Chapter Eighty-Three: Meteor Shower (2)

Update Time: 2013-07-09

Even the stars at the edge of the sky seemed to sense her delight and grew restless, each one trailing silver lines across the night as they fell to earth, setting the stillness ablaze with resplendent starlight.

Lian Yue was entranced by the spectacle before her, her mouth forming a perfect “o.” She had seen shooting stars before, but never so many at once—such a sight shook her to her core.

Suddenly, she caught herself, pressing her hands anxiously to her lips, hurriedly closing her eyes and making her wishes in silence.

“I wish for my eldest sister to recover and enjoy peace and prosperity.”

“I wish that my eldest brother and Sister Lan, my second brother and Yao Yao, may have their love fulfilled.”

“I wish for Father and Grandmother to remain in good health.”

“I wish for Zi Ling...”

Had Lian Yue opened her eyes at that moment, she would have seen the tenderness in Yu Wen Lingxi’s gaze, soft and unfathomable as he watched her, quietly making a wish of his own: “To have found the one true heart, and never part till old age.”

He then turned his eyes away, watching the fleeting beauty before them.

Unaware, Lian Yue had already made wishes for nearly everyone close to her, even including her nephew whom she had never met. Then, remembering something else, she quickly opened her eyes to steal a glance at Yu Wen Lingxi beside her, and as the final meteor streaked across the sky, she added, “May good-hearted An Ming suffer less and find happiness in the days to come.”

The last shooting star burned out, vanishing at the horizon. Only then did Lian Yue gasp with a small “oh!” and, with a bitter little face, lament, “How did I forget myself?” Her eyes stubbornly searched the sky for a long while, but in the end, she could only admit defeat.

“What did you wish for?”

Lian Yue’s disappointment vanished in an instant. She gave Yu Wen Lingxi a playful look and replied, “I won’t tell you! If I say it, the wish won’t come true.” Then, with a mischievous grin, she added, “But I made a wish for you, too!”

Yu Wen Lingxi’s heart warmed, and even the night seemed gentler in his eyes. “If you could be a star, would you choose to be one that shines forever, or a meteor that blazes for but a moment?”

Lian Yue answered without hesitation, “Of course I’d be a star that shines forever in the sky, so I could watch over everyone I care about from above.” She then glanced at Yu Wen Lingxi. “What about you? Which would you choose?”

Yu Wen Lingxi gazed into the night and did not reply. His answer was simple: if Lian Yue wished to be a star that shone forever, he would be the one closest to her. If she chose to be a meteor, he would accompany her, blazing together even if only for a single breath.

But these were words he could not yet speak aloud, so he answered only in his heart.

Seeing he would not answer, Lian Yue pouted and turned her gaze away.

A hundred paces from them, three figures in black blended into the night, watching the pair perched in the tree.

“I told you, this mission is just helping the young master woo a girl. Who would’ve thought, cold as he seems, he still has this side to him,” one of the men teased, his voice buzzing like a fly.

“Seventy-one, you’d better hope the young master didn’t hear that. Did you forget how sharp his hearing is?” Forty-seven hadn’t expected these two would be his companions tonight. The sight of Seventy-one gave him a headache, and the thought of having to clean up after Seventy-one’s recklessness made him want to curse Thirteen for assigning them together.

Sixty-nine glanced helplessly at the indignant Seventy-one, then said to Forty-seven, “Don’t mind Seventy-one, just let him talk. Our voices are so low, the young master shouldn’t hear us.” But even Sixty-nine didn’t quite believe his own words.

Sure enough, when the three of them looked up, Yu Wen Lingxi’s gaze swept over them, subtle yet unmistakable, sending a chill down their spines.

“All right, you two take the first watch. I haven’t slept in two days and a night—I’ll rest until midnight, then we’ll switch.” Seeing Seventy-one and Sixty-nine nod, Forty-seven found a branch and leaned back, closing his eyes. Though he called it sleep, he didn’t dare truly rest, only drifting in a light doze.

Compared to their quiet watch, Yue Lingjun and his group, who’d just entered the forest, were anything but calm.

Qiao Zhi eyed the pile of wild boar corpses at his feet with disgust, kicking a few aside. He drew a brocade handkerchief from his breast to wipe the blood from his jade fan and muttered, “Is this forest a boar’s nest? Why do they keep coming? This is the third wave already.”

He glanced nervously at the emerald eyes gleaming in the woods, a wave of helplessness washing over him.

Qing Luan, pulling his sword from a nearby boar, agreed, “It’s certainly odd. It’s as if someone’s controlling the boars to stop us.”

“Could it be the black-clad man who kidnapped the young lady?” Qing Feng, standing guard beside Yue Lingjun, eyed the green glimmers warily.

Yue Lingjun’s expression was grim. He had planned to hurry through the forest by night, following the markers to find Yue’er as quickly as possible, but they had barely entered before being attacked by a wave of wild boars.

A single boar was nothing, but in numbers they were troublesome. After one assault, they’d barely gone any distance before another group appeared. So it went: stop and go, barely making progress.

They had considered taking a detour, but the boars seemed to be tracking them. No matter how they tried to avoid them, the boars would soon find their trail. Now, they were surrounded by countless shining green eyes. The recent slaughter had cowed the beasts for the moment, but it would not last—they would attack again soon.

It was uncanny, enough to make Yue Lingjun start believing Qing Luan’s theory.

In the midst of the group, Qiu Yifei stood trembling, his clothes soaked in cold sweat. He knew these boars were after him—just like before. Qiu Yifei began to suspect the tales of demonized boars in old storybooks might be true. Years had passed, yet the moment he entered the forest, they found him again.

This, Qiu Yifei would take to the grave. He would never confess to Young Master Yue or the Sixth Prince that he was the source of all this trouble. If he did, there would be only one outcome—they’d toss him to the boars and leave him to his fate.

He also wondered why he had such terrible luck with this forest, half-convinced he’d offended the mountain spirit and was now being punished.

Doing his best to make himself invisible, Qiu Yifei hoped everyone would just forget about him. But fate would not be so kind.

Qiao Zhi, of course, would never let him off. “Soothsayer Qiu, what’s the meaning of this? Did you encounter this before?”

“Your Highness, yes, I did. Not so many, just two or three at a time, but even so, I nearly lost my life. If not for you, the young master, and the others’ martial skills, we’d be done for,” Qiu Yifei babbled, his mind racing.

“We can’t go on like this. Let’s take to the trees. Qing Qiu, Qing Luan, take him with you,” ordered Yue Lingjun.

Qiu Yifei wanted to protest—if the boars were out, the trees would be even worse, for surely there’d be leopards more ferocious than the boars. He had suffered terribly at their claws before, nearly losing his life. The ground was safer by comparison.

But before he could speak, Qing Qiu and Qing Luan had seized him, one on each side, and leapt into the trees. Qiu Yifei screamed, “No! It’s dangerous!”

Hearing this, Yue Lingjun immediately pushed off a tree and landed back on the ground, the others quickly following suit.

Once his feet touched earth, Qiu Yifei finally let his pounding heart settle, clutching his chest and gasping for breath. Just a little more and he could have felt those predators’ breath on his skin.

This was the one thing Qiu Yifei had gained from his years in the woods: besides running fast, he could sense the presence of beasts within ten paces. It was these two skills that had allowed him to escape the maws of boars and the claws of leopards time and again, surviving to this day. Now, faced with the ordeal once more, he truly didn’t know if his luck would hold.

Yu Wen Lingxi fixed him with a gaze. “What’s in the trees?”

“Leopards... there are leopards in the trees,” Qiu Yifei managed to stammer.

Qiao Zhi signaled to his men, and soon one of them leapt up into the branches. He returned in short order, reporting, “Your Highness, there are about seven or eight leopards in the nearby trees—they nearly attacked me just now.”