Chapter 114 p2
Chi Lin held Lou Mi’s shoulders, wanting to escape, yet unwilling to.
In that moment of intimacy, fragments of memories flooded Lou Mi’s mind, all of them featuring Chi Lin.
Her classmates returned; class was about to start. Chi Lin had to stop.
Lou Mi, wanting more, was reluctant to let her go.
“Your Majesty, can we, continue tonight?”
Lou Mi found her adorable: “Don’t say that, I won’t be able to let you go. Now go to class, I’ll pick you up later, call me when you’re done.”
“Okay!”
“Be good, pay attention in class.” Lou Mi kissed her cheek.
Chi Lin smiled: “I’ll try.”
They both logged out. Lou Mi sat there, dazed.
What was that feeling?
Like ascending to heaven.
Chi Lin removed her access crystal. Sha Xinyu, sitting down beside her, leaned closer:
“Lin, are you okay?”
Chi Lin, flustered: “What?”
“Your face is so red, do you have a fever?”
“No, just… a bit stuffy.”
Chi Lin struggled to focus all afternoon. The sensations from the game lingered. She fidgeted, gripping her stylus.
She missed Lou Mi.
She wanted to see her now.
Finally, the last exam ended. Chi Lin grabbed her bag and ran.
“I’m here,” Lou Mi replied quickly. “Waiting for you at our usual spot.”
Their usual spot…
The convenience store outside the school.
Chi Lin’s heart raced. Did Her Majesty remember?
As soon as she got in the car, before even putting her bag down, Lou Mi hugged her.
“Sister?” Chi Lin stumbled into her arms.
“I think I remember something,” Lou Mi whispered in her ear.
“Really?” Chi Lin’s eyes widened. “When?!”
“When we were together.”
“…”
“Help me remember more.”
From the car to the elevator, their clothes were discarded as soon as they entered the apartment.
“What if Uncle Lou and Auntie Peng come back…?” Chi Lin, slightly nervous by Lou Mi’s eagerness.
“Don’t worry, I told them they’re going on a trip, they won’t be back until the day after tomorrow.”
“Sister…”
“Didn’t you like calling me Your Majesty? Call me that.”
Lou Mi’s voice was husky.
Chi Lin’s voice trembled: “Your Majesty…”
“Good girl.”
As their passion intensified, Lou Mi’s mind raced, memories flooding back: their first kiss, their first touch, the first time she cried for Chi Lin…
A long-forgotten door seemed to be opening, the longing, the desire in Chi Lin’s eyes so familiar.
“Lin Jie, if only this moment could last forever. We’ll stay here, and I’ll never let you be hurt again…”
“Minister Chi, it’s been a while.”
“I mean it when I say I like you! If you don’t feel the same, reject me now!”
“Your Highness, stop fooling around…”
“What? Kissing you is fooling around? I can be much more ‘reckless’ than this.”
“So you’re the princess…”
“What’s your name?”
“This commoner’s name is Chi Lin, courtesy name Han Lie.”
“The Prime Minister’s daughter? The child prodigy? You’re even more adorable than I imagined.”
“To the Yellow Springs or the Azure Sky, we shall never be parted!”
***
“Little Lin!” Lou Mi suddenly stopped, staring at Chi Lin, her eyes unfocused.
Chi Lin, startled, “Your Majesty? What’s wrong?”
Lou Mi clutched her head, her face pale. Chi Lin hugged her:
“Should we go to the hospital? Let’s see Dr. Bai!”
“Wait… I just need to rest.”
Chi Lin, frantic, tears welling up:
“Let’s go to the hospital, don’t push yourself!”
Lou Mi, wrapping herself in the pajamas, sat on the sofa: “Can I have some more calming tea?”
“Now?”
“Yes…” Lou Mi rubbed her temples.
“I’ll get it right away!”
Chi Lin rushed to the kitchen, then, holding the tea, practically flew back to the bedroom.
As she entered, she saw Lou Mi looking at her intently.
Chi Lin’s heart pounded. She approached cautiously:
“Your Majesty?”
Lou Mi sighed.
“What’s wrong?”
She extended her hand, and Chi Lin, understanding, handed her the tea.
Lou Mi took a sip: “Exactly the same.”
Chi Lin, sensing something, felt a surge of hope, yet couldn’t quite believe it.
Then Lou Mi called her “Lin Jie.”
“Lin Jie, you silly girl. You suffered so much searching for me.”
Chi Lin paused, something wasn’t quite right.
Could it be…?
Lou Mi finished the tea and held out her hands. It was a familiar gesture, both from Lou Mi in this life and Jin Yi in the past.
Her wife was calling her.
Chi Lin rushed into her arms, afraid to let go.
“Sister, Your Majesty, Lou Mi? Jin… Yi?”
Chi Lin called her every name, her uncertainty met by Lou Mi’s gentle smile.
“I’m your sister, your Majesty, your Lou Mi, your Jin Yi.” Lou Mi cupped her face. “These are just titles, I’m your wife, that’s all that matters.”
Chi Lin, still in disbelief, not realizing she was sitting on Lou Mi’s lap, gripped her arms:
“You remember? Everything…?”
“Yes, everything,” Lou Mi nuzzled her. “Thanks to you. Lin Jie is still so clever.”
“Your past life memories too…?”
“Yes, all of them.” Lou Mi tilted Chi Lin’s dazed head up. “I remembered everything when we were together.”
Chi Lin blushed: “Why would you remember because of that…?”
“Wasn’t Lin Jie guiding me?”
Chi Lin wrapped her arms around her neck, her voice lowering: “I was, but it’s also because Your Majesty cares about that sort of thing.”
“It seems you truly know me, that you’re the one I can’t live without. You brought my memories back, you’re amazing, baby.”
Chi Lin, overwhelmed, hid her face in Lou Mi’s embrace.
Her Majesty’s words, both in the past and present, were too much for her.
They hadn’t expected the neural stimulants to trigger her past life memories!
They laughed, surprised and delighted.
Now that Her Majesty remembered, they could focus on restoring Dayuan.
“Restore Dayuan? Sure, but let’s get married first.”
“Your Majesty?!”
“I barely enjoyed our wedding before exiling your entire clan in our past life.”
Chi Lin’s face turned green. She knew Her Majesty loved their intimacy, but the nation’s fate was more important!
Chi Lin pleaded: “Your Majesty, our nation is in danger, please prioritize restoring Dayuan!”
Lou Mi, seeing her serious expression, laughed and patted her head.
Chi Lin: “…”
“Just kidding, of course, Dayuan is our priority. As the Emperor, I’ll return and crush those rebels. Won’t they be surprised to see me alive?”
Chi Lin: “……”
It seemed Lou Mi’s personality was still dominant, after all, she had only regained her memories, her soul was the same, but this life’s experiences had shaped her.
Lou Mi, seeing Chi Lin’s silence:
“What, do I not seem like an emperor?”
“No,” Chi Lin smiled. “Your Majesty is even more adorable now.”
Lou Mi pouted: “When am I not adorable?”
The one who orchestrated the Empress’s assassination was the Third Prince, her nephew, whom she had raised like her own son.
Afraid of his aunt’s favor towards his older sister, he had been manipulated and conspired with the rebels.
“I anticipated the rebellion, but not the traitor in my own family.” Lou Mi’s voice was filled with grief and anger. “If I had known sooner… But I did make preparations.”
“The ten thousand elite soldiers from Yubei?”
Lou Mi smiled: “More than that.”
These two words reassured Chi Lin instantly.
“Besides the troops from Yubei, there are fifteen thousand more soldiers stationed outside the capital, waiting for my command. And I have another ace up my sleeve.”
The Third Prince was a pawn for the rebels, and the Empress had her own pawn within the rebel ranks.
Her Majesty’s strategy was more complex than Chi Lin had anticipated.
She was glad she had come to find Her Majesty, glad she remembered.
Before, Chi Lin had been worried about how to restore Dayuan, but Her Majesty had everything under control.
Lou Mi: “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Chi Lin: “I’m just grateful to be able to serve Your Majesty.”
Lou Mi cupped her face: “I would be dead without you. I’m the lucky one, to have found you, in both lifetimes. I want to be with you in every lifetime, Little Lin.”
Chi Lin nodded, tears falling:
“As long as my soul endures, I’ll always be by Your Majesty’s side.”
“Crying again. It used to be so hard to make you cry.” Lou Mi wiped away her tears, smiling.
Chi Lin also felt she had cried too much. Her Majesty was back, her suffering was over, these would be her last tears.
The next astral convergence was during the National Day holiday.
Lou Mi told their families they were going to Mars, they might be out of contact for a few days:
“Don’t worry, we’ll take care of ourselves.”
Lou Mi’s tone, when she said this to Lou Lixing, sounded more like a farewell than a vacation announcement.
Lou Lixing, oblivious, didn’t notice anything unusual, but Peng Ziyuan was worried.
She pulled Lou Mi and Chi Lin aside:
“What’s going on? Where are you going?”
Chi Lin told her the truth.
“Back to your time? Is it dangerous?”
“It is, but we have to take care of some things.”
“Will you come back?!” Peng Ziyuan asked anxiously.
Lou Mi looked at Chi Lin, who answered without hesitation: “Yes. Wherever Sister is, I’ll be there.”
As they prepared to enter the abyss, Lou Mi asked Chi Lin if she was scared.
“No,” Chi Lin said. “When I first arrived, I was scared, not knowing if I would find you, what this world would be like. But the thought of seeing you again gave me courage. Now you’re here, I have everything I ever wanted, there’s nothing to fear.”
Lou Mi smiled, took her hand, and they entered the abyss together.
The bodies Cheng Xuan and Liang Zheng had used were still there, but their wounds were gone.
Could it be…?
They swam forward, their souls leaving their bodies, and found their past life bodies.
Chi Lin had expected to find another body in Dayuan, but it seemed the abyss had healing properties.
When Chi Lin’s soul returned to her body, she woke up quickly. The pain in her back lingered, but it wasn’t life-threatening.
She could move freely.
Lou Mi took her hand, and they headed towards Dayuan, Chi Lin, her mind sharp, leading the way.
Two days into the National Day holiday, Chi Lin’s homeroom teacher called Peng Ziyuan, who made excuses for her absence.
“Why is Chi Lin sick for so long? The college entrance exams are coming up, she needs to take care of her health.” Ms. Qi said. “Is she resting at home? Maybe the class president and I can visit her.”
Peng Ziyuan: “No, no, she has a bad cold, it’s contagious.”
“Yes, the weather is changing, so many people are sick…” Ms. Qi sneezed, and Peng Ziyuan told her to rest.
After ending the call, Peng Ziyuan looked at the sky, worried.
Why weren’t Little Lin and Mi Mi back yet?
“Lin isn’t here yet?”
Wei Zhuoning, drinking milk, frowned.
Lin Xiaozhi shook her head: “She’s not replying to my messages either. Her mom said she and Sister Lou went to Mars.”
“Mars? Maybe they encountered an asteroid field and can’t return?”
Lin Xiaozhi, lost in thought: “Perhaps they went somewhere even farther than Mars.”
Wei Zhuoning: “?”
Lou Lixing paced anxiously, unable to reach his daughter.
Peng Ziyuan tried to calm him down: “They said to wait patiently. Worrying won’t help.”
“Should we call the police?”
Peng Ziyuan shook her head firmly.
“What are you doing? If something happens, it’ll be too late!”
Peng Ziyuan sighed. What good was worrying? They weren’t even in this dimension.
Just then, they heard a splash and coughing from the bathroom.
“It’s Mi Mi…” Lou Lixing said. “It’s Mi Mi!”
He ran towards the bathroom, but Peng Ziyuan stopped him:
“Wait! I’ll check!”
Peng Ziyuan rushed into the bathroom and found Lou Mi, coughing and sputtering, wrapped her in a towel:
“Mi Mi, Mi Mi! Are you okay?! Where’s Little Lin?!”
Lou Mi, recovering, reached into the bathtub.
She felt the solid bottom.
The abyss was gone, and so was Chi Lin.
“Little Lin…” Lou Mi whispered, “where’s Little Lin?”
Peng Ziyuan’s face paled.
Lou Mi had returned alone. Chi Lin had sent her back.
The restoration of Dayuan had initially gone smoothly. The combined forces of twenty-five thousand soldiers, like ghosts, ambushed the rebels from behind.
The Empress’s death had been kept secret, but rumors had spread.
Her sudden reappearance terrified the Third Prince.
Wasn’t Jin Yi dead?! Or was this all a trap? Had she been faking her death, waiting for him to reveal himself?
His plans were ruined. The imperial army advanced swiftly. Chi Lin led the charge, pursuing the rebels for hundreds of miles, killing five thousand and burying the rest alive.
The Third Prince, defeated, committed suicide.
This decisive victory, however, made Chi Lin uneasy.
She raced back to the capital alone.
Was there something she had overlooked?
Her Majesty’s death had been too convenient; perhaps the Third Prince hadn’t been the only one involved.
As Chi Lin suspected, the true mastermind was the Minister of Rites, one of the seemingly loyal officials who had remained in the capital.
He was the one who manipulated the Third Prince!
As Chi Lin arrived in Shangjing, Lou Mi and her Imperial Guards were cornered in the Imperial Garden!
The guards were losing, their formation crumbling, when Chi Lin appeared, single-handedly repelling the rebels and rescuing Lou Mi!
The guards outside the palace, receiving General Chi’s command, stormed the gates, and the garden erupted in chaos.
Chi Lin, in her blood-soaked armor, shielded Lou Mi, fighting their way out, pursued relentlessly by the rebels.
Chi Lin glanced at the night sky. Another three months! Just as she was about to jump into the pond with Lou Mi, Lou Mi stopped her:
“The Blood Essence Pearl is broken!”
Chi Lin: “What?”
“I don’t know when it happened, I saw a crack this morning!”
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