Immortal Travel of Longevity

Dong Chiyu noticed that Ruyi had seemed somewhat dazed ever since she returned from her outing.

Dong Chiyu brewed some tea and set it beside her. Ruyi picked it up, took a sip, and then sat motionless in her chair, staring silently at the empty courtyard without a word.

"What happened while you were out?" Dong Chiyu asked. "Why are you like this?"

Ruyi seemed not to hear her, still lost in a daze.

Dong Chiyu had to call her by her full name. "Wang Ruyi."

Ruyi jolted, finally snapping back to reality.

"Huh?"

She blinked at Dong Chiyu. "Blockhead, why did you call me by my full name?"

"Because you weren't listening to me," Dong Chiyu said, looking at her.

"I asked what happened while you were out to make you act like this."

"Like what?"

"Like a block of wood."

Her senses fully returning, Ruyi opened her mouth, but she didn't quite know where to start.

Dong Chiyu leaned forward. "What is it?"

Ruyi turned to look at her with a soft sigh. "I'm just... just feeling a bit dazed, that's all."

"Dazed about what?"

"Do you remember Chunxiu from the brothel?"

"The madam?"

"Yeah."

"What about her?" Dong Chiyu asked.

"She died of an illness two years ago."

Ruyi let out a long breath. "It was just so sudden. It feels like we saw her only yesterday, but when I really stopped to think about it, I realized so many years have gone by. Seven years! It's been seven years since we last came to Shangjing City."

Hearing her say that left Dong Chiyu feeling a bit dazed herself.

It was true.

Seven years had already passed.

She opened her mouth, struggling to process the thought for a moment.

"You didn't really feel it passing either, did you, Blockhead?" Ruyi asked.

Dong Chiyu opened her mouth, then nodded in agreement.

Ruyi picked up her cold tea. "It really went by in a flash."

"It seems like the older we get, the faster the days slip away."

"How old are you now, Blockhead?" Ruyi asked.

Dong Chiyu thought for a moment. "Forty-seven."

"I'm already sixty-one," Ruyi said.

It was hard to tell just by looking at her. Even now, Ruyi only looked like someone in her early forties.

Ruyi sighed softly. "Even Xiao Nianyi is almost twenty. He's not little anymore."

"You never notice the years passing when life is carefree," Dong Chiyu remarked.

Ruyi nodded, finding a lot of truth in those words.

That was likely what the saying "in the mountains there are no years" meant.

But surely, the years were passing far too quickly.

Sometimes she still felt like a child—like she was back then, a little girl sitting beneath the eaves and practicing her needlework.

Rain began to fall over Shangjing City.

It brought a chill to the sky.

They had to put on extra layers. Steward Bai was a responsible man who managed everything inside and out meticulously; knowing the commandery princess was arriving, he had ordered clothes well in advance. Just as the weather turned cold, the new garments were ready.

Sitting in the main hall, Dong Chiyu and Ruyi gave up on their tea, opting to drink wine to warm themselves instead.

They drank cup after cup. It had been a long time since they had shared wine like this.

The wine was intoxicating, yet every passing breeze seemed to sober them up just a fraction. What was supposed to be a light drink ended with both of them dead drunk.

Talking about the passage of time always left a heavy, suffocating weight in the chest—a smothering feeling that couldn't be escaped or clearly explained. Even getting drunk didn't seem to untangle the gloom in their hearts.

It was just like the sky. The rain had stopped, but everything remained cold and dreary.

...

The next day, people arrived from The Imperial Court.

They requested Ruyi enter the palace for an audience with the emperor.

The two of them had been good friends in the past, having traveled together for a time. Though they had gotten into a fight back then, the years had long since worn the bitterness away.

Since people had come to invite her, Ruyi casually freshened up and made her way into the palace.

Yan Nantian arranged to meet her in the Imperial Study.

Once she stepped inside the Imperial Study, Yan Nantian dismissed the servants. He was likely afraid that Ruyi would say something outrageous; if the servants were watching, neither of them would be able to save face.

Seeing this, Ruyi said, "What's this? Dismissing the servants? Afraid I'll embarrass you?"

Yan Nantian waved a hand. "I was afraid you would embarrass yourself."

Yan Nantian looked older than before. He wasn't particularly advanced in age, yet white hairs had crept onto his head, glaringly obvious. He had also grown a beard and put on quite a bit of weight, entirely losing the handsome appearance he had in the past.

And it had only been seven years.

"You've really changed a lot," Ruyi said.

Yan Nantian let out a breath. "What can I do? These aren't the days of mounting a horse and riding into battle anymore. All I do all day, besides reading state memorials, is eat and sleep. I lost that majestic appearance a long time ago."

Ruyi crossed her legs. "You still need to move around more. I've heard emperors live short lives. A lot of them ignore these things and die early from illness."

Yan Nantian offered a helpless smile. "I truly admire you. You spout such treasonous words without a second thought."

"I'm giving you good advice. If you don't want to listen, suit yourself."

"I know. I'll have someone make some arrangements later."

Ruyi nodded, running out of things to say to Yan Nantian. Her gaze drifted around the Imperial Study, looking at the various vases and jars, as well as the exquisite decorations.

She stared at a gold hairpin for a long time. "Why do you have a woman's gold hairpin in your Imperial Study?" she asked.

Yan Nantian said, "That is a relic left behind by the Empress Dowager. Do you like it?"

Ruyi shook her head. "Not quite. I just thought it looked nice. I have a Blockhead at home, and I think she would like pretty trinkets like this."

Yan Nantian said, "I'll have the palace artisans forge a new one to give you later. You can't have this one."

Ruyi waved a hand. "Don't go to the trouble. I'll just look around the market later."

Yan Nantian asked, "Speaking of which, what brings you to Shangjing this time?"

"Not to rebel," Ruyi replied.

Yan Nantian let out a helpless laugh. "Can't you just talk normally?"

Ruyi said, "Sigh, I don't really know either. It's just that I have a little niece who came for the metropolitan examination."

Yan Nantian froze at those words.

"The metropolitan examination? A niece?"

Yan Nantian stared at her. "How can a woman take the metropolitan examination?"

"Are you looking down on women?"

"It's not that..."

Yan Nantian shook his head. "They do body searches for the metropolitan examination. She likely won't even make it into the exam hall."

"There are plenty of ways around that."

Yan Nantian fell into thought at her words.

He said, "A system for female officials still needs to be taken slowly..."

Ruyi was taken aback. "You have a plan for that?"

Yan Nantian waved a hand. "Stop prying into state affairs."

Ruyi shrugged. "Fine, I won't ask."

She added, "Do me a favor and look out for my niece."

Yan Nantian looked up at her at those words.

He felt surprised.

Ruyi said, "You don't need to look at me like that. After our fight last time, I never wanted to see you again. If you hadn't sent people to invite me today, I wouldn't have even come into the palace."

Yan Nantian let out a breath and said, "Wang Ruyi, is this your attitude when asking for a favor?"

"Forget it then. If you won't help, I'll find someone else."

"Sigh..."

Yan Nantian felt a headache coming on. "It's a good thing my temper has mellowed, otherwise you really would have driven me to an early grave by now."

Though his words were blunt, Yan Nantian still did her the favor.

Ruyi was a little surprised to find him so agreeable. "You weren't this easy to talk to last time," she said.

Yan Nantian blinked, then offered a bitter smile. "Times change..."

He sighed softly, leaving it at that.

Ruyi raised an eyebrow. She leaned back in her chair, tapping her leg. "If you ask me, you've heard so much flattery that a little insolence doesn't even make you mad anymore."

Yan Nantian glanced at her but didn't answer.

Clearly, she had hit the mark.

Ever since he took the throne, he rarely heard the truth. The days of chatting freely and recklessly with others were long gone. Ministers had their airs to maintain, and the emperor had his. Every word and action had to be carefully measured. He was used to it by now, but that didn't make it pleasant.

Being an emperor was difficult. Being a good emperor was even harder.

It had always been this way.

"If you ever get bored," Yan Nantian said, "you can always come visit the palace."

Ruyi turned her head away. "I'm not coming."

"Who knows? I might speak out of turn one day, and you'll have my head chopped off."

"Even that Monkey Demon couldn't do anything to you back then," Yan Nantian said. "What could I possibly do to you?"

"I'm old," Ruyi said.

That gave Yan Nantian pause. He looked at her closely.

Only then did he notice the strands of white woven through Ruyi's hair. There weren't many, but they were unmistakably there.

Yan Nantian reached up to stroke his own beard.

He had aged a bit himself.

They had both grown old.

Yan Nantian snapped back to the present. "I doubt anyone in this world could touch you," he told her.

Ruyi blinked. "Oh? Since when am I so formidable?"

Yan Nantian frowned in confusion. "You don't know?"

Ruyi was the one confused now.

"Know what?"

"Your uncle sent word to all sorts of demons and cultivators. If anything ever happens to you, both the Demon Market and the Tongtian River Aquatic Tribe will step in to help."

Ruyi stared blankly. "He did that? I honestly had no idea."

"It seems you haven't been out and about in a long time," Yan Nantian noted.

Ruyi pursed her lips. "You make it sound like I cause trouble the second I step outside."

"I've looked into your past. You're far too bold for your own good. Back in the Shuncheng era, you carved out a fierce reputation in the jianghu. Later, during the troubled times, you and your brother united the entire jianghu, and you became the Second Tower Lord of Nanbeilou. Then you went north alone and turned the Border Pass upside down. Whenever you do something, it's either completely quiet or completely earth-shattering. No wonder your uncle worries about you so much."

"You should have just skipped to that last sentence. I knew you didn't have anything good to say."

Yan Nantian could only shake his head helplessly at her brazen words. "You don't act like a commandery princess at all. You act like a bandit. It's an affront to decency."

"Right, you're just so clean and refined," Ruyi retorted. "Back when we traveled to Shangjing, you looked like a beggar by the time we arrived. You were hurling insults at me the whole way—why didn't you mention an 'affront to decency' then?"

"You were the one who started it."

"I can't be bothered with you."

Ruyi rolled her eyes at him before asking, "Speaking of which, how did you find out what Uncle Chen did?"

"It's not hard to look into a few things," Yan Nantian said.

"Fair enough..."

Ruyi crossed her arms. "Things are different from the old days. Demons are popping up everywhere now. First the Demon Market, then the Immortal-Demon Temple, and now all these celestial officials. You're the emperor; basically everything in the world passes through your hands. Nothing can be kept from you."

"If they refuse to fall in line, it'll be a different story," Yan Nantian said.

Ruyi paused. "Why?"

Yan Nantian shook his head and didn't elaborate.

He didn't want to dwell on such troublesome matters.

Ruyi didn't press him. She just said, "Your time as emperor hasn't been easy. Honestly, it doesn't suit you."

Yan Nantian didn't respond.

In truth, there were times he thought about simply washing his hands of the throne.

Recent events were giving him a massive headache.

They chatted about trivial things until they had a meal in the afternoon, after which Ruyi left the palace.

Yan Nantian had asked her to visit more often; it seemed he really had been stifled all these years.

A lonely sovereign was always like this. After living this kind of life for so long, they practically wished someone would curse at them. Every emperor had their quirks.

Emperor Jing had loved refining pills. The Grand Ancestor of Xiang had liked turning rotten green plums over in his hands. Emperor Shuncheng, Yan Ruchu, had later become obsessed with Daoist magic. In short, they all had their quirks.

...

Time flew by, and soon it was the day of the metropolitan examination.

Tong Nianyi, dressed as a man, felt a knot of nerves. She was terrified of the body search. Back in her hometown, she'd had people looking out for her, and getting into the exam halls took nothing more than a word. But things were different now. The invigilators here were far stricter than any she had faced before.

As she stood in line to enter the examination grounds, the invigilators ahead were patting down the candidates one by one.

Seeing how rigorous the searches were, Tong Nianyi considered abandoning the exam and leaving right then and there.

She hadn't been able to come up with a good plan beforehand, so she had come today hoping to slip through the cracks. But with the searches being this thorough, she didn't dare step forward.

Just then, someone bumped into her.

Startled, Tong Nianyi looked back, but the person was already walking away.

She looked down at her palm. The person had pressed a slip of paper into her hand.

Two words were written on it: "Don't be afraid!"

Tong Nianyi blinked, confused as to who was helping her. She looked around.

In the distant crowd, a certain cat caught her eye.

"Lihua?"

Tong Nianyi paused, squinting for a better look. Aunt Ruyi was standing in the crowd with Lihua, watching her.

It was Aunt Ruyi!

Tong Nianyi squeezed the slip of paper, her confidence restored.

Taking a deep breath, she moved forward with the line.

"Name?"

"Tong Nianyi."

The invigilator glanced at her. Just as Tong Nianyi's nerves peaked, the man gave her a cursory pat-down, nodded, and said, "Go in."

A wave of relief washed over Tong Nianyi. She looked back, but Aunt Ruyi was already gone.

Gathering her thoughts, she stepped into the examination grounds.

She would spend the next three days in the examination grounds.

The first day tested the classics, which was her strongest subject. For one and a half shichen, her brush never stopped once she put it to paper. She finished the exam almost half a shichen early.

An examiner passed by and noticed she had already set down her brush.

He paused to observe her work for a moment.

The examiner was quietly curious about exactly what sort of person had prompted the Cabinet Elder to give personal instructions.

Looking at her exam paper now, he began to understand.

This candidate possessed true scholarship.

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