40: Chapter 40 New Year

Zhuge Jinyu held Su Chen's mirror body, chatting intermittently about what had happened over the past two years.

At first, the Great Qian army was unstoppable.

They had even crossed the towering mountains and breached Chang'an City in the Qin region.

Everything, every turning point, began when Sima Yi came out of seclusion.

A master of the Mahayana Realm was like a tiger entering a flock of wolves to the Great Qian army.

Zhuge Jinyu was only in the Integration Realm; how could she possibly withstand his onslaught?

Great Qian lost the territories it had recovered, and even lost more than half of its homeland and the imperial capital.

The remaining remnants of the army were entrenched at Wuzhang Plains below Mount Qingcheng, waiting for Sima Yi to consolidate the Great Wei army and pass final judgment on Great Qian.

Sima Yi.

He was once the rival of the first ancestor of the Zhuge Family.

When the first ancestor of the Zhuge Family, at the peak of the Tribulation Transcendence Realm, was undergoing the lightning tribulation, he died under it.

The Heavenly Dao was jealous of the Zhuge Family's art of calculating heavenly secrets.

Thus, the Heavenly Dao placed its hopes of crushing the Zhuge Family entirely upon Sima Yi.

Back then, even though Sima Yi had also failed to pass the lightning tribulation and his physical body had been destroyed, the Heavenly Dao did not choose to erase his consciousness, but instead gave him a chance to become a loose immortal and cultivate again.

After a thousand years of accumulation, and with the help of a new body forged by alchemists from the Southern Border, Sima Yi finally passed the lightning tribulation and became a Mahayana Realm master.

The normal replacement of dynasties in the human world is driven by the will of Heaven.

Great Qian had ruled for over four thousand years; in the eyes of the Heavenly Dao, it should have ended long ago.

The reason Sima Yi became a Mahayana Realm master but had not yet ascended to the upper realm was because he had not yet completed the task of changing the dynasty that the Heavenly Dao had entrusted to him.

Sima Yi only needed to destroy Great Qian and the Zhuge Family.

By completing the task of the Heavenly Dao while achieving clarity of mind, he could ascend and become an immortal.

"Sir, the once vast Great Qian is now reduced to a mere inch of land."

Zhuge Jinyu continued to wipe the mirror unconsciously.

"Hehe... I truly have no other choice."

"You know that I am the one who believes least in fate."

"But now that Great Qian is on the verge of destruction, I, as the commander and Female Prime Minister, am powerless."

"I had no choice but to bring Huang Ying with me to Mount Qingcheng, kowtowing every three steps, praying for the gods to protect my Great Qian."

"And praying that you, Sir, would wake up."

Su Chen raised his eyes, looking at the young girl outside the mirror.

If Zhuge Jinyu at the time of his last awakening was like a candle burning at its brightest, burning to its very core, then the current Zhuge Jinyu was a candle that was about to go out.

Just like the national destiny of Great Qian.

Although her pretty face was haggard, it appeared even more beautiful under the pallor of illness.

"Sir, Sima Yi is currently gathering the Great Wei army, and in five days, he will launch the final total assault on our Great Qian's remnants at Wuzhang Plains on schedule."

"Do you... still have any way to help?"

"Oh, that's right, Sir, five days from now is also the tenth anniversary of our meeting."

"You said back then that as long as I insisted on wiping the mirror every day, ten years later... I have never forgotten, you know."

Whenever Zhuge Jinyu mentioned this, her fox-like eyes regained some luster.

Just like back then, when they first met.

"Tsk tsk, back then, I even said Sir was a male ghost; I was truly disrespectful..."

Su Chen listened quietly.

"It will be fine."

"Really, Sir?"

For some reason.

Even in such a desperate situation, with just this one sentence from Su Chen—"It will be fine."—she would have a blind confidence.

She believed that as long as Sir was there, all problems would be solved.

"Xiao Yu, you also said that Sima Yi needs five days to gather his army and arrive at Wuzhang Plains."

"Since that is the case..."

"Three days from now is the New Year."

"You must have gone a long, long time without properly celebrating a New Year."

"This year, Sir will spend it with you!"

"New Year..."

Zhuge Jinyu's mind kept flashing back.

Last year, she was still on the battlefield.

The year before that, she was handling state affairs...

Tracing back to her childhood, apart from Murong Yue's humiliation, she couldn't remember anything about the New Year.

Later on, she met Sir.

But even after meeting Su Chen, she seemed to have been busy all the time.

This was truly the first good New Year the two of them had spent together.

The twenty-five-year-old Female Prime Minister finally set down all her burdens at this moment.

She suddenly jumped up, just like she did when she was a young girl.

"Yay!"

"Sir, this time you won't fall asleep again, right?"

"Hmm."

"Never again."

Inside the simple stone chamber, the lights were as bright as day, reflecting the two who sat opposite each other in silence.

Zhuge Jinyu raised her hand very naturally, using her wide white sleeve to wipe away non-existent dust from the corners of her eyes.

Although her voice was joyful and excited, it sounded a bit forced.

"That's great! Sir, you must keep your word this time!"

She stood up and spun around lightly on the spot.

Her moon-white sleeves traced a graceful arc, as if to deliberately dispel this overly heavy atmosphere.

The delicate body beneath the light gauze was still as full as it usually was.

"Huang Ying!"

She called out towards the outside of the room.

"Go, find a way to procure some New Year goods."

"Spring couplets, firecrackers, red lanterns, flour, meat filling... the more, the better."

Even though the remnants of the Great Qian army were trapped, as the Female Prime Minister, it was not difficult for Zhuge Jinyu to procure these items.

"Also, gather all the soldiers in the camp at the foot of the mountain who are still able to move. Those who are willing to come up the mountain can come and help, and there will be dumplings to eat as well."

"Tell them that this year, we will spend a reunion New Year right here on the summit of Mount Qingcheng!"

Huang Ying stood at the doorway.

She watched her Prime Minister's forced, highly deliberate excitement, and then looked at the silent ancient mirror in the corner of the table.

Her nose soured, she gave a heavy "Yes," and turned to walk away quickly.

She was afraid that if she were even a second slower, the grief that was hard to conceal would pour out.

How could she not know?

This was not only the last New Year that Zhuge Jinyu and the mysterious "National Teacher" would spend together, but perhaps also the last New Year of Zhuge Jinyu's life.

Zhuge Jinyu's body had long been unable to hold on.

Ever since Sima Yi came out of the mountains and injured her, her fragile heart meridian had actually almost snapped.

Being able to live until now was entirely dependent on various spiritual pills and a so-called "Seven-Star Lamp" that could prolong her life.

According to the most optimistic estimate, she would in no way live until the beginning of spring this year.

Moreover, Great Qian was on the verge of destruction.

Based on Huang Ying's understanding of Zhuge Jinyu, if Great Qian were to truly fall, this Prime Minister would naturally not survive alone.

Zhuge Jinyu began to busy herself.

It seemed that only by devoting all her energy could she briefly resist the pervasive despair.

She and Huang Ying personally led a few female guards to clear the snow from the stone chamber at the summit.

She then directed them to cut the somewhat crude red paper they had managed to scrape together into spring couplets and window decorations.

As for herself, she wielded her brush to write the character "Fu" (Fortune) on the red paper.