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Lin Qingmo walked among the coral, hearing voices from a distance. As he approached, he could hear them clearly and see the scene before him. Strangely, he realized he was in a dream. Under the shelf stood two people, one was Ao Yan, and the other was the Plum Blossom Fairy. They were embracing each other. Ao Yan kissed the Plum Blossom Fairy with utmost tenderness, one hand gently caressing her earlobe. The Plum Blossom Fairy pouted and said, "I miss you so much, but we can only meet in dreams. When, when will you marry me?" Ao Yan sighed and replied, "You don't want to be a concubine; if you did, we would have been together long ago."
The Plum Blossom Fairy turned her face away, lowering her eyes with trembling eyelashes, pressing her red lips together as if holding back tears. After a long pause, she finally spoke, "Can't you just divorce her?" Ao Yan paced back and forth in agitation, pulling a flower from the shelf and looking at it with increasing annoyance before tossing it aside. "It's not that easy. This is a betrothal arranged by my grandfather." Tears finally fell from the Plum Blossom Fairy's eyes as she threw herself into Ao Yan's arms, hitting and pounding him like a butterfly with a wounded wing. Ao Yan grasped her wrists with a troubled expression and paused before speaking with deep affection, "Even though I married Lin Qingmo, the one I love is you. My heart belongs to you; isn't that enough?"
Lin Qingmo couldn't hear what else they said; his ears were ringing with a loud "boom," and he staggered backward until he collided with the coral behind him. His heart raced violently, feeling as if a dull knife was twisting inside him, causing waves of pain. Amidst this agony, one sentence flashed through his mind: "But we can only meet in dreams." Could it be that he had entered Ao Yan's dream?
With a start, he suddenly woke up. The red canopy above him loomed large, and beneath him was the cool silk of fish skin; he was wrapped in warm blankets—just a dream, merely a dream. He reached out to touch the bed beside him; it was cold, indicating that Ao Yan had been up for quite some time. Except for their wedding night, he had never risen this early. The grand bed was empty except for Lin Qingmo himself; it felt lavish and luxurious while he felt plain and unworthy.
Thinking of that dream made his heart heavy; it felt like a weight pressing down on him until he could hardly breathe. His body felt hot all over as he reached under his pillow for some coolness but instead touched something furry. Then he heard Xi'er’s voice say, "Qingmo, you're awake?" He turned to see Xi'er half-closed eyes looking at him intently with a sleepy expression. Lin Qingmo smiled gently and patted its head, asking, "What are you doing here?" Last night after Ao Yan and Lin Qingmo had gone to bed, Xi'er had returned humming a tune: "There’s a girl in the village named Xiaofang; she looks like Old Wolf Mike with beautiful wolf-like eyes that scare me into hiding." Upon entering the bedroom, it had indeed been frightened into hiding by the sight of two bodies embracing on the floor. It quickly covered its eyes and exclaimed, "Oh my! Xi'er only eavesdrops; I never peek! Peeking will give me needle eyes! I won't look; I won't look!" It stumbled out after tripping over the threshold.
The next day Lin Qingmo found that Ao Yan had left the bedroom early in a hurry as if agitated. After Ao Yan left, Xi'er came in quietly and saw Lin Qingmo still asleep; it didn’t disturb him but instead dozed off beside him.
Seeing Xi'er shivering in a ball like that reminded Lin Qingmo that autumn had arrived. He pulled back the covers and said, "Aren't you cold? Come here and warm up." Xi'er jolted awake as if shaking off water droplets from its feathers; its half-closed eyes widened in excitement as it stammered, "Can I really come in?" Lin Qingmo laughed and replied, "Of course you can! Just tell me." With that, he pulled Xi'er into his arms and covered them both with blankets. As he tucked them in, he suddenly exclaimed, "Xi'er, why are you bleeding?" Looking at Xi'er again revealed it was dazed as if drugged; two small streams of blood trickled down from either side of its beak.
"Ah—" Xi'er nearly jumped up in shock. Wiping its beak with its wings while chuckling nervously it said, "It's nothing! It's dry outside; I'm just overheated!"
Lin Qingmo lay on his side with his arm under his head in silence for a moment before saying softly, "I want to go home; I really want to go home and take a look." Xi'er had been focused on examining Lin Qingmo's thin clothing but was pulled back by the deep sadness in Lin Qingmo's voice and asked cautiously, "Doesn't the prince allow you to go back?" Lin Qingmo shook his head sadly. Lying flat in Lin Qingmo's embrace now turned thoughtful as Xi'er rolled its eyes around before saying cautiously after some consideration: "I'll find a way! But this must remain our secret; no one else can know—especially not the prince."
Lin Qingmo sat up abruptly in surprise and joy exclaiming, "Is that true? No! I won't tell anyone! You really can take me home to see?" Seeing Lin Qingmo's trusting and eager gaze made Xi'er sigh as it withdrew its wings; it couldn’t continue taking advantage under such an earnest look.
"Please help me out here, Turtle Prime Minister! I'm just borrowing it for fun; I'm not doing anything bad," Xi'er pleaded while clinging tightly to Turtle Prime Minister's robe as it hung on him. Turtle Prime Minister looked down at Xi'er who had been pestering him for nearly an hour with an amused smile. His long eyebrows drooped at the corners of his eyes; although his small black eyes weren't large they sparkled with wisdom as if he could see through Xi'er's intentions already. After walking two steps with Xi'er hanging on him like this made Turtle Prime Minister feel even more burdened by its weight on his back. He stopped walking and took out a round little turtle from his wide crimson robe sleeve; Xi'er's eyes lit up as it reached out eagerly to grab it but Turtle Prime Minister quickly moved his hand aside warningly: “Return it immediately after using it! And be careful on your way!”
Caught being seen through by Turtle Prime Minister made Xi'er lower its head awkwardly while wiping its face with its wings before nodding heavily: “I promise to return right away; please don’t worry!”
When Xi'er returned Lin Qingmo had already changed clothes and washed up neatly. Upon seeing Xi'er enter excitedly jumped up asking tentatively again: “Really? Can we really go back?” Xi'er puffed out its chest confidently declaring: “If I say we can go then we definitely can!” After glancing at Lin Qingmo who hadn’t even packed anything yet it asked: “Aren't you taking anything back?”
Lin Qingmo replied seriously: “Everything here belongs to Ao Yan; I can't take anything without his permission.” Sighing again at how stubborn Lin Qingmo was yet finding it endearing at the same time Xi'er added: “I checked the rear palace earlier; Azure Water Golden Eye Beast isn’t around so presumably the prince has gone far away and won’t return anytime soon.”
Xi'er led Lin Qingmo out of Dragon Palace and ascended to the surface of the sea where the borrowed little turtle rested lazily on Xier's back. Looking around Lin Qingmo asked: “There’s no boat; how do we get there?”
Xi'er pointed at the lazy little turtle on its back saying: “It will carry us.” Saying this it placed the little turtle into the water instructing: “Little Turtle, grow bigger.” As soon as those words fell from its lips what started off palm-sized shrank into its shell suddenly expanded into an enormous size resembling a small mountain floating atop sea surface splashing heavy sounds of water everywhere.
“Quickly get on!” urged Xi'er nudging Lin Qingmo who stood frozen beside them.
“Okay!” Lin Qingmo happily climbed onto the turtle's back carefully settling himself down while once ready Xi'er flew into Lin Qingmo's embrace directing Little Turtle: “Little Turtle! Go—”
The autumn sea resembled an enormous mirror reflecting cold azure skies above while waves of excitement surged within Lin Qingmo washing away all shadows from his heart.
Xi'er looked up at Lin Qingmo, who was gazing into the vast surroundings with a smile. After hesitating for a moment, Xi'er asked, "Qingmo, did you have a fight with the Crown Prince?"
"Not at all!" Lin Qingmo blurted out without thinking. Xi'er's words reminded him of the dream he had last night—was it his dream, or had he entered Ao Yan's dream? Ao Yan had left early this morning for a long journey. Where could he have gone without even saying goodbye? Lin Qingmo lowered his eyes, his thick eyelashes casting shadows on his cheeks. The brightness in his heart was once again shrouded in darkness.
Xi'er was about to speak again when Lin Qingmo interjected, "Xi'er, was the Plum Blossom Fairy close to Ao Yan before?" Upon hearing the name Plum Blossom Fairy, Xi'er frowned initially, then raised an eyebrow in disdain and replied, "I came to the Dragon Palace when the Crown Prince was three years old. I was originally a pet bird raised by the great master’s mother, Xi Wang Mother. It was the great master who gifted me to the little master. I used to live in Kunlun Mountain; that’s my hometown. When I arrived, the little master was already playing with the Plum Blossom Fairy. She was about seven or eight years old and quite mischievous. When she saw that the Crown Prince started to favor me, she secretly bullied me. I was too young to fight back and reported her to the Crown Prince, who then stopped playing with her. Later, the Queen Mother wanted to betroth the Plum Blossom Fairy to the Crown Prince, but it was rejected by the Dragon King, who said that the Crown Prince already had a marriage contract. The Queen Mother was quite displeased about it. I later learned that when the Crown Prince was just one year old, he eagerly wanted to see you. He fell ill from exposure while trying to visit you and was subsequently confined by Consort Four, who is the Crown Prince’s mother. You see, in dragon clans, we usually marry within our own kind; there are hardly any examples of inter-clan marriages or marriages with deities."
Xi'er glanced up at Lin Qingmo again and noticed he was listening intently. After a pause, she continued, "So Consort Four has never been very supportive of your marriage with the Crown Prince."
After a long silence, Lin Qingmo finally murmured, "So it turns out the marriage contract was set by the Dragon King and not by Ao Yan."
Xi'er replied without understanding, "Of course! The Crown Prince was so young back then; how would he know anything?" Her words struck Lin Qingmo deeply. If it weren't for the Dragon King's arrangement of the marriage contract, perhaps it would have been the Plum Blossom Fairy or another dragon maiden marrying Ao Yan. And he himself would not have been captured and brought to the Dragon Palace but would have lived an ordinary life.
Ahead lay an endless expanse of water; it was unclear when they would reach shore. Lin Qingmo vaguely spotted a small boat not far ahead. This area was deep sea territory and quite dangerous; few small boats dared to venture here alone. As they drew closer, Lin Qingmo's heart sank in shock at what he saw on the boat—it was Lin San, Lin Liu, and Lin Xiao.
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