东宫 Eastern Palace: The Flowers in the Pavilion Resembles the Snow Under the Moonlight (Part 3)

What a shame to be an unfaithful, unfilial, and unjust person.

I protect a wounded soldier, pulling out the knife beside him, maybe this golden knife can’t hold up the stone beam at all, but when it collapses, it could makes people suffer less.

I said: "Don’t be afraid.”

The wounded soldier nodded, his eyes were full of tears, calling out to me: “General." 

On the verge of desperation, enduring one more moment was still a moment.

The stone beam shook again, making a terrible muffled sound, but it did not collapse.

The falling rocks outside gradually reduced, I did not know how much time have passed before I could no longer hear the sound of falling rocks.

The landslide was finally over.

Everyone climbed out of the stone beam with fear, and found that several huge rocks were on top of the stone beam. The whole stone beam was on the verge of collapsing.

The snowy wind had stopped long ago, and a crescent moon was hanging in the lower part of the sky.

Suddenly someone couldn’t help but exclaim: "Lake! Holy lake!”

I walked around the huge rocks and was stunned. 

Out of thin air, the rapid flowing river in the valley disappeared, revealing the riverbed. Not far away, it was a calm lake. 

The jade coloured lake under the moonlight, looked like a smooth crystal plate. 

Everyone did not dare to speak, fearing that they would make the mountain god angry again. 

The stone beam was about to collapse, it was not suitable to stay here any longer. I took the whole group of people further down around the lake. 

After the landslide, the pathway was much more difficult to walk. This time, more and more horses were injured. The remaining people were all injured, and everyone was feeling dejected. 

Everyone walked quietly through the valley until they found a gentle slope and camped by the lake.

Everyone was sleepy and tired, I had personally guarded the place at night. When it was almost dawn, I switched shifts with another soldier.

I fell asleep on the felt blanket as soon as I laid down.

After dawn, everyone ate some of the dry food and then packed up camp.

After some time had passed, at noon, the sun finally shone into the valley, but there was no warmth.

Even I couldn't think of a way to encourage everyone.

A lot of the dry food has been lost in the landslide, with only a few days of dry food left. If we do not leave the valley, I am afraid we will be in a desperate situation.

I don't know whether my obsession was right or wrong.

Suddenly the person in front called out: "People! General! There are people in the lake!"

I looked up, the lake was full of rocks, there was a huge rock like a screen floating in the water. The rock seemed to have something hidden, but the lake reflected the sunlight, sparkling, it was difficult to see clearly within this light. 

I got off the horse, not caring about anything else, just rushed into the lake. 

The water soon reached my waist.

I took a few more steps forward into the water. 

It was really people, it was them!
 

The Crown Prince and the Ninth Princess were pushed onto the huge rock by the water, most of their bodies were submerged in the water. His Highness had tightly tied his hand and the Ninth Princess’s hand together with a belt.

What was I thinking at that time?

The heavens must have pitied us!

Finally I was able to find them!

I reached out my hand, my finger was trembling. Everyone was watching me, I prayed in my heart, although I didn't know what I was praying for.

Both of them were still alive!

Just that their breathing was weak. 

I exhaled in one breath. My body couldn't help but tremble a bit, almost falling into the water.

It was not until a long time later that I remembered when I reached out my hand to see if they were still breathing, I actually reached out to the Princess first.

What was I thinking at that time?

Maybe I was thinking that if the Princess died, even if the Crown Prince survived, he would not be able to live any longer.

Seemed like a miracle.

The river of forgetfulness, to forget a love.

After the two of them woke up, I really did not expect that they would forget the past.

Ever since the Princess became the Crown Princess, she was always unhappy, wanting to go back to Western Liang.

But she didn't know that she would never be able to return to Western Liang.

She wasn't always unhappy, but sometimes when she seems sad, I would feel a bit worried.

The Crown Prince had invited me to have some wine. He mentioned about the young princesses and asked me which one I liked.

I casually said: "Anyone would be fine."

Anyways I will have to get married, marrying which princess does not make a difference.

His Highness glanced at me, suddenly said: "This is a very important matter in life, you don’t want to choose?”

I smiled as I drank the wine: "It was always the princesses that would choose their husbands. Was there ever a subject who could choose between the princesses? Your Highness, don’t make things difficult for me."

His Highness said: "Is there someone in your heart?"

I glanced at his Highness, who laughed: "See, whenever I guess your thoughts, I would always get it right."

His Highness teased me, but seeing I did not respond, he stopped talking about it. 

I returned to my residence.

During dusk, it started to rain. The branches and leaves of the parasol tree within the courtyard had flourished, reflecting a dark shadow in the room.

Xiao Xue meowed as it came inside.

I bent down to pick it up.

I scratched its neck with my fingers.

There was a small golden bell wrapped around its neck, making a small sound.

I remembered the first time when I saw the cat a long time ago.

At that time, the Crown Princess was still the Ninth Princess of Western Liang. She happily showed me the cat and said: "Look, Gu Xiao Wu won it for me! It's called Xiao Xue!”

At that time, Xiao Xue was only the size of a fist. When she held it, one person and a cat, like a round ball of fluff.

She would often wear a golden chain with a golden bells around her ankle. As soon as she moves, it would make a sharp sound. This time when she moved, one of the bells fell off and rolled to the side of my boots.

I picked it up for her.

She grabbed it with a smile and said: "Ah, right! You don't have to find a goldsmith to fix it for me.” As she said this, she untied her hair band and put it through the golden bell, then she tied it around Xiao Xue’s neck.

Xiao Xue was not used to wearing it, constantly using its claws to scratch the golden bell, the Princess caught Xiao Xue’s claws, not allowing it to scratch the bell, asked me: "Where is Gu Xiao Wu?"

I said: "Upstairs."

The Princess was still holding the cat’s claws, holding the cat while climbing up the ladder to find his Highness on the rooftop.

The golden bells around her ankle sounded as she moved. I could hear her singing.

It was not the song that she usually sings, the song was:"A’Gua went to the riverside to hunt for wolves. The fox came instead of the wolf. When the fox came, it was very sad....A’Gua was very sad....."

Western Liang people call their older brothers as A’Gua, but it also means lover. She only sang these two lines of the song. I heard his Highness’s voice from the rooftop, asked: "Who is singing this terrible song? Is it Xiao Feng?"

"It's me!"

She stood on the ladder with a smile, happily lifting up the cat: "Look, Xiao Xue is wearing a bell."

Half of her body was already out on the rooftop.

I couldn't see her face, but I knew she must be very happy.

I never heard her sing that song again.

Until the end of my life.

Translator's note: I know many viewers of the drama adaptation questioned whether Pei Zhao like Xiao Feng or not, but the answer to that question is pretty evident in this side story, especially this part of the side story.

Off topic, but if any of you were interested in reading Heartwarming Decade, I did upload the first chapter of it which can be found on the translations page. Also we were planning to upload the final side story in November, because we are getting busy with work and trying to finish our courses.

<Side Story 4 Part 2                                                                                      Side Story 5 Part 1>