Fairy, Don't Be Afraid, I Am Blind

A single candle, a stack of documents, half a cup of fragrant tea.

The woman held the documents, her black hair fell like a waterfall, blending seamlessly with the dark silk robe she wore, mysterious and elegant, profound and noble.

"Mr. Huo discovered two clansmen polishing mirrors in the rear pool of the Snake Ancestor Temple, should we punish them severely?! Alas... The Snake Race has no men, the women’s desires within the clan are hard to relieve, using some means to vent is an unspoken understanding, but disrespecting the Snake Ancestor’s dignity cannot be taken lightly, we must make an example and prevent this from happening again."

"The Golden Peng Tribe has been quite credible; after receiving the Lotus Heart, they’ve confirmed they will form an alliance with our Snake Race, and they’ve invited me to attend a banquet after the Golden Peng’s Saint Heir has recovered... In this way, our Snake Race will have support on the Star Shining Divine Mountain. Our return to the Divine Mountain is within sight..."

The vast palace was serene and cold, Ji Xueruo massaged her temples with a frown and then began to carefully read the last letter in front of her under the palace lamp.

Ji Xueruo had many documents and letters to read every day, but she deliberately left this letter for last because it was sent by her younger sister from the Zhongyuan Continent.

This letter climbed over mountains and crossed seas, reaching her hands at great cost.

Due to the tense relationship between the human and demon races, private communication is prohibited openly. It was the Third Elder, kind-hearted and benevolent, who established bridges with the Demon Race under the name of Bihua Peak, allowing Ji Lingruo to send her letter openly.

The first few pages of the letter were Ji Lingruo’s straightforward words, elaborately detailing her situation and treatment at the Profound Sky Sect to reassure her sister.

She also expressed her longing for her sister, after parting unexpectedly and quickly, the sisters separated by three years were once more across shores. Though they had their disputes over men, the bond between sisters remained deep and unbreakable.

However, in between the lines, Ji Lingruo still intentionally or unintentionally ’showoffs’ her daily life with You Su.

For instance, today my senior brother bought me new clothes, he took me to eat something delicious again, how come he took me so far away to Mo Ye City for a trip? I told him not to spend so much money all the time...

There isn’t a single line saying "Sister, look, the man you like is with me every day spoiling me," but somehow... every line does seem to say so.

Ji Xueruo lightly shook her little head, with a bitter laugh.

Ji Lingruo, a stranger in a foreign land, she was actually worried. She understood the notion of reporting good news and not the bad, the connected spiritual sense would feed the intense physical sensations back to another person, so she didn’t fully believe everything in her sister’s letter.

For instance, not long ago, she felt the intense pain coming from her sister’s body through the spiritual sense, she was deeply anxious at the time, but fortunately, the pain quickly eased.

Though this bout of pain was fleeting, the sincere joy expressed in the letter indicates that Lingruo is doing well in the Zhongyuan Continent.

That blind man, did what he ought to do.

Ji Xueruo certainly wouldn’t be angry at Ji Lingruo’s boastfulness; rather, a mild sourness bubbled from within.

The brief time she spent with You Su contrasted with a century together, the experience of standing side by side in the Jade Ring Pool was branded in her memory like a seal.

The protagonists in storybooks often declare their feelings after overcoming hardships and then stick together faithfully, yet she and You Su were forced apart when they should have passionately loved.

Race, region, duty, status... all kinds of constraints prevented their love, leaving them only to promise each other the future.

She couldn’t, but Lingruo could, Lingruo could stay close to that blind man, and perhaps that was enough...

Time would wear away everything, and perhaps that blind man forgetting her would be the best outcome. Thus she could unburdenedly continue to fulfill her mission, while her sister could enjoy the love of her beloved alone.

Thinking so, Ji Xueruo sighed gently.

As if resigning to fate, yet as if lamenting something.

After reading Ji Lingruo’s signature, she thought the letter was over, but beyond it was another sheet.

Ji Xueruo slightly knitted her dark brows, under the orange light, her nation-entrancing beauty appeared even more radiant.

Ji Xueruo was annoyed with herself for feeling happier at the mere possibility that this might be a letter from the blind man, after having just thought about forgetting him along the path of immortality, she thought she was truly unprincipled.

She gently exhaled and slowly unfolded the last sheet of paper.

"All sounds silent. The quilt is cold near dawn.

The incense ends, the lamp dim, and the chant unstable, desolate.

Only the frosty white accompanies the clear moonlight.

Surely it’s the night’s cold settling. Disturbing the plum blossoms, preventing sleep.

I think of the plum blossoms, and they think of me, a bondage of emotions.

Get up and see the clear ice filling the jade vase.

I’ve penned a small poem by chance, and offer it to Miss Xueruo, hoping she’ll like it.

——You Su."

Ji Xueruo couldn’t help but read aloud the contents of the letter. Well-read, she felt the meanings within the poem uniquely.

She slightly bit her lip, lifted her gaze and surveyed the surroundings, instantly giving rise to a sense of being separated by ages. She only felt the scenes depicted in the poem were so closely aligned with her current feelings and views.

Indoors, the fragrance had faded, the remaining lamp dim like a bean, outdoors the bright moon hung high, frost spread everywhere, while she was also burdened, unable to sleep, in the cold and quiet night, still reading documents here.

The poem’s first stanza seemed written for her.

Pen a small poem by chance... was it written by him?

Looking at the second stanza again, the icy cold earth, sleepless long nights, the poet linked the ’unfinished chant’ from himself to the plum blossom’s ’unable to sleep’.

"I think of the plum blossoms, and they think of me, a bondage of emotions."