Read Novel Full Chapter 529: Jingci, Why Put Yourself Through This? (2 in 1)
Chapter 529: Jingci, Why Put Yourself Through This? (2 in 1)
The next day, just as the sky began to show the faintest glimmer of light, Xiao Mo woke from sleep.
He changed swiftly into a fresh set of clothes, then stored the luggage he had packed long ago into his storage ring.
Pushing open the door, Xiao Mo walked out of the room.
But the moment he arrived in the courtyard, he immediately saw the young woman standing gracefully before him, as if she had already been waiting for a long time.
“Jingci... why are you up so early?”
Looking at Jingci, Xiao Mo froze slightly, then a gentle smile appeared on his face as he spoke softly.
“If I hadn’t gotten up a little earlier, you would already have left. I wouldn’t even get to see you one last time.”
Tushan Jingci pursed her rosy little lips as she spoke, walking toward him with slow, measured steps.
“If I remember correctly, the army does not officially gather and set out until the morning hour. Why are you leaving so early? Do you truly dislike the idea of me seeing you off that much?”
Hearing this, Xiao Mo smiled and lightly shook his head, his tone carrying a hint of teasing.
“Isn’t it because I was afraid you would feel sad? What if you couldn’t hold back and your tears fell, and you cried until you looked like a little calico cat? What would I do then?”
“I would never cry...”
Tushan Jingci pursed her little mouth again. Then she reached out with both hands, pressed them against Xiao Mo’s shoulders, and, allowing no argument, pushed him down onto the stone bench.
“Do not hurry off yet. Even if you are leaving, you have to stay and eat breakfast first!”
As soon as she finished speaking, Tushan Jingci rolled up the sleeves on both arms, revealing pale, slender wrists, then turned and walked into the kitchen.
Before long, wisps of cooking smoke slowly rose from the kitchen, thread by thread, drifting through the slightly cool morning air.
Immediately afterward, the sound of pots, bowls, ladles, and basins knocking against one another came from inside the kitchen.
“Ah—”
“How exactly am I supposed to do this one?”
“Logically, doing it this way should not be wrong, should it?”
“Sister Yueshi clearly taught me this way back then, didn’t she?”
“I practiced over and over again for the entire night yesterday. There should not be any more mistakes, right?”
Xiao Mo sat quietly in the courtyard and patiently waited to eat this breakfast.
From time to time, Tushan Jingci’s quiet muttering came from inside the kitchen.
Xiao Mo heard it, but he could only shake his head slightly and pretend he had heard nothing at all, continuing to sit on the stone bench in silence.
Roughly half an hour later, Tushan Jingci finally carried out the cooked pumpkin porridge with great care, along with several delicate side dishes, bringing them steadily into the courtyard.
“Xiao Mo, hurry and try it.” As Tushan Jingci urged him, she personally filled a bowl of pumpkin porridge to the brim and handed it to him.
“All right.” Xiao Mo nodded, reached out to take the bowl, picked up the spoon, scooped up a mouthful, and brought it to his lips.
“How is it? Does it taste good?”
Tushan Jingci looked at Xiao Mo with expectation written all over her face, her bright gaze carrying a nervous unease she could not hide.
“Mm. It tastes good.” Hearing her question, Xiao Mo’s lips curved slightly upward into a warm smile. Then he lowered his head again and took another mouthful.
“Does it really taste good?”
A flash of undisguised delight passed through Tushan Jingci’s eyes. Then she hurriedly took a bowl for herself, filled it, and carefully tasted a mouthful.
But in the very next instant, Tushan Jingci immediately furrowed her brows, her entire little face showing difficulty.
“Xiao Mo, you lied to me. How is this tasty?”
Tushan Jingci quickly stuck out her tongue, speaking in a somewhat wronged tone.
Xiao Mo, however, seemed utterly unconcerned. He lifted the bowl again and drank a large mouthful of pumpkin porridge, gazing at her with a smile.
“As long as you made it with your own hands, then to me, it naturally tastes good. Besides, compared to before, your cooking has improved by who knows how much.”
“But in the end... it is still terribly hard to eat.”
Tushan Jingci lowered her fine head, her gaze falling on the bowl of porridge before her. Instead, she looked even more guilty and self-reproachful.
“Xiao Mo, I’m sorry... I originally wanted to make you a proper meal before you left. I clearly practiced for the entire night, but in the end... what I made is still this awful.”
“It’s all right.”
Xiao Mo comforted her softly.
“After I return from the battlefield, if you are still willing then, you can make it for me yourself again. I believe that by then, Jingci, your cooking will certainly be able to improve a great deal too.”
“‘Too’? Why did you say ‘too’?”
Tushan Jingci’s ears twitched, and she suddenly raised her head in alertness, staring straight at Xiao Mo with both eyes.
“Xiao Mo, do you have some other woman outside?”
“No. I just... said it casually.” Xiao Mo explained calmly.
But thinking carefully, even Xiao Mo himself could not say clearly why, in that instant just now, he had blurted out the word “too.”
Only, deep in his mind, it seemed there had once also been a woman who, at the beginning, had been absolutely terrible at cooking, yet had still been willing to practice making food and dishes for him again and again.
But Xiao Mo did not think too much about it. After all, such illusions often occurred.
Perhaps it was a dream he had once had. Although he had forgotten it, when he encountered a similar scene in reality, it gave him a sense of familiarity.
Xiao Mo raised his head, glanced at the sky, and said softly, “Jingci, it is getting late. I should go.”
Hearing Xiao Mo say that he was leaving, Tushan Jingci could not help lowering her fine head. She no longer had any mind to wonder whether Xiao Mo had some other woman.
“I... I’ll see you off...”
Only after a long while did Tushan Jingci raise her head again. Her small hands tightly clutched the skirt over her thighs, her fingertips faintly whitening as she stared blankly at Xiao Mo.
“All right.” Xiao Mo knew very well that he could not refuse Jingci, so he could only nod and agree.
He ate every last bit of the remaining pumpkin porridge in his bowl, along with those several dishes, before rising and walking out of the courtyard.
At this time, Yueshi also hurried over from the mountaintop, following beside her Young Lady to see Xiao Mo off together.
The three of them said nothing the entire way, only silently flying toward a small plain somewhere in Tushan, with only the mountain wind sweeping past their ears.
“Jingci, Sister Yueshi, this is far enough. I will head over first.”
At this point, they were already about a li from the gathering place. Xiao Mo turned around and spoke.
“I... I’ll see you a little farther...” As she spoke, Tushan Jingci could not help taking a step forward.
But Yueshi gently held her Young Lady’s arm and shook her head, saying in a low voice, “Young Lady... that would not be very proper...”
Yueshi naturally understood the reluctance in her Young Lady’s heart.
But her Young Lady was now Tushan holy daughter, and her status was extremely special.
If she escorted Xiao Mo all the way to that small plain and accidentally revealed some true feeling, then for Xiao Mo, a human, it would only bring trouble instead.
With Yueshi’s reminder, Tushan Jingci also understood the stakes. She could only force herself to stop where she was, watching Xiao Mo’s back as her eyes reddened faintly.
“Xiao Mo... when you reach the front line, you must not force yourself. Preserving your life must come first in everything.”
“If you feel anything is wrong, do not hesitate. Just run.”
“Do not rush to stand out in everything. If you lack anything, write me a letter. I will definitely think of a way to send it to you.”
Tushan Jingci’s eyes trembled faintly. Before she knew it, a crystalline mist of tears had already gathered in them.
She worked hard to keep her tone calm, but by the end, her voice had begun to carry a thin, uncontrollable tremor.
“And also...”
“Jingci, I understand all of it.” Xiao Mo smiled and interrupted the young woman’s words, his voice gentle. “Do not worry. I am still waiting to come back and eat the food you make.”
Xiao Mo turned his head and looked at Yueshi, saying seriously, “Sister Yueshi, I will have to trouble you to take more care of the Young Lady.”
“That is only natural.” Yueshi nodded, then cautioned him solemnly. “Xiao Mo, be careful on the road. On the front line, you must keep a guard up in all things.”
“Xiao Mo, I know you think I am nagging...” Tushan Jingci lightly clutched the corner of Xiao Mo’s clothes, her lifted eyes gazing at him in a daze, her voice filled with reluctance and concern. “But you must take good care of yourself, all right?”
“All right.” Xiao Mo answered. Then he took a step back and gave a solemn bow. “Jingci, Sister Yueshi, farewell.”
After saying that, he turned and walked toward the small plain within sight.
Tushan Jingci watched Xiao Mo’s figure gradually recede into the distance, her fingers clenching tightly, her nails almost digging into her palms.
For some reason, she kept feeling that once Xiao Mo left this time, it would be as though he were leaving forever...
Just as Xiao Mo had only taken a few steps forward, Tushan Jingci suddenly moved her long legs beneath her skirt and quickly chased after him, hugging him tightly from behind.
He felt the young woman’s soft body behind him.
Felt her press her head tightly against his back.
Felt the warmth of her tears slowly soaking into his back.
Xiao Mo stopped.
He lowered his head and looked at the pair of jade-white hands wrapped tightly around him, then gently patted the back of her fair, tender hand.
Afterward, he slowly loosened, one by one, the fingers she had clasped in front of him.
With steady steps, he continued walking forward.
He did not look back.
Tushan Jingci stood blankly where she was, like a jade statue whose soul had been drawn away.
Roughly the time it took an incense stick to burn later, the young woman saw flying boats slowly rise from the plain, one after another, gradually flying into the distance.
“Young Lady... let us go back...”
When the dozens of flying boats gradually vanished at the end of the clouds, Yueshi spoke softly to her Young Lady.
“Sister Yueshi... do you think... Xiao Mo will come back?” Tushan Jingci still stood where she was, her gaze fixed dazedly on that distant stretch of sky, unable to look away for a long time.
“Yes, Young Lady. Xiao Mo’s cultivation is not low, and his mind is meticulous. He will certainly come back safely,” Yueshi comforted her.
But in truth, though Yueshi said this aloud, in her heart, she still felt that Xiao Mo would inevitably face danger on the front line.
After all, who could say for certain what might happen on a battlefield?
“Mm... I believe he will come back...”
Tushan Jingci stared blankly at the horizon, her voice so soft it seemed as though it had been scattered by the wind.
Those words seemed less like something she was saying to Yueshi and more like something she was saying to herself.
“He said... he would never lie to me...”
...
In the present world, the imperial palace of the Nine-Tails Kingdom.
The woman waking from sleep slowly opened her eyes.
Those drowsy eyes carried a trace of languid weariness.
Yet beneath that languor, there was also a thread of absentmindedness that could not be hidden.
That feeling was as if the woman had been using sleep again and again to escape reality, but in the end, still had no choice but to wake.
Thinking back to the dream she had just had, Tushan Jingci reached out and gently brushed the corner of her eye.
At some point, those slightly upturned seductive eyes had already become stained with crystalline tears.
“Your Majesty.”
Outside the palace, a maid’s voice sounded.
“Come in.”
The ruler of the Nine-Tails Kingdom, Tushan Jingci, propped herself up from the bed.
The snow-white sleeping gown slowly slipped from the woman’s fair, smooth shoulder, while a few strands of hair softly curled down over that snowy, fragrant shoulder, making her skin appear even more luminous.
As the woman continued to sit up, the thin gauze dress slipped down a little farther, only to be lightly caught by the two high, snowy swells of her chest, revealing a small half-glimpse of white.
Under the near-noon sunlight, the woman’s snow-white skin seemed to glow with a faint halo.
The maid’s gaze involuntarily swept over her sovereign’s chest, slender waist, and the pert curve behind her.
Beneath the hem of the skirt, a pair of long, fair, tender legs, white as mutton-fat jade, overlapped with each other. Their lines were soft, beautiful to an inconceivable degree.
Even though she was a woman herself, she could not help secretly swallowing.
“Speak. What is it?” Tushan Jingci lifted a hand to tuck the hair by her ear back, her eyes revealing a deep coldness.
“R-Reporting to Your Majesty...” The maid came back to herself and hurriedly lowered her head, speaking respectfully. “The Three Lives, Three Worlds Pill has already been delivered to the Zhou imperial palace and personally handed to Sect Master Jiang of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect.”
“Mm.” Tushan Jingci nodded, her tone indifferent. “I understand. Send someone to remind that Sect Master Jiang not to forget what she promised me.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” The maid bent in salute and withdrew respectfully.
Only the woman remained in the palace hall.
She rose, her pale, rosy, artwork-like jade feet lightly stepping onto the ground.
After changing into another set of clothes, the woman slowly sat before the dressing table and began combing her long hair.
“Sister, I had that dream again.” Tushan Jingci looked at the silver mirror before her and spoke softly.
“He kept saying he would never lie to me, yet he lied to me again and again. Sister, this is what men are...”
As she spoke, the corners of her lips curved slightly, revealing a smile that seemed to have given up completely.
“But it does not matter, Sister. This time, he can never lie to me again.”
“Tell me, when he remembers everything, what kind of scene will that be?”
After those words fell, the woman said nothing more. She only quietly looked at herself in the mirror, as if waiting for something.
After a long while, the stunning face reflected in the silver mirror gradually softened in the eyes.
The young woman seated before the mirror gave a soft sigh, her lips parting slightly. Her tone carried coldness and helplessness.
“Jingci... after so many years...”
“Why put yourself through this...”