General Wei could never meet Lady Chen Xue, let alone marry her. For a long time, Wei Zong was very dissatisfied with this, believing that Lu San Lang was targeting him specifically.
Wei Zong gradually began to doubt whether “Chen Xue” even existed.
This woman was known as Luoyang’s beauty, praised by all for her grace, yet people had only seen her appearance in the widely circulated court lady paintings. The court lady paintings of this era could be called “Paintings of World Beauties,” passed down through ages with acclaim – only the noble and beautiful were worthy of being painted. Yet even when people went to Luoyang to admire this woman, none had ever seen Chen Xue. This was an extremely peculiar phenomenon in the Southern Kingdom.
But that was a matter for later.
For now, Lu Yun had merely missed an opportunity to propose to Luo Lingyu because of Wei Zong’s interruption. When Luo Lingyu laughed and fell into her young lord’s embrace when she looked up and saw his pitch-black eyes, her heart suddenly skipped a beat. She had an inexplicable intuition that he would certainly propose again.
Lu San Lang was a young lord very unwilling to discuss marriage, which meant that once he was willing to discuss it, he had this idea, that he wouldn’t let others stop him. In these final days in Nanyang, while Lu Yun represented the Southern Kingdom’s court in peace talks with the Northern Kingdom’s envoys, he secretly began preparing for the wedding. When he told his older brother Lu Er Lang about his plans, Lu Er Lang was extremely surprised, then sighed: “You’ll be scolded by both grandfather and grandmother.”
How could a young lord marry without being at home, instead of going to the bride’s location?
Why such urgency? It seemed like rushing to give himself away.
It appeared beneath their status.
But Lu Yun didn’t mind. He had been working on this marriage from last September until now. Half a year had passed, and the stubborn forces of the Lu family had already surrendered. After Lu Yun sent several more letters, Jianye reluctantly nodded, agreeing to let Lu San Lang marry in Nanyang. However, after the wedding, Lu San Lang must bring his new bride back to Jianye to pay respects to the elders, and could not linger in Nanyang.
In early mid-spring, after a month of difficult arguing, the negotiations between the North and South finally kept Ruyang within the Southern Kingdom. As both sides entered the second phase of peace talks, the subordinate official Han Mingzi sent by the court was thoroughly berated in a letter from Prince Zhao Liu Huai. Lu Yun, however, was in high spirits. After advancing some government affairs, he had some time to handle his matters. While soldiers were stationed and training in the mountains, Lu Yun invited Luo Lingyu to ride with him to Prince’s View Mountain to console the troops.
Luo Lingyu’s heart stirred subtly, and she agreed.
Though the fighting might stop now, vigilance against the Northern Kingdom could not be reduced. Lu Yun went up the mountain to inspect, inquiring about military conditions – as a military advisor, he could be considered dutiful. Luo Lingyu walked with him for a while, but later when Lu Yun talked with the soldiers, she consciously stepped aside.
At night, they naturally stayed in the mountain military camp.
Lu Yun had brought fine wine from below the mountain to reward the soldiers. A small feast was held at night, with border-guarding soldiers taking turns participating in the small banquet and toasting with Military Advisor Lu. Luo Lingyu was surprised to discover that while Lu Yun usually seemed to keep some distance from these soldiers, after living and eating together for so long, the noble young lord had also established friendly relationships with these ordinary soldiers from humble backgrounds. When the soldiers spoke of Lu San Lang, they were full of admiration.
At the night’s small feast, initially, everyone was restrained due to Lu Yun’s status; after three rounds of drinks, several generals pushed and shoved, coming first to toast: “Military Advisor, I drink to you! Earlier when you came, we harbored hostility towards you and played tricks on you several times, truly shameful… Now we know that the Military Advisor is a person of great strategy, we underestimated your breadth of mind!”
Lu Yun naturally returned the courtesy.
On Luo Lingyu’s side, she sat properly kneeling, and though incomparably beautiful, because she was Lu San Lang’s fiancée and Lu San Lang was sitting nearby, the soldiers didn’t dare come over to talk with her. It was always somewhat uncomfortable. Luo Lingyu remained completely unaware, while those rough men drank cold wine, she leisurely and contentedly warmed her wine, drinking alone in a corner. Occasionally looking up, glimpsing under candlelight Lu Yun’s reddened eyes corners and gaze bright as stars, Luo Lingyu would turn her head to instruct her maid: “Quietly advise Third Cousin, he’s not good at drinking, don’t let him get drunk from others’ toasts.”
Lu Yun had something on his mind and didn’t trust his alcohol tolerance, so naturally controlled his intake, unwilling to get drunk. So after drinking several cups, when the maid Lingyu came to advise him, under the soldiers’ teasing gazes, Lu Yun calmly drank less and less.
Though he drank less, the soldiers below began drinking freely. Soon they started playing drinking games in small groups, or hugging wine jars in complete drunkenness, falling to the ground and drinking wildly. After the soldiers were all drunk, there were fewer people paying attention to him, and Lu Yun gracefully stood up, walking towards the smiling Luo Lingyu in the corner.
After the soldiers were drinking freely, they also dared gather the courage to talk with Lady Luo. In the corner, several soldiers were making a commotion, wanting Lady Luo to drink. Luo Lingyu raised the wine cup to her lips, but before she could drink, a hand reached from behind. Under everyone’s surprised yet knowing gazes, Luo Lingyu turned her head to see the young lord behind her raise his head, his expression natural, drinking this cup of wine from where her lips had touched the cup.
Everyone: “Oh…”
In this era, there was no strict separation between men and women, private and public meetings between men and women were both ordinary. But intimacy between men and women under public view would naturally cause some to smile knowingly or create a spectacle. In the flowing firelight, Luo Lingyu’s face flushed from their teasing gazes, her heart pounding: Really, him drinking from her wine cup was openly teasing her.
After drinking this wine, Lu Yun looked around: “I’ll borrow Miss Lingyu for a moment, you all don’t mind?”
Everyone hurriedly replied: “Military Advisor, please go ahead!”
Luo Lingyu lowered her head with a completely red face, being pulled up by Lu Yun gripping her wrist. She was half-serious half-pretending, acting like an unwilling coquettish young lady, being dragged away by Lu San Lang. A gentle breeze blew, and Luo Lingyu was pulled along by Lu Yun holding her hand. His steps were steady, the night wind blowing his scent towards the lady behind him. The incense was faint, mixed with a slight wine fragrance.
Luo Lingyu was curious, but she also didn’t like walking around: “Brother Xuecheng, where are you taking me? Do you have a gift for me, why not bring it over for me to see?”
Lu Yun turned his head, mocking her: “Walking a few steps won’t tire you out. Sister, if you keep sitting like this, you’ll sit away the entire spring.”
Luo Lingyu secretly glared at him, annoyed that he said she didn’t like moving around. Even though she didn’t like moving around, didn’t she go out every day, barely resting at all? Even if the exhausting rushing about was to gain a good reputation, hadn’t that good reputation benefited him too? He still made fun of her, truly an ingrate.
Lu Yun led Luo Lingyu turning east and west, out of the military camp, through the grove, climbing hills. Reaching the edge of a cliff, the night fog was thick, Luo Lingyu looked down, everything was pitch black, unable to see anything. Only countless stars above, leisurely rotating. Amid the confusion, Lu Yun pulled her towards a protruding rock at the cliff’s edge, about as tall as a person.
He released her wrist. Standing before the rock, Lu Yun lit a torch with one hand, while his other hand reached out, brushing away branches, leaves, grass, and dust from the rock. He raised his chin slightly, saying gently: “Sister Lingyu, come look.”
Luo Lingyu stood behind him as his torch illuminated the clear rock face. The characters carved on the stone were sharp and forceful, divided left and right into two sections.
Lu Yun had, at some unknown time, carved onto this rock all the words she had been asking him for, that he wanted to say but never had the chance to say—
Starting from the right was “Through millennia I ask one word from you, may love to be unmoved as mountains”; the response on the left was “Through millennia I return one word to you, love shall be unmoved as mountains”. The writing style was equally magnificent and unrestrained, sharp as if it could break through stone. This kind of elegant yet wild calligraphy, which Luo Lingyu had seen many times, was the style Lu Yun was most skilled at.
Luo Lingyu’s eyes fixed in place, choking up for a moment. She stepped forward, her hand unconsciously pressing against the rock, trembling voice: “You… you…”
The poetry verses on both sides responded to each other, with the slight difference that on the left, Lu Yun’s response had a “Yun” character in the bottom right corner. But the lady’s question on the right had nothing at all in the bottom right corner. Though Lu Yun had carved the characters, he hadn’t done it in her place.
Stars glittered brilliantly overhead, the wind was strong at the cliff’s edge, Luo Lingyu’s skirts were like smoke, and her slender waist seemed floating. As her sashes flew in the wind, seemingly about to be blown away, Lu Yun stood behind her. The firelight flickered on the stone, the young lord’s raised sleeves and the lady’s tangled together, their shadows cast on the rock also overlapped.
Lu Yun stood behind, holding her hand, together brushing over the cold stone, slowly tracing over the carved characters. His voice was as smooth as a gentle zither: “Let the mountain rock be witness, let time be proof.”
“Prince’s View Mountain does not move, our vows shall forever be witnessed by heaven and earth. Even when this life ends, after tens of thousands of years, as long as the mountain rock does not crumble, this love shall not end.”
His hand held hers, head lowered near her ear, saying softly: “Lingyu, do you agree?”
Luo Lingyu’s throat felt blocked as if by cotton, she didn’t dare speak, afraid that once she spoke, she wouldn’t be able to hold back her sobs, and couldn’t stop the tide in her eyes. She desperately lacked love and desperately envied others’ happy families. The things she strived for, she didn’t believe in very much herself. But Lu Yun, Lu Yun… She sniffed, blinking away the tears in her eyes, complaining: “What vows? Only your name is there, I don’t have anything at all.”
Lu Yun smiled slightly.
He said: “Come.”
He truly was fully prepared and had made such preparations from the start. After Luo Lingyu’s complaint, Lu Yun produced a carving knife from his sleeve like magic. The lady was embraced by him from behind, he held her hand, together gripping that carving knife, after the lady’s question in those two columns of poetry, stroke by stroke, together they carved her name, “Yu”.
—Through millennia I ask one word from you, may love be unmoved as mountains.
—That love, naturally shall be unmoved as mountains.
Scattered lantern light receded into the distance, and the clamor of the human world became remote. Mountain ranges rose and fell, green as dark blue-green, reflecting the endlessly flowing river of stars overhead. In the vast world, the sounds of soldiers drinking and playing games in the distant military camp drifted away, while nearby a man and woman embraced standing before the cliff, standing before a rock as tall as a person. Red silk gauze skirts and sashes intertwined, the young lord embraced the lady from behind, pulling her hand. Left hand holding the torch, right hand holding the carving knife, breaths touching, they focused intently on carving characters into the rock.
Silent and solemn.
Not knowing where it began, not seeking where it would go. That vigorous love spoke of origins, and surged back and forth towards the distance, flowing endlessly.
Love should be equally matched, neither side hurt or both sides happy together. This feeling this night, let the mountain rock be witness, let time be proof. As long as the mountain rock does not crumble, this love shall have no regrets.
…
In Nanyang City below the mountain, Lu Er Lang Lu Xian turned over in his sleep. He too had a dream, he saw that future faster than anyone—
In March of that year, Lu San Lang married his cousin Luo Lingyu in Nanyang.
After the Nanyang peace talks ended, husband and wife returned to Jianye to pay respects to the elders.
Full of joy and harmony, it was the most heartwarming scene Lu Er Lang had seen in dreams.
In the dream, Lu Er Lang’s lips had already curved up, but suddenly his gaze froze, and his breathing became heavy. He dreamed of chaos in Jianye city, dreamed of war breaking out.
And also dreamed of… Cousin Luo’s miscarriage.