Chapter 199: The Dust-Covered Pearl
Chapter 199: Chapter 199: The Dust-Covered Pearl
Xiao Wu understood that the Lady didn’t want him causing trouble. Her status was special, so he shouldn’t act impulsively. It was just that—
He suppressed his anger, glanced again at the weeping woman and child, and pulled out his own half-piece of flatbread. "That woman and child are in a sorry state," he said. "I’ll give them mine."
Liang Wan smiled faintly and handed him her own dry flatbread. "Keep yours. Take this."
Xiao Wu took it. ’The Lady must feel sorry for them too,’ he thought. "Alright."
Liang Wan climbed onto her horse and settled herself. "Give it to the man."
Xiao Wu stopped in his tracks, stunned. ’I wanted to beat that man up! Why would the Lady want to give him food?’
Seeing him just standing there, dumbfounded, Liang Wan prompted, "Give it to him, and then we’ll leave."
His face dark, Xiao Wu reluctantly walked up to the man. "This is for you," he said sullenly.
Free flatbread?
The passing refugees all stopped, their faces filled with desperate longing.
The man was in the middle of pummeling the woman. The moment he saw the flatbread, his eyes lit up. He forgot all about her and, in a state of shock and joy, reached out to take it. But before his hand was halfway there, someone snatched it away.
Furious, the man’s eyes bulged as he lunged forward. He began to grapple and fight, panting heavily, as if they were struggling over a bar of gold, not a piece of flatbread.
Some of the onlookers tried to snatch the flatbread, while others swarmed Xiao Wu, demanding food from him.
Xiao Wu’s own half-piece of flatbread was also snatched away.
In moments, a crowd had formed, acting as if they had gone mad.
Xiao Wu was swarmed by the crowd. He barely managed to break free, scrambled onto his horse, and galloped after the Lady, who was already riding ahead.
Looking back, he saw the brawling people had collapsed into a chaotic heap.
Xiao Wu didn’t dare linger. To his horror, some people were even trying to chase his horse.
He broke out in a cold sweat. ’If I had given the flatbread to the woman and child...’
He shook his head and spurred his horse onward.
Liang Wan heard the hoofbeats chasing her from behind and slowed her pace slightly. She glanced at Xiao Wu’s tunic, which had been pulled askew, but said nothing.
Xiao Wu’s face flushed. He tugged at his tunic, looking embarrassed. Even with his exceptional skills, he couldn’t withstand so many hands tearing and pulling at him. If he’d been any later, he was afraid they might have stripped his clothes right off.
Liang Wan lowered her eyes with a small smile and looked away from him.
As sunset approached, they finally reached Pingzhou. From a distance, they could see soldiers patrolling the city walls, which were heavily fortified.
They would likely be shot into pincushions before they even got close. ’How can we reveal our identities to get inside?’
Xiao Wu frowned and turned to look at Liang Wan. She didn’t seem anxious to enter the city; instead, she was looking around at something.
"Lady?" Xiao Wu followed her gaze, trying to see what she was looking at.
Liang Wan hummed in response. The food shortages in Pingzhou City hadn’t started just a day or two ago—the condition of the refugees along their route made that obvious.
Liang Wan looked away from the distance and back at him. "Let’s go look over there first. We’ll enter the city later."
At her word, Xiao Wu followed Liang Wan as she circled the nearby area. The Lady didn’t say a word the entire time, her brow furrowed as if she was deep in thought.
The more Liang Wan saw, the colder her heart grew. As far as the eye could see, everything that could be dug up or foraged for was already gone. It had gotten to the point where people were about to start stripping bark from the trees to eat.
The situation in Pingzhou City was even more dire than she had imagined.
’It makes sense,’ she thought. ’If those people weren’t driven to desperation, why would they abandon their homes and flee the city?’
’Guarding an empty city like this, yet he still planned to send me out of the Qi Country... Has he already prepared for defeat? Does he plan to die with the city?’
Liang Wan lowered her lashes, a stinging sorrow filling both her eyes and her heart.
She sighed softly.
The sound of approaching hoofbeats made Xiao Wu look over. He quickly whispered a warning, "Lady."
When Liang Wan lifted her gaze, she found herself looking directly into a pair of cold, somber eyes.
He wasn’t wearing armor, but a plain, black tunic. His former, almost ethereal beauty, once as lustrous as cold, white jade, had been ground down by the battlefield, leaving behind hard, cold edges. His brow was filled with a grim, murderous air.
He was no longer a deity looking down on the mortal world from on high, but a General, stained with dust and weathered by the elements.
They faced each other from atop their horses, so far away, and yet so close.
Liang Wan’s heart was pounding without end. She had imagined their reunion countless times, but she never thought it would be so unceremonious and abrupt.
There was no impatient embrace after a long-awaited reunion, no stern, sharp-tongued rebuke for defying his arrangements. He simply watched her in silence.
Liang Wan found she didn’t dare to look at him—or perhaps, she couldn’t bear to.
He was like a man covered in frost and snow, his entire being exuding a cold indifference that made it impossible to guess his emotions. Only from those pitch-black eyes could one glimpse an anguish so thick it could never dissolve.
A single glance confirmed what she had suspected. Liang Wan lowered her head, unable to hold back her tears any longer.
Lu Xiu swung himself off his horse. Ever since he’d heard she had run away, he had been waiting for her.
His footsteps drew near, heavy and deliberate.
Liang Wan felt her body go light as a pair of long arms lifted her from her horse. An instant later, she was enveloped in the embrace from which she had always drawn warmth and reassurance.
Liang Wan tried to raise her head to get a good look at him, but his chin held her fast. His hand clamped around her lower back, holding her so tightly she was completely molded against him, unable to move.
Not a single word was spoken. If not for the way his arms tightened and tightened again, with a force that felt like it would crush her and meld her into his body, it would have been nearly impossible to sense his true thoughts and emotions.
Liang Wan closed her eyes, pressing herself against his chest and wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. The air she breathed was filled with the scent of cold pine, tinged with wind and frost.
She couldn’t hear the wind or the birds, couldn’t see a thing. It was as if he was the only thing she could sense in the entire world.
Only at this moment did she realize that she missed him.
She missed him so, so much. More than she even knew.
But this discovery, which should have been a joyous one, made her heart ache so much she couldn’t stop crying.
She had once said she wanted to tear out her heart, but she never knew what that would actually feel like. Now, she understood.
The tighter she held him, the more her heart ached.
Liang Wan simply buried her face against his chest.
After a long time, she heard his hoarse voice. "Why didn’t you listen?"
Liang Wan’s tears were hot, soaking his tunic.
She pulled back a little, staring at the tearstain on his tunic. She sniffled and smiled. "I couldn’t bear to part with you."
Lu Xiu loosened his hold slightly and looked down at her, his eyes as deep as a well. He let out a nearly inaudible sigh.
Liang Wan couldn’t resist reaching up to touch his face. Where was the proud and precious pearl she once knew?
"My pearl is covered in dust."
Her teasing tone was laced with sorrow.
Lu Xiu caught her hand as she tried to pull it away, pressing it back against his cheek. He watched her quietly, the corners of his lips lifting into a slight smile.
Their eyes met, and she smiled as she gazed at him.
Lu Xiu turned his head, his warm, soft lips planting a kiss in her palm. It sent a tremor through her heart, stirring familiar emotions.
He let her go and lowered his gaze. "You shouldn’t have come."
Liang Wan studied his face intently. "Even if it’s for the last time, I wanted to see you."
Lu Xiu gave a slight nod, his voice restrained and soft. "Alright."
Liang Wan paused for a moment, then took his hand and looked at him steadily. "Didn’t you once say that in this whole world, I’m the only one who can kill you?"
Lu Xiu’s eyes narrowed slightly. He said nothing, a faint smile the only thing left on his lips.