0124 Wish-Fulfilling Laughingthrush (Part 3)
As for Shu Fu, she had been staying in the building since returning to the manor. After a quick bath, the fatigue from the long journey overwhelmed her, and she didn't even have time to eat a bite of the late-night snack that A Jian had brought back from the main kitchen. She fell into a deep sleep as soon as she lay down on her pillow.
At the beginning of the hour of Chou (1-3 AM), a slight noise was heard from the window.
After many days, when Zhan Yaoguang returned to her boudoir, she was filled with mixed feelings and did not know what to feel.
The boy held his breath and tiptoed toward the inner room. After passing the brocade screen, he finally saw a faint figure lying in the misty blue tent, and his heart inexplicably quickened.
He first went to Fanchuan, but found she wasn't there. He guessed she had probably gone home, so he rode quickly to Chang'an, tied his horse outside the city, and used his lightness skill to avoid the patrolling guards. Only then did he find the Shu family in Yongle Ward.
He encountered obstacles on his journey and couldn't accurately estimate the time, fearing that it would be dawn before he could see her.
Fortunately, the heavens smiled upon him and he made it in time.
The young man sat down on the footstool in front of her bed and gently parted the beaded curtains.
The moon over the Qinling Mountains was pale and cool, but when it shone on Chang'an, it appeared somewhat gentle and soft.
The girl's face was bathed in the shimmering moonlight, a faint blush rising from her snow-white skin, like a pear blossom on a branch, intoxicated by the moonlight.
He slowly hooked her hand that was sticking out from under the covers, lowered his head and pressed his forehead against her soft palm, feeling her body heat spread to his own skin, and only then did he feel a little at ease.
This journey south will take him more than half a month, and he has no idea when the war will end, making his return even more uncertain.
He had a rather harsh eye for people, always feeling that none of her relatives were good people. Even though he was persuaded by Zhan Qing to go back with them first, his heart was still with Shu Fu.
However, Zhan Yinyuan reminded him that although he was going to the Southern Frontier, he could leave something behind to protect her.
This thing is neither human nor object—
When he was fourteen, his cousin Zhan Yuheng was officially chosen by his grandmother to be the next clan chief, and she personally led her to the sacred mountain to worship in order to inform the ancestors.
This was common knowledge among the clansmen, but besides this, Zhan Yaoguang overheard something else by chance—
The Gu King in the Gu Cave of the Divine Mountain has grown up. This Gu is called the Heart-Protecting Gu. It is not like the ordinary insect Gu, medicine Gu, or thought Gu. Instead, it attaches itself to the heart of its owner and has the effect of detoxifying and protecting its owner from disasters.
This Gu is extremely rare. Not to mention the Han people, even most of the people of our own clan do not know about it. It is passed down orally from generation to generation by the clan chief.
My cousin was chosen as the successor to the clan leader, so my grandmother naturally gave her the Heart-Protecting Gu of this generation.
At that time, Zhan Yaoguang was still young and had been abandoned by his parents. Only his grandmother cared for him, and he devoted all his affection to her.
But it wasn't until that day that he truly realized that he and his cousin held completely different weight in his grandmother's heart, and that there was a difference between pampering and love.
He ran up the mountain alone, slept with the damp wind as his pillow, and didn't know if he cried or not. He only knew that after dark, he woke up slowly, feeling even more resentful, so he also sneaked into the Gu Cave.
To his surprise, this trip actually made him realize that something was amiss.
The Heart-Protecting Gu is extremely rare, and only one Gu is typically born in a generation.
But that year was a rare occurrence of twins. However, the other Gu was too weak and was almost annihilated in an instant. The grandmother chose a heart-protecting Gu for her cousin and did not notice the strange phenomenon. She left without looking back. He came in a step later and carefully left the Gu behind.
Zhan Yaoguang gently stroked the girl's index finger, taking another peek at her in the moonlight.
With the Heart-Protecting Gu protecting him, he was essentially given two lives. Once the Heart-Protecting Gu appeared, he had no more reliance on it.
But he had nothing else to offer but his life.
The boy lowered his eyes, his gaze lingering on the girl's delicate fingertips. Suddenly, he pulled a small blade from his waist basket and used the tip to make a small cut on her fingertip, from which bright red blood immediately seeped out.
Shu Fu suddenly felt a stinging pain in her fingertips during her dream. She was about to open her eyes to look when she was suddenly embraced. Even in her dream, the embrace was unusually warm. Before she could investigate, she fell into a deep sleep again.
Zhan Yaoguang sat on the edge of the bed, letting her lean slightly against him. He then used the blade to cut open his entire palm, and a large amount of blood gushed out. He dared not delay any longer and quickly lowered his hand to gently hold her index finger.
According to legend, the Heart-Protecting Gu was supposed to involve making a half-finger cut on each of their palms, but he couldn't bring himself to do that to Shu Fu, so he simply stung her fingertip and made the cut on his own hand deeper.
The boy's temples throbbed, and an indescribable pain settled in his heart, as if something was slowly tearing away from his bones and blood. He trembled with pain and involuntarily hugged her even tighter.
He felt a chill run through him, a creeping coldness spreading from his limbs to his bones. He only managed to draw some warmth from her. After what seemed like an eternity, a pale white light peeked out from the window, like the white belly of a fish. He then snapped back to reality and slowly released her.
Zhan Yaoguang got out of bed, found a clean handkerchief, squatted down by the bedside, and carefully wiped her fingers clean before turning to leave.
As he approached the window, his gaze swept across the room and suddenly fell on her desk in the west room.
She was the daughter of a high-ranking official, and everything she ate and used was of the finest quality. On her desk were brushes made of jade tubes and ink made of pine resin. Even the paperweight and brush rest were made of pure white jade. Only a crudely woven cat-like animal lay properly on the desk.
He went closer and saw that it was the very thing he had made up to amuse her on Leyou Plain, but he never expected that she would bring it back and place it here so carefully.
The boy stared blankly at the raccoon dog, his mind a jumble of thoughts, vaguely wondering—
She was even willing to bring back and keep these little things he gave her; she seemed to care about him more than he imagined.
Zhan Yaoguang patted her chest, still feeling some pain, but the previous chill had vanished, and she felt refreshed.
He walked behind the desk and sat down, took a brush from the brush holder, dipped it in the slightly dried ink from the inkstone, and wrote on the unfolded paper:
Shu Erniang was happy and everything went smoothly.
After looking at it a few times, she felt it was just ordinary. She thought to herself that after he left, her mother would say a few more contemptuous words and make her secretly shed tears. That would be truly distressing.
He thought he had to write a beautiful and memorable sentence so that Shu Fu would remember it at a glance, and that even if she was scolded by her family, she would always remember it and it would not make her sad.
The boy leaned back in his chair, the pen twirling halfway between his fingers, when he suddenly made up his mind.
He sat up and solemnly added a sentence to the paper.
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