The moon had already climbed to the zenith.

Lu Qianqiao sat on the crude railing, and somehow suddenly remembered this matter, his heart instantly surging with a mixture of anticipation and longing.

…She said she would come today, would she really come?

Why anticipate? Why did he feel anxious again? He remembered that he had deeply loved her, but now looking back at those past emotions, they felt hazy and indistinct, like an untouchable realm.

There was no such thing as “love” in his heart, yet he knew that he loved her, wanted to kill her yet couldn’t bear to kill her.

He was a War Ghost approaching perfection, and should return to the War Ghost clan to accept the glory and responsibility that belonged to him.

But he just didn’t want to go back. With nowhere to go, he could only gallop across battlefields with his long whip.

The Heavenly Lady’s doll had been washed clean and shining by him. Noticing some wear on the fingers, he instinctively and skillfully took out a small knife from his storage pouch to carefully repair it.

Why was he doing such boring things at a time like this again?

The cold night wind swept up the dancing remnant snow, and the next moment, that sweet and soft voice came floating on the wind.

“Lu Qianqiao—! How can you, you bastard, break your promise—?!”

No! I didn’t break my promise. The small knife fell from his hand as Lu Qianqiao stood up abruptly and strode toward the cliff’s edge.

She was standing at the cliff’s edge, having changed today into a light red jacket with two small pompoms tied at the collar, and the same fluffy balls adorning her hair bun. She looked… looked—he really wanted to crush her to pieces.

He unconsciously reached toward his waist, instinctively searching for his long whip, but found nothing.

Today he hadn’t brought his long whip with him.

The killing intent, much more restrained than yesterday, surged through his body. Lu Qianqiao frowned, not quite accustomed to this strange feeling—he was looking forward to seeing her, but apparently not to kill her.

Xin Mei pulled out a majestic-looking doll from her bosom and waved it: “Look! I brought the General with me today!”

The General… that must be another doll he had made for her, right? Such gorgeous armor, and that exaggerated and impractical long sword—it looked truly stupid.

Xin Mei sat cross-legged at the cliff’s edge, holding the General doll and pointing at the incomplete small moon in the sky: “General, the moon represents my heart!”

…What did that mean?

She said: “You’ve just had a personality change, not some melodramatic amnesia! Stop pretending not to understand over there! You dare say you don’t remember?”

He remembered. Back then, how confused and weak he had been, unable to see the future, and fond of self-deception.

Back then… back then, she had seemed drunk, her soft body pressing close to him.

The first suppressed kiss that dared not see the light.

A strange feeling, both familiar and foreign, suddenly rose in his heart. His ice-thin eyes finally showed a trace of loosening. After hesitating for a moment, he imitated her by sitting cross-legged at the cliff’s edge, holding the Heavenly Lady in his hands.

“Lu Qianqiao, do you still remember where we first met and what we were both doing?”

He thought for a moment and answered: “The forest outside the Imperial Tomb. I was killing a tiger demon, and you passed by.”

“Wrong!”

Xin Mei rolled her eyes: “The first meeting was inside the Imperial Tomb! I knocked out Tao Guoguo, and you slapped me!”

So you see, men! Not careful at all, no memory, rough and inconsiderate! Even with his personality changed, he hadn’t become a better man.

“Lu Qianqiao, do you know that I really disliked you at first.” She touched the General’s clothes, her voice finally softening. “You stole my spirit beast and hit me. When I kindly brought you a money pouch, you grabbed me and were terrifyingly fierce. I thought then that even if I married a beggar by the roadside, I would never marry you.”

Was… was that so? Had he really been such a failure as a person at first?

“But these things really make no sense—we still became husband and wife in the end.”

She looked up and smiled at him slightly: “It had nothing to do with the Emperor’s arranged marriage. I wanted to marry you myself, and I forced you to marry me. Were you angry then?”

No… The moment he saw her appear in the Imperial Tomb wearing that tattered wedding dress, he had felt joy—that was definitely not a lie.

“I know you like me.” How confident and unabashed she was. “That’s why I forced you. You wouldn’t blame me, would you?”

Silence.

“Speak up, don’t play mute.”

“…Right.”

Xin Mei smiled so widely she couldn’t close her mouth. Thinking of something, a rare trace of shyness appeared on her face. She lowered her head and pondered for a long time before saying: “Although we’ve been husband and wife for several months now, it feels a bit strange to say this now… but I’ve never told you, have I? Lu Qianqiao, I like you too. I’ve never thought about marrying anyone else.”

He didn’t speak, sitting quietly across from her, letting the night wind lift his long hair, one red eye glowing brilliantly in the darkness.

She took a deep breath and pulled out the Twin Heart Mirror from her bosom—she had stolen this thing from Manager Zhao. Afraid something might go wrong, even with the Yunwu Array, she still felt uneasy without the General there, so the demons of the Imperial Tomb had once again hidden in the underground palace.

She hadn’t entered the underground palace, just secretly took some things and left a note for Manager Zhao and Si Lan telling them not to worry.

Holding up the Twin Heart Mirror, she asked: “Do you still remember this? Two people reflected by the Twin Heart Mirror have a heaven-ordained marriage bond. We were reflected in it before—if you don’t believe it, let’s try again.”

Using the bright small moon at the zenith, she aimed the Twin Heart Mirror at him and bent down to join him in front of the mirror—the mirror surface was completely blurred, dark and black, with no reaction at all.

“Uh…” Xin Mei felt a bit embarrassed and tapped the mirror surface. “Is it broken? Or did I not aim it right?”

Lu Qianqiao suddenly stood up.

“The night is deep, I’m leaving.”

He turned and walked away.

“Then I’ll come see you again in a couple of days!”

Xin Mei gave the useless Twin Heart Mirror a hard slap before tearfully stuffing it back into her bundle.

“You…” He stopped and turned to look at her. “I don’t want to anymore…”

“Don’t want to what?” She jumped up, eyes wide and glaring at him. “You dare say it? You dare say it again?”

[Do you think I’m that easy to fool?! I’ve seen this routine in opera scripts countless times! You dare say again that you don’t like me?! You dare?!]

Her fierce voice echoed in his mind.

That day, she had said: [I just wanted to marry you that much!]

Lu Qianqiao lowered his eyelashes, feeling his body trembling slightly—not from instinct, not from killing intent.

“Lift your head and look at me. Lu Qianqiao, I’m right across from you, look over here!”

His mismatched red and black eyes met hers.

“Good, now, what do you want to say?” Xin Mei blinked and asked him.

He was silent for a long time, the butterfly buried deep in cocoons within his heart stirring restlessly.

He said: “Next time… come earlier.”

Xin Mei grinned, smiling without any reserve: “Mm, I know.”

He suddenly swept his long sleeve, and an object was gently tossed over, but it hit the barrier at the cliff’s edge. Fortunately, he hadn’t used much force, so the thing didn’t bounce far. Xin Mei stepped forward and caught it with her hand.

It was wound medicine from their Xinxie Manor that he had always carried with him.

“…The wound, remember to apply medicine.”

He remembered that he had injured her with his long whip the day before yesterday. Although the barrier had blocked it, preventing serious injury to bones and muscles, broken skin and bleeding were inevitable.

Xin Mei nodded: “Okay, you should also eat and rest on time, don’t be too busy.”

Lu Qianqiao glanced at the dense forest behind her. Although it was well hidden, the forest emanated an aura that he extremely disliked. The War Ghost’s instinct made him want to tear through the barrier and grind that person to powder. But Xin Mei was also there. For some unknown reason, he didn’t want her to see him kill.

He left.

Xin Mei bounced back happily, holding that bottle of common wound medicine like it was a treasure.

The Great Monk was sitting by the long carriage, supporting his head and dozing listlessly. He asked without energy: “Finished talking?”

“Mm, come earlier the day after tomorrow.” She jumped onto the carriage, continuing to cherish the wound medicine like a treasure, feeling that its bitter and unpleasant smell was more fragrant than any delicious delicacy.

Still coming—! The Great Monk wailed silently.

“This is an extraordinary time, and you’re still running back and forth between these two dangerous places at every turn. Do you really not care about your life?”

She was startled: “What extraordinary time?”

“Didn’t Li Chaoyang send War Ghosts everywhere to look for you?”

Xin Mei thought about it: “Haven’t we not seen them at all recently? Her hunting me down and all that is just what you said.”

These past days, apart from Lu Qianqiao, let alone War Ghosts, she hadn’t even seen a single hair of a War Ghost. Come to think of it, the War Ghosts they encountered that day might not have been chasing her, but possibly chasing this faceless fake monk instead. Didn’t his Fox clan have some friction with the War Ghost clan?

The Great Monk stared at her with a strange expression for a long time, muttering: “Such kindness treated like donkey liver and lungs…”

“Stop nagging, let’s go back to the Imperial Tomb.”

Xin Mei lay down and placed the medicine bottle near her nose—she seemed to be able to smell Lu Qianqiao’s scent. Though they hadn’t been separated long, she felt it had been ages.

—Had she been treating him like an errand-running coachman? The unpaid kind at that! It must be so, right? Right?!

The Great Monk looked up at the incomplete small moon, feeling so melancholy he wanted to cry. In just a few short days, this girl had tormented him until his heart ached.

How he missed the Fox clan—those clear and bright springs, those gardens with spring-like seasons all year round, and those beautiful, devout, gentle and lovely girls.

Girls, your dear and respectable Great Monk is currently suffering such inhuman torment—what could this be for!