Chapter 40: Holding Hands
After hearing Jiang Xue’s words, Xiao Luohan couldn’t help but recall Ms. Wei’s advice from that day.
—”Not every obsession has a resolution. Let go of what you should let go of. Staying alive is more important than anything else.”
“Elder Sister wants me to let it go,” she said, drawing a fox in the diary. “When Mother sent me away from Beiliao, she also repeatedly told me to forget her completely.”
“But how can I forget?”
One was her birth mother, who had raised her through hardships, and the other was her most important playmate, confidante, and older sister, who had watched her grow up.
“The more they want me to forget, the more they want me not to care, the more I can’t let go.”
“I understand,” Jiang Xue nodded empathetically. “Don’t blame yourself for this. They have their wishes, and you have your persistence. As long as you’re sure you can bear the weight of the truth, I think it’s better to find out.”
She turned her head and looked at the empty space. “But to investigate safely, we need to get out of here.”
Actually, Jiang Xue had another guess.
Dreams stemmed from the heart. This “connection” between them was probably based on an invisible “affection level” and their mutual desires.
Just like with the previous one-sided interactions, she still believed the problem was on Xiao Luohan’s side—perhaps the red fox Elder Sister didn’t want to keep them from the truth, but Xiao Luohan’s subconscious was avoiding facing it.
This wasn’t surprising. If she were in Xiao Luohan’s shoes, and found out that her elder sister’s body had been desecrated after death, even if she was mentally prepared, she would still break down.
She jumped off the table and took Xiao Luohan’s wrist. “Come on, let’s look around.”
Xiao Luohan obediently let her lead, carefully tucking the diary into her arms before leaving.
Although they said “walk,” they both tacitly floated, avoiding the heavy, leaden feeling in their feet.
“If this place is a replica of Wangmei Pavilion, I remember the door should be…”
Jiang Xue chose a direction and was about to float over when she saw Xiao Luohan move forward first. “Here.”
The place she chose was a blank space, a blinding white that almost blended with the floor, somewhat frightening.
But Jiang Xue had watched many puzzle-solving, infinite-flow anime and wasn’t afraid of this kind of environment. Trusting Xiao Luohan, she followed wherever she floated.
Without the red fox to guide them, the two floated hand in hand into the pure white area, moving forward.
She didn’t know if they had passed through a “door,” but since they hadn’t hit any walls, it meant this path was clear.
“Straight ahead?”
After floating for a while, Xiao Luohan suddenly asked.
“If you still remember the way outside Wangmei Pavilion, we can change direction,” Jiang Xue replied.
Xiao Luohan nodded, then hesitated.
“…East is the Crown Prince’s Eastern Palace, west is the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and southeast is the Imperial Hospital,” she said. “That’s all I know.”
“Where do you want to go?” Jiang Xue asked. “To investigate your elder sister’s matter, we need to go to the Eastern Palace and the Ministry of War, right? But the Ministry of War is probably outside the city… Based on the history I’ve learned, the Ministry of War is located here.”
This was a dream. With a thought, a pen appeared in her hand, and she drew a map in the air.
With her knowledge, drawing the main areas inside and outside the imperial city and marking their purposes wasn’t difficult.
“Elder Sister told me about the location of Beiliao’s Ministry of War, and it’s exactly as you’ve drawn,” Xiao Luohan said. “I’m not sure about Daying’s situation, but Elder Sister also said that this layout has been passed down for thousands of years. In your world’s terms, it’s a ‘fixed format’ that’s unlikely to change.”
She bypassed the map in the air and floated towards the location of the Ministry of War.
But even if the “fixed format” was roughly the same, the palace paths were winding, and with nothing but white all around, they quickly lost their way.
Jiang Xue stopped first. “This won’t work. Even if there are no roads, with everything being white, there’s no point of reference!”
Xiao Luohan thought for a moment and tentatively reached out. A brush, dipped in thick ink, appeared in her hand.
She flicked the brush towards the ground, and the splattered ink trailed across the floor, but the end stopped abruptly, presumably hitting a wall or obstacle.
Jiang Xue was amused and also reached out, but she produced a large bucket of colorful paint.
She still remembered that the Third Princess was interested in rainbows.
“Yours isn’t enough, watch mine!” she said, then shouted and threw the paint with all her might.
The colorful paint spread across the floor, forming a rainbow path that stretched forward.
Unexpectedly, a miracle happened.
Like in those real estate advertisement animations, tall buildings rose from the ground… well, not that exaggerated, but the city walls and buildings were indeed so tall that they had to crane their necks to see the tops.
Jiang Xue looked up and saw guards stationed on the city walls. Then she looked down, scanning her surroundings. A stone paved road stretched out clearly from beneath her feet.
She immediately understood that her guess was correct. Everything here would change according to Xiao Luohan’s will, but this “will” might be something more abstract, and most likely related to Xiao Luohan’s emotions.
And what she had to do was offer encouragement. Just like now, she had brought a bright and brilliant rainbow to the Third Princess, and the Third Princess, following the rainbow, had woven the path she remembered from entering the Daying Imperial Palace.
It was like a fairytale, but fortunately, it was just as simple.
“When I entered Daying, the carriage took this road,” Xiao Luohan explained softly. “It was a wide road at first, then it narrowed, and the scenery became more and more desolate.”
Before Jiang Xue could reply, she continued, “But I was already used to it, so I didn’t think there was anything wrong… Besides, Beiliao was defeated, and I was offered as a tribute to Daying. Even if I was offered to the Crown Prince, I wasn’t worthy of the position of primary consort, so naturally, I couldn’t take the path meant for the primary consort.”
Jiang Xue opened her mouth, and even though she knew she couldn’t continue the topic, she still emphasized, “You’re not a tribute!”
She saw Xiao Luohan smile faintly.
“Of course I’m not a tribute. I’m an independent person.” The Third Princess raised her voice slightly. “I don’t want to take the path of the primary consort. I’ll just walk my own path.”
She was a dying person anyway. Even if she hadn’t met Jiang Xue, when she felt her time was near, she would calmly walk towards her end.
As for what would happen if the Crown Prince of Daying lost his newly acquired concubine, whether Beiliao would be “justifiably” attacked by Daying because of this, it didn’t really matter to her.
As soon as she finished speaking, a carriage suddenly appeared beside them.
The driver was dressed in red, her face obscured, but Jiang Xue felt she resembled the woman in ancient costume depicted on the MP3 player, dressed in red with a golden hairpin, sitting there casually and freely.
“Get in.”
But her voice was Sister Cheng’s, without the usual respect, calm, composed, and straightforward.
Xiao Luohan pulled Jiang Xue onto the carriage.
After entering the carriage, Jiang Xue sat down and couldn’t help but look around.
The patterns on the curtains and the carvings on the walls were too clear, so clear that she felt a pang of sympathy for the Third Princess.
On the long journey from Beiliao to Daying, the Third Princess must have suffered. Inside the carriage, she must have been so bored that she could only pass the time by observing these patterns and carvings.
But Xiao Luohan didn’t want to talk about this, and Jiang Xue wouldn’t ask, only piecing together a rough picture from these small details.
The red-clad “Sister Cheng” drove the carriage. It was slow at first, but after reaching the main road, the clip-clop of hooves echoed.
“We can leave the palace through this road,” Xiao Luohan said, a helpless expression on her face. “If only Shizhu could leave the palace so easily outside the dream…”
“Hidden among the outgoing goods?” Jiang Xue blurted out, but quickly dismissed the idea. “No, ordinary goods are inspected at the gate, and valuable goods wouldn’t allow her to hide inside! And Shizhu isn’t young. If she’s a little slow and gets discovered, the punishment could be fatal!”
She thought carefully again. “First, we have to avoid the dog of a Crown Prince’s surveillance, and then the guards…”
At this point, Jiang Xue couldn’t continue.
The two started brainstorming on the way out of the city, but both were young and inexperienced. Even if they had ideas, after voicing them, they realized they were unrealistic and had to start over.
At some point, the carriage slowed down and came to a stop.
“We’re here. The Ministry of War is on the left,” the red-clad Sister Cheng’s voice came from outside.
Jiang Xue, closer to the door where the cold air was leaking in, jumped out first. After steadying herself, she extended a hand to Xiao Luohan, who was peeking out.
As she firmly grasped the slender hand, Jiang Xue felt a jolt, like an electric current, making her tingle all over.
To distract herself and get down to business, she quickly looked at the red-clad Sister Cheng. “Can we really go in?”
The red-clad Sister Cheng transformed into a red plum blossom with golden stamens and flew away.
Seeing the shape of the red flower, Jiang Xue thought, “It’s settled.”
The red fox Elder Sister was also guiding them in the dream today, just in a different form that wouldn’t make the Third Princess distraught.
She looked at Xiao Luohan again.
The Third Princess was standing quietly beside her, her gaze fixed on the plaque of the Ministry of War, her hand trembling slightly in Jiang Xue’s grasp, cold to the touch.
Jiang Xue couldn’t help but take her other hand and warm both in her own.
“I’m here with you!” she said, warming Xiao Luohan’s hands and making a promise. “No matter what’s inside, I’m here.”
Xiao Luohan paused, then nodded firmly.
“Shall we inquire about the situation first, or look around the rooms?” Jiang Xue asked. “Like the room where war records are kept, the mortuary…”
However, Xiao Luohan couldn’t decide either. After some thought, she replied, “Let’s explore the rooms and listen to what the officials and servants are saying.”
Unlike what Jiang Xue had imagined, the Ministry of War, like other buildings, was well-lit during the day, and the officials of various ranks were hurrying about, with almost no idle chatter.
So the first plan failed, and they started searching for clues in each room.
They couldn’t find the room where war records were kept, but they did find the mortuary.
But after venturing inside, they found that there were only male corpses, no bodies resembling the Broken Plum Blossom Princess.
The two floated out again and found a crowded place to stay.
“Nothing at all! But the carriage brought us to the Ministry of War…” Jiang Xue muttered, still thinking about the red fox Elder Sister who had transformed into a flower and flown away.
Xiao Luohan was also lost in thought.
“But when solving problems, we can also find the correct answer by eliminating the wrong ones,” Jiang Xue continued. “Since it’s not the Ministry of War, then the only place left is the Eastern Palace, where the dog of a Crown Prince resides, right?”
“What do you think? Should we go and take a look now?”
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