Ximen Qingkong cupped her face in his hands, breathing hard, his expression like that of someone struggling in a desperate predicament. He shouted, "I don't agree!"
Xuanwei laughed through her tears and looked up at him, tears spilling as she nodded. "Fine! If you don't agree, then I won't accept!"
She agreed so decisively, so readily, that Ximen Qingkong, having gotten the answer he had so desperately wanted, froze instead. Then came the thought: What now?
Seeing her weep and smile, her face rain-soaked with tears like pear blossoms after spring rain, Ximen Qingkong's heart ached unbearably. He had stayed by her side to protect her. He had never made her cry, nor had he ever seen her cry like this.
Even when she had faced that earlier storm, even when she had imprisoned her own younger brother, she had not shed a single tear. She had always been a strong woman, yet now she was crying like this.
Ximen Qingkong felt suffocated inside. His hands, still cradling her face, wiped away her tears.
But the tears seemed endless. Xuanwei shook her head, refusing to let him wipe them anymore, and pressed her lovely head against his chest. Again and again, she apologized, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
Holding her, the two of them embraced nakedly. Ximen Qingkong gradually realized certain things and finally understood the meaning behind the strange looks Jin Lingzan and the others had given him during the day.
Precisely because he understood, a miserable smile slowly appeared on his face. He did not know why things had become this way.
Xuanwei had originally promised that after gradually handing over power, she would leave with him. Then sudden upheaval had struck, and she had said she would marry him once the situation stabilized. Yet now, Xuanwei was going