The first meal of the engaged couple ended quite satisfactorily.
The only downside was that Nanshan ate too late, which caused Ling Ye to finish his meal according to his normal portion but still had to use spiritual power to digest for a while before he could sleep properly.
The presence of the Wansheng Ding appeared elsewhere.
Although the Canglan Palace still looked heavily guarded, Nanshan knew it was only an appearance.
In reality, it was no longer as strict as before, because… Ling Ye suddenly became quite idle.
His idleness was mainly reflected in the fact that every evening, he would appear at her courtyard gate.
The reason it wasn’t at all three meals a day was that she usually slept until the sun was high, and then she would eat both breakfast and lunch together.
The Crown Prince had once tried waiting for her, but he couldn’t accept this non-regular, unbalanced meal schedule, so he could only reluctantly come for dinner.
For three consecutive days, he came punctually and seriously ate two big bowls of rice.
After putting down his chopsticks, he would start staring at her, as if waiting for something.
But what was he really waiting for?
Nanshan always looked confused, unable to figure it out until he left.
On the fourth evening, after Ling Ye finished his meal and put down his chopsticks, Nanshan immediately sat upright, ready to accept his silent gaze.
But he suddenly spoke:
“Are you still carrying the Chaos Stone?”
“…Hmm? Oh, yes, I have it.”
Nanshan took it out and showed it to him.
After such a long time, he still treasured it so much.
Ling Ye rarely reflected on whether he had given his fiancée too little, making her cherish such an ancient stone that could ward off wind, evil spirits, and harm.
“Come to the Nightless Pavilion tomorrow,” he said.
Nanshan became cautious:
“What are we going there for?”
Ling Ye replied, “I plan to give you something.”
Nanshan asked, “What is it?”
“You’ll know when you come. There are many treasures in my private collection. I don’t know your preferences, so you’ll have to choose for yourself.”
Thinking this over, he realized that he still didn’t know his life-saving benefactor and fiancée well enough.
These past few days, Nanshan had met Ling Ye too often, and every time she saw him, she wanted to hide.
Hearing his invitation now, she furrowed her brows, her face almost showing the words “reluctant” and “unwilling.”
Ling Ye saw her hesitation and thought about reassuring her without embarrassing her.
He needed to find a way that would allow her to save face while also making her believe that his invitation was sincere.
After a brief silence, he suddenly called out to her, “Sui Sui.”
Nanshan: “He was threatening her.”
“Sui Sui.”
Ling Ye called again, seeing that she didn’t respond.
There was nothing more intimate than calling someone by their childhood name, and since Nanshan didn’t have a nickname, calling her by her childhood name seemed fitting.
Nanshan looked at him silently for a long time, then forced out a smile.
“Alright, I’ll come tomorrow.”
Look, the distance between them had narrowed.
Ling Ye slightly nodded and started staring at her again.
Nanshan tugged at the corner of her lips and skillfully ignored him.
After a long while, Ling Ye still didn’t get the response he was waiting for, so he left with a blank expression.
Thanks to Ling Ye, Nanshan dreamed that night about her father wanting to sever ties with her.
In the dream, her father, agile and swift, chased her for two miles while scolding her for saying the unlucky name “Sui Sui,” causing her to wake up feeling sore in her back, as if she had been doing farm work all night.
Although she had agreed to Ling Ye, Nanshan still wasn’t keen on going to the Nightless Pavilion.
She procrastinated until late in the afternoon before reluctantly setting off.
This was her second visit to the Nightless Pavilion.
The first time was when she accidentally stumbled upon it while escaping, almost being torn apart by strange mist.
Now, on her second visit, when she arrived at the place surrounded by mist, Nanshan still felt a little uneasy.
Fortunately, the stone Ling Ye gave her, though broken, still had some effect.
The mist lurking in the corners couldn’t sense her presence.
Even if a little mist floated by, it vanished upon approaching her.
Seeing that the mist couldn’t harm her, Nanshan relaxed a bit, following the familiar path and finally reaching the ethereal courtyard.
The name “Nightless Pavilion” was quite fitting.
The sky in other parts of Canglan Palace was always dark and dreary, but here, the sun always shone brightly.
Although the sunlight had no warmth, it still made Nanshan, a mere mortal, feel happy.
Compared to a month ago, there seemed to be some changes in the courtyard.
As Nanshan walked and looked around, she came to a familiar bridge with flowing water.
Then, she saw a pavilion with semi-transparent white gauze, and inside the pavilion…
Ling Ye, half-naked, was soaking in a medicinal bath.
It was the same scene as before, and the first time she saw it, she was scared out of her wits.
But now, all she felt was speechless.
“You really have to take a medicinal bath while I’m here?”
It was hard to believe he wasn’t doing it on purpose.
Ling Ye raised his eyes and glanced at her.
“It’s time for the medicinal bath.”
“Then you can’t…”
“I’ve been waiting for you all day.”
Nanshan, who had deliberately delayed, couldn’t argue.
She cleared her throat and said, “I’m here now, so hurry up and get out.”
“I haven’t soaked for an hour yet,” Ling Ye refused.
Nanshan helplessly said, “Have you become addicted to pretending to be sick?” Did he forget he could easily kill a seven-legged snake?
“The herbs in the pool are all three thousand-year-old spiritual herbs. They can strengthen the body, enhance cultivation, and nourish the spirit,” Ling Ye suddenly looked at her, “Speaking of which, you should soak too. Only by strengthening your body can you bear the spiritual bones.”
Nanshan met his gaze and suddenly had an intuition—
If she agreed, he would immediately invite her to join him in the bath.
“Thanks, but no need.”
She felt it was better to refuse.
Fortunately, Ling Ye didn’t insist.
“I still have fifteen minutes left. You can walk around if you’d like. I remember you like to stroll.”
Nanshan didn’t want to stay and watch a grown man soak in a bath.
She immediately turned around and left. But after taking two steps, she came back.
“There aren’t any formations or traps here, are there?”
After spending a month in the underworld, she had learned a little about cultivation and magic.
Ling Ye:
“No.”
Nanshan nodded and asked, “Can I walk anywhere?”
“Yes.”
“Even inside the house?”
Nanshan asked again.
Ling Ye: “Yes.”
“You won’t get angry, will you?”
Nanshan asked again.
Ling Ye quietly looked at her.
“…Why aren’t you speaking?”
Nanshan felt unsure.
Ling Ye’s eyes moved slightly.
“I was thinking…”
“Thinking about what?”
Nanshan asked curiously.
Ling Ye: “How to rebuild your trust in someone you care about.”
She didn’t understand, and it seemed like his insanity had struck again.
Nanshan turned around and left.
I have to say, although the owner of the Nightless Pavilion was crazy, the scenery there was excellent.
This wasn’t to say it was much more beautiful than the rest of Canglan Palace, but the bright sunlight, gentle clouds, and those not-so-strange flowers and plants made Nanshan feel as if she had returned to the familiar mortal world, especially when she noticed that moss had grown in the damp corners of the walls.
That’s moss!
It was something she saw most often when she was in Sunjia Village!
Nanshan carefully scraped off a piece of moss, admired it for a while, then carefully placed it back and continued walking forward.
The Unnight Pavilion was really vast.
Every three steps was a different view, and every five steps was a different scene.
It didn’t feel strange like the other parts of the Canglan Palace.
The farther she walked, the more she wandered, and without realizing it, she reached the entrance of a bamboo house.
Ling Ye had said that she could walk around freely, and the doors and windows here were open, clearly meant for visitors.
Nanshan didn’t hesitate much and walked straight in.
It appeared to be a study.
The room was filled with bamboo furniture, with a table against the wall.
On the table were ink, brushes, paper, and inkstones. In the southeast corner were two rows of bookshelves, filled with various books.
The whole room exuded an air of simplicity, making Nanshan, a mortal, feel inexplicably familiar and comfortable.
She slowly circled the room, and just as she was about to leave, something caught her eye out of the corner of her vision.
She instinctively turned around and saw a familiar stone on a flower rack in the corner.
It was the companion stone of the seven-legged snake.
She froze for a moment, then hesitantly walked over, only to find that the stone was projecting an image.
It was of a six or seven-year-old boy, with red lips and white teeth, very cute, but pretending to look serious, making one want to pinch his cheek.
Nanshan felt the boy looked familiar, but before she could recall where she had seen him, a figure around twenty years old, Yan Yue, appeared in the image.
Oh, it turned out the boy was a young Ling Ye.
Once Nanshan realized whose life was being projected on the stone, she consciously tried to leave. But when she turned around, she bumped directly into a solid chest.
Ling Ye raised his hand to steady her.
“This is my mother.”
Nanshan took a step back, then looked at the stone again.
Sure enough, she saw the image of a young and beautiful girl. The girl had gentle eyes and always carried a slight smile.
On her plump wrists, there was a string of bright red coral beads.
“She was also a mortal,” Ling Ye added.
Nanshan’s first reaction was to touch the beads on her own wrist, and after a while, she softly said, “Your mother was really beautiful.”
“She had a good temperament too,” Ling Ye said, his gaze softening as he looked at the image of his mother on the stone.
“When I was young, I was mischievous and always got into trouble with Zhi Can. But she never lost her temper with me.”
Just then, the stone displayed an image of young Ling Ye and Zhi Can setting a house on fire.
Even after such a big mess, his mother didn’t get angry. Instead, she took the two little troublemakers back to change their clothes.
Nanshan sincerely agreed, “She really was a very gentle mother.”
Her voice carried a hint of sorrow.
When she had first arrived in the Underworld, she had heard that the Empress had passed away many years ago, and now it was just father and son relying on each other.
Ling Ye didn’t notice her gaze; he was focused on the stone.
Nanshan studied his serious profile and suddenly realized what he had been staring at on the stone when he woke up in the snowy field that day.
“This is a temple fair from the mortal realm,” Ling Ye suddenly spoke.
Nanshan turned back to look at the lively scene in the mortal world depicted on the stone, and couldn’t help but laugh.
“The temple fairs near my home are also very lively, especially on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. People from the surrounding villages gather at the big market. It’s so crowded.”
“And the candied hawthorns are delicious.”
Ling Ye nodded.
As if to prove his words, the young Ling Ye in the image suddenly had a candied hawthorn in his hand, looking expectantly as he bit into it…
But, plop, he was bumped into, and the sugar and hawthorn were scattered everywhere.
Nanshan’s lips twitched, feeling a bit unable to watch.
However, young Ling Ye didn’t cry.
Instead, he calmly followed his parents to find a hawthorn vendor and carefully chose a new one.
Nanshan was a bit curious. “Are candied hawthorns delicious?”
Ling Ye didn’t respond; he just quietly watched the stone.
The lively scene on the stone was soon replaced by a sorrowful one.
The young Ling Ye was eating alone, while not far away, Yan Yue gently held the still-young Empress.
Nanshan suddenly realized something and felt a bit heavy in her heart.
She quieted down and didn’t speak again until the small Ling Ye in the stone turned into the teenage Ling Ye, full of pride and glory.
But after returning to the palace, he had a fierce argument with the still-young Yan Yue…
It was clearly an argument, even though there was no sound on the stone, both of them were red-faced, and their eyes were full of anger, not looking like they were having a peaceful conversation.
“You were so rebellious back then?”
Nanshan marveled, feeling doubtful about whether the rebellious Ling Ye who had made his father angry enough to turn red in the face in the image was the same person as the Ling Ye in front of her, who wouldn’t even break his engagement.
“I didn’t listen to Father’s advice back then, insisting on practicing with extreme methods, so we often fought,” Ling Ye explained, raising his chin and gesturing for her to look at the stone.
“So the retribution came.”
Nanshan paused and then saw Ling Ye on the stone, his eyes red and his spiritual power in turmoil.
Although she knew it was just a past projection, she still instinctively took a step back and accidentally bumped into Ling Ye’s shoulder.
Ling Ye raised his hand to steady her again, then quickly let go.
Nanshan curiously stared at the stone, watching as Yan Yue, with a large group of people, rushed in and forcibly controlled Ling Ye.
The scene then changed, showing him alone, lying on a bed with over a hundred wounds from his spiritual power running wild, looking horribly bloody.
“What kind of inner demon could cause you such harm?”
Nanshan looked stunned, but in that instant, many images flashed through her mind.
She remembered the young Ling Ye eating alone, the teenage Ling Ye with tears in his eyes after arguing with Yan Yue, and also the moments when he was always lost in thought.
Though he was indifferent, dictatorial, and lacked empathy, when it came down to it, he was just a pitiful person who had lost his mother early.
Nanshan sighed softly, realizing she should be more understanding of him in the future.
Ling Ye didn’t notice her emotions. “You’ll see soon.”
Just after he spoke, the image on the stone displayed a string of candied hawthorns scattered on the ground.
Nanshan didn’t react right away.
Ling Ye stared at the candied hawthorns, his eyes dark.
The scene lingered on the candied hawthorns for a long time, and Nanshan’s lips trembled.
After a long while, she hesitantly spoke, “Your inner demon… is a string of candied hawthorns?”
“That was the best string from the entire stall,” Ling Ye said, his expression blank as he recalled the past.
Nanshan stared at him, “But… didn’t they take you to buy another one?!”
Ling Ye paused, lowering his gaze to meet hers.
“I had to settle for second best.”