114 Not Important Enough

Ever since Beigong Juechen had suddenly appeared at the Hundred Fiends Palace, Ximo’s heart had not been still for a single moment that night. In theory, Beigong Juechen had come to see Qiyong, which should have had nothing to do with him. Yet for some reason, he could faintly feel that something was about to happen—or rather, that something he had secretly been looking forward to was about to happen.

After absentmindedly completing his cultivation, Ximo shook his head hard, forcing away the tangled thoughts in his mind.

“Stop thinking nonsense,” he murmured to himself.

Just as he climbed into bed and was about to retire, Qiyong pushed open the door and walked in, bringing with him the smell of wine. Ximo sat up and asked, “Has Manor Lord Beigong left?”

Qiyong nodded. Though he had drunk an entire jar of wine, his face showed no trace of it.

“You were going to sleep?”

“I had just lain down.” Ximo teased him, “Now that Manor Lord Beigong has left, shouldn’t you return to your room and savor the evening properly? Why have you come to mine?”

Qiyong shot him a glare, then smiled. “There was indeed much worth savoring. But I came to find you because there is something I need to tell you.”

Ximo suddenly felt his heartbeat quicken. He swallowed and asked with forced composure, “What is it?”

Qiyong rested one hand on the round table beside him and sat facing Ximo.

“Ximo, if you could return to Beigong Qiyi’s side, would you go back?”

The hand clutching the quilt tightened abruptly. Ximo stared at Qiyong with widened eyes.

“What do you mean by that?”

Qiyong shrugged and smiled faintly. “Exactly what I said.”

“Ximo, you cannot remain by my side.”

Beigong Qiyi’s decisive words from that day echoed in his ears. Ximo’s hands pulled restlessly at the quilt. He drew a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment.

“If Young Master agrees to let me return to his side, then of course I am willing.”

“I knew you would say that.” Qiyong smiled slowly.

Ximo managed a faint smile in return. “I truly tried my best to hate him, to forget him, but I cannot. You have loved Beigong Juechen for more than ten years, and I have also spent more than ten years by Young Master’s side. Father was right after all. Everyone in the Beigong family is poison. They poison others to death, yet remain breathtakingly splendid themselves.”

Qiyong lowered his eyes and blinked twice, slowly.

“Since you are willing, go to Ripple Manor tomorrow morning.”

Ximo nodded. Biting his lower lip, he could not help asking, “Why has Young Master suddenly asked me to return to his side?”

Qiyong rose and walked over, patting him on the head.

“That, I do not know. Go to sleep early. You must rise early tomorrow.”

“Oh…” Ximo nodded gloomily.

Qiyong ruffled his smooth hair again. “Enough. Stop imagining things. Once you reach Ripple Manor tomorrow, will all your questions not be answered? I’ll be going back now.”

Creak—

The door slowly closed. Ximo lay down thoughtfully. He knew Beigong Qiyi well. Once Beigong Qiyi had made up his mind, there was no possibility of changing it. Since he had been so resolute that day in refusing to let Ximo return, he could never have agreed to take him back now.

If it was not Beigong Qiyi, then it had to be Beigong Juechen.

But why did Beigong Juechen insist on having him return? If he had truly wanted him back, he would not have waited until now…

Ximo rolled about in bed, clutching the quilt.

“Forget it, forget it. I’ll know tomorrow.”

He grabbed his hair in disarray and muttered, “Something must have happened. I’m not thinking about it anymore. I’m going to sleep!”

When Beigong Juechen returned to Ripple Manor, Beigong Qiyi had not yet awakened. Mumin stood by the bed watching him. Beigong Juechen removed his outer robe and handed it to the maid nearby before entering the room.

“You may leave now,” he said quietly.

Beigong Qiyi slept peacefully on the bed. Beigong Juechen rubbed his brow, and for once, a trace of weariness showed on his face. He reached out and lightly touched the cinnabar mole between the young man’s brows.

“You little brat. You left me with such a huge mess to clean up.”

The young man did not smile and flatter him as he usually did. He remained sunk deep in sleep.

Beigong Juechen removed his shoes and lay down beside Beigong Qiyi. Above them, twin lotuses bloomed across the canopy, so lifelike that they seemed real. Beigong Juechen took Beigong Qiyi’s hand, recalling the words he had spoken while comforting him that day:

“Perhaps I like you even more than you imagine.”

He had said it casually, never expecting that…

“I really do seem to like you even more than I imagined.”

Beigong Juechen turned his head and whispered to the sleeping Beigong Qiyi. Naturally, the unconscious young man gave him no response.

An enigmatic chuckle escaped the man’s lips. Beigong Juechen slowly closed his eyes.

None of it mattered anymore…

Beigong Qiyi, this time, I will listen to you.

Mist swirled all around. The slender young man stood alone within it, turning in every direction. There was no one beside him. His brows tightly drawn, he began moving forward step by step.

He had the feeling that someone was ahead—a very important person, someone he had to catch up with and never allow to leave.

His steps gradually quickened, yet all he could see before him was endless white mist. Not a single figure appeared.

“Big Brother, perhaps I was born into this life for you. You are the only obsession I have carried through two lifetimes. It has weighed upon my heart for sixteen years. It is too deeply rooted—I can no longer rid myself of it…”

“Big Brother, whether above the heavens or beneath the underworld, I have always been selfish by nature, and I am the incarnation of a vengeful ghost who has crossed through the realm of the dead. So in this life, we are destined to remain entangled until death. Since I cannot escape this calamity, I will never let you escape either!”

Who was speaking?

The young man looked around. The voice was extraordinarily familiar—so familiar that it seemed to come from his own lips.

“Beigong Qiyi, unless you kill me, I will surely strip the flesh from your body piece by piece and feed it to the dogs…”

The sudden male voice made the young man tremble from head to toe. That voice seemed to stir every cell in his body.

This was it. This was the voice…

I have to find him—the owner of this voice.

The young man ran forward, faster and faster, yet still he saw no one.

Suddenly, a hand extended through the vast white mist.

It was a beautiful hand, slender and fair, yet sharply defined at the joints. The young man’s heart began pounding violently. He rushed forward and seized it tightly.

The hand held by Beigong Juechen suddenly tightened around his in return.

Beigong Juechen slowly opened his eyes. Dawn had begun to pale the sky. Beigong Qiyi had not awakened. Beigong Juechen reached out and smoothed the creases between his brows.

The young man clutched his hand tightly. One by one, Beigong Juechen pried his fingers loose, then rose and stepped down from the bed.

The young man looked at the hand he had been holding and smiled happily. But soon, that smile froze at the corners of his lips as the hand slowly pried itself free.

“Don’t go!”

The panicked cry came from behind him. Beigong Juechen paused in the middle of dressing. He turned to look at the young man, who lay there with his brows tightly knitted, stretching out a hand and grasping futilely at the air.

Slowly, Beigong Juechen lowered his eyes.

“He will forget you—forget everything between you, forget that he loves you.”

Mist coiled through the air. The young man gazed pleadingly at the hand fading within it.

“Big Brother, promise me this: if that day truly comes, if I no longer remember you, then you must never keep me by your side.”

“Big Brother, I love you down to my bones and blood. I will never forget you for all eternity.”

The mist swirled, and the hand still vanished beyond the white haze.

Beigong Juechen looked back at Beigong Qiyi one last time. He extinguished, one after another, the two lamps beside the bed that had not yet burned out, then walked away without turning his head.

“Don’t go…”

Beigong Qiyi’s hand finally fell helplessly back onto the bed. No one saw the two lines of tears that slowly slipped from the corners of his tightly closed eyes, dripping onto the embroidered pillow beneath the mandarin ducks’ eyes.

The sky had only just begun to lighten when Beigong Juechen wandered aimlessly through Ripple Manor. In the end, he arrived at the pavilion.

Lotuses bloomed across the lake. On the stone table inside the pavilion sat a jug of fresh wine and several cups. Beigong Juechen carried them to a rattan chair and sat down.

The winter morning was cold, and the wine he poured was cold as well.

Beigong Juechen gazed at the lotuses covering the lake. He did not care when they had begun blooming regardless of the season. He only knew that it had happened after Beigong Qiyi returned to the manor.

Nor did he care about the young man’s little tricks. They meant nothing to him. Thus, he did not know that the young man had transported these lotuses over countless miles and replanted the entire lake for his sake alone.

Beigong Juechen poured the wine into his mouth, then reclined in the rattan chair and slowly closed his eyes.

He was not a member of the Beigong clan, and he had never cared much for power. Even if he was no longer the lord of Ripple Manor, he was still Beigong Juechen—the man whose every movement could make the entire martial world tremble three times over.

“Beigong Qiyi, I am returning what belongs to you. From this day onward, there will be no connection between us.”

Beigong Juechen kept his eyes closed. There was no one around him. Only the lotuses filling the lake heard his whisper.

“Manor Lord.”

Beigong Juechen opened his eyes. Looking at the person before him, he raised a brow.

“You came early.”

The young man smiled faintly. “There has been a question in my heart. I could not sleep, so I came as soon as dawn broke.”

Beigong Juechen shifted into a more comfortable position.

“I know what you want to ask.”

“I still hope Manor Lord will tell Ximo clearly.”

Ximo stared steadily at him. Beigong Juechen lifted his chin and said in a low voice, “You only need to know that Beigong Qiyi has forgotten everything between us. That includes your betrayal. What you must do is say nothing and do nothing.”

“Why?” Ximo could not restrain himself. “Young Master loves you so deeply. Now that he has forgotten, are you truly going to leave him just like that?”

Beigong Juechen let out a soft laugh and turned to look at him.

“What else should I do? Since he has forgotten, why should I make him remember? If he truly loved me as deeply as all of you claim, how could he have forgotten me? Anything that can be forgotten was never important enough…”

Author’s Note: Hi, is anyone there? Do you think this story is too much of a wish-fulfillment romance?

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