An illusion
"Set up? What does that mean?" Nong Yue was puzzled.
"What I mean is that before I came, the time I would stay here had already been set. I could only stay for a maximum of seven years," Leng Yue explained.
"Can't the deadline be extended?" Nong Yue asked.
Leng Yue shook her head: "Unless I go back to the day when Ouyang Mingri and Shangguan Yan were seriously injured and dying. But then, I can no longer use the original method to save them. What if I can't save them... I don't dare to take the risk."
"Is it just because of this?" Nong Yue asked.
"Another reason is that once we return to the starting point, everything that happened in the past few months will be erased, and he won't remember me. If that's the case, why should I stay here for thirty or fifty years?" Leng Yue said with a wry smile.
"So, sister has her own difficulties." Nong Yue said, "Sister, you have such great magical powers that you can actually know the past and travel through time and space. Could it be that you are really the Fairy of Yaochi?"
"No." Leng Yue shook her head.
"Why is that?" Nong Yue asked.
Leng Yue was silent for a moment, then frowned and asked, "Do you really have to dig deep into this matter today?"
"That's right," Nong Yue said firmly, "Please explain it to me, sister."
Leng Yue sighed and said, "This is why I don't want to talk to Mingri anymore."
"Sister and Sai Huatuo are in love with each other, but she rejects him again and again. Is it because of this unspeakable reason?" Nong Yue asked.
Leng Yue nodded and asked, "Nong Yue, if I say that life is like a dream, do you believe it?"
"I believe it." Nong Yue said.
"If I say that everything and everyone here is just a fictional story, would you believe it?" Leng Yue asked again.
"I don't quite understand what my sister means," Nong Yue said.
"If Sai Huatuo knew that his life and even everything here was just a story, written in books, performed in plays, loved and commented on by people, what do you think he would feel?" Leng Yue said.
"This is simply unbelievable." Nong Yue said.
"So, I don't want to say these things to make him sad. What's more, I can only stay for seven years. If I leave him with long-term regrets and hurts because of the temporary happiness of love, how can I bear it? Besides, I am just a passer-by in his life. He will fall in love with other women in the future. Why should I be a flash in the pan?" Leng Yue said.
"Sai Huatuo is sincere to my sister, Nong Yue can see it." Nong Yue said.
Leng Yue smiled faintly: "I know he is sincere. The young master is deeply in love. Otherwise, why would I come for him? I came here for him, and I only hope that he can be safe and happy, even if he is just an illusory character to me, even if he and I can never be together, I still hope that he can be happy and safe. I can't accept the ending of his dying, so I came here to save him. I wanted to save him and leave immediately, but because Shangguan Yan was seriously injured and had not yet woken up, Bantianyue could attack at any time. He asked me to pretend to be the female dragon, so I waited until Shangguan Yan woke up before I was able to leave the palace. I thought I could finally wake up, but unfortunately, things did not go as I wished. Bantianyue saved me and brought me to the Shenyue Sect, and then all those things happened later."
"It turns out that the whole story is so tortuous and bizarre." Nong Yue said, "But Nong Yue still can't believe that everything here is an illusion?"
"Illusion, whose life isn't an illusion?" Leng Yue said with a wry smile, "Perhaps my life is also an illusion. Zhuang Zhou dreamed of the butterfly, was it the butterfly that dreamed of becoming Zhuang Zhou, or was it Zhuang Zhou that dreamed of becoming a butterfly? What we love, hate, obsess over, and insist on, from the perspective of the soul, may all be just an experience."
"Sister..." Nong Yue's hand gently rested on Leng Yue's shoulder.
Leng Yue turned around, patted Nong Yue's hand, and asked, "Nong Yue, since you are so knowledgeable, let me ask you, in which dynasty did the title of City Lord begin?"
"The Northern and Southern Dynasties."
"Yes, the Northern and Southern Dynasties period didn't begin until about 400 years ago. Let me ask you again, whose poem is this line: 'The bright moon rises from the Tianshan Mountains, amidst the vast sea of clouds'?"
"It's Li Bai's 'Moon over the Passageway'."
"Yes, Li Bai was born in 701 AD. So, do you know the name of the temple at the entrance to the Desert Ridge?"
"Nong Yue doesn't know."
"Although there is an extra stone lion, its architectural style is very similar to that of an ancient Greek temple. The ancient Greek temple was burned down as early as 356 BC. And there are dinosaurs in the desert roof, have you seen them?" Leng Yue said.
"Dinosaur? Do you mean the spiritual beast in the desert ridge?" Nong Yue asked.
"Yes, have you seen it?" Leng Yue asked.
"I have seen them. They are very tall and feed on plants. Sister, have you ever been to the Desert Ridge?" Nong Yue asked.
"I haven't been there, but I know when dinosaurs became extinct," said Leng Yue.
"When?" Nong Yue asked.
"More than 100 million years ago, a star in the sky collided with the ground, and all life on Earth became extinct." Leng Yue said.
Nong Yue was stunned: "Could it be that all this is really..."
"There's also a Ban Tian Yue facial mask, which looks very similar to Peking Opera masks. Do you know when Peking Opera first appeared? It was in the late Qing Dynasty, which was after 1800 AD."
"Although Nong Yue doesn't understand how the 'AD' that my sister mentioned is calculated, it is indeed incredible that so many things from different time and space are mixed together. Now Nong Yue is beginning to believe what my sister said." Nong Yue said.
"It's not just that. The architectural style here is from the Tang and Song dynasties, but the clothing style is from the Ming dynasty. There's also chess - 32 pieces. The black and red chess pieces each have one general (帅), two each of chariots, horses, cannons, elephants (相), and soldiers (仕), and five pawns (兵). This pattern was finalized in the Northern Song Dynasty, and it was not until the Southern Song Dynasty that it became well-known and widely circulated." Leng Yue said.
Nong Yue had no idea what Ming Dynasty clothing looked like, but after looking down at his own attire, then at Leng Yue's, and then thinking about the clothes Chou Doufu wore as a constable, he saw nothing of the Central Plains style of the Tang Dynasty, nor any of the characteristics of Western ethnic costumes. Nong Yue had known the chess patterns Leng Yue had described since childhood, but he had never heard his father mention the dynasty in which chess originated. As for the "Northern Song" and "Southern Song," despite his extensive reading, he had never heard of these dynasties.
...Is all this...really...an illusion...???
Nong Yue slumped down on the ground: "Sister is right, it's all an illusion, everything is an illusion."
Leng Yue squatted down and found that Nong Yue's face was pale and his eyes were dull. It seemed that he had suffered a considerable blow.
"Nong Yue, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said this to you. Did I scare you?" Leng Yue asked carefully.
Nong Yue's voice trembled: "Why is this happening? If all this is a story, why did the person who wrote it want to kill my entire family? Why did he arrange such a miserable life for me? Why did Nong Yue's life have to be manipulated like this? Why on earth is this happening?"
Leng Yue hugged Nong Yue distressedly and said, "Since everything has happened, it's useless to think too much. I shouldn't have said these things to make you sad. I'm sorry, it's all my fault. Good brother, don't scare me, don't do anything stupid, promise me, okay?"
Nong Yue was trembling all over and crying silently.
Leng Yue patted Nong Yue's back gently and comforted him, "Good brother, I'm here. I will protect you. You and your brother will never be hurt again. Good brother, don't be sad, okay?"
Mingri watched from afar as Lengyue and Nongyue were chatting and laughing, and now they were hugging each other again. He couldn't help but sigh and murmured, "Lengyue, Lengyue, you keep saying that you are not worthy of me, Ouyang Mingri, but Nongyue is also a dragon and phoenix among men. Your excuses are too far-fetched."
Leng Yue quietly held Nong Yue in her arms, gently patting his back to comfort him. After a long time, Nong Yue finally came to her senses and said to Leng Yue, "Sister, Nong Yue finally understands your painstaking efforts for Sai Hua Tuo."
Leng Yue held Nong Yue's shoulders tightly with her hands, stared into her eyes and said, "Nong Yue, now that you know the secret, you must never take life and death lightly, and you must never do anything stupid!"
Nong Yue smiled bitterly: "What about my sister? Doesn't she do stupid things again and again?"
"I just want to go home." Leng Yue said.
"Sister, are you really willing to compete with Hua Tuo?" Nong Yue's voice touched the deepest part of Leng Yue's heart.
Leng Yue sighed and said, "A short pain is worse than a long one."
Nong Yue smiled helplessly: "As smart as you are, you actually believe the nonsense that a short pain is worse than a long one? Do you think that if you reject Sai Huatuo, he will no longer be attracted to you? Do you think that if you leave, Sai Huatuo will forget you? Some people never say they love you, but they love you with their lives; some people have never really been together, but once you miss each other, it will be a lifetime of pain!"
After Nong Yue finished speaking, he stood up and looked up at the starry night sky. Leng Yue immediately understood what he was thinking.
"Nong Yue, I'm sorry for making you think of Xing'er." Leng Yue said.
Nong Yue turned around and said, "Sister, you understand me very well. Since you know how Nong Yue feels about Xing'er, I believe you will understand even better how Sai Hua Tuo feels about you."
"Sai Hua Tuo, huh," Leng Yue said with a wry smile, "I'm afraid Sai Hua Tuo is even younger than you."
"Sister and Sai Huatuo are a perfect match, why do you have to be so obsessed with age?" Nong Yue said.
"It's not that I'm obsessed with age, it's just that I can't get over this hurdle in my heart." Leng Yue said.
Leng Yue is right. Originally, there was a guy named Bai Tong in the series who was older than her (Bai Tong was 28). Now that Bai Tong is gone, Leng Yue is the oldest of the young people in the series, a hurdle no one could overcome. It suddenly feels like time flies. Back when I became a Ming fan, I was a teenager, and now, returning to the storyline, I'm a 26-year-old office worker. This is the stark reality.
"Can the age gap really affect the relationship between two people?" Nong Yue asked.
"The age gap may not affect the relationship between two people, but, in the eyes of others..." Leng Yue said in a low voice.
"Since you truly love each other, why should you be afraid of rumors?" Nong Yue asked.
"Don't ask any more questions! Anyway, it's impossible for Sai Huatuo and I to be together." Leng Yue said, turned around and left.
Looking at Leng Yue's receding back, Nong Yue shook his head helplessly.
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