Chapter 63

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Chapter 63: Provoke

Ji Yunhe had a very lengthy dream.

She dreamed of Lin Haoqing as a child inside the sea of flowers in the Demon Valley. She made two flower wreaths, one for herself and the other one for him. They played and laughed together under the sun.

And then she ran into the depths of the flowers and saw Snow March gently kissing Li Shu under a giant wisteria tree.

Feeling a little embarrassed, she turned her head to leave, but bumped into Luo Jinsang who slowly faded into view. And next to Luo Jinsang was a grinning Qu Xiaoxing. They each grabbed one of Ji Yunhe's hands and pulled her toward the distant hill, running wild and free.

When they reached the top of the hill, everyone disappeared, and a vast open sea rolled out before her eyes.

There were birds singing and whales calling.

She saw a huge white and blue fish tail in the middle of the waves, breaking out from the surface then diving in again.

Ji Yunhe waved her hand, and watched it drift off into the horizon and disappear. Suddenly a bright ball of light appeared in the middle of the sky. She took a step toward it and found herself standing in the air, as if an invisible staircase had formed beneath her feet.

She followed it up. Her body grew lighter and her ailments faded as she walked higher step by step. But just as she was about to enter the light, a gust of wind blew past her ears.

The wind carried a coolness that felt completely out of place inside this dream world.

"You can't leave yet."

A woman's voice sounded inside Ji Yunhe's ears.

She looked around. There seemed to be someone else here in the middle of the hazy light that surrounded her. She looked at the direction where the wind had come from, and saw an elegant woman dressed in white with long hair draping down. The woman said to her, "You can stay a little longer."

"Who are you?"

Ji Yunhe asked but did not get an answer.

The invisible stairs under her feet trembled and collapsed, and the white light around her faded as she helplessly fell into the darkness below.

Then she felt as if she had crashed into a human-shaped prison, wet and cold. It binded to her like an iron shackle and locked into every inch of her skin.

Ji Yunhe opened her eyes.

She moved her fingers and held a hand to her face. As it turned out, the prison... was her own body.

Demon Valley, Grand Master's house, the Cloud Garden in the middle of the lake, none of these could compare with the imprisonment of her own withered flesh and bone.

Before she had time to get too emotional, Ji Yunhe saw a black robed man behind her raised hand.

He stood at the end of the bed and watched her without saying anything. His blue eyes seemed to have a thousand thoughts, but at the same time, they seemed to have nothing at all.

A cool breeze blew onto her face and Ji Yunhe realized the windows were now open. Even though it was daytime, the snowstorm was heavy enough to keep the sun from shining through. A few snowflakes flew in and landed on the charcoal pot, sizzling and disappearing into thin air.

So this was the source of the wind inside her dream...

"Changyi..." Ji Yunhe called out his name, but it sounded more like a sigh. "Why bother..."

Why bother not letting her go, and why not let himself go as well...

Changyi did not answer her. His clothing right now looked more formal than the usual ones he wore around her. Even his silver hair was coiled under a crown, as if he had just rushed over from a very important event.

Changyi took a step forward and sat down on the side of her bed, but he did not look at her. Instead, he looked at the charcoal pot in front of the window and the smoke hovering above it.

"You want to die?"

"This body of mine..." Ji Yunhe sat up and leaned weakly against the headboard. "Life and death no longer make a difference."

Changyi answered himself, "You want to die."

Ji Yunhe did not know what was going through his head right now, which was rare. She reached out her hand and placed it on his wrist. Changyi was a bit surprised but he did not break free, instead, he turned and looked at her.

Ji Yunhe said, "Changyi, don't you want to get back at me?" She stared into his eyes.

And in this moment of eye contact, Ji Yunhe suddenly gathered all the strength in her body and made her move. She held down his wrist with one hand while the other hand pulled the jade hairpin from his crown. In a flash, she pointed the hairpin to her throat and stabbed down.

But at the same time, Changyi's other hand wrapped around her neck and pinned her onto the bed. His body fell on top of hers, and the hairpin fell onto the back of his hand.

Ji Yunhe's blow was full force with no restraint, and Changyi's block was unexpected.

The hairpin almost went through the entire thickness of his hand from back to front. Blood flowed out and stained her neck and chest.

Ji Yunhe looked at him in shock.

His hand broke free from her grip and held hers down while the other hand rested on her neck with the hairpin, still bleeding profusely. His silver hair fell around their faces, like a veil that separated them from the outside world.

"What right do you have to end your own life?"

Dark currents flowed inside the eyes that stared at her. All of the emotions that had been hidden and suppressed now brewed into a monstrous rage. He questioned Ji Yunhe, "How dare you?"

Ji Yunhe decided to be ruthless. She ignored the wound on his hand and viciously mocked, "Six years ago, the chilling wind on the cliff was not cold enough, was it?"

Changyi froze, the blue in his pupils darkened some more and clouded up.

Ji Yunhe said with a snickering smile, "I tried to use you back then, but you escaped. If you were to get caught after that, you would've had to go through endless torture and punishment for your rebellion. For the sake of our friendship, I decided to be compassionate and take your life so you wouldn't have to suffer at the hands of the princess."

The hand on Ji Yunhe's neck grew tighter.

She continued, "Unexpectedly, you got away and I was punished by the princess instead. And now you make me suffer and won't even let me die."

His hand now made it difficult for her to breath, but she kept talking. "Changyi, you are even more ruthless than I was back then."

His eyes changed from the color of the sky into a stormy sea, swirling with dark blue and black.

His hand exerted more force and blood gushed out from the wound, but he did not seem to feel the pain.

Ji Yunhe closed her eyes.

Until her face started to turn blue, the hand finally left her neck.

With air rushing back into her chest, Ji Yunhe gasped and coughed.

But Changyi sat up. "Ji Yunhe, you're right." He looked at her. "I will not kill you, so you can keep suffering." He walked out of the door and ordered the servants, "Remove the extra charcoal pots and leave only one. Have someone guard the windows and open only a slit. Also, send two people to guard the door."

She looked at the snow falling outside, and then at the maids who came cowering through the door.

They took away the charcoal pots one by one and covered the windows, leaving only a little slit for ventilation.

They busily worked on their tasks and did not dare to lay even an eye on Ji Yunhe.

She let out a long sigh. Well, shoot. She could not kill herself anymore now that she had been caught in the act. She even pulled out the ugly past to provoke him, and it still did not work. Ji Yunhe touched her neck, and her palm was covered with a handful of sticky blood.

She closed her eyes and pounded the bed. "Which one of those bastards stopped me from reaching the sky..."

The maids trembled. They still did not dare to look at her, but their hands moved more swiftly. Ji Yunhe sighed again, and wondered what kind of a twisted relationship she and Changyi had in the eyes of their servants.

For the entire next day, Ji Yunhe's room was full of people coming and going. One moment someone would carry over a long table, the next moment someone would change the cabinet. Servants were busy up and down, all day and night. Ji Yunhe finally found an opportunity and caught a person who looked like management and asked, "You guys remodeling this place?"

The man respectfully replied, "You're very fortunate, the lord is moving in."

Ji Yunhe was stunned and could not comprehend his words. "Huh?" She blinked twice. "Who? Moving what?"

"Lord, the lord. He ordered yesterday that from now on, all of his official business will be done here."

Ji Yunhe's body swayed a bit.

He continued, "But don't worry, the lord has ordered not to disturb your rest during the day. He will add a curtain seal for you, no noise will leak in."

"Cur... curtain seal?" Ji Yunhe looked incredulous. "Where? My bed? Doesn't this building have three floors?!"

"Yes, but the lord only likes this floor."

He gave a blessing, retreated to the door, and went back to work.

Ji Yunhe sat down stiffly.

She suddenly felt... like... she had done it again.

Her territory... had now been decreased to the size of a bed.

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