Ostentatious Zhao Yao

I covered my mouth with my eyes widened, raising my head to gaze at him. The moonlight was behind him, making his expression dimly illuminated. While I was before him, my entire face was welcoming the moonlight. My facial expression should completely and clearly be filled with astonishment and stupidity.

Many years ago, under the memorial arch at the mountain gate, above the long flight of steps, after I got drunk and did that thing with Mo Qing, I fell into a deep sleep. It was not until the next morning, while I was fast asleep, he had placed the mirror around my neck.

Afterwards, I slept for more than half a month. When I woke up, I had forgotten everything that happened in those three days. So this affair with Mo Qing, other people did not even know about it.

Therefore, in Mo Qing’s recollections, only he himself should know about the affair under the memorial arch at the mountain gate. It became a secret, quietly hidden in his heart, unable to be told to anyone else.

As a result, even up until now, he had never told me about what happened that year.

So for what reason did I suddenly know about the origin of this mirror? I even said it with such certainty, so much so that I knew he gave it to me back then.

So… How did I know?

I bowed my head to curb the stumped and astonished look on my face. In the blink of an eye, I came up with a thousand lies in my mind, but each one seemed to be full of flaws and would not stand up to scrutiny. Therefore, I turned my neck back and raised my head up again, just in time to see Mo Qing was still staring at me like before. His eyes were probing, containing some unconcealable fluctuations.

I gritted my teeth: “Alright! Come hither! It was me! I’ll be respons-…”

Mo Qing conveniently plucked down a piece of leaf and pressed it against my lips, stopping the words I was about to utter, “Fold another one.” He changed the subject quite completely.

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I was somewhat stunned by him, but I still followed along with his train of thought: “I can also make a dragonfly, do you want a dragonfly this time?”

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“It’s still better to fold a butterfly.” He tilted his head, gazing at the bright moon, “Two butterflies form a pair, makes a couple.”

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I angled my head to look at him, only to see that he had already turned his face away, but his ears were slightly stained with redness.

No matter how I knew about it, in any case, I already knew about it. Since it appeared that by mentioning it, the both of us became somewhat shy, then let us just keep this tacit mutual understanding — this was his wish.

“Oh.”

I bowed my head to fold another butterfly.

I restrained the slight but intensive stirrings in my heart, quietly experiencing the throbbing that was more tantalizing than the so-called ambiguity. It was as if there was a piece of paper stuck in between the palms of the two people. The paper unbreakingly separated the two palms, but it did not affect the sensation of warmth from my palm to his.

Compared to undisguised candidness, being able to see through this obscure haziness, it really pulled at a person’s heartstrings.

As I remained silent, I finished folding the butterfly in my hand. Mo Qing’s eyes glanced towards the side, peering at the butterfly. Right at the same time, the previous butterfly that lingered on his fingertips also flew up, circling around the butterfly in the hollow of my palm twice and immediately carrying it away. Together they were spry and lively. At first glance, the two butterflies looked so delicate, but their fluttering demeanor was so stunning.

I took hold of Mo Qing’s hand and walked slowly behind the two grass butterflies. Beside me, Mo Qing’s lips held a shallow curvature, as the warmth from the hollow of his palm made me fall in love.

This night, the wind and the moon on Chen Ji Mountain carried an inseparable tender love that I had never felt before.

When the Hour of the Rat was quickly coming to an end, Mo Qing blinked and took me back to Wu E Palace. In fact, if it was not due to the time constraint, then I would possibly walk hand in hand with him around Chen Ji Mountain for three days and three nights.

*Hour of the Rat (子时 – zǐ shí) – between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.

After Zhi Yan’s soul returned, it did not take long for Mo Qing to take Wan Jun Sword and blinked away.

I knew that he had gone to Su Mountain to look for Shi Qi and Qin Qian Xian in the magical arrays. Mo Qing was probably fed up with such days like this, where he had no other choice but to restrain himself every single day.