"Oh." The other party seemed to have just remembered that incident. Without stopping talking, his left hand was rummaging under the small table.
After a while, two more things appeared among the pile of pots, pans, and utensils.
On the left were two thin jade slips, with pages interlocking, eight jade seals, and a pair of mythical birds carved with gold foil on both sides. It was hard to tell what they were at first glance.
On the right was a clay pot, with a plump belly, a thin rope, and a new red paper seal. It contained a jar of fresh cloud leaf tea.
Xiao Nan looked back at the scroll and the wine jar, confusion written all over his face.
"What does this mean..."
"I'm not giving them all to you, but asking you to choose one." The old man coughed twice and said slowly, "Young lady, do you know why His Majesty summoned me to the capital a few months ago?"
She calmed herself down and spoke cautiously.
"It must be about Puhuna's matter."
The old man chuckled, and his wrinkles looked shiny in the mist of the pot.
"The younger generation will take care of those matters. As for me, since I've reached old age, I've only taken on one task." He pointed at the items on the table as he spoke. "That's writing sacrificial inscriptions for the Heavenly Family Temple. The only times I'd be bothered to make a personal trip are when a new emperor ascends the throne, or when a empress is chosen. His Majesty sent me here to draft the decree for your coronation. But after the spring hunt, he changed his mind."
Xiao Nanhui was stunned for a moment and couldn't speak.
She knew he had arranged everything, but she didn't know what this "everything" meant.
The old man finally put down his chopsticks and the smile on his face slowly faded.
"He knows this journey will be dangerous, so he asked you to come here today to choose one of these two things. Take this golden jade slip, and when he returns, he will take possession of the harem. Take this wine jar, leave this building, and find a place to get drunk. When you sober, you can pretend that everything you've been with him was just a dream, and live the free life you long for. It's up to you, young lady, to make your choice."
What a dream, give her freedom.
If others heard this, they would definitely laugh at her and say that she had been abandoned by her husband. It would be better for her not to cling to him anymore and save some face for herself.
But only Xiao Nanhui understood what the word "freedom" meant to her. He really understood her better than she imagined.
She remembered that when she first entered the palace, the eunuch in charge led her through three palace walls.
Inside those thick, solemnly decorated palace walls, there was a world she was not familiar with.
She once thought that she would never have any connection with the people there.
But in the end, she fell in love with the man who sat highest inside the palace wall.
Even now, he has told her almost all of his past and secrets, but she still cannot fully understand his world.
She was a very simple person, and her life should have been able to see the end at a glance.
But that person was not her. If she wanted to go with him, she would have to leave the world she was familiar with.
She couldn't quite imagine what it felt like to "lose freedom," as Mo Chunhua had once said. She simply felt that the space within those high walls didn't belong to her. She felt lost about the prospect of such a future and worried that it would embarrass him.
No, she doesn't want that.
The soup in the copper pot had become thick, and bubbles as big as dates kept rising and bursting, making crackling sounds in the stone chamber.
Xiao Nanhui stared at the two things on the table and finally reached out his hand.
She picked up the jar of wine.
The old man's brows relaxed and he smiled as he tapped the bamboo chopsticks in his hand.
"The girl is really a perceptive person. If you come to Wancheng in the future, you must come to visit..."
As he was speaking, he saw the woman sitting opposite him slap the seal on the wine jar with one hand, raise her head and drink the whole jar of wine in one gulp.
With a clang, the empty wine jar was put back on the table.
"He's never had a drink with me before, so he doesn't know my alcohol tolerance. This jar of Yunyexian isn't enough to get me drunk. If I want to forget all this, I'm afraid even turning the entire Xiaofuju upside down wouldn't be enough."
She wiped her mouth as she spoke and suddenly laughed.
"I know his intentions, but now that I've drunk, I'm free. Whether I stay or go, whether I advance or retreat, my feet are on my body, and how I walk is up to me."
The thing she least wanted to see in her life was that her beloved felt embarrassed because of her.
She wants the person she loves to always follow his or her wishes and do what he or she wants to do.
Fortunately, fate has now pointed out a path for her. She can do something for the one she loves without having to worry that the beauty between them will be worn away by the gap in their status in the long years to come.
He was someone who could get whatever he wanted, and she had nothing precious to give him. If she couldn't be by his side, this might be the last thing she could do for him.
She had only one thing to do, and she only had to do that one thing well.
Kill it, destroy the secret seal, and eradicate everything that might threaten him.
She likes him.
She hoped they still had many years to go by together.
But life does not always allow for companionship. She is already much luckier than many people because she has precious memories that she will cherish for the rest of her life.
The old man remained silent for a long time before he sighed.
"That was his fate. No one could bear it for him except himself."
She stared at the empty wine jar on the table, not intending to back down.
"How do you know it won't work if you haven't even tried it?"
"How do you know you aren't his calamity itself?" As if afraid she wouldn't understand, the man asked pointedly, "Have you ever been in the dreams of Zhongli's family? You should know for sure. Or, in other words, have you ever dreamed of them?"
Zhongli's family? Is it him or his mother? Or... Aunt Dai?
Xiao Nanhui was stunned for a moment, then his hand holding the wine jar tightened unconsciously.
She remembered that she had indeed dreamed of Aunt Dai. However, Xiao Dai in the dream did not look like the familiar face she was familiar with, and her expression was strange and sad.
So, was she the person Aunt Dai dreamed of? What role did she play in that prophecy?
The last page of the book in the Tower of Separation and Hate seemed to have already given her the answer. And as intelligent as he was, had he already deciphered the prophecy in the tape that rainy morning, so he deliberately left her and followed Puhuna alone?
If what the old man said is true.
What if she was the one who pushed everything into the abyss?
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