“Your… your sword looks beautiful. That jade on it is truly lovely.” Yu Wensang tried hard to calm her tone as she inquired.

The man lowered his eyes to lift the jade and look at it. “This jade has been with me for many years.” After a slight pause, Bai Zhi turned his gaze back toward the window. “This jade is very important to me.”

Hearing him say this, Yu Wensang could no longer describe the astonishment and excitement in her heart. She had wanted to ask if he was the person who had been harmonizing with flute music outside the manor, but after thinking it over, she ultimately didn’t ask. After standing by the window for a while and seeing that the sun was already setting in the west, she remembered that Third Prince Brother had told her to return to the manor early, so she took leave of Bai Zhi.

After bidding farewell to the man and leaving Linxiang Tower, she couldn’t help but walk and smile on the street. She hadn’t expected to find that half piece of jade today. After walking happily for a while, she suddenly remembered something and hurriedly walked back, wanting to retrieve the portrait the man had painted for her.

But when Yu Wensang reached Linxiang Tower, she happened to see the man leaving by carriage. Yu Wensang called out several times, but due to the bustling crowd, she wasn’t heard. Seeing that the carriage wasn’t moving fast, she followed and chased after it. After walking for several streets, the pedestrians around gradually thinned out, and the road became increasingly smooth. The carriage finally stopped beneath a plaza, and Yu Wensang leaned against a nearby wall, gasping for breath.

But just as Yu Wensang was catching her breath, the carriage ahead began moving again. This time, Yu Wensang had no strength left to chase and could only watch as the carriage rounded the plaza and disappeared.

“I wondered where you had run off to! Could it be you’ve truly taken a liking to the mortal realm and sneak down here whenever you have time?” When Zi Feng’s voice came, Yu Wensang first felt joy, then shock.

The mortal realm—she had come to the mortal realm! Did that mean the person just now was a mortal?

With a darkened expression, she turned around and immediately saw Zi Feng on horseback in his purple brocade robe. His handsome features were heroically spirited, leisurely, and confident with a touch of unrestrained wildness. He was now looking at Yu Wensang with smiling eyes. From the hoofprints left on the ground, he had been following Yu Wensang for some time, slowly walking behind her.

“There’s something I need to explain to you when no one else is around.”

…

…

“Me?” Zi Feng was suddenly somewhat confused.

Yu Wensang quickly took out the fragrance pouch from her bosom and handed it to him, “I misunderstood you last time. Here, I’m returning it to you.”

Seeing Yu Wensang speak with such seriousness, Zi Feng’s expression became slightly solemn. “You’re foolish. When others get something, they’re afraid the owner will come looking for it, yet in this world, there’s someone as simple-minded as you.”

“Wrong is wrong. Since I wronged you, naturally, I should return it to you.”

Zi Feng didn’t argue with Yu Wensang about this. He casually looked at the fragrance pouch Yu Wensang held in her hand, but didn’t take it. Instead, he squinted and examined Yu Wensang for a while, gradually showing a smile on his face with an arrogant expression, “I said before that since you took this fragrance pouch, you must take good care of it and not think of returning it to me.”

Yu Wensang was immediately stunned, not expecting there to be such a person. Thinking he was still angry about her earlier misunderstanding, she quickly frowned and explained, “That day, I truly didn’t intend to take your belongings. It’s just that I also have an identical fragrance pouch.” As she spoke, fearing he wouldn’t believe her, Yu Wensang quickly took out her own and showed it to him.

“Yours?” Zi Feng slightly raised his eyebrows, gently bent down to reach out, and picked up the fragrance pouch from Yu Wensang’s palm with his fingers. Holding it up to the sunlight, he squinted and read the small embroidered characters, “Holding your hand. It pairs with the mine line.”

“From the mortal realm’s ‘Book of Songs, Beifeng, Beating Drums’—’ Through life and death we are bound together, this we promised each other. Holding your hand, growing old with you.” Yu Wensang nodded and recited.

Seeing Yu Wensang recite it so seriously, Zi Feng scrutinized her for a moment, then suddenly burst into loud laughter, swaying back and forth on his horse.

Yu Wensang had only recited the poem casually, but it caused Zi Feng to laugh so heartily. She thought it over but hadn’t recited it incorrectly, leaving her completely puzzled.

After laughing for a while, Zi Feng noticed Yu Wensang’s confused expression. Suppressing his laughter, he bent down close to stare at Yu Wensang’s face, his voice softening somewhat with teasing charm, “Are you making a vow of commitment to me?”

Upon hearing this, Yu Wensang immediately knew he had been mocking her. Feeling somewhat angry, she furrowed her brows, “I can’t be bothered with you! Give me back the fragrance pouch.”

Zi Feng looked at the fragrance pouch between his fingers, then elegantly hung it on his waist. Finally, he looked at Yu Wensang with great satisfaction and smiled, “Courtesy demands reciprocity, and besides, you’ve already pledged your heart to me. I should keep some token of our engagement. This fragrance pouch is perfect!”

“You… you’re talking nonsense! Shameless!” Yu Wensang angrily pointed at him and reached out to snatch it back, but he easily dodged by pulling his horse aside.

“Don’t keep calling me shameless. If others hear, they’ll charge you with contempt for the divine clan. Besides, though my face may not be first in the six realms, it’s still extraordinarily handsome. When you girl says such things about me, aren’t you speaking against your heart?”

Yu Wensang looked up very grudgingly at Zi Feng’s leisurely expression on horseback, regretting a thousand times over that she had come to return the fragrance pouch. She should have just thrown it in the river.

Seeing Yu Wensang hanging her head and sulking, Zi Feng tried calling her name twice, but Yu Wensang ignored him. Only then did he pull the reins forward a step and look down at Yu Wensang, “Alright, alright, you’re quite petty too—no fun at all. I’m leaving!”

After walking his horse two steps and seeing Yu Wensang still standing in place, Zi Feng pulled the reins back two steps to return. He lazily supported himself on horseback and looked sideways at Yu Wensang, “Fine, fine, I won’t tease you anymore. Your father king, has already come to see me today. My phoenix clan and your Yuwen ancestral clan made a marriage agreement a thousand years ago. This fragrance pouch was the token exchanged by our ancestors back then. Your father, king, calculated carefully—it comes down to you and me. In another hundred years, when you reach the proper age for marriage, I will take you as my immortal consort.”

“What?”

…

Originally, Yu Wensang thought she would wait until after her two hundredth birthday, then choose a suitable age to marry Zi Feng, descendant of the phoenix clan, and that the mortal man she had met twice would never appear again.

Until one afternoon, as she sat in the hall practicing calligraphy, someone opened the realm gate and led in the mortal emperor’s great army, using a sharp arrow as a signal to shatter all peace and tranquility.

A sharp arrow burst through the window. The jade brush fell from Yu Wensang’s hand to the ground, followed by thunderous battle cries and the sound of palace gates being slowly pushed open from outside the hall. Yu Wensang stood on tiptoe and climbed to the window to look out. She saw a bright yellow figure leading countless armored people pouring in through the palace gates…

That person was the human emperor.

Only then did Yu Wensang suddenly remember that day behind the railing by the riverbank, that strange and handsome man had answered her question—she had just never believed it.