617: Chapter 613 If I were young and accomplished, I wouldn't be so self-conscious

Murong Xue walks forward, taking the hands of Murong Gu and Xuanyuan Yao, her tone gentle: "Good, good. You father and son, go together and come back together. A Gu, Yaoer, you must be extra careful and return safely. I will be waiting for you at the Falling Snow Pavilion."

"Mother, don't worry, we will definitely return safely," Xuanyuan Yao says with a smile, his tone obedient.

Murong Gu tightly holds Murong Xue's hand: "Aunt Xue, wait for me to return."

Murong Xue's cheeks suddenly flush with a faint blush: "A Gu, it's late today; depart tomorrow instead. I have something to talk to you about, come over for a moment."

They had waited for twenty years; one more day did not matter.

Murong Gu nods: "Okay, I'll listen to Aunt Xue. We'll depart tomorrow."

Murong Xue leads Murong Gu to her bedroom: "Before you leave, can you fulfill a wish of mine? I want to truly become your woman. Although I believe you will return safely, if anything happens, perhaps I can still have your child..."

Murong Gu's face instantly turns bright red: "Aunt Xue, you can't! This, this is really..."

Murong Xue hugs Murong Gu's waist, her cheek pressed against his chest as she feels his racing heartbeat, her tone gentle: "It's been eighteen years; can you still not get over this psychological hurdle?"

Murong Gu's body instantly stiffens, his whole being tense, and even his breathing becomes rapid.

He wants to push Murong Xue away, yet he cannot bear to. He can only stand there rigidly, his hands still hanging at his sides, not daring to hug her.

"Aunt Xue, I... I am just a Slave by the Young Master's side, I am not worthy..." Murong Gu's voice trembles, tinged with insecurity and a low tone.

"Fool," Murong Xue interrupts him, looking up into his eyes, her own filled with deep affection and tenderness. "Eighteen years have passed. Back then, if you hadn't risked your life to protect me, if you hadn't stayed by my side all this time, I would have died long ago."

She reaches out and strokes Murong Gu's cheek, her fingertips gentle: "A Gu, in these eighteen years, I have long considered you my most beloved person. I don't care that you're a Slave, I don't care about your origin; I only care about you. I only care about your safety and whether we can be together forever."

"Yaoer has called us parents for eighteen years; we have long been a family, haven't we?" A glimmer of tears shines in Murong Xue's eyes. "A Gu, don't be trapped by the shackles of the past anymore! Face your heart, face the feelings between us!"

Looking at the deep affection and pleading in Murong Xue's eyes and hearing her gentle yet firm words, the shackles in Murong Gu's heart are instantly broken.

The insecurity of eighteen years, the hesitation of eighteen years, and the restraint of eighteen years vanish into thin air at this moment.

Eighteen years of silent sentiment and unspeakable love between the two.

He knew that he had fallen in love with this gentle, resilient, kind, and beautiful woman long ago.

However, he had always been troubled by the gap in status and the insecurity in the depths of his heart, never daring to break through that final thin paper barrier.

At this moment, under Murong Xue's deep confession, he can no longer restrain his feelings.

Murong Gu reaches out and hugs Murong Xue tightly, his strength so great it is as if he wants to rub her into his own bones and blood, as if to pour all eighteen years of longing and love into this embrace.

His body is still trembling, and his voice is choked with deep affection as he softly calls out: "Aunt Xue..."

"A Gu," Murong Xue hugs him back tightly, her tears falling silently—tears of happiness.

No more words, no more confessions; a tight embrace is enough to tell of the love and longing in each other's hearts.

Eighteen years of waiting, eighteen years of restraint, and eighteen years of persistence finally find a home at this moment.

The lamp light flickers, reflecting their embracing silhouettes, warm and beautiful.

The wind and snow continue outside, but the room is filled with love.

The thin paper barrier that had troubled the two of them for eighteen years is finally completely broken.

As the night deepens, the lights in the room go out, leaving only the sound of each other's breathing and the wind and snow outside.

The next morning, just as dawn breaks, Murong Gu and Xuanyuan Yao are already prepared to depart outside the mountain gate of the Falling Snow Pavilion.

Murong Gu is still in his crimson robe, holding the flowing cloud sword.

Xuanyuan Yao is in a moon-white brocade robe, his figure elegant and handsome, his gaze sharp, carrying two curved blades named Sun and Moon on his back.

Murong Xue waves with all her might: "I will be here waiting for you and the child to return. No matter how long it takes, I will be here waiting for the three of us to have our family reunion."

"We will definitely return, don't worry Aunt Xue," Murong Gu turns and waves, not bearing to look at Aunt Xue again.

"Yaoer, let's go."

"Yes, father," Xuanyuan Yao nods and follows Murong Gu's lead.

The two turn away, their figures gradually receding into the falling snow as they fly in the direction of Cangwu City in the south.

...

Cangwu City, located in the heart of the Central Region of the Eternal Continent, was once the Foundation land of the Murong Family. It is rumored to be a place where the Luck of heaven and earth gathers; surrounded by mountains and water and rich in Spiritual Qi, it was once one of the most prosperous and wealthiest cities in the Central Region.

But since more than twenty years ago, when the Zhao Family joined forces with the Lin Family and the Sun Family to ambush the Murong Family, wiping them out and seizing Cangwu City, this once prosperous and wealthy city has changed completely.

In twenty years, Cangwu City has seen no development; instead, it has steadily declined.

After occupying Cangwu City, the Zhao Family did not think of appeasing the people or developing the city. Instead, they focused solely on extorting the people's lifeblood and plundering all the resources of Cangwu City, taking its wealth for themselves to support the Zhao Family and train its descendants.

Today, the wealth gap in Cangwu City has reached an extreme.

The descendants of the Zhao Family wear fine clothes, eat delicacies, spend without restraint, and live a life of extravagant pleasure;

Meanwhile, the citizens of Cangwu City live in an abyss of misery, barely clothed and poorly fed, suffering under the oppression and bullying of the Zhao Family descendants, their lives filled with bitterness.

What is even more hair-raising is that the Zhao Family enclosed a large area of land outside Cangwu City to establish a massive Slave Camp, where a full 100,000 Slaves are imprisoned. These Slaves are mostly citizens who resisted the Zhao Family's rule; they are treated as beasts worse than pigs or dogs, working day and night and suffering endless torture. At the slightest mistake, they are beaten, scolded, or even brutally killed.

The entire area of farmland and villages outside the city serves the Zhao Family.

At the center of Cangwu City is the Zhao Family's City Lord's Mansion, grand and magnificent, resplendent in gold and jade. It covers a vast area filled with pavilions, terraces, carved beams, and painted rafters, as well as all kinds of rare flowers and exotic plants, comparable to the headquarters of a top-tier Sect on the Eternal Continent.

This City Lord's Mansion is exactly where the Murong Family's Ancestral Hall used to be. After the Zhao Family seized Cangwu City, they demolished the Murong Family's Ancestral Hall and built this City Lord's Mansion belonging to the Zhao Family on the site to display their hegemony and humiliate the spirits of the Murong Family.

Outside the City Lord's Mansion is the most prosperous street in Cangwu City, named "Wealthy Street."

This street is where the Zhao Family descendants indulge in pleasure. Shops line both sides of the street—restaurants, tea houses, brothels, and casinos—each decorated with resplendent gold and jade, incredibly luxurious.

And at this moment, inside the top-tier brothel on Wealthy Street—the Misty Rain Tower—there is a clamor of celebration, with singing and dancing, the aroma of wine wafting everywhere, and the sound of string and woodwind instruments echoing incessantly.