34 Carry me on your back

An Bing Qing heart was pounding so hard that she felt it colliding against her chest. Her heart's erratic flutter could be clearly heard by her ears as she ran away from the lake.

Her mind was chaotic, full of overlapping thoughts; but there was only one image reining in it, her husband's figure bathed by moonlight.

Now that she had seen him in this lifetime, she felt as though it had been aeons since she had last seen him. It was as though everything was vanishing. The sentiment grew stronger when she remembered his pair of pitch black eyes; they overflowed with the same gentleness of the past but she knew it, she wasn't inside them anymore. She felt suffocated; she only wanted to get out of this forest right now.

'Oh, Bing Qing, you really did try hard trying to deceive yourself, isn't?' she questioned herself with pressed lips but she didn't need an answer, she already knew it. The reason behind not wanting to meet him in this lifetime it wasn't because she was weak and could cause trouble at all; but it was because she was afraid, she was afraid of him looking at her with eyes that where looking at a stranger, devoid of the feelings she had perceived in the past.

Her pretty eyes moistened once again and her fine tears flew into the wind, becoming smaller drops like shattered glass…

She didn't know when, but she went out of The Forbidden Bamboo Forest and just as she halted her steps, she plummeted on the verdant ground.

Her mind had cooled down now as well as her tears, making her sat motionless with a blank mind.

Shortly after, the sound of sword cutting through air and splashing blood could be heard not far from where she was, waking a little part of her awareness.

Her body instinctively stood up. She staggered a little as she did so; her head felt dizzy. She blinked and rubbed her temples before walking towards an illuminated area; this place was practically desolate at this time.

She reached the streets of the boisterous city; this area had many story and recreational areas.

She walked aimlessly with her brows furrowed a little through the people who flocked here and there for some time without noticing the various pair of eyes watching her.

At the same time, some tens of meters in front of there, there was a handsome young man seated on a rooftop watching the moon with a cup of wine in hand.

His white eyelashes fluttered as he lowered his eyes to take a sip of the pink-coloured wine but before he could drink of it his purple pupils saw a white figure with reddish eyes walking soulless within the crow. Strangely, she didn't collide with any of the people around her.

'Little girl…' he briefly thought.

He was about to divert his sight from her when he saw a fancy looking young man and his four guards tailing her.

What he saw later surprised him, though his cool expression didn't change.

He saw her tilting her head a little and just when the young man was about to touch her shoulder, she disappeared, leaving behind the five-man team dumbstruck.

As sharp as his eyes were, he saw her swiftly sliding through the people and taking seat at a restaurant with tables laid outside.

At length, he took a sip of his wine when he saw the fancy young man's team not finding her, even though she was sitting at only fifteen meters from where they were but as troublesome as a beauty alone in the night can be, he noticed a more troublesome kind of people lurking around; they were clearly just waiting.

He didn't stop to think and just turned his sight at the moon again.

An Bing Qing whose dizziness increased was eating some appetizers along with the special liquor of this establishment as she enjoyed the cool breeze outside the restaurant.

There were people passing by that place and people seated on other tables which eyes from time to time would look at her but she was uncaring about them.

After her third cup of liquor, steps from three or four people could be heard approaching towards her direction but before they could reach her, their steps staggered back and at the same time someone took seat opposite her.

Silky white hair fall as the man sat, he turned his head back and stared at them with gelid eyes before turning back. Not only the people who received such a gaze felt their hearts froze but also the people seeing the lively. Of course, there were people who weren't affected but with the competition being tomorrow, very little would look for trouble; therefore, everyone went back to their business. But there were still some persistent gazes.

An Bing Qing frowned with displeasure when she saw a shadow on the table.

She raised her pretty eyes and her frown was released, she beautifully smiled and said with a melting tone, "Zi Hui, you have come at the perfect time".

She pushed to him some appetizers, took another cup and served him some liquor. She said as she passed the cup to him, "Here, you drink with me. This is the special liquor of this restaurant. It is pretty good. Of course, it isn't as good as the ones in your collection".

He didn't take the cup of liquor immediately and just looked at her smiling face with reddish eyes and nose with the same colour. Now, he took his time to regard her.

'What could have happened?' He asked to himself.

'No, this isn't the first thing I should have thought but how did she know about my wine and liquor collection. Wait, the former isn't even a question that should have crossed my mind'. His devilish purple eyes iced and the surrounding temperature grew colder with this thought.

"Zi Hui, my hands are getting tired".

He took the cup without thinking.

When he came to react, his hand froze.

At length, he placed the cup on the table and didn't drink of it.

Time passed and Xue Zi Hui listened to her blabbering with lowered eyes.

Every now and then, she asked him how did the wine taste that he ended up drinking more than a cup of liquor.

After more than an hour, she jumped to her feet and she almost fell but she supported herself with the table; her head felt heavy and she blinked, making her looks very charming.

"I-i… we need to go now", she said as she focused her eyes on Xue Zi Hui but she couldn't discern well his handsome face.

At long last, after failed attempts at seeing clearly his face, she walked towards him, supporting herself with one of his hands on the table.

Guessing her intention, he stood up and turned around to lead the way.

"Wait".

He stopped.

She let go of the table and reached for his robes. She shook them a bit from behind and said with a spoiled and drowsy voice, "Zi Hui, carry me on your back".