A wu sipped the hot tea, tasting it curiously, while he spoke of music and zither pieces.
He was elegant and noble, breathtakingly handsome.
For A wu, this was an adventure like none before—enchanting, intoxicating, and so very curious.
Outside, the rain pattered down, the sea wind bringing the sound of the waves.
The world beyond was veiled in an impenetrable curtain of rain.
Inside the boat, it was just the two of them.
It felt like they were sealed away from the world, an unfamiliar, almost intimate feeling.
Even the way the man looked at her seemed to grow hotter and more affectionate.
His gaze lingered on her, not shifting away.
A wu became uneasy, feeling both flustered and anxious.
She thought, ‘How could someone this handsome and, apparently, wealthy, treat me this way? He must be a sea spirit! Should I run?’
What if he wouldn’t let her?
She already regretted her greed—for his looks, for his music—that left her in such a difficult spot.
If he really spirited her away forever, trapped beneath the sea, wouldn’t she weep with regret, unable to return home?
Then Emperor Jingxi said, “It’s getting late and the rain has stopped. I’ll take you home. Where do you live?”
There it was.
A wu relaxed.
She felt a little ashamed.
How could she think like that about such a beautiful man—he couldn’t be a bad person!
***
Maybe it was when the man helped her off the boat, or when he accompanied her home—anyway, at some moment, A wu suddenly woke up.
Awake, she could still feel the cool sea breeze in her hair, and the sorrowful, gentle gaze of the man seemed to caress her face.
It felt so real…
She turned and looked at Emperor Jingxi sleeping beside her.
He was no longer young; faint lines had begun to appear at the corners of his eyes, only adding depth and maturity to his features.
Having held power for years, he’d buried his former arrogance deep in his bones.
Calm and steady, he was skilled in the ways of men, yet a single smiling glance from him could still set hearts trembling.
Now, sleeping, he had shed all the trappings of wealth and power, and was simply a husband.
A man with some years behind him, yet still able to charm women—there was even something captivating in the fine lines at the corner of his eyes.
Last year, when the eldest prince entered the Imperial Capital by imperial edict, A wu had seen them together—the difference between father and son was not so great now.
The man by A wu’s side was very well preserved, blessed by both nature and time.
She compared him in her mind to the man from the dream and found it amusing.
Everything in the dream was so real; that Emperor Jingxi seemed to be only twenty-four or twenty-five, so young—even younger than when she had first met him in reality—but his eyes carried the weight of ten thousand years.
She also recalled the dream Emperor Jingxi had told her about some days ago, and found it a curious coincidence.
On impulse, she nudged him awake.
The roused Emperor Jingxi took it calmly.
He always indulged his little empress, tolerating all her moods in silence and thinking her perfect.
Now, just awake, Emperor Jingxi looked at A wu.
“Go ahead.”
A wu announced, “I had a dream, too.”
Emperor Jingxi was a little surprised, then seemed to understand.
“What kind of dream?”
A wu told him everything about her dream.
At the end, she poked his chest, smiling, “You were a big bad guy in my dream, tricking me!”
She didn’t know how old that dream Emperor Jingxi was—probably over twenty.
Such an experienced older man, coaxing a clueless young fisher girl… Too devious!
Emperor Jingxi’s expression grew solemn.
He still remembered his own dream, and the eight years he spent there.
Those eight years had been so clear he could not believe it was just a dream.
He sat up, questioning her closely about everything from that world, and in the end he sighed, “Seven years…”
A wu said, “If your dream matches up with mine, then the you I met in my dream would have been twenty-five?”
A twenty-five-year-old Emperor Jingxi—he was truly handsome, so young one would want to take a bite!
Emperor Jingxi took her wrist and said, “If you dream it again, let him get his wish.”
A wu was startled, “Huh?”
Emperor Jingxi said, “Maybe take the initiative—flirt with him, kiss him, hug him, and finally marry him.”
A wu: “?”
Emperor Jingxi chuckled, “I hope he gets his wish.”
Because he knew that in that world, from age ten to eighteen, he’d worked ceaselessly to rule Great Hui, preparing a prosperous world for A wu before she was even born—to make sure she would never fear the Maritime Bandits, would know no hardship, would want for nothing.
He had worked so hard for her birth, but she was gone—disappeared.
He could not find her!
He may have been an Emperor, but he was also human.
Where could he find his A wu?
Emperor Jingxi could still recall the heart-rending pain of that dream, that helpless despair.
Even awake, he still felt fear—fear she would disappear, truly disappear, and he would be left in that cold, hopeless dream once again.
He didn’t know how his dream self had managed to search so long, hopelessly, for seven years, until finally, on a rainy day by the sea, he found his A wu.
But A wu wrinkled her nose and said, “No way! I won’t let him have his wish!”
After all, it was just a dream!
Emperor Jingxi changed the subject.
“I want to abdicate, pass the throne to Mo Xi.”
Mo Xi was now Mo Xi; after being named Crown prince, he had changed his name, and the little princess Mo Yu had also changed hers to Mo Yu (Changed Name).
A wu had once questioned him about these changes, wondering if he’d planned it all along but deliberately hid it.
Emperor Jingxi had only smiled and told her to guess.
Guess, guess, guess! Hmph!
But at this moment, A wu was more surprised, “Why?”
She had always thought he was a man who clung tightly to power.
Emperor Jingxi looked at her, eyes warm and full of affection, “Ever since that last dream, I’ve been thinking—I want to spend more time with you while you’re still young, take you traveling, let you see all the wonders of Great Hui, take you out to sea, see everything we’ve never seen together. In another year or two, Mo Xi will ascend the throne, Mo Yu will marry, and as parents, our responsibilities will be done—after that, it will be just you and me.”
He loved his children deeply, especially the pair A wu had given him, which let him truly experience the pride and joy of fatherhood and for the first time, what it meant to have a family, not just the relationships of ruler and subject he’d known with De Ning and the eldest prince.
But watching his children grow and seeing them ready to inherit Great Hui, he felt his responsibility as a father was fulfilled—now it was time to think of himself and A wu.
A wu listened, “Great!”
She began to imagine, “Mo Xi will be Emperor, Mo Yu will get a title, and we’ll travel wherever we please. If anything’s inconvenient, we’ll just tell the Emperor!”
Emperor Jingxi beamed, “Good. Where shall we go first? Any ideas?”
A wu said, “We can travel wherever we like, and in the end go to the Eastern Sea, and sail together.”
She thought of visiting her father and brothers, seeing Yehan, and returning to her old home.
Over the years, it had become a bustling port, very different from the past.
Emperor Jingxi mused, “On the way, we can pass by Mount Tai and visit there together.”
Mount Tai?
Emperor Jingxi said, “I want to take you, as Emperor and Empress, to offer sacrifices at Mount Tai, praying for our children, for Great Hui, for all the people.”
Through the ages, emperors had vied to hold the grand Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai—there were said to have been seventy-two such sovereigns.
Emperor Jingxi, after more than thirty years on the throne, naturally wished to fulfill this ambition.
Since that dream, he had begun to believe in destiny and mysterious forces, realizing even an Emperor was not all-powerful, and wanting to pray for more blessings for A wu and their children.
A wu had no objection, only thought it sounded fun.
“Perfect! Bring the palace painter, and let him paint our portrait atop Mount Tai!”
Emperor Jingxi laughed, “All right.”
So A wu lay across his chest, bubbling with excitement about their coming journey, wishing they could start right away.
Emperor Jingxi’s fingers gently stroked her soft hair as he listened to her bright words, his heart overflowing with happiness.
He thought, This happiness is so perfect.
Maybe it’s because of that dream, but as he enjoyed it, he often wondered about life’s possibilities—if, in that one moment, she’d truly raised the hairpin because of his talk of burial rites, and he’d lost mother and children in an instant…
What would his life have become?
He dared not imagine—it chilled him to the bone.
This happiness was hard won; if anything had gone differently, they would never have come together.
He felt now that power, the world—none of it mattered.
All he wanted was to keep her in his arms, to watch her smile.
Only then could he shield her, banish forever the terrors of that dream.
After more than thirty years on the throne, he’d fulfilled his duty to Great Hui—now, all his remaining days belonged to A wu, and only to A wu.
At this moment, A wu grew quiet.
She cupped his face in her hands, examining him.
Emperor Jingxi lifted his eyes tenderly.
“Hmm?”
A wu kissed his eyelids, blinking and smiling, “My sweet Emperor, why do you seem troubled? Tell me, let me cheer you up.”
Emperor Jingxi looked into her lively eyes, smiling, “The Emperor loves A wu so much, he’s afraid—afraid that when he wakes, he’ll still be searching for you. Even if he sought out all the sages in the land and found nothing, he would still take a boat and roam the Eastern Sea, searching day and night, knowing all the while that as a mere mortal, he is powerless—but he would still search, holding onto a sliver of hope. Without A wu, ninety million subjects and three thousand miles of land are all meaningless.”
A wu cupped his face, gazing at the smile deep in those tea-colored eyes.
She knew that ever since that dream, he had always been a little uneasy.
‘Poor man.’
Her fingertips brushed tenderly at the corner of his eyes, giving him a soft kiss.
“Next time I dream, I’ll be good to him.”
Emperor Jingxi looked into her eyes and said, “Tell him you like him, then hug him.”
A wu teased his nose.
“I’m an unmarried girl—why should I? Let him take the lead! He’s already twenty-five, isn’t he? Doesn’t he know how? Do I have to teach him?”
‘So stop pretending to be a gentleman—let him use his strong twenty-five-year-old self, with all the pent-up longing of a decade, and just take her!’
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