The farthest distance in the world is not between life and death, but when I am right beside you, yet you don’t know I love you—

Lord Meishan couldn’t remember which book he had read this profoundly talented passage from. At the time, he only felt struck to his very core, tears streaming down to soak his clothes.

Last time, driven by a rare burst of passion, he had rushed to the Imperial Tomb wanting to elope with the girl he loved. Through a series of mishaps, he had missed his chance once again. He completely lost his courage, no longer interested even in the latest gossip, spending his days just holed up in Meishan Residence shedding tears and drinking wine, living in drunken stupor.

It so happened that day Fu Jiuyun and Zhen Hongsheng came together to visit him. The spirit ghost guarding the gate led them both to the lotus pond, pointing with disgust at a certain disheveled man frozen in the pond’s thin ice: “He’s been shrinking in the pool freezing himself for four or five days. You two might as well take a look.”

Zhen Hongsheng covered his mouth with amusement while Fu Jiuyun broke off a tree branch and crouched by the pond, gently poking the man’s nostril, saying in amazement: “He seems completely frozen stiff.”

“Crack” – the thin ice split open. The disheveled Lord Meishan grabbed the branch weakly: “Don’t mind me… I want Little Mei… Little Mei…”

“Little Mei?” Fu Jiuyun vaguely felt he had heard this name somewhere before, but couldn’t quite recall where.

“That’s the young lady from Xinxie Manor,” Zhen Hongsheng helpfully explained.

“Oh, that little beauty.” Fu Jiuyun suddenly understood, giving Lord Meishan a thumbs up. “You do have some taste – she’s truly very beautiful. Since you like her, why don’t you pursue her?”

This question struck Lord Meishan’s hidden pain. He let out a pained sob and dove to the bottom of the pool, bubbling up a string of gurgling sounds.

Zhen Hongsheng continued his helpful explanation: “She’s already married – to a war ghost.”

Fu Jiuyun smiled knowingly, reaching into his sleeve and addressing the dejected figure in the pool: “Meishan, get up. I’ll give you something good.”

Lord Meishan poked out his face, his lifeless eyes like dead fish eyes, staring fixedly at him.

A soft piece of paper was pulled out, unfolded, and presented before his eyes—

The dead fish eyes immediately blazed with amazing light!

“Little Mei!”

He suddenly lunged forward, only to slip on the pond’s mud and fall flat on his face.

On that paper was clearly painted a vivid and fragrant great beauty, with an innocent and charming smile, eyes bright and full of confidence, tall stature, and elegant appearance – exactly an eighteen or nineteen-year-old version of Xin Mei!

Fu Jiuyun looked at him with pity, his voice unusually gentle: “Meishan, as a friend, I can help you – help you cherish her memory through this keepsake. I’ll give you this portrait.”

Lord Meishan jumped out of the lotus pond. Zhen Hongsheng waved his long sleeve, and all the water and thin ice on his body instantly disappeared. He crawled and rolled to snatch the portrait, wishing he could tear open his chest and stuff it into his heart.

“Let him cherish his memories. Fox, let’s drink. This time I brought a cartload of fine wine called ‘Drunken Life, Dreamy Death.'”

Fu Jiuyun, with flowing robes and elegant bearing, smilingly led Zhen Hongsheng into the house to drink. Lord Meishan anxiously shouted: “Wait! I want some too! Fu Jiuyun! Dead fox! You’re not allowed to hog it all!”

Zhen Hongsheng just laughed: “Aren’t you thinking about Little Mei anymore?”

Lord Meishan carefully folded Xin Mei’s portrait and placed it close to his heart: “Having this is some comfort.”

It was better than staring into empty air all day.

The three of them rarely had the chance to gather and drink together. Fu Jiuyun had brought a whole cartload of “Drunken Life, Dreamy Death,” and by morning they had drunk it down to just a few jars.

At that moment, as the three were talking, a spirit ghost suddenly ran in from the entrance in panic, shouting: “Master! That war ghost general again…”

Lord Meishan “whoosh” threw down his wine cup and dove under the table, refusing to come out even unto death.

The spirit ghost ran over and looked down at him with contempt: “…That war ghost general sent someone to deliver a letter.”

Lord Meishan emerged from under the table looking dignified, smiling graciously: “I was just picking up my wine cup.”

The spirit ghost dropped the letter, snorted, and ran off picking his nose.

Lord Meishan opened the letter with burning face and ears. This time Lu Qianqiao wasn’t investigating people, but several extremely rare medicinal herbs. He happened to know where they all grew, so he immediately picked up his brush to write a reply, having the spirit ghost deliver it.

Zhen Hongsheng seemed to remember something and laughed: “Speaking of this war ghost general, I saw him two months ago – fierce and menacing, I thought it was bad. I once read the palm of that girl from Xinxie Manor. The fate between those two only extends to his transformation period. I thought at the time that after the general transformed, he would kill that girl. Who would have thought… Immortal Yuqing’s eyes were indeed sharper. That girl’s husband-conquering fate conquered the war ghost general’s destiny. He’s gotten himself into a state where one eye is red and one is black, like a mixed-breed cat.”

Lord Meishan only heard the part about their fate ending at the transformation and couldn’t contain his excitement, gripping his lapels tightly: “Are you telling the truth?! They’ll have no more fate together in the future?”

Zhen Hongsheng rolled his eyes at him: “Well, it’s not exactly like that… This thing called heavenly fate isn’t necessarily reliable…”

“Just tell me whether they really have no more fate!” He roared.

Zhen Hongsheng smiled slightly: “Yes, that’s what the palm reading showed at the time… Meishan, I don’t think that girl necessarily dislikes you. You don’t tell her anything and just hide away crying – what kind of approach is that?”

“Good brother!” Lord Meishan was moved to tears, vigorously patting his shoulder. “Thank you for the encouragement! I’ll go right now!”

Fu Jiuyun looked up, watching him run to the entrance in a flash, mount his little immortal crane with a radiant face and fly away. He couldn’t help but turn back to look at Zhen Hongsheng and blink.

Zhen Hongsheng smiled as he took the last two jars of wine, one for each: “With one less person, there’s enough wine to go around.”

Fu Jiuyun nodded with a beaming smile: “You fox – you’re no good.”

That morning Lu Qianqiao had someone deliver a letter placed outside the Yunwu Array, saying he would return on the third day of the second month and stay for two days before leaving. Counting the days, the third of the second month was tomorrow. Xin Mei hurriedly wrote out a full two pages of shopping lists and gave them to Si Lan to go outside and purchase supplies.

When Xin Xiong woke from his nap, he saw his daughter carrying a bucket of water, holding a cloth, and wielding a large broom, wiping here and scrubbing there with a spring breeze on her face, even humming a little tune.

His eyes immediately lit up: “Dear treasure, is your son-in-law coming back?”

He had been living at the Imperial Tomb for a month now. The scenery was beautiful, life was leisurely, and every day his daughter personally cooked delicious meals for him. It was countless times more enjoyable than Xinxie Manor – he almost didn’t want to go back. The only regret was that his son-in-law wasn’t home. But thinking about it, as a general he should have many battles to fight. A man’s ambitions lie in all directions – staying home all day is for old men. Now that he was finally coming back, his father-in-law was very pleased.

“Father, just find somewhere to amuse yourself. I need to clean the house.”

Xin Mei pushed her old father out the door and with a splash poured the bucket of water on the ground, scrubbing vigorously with the large broom.

Xin Xiong stroked his beard as he walked out. After just a few steps, he saw Tao Guoguo and her brother running over laughing and playing. Her brother had a pair of golden chicken wings on his back, which he immediately retracted upon seeing him.

Passing by the lotus pond, Miss Yinglian had transformed her lower half into a lotus flower and was stretching lazily in the pool water. As soon as he approached, she naturally sat by the pool’s edge, even crossing her legs as if the lotus flower half had been an illusion.

Continuing past Official Zhao’s small cave, he was standing woodenly at the entrance looking up at the sky – supposedly waiting for the divine inspiration to visit. A thin rat tail extended from his clothes, supporting him on the ground like a cane, occasionally scratching his hair or picking his nose.

Upon seeing Xin Xiong approaching, the rat tail instantly disappeared. Official Zhao patted his clothes and bowed: “Boss Xin, good morning.”

Xin Xiong smiled and returned the greeting, walking along until he reached the high platform, where he leisurely packed a pipe with tobacco, took a puff, and felt as happy as a god.

For the son-in-law’s sake, they worked quite hard at pretending to be human. He felt too embarrassed to expose them. That demons could be more caring than humans was quite remarkable in this era.

When Si Lan returned, besides bringing back large and small packages of things, he also dragged in a person. An immortal.

Xin Mei heard the commotion and poked her head out from the kitchen to look, seeing that Lord Meishan rarely wasn’t crying and wailing, but instead was composed and even carrying himself with some plum-like aloofness as he surveyed the surroundings, his expression one of confident triumph.

“Lord Meishan, are you here to visit?” she kindly greeted.

His face immediately brightened as he ran closer. Opening his mouth to speak, he suddenly turned around – the group of little demons behind him who had stretched their ears to eavesdrop immediately scattered like birds and beasts.

“Little Mei, come here. I have something to tell you.”

For the first time, Lord Meishan boldly took her soft little hand. As if floating on clouds, he pulled her to the beautiful scenery near the Spirit Path.

The cherry blossoms on the Spirit Path were already showing hints of pale red. In a little while they would bloom – warm spring was about to arrive.

Lord Meishan looked at Xin Mei’s fair and beautiful face, stammering: “Li-Little Mei, I-I-I-I am an immortal, I can live for a very, very long time… That, that, I also don’t care about worldly marriages… so even if you-you-you are married, I-I-I am not afraid…”

Xin Mei looked at him blankly: “Lord Meishan…”

His voice was so small and he was stammering and mumbling – it would be a miracle if she could hear clearly.

“You-you-you and the war ghost general… no longer have fate together… so-so…”

“What what fate?”

You can’t hesitate and be cowardly anymore, Meishan! Your feelings, everything – say it all openly and honestly! Yes, there’s nothing shameful about liking her! Not saying it and being all clingy and mushy every day – that’s what’s shameful!

Say it, say it!

Lord Meishan gazed at her with surging emotions and shouted loudly: “Little Mei! I-I-I-I like you!”

…Why wasn’t she reacting?

He tried to collect his vision that had scattered from overexcitement, only then realizing she was staring wide-eyed and completely focused on something behind him. Instinctively turning around, he met a pair of expressionless eyes, one black and one red.

Thud, crack… it seemed like the sound of his little heart falling from great heights.

Xin Mei suddenly jumped up, quickly pouncing over and crashing into that person’s embrace, shouting vigorously: “Why did you come back today? Didn’t you say tomorrow? My food isn’t ready yet! I…”

Lu Qianqiao lifted her up, gently patting her back, glancing coolly at the ashen-faced Lord Meishan: “…It seems I returned at just the right time.”

That look, that look… he definitely wouldn’t misinterpret it again! This time the general was absolutely treating him as a romantic rival! Absolutely no mistake!

Xin Mei hugged Lu Qianqiao’s head and kissed him several times before remembering there was still a gossip immortal nearby. She casually waved: “Lord Meishan should stay for dinner today.”

Lu Qianqiao looked down at him condescendingly: “…You don’t need to be polite.”

…He didn’t want to eat, never again… He only wanted to turn to ashes and disappear in this tragic world…

—The farthest distance in the world is not when I’m beside you yet you don’t know I love you. But… when I gather the courage to say I love you, you and my rival treat me like air!