Feng Luodi saw her parents.
That city she had lived in for twenty-four years and that house she had lived in for twenty-four years. She could see the calendar on the wall. It had already been thirty-four months since her death.
She knew that she was currently in her soul form. She didn"t know how her soul had managed to break away from Feng Luodi"s body and come to the place she had once yearned for day and night.
She saw her own black and white posthumous portrait placed beside a guqin. There was a flower vase in front of the photo frame and a yellow wintersweet was inserted in it. She could even smell the flower"s strong fragrance.
The display in the living room hadn"t changed one bit. Her dad liked to sit on the armchair facing the balcony. When it was a sunny day, the sunlight would s.h.i.+ne the brightest on that spot. Today"s sunlight was also very dazzling but her dad wasn"t the one sitting there at this moment. Her fat cat, Bobo,was lazily lying there and licking its fur.
The layout in the kitchen was still the same. On the dining table was her mum"s favourite blue-grey checkered cloth. There was a white porcelain bottle placed at the corner of the table and it contained the everyday flowers her dad brought home after his early morning stroll.
There were still different coloured sticky notes stuck on the refrigerator door. Her parents used them as reminder notes for things that they shouldn"t forget. This turned into a habit for her parents after she entered university, staying at a boarding school.
Her dormitory was at the second storey. Luo Di didn"t know what feelings she harboured as she floated upwards.
As expected, Luo Di wanted to smile but was unable to smile. She wanted to cry but a soul had no tears.
Her room also hadn"t changed one bit. Her bed was placed further away from the window. On her wardrobe were the doodles she had scrawled in the past. She remembered that her mum chided her for a very long time because of this. At that time, her dad even exhorted her mum by saying that she had quite a bit of imagination and had the air of some master when drawing. Following that, her dad began to praise her continuously, claiming that she wasn"t bad in her studies and that she was amazing because she could play the guqin and she could paint. He was proud to have her as his daughter.
Then, her mum would follow along and coldly say that she was also her daughter. She was the daughter that she"d carried in her womb for more than eight months before she gave birth to her.
Luo Di raised her hand to cover her mouth. She knew that no one could hear even if she made a sound but she still couldn"t refrain herself from doing so. Her hand was like a s.h.i.+eld, a s.h.i.+eld to prevent her from breaking down.
There were a few pots near the window. She had planted those a very long time ago and it was for the sake of being spiteful and prove her mum wrong. She a.s.sured her mum that she could also keep living things alive and ran to buy a Clivia plant and a Ladyfinger Cactus.
It was easy to raise the Ladyfinger Cactus but the Clivia plant was a little fragile. She always either forgot to water it or loosen the soil, but luckily the Clivia plant stayed alive and well. She only found out after a very long time that her mum had always been secretly helping her to take care of those plants, thus giving her a basis to show off her ability.
Even now, those two pots of plants were still alive and well.
Luo Di pushed the door open, but then she suddenly heard the sound of a door opening, coming from downstairs.
Luo Di quickly floated down. As expected, she saw her parents come in, carrying vegetables and grumbling about one another.
Her dad was still like how he was in the past. He liked to wear a s.h.i.+rt and a knitted vest. He was very refined and looked a lot like a middle school teacher. However, the amount of grizzled hair at his temples and the wrinkles between his eyebrows had increased again. The pair of spectacles on his face was particularly conspicuous. Her dad had aged.
Her mum still liked to coil her hair into a low bun and used that same long clip with complicated decorative designs to fasten her hair. She had piously requested for that by taking three steps and kowtowing when she went to travel in Tibet after her college entrance examinations. Her mum, who doted on her and liked to nag at her to take good care of her health and find a boyfriend, had aged.
Luo Di realised that she was still unable to cry. Ah, she was merely a soul.
"Quickly go and prepare the meal. That bunch of children are about to arrive." Her dad nagged.
"Got it. You have to come in and help too. Don"t just stay idle and do nothing." Her mum retorted.
Even when her parents had finished preparing a whole table of dishes, she was still a little lost as to what day it was today.
The doorbell rang. Luo Di wanted to go and open the door out of reflex but her hand went past the door handle.
Her mum hastily walked over to open the door.
It was a bunch of familiar faces behind the door.
At the door stood Xiao An and Ah Yue, her childhood friends. There were also her bosom friends, Minmin, Xiaoxiao, Ah Lu, and her colleagues, Zhenhua and Tianjun.
"Auntie, Uncle, happy 30th wedding anniversary. We wish you both a lifetime of love and happiness."
Xiao An then pa.s.sed them a huge flower basket. Luo Di realised that there were many small gift boxes and red packets[ref]Money is usually wrapped in it and it is used as a gift
[/ref] in it. However, although her mum appeared very attentive on the surface, she was in fact very careless, so she wouldn"t notice those for a while.
Everyone at the table was eating, chatting and joking. Then, they took a photo together. All of them were smiling.
How she wished that she was also with them.
This was the source of motivation that had supported her in staying in the Xuan Dynasty for thirty-four months. What she prayed for was that she could call out to them, eat with them and joke around with them.
She had lived in this place for twenty-four years. This was her everything. It was very difficult for one to abandon one"s whole life, so she mercilessly chose this life instead of that dream-like thirty-four months.
However, there was constantly a cold voice beside her ear, telling her: You must treat the twenty-four years here as a dream. You should continue living on properly as Feng Luodi.
*See, despite experiencing enormous sorrow, everyone had pulled themselves together and they had moved on, living on resiliently.
Luo Di just wanted to take another step forward. Those smiling towards the camera lens were smiling at her and waving at her.
However, she was unable to take that single step. The world around her spun and she was still a soul.
Then, the scenery before her eyes suddenly changed. It was the deserts of the North. It was the battlefield.
The two armies were waging war with each other. They were similarly powerful armies but they had different kinds of armours. Everyone was fighting at close quarters and roaring. Swords and spears clashed and it was a scene of carnage. The ground was already flowing with blood sufficient to form a river but no one stopped.
If it was a battlefield, then there would be Situ Muye. This was what Luo Di thought. She looked around, hoping to spot that figure but she didn"t see him.
She noticed that this was a battle taking place on a winter day. The snowy mountains in the distance set off the nearby green meadow. At one side, Yunzhong Pa.s.s was similar to an isolated city that had fallen into enemy hands. Under the setting sun, it was full of sorrow. It was even snowing today, rare in the deserts of the North. However, on this particular day, the snowfall was unusually heavy and as snow landed on the two armies" flags, it appeared as if they were carving pictures. The frigid wind replaced the drummer in beating the drums. The sound of drums resounded, causing people"s hearts and soul to tremble along with it.
Why wasn"t Situ around? Even though she was a soul, Luo Di also started panicking. She had seen it before in the barracks. That was the Northern Army"s flag. That was the Northern Army"s clothing. Moreover, she saw how the little soldier who had once delivered meals to her get his head chopped off by the enemy troops with one swing of the sword. It was as if it was in slow motion as that person collapsed before her eyes. His blood spurted out in her direction and went past her body before it landed on the ground and mixed together with other people"s blood.
She ultimately discerned that the Northern Army was actually in a disadvantageous position.
To think that the invincible Northern Army was actually on the losing end! Luo Di panicked. She anxiously searched for Situ"s figure but she still couldn"t find him.
Why did things turn out like this? Luo Di didn"t understand why she was still in the form of a soul. Other than drifting here and there, she couldn"t do anything at all. She could no longer call Situ"s name. She couldn"t find Situ. She was left with absolutely nothing.
Luo Di was still unable to cry. The Northern Army was constantly crushed while the enemy troops followed up with their victory and pursued them as they retreated.
Luo Di saw the enemy"s flag. There was a fierce-looking wolf head. That was the Huns"…the Huns" flag.
Luo Di thought of the Third Prince, Li Huanba. She thought of that person"s sinister and despicable expression. She thought of that person"s vicious and cruel means.
Where was Situ? It was impossible for him to lose against Li Huanba, right?
She was still panicking in her heart. She continued to search all around when all of a sudden, she heard a rallying cry that pierced the heaven.
The sound of horses neighing could be heard. Along with the knife-like frigid wind, the yellow sand mixed with snow came sweeping over. After the yellow sand was a procession of troops with armoured soldiers and horses. It was the Northern Army"s reinforcement troops. The one at the lead was the Situ Muye she missed.
That person"s gaze was stern. He held the Hong Ming Scimitar in his hand and there was still blood on his sword that had yet to dry up, mirroring his silver armour. Under the sunlight, he was glistening just like a hero, but he was a hero to begin with.
Luo Di wanted to cheer but the defeated Northern Army was already cheering. Situ Muye was the hero who had won every single battle. He was the eagle of the deserts of the North. He was the G.o.d of War, unrivalled to this day.
Yet, Luo Di"s smile froze on the spot.
She personally witnessed the Huns shooting ten thousand arrows at one go. All the arrows were aimed at Situ and his chest was pierced with arrows. As blood streamed out from the corner of his mouth, it stung her eyes. He simply gazed in her direction just like that as he fell down from Whirlwind and breathed his last.
This couldn"t be…Situ Muye would never lose. That person would never die.
"No…don"t!"
This was a whimper from a nightmare.
"Imperial Physician, Luodi has already been unconscious for three whole days. You still can"t do anything about it?"
If it wasn"t for Covert Two holding him back, Situ would have rushed forward and fiercely hauled the imperial physician up by his collar and choke him until he was half dead.
"Your Grace, it"s not that I"m not trying my best." It was already late autumn but the imperial physician was still drenched in sweat.
"This Miss originally has an old illness. Furthermore, she caught a cold these past few days and it has been intermittent and didn"t fully recover. Right now, she"s also excessively grieved. This would be detrimental to both her body and mental health. Now that her high fever isn"t subsiding and her nightmares endless, not only do we have to a.s.sist her with external medicine, we also need this Miss to tide over this by herself."
"Tide over this by herself?!" These few words abruptly emerged through Situ"s clenched teeth. "If we need the patient to pull through it by herself, then what use do we have for you, an imperial physician?"
The imperial physician wiped his sweat again. When he saw Situ"s fierce expression that looked like he wanted to swallow him whole, he hastily nodded. "I will try again…try again. Perhaps acupuncture would help."
Only then did Situ let him off. He turned to Feng Luodi lying on the bed.
At this moment, Feng Luodi was still in her nightmare and muttering words they couldn"t hear clearly. Her small face was abnormally ashen and accentuated her flushed cheeks. Her forehead was also covered with sweat.
Feng Luodi had already been in this state for three whole days. Only the Heavens knew how traumatised he got after he caught up with Feng Luodi and saw her in despair and pain that day. The trauma still hadn"t ended yet.
He wouldn"t let her go again. From now onwards, regardless of Feng Luodi"s decision, he wouldn"t be softhearted and let her go ever again.