ATLAS TRANSLATES

Wei General could never meet Miss Chen Xue, let alone marry her.

Because of this, Wei Zong was deeply dissatisfied for a long time, believing that Lu Yun was targeting him. Wei Zong even began to doubt whether “Chen Xue” existed in this world.

Though she was known as a great beauty of Luoyang, praised by all for her grace, people had only seen her appearance in the widely circulated noble ladies’ portraits. These portraits of the era could be called “Portraits of World Beauties,” passed down through ages, featuring only the noble and beautiful.

Yet even when people went to Luoyang to admire her, no one had ever seen Chen Xue. This was a very strange phenomenon in the Southern Kingdom. But that was a matter for later.

For now, Lu Yun had merely missed an opportunity to propose to Luo Lingyu due to Wei Zong’s interruption. When Luo Lingyu laughed and fell into her lord’s embrace, when she looked up and saw his dark eyes, her heart suddenly skipped a beat. She had an inexplicable intuition that he would definitely propose again.

Lu Yun was a lord who was very reluctant to discuss marriage, which meant that once he was willing to talk about it and had made up his mind, he wouldn’t let anyone stop him. In his final days in Nanyang, while representing the Southern Kingdom court in peace talks with Northern Kingdom envoys, he secretly began preparing for the wedding.

When he told his plans to his elder brother Lu Xian, Lu Xian was extremely surprised, then sighed: “You’ll be scolded by both grandfather and grandmother.”

How could a young lord marry without being at home, instead running off to the bride’s location? Why such urgency? It seemed like they were rushing to give her away, appearing inferior to others.

But Lu Yun didn’t care. He had been working on this marriage from last September until now.

Half a year had passed, and the stubborn forces of the Lu family had already surrendered. After Lu Yun sent several more letters, Jianye reluctantly nodded, agreeing to let Lu Yun marry in Nanyang. However, after the wedding, Lu Yun must bring his new bride back to Jianye to pay respects to the elders, and could not linger in Nanyang.

In early spring, after a difficult month of arguing, the negotiations between the North and South finally agreed that Ruyang would remain part of the Southern Kingdom. As both sides moved on to the second phase of peace talks, the subordinate official Han Mingzi, sent by the court, was severely criticized in a letter from Prince Zhao Liu Huai.

Lu Yun, however, was in high spirits.

After advancing some political matters, he had some time to handle his personal affairs. While soldiers were stationed and training in the mountains, Lu Yun invited Luo Lingyu to ride with him to Prince’s Watch Mountain to comfort the troops.

Luo Lingyu felt a subtle stirring in her heart and agreed.

Although the fighting might stop now, vigilance against the Northern Kingdom could not be relaxed. Lu Yun went up the mountain to inspect, inquiring about military conditions, fulfilling his duties as a military official. Luo Lingyu walked with him for a while, but later when Lu Yun was talking with the soldiers, she consciously stepped aside.

They decided to stay overnight in the mountain military camp.

Lu Yun had brought fine wine from the foot of the mountain to reward the soldiers. At night, they held a small feast, and the border-guarding soldiers took turns participating in the banquet, toasting with Military Official Lu. Luo Lingyu was surprised to discover that although Lu Yun seemed to keep his distance from these soldiers normally, after living and eating together for so long, the noble young lord had built a friendly relationship with these ordinary soldiers from humble backgrounds. When the soldiers spoke of Lu Yun, they were full of admiration.

At the night feast, everyone was initially constrained by Lu Yun’s status; after three rounds of drinks, several generals pushed forward to toast: “Military Official, I drink to you! Previously when you came, we held hostility towards you and teased you many times, we’re truly ashamed… Now we know that you are a person of great strategy, we underestimated your breadth of mind!”

Lu Yun naturally returned the toast.

On Luo Lingyu’s side, she sat properly, and although incomparably beautiful, because she was Lu Yun’s fiancée and Lu Yun was sitting nearby, the soldiers didn’t dare approach to chat with her. They always felt uncomfortable. Luo Lingyu was completely unaware, while those rough men drank cold wine, she leisurely enjoyed herself warming wine, drinking alone in the corner. Occasionally looking up, catching glimpse of Lu Yun’s flushed cheeks in the candlelight, his eyes bright as stars, Luo Lingyu would turn her head to instruct her maid: “Quietly advise Third Cousin, he’s not good with alcohol, don’t let him get drunk.”

Lu Yun had something on his mind and didn’t trust his own alcohol tolerance, so naturally controlled his intake, not wanting to get drunk. So after drinking a few cups, when the maid Lingyu came to advise him, under the teasing gazes of the soldiers, Lu Yun calmly drank less and less.

As he drank less, the soldiers below started drinking more freely. Soon they began playing drinking games in small groups, or hugging wine jars and getting completely drunk, falling to the ground drinking wildly. As the soldiers got drunk one by one, fewer people paid attention to him, and Lu Yun gracefully stood up, walking towards the smiling Luo Lingyu in the corner.

After the soldiers got drunk, they also dared to muster the courage to chat with Lady Luo. In the corner, several soldiers were making a commotion, wanting Lady Luo to drink. Luo Lingyu raised the wine cup to her lips, but before she could drink, a hand reached out from behind. Under everyone’s surprised yet knowing gazes, Luo Lingyu turned her head to see her lord behind her, head tilted back, naturally drinking from where her lips had touched the cup, drinking this cup of wine for her.

Everyone: “Oh…”

In this era, there were no strict segregation rules between men and women, and private or public meetings between them were common. But intimate behavior between men and women in public would naturally cause some to smile knowingly or create a spectacle. In the flowing firelight, Luo Lingyu’s face flushed from their teasing gazes, her heart pounding: Really, him drinking from her wine cup was openly flirting with her.

After drinking the wine, Lu Yun looked around: “May I borrow young sister Yu for a moment, does anyone object?”

Everyone quickly replied: “Please proceed, Military Official!”

Luo Lingyu kept her head down with a red face as Lu Yun gripped her wrist and pulled her up. Half???ly, she acted coy and unwilling like a young girl, being dragged away by Lu Yun. In the gentle breeze, Luo Lingyu was pulled along by Lu Yun holding her hand. His steps were steady, the night wind carrying his scent towards the lady behind him. The incense was faint, mixed with a slight wine fragrance.

Curiously, and also because she didn’t like walking around, Luo Lingyu asked: “Brother Xuechen, where are you taking me? Do you have a gift for me, why not bring it over for me to see?”

Lu Yun turned back, mocking her: “Walking a few steps won’t tire you out. Sister, if you keep sitting like this, you’ll waste away the entire spring.”

Luo Lingyu secretly rolled her eyes at him, annoyed that he said she didn’t like to move around. Even though she didn’t like moving around, hadn’t she gone out every day without resting much? Even if the busy running around was to gain a good reputation, hadn’t that good reputation benefited him too? Yet he still teased her, truly an ungrateful wolf.

Lu Yun led Luo Lingyu through twists and turns, out of the military camp, past the grove, climbing hills. At the edge of a cliff, the night fog was thick, and when Luo Lingyu looked down, everything was pitch black and she couldn’t see anything. Only countless stars above slowly turned in the sky. In her confusion, Lu Yun pulled her towards a protruding rock at the cliff’s edge that was as tall as a person.

He released her wrist. Standing in front of the rock, Lu Yun took out a fire starter to light with one hand, while his other hand reached out to brush away the branches, leaves, grass, and dust from the rock. He lifted his chin slightly and said softly: “Sister Yu, come look.”

Luo Lingyu stood behind him as his torch illuminated the clear face of the rock. The stone had been carved with sharp strokes, intricate and crossing, divided into two sections of text on the left and right.

Lu Yun had, at some unknown time, carved onto this mountain rock all the words that she had been asking him for, that he wanted to say but never had the chance—

Starting from the right was “Through thousands of autumns I ask one word of you, may love be as unchanging as these mountains”; responding on the left was “Through thousands of autumns I return one word to you, love shall indeed be as unchanging as these mountains”. The handwriting had the same powerful and magnificent style, sharp as if it could break through stone. This graceful yet unrestrained calligraphy, Luo Lingyu had seen many times before, it was Lu Yun’s most skilled form of writing.

Luo Lingyu’s eyes fixed on it, momentarily choking up. She stepped forward, her hand unconsciously pressing against the rock, her voice trembling: “You… you…”

The poems on both sides answered each other, with the slight difference that on the left, Lu Yun’s response had a “Yun” character in the bottom right corner. The lady’s question on the right had nothing written in the bottom right corner, completely clean. Although Lu Yun had carved the words, he hadn’t written for her.

Above their heads the stars shone brilliantly, the wind was strong at the cliff’s edge, Luo Lingyu’s skirts floated like smoke, her slender waist seeming to float. As her sashes flew in the wind, seeming about to be blown away, Lu Yun stood behind her. The firelight flickered on the stone, the lord’s raised sleeves and the lady’s intertwined, their shadows overlapping on the rock surface.

Lu Yun stood behind her, holding her hand, together they slowly traced over the cold stone, over the carved characters. His voice was as smooth as a gentle zither: “Let the mountain stone be witness, let time be proof.”

“Prince’s Watch Mountain does not move, and our vows shall forever be witnessed by heaven and earth. Even when this life ends, after ten thousand years, as long as the mountain stone does not crumble, this love shall not end.”

He held her hand, lowering his head to her ear, saying softly: “Lingyu, do you agree?”

Luo Lingyu’s throat felt stuffed with cotton, she dared not speak, afraid that once she did, she wouldn’t be able to hold back her sobs, couldn’t stop the tide in her eyes. She desperately needed love, desperately envied others’ happy families. The things she fought for, she actually didn’t believe in very much herself. But Lu Yun, Lu Yun… She sniffled, blinking away the tears in her eyes, complaining: “What vow? Only your name is there, I have nothing.”

Lu Yun smiled slightly.

He said: “Come.”

He was truly well-prepared, having made such preparations from the start. After Luo Lingyu’s complaint, Lu Yun produced a carving knife from his sleeve as if performing magic. The lady was embraced by him from behind, he held her hand, together they gripped the carving knife, and stroke by stroke, they carved her name “Yu” after the two lines of the lady’s question.

—Through thousands of autumns I ask one word of you, may love be as unchanging as these mountains.

—That love, naturally shall be as unchanging as these mountains.

The scattered lights faded into the distance, the clamor of the human world became remote. The mountain ridges rose and fell, green as ink, reflecting the endless flowing river of stars above. In the vast world, the sounds of soldiers drinking and playing games drifted from the distant camp, while nearby a man and woman embraced, standing before the cliff face, before the man-high rock. Her crimson silk dress and sashes intertwined, the lord embraced the lady from behind, guiding her hand. Left hand holding the torch, right hand holding the carving knife, their breaths touching, they focused intently on carving characters into the mountain stone.

Silent and solemn.

Not knowing where it began, not seeking where it would go. That vigorous love, it spoke of origins, and surged endlessly towards the distance, flowing without end.

Love should be between equals, either both lose or both win perfectly. This feeling on this night, with mountain stone as witness and time as proof. As long as the mountain stone does not crumble, this love shall have no regrets.

…

In the city of Nanyang below the mountain, Lu Xian turned over in his sleep. He too had a dream, seeing the future faster than anyone else—

In March of that year, Lu Yun married his cousin Luo Lingyu in Nanyang.

After the Nanyang peace talks concluded, the couple returned to Jianye to pay respects to their elders.

The happiness and harmony was the most heartwarming scene Lu Xian had ever seen in a dream.

In the dream, Lu Xian’s lips had just curved up when his eyes suddenly fixed, his breathing becoming heavy. He dreamed of chaos in Jianye city, dreamed of war breaking out.

And he also dreamed of… Lady Luo’s miscarriage.