Chapter 7: I'm scared, I need to explain things to Morax.
Although rumors about the Emperor's forced marriage were widespread both on and off the mountain, everyone understood one thing: one should not gossip in front of others, but rather chat about gossip behind their backs.
Jinlan, who was especially hoping that Qiao Xi would tell him melodramatic stories, could only secretly enjoy the sweet moments and resolutely refused to get close to the main character.
This resulted in Qiao Xi being completely unaware of the wedding hijacking incident.
Her perception is completely different from everyone else's.
In Qiao Xi's eyes, Morax was her savior.
To outsiders, Qiao Xi was the flower blooming from the rock that was the Emperor.
In Jinlan's eyes, the two of them were like, "You two better get together already!"
From Xiao's perspective...
Xiao didn't want to see it...
He doesn't want to accept this absurd premise yet.
In the past six months, the Emperor has been decisive and ruthless, and it is obvious to anyone with discerning eyes that he has no interest in romantic relationships.
Or rather, the concept of romantic love has absolutely nothing to do with the Emperor.
Why do I hear such strange stories as soon as I get back?
Qiao Xi was quite confident when faced with the question about Xiao.
Judging from Xiao's behavior of not recognizing her, Morax hasn't mentioned her to anyone during this time, which means that she holds a very insignificant place in Morax's heart.
She thought that Xiao, as Morax's right-hand man, might suspect her of being a thief if he saw the leader's clothes on her.
Anyone who can steal from Morax must be incredibly powerful.
Qiao Xi tentatively concluded that Xiao acknowledged her strength!
But as a newbie, Qiao Xi doesn't want to be labeled as "super strong" yet.
Qiao Xi blinked, thought for a moment, then lowered her head to look at the Morax cloak she was wearing.
The black downy feathers gleamed with a sophisticated sheen in the snow. As the wind blew and the snow fell on them, it took a long time for them to slowly melt.
She carefully examined the knot Morax had tied for her at the collar of the cloak and earnestly explained to Xiao, "This coat was lent to me by Morax."
Xiao frowned upon hearing this, noticing that the girl addressed the Emperor by his name quite naturally.
Could it be those rumors...?
Impossible, absolutely impossible.
Xiao's brows gradually furrowed.
Seeing that Xiao remained silent, Qiao Xi assumed that her explanation was inadequate, so she added, "Morax gave it to me because he saw I was cold. I will return it to him, don't worry."
Another crisp "Morax" sound.
Xiao looked at her with a complicated expression, and the words he wanted to say turned into a sigh.
Qiao Xi blinked her sincere big eyes. Seeing Xiao's hesitant expression, she was completely baffled.
Xiao: "Have you ever heard the rumors about the Emperor abducting his bride?"
A pile of snow slid down from the eaves, creating a crater in the soft snow and startling a few gray sparrows that were foraging nearby.
The bare branches of the trees in the distance resemble a few strokes of a brush against a plain white sky.
Qiao Xi: "...Huh?"
Before she could finish speaking, a loud voice suddenly came from behind her, forcing Qiao Xi to snap out of her daze.
"Golden Roc!"
She saw Xiao looking in the direction behind her, so she turned around as well.
A strong, powerful man with four arms and purple hair waving in this direction.
Qiao Xi paused. A man with four arms...?
Four hands...?!
Qiao Xi was so frightened that her legs went weak again. Before Xiao could catch her, she collapsed onto the snow and fainted.
Fu She arrived just in time. He and Xiao looked at the human-shaped pit that Qiao Xi had created in the snow and fell into deep thought.
"..."
"..."
*
"Qiao Xi, Niannian called."
Qiao Xi opened her eyes groggily, the dazzling light causing her to feel disoriented for a moment.
The chirping of cicadas came from outside the window. She raised her arm and noticed that the red watch strap on her left wrist was familiar.
"Where is this?" She sat up, rubbing her head. What came into view was a light pink wall and a full-length mirror. In the mirror, she was wearing the school uniform of No. 13 Middle School.
Qiao Xi got out of bed in a daze, her head aching. The stuffy air made it hard for her to breathe. Instinctively, she got out of bed and walked to the window.
"Splash—"
As soon as the window was opened, sunlight and the chirping of cicadas poured in. Cars came and went on the road, making a lot of noise. Under the lush shade of the trees, old men in vests were playing chess and arguing incessantly.
The weather looks very hot.
But she shivered from the cold and quickly closed the window again.
As the gaps in the window gradually narrowed, the noise was gradually shut out.
Qiao Xi rubbed her head. Everything here felt unreal, and she felt like she had forgotten something.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
Qiao Xi looked at the closed door.
The knocking stopped, and a woman's voice rang out; the voice was familiar:
"Qiao Xi, Chen Niannian called you." As soon as she finished speaking, a well-dressed woman with long curly hair pushed open the door and entered. When she saw Qiao Xi looking disheveled and dazed, she frowned slightly, then smiled and said, "You look like you've gone crazy after your exam."
As she spoke, she handed Qiao Xi a metal-like object: "You're not even going to throw your phone in the fridge anymore?"
Qiao Xi tilted her head. "What's a cell phone? And what's an exam?"
But she still carefully accepted the pink rabbit-ear iron block that the woman handed her. The iron block was very light and still had a faint fragrance from the woman's hands on it.
"Mom's gone to work. I'll bring you some prawns tonight." The woman smiled at Qiao Xi.
Qiao Xi nodded blankly. Was this woman her mother?
After her mother left, Qiao Xi's attention was drawn to the iron block in her hand. She held it in her hand and observed it for a while before tentatively putting it to her ear.
The cool sensation traveled along the alloy material, and she frowned.
"Hello?" Qiao Xi asked cautiously.
She didn't know why she could say that word, why she could use that thing, or why everything around her felt so familiar.
A clear female voice came from the other end of the phone: "Qiaoqiao, Lu Tian just asked me for your phone number. He also asked if you wanted to play basketball at the gym. Don't you like him? Hurry up and get ready to come out."
Mom, Chen Niannian, Lu Tian...
Qiao Xi suddenly raised her head, her smooth long hair falling down. She remembered that she had just finished the college entrance examination and this was her home.
How could I forget about this after taking a nap?
Qiao Xi rubbed her head self-deprecatingly. She put down her phone and couldn't help but smile as she thought about meeting her good friend Niannian and her crush Lu Tian.
She left the room, and after making sure her mother was gone, she went to the bathroom, secretly took out her mother's cosmetics, and started drawing on her face following the tutorial on her phone.
When Qiao Xi finished applying the last bit of lipstick, she looked in the mirror and suddenly froze.
The makeup she saw in the mirror looked familiar.
Qiao Xi tilted her head slightly. This was clearly her first time wearing makeup, but she felt like she had done the same makeup somewhere before...
This seems to be one.
Bridal makeup.
bride.....
bride!
*
"A young bride? A young bride?"
"who……?"
Qiao Xi lay in bed with a slight headache. She slowly opened her eyes, and the scene before her gradually became clear: a man with four arms was leaning down to look at her.
Four hands...
Qiao Xi gasped, and just as she was about to faint again, the other person suddenly stuffed a cool, refreshing candy into her mouth.
Amazingly, because of this candy, she didn't faint again.
Qiao Xi had a candy in her mouth, the sweetness filling her mouth. She blinked and realized she was already lying in bed.
"Did you move this in for me?"
"Hmm." A cold breeze seeped in through the window cracks, and Xiao stood to the side.
Qiao Xi remembered that she had just had a dream in which she returned home, but strangely, she couldn't remember her home.
Qiao Xi shifted her gaze to the four-armed man in front of her. "Who are you? Why did you just call me the bride?"
“My name is Fushe,” the man said.
“Fushe…” Qiao Xi murmured to herself. She remembered that her master Liu Yun had said, “Grand Marshal Tengshe…, Fushe!”
Fu She chuckled sheepishly, "I never expected that the Emperor's little bride would still remember me."
Qiao Xi was bewildered: "The bride?"
"well."
Xiao stood to the side, arms crossed, shaking his head.
Fu She: "I heard about it when I was hiding from Mi Nu. It is said that the Emperor brought a little bride."
Qiao Xi tilted her head: "?"
She looked at Xiao for help.
Xiao said expressionlessly, "This is the rumor about the wedding being stolen."
Qiao Xi remembered that before she fainted, Xiao had mentioned something about "bride kidnapping".
Fu She asked Qiao Xi for confirmation: "Is your relationship with the Emperor really like that?"
Qiao Xi: "Me and Morax...?"
This was the first time Fu She had heard the Emperor's name from Qiao Xi's mouth, and he was naturally not as mentally prepared as Xiao, so his expression was somewhat exaggerated.
"You're calling the Emperor by his name directly?"
Qiao Xi was taken aback by his question. She thought to herself that she had called him something else before, like "boss" or "leader," but Morax had rejected them all.
When she first arrived, she didn't know she should call him "Emperor"; it was Morax who made her call him that.
After about half a year, Liu Yun, Yi Xiao, and the two masters who spent the most time with her stopped talking much, and she got used to calling them that.
Habits are hard to break.
“It was Morax’s permission,” Qiao Xi replied to Fu She.
Seeing Fushe's agitated expression, she quickly added, "But my relationship with Morax isn't what you're thinking."
After Qiao Xi carefully explained to Xiao and Fu She, the two Yakshas understood, looked at each other, and breathed a sigh of relief.
Fu She: "If that's the case, then what's being said down the mountain is truly outrageous."
Qiao Xi: "Um, can you tell me what's being spread?"
She was quite unsure when she asked that question, and after listening to what Fushe said, she had been dead for a while.
Based on her studies over the past six months, she had come to understand Morax's character as dignified and unapproachable, but according to those rumors, there were all sorts of stories about forced, melodramatic, and canary-like situations.
In her despair, Qiao Xi still thought, wasn't this the kind of story Jin Lan liked to hear the most?
"Gentlemen, do you think Morax knows about this?" Qiao Xi looked at Fu She with a blank stare and a glimmer of hope.
Xiao noticed that Qiao Xi's mental state wasn't good, but before he could stop Fu She, Fu She didn't hesitate:
"That's natural. The Emperor cares deeply for the people, so his knowledge is certainly more extensive than ours."
Qiao Xi doesn't want to live anymore.
She got out of bed, and Fu She was a little confused: "Miss Qiao, you just woke up, why don't you rest for a while?"
"No, thank you," Qiao Xi said, putting on her shoes under the gazes of Fu She and Xiao. She stopped in front of the clothes rack where Morax's black cloak and her own red cloak hung, finally choosing her own cloak. She turned to Fu She and Xiao and asked:
Do you know where Morax is right now?
“As Your Majesty says,” Fu She looked at Xiao, “you should go down the mountain to see the people now. You will be back soon. The roads are slippery in the snow. If Miss Qiao is not in a hurry to see Your Majesty, you might as well wait.”
Qiao Xi: "I need to explain to him clearly and let him know that I didn't spread these rumors."
Xiao finally spoke: "We can explain when the Emperor returns."
Qiao Xi lowered her head, burying her face in the bright red cloak, and whispered, "No, I'm scared..."
Fushe: "What are you afraid of?"
Qiao Xi shook her head, picked up the bamboo cane beside the bed, and went out.
She was afraid Morax would get angry, and if he got angry, he would just leave, and she wouldn't have a chance to explain.
*
Just as Fushe said, the road was really slippery in the snow. Even though Qiaoxi was holding a bamboo cane, she still had difficulty keeping her feet steady when going down the mountain.
She stumbled down the path, thinking that if Master Yixiao saw her like this, he would scold her for not practicing her balancing skills properly.
While Qiao Xi was daydreaming, she accidentally snatched a rock with her bamboo cane and fell to her knees with a thud.
Just as she was wincing in pain and lifting her head while supporting herself on the ground, an old man appeared in front of her.
The old man's amber eyes fell calmly on Qiao Xi.
Qiao Xi knelt on the ground somewhat awkwardly. She forced a smile and said, "Um, sir, I'd like to wish you a Happy New Year in advance... um."
A note from the author:
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See you tomorrow!
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