Zhaozhao... So that's how the name "Zhaozhao" came about.
Zhaozhao stared blankly at Su Yuan. Ever since she was picked up by her master and planted, since she took root and germinated on Wutong Mountain, and since she gained spiritual awareness and could understand what her master said, her master had always called her "Zhaozhao".
She used to think it was just a name bestowed by her master, so she never deliberately thought about the origin of her name.
Now that she caught a glimpse of such a truth, it turned out that it was Su Yuan who named her...
Thousands of years ago, another her who had just transformed. That her, who had been forgotten in the long river of time, seemed extremely excited after learning her name.
She swayed happily from side to side with the tree branches on her head, and kept chattering non - stop, asking, "Which two characters are they? I'm not very good at writing them."
Hearing this, Su Yuan laughed. He had already walked two steps but then turned back. Teasing her, he said, "It's not that you're not very good at writing. I think you, this little tree, don't know how to write a single character at all."
Being exposed so mercilessly, she was both shy and angry. She shook a shower of fallen leaves all over Su Yuan.
Su Yuan casually brushed off the fallen leaves on his shoulders. He knelt on one knee beside the barren sandy ground and wrote stroke by stroke, telling her how to write the two characters "Zhaozhao".
Zhaozhao saw that her past self seemed very interested. She watched very carefully, and the whole tree leaned towards the direction where Su Yuan was writing.
Looking at the name on the sandy ground, she suddenly asked, "What about your name? How do you write your name?"
Su Yuan was taken aback. Obviously, he didn't expect her to be interested in this. But he still wrote it, thinking it was just the curiosity of a little monster who had just gained spiritual awareness.
That day, after Su Yuan left, the little tree transformed into a human form and watched his back for a long time. Zhaozhao was already very familiar with such a scene. Every time Su Yuan left, she would stand there and stare for a long time, even when she couldn't transform before.
It wasn't until Su Yuan's figure disappeared on the edge of the desert and couldn't be seen anymore that the little tree stiffly squatted on the ground and practiced writing again and again.
She was still not good at walking or controlling her limbs, but she was determined to learn how to write her own name.
This time, Zhaozhao didn't follow Su Yuan to the battlefield. She had a strange feeling in her heart. Meeting her past self across thousands of years of time, she was actually very curious about what she was thinking at this moment.
And what exactly happened during these thousands of years? Why did the seemingly complete her later lose her tree core and forget everything?
And her master knew the name given by Su Yuan himself. What role did he play in all this?
Her gaze fell on her past self who was stubbornly writing on the sandy ground. Zhaozhao suddenly had an urge to hug her.
She knew she couldn't touch anything in this illusion, so she walked over and squatted down beside herself. Only then did she see that the clumsy - looking little tree had filled a large area of the sandy ground with the two characters "Su Yuan".
Zhaozhao was stunned. She seemed to suddenly understand why.
It turned out that from such an early time, she had already had different feelings for Su Yuan.
It was really amazing. Even after forgetting all her past, she still fell in love with Su Yuan again later. It seemed that they were destined to be together.
As time passed day by day in the illusory world, Zhaozhao watched as Su Yuan accompanied this little tree grow up day by day. Their previous casual chats gradually turned into strict teachings of spells and formations.
The little tree also became more and more proficient in transforming from being unable to control the time of transformation at first. However, she still never showed her human form in front of Su Yuan.
Even though Zhaozhao didn't really understand war, she could tell that Su Yuan's situation was not good.
In the past, although he was tired when he came back, he always recovered his spirit quickly.
But now, the time he came back was getting shorter and shorter, there were more and more wounds on his body, and the flowers he brought back were always stained with bright red blood.
"Next time, next time I'll bring you a cleaner one..."
Su Yuan lowered his head and looked at the flower in his hand. His voice was weak after exhaustion. After saying that, he fell silent.
Zhaozhao, who had been observing everything, felt very sad. She vaguely saw the Su Yuan she first met from his current appearance.
The vigor and freedom in him were being gradually worn away. He looked extremely tired.
This obvious change was not only noticed by Zhaozhao now, but also by her past self.
"I don't want a clean flower." She quietly transformed into a human form. While Su Yuan was leaning on the silver spear in silence, she came to his side. "I want you to come back without getting hurt next time."
She took Su Yuan's hand and gently stroked the criss - cross wounds on the back of his hand. "I want you to be happier. I want you not to be so tired anymore..."
Su Yuan stared at the young girl who suddenly appeared in front of him in astonishment. His eyes were full of disbelief, and his ears turned red when his gaze touched the girl's naked skin.
He seemed to lose all his reactions in an instant. It wasn't until the soft body leaned on him, hugged him with their cheeks touching, and gradually healed the wounds on his body that he quickly took off his cloak and put it on her.
"Why... Why did you suddenly transform?" He wasn't prepared at all.
The girl hugged him and naturally nestled into his arms. She exhaled hot air slowly on his neck. Her voice was muffled. "I've been able to transform for a long time, but I didn't tell you."
Su Yuan felt itchy. He tilted his head to avoid it, but somehow, he just couldn't move.
The two hugged for a long time in the thick night under the silver moonlight, until Su Yuan raised his hand and gently patted Zhaozhao's back. "Get up first..."
The little tree reluctantly withdrew from Su Yuan's arms. But just as she withdrew halfway, she was suddenly pulled back into his arms by Su Yuan.
"What's wrong?" The little tree grabbed the clothes on Su Yuan's back in confusion and asked blankly.
"Wait a moment..." Su Yuan blushed. He used magic to take out one of his long gowns. Without looking at her, he fumbled to put it on Zhaozhao. Then he let out a sigh of relief. "Okay. It's a pity."
The little tree withdrew from his arms and looked at Su Yuan in a daze. "Your face is so red. Why?"
Su Yuan turned his head to avoid her gaze. The whole dragon exuded an unnatural air.
The girl looked at him and suddenly seemed to understand something.
"Why don't you look at me?"
Su Yuan coughed twice and covered his lips with his hand. "You need to wear clothes when you transform into a human form. You can't do this in the future."
This question was obviously beyond the understanding of the simple little monster. She tilted her head in confusion. "Why? I didn't wear clothes when I was a tree before, and you still looked at me then. There's no difference now."
Su Yuan felt a breath stuck in his chest. The key was that he couldn't refute this question. So he started to worry about how to educate the little monster with a half - beat delay.
How should he explain this?