newbobooks Chapter 494 Xiao Qiu, I'm sorry
Chapter 494 Xiao Qiu, I'm sorry
This is not the first time Chongdao has come to worship at the Divine Sect.
But he thought, this was probably the last time.
To avoid Qiu Niang, he hadn't been here for a very long time, hadn't been to her Tingqin Pavilion. It was still as beautiful as before.
Plum blossoms bloom constantly, their fragrance lingering, just like her.
"It's quite a coincidence that she's inside today." The sect leader of the Sacrificial God Sect coughed twice, his face pale and sickly, but with a young and weak smile.
Chongdao bowed respectfully to him, then asked with concern, "Can't even the spiritual plants of Shennong Domain fully heal your injuries, Senior Brother?"
Shang Chengjun smiled and said, "These are all old wounds, but we can still hold on for a while."
“Qiu Niang will worry…” Zhongdao murmured, touched his body, took out the elixirs he had treasured in his storage ring that could alleviate injuries, and stuffed them all into Shang Chengjun’s hands, “They might work, try them all. Even if they don’t work, it won’t do any harm.”
Shang Chengjun was stunned for a moment, then his hand trembled and he lost his grip on the jade bottle, which clattered to the ground.
Chongdao immediately bent down to pick it up. Fortunately, the jade bottle was made of hard material, so it wouldn't break after being dropped.
He put the elixirs back into Shang Chengjun's hands and bowed to him again: "Senior Brother Shang, I am grateful for your care of Qiu Niang. In the future, please continue to be tolerant of her. Thank you again for your kindness."
"Chongdao, you..."
Chongdao bowed deeply again, then straightened his clothes and jade crown, and walked into the red plum grove where petals were falling.
The melodious sound of a zither drifted faintly from the small pavilion, gentle and flowing, babbling across the water, reflecting the blue sea and sky, and the long cries of white cranes.
Chongdao followed the rhythm of the zither music, pushed open the wooden door of the Listening to the Zither Pavilion, and climbed the steps one by one.
The embroidered gold-patterned brocade robe brushed against the thousand-year-old sacred wood and gently stopped in front of a carved and engraved boudoir door.
Taking a few deep breaths, Chongdao checked his attire again, then gently knocked three times on the embroidered door.
The piano music stopped suddenly.
Chongdao held his breath and waited for a while, but no one came to open the door. He knocked lightly on the door again.
"Qiu Niang, it's me."
The wind blew through the doors and windows, making them creak and groan.
Chongdao lowered his eyes, wanting to try to push the door open, only to find that the restriction behind the door had already been opened.
The embroidered door was open, and a beautiful woman sat by the window, her black hair styled in a cloud-like bun, her skin as white as snow and her face as beautiful as a flower.
Her delicate hands, too languid to play the zither.
Outside the window, red plum blossoms are in full bloom, a gentle breeze blows, and inside, the fragrance of plum blossoms wafts through the air, and a sheer dress sways gracefully.
Chongdao suddenly remembered the first time he saw her. Her figure was hidden among a patch of red plum blossoms. She was standing on tiptoe, the most beautiful plum blossom blooming on a broken branch.
One glance is enough to captivate the soul, leave an indelible mark, and become unforgettable, ingrained in one's very being.
After a long silence from inside, Qiu Niangzi finally couldn't hold back any longer. She pressed down on the strings of her zither and spoke first, her tone cold and unfriendly: "I'll assume you're two hundred years late in apologizing. What, you expect me to forgive you without even saying a word?"
Chongdao stood at the doorway, silently and absentmindedly gazing at her.
Qiu Niangzi couldn't sit still. She turned around angrily and was about to curse, but when she saw the handsome young man in a cloud-patterned robe at the door, all her words got stuck in her throat.
Cold tears suddenly streamed down her face, and she quickly turned her head away, wiping them away with her fingertips.
"Give up on that idea. I will never... I will never forgive you."
Chongdao lowered his eyes, hesitated at the door for a long time, and finally followed his heart and stepped across the threshold.
He slowly walked to Qiu Niangzi's side, raised his hand, and gently straightened the red plum blossom branch in her hair.
"Qiu Niang... Xiao Qiu, I want to eat the plum wine dumplings you made."
Qiu Niangzi rubbed her fingertips hard against the strings, leaving a thin trail of blood on her fingertips. She immediately pulled her hand into her sleeve, turned her head away, and said hatefully, "I haven't eaten this in five hundred years, and now you want it, so I have to make it for you? You think..." Her voice trailed off, trembling, "Who do you think you are?!"
Who does he think he is?
After he betrayed and abandoned her, would she still wait for him to turn back and love her again, just like a chaste and virtuous woman?
Impossible! Dream on!
If it weren't for Qingya, if it weren't for Qingya... she would never have let him through that door! Never!!!
As her clothes rustled around her, a soft thud of knees hitting the ground suddenly rang out. Startled, Qiu Niangzi turned her head and saw Chongdao, who had removed his disguise and formation, kneeling in front of her, his clothes trailing on the ground, his hands holding her fingertips hidden in his sleeves.
Wisps of spiritual energy emanated from his palm, gradually soothing her wounds.
His expectant eyes, shining brightly, were fixed on her alone, just as they had always. His voice was pleading and cloying, like a boy once coaxing a girl: "Please, Xiao Qiu, I'm so hungry, I really want to eat."
With tears welling up in her eyes, Qiu Niangzi abruptly stood up, forcefully shook off his hand, and strode towards the door.
When she reached the door, she took a deep breath and tried to make her voice sound cold and indifferent.
"Don't leave! If you leave, I'll hate you for the rest of my life."
After saying that, she quickly disappeared down the corridor.
Chongdao sat quietly behind the zither table where she had just been sitting. With a flick of his fingers, the melody they had created together flowed slowly from his hands, gradually filling the entire plum grove.
When the music ended, he took off his storage ring, which contained all sorts of rare treasures, and placed it under the strings of the zither.
He stared blankly at the doorway, his mind replaying their past over and over again, from their first meeting to their growing understanding, from their understanding to their commitment. They had clearly loved each other for so long, yet they had missed so much time together. The time they actually spent together was so short, so very short, that it was only a moment before he had reviewed everything about them.
He regretted it.
If he had known that at the last moment he still couldn't resist the longing in his heart to see her and want to touch her smiling face one more time, he shouldn't have deliberately distanced himself from her for the past five hundred years, deliberately not explained, and deliberately transformed himself into a repulsive old man so that she would give up on him.
He resolutely betrayed her, and he also betrayed himself.
At this moment, there's nothing he can do to make up for it.
he loves her.
Love made him selfish, cruel, and self-centered.
He shouldn't have come.
He should disappear from her life without a sound.
Her path leads to the future, while he is but a fleeting dream in her mortal world, something she should have forgotten long ago.
Eventually, we will forget it all.
"Xiao Qiu, I'm sorry..."
This is an apology that is 500 years overdue.
This explanation is also five hundred years overdue.
The sound of a tray hitting the door frame came from the doorway. Chongdao snapped out of his daze and immediately ran towards the door.
"Xiaoqiu!"
Carrying the tray, Qiu Niangzi hurried inside as if nothing had happened, forcing a smile as she said, "So rushed, you even came out to greet me? Look, I haven't made this in five hundred years. Even if it's not good, you have to finish it all, or I'll beat you up!"