Chapter 66: The Most Beautiful Gamble

 

Her young man in his golden crown and wedding attire, red-robed on a white horse, lowered his gaze and withdrew his eyes amid countless unnamed colors, gradually moving away like a vision fading into memory.

He Simu unconsciously tried to follow him along the ridge of the roof but nearly fell, saved only by He Jia Feng Yi's swift grip as she landed safely on the ground, her heart still racing.

She was momentarily dazed, then turned to look at He Jia Feng Yi with sudden understanding: "You helped him."

The talisman in Duan Xu's hand was clearly made by He Jia Feng Yi, capable of activating the Ming Pearl to exchange senses, transferring his color perception to her in that precious moment.

And now she had become an ordinary person without magical powers, which was why He Jia Feng Yi had to stay by her side—a guardian for the newly powerless.

He Jia Feng Yi fanned himself with practiced innocence, his expression carefully neutral: "Heaven and earth as my witness, the contract was between you two, the transaction was your arrangement. I merely provided a small catalyst."

He Simu glared at him. He Jia Feng Yi apologetically took out a wind-riding talisman, carrying her with him as they flew invisibly through the South Capital sky, quickly catching up to Duan Xu who was slowly riding his horse through the crowded streets.

Seeing her pursue him, Duan Xu smiled, his eyes crinkling with undisguised joy. His round, bright eyes remained unchanged in their jet-black color, a faint blush showing through his skin, and his light red lips curving upward with satisfaction.

He Simu suddenly found it difficult to watch him smile—it was too knowing, too pleased with himself.

Duan Xu's colors were too beautiful, she realized. Like the world itself had been poured into him.

"I wanted you to see me in my wedding attire. It happens only once in a lifetime—don't you think that's valuable?"

So that was his plan. His calculated gamble.

She had walked the world for four hundred years, yet this was the first time she understood the true meaning of a wedding. To merge one's most beautiful moment with another person's life, to become an indelible memory. So that even after many years, one could recall that stunning glimpse to comfort the monotony of long years.

"He gave me his color perception, so now he can only see in black and white. How will he see his bride?" He Simu said softly, a question that held more weight than she intended.

He Jia Feng Yi put away his fan and leaned on his staff, his voice unusually serious: "Indeed."

Just as he finished speaking, Duan Xu had reached the Wang mansion's gate, dismounted with practiced grace, and entered to fetch his bride. The figure in red disappeared among the crowd at the entrance. Shortly after Duan Xu entered, an uproar erupted from the Wang mansion. Someone cried out in shock as something shattered with a violent crash, instantly disrupting the festive atmosphere. Amid the chaos came urgent shouts: "Assassin! There's an assassin! Someone is trying to assassinate General Duan!"

"The bride has been kidnapped!"

A burly masked figure was seen rushing out the door with the bride, a gleaming knife held at her throat with theatrical menace. Speaking in deliberately awkward Chinese, the person shouted: "Nobody moves! If anyone moves, I'll kill her!"

The person seized one of the wedding horses waiting in the street, scooped up the fragile bride onto the horse with surprising gentleness, and galloped away. People inside and outside the gates panicked. The street was crowded with people pushing and shoving each other, hurriedly making way for the fierce horse.

Duan Xu and the Wang family's people rushed out in pursuit. Duan Xu clutched his shoulder with a furrowed brow, a glimpse of crimson blood visible beneath his sleeve—stage blood, convincingly placed. He shouted: "Hu Qi intruders have infiltrated South Capital and abducted the bride! Close the city gates! Capture the criminals!"

Servants streamed out from inside the gate past Duan Xu, rushing in the direction of the kidnapper with admirable urgency. The sun shone intensely on Duan Xu, coating his features in a layer of bright light—brightness far more intense than black and white, golden like his headdress. Duan Xu's pupils were constricted, making him appear extremely angry.

But perhaps not quite that angry.

He Simu watched Duan Xu across the crowd for a long moment, reading the performance in his posture, then tugged at He Jia Feng Yi: "Follow the bride and the assassin!"

He Jia Feng Yi placed his fan on his head to shield himself from the sun, detachedly refusing: "That's not appropriate, is it? This has nothing to do with ghosts or spirits. We shouldn't meddle…"

He Simu smiled slightly, the expression holding a dangerous edge: "I said, follow them."

He Jia Feng Yi swiftly put away his fan: "Right away."

He Jia Feng Yi immediately activated the wind-riding talisman, pulling He Simu along as they flew over the streets of South Capital in pursuit of the assassin and the supposedly helpless bride. As they drew closer, just after rounding a bend, they saw the white horse galloping alone, its back empty—the bride and kidnapper had vanished like smoke. The pursuing forces were also in an uproar, noisily discussing searching for the people and closing the city gates, running around like headless flies in a choreographed panic, saying they should notify the commander, though today's commander of the Imperial Guards was sitting at the Duan residence preparing to enjoy the wedding feast.

He Jia Feng Yi and He Simu stopped midair. He Simu turned to look at He Jia Feng Yi, who smiled apologetically: "This isn't good, is it?"

She smiled coldly: "If I hadn't lost my powers, would I need your help? And how did I lose my powers?"

He Jia Feng Yi immediately extended his hand and began divining with practiced efficiency, then said: "They went southeast."

Though He Jia Feng Yi's daily speech was often filled with useless chatter, his divination skills were first-rate and utterly reliable. They followed the direction he calculated, searching carefully, and indeed discovered suspicious individuals in the woods south of the city. A carriage was speeding westward, ordinary in appearance but moving with the unnatural speed of one in flight.

He Jia Feng Yi and He Simu appeared suddenly before the carriage, startling the horse into a frightened whinny as it reared up before coming down again, barely stopping amid a cloud of dust. A woman's cry of alarm came from inside the jostling carriage.

The coachman looked pale as he gazed at these two figures who had descended from the sky like immortals or demons. The young woman in red curved-hem robes spoke coldly: "Where are they?"

He Jia Feng Yi coughed twice and announced with official gravity: "I am Imperial Advisor Feng Yi. Miss Wang, are you safe?"

After a moment of tense silence from the carriage, the curtain was lifted. Wang Suyi, now dressed in coarse cloth with bamboo hairpins like a commoner, had unexpectedly not been kidnapped at all. She stepped down from the carriage herself with quiet dignity, then abruptly fell to her knees, bending her back to kowtow to them, trembling as she said: "I beg the Imperial Advisor to let me go."

A man jumped out of the carriage, calling "Suyi" with desperate urgency while trying to pull Wang Suyi to her feet. Unable to move her, the man simply knelt beside her, looking up at them and saying: "Now that things have come to this, I alone will bear all responsibility. Great Imperial Advisor, if you must arrest someone, take me back instead."

He Simu looked more carefully and asked in surprise: "Aren't you… Master Xiang from Yueran Residence?"

Wasn't this young man the same perfume master who had almost mixed the wrong scent for her that day when she'd gone to blend perfume while distracted by thoughts of Duan Xu?

Seeing the situation, she understood roughly what was happening and turned to Wang Suyi, asking: "Is this man your lover?"

Wang Suyi remained prostrate on the ground, her expression hidden, though tension visible through her tightly clenched hands spoke volumes. She answered: "Axuan and I grew up together as childhood sweethearts. He is our old steward's son, who later became a perfume master at Yueran Residence. We have long been in love, but couldn't make it public due to our different social stations. Marrying Young Master Duan was not my wish. Please, Imperial Advisor, grant me this favor and allow Axuan and me to leave."

He Jia Feng Yi turned his gaze to He Simu, wisely deferring: "Ancestress, what do you think about this…"

"You say marrying Duan Xu wasn't your wish, so why did you agree to marry him? You have your love to protect, but is his face and marriage less important than your love?" He Simu ignored He Jia Feng Yi's gentle persuasion and said coldly, her voice cutting.

He Jia Feng Yi wisely fell silent.

Wang Suyi paused, then gritted her teeth and said with newfound courage: "Young Master Duan is certainly excellent. Even if he's someone everyone in the world would want to marry, he's not the one in my heart. Besides… Young Master Duan knew all this. He arranged it with me early on and helped Axuan and me plan this."

He Simu was momentarily stunned into silence.

Wang Suyi had always been a gentlewoman, speaking softly, but having been raised with education and privilege since childhood, she was strong-willed and resolute beneath her outward fragility—steel wrapped in silk.

That day, she thought Duan Xu had come to reject the Wang family's proposal. She felt both happy and unhappy—happy that she wouldn't have to marry someone she didn't love, but unhappy that she still couldn't escape her parents' arrangements for her marriage, not knowing what to do. Before she could compose herself, she heard astounding words from Duan Xu—a shocking plan that seemed to come from a master strategist, not a young general. She didn't know how he had discovered her feelings for Axuan, nor why he would dare to do something so seemingly pointless, so dangerous to his own reputation.

He was like an unfathomable puzzle, impossible to solve.

Duan Xu gave his reason, and after much thought, she believed he wasn't lying—because the sincerity in his voice was undeniable.

"Young Master Duan said he had seen many so-called respectful yet loveless marriages in this world and found them extremely boring. He also has someone in his heart, the girl he loves most. Perhaps that girl won't marry him, in which case he will never marry in his lifetime."

Wang Suyi's resolute voice echoed through the forest, her petite body seeming to contain an immovable strength that belied her delicate frame.

He Simu looked at her in astonishment for a long while, the words settling into her understanding like stones into still water. Only when He Jia Feng Yi asked what they should do did she rub her brow, turn aside, and wave her hand: "Let's go."

At this moment, the Duan residence was in complete chaos. Half of South Capital's dignitaries had come to attend the third young master's wedding, now all seated in the hall, only to learn that the bride had been kidnapped. The hall buzzed with scandalized discussion, saying that Duan Xu's prominence on the northern battlefield had made him a target, that the Hu Qi people had failed in their assassination attempt at the wedding and instead abducted the bride in revenge, leaving him disgraced before all society.

As people were discussing this with relish, Duan Xu entered from outside, still in his wedding attire. His wound had been simply bandaged, his brow furrowed in what appeared to be genuine distress, his expression somber. Lord and Lady Duan immediately rose from their seats, and Duan Jingyuan ran to Duan Xu's side, pulling his sleeve and asking with childish concern: "Third Brother, how is it? Did you get her back?"

All eyes in the hall focused on him with hungry anticipation as Duan Xu slowly shook his head.

The guests erupted in commotion, voices rising in a cacophony of shock. Lord Duan's expression grew even more grave. Just as he was about to speak to appease the guests and end this farce, Duan Xu suddenly bowed to the assembled crowd and announced: "Distinguished officials, honored guests, bear witness with me. The Hu Qi people have seized our lands enslaved our people and harmed my family. This enmity is boundless, and I will never forgive it!"

Lord Duan seemed to sense something ominous but had no time to intervene before Duan Xu continued with passionate conviction: "My wife, Lady Wang, is virtuous and kind. Today she has suffered an undeserved calamity brought about because of me. I have no face to meet her, nor to face her parents. If she returns safely, I will never take a concubine in my lifetime. If, unfortunately, we cannot fulfill our marriage, I, Duan Xunxi, swear here by the glorious name of my Duan ancestors that as long as the Hu Qi people are not destroyed, I will never marry again. If I break this oath, may heaven and earth destroy me!"

Seated in the hall were the court's powerful officials and royal relatives. An oath made here could never be withdrawn—it was binding as law.

Duan Xu stood amid the stunned gazes of the crowd, his figure tall and straight, his voice firm and unwavering. He appeared as if driven to fury, trying to regain some sense of dignified righteousness by unhesitatingly cutting off all his future marriage prospects in one dramatic stroke.

To normal people, no one would make such absurd, grandiose statements unless blinded by rage and wounded pride.

Earlier, he had told Wang Suyi that in this capital, when it came to marriage, there were only these families, not many choices. Those families were now seated in the hall, and who would lose face by letting their daughter answer an oath that promised heaven's and earth's destruction?

Duan Xu bowed in all four directions, his back as straight as a pine tree. As he bent down, unseen by others, the corners of his lips curved upward slightly—a secret victory.

No one could force him to do what he disliked.

Since he had already set his heart on someone, he would not let anyone else occupy that position. He always found a way to keep that place vacant. Even if she wouldn't take it, no one else would ever sit there—it belonged to her alone.

As he rose, he saw He Simu in the distance. She stood among the crowd outside the door, watching him with a complex expression that made his heart skip.

The sunlight was bright, and summer was in full swing. She stood in a world of black and white, colors faded to reveal her silhouette, and the clear black and white of her eyes reflected the bustling crowd.

At this moment, Duan Xu suddenly understood why she loved skulls so much.

Because she couldn't see colors.

In her world, there was only black and white, light and dark, shadow and illumination. She needed an intricate outline, clear, perfect bone structures to divide light and shadow, to judge beauty in a way others never had to consider.

Her skull was also beautiful, with distinct features as if meticulously carved by a master artist.

His Ghost King, his He Simu was beautiful however you looked at her—in color or monochrome, in life or death.

He wondered if she, like how he loved her in black and white, would love him with colors and this colorful world. Surely she must love this world, and if she loved him a bit more, that would be even better—though he'd settle for whatever affection she could spare.

He took a gamble, wagering all his marriage prospects after the age of twenty, crashing into the south wall for the third time, intending to break through it to find a way out, in exchange for He Simu's momentary softness, an instant of emotion.

When he sought her in the rain of South Capital, he realized she was his unreachable destination, that he might spend his entire life rushing toward her without ever truly arriving.

As for spending his entire life…

What did it matter if it took his entire life? Some destinations were worth the endless journey.

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