Chapter 130

On the corridor, a girl in white looked at the small snowflakes that kept falling from the sky and couldn’t help reaching out her little hands.

The slightly cool feeling in her palm relieved Duanmu Xi’s worries a lot. And she suddenly felt like playing. She held a handful of snow on the ground with both hands and then squeezed the snow into a snowball.

When Duanmu Xi was a child, she played snowballs and built a snowman with her grandpa. Thinking of her grandpa, Duanmu Xi unconsciously painted Duanmu Cang with her fingers on the snowball.

“Put this on, or you may catch a cold.” With the words of concern, a white fox-fur robe was draped over Duanmu Xi’s shoulders.

The sudden voice instantly brought Duanmu Xi to her senses. Seeing Xuanyuan Mo, Duanmu Xi immediately smiled, “Snow! You are here!”

“Yeah,” Xuanyuan Mo responded while helping wipe the small snowflakes off Duanmu Xi’s hair.

Glancing at the snowball in Duanmu Xi’s hands, Xuanyuan Mo frowned slightly. He reached out his hands and put the snowball aside. Finally, he grabbed Duanmu Xi’s hands and stuffed them into his arms.

Duanmu Xi blushed and leaned into Xuanyuan Mo’s arms. It was so nice to have Snow by her side!

In the imperial study, Xuanyuan Lie took out a scroll from under the desk and unfolded it slowly.

With Xuanyuan Lie’s careful movements, a painting on that scroll slowly showed itself.

In the painting, a woman in a red dress with a layer of gauze was dancing in the snow. Her graceful figure and elegant dancing postures perfectly demonstrated the beauty of the woman.

When he looked at the woman in red in the painting, Xuanyuan Lie’s dark eyes were full of infinite sentiments of missing and affection as well as deep guilt and self-condemnation.

Xuanyuan Lie raised his hand and gently stroked the beautiful face of the woman in the painting. His movements were so gentle that others would think that he was touching a real person rather than a painting.

Caressing the woman in the painting, Xuanyuan Lie was gradually reminiscent of the past.

Back then, Xuanyuan Lie went out of the palace to deal with something important. When he passed by a mountain covered with snow all year round, he saw a person in red from afar at the foot of the mountain. In the white snow, the red color was very conspicuous. Xuanyuan Lie subconsciously urged the white horse under him and rode towards the person.

Only when Xuanyuan Lie got closer did he find that it was a woman dressed in red, and she was dancing intently. It was a very pretty dance. She was spinning like a red plum blossoming in the snow. She danced very attentively as if she was dancing with all the enthusiasm of her life.

This beautiful scene of red and white made Xuanyuan Lie unconsciously dismount and gently approach the woman.

However, the woman still concentrated on her dance and didn’t notice him until he got very close.

She stopped in a panic, staring at him warily with a pair of watery eyes.

The woman looked very beautiful. Especially her crystal-clear watery eyes were faint amber, which shimmered with luster as if they could speak. He just couldn’t get them out of his mind only after a glance.

She wore very few clothes. Surprisingly, she only wore a red dress on the snowy mountain, while the red gauze covered outside simply could not protect her against the cold at all. When Xuanyuan Lie looked down to see her shoes, he unexpectedly saw her white and small feet.

She… She didn’t even wear shoes. She just danced barefoot like this in the snowfield. Wouldn’t she feel cold?

Seemingly sensing his gaze, the woman shrank her feet down into her long skirt. She also deliberately pulled the skirt to cover her exposed feet.

As her feet were covered, he felt a bit dejected. Looking at the woman’s wary eyes, Xuanyuan Lie tried to appease her. Unfortunately, she didn’t give him a chance to speak at all. Instead, she ran to the snowy mountain abruptly.

She moved so fast that Xuanyuan Lie couldn’t find her after a few steps of chasing.

After that, Xuanyuan Lie searched the snowy mountain for a long time but found nothing. The woman seemed to have disappeared. There was no household living in the snowy mountain, so he couldn’t inquire about her even if he wanted to. As a result, Xuanyuan Lie had no other choice but to go to a small town at the foot of the snowy mountain and randomly find an inn to live in. Every day, he went up the snowy mountain to find her.

Perhaps God took pity on his persistence and obsession. A month later, in the town, he finally saw the woman again. The woman was still in that bright red dress but this time, she wore a pair of white boots on her feet.

Xuanyuan Lie was very excited and wanted to rush forward and say hello to her. Yet, he was afraid that he would offend the beauty, so he could only follow her silently. Perhaps because he was following her too closely, the woman soon spotted him.

“You again!” These were the first words she said to Xuanyuan Lie. Her voice was so pleasant, which was as pure and elegant as the orchids growing in the valley.

“Miss, please don’t be nervous. I just want to say hello to you.” Afraid of scaring her away again, he rushed to reassure her.

However, she didn’t seem to feel less nervous, “Why would you say hello to me? I don’t know you. My father said the men under the mountain were all bad guys.” After she finished speaking, the woman turned around and left.

Xuanyuan Lie was dumbfounded and wondered why a father would teach his daughter like that. A good girl had been misled by her father.

After he recovered from his thoughts, Xuanyuan Lie caught up with the woman again and followed her like a stalker. After pestering her for a few months, she finally told him her name–Xue Ruyan. What a nice name! It sounded as ethereal as her look.

During these few months, he completely fell in love with her. She was very lively and active, who had an air of innocence that the women in the imperial palace did not have. She was so pure and beautiful, just like the white snow on the top of the snowy mountain that had not been contaminated by the world.

In the following days, he started chasing her frantically. He went shopping with her, played with her in the snow, accompanied her through playing the guqin and dancing. He used up all the tenderness and consideration of his life on her.

Rather than feel depressed in the imperial palace, he was happy and relaxed to be with her. Xuanyuan Lie would often be rendered speechless by her innocent words and feel bewildered when Xue Ruyan constantly referred to her father’s words.

Finally, one day, Xue Ruyan accepted him. Xuanyuan Lie was so happy that he wanted to meet her father, but she always said her father didn’t want to meet outsiders.

A few months later, she got pregnant. When the doctor announced her pregnancy, Xuanyuan Lie was very excited. It was just like the ecstasy of being a new father. However, back then, he failed to recall that he already had two children in the imperial palace at that time.

After he recovered from the excitement, Xuanyuan Lie said that he would take her back to the capital to get married. She did not immediately agree and only said she would have to consider it.

She disappeared that night, and when she came back, she agreed to return to the Imperial City with him.

When they left the town, Xue Ruyan cried. That was the first time and only time Xuanyuan Lie had seen her crying.

Xuanyuan Lie took Xue Ruyan back to the Imperial City and into the imperial palace. She didn’t seem surprised at his identity. Perhaps in her world, there was no difference between an emperor and a commoner.

When Xue Ruyan saw his empress and countless concubines, she asked, “Are they the same as me?”

There was sadness, irony, and a little hope in her voice.

Looking at her extremely clear eyes, Xuanyuan Lie suddenly felt guilty, and he didn’t know how to answer her. No matter what the answer was, it seemed to be wrong.

Seeing his guilty look, Xue Ruyan suddenly laughed with self-mockery, “Dad is right. But do I still have a chance to go back?”

Although she said in a low voice for the latter part of her words, Xuanyuan Lie still heard it. He was so scared of losing her. He didn’t want to let her go.

As expected, Xue Ruyan told him that she wanted to leave the imperial palace that night, to which he did not agree. In order to appease her, he ignored the other women in the harem and stayed in her Siyan Palace for several months.

However, no matter what he did, Xue Ruyan was sullen. Never would she laugh merrily, play the guqin, or dance like she used to. She was like a canary trapped in a cage as if losing a soul.

And Xuanyuan Lie’s exclusive favor for Xue Ruyan also caused the jealousy of the empress and the other concubines. As a result, they frequently schemed to frame her up. Xuanyuan Lie started to regret taking her to the crisis-ridden imperial palace. He tried to let her go, but he just couldn’t bear to part from her.

Finally, under the protection of him and the tiger guards, she gave birth to a baby boy safely. The boy looked a lot like her, especially his eyes, which were of transparent amber color. Xuanyuan Lie liked the boy at the first sight and named him Mo.

Xue Ruyan also became a lot happier because of Mo’s birth. She liked Mo very much, and Xuanyuan Lie often watched her talking to him and smiling at him. Xue Ruyan took care of Mo by herself without anyone else’s help.

Unfortunately, the happy times didn’t last long. One night just a few months later, Mo suddenly turned into a little snow wolf. It happened to be the Mid-Autumn Festival, and Xuanyuan Lie was appreciating the moon with Xue Ruyan at Siyan Palace. Then, he saw this astonishing scene.

At that time, Xuanyuan Lie was completely stunned. He anxiously picked up the little snow wolf and wanted to get a doctor to check on it, but he didn’t know whom he should turn to.

Xue Ruyan was also taken aback at the time, but she quickly composed herself. She hugged the little snow wolf, gently stroked its long fur, and kissed its little face affectionately. She said, “This is my child. As I am a snow wolf, it also has the blood of the snow wolf clan flowing in his body.”

Xuanyuan Lie couldn’t believe what he had heard. The woman he had loved for so long was not a human, but a snow wolf. However, looking at the little snow wolf in her arms, Xuanyuan Lie had to believe her words. He saw with his own eyes that their child became a little snow wolf. This was absolutely undeniable.

Xuanyuan Lie couldn’t accept this for a while. He ran out of the Siyan Palace. He did not see Xue Ruyan and her child again for several days.

Yet, Xuanyuan Lie didn’t know that it was his cowardice that made him lose the woman he loved permanently. He was the one who caused the death of Xue Ruyan, the purest and most beautiful woman in the world.

Xuanyuan Lie regretted bringing her to the splendid cage of the imperial palace. He blamed himself for failing to protect her. He hated those women in the harem for refusing to let her go. He hated heaven for letting him gain and lose her. Yet, still, he hated himself more for not cherishing her.

However, no matter how much sorrow, self-condemnation and regret he felt, the past was past. No matter how hard he tried, he would never make up for his fault.

Leaning over to kiss the amber watery eyes of the woman in the painting, he said in a gentle sobbing voice, “I’m sorry.”

Touching the beautiful face of the woman in the painting, Xuanyuan Lie murmured, “Mo has grown up and has a crush on a girl. I have seen that girl, and she is really wonderful. I know that if you were still alive, you would definitely ask me to agree to their marriage. In fact, I know that whether I agree or not, the result will not change. No one can make our son change his mind. Yet, if you were still alive, perhaps he would listen to you. Mo doesn’t want my throne. Maybe I can follow the Qinglong Empire’s old emperor’s example and pass the throne to their child in the future. In this case, it will take me a bit longer before I can go and meet you down there. Will you wait for me, Yan?”