usatvline Chapter 334 We're all not going to go anymore
Chapter 334 We're all not going to go anymore
In the warm pavilion behind the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the candlelight burned quietly.
Zhao Qingxue sat in a rosewood armchair by the window, holding a cup of tea that had gone cold, her gaze fixed on the deep night outside the window, lost in thought.
The moon-white dress shimmered softly in the candlelight, and her long hair was loosely tied up with only a white jade hairpin.
Her posture remained upright, her back straight, her knees together, like a beautiful but cold porcelain statue forgotten in a corner.
Footsteps came from outside the palace gate.
Very light, very steady, unhurried.
She didn't turn around, but the hand holding the teacup moved slightly, her fingertips gently tracing the rim of the cup.
"You're back?" Her voice was soft, like a leaf falling on the water, carried by the wind, drifting gently over.
Jiang Qingxue entered the hall.
The moonlight shone in from behind her, making her slender figure stand out clearly.
She walked a little faster than usual, her skirt trailing on the ground with a soft rustling sound.
She stopped in the center of the hall and glanced around the room.
Several scrolls of books lay open on the long table made of rosewood, and wisps of smoke still lingered in the celadon incense burner. The brocade quilt on the soft couch was neatly folded.
nobody.
She turned her head and looked at the moon-white figure by the window.
"It seems you have completed your mission." Zhao Qingxue's voice rang out again.
This time she didn't use a question, but a statement, speaking casually, as if she were talking about something unrelated to herself.
Jiang Qingxue looked at her.
Zhao Qingxue still didn't turn around, still gazing at the deep night outside the window, as if there was something there worth watching all night.
The candlelight shone from the side, casting a half-light and half-shadow on her profile, highlighting the taut lines of her jaw.
"Where is His Majesty?" Jiang Qingxue asked.
Her voice was soft, slightly out of breath from walking a long way, as if she hadn't fully recovered.
Zhao Qingxue's eyelashes twitched slightly.
The movement was so light, as light as the flapping of a butterfly's wings, so fast that it was almost imperceptible.
She put down her teacup, the celadon and sandalwood colliding to produce a very soft "tap" sound.
"He's with Liu Hongyan," she said.
Jiang Qingxue's eyes flickered slightly.
The flash lasted only a moment before she suppressed it.
She stood there, her hands hanging at her sides tightening slightly before relaxing again.
She nodded.
"understood."
The hall fell silent for a moment.
The candlelight flickered gently on the table, casting the shadows of the two people on the wall. One sat, the other stood, a few steps apart, neither looking at the other.
"It seems you've completely fallen for her."
Zhao Qingxue's voice suddenly rang out, still in that faint tone, devoid of any emotion.
She finally turned her head and looked at Jiang Qingxue.
The moonlight slanted in through the window, falling on her face and illuminating her stunning beauty with exceptional clarity.
In those deep purple phoenix eyes, there was no scrutiny, no evaluation, only a complex light that Jiang Qingxue couldn't understand.
"Can you tell me what the reason is?" she asked.
In fact, Zhao Qingxue didn't quite understand either. The last time she saw Jiang Qingxue, there was still hatred in the other woman's eyes towards Qin Mu. Why did it change later?
She was very curious about what had happened in between.
Jiang Qingxue looked at her.
She stared at it for a long time.
So long that the candle flame burst open again, making a very faint "crackling" sound; so long that the wind outside the window stopped for a moment, then started blowing again.
Then she laughed.
"And what about you?"
She asked in a very soft and gentle voice, like a petal falling on the water's surface, being pushed by the wind, and slowly turning in a circle.
"And what's your reason?"
Zhao Qingxue's eyelashes trembled slightly.
The tremor was more pronounced than before, like a tiny pebble hitting the surface of a lake, creating a ring of fine, fleeting ripples.
She did not answer immediately.
She simply looked at Jiang Qingxue, her gaze slowly shifting from her face to her shoulder, then to her hand hanging at her side, and finally to the white cloth piece that was tightly clenched in that hand, with a corner peeking out.
The cloth had dark red writing on it, which was particularly glaring in the candlelight.
"Did he write it?" Zhao Qingxue asked.
Jiang Qingxue glanced down at the letter in her hand and nodded.
"What did you write?"
"Have his sister abort the child."
Zhao Qingxue remained silent for a moment.
Her gaze shifted from the letter back to Jiang Qingxue's face.
"You just brought it back like that?"
"Um."
"Did he ask you to bring it?"
"Um."
Did he ask you if his sister was willing?
Jiang Qingxue's fingers tightened slightly.
"no."
The faint smile on Zhao Qingxue's lips deepened even further.
Did he ask you if the child was innocent?
"no."
Did he ask you if his sister was in pain?
Jiang Qingxue did not answer.
She just stood there, clutching the letter in her hand, her knuckles turning white.
Zhao Qingxue withdrew her gaze and looked out the window again.
"So that's why?" she asked, her voice very soft, as if she were talking to herself.
Jiang Qingxue remained silent for a long time.
Zhao Qingxue looked at her.
She did not speak.
She simply looked at Jiang Qingxue, at the faint, self-deprecating curve of her lips.
She suddenly remembered herself.
She recalled that night at the Nujiang ferry, when she was hung under a beam and Sister Hong's slaps landed on her face again and again. She didn't cry, didn't shout, didn't beg for mercy, but just stared intently at the man sitting in the chair watching all this with a smile.
She thought he would continue watching, that he would wait until she completely broke down, completely surrendered, and completely resigned herself to her fate.
But he didn't.
He stood up, walked to her, draped the moon-white robe over her shoulders, and said, "Let's leave it at that for tonight."
She didn't understand back then.
She thought it was just another method, a method that was gentler than a whip, more insidious than a stick, and more deadly than Sister Hong's slaps.
But now she suddenly felt uncertain.
Zhao Qingxue withdrew her gaze and looked out the window again.
The moonlight peeked out from behind the clouds, casting the sparse shadows of the few winter plum blossoms on the window frame onto the floor, like ink stains blurred by water.
"Maybe it's just because," she began, her voice very soft, as if speaking to herself, "that no one has ever treated us like this before."
Jiang Qingxue looked at her.
Zhao Qingxue's profile appeared exceptionally serene in the candlelight. Her taut jawline had relaxed at some point, like a sword sheathed in its sheath—the blade was still there, the edge was still there, but it no longer needed to face the wind.
"And you?" Jiang Qingxue asked.
"Why?"
Zhao Qingxue did not answer.
She simply gazed out the window at the deep night, at the few plum blossoms trembling slightly in the moonlight, and at the endless, dark blue sky in the distance.
"I don't know," she said.
The sound was very soft, as soft as a snowflake about to fall, suspended in mid-air, not knowing where to drift.
"Maybe it's because he asked me if it hurt."
She paused, and the faint smile on her lips deepened, but this time, there was no chill beneath that smile, only something complex that she herself couldn't quite put her finger on.
"Perhaps it was because he draped that garment over my shoulders."
Her voice grew softer and softer, as if she were talking about a dream from long ago, so long that she thought she had woken up, but every time she closed her eyes, the dream would come back.
"Maybe it's just because—" She paused, then didn't finish her sentence.
Jiang Qingxue stood behind her, looking at her slightly lowered eyelids and the smile that never faded from the corner of her mouth.
"You just asked me what the reason was."
Zhao Qingxue's voice suddenly rang out again, even softer and fainter than before, as if it were through a thin veil, making it difficult to hear clearly.
"I can't answer that."
She turned her head and looked at Jiang Qingxue.
The moonlight shone on her face, making her deep purple phoenix eyes appear exceptionally clear.
She didn't continue.
She just looked at Jiang Qingxue, and Jiang Qingxue looked at her too.
The two of them just stared at each other without saying a word.
The hall was very quiet, so quiet that you could hear the faint crackling of the candlelight, and so quiet that you could hear the distant drumbeats from outside the window, one after another, muffled like a heartbeat.
I don't know how much time passed.
Jiang Qingxue's lips twitched slightly.
"Me too," she said.
The sound was very soft, as soft as a petal falling on the water's surface, pushed by the wind, slowly turning in a circle, and then sinking.
Zhao Qingxue looked at her, and the smile on her lips deepened.
"You've changed," she said.
Jiang Qingxue looked up at her.
"You too," she said.
Zhao Qingxue was slightly taken aback.
Then she smiled.
"Maybe," she said.
Jiang Qingxue looked at her and smiled.
Neither of them spoke again.
The hall was very quiet, so quiet that you could hear the faint crackling of the candlelight and the soft rustling of the wind passing through the treetops outside the window.
Zhao Qingxue withdrew her gaze and looked out the window again.
"Get some rest," she said, her voice very soft and faint, as if through a thin veil, barely audible.
Jiang Qingxue nodded and turned to walk out of the hall.
She stepped across the threshold and disappeared into the night outside.
Zhao Qingxue sat by the window, gazing at the empty palace gate.
She had somehow picked up the now-cold teacup again, her fingertips gently tracing the rim of the cup, round and round.
"There's no going back." She repeated these words softly, as if she were talking to herself.
Outside the window, moonlight poured down from behind the clouds, illuminating the winter plum blossoms in the courtyard until they appeared white.
The dewdrops on the petals shimmered with tiny light under the moonlight, like tiny diamonds embedded in the petals that were about to fall.
Very beautiful.
She put down her teacup, stood up, walked to the window, and opened it.
A morning breeze swept in, carrying the chill of early winter, and brushed against her burning cheeks.
She raised her head and gazed at the gradually brightening horizon in the east.
The first rays of dawn pierced through the clouds, shining on her face and illuminating her stunning beauty with exceptional clarity.
Her lips twitched slightly.
Can not go back.
Then... I guess I won't go back.