Liancheng is located at the border of Changsha and Sanmiao. It is a small square city with a total population of only a thousand households. However, it has always been the gateway for communication between Sanmiao and Changsha. It was once prosperous. Later, due to the rise of Jiang Rong, the southern border of Changsha was in turmoil, and it became deserted. However, although it is small, it has all the necessary organs. When the magistrate of Liancheng learned that the princess came to help the people of San clan to cure malaria and drive away plague, and needed to stay here, he prepared all the reception matters early and cleaned up the best house in the city. After Mu Fulan arrived, he settled Xier and left him in the city, letting Mu Mama and the maid accompany him. He immediately took the chief doctor and the doctor out of the city and went to the land of San clan to start work.
Although she was prepared, after arriving, she found that the situation here was more serious than she had originally imagined.
Malaria was not uncommon in the area, and it was especially prone to occur during the transition from spring to summer. But this time, due to the severe shortage of food, many healthy people became weak and fell ill, especially the elderly, the weak, and children, who were the first to be affected.
In a village she visited, half of the hundreds of households were infected with malaria. Although most of them were the elderly, the weak, women and children, it was still shocking enough.
The local people who were suffering from hunger and disease were all excited to learn that the King of Changsha was not only willing to lend them grain to help them overcome the current difficult period of food shortage, but also that the princess herself would bring people here to treat patients.
For many years, in the eyes of ordinary people in Sanmiao, the neighboring Changsha Kingdom was a superior country, and the King of Mu was generous and kind. Now that the King of Changsha has put aside past grudges and extended a helping hand to rescue them again, how can they not be extremely grateful.
Wherever Mu Fulan went, people would bow down to her and show great respect to her when she left.
She was extremely busy, but she would try to come back to the city to spend the night if she could, unless she was really busy and it was too late, or the place she was going to was too far and she couldn't go back and forth on the same day, then she would spend the night there.
In such a busy time, more than a month has passed.
Xier always remembered the conditions promised to her before. She knew that she had something to do and could not come back to the city to spend the night with her every night. When it was time to go to bed, she never made a noise and went to bed obediently.
That night, Mother Mu helped him take a bath, changed him into his sleeping clothes, carried him to bed, and said with a smile, "My dear, the princess won't be back tonight, so don't wait for her and go to bed early."
Xier nodded in agreement.
Mother Mu asked him to lie down, covered his belly with a thin quilt, and sat by the bed, gently fanning him with a palm-leaf fan to lull him to sleep.
Xier yawned and closed her eyes.
Mother Mu looked at the child on the pillow.
With delicate eyebrows and long eyelashes, this little face that surprised her at first glance and was inexplicably familiar was lovable no matter how she looked at it.
She remembered that the princess left Hexi and returned to Changsha in early February. Now it was July, nearly half a year.
It has been a while since the child came into being. After spending time with him every day, Mother Mu has already fallen in love with this sensible and well-behaved child from the bottom of her heart.
But honestly speaking, even so, Mother Mu was still puzzled as to why the princess had such deep feelings for this orphan whom she brought back halfway and with whom she had no previous relationship and had never met.
Her princess is only seventeen years old this year, but in Mother Mu's feeling, she is still the little girl who just got engaged. However, when she looks at this child, Mother Mu can always feel that the princess's eyes are filled with a kind of love and pity from the bottom of her heart that only a mother can have for her child.
Mother Mu's gaze stayed on Xier's little face, and she could only sigh again in her heart.
Perhaps this was what was called fate in a previous life. The princess and this child were destined to be together.
Xier fell asleep.
Mother Mu got up quietly, checked the screen window, blew out the lights, and walked out of the house quietly.
On this July summer night, the sky was purple, the moon was dim and the stars were sparse. It was just an ordinary night. The gates of this small city in the remote south, which belonged to the Changsha State, had already been tightly closed.
At three o'clock in the morning, Lian Chengling was awakened from his sleep by the sound of knocking on the door.
What woke up Lian Cheng Ling was an uninvited guest who arrived in the middle of the night.
The servant who passed the message said that a man who called himself Xie Changgeng came from outside the city, with only a few followers, and showed the gatekeeper a waist badge with his official title issued by the court. However, the gatekeeper had never seen such a high-level waist badge before, and it was difficult to tell whether it was real or fake. In addition, the princess and her entourage were in the city, and the Liancheng Ling had ordered that the guards of the city gates must be strengthened. It was late at night, so they did not dare to open the city gates casually to welcome them in. While delaying, they sent someone to inform the Liancheng Ling and asked him to go as soon as possible.
The name of Xie Changgeng was well-known to the people of Liancheng. He and Xie Changgeng had met once before. When Xie went to Yuecheng to ask for marriage, he was still an official in the palace and had seen him with his own eyes. When he heard that he had come here, he dared not neglect him, so he led his men to rush over and ordered the city gate to be opened.
With the light of the fire stick, he saw a tall man standing facing the city gate. Who else could it be but Xie Changgeng
The Liancheng magistrate hurried over, handed back the badge he had just handed over with both hands, and apologized repeatedly.
"Recently, the princess and her entourage have settled in the city. In order to ensure their safety, I have been negligent. I have not received any news of your coming, sir. Please do not be offended."
Xie Changgeng didn't look angry, but his eyes were slightly cold. He didn't say anything more to him. He just said briefly, "Where is the princess staying?"
After he finished speaking, he walked inside.
The Liancheng magistrate hurriedly followed him and said, "Your Excellency the governor, you may not know that after the princess came here, she went to the cave of Sanmiao Village to treat people every day. Sometimes it was inconvenient, so she stayed there. She went to Liyang these two days, which is quite far from here. She did not come back tonight, so she must have stayed there."
Xie Changgeng paused.
"Don't worry, Jiedushi. I heard that the people are very grateful to the princess. They bow down to her wherever they go. Besides, she has General Yuan with her to protect her. She will be safe."
Xie Changgeng stood there for a moment, then slowly turned his head.
"And what about her adopted son?"
When he said the word "adopted son", his tone was a little strange.
Liancheng Ling smiled and said, "The young master did not follow. After he came, he stayed in the city and lived in the south of the city, not far from here."
"Take me there."
Xie Changgeng was silent for a moment and said.
The Liancheng Commander responded, and while leading the way attentively, he said with a smile: "Speaking of the young master, he is really smart and well-behaved. No wonder the princess loves him so much. That day, my wife went to pay a visit to the princess, and when she came back, she told me that this is not an adopted son at all. The princess and the young master are clearly closer than biological mother and son. When the young master sees that you, the governor, are here, he will be even happier."
Liancheng is a small and remote place. After being deserted for these years, the news has been cut off, just like a dead city. The Liancheng magistrate has not been to Yuecheng for a long time. How could he know the commotion caused by Xie Changgeng's visit last year, let alone the couple's resentment? He only said nice things and flattered Xie Changgeng all the way. He stopped in front of a mansion and said, "The princess will live here."
An attendant had already gone up to knock on the door. The guard heard the sound, knew who was coming, and opened the door immediately.
Mother Mu had fallen asleep when she was suddenly awakened and told that it was Jiedushi Xie who had come. She was extremely surprised and did not believe it at first. She got up and saw a tall figure standing in the courtyard. She recognized the person and hurried over to greet him, saying that the princess would not be back tonight.
"A new batch of medicinal herbs will arrive tomorrow, and the princess will surely come back..."
Mother Mu didn't dare to ask him why he came all the way here from Hexi, so she looked at his face which didn't show his emotion and explained carefully.
"Where is her adopted son?"
Xie Changgeng asked in a calm tone.
Mother Mu hesitated and pointed to the room behind her.
Xie Changgeng took a step and walked towards the door.
His appearance was too sudden. The princess was not at home tonight.
Mother Mu always had a feeling that his arrival was definitely not a good thing.
For some vague concern that she couldn't even explain, she didn't want him to see Xier.
At least not in this situation.
She took the candle from the maid and immediately followed him, saying, "Sir, you have come from a long way and it is late at night. You must be tired. Why don't you go and rest first? If you have anything to do, you can come tomorrow..."
Xie Changgeng stopped at the door, turned around, and said to her coldly: "What are you afraid of? Will I eat him?"
His eyes were extremely gloomy. Mother Mu's heart skipped a beat and she said hurriedly, "My Lord, please don't misunderstand me. It's just that the young master has already fallen asleep..."
Xie Changgeng pretended not to hear her, expressionless, took the candle from her hand and pushed open the door.
"grown ups… "
He had crossed the threshold and walked in.
Mother Mu didn't dare to stop them anymore. She stood at the door, looking at the figure in the light ahead going inside, feeling extremely nervous.
Xie Changgeng came to the inner room and lit another lamp in the room with the candle in his hand.
The light in the room suddenly became brighter, illuminating the sleeping child on the bed.
The room was silent, without any sound except for the shallow breathing of the child in his deep sleep.
His long eyelashes were quietly covered, and the candlelight cast two fan-shaped shadows on his face. He slept so peacefully.
Xie Changgeng did not walk to the bedside, but stood beside the candlestick, his figure motionless.
Suddenly, a slight "pop" sound came from my ear.
The candle flame burst into a spark.
The flames jumped.
The sleeping child seemed to sense something, his eyelashes trembled slightly, and he woke up.
Dimly, he saw a light in the house, and there seemed to be a figure in the light. He thought it was his mother who had returned. He was extremely happy and jumped up. He raised his hand to rub his sleepy eyes and called out vaguely, "Mom..."
His voice suddenly stopped.
He saw clearly the extra person in the room.
Not her own mother.
Xier slowly put down her hands, sat on the bed, opened her eyes wide, and looked at the silent stranger who appeared in front of her for the first time.
Xie Changgeng's eyes fell on the child's face and he could no longer move them away.
The moment he saw that pair of eyes, the absurd idea that had popped up in his mind countless times before but was rejected by him as soon as it popped up suddenly became more real than ever.
It was so absurd, so absurd that even he didn't want to believe it.
But he knew that he had not wronged her.
If this child was really the one she met and brought back to Changsha after she was driven away in February this year, how could it be such a coincidence that before that, at the end of last year, on the night she just arrived in Beijing, she called out the same name in her dream
Before he saw the letter from Zhu Liuhu, he would never have imagined that the person calling that name was the child in front of him.
What kind of bond could make this child so obsessed
If this could be considered a coincidence, then at this moment, when I was looking at this child, where did the eyes and eyebrows that I saw, and the sense of déjà vu that welled up in my heart come from
It just comes from her.
He seemed to see the shadow of Mu in this child.
There are not so many coincidences in this world.
The doubts that had been lingering in his mind were confirmed tonight.
There is definitely something wrong with this child's origins.
"Who are you?"
The child looked at him for a long time, hesitated, and finally asked the first question he had spoken since meeting Xie Changgeng.
His pair of small feet were tightly together, his feet were slightly arched, and his toes were curled up, which was an unintentional nervous reaction of being wary of people, but he spoke clearly and did not seem to be very afraid.
Xie Changgeng stared at the child in front of him with a serious look.
"Your father, who is he?"
After a long silence, he asked back.