After the doctor prescribed the medicine, the maid took it, Xia Yin stood up, thanked her, turned around and walked out.
Xia Xun couldn't avoid it, and met her head-on.
Xia Yin's eyes flicked across his face, Xia Xun froze on the spot, not knowing how to react.
Should he call her "sister"? How should he explain that neither he nor Xia Wen died? Will she arrest him and report to the police
In the blink of an eye, countless thoughts flashed through Xia Xun's mind.
It's just that he imagined a lot of situations, but he didn't expect it to be the one in front of him.
— Xia Yin didn't recognize him.
Her eyes didn't stay on his face, and with the embarrassment of accidentally looking at a stranger, she nodded slightly to signal him, and then led the little maid to pass him by without pausing for a moment .
Xia Xun involuntarily followed her two steps in the direction she left:
"you-?"
The servant girl heard the footsteps, looked back at him, didn't take him seriously, and followed the master downstairs.
Xia Xun froze in place.
The doctor called him in the room:
"Young master, are you here to see a doctor?"
Xia Xun snapped back to her senses, turned around and went in with a heavy heart, sat down in front of the doctor, and handed her wrist.
The doctor didn't take his pulse immediately, but looked on his face:
"...Young master is so worried, even if you are not sick, you will be sick. How can you be so worried at such a young age?"
Xia Xun was restless and couldn't hear what the doctor was saying, so she asked directly:
"That lady just now... the doctor knows her very well?"
The doctor looked at him:
"What? She's your sweetheart? It shouldn't be, you look at least seven or eight years younger than her. When she got married, you were still a baby."
Xia Xun said:
"No, she's mine... She has a nice face, like my distant cousin. I haven't seen her for many years, so I'm not sure, so I'm asking you."
The doctor pondered and said:
"Well... it's not impossible. The lady had an accident at home a few years ago, and she was later convicted. She was kicked out of the capital together with her husband. She was hit twice in a row. She was not in good health for a while. She saw a lot of things. Doctors didn’t work. I was introduced to Ruiji Temple a few years ago, and the old man saw her. Seeing her calm and generous, the old man promised to keep her a secret, so that no one else would know that she came to the capital for medical treatment. She couldn’t enter. Jing, you naturally lost contact with her."
Xia Xun asked again:
"Do you know what crime she committed and was banned from entering Beijing?"
The doctor took a sip of water and said he didn't know:
"Madam didn't mention it, and the old man didn't dare to ask. The young master is her relative. Haven't you heard about it?"
Xia Xun shook her head.
The doctor said:
"Regardless of whether she is the son's relative or not, this old man should give the son his pulse."
He put four fingers on Xia Xun's wrist, closed his eyes and felt his pulse carefully.
After a while, he opened his eyes and said to Xia Xun:
"My lord, this is an old illness. It may be difficult to cure it."
Xia Xun said calmly:
"I know, I didn't think it could be cured, but I will cough in autumn, please prescribe some relief medicine."
The doctor thought about it, and wrote a prescription for him:
"If the young master is free, he will come every now and then to let the old man take a look. Maybe the old man can find a way to eradicate it."
Xia Xun took the prescription and blew on it, and the ink dried quickly:
"Thank you, but... it probably won't help."
Qi Yan doesn't have many official duties these days, and he always has time to spare. In the past, when he entered the palace, he couldn't come out until Youshi.
Recently, before noon, things are done, and I can go home for lunch every day.
Thinking of Xia Xun's absence, Qi Yan got off the carriage and walked into the mansion unhurriedly. As soon as he entered the main hall, he saw Xia Xun sitting at the dining table, devoting himself to eating the dishes on the table.
As soon as Qi Yan saw him, he felt joy in his heart, and he could let go of the heavy burden at any time. He felt a smile on his face, so he paused, took two steps forward, and sat next to Xia Xun.
A servant brought a bowl of water for washing his hands. He washed his hands and deliberately teased him:
"Didn't you just come back before dark? Why? The food outside is not good?"
Xia Xun was tearing apart the meat from the ribs, so she didn't want to talk to him.
Qi Yan put it in his own bowl, and the chopsticks fluttered around lightly. The meat that Xia Xun hadn't pulled off for a long time, just came off the bone smoothly.
He returned the meat to Xia Xun, and threw the bones into the empty plate.
Xia Xun was not polite to him, and ate it as soon as he picked it up.
Qi Yan asked with a smile:
"What did the doctor say? What medicine has he prescribed for you?"
Xia Xun pointed to the side with her chopsticks. There were more than a dozen paper bags containing various medicinal materials:
"It's all there, don't you want to check? Go."
Qi Yan said to him:
"Why open every package? Just give me the prescription."
Xia Xun chewed the meat and said inarticulately:
"If you didn't tell me earlier, I lost the recipe."
Qi Yan became suspicious, raised his eyebrows and asked:
"Why throw it away?"
Xia Xun told him:
"On the way back, I bought a sesame seed cake. It was too oily. I used paper to write the recipe on. After the cake was eaten, the paper was thrown away."
Qi Yan believed it temporarily, and asked:
"What did the doctor say?"
Xia Xun casually said:
"It's said that I haven't been to the capital for a long time, and the water and soil are not acclimatized. It coincides with the dry autumn and my lung fire is too strong. He prescribed some medicine to nourish the lungs."
What he said was from the beginning to the end, Qi Yan believed it was true, relieved, picked up the chopsticks and prepared to eat.
Xia Xun casually said to him:
"I saw Xia Yin at the medical center today."
Qi Yan almost threw the chopsticks away:
"Have you met Xia Yin?! You should be the first to tell me about this! Then she!"
Xia Xun choked his words:
"Don't be surprised, she didn't recognize me."
Qi Yan was taken aback, and unconsciously repeated his words:
"She didn't recognize you?"
Xia Xun seemed to be expecting it:
"It's nothing surprising. She married when I was young, and she hasn't met me a few times. It's only natural that she wouldn't recognize me."
Qi Yan showed displeasure.
Xia Xun glanced at him and asked suspiciously:
"Why do you always seem to have deep opinions every time you mention her? What crime did she commit to get kicked out of Beijing? Who can she offend as a weak woman who doesn't leave the house?"
Qi Yan was silent for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "You offended me."
Xia Xun frowned:
"What's the meaning?"
Qi Yan removed another rib for him:
"... This is a very boring story. If you want to know, I will tell you something important."
That was not long before He Cong got married.
One day, he came back late from court, it was already dark, and when he was about to get home one street away, the carriage was stopped by someone.
He Cong lifted the curtain of the car and saw that it was Qi Yan who stopped his car.
Qi Yan stood in the darkness, looking desolate.
He Cong didn't look good towards him, and said indifferently:
"If Mr. Qi doesn't back away, don't blame my horse for not having eyes, pulling the carriage and crushing your leg!"
Qi Yan raised his dark eyes and asked aggressively:
"Why do you want to marry? Xia Xun has only been dead for a few years, and you are going to marry someone else?!"
He Cong's flames ignited, he stood up abruptly, pointed at Qi Yan and cursed:
"You still know that Xia Xun is dead?! Back then you cruelly harmed his whole family! Now you come to question me in a fake way? Pooh! What qualifications do you have!! Groom, ignore him! Keep going!"
Qi Yan grabbed the groom's hand that was about to raise the whip, pushed hard, and pushed him and He Cong off the cart together.
The groom sat down on the ground, He Cong staggered and managed to stabilize himself.
He rushed in front of Qi Yan, wanting to fight him, but Qi Hui blocked him.
"Okay! Okay!" He Cong laughed angrily: "I don't know why you are crazy! But Mr. Qi, let me tell you clearly! Xia Xun is dead! No matter how much you mess with me, he won't came back!"
He grabbed the groom by the back collar, lifted him up, pushed him onto the carriage, and stepped up himself.
Qi Yan stood still and did not retreat.
He Cong shouted:
"If he won't let you, just run over to me!"
The groom didn't dare to hurt Qi Yan, he turned the horse's head vigorously, and the wheels brushed against Qi Yan's clothes and hurried past.
Until He Cong's car disappeared at the end of the road, Qi Yan didn't move at all.
Qi Hui reminded softly:
"My lord, Mr. He has gone far."
Qi Yan lost his mind, his lips moved, and his voice was like a mosquito:
"... He Cong, He Cong is going to marry a wife... Could it be... no one remembers him anymore..."
Qi Hui didn't dare to urge him, so he quietly waited aside.
After a long time, Qi Yan was still awake from a big dream, and said to Qi Hui in a trance:
"... Follow me to Baohong Temple tomorrow..."
Baohong Temple is located in the mountains on the western outskirts of the city. It is the most popular folk temple in the capital, and many dignitaries worship their ancestors here.
After Xia Hongxi's death, the emperor ordered that no one should worship Xia's family, even Xia Yin, could not worship his own parents.
Regardless of the risk of being punished by the emperor, Qi Yan enshrined a small memorial tablet for Xia Xun in the Thousand Buddha Hall in the temple.
The three high walls of the Thousand Buddha Hall are covered with thousands of spiritual seats, large and small. Xia Xun hides in the corner, and no one will notice.
On the first and fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, Qi Yan will come to Baohong Temple to offer incense.
The coffins of his parents and elder brother are in another hall, and he would stay in front of his family's tablets for a long time, but he seldom went to see Xia Xun.
He never explained, but Qi Hui knew in his heart that Qi Yan was not cruel, he just couldn't accept it, as if as long as he didn't see Xia Xun, he could pretend that he was still alive.
Qi Hui never pointed it out, and helped Qi Yan deceive himself and others.
On the second day, when the genius was dim, Qi Yan set off.
When we arrived at Baohong Temple, the gate of the temple had just opened.
Qi Yan stepped into the Hall of Thousand Buddhas.
In the hall, someone actually came earlier than him.
It was a woman kneeling under a wall with her hands clasped together, chanting words in her mouth. In the incense burner in front of her, there were three unburned incense sticks, and there were burning paper money and paper figurines in the brazier.
Qi Yan walked in slowly, and as the distance shortened, he could hear her chanting "The Curse of Rebirth".
The woman is Xia Yin.
Xia Yin was immersed in grief and did not hear the outside world.
Standing behind her, Qi Yan scanned the tablets she enshrined one by one. He saw Xia Hongxi, Mrs. Xia, Xia Wen and even Xia Xing, but only Xia Xun's name was missing.
After reciting "The Curse of Rebirth" once, Xia Yin opened his eyes and was about to kowtow, when he suddenly found a person standing behind him, and almost cried out in fright.
When she saw Qi Yan's face clearly, her astonishment turned into hatred again, and she cursed involuntarily:
"It's you?! How dare you come here?! All the gods and Buddhas here are watching! Are you afraid that you won't get retribution for killing my father and forcing my mother?!"
Qi Hui stepped forward and reprimanded:
"If there is retribution, Xia Hongxi's death is the greatest retribution! He was greedy for money and perverted the law, and he forced my master's parents to death! My master is kind and didn't pursue your fault. I let you go, is it just to make you speak nonsense here? ?! I don't know what to do—"
Qi Yan held him down, his eyes were firmly attached to the spiritual tablet in front of him, and he asked Xia Yin in a trance:
"Why isn't there Xia Xun?"
Xia Yin glared at him: "Who is Xia Xun?!"
Qi Yan looked at her in disbelief:
"You even forgot what your brother's name is?"
Xia Yin finally remembered who Xia Xun was, she snorted coldly, and scoffed:
"What brother! What a prostitute gave birth to is also worthy of being my brother-what are you doing?!"
Qi Yan suddenly changed his face, picked up the incense burner, and smashed it viciously on the ground. The three incense sticks broke into pieces. He still felt that it was not enough, and kicked over the brazier. Dust scattered everywhere, blowing in the wind.
Xia Yin was furious, rushed up to grab Qi Yan's hand and bit off it.
Qi Yan swung her suddenly, knocking her to the ground, and Xia Yin fell to the side lying down, her eyes piercing at him with resentment.
Qi Yan was furious and scolded:
"You don't deserve to be his sister! You don't deserve to be his family! You don't deserve to appear in front of him! You don't even deserve to live in the same place as him!"
Xia Yin sneered darkly:
"Live? I'm still alive, but Xia Xun died a long time ago! Let me tell you the truth, I have forgotten what he looks like! What can you do to me?! If you have the ability, go to the emperor and let him even I killed them together!"
Qi Yan contemptuously said bitterly:
"Do you want to die? It's not that easy! I will report to His Majesty, but I will not let His Majesty kill you! I will drive you out of the capital! You will never be allowed to enter the city! I want you to live a long life. Living in the pain of losing a loved one! Qi Hui, arrest her and send her to Dali Temple for questioning! Take down all the tablets of the Xia family! Burn them all!"
Qi Hui escorted Xia Yin, Xia Yin yelled loudly, but Qi Hui gagged her and forcibly dragged her away.
The Thousand Buddha Hall quickly returned to tranquility.
Qi Yan supported the wall, lowered his head, and took a few deep breaths with difficulty, his heart was beating violently due to anger.
He staggered to a familiar corner, where Xia Xun's spirit seat was located.
He stood facing Xia Xun, closed his eyes, and tried his best to adjust a gentle tone:
"...Did I disturb you just now? It's okay, don't be afraid, all the annoying guys have been driven away by me..."
He brushed the word "Xia Xun" on the spiritual tablet with his fingers, and slowly put his head on the wooden tablet:
"Sorry, I haven't seen you for a long time, but... you probably don't want to see me either? It's okay, it's okay to hate me, but, Xia Xun... If it's possible, can you come to my dream? Even once, no, even A minute, a moment, a moment is fine, at least I can see you in my dream... Xia Xun, they have all forgotten you... It's okay, don't be sad, even if everyone forgets, I will always remember you... Xia Xun, I'm leaving, I'll come see you later..."
Facing the dawn light, Qi Yan stepped out of the palace gate, his shadow was stretched extremely long, reflected on the ground, and became one with the incense ash everywhere, inseparable.