Chapter 176: Untitled

“Mn?” Zhangsun Wuji laughed lightly, his smile as radiant and pure as the moon. “I’ll decide whether I want to forgive you after you speak.”

Meng Fuyao ground her teeth and mumbled, “I’ve destroyed your perfect wedding, then realized I was wrong, I shouldn’t have destroyed it, you two are too perfect for each other!”

“Oh?”

“You’re both experts at lying!” Thinking about that lotus made Meng Fuyao lose her appetite. “One doesn’t have the map of Xuanji and yet says he does, one clearly has the map of Xuanji and yet says she doesn’t!”

Zhangsun Wuji looked at her, his expression mixed as he said, “Fuyao, please think carefully. From the time I met you until now, perhaps there were things that I did not explain clearly before, but as long as it was something I said, have I ever lied?”

Meng Fuyao rolled her eyes and searched through her memory carefully only to realize that… he really didn’t.

“From now onwards, you’ve lied!” She bristled, her words unreasonable.

Zhangsun Wuji laughed and suddenly reached out an arm and held onto her, leaping forcefully off the ground.

“Aiya, what are you doing!”

Meng Fuyao had yet to finish speaking when she realized that she was already sitting on the wall. The wall of this courtyard was particularly high and sitting on top of it, she was able to see an endless array of streets, roads, buildings, commoners’ houses and the majestic royal palace in the background. The cool evening wind blew by, and the flames of the tens of thousands of families flickered along with it, creating a scene that was both striking and satisfying to the heart.

“When a person is in a high position because the things he sees are even more complicated, his heart and mind will also become even clearer.” Zhangsun Wuji’s words carried a deep meaning, and Meng Fuyao couldn’t help but feel touched by his words only to be angered again as he added, “So by bringing you up here to enjoy the wind, I hope you’ll be able to refresh your brain.”

“I’ve always been clear-minded and rational, intelligent beyond comparison.” She turned around and pushed Zhangsun Wuji viciously, “Go down, go down, the wall is narrow, you’re blocking my vision.”

“When a person is your equal, they will never block your vision, many a time the one blocking your vision is actually yourself.” Zhangsun Wuji seemed especially sentimental today. “Fuyao, is my lying really what you hate?”

“Naturally.” Meng Fuyao turned to face him, her eyes reflecting the moonlight like a pair of cat eyes. “I’m not so pretentious to deny not liking someone.”

Smiling mildly, Zhangsun Wuji pulled out a cape seemingly from nowhere and placed it around her shoulders, saying, “The wind is strong, be careful not to catch a cold.” Thereafter he continued, “I really haven’t received back the map of Xuanji that I sent as an engagement gift.”

“Mn?”

“Everyone thinks that there is only one map of Xuanji, but actually, there are two maps.” Zhangsun Wuji cracked a smile. “It came from two segments of a single cape, each side containing half the contents. The real map of Xuanji contains 882 words, eight chapters in total, and the one I’ve given you is one of the halves.”

“Since the one you took out was the half that you held onto, then why wasn’t the one you gave out in Lotus’ hands?” asked Meng Fuyao suspiciously. “She even took out the fake map of Xuanji and acted as though she had never seen the real one?”

“This was precisely why I wanted to break off the engagement.” Zhangsun Wuji looked at her, smiling meaningfully as he said, “The one I met was someone I did not want to meet.”

“Do you mean, there’s someone else who’s your fiancée?” Meng Fuyao suddenly turned to look at him. “Who?”

“No, what I suspect is that the reason why Feng Jingfan took out the fake map was because the real map was indeed lost and in desperation, she made a fake one to replace it.” Zhangsun Wuji seemed to be searching his memory as he glanced at her from the corner of his eye and said, “Some things will reveal themselves sooner or later, but then again, Fuyao, I really have to thank you for finally settling things with that woman for me.”

“Shouldn’t you feel that it’s a pity?” Meng Fuyao teased, “What a flawless and noble reputation, even her aura was just like yours, she really put in a lot of effort to copy you. Yet it was brutally destroyed by me, how despicable.”

“There are even more despicable deeds.” Zhangsun Wuji picked a blade of grass and nibbled at it as he said nonchalantly, “I heard they left Tiansha the next evening. I ordered my men to wait at the border, whatever Zhan Nancheng tried to do to me, I am willing to return tenfold.”

“You sent someone to assassinate Lotus—” In that instant, Meng Fuyao understood what he meant, her body jolting upwards in shock and her eyes widened as she asked, “Marriage tragedy in Tiansha?”

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a marriage tragedy or not, but the point is for Feng Jingfan to just die.” Zhangsun Wuji glanced at her and played with her hair lightly. “She must die as soon as possible.”

Meng Fuyao bit her lip, not saying anything — she was rather speechless. Although Zhangsun Wuji didn’t explain clearly, how could she not know that he wanted to kill Lotus because of her? Given Zhangsun Wuji’s personality, he actually despised assassinations, much less assassinating someone like Lotus. Yet, he still chose to go against his own principles and use the fastest solution, purely because he didn’t want Lotus to have another chance to harm her.

In truth, there were many other more discreet and effective ways Zhangsun Wuji had up his sleeve to get rid of the marriage with Lotus, yet he let her pick the most dramatic way causing great hatred between the two and then clearing up after her.

The reason why he did so many seemingly foolish things was only because he wanted her to live more carefreely, more happily.

Meng Fuyao remained silent for a long time before turning around, her nose red as she sniffed. “Sorry… I always don’t trust you enough.”

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“The reason why you don’t trust me enough is because of me.” Zhangsun Wuji tried to evade the topic again, becoming extremely interested in her hair as he said, “I’m always full of secrets, and I’m not open and honest enough. With this kind of character, I don’t blame you for not trusting me.”

“No more, not anymore.” Filled with guilt, Meng Fuyao felt that Zhangsun Wuji really was a good person, always remembering to explain for her whenever she was wrong.

In a moment of gratitude and passion, she felt that she had not done enough for her conscience and was thinking of how she could repay such a gentleman when suddenly, that gentleman whispered in her ear, “Hey, Fuyao, what are you wearing against your skin, why does it have two straps?”

Against her skin… Straps… Deep in thought on how she could repay him, Meng Fuyao took several moments before she could react—he was talking about her self-made inner dress!

And she was wearing an outer robe over it, along with a cape, so how did he see her inner dress?

‘This despicable gentleman!’

Meng Fuyao screeched with anger and launched a kick at him. ‘Shameless, I should have just let you and Lotus become a couple!’

However, the moment she raised her leg, it was pressed back down by Zhangsun Wuji, and with one hand pressing her leg, he brought his other hand to his lips. “Shh-”

Meng Fuyao wanted to curse at him, but following that, she heard the sound of footsteps coming from the little alley on the other side of the wall, so she turned around to take a look as well.

The night was dark, and the little alley was deep, the silhouette of scholars studying deep into the night outlined against their windows, a faint glow of light seeping out and lighting the alley with a dim, yellow hue.

In the depths was complete darkness, and slowly, the outline of a person could be seen. Someone was slowly walking out of the darkness of the alley.

He was walking very slowly, holding something in his arms, and while he walked, he was chanting something softly. His voice was carried by the wind, and she could make out a few lines, “… May your soul return…”

The person was performing the soul-summoning ritual for the dead.

Meng Fuyao sighed softly and looked at the silhouette; the person was very young, for him to be out here performing the ritual alone, he was probably doing his duties as a filial grandson.

Not wanting to disturb the interaction between the living and the dead, she turned around to jump off the wall. But as she turned her head, the person walked into the moonlight, and the moon’s rays fell upon his clear face, his eyes moist, bearing a melancholic pain.

Yan Jingchen!

Meng Fuyao was so stunned on the wall that she forgot to leave.

She sat next to Zhangsun Wuji, watching as Yan Jingchen’s solitary figure appeared in the alley, holding a jade container as he walked slowly, softly chanting for a soul to return while scattering the paper money in his hands little by little. The ashen colored sheets of paper fluttered off his fingertips like butterflies before being blown by the wind and disappearing over the wall.

All the scars of an entire lifetime, blown away like a kite whose string was broken.

As though attracted by her melancholy, a piece of paper money fluttered upwards and pasted itself onto Meng Fuyao’s palm.

Meng Fuyao reached out and grasped it, and in that instant felt a soft aching from the depths of her heart. She raised her eyes and watched Yan Jingchen chanting attentively, suddenly remembering that today was the seventh day of Pei Yuan’s death.

According to the traditions of Taiyuan, on the seventh day of death, family members must walk over the places she had once walked and summon her soul.

Meng Fuyao’s gaze fell onto the little jade container. Had that red-robed woman, once vibrant and proud as a peony, whose presence was felt wherever she went, reduced to a container of grey and white ashes in that simple, little container?

Would her unresigned soul be able to find rest within this tiny container, or would it struggle to break free?

As for Yan Jingchen, he was a young master born with a silver spoon, the future successor of an entire sect who had his future lit ahead of him, who stumbled and fell after meeting her. How would he continue the rest of his journey?

There were some naturally unfair encounters, such as she and Yan Jingchen. That fateful meeting on Xuanyuan Mountain, from the beginning to the end, only created a journey of a thousand miles for her, and after she left without turning back. He refused to admit that their encounter was fateless, clinging to the past and making wrong decision after wrong decision before losing everything.

Meng Fuyao thought of everything she had witnessed at Zhan Beiheng’s manor and her fingertips felt cold. She was speechless at the cold cruelty of fate. Suddenly, she felt a warmth on her palm. Someone had held onto her hand and taken away the piece of paper money from her grasp, replacing it with his own five fingers and wrapping them around her own.

The warmth of his palm had a smooth touch, reaching from her fingertips to the depths of her heart like silk, passionate yet soft as though she were being embraced by a light feather blanket.

He was always able to read her mind and her feelings at the correct moment, and used his own way to tell her: “I am here with you.”

Meng Fuyao raised her head and gazed at him, thinking that she was lucky. After all, not everyone could enjoy this kind of warmth, this kind of unconditional accompaniment. As for those people, Yan Jingchen, Pei Yuan, Lotus, they were all people who loved, but alas, they loved in the wrong way and loved with the wrong method.