Chapter 136 The Departed Immortal (Part 1)
"How did you come to know Zhuge Liang?" Hua Yingxiong asked curiously as he sat in the carriage.
"Can I have some luck with women?" I glared at him, annoyed.
Hua Yingxiong laughed loudly, showing absolutely no respect.
"What is 'peach blossom luck'?" Baozi, with a strong thirst for knowledge, blinked and asked curiously.
I was speechless. I had brought this on myself. How was I supposed to explain the meaning of "luck in love" to Baozi?
"Uh... being lucky in love means... being loved by everyone..." Under Hua Yingxiong's expectant gaze, I nodded and said with satisfaction.
Hua Yingxiong's lips twitched slightly.
"Yes, I also want to have good luck in love!" Baozi announced with a smile.
I wiped my sweat.
"Is Zhuge Liang about to emerge from seclusion?" Hua Yingxiong suddenly said seriously.
"Hmm." I glanced at him and responded softly.
"He came all the way here to see you?"
I nodded.
"It seems even intelligent people can make mistakes," Hua Yingxiong suddenly remarked.
I glared at him angrily, "Hua Yingxiong, what do you mean by this!"
"If you're going to look at someone, look at beautiful women, like Da Qiao or Xiao Qiao... Why would I come to see you..."
So I roared.
The sky cleared, and we were worried about Guo Jia's illness, so we traveled day and night to Yizhou.
The carriage stopped in front of a mansion. The house was somewhat dilapidated, and only a few elderly servants were cleaning it. We got off the carriage and no one stopped us when we entered.
I had expected to see Guo Jia bedridden, I had expected to see him on his deathbed...
So, as soon as I stepped into the courtyard, I was stunned.
In the courtyard, there was an unnamed tree covered with pure white flowers, as white as snow.
A man in blue robes stood under the tree, holding a paintbrush. Sometimes he frowned in thought, sometimes he smiled, and then he lowered his head again, seemingly painting something.
Every now and then, snow-like petals would drift down, landing on his sleeves and hair, but he ignored them, focusing intently on his drawing.
Sunlight filtered through the tree branches, casting shadows on his face, making it appear even paler than snow.
"The Half-Immortal!" I called out to him.
The man in blue turned around, put down his paintbrush, and looked at me.
He stared at me intently for a long time, his usually indifferent face now showing surprise and delight. "Ruo Ruo, you've finally come..."
He didn't recognize me?
I was startled and instinctively turned to look at Hua Yingxiong, only to see him frowning and shaking his head.
"I'm afraid we won't make it through," Hua Yingxiong said in a very low voice.
I froze.
Guo Jia had walked up to me and gently took my hand. "Ruo Ruo, I've been waiting for you for so long," he said, looking at me as if I were the only person he could see.
I know that in his eyes, it has always been that woman named An Ruo.
I stared at him, mouth agape, unsure what to say. But if he clearly didn't remember that woman, why did he suddenly…
"Ruo Ruo..." He pulled me to the tree and showed me what he had just been drawing.
The woman in the painting, with her stunning beauty and radiant smile, was none other than An Ruo! How could he have remembered her again?
What is this? A final gift from heaven as he faced the end of his life?
Pure white petals danced all around, and the man in blue stood before me, his clear eyes filled with anticipation.
My throat tightened, and I couldn't bring myself to say anything in rebuttal.
"Ruo Ruo..." he murmured that name, holding my hand.
"You stinking scholar, look at the state you've become! How dare you come to see me!" I gritted my teeth and glared at him fiercely.
I called him a "stinky scholar," in An Ruo's tone.
His eyes lit up, and he was as happy as a child.
The warm sun illuminated his pale skin, making him almost transparent, as if he might melt away at any moment...
He just stared at me like that, then suddenly stumbled. I rushed over to help him, but he had already collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
His long black hair fell to his eyes, obscuring his pale face.
Hua Yingxiong, who was standing not far away, stepped forward, helped Guo Jia up, and escorted him back to his room.
"You stay with him." Hua Yingxiong helped Guo Jia lie down, then turned and took out some medicine from his sleeve. "Baozi, come with me to brew the medicine."
Baozi stood to the side, nodding obediently.
I sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the man lying there, his face pale, his body thin. Throughout his life, he had been longing for that woman.
Was his life destined to be only thirty-eight years long?
Those eyes that can see into people's hearts and understand everything in the world, why are they so fixated on this matter of love?
Leaning against the bedside, my eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.
When I woke up, I found myself lying in bed, covered with a thin blanket, but Guo Jia was nowhere to be seen.
On the table to the side was a bowl of dark, thick herbal medicine, which had gone cold, but no one drank it.
Could it be that he has already...?
I practically jumped up and rushed out of the room. As soon as I reached the door, I breathed a sigh of relief.
Guo Jia sat under a tree in the courtyard, holding a radish in his hand, feeding Xiao Mao.
Little Mao munched away, then, as if sensing my gaze, he perked up his ears and looked at me.
"Awake?" Guo Jia turned his head to look at me and smiled.
I calmed my racing heart, which had been racing with worry, and walked over to him, squatting down beside him with my knees drawn up. "You stinky scholar, what are you doing?"
Despite being so sickly, he still had the leisure to feed Xiao Mao.
“Pei’er, I dreamt of Ruoruo,” he said, looking at me with a smile.
I lowered my eyes, tugged at Xiao Mao's ear and played with it, ignoring Xiao Mao's angry glare.
He called me Pei'er. Did he recognize me? He's always been so lucid, drawing a very clear line between me and An Ruo. If he weren't so delirious from his illness, he would never have mistaken me...
"Perhaps because my time is near, I've remembered many long-lost memories," he said when I didn't speak.
All around was quiet, except for the sound of Xiao Mao gnawing on a radish.
"Pei'er, are you here to see Brother Mengde?"
"Mm," I replied.
I can't very well say that I'm here to see him one last time.
"Brother Mengde, you have led your troops westward to attack the remnants of Yuan's army. You will return soon," Guo Jia said with a smile, as if to comfort me.
I didn't say anything.
"Actually, you came here specifically to see me, didn't you?" After a long silence, Guo Jia looked at me and suddenly smiled.
I stared blankly into his clear eyes, those eyes that seemed to see into people's hearts, and for a moment I didn't know how to answer him.
"Did Empress Fu send you to see me one last time?" Guo Jia asked again.
I was speechless, so preoccupied with pitying his frail health that I seemed to have forgotten that he was Cao Mengde's top strategist, the brilliant strategist Guo Fengxiao.
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