Chapter 267.1: Hello Chang'an
Chapter 267.1: General Ningyuan
“Not right?”
Ah Dian tugged her hand and quickly turned around, changing from sitting cross-legged to kneeling, showing a triumphant smile as if he had guessed correctly: “What’s not right? I clearly guessed it right!”
Chang Suining looked at his somewhat sleepy yet all the more clear eyes. “You actually guessed wrong.”
Ah Dian snorted. “You’re lying!”
“You’re the one lying,” Chang Suining said, sitting down on the blanket and tilting her head slightly, staring at him with a smiling gaze. “Little Ah Dian, didn’t you say you could recognize me at a glance, smell me instantly?”
That biggest secret was suddenly revealed by her in such a casual, effortless manner.
Ah Dian froze, his expression locking in place.
After a moment, he tilted his head in puzzlement, confusion and bewilderment flashing in his eyes.
Facing those smiling eyes, his confusion swelled, and he grabbed at his head, suddenly flustered, his mouth moving as if to say something but unable to speak, completely at a loss.
He reached out and grabbed the girl’s shoulders in front of him, searching left and right, as if trying to find the “hidden thing” she had.
He was extremely anxious.
And everything before him seemed to vanish, leaving only those eyes meeting his.
Those eyes seemed to transform into a forest full of mist, trapping him within.
At this moment, he was like a clumsy little animal running wildly through the endless fog, constantly pushing aside branches and vines in his path, trying to find a way out and answers.
His intuition told him that at the end of the mist was the thing most important to him.
But no matter how he ran, he couldn’t escape. He was about to cry, yet even his voice seemed bound, unable to speak, sweat pouring from his anxiousness.
Until a cool index finger lightly tapped his forehead.
His tall, broad figure made the girl sitting on the blanket appear all the more small and fragile.
But in comparison, he now looked more like a child.
The girl’s finger on his forehead lifted slightly, then fell again, and her voice came softly:
“Pointing soldiers and generals, riding horses in battle…”
Ah Dian, running through the fog, suddenly stopped.
He saw the mist before him vanish, the blazing sunlight pouring in, dispelling his confusion and panic.
He saw a familiar figure standing in the sunlight. The figure’s owner, under his held-breath gaze, slowly turned around…
Her voice continued: “…Know who is summoned, follow me; if you don’t, then—”
The figure had already turned.
He saw!
Ah Dian’s bloodshot eyes finally made a sound:
“…Your Highness! Ah Dian will not be a little dog!”
So it was His Highness!
His Highness had returned!
Everything before him blurred by tears. He could not see clearly, yet no longer needed his eyes.
Eyes could deceive, but the heart could not.
Ah Dian cried out, rushing toward the figure and hugging tightly.
Chang Suining nearly got knocked over.
“I knew it! I knew it!” Ah Dian cried. “I knew they were lying!”
“They said once someone dies, they are gone forever, never to be seen again, wuwuwu!”
“I didn’t believe them! Your Highness promised to come back. I knew it! Your Highness never lies! Luckily, I only believed Your Highness!”
For this, he had quarreled with many people, became stubborn and disobedient, secretly ran to Jingling, even fought with the guards there. He said he had to see His Highness, but everyone blocked him, calling him a foolish, unreasonable boy.
Those things, which he had not felt wronged by at the time, now, in front of His Highness, finally could be expressed aloud as grievances.
He cried, speaking things that seemed disconnected, yet filled with meaning.
“…Your Highness, I’ve always been obedient, waiting for you to return. I am not a little dog!”
“I know,” Chang Suining said, feeling almost smothered by the boy clinging like a big bear. She finally pushed him slightly, hands on his shoulders, smiling: “I am not a little dog either. I didn’t break my promise, did I?”
When she went to Northern Di, they had linked pinkies and promised: she would return, and he would wait. Whoever broke the promise would be a little dog.
“Mm!” Ah Dian nodded repeatedly through his tears.
Then he held out both hands before her, eyes full of tearful grievance: “I waited for Your Highness so long, through so many snows, so many thunderstorms!”
“I know, our Ah Dian is most afraid of thunder.” Chang Suining took a handkerchief from his collar. Ah Dian loved cleanliness, always carrying a neatly folded small handkerchief hidden in his robe.
He couldn’t count the passing years, previously using “how many times the flowers bloomed” to measure time.
But after she left, he no longer counted flowers. He said “so many snows,” “so many thunderstorms” to mark the days apart.
As if in those days apart, his world only had rain, thunder, and snow—the memories that struck him most.
He could not clearly explain his grievances and suffering, yet expressed it vividly.
“Your Highness, why did you take so long to come back?” Ah Dian rubbed his tears with the back of his hand, choking slightly, a hint of complaint yet soft and tender.
Chang Suining spoke softly: “The journey was a bit long; I walked slowly.”
Oh, so that was it?
Ah Dian immediately understood her, saying quickly: “It’s okay. On a journey, one shouldn’t rush. Safety is the greatest!”
He could wait as long as needed. As long as His Highness returned safely, being anxious was no matter.
“Mm, safety is the greatest.” Chang Suining handed him the handkerchief, smiling: “So I returned safely.”
This made Ah Dian extremely happy. He smiled with joy, then suddenly remembered something, straightened his face, and hurriedly explained:
“Your Highness, Ah Dian didn’t lie. Ah Dian recognized Your Highness long ago!”
He raised his hand in a solemn gesture: “Really!”
Chang Suining smiled gently: “I know. Ah Dian recognized me, smelled me… he just didn’t know how to say it.”
In truth, Ah Li and Ah Dian were not close before. They had few interactions. After she became Ah Li, Ah Dian suddenly began to approach her, trust her, and follow her. All of this was because he “recognized” her.
Among those who recognized her first, Ah Dian was clearly first.
Second was Liu Huo, and third… should be Cui Jing.
Hmm… comparing a person, a horse, and a child, Cui Jing truly was a remarkable existence to fit in among them.
Chang Suining thought so.
Receiving her affirmation, Ah Dian was even happier.
He stopped crying and began to notice other things.
He looked at her, full of confusion and curiosity: “But Your Highness… how did you become a girl now?”
His mind was different from ordinary people. What others called “borrowing a corpse and returning the soul” became simply “change” to him.
Chang Suining blinked: “Isn’t becoming a girl fine?”
She almost forgot, unlike Old Chang and the others, Ah Dian had not known her as a girl before. His awareness in this regard was slow and vague.
“Not that it’s bad…” Ah Dian stared at her, frowned slowly, then asked the question that mattered most: “Your Highness, changing like this… it must hurt, right?”
Even a block of wood requires many sharp cuts to be carved into a new shape.
Facing those suddenly tearful clear eyes, Chang Suining’s heart softened.
She and Ah Dian were a source of mutual warmth.
What Ah Dian gave her was never less than what she gave him.
She nodded: “It hurts a little.”
A knife cutting across the neck did not hurt. Falling on the cold snow did not hurt either.
No comments: