Heartfelt wishes
What are his feelings?
This man, who was like a silent gourd, always dressed in elegant robes and swayed in front of her, arousing her romantic feelings.
Liu Xu, on the other hand, truly embodied the principle of "not speaking until one is struggling to express oneself." He could usually speak eloquently about anything, but now, when it came to expressing his feelings, he hesitated and became at a loss.
Xie Lingxi said, "What are your thoughts? Tell me."
A gentle breeze caressed her face, blowing the strands of hair peeking out from under her jade hairpin to her cheeks, obscuring her clear eyes. Liu Xu couldn't help but half-bow up, and a hand with well-defined muscles touched Xie Lingxi's face.
"Just talk, why resort to violence?"
Liu Xu stroked her hair. "Lingxi, I was wondering if it was too abrupt to say these things."
The twilight in his eyes seemed to encompass the reverie of an entire dusk—
He said, "I liked you the first time I saw you."
Two hearts, like twin red lotuses, intertwined to create an intoxicating smoky hue. Xie Lingxi's eyes softened. "What did you say?"
First meeting?
That first meeting, filled with both laughter and tears!
Liu Xu is clearly a decent person, both then and now.
But at this moment, he reflected on himself. Under the sparse moonlight of Yangliu House, he was moved by love. His wife, dressed in pale yellow, was leaning on the table, holding her apprentice book in her hands. When Liu Xu looked up, he saw a garden full of spring colors.
He repeated himself, afraid that Xie Lingxi might have lost focus and not heard clearly: "I have liked you immensely since the first time I saw you."
After saying that, she looked nervously at Xie Lingxi. Seeing that her gaze was indifferent, she mustered up her courage and continued, "Later, when I learned that you were a lady of the Xie family, and heard that Lord Xie was looking for a son-in-law, I took a chance and went to the Wang family for a banquet."
No wonder……
She wondered that day why Liu Xu, who disliked trouble so much, would voluntarily go to such social gatherings.
Xie Lingxi blinked her misty eyes and met his gaze: "That day, Father returned home with a beaming smile, and all he talked about was Liu Chengzhi, who had passed the imperial examinations in three consecutive rounds."
Liu Xu looked at her gently: "Lord Xie likes me, what about you?"
"I?"
As they happened to reach the center of the lake, Xie Lingxi picked a lotus seedpod, smelled the bitter fragrance of the lotus seeds, and slowly opened her lips: "Do you still remember when you protected me and led me into the stone cave in Fragrant Hills?"
"Later, on the mass grave, you were as nimble as a swallow, killing one person every ten steps."
Remembering Liu Xu's little-known martial arts skills, Xie Lingxi peeled open a lotus seed, revealing the slightly yellow lotus heart inside. "I have peacock eyes, and I also have an older sister who died young because of me."
Hearing this, Liu Xu frowned, then saw Xie Lingxi mocking herself, "Being shrewd in everything is a lie; you live on the edge of a knife. And that aloof, detached demeanor is also a lie. I dream of cursing like a country bumpkin—"
"I'm wearing a mask, and you're telling me, is that the kind of me you like?"
Not only that, but also...
There's also the "beacon fire" in his wife's sachet, his clever mind that knows all the ways of the world, his unfounded dislike for the Prince of Jin, and... his self-loathing that often arises from nowhere...
Seeing Xie Lingxi put the bitter thing into her mouth, Liu Xu quickly snatched Lianxin away and said seriously, "I love your vividness just the way you are."
Seeing Xie Lingxi momentarily stunned, he smiled and said, "Perhaps you don't know, but when I hurriedly carried you to the clinic that day, I inadvertently caught a glimpse of you in so much pain that you were delirious, yet you were still staring with your eyes wide open, as if you wanted to start a fire to devour me completely."
"That day I thought, this must be an interesting woman."
Others only see Xie Lingxi's calm demeanor and her adherence to the standards of a noblewoman in every action, but they don't know that this woman can be both playful and fierce.
Such vivid charm could only be glimpsed by those who knew her well, and perhaps even by Xie Lingxi's enemies.
"Lingxi, how can one express the affairs of love in this world? How many lovers are there in this world?"
Liu Xu paused, then carefully took Xie Lingxi's delicate hand, his voice trembling: "Are you willing to spend your life with me, sharing our journeys together?"
As dusk settles, a crimson sun reflects on the lake's surface, painting a captivating and enchanting scene, much like Xie Lingxi's flushed face and the breath she exhales, intoxicating the mortal world.
The opera troupe's children had changed their tune to "Evening Fisherman's Song" at some point, and the lotus pickers raised their long poles, lifting Xie Lingxi's heart high into the air.
What a feeling! Her heart blossomed like spring leaves, like summer lotus reflecting the evening sun. She and Liu Xu had spent two seasons together, but in this beautiful time, they witnessed the trials and tribulations of the past years.
As early as that night under the eaves, Liu Xu, carrying a grass lantern, had already shone into her heart.
“The boat is moored in the clear mirror,” she chuckled softly. “Ah Xu, we are now rowing with orchid oars.”
...
When they returned home late at night, the two of them noticed that the moon in the sky had become a little fuller since they had confessed their feelings for each other.
In the lotus pond courtyard, Xie Lingxi smelled the fragrance of lotus blossoms, calmly took Liu Xu's arm, and rested her head on his shoulder. She gently fiddled with the embroidered sash of her dress, "A-Xu, since we have promised each other a lifetime, we cannot hide anything from each other, right?"
Liu Xu: "Yes."
Tonight, the flowers are in full bloom and the moon is round, but he didn't want this beautiful scene to overshadow the strange past events, so he said gently, "Lingxi wants to ask about my martial arts skills?"
Xie Lingxi nodded.
Not only does he possess martial arts skills, but Liu Xu, a slender scholar, often displays extraordinary strength, capable of uprooting a willow tree, which is something Xie Lingxi finds perplexing.
Moreover, she knew that the kind-hearted young man she had met in her childhood was the very person standing before her.
As he pondered, Liu Xu replied, "It was taught to me by a master I met when I was a child."
Xie Lingxi found it amusing: "So this is what they call a 'miraculous encounter from heaven'?"
Seeing the woman's teasing expression, the moonlight making her face look fair and rosy, like a lotus quietly blooming, Liu Xu couldn't help but pat her face, "No, it's not a lucky encounter, but rather a calamity."
"It was during the massive bandit uprising ten years ago that I was kidnapped and forced to sell odds and ends in the north of the mountains. I once hosted an old general who had retired from the battlefield."
"General?"
None of the generals who were renowned in the court had any connection with the bandits' rebellion.
Liu Xu seemed to see through her thoughts, and chuckled softly, his thoughts drifting back to the once devastated northern lands. "He likes others to call him that."
——
The veteran was also tricked into buying alcohol that day.
The wine was fake, mixed with water and sleeping potion, but surprisingly it didn't work on the seemingly thin, bearded man. Liu Xu couldn't get the man back, panicked, and looked up in a sweat, only to see the old soldier staring at him with bloodshot eyes.
The veteran, also surnamed Liu, had unfortunately lost half a leg. His long eyebrows drooped, and he looked like he was on his deathbed.
In the chaos of war, Liu Xu willingly endured a brutal beating from human traffickers for the first time, hiding the person in a thatched hut, stealing the antidote and white rice, and taking care of him every day.
Later, the veteran taught him martial arts.
The veteran is not old at all; he can wield a gun and a stick with ease, and even a simple wooden stick can be wielded with great force.
Later, the veteran died.
He died the night before the bandits were wiped out, from the fake wine that Liu Xu brought him—the wine had been poisoned by that group of desperados. The old soldier drank it and immediately bled from all seven orifices, his liver and intestines were torn apart, and he died on his deathbed.
"I have never called him 'Master' before."
Liu Xu recalled that night ten years ago when they drank together under the eaves of a thatched house. When the old general was in high spirits, he picked up a wooden stick and arranged it into a formation for the scarecrow. The cold moonlight shone on his face, and his tears were like morning dew.
Veterans aren't actually old.
At this point, Liu Xu looked at Xie Lingxi, his eyebrows trembling: "Am I not also a petty person who seeks fame and fortune?"
“Before today, I had never mentioned him to anyone… even though he taught me, even though… he died because of me.”
Many people died in the chaos of the world. Xie Lingxi had lived two lives and had long since viewed life and death with detachment. Her cold and indifferent judgments were almost detached. But at this moment, she was speechless. "A-Xu, life and death are predestined."
What a useless attempt at consolation.
With tears in his eyes, Liu Xu said, "It was I who insisted on squeezing into his destiny; it was I who created this karmic obstacle."
He won't blame you.
Xie Lingxi remembered something, covered her eyes, and repeated, "He won't blame you."
The night was still dark, and she could no longer see the emotions in Liu Xu's eyes. The beautiful scenery in front of her only highlighted her sorrow and parting. Xie Lingxi held Liu Xu's hand and gently stroked the calluses on his hand. "You know, don't you? I once had an older sister."
"sister?"
Liu Xu suppressed his self-pity, "Isn't she the eldest sister born to that aunt?"
“No,” perhaps she hadn’t said a word when she was drunk that day, but made Liu Xu take the blame the next day, “My twin sister died more than ten years ago.”
Slowly recounting her story, Xie Lingxi explained the nickname "Wanwan": "My mother loved my older sister more than me. Although she didn't say it, she must have thought I was the culprit who caused my sister's death."
Now Liu Xu turned around and tried to comfort her, but Xie Lingxi chuckled and said, "You don't need to say anything, I think so too."
She said calmly, "In my opinion, no matter how glamorous the exterior is, there are always dirty secrets hidden beneath. Since we can't all be in the light, let's just let it all rot together."
Xie Lingxi's brows and eyes revealed weariness. "Ah Xu, today is a good day, why do we keep telling stories of the dead?"
The word "dead devil" amused Liu Xu. "Putting that aside, there's something I don't understand. Is that sachet weapon you're carrying for self-defense?"
That goes without saying.
Liu Xu then spoke indirectly about what both of them already knew, and sure enough, Xie Lingxi sighed, "I won't hide it from you, on the eve of the Spring Banquet, I had a precognitive dream."
"In my dream, I married Yan Ji and ascended to the position of Empress. Who would have thought that serving the emperor was like walking on thin ice? I lived a life of luxury, but I caused the destruction of the Xie family and the tragic deaths of my family members."
Seeing Liu Xu staring at her, Xie Lingxi said seriously, "You are not in my dreams."
Just then, a bird cried out, startling the two away from their reverie. Liu Xu said, "The dream is false."
He seemed to be suffering from some kind of hysteria, taking Xie Lingxi's hand and embracing him to his chest, whispering as if afraid of startling something, "Look, I'm here."
Their lives were truly bizarre; both of them suffered persecution at the hands of those traitorous bandits. Suddenly, Liu Xu thought of something and asked, "Didn't your young master just say that he was the man of your dreams?"
Liu Xu suddenly realized that the so-called "dream lover" was all a provocation, meant to force this coward to confess his feelings and become a perfect couple!
But Xie Lingxi denied it: "There is indeed such a person."
She frowned in suspicion: "Don't you really remember? You met a brother and sister in the north of the mountain?"
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