Zhao Xitai kept coughing and his face turned red.
Seeing this, his follower hurried forward, took out a medicine bottle he was carrying, uncorked it, and handed it to him.
Zhao Xitai took a few breaths from the medicine bottle and finally stopped coughing and wheezing and recovered.
There was a trace of shame in his eyes, and he said in a low voice: "I am really useless. As soon as we met, I made you laugh..."
"I'm not always like this! I just didn't expect to meet you here. I thought of my childhood and got so excited that I accidentally held my breath."
He hastened to explain again.
Mu Fulan smiled.
"The prince is going to see the princess, right?"
"I just came out from the princess. Go quickly!"
She deliberately raised her voice, nodded to Zhao Xitai, called the maid, and continued to move forward.
Zhao Xitai's eyes fell on her. As she slowly turned her head, he watched her back, then suddenly caught up with her and called her again.
"My lady!"
Mu Fulan turned her head.
He looked at this face, which seemed to overlap with his childhood memory, but was so beautiful that he could hardly recognize it at first glance. A faint blush appeared on her face, as if she had not yet faded from the coughing she had just done.
"When I saw you this morning, there was something I wanted to explain to you. When you left for Shangjing, it wasn't that I didn't see you off on purpose. I knew you were leaving, and I wanted to see you off, but..."
But at that time, his mother did not allow him to see off his former palace playmate, the little girl whose eyes were as curved as crescent moons when she smiled.
Because of his poor health, his mother kept a very strict watch on him. He was not allowed to do this or move that. He had no companion since he was a child. Everyone treated him with great respect, but no one wanted to play with him. When they saw him, they would move away, fearing that if he did something wrong, it would implicate them.
She was the only one who didn't hide from him and played with him.
He liked to be with her, no matter what she did. Whether she was quietly practicing calligraphy or swinging on the swing in the imperial garden, he could hide aside and secretly watch for a long time and never feel bored.
Zhao Xitai paused.
“… I was sick again at that time. By the time I recovered, you were gone.”
"You won't blame me?" he asked carefully.
Those childhood events from so long ago were so trivial that they were not even worth mentioning. If he hadn't mentioned them, she would have lost all memory of them.
She could stop hating the son of the King of Qi who had been involved in a cruel power struggle like herself and lost his life. She could even take him to the Medicine Master if he asked for medical treatment. But she really had no intention of recounting these meaningless old stories with him.
"I have long forgotten the trivial matter from many years ago, so you don't have to worry about it, Your Highness." She said calmly.
Zhao Xitai stared at her.
"My lady, how have you been these years? A few years ago, I heard that your father promised you to that bandit named Xie..."
Suddenly, a slight cough was heard nearby.
"Is it the Prince Zhao? I just met Jiedushi Xie over there. When I heard the noise here, I came to check it out for fear of disturbing the Queen Mother. It turns out that the Prince is here. I heard that you just arrived in Beijing a few days ago. What a coincidence that we meet here today!"
"Cao Jin has met the prince!"
The eunuch Cao walked over with a smile on his face, bowed to Zhao Xitai, then turned to Mu Fulan and respectfully called her "Princess".
Mu Fulan pretended to have just seen him and glanced behind Eunuch Cao.
Xie Changgeng didn't come over and still stood there.
Zhao Xitai was startled when he suddenly heard that Xie Changgeng was there too. He raised his head and took a look, a slightly embarrassed look on his face.
But soon, his expression turned into contempt, and he stared coldly at Xie Changgeng without looking away.
Xie Changgeng took a step forward and walked over, but did not enter the door and stopped outside the doorway.
His two gazes fell on the face of Zhao Xitai opposite him.
"Why are you here, Prince Zhao? I know that the Queen of Qi asked the Queen Mother to allow you to go to the temple with me today. But if I remember correctly, you are only allowed to go to the temple. Prince Zhao is not a child, you should know that the temple is not a place you can stay for a long time. If there is nothing urgent, you'd better leave quickly."
His expression was normal and his tone was calm, but there was a faint commanding tone in his voice, as if he had the final say on life and death.
Zhao Xitai's expression turned a little ugly, and he said, "I came to see my mother, and you are stopping me?"
Xie Changgeng smiled.
"I dare not. Since the prince is going to see the princess, I will ask someone to take you there. The queen mother is staying not far from here. If the prince accidentally comes in and disturbs the queen mother, it will be my dereliction of duty."
He turned to Cao Jin.
"Please, Eunuch Cao, take the prince to see the Princess of Qi."
Cao Jin responded and came up with a smile.
"Prince Zhao, come with me this way."
A blush of shame and anger quickly appeared on Zhao Xitai's pale face.
He paused for a moment, gritted his teeth, turned to Mu Fulan and said softly: "My lady, I'm going to my mother first." After that, he turned around, glared at Xie Changgeng hatefully, and walked away quickly.
His two followers hurried to follow. Cao Jin also went.
Everyone left in an instant, leaving only Mu Fulan and Xie Changgeng, one standing inside the gate and the other standing outside.
The atmosphere suddenly became a little weird.
Xie Changgeng's eyes were a little gloomy, and he said to the maid who was standing beside him and looked a little overwhelmed: "Send the princess to rest."
After he finished speaking, he turned around and was about to leave, but his footsteps paused. Before leaving, he turned his gaze, glanced at Mu Fulan, and said coldly: "This is not your home, don't walk around if you have nothing to do!"
Mu Fulan watched him leave with his entourage, thinking that he might not be aware that she had just spied on him and Cao Jin's actions, and slowly breathed a sigh of relief.
…
After a rest at noon, Empress Liu finished reciting the second half of the sutra. Around 3 p.m., today's worship of Buddha was finally over. After a short rest, she prepared to return to the city.
The evening bell rang in Huguo Temple. The umbrellas, ceremonial guards, and imperial guards took their positions from the mountain gate to the foot of the mountain, standing on both sides of the mountain steps. The monks, led by the abbot, respectfully sent Empress Liu down the mountain.
After a day of hard work, everyone was exhausted. The ladies in the queue were eager to get down the mountain as soon as possible and get on the carriage back to the city. No one made a sound, and on the steps the only sound was the slight rustling of rich clothes caused by friction.
There are 108 steps from the foot of the mountain to the mountain gate, representing the 108 Dharma doors in the mortal world. Taking one step is like stepping into a Dharma door and freeing oneself from one karma.
Mu Fulan followed the crowd, walking down the stone steps outside the mountain gate, one step at a time, to the foot of the mountain. After walking up the last step, they stepped onto the flat ground.
The steward came to pick her up. Mu Fulan walked to the carriage she was riding in and was about to get in. Suddenly, from deep in her heart, she felt a mysterious feeling, similar to the one she had when she first arrived this morning.
It seemed as if there was some force in the dark, attracting her to look back.
She turned her head and looked at the mountain gate that had been left behind her.
As the sun sets, the forest is dyed with red. In the distance, the mountain gate at the end of the 108 steps looks like it is coated with a layer of red gold.
A group of mountain birds returning to their nests at dusk were startled by the sound of the evening bells and were circling back and forth above the main ridge of the mountain gate with their wings flapping.
The moment she turned around, Mu Fulan's gaze froze.
In the setting sun, she saw a small figure behind the wide-open mountain gate.
It was a boy, about three or two years old. He seemed to be attracted by the noise outside the mountain gate and stood quietly in a corner behind the threshold.
The moment the little figure came into view, Mu Fulan's heart seemed to be hit hard by something and suddenly exploded.
She seemed to see her Xi'er! The Xi'er who had accompanied her in that cold old house in Xie County when she was a child, spending every morning and evening together!
She must be dazzled!
She tried her best to open her eyes wide, trying to see more clearly.
A monk came out, took the boy's hand and led him inside.
The child was taken in, but as if he had sensed something, he turned around and glanced in the direction of Mu Fulan.
Soon, the small figure disappeared behind the mountain gate and could no longer be seen.
Mu Fulan's pupils dilated to the extreme, she was unable to move, even her breathing stopped.
She had a feeling.
At the foot of the mountain, there were so many people. The boy who looked like Xier looked back before leaving, thinking he was looking for himself.
He is looking for himself!
At this moment, she forgot everything around her, turned around abruptly, and ran back under the surprised and puzzled gazes of the people around her, walked up the mountain steps, and chased in the direction of the mountain gate.
Empress Liu had already boarded the palace carriage, which led the way and slowly departed under the protection of the Imperial Guards and eunuchs.
Xie Changgeng took the reins from his attendant and was about to mount the horse when he turned around and glanced behind him. Unexpectedly, he saw her leaving everyone behind and going back, quickly climbing the mountain steps alone. In a blink of an eye, she had climbed more than ten steps. Her back was hurried, as if something urgent was waiting for her up there.
He glanced at the mountain gate in the sunset. Apart from some monks still performing rituals, there was nothing unusual.
He frowned, immediately dismounted, quickly chased after her, strode up the mountain steps, reached out from behind, and grabbed her wrist.
"Everyone's gone, what are you doing up there?"
He lowered his voice, scolding her in a tone that only he and she could hear.
Mu Fulan's breathing was disordered and she kept gasping for breath. She turned around and met the two stern and displeased glances from the man behind her. She suddenly came to her senses.
She tried her best to suppress the pounding heartbeat in her chest, closed her eyes, calmed her mind, and slowly opened her eyes.
"… I seem to have lost a hairpin. I think it fell where I rested at noon. I was in a hurry and wanted to go back to find it…"
Xie Changgeng glanced at her black hair, slowly loosened his grip on her wrist, and said, "I'll ask someone to go back and find it for you."
"Thank you very much."
Mu Fulan didn't look at him, but spoke softly, lowered her eyes, turned around, walked down the steps step by step, got on the carriage, lowered the curtain, and sat down.
When Xie Changgeng came back that night, he said to Mu Fulan, who was already in bed, through the curtains: "I asked people to search everywhere you've been, but they said they couldn't find the hairpin."
"You should think about it again. It's not lost, it's in someone's hands."
He said one more sentence, his tone sounded restrained and calm, but his malicious intention was evident.
"When I came back in the evening, I realized that I remembered it wrong. I didn't wear it when I went out in the morning, and the hairpin was in the jewelry box. Thank you for your trouble." A low response came from the tent.
Thank you Chang Geng for a while.
The bed curtains were drawn low, and she was inside, but her face was never revealed.
He looked sullen and turned away.
Mu Fulan didn't dare let him see her.
She was afraid that her eyes or expression would reveal her chaotic mood at the moment.
The little figure she saw in front of the mountain gate in the evening appeared again and again in her mind.
She told herself that it was an illusion.
It was because she missed Xier too much that she saw other children as Xier, and she also insisted on treating the child's look back as someone looking for her.
But deep in her heart, another thought was burning like a fire, making her toss and turn, and she wished that the night would pass quickly.
She was going to go to Huguo Temple again to look for the child whom she had briefly met outside the mountain gate in the evening.