When he was about to leave the city gate, Xie Bufeng slowly opened his palms and then lowered his head to look down.
The flesh on his palm had been scratched by the broken jade until no traces of blood could be seen. The slightest movement would cause blood to ooze out...
The young man closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself down.
The fragmented memories of last night once again flooded into his mind.
The glass-like halo, the ambiguous voices, the cold skin, the faint bitter fragrance, the touch and the kiss... It seemed real and illusory.
It's like a dream, so beautiful that it's unreal.
Recalling this, Xie Bufeng's heartbeat became irregular again.
The cold wind mixed with snowflakes blew over, and everyone squinted their eyes subconsciously.
But Xie Bufeng seemed to be unaware of this.
He tried his best to capture and salvage the scattered and fragmented memories, but under the high fever, all the images were as blurry as if hidden behind a thick fog.
It makes it difficult to distinguish true from false, real from imaginary.
Could it be him
Or maybe it is the desire hidden in the deepest part of your heart.
Reason and emotion were entangled in an instant and fought fiercely.
His fingers, which were gripping the reins tightly, were trembling slightly with nervousness.
Xie Bufeng clenched his teeth. The moment he came to his senses, he wished he could seal off the entire Changyuan Town immediately and send people to turn the place upside down from house to house to find that man.
He even wanted to ride a horse himself, go south along the official road, and dig three feet into the ground to find the man.
The rationality that always prevailed in the boy's mind showed signs of collapse this morning.
But in the end, he did nothing.
The deputy general withheld the military report, and the news of his injury was never reported outside the North.
Wen Qingci couldn't possibly know.
What's more, how could Wen Qingci, who had personally sent himself to the battlefield, travel thousands of miles to this place
But if it wasn't him, why would I wake up today
Countless thoughts were whirring wildly in Xie Bufeng's mind.
For a moment he couldn't tell what he was looking forward to and what he was afraid of.
The young man only knew that once the fire in his heart was ignited, there was no way to extinguish it.
Xie Bufeng laughed slowly, clenched his palms, and looked back towards Changyuan Town.
As far as the eye can see, there is a vast wasteland and countless soldiers in silver armor waving their arms and cheering.
He suppressed that secret night and the memories it left behind, whether true or false, deep in his heart, forcing himself not to touch them.
At the end of the long street, someone threw a jar of wine towards here.
Xie Bufeng smiled and took it in his hand, took a sip, and then raised it high to sprinkle it to the sky and earth -
The aroma of wine filled the air in an instant.
The team behind him suddenly burst into cheers.
At this moment, everyone was calling out Xie Bufeng's name loudly.
The young man's gaze passed over countless soldiers and fell on the city.
He slowly suppressed the madness in his eyes.
Everything that happened on the battlefield taught Xie Bufeng what "patience" means.
He has indeed matured a lot.
Unconsciously, his goal had long since changed from simply "killing" and "surviving" to "winning", until this moment, an idea called "fighting back to Yongdu" finally became clear little by little.
He doesn't want to be controlled by others anymore.
If everything that happened last night was true, then only merit and power could keep it.
If it is false, make it true.
It was not until the troops carrying General Dingyuan's flag left Changyuan Town and headed towards the camp with bonfires that the jubilant crowds on the long street receded like the tide.
Covered by the black armor and long hair, few people noticed the slightly raised corners of Xie Bufeng's lips.
He was very ambitious at this time.
*
"Let's go..." Wen Qingci, wearing a cloak, slowly tightened the reins. He looked back at the city sleeping in the twilight, then turned around and said to the medicine servant, "It's time to go back to Yongdu."
His body was still far from recovering, but if he delayed any further, the emperor would definitely become suspicious.
"Yes, Second Valley Master."
Wen Qingci originally wanted him to stay here and continue to pay attention to everything that happened in Changyuan.
But in the end, the medicine servant successfully persuaded Wen Qingci, whose body had not yet recovered, to take him on horseback to Yongdu.
The snow on the ground was a little thick, so the horses had to slow down a bit.
Unlike when he came, the medicine servant no longer followed Wen Qingci, but walked side by side with him on the official road.
Yao Pu is a little older and likes to reminisce about the past.
In addition, Wen Qingci wanted to learn more about the original owner from him, so the medicine servant kept talking along the way.
“… Second Valley Master’s memory is the best among all the people I have ever met.” He smiled with his eyes narrowed.
"how do I say this?"
"You are the first person in all these years to walk to the Valley of Divine Healers on your own."
At this point, the medicine servant paused, then muttered to himself: "Hiss... How old were you at that time?"
Wen Qingci's right hand tightened, and by the time he reacted, he had already blurted out, "Five years old."
"Yes, that's right! Five years old!" The medicine servant said with a smile, "When you found the valley yourself, you were only a little over five years old."
Wen Qingci slowly lowered his head, his thick eyelashes covering his pupils.
Bury all the emotions underneath.
Five years old.
The original owner was five years old, which was the year when the dam of Yinchuan Grand Canal collapsed in the tenth year of Tianchu.
He really went to the Divine Healer Valley when he was five years old...
The original owner's entry into the palace was definitely related to the canal incident.
In an instant, the scenes he saw when he was unconscious and the words of the medicine servant were all connected in Wen Qingci's mind.
After traveling all the way and what happened last night, Wen Qingci felt dizzy and kept coughing.
He couldn't hold on in this situation, so he listened to the medicine servant and found an inn to stay in that night.
The conversation between the two on the road echoed in Wen Qingci's mind over and over again.
With the occasional stinging pain in his forehead, Wen Qingci saw in his dream—
A child with cinnabar on his forehead is collecting herbs in the mountains with his father.
I happened to meet a group of strangers walking out of the mountains.
A man in a green shirt with white hair and beard smiled and talked with his father about the distribution of medicinal herbs in the vicinity.
Behind that man, there were a few unfamiliar faces dressed as medicine servants.
When he met them, my father immediately became nervous and respectful.
Wen Qingci's intuition told him that the person in his memory was the old master of the Divine Doctor Valley...
Sure enough, he could tell from the conversation between the few people that this group of people came from the Valley of Divine Doctors.
I saw someone picking herbs here, so I came over to ask.
The child standing aside looked up at the adults, not quite understanding what was going on.
Seeing his serious look, the old valley master couldn't help but laugh. He slowly squatted down, touched the child's head and asked, "Have you also learned medicine since childhood? You have been looking at him curiously for a long time. Do you have anything to ask?"
"Hmm..." The child nodded shyly, and then asked, "Are you from the Divine Doctor Valley?"
"Hahaha yeah, why?"
Seeing this, his father stepped forward to explain.
—The small village where they live is backed by Eryan Mountain. Most people make a living by growing medicinal herbs, and some have even been practicing medicine for generations.
Therefore, the child who has lived here since childhood has been particularly curious about the legendary Divine Doctor Valley deep in Eryan Mountain. When he encountered it by chance today, he was so happy that he didn't know what to say.
Upon hearing this, the people in the Divine Doctor Valley couldn't help but laugh.
After listening to his father chatting with the people from Divine Doctor Valley for a while, he finally couldn't help but muster up the courage and whispered, "I want to go to Divine Doctor Valley, too."
Perhaps because he knew the secluded rules of the Divine Doctor Valley, my father immediately raised his eyes and looked at the person who came with some trepidation.
Unexpectedly, the other party was not angry at all. Instead, he came closer and said half-jokingly in his ear: "Okay, but I will only say it once. You have to remember it."
Then, he listed a long list of place names hidden in the mountains.
"Do you remember?"
The child nodded very seriously, looked into the other person's eyes and replied, "I'll remember it."
What the old Valley Master said was indeed the location of the Divine Doctor Valley, but he just wanted to tease the other person at the moment and he never expected that the child in front of him would actually write down everything he said.
The scenes in Wen Qingci's memory became confused again.
The green mountains and clear waters suddenly became dull and dim.
In a trance, Wen Qingci saw that the town, which was originally prosperous because of the cultivation and trade of medicinal herbs, was somehow littered with corpses.
The child dug a deep hole in the ground with his bare hands, and dragged the person on the straw mat into it while crying...
This memory was blurry and gloomy. Wen Qingci tried hard to see it clearly, but his head began to ache.
Faced with the desolate village, the child's face was filled with confusion; he didn't know where he should go.
Finally, he thought of the group of people he met in the mountains that day, and the place name engraved in his heart...
The child in mourning clothes carried a heavy bag on his back and went alone to Eryan Mountain and the hills behind it.
This was the only place he could think of going right now.
He walked alone in the mountains for many days, and finally found his destination relying on the words in his memory.
The tiny body knelt outside the Valley of Divine Doctors, exposed to the wind and sun. Countless people came out of the valley to persuade him to leave, but the child seemed not to hear what they said and knelt down and refused to get up.
At the moment when he was about to faint, he was finally gently carried into the valley.
He only vaguely heard the old valley master sighing: "What a sin, what a sin..."
—
It took Wen Qingci two full days to return to Yongdu.
Although we hurried along the way, by the time we returned home, the Qingming holiday had already ended.
The officials returned to their original positions, and Wen Qingci's absence was particularly conspicuous.
As soon as I returned home, before I had time to rest, the housekeeper came hurriedly and said, "Master Wen, you left just two days ago and the palace sent people to look for you. We... I followed your instructions and said that you were poisoned and unconscious and could not enter the palace. Your Majesty also waited for a few days, but since yesterday, the palace has been sending people to ask if you can enter the palace."
Wen Qing left in such a hurry that it could be said that he suddenly disappeared from Yongdu.
—He didn’t even have time to see Concubine Lan again.
Fortunately, the two of them had just had a conversation before leaving.
Wen Qingci left a message, and Concubine Lan finally helped him cover up a little bit of the lie.
But when he came back, the mansion was still in chaos.
Today alone, the emperor has come to urge twice, and his patience is running low.
The only thing to be thankful for is... the person the emperor had sent before was none other than Eunuch Xian. After realizing that Wen Qingci was not here, he did not make it public but helped keep it secret.
The housekeeper in Wen Qingci's mansion was also someone he hired through the clinic some time ago.
Although the butler didn't know what Wen Qingci was going to do after leaving Yongdu, at least he wouldn't betray him easily.
However, the current emperor is inherently suspicious, and he might not believe it even if he saw it with his own eyes, let alone hear it from someone else.
Wen Qingci's sudden "poison attack" was bound to arouse his extreme suspicion.
"Okay... ahem, I understand."
Wen Qingci was in particularly bad condition after the long journey. He couldn't help coughing when he was halfway through his words.
The housekeeper couldn't help but secretly look up and forward - after returning this time, Wen Qingci looked a lot thinner, and the color on his face had become paler.
The whole person looks like a wisp of mist that may be blown away by the wind at any time.
At first glance, it does look like the poison has just taken effect.
As the two were talking, there was a sound of horse hooves outside the mansion. Before Wen Qingci could react, he saw from afar a guard with an unfamiliar appearance walking quickly into the courtyard.
"Hey! Sir, please stay—"
The guard moved extremely quickly, as if he wanted to catch Wen Qingci off guard, not leaving anyone else any time to react at all.
Not only that, from his slightly disordered breathing and the dense beads of sweat on his forehead, it can be seen that he probably came here on a fast horse after receiving the emperor's order.
I was worried that someone would send a letter in advance, so I didn't dare to stop along the way.
Before the person who stopped him walked out of the courtyard gate, he had already stood in the open space in front of the house and said loudly: Your Majesty heard that Wen Qingci was unwell, and specially allowed him to enter the palace to recuperate until he recovered. He must leave immediately without delay.
Wen Qingci's heart suddenly sank...
Enter the palace for recuperation
How could he let me recuperate during this trip? It was clearly to test whether I was in Yongdu and wanted to put me under house arrest in the palace.
The courtyard suddenly became chaotic.
Wen Qingci couldn't help but frown. Before he walked out to see, he heard footsteps.
More than two dozen guards in light armor and carrying swords walked into the house.
Along with this was the voice of the guard just now.
"I wonder where Mr. Wen is? His Majesty wants you to come to the palace immediately. We have prepared the carriage and parked it outside the courtyard." As he said this, he looked towards the room with great brazenness.
He seemed certain that Wen Qingci was not here.
After saying this, the corners of his lips slowly rose.
He turned to the others and said, "All of you, immediately—"
However, before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by the sound of footsteps.
"Excuse me," a moon-white figure suddenly walked out from the back hall while speaking. Wen Qingci coughed twice, then nodded gently to everyone and said, "In that case, let's go now."
The guards that filled the room looked at each other.
His face looked extremely pale, but his tone was still calm and gentle.
It was as if he had simply gone to the palace to treat the emperor as usual.
Wen Qingci did not feel such peace in his heart.
He was sure that the man in front of him was indeed a stranger.
At least I had been with the emperor for more than a year and had never seen him.
Generally speaking, the emperor would send a virtuous eunuch to do such things.
Now that a new person has been appointed, does it mean that the Emperor has also begun to suspect Eunuch Xian
This is a troublesome matter.
"you… "
The man dressed as a guard didn't seem to expect that Wen Qingci was really here. When he saw him appear, he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.
"…Okay," the guard smiled and said through gritted teeth, "Mr. Wen, please—"
Turning around, he couldn't help but laugh with disdain, as he had just witnessed the emperor's rage over Wen Qingci's matter not long ago.
He's just an imperial physician, yet he's acting so arrogantly towards me
Oh, that's not right.
In addition to the imperial physician, the person in front of him is also a medicine man.
If I understood correctly, His Majesty has already thought of making use of his blood.
I don’t know if he will have the chance to come out before he dies after entering the palace this time.
After all, your majesty's mood is not very good.
(End of this chapter)