Letter to Wife
Three months is enough for dynasties to rise and fall, and for injustices to be redressed.
The emperor died of illness, and the empress was heartbroken and followed him in death. The new emperor, Xia Chengen, ascended the throne, and the General's Mansion was restored to its former glory, clearing General Qi of the injustice of treason.
Qi Yuning returned to the border last month and was stationed in Liangchuan.
When Xia Chengen ascended the throne as the new emperor, he was busy with government affairs, but he would also summon Wen Zhibai in his spare time and promise her a life of wealth and honor.
Wen Zhibai's Lingxi Pavilion, Suyue Workshop, and other establishments are still in existence.
When Wen Zhibai asked Tao Zhi to sell, Pei Qinzhou secretly bought her.
In the Pei residence, the peach trees still bloom, the bookshelves are spotless, and the inkstone Pei Qinzhou used to use still seems to retain its warmth. Everything remains exactly as it was when he left.
Wen Zhibai tied up her long hair, looking more mature and composed than before.
"Taozhi, go and fetch the account book you used to work with Manager Wang yesterday." Wen Zhibai held Jiang Mingzhi's little hand as they walked down the corridor.
"Yes, Miss."
“Little Aunt,” Jiang Mingzhi licked his candied hawthorn, tilted his head back, and asked the most cruel question in the most innocent tone, “When will Lingjun come back to marry you?”
Only an empty heart still beat in her chest. She suppressed the tears welling in her eyes and smiled, "Soon." She responded countless times that it would be soon, that he would be back soon, but in reality, she had no idea when he would reappear on this land.
A gentle breeze blew by, and she subconsciously looked up, gazing at the corner of the courtyard. The jasmine plant he had planted himself was laden with snow-white buds, trembling timidly in the wind, yet stubbornly refusing to bloom.
I promised him, I'll wait for his flowers, and I'll wait for him.
She won't break her promise; she will wait.
Wen Zhibai has never given up searching for Pei Qinzhou. Even if it's just for the Jiang family and for her family who love her, she will live on.
——
"I will never fail to live up to Brother Pei's expectations."
The endless snow and wind, the desolate streets—another winter has arrived. It turns out that waiting for someone is so unbearable and painful.
When she sees young men and women holding hands on the street, her eyes always show a hint of envy.
One by one, lights came on in every home, smoke curled from chimneys, and voices mingled. Wen Zhibai stood in the heart of the bustling city, yet felt increasingly lonely. She thought, "If only he were here with me right now." This simple thought had become an unattainable luxury for her.
This year's snowstorm was exceptionally heavy and exceptionally long.
"branch--"
Wen Zhibai returned to Pei Qinzhou's study alone. She pushed open the door, but felt that the place where he was still there was her last refuge, as well as her execution ground.
"Miss Wen, are you thinking of me, Pei?" A familiar voice rang in her ears. Looking in the direction of the voice, she saw the spirited young man she remembered sitting at his desk, smiling at her with his eyes crinkled.
She would always answer softly and earnestly to the empty study, "Yes, I miss you."
Lost in thought, Wen Zhibai dropped the book he was tidying up, scattering pages from its inner pages all over the floor.
She crouched down to pick it up and discovered that it was Pei Qinzhou's handwriting.
Letter to my wife’s family——
Know
Please forgive me for always referring to you as my betrothed when I mention you to others. I know that you may not feel the same way about me, and I have not yet officially married you according to custom.
But I firmly believe that we will meet again; our fate is not yet over.
The world is noisy and chaotic, but I have seen the world through your eyes, and that is why I love you even more. Because of you, I understand the joys and sorrows of ordinary people, and that is why I always shed tears when I think of you. I think if you were here, you would wipe them away for me. I miss you.
The things you left behind no longer bear your presence. This world is so dull without you; I feel a deep loneliness.
I have immense power and can take good care of you. I often regret why I couldn't have gained power sooner, so that I wouldn't have lost you.
However, such a thing will never happen again.
Zhi Bai, please appear soon and fall in love with me.
Hundreds of yellowed letters, densely filled with Pei Qinzhou's longing for her.
This letter was no exception; it was stained with his tears.
Her gaze was fixed on the signature—"The nineteenth year of Fushun".
Xia Chengen's reign title had just been established, and the world was renewed. How could it have been nineteen years?!
Could it be... that this vast world is not the world he has been waiting for for the first time?
Thinking of this, her hands began to tremble. She then flipped through the other letters and shook all the books off the shelf.
All of them were letters he wrote.
She went crazy, rushing towards the pile of papers and picking them up one by one.
Each letter was marked with the words "family letter".
The handwriting was either messy or neat, and many of the characters had blurred marks from water stains.
Two lines of tears slid down her cheeks. She slumped down under the bookshelf, clutching the letter tightly to her chest. "This is what you call... not loving me anymore," Wen Zhibai muttered to himself, as if questioning a non-existent person, or perhaps questioning his own sincerity.
"How many winters have you endured waiting for me?" He had only been gone for a little over three months, and she was already heartbroken. But if you asked him about the years he had never spoken of, how painful and difficult the waiting must have been. She still had her family by her side, but how lonely Pei Qinzhou must have been.
The cold wind howled outside, even blowing the door open, and a person was running towards her through the snow.
"Miss!"
It was Xie An who had left home early to search for Pei Qinzhou.
With red eyes and covered in snow, he rushed to Wen Zhibai and knelt down: "My lord! Someone has discovered you, my lord!"
Wen Zhibai's swollen eyes lit up instantly, and she grabbed Xie An's sleeve: "What did you say!"
"It's Lord Pei... Pei Qinzhou..."
Wen Zhibai suddenly stood up from the ground and told Xie An to quickly prepare the horse and lead the way.
Heavy snow blocked the mountain pass, making it impossible to move an inch.
Wen Zhibai didn't care; she was determined to find Pei Qinzhou.
One step at a time, two hearts intertwined.
The dilapidated thatched hut was like an old man in his twilight years, its hunched beams bearing the weight of the blizzard.
Wen Zhibai rushed into the house, pushed open the wooden door that was only half open, and the scene in front of her made her freeze on the spot, tears welling up in her eyes.
The person in front of me had become much thinner, with his full head of silver hair falling down. He seemed to be reaching for the water on the table, but he couldn't see it and accidentally fell off a shaky bed.
The broken porcelain shards cut his palm.
Wen Zhibai rushed to him and cupped his face in her hands.
"My lord!" Xie An, who was right behind him, quickly came over, took off his cloak, and covered him with it.
Pei Qinzhou froze, instinctively shrinking back and trying to hide himself in the shadows.
She cut off a piece of her robe to wrap his wound, then gently took his cold hand and guided his trembling fingertips to stroke his brow bone, eye sockets, and bridge of his nose, finally stopping on her lips, which were trembling slightly from the cold and excitement.
In this way, she is redrawing her own image stroke by stroke in his eternal darkness.
"..." His chapped lips moved violently, and broken breaths escaped his throat, but he could not piece together a complete word.
She touched his eyes, which were covered by ribbons, and asked in a hoarse voice, "Does it hurt?"
Feeling her warmth, a tear of blood rolled down his cheek.
Originally, he wanted to find a place where no one knew him, hide away, and slowly wait to die.
But his lover still found him, still found him, and stood in front of his crippled body.
"Don't look at me, I must look terrible right now."
Wen Zhibai gripped his thin clothes, then hugged him tightly, her arms tightening as she tried to give him more warmth, to tell him: "I love you, and I will never be apart from you."
Her tears soaked the front of his shirt, a mixture of joy at their reunion and heartache.
“Pei Qinzhou, I know you can’t hear me, but I’m here to tell you that I’ve come to take you home.”
Pei Mansion —
Pei Qinzhou lay quietly on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.
Jiang Yu stood quietly to one side, looking at the forbidden sand on the bedside table, and then at Wen Zhibai who was guarding the bedside: "Zhibai, once the forbidden sand is activated, there is no turning back."
“He transcended the cycle of life and death for me, enduring nine lifetimes of loneliness.” Her voice was soft, yet carried an undeniable firmness. “If his fate is destined to be an abyss, then I will jump in and go with him.”
Wen Zhibai used a warm handkerchief to wipe his face: "Everything he did for me was of his own free will, and now, I am willing to be devoted to him as well." She slowly got up from the bed: "His life can't wait any longer."
Then, Wen Zhibai pricked her fingertip with a silver needle, dripped blood into the forbidden sand, and when golden light flashed, a wisp of her soul was extracted and swept into a chaotic void along with the golden light of the forbidden sand.
There is no direction, no time.
Only countless fragments of memories swirled and flickered around her.
She saw the image of Pei Qinzhou carrying her from the mass grave as she was pierced by a thousand arrows; she saw the silhouette of him, after nine lifetimes of hardship and decline, writing "A Letter to My Wife" alone on countless nights...
Wen Zhibai let his consciousness drift along until a tranquil halo appeared ahead.
Bathed in light, jasmine blooms in abundance, as evergreen as springtime.
The man she longed for day and night, with his black hair and white robes, as elegant as ever, was sitting opposite a "Wen Zhibai," sipping tea. He listened intently, and the gentleness in his eyes was a peace she hadn't seen in a long time.
However, the real Wen Zhibai was separated from their perfect union by an invisible barrier.
Her heart trembled, and she instinctively reached out to touch it.
"Buzz—!"
A tremendous force slammed into her soul, nearly shattering her. He seemed to sense something, looked up, but his gaze pierced through her, landing on empty space, and he frowned slightly.
"What's wrong?" Phantom asked with concern.
“It’s nothing,” he said, withdrawing his gaze and a smile returning to his eyes. “Perhaps it’s just a bit windy.”
wind?
Looking at his almost transparent hands, Wen Zhibai understood—in this perfect world built by his extreme longing and grief, she, the embodiment of all the pain, regret, and real memories, became the only "impurity," firmly rejected by his subconscious.
She no longer charged rashly, but stood like a silent guardian in the shadows of the boundary.
One day, two days, three days...
She watched him spend his days with that perfect illusion.
The pure satisfaction in his eyes almost made her waver, and she wondered if it was right or wrong to forcibly drag him back from this beautiful dream to the cruel reality.
Days flowed by in this eerie stillness.
On the second day, the third day... Wen Zhibai tried countless ways to get close to Pei Qinzhou, but all to no avail.
She stood silently at the edge of the fence, like a forgotten scarecrow.
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