Chapter 96 (Previous chapter revised) ...
(The previous chapter has been revised)
He scrutinized Xie Baoqiong's every move, and also witnessed all of Xie Baoqiong's greed, anger, joy, and rage.
Unbeknownst to him, his heart was gradually being stirred by Xie Baoqiong's joy.
Xie Zhuo closed his eyes, but the image of that person was still before him.
Just like that day when he stopped at the prefect's mansion and closed his eyes, he was still thinking about Xie Baoqiong's feelings: would she feel wronged? Or would she be indifferent?
And when he fell off the cliff, his little one was held tightly in his arms. Although the wind was howling in his ears, he could smell the sweet scent of sugar stains on the little one's clothes, feel the warmth of the body under his hand, and feel their hearts beating together so close to each other.
He held that incredibly real, long-lost feeling in his arms.
How could anyone not be captivated?
Even with his eyes lowered, he still wanted to hold that face, which resembled his own, covered in stone patterns, and was willing to be the stone's cushion, for fear that another crack would appear on the stone.
He would still be willing to die for a stone.
But this is wrong.
He was clearly aware of this.
He shouldn't have gone to such lengths for a completely unrelated stone.
This is absolutely, absolutely wrong.
From the moment his parents and elder brother died, and from the moment only he and Xie Rongjing remained in the Xie family, he could not afford to make a mistake.
The Xie family needs him, and Xie Rongjing needs him.
In a game of chess, a single wrong move can result in the loss of more than one piece.
But he couldn't help thinking, it's just a stone.
It's just a rock.
The Xie family has no shortage of jade, so what harm is there in having another stone?
Jade, jade, jade is nothing more than a pretty stone.
They should be the same.
He had already lost everything.
The salty, astringent taste was even stronger in the humid air.
A muffled voice came from Xie Zhuo's clothes: "Yes, no..."
Xie Baoqiong felt as if her eyes had been splashed with the juice of a sour orange, but they were extremely dry, like a hard stone, and nothing could flow out.
"Don't say it." Xie Zhuo's low, hoarse voice interrupted his intermittent words.
"I'm the one who should apologize."
Xie Baoqiong loosened her tightly buried head a little, revealing a pair of red, rubbed eyes. She looked more like someone who had been crying than Xie Zhuo. She quietly sized up Xie Zhuo and tentatively asked:
"Can you not kick me out?"
Xie Zhuo's face showed no trace of crying. He gently wiped Xie Baoqiong's reddened eyes with his fingertips, his tone puzzled:
When did I say I was going to kick you out?
After being caught peeping, Xie Baoqiong tightened his grip on Xie Zhuo's hand, tilted his head back, and tentatively leaned on Xie Zhuo's hand that was pressing on the back of his head. Seeing that Xie Zhuo was supporting him, his gaze became even more open and honest.
Thinking about it carefully, Xie Zhuo didn't seem to have ever told him to leave.
"But you know I'm not..."
"Since you are my wife's tombstone, you should also be considered part of our family."
Xie Zhuo interrupted him, shattering the little bit of secret joy that had just risen in his heart.
He loosened his grip on Xie Zhuo's arm, his fingers awkwardly clutching the disheveled outer robe at his waist.
"So what should I call you from now on?"
Xie Zhuo felt a sudden emptiness around his waist, his gaze lingered on Xie Baoqiong for a moment, then looked away:
"Whatever you like."
Xie Baoqiong seemed to have lost all her energy, and the ends of her hair drooped down.
Xie Zhuo's voice rang out unintentionally, like the soft moonlight:
"But I'd prefer you to call me 'Daddy'."
Her droopy ahoge (cowlicks) instantly stood up, and Xie Baoqiong's hands grabbed Xie Zhuo's collar restlessly.
"Daddy, hug me, the ground is cold."
Xie Zhuo readily agreed and pulled her into his arms again, supporting Xie Baoqiong's body with one hand and reaching out with the other to touch her bare feet, finding them icy cold. He couldn't help but feel curious.
Do stones feel cold?
Xie Baoqiong rubbed her head against Xie Zhuo's neck, shaking it wildly, causing Xie Zhuo to turn his head slightly.
"When you become a human."
"From now on, you must wear shoes."
"I was going to wear it, but you walked too fast." Xie Baoqiong grumbled as Xie Zhuo reverted to his original state.
"Aren't all monsters capable of magic?"
"I won't."
...
"Dad, comb my hair."
As soon as Xie Zhuo carried her into the house, Xie Baoqiong immediately made a new request.
"It's time to sleep. We can comb your hair tomorrow." Xie Zhuo picked up the thin blanket draped over the couch, wrapped it around the person in his arms, and placed them on the bed.
"But my hair is making my neck uncomfortable." Xie Baoqiong, who was wrapped up in a ball, nudged her head around a few times before Xie Zhuo let go.
"You won't feel the prickliness if you don't rub against it." Xie Zhuo said this, but his fingers went through Xie Baoqiong's hair and separated the strands of hair that were sticking to the latter's neck.
Xie Baoqiong rested her head on Xie Zhuo's lap, quietly letting Xie Zhuo use his fingers to groom her messy long hair.
Xie Zhuo's soft voice came from above:
"Xiao Bao, do you know who set you up back then?"
Xie Baoqiong looked back blankly. He only regained his senses after the tombstone was erected: "I don't know, but it should be Qiushuang?"
Otherwise, he wouldn't have imagined who would build a tomb for Princess Huayang.
Xie Zhuo didn't say anything, but absentmindedly ran his fingers through his hair.
Xie Baoqiong remembered the purpose of her trip down the mountain, and then brought up the matter of Cao Zhuangling's involvement with Xie Zhuo.
Upon hearing this, Xie Zhuo paused in his actions, then ruffled Xie Baoqiong's hair twice.
"Really? Xiao Bao did a great job. But these things are dangerous, so you should tell me about them in the future."
"Um."
With her most taboo secrets exposed, Xie Baoqiong naturally wouldn't hide anything else:
"Before Cao Zhuangling died, I asked him who was behind him. He said the person he was looking at was the former prefect of the city. Do you think that person is the murderer?"
Xie Zhuo hesitated for a moment, not finishing his sentence: "I had some past grievances with him, so it's not impossible that he might really have intended to harm the princess."
But in his heart, he didn't think that way. Luo Shengyu had always been timid and cowardly. Even when stealing spiritual power, he only dared to choose birds and beasts in remote mountain areas. If it weren't for the earth rumbling, he wouldn't have been exposed. And if he really was the real culprit who killed the princess, why had he never made a move against him in the past thirteen years...
Although Xie Zhuo's voice was calm, Xie Baoqiong could feel a stiff hand above his head. He raised both hands to cover it, but Xie Zhuo grabbed them back.
"Don't think about this anymore. It's all over."
“Okay, then I’ll think of something else.” Xie Baoqiong replied obediently, but her eyes were fixed on Xie Zhuo’s face, which was hidden in the shadow of the bed curtains.
The candlelight flickered and danced, casting ever-changing shadows on Xie Zhuo's face.
The crystals hanging from the bed curtains reflected a sliver of light onto Xie Zhuo's eyes, like tears that hadn't finished crying.
Xie Baoqiong raised her hand to reach it, but her fingertips were just a little short of each other.
He recalled a question about how that light could fall like the moon, a question that troubled him somewhat.
But after hesitating for a long time, he still didn't ask. Let the moon stay there; Xie Zhuo had already accepted him anyway.
Xie Zhuo noticed his hesitation and pressed his finger against his furrowed brow:
"What's making my little stone all scrunched up?"
"I'm thinking about a question that would make my father cry."
Xie Baoqiong answered frankly, but a rare hint of shyness flashed across Xie Zhuo's face.
Fortunately, the darkness concealed his expression, and he said calmly, "It's nothing, Xiao Bao, ask away. If Daddy really sheds tears, Xiao Bao will comfort him."
Xie Baoqiong's brows relaxed, and his clear eyes stared intently at Xie Zhuo for a moment before he nodded seriously. However, he hesitated for a long time before speaking:
Why don't you ask me about the real Xiaobao?
Xie Zhuo's expression and thoughts went blank for a moment. He tried to force a smile, but couldn't manage it, so he gave up and spoke with a blank expression and complicated eyes:
“There is no real Xiao Bao. In my eyes, there is only one Xiao Bao, and that is you.”
If that child is still alive somewhere in this world, when he returns to my side, he will have a different name.
You are not his replacement.
Sadness was hidden in Xie Zhuo's eyes, and his voice gradually softened:
"Although I hate to admit it, I know that the child is most likely no longer alive..." Xie Zhuo's voice froze; the truth was always cruel to him.
Xie Baoqiong felt she should end the conversation, but Xie Zhuo seemed to have guessed everything. His gaze fell on the faint candlelight flickering in the night wind, and he forced himself to finish speaking:
"According to what you said about the time it takes for a child to develop intelligence, even if that child were born, he wouldn't be a month old, and it wouldn't be easy for him to survive."
His gaze shifted downwards, where the flickering firelight was replaced by Xie Baoqiong:
"Besides, Xiao Bao is a good child. If that child had really been born, you wouldn't have pretended to be that person."
Heaven and earth seemed to have shown him mercy, taking away much from him, yet sending Xiao Bao to him.
Indeed, as Xie Zhuo said, Xie Baoqiong's divine sense had seen the body of Princess Huayang and knew that it was a corpse that had never given birth.
After Xie Zhuo left, Xie Baoqiong lay on her back on the bed, staring at the layers of bed curtains above her head, the image of the setting moon constantly flashing through her mind.
He was unfamiliar with death and could not understand Xie Zhuo's sorrow, but when he thought of that crystalline moment, the greed in his chest seemed to be affected by the powder, petrified, and became blocked.
Just as he was trying to figure it out, a streak of light suddenly appeared on the half-open window.
A delicate, iridescent sparrow landed on the window.
Xie Baoqiong wrapped herself in a quilt and moved to the couch by the window.
A bird bathed in the glow of the sunset hopped lightly onto the armrest beside him, its beak slightly open:
"Xiao Bao, it's been a long time."
"Senior Xin, what brings you here?"
"Just passing by, stopped by to see how you're doing?" Xin Xuan took a step closer, seemingly casually reminding him, "If you don't like things down the mountain, then go back soon. As for cultivation, you can find another way."
"Senior Xin, my cultivation has broken through!" Xie Baoqiong excitedly shared, displaying the spiritual power at her fingertips.
A hint of a smile flickered in the bird's eyes:
"very good."
Then the tone shifted abruptly: "So when do you plan to return to the mountain?"
Xie Baoqiong pursed her lips and answered irrelevantly, "Did Xiaochun go back?"
"Not yet." The smile in Xin Xuan's eyes faded.
“Then I’ll go back after Xiaochun goes back,” Xie Baoqiong said childishly.
“Go back.” Xin Xuan repeated these four words slowly and deliberately.
Xie Baoqiong readily admitted, "I would like to stay at the foot of the mountain for a while longer."
Xin Xuan glanced at him knowingly: "Don't get bullied when you're out there."
"If I get bullied, I'll go back to you." Xie Baoqiong said without any hesitation, and then shared some trivial things with Xin Xuan, emphasizing that she had recently ridden a dragon.
"That dragon that was only half-transformed into a dragon? I've met it a few times." Xin Xuan recognized Chi Song and chatted with him for a while. "In the years after it failed to transform into a dragon, it always caused a lot of noise and disturbed people's peace. It has been quieter in recent years. After a thousand or eight hundred years, it finally transformed into a dragon again."
"Well, what I'm giving you isn't exactly junk. These dragon scales are not bad. Although they're not the reverse scales, they can still serve as protective magic items."
Xie Baoqiong listened to Xin Xuan listing the magical treasures in his storage pouch, her eyes constantly glancing at him. Even dragon scales were merely passable in Xin Xuan's eyes, so what kind of thing would be considered a treasure?
He knew Xin Xuan, but he did not know Xin Xuan's origins, nor could he even recognize what Xin Xuan's true form was.
He stared for a long time, and Xin Xuan noticed his gaze but misunderstood: "Don't look at me like that, my things were destroyed by two lightning strikes long ago."
Before Xie Baoqiong could clear up the misunderstanding, a small bird, no bigger than a palm, turned around, pecked off a beautiful feather from its body, and handed it to her.
Xie Baoqiong took the small feather and asked, puzzled, "What is the effect of this feather?"
Xin Xuan, having rearranged her feathers, spoke with a disdainful tone:
"pretty."
Xie Baoqiong accepted the feather with a puzzled look on her face. After all, every part of a great demon is a treasure. If she didn't know its use, she would just keep it safe for now, in case it came in handy someday.
Before Xin Xuan left, Xie Baoqiong suddenly asked, "Senior Xin, do you know who erected my original form?"
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Author's Note: I revised the previous chapter, so some transition issues are normal.
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