Bai Aoxue looked at Luoyan who left firmly, and knew her uncle’s words finally hurt the straightforward woman.
With a slight sigh, Bai Aoxue strode towards her.
Realizing that Bai Aoxue was following behind, Luoyan neither stopped her, nor spoke to her.
“Luoyan, would you like to listen to me?” said Bai Aoxue who was looking at Luoyan with her head sideways in an attempt to break the silence.
Luoyan didn’t know what Bai Aoxue was going to say, but she still nodded. Even though they couldn’t be relatives, they could be friends.
Bai Aoxue took Luoyan to a lotus pond in the side courtyard of the general’s mansion. Regardless of the dust, Bai Aoxue sat gently beside the pond without any affectation.
Then she looked at Luoyan and patted the place next to her, which meant inviting Luoyan to sit there.
Luoyan was also very calm; she walked to the place and sat down in a natural manner.
Bai Aoxue looked at the lotus pond with a blank expression on her face. After a long time, she said in a distant tone: “This lotus pond was once the favorite place of my mother.”
Luoyan didn’t understand why Bai Aoxue talked about it, but she still listened with much patience.
“That explains! Ye Zhaojue is too dull to arrange a lotus pond here.” Luoyan joked, pretending to be in a good mood.
Bai Aoxue smiled slightly and said slowly: “You should know that it’s not easy for my uncle to support my mother from her childhood. Also because he saw the inconstancy of human relationships, he had been very indifferent since childhood. Except for confronting my mother, he was like a poker-faced puppet. Later, my mother had got married and thought her husband could be entrusted for life, but she didn’t expect to get into the abyss. Then after my mother gave birth to me, my uncle was very good to me. Maybe he knew that my mother and I were his only kinsfolk in the world.”
“Later, my uncle fought in the battlefield and became both famous and respected all over the state. He became the next patron saint of Chengxi, but in the end, he failed to protect his sister.”
“My uncle was far away at the border when my mother died. At that time, I was little and didn’t know things at all. I only knew that my uncle, whom I adored and feared since my childhood, cried like a child in front of my mother’s gravestone when he came back. That was the only time I saw my uncle cry.”
Luoyan was shocked by Bai Aoxue’s words. She didn’t expect that the man who was like a god in her eyes would cry. She always thought that Ye Zhaojue was a man of steel who would never shed tears but blood.
“So Ye Zhaojue actually has a heart.” Luoyan sighed.
It’s just that his heart never belongs to me…
Luoyan just sighed in her mind. She could never speak it out.
Bai Aoxue looked at Luoyan and continued: “Later, my uncle touched my head and told me that I would be his only kinsfolk and he would protect me in my whole life. But my uncle has his responsibilities, which are protecting the state and making people live in a world without war. But I suffered a lot and almost died in the prime minister’s mansion, which also made me awaken to the truth. But my uncle blamed himself again for this.”
“He always felt that my mother’s death was his fault. If he could stop her at the beginning, perhaps she would not have died so early. Because of this, my uncle had some shadows in his heart. Even if he didn’t say it, I knew that he thought he couldn’t even protect the people around him, and how would he dare to love?”
“That he refused you again and again is not because he has no feelings. It’s not because he’s hardhearted, but because he’s afraid! War poses so many risks. In case he really married you, if he died on the battlefield one day, leaving you lonely and helpless, he would feel sad and guilty. So he could only push you away again and again.”
Luoyan who was originally careless, hearing Bai Aoxue’s words, had already got eyes red, but was stubborn to bear the tears in her eyes. She looked at Bai Aoxue and said: “Maybe Ye Zhaojue simply doesn’t like me.”
Bai Aoxue listened to Luoyan’s words and said with a knowing smile: “I don’t understand my uncle’s mind, but I know how he is. He had never been so helpless with any other woman. My uncle had never minced his words about affections. But for you, he hesitated to move forward instead of being decisive as before.”
Luoyan was stunned by her words, but did not say anything.
Bai Aoxue sat by the lotus pond, and her soft and white fingers brushed the ripples. Looking up at the clear and blue sky, she said: “To be honest, my uncle is lonely. Living for so many years, he has always been protecting others, protecting his younger sister and protecting the ordinary people. Now he has more responsibilities. I always make him worry about me. Seeing that he has white hair on his temples, I am more longing for someone to accompany him. They can go out on a horse and also ride home.”
Luoyan reasonably said in a choked voice: “If he really cares about me, he shouldn’t think so much. I’m not afraid of death. I will follow him until I die. Even if he dies on a battlefield someday, I will keep this family for him and be her wife in the next life!”
Bai Aoxue listened to Luoyan’s words, and thought it would really be her uncle’s loss if he missed such a good girl!
“Aoxue, to be honest with you, I made an agreement with Jun Wuhen yesterday…” After thinking about it, Luoyan decided to tell Bai Aoxue.
Bai Aoxue heard Luoyan’s words with some uneasiness in her heart. But she still calmly looked at Luoyan and slowly said: “What’s the agreement?”
“You know my love for Ye Zhaojue is not a joke. I’ve already said that I wouldn’t marry anyone else except for him. When my father chose a husband for me at that time, I threatened him with my life. Now I’ve been waiting for Ye Zhaojue for too long. I really want to continue waiting if I could, but time and tide wait for no man.”
“Before I came to Chengxi, my mother had been seriously ill. I told my father that if Ye Zhaojue still had no feelings for me this time, I would thoroughly relinquish and go back to Mobei to choose someone else to be my husband, or let the emperor of Chengxi arrange my marriage. It’s because my mother wants to witness my happiness with her own eyes before she passes away. In Chengxi, you have a saying that the children would like to care but parents can’t wait. I don’t want to see my mother leave with regret.”
“So I bet with Jun Wuhen yesterday. If Ye Zhaojue still refuses to marry me today, I will marry into the palace and become the princess of Jun Wuhen! In this way, the two states can get on well with each other. It’ll be a good marriage that unites the two states together. Without war, Ye Zhaojue won’t have to suffer so much. I would get married anyway. It doesn’t matter who he is, since that man is not Ye Zhaojue.”
Bai Aoxue was shocked by Luoyan’s resolute decision, but looking at the desolation on her face, Bai Aoxue still felt distressed for the decisive and arrogant girl.
Making such a decision may be what she didn’t want to do most. But she had no choice.
It was the most unwilling thing for every woman that she couldn’t forget her beloved but had to marry someone else.
Even if Luoyan would get married with someone else, she still considered for Ye Zhaojue. That made Bai Aoxue anxiety-ridden. Who else in the world could love so selflessly?
“Well. I have to go now. No matter what happened, the story has to end. If this is the end of me and Ye Zhaojue, I hope I am the one to end it. After all, it’s also me who started it.” Luoyan looked at Bai Aoxue and smiled slightly as if she was relaxed.
However, Bai Aoxue knew how much sadness and helplessness there was in this smile.
“It’s not over. It’s not the end of today?” Bai Aoxue smiled sportively and looked at Luoyan earnestly.
Hearing Bai Aoxue’s words, Luoyan frowned. She didn’t understand why Bai Aoxue said like that. Turning around, she saw Bai Aoxue pointing to another place with her soft and white finger.
Following Bai Aoxue’s finger, Luoyan turned her head, slowly and firmly, exhausting all her courage in her whole life.
That man, whom she loved deeply but couldn’t be together with, was walking towards her step by step, quickly but decidedly.
The warm spring sun poured from his head, shining on him, and then spread on the ground. He walked towards her firmly step by step, breaking the sun.
Luoyan felt that the sun was too mottled and dazzling. She couldn’t see the scene clearly. While trying to see the most beautiful scenery in her life clearly, she wept with tears that blurred her vision.
Raising her hands to cover her mouth, she was afraid of crying out loud. She wasn’t emotional, but she cried again and again because of Ye Zhaojue.
In fact, Ye Zhaojue was also very nervous. Enlightened by Jun Yeyan, he finally dared to face up to his mind. Looking at Luoyan crying such and such, he felt as if a knife were being twisted in his heart.
She was such a strong woman but still covered her lips and dared not to cry out loud when he watched her tears rolling down. Ye Zhaojue was distressed. He made this woman suffer too much.
He at first didn’t want to hurt her, but still unconsciously hurt her again and again.
Bai Aoxue saw Ye Zhaojue coming, and knew that she should leave. She gently said beside Luoyan’s ear: “There are many imperfections in life, but there are always some endings that will make you cry with joy. Even if you suffered at the beginning, there is wonderful ending for you. Luoyan, you deserve it.”
Then Bai Aoxue left.
“Aoxue, thank you.” No matter whether Bai Aoxue could hear it or not, Luoyan whispered softly.
Ye Zhaojue went to Luoyan’s side and his eyes met hers.
“Why are you crying again? No more cry from now on. It is not good for your eyes.” Ye Zhaojue sighed slightly and wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes with his hand.
Luoyan looked at Ye Zhaojue’s action obsessively, feeling like in a dream. She never thought that Ye Zhaojue would be so gentle and affectionate to her.
This was her dream which she even dared not to fancy.
“Ye… Zhao… Jue…” Luo Yan looked up at the man in front of her and said softly. She was afraid these were all her fantasies. They would disappear if she talked loudly.
“Luoyan. It’s me. I am here.” The six simple words included less coldness and alienation but more love and care.
At this time, Luoyan finally knew that it was true. She wasn’t in her dream. It was also the first time that Ye Zhaojue called her name without the hateful “Princess”.
She had no scruples, and she didn’t want to scruple. Luoyan’s tears burst out again, and she rushed to Ye Zhaojue.
Ye Zhaojue caught Luoyan and held her firmly in his strong arms. His eyes were full of satisfied happiness.
“Luoyan, please marry me. Now, I want to be greedy. I want to hold the sword in my hand and I am more eager to have you.” Ye Zhaojue dressed the messy hair of her and said gently.
Listening to Ye Zhaojue’s words, she was stunned for a second, but nodded quickly without hesitation.
The lotus pool without lotus was still sparkling.
