That tearing pain was just an instant, quickly disappearing, just like the beautiful and wild man under the pear tree who vanished in a moment.
“I’m fine! Cang, I’m really fine!” I laughed and blurted out. Only after saying this did I surprisingly discover that I called him by the same name as the masked man in my dream.
Cang Lian had exempted me from all etiquette during my time in the palace, yet I had always respectfully called him “Wang.” But this time, I unexpectedly blurted out his name.
Cang Lian stared at me in a daze, perhaps because this was the first time I had called him this way.
“Ruo’er, I want to hear you call me again!” He held me tightly, murmuring and repeatedly saying this sentence.
“Cang, Cang… rest now, you must have been disturbed by me!” I said with a soft laugh, gently pushing him down and covering him with a blanket.
Warm feelings continuously spread throughout the palace.
That night, Cang Lian slept with a smile, holding me in his arms.
Shui Lian Jue turned and smiled at us, smiling faintly, but so ethereally. “Yan’er, I knew you would come! The jade pendant can no longer seal your memories!
I staggered towards him, this man to whom I owed so much that even my life could not repay.
“Cang… I’m sorry!” After a long time, I could barely form a sentence, everything was beyond what I could express in words.
His pale fingertips gently touched my face, looking at me with a faint smile.
“Yan’er, will you remember me this time?” He carefully held my face, speaking with a hint of subtle expectation in his eyes.
“In the previous life, you said you didn’t love me because I was the king of Cang Country, with responsibilities to the world. In this life, I made the man you loved most bear my responsibilities, and I only wanted to replace him in your heart. But in this life, Yan’er’s heart still didn’t leave me even a tiny space.” He spoke softly with a smile.
I held tightly to his body that could no longer support itself, continuously whispering in his ear: “Cang, as long as you don’t leave me, I will try to love you, I will fall in love with you. I will definitely fall in love with you.”
When years later I touch his face weathered by time and say: “Cang, I am not worth you waiting for me for a thousand years on the path of reincarnation, not worth you suffering such torment.” A thousand years of what kind of torment, even if his appearance remains unchanged, even if he is still beautiful enough to make one lose their senses, but time has worn away all his edges – is the Cang from that time still the same as Shui Lianjue now?
Shui Lianjue gently laughs while embracing me, touching the tip of my nose: “A Cang without Yan is a soulless shell, everything has already become unimportant. What matters is that you are by my side now, this time without Cang Lian, you belong only to me.” He gently pulls me into his embrace.
I lie quietly in his arms, enjoying this rare tranquility.
(— end —)
