NOVEL NEXT Edge of the Cliff
Pulling the reins of the horse halted it from proceeding any further when he was just a few meters away from Bai Yu Yan. She was standing there, looking at him with an almost unbelievable face as she saw him drawing near.
The frost in his eyes that had been frozen since the last day slowly thawed upon seeing the sight of her. It wasn’t difficult to understand why she was standing there with such a desolate expression on her face. Her lonely figure in the middle of the road pinched his heart but a strange pleasure crept in his chest knowing that she did care after all.
Lu Tong Xiao hid the small smile inching his face and swung his leg to descend to the ground.
The guards who had informed Bai Yu Yan of Lu Tong Xiao’s departure couldn’t maintain a stoic face anymore seeing him getting down the horse. They wondered if he forgot to take something.
One sharp look from Lu Tong Xiao and the guards immediately dropped their gaze, keeping their eyes strictly trained on the ground.
Before Bai Yu Yan’s mind could register what was happening, she was pulled into a tight embrace, her face resting against a firm chest. Blood rushed into her brain as she reflexively raised her hands that reached its way around his strong back. Her hands tightly clutched the robe on his back. The familiar smell of sandalwood and ink soothingly enveloped her as if it was the only balm to her scorching heart.
The only sound she could hear was the fiercely pounding heart which she couldn’t tell whom it belonged to, her or Lu Tong Xiao. But there was one thing she could tell, that she did not regret any of it. Neither having met this man in her life nor her stupid action of holding him right now even after knowing what tomorrow would bring.
Lu Tong Xiao had his face buried in her hair as he deeply inhaled her sweet intoxicating smell, one that he could never get enough of. His foolish act of turning the horse around long after it had crossed the outskirts of the capital had not only startled Xuyi and his other guards who were in his company but also himself who didn’t know what he was doing.
There was no way he could go. Not until he had seen her.
As a reserved man who had always worked with reason, it was probably the first time he had acted on impulse. So strong that he could not control it, not that he would want to.
Releasing his tight hold on her, Lu Tong Xiao let go of his hands around her small body that could easily fit inside his frame and cupped her cheeks on both sides so that he could get a better view of her face. The one that he had missed since the night before. Unlike how she was avoiding his eyes yesterday, she was properly looking at him now with her hands still around his torso.
He lowered his head to gently peck her small nose, his lips lingering on her skin.
“Missed me?” he asked in a low voice as his thumb gently stroked her smooth cheek.
His voice sent tingles down her spine which was purposely asking her the question with double meaning. Bai Yu Yan struggled to hold onto the last of her reason and responded, “You’re here...they said you were gone.”
The blowing wind played with her hair, gently sweeping it across the frame of her face. Lu Tong Xiao’s long fingers naturally tucked it behind her ear so that nothing obstructed him from looking at her closely.
Although he didn’t get the answer to his question, he was quite satisfied with her response that sounded almost like a complaint. Amusement danced in his eyes seeing how the woman who hadn’t come to see him off just an hour ago was now grumbling that he was gone.
He hummed in a deep voice and his chest reverberated with every word he spoke, “I was. And you didn’t even come to see me,” his warm breath fanned against her face.
There was a pause. Bai Yu Yan didn’t know how to reply to that as she had purposely avoided him. She knew how shameless her words sounded but she couldn’t help it. Without taking her eyes off of him, she asked, “Why did you come back?”
Lu Tong Xiao held her head close to his chest, his cheeks rubbing against the top of her head. His mind went back to how she hadn’t come to bid him farewell which made him sigh in his head. Maybe his ego wouldn’t have allowed him to come back but here he was, stripped off his rational mind.
“Come with me to Jin.”
Bai Yu Yan’s train of thought suddenly stopped. Surprised, she drew back from his embrace to look at his face. But there was not a hint of a joke on his face. He was dead serious.
Travelling with him to Jin? Together? Bai Yu Yan had never thought about it.
She bit on her lips with a solemn face as if she was deciding the matter seriously. After a moment, she asked, “Spending so many days with you. What if you get bored of me?”
Lu Tong Xiao was caught off guard by the unexpected question but then he chuckled, his eyes curving into a boyish smile, “It’s never going to happen.” There was not an edge of doubt in his voice.
Biting her inner cheeks to hold her smile, Bai Yu Yan asked seriously, “What if I get bored of you?”
The man’s laughter immediately stopped and the depth of his eyes turned slightly cold. “You dare?”
Now it was Bai Yu Yan’s turn to laugh, her beautiful eyes turning into a crescent moon.
Holding her waist, Lu Tong Xiao pulled her close to himself and kissed her cheeks. He understood that his wife was teasing him but even the thought of her not wanting him anymore made his heart shudder unconsciously.
Bai Yu Yan stroked his large hand and her cold fingers laced itself with his slightly rough but warm ones.
At first, when she came to this word, she detested Lu Tong Xiao. Although it was perfectly alright for a man of this era to marry more than one woman as long as he could support them financially, she hated the thought that he had removed the previous Bai Yu Yan from the position of the official wife in order to accommodate his lover.
A royal family would never allow a princess to become a concubine. It was an insult to the royal bloodline if a member of the royal family became a concubine of a household.
Even though what he did was perfectly justified for a man of such a high position, she couldn’t bring herself to accept it. But after spending all this time with him and getting to know him closely, her prejudice towards him slowly cracked.
When Bai Yu Yan had read the novel, she threw it away without wasting a moment reading till the end as soon as Lu Tong Xiao got together with the princess. Even going as far as scolding the author for wasting her time with such a trash story.
But now, she had a vague intuition that there was more to the story than what she had known.
If she remembered correctly, there was no indication of Lu Tong Xiao getting injured at the beginning of the story. But the man had unexpectedly come with a stab wound, shocking her. Her arrival to this world was slowly changing the course of the story, although unaware to its extent, there was no doubt that her actions would affect the lives of other people, even those who might have nothing to do with her.
Bai Yu Yan asked herself if she was selfish enough to do that.
Moreover, she had to be responsible for her newly opened shop. Right now, she didn’t have time to vacation far off in another country.
By coming here today, Bai Yu Yan was already standing on the edge of the cliff knowing that there was nothing but empty space in front of her which only spelt destruction. She was not unaware of her stupidity. But there was a small faith in her heart insisting that this man here would not let her fall.
She looked him in the eyes and resolutely said, “I will wait for you to come back.”
Lu Tong Xiao had already expected that she would not follow him to Jin kingdom. But hearing that she would wait for him, his heart swelled with warmth. Apart from his mother who constantly worried over him, he had never had anyone wait for him to come back home. So as this novel feeling spread through his chest, his hold on her tightened.
“Can you do something for me?” Bai Yu Yan’s soft voice sounded as if it could be dispersed by the wind. Her hands were subconsciously applying pressure as her fingers dug in his arm.
Lu Tong Xiao felt it but did not mind that small prick which felt like a scratch to him. “Tell me!” he said, there was not a hint of doubt in his voice which was confident and ready to fulfil anything she asked him to do.
From her sleeve, Bai Yu Yan took out a plain white kerchief. Two small red flowers were embroidered in one corner of the silk kerchief. A fine red thread connected the two flowers in the middle.
She handed it to him and said, “When you come home...can you make sure to keep this safe? ”
Lu Tong Xiao took the kerchief in his hand and looked at the small blooming flowers and the fine-thread keeping them connected. The thread was so fragile that it could snap with no effort.
He tried to make sense of her words, vaguely aware of its meaning.
There were a small fear and indecision in the depth of her eyes. He wanted to ask her if she didn’t trust him but what escaped his lips was something else.
“Rest assured. Not a single speck of dirt or stain can touch this. I’ll bring it back, safe and intact... just like how you’ve given me,” saying he kept the kerchief inside his robe right above his heart as if he was safeguarding the most important treasure. All the while without taking his eyes away from her, he whispered, “Wait for me, Xiao Yan.”
Bai Yu Yan looked at his deep eyes and slowly nodded her head. She would wait for him.
Far away in a distance, a man riding a horse came into view. Xuyi who had frantically chased after his Master took heavy breaths, astounded at the sight before him. He had thought that an emergency had occurred when Lu Tong Xiao turned around the horse in such a hurry which made him follow his Master madly. With Lu Tong Xiao’s speed, it was almost impossible to catch up with him.
But now that he had finally seen what prompted Master to return, Xuyi could only close his eyes in exhaustion.
What emergency? He returned only to be forcefully fed a mouthful of dog-food!