4996

Chapter 4996: 5.0746 Uncomfortable

Feng Chen quickly smiled at Jisi and the others. "Alright, alright, don't just lie there on the wooden planks. One flying talisman each, follow along."

Jisi, Old Zhou, and the other four were overjoyed. They quickly reached out, took the flying talismans Mo Lian threw them, swiftly slapped them onto their bodies, and then flew into the sky. They had originally thought they'd have to expend their own divine power to fly, but now, using the flying talismans, they realized it was a blessing in disguise. As they drifted through the Wangchuan sky, braving the wind and rain, a hint of bitterness welled up in everyone's hearts... This is just too miserable!

On the other side, Qiao Mu was suddenly startled awake by a nightmare in the middle of the night. She quickly sat up, curling her legs to her chest, clutching her quilt. Her delicate brows involuntarily furrowed. How strange, to have just dreamt of her husband crying and clinging to her thigh, begging for help on the sea. It must be a case of "what one thinks about during the day, one dreams about at night." How could her husband be like a poor, pathetic little thing, crying and clinging to her leg? An illusion! Definitely.

The little stoic pouted slightly. She lay back down, tossing and turning for a while. Outside the window, the rustling of rain accompanied by the howling wind made it difficult to find peace. The little stoic suddenly sat up. Can't sleep again...

"They couldn't possibly have been jinxed by Duan Yue, having rotten luck at sea, could they?" The little stoic muttered to herself, then jumped out of bed, put on her brocade shoes, and walked outside. The rain outside was quite heavy. A faint, ethereal flute melody, almost imperceptible, drifted on the wind, like a sorrowful, lingering lament.

Qiao Mu quietly left the room, took out a water-ink landscape umbrella from her inner world, and followed the sound of the flute. Standing in the drizzling rain, Qiao Mu gazed at the figure in simple, unadorned clothing within the pavilion. His back looked desolate, imbued with an air of endless sorrow. Qiao Mu hesitated slightly, but still couldn't help but step into the pavilion.

The person suddenly turned around, a pair of peach blossom eyes, slightly shimmering with moisture, fixed steadily on her. His clothes were very thin, and as he stood in the wind, a profound silence surrounded him, as if he were the only one left in the vast expanse of heaven and earth. His figure was tall and slender, his dark hair flowing freely. In his hand, he tightly clutched a jade-green bamboo flute. When he looked at Qiao Mu, his dark eyes were pitch black, making her heart clench repeatedly.

"Did I wake you?" He smiled apologetically at her.

After three seconds of silence, both of them spoke at once, "I can't sleep." They exchanged glances and smiled at each other.

"Today is my mother's hundredth-day memorial."

"The day she passed away was just like today, with torrential rain that wouldn't stop. It was as if... the sky had been pierced."

The one whose heart was pierced was yourself, Qiao Mu thought to herself.

Duan Yue gently raised his hand, sweeping his sleeve over the round table in the pavilion, his fingers slowly tracing the cold surface of the table.

"Actually, I've always known."

"She was just an ordinary person; one day, she would inevitably leave before me."

"Life is like this. From the day you are born, you continuously experience loss, loss, loss, until there is nothing left for you to lose."

"Yet, obsessions linger, always making one think: if I had arrived a moment earlier that day, could I have salvaged everything?"

"However..."

"We have no 'if only'."

The little stoic stood behind him, listening silently, her small hands involuntarily clenching slightly. Who doesn't have obsessions? Everyone does. It just depends on how you face them.

"Given any glimmer of hope, no one wishes to be alone."