Chenglei tied the horse nearby and paced to and fro for a minute ruminating whether he should follow her or not. As her footsteps got softer with each step she took away, he could feel his heart thumping and his legs automatically followed her.

This woman! She told me where she is going purposefully, right?

As he got there, he could see her undressing with her back facing him. There were bushes around him but where she stood was clear making him perfectly camouflaged with the perfect view. He averted his eyes at first but he could not keep his eyes away for more than five seconds and his eyes darted back at her. She removed everything except her undergarments (which greatly displeased him) and pulled the pin out of her hair making her hair fall down on her back like a waterfalls except her hair was dark as the moonless night that reached upto her waist.

At that time another image popped in his head. The same place, the same position, even he stood at the same place... But the woman stood in front of him had extremely beautiful golden hair reaching upto her knee and was bare naked.

Pain...

His heart hurt for some reason. But why?

Wait... Didn"t the previous Empress is said to have golden hair too? And... Isn"t the one in front of me the previous Empress? So why is her hair black now? If so how come I could have known her...? For her to stand naked in front of me... How close were we?

"You are, My Prince"

That woman said that to him that day when she was drunk...

"Your brother..."

She said to Junjie mentioning the one in her heart ..

"My brother..."

Junjie addressed that person when talking to her that day in the roof top. His brother only addressed him as "Third Brother ".

Could it be... I"m the one in her heart..?

If so...

Why did I leave her?

How come I forgot her?

He remembered the pain in her eyes at times when she thought about her past...

Am I the reason for her pain?

Ah! It hurts... He leaned on a tree clutching his chest. He felt like his heart would rip off...

He looked at the pond where she was doing perfect backstrokes. Her black hair floated around her and her pale skin contrasted the greenish waters of the pond. Her long hands moved gracefully and her feet danced like the tail of a fish sending ripples around her. Somehow the scene before his eyes seemed familiar as it merged with another image...

It was a little girl ...probably six years old. She had black hair too.

"Chenglei...", she smiled as she was doing backstroke. "Am I doing it right?",her cheerful voice echoed in his head.

Who is that?

Didn"t... Didn"t this woman call me Chenglei too? I felt odd that I didn"t find it weird.

No one calls me by that name.


Did I know her even when she was a child?

Wait... Is the little girl having the scar on her chest? Yes, isn"t she?

It is her! I"m the one she loves!

Happiness surged through his heart.

But...

Why? Why can"t I remember her then?

Then there was another scene that came in front of him. The same little girl with black hair... Her eyes were dark like obsidian yet shone like a moon...

She was lying in his lap, Both of them were wet. He remembered the pain in his heart seeing her motionless and the happiness that followed seeing her eyes open.

"Come home with me..."

"If you smile at me like this..."

She said those words..

I said something to that girl.. What was it? Right... I wanted her then... She was little and so I made her promise me...

"You belong to me and I to you!"

Then... Then there it was.... How did I forget? That little birthmark over her upper lip... I wanted to kiss her lips... But, she was little and so I didn"t...

This woman has the same birthmark...

Is it coincidence?

Then he remembered the painting he had on him that day he killed s.h.i.+hong. He knew it was a painting done by him but he didn"t remember ever painting that... The painting of a little girl with black hair, wearing green clothes playing with a white tiger and two of its cubs.

He wanted to throw that away but he felt like his soul would be ripped off of him if he did that, so he still has it.

This woman... She was playing with that big cat Junjie raises fearlessly that day, right?

Why couldn"t I connect the dots before..?

Who is she? Divine ruler? Huang Mingxia? Táng JiaXing?

No... I called her something else... Xing...? Yes... Also...

Moon... She always feels like a moon right? This one too...

My moon!

Ahhh!

He wanted to scream as his head felt like it would explode.

" If you remember, she dies. If you tell her, she dies! That"s the deal we made remember?", a voice filled with hate echoed in his head.
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Noooo! Not her! She cannot die! Don"t.... Please... Not her...! She must live!

Chenglei held his aching head and knelt on the ground, unable to bear the pain.

Xing who was swimming, listening to Chenglei"s heartbeat felt his beat being erratic and thought maybe it was because he is having a nosebleed like before. That guy suddenly turned to a pure-hearted maiden. What a drag!

But then she felt that presence... The presence she despised from the bottom of her heart.

Zhu Rong!

"I"m going to kill you, Zhu Rong!", she got out of the pond and ran towards Chenglei to see him clutching his head with both his hands and leaning on the tree sitting in a fetal position and tears started dripping from her eyes.

"Come at me, mortal!", Zhu Rong chuckled. She knew if that mortal attacks her she"d have to stand in the judicial hearing of the heavens and she would be given the worst punishment there is.... Become an inanimate object for a thousand years.

Wouldn"t it be fun if she turned to a rock or something? She won"t be able to express her feelings to anyone!

"How dare you hurt him?", Xing screamed as her eyes started to glow but before she could act, she felt Mazu entering the scene and she dragged Zhu Rong from there and a portal opened to their realm and both of them disappeared.

"Why did you?", Xing screamed from her stomach at Mazu and she could feel Fei Lian near her.

Chenglei was still grumbling in pain as his entire face was red and he was clenching his ears hard with his hands and it looked like he"d pull his ears off unable to bear the pain.

Xing could not bear to see Chenglei suffer as she squatted in front of him and hugged him close to her and about to ask Fei Lian, "Help him" but before she even asked, Fei Lian touched Chenglei"s head and his entire body got relaxed as if he fainted.

If she asked him, he"d have to ask something in return from her. He didn"t want that and so he didn"t let her ask him.

"He"ll wake up soon!", Fei Lian spoke gently. His heart broke seeing her dripping wet from head to toe with the little cloth on her sticking to her body and with the water dripping through her face, he couldn"t tell if it is her tears or just water.

"Why....?", she uttered before slumping on the ground still hugging him, "Why is this happening...?". She was holding Chenglei close to her heart and kissed his head, "Why can"t we be left alone? Why can"t he rememeber me?", her body shook as she cried and Fei Lian sighed seeing the pathetic state she is in.

Your man made the deal! No one can help, not even the Heavenly Emperor!

"Fei Lian!", she called suddenly and her reddened eyes looked at him pleadingly, "Please.. Please make him remember me... I beg you.... Please! I"ll give you anything"

Fei Lian could not bear to see that child in such desperate state completely losing her rationale asking a G.o.d for a deal in exchange for anything.

Does she realise the danger?

The original deal Chenglei made was, her life in exchange for her memories. Even though her life wasn"t in danger, that was how it was implied when the deal was made. So, If the deal is reversed, she will have to give up her life. That would be worse since both won"t be happy then. But judging by the emotional state she is in now, she"d say that she"ll accept such deal.

"I"d rather die knowing he remembers me than live without him remembering me!", he knew she would say that.

Better not tell her.

There is only one way for now. It is for her to accept everything as it is and look forward to their future together accepting the fact that he won"t be remembering their past anymore. Make new memories together to remember not worrying about the past. He still loves her anyway.

But Fei Lian knew, with the emotional state she is in now, she won"t be able to accept his advise. So he decided to give her time and let her decide for herself.

"Little one! Go get changed", he rubbed her back. She looked broken and as if all her strength is gone.

"I"m going to kill her... I will kill her!", she gritted her teeth making Fei Lian sigh. Even then, he won"t remember her.

"Get up, Little one! He"ll be awake any moment now and you look extremely inappropriate to face him", he patted her head. Xing looked at herself and knew he was right.

Please hold on my child! I"ll see if there is a way!

"Come on..", he urged her and Xing placed Chenglei leaning on a tree and got up where there were a couple of Fei Lian"s maids who helped her dress up. They even helped her dry her hair.

As they finished, Chenglei woke up and Xing looked at him with expectations but the eyes looked back at her were just the carefree, playful way he used to look at her now.

So he still doesn"t remember...

Chenglei, whose last memory was watching her undress had a little guilty feeling but it seemed like she had cried as he looked at her eyes and she seemed a little out of sorts.

This woman! Wasn"t she happily eating honey just moments ago? What made her sad, suddenly? How fickle is her emotions?

With no second thoughts he grabbed her hand and got to his horse and pulled her up, making her sit in front of him with one of his hand around her waist and another on the reins of the horse.

Xing was surprised by his sudden action when he whispered in her ears, "Let"s go to the Manor I"m building next to Falin Port city. It"s at the end of this mountain meeting the sea"

Xing felt enveloped by Chenglei and as his warmth was spread into her, the anger and the resentments she had, lowered and she got the reins from his hands and rode the horse while he wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.

Xing who felt tickled by his breath in her ears tried to get out of his grip but he only hugged her closer.

"Do you want me to fall down?", he said in an irritated tone hugging her pet.i.te waist.

She needs to get a little fatter!

Xing had no other way than to let him hug her and she felt calm with him hugging her too.

He is with me and he is fine. This is good!

"I must really like the scent of agarwood", he whispered in her ears with his lips almost touching her ear, " I was in the Eastern forests a couple years back and there was this tree which I didn"t know was agarwood tree back then... Some bandits were attacking us and for some reason I stood frozen in front of that tree and didn"t even notice an oncoming arrow. Suddenly this wolf came in front of me accepting the arrow in its neck and died immediately. It was as if it already wanted to kill itself and it ended up doing it protecting me.. ", Chenglei paused.

He froze near an agarwood tree..? Could it be that he remembered me a bit? So I do have hopes that he will remember me, right?

" He must have lost his mate. You know grey wolves kill themselves if their partner dies, right? Such loyal beasts!", Xing found her gloominess had reduced a bit.

" Is that so? ", he continued," Good for them. And... I find you attractive maybe because of that agarwood scent",he rubbed his nose on her cheeks and slightly kissed her ears.

"But that scent becomes more alluring on you", he mumbled, "The same scent in my hands doesn"t smell that good", he kissed her neck slightly.

"What do you think? Do I like agarwood because of you or do I like you because of agarwood?", his hand tried to move up and Xing grabbed it before it went up her waistband.

Ah! This pervert!

"I think you are just h.o.r.n.y, Lord Li!", she chuckled. All her negative emotions somehow went away as the wind grazed her face as the horse galloped with the playful voice of her man sounding in her ears.

"Is that why you tried to violate me last night?", she added.

"Come on!", he pouted, "I thought you said that you won"t bring that up!"

"Did I?"

"You liar!"

"You h.o.r.n.y old man!"

"I"m not old!"

"FORTY is old!"

"I"m not forty... How many times..."

The two bickered on their way to the Jin Manor forgetting everything else and just enjoying the company of each other.

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