125 Chapter 125
Thousands of miles away in the Hehuan Sect, by the sparkling Acacia Lake, the Queen of the Kingdom of Women is dressed in her best attire, Wukong and Bajie have also taken their respective positions, and Zixiao is sitting in the director's chair, constantly directing the lighting and prop masters to run around on the set. They are about to shoot the last scene of the entire movie - the Queen's farewell.
Yao Hua, playing the role of the Queen of the Kingdom of Daughters, was well-educated, well-mannered, and graceful. Her beauty, adorned with her finery, resembled a peony in full bloom. Her eyes shone with the ambition to make a splash. Seeing Qiao Shuda standing there bewildered, she lowered her head and smiled faintly.
"Shuda, our last scene will be soon. I wish you a pleasant cooperation."
In her opinion, although Qiao Shuda was a relatively silent person, his acting skills and character were very good. She had flirted with him several times in the play. If it were an ordinary man, he would have been completely bewitched. Unexpectedly, he was just like the male lead in the play and remained unmoved. Therefore, the filming process between the two of them went very smoothly. After a month, they had become a pair of partners with tacit cooperation.
Qiao Shuda seemed a little distracted standing there, and finally came back to his senses when he heard Yaohua's voice. He sighed almost imperceptibly:
"Miss Yaohua, what was Taoist Tang feeling when he said goodbye to the Queen? Was he reluctant? Or was he relieved? Didn't he have any regrets at all? Why did he leave without even looking back?"
He still hasn't learned how to say goodbye, so he has no idea how to perform the next scene properly.
Yaohua has also been slowly trying to understand the feelings of the Queen of the Kingdom of Women these days. She has never been so infatuated with someone in real life, but she is quite experienced in breaking up. After all, not long ago, she broke up with several male cultivators who were pursuing her in order to enter the entertainment industry.
"There's nothing you can do about this kind of thing in the end, right? After all, I have more important things to pursue in my life. We walked together for a while before by chance, but now, no matter how reluctant I am, I can only go on with my own life." Yaohua narrowed her eyes slightly, perhaps thinking of something in the distant past:
"Master Tang knew he and the Queen were not suitable. Their life ideals and aspirations were completely different. He couldn't stay and live with the Queen, so he had no choice but to flee and give them both freedom."
As she spoke, everything was ready on Zixiao's side. She held up a loudspeaker and waved to the actors who had posed on the set: "Start shooting!"
Yao Hua, who had just been full of emotion, immediately turned into the reluctant queen in the play. With tearful eyes, she looked at Qiao Shuda affectionately and silently: "Brother Taoist..."
Qiao Shuda looked at those affectionate and tearful eyes, and his originally cold expression gradually became dazed. He suddenly seemed to have returned to that afternoon many years ago, also on such a sunny day, when Pingping was also looking at him with tears in her eyes.
"Qiao Qiao, could you please not leave?"
He regretted countless times in his later life, wishing he hadn't said those harsh words.
He gently held Pingping's hand: "We..." will never be separated.
"Cut!" Suddenly a delicate cry pulled him back from his memories. Qiao Shuda came back to his senses with a start and found himself on the filming site of the Kingdom of Women, with his hand still covering the hand of the Queen of the Kingdom of Women.
His face turned red, and he quickly took his hand back: "Sorry, I'm rude."
"Sorry, I was distracted just now." Qiao Shuda apologized to the others guiltily: "Let's try again. I will definitely take a good picture this time."
So filming started again soon. This time, Qiao Shuda didn't put his hand on hers, but every time he was either distracted and said the wrong lines, or his expressions and movements were not in place. Once, he even couldn't help but look back when he was leaving, which made Zixiao so angry that he stood up from the director's chair and walked over:
"Qiao Shuda, what's wrong with you?" Zixiao raised his hand and poked Qiao Shuda's forehead with a finger. "Master Tang is a steadfast and ruthless cultivator. He should remain unmoved by the Queen's pleas to stay! What are you doing? Why do you want to stay?"
Didn't your sect invest in this film just to redeem themselves from the past? Do you think you're filming Ning Caichen and Nie Xiaoqian here?
"I'm sorry, I've held everyone back." Qiao Shuda lowered his head and apologized hoarsely, "I wasn't in the right mood, so I delayed the filming progress."
Zixiao had long known from Xu Hengzi the knot in Qiao Shuda's heart that he had been unable to let go of. Seeing his expression, she had a rough idea in her mind. She was silent for a while and then sighed:
"If I gave you another chance to say goodbye to her properly, would you always be so absent-minded?"
Qiao Shuda raised his head and looked at Zixiao in a daze, as if he had not yet reacted.
Zixiao didn't criticize him any further, but simply patted his shoulder and said, "Now that separation is inevitable, how do you want to say goodbye to her? Rest for a quarter of an hour and take this opportunity to think carefully."
A quarter of an hour passed quickly, and the crew soon started filming again. With the sound of crisp clappers, the Queen of the Kingdom of Women returned to her previous affectionate look.
Goodbye... Goodbye... I'm here to say goodbye... The final goodbye to Pingping... Qiao Shuda was still thinking about Zixiao's words just now, staring at these familiar eyes, his originally dazed expression gradually became firm.
"Your Majesty, there's no need for you to see me off. The time has come and it's time for me to be on my way." He took a step back and remained indifferent in his refusal, but his eyes were fixed on the woman in front of him, as if he wanted to engrave her appearance in his heart for the last time.
The Queen said nothing to persuade him to stay. She turned around and silently took the luggage, Taoist robes and whisk from the servants and handed them to Taoist Tang one by one. The breeze blew the fallen petals all over the sky. In the sad and lingering atmosphere, Her Majesty finally couldn't help but speak: "Brother Taoist, when will you return after this trip?"
When will you come back?
No, we can't go back.
"I won't come back. Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness. We are not destined to be together in this life. If there is an afterlife..." Having said this, he looked down at the queen's desperate eyes with a shred of hope, and his words suddenly stopped.
Knowing clearly that there is no afterlife, he still made such an illusory promise, making the queen spend the rest of her life in such a tiny hope and waiting. How cruel it was to her.
I'm here to say goodbye. Since we can't be together anymore, what I should do is make her completely despair, then forget me and start a new life, instead of clinging to a few promises that still have some warmth, and continue to waste the rest of my life in endless longing.
Our love is a beautiful thing, and even if we separate it should not be a burden or a shackle. Rather than being heartbroken now, I don't want to see you exhausted from waiting one day, crying and lamenting that you were wrong.
"Qiao Qiao, I have loved you with all my heart, and I don't regret meeting you."
The words in Pingping's letter suddenly appeared in Qiao Shuda's mind. When he read it that year, he felt that Pingping had completely abandoned him. Now thinking about it again, he was surprised to find the relief and gratitude in these words.
It turned out that she was thanking me for breaking up so decisively. It turned out that she had long known how hard I tried and how I was forced to do so. It turned out that she truly had no regrets... It turned out... she understood everything...
Qiao Shuda suddenly felt relieved. Seeing the queen's hopeful and even pleading eyes, he didn't continue reading the script. Instead, he smiled bitterly and shook his head: "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, there is no afterlife for us. We will never see each other again in this life."
After all, I said some unpleasant words. It seems that I am really a heartless person.
Her Majesty the Queen did not wait to hear the words she wanted to hear. She was stunned for a moment as if she didn't react. When she finally understood what he said, the tears that had been in her eyes could not help but fall one by one.
The scene of the beauty shedding tears was heartbreaking, but Taoist Tang did not wipe away her tears. He gave Her Majesty the Queen a last deep look, then bowed slightly and said, "Take care."
Then he turned around and rode away on his white horse, never looking back until his figure disappeared at the end of the road.
"Cut!" This time, Zixiao was finally satisfied. She looked at the scene on the screen with approval. "This shot was well taken. The emotions and expressions are all on point. Although the lines were changed at the last minute, this change is actually better than the original. He hesitated for a while but didn't give in. It shows that Taoist Tang is sticking to his heart. This relationship is not worldly."
"The film is finished! We're having a celebration banquet tonight!" Ding Xiang stood up and announced with a cheer, "Everyone, let's go to the Zhenxiu Restaurant in the Nightless City. Elder Zixiao is treating us, and we won't leave until we're drunk!"
The crew, both actors and staff, were all excited and delighted. The little monkey demon was the happiest. He came bounding over and stopped when passing Qiao Shuda. "Brother Qiao, shall we go together? I haven't eaten at a restaurant yet!"
"You go ahead. I'm a little tired today and want to go back and rest." Qiao Shuda bent down and touched his golden hair.
Since joining the crew, Qiao Shuda has been in this state of being half dead, and everyone has gotten used to it, so the little monkey demon didn't care too much and happily followed the main group to the city that never sleeps.
Since finishing the last scene, Qiao Shuda has always felt mixed emotions in his heart. This feeling of mental exhaustion really made him have no time to care about anything else. After returning to his room, he hurriedly washed up and lay down on the bed to rest his eyes.
He had never slept so soundly in the hundreds of years since that incident. All the bizarre pursuits and escapes that always appeared in his mind disappeared. The moment his consciousness sank into the dream, he could only feel peace.
In his dream, he seemed to be back to the afternoon when his master came to visit him. Pingping, crying with tears in her eyes, held his hand tightly: "Qiaoqiao, don't go! Didn't we agree to never separate?"
This time, Qiao Shuda did not take her out of the net, nor did he hold her hand tightly until the end of the world. He just focused and tried hard to remember the face in front of him in his mind for the last time, but found that Pingping's face had become blurry since he didn't know when.
It turns out that so much time has passed since then, so long that I have forgotten what you look like.
Qiao Shuda slowly unclasped his hands. Everything in front of him began to blur. His nose began to feel sore for the first time in a long time. He swallowed the sobs rising in his throat and finally smiled.
"Pingping, please take care of yourself. I never regret meeting you."
Then he turned and left, never looking back once.
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