Original God Zhongli BG Xiao Qinglong traveled through time

Chapter 349: The Wine Shocks the Spring Sleep

When the glazed lily spread its seventh petal in the moonlight, the moonlight seeped into the window lattice like crushed silver sand, coating the carved wooden couch in the Hall of Rebirth with a hazy frost. Walnut curled up on the couch, the sweat on her forehead soaking the plum blossom embroidery on the pillow, like the undried dew in spring. The mist rose from her curled fingertips, weaving an emerald sea, dragging her into a dream that lasted for four hundred years.

How old was Xiao Xiaotao? The little girl stood on tiptoe, her arms like lotus roots barely reaching the hem of the green-scaled dress. The fabric was permeated with the coolness of the rocky veins, but when it touched the palm, it turned into fluffy clouds, as if holding the softest cloud in the sky. Looking up, the shadow of the dragon's tail fell on the earth like a jade-carved mountain range. What leaked through the gaps between the scales was not starlight, but the broken light of the jade beads in someone's hair, tinkling, as if humming an ancient nursery rhyme.

"Sister, where's the candy?" A tender voice broke through the mist. The young Xiao Tao was pouting, her chubby hands spread out in front of her moon-white skirt, her fingernails still stained with the icing sugar she had secretly eaten yesterday, and her pink fingertips were shining with a sweet luster.

The dragon horn on the forehead of the green-shirted immortal had not yet disappeared, and the gilded shawl was wrapped around her arms, hanging down like the remains of the sunset. When she squatted down, the wind elemental god's eye hanging in her hair gently knocked on the forehead of the little walnut, startling a string of glass lily fragrance, as if the spring breeze was blowing through the sea of ​​flowers. "Could the almond candy hidden in the stone lantern be taken away by the greedy cat?" Her voice was soft and gentle, with a hint of playful smile.

"No way!" Little Walnut threw himself into her arms, his nose rubbing against the rock pattern on the front of his collar. The fabric still had a faint scent of glass lilies. "Daddy said there was a black butterfly drawn by my sister on the candy wrapper! He wants to take it and frame it in the main hall of the Hall of Rebirth—" She looked up, her eyes full of innocence and pride, as if she was showing off the secret she had discovered.

With a smile like broken jade falling into a clear spring, Lin Huan picked up the little girl and turned around. The afterglow of the setting sun cast three shadows on the blue bricks: a hunched old man with a cane, the black-shirted hall master with a pine-like figure, and a graceful figure with her hair tied up in a cloud. Little Walnut suddenly reached out to grab the floating light dust in the void, and a golden halo passed through his fingertips: "Mom's hairpin is shining!"

The dream shattered at this moment. Qinglin turned into thousands of fireflies, carrying the fragrance of the glazed lily that had lasted for more than four hundred years, and quietly dissipated in the morning light.

"Master, it's three quarters past three in the morning. The guest is waiting." The gentle voice of the ferryman Dudu came to her ears, like the guide of the morning light, pulling her back to the real present from the endless dream.

Hu Tao sat up suddenly, and the edges of the scales left star patterns on her palms, as if reminding her that everything that seemed like a dream was not an illusion. The morning light shone through the window lattice, gilding the dried glazed lily on the desk with a layer of gold. The petals that were tightly closed last night actually opened up to seven petals, and the tips of the petals were condensed with crystal dew, like someone's unshed tears, shining with a sad and beautiful light in the morning light.

She walked barefoot through the corridor, and when her toes stepped on the blue bricks, the coolness spread from the soles of her feet to her heart. In the courtyard, Zhongli was sitting alone at the table, the rock-patterned teacup in his hands, reflecting the waning moon in the sky. His eyes were lowered, and his expression was as calm as water, like a peaceful ink painting.

"Guest." Hu Tao grabbed the teacup and drank it all in one gulp. The warm tea slid down his throat, leaving a hint of bitterness and sweetness. "During the years when I can't remember anything, was there still a fairy in a green scale skirt living in the Hall of Rebirth?"

Zhongli's golden pupils suddenly fixed, like amber that sealed time. Hu Tao keenly noticed that his knuckles holding the cup suddenly tightened, and the whitened knuckles revealed a bit of forbearance. The deep voice also became hoarse in an instant, as if the dust of time had covered his throat: "What did the hall master dream about?"

"I dreamed that my father stole candy and was scolded by the fairy sister, while my grandfather was holding a fire stick and laughing with my mother on the other side." Hu Tao tapped the scales on the table with her fingertips, and the star patterns on the scales flickered in the morning light, as if responding to her touch. "But my sister's face is always immersed in the mist, just like..." She suddenly jumped up, with a bit of playfulness and dissatisfaction in her tone, "A Huan is absent from work again! This hall master will deduct half a year's salary from her!"

On the Yujing Terrace, wet with morning dew, a square oil-paper package lay quietly among the newly grown glazed lilies. The black butterfly on the candy wrapper fluttered its wings, ready to fly, its wing tip lightly touching the handwriting drawn by someone four hundred years ago, as if telling a story of the past. The sound of the waves in the distant Guyun Pavilion, accompanied by the dragon-like Xun music, blew away the untied hairband on Hutao's temples, and her black hair fluttered in the wind, like an unfinished scroll.

In the shadow behind the stone lantern, Ye Lan crushed the starlight on her fingertips, looking at the girl's excited back, a complex emotion flashed in her eyes. She stuffed another bag of almond candy into the rock pattern secret compartment. Under the candy wrapper was a yellowed piece of paper, with the handwriting as sharp as a sword:

"To the sixteen-year-old greedy cat

——Lin Huan’s last words