It was late at night, and after the gong struck twice, there was a continuous tremolo.
There was no one on the street, and the pavilions and towers were all in a dream. Zhao Pei walked slowly on the polished bluestone slabs, each step heavy and difficult.
Finally, we stopped at the bridge on the riverside. I remember being surprised when I first learned the name of this bridge, and then sighing. Every year after that, we would definitely choose this place as the place was exactly like the place where they first met.
She stood at the bridge head, took out a tinder and lit the lamp in her arms. The candle flame jumped a few times and illuminated the dense handwriting on the lamp. The shadows were full of continuous emotions. Zhao Pei slowly relaxed the strength in her hands and let it float up. The warm mist was weak in the cold night but had infinite power.
Zhao Pei stood quietly at the bridge, watching it disappear into the sky bit by bit, and she felt at ease. Seventeen years, seventeen sky lanterns. She fulfilled her promise and received a little comfort from him.
She kept thinking back to the scene when she first met him, the fireworks and the fragrance filling the road. The bustling crowd suddenly stopped, and the noisy voices suddenly became silent. Only his bright smile, the moonlight eyes, and the fireworks blooming all over the sky. The scenes passed through her mind, blurry but profound.
She realized that some people will always be engraved in her memory, even if she forgets his voice, his smile, and his face, but the feeling she has when she thinks of him will never change.
The night was hazy, and the frost gradually condensed into water and soaked her white dress. Her heart suddenly dimmed with the completely extinguished lights. Not everyone can meet the person in the dim lights when looking back suddenly. Her love for him is like a dream, and everything ends when she wakes up. But she can't get out of it, and is left to recall the memories of the two of them. That is the most miserable.
Struggling, wrestling with longing. My whole body and mind rolled over in the memories countless times, but in the end I still lost.
Twenty years passed in one dream... Zhao Pei could no longer bear to suffer like this.
She stood at the bridgehead for about half an hour, then turned around to go back. But when she turned around, she saw a tall and graceful person standing silently at the other end of the bridge.
Zhao Pei's heart skipped a beat, then she walked forward with a faint smile: "Since you're here, why don't you release it together?"
He turned his head indifferently, looked at the clear moonlight in the water, and said lightly: "No, it's late at night, go back early."
Zhao Pei nodded slightly and looked at the man. The years had deepened his eyes, but left no trace on his stern face. He was deep and steady with a simple stroke. He was deeper, colder, calmer and more stable than before. In his heart, there was something that no one could see. Zhao Pei had learned to close his eyes and would not ask questions to the end.
Zhao Pei knew that he was waiting for her to return home, and it had been quite a while.
She walked side by side with him, and walked back together in the moonlight. She lowered her head and looked at the embroidered shoes on her feet, silent. Indifferent, concerned, not asking, tacit understanding, harmonious... They have been getting along in this strange way until now, but no one has raised any objections.
"I've been very busy lately and haven't visited you." He broke the silence for a long time.
Zhao Pei didn't mind and replied, "It's okay, you have your own things to do." Then she added, "It's better not to be too tired. It's not good for your health."
She lowered her head and did not see his nod.
"How is Yuan Ming? She seems to have not recovered after giving birth." Zhao Pei suddenly asked him, and then said, "Fang Zhi said a few days ago that he wanted to ride a horse. When will you take him?" She seemed to have never thought that one day, she would be so calm and indifferent in describing his other wives and children.
Xiao Yi said, "He is still too young to ride a horse." He seemed to have never thought that he would be so calm in the face of her calmness and indifference. It seemed that he had gotten used to it and let it go.
Zhao Pei smiled and said, "He is very smart and brave. He should be fine."
Xiao Yi didn't care about the reason: "Let's talk about you, Peipei. Don't talk about others." Zhao Pei was stunned and chuckled: "What can I say? It's the same thing day after day." Surprisingly indifferent, the words were always in the same tone. I don't know when, the original diamond-shaped corners gradually became a smooth and sad circle under the friction of time and the courtyard.
"It's my birthday today." Xiao Yi reminded her.
"I know." Zhao Pei's eyes dimmed slightly, "What mother did... was always unfair to him."
"He has always been a sensible child and will understand you." Xiao Yi smiled faintly, and his cold face finally showed some color.
"But you don't like him." As soon as Xiao Yi finished speaking, Zhao Pei said this. She raised her eyes and looked at his somewhat surprised eyes. "Isn't it?" It was a question and a kind of heartache.
"I like him more than any other child." He replied, as seriously as if he had said "I love you" to her a long time ago. Zhao Pei smiled bitterly: "Why don't you care more about him? Deng'er really wants your care."
"Only loneliness and solitude can temper a person. I think Fangdeng can withstand my test." Only in this way can he bear everything I want to give him.
After hearing Xiao Yi's explanation, Zhao Pei was speechless. She nodded in agreement. The two had already reached the gate of the palace. There were a few people standing at the gate, looking over from afar and chattering as if they were relieved. Zhao Pei looked over and saw those people again. He Hui, Qiao Yuruhua and his wife, and Fang Zhi, who was seven or eight years old.
The two of them actually quickened their pace in tacit understanding. It was not until they reached the top of the stairs that Xiao Yi said the last words to Zhao Pei: "You need to think carefully about Zhen'er's matter. Don't indulge her."
Zhao Pei paused and walked a few steps behind him.
How did he indulge her? Zhao Pei only wanted her to have a happy marriage that she was willing to have, but she had no intention of doing so, so there was nothing he could do. However, she seemed a little old at this age...
But it's a *trouble... But it needs to be solved immediately. (To be continued)