"Aji..." Luo Zhaohan whimpered suddenly, and used all his strength to hug his strong back tightly, his ten fingers tightly grasping the fabric of his clothes on his back.
"Aji... Aji..." She murmured his name over and over again, as if to confirm.
His broad palms, with an indescribable soothing power, gently stroked and patted her thin, trembling back.
That gentle touch transmitted endless warmth through the cold clothes, smoothing out the frightened wrinkles deep in her soul inch by inch.
After a long time, so long that Luo Zhaohan's violent trembling and surging tears gradually subsided into intermittent sobbing, Pei Ji's low but decisive voice finally sounded in her ears:
"Do you see it? Zhao Zhao. In this life, everything is different."
He loosened his grip a little, allowing her to look up slightly and look directly into his red but extremely determined eyes.
"You are no longer a bird in his cage, and you no longer need to endure those filthy resentments and unfair fates. Your father, General Luo, is still alive, and he is still like a mountain protecting you from the wind and rain! And I," he paused, and every word was resounding, "I am no longer the passerby who stands by and watches! In this life, I will stand by your side, by your father's side, and together we will protect everything you want to cherish! As long as you want, as long as I can! That bloody rain, that devastating disaster, in this life, we will definitely reverse it!" Luo Zhaohan looked deeply into Pei Ji's eyes filled with pity and nodded vigorously:
"I'm here too, Ah Ji." Her voice was still heavily nasal, but she was incredibly determined. "We'll be together for the rest of our lives. We'll protect my father, the Luo family, and our little home."
Not passive dependence, but active standing side by side.
The heavy stone in Pei Ji's heart finally fell to the ground, and a smile finally crept up to the corner of his mouth, but his eyes were still red.
He raised his hand and gently wiped away the remaining tears from the corners of her eyes.
"Zhao Zhao." He called her softly.
Luo Zhaohan still leaned on his chest affectionately, feeling the steady and powerful heartbeat, like the drumbeat beating the rhythm of new life.
Hearing this, she moved slightly and looked up at him. There were still traces of tears on her face, but her eyes had regained clarity, and even had a hint of expectation.
It was as if she already knew what he was going to say.
"Hmm?" She responded, slightly curling the corners of her mouth with encouragement and comfort.
Pei Ji took a deep breath, then he straightened his expression, more solemn than ever before, tightly holding her hands, and confessed word by word:
"I am actually not the original Pei Ji."
As soon as the words fell, it was like a stone dropped into the lake of heart that had just calmed down, causing ripples.
There was indeed no fear like a raging storm in Luo Zhaohan's eyes.
She just looked at him quietly, her eyes so sharp that it seemed to have penetrated the heavy fog of time long ago, with inquiry, understanding, and a sense of relief that everything has been settled.
She nodded gently without interrupting, but placed her other soft hand on the back of his hand, which was slightly cold from nervousness, with soothing power.
Pei Ji's heart, which had been hanging in the air all the way, finally settled down silently.
He didn't even have time to be surprised by her calmness before her voice rang out with an irrepressible curiosity:
"Is it related to..." Her eyes were surprisingly bright, and she held his eyes tightly. "Is it related to your past life?"
The light from the side room shifted silently, casting a warm spot of light on the two people's clasped hands.
The sound of the wind outside the window also faded away.
Luo Zhaohan's clear eyes stared at Pei Ji without blinking.
Pei Ji's palm was no longer cold under her warm palm, but a thin layer of sweat gradually appeared.
He looked at the trusting light in her eyes, his throat rolled, and the secret buried deep in his heart finally broke through the last line of defense.
"Zhao Zhao," he began, his voice low and distant, "I didn't just take over his body. The world I came from is thousands of years later."
millennium?
This number was like a heavy hammer, hitting Luo Zhaohan's heart unexpectedly.
Even though she had prepared herself mentally, her body still couldn't help but tremble slightly.
Her hand subconsciously tightened, gripping his fingertips. A thousand years from now, in a different world... a place far beyond the passing of dynasties and the vicissitudes of life!
It was far beyond her understanding and imagination!
Pei Ji did not withdraw his gaze, still staring at the deep void outside the window, as if he could see the warm land buried deep in his heart from there.
"That was a time of war and bloodshed, clearly."
"The mountains and rivers were shattered, the streets were full of starving people, the iron hoofs of the great powers trampled on our backs. Blood and tears watered every inch of scorched earth. But in that dark abyss," he turned his head abruptly, staring at Luo Zhaohan with a scorching pride that spanned the years, "a group of people who refused to be slaves of a conquered nation straightened their backs! They were ragged and hungry, facing the enemy's artillery fire and behind them were towering cliffs! But they were fearless! With their unyielding spirit and their love for the land beneath their feet that seeped into their bones and blood!"
"They shared a common, unwavering belief: to make this country, which had endured so much hardship, stand up again! To enable future generations to walk proudly on their own land, with their heads held high. To ensure that the millions of compatriots who had been trampled upon like grass would never again suffer humiliation!"
Every word he said was like a hot brand, hitting Luo Zhaohan's heart hard.
"My father, my brother," Pei Ji's voice suddenly deepened, "and countless friends whose names I can't even recall, all fell in that endless struggle."
The blazing fire in his eyes was suddenly covered with a layer of sad gray. "I couldn't wait until the dawn."
"I didn't get to see..." Pei Ji's voice suddenly fell silent, "I didn't get to see the day when we truly stood up after driving out the jackals, tigers and leopards. I got to see that we were no longer driven by artillery fire, no longer displaced..."
He took a deep breath, but that breath was unable to suppress the sob in his throat. His eyes instantly turned red from the hot moisture.
"I didn't get to see the peaceful and prosperous world..."
These last few words, with an uncontrollable tremor and heavy weight, hung in the silent air, barely able to bear the deep regret and obsession that spanned time and space.
Luo Zhaohan's grip on his hand suddenly tightened.
“Yes!”
These two words are clear and powerful, carrying a sense of confidence that is deafening.
Pei Ji turned his head suddenly, shocked beyond words.
His eyes looked at Luo Zhaohan in disbelief.
Her expression was more resolute than ever before, and her eyes, as bright as autumn water, were staring back at him intently, without the slightest hint of perfunctory or comforting.
"Aji," her voice was clear and steady, carrying a soothing power, "I understand the regret in your heart. I see the pain in your eyes right now."
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