Duan Xu lowered his eyes and said softly, "Nightmare?"
"Perhaps you will feel a little sad now, but you will feel relieved in a few months. General Duan is such a talented young man, who in the world can't marry him? After you return to the human world, if there is a disaster or any need for help, just call my name and I will come to you - but I won't help you in vain, you still have to trade your five senses with me." He Simu smiled faintly and spoke in a gentle tone.
She had pretended to be weak, tested, threatened, arrogant, and calm when she spoke to him before, but this was the first time her tone was so gentle. She was not communicating as a ghost king or a curse-maker, but as someone who received true heart and gave true heart to someone else.
Duan Xu raised his eyes to look at her, looking into her calm and gentle eyes, he asked: "This evil ghost world you let me see, is it also a deal?"
"No, it's a thank you. Because you made me feel that the world is much better than I expected, so this is a thank you to you."
"I heard that you went to the Nine Palaces Prison to save me. You stayed in my room the whole time I was unconscious. If I called you, you went to hold my hand."
"No need to thank me. I brought you into the ghost realm. This is what I should do."
"I kissed you, hugged you, and you never really punished me. You knew that there were many things I couldn't do on my own, but as long as I asked you, you would always be soft-hearted."
"You are really good at acting like a spoiled child and playing rogue."
"Don't avoid the important issues."
"Whatever I avoid becomes irrelevant?"
Duan Xu took a few steps forward, stared into her eyes within earshot, and said word by word, "You really don't like me at all?"
He Simu looked at the pair of bright eyes that she liked very much. His eyes were filled with a layer of water, trembling slightly, with shocking emotions and desires in them, telling her that this was a crucial issue for him.
In all the horrible illusions, nightmares, or in front of the enemy, he was always firm, confident, arrogant, and self-destructive. But only in front of her, when he called her name, he was like a beast offering his neck and exposing his belly.
He Simu still remembered that when he finally woke up from the illusion, he called her name over and over again. He said, "It's great, He Simu came to pick me up."
The voice was weak but firm, as if He Simu had become a spell that could replace "Duan Xu" for him and awaken him from the numerous illusions.
On the day when he attacked the enemy camp, he sat on the ground covered in blood and stretched out his hand to her. She saw that he seemed to be longing for something, but she didn't understand the meaning of that longing, and maybe he didn't understand it at that time. Now she gradually realized that he didn't just stretch out his hand to her, he gave her his heart.
He handed the heart to her, a heart that was broken into pieces and full of holes, which he picked up and glued together, and which was beating warmly with countless old scars.
From then on, the look in his eyes when he looked at her always said, you can hurt me easily, and I give you this right.
Jiang Ai asked her, you are so good to him, why don’t you agree to him, what are you afraid of
She just realized that she was actually afraid. She was afraid that she couldn't hold this heart and let it fall from her hands and break into pieces, which was almost inevitable.
This boy is the most special and unique mortal in the world to her. She wants to protect him from the sufferings of this world and prevent her heart from getting new scars. For a mortal, the best life is to pass the imperial examination, have a wedding night, have children and grandchildren, and fulfill his ambitions, rather than being entangled with evil spirits.
She wants to return this heart to him.
He Simu laughed softly, reached out his hand to poke Duan Xu's shoulder and push him away.
"You are not within my consideration, and I don't want to consider you. After all, it won't be long before I even forget your name."
Duan Xu's eyes trembled, as if something fell to the ground and cracked into pieces.
He Simu reached out her hand to cover his eyes, but he did not dodge and let her cold hand cover his eyes.
Duan Xu heard He Simu say in the darkness: "Cry if you want, but don't cry in front of me. You are the only person I have ever cursed, and I hope all your wishes can be fulfilled, but I am your impossible wish, so please remove me from your wishes."
She slowly lowered her hand from his eyes. His eyes became very dark, with a faint watery glow. But he didn't cry. He just opened his eyes and looked at her without blinking.
She didn't want to see him cry, so he really didn't shed any tears.
He Simu's hand passed across his face and landed on his shoulder. She smiled brightly and said, "I hope you will grow wings and turn into a fish in the North Sea."
After she finished speaking, a thunderclap sounded, and her hand shrank from his shoulder for a moment, then retracted into her sleeve. She took two steps back, then turned around and left, her steps neither fast nor slow, her red dress brushing across the green grass, and she did not look back at him.
Duan Xu stared at her back until she disappeared over the hillside. Then he looked up at the gloomy sky and chuckled, "So she's afraid of thunder."
He got one more point and helped her.
Just at this time.
Duan Xu bit his lips tightly, his eyes were red but he didn't cry. He just stood there in silence for a long time. When it started to rain, he walked to the first grave planted with a maple tree. He squatted down and looked at the grave with a smile that could even be called bright, and said, "She is really a bastard, isn't she?"
Jiang Ai and Yan Ke watched this scene from afar. Jiang Ai crossed his arms and sighed, "Master You Cheng, has this been fulfilled?"
"Just a mortal, I knew this would happen." Yan Ke looked calm, and breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone could see that He Simu had a special feeling for Duan Xu during this period of time, and he was actually worried secretly.
Jiang Ai shook her head and said, "This child is not just an ordinary person. He is different."
She asked him why he went to help her regardless of his own safety when Bai Sanxing attacked her in the Nine Palaces. The child smiled brightly and just said that he didn't expect Bai Sanxing to be so powerful. When she asked him further, he said that he felt that Simu was closer to her.
—"Si Mu is too lonely? You are the ghost she trusts, I hope you can stay with her forever."
—"I also know that my life is short. I don't know what I can give her in such a short life, but I want her to feel the happiness of this world."
—"Simu is a very stubborn girl. She inherited an unbreakable proud backbone from her parents. She has a passionate heart and warms the world. I like her very much."
The child asked her with a smile if he was the first person who could come out of the Nine Palaces Prison after extinguishing the Heart Candle. Jiang Ai told him that he was not the first person, and that there was another evil ghost who had extinguished the Heart Candle before him but still came out - He Simu.
When He Simu ambushed Bai Sanxing in the Nine Palaces Prison, he destroyed Bai Sanxing's heart candle, and his own heart candle was also extinguished by Bai Sanxing. The two strongest evil spirits were both lost in the Nine Palaces Prison, but three days later, He Simu walked out of the maze and rekindled his heart candle, which was a miracle.
A person without desires is strong. Evil ghosts become evil ghosts because of their deep obsessions, so they cannot escape the illusion of the Nine Palaces Prison. But He Simu is different. She did not become a ghost because of the obsession of a living person, she was born from the love between her parents.
The child she brought was also not trapped in the illusion, they were actually very similar.
Jiang Ai couldn't help but sigh, she said with emotion: "This child actually understands longing very well."
Yan Ke frowned and said disapprovingly: "What can he understand."
Jiang Ai felt that she couldn't discuss emotional matters with a jealous man, so she changed the subject and pointed in the direction of the Nine Palaces Maze.
"But how could Bai Sanxing still be here? His heart candle has already gone out. He should have been reduced to ashes in just a hundred years in the Nine Palaces Prison. How come he's still fine after three hundred years?"
Yan Ke was silent for a while, then he said, "This matter is simple to explain, and there are not many answers."
Jiang Ai knew what he meant. Bai Sanxing's candle had not been extinguished for three hundred years, which meant that his candle had not been extinguished. He should be like the evil spirits exiled to the Nine Palaces Prison, with his candle lit outside the Nine Palaces Prison.
"This is so strange. We saw with our own eyes that Simu extinguished his heart candle. How could there be another candle burning outside?"
"I don't think it's impossible. Didn't the mortal's heart candle get rekindled? The reason he was able to rekindle his heart candle was probably because he was infatuated with her, and he was traveling in vain..." Yan Ke turned his gaze to Jiang Ai, making Jiang Ai feel scared.
Jiang Ai said, "Boy, what do you mean?"
"Bai Sanxing likes you to death, and everyone knows it."
"Bah, that's all ancient news from thousands of years ago. You also know that he wanted to cut me into pieces before he entered the Nine Palaces Maze. Why am I rushing to light a heart candle for him? There's nothing wrong with me." Jiang Ai spat.
Yan Ke did not say whether he agreed or not, and said: "This matter is very strange, and there may be trouble in the future."
On the third day after He Simu and Duan Xu talked in the tomb, Duan Xu left Yuzhou City. He asked Jiang Ai to send him to Nandu, and left quietly without even saying hello to He Simu. Jiang Ai came back to tell He Simu about this, and when he saw He Simu's surprised expression, he suddenly realized: "He didn't tell you that he was leaving?"
He Simu shook her head, and she pressed her head and said, "What kind of anger is he betting on?"
She was about to continue with her official duties when she saw Jiang Ai take out a scroll from behind her and bring it to her, saying, "This is a gift that the kid prepared for you. He asked me to give it to you."
He Simu took a look at the scroll and took it. He weighed it in his hand and found it quite heavy.
"He said please take care of yourself."
After Jiang Ai said this, she bowed and left. She had been so busy for more than half a month, and it was time to quit while she was ahead.
He Simu put the scroll on the desk and continued to read her memorial. Her eyes stayed on the memorial for a long time, but she didn't read a single word. She clenched her hand holding the memorial, and her eyes glanced at the scroll from time to time. After half an hour of stalemate, she finally sighed and put it down, and turned to pick up the scroll on the desk.
She thought she was just curious about what gift he could prepare for her.
She untied the rope that bound the scroll, and the map of Yuzhou City slowly unfolded in front of her, covering the entire table. The city and neighborhoods on the map were drawn very accurately, with pavilions and towers of all sizes vividly depicted on the paper, and Duan Xu's annotations were written on the streets, alleys, and mountains.
His handwriting was written in that kind of wild and high-spirited font, and it was written so small that it seemed as if he had suffered some injustice, and the words were tightly squeezed together.
There is a small lamp painted at the foot of Xusheng Mountain, with the words "There are firefly larvae here. In midsummer, they will glow like yellow-green dots, as translucent as jade. The ancients said, 'Rain hitting the lamp is hard to extinguish, wind blowing makes it brighter. If it is not in the sky, it must be a star beside the moon.'"
There is a rose painted on the street of Shui Pai Fang, turn right after leaving the palace, and next to it is written: "There is a cluster of roses by the wall. In March, the flowers are in season, and the fragrance is strong and fragrant. The branches have thorns that hurt people. The flowers are red in different shades, like morning glow and evening clouds, and can be set off by banana trees. There is a saying that goes, 'People take naps under the curtains in the deep courtyard, and red roses frame green banana trees.'"
He meticulously marked thirty or forty places on the map, telling her about the Yuzhou City in his eyes, describing the colors, smells, and textures, and presenting her with a completely different world. This seemed to be prepared for her to re-recognize Yuzhou City after she exchanged her five senses with him one day.
He Simu's fingers stroked the map and he chuckled, "As expected of the runner-up. You're using your talent to do this. Isn't it a waste?"
Jiang Ai told her that Duan Xu felt that Yuzhou City was like a big coffin. He wanted to find some life in this big coffin and give it to her.
He Simu lowered her eyes, her thoughts drifting away with the map. She endlessly recalled the world she had first experienced, the touch of Duan Xu's skin, the beating of his pulse, the touch of his breath, and the scent of his body. Every feeling originated from him.
There was also his seemingly innocent and carefree smile, his pale and sweaty face when he was sick, and his bloodshot eyes when he was enduring pain.
How long can such a vivid memory remain in her mind
I don’t know if he shed tears after she left that day.
—You really don’t like me at all
He Simu held his chin, slowly closed the scroll, and sighed, "Little fox Duan."
Why do you have to be so attentive to me