Water Reflects Peach Blossoms

The fine eyelashes trembled slightly.

Jiang Ruan slowly opened her eyes. What came into view was the cloudless sky above her. The tip of her nose was filled with the elegant fragrance of grass leaves. Feeling the softness beneath her body, she found herself lying on a grassy field.

She felt uncomfortable all over. The pain in her ankle was not as severe, but it still hurt.

After a while, Jiang Ruan supported herself on the ground and sat up, and suddenly saw a pink thing falling in front of her.

Catching the falling pink petals with her bare hands, Jiang Ruan looked back and saw large patches of peach blossoms in full bloom beside her!

She was lying on the outskirts of the scorching peach blossom forest, with a clear stream beside her. Jiang Ruan lifted the hem of her skirt and saw that her ankle, which should have been sprained, had healed without her knowing.

"It's the human world!" she rejoiced.

Escaped!

She successfully left the Heavenly Palace!

Jiang Ruan was extremely excited, and it took him a long time to calm down.

"This is..." She moved her foot, which was not so painful anymore, and looked around: "Is anyone here?"

For a long while, no one spoke, and no one appeared. Jiang Ruan said, "I don't know your name, but I would like to express my gratitude."

Her name is Jiang Ruan? She knows how to be grateful.

Zhe Yan, whose figure was hidden by the sleight of hand, looked at the woman in front of him. His lips moved slightly, and Jiang Ruan's name came out of his mouth.

He watched the mortal woman in front of him stand up from the ground with her ankle that had not yet healed. When she touched her injured foot, she cried out in pain and staggered, about to fall.

Zheyan subconsciously raised his hand to help.

Jiang Ruan steadied himself, breathed a sigh of relief, and limped toward the stream, looking at his current appearance in the water's reflection.

The raised hand froze in mid-air. After a moment, Zheyan withdrew his hand and turned to look at the woman's slim back.

Seeing that he was not in such a miserable state, Jiang Ruan breathed a sigh of relief and felt in his heart how powerful the protective artifact was.

She looked around and saw continuous mountain ranges in the distance, clear skies, grasslands, green water, and peach trees. It was a beautiful scene like a painting!

Limping towards the peach forest, she stood under the peach tree, gazing up at the crimson blossoms on the tree. She raised her hand to catch the peach blossoms, clenched them between her slender fingertips, and held them against her chest. Jiang Ruan almost cried for joy.

The crabapple trees in my hometown also have pink flowers, and the petals are full of branches, which makes people feel soft in their hearts.

When Cen Sheng left his hometown to take the imperial examination, Jiang Ruan said goodbye to him.

The handsome young man swore to her that he would pass the imperial examination and come back to marry her, and that she would be the only one for his whole life, without taking concubines or mistresses. They would stay together until old age and die together.

"Mr. Cen..." Jiang Ruan burst into tears.

Stay together until old age and never leave each other.

Now that she has escaped from the Heavenly Palace, she will definitely go to find Cen Sheng to fulfill the agreement between them.

Crystal clear tears slid down her cheeks, and just before they fell to the ground, at an angle that Jiang Ruan didn't notice, the tears floated upwards at a strange angle and were finally caught by a big hand with distinct joints.

The elegant man held the tears in his palm, but his eyes were fixed on the woman holding the peach blossom and crying.

He guessed correctly that the woman who was brought back to the Heavenly Palace by Donghua and was about to be welcomed as the empress had a loved one, and even chose to escape from the Heavenly Palace in order to see him.

Did this woman think that after falling from heaven, she would arrive on earth?

How can it be so easy to return to this world?

If she knew that this was not the mortal world, I wonder how sad and desperate her heart would be.

Zheyan inevitably felt sympathy for her.

Looking at the frail figure of the mortal girl, Zheyan, who had just deduced her fate, thought to himself: Forget it, since she wants to go back to the mortal world so much, he will accompany her back to the mortal world and fulfill her wish.

As for the rest, we’ll talk about it later.

However, the most urgent thing is to let her heal her foot injury first.

With an idea in mind, Zheyan transformed into a little bird with fiery red feathers. He flew in front of Jiang Ruan and chirped twice at her.

Jiang Ruan, who was crying with joy, opened her eyes and saw a little red bird flapping its wings in front of her.

She raised her hand, and the bird landed on her bent white fingers.

Jiang Ruan's heart softened when he saw this: "Whose bird are you?"

A bird that is so close to humans must be raised by humans or fed regularly.

The bird chirped twice, its voice so sweet that Jiang Ruan's heart softened even more.

She raised her hand and touched the bird's head with her fingertips. The soft feathers were smoother and softer than the finest silk. Jiang Ruan smiled and touched the feathers on the bird's back again.

"So soft..." she praised softly.

"Chirp," Zheyan thought to himself: Phoenix feathers must be soft. Her fingers were also quite soft, and her touch was very pleasant.

Looking at the cute appearance of the bird, Jiang Ruan tilted her head slightly. Unexpectedly, the bird also tilted its head slightly with her. When she tilted to the left, it also tilted to the left. When she tilted to the right, it also tilted to the right.

"You're so cute."

"...Chirp!" Sigh, how could a man be described as cute? If he showed up in person, she would definitely retreat. Would she still find him cute then?

Jiang Ruan looked up at the peach forest in front of her. She was certain that there must be people living in the peach forest, otherwise there wouldn't be such birds that were not afraid of people. Also, her sprained foot wouldn't have healed for no reason.

But...if there really was someone there, and he healed her feet but didn't take her back to the peach forest, does the owner of this place not want to be disturbed?

Jiang Ruan was conflicted.

Suddenly she felt her fingers being pecked twice. She came to her senses and saw the bird that had landed on her finger fly up, circle around her twice, and fly towards the peach forest.

While flying, he looked back, as if asking her to catch up.

Zheyan: Come with me, stay here for a few days first and recuperate.

Jiang Ruan followed the fiery red bird that was flying slowly in front of him.

Her ankle was not healed yet, so she walked slowly. The birds flying in front of her would occasionally stop on the branches of the peach tree and wait for her for a while.

Soon, she saw a wooden house hidden among the peach blossoms deep in the peach forest.

The little bird landed on the treetop and stopped moving forward. It chirped twice to itself and preened its feathers.

Jiang Ruan walked forward and saw a wooden house in front of him that was sturdy but covered with a layer of dust.

It seemed that no one had lived in this house for a long time. Although it did not look very dilapidated, the spider webs outside the house and the dust on the railings were as thick as a finger.

Zhe Yan, who had cast a spell on the wooden house to make it look old, stood on the treetop, thinking about how to remind Jiang Ruan that there was a new quilt in the wooden box.

But after Jiang Ruan entered the house, he limped out again.

Zhe Yan frowned: "Since you've found a house, why don't you rest inside? Don't your feet hurt?"

He flapped his wings and chased after it.

But he heard Jiang Ruan mumbling to himself: "This house looks dirty from the outside, but there's not much dust inside. Could it be that someone still lives here?"

Seeing that she was looking for the owner of the wooden house, Zheyan felt a headache for a moment.

He was afraid that it would be hard for her to clean the house and that she would be uncomfortable sleeping on the dusty bed, but he never expected that she would be so meticulous and careful.

He landed on another treetop, flapped his wings, and transformed a stone platform next to the wooden house.

He flew to Jiang Ruan's side and took Jiang Ruan towards the stone platform.

Jiang Ruan saw the stone platform covered with dust and flower petals.

There are a few words carved on the stone platform: [I am out for fun and don’t know when I will return. Everyone who comes is a guest. If you can help me, I will not abandon this house.]

There is a time engraved in the corner of the stage, which is a hundred years old.

Zheyan thought that the owner of this house had been traveling for more than a hundred years and would definitely not come back suddenly. Now Jiang Ruan could finally live there with peace of mind.

Jiang Ruan looked at the words on the stone platform and pondered.

If the owner of the house had gone out for a trip a hundred years ago, he should be gone by now.