I merely want to be a clam. With time and my own flesh, I will care for my pearl.

  In the middle of the night, snow suddenly began to fall. There was no wind, and as such, the snow fell like cotton drifting down from the heavens. The entire garden of plum trees blossomed in the night; the red flowers were like blood, dying the branches with drops of crimson.

  Meixiang entered in the middle of the night to replenish the coal, only to see Chu Qiao sitting on the bed. Slightly taken aback, Meixiang stepped forward and lightly called out, “Missy, what happened?”


  Chu Qiao donned her white cotton pajamas as her hair was like black silk, yet she seemed like a stone. Her complexion was rather pale as she lightly shook her head and said, “I am merely feeling a bit uncomfortable.”


  Meixiang heard that and lightly smiled as she teased, “The fourth master just left for two days, yet Missy is already missing him so much that you cannot sleep?”


  Even though Zhuge Yue occupied Qinghai, he was still holding the position of a subordinate of the Xia Empire, and regarded Zhao Che, who currently governed the northern lands, as the master. As such, he was still a King, and Chu Qiao the Lady. Meixiang did not change how she addressed the two of them. Chu Qiao laughed, and Meixiang left her alone.

  In the quiet night, without him around, the room seemed so empty. She thought about the dream that she just had. The woman in her dream had a rather blurred figure, along with a pale complexion. Yet the smile that the woman donned was gentle and calm. Wearing a robe of pure white, she quietly stood in the beautiful garden and looked at her quietly. The white flowers blossomed behind her, falling with the wind.

  In this dark night, for some reason the wind suddenly began to blow. The plum blossoms fell with the winds, pitter-pattering on the windows in a soft rhythm. Chu Qiao quietly looked out of the window, suddenly feeling a sense of pain. She knew not why nor for whom.

  It was the 4th of December, two days ago, when Zhuge Yue had left for Gongyue to settle some military matters. In the Qianhua Palace within Xingyue Palace, Chu Qiao had a dream of an unfamiliar woman standing outside her window, standing for a long while before leaving.

  Half a month later, Zhuge Yue finally returned from Gong Yue.

  Zhuge Yunzhou frowned his small brows and started complaining to his mother before he even got off his carriage. “Zhou’er will never head out with father again. He kept rushing the journey. It was not fun at all.”


  Li Qingrong was already eight-years-old, and looked exceeding like his father, especially how he loved colorful clothing. In his actions, he exuded the aura of that person. As he lazily leaned on the stone pillar before the palace, Li Qingrong yawned and muttered, “I told you long ago. You did not believe me and insisted on going.”


  Chu Qiao ignored them both and walked straight to Zhuge Yue, brushing off the dust on his clothes, and asked, “Was it tough on the journey?”


  Zhuge Yue embraced her and pecked her on the cheek. “It was fine.”


  “Ah!” Zhuge Zhouyun sighed as he noticed that nobody replied to him. He got off the horse by himself. As he got off, he sighed while shaking his head. “In this era, it is ever so difficult to predict peoples’ hearts. Even though we are all family, the treatment is so different.”


  On the other hand, Li Qingrong pretended that he could not bear to look on anymore as he covered his eyes with one hand and used his other hand to feel the way back to the palace.

  On that night, the Xingyue Palace held a huge banquet. All kinds of food were presented in turn, as dances and music filled the palace. The palace was filled with people and laughter. Yet, all this prosperity was nothing compared to the gaze of the person beside him. With the piling of the snow outside the doors, the plum trees swayed with the fluttering snowflakes.

  After drinking some alcohol, he was in a particularly good mood. Even though his subordinates teased him about how he was worried about his family and rushed back through the nights, he merely childishly glared and put on a show that he was angry.

  That night, as the banquet was dismissed, the palace doors were closed shut. In the lightly swaying silk veils, their flushed skin brushed against each other as their bodies were entangled. After their merrymaking was over, he lightly kissed her earlobe and whispered in her ear, “Xing’er, the Nalan Empress has left.”


  Left? Where to? For a moment Chu Qiao was still caught in a daze as her heart had yet to recover from the intense lovemaking. Leaning in his embrace, she thought in a daze Nalan Empress? Which Nalan Empress?

  “It was rumored that she died from a sudden illness, and it has been almost two weeks since. After hearing that, I was particularly afraid as I recalled how you were so sickly. Since then I had an intense desire to rush back.” Zhuge Yue lightly spoke as his arms embraced her from behind, his chest tightly pressed on her silky smooth back. He hugged her so tight that she felt as though she was about to pass out.

  Chu Qiao’s body gradually froze up as coldness emerged from her fingertips like the coldness of the Yan Bei highlands, capable of freezing boiling water in a flash. As the wind blew past beyond the windows, one could hear them howl. The branches of the plum trees swayed before the window like a lady shaking her body.

  She suddenly remembered how she woke suddenly from her sleep covered in cold sweat that stuck to her body. After so many days she had already forgotten what that person looked like, and the clothes that that person wore. But Chu Qiao could always vividly recall how that pair of eyes were so calm, so fleeting, like the clouds in the sky. That gaze landed on Chu Qiao and passed through her into the distance.

  The wind swept up the corner of her clothes and the flower petals flew past her pale face. They had never met before, and the only time they crossed paths in this entire life was merely that one instance when she caught a glimpse of the letter. In the messy words that were written on the scented letter, the poems were a mess as the tears of that lady dripped down and seeped through the paper, dissolving the ink into messy blotches.

  In this strange twist of fate, only Chu Qiao managed to see the deep pains of this lady who stood at the pinnacle of power.

  The mountain nurtured trees, yet the trees nourished their branches; My heart sought your happiness, yet you had not known……

  Whoosh, a dark shadow swept past the window. She suddenly froze up, and even her fingers turned frigid. Zhuge Yue noticed her frigidity and hugged her as he propped his body up and called out, “What was that?”


  A wave of rushed footsteps sounded out as servants replied, “My King, it was a raven that was flying in the night.”


  “Inform the archery units. Shoot all of them in the area.”


  “Understood, Your Highness. This servant will leave now.”


  The winds were still blowing as Zhuge Yue embraced her and comforted her, “Don’t be afraid. It was but a bird.”


  Her eyes suddenly teared up, and she tightly held his waist. With one hand around her and another lightly patting her back, Zhuge Yue seemed to sense something and asked softly, “Xing’er, what’s wrong?”


  She buried her head in his gentle embrace and quietly replied, “Nothing much. I merely feel that the world is so unpredictable.”


  He gently replied, “The world is unpredictable, but that does not include us.”


  Chu Qiao lifted her head up, and the pair of dark irises seemed to exude confusion in the darkness. She lightly frowned and said, “There are some things that we humans ultimately cannot achieve. It is impossible to predict fate.”


  “I never believed in gods or deities.” He lightly smiled, his eyes filled with light as he closed in for a light peck on her lips and muttered, “I will never do something that I regret.”


  Her heart seemed to fall into a boiling fountain as her limbs all seemed to be sapped of strength. She hugged him and replied to his kiss with all her heart. Their skin brushed against each other again, savoring every inch of each other’s body as her fingertips swept around his muscular back then circled to the front of his chest. Pressing her ears on her hand, even though her palm she could hear his strong beating heart.

  Her tears fell drop by drop. There was no reason to stop, nor did she want to.

  Snow bellowed outside the window as she leaned into her husband’s embrace in her warm bedroom. In the bedroom opposite them, there slept her son. In the vast heavens, her personal world was tightly in her grasp. Regardless of how the world was turned around or upside down, she would have the courage to face it.

  The winter in Qinghai was short and quickly ended. The spring wind was precious as it drizzled on the lands. This day was the best day for seeding the lands. Zhuge Yue brought his entire court to the altar of the earth god, Pingan following alongside him. Jingjing was so bored that she pestered Chu Qiao to head out of the palace to get some air. Chu Qiao felt rather tired lately, but was still convinced by Jingjing and brought Yunzhou and Rong’er out. Even though Li Qingrong was still young, he loved sleeping. Even after heading out of the palace, he was still in a daze. Chu Qiao had no choice but to prepare a separate carriage just for him, whereas she shared another carriage with Yunzhou and Jingjing.

  After heading up the mountain, everyone abandoned their horses to walk up. Li Qingrong sighed and followed behind, complaining about how he had come to Qinghai precisely to rest, yet he was still exhausted. Jingjing started to argue with him, but was quickly defeated in a verbal battle, and could only look to Chu Qiao for help. Chu Qiao smiled and asked if the Tang Emperor still forced him to study politics every day.

  He immediately nodded and helplessly replied, “My brother said that after a few years, he will let me take over for a few years and let him take a break.”


  Chu Qiao knew that these siblings were extremely close, and was not surprised at that suggestion. “Your brother is indeed big-hearted.”


  Li Qingrong clicked his tongue and remarked, “Being the emperor is the most difficult job in the world. I will never be tricked by him to become one.”


  As the crowd finally reached the mountaintop, the clouds just happened to clear up as the sunlight pierced through, revealing a huge rainbow that looked like the silk belt that had descended from the skies.

  Jingjing was extremely happy as she danced around. Seeing that, Zhuge Yunzhou stared at her and asked, “Mother, when will Aunt Jingjing be married off?”


  That remark was clearly a sensitive question as Jingjing sharply turned around and snapped, “Who needs you to care?”


  Zhuge Yunzhou frowned. “Who said I cared? I merely want less noise in my life.”


  Just as the duo was arguing, Chu Qiao turned around only to see Li Qingrong donned in his red blouse with his ornaments neatly placed all over his body as he casually leaned on a pine tree by the side. Even though he was still young, his eyes were the same as Li Ce’s. His long eyes were like a fox as he kept them half closed as he looked over at her. He suddenly smiled. “If aunt managed to give birth to a sister, when she grows up, just marry her to me.”


  Chu Qiao was slightly taken aback as she laughed, “You are so young, why would you suddenly think about this?”


  “I didn’t suddenly think of that.” Li Qingrong lifted an eyebrow. Even though he was still a kid, there was a layer of something covering his eyes, preventing anyone from completely reading him.

  “If Rong’er had these kind of thoughts since so young, I am sure I was born for that.”


  As the light breeze blew past, Li Qingrong’s hair fluttered. Looking into the distance, he quietly said, “Aunt, there are too many partners who were upset with each other. Just like my Father and Mother, Grandfather and Grandmother, they had hated each other for their entire lives until death. Aunt and the King are a rare couple.”


  Suddenly, the winds started again. Seeing how Chu Qiao was lightly dressed, Li Qingrong quickly took out a robe. Even though he was small, he managed to put the robe onto her shoulder in a rather mature manner.

  The young boy smiled. “Aunt, I want a sister to be my wife. Therefore, you and the King need to try your best.” Seeing how even such a young kid started to tease her, Chu Qiao was rather at a loss. She scolded him lightly though he kept his smiling face.

  After the drizzle stopped, the rainbow bloomed even brighter as the sunlight pierced through the clouds, bathing the lands in a golden yellow.

  After half a month, the imperial doctor informed that the Qinghai Lady was pregnant again. At the end of the year, a daughter was added to Xingyue Palace. She was named Zhuge Yunsheng with a pet name of Zhenzhu, and known as Princess Zhenzhu.

  The Tang Empire’s request for her hand in marriage was sent merely one month after her birth, yet Li Qingrong intercepted them enroute and sent them all back. The Tang Emperor Li Xiuyi said that he was crazy, yet he merely brushed off the remark and sent a reply, “What need was there for the shellfish to worry about the clam’s pearl?”


  Another child entered the bedroom of Qianhua Palace. The poor King of Qinghai, who had finally finished his half year streak of abstinence, needed to begin his quest to compete for his wife with his child again.

  As the wind blew from the borders, there was a mild scent of grass. With the passage of time, on the Eastern Sea in the Song Empire, the fishermen managed to capture the clams for the year. There were some that carried with them a radiant pearl, yet some had lost their pearls. All were merely sand in the beginning, and only after being loved by someone did they truly become something valuable.

  After the passage of time, the sand could finally become pearls.