To know you
Therefore, when Gu Yi showed signs of getting up to leave, she let out a cry.
The crying was quite loud, echoing throughout the vast hall and reverberating against the walls, startling even herself.
What she didn't expect was Gu Yi's instant panic.
He immediately and hurriedly picked her up from the ground, gently rocking her as he said, "Is she hungry? Quickly find her something to eat."
Zhulong understood this time and immediately ran off.
Before long, it swam back, bringing with it: a bunch of red berries, a fresh fish, a handful of mushrooms... and even a dead mouse.
It seems that it has exhausted its intelligence to understand the food she needs.
Gu Yi frowned, looked at all the items, and finally, uncertainly, picked up the bunch of fresh red fruit with his fingertips, presented it to her, and looked at her with great expectation.
A Qiu thought with fear, "Fortunately, Gu Yi still has a basic understanding of human food."
She nestled in his arms, having stopped crying.
She knew that given the current state of the ruined Liyang Palace, she had to make do and couldn't be too picky. She also wanted to match the expectant looks in Zhulong and Gu Yi's eyes.
But she has no teeth!
She tried to open her mouth and licked the smooth, glossy surface of the red fruit to show that she wasn't disgusted, but then... she really couldn't help it.
The Candle Dragon swam over again, tilting its head to look at her with a disapproving expression. It probably thought that the red fruit was already of superior quality, and this little girl was being ungrateful.
In truth, her guess was not far off. The Candle Dragon was a vegetarian; for it, the red fruit was the best food it could find. As for the fish and rats, that was simply the result of its imagination working to serve its master well, so as not to miss anything.
Gu Yi also saw the problem. He used his strength to crush a red fruit with his fingers, and then directly fed the almost crushed pulp into her mouth.
Hmm, it tastes good.
She nodded her head, quite satisfied. Gu Yi is indeed reliable...not bad.
Gu Yi looked at her, and a layer of warmth appeared in his originally clear and indifferent gray eyes.
A Qiu immediately felt that this desolate, dilapidated palace didn't seem so dreary and unpleasant after all.
She began to look around curiously from his arms.
Yes, it was roughly the same as what she saw when she first came to visit.
"Are you just going to leave her here and raise her?"
Gu Yi's deep voice came from above her head. She was startled and hurriedly looked up, only to see that Gu Yi's eyes were on Zhulong, so he was actually discussing something with it.
A Qiu couldn't help but feel both amused and sad.
It turns out that A Qiu's fate, whether she stays or goes, is decided by a spirit beast called Zhulong.
Furthermore, the Gu Yi she later came to know was decisive and ruthless, always keeping his word and never flinching when making decisions, whether big or small.
The fact that he had to discuss adopting her with Zhulong shows how uncertain Gu Yi was at that moment.
Looking at the lazy expression on the Candle Dragon's face, and knowing that her life and death depended on its decision, she watched it with trepidation.
As if understanding Gu Yi's "inquiry," Zhulong raised its head, stared intently at Aqiu, and its emerald green eyes darted around as if it were also pondering the question.
If we really adopt her, wouldn't it have to go out and find food for her every day?
The two people and the beast were locked in a stalemate when Zhulong suddenly seemed to hear something. It reacted extremely quickly, darting into the darkness of the back hall and disappearing without a trace.
Gu Yi hesitated for only a moment before quickly placing her on the ground and then slipping into the side hall.
Before she could even react to what was happening, she heard the door of the abandoned hall being pushed open with a thud, accompanied by the sound of a woman panting heavily and staggering footsteps as she entered.
"Your Highness! Your Highness!"
The woman's desperate yet high-pitched cries echoed aimlessly as she paced back and forth within the hall.
The moment A-Qiu heard that familiar voice, he felt as if all the blood in his body had frozen.
Never before had she understood who it was more clearly than at this moment.
Chu Yuanyi. Aunt Yuanyi.
She is Aunt Yuanyi, who suffered from poisoning and subsequently lost her mind.
She opened her mouth wide, trying to respond to Aunt Yuanyi's call, but could only let out a loud "waaaah" cry.
Upon hearing the crying, Chu Yuan was both surprised and delighted. He quickened his pace and rushed over, scooped her up from the ground, and held her in his arms as if she were a precious treasure.
She kept saying, "Good child. I knew you would be alright. You are your father's own daughter. No matter how big the snake is, it wouldn't have the heart to eat you."
A-Qiu was confused again. What was wrong? What did it matter whether Zhulong ate it or not, and whether she was her father's biological daughter?
Besides, aren't they all their fathers' own daughters?
Although she really doesn't want to know who her father is right now.
He must be a big bad guy, no doubt.
Good families would put their newborn daughters in a snake pit.
With these thoughts swirling in her mind, she overlooked Chu Yuan's anxious cries of "Your Highness" as he entered the room.
She wanted to respond to Chu Yuanyi, but could only reply with "ah ah".
Chu Yuan looked at her with a mixture of pity and love, and kept saying, "What a clever and obedient child! You are just like your father back then, but he was so foolish as to believe what others said. Alas!" She wiped away her tears and suddenly said, "Look at this old fool of mine. I asked around for a long time before I found out that you were abandoned here. I was afraid you would starve, so I came to bring you goat's milk. You keep making these 'ah ah' sounds, so you must be hungry."
She half-held Aqiu in her arms with one hand, and with the other hand she took out a leather bag of goat's milk, gently supported her head, and fed it to her.
Chu Yuanyi must have done this many times before, so A Qiu didn't feel any unfamiliarity or resistance. She habitually tilted her head back and drank it down. Chu Yuanyi's hand, which was still on her back, was gently patting her. The sky was getting dark, and at least for this moment, she felt incredibly warm and safe.
After she finished drinking, Chu Yuanyi hugged her for a few more moments. Seeing that it was getting dark outside, he said nervously, "I can't let anyone know I'm here. Otherwise, if they find out you're still alive, they'll definitely try to kill you."
She looked around and said, "I've already looked around. Apart from being a bit shabby, it doesn't seem to be a bad place. At least it's safe."
She put A-Qiu down, but solemnly kowtowed several times in the empty hall, saying loudly, "I have heard that there are gods here. Whether it is true or not, please bless this child. I, Chu Yuanyi, cannot always watch over her, so I beg you to bless her to grow up safely."
After she finished kowtowing, she stood up and said to A Qiu earnestly, "While you are here, you must listen to the gods. Your aunt will come to see you often and bring you food. Don't go out; the people outside want to kill you. This is actually the safest place."
Ah Qiu thought to herself, "My aunt isn't exactly stupid, but she's not exactly smart either. In fact, a baby her age, left unattended in an abandoned temple, could be bitten even by a passing rat, let alone by changes in the weather, wind, rain, heat, and cold."
But she couldn't speak at that moment. With tears in her eyes, she thought to herself, "Auntie, thank you so much. So you've always remembered me."
Chu Yuanyi treated her like an adult, giving her a few more instructions before getting up and leaving.
As soon as Chu Yuanyi left, Zhulong strolled out, wagging its tail, and stared at her with an incredulous look. The implication was: "Who knew you were someone important? Someone even brings you food!"
Gu Yi stepped out from the side hall, coughed lightly, and finally made up his mind, saying, "Since someone has brought food, let's keep her here."
A Qiu never expected that the core reason why Gu Yi was willing to take her in was that someone would provide meals.
This was because she didn't understand how troublesome it was to provide sufficient and suitable food for raising an infant. Even though Gu Yi was completely unfamiliar with worldly life, he guessed this from her picky reaction to food.
Zhulong, on the other hand, shook its large head with a sigh of relief.
Alright, we don't need it to find food to feed her anymore; nor do we need it to break its vows and eat meat, unless absolutely necessary.
But it soon became clear that the promise of meals being provided was not very reliable.
Chu Yuan's mind was sometimes good and sometimes bad. When she was in a good state, she would remember to secretly come here to see A Qiu and bring fresh goat milk in time; but when she was in a bad state, she would remember nothing at all.
At first, she would come once every one or two days; later, it became once every three to five days; and then, it quickly became once every ten days to half a month.
A Qiu knew very well that this meant the cold poison was continuing to flare up and worsen in Chu Yuanyi's body. Every time she came to find her, she was doing her best to maintain what little rationality she had left, remembering this child who had long been forgotten by others.
What she feared—that Chu Yuanyi would not come to feed her in time, and that she would be kicked out or eaten by the Candle Dragon—did not happen.
After Chu Yuanyi first came to feed her, Gu Yi figured out exactly what an infant should eat.
The next day, he quietly brought back a white ewe with black spots and let it graze in the overgrown garden of the abandoned palace in Liyang.
Of course, Zhulong then had a new task: to prevent the sheep from running away.
And Ah Qiu no longer needs to worry about three meals a day.
Ultimately, this is all in line with Gu Yi's personality and style: once he takes on a task, he won't rely on others or fate to bring him bad luck.
Then, she grew up day by day, gradually becoming able to crawl, walk, and babble.
What she does most often is lean on Gu Yi, climb on him, and follow him wherever he goes.
Gu Yi's patience almost shocked her. She had never imagined that a man would have such patience, never get angry, and always speak softly to her.
When he occasionally went out, he would leave her in the care of Zhulong. With the garden full of flowers and plants, and the hot spring, she could play for a long time by herself, picking up leaves and counting ants.
But for some reason, Gu Yi still hadn't returned by nightfall that time.
She began to feel inexplicably anxious, pacing back and forth in the garden, occasionally gazing at the stars and moon in the sky.
The Candle Dragon swimming beside her remained lazy and showed no particular reaction.
She lay down and looked into Zhulong's drowsy green eyes, which were filled with golden threads, as if she sensed something.
In the animal world, time seems to be perceived differently than by humans. A mythical beast like the Candle Dragon has likely lived for thousands of years, while its master's brief departure, whether for a day and a night, or for ten or fifty years, would probably be perceived as the same in its mind.
He may come back, or he may not. Or perhaps he will never come back in either of our lifetimes; it doesn't matter.
Gazing at the Candle Dragon is like confronting time itself. And she, still so young, suddenly understood in this solemn confrontation that without that person, time would be a desolate eternity.
Lifeless, devoid of motivation. Stars fall and the moon rises, all is silent, and every tick of the clock has lost all meaning.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
