Chapter Fourteen: Blowing the Xiao Flute to Summon Dragons (Part 2)

  Standing quietly beside the distant Di, at this moment, Wenping's heart is filled with a sense of peace. There is no heaven, no earth, no plum forest, moonlight, or snow; in his ears and heart, there is only this one strand of Xiao sound, this one strand of clear and desolate yet seemingly omnipresent Xiao sound.

  She didn't know how long the sheng had been sounding, maybe it was a long time, or maybe it was short. However, the sound of the sheng finally stopped, and it stopped very abruptly. At the moment when the sound of the sheng suddenly stopped, Wenjing was stunned for an instant, until she heard a voice, a calm and clear voice: "What a wonderful 'Plum Blossom Three Movements'! Miss, this song can be said to have lingered in my ears for three days, with its lingering sound never fading!"

  Along with this voice came a few rounds of applause that were neither too loud nor too soft.

  Until she heard this voice, Wenping suddenly realized the purpose of Yuandai's visit tonight. She looked at Yuandai with some shock, but all she saw was Yuandai's slightly regretful expression. Sighing, she handed the xiangfei bamboo flute to Wenping, and Yuandai furrowed her brow, gently flexing her somewhat stiff hands: "Playing the flute on a winter night is indeed not suitable!" She murmured, with a hint of desolation on her face.

  On the other side of the water forest, two people were slowly approaching. One was sitting calmly in a wheelchair, while the other was pushing it slowly. Wen Ping didn't even need to take a closer look to know who they were - Baili Zhao and Yue Yao.

  The mountain forest was quiet on a winter day, and the distant voice was not loud, but it was enough to make everyone present hear clearly.

  The forest was quiet for a moment, and then the soft laughter of Baili Zhao rang out: "Since you know it's not suitable, why do you still want to do it?" His tone was flat, but there was no other emotion that could be detected.

  She naturally blew a light breath onto her own hands, trying to warm them up faster. Yuandai calmly and lightly replied: "It's just temporary heartache!"

  "Blood and sweat? What a blood and sweat!" Bai Li Zhao lightly laughed, but his eyes were completely devoid of amusement: "I heard that the Xiao family's other estate is in an uproar, Miss, your blood and sweat has come at just the right time!"

  Yuandai didn't respond to his words, but instead turned her head sideways and gave a signal with her eyes to Wenshu. Wenshu was taken aback by the look in Yuandai's eyes, which were cold and stern. He wanted to speak up, but was intimidated by Yuandai's gaze and had no choice but to lower his head and quietly back away. Seeing this, Baili Zhao also gestured to Yue Yao with a wave of his hand.

  The forest was quiet as before, but it wasn't until after a while that Baili Xiao slowly said: "Miss, do you know? Today I originally wouldn't have come!"

  It's been a while since Yuandai came out, and the temperature of the hand warmer in her arms was gradually not as warm as before. She lightly sighed, and Yuandai curled up her legs. Sitting with her knees hugged, she pulled both sides of the silver fox cloak she was wearing over herself, wrapping her entire body inside. Only after doing all this did she slightly raise her head and reply: "If Your Highness wants to leave, just please go ahead!"

  Her eyes narrowed slightly. Baili Xiao said calmly: "If I leave, won't all of Miss's plans be in vain?"

  Suddenly hearing these words, Yan Dai was stunned for a moment, and after being dazed for a moment, she shook her head gently and said, "The king is wrong!"

  A pair of ink eyebrows rose in unison, and Baili Zhong asked back, "Was I wrong?" His gaze fell on Yuandai's body, and at this moment, he couldn't help but want to laugh. He also felt even more puzzled about what he was doing. Having grown up in Pingjing since childhood, although he had long been accustomed to the dry and cold weather of Pingjing, it didn't mean that he liked to leave the warmth of a house with a burning stove on a winter night and go outside to feel the chill of the snowy sky. Not to mention the woman's completely ungraceful behavior in front of him at this moment.

  However, he still came and has no intention of leaving until now.

  She sighed and said slowly, "The king is indeed wrong! Because I came this time, actually there was no intention of plotting at all!"

  He let out a noncommittal "oh". Ba Li Zhao didn't say anything, but his face clearly spelled out the words "I don't believe it".

  The moonlight is hazy like water, and the heaven and earth seem to be covered with a layer of gauze. Gazing at the distant mountains under the moonlight, which adds a few points of elegance, Ba Li suddenly feels a sense of peace in his heart, and this feeling of peace, he has not felt for many years.

  "What are you here for?" he asked, and with a change in his mood, his tone also became much milder.

  "What for?" After repeating it vaguely, Yuandai thought carefully and said calmly: "Of course, it's for you!"

  Her candor almost made Baili Zhui fall out of his wheelchair, and after a bitter smile, he said: "You know, I haven't had this feeling of not knowing how to react for a long time!" For no reason at all, he felt that he didn't dislike this feeling.

  She gazed at Baili Zhou from afar, her distant eyes clear and pure: "I came for you, but also for myself!" She said some inexplicable words, yet her expression was melancholic.

  Although Bailing Su was extremely intelligent and wise, at this moment he felt as if he was surrounded by clouds and mist on a mountain, completely unaware of what was going on.

  It seemed that she had seen his doubts, and Yuandai lightly laughed, but suddenly asked: "In your opinion, it's all the same who you marry, isn't it?"

  He glanced at her with a slightly changed expression, and Ba Li Zhao replied calmly: "To others, yes! To Miss, no!"

  If this remark were heard by any other woman, she would probably blush immediately and be so shy that she wouldn't know what to do. However, when it reached Yu Dai's ears, it only made her eyebrows move slightly: "Is it because I might be able to cure the prince's legs?"

  Previously, when he said that sentence, Baili Zhao actually had some ulterior motives in his heart, but he didn't expect Far Dai to be so sharp and practical. He gazed at Far Dai for a moment before saying, "I don't know if anyone has ever told you this before, Miss, but you're really too intelligent!" This sentence was no longer a compliment.

  For a moment, Yuandai still didn't answer his question, but instead said: "Actually, in the past, I had the same idea as Wangye!" Baili Zhao was taken aback and hadn't figured out what Yuandai's words meant when Yuandai continued to say indifferently: "I always felt that marrying anyone wouldn't make a big difference to me..."

  Baili Zhou slightly raised an eyebrow, without saying a word.

  Yuan Dai's voice was faint and distant, somewhat unstable: "But today... I suddenly feel a little scared..."

  She didn't like this feeling of fear. All along, she hadn't thought that getting married was scary, only because she knew that sooner or later she would get married anyway. However, when the time came, she became afraid. In fact, she was very clear that from any aspect, the person in front of her was undoubtedly her best choice now. But deep down, she didn't want to choose him. Only because this man was too dangerous for her, and she couldn't control him.

  Unexpectedly, Yuandai suddenly brought up this topic with him. Baili Zhao raised an eyebrow in surprise: "At midnight, Miss led me here to the plum forest to play the flute, just to talk about this?" Although his tone was still calm, a hint of coldness seeped through.

  This chilliness would have been enough to make people shudder if it were directed at someone else, but when used on Yuandai, it was apparently still not sufficient.

  She raised her eyes calmly and glanced at Baili Zhuo, who said with a distant smile: "As I said earlier, the reason I came here is just for my own sake!" As she spoke, she suddenly felt a little bored and couldn't help but sigh.

  There was no reason, after hearing this, Bai Li Zhao only felt that his original dissatisfaction had dissipated. He looked at Yuan Dai deeply and couldn't help but shake his head. He rarely had the feeling of not being able to see through someone, but he had to admit that towards the woman in front of him, he was becoming more and more unable to see through her: "You're very carefree?" he asked thoughtfully.

  After thinking for a moment, Yuandai shook her head and said, "I like doing whatever I want!"

  "Follow your heart's desire!" After a moment of silence, Baili Zhao let out a soft snort: "Who in this world doesn't like following their heart's desire?"

  After nodding slightly, Yuandai Fang said in a low voice: "The prince is absolutely right! In this world, who doesn't want to do as they please? But those who can really do as they please are almost non-existent!" After pausing for a moment, she suddenly asked: "Does the prince still remember Guanyin Mountain?"

  He nodded slightly and said calmly, "You said there are four wishes in life!"

  "I wish for no thoughts, no worries, no anxiety, and no fear!" She spoke these words extremely slowly, one by one, with great difficulty and heaviness, as if just these few words had exhausted all her energy.

  Staring at her, Baili Zhongyan said bluntly: "I won't be able to do it!"

  Almost instantly, Yuandai rolled her eyes and changed her tone: "I know!" she said irritably.

  Seeing her like this, Baili Cao suddenly found it interesting: "At Guanyin Mountain, you said those things to me with the intention of keeping people at bay, didn't you?" He asked Yan Dai, but his tone was one of certainty, clearly he had known all along.

  Yuan Dai was speechless. In fact, when she met Bailing Zhao for the first time at Guanyin Mountain, she had indeed thought so. Bailing Zhao was undoubtedly a proud person. Generally speaking, proud people would not force others to do something against their will.

  A tactful yet clear refusal is usually effective.

  Although she didn't say it out loud, Baili Zhao seemed to have understood her meaning. With a hint of self-mockery, he slightly raised the corner of his lips and said calmly: "Actually, you're not wrong, it's just a pity that it's three years too late!" The him from three years ago and the him from three years later had changed too much in terms of temperament.

  "Three years ago..." Suddenly hearing him say this, Yuan Dai couldn't help but let out a "heh" and laugh: "Three years ago, you probably wouldn't even have looked at me straight in the eye!" She said it very lightly, very naturally, without any self-pity or resentment.

  Baili Zhong heard this and smiled: "I have something I want to say to you, but I don't know whether it's suitable to say now or wait until later."

  Wu Wei glanced at Bai Li Zhao and said casually, "If you must say it, then it's better to say it sooner rather than later!"

  Baili Zhao slightly nodded, and immediately asked in a soft voice: "A person who claims to be able to cure my legs, but has a sickly complexion herself, withered and pale. Tell me, should I trust her or suspect her?" (Your support is my greatest motivation.)