Chapter 55: What's the difference between him and me? ...

Li He had also changed into human attire, adorned with brocade and jade belt, resembling a young man from a noble family.

"Yes," Li He readily agreed, his eyes fixed on the feigned composure of the girl before him.

"If you're sick, go get some medicine. Why are you following me?" the girl's voice suddenly rose, pointing a slender finger at the person before her.

A faint swaying sound of a wooden couch could be heard from within the room. Li He calmly asked, "Are you sure you want to stay here?"

Yun Heng, who had also heard the noise, blushed. "Come with me."

Although they had become invisible, the Shangshu Mansion was packed with guests on their wedding day. If they spoke publicly, even if no one else could see, Yun Heng would still feel uneasy. So she led Li He to a secluded corner. Yunheng turned back and was about to speak when she looked up to see a face identical to Qi Youan's, except for the gleam in the brows. She was startled and lowered her head, taking a deep breath. He's Li He, not Qi Youan. He's Li He, not Qi Youan. Yunheng muttered to herself. 

Then, looking up, her arms folded, she asked, "Shouldn't you be at the Xianze Banquet right now? Why are you here?" 

"I should be the one asking you that," Li He said, his brows lowered playfully. 

"I asked first." Moonlight filtered through the lush branches, casting dappled shadows on Li He's face. Yunheng's gaze shifted, not daring to look directly at the face she had seen for thousands of years. 

Hearing this, Li He said coldly, "You sneaked down to the mortal world simply because you wanted to see your old friends. So did I." 

Yun Heng couldn't help but chuckle. "You stinking stone, haven't you always been free from desire? How come you're so attached to worldly affairs?" 

"Who said I was?" Li He retorted softly before he finished, a dark current welling up in his eyes as he approached the girl. 

Seeing his strange expression, Yun Heng was at a loss. She retreated panicked, until her back was against a tree trunk, with nowhere to retreat. She quickly raised her hand to his chest. When she looked up, the man was only half an inch away. Their eyes met, and she quickly turned away. " 

You... just talk if you want to. Why are you so close?" 

Hearing this, Li He took two steps back, and the two of them finally separated. 

Yunheng sensed a hint of awkwardness in the air, and, trying to quickly disengage, she said, "Never mind. I don't care what you're up to, and you don't bother me. Let's go our separate ways. Goodbye." 

With that, she bowed and took a few steps when her fingertips trembled. Looking down, she saw a red thread entwined. Following it, she saw the other end tied to Li He's wrist. 

She slapped her forehead in frustration. No wonder Li He had been able to track her down. The two of them were bound together by the red thread of the Yinhong Sacred Tree, following each other like shadows. 

But normally, this thread would untangle itself upon the return of two immortals from their tribulations. Why were their threads still tangled? 

Could it be that the myriad variables of their mortal tribulations had caused the threads to distort as well? Yunheng wondered. 

To untangle it, she would need to return to Yinhong Pavilion, but she had managed to sneak down during the Xianze Banquet; it would be a shame to leave them like this. But if she allowed Li He to cling to her... 

Yun Heng turned to see him still standing there, his gaze fixed on her with a piercing intensity. She hurriedly turned, her brows furrowed. 

Finally, as if making some kind of resolution, she strode towards Li He. He, having foreseen this, regarded the fuzzy little cat before him with amusement. 

"Didn't you say you wanted to see your old friend again? Just stay behind me, at least five steps away. Don't come near me, and don't talk to me. Do you understand?" 

Yun Heng's words, though supposedly stern, proved intimidating to him. Li He's lips curled slightly, "Okay." 

Yun Heng nodded in satisfaction, then turned and quickly distanced himself from him, heading towards the side room. 

By then, the guests had dispersed, leaving only the red silks adorning the mansion, a festive atmosphere still lingering. The young woman seemed to be searching for something, finally spotting a familiar figure in the side courtyard. 

"Father... Mother..." Tears welled up in the young woman's eyes, as she leaned against the door, watching the two elderly people cuddling together inside. 

She had thought her centuries of life had indifferent her to human emotions, but now, upon truly descending to the mortal realm and experiencing the warmth of family love she'd never known before, she found herself unable to let go. 

Was this Li He's tribulation, or hers? Yun Heng wondered, wiping away tears. 

Suddenly, a handkerchief was placed before her. She looked up along her hand and saw Li He staring at her with a wooden expression. 

"Didn't I tell you to stay away from me?" Yun Heng's tearful rebuke, a voice that sounded like a plea, but she honestly took the handkerchief and wiped her tears. 

"If Wanwan saw her brother get married, I wonder how happy she would be," her mother said with a smile, her eyes welling up. 

"It's all my fault. If I had been just an ordinary official, Wanwan wouldn't have been forced out to marry. Our family would have lived in peace, and Wanwan wouldn't have... It's all my fault..." 

As he spoke, his usually serious and reserved father began to hide tears. 

It was clearly a joyous occasion, yet the two elderly women, dressed in red, embraced and wept. 

Seeing this, Yunheng felt a surge of guilt. She had hurriedly departed that day to overcome her tribulation, completely disregarding the feelings of her mortal family. She shuddered to imagine the heartbreak they must have felt upon hearing their beloved daughter's death in a foreign land. The thought triggered her tear ducts, and tears streamed down like a torrential downpour, soaking her handkerchief. 

She glanced at Li He, who seemed to be watching the fun, and couldn't help but scold, "It's all your fault." 

"What?" Li He didn't quite catch her words. 

"It's all your fault!" Yunheng's voice suddenly rose, her eyes filled with resentment, her tear-stained eyes adding a touch of delicacy. 

Li He lost his smile and remained silent. 

"No, I must make amends." The young woman seemed resolved, her eyes fixed firmly on the distance. 

"Huh?" Li He was bewildered. 

... 

The next day, a man and a woman suddenly appeared at the gate of the Shangshu Mansion, looking for someone. 

The two were ordinary civilians, dressed in coarse linen 

. "Just follow me and don't speak," Yun Heng instructed, having already used magic to transform them into ordinary appearances. 

Although Li He didn't know what she was going to do, he nodded obediently in agreement. 

"Please tell the Minister that there is a letter from his sister, addressed to you, and she requests that it be delivered personally." The guard hurried to pass on the message. 

A moment later, the guard hurried in with the announcement, "The Minister invites you two into the mansion." 

Before Yun Heng could even enter the courtyard, Ye Heng hurried over and anxiously asked, "Excuse me, young lady, do you really have a letter from my sister?" His eyes widened, his eagerness evident. 

"Your Excellency, I was originally a maid in the Rong Kingdom's palace, and was later taken as a maid in the Empress's wedding. Before her death, the Empress left a special letter. Now that I have been able to leave the palace and return to my homeland, my first thought is to hand this letter to you, Your Excellency." As she spoke, she handed over a letter. 

The yellowed paper showed that it had been unused for a long time. The words "Brother's Personal Letter" were written on it, and the ink was still visible. 

Ye Heng took the letter, his fingertips trembling slightly, and hurriedly opened it to read. It was indeed his sister's handwriting.

After confirming that everything was correct, he closed the letter and smiled gently, "Miss, you have come specially. If you don't mind, you can stay at your house for two days as my thank you gift."

"Then I'd rather obey you than be respectful."

Yun Heng saw that Ye Heng's eyes turned to the person behind him, and hurriedly explained, "This is my elder brother. He had a brain disease when he was young and couldn't speak. I hope you won't mind him."

Hearing this, the man next to the girl glanced at her.

Ye Heng smiled politely, "How could that be? You two are my guests. Please come in."

After returning to his room, Ye Heng couldn't wait to unfold the letter:

"My dear brother, I miss you so much after so many years. I am trapped in a foreign country and can't see you again. I only hope that you can ask my parents how they are and don't think of me as an unfilial daughter..."

The letter was three pages long, and every word and sentence revealed his reluctance to leave his family. When reading to the last line, the handwriting was already blurred, obviously soaked with tears. Ye Heng could not help but burst into tears when imagining the look of his sister when she wrote.

"What's wrong, husband?" Seeing Ye Heng's tears rolling down, Jiayang stepped forward to comfort

him. "It's okay, I just miss my sister when I read her letter." Ye Heng forced a smile.

Jiayang hugged his head and put it on his chest, stroking him comfortingly and said: "I understand your feelings. My brother has never come back since he went to Qi State..."

After that, her eyes gradually dimmed, and Rong Zhenyan's face appeared in her mind.

Outside the room, Yunheng peeped at the two people snuggling together, with mixed feelings in her heart.

Now that she has survived the catastrophe and returned, there is no Ye Wanwan in the world anymore, and this is all she can do. She looked up at the person next to her and asked: "Don't you have anyone you care about in the world?"

Li He turned his head and looked at her without saying a word.

Yunheng began to regret talking to him. This stinky stone was really like a dumb person who couldn't utter a word for a long time.

"I forgot, you are not him." Yunheng muttered to herself, but Lihe heard it.

"Who are you talking about?" Lihe asked, and sneered as if he had suddenly realized something: "Are you talking about Qi Youan?"

These three words were like needles piercing the girl's heart. Her eyes widened in shock, and then immediately turned into peace. She turned around and said to Lihe face to face: "It's Qi Youan."

Obviously exactly the same, but still very different.

Lihe exerted force between his teeth, and said with coldness in his eyes: "That's a pity, that mortal is dead."

"You!" Yunheng's face flushed, and she walked away with a big stride. Before she took two steps, she was tripped by the red line again. She pulled it in a hurry, and her fingers were rubbed red, but she refused to look back.

Lihe realized that he had said the wrong thing and walked forward obediently.

"Young lady, please stay." Ye Heng appeared behind him and stopped the aggressive girl.

The two turned around after hearing this. Ye Heng stepped forward and said, "You two have worked hard to deliver the letter. I specially prepared a table of delicious dishes. I wonder if you two would be so kind as to taste them."

Yun Heng touched her empty stomach and happily agreed.

After living in the mortal world for a long time, Yun Heng knew how bland the nectar and dew in the fairy world were. What's more, this table was full of delicacies that she loved to eat "in her lifetime". Yun Heng ate

heartily without caring about her manners. Ye Heng looked at her eating manners lovingly and couldn't help laughing and said, "The way the young lady eats is quite similar to my sister."

Hearing this, Yun Heng suddenly stopped eating and couldn't help coughing because of the food in her mouth. Li He saw this and gently stroked her back and handed her some water.

Although Yun Heng didn't want to pay attention to him now, she took the water and drank it all in a hurry.

"I heard the Queen Mother say in the palace that besides a biological brother, there are other brothers and sisters in the family, but why haven't I seen anyone else in the mansion?" Yun Heng said what she was thinking while wiping her mouth.

Ye Heng's face changed when he heard this, and he drank a sip of water and pretended to be relaxed and said: "Miss, you should be talking about my second brother and third sister. To be honest, when the house was confiscated in the past, my brother, sister and aunt disappeared in this disaster, and their whereabouts have not been found until now." After saying this, he smiled reluctantly.

Yun Heng rarely saw her brother with such an expression. It was probably that the concubine's family was worried that their father would be deposed and they would be affected, so they had already fled.

"Excuse me, Miss, is my sister happy in Qi State?" Ye Heng asked in a blink of an eye.

"Happy, the Queen is very happy every day in the palace, and His Majesty... is also very good to the Queen." Li He heard the words, paused slightly with the bamboo chopsticks, picked up a few green vegetables again, and chewed silently.

"Then why did she leave without saying a word..." Ye Heng's voice became smaller and smaller. Perhaps to hide his inner sadness, he lowered his head and ate his rice vigorously.

Yun Heng was speechless and had to bury her head in her rice. This meal made her feel like sitting on pins and needles. She ate three bowls of rice without realizing it. When she realized that she was full, her stomach was as big as a pregnant woman in three months.

The abdominal pain was not as painful as the heartache. Yun Heng leaned weakly under the big tree in the side room, letting the falling flowers flow.

A familiar sound of footsteps slowly approached. Li He sat down next to her unhurriedly and suddenly said, "I have an old friend who raised an owl, but it was stolen. Do you know who stole it?"

"Ah?" Li He's sudden words made Yun Heng confused, "How should I know who stole it?"

"It was a cat."

"Why?"

"Because the cat stole the owl."

"..." The two looked at each other in silence for a long time. Yun Heng finally understood his joke and laughed with her face covered.

"Hahahahaha, what a joke you told me." The girl said this, but she couldn't stop laughing. It was mainly because it was too contrasting to say such humorous words with Li He's serious face.

In order to show that she was not so easy to coax, Yun Heng immediately turned cold and said, "It's really a boring joke."

"Then do I have any other jokes you want to hear?" Li He asked.

"No." Yun Heng retorted before she finished speaking.

Li He understood and accompanied her silently. The two of them admired the falling flowers and stars silently, and didn't feel the night deepened.

When he turned his head again, Yun Heng was already sleeping against the tree. Looking at the girl's sleeping face, Li He gently moved his body closer to her and let the girl's head rest on his shoulder.

Feeling the shallow breathing of the person next to him, Li He gently lowered his head, staring at the rosy lips, and finally kissed her forehead gently.

"What is the difference between him and me?"

Such words that seemed to be asking and answering themselves finally fell into the wind and dissipated with the wind.