Chapter 146: The Moon in the Sky and the Moon in the Water

"Mister has been getting busier and busier lately…"

Night falls.

The evening breeze turns into a gentle murmur, brushing through every corner of the room before drifting out the window as the air currents shift.

Outside the window, the full moon is exceptionally bright.

It is so bright that it masks the stars, leaving only the moon in the sky.

In the silent night, the full moon reigns supreme. After covering Xu Xi with a coat, the girl stands beside him, quietly gazing at his face.

Her eyes blink softly.

Looking at Xu Xi's face and his silhouette, Wu Yingxue recalls every bit of the past six months.

After discovering the truth about the Thirteen Provinces of Daqian,

Xu Xi did not choose to make it public.

Firstly, doing so would cause panic among the people, serving no purpose other than inciting chaos.

Secondly, it would easily alert the enemy, causing the demons of the Hundred Thousand Mountains to notice something was wrong, which would lead to the failure of the breakout plan before it even began.

And so,

During these six months, Xu Xi only informed a few trusted individuals, such as A-Niu, of the specific news regarding the demons.

As for the rest of the populace, he exerted a subtle influence on them,

Gradually deepening their acceptance of the harsh reality.

When the time was ripe,

He would make the final public disclosure.

In places unseen by the masses, Xu Xi silently planned everything, preparing for the future breakout from the Hundred Thousand Mountains. It was an extremely arduous task.

Wu Yingxue was helping.

But she felt her role was limited.

For the vast majority of matters, she required Xu Xi's assistance to truly do them well.

"If I become more capable, Mister will be able to rest properly, right?" Wu Yingxue thought, her tone melancholy.

It was a sense of dissatisfaction with her own helplessness.

Driven by this dissatisfaction, the girl sat at the other end of the desk and picked up documents regarding livelihood and farming, hoping to help process some of them.

"Hmm… first do this and that, then do that and this."

Flipping through, checking, and thinking seriously.

Holding a brush in her hand.

Resting her chin on her hand.

Once she thought of an answer, Wu Yingxue would add annotations and mark key points.

Time spent in focused effort always passes quickly, vanishing imperceptibly. By the time the girl came to her senses, she realized a long time had passed.

The feeling was very subtle.

Like flowing water sliding through fingertips; drops kept falling, and in a daze, they gathered into a puddle.

"Does Mister spend every day like this? And he doesn't find it tedious."

Wu Yingxue murmured to herself.

She set down the paper and brush, rubbed her cheeks with both hands, then gave them a pat, trying her best to clear her drowsy mind.

Keep going, Yingxue!

Mister works so hard, how can you be lazy!

"Hiyah~~" The girl stretched where she sat, rolling her left shoulder, then her right, before finally picking up the brush again.

She looked like a diligent heroine focused on her writing.

It was quite an amusing sight.

But as she wrote, her eyes reflected the flickering candlelight. The shadow of the flame fell upon Xu Xi's face, and as she watched this scene, her thoughts began to wander.

She thought of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, of Qingniu Town, and of everything from the past.

…

From childhood to now,

Wu Yingxue had always felt she was special.

She believed she was stronger than most girls, even surpassing boys; she was hardworking and had decent talent.

Though she never said it aloud,

In the girl's heart—in the heart of the Commandery Princess—there had always been a dream of being a "world-saving hero."

She firmly believed that someone as special as her would surely be able to save the country and its people.

To be revered by the commoners.

To be praised by the people.

But the upheaval several years ago shattered that naive dream of being a heroine.

Wu Yingxue did not become a world-saving hero; instead, she became a fugitive wanted by Daqian. The turn of events was so sudden that it was simply impossible to accept.

Ah…

Just thinking back on it made her chest feel tight.

As if someone were tightening a grip around her neck, making it hard to breathe.

"…" The brush in Wu Yingxue's hand stopped, and she unconsciously rubbed the handle, appearing distracted.

The shattering of her dreams and the reality of the upheaval had been so cruel to her back then.

She was not a Divine Being with an innate resilience; she could not ignore setbacks.

Ultimately,

The young heroine was no different from anyone else. It was only because she had lived in a noble household with superior conditions since childhood that she had that series of unrealistic fantasies.

When she lost that status and shed that external halo,

The girl named Wu Yingxue

Was just another person who would die if killed.

This was the first thing Xu Xi taught the girl.

"If not for Mister, I might have died long ago." The girl was clumsy, only knowing how to handle spears and staves; the little political administration she knew was only learned after meeting Xu Xi.

In her not-so-bright mind, however, she remembered many things involving Xu Xi.

The piggyback ride under the starry sky.

The blessings on New Year's Eve.

The paper flowers they folded together.

None of these things or experiences, when taken alone, could be called particularly profound.

But when blended together, they formed an invisible path. On that path were two people: one was Xu Xi, and the other was Wu Yingxue.

With every step taken, their emotions settled with the passing years.

Flowing quietly, passing gently.

The two of them walked the same path, moving toward the future together.

"What exactly is the relationship between Mister and me…" In the empty room, the girl looked at that haggard, weary face and suddenly frowned in deep thought.

Is it the relationship between a Disciple and a teacher?

It doesn't seem like it.

She had never formally taken him as her master, and the relationship between them was very casual, lacking the rigid hierarchy found between teachers and students.

Then, is it a romantic relationship between a man and a woman?

It doesn't seem to be entirely that either.

Wu Yingxue had seen many married couples, and the way those couples interacted was clearly different from her and Xu Xi.

While racking her brains,

The girl suddenly recalled a term she had heard from Xu Xi's mouth a long time ago: [Fellow Daoist].

Friends with shared ideals, walking the same path, supporting each other as they move forward.

Wu Yingxue felt that this description was somewhat close.

"I heard Mister say that Fellow Daoists can also be called Dao Companions. It feels like a very interesting way of putting it…"

Pfft.

The girl covered her mouth and chuckled.

She looked at the deeply sleeping Xu Xi and suddenly realized that the character for friend, 'peng', when broken down, consists of two 'moon' characters.

Speaking of two moons, the first thing that comes to mind is the classic story of the moon in the sky and the moon in the water.

"I feel like Mister is like the moon in the sky."

"And I am that moon in the water serving as a foil…"

The moon in the sky is gentle and bright.

The moon in the water hides its light within the depths.

The moon in the sky shines upon the moon in the water.

The moon in the water reflects the moon in the sky.

The sky and water share the same hue, the moons reflecting each other.

Water is inherently empty, but in the process of reflecting the moon, the water can take on the moon's form, filling its emptiness.

Quite interesting, isn't it?

Wu Yingxue clutched the fabric at her chest, feeling that unease and her anxiety about the future, her fingers gradually tightening.

She whispered to herself:

"You must live on, Mister."