Chapter 255 — Nestling Close
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 4 of 8
She shook her head slightly and said no more. She put the fruit to her mouth and bit into it; the juice seemed quite sweet and very tasty.
Xiao Hui grinned at Xiaobai, then held the fruit up before Ming Li, but Ming Li remained as he was, motionless. Xiao Hui waited a while; he seemed to realize that Ming Li would not take any food, so he shrugged his shoulders, set the fruit on the ground, then grabbed a fruit in each hand, nestled up beside Ming Li, sat down, and began munching away.
It was midafternoon now. The two of them and the monkey sat quietly like this amid the ruins of the broken village. Xiaobai said nothing more, and Ming Li was still in that same state, so naturally he made no sound either. As for Xiao Hui, after eating a good many wild fruits, he rested his head on Ming Li's thigh, sprawled out his limbs, and went noisily to sleep.
Time slipped soundlessly away, unheeded. The scenery in the sky shifted ceaselessly; in the azure vault, white clouds drifted, one after another. A gentle breeze passed over the mortal world, and the green grass rustled softly, stirring the edges of garments and strands of hair, carrying with it a touch of languor.
The sun sank westward, and the light of the sky gradually dimmed.
Night fell. A bright moon had just appeared, still hanging far off in the eastern sky, while a few stars had already begun to blink, watching over yet another night in this world of men.
Xiao Hui gave a few low grumbles in his throat, rolled over, and went on sleeping soundly. In his dreams, his face seemed to wear a smile still. Was it, perhaps, that he was always so quick to forget his troubles and sorrows, remembering only the happy things?
Beneath the faint moonlight, Xiaobai quietly rose. She lifted her head and gazed at the moonlight at the edge of the sky, as if pondering something. After a long while, she turned and looked back at that figure, still motionless, already merged into the darkness.
She gave a soft sigh and stepped away into the distance. The night wind blew gently; her white garments fluttered with it. Walking alone under the moon, that full and beautiful figure drifted away like a lovely silhouette from ages past.
The moonlight was especially bright this night...
On Xiaozhu Peak of Mount Canglan, Lu Xueling sat alone before the window. Her white robes were like snow, and the clear radiance like frost, lending a radiant glow to her beautiful face. Moonlight poured down from the sky and fell upon her at the window, like rippling water.
She could not say just how many nights it had been that she had sat quietly at the window like this, gazing at the myriad stars and the bright moon in the night sky.
Clear radiance illumines a lone shadow.
One should pity the coldness of moonlight.
From afar came the faint, rhythmic rustle of bamboo—the mountain wind passing through the bamboo groves on Xiaozhu Peak. Beneath the moonlight, the delicate breeze blew here as well, stealing quietly in through the window and lifting a small corner of her garment.
Tianxuan leaned quietly against one side of the window, seeming, like its beautiful mistress, to bathe in the clear, cold moonlight and gaze at the horizon.
The moon slowly climbed to mid-sky. Lu Xueling gazed at it in silence, and between her elegant brows was lightly locked a faint sorrow of longing.
"Are you well?"
The whisper, almost impossible to hear, was murmured softly on her lips, yet the gentle moonlight stirred not the slightest ripple; it merely continued to spill down in silence.
The longing on her beautiful face seemed to deepen by another degree.
Suddenly, at that very moment, as if she had sensed something all at once, Lu Xueling frowned. Her body, which had been leaning, slowly straightened. Light flickered in her eyes; she drew them back from the bright moon at the edge of the sky and looked out beyond the room.