“I’ll settle the matter of secretly helping them escape with you later,” Liu Yu’s silhouette appeared on the carriage window, elegantly yet radiating an inexplicable coldness. “Listen, Lan Jiao Long, I want her to be my only queen! As for the King of Night Mountain, I want him dead!”
“Yes,” Shui Ruo Han responded weakly.
I was deeply shaken, especially by Liu Yu’s last four words, feeling like an ice-forged sword was slowly approaching us.
Raising my eyes, I saw a nameless killing intent in Night Suo’s eyes. Feeling a chill, I quickly called out, “Coachman, drive.”
“Right away…” the coachman shouted naively, driving away from the town.
y glanced at Night Suo’s eyes, nearly burning with jealousy. I decided to surrender and honestly explain, hoping for leniency, “Liu Yu…”
Seeing Night Suo’s misty eyes burning even more intensely, I quickly sat opposite him and changed my approach, “Chen Wang was imprisoned in the dungeon by your father eight years ago. At the time, my nanny and I were also imprisoned. He really liked to stick close to me… He even promised to make me his queen.”
I seemed to be speaking more and more incoherently, becoming less afraid.
He suppressed his anger, coldly saying, “Daring to hide this from me, aren’t you afraid I might kill you in a fit of rage?”
I abandoned all guilty expressions, laughing and playfully throwing myself onto him, hanging one hand on his shoulder and repeatedly lifting the corners of his mouth, pleading, “I’m not afraid. My Night is quite calm.”
“Stop trying to bewitch me,” he coldly grabbed my audacious hand, his jealous facial features softening somewhat. “I thought he was searching for us because he was wary of my blue hair. So it was actually for you.”
“It was just child’s play back then…” I nestled my head on his shoulder, looking at his handsome and demonic face and pleading again, “Besides, Night won’t mind.”
“Spending day and night together, and I won’t mind?!” he emphasized, jealousy returning to his brow.
“Then why didn’t you rush out to duel Liu Yu just now?” I quickly countered. He was stunned, seemingly unprepared for my sudden redirection. His misty eyes darkened, uncomfortably saying, “Because you just told that woman that wherever I am, you’ll be too.”
“So you didn’t rush out because you were afraid that if you fought Liu Yu and died, I would immediately follow by killing myself, right?” I blinked, speaking bluntly.
“I can’t risk your life…” Night Suo said gravely.
“Honestly, when did you wake up? Did your mother-in-law not actually knock you unconscious?” My goal was to divert the conversation as much as possible.
“I was indeed struck by that woman, but I’m not that weak. I woke up when you said that sentence.”
“She’s your mother, don’t speak of her like that… Wait, you were awake early. So why did you pretend to be unconscious until just now?” I was worried he might have been dizzy from the carriage ride and had been holding him in my arms the entire journey.
He raised an eyebrow, turning to half-lie on the carriage’s long seat, burying his head in my embrace, devilishly smiling, “Resting on your lap is really quite comfortable.”
“You didn’t let him rest on your lap like this, did you?” the person in my arms suddenly asked jealously. Three black lines appeared on my forehead, “No.”
“Hmm, good,” the person in my arms closed his eyes, satisfied.
Shortly after, we changed to a carriage for safety and traveled until we reached the dense bamboo forest mentioned by Zhang Meiren. With a light tap, before I could fully appreciate the surrounding scenery, Night Lock wrapped his arms around my waist and swiftly stepped on the emerald bamboo, flying to the innermost part.
At the end of such a deep bamboo forest was an unexpectedly otherworldly paradise, with green bamboo leaves floating in the sky, wild flowers spreading across the field, crystal-clear babbling streams, and a few clean thatched houses…
“Peach Blossom Spring?” I stared in amazement.
“That woman sure knows how to choose a location,” the “woodcu
“That’s your mother,” I corrected his wording once again.
He walked to the stream’s edge, removed his annoying mask to wash his face. I sat nearby, keeping my mask on, only taking off my shoes and rolling up my pants, swinging my legs in the stream and suddenly splashing a mist of water onto his clean face…
“Hahaha, haha, ha…” Watching him look embarrassed, my wild laughter gradually turned to single syllables.
“Keep playing around and I’ll throw you in the stream,” he threatened with a doting tone.
The peach blossom-like scenery felt like a 3D game. I turned my head to see Night Lock remove the “woodcutter” hood, his straight blue hair falling down.
A brilliant idea flashed through my mind…
“Night, I want a strand of your hair,” I smiled, extending my soft pink hand.
He glanced at me and immediately plucked a strand of blue hair without hesitation.
I removed the heavy village girl hood from my head, carefully plucking my own hair strand by strand, each strand still felt painful.
After collecting enough blue hair, I mixed the two strands together and carefully divided them, then started hand-weaving one portion.
“What are you doing?” Night finally showed a bit of curiosity.
I waved my hand, as if shooing away a cockroach, “Go play, little child. I’ll call you when I’m done.”
I was stunned, my nose feeling sour, a small stream of tears silently spreading in my eye sockets. I knelt before Night Lock with a “thump”, took the flowers from his hand, and choked, “I promise you.”
e you crying…”
“Of course I’m excited. This is the first time someone has proposed to me.”
“How many times do you want this to happen?” Night Lock’s face suddenly darkened.
“Oh, that’s not the point.” I placed the flowers aside and pulled out two hair-braided bracelets, made with the simplest yet elegant weaving technique.
“These are bracelets made from our intertwined hair.” I pulled his hand and gently fastened the bracelet on his wrist.
He bent down on one knee, and we both carefully fastened the bracelets on each other. Such a simple action made my eyes mist over even more.
Thumb to thumb, index finger to index finger, middle finger to middle finger, ring finger to ring finger, pinky to pinky… Our palms met, and I cleared my throat solemnly, “I, Lan Jiao Long, hereby swear that no matter life or death, wealth or poverty, I will always stay by Night Lock’s side, never betraying or abandoning him.”
“Dragon, don’t…” His hand withdrew, and a hint of hesitation appeared in Night Lock’s eyes. My tears instantly broke through the dam. Now I finally understood how brides feel when abandoned at the altar.
In that brief moment, I suddenly felt that Night Lock no longer wanted me, walking further and further away until disappearing into a white fog.
I let my tears fall grievously before his eyes. He pressed his lips together, as if making a resolute decision, and clasped my hand again, “I, Night Lock, hereby swear that no matter life or death, wealth or poverty, I will always stay by Lan Jiao Long’s side, never betraying or abandoning her.”
“Night.” I lay in Night Lock’s arms, watching the bamboo leaves dancing in the sky, smelling the wild flowers, listening to the murmuring stream, feeling an unprecedented sense of tranquility.
occasionally inhabited, probably enough to enjoy the scenery for a few days.
“What would you like to eat? I can cook many dishes!” I said excitedly, completely forgetting how I had just cried during the proposal.
“Famous meat, character barbecue…” he whispered in my ear, tickling me.
“Eating too much of that isn’t good. I can make seaweed rice, bamboo rice, egg fried rice, beef rice, chicken rice, curry rice…” I counted on my fingers.
“You can’t cook?” He frowned, finally catching the implication in my words.
