174: Chapter 174 You'll Meet Her Before She

After she finished speaking, she faced Su Chen.

Slowly and with great solemnity, she performed a standard courtly farewell bow.

Then, without another look at him, she turned and walked toward the inner chamber.

In the front hall of the inner chamber stood a statue of Buddha.

Before the statue was a prayer mat and a candlestick.

Upon it lay countless prayer charms with red tassels and peace apples.

She picked up the one on the far right.

Her fingers quietly traced the marks on the back of the charm.

She was as practiced as if she had done it countless times.

On the back of that charm, eight large characters were written.

"I wish the King peace every year."

She peeked back, confirming that Su Chen had already reached the front hall dozens of meters away.

Only then did she let out a soft sigh.

"Great King..."

"If there is a next life, I will meet you before she does."

"Even though... it was the same in this life."

...

As twilight deepened, the palace lanterns were lit one by one.

In the nights of Chaoge City, there were always commoners who, despite official restrictions, would release river lanterns into the Palace Moat to pray for peace.

The floating warm lights and the torches on the palace walls reflected off the moat, bathing it in a warm yellow glow.

Su Chen lightly tapped his toes, stepping across the palace lanterns in the river.

Like an immortal, he walked alone at a steady pace toward the Star-Plucking Tower standing deep within the palace grounds.

In his hand, he held the old doll that still retained Queen Jiang's body heat.

The silk on it felt delicate to the touch.

The quiet desolation belonging to the Cold Palace felt somewhat out of place in his current surroundings.

The top floor of the Star-Plucking Tower.

The night wind was chilly, stirring the thin gauze curtains.

Su Daji had changed into moon-white sleepwear, covered by a Soft Smoke Silk robe of the same color.

Without any makeup, she appeared charming yet somewhat pure.

She lightly stroked her waterfall-like black hair.

She sat on a brocade cushion by the window with her knees hugged to her chest, staring blankly at the stars that were gradually becoming clearer outside.

She heard familiar footsteps approaching from afar.

They paused for a moment at the top of the stairs before slowly stepping onto the star-gazing platform.

Su Chen walked to her side but did not approach her directly as he usually did.

Instead, he gently placed the cloth doll in his hand on the low table between them.

Under the flickering candlelight, the doll's exquisite features...

...bore a faint resemblance to his own silhouette.

"I have asked about Queen Jiang's matter," he said.

"She said she has never practiced witchcraft or sorcery, and she disdains such methods."

"I believe her."

"As for those 'evidences'..."

"...they are nothing but the dark, old tricks of people with ulterior motives, meant to frame the relationship between me and Queen Jiang."

"I have already had someone clean them up. My Beloved Consort need not worry about this matter anymore."

"No one will disturb the peace of the inner palace over such fabricated claims."

As for the rest—including why Su Daji suddenly asked him to investigate the witchcraft and where she got the information...

Su Chen did not ask.

He simply let the matter pass quietly.

This was also a move in his chess game.

Speaking this way was equivalent to telling her...

That he knew of her difficulties and might have even guessed some of the pressure coming from behind her.

But he chose not to expose it, instead nipping the potential disaster in the bud for her.

Telling her: I am here.

No one can bully you, and no one can use you to cause trouble.

Su Daji slowly turned her head, her gaze first falling on the doll.

She froze for a moment, her eyes showing a mix of complexity and relief.

Then, she raised her eyes to look at Su Chen.

Under the interplay of candlelight and starlight, his profile appeared even more defined and as handsome as ever.

"Great King..."

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something.

Perhaps to thank him, perhaps to explain.

Or perhaps something else entirely.

But in the end, she didn't say it.

It only turned into a low, soft call that dissipated in the night wind blowing through the hall.

"The moonlight is decent tonight, and the Milky Way is brilliant."

Su Chen seemed not to notice her hesitation. He looked up at the star-filled sky above the Star-Plucking Tower, focusing on a few exceptionally bright stars.

It had to be said that in a world without industrial pollution, the stars appeared much clearer than they did on Blue Star.

In his previous two investment worlds, he rarely looked up at the sky.

Because he knew that in those two worlds, he was already the ceiling that all living beings could reach.

However...

In this investment world...

He was merely a mortal looking up at the sky.

And hanging in the heavens were gods and Buddhas everywhere.

He lifted the hem of his robe and sat down casually not far from Su Daji.

He maintained a distance from her that was neither distant nor overly intimate.

"Does my Beloved Consort know?"

"The starlight we see in our eyes right now is not how the stars look at this moment."

"When the light reflecting from the stars travels through the vast universe to reach our eyes..."

"...it takes anywhere from several years or decades to millions or even billions of years."

"What we see is their past from hundreds of thousands or millions of years ago."

"Perhaps some of those stars had already vanished or collapsed when the light first set out."

"Yet in our eyes, they still shine brightly."

Su Daji followed his finger and looked up.

Though she was a cultivator and knew the world was vast...

...the Hehuan Sect was not a Star-Gazing Sect.

She had never delved into the mysteries of stellar movement or the delays of time.

What the Hehuan Sect taught was nothing more than Charm Techniques, Mental Cultivation Methods, and Combat Arts.

When had they ever told her such profound and mysterious truths about the starry sky?

"What's even more fascinating..."

Su Chen continued.

His tone was like that of a patient teacher instructing a clever but ignorant student.

"The starlight's long journey is not always smooth sailing."

"The dark universe you see before you is not absolute nothingness."

"There is dust, nebulae, gravitational vortices, and indescribable existences and force fields."

"As light passes through them, it is either deflected, swallowed, or distorted."

"The starscape that finally enters our eyes might have long since lost its original appearance."

"The position, brightness, and even the color of the stars..."

"...could all be a massive 'misunderstanding' across time and space."

He turned his head to look at Su Daji, who was listening intently.

"So, this is also why I particularly enjoy star-gazing."

"Because through the stars, I can see many of the world's ultimate truths."

"Just like many things and many people in this world."

"The truth we believe in might just be a phantom presented to us after countless layers of distortion, refraction, and delay."

"While it may not necessarily be false, it is certainly not the whole truth."

"Is it not laughable when some people cling to a single point of light they see and believe it to be the entirety of the star?"

As Su Daji listened, she felt a sudden shock in her heart.

Clever as she was, how could she not understand?

Su Chen was trying to enlighten her.

He seemed to be implying that the hatred that had sustained her until today might also just be a kind of 'starlight' presented to her after being distorted and delayed.

And the full picture of those past events might have long since changed or even vanished in the river of time.

(Thank you for your support. I don't want to die; I must escape the Fanqie cutoff line.)