Chapter 72: The Story of Xiluo

  Xī lù kào zhe qiáng bì zuò le xià lái, chuǎn le liǎng kǒu qì, shuō dào: "Wǒ chūshēng zài sè ěr dìguó de lā sè lán xíng shěng, wǒ fùqīn shì dìguó de gōnggōng, wǒ fùqīn de fēngdì jiù zài lā sè lán xíng shěng, nàlǐ tǔdì féi wò miǎo chǎn fēngfù, shì gèrén jiān de tiāntáng. Wǒ jì dé xiǎoshíhòu fùqīn chángcháng dài zhe wǒ dào fēngdì lǐ yóuxián, nàlǐ de měigè rén dōu hěn qín láo, fùqīn de fēngdì měinián dōu huò dé fēngshōu, nàlǐ de rén dōu guò zhe fùzú de rìzi."

  "My father said I was born with a beautiful face, and I knew it too. At least when I attended banquets, many young boys would see me and be unable to move their feet or turn bright red in the face, unable to utter a word. This phenomenon became more and more apparent after I grew up and settled in the capital. Starting from when I was thirteen, the number of people coming to our door to ask for my hand in marriage increased, and by the time I was seventeen, they were coming one after another without end."

  I smiled and said: "It seems you're really beautiful after all."

  Xī Lù bái le wǒ yī yǎn, shuō dào: "Rén rén dōu zhuī qiú měi lì, kě shì zhǎng de měi lì duì wǒ lái shuō zhēn shì yī zhǒng huī zhī bù qù de fán nǎo."

  Translation:

  Xi Lu gave me a glance and said, "Everyone pursues beauty, but being beautiful is really a kind of trouble that I cannot get rid of."

  I curiously asked: "Troubles? With so many people letting you choose at will, is there any excellent youth that can't be found? Is this also called trouble?"

  Xī Lù said in a bad mood: "You're not me, you don't understand, are you listening or not?"

  I hastily nodded and said: "Got it, I'm listening, go on."

  Xī Lù continued: "Every time I attend a gathering of nobles, wherever I go, I become the center of attention. Gradually, my reputation spread throughout the imperial capital, and the Emperor himself heard about it and decided to seek this marriage for his son. However, when he asked his sons for their opinions, he found that all four of them wanted to marry me, and had been openly and secretly competing with each other for a long time."

  The old emperor, in order to calm down the disputes between his sons and maintain stability within the imperial family, decided to prohibit his sons from proposing to me.

  But he never expected that his sons would disregard his orders and continue to fight secretly, and this struggle eventually developed from a hidden place to an open one. The four sons turned against each other for me and a bloody incident occurred, in which the youngest son of the emperor was killed. This matter caused a sensation in the imperial capital, and I was also considered by many people to be an unlucky person, a disaster, and the whole family was affected.

  At this point, Xi Lu's eyes were filled with remorse, as if she was deeply uneasy about the trouble she had brought to her family.

  I smiled and comforted her, saying: "Do you feel very guilty? I think the root cause of his four sons' struggle is for their father's throne. Women are just an excuse for their struggle. Whoever gains the upper hand in the daily struggle will have the advantage in the succession to the throne. This is probably the real reason, so you're just an excuse for them and don't need to feel guilty about it. Your family must have a stance in this struggle for the throne, and those affected by this matter are not your family, but you yourself. You are the biggest victim and sacrifice."

  "Ivan immediately agreed and said, 'That's right, I also told Xilu that, but she didn't believe me. Sister, you see, Alick also thinks so, I'm not wrong, am I? Many things are obvious to those with discerning eyes.'"

  Xī Lù looked at me and snorted, saying: "I've known you for so long, I didn't think you'd finally say a few human words, I didn't think you knew how to comfort others."

  I was almost choked by her words for a moment, and I didn't make a sound for half a beat. I just waved my hand to urge her to continue speaking.

  She paused for a moment, then continued: "Actually, I've been deeply influenced by my brother since childhood and wanted to become an assassin with exceptional martial arts skills like him. Moreover, among these pursuers, they are all some nobles without real talent or learning, indulging in pleasure every day, not one of whom I looked up to. To get rid of their entanglement and continue to bring disadvantages to my family, I left home and followed my brother to travel on the continent of Yajin, learning the skills of an assassin.

  But things didn't end there, because my appearance was too eye-catching, it often brought a lot of trouble to my brother. Assassins are supposed to be a profession that hides in the shadows and doesn't draw attention to themselves. But because I followed my brother around, several times his missions failed. Later, my brother taught me to use a handkerchief to cover up my appearance, and these troubles gradually decreased."

  I waited for half a day and saw Xilu had no intention of continuing, so I said: "That's it?"

  Xī Lù nodded and said: "So it's like this, what else do you want?"

  I said with some disappointment: "No way, I always feel like you're hiding something."

  Xī Lù grunted, not saying a word. Evan said beside her, "Alright, alright, Yalick, it's not good for men to be too nosy. Xī Lù has already told you everything she can tell you. I'll be honest with you, Xī Lù does have some things she hasn't told you, but everyone has a few secrets they can't share with others. Don't be curious about it anymore. Come on, explain the story behind these murals for us. I don't recognize the text below, and just looking at the pictures doesn't make any sense to me. Now it's your turn."

  I shot Evan a look and said, "You're talking nonsense. If you were in my shoes, wouldn't you want to figure out what's going on with a woman who's been hovering around you all day with her face covered?"

  Evan patted me on the shoulder and said, "Alright, let's stop here. There are some things you shouldn't know about, and telling you won't do any good anyway. Come on, help us explain the meaning of these murals."

  "I retorted: 'You're an assassin, of course you don't have curiosity, but I'm a magician, and I need to get to the bottom of things or else I won't be able to sleep.'"

  Ivan smiled and said: "Alick, many things are not understood at once. If Siluo doesn't want to say something, none of us can do anything about it."

  I nodded and said, "Okay, it can be said that Xilu has fulfilled her promise. So I'll tell you the story of this mural. Maybe after my story is finished, it will have some effect on breaking through the mechanism of the tomb door later. Any mechanism is set up by humans, only if we understand the person who built this tomb, then the mechanism he set up will no longer be an insurmountable obstacle, right?"

  I raised the torch and came before the first mural, beginning to tell the story depicted on it.