The pale green hairpin fell to the ground, like a touch of spring dropped into autumn colors, alluringly inviting one to pick it up.
The person standing beneath the tree remained cold in expression, showing not the slightest ripple of emotion.
Zanxing lowered her gaze, looking at the Evening Star Hairpin that had fallen by his feet. Gu Baiying showed no intention of helping to pick it up. After a long while, she raised her head again, her gaze sweeping past Gu Baiying.
The young man watched her leisurely.
She said nothing and bent down to pick up the Evening Star Hairpin from the ground.
The hairpin was already broken. Without the primordial soul points flickering like stars to adorn it, the Heavenly Soul Wood was like an ordinary piece of dead wood. After spring passed and autumn withered, it was no longer vibrant.
She held the Evening Star Hairpin, looking at Gu Baiying, whose expression was now unfamiliar, and suddenly felt somewhat sorrowful.
When she was at the Extreme Ice Abyss, this hairpin had already broken. During the two years in Heishi City, whenever Zanxing thought of Gu Baiying, she would always take out this hairpin to look at it. It was very strange – even though so much time had passed and she wasn’t someone with particularly good memory, she still remembered every word Gu Baiying had said when giving her the Evening Star Hairpin, every subtle expression, as if it had just happened yesterday. She always wondered what she would say when they met again. At that time, she didn’t understand the preciousness of this hairpin. When they met again, she wanted to ask him why he had given away such an important thing so easily, and why he hadn’t told her the truth when he gave it away.
And now, though he was right before Zanxing’s eyes, Zanxing found herself missing him.
That Gu Baiying of the past.
Her heart felt as if blocked by an indescribable stuffiness. Her expression remained calm, but the smile at the corners of her lips faded away.
The young man lifted his chin slightly: “What’s with that expression?”
Zanxing remained silent, and he spoke again with little concern: “It’s just a hairpin. Is that expression really necessary?”
“It’s not an ordinary hairpin.” Zanxing interrupted him: “It’s a hairpin given to me by someone very important.”
Gu Baiying looked at her strangely, as if remembering something, and casually asked: “One of your male favorites?”
On the way here, people from the Demon Clan had mentioned that Zanxing’s Chaos Hall housed seven male favorites. This news had shocked the disciples of the sect, and they had been discussing all along the way how improper the customs of the Demon Clan were and how chaotic their relationships between men and women were.
Zanxing was slightly stunned. After a while, she raised her head, stared at Gu Baiying, and said: “Yes, my most beloved one.”
Gu Baiying was also stunned, not knowing what to say for a moment. By the time he came to his senses, Zanxing had already left. Only the tree full of Biyi flowers slowly faded in the wind, leaving only traces of the illusion’s afterimage.
The young man stood in the mountain’s night colors, his figure gradually covered by moonlight. After a long while, he looked toward the bright Biyi flower on his Embroidered Bone Spear, his gaze gradually sharpening.
Zanxing hadn’t answered his question.
And why would he hang a fake flower on his silver spear?
……
Mountain nights were always very cold.
Around Siyou Kingdom, or rather Siyou Village, the trees and crops were all trimmed very neatly. If someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder passed through this place, they would probably find it pleasing to the eye.
On her way back to the house, Zanxing encountered someone. A young girl stood before a flower field. The vegetation within Mount Yue’e was sparse, making the flower field look scattered and barren. The girl’s pink dress was more delicate than the flowers, making even this desolate mountain forest appear more lively and spring-like.
The person was Putao from the Xiangling Sect. She emerged from the night, calling Zanxing’s name: “Yang Zanxing.”
Zanxing stopped in her tracks.
She still remembered this girl, the most beloved young disciple of Xiangling Sect’s leader, Rongshuang. Putao was very cute, with a temperament that was sometimes stubborn and occasionally bold and direct. That scene of her asking Gu Baiying questions on the Duoluo Platform seemed like yesterday. Two years had passed in a flash, and the girl’s features had developed more than before. Her arrogance had diminished considerably; her eyebrows and eyes were beautiful, and standing here, she was graceful and elegant.
It would be even better if she could hide the hostility in her eyes a bit better.
“You’ve seen Gu Baiying?” Putao asked, her voice somewhat tense.
Zanxing nodded.
“He doesn’t remember you anymore.” Putao said, “You’re no longer a disciple of the Taiyan Sect either. It’s best not to get too close to him.”
Zanxing smiled: “What exactly are you trying to say?”
Putao looked at the woman before her. She didn’t know that the ugly senior sister from the Xiangling Sect would become so radiant and dazzling after the scars on her face healed. Unlike Meng Ying’s sharp beauty, what was most attractive about Zanxing was the composure and vigorous independence in her demeanor. This made her beauty very hard to replace. Though there were countless beauties in the world, those as magnanimous and brilliant as Zanxing were rare. So even though she knew that Gu Baiying had lost his memories related to Zanxing, even though their current identities made it difficult for them to be together again, seeing Zanxing still brought a sense of crisis to her heart.
This sense of crisis made her watch Gu Baiying’s every move closely. Seeing the two of them holding hands along the way made her heart ache, and seeing them meet again at night immediately made her nervous.
She didn’t understand what exactly she was nervous about.
Putao bit her lip, staring at the woman across from her like a forest beast guarding its prey, her whole body radiating wariness. She said, “Since you’ve seen him, you should have also seen the Jiexin Bell on him. The Jiexin Bell didn’t ring – he no longer likes you.”
She spoke quickly and urgently, as if desperately trying to prove something. However, the woman across from her showed no emotional fluctuation upon hearing this, only looking at her as if seeing through the secrets in her heart, making her suddenly feel guilty.
Zanxing gripped the Evening Star Hairpin tightly in her hand. Just now, when she bent down to pick up the hairpin, she had seen the Jiexin Bell hanging at Gu Baiying’s waist. She still remembered Mendong saying that when Gu Baiying’s heart was moved, the Jiexin Bell would naturally ring. But just now, under the tree, in the night, the Jiexin Bell had remained completely silent.
That’s why she had suddenly felt lost.
Now this girl’s hostility toward her stemmed from her love for Gu Baiying. It was normal for people to have some selfishness when facing a rival in love, but it happened to be when she was in a bad mood, and Putao had eagerly come over. If she just kept yielding, wouldn’t that make her seem easy to bully?
Zanxing suddenly laughed.
Putao was startled and asked: “What are you laughing about?”
“I was thinking, so what if the Jiexin Bell didn’t ring? You’ve been by his side for so long, hasn’t the Jiexin Bell remained silent for you too?” Zanxing spoke slowly.
Putao’s expression stiffened, and she saw the green-clothed woman before her step forward. She defensively gripped her long sword tightly, but saw the woman walk past her. As they brushed past each other, she spoke in a low voice: “It will ring.”
It will ring.
The woman’s figure gradually moved away, and the girl stood among the flower fields, the wind blowing her dress hem. Her face was pale, and her ears seemed to still echo with that person’s smiling voice from just now, like an unbreakable curse, repeatedly lingering in her heart.
“Sooner or later, it will ring.”