Chapter 84: A Twisted Dream
The two of them took the wine and utensils and returned to the inner room together.
The endless sound of firecrackers outside the manor had already passed its peak and had become a little gentler.
The two of them sat opposite each other at the Eight Immortals table. Shen Zhishu rolled up her sleeves and poured a cup of wine for Jiang Yu, and then poured one for herself as well.
She held up the glass cup and smiled, “Happy New Year.”
Jiang Yu clinked cups with her.
After a cup of wine, Jiang Yu’s lips were a little darker than usual, and even the corners of her eyes and brows were covered with a very thin layer of crimson mist.
Shen Zhishu’s gaze slid from Jiang Yu’s nose to her cherry lips, paused for a few breaths, and lowered her gaze.
She took another sip of wine and thought to herself, Perhaps it’s because the night is too dark, the room is too warm, and the candlelight is half-bright and half-dark, and everything is just right.
So much so that she actually thought of the taste of this lip on the bed.
Shen Zhishu pushed her thoughts aside, and when she lowered her eyes, she saw that her cup was empty. She picked up the wine pot and poured herself another cup, raised her eyes, and smiled, “This wine of Your Highness is indeed not strong, it’s very soft.”
Jiang Yu nodded and said in a faint voice, “But the aftertaste is a little strong.”
“Hmm?”
“Lantiao and the others have a good tolerance for alcohol, but they were drunk and passed out. The sound of the firecrackers outside couldn’t even wake them up.”
Shen Zhishu raised an eyebrow, “Then is Your Highness still trying to get me drunk?”
Jiang Yu had an indifferent attitude, “The General can drink a little less. I suppose it will be fine.”
Shen Zhishu said the opposite, “Your Highness is being considerate of me.”
Jiang Yu took it all in, “Of course.”
Shen Zhishu looked at Jiang Yu without blinking, suddenly pushed her wine cup, leaned back in her chair, and smiled, “How good is Your Highness’s tolerance for alcohol, so much so that the four of them, Lantiao and the others, can’t outdrink you?”
“I didn’t drink much,” Jiang Yu said. “The four of them were all pouring for each other, but no one was pouring for me.”
“Then I’ll pour for you,” Shen Zhishu said. “Anyway, it’s fine if Your Highness drinks too much. You’ll just sleep when you’re drunk. But I can’t sleep. What if a villain comes to the manor to cause trouble? I have to be on guard.”
Jiang Yu shook her head, picked up her wine cup and took a small sip, and said seriously, “It’s the Spring Festival today, even villains have to rest.”
“What, do villains also have holidays?” Shen Zhishu smiled. “Do assassins also choose a day to kill?”
“Actually, what I mean is… the General doesn’t have to be so reserved. It’s also good to just sleep when you’re drunk.”
Even when she was drinking at home, Jiang Yu’s back was still very straight.
Shen Zhishu’s thick crow-black eyelashes swept up and down, and she uttered two words, “I won’t.”
This wine really has a strong aftertaste, Shen Zhishu thought.
After only two cups of wine and two joss stick’s time, the dizzy feeling had already come up a little.
Her brain was working a little slowly, so much so that her mouth was faster than it, and she said whatever she thought.
After these two words came out, when Shen Zhishu belatedly realized that she had been a little offensive, Jiang Yu had already continued.
She asked, “Why?”
But Shen Zhishu closed her mouth and did not speak.
Why? she thought slowly.
Because Jiang Yu is always out of line. Because the boundary between friend and lover seems to be not so clear between them.
So what would happen after she got drunk… it seemed to be a very uncertain thing.
Shen Zhishu propped her head on her hand, took another gulp of wine, and said, “Because you are unclear in your words and actions.”
“How am I unclear?”
But Shen Zhishu did not speak anymore.
She held her wine cup and only felt that there was a double image in front of her. Jiang Yu’s face had split into two, one was expressionless, and the other had a slight curl at the corners of her lips.
It seemed that she was really drunk…
Shen Zhishu put down her wine cup and answered irrelevantly, “Are you trying to get me drunk?”
Jiang Yu’s voice was faint, “If I were sincerely trying to get you drunk, you wouldn’t have lasted this long.”
Shen Zhishu had no strength left to dwell on the matter, her head slowly drooping.
The moment before she lost consciousness, she thought, It’s not Jiang Yu’s fault. It was me who kept drinking, one gulp after another, one cup after another.
Forget it, it’s the beginning of the new year, so I’ll just indulge myself once.
**
Shen Zhishu dreamed of her friend again.
They had seen each other often since they became friends. Sometimes the friend would come to the Cold Cloud Palace to find her, and sometimes she would go to the Rebirth Sect to visit.
The friend had a whole mountain peak to herself in the Rebirth Sect, and the mountain was full of cedar trees. When she asked her why she was so fond of this plant, she said that because she was busy on a normal day, the cedar trees could be evergreen all year round without any care.
And she liked the scent of cedar.
Shen Zhishu also liked it, clear and quiet, and it made her feel at ease.
Every time Shen Zhishu came to the Rebirth Sect, she would stay for three or four days at first. Later, as her status in the Cold Cloud Palace became higher and higher, she had more and more free time.
So she would run here for several months at a time, so much so that the mountain boys in the sect were already familiar with her. Every time she came, the mountain boy would run to knock on her friend’s door first, and then her friend would gracefully push open the door and welcome her into the room.
Most of the time, her friend was spotless, wearing a white robe and with her long hair down, looking like a reclusive mountain master.
Only after she had sent a soul to rebirth would she be a little disheveled. If she encountered a soul with a very deep obsession, she would often have to sleep for three to five days after she had enlightened it.
That day, she was bored in the Cold Cloud Palace, so she packed her bags and went north to the Rebirth Sect to find someone as usual.
But the mountain boy said that her friend had just enlightened a deep black soul and was sleeping at the moment, and would probably not wake up for three to five days.
Shen Zhishu said, “Ah,” and was about to go home, but the mountain boy stopped her, “Please stay, Your Excellency. The master said that she has already tidied up a small room. If you come when she is in seclusion, you can just stay there.”
A tea stove was hanging in the small room, and Mingjuezi Biluochun was boiling in it. Outside the room was a gurgling stream. She would drink tea and watch flowers by the stream every day, and catch fish and tease birds, which was quite carefree and happy.
Five days later, her friend came out of seclusion.
After she had had enough sleep, her spirits were very good, and she still had that spotless appearance.
It was the middle of the night when she came out. Shen Zhishu happened to be not asleep and was bored, playing chess with herself.
After finishing a game, a thunderclap suddenly came from outside, and then the wind howled, as if it were about to rain.
Shen Zhishu got up to close the window, and when she looked up, she suddenly met a pair of eyes.
Her friend was holding a lantern and walking gracefully towards her along the path. The candlelight was scattered, and her face was hidden in the darkness of the impending storm.
Their eyes met, and her friend paused, and then quickened her pace, reaching the side of the room in a few steps.
She did not enter the door, but just stood quietly outside the window and placed the lantern on the windowsill.
So a corner of the window was enveloped in the lights, and the night outside was silent, which gave a sense of secrecy.
It was as if… only the two of them were left in the world.
Shen Zhishu’s gaze shifted from the glass lantern to her friend’s face. After a while, she smiled and asked, “Why are you here at this time? What if I was already asleep?”
Her friend said, “Then I would have just looked at you from the window, and then gone back to my room and come again tomorrow.”
A thunderclap suddenly came, and Shen Zhishu’s heart skipped a beat.
She thought that the thunder was a little loud, and she lowered her eyes to calm herself down for a while.
Halfway through, she suddenly heard her friend say, “Aren’t you going to let me in for a while?”
Shen Zhishu suddenly raised her head, hurriedly said, “Yes,” and ran to the door and opened it.
The scent of cedar on her friend was stronger. In the past, she had only felt at ease when she smelled it, but today, for some reason, her heart was beating a little fast.
After the two of them had entered the room one after the other, there was another muffled thunder in the sky, and then a downpour.
Shen Zhishu was stunned for a moment and strode to the window.
The shadows of the trees were swaying in the wind and rain, and a layer of mist had already appeared on the path.
Shen Zhishu listened to the continuous sound of the rain, turned her head, and smiled at her friend, “It seems you can only stay here for one night. Although the bed is not big, it’s not a problem for two people to sleep.”
As these words came out, she suddenly realized that she was a little happy.
**
Shen Zhishu and her friend were lying face to face, listening to her friend talk about her experience of enlightening the dead.
She always felt that it was very dangerous, but her friend always made it sound light.
“Let’s sleep,” her friend said in the end. “If we don’t sleep now, the sky will be bright.”
Perhaps it was because there was another scent in the bedding that did not belong to her, but Shen Zhishu could not fall asleep. She only dozed off for a while when the sky was bright.
When she really felt that something was wrong, she was taken by her friend to see an elder of the Rebirth Sect.
Her friend and the elder were having a great chat, and she sat by the side, the corners of her mouth drooping little by little.
Her friend seems to be very good to everyone, she thought. I am no exception.
That’s right. Her friend was quiet and reliable, and no one would dislike her or be unwilling to be her friend.
The elder finally patted her on the shoulder and said, “You are a good child, just like Wuya.”
Shen Zhishu said, “Mm,” and thought to herself, It’s finally over.
She and her friend came out of the hall and walked home side by side. Perhaps because she sensed that she was not in high spirits, her friend broke a few willow branches halfway.
“What’s wrong?” Shen Zhishu asked.
“I’ll weave you a flower basket,” her friend said.
So, a joss stick’s time later, a novel and exquisite flower basket was in her hand, with a large bunch of hyacinths stuck in it haphazardly.
Shen Zhishu was a little surprised, “You can even do this!”
“I’m just showing off,” her friend said in a faint voice. “Do you like it?”
“Of course I like it!” Shen Zhishu looked left and right and couldn’t bear to put it down. But thinking of the scene in the hall just now, her mood suddenly fell.
She asked in a low voice, “You’ve probably given many people such flower baskets?”
But unexpectedly, her friend shook her head and said, “I’ve only given it to you.”
“Hmm?”
“I just learned it a few days ago.”
Shen Zhishu said, “Oh,” and muttered, “Then if you had learned it earlier, I probably wouldn’t have been the first to receive a flower basket.”
“Hmm?” Her friend did not hear clearly.
“Nothing,” Shen Zhishu shook her head. “I like it very much, thank you.”
Her friend did not answer and suddenly stopped.
Shen Zhishu raised an eyebrow and looked at her friend, and saw her cherry lips open and close, and she said without warning, “Are you… jealous?”
Shen Zhishu suspected that she had misheard, “What?”
Her friend paused, and then said firmly, “You are jealous.”
Very good, Shen Zhishu thought. It has changed from a question to a statement.
She also said firmly, “That’s impossible,” but after her harsh words, she began to doubt herself—
After all… she had run to the Rebirth Sect because she missed her friend, and her heart had also been pounding because of her friend’s actions.
That night, she stayed in her friend’s room.
It was the turn of spring and summer, and the sound of crickets was incessant. The south wind could not overcome the east wind. It was a little stuffy during the day, but it was very cool at night.
Her friend’s bed was very wide, and it could fit five people. In the past, she would always squeeze by her friend’s side, but today, perhaps because she was a little guilty about what had happened during the day, she moved to the side, leaving a space between her and her friend.
Her friend blew out the lamp and turned over to tuck in the corner of her blanket. She smelled the clear and cool scent of her friend in the bedding and slowly fell into a dream.
The sky in the dream was high and far, and they were running in the countryside.
As they were running, her friend turned her head and asked, “Are you jealous?”
She shook her head and said, “No.”
But her friend stopped, and she did not know why, so she also stopped.
Suddenly, her friend turned around, grabbed her by the shoulders, and pushed her to the ground.
After a moment of dizziness, only that face was left in front of her.
The cherry lips on her face opened and closed, “You are jealous.”
Shen Zhishu’s heart moved, and then she frowned slightly and said, “No.”
“Is that so?” her friend asked. “You know what you are thinking. Your ‘no’ is just trying to cover things up.”
Shen Zhishu still said, “No.”
“No?” Her friend smiled. “Since it’s not, why don’t you push me away? Is it because you can’t bear to?”
Shen Zhishu paused, and her thoughts were led astray.
That’s right, her friend’s action was clearly out of line. Why didn’t she refuse?
Shen Zhishu went through the emotions in her heart and found that she did not seem to be resistant.
On the contrary, she was a little… expectant.
Absurd.
Too absurd.
The red lips were getting closer and closer to her…
Perhaps it was because they were too close, but at this moment, Shen Zhishu finally saw the face that had been covered in mist from beginning to end—
Willow-leaf eyebrows, clear and light eyes, and a small mole at the corner of her eye.
That was Jiang Yu’s face.
The next moment, her friend, with this face that she was all too familiar with, slowly lowered her head.
On the soft wilderness, she knelt on Shen Zhishu’s waist, paused, and bent down to kiss her.
