When your heart was overwhelmed by despair, do you have the courage to renew yourself? When you lost everything, you could merely live on your own. Fortune and misfortune were always inseparable twins. They would be in awe of you when you were powerful, while they would defeat and destroy you when you were decadent.
And you could do nothing but follow the tide, like as quicksand disappearing in the world. The only thing that could support to survive was your obsession.
When the plum outside the window bloomed beside you, even if you could not see, the fragrance into your nose was a gift of your tenacity. Even if you did not have the unique enchanting look, you still had an active heart to feel the prosperity of all things.
Sitting in front of the window, Wuyou felt torn about the past. It was a great fortune to live. She had not been beaten by the death of Linghe, nor had she been beaten down by the poison. When Xiao Qi told Wuyou that poison would hover over in her body, she did not wipe tears any longer. "That"s right! I am still alive. Being alive is the best counterattack to fate."
Outside the palace wall, fireworks cracked and the preys in the mountains yelled shrilly. Inside the majestic palace, any unusual noise would scare Wuyou. To create a peaceful atmosphere for her, Xiao Qi had dismissed the palace servants. But Wuyou herself was fully aware that there was a wall separating her from the outside world. No matter how Xiao Qi indulged her, she could not appreciate the goodliness of the world any longer, and sadness would haunt her forever like a shadow.
The happiest moment for Wuyou was when the night fell, she could miss a person at will, recalling the past with her husband again and again. Only then could she feel the lost-and-restored warmth, as if Xu Linghe had never left her. When Wuyou tried to enfold forcibly the momentary soft affection, loneliness dominated her. Helplessness swallowed her and pushed her into the abyss of sorrow. Like a deserted child, Wuyou huddled in the corner and sealed herself up in her own world.
Xiao Qi looked at Xiaoyao through the yarn curtain, eager to give her some reliance. But except safeguarding her in the distance, he could do nothing. He could not warm her loneliness unless he was the man.
"Xiaoyao, it is chilly at night. Don"t freeze yourself here."
"My Linghe is dead. What should I do?"
"You still have a mother and a sister."
"But I can"t live without Linghe. For me, there can be no one in the world but him."
"Xiaoyao, don"t you want to destroy Chidi and kill Di Qing?"
"So what if I can kill them? My Linghe will never come back."
"You still have a child."
"What? Say that again."
Wuyou clutched his collar emotionally. Xiao Qi kept coughing as his neck was tightened. Wuyou realized that she had flipped, and then loosened Xiao Qi"s collar slowly.
"I am afraid you feel sad when thinking about my cousin, so I dare not tell you. What"s more, the poison inside you can"t be cleaned up now, because I am afraid of hurting the baby in your abdomen."
"Cheating me... you are cheating me."
"I will not lie to Xiaoyao."
Xiao Qi"s spiritual finger touched the hem of her clothes. When Wuyou saw the scene in her abdomen, her tears kept flowing. The transparent bloodline was linked to a little heart. "The tiny baby is my child." Wuyou wept tears of joy.
"Xiao Qi, thank you, when I am in the most desolated time."
"Xiaoyao, be happy. Be a good mother, a mother your child will feel proud of."
"Yes, I will. I will be strong as a mother. I will survive long."
It was also the coldest season in the Fairy Kingdom, but Wuyou felt peaceful inwardly. Her little baby was growing up slowly in her belly, waiting for the day to meet with her at the right time.
Waiting for the baby to come, Wuyou felt less depressed with the arrival of the child. Although time had pa.s.sed by, her love for Xu Linghe only increased day by day.
The child in the belly was all Wuyou had. Without Xu Linghe, she had a child at least and she would put her feeling of missing him into the child.
When Wuyou had been pregnant for six months, it was inconvenient for Xiao Qi to take care of her any longer. So he called the dismissed palace servants back. The entire imperial palace was full of exultation. Wuyou became cheered up because of the baby in her belly, and her body got chubby day after day.
In September, the Fairy Kingdom ushered in the annual Pilgrimage Festival, which was a rumbling time of the year in the Fairy City. The crowds gathered in all directions for the sake of looking at the Emperor"s appearance with reverence. So it was also the busiest day for Xiao Qi, since he would stand on the city tower to accept his people"s blessing.
Before the child was born, Wuyou needed to make some clothes for her child. Although Xiao Qi was very generous to her and her unborn child, Wuyou thought she"d better prepare some herself. When Xiao Qi was absent, Wuyou decided to come out of the palace to buy some clothing. As a mother, Wuyou preferred to do it herself to make up for the father absence of her child.
It had been a long time since Wuyou breathed the air carefreely. Streets in the Fairy City were covered with white snow. Although Wuyou came there early, the clothing shop had been swarmed with visitors. For convenience, Wuyou had changed her countenance and wore a mask before going out. "Hope my look will not scare others."
Palace servants followed Wuyou closely. Since they knew Wuyou"s ident.i.ty, they knew that the king of fairies, Xiao Qi, would vanish the nine generations of their families if there was something wrong.
Wuyou was picking out and comparing carefully, from material softness to their colors, to hope that it was comfortable to wear. Finally Wuyou selected a bright yellow fluffy material.
"Just this one."
When the little counterjumpers handed the material to her, a Spirit Power penetrated the crowd and pressed hard toward Wuyou. Realizing the matter was going badly, palace servants protected Wuyou tightly. And Wuyou protected her belly, hoping that her baby would be fine. The entire clothing shop was in a total mess by the Spirit Power. Wuyou was surrounded by the palace servants, each of her step guaranteed by them.
Wuyou looked around, finding no suspicious people, but she knew that someone was peeking in the dark. It seemed that there was a spy in the palace, so her schedule had been fully monitored by others. By taking Wuyou away, the opponent could have more chips at hand. Wuyou smiled wryly. "I have nothing to do with the Fairy King, but in his people"s eyes, I exist as a Queen."
"Leave the woman and spare you not to die"
No sooner had the voice faded away than a spiritual whip split the palace servants away and rolled Wuyou up to the clouds.
"Tell your master, if he wants to save her, come to Mount Yi to see me."
Looking at the clouds, the palace servants had nothing to do, fearing that any boldness would kill their Master, so they spread out to the tower directly.
The shackles of the whip made Wuyou"s stomach upside down. "The robber will not show any sympathy to me, even though I am pregnant." Uneasiness crawled on Wuyou, and she who had never been desperate before was extremely frightened. But the person who had robbed her had never appeared since then. In the entire Mount Mu Guang, there were only Wuyou and quiescent mountains.
"The person who took me away must know me well! Even though I am a blind pregnant woman now, he/she is still worried that I will run away."
In the beginning, Wuyou lived in a panic. When the person who sent the food to her left, she begged piteously. Her eyes could not see the light, so she could not distinguish day and night. What she could do was wait quietly, waiting for the miracle, but it was distant and vague for a pregnant woman.
Accompanied by the child in the belly, Wuyou counted the days inwardly. When the birds in the forest sang, Wuyou knew that the new day began, and she would come out of the hug gropingly. She did not remember how many times she had walked on the path. Different from the initial fear, Wuyou could number how many steps along the path was. The familiar and strange path became a place where Wuyou and her unborn child had the best time. Probably the robber might have died in his/her boots because he/she could not get the chips. Wuyou never encountered a beast.
In the middle of the night, the mountain wind rose. Wuyou was wakened up by the creak of withered branches. She had a nightmare again. Perhaps the baby in her belly was also awoken by the noise, and Wuyou felt a little pain in her abdomen. She sat down by supporting herself on the edge of the bed. During this month, every time Wuyou could not sleep, she would have a walk outside and would not return until she felt sleepy.
Out of the door, Wuyou drumbled along the path. It was October, so the mountain wind blew with some chills. Afraid of hurting the baby in the belly, Wuyou groped blindly back. With only two steps, she heard the footsteps faintly, and then she hid in the bushes. The footsteps suddenly stopped when closed to the hut.
"Father, what you did will provoke Xiao Qi, and will bring disaster to the fire tribe."
"I just want this theft to taste the bitterness of losing the beloved one."
"But we had an agreement that we would let her go as long as we got the cities back, right? We haven"t said we would kill her."
"Daughter, look at what your father"s legs have become. After being beaten to the cliff, I was on my last legs. I crawled back step by step. I was King of the fire tribe, but Xiao Qi impaired me in such condition. You know, I feel I am a living death."
"What a woman"s soft nature!" Nascent Soul frowned with disappointment.
"Father, let the woman go. She is pitiful enough and is still imprisoned here by us."
"As a leader of the fire tribe, you do not think about your tribesmen, but show pity to the Queen of the enemy instead. You..."
"But... I would rather meet Xiao Qi on the battlefield with weapons."
"My daughter, even if you and I fight against him together, we are not his opponents. Are we able to win him head-on?"
"Father, Xiao Qi has been waiting in Mount Yi for a month, but you took the woman away in the Mount Mu Guang. If Xiao Qi knows that you are fooling him, he will trample our fire tribe. Do you want tribesmen to be defeated like homeless dogs?"
Wuyou who hid in the bush realized why she was robbed. It turned out that Nascent Soul from the fire tribe came to take revenge, but she became a bargaining chip for others. Wuyou knew how hard Xiao Qi had struggled to win the country. "How will he exchange his city for a woman irrelevant to him?"
"Will I die here? No, never. The unborn baby needs me! Even if I linger on with my last breath of life, I will struggle to live." She sped up her pace. The path, which she had walked for numerous times, led to somewhere she did not know. Behind her rang the chasing footsteps. Wuyou just wanted to scoot forward. The hovering Spirit Power chased after her, and chains of Spirit Power tied her tightly. Wuyou tried to struggle, and the baby in her abdomen was trembling. Wuyou knew that her baby was scared. "Who can save my baby now?"
"Father, she"s just a pregnant woman. If it goes on like this, she will die ."
"When I was. .h.i.t into the cliff, Xiao Qi showed no mercy to me."
Wuyou shielded her abdomen firmly. Everywhere the Spirit Power went, Wuyou felt piercing pain, but she could not think too much then.
"Phoenix, save me."
"Do you know me?"
Phoenix looked Wuyou up and down. However, the woman before Phoenix had disguised her look, so it was impossible to see the real one. Wuyou took an opportunity to grab the hem of Phoenix"s robe. Next second, her robe was contaminated with bloodstain. It was then that Wuyou felt the pain.
"I, Wuyou, messed up your luxurious robe."
The woman who was kneeling on the ground looked so humble that Phoenix could not connect her to Wuyou, the Commander in Chief of the Fairy Kingdom.
"Commander in Chief, how can you look like this?"
Phoenix could not believe that the person in front was Jiang Wuyou.