Three days later, a boat came across the river, but the person on board was not Mu Fulan, but Liang Tuan.
He hurried up the mountain and entered the medicine house. When he saw Xie Changgeng, he breathed a long sigh of relief. After paying his respects, he said that they were ordered to wait outside the city, but there had been no news of him for several days. They were afraid that he had met with an accident and were very anxious. They were secretly looking for him everywhere. Last night, they received a message from a village boy saying that he was here, so they hurried over early this morning.
After he finished speaking, he held his breath and looked at the figure in front of him who was standing with his back to him. He really didn't know what had happened in the past few days. How could he be here, injured, and so thin and haggard.
Xie Changgeng stood outside the gate of the medicine house, looking at the shadow of the city in the distance.
It was across the water, facing him from afar, like a mirage floating on the other side of the vast mist and water.
It seemed so close, but when he tried to get closer, it was so far away.
Separated by a river, he is on this side and she is on the other side.
In the past, he had conquered cities and territories, and even though he had exhausted all his strength, he never knew what fatigue was. But at this moment, for the first time in his life, he actually felt a little tired in his heart.
How could he not know that on his way to the top, an invisible shackle had already bound him tightly.
The shackles that bound him, besides his ambition, were also the people who had gathered around him and followed him with their lives over the years.
Given his current position, he had no right to let himself go.
He knew he was wrong.
If he had not been lucky enough, the most likely possibility is that he would have become a corpse sinking to the bottom of the dark water of Dongting Lake. Since he was still alive, what he should do now was to immediately end his foolish impulse and turn around and leave.
But he still refused.
Now that I'm here and have started this, I'll just let myself go and follow my heart once again.
If he left at this point, then what would be the point of him crossing Dongting Lake at night and escaping death
For the last time, he told himself.
"I'm fine, you don't need to worry. You can go back to the state first, there's no need to wait here."
"I have other things to do. I will go and meet you guys when I'm done."
Xie Changgeng retracted his gaze. He slowly turned his head and said this to the person behind him.
…
Near the west gate of Yuecheng, as usual, there was a bustling crowd of people coming and going.
At noon, a man walked slowly towards the end of the dirt road leading to Dongting Lake in the western suburbs.
The man was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old. Although he was dressed in ordinary clothes and wore a conical hat, he was still very conspicuous among the locals as he walked towards the city gate.
In the past six months or so, a series of major events have occurred in Changsha State, and the war has just ended, so the defense of Yuecheng is much stricter than before. The gatekeeper noticed this passerby who looked a little different early on, stopped him from the team, and took a look at him.
"Who are you? Where are you from? Where are you going?"
"My last name is Xie, Xie Changgeng, and I want to see the princess."
The gatekeeper was surprised.
Although they had never met him before, Xie Changgeng's name was known to everyone in the world, especially in Changsha.
The gatekeepers didn't know whether it was true or not, so they discussed with each other and decided to leave a few people to watch, while one of them quickly went to find Prime Minister Lu Lin to report the news.
Upon hearing the news, Lu Lin was very surprised and even more doubtful. He hurried to the city gate. When he got there, he saw many passers-by stopping to watch. He recognized the man opposite him at a glance. It was actually Xie Changgeng!
He stood alone in a corner near the city gate, his face pale, as if he was short of blood and sick, but his expression was very calm, as if he was unaware of the dissatisfied looks that were being cast at him by the people of Changsha.
Lu Lin hurriedly squeezed over and said, "Why is the King of Qin here? Please follow me into the city."
Although Changsha State had already separated from the imperial court, Lu Lin still did not dare to show any disrespect towards this person.
Xie Changgeng smiled at him and said, "Please ask the Prime Minister to pass on my message. If the princess sees me, I will enter the city again."
Lu Lin felt that something was fishy.
At first glance, Xie Changgeng looked like a destitute, sickly vagrant, with no followers around him. He came here alone, and it was obviously not possible that he came here for any national or patriotic event.
If it is not a matter of family or country, then it is naturally a private matter between you and the princess.
Lu Linyi did not ask any more questions. She smiled apologetically and promised to pass the message immediately. Before leaving, she glanced around and saw that more and more passers-by were gathering, pointing at Xie Changgeng, and some brave ones even spit at him from a distance. She hurriedly ordered the passers-by to disperse and set up a temporary checkpoint at the intersection ahead, asking pedestrians to pass through another door instead. She also closed the door here temporarily, and then hurried to the palace, met Mu Fulan, and told her what had happened.
"My lady, although it's a little abrupt for him to come here, we don't want to offend him too much, so we made this arrangement. If you want to see him, I will bring him in quietly, in case he doesn't leave and the news spreads, causing people to suspect him for no reason, which would be bad."
Mu Fulan stood in front of the window, lost in thought, when she heard a voice behind her: "Mother, if you don't want to see her, you don't have to go. Your son will go for you, ask him to leave!"
Mu Fulan turned around and saw Xier walking in from the door and speaking to her.
She was stunned and subconsciously wanted to refuse, but Xier said, "Listen to me, mother. He came at the right time. I want to see him again. I have something to say to him."
"Please allow me, mother." The child knelt down and kowtowed solemnly.
Mu Fulan was stunned and helped him up.
"Mother, please let me go see him."
The child said again.
…
Outside the city gate, it was empty, with only Xie Changgeng standing there quietly.
Finally, I heard the sound of the city gate opening.
A child, carrying a long box on his back, walked out of the city gate.
He stopped in front of Xie Changgeng, raised his head slightly, and looked at him.
"Thank you, sir. Are you feeling better now?"
After a moment, the child asked him softly.
A warm feeling slowly welled up in Xie Changgeng's heart.
It has been a year since we parted outside Guzang City.
The child's height has grown a lot taller, like a bamboo shoot.
He looked at her, his eyes suddenly swelled, he blinked, a smile appeared on his face, he nodded, and said, "I'm cured. Xi'er, don't worry about me."
He turned around and walked towards the child. When he reached him, he bent down and reached out his hand, wanting to touch his head, but the child avoided him.
He took a step back.
"Thank you, sir. You don't have to wait for my mother. I came here alone."
As he spoke, he took off the long box on his back, held it in his arms, put it carefully on the ground, and opened the lid.
This is a sword box. Inside the box, there lies a long sword.
Xie Changgeng naturally recognized it; it was the sword he had given him that day.
"Thank you, sir. I am here to return this sword to you."
Xie Changgeng was stunned.
"Sir, they said you have become the King of Qin, the highest-ranking king. I should have called you King of Qin, but I still want to call you Sir Xie as before," said the child.
"I asked my mother before, sir, are you a good person or a bad person? My mother said you are neither a good person nor a bad person. I didn't quite understand what she said then, and I still don't understand it now. But I know that you are the hero I admire most, and I like you. So when you gave me this sword, even though my mother objected, I didn't listen to her and accepted the gift you gave me."
"It's your precious thing. You gave it to me. I originally planned to keep it for the rest of my life. But now, in order to force my mother, you let the Fuzhou soldiers attack us. When my mother went to Yunmeng, I really hated myself for being useless. I couldn't help her at all, let alone protect her."
"I don't understand the affairs of the court. But sir, even if our Changsha country has offended you, you are still my mother's enemy. If you are my mother's enemy, you are also my enemy. So I can no longer keep this sword. Please take it back, sir."
The child looked at Xie Changgeng, tears slowly flashing in his eyes, but he tried his best to hold back his tears.
"Thank you, sir. This is why I asked my mother to allow me to come here to see you. She will never see you again. I hope you will not disturb her again! If you are well, please leave here as soon as possible."
After Xier finished speaking, she turned around and ran. Her foot was tripped by a small stone on the ground, and her body fell forward and fell to the ground.
Xie Changgeng was stunned. After he came to his senses, he rushed forward, picked up the child from the ground, and wanted to see if his hands and feet were broken.
Xier clenched her fists tightly, not wanting him to see, and struggled hard.
Xie Changgeng loosened his hand and said, "Xi'er, the things that Master Xie gave away will never be taken back!"
Xier closed her lips tightly and said nothing.
"Master Xie was wrong. I shouldn't have been so confused that I let the Fuzhou soldiers attack you. I'm sorry to disappoint you. Master Xie promises you that from now on, I will never be an enemy of your mother again."
He slowly squatted down, stared at the child in front of him, and said solemnly.
Xier stared at him blankly, tears in her eyes. She hesitated and whispered, "Master Xie, is everything you said true? You won't lie to me?"
Xie Changgeng smiled and said, "Your mother is right. Lord Xie is not a good person and often does bad things. But this time, I will keep my promise to you. If I break my promise again, Lord Xie will die on the battlefield in the future and never have a good end!"
Xier burst into laughter. He wiped his eyes quickly and shook his head: "I believe you. I don't want to thank you, sir, for you will not have a good end! I will tell mother what you said to me."
"Sir, are you really cured?" the child asked again, with concern in his eyes.
"When mother took me away that day, you were still not awake. I wanted to ask mother to stay until you woke up before leaving, but I didn't dare to tell mother..."
Xie Changgeng took one of his little hands, lowered his head and leaned forward, saying, "Touch my forehead and you'll know."
Xi'er touched his forehead and said, "Your fever has subsided. But the arrow wound on your back must not have healed yet. You need to recover quickly!"
"Okay." He responded with a smile.
"The guards said, Sir Xie, you swam here that night. They thought you were an assassin, so they shot arrows at you. Sir, why did you swim here? Why didn't you hide? It was so dangerous..."
"Master Xie wanted to see your mother so much that he swam over here and forgot to dodge the arrows."
"Sir, please go back to the medicine house first and don't wait here any longer. When I return, I will tell my mother what you said and ask her to see you again. You should apologize to her."
"Okay. I'll go wait for her there..."
From the other side of the city gate, the sound of conversation came over in waves, sometimes high and sometimes low.
Mu Fulan stepped back silently, step by step, slowly and turned away.
The next day, she came to Junshan, climbed the mountain, and wandered aimlessly along the mountain path that she was very familiar with.
The mountain path was covered with dead branches and leaves, and her footsteps under her skirt made a slight rustling sound. This sound made the surroundings seem even more empty, as if the entire mountain was empty and she was the only one walking alone.
She finally stopped and was surprised to find that she was next to the ancient cypress tree beside the cliff.
As the sun sets in the west, weary crows return to their nests, and the mountain breeze ruffles her hair. She stands under a tree, looking up at the returning birds circling above the treetops, gradually becoming lost in thought, when suddenly a pair of men’s arms reach out from behind her and gently embrace her.
She lay motionless and slowly closed her eyes.
The man behind her didn't say anything, nor did he make any other movements. He just held her like that, slowly tightening his arms, and completely taking her fragile body into his arms, with her back pressed tightly against his chest.
Time seemed to stop flowing, and the chirping of the returning birds overhead seemed to gradually disappear from her ears, until the man lowered his head and gently kissed her tender earlobe with his slightly cool lips.
He spoke softly in a hoarse voice: "The person you loved that you met in Junshan before was me, right?"
Mu Fulan's eyelashes trembled.
Xie Changgeng slowly tightened his hands around her shoulders and slowly turned her body around so that she was facing him.
"I am so stupid that I only just remembered now that I had met you here before I asked you to marry me. You were the girl who called me that day, and I was the one who helped you save the bird."
He gazed into her beautiful eyes, slowly lowered his head towards her, and gently placed his forehead against hers.
"Lan'er..."
He whispered her name and brushed his lips gently against her cheek.
"Look at the birds returning to their nests overhead. Maybe one of them is the one I rescued from the cliff for you that day..."
Mu Fulan turned her face away abruptly, avoiding his lips that were reaching out to her.
"You're not," she said.
Xie Changgeng froze.
She slowly turned her head back and stared at the face of the man in front of her.
"In my heart, the person who saved the bird for me that day is no longer with us."
"Xie Changgeng, you are not him."
Xie Changgeng's face gradually turned pale, and the fingers that were holding her shoulders slowly loosened, but soon, he held her tightly again, holding her even tighter.
"You clearly liked me in the past, but why did you end up hating me to this extent? In order to get rid of me, you even did such a cruel thing to yourself?"
"If I hadn't happened to hear what Mother Mu said to you that night, I would never have believed that you would do such a thing to yourself! If something happened after we broke up that I didn't know about, it was my fault. You could have told me and I would have made it up to you. But you treated me so cruelly and heartlessly, to this extent!"
"What crime have I committed, Xie Changgeng?"
The corners of his eyes were red, and he asked with his teeth clenched tightly, his voice extremely hoarse.