Living up to you Chapter 35 part 2

Chapter 35 part 2

For a long time, Ling Xi only stayed in her and Nan Zhi’s house. This the devil realm after all. Even if it appeared the same as the mortal realm on the surface, Ling Xi was unable to be at ease. Also, even when she went out, when those devils saw her, they were very respectful as if they were afraid to provoke her. They could only go by a roundabout route.

Most of the time, Nan Zhi would keep her company. Occasionally, someone would come to look for him and he would leave for a short while. Ling Xi seemed to have returned to three years ago at Xuwang Cliff. Every day, she would be with Nan Zhi: practice together, read the same book, paint the same picture and sometimes she would try to provoke him. However, her small tricks didn’t work anymore now. The more she deliberately teased him, the stronger the laughter in his eyes was. He was would no longer be cold and angry like in the past.

“This doesn’t look like me.” Ling Xi frowned. The face of the girl in the painting was rumpled. Her eyes were empty and confused. How could she be her?

Nan Zhi gracefully painted the last stroke. With a smile in his eyes he swept over Ling Xi and said, “Eleven-year-old Ling Xi.”

“No wonder senior brother Qing Kui would call me Ah Chou (ugly) at that time.” Ling Xi held up the painting with both hands and stared at the girl in the painting.

Nan Zhi took another piece of paper and sketched again. A short time later, another woman jumped on the paper.

“Mm…this one is better, but she is still very ugly…” Ling Xi was dissatisfied.

“Twelve-year-old Ling Xi,” Nan Zhi said with a smile.

“You remember? Then what about thirteen-year-old me?” Ling Xi looked at Nan Zhi.

Nan Zhi painted again. It wasn’t much different from the previous one except that the girl’s eyes were much clearer and she was taller.

“What about fourteen-year-old? It wouldn’t still be this ugly, right…,” Ling Xi muttered.

The brush in Nan Zhi’s hand hadn’t stopped. It was as if the past Ling Xis stood in front of him.

“Fourteen-year-old Ling Xi.”

“Fifteen-year-old Ling Xi.”

“Sixteen-year-old Ling Xi.”

When the night arrived, there were already several paintings. The face of the girl in the painting gradually unfolded and she became taller and taller. The bearing was different in each painting.

“What about seventeen-year-old?” Ling Xi didn’t even think about it when she blurted this after seeing her sixteen-year-old self.

Nan Zhi’s paintbrush suddenly stopped. The candlelight in the study suddenly made a “pop” sound and became brighter.

Ling Xi’s heartbeat also paused. Nan Zhi had never seen the seventeen-year-old Ling Xi.

“Eighteen-year-old Ling Xi.” Nan Zhi only paused for a slight moment before he painted another painting.

Ling Xi was full of smiles and wanted to have a closer look. The tip of Nan Zhi’s brush had been resting on the woman’s bun in the painting. His brows furrowed slightly.

“Didn’t you finish yet?” Ling Xi leaned over to look and smiled, “So similar.”

She reached out for the painting, but Nan Zhi’s hand pressed the painting down and never left it. He said in a low voice, “Something is missing.”

“What is missing?” Ling Xi rested her chin on one hand and looked carefully. She didn’t feel that something was missing. Every gesture and smile of the girl in the painting and even the look in her eyes was exactly the same as hers.

Nan Zhi didn’t spoke again and put aside eighteen-year-old Ling Xi.

Someone entered at the right time to seek his attendance. He kissed Ling Xi’s forehead and left.

Ling Xi took that painting and looked at it from top to bottom. What was missing?

“Ah, I know!” Ling Xi’s eyes lit up. She went out while holding the painting.

Eighteen-year-old her had Bingling sword given to her by Cang Yu. It was not in the painting.

She walked through the long corridor and bypassed several vacant rooms to go to the main hall to find Nan Zhi, but she stopped when she passed a courtyard.

She rarely went out and hadn’t paid attention to this yard. The yard was empty. There wasn’t even grass. A few people stood there now.

The figure of the person in the lead was too familiar. Even if it was just his back view, it was like a charm that couldn’t be ignored by people.

“Lord, the king of hell insisted on that he had never taken it. He said…,” The man who answered respectfully hesitated slightly.

“Say what?” Nan Zhi asked coldly.

“Say that Lord had slept for ten thousand years. It…it is you who had forgotten. Naturally, you will remember in the future.”

A cold wind blew over. Ling Xi couldn’t help but shudder. She was immediately discovered. The person next to Nan Zhi immediately attacked her. The fierce devilish energy rushed to her, frightening her so much that her face paled. She backed away and fell onto someone’s arms. The person in front of her immediately knelt.

This night, Ling Xi tossed and turned in Nan Zhi’s arms. She couldn’t sleep.

Some moonlight spilled in through the window. The room wasn’t dark. There were a few shadows of bugs crawling under the moonlight and they seemed to scratch Ling Xi’s heart. Nan Zhi pulled her into a tighter embrace and kissed her lips, but she turned and faced him with her back.

“I don’t remember…some things of the past.” Nan Zhi’s cool breath sprayed on Ling Xi’s ear and calmed the turmoil in her heart.

She turned and nestled in his arms. She muffled, “From ten thousand years ago?”

“Mm.”

“You want to remember very much?”

“Mm.” Nan Zhi grabbed Ling Xi’s hand and put it on his chest. “A piece is missing here.”

After that night, Ling Xi went out even lesser.  One, it was because she didn’t want to go out. Two, she had fallen sick.

In the past when she roamed the world with big brother, her body would occasionally feel uncomfortable, but she had never gotten sick. Afterwards, when she went to Cangjia Mountain, she had suffered various minor and major injuries, but even if her body was weak, she had never fallen sick. However, after she went to the devil realm, she only slept and was lazy, but became inexplicably sick instead.

The high fever made her muddle-headed. She sweated all over her body. She could feel that Nan Zhi hasn’t left her side at all, but the coldness on his body didn’t made her have a turn for the better. Instead, she felt hotter as if someone had burned a torch in her heart and in a moment of carelessness made her feel so hot that she shivered all over her body.

She woke up and slept while being groggy. Often when she met Nan Zhi’s dim eyes, they were as dark as the outside sky. In addition to the damp heat, there was a touch of anxiety in the air.

One day, perhaps it was because the weather was getting colder that she didn’t feel that her body was so hot and uncomfortable anymore. Her consciousness became a bit clearer. When she opened her eyes, she saw Nan Zhi’s sometime bright and sometime dark eyes mixed with various unknown emotions stare at her.

He sat by the couch, some distance from her. Seeing that she had woken up, a glimmer flashed through his eyes.

Ling Xi reached out, wanting to grab him. She said with a smile, “Nan Zhi, I’ve actually fallen sick.”

Her voice was slightly hoarse as if it had been scratched by a sharp weapon. Nan Zhi’s brows furrowed. The hand that originally wanted to grab her hand also paused. Ling Xi was dumbfounded, “Nan Zhi, what is the matter? I’m sick, but it would be fine if I just take medication.”

She laughed again.

Nan Zhi’s aura came at her and hugged her. He said softly, “I will take you to go take medication.”

—

Nan Zhi brought Ling Xi out of the devil realm. It was also strange. When they arrived in the mortal realm and didn’t even found a doctor yet to look at Ling Xi, Ling Xi suddenly got better and returned to be a lively dragon and animated tiger.

• Lively dragon and animated tiger: vigorous and lively

“Nan Zhi, why…don’t we go to the northern city? I like it there.” Ling Xi hugged Nan Zhi full of smiles.

“Alright.”

Returning to the northern city after two years, Mrs. Li still recognized them. She smilingly praised Ling Xi for getting more beautiful. She enthusiastically helped them find the village head to give them an empty house.

Ling Xi took Nan Zhi to clean the house with joy and decorate the courtyard. It took half a month before she was satisfied.

Nan Zhi no longer mentioned the affairs of the devil realm. Ling Xi also threw the immortal realm to the back of her head. The two truly seemed like an ordinary married couple at the northern city. Life was quiet and profound.

They had planted many flowers and plants in the front yard. In the autumn, the yellow chrysanthemum bloomed brilliantly. There was a rattan chair in the backyard. The fence was covered with grape vines. Ling Xi slept more than in the past. When the weather was great, she and Nan Zhi would sit in the rattan chair to bask in the sun. Usually, she would fall asleep in his lap and sleep till the afternoon.

She thought the grape vines would grow denser next year and would grow grape flowers. After some bit more, they might produce delicious grapes

Aside from the front and backyard, the two also newly made a kitchen.

Originally, there was a kitchen in the house but unfortunately, Ling Xi prohibited Nan Zhi from using spells to cook. The kitchen was completely burned on the first day. Ling Xi watched his hand go down with the knife. The vegetables together with the cutting board turned into nothingness. She watched his hand go down with a spatula. A hole appeared in the pot. She could only do it herself. Fortunately, she was talented. After a few dishes, her dishes looked quite like the delicacy.

Although, they also had meals in the devil realm, it was Nan Zhi who used spells to make them. Naturally, it couldn’t be compared to the meals she made herself. In the past, Nan Zhi almost never ate these things. He would only sit at a side and watched Ling Xi eat. However, now he would accompany Ling Xi ate the meals she prepared.

One day, he put down his tableware and said with eyes full of smiles, “Delicious.”

Ling Xi had to admit that it was both his melting smile and the rare “delicious” coming from him that gave her great encouragement, making her be immersed in cooking for a long time.

As for the two people’s livelihood, at first, the neighbors gave them a lot of things and it was enough. The two also didn’t eat often. Later, Ling Xi suddenly got the mood and let Nan Zhi paint another lantern for her. After the lantern was made, they hung it on the door. From time to time, people would come ask whether it could be sold. It turned out that here were very few people who had studied at this place. It was even more rare to see such exquisite painting. Since then, the two would made some lanterns or sold some calligraphy and paintings of Nan Zhi.

Every half month, the town not far away would have big markets and temple fairs. Generally, Ling Xi wouldn’t miss them. She would go listen to stories, watch plays and buy some gadgets that she likes. However, Nan Zhi would never eat the food of the restaurants. Ling Xi felt that they were better than hers, but he insisted that they were not delicious.

Coincidentally, the play they watched today was the same as two years go…A fairy of the god realm fell in love with a common folk. Ling Xi still looked at it with great pleasure and asked Nan Zhi laughingly, “Do you still remember what you said two years ago?”

Nan Zhi’s voice remained unchanged. He nodded slightly, “Cultivate into a mortal and stay by your side.”

“What about now?” Ling Xi wanted to ask him what he thought now.

Nan Zhi was expressionless and said, “It’s very good like this.”

“Like this is like what?” Ling Xi was puzzled.

“Cultivate to be a devil and lock you at my side.”

Ling Xi was stunned and laughed helplessly.

On the day of the winter solstice, it began to snow at the northern city.

Ling Xi very happily boiled a pot of warming soup. After dinner, she pulled Nan Zhi to sit on the rattan chair in the backyard and watched the snow.

In the winter,  the grapevines couldn’t block the wind and snow, but Ling Xi didn’t let Nan Zhi use spell. She wore a thick coat. Her whole body was covered inside, only revealing her head. She leaned on Nan Zhi’s lap.

Nan Zhi had never been someone of much words. He quietly brushed Ling Xi’s long hair and from time to time, he would touch Ling Xi’s cheek to see whether she was cold.

Ling Xi lay quietly on the rattan chair, looking at the snowflakes turn bigger and fell down like goose feathers. Occasionally, a few pieces would fall on her face. It felt cold. Before it melted, it had been swept away by Nan Zhi.

The body inside the coat was warm. The person she leaned on was also warm. The beating heart also felt warm. Only the floating snowflakes were cold. However, it was only that cold that would make those “warmth” feel so real.

Ling Xi was a bit tired and wanted to sleep.

In fact, she didn’t want to sleep. The days and nights of being together like this, even three lifetimes were not enough. How could she be willing to go sleep? She wanted time to be slower, a bit more slower. She wanted every inch (of time) to stay at her fingertips to let her carefully reminisce before it went away.

Two strings of instrument were in perfect harmony. The time was calm and right.

Due to the warmth from Nan Zhi’s body, her face turned slightly pinkish. Snowflakes reflected in the clear eyes. The corners of her eyes were curved and the snowflakes seemed to melt in her eyes.

She hugged Nan Zhi’s waist and looked up at him, “Nan Zhi, if this is a dream, let’s not wake up…alright?”

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