Nightfall

Ning Que and Mo Shanshan sat on a stone chair facing the lake under the twilight. Grazing not far away, the big black horse didn’t swallow the grass but rather to pass the time.

Ning Que talked about what happened in Jingdu. Mo Shanshan flashed her slender eyelashes gently and looked down at the tips revealing from the white skirt silently. Even when she heard that her teacher was seriously injured, the look on her face remained the same. However, she was a little surprised when she learned that Ning Que became the monarch of Great River Kingdom.

Unlike many women in the human world who had been swayed by the novels of talented scholars and beautiful ladies, she didn’t ask the man she loved why to meddle in her marriage when he had refused to marry her.

“Back in Chang’an, you said that she ran far away to heaven and could not come back, so there was no way for you to reach her. Now that she has returned to the human world, what do you plan to do?”

Ning Que said, “I found that what I thought back then was too simple. In fact, she is always there whether she goes to heaven or stays in the human world.”

Mo Shanshan said, “She is not Sangsang, but Haotian now. Could you still love her?”

Ning Que thought about it and then said, “I have thought about this problem. She is indeed Haotian, but she possesses all the memories of Sangsang and all the memories with me. How can I believe that she is not Sangsang?”

He went silent for a while and continued to say, “I know that no one likes her, but I don’t care. Actually, I have never cared about it. I guess I truly love her.”

Mo Shanshan looked up and stared at his eyes, “What about me?”

Ning Que went silent.

Mo Shanshan whispered, “You are such a heartbreaker.”

Ning Que said, “From a certain point of view, I certainly am.”

Mo Shanshan said in smile, “But it’s better for you to be a heartbreaker.”

Love was complicated. If Ning Que wanted to be with Shanshan, then he would hurt Sangsang. If he tried to please Shanshan and Sangsang at the same time, then he would hurt them both.

Most men were players. Some may be able to please several girls at the same time, but Ning Que couldn’t. Besides, the most crucial problem was that Sangsang and Shanshan wouldn’t allow him to do so.

Looking at her beautiful face, Ning Que thought about it for quite a while and said, “You are so nice.” He felt very stupid the moment he said so.

“I also feel that I’m a very nice girl.”

Looking at the direction of the lake, Mo Shanshan sighed, “But it’s still not enough. I won’t win the war after all, but it’s not because that I’m a bad fighter. I just have to yield to god.”

The setting sun shone on the quiet lake between the cliffs, covering the lake surface with golden waves. With the darkness fallen, the water was getting dark and drifted with the wind, like the ink in the ink stone.

Sangsang sat on the lakeside. She seemed a bit lonely, but still as high as the sky.

Mo Shanshan looked at the direction of Sangsang and went silent for a long time. Then she took her legs to the chair and clasped her arms around her knees like she was cold, asking, “Do you still like me?”

Ning Que gave it a thought and then answered honestly, “Yes.”

She said, “But not enough.”

The former “not enough” was meant for herself, but this “not enough” was meant for him.

What should Ning Que say?

She clasped her arms around her knees and said sadly, “You like her much more.”

The tears moistened her dress.

People all thought that she was a gentle woman who cared about nothing but talisman books, and that she was out of tune with the common folk. As mentioned before, she was the best of the best.

Who could imagine that she would cry for a man?

It was the first time for Ning Que to see her cry. He was very confused and didn’t know what to do or say. Finally he blurted out, “Would killing me make you happier?”

He wasn’t joking this time. He really meant it.

Shanshan’s kindness to him was just too much for him to repay. He subconsciously offered her the most valuable thing he had: his life.

“You only have one life. If you give it to me, then what about Sangsang? Or is it just your ruse to fool girls? You are such a…” Mo Shanshan said with tears. It was the first time she shed tears in front of people, and also the first time she wanted to curse. However, she took it back at the last moment.

Ning Que had done a lot of things that wouldn’t be tolerated in the human world and he was well aware of his own cold-blooded nature. To normal people’s eyes, he was undoubtedly a scumbag, but he never cared how people saw him. Only after seeing Shanshan cry did he discover that it was truly hard to be a scumbag.

It was very quiet and the twilight disappeared little by little. The shadow projected by the tree behind the chair gradually spread until it merged with the night. No one made any sound for a long time.

“Where would you go next?” she asked in a husky voice.

Ning Que said, “I don’t know.”

Mo Shanshan looked up at him and said carefully, “It’s very hard, isn’t it?”

Ning Que said, “I can take it.”

He must continue the journey whether it was for the human world or for himself. Besides, he wouldn’t be the only one who had suffered since Sangsang went along with him.

Looking at the sight of Sangsang’s back, Mo Shanshan had mixed feelings and said, “I guess it must be hard for her too.”

…

…

Sangsang sat by the lake the whole time.

She first looked at the few green lotuses floating on the lake and figured out that the young lotuses would be luxuriant and give birth to very beautiful lotus flowers exactly the morning after twenty-eight days.

Then she looked at the lake and figured out that the underground river beneath the Mogan Mountain would be connected to the mountainside in the next three hundred and seventy-four years and by then the lake would disappear.

Cat Girl came over nervously and served Sangsang a cup of tea. She was extraordinarily nervous and wanted to retire, but Sangsang asked her to stay.

Sangsang adored little girls, for she used to be a little girl herself. However, the Cat Girl didn’t know what was in Sangsang’s mind and was just too nervous to talk to her.

It was difficult to keep the chat going on if one party was too nervous. Sangsang slightly frowned and got bored, waving to excuse Cat Girl.

Sangsang continued to look at the lake, trying to figure out whether the lake would disappear in advance due to the landslide six hundred years later. She was disturbed and suddenly remembered the Yanming Lake in Chang’an.

The lotuses in the lake reminded her of the lotus flowers in Yanming Lake.

It didn’t mean anything. The only reason I remembered those lotuses was that I planted them myself. Sangsang thought so in her mind but knew clearly it was just an excuse.

Night fell. She looked up at the stars.

Human beings considered the stars to be incomparably complex, but to Sangsang, they were just pure numbers and much simpler than the matters in the human world. Sangsang thought that humans tended to complicate things, which was because only then can they feel that their existences were meaningful.

The stars watched the earth quietly. The positions of the stars and the distances among them remained exactly the same for millions of years.

She suddenly found that, compared with looking at the stars in the Divine Kingdom, looking up at them on the ground was equally beautiful, but always seemed a bit monotonous.

No, serenity was the real beauty.

Taoism believed that serenity was the real beauty, for the distribution rule of the stars was Haotian.

Then it couldn’t be changed.

At this moment, the cloud in the southwest of the night sky was blown away, revealing the full moon.

The moon shone on earth, and it shone on the night sky too. The starlight that seemed to be stagnant before instantly became alive, and so did the whole world.

Sangsang squinted and her willow leaf-shaped eyes looked bright.

Her eyes were also filled with confusion.

Haotian came to the human world, which sounded like a god befell earth. In fact, when the rule left its objective area and came to the human world, it was like a newborn baby to a new world.

Newborn babies relied on instincts and learning to survive and grow, respectively.

She also relied on instincts to survive on earth, but her instincts were cold rules and logic. The tender feelings in the human world were totally new to her.

She learned her lessons clumsily.

She was lonely and she would be more lonely without Ning Que.

…

…

Mo Shanshan looked at the back of Sangsang on the lakeside and said with pity, “She indeed lives a miserable life.”

Looking at the direction of Sangsang, Ning Que went silent for a while and said, “She certainly didn’t want to hear what you said, but you’re right.”

Mo Shanshan said, “Just take good care of her.”

Thinking of the torture he went through in the Divine Hall of West Hill and on the journey, Ning Que laughed ironically and said, “I live a miserable life too.”

Mo Shanshan said, “Don’t you think that I’m miserable too?”

Ning Que was about to speak, but he suddenly felt a soft and wet touch on his face.

Mo Shanshan kissed him on the cheek.

He was a little stunned.

She was a bit shy. She didn’t want to compete with Sangsang. She just wanted to express her feelings to Ning Que.

Ning Que was nervous and glanced to the direction of Sangsang.

Mo Shanshan looked at the other shore and whispered, “It feels like we are cheating.”

Ning Que forced out a bitter smile and went silent.

Mo Shanshan said, “Don’t worry.”

Ning Que said, “I’m not worrying about her.”

Knowing that Ning Que was strong in appearance but brittle inside, Mo Shanshan couldn’t help but laugh.

Ning Que said, “I’m worrying about you.”

Mo Shanshan laughed and said, “Don’t worry about me. Actually I figured the whole matter out a long time ago.”

Ning Que said, “How? I can’t understand it at all.”

Mo Shanshan smiled and said, “She met you earlier than me, a decade earlier actually. Even Haotian can’t reverse time, let alone me?”

“Go with her. If she were to return to the Divine Kingdom or abandon you, then you can always come back to me. Before that, I will make everyday count.”

“If?”

“I will meet a really good man.”

Hearing this, Ning Que almost subconsciously said, “Where can you find a man as good as me?” However, he suddenly realized that it would be too cheeky if he were to say so.

Mo Shanshan knew what he was thinking. She smothered her laughter and said, “There are not many women as good as me, but plenty of men better than you.”

Ning Que was a little embarrassed and got his self-esteem hurt.

All of a sudden, Mo Shanshan said, “I like you.”

The moonlight fell on her face, and she looked attractive and elegant.

How could a man ever forget a girl like her?

“But I also like that you like her.” Mo Shanshan smiled and said, “And I like the way you care about her.”

Ning Que didn’t say a word and just smiled at her.

I like you too. He said so in his mind. And I like how you deal with the whole matter.

He got up and walked out of the shadow of the tree. Then he walked to the other shore of the lake, looking at the back of Sangsang and saying, “Let’s go.”

Sangsang stood up and looked at Ning Que, trying to say something. However, she said nothing in the end.

They continued their journey.

A girl in a white dress saw them off on the lakeside.

It was the deep winter of the first year of Zheng Shi in the Great Tang, the three thousand four hundred and fiftieth year of Da Zhi in West Hill Divine Kingdom and the fourteenth year of Chong Sheng in the Great River Kingdom.

Two thousand cavalrymen from the Divine Hall of West Hill crossed the river and went all the way south.

A young couple came to the Great River Kingdom.

The monarch abdicated.

The Great River Kingdom changed its reign title to Xi Huan.

Xi meant sunbathing.

Huan was the name of a stream in the Southland which had thousands of acacia trees on both sides.

The new monarch was a woman. On the day of ascension, she still wore a white dress instead of the imperial robe.