274 Untitled (2/2)

The dark red arrows cut across the night sky like shooting stars and aimed accurately at Meng Fuyao and Zhangsun Wuji's rooms. In an instant, there was a raging inferno, and the second floor immediately became a sea of fire.

”They took action! They attacked!” Meng Fuyao jumped, and she seemed more excited than scared. Continuously stomping her feet and rubbing her fists, she exclaimed, ”How unexpected! They indeed chose to attack!”

”Why are you so smug?” Zhangsun Wuji did not move, as though he did not see the fire at all. Slowly and calmly, he peeled a sweet potato for himself and happily munched on it while facing Lord Yuan Bao. ”Feng Jingrui did not start the fire, and I bet that tonight he's definitely 'not around.' The real culprit will definitely be one of those people from the Eternal Sky Clan, who are 'seeking justice' for their brothers who were killed'.”

”I know that Feng Jingrui will push the blame of this attack on the Eternal Sky Clan.” Meng Fuyao giggled. ”Anyway, Xuanji is in a mess now. Rebellious forces collude with Princes, and Princes collude with court officials; those serving in the capital get chased out, while those outside the borders stare at the city like it is a piece of fat meat. Since Feng Jingrui will definitely not become the Emperor, why won't he stir up more trouble in this situation? If both of us died, wouldn't it be even better for Dahan and Wuji to attack Xuanji? Feng Jingrui might even be able to have some gains out of this chaos.”

”So Feng Jingrui ordered this killing without any hesitation since he does not have to be responsible for Xuanji.” Zhangsun Wuji stuffed a peeled sweet potato into Meng Fuyao's mouth. ”Fuyao,” he said.

”Yes,” Meng Fuyao mumbled as she quickly munched on the contents in her stuffed mouth.

”Do you intend to kill Feng Jingrui right now?”

”No,” Meng Fuyao replied. ”It's easy to kill him, but it will be troublesome to hire people to kill him. Since we're on the lands of another nation, we shouldn't be so high profile…”

While Zhangsun Wuji was still wondering why she became so humble, she suddenly added, ”We can wait for those in hiding to surface and expose themselves as we travel to the capital. Then, we can gather all those problematic and harmful ones, and then kill them all at once.”

… It was indeed King Meng's style.

”So…” Zhangsun Wuji smiled. ”It seems as though we are going to be chased and killed soon.”

He described the precarious and difficult situation in such a simple tone, and Meng Fuyao listened on nonchalantly as well.

”Oh,” she placed her cheeks in her palms and seriously thought about ways to run. ”How should we escape? Escape with 3,000 other people? That's not giving enough face for Xuanji.”

”I think,” Zhangsun Wuji spoke and smiled. ”Just now Feng Jingrui mentioned something about beautiful sceneries of mountains, rivers, and springs. That sounds like a decent idea.”

Meng Fuyao's eyes lit up quickly, and she praised the idea. ”Ah! I have not traveled in so long!”

She wiped her mouth and looked up at the second level. Then, as she heard the barks and the calls of revenge coming from outside, she said, ”We should at least fight for a while before we 'disappear'.”

As she rolled up her sleeves and tied up her hair, her eyes gleamed. ”My hands are itchy!”

”Wait.” Zhangsun Wuji suddenly stopped her and took her hand. After taking a careful look at her fingers, he said, ”Your fingernails grow very quickly. Trim them first, or they might break during the fight, and your fingers will hurt.” In a swift movement, he pulled down Meng Fuyao onto a chair. Taking out a small and golden nail clipper from his clothes, he gently started trimming her fingernails.

Meanwhile, the fire raged above them, and chaos surrounded them. While countless armed members of the Eternal Sky Clan surrounded the area aggressively, the two of them calmly trimmed the fingernails in such a precarious moment.

Zhangsun Wuji was very serious in the trimming. He held the tip of Meng Fuyao's fingers and did one finger after the other. From Meng Fuyao's perspective, she could see his clean and bright forehead, his slightly pursed lips, his high nose bridge, and the golden-red reflection of the fire on his face which seemed bright and radiant. Yet, his expression was unusually focused. It seemed as though the neatness of the fingernails in front of him mattered a lot more than the possibility of people surrounding them to kill them.

Chaos was around them, but that place was calm and peaceful. Only the breathing and trimming sound could be heard. After a while, even the crisp and tiny clips seemed to have a lively rhythm to them.

It was the most beautiful moment.

Meng Fuyao sat cross-legged in front of him. The pile of fire beside her was still emitting warmth, the aroma of baked sweet potatoes had yet to drift away, and Lord Yuan Bao slept between them with his stuffed stomach. Suddenly, she felt calm and warm in this moment, even though the future was unpredictable and danger laid ahead of them in all directions. It resembled a moment years ago in the previous world when she had accompanied her mother back from the hospital. When they had seen the stall selling baked sweet potatoes along the street, they had spent a dollar on buying one, and the mother and daughter munched on it by the road. While they were eating, they smiled and each other. It was as though they had not just been sharing a sweet potato, but also the warmth in winter - the feeling derived from pushing through hardships together, and the telepathy of people who would accompany each other for the rest of their lives.

Nineteen years later, she was in another world and sharing sweet potatoes with another person once again. It might be a different setting with different characters, but the feeling remained similar.

Meanwhile, the clipper continued making crisp clicking sounds as Zhangsun Wuji slowly trimmed… She went into a daze again, as she recalled how her mother always cut her fingers back then. After her mother had fallen ill, she had always been the one cutting. At that moment, she would never have imagined that many years later, in another world, a royal man who had never served others would quietly and gently cut her fingernails under the brightly-lit night sky.

Then, she heard that person say solemnly and slowly, ”Fuyao, I hope that I can bake sweet potatoes with you every winter, and then cut away these overtly long fingernails for you.”

Meng Fuyao sighed internally and patted his hand. As she stood up, she replied, ”I think it's much more practical that you come and fight with me now. Let's go.”

Both of them leaped onto the roof and looked down. The 3,000 guards who were arranged to live in another area by Feng Jingrui, because of a lack of space in the current accommodation, were rushing towards their room. Then, they saw soldiers who ”came worriedly”, rushed out of their base in an extremely efficient manner, and lined themselves on the paths that would lead the 3,000 guards to the residence. It seemed as though the soldiers were actively extending help, but they actually blocked the paths of the guards. With so many people hogging up the small alleys in the rural city, it was impossible for the guards to move.