Mu Fulan was the only one left in the room, and her ears were silent.
Next to the mirror, the candle on the glazed lotus pedestal suddenly burst into flames.
The candle flame flickered for a moment, then fell silent.
The firelight was reflected in her eyes, flickering slightly, and her gaze was fixed on it for a long time. As if subconsciously, she raised her hand and slowly brought her slender fingertips closer to the candlelight.
The skin was burned by the flames.
A thin but sharp pain spread rapidly from her fingertips throughout her body.
But Mu Fulan seemed to have no feeling at all.
Only a dark gleam of pain flashed across her eyes.
She thought of her Xier again.
Her only beloved child was only four years old when she died.
How could she bear to leave him like this? With her obsession, her spirit remained, and her soul was attached to the ever-burning lamp in front of the longevity tablet.
Ten long years, endless darkness, and bone-chilling loneliness.
She watched him achieve his wish and rule the world. She watched him achieve his imperial power and achieve success in both civil and military affairs. She also watched him have three palaces and six courtyards, and beauties galore.
But these have nothing to do with her. She has long been calm.
She was stubborn and refused to leave, the only reason she wanted was to see her Xier grow up one day. When that time came, she would leave with peace of mind.
However, in the end, what she waited for was a scene that tore her heart apart.
How could the pain of having her fingertips burned by fire compare to the pain of watching Xier cut her own throat and die in front of her
Her heart knotted together. For a moment, she felt like she couldn't breathe.
She stood up suddenly, raised her hand, and pushed open the window.
The biting cold wind blew towards me.
She stood in front of the window, closed her eyes, looked up at the dark night sky, and took a deep breath of the cold air.
The past that I deliberately didn't want to think about anymore suddenly seemed to burst open along with the pain that pierced deep into my heart from my fingertips.
One by one, like dense needles, they pierced deeply into her internal organs.
…
Mu Fulan first met Xie Changgeng during a trip to Junshan in the spring when she was thirteen years old.
After her mother passed away a few years ago, her father's health deteriorated. As a young girl, she was always worried.
That day, she took a ferry to Junshan to ask her master about her father's illness and also asked some questions about herbal medicine.
When she arrived at her master's medicine room, Ah Da told her that her master had a visitor.
According to Ah Da, the visitor was a young man. It seemed that the master had been rescued by Ah Da when he was traveling and encountered danger. The two of them got along very well and began to interact with each other, becoming close friends regardless of age.
My own business was not extremely urgent, and the customer was a young man.
A thirteen-year-old girl is just beginning to understand the world and is no longer a little girl. She told Ah Da not to inform her and that she would come again tomorrow.
She walked down the mountain and stopped when she passed by the legendary ancient cypress.
The mountain wind was very strong that day. A baby bird was blown out of its nest by the wind and landed on a clump of old vines growing on the cliff.
Junshan is open on the first and fifteenth day of every month, allowing people to climb the mountain and worship Junshan Emperor. However, because the tomb of Mu's ancestors is built here, ordinary people are not allowed to climb the island or the mountain.
When she went up the mountain, she left guards waiting at the foot of the mountain. At this moment, she was only accompanied by a few maids.
Mu Fulan wanted to save the bird, but the vine was too far from the cliff, more than ten feet deep, and even an adult maid couldn't reach it.
The chick was still very small, with a pointed yellow beak, a furry body, and wings that had not yet fully grown. It lay on the vine, flapping its weak wings, as if trying to fly. But every time it flapped its wings, it only moved further away. It looked like it would fall off the cliff if there was another gust of mountain wind.
The old bird circled anxiously on the edge of the cliff, making bursts of sharp cries.
Mu Fulan hurriedly sent someone down the mountain to call the guards. Before the guards came up, the bird had already rolled to the edge of the vine due to its futile struggle and was about to fall off.
Just when Mu Fulan was extremely anxious, suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her.
She turned around and saw a strange young man coming down the mountain path.
The man was about the same age as her brother, about ten years old, a little thin, wearing a blue shirt with a mountain style.
He seemed not to notice the group of anxious girls under the old cypress tree. He had an indifferent expression, his eyes looking forward, and walked past them along the stone steps.
Mu Fulan looked at him, and just as he walked past, she suddenly came to her senses and shouted at his back: "Hey! Stop!"
The man stopped, slowly turned around and looked at her.
"A little bird has fallen down! Can you think of a way to rescue it quickly?"
She begged him.
The man paused for a moment, and finally walked over to the edge of the nearly vertical cliff, leaned over to take a look, reached out and grabbed a thick old vine, pulled it hard, then rolled up the corner of his robe and locked it around his strong waist, then bent down and pulled out a sharp white dagger from his boot.
He stabbed his dagger into the crack of the stone wall, climbed down on the vines growing on the cliff, quickly approached the baby bird, and brought it up.
The old bird followed and flew up, chirping around its nest on the treetop.
He stopped, looked up, climbed up the tree again, put the chick back in the nest, then jumped down from the top of the tree, landing firmly on his feet.
When he went down just now, Mu Fulan had been holding her breath and watching, extremely nervous. Seeing him successfully bring the bird up and put it back in the nest, she finally breathed a sigh of relief, lifted her skirt, and ran towards him.
He was very tall. She was just thirteen years old, and although she was also very pretty and graceful, with a charming look of a little beauty, at that time, when she stood in front of him, her height barely reached his chest, like a little girl.
She had to look up with great effort to look into his eyes.
She raised her flower-like face with bright eyes as she looked at him, thanking him joyfully.
He seemed stunned and looked at her. Perhaps he was infected by the joy from the bottom of her heart, and finally a faint smile appeared on his lips.
He nodded to her, put the dagger back into his boot, put down his robe, and turned away.
From the moment he was called to the moment he left, he didn't say a word from beginning to end.
But at the moment he smiled at her, the world seemed to become quiet in an instant. There was no more noise in her ears, only the fallen petals were blown by the wind on the mountain steps where he left, and also floated in the girl's heart, lingering for a long time.
A few days later, Mu Fulan learned a piece of news.
Someone came to ask for marriage, and my father agreed.
Mother Mu ordered the maids not to mention it in front of her. Auntie comforted her, saying that she had seen the suitor with her own eyes. Although his background did not match her status as a princess, he was still handsome and a very capable person.
Even her father, after returning, looked at her with an apologetic look and told her that he was not a good father and had wronged her.
Mu Fulan smiled and said that her daughter's marriage should be decided by her father. Moreover, she was the princess of Changsha State, and marrying for Changsha State was her duty as a princess.
The father was pleased and assured her again and again that the reason he agreed to the other party's proposal was not only because of the overall situation, but also because he liked the man and believed that if his daughter followed him, she would not suffer for the rest of her life.
Mu Fulan thanked her father.
The old King of Changsha didn't know that his daughter secretly shed tears that night.
Her tears were for the figure in blue that had quietly imprinted on her heart a few days ago, but that she had to wipe away before she could even see it clearly.
She was full of girlish thoughts and stayed awake all night. She never dreamed that things would suddenly change the next day.
Her father held a banquet to entertain her fiancé.
In order to reassure her, the sister-in-law took her and quietly came to the side of the banquet hall.
She saw her future husband from behind the tent.
He sat next to his father, looking relaxed and chatting happily.
From the first moment I saw that person, the world was filled with the singing of birds and the fragrance of flowers, and the flowers in my heart were unrestrained and blooming beautifully.
Her future husband turned out to be the man in blue clothes whom she had met by chance beside the old cypress tree on Junshan Mountain that day.
The night wind blew in through the window, making her clothes flutter wildly. The candlelight behind her swayed, flickering, and her shadow also swayed continuously.
Suddenly, Mu's mother coughed outside, followed by a faint voice, as if someone was walking towards this side.
Mu Fulan suddenly opened her eyes, closed the window and turned around.
…
At least a hundred people came to the night banquet hosted by Changsha State, but the atmosphere could be described as deserted.
After Mu Xuanqing sat down, he didn't speak much, didn't even look at him, and had a cold expression.
Among the officials of Changsha State, except for Prime Minister Lu Lin who was smiling all the time and always trying to smooth things over, the others did not dare to offend their king, and naturally, they also did not dare to offend themselves. Most of the time, they were all eating and drinking, and when necessary, they would just laugh a few times in agreement, which was enough.
This evening banquet was probably the most special banquet Xie Changgeng had ever experienced in his life.
He has come this far, so it is not too much to say that he has licked blood on the blade. He has experienced many storms, so how could he take Mu Xuanqing's cold treatment to heart.
Not only was this young King of Changsha completely incomparable to the old King, but in Xie Changgeng's eyes, he was just a prince who acted on impulse.
Excess blood and energy, but insufficient ability.
To be honest, on this trip home, he did not expect that the Mu girl would leave without saying goodbye without waiting for him to come back, and he did not expect that his trip to Changsha would be so unsuccessful.
Even seeing his new wife was difficult.
Mu used the fact that he took a concubine as an excuse to end the marriage and sever ties with him.
This is certainly one reason, but when I think about it, it may not be the only reason.
He was no longer the person he was three years ago. The Changsha Kingdom was of little value to him.
If we ignore everything else and only consider the most direct purpose of his proposal, in fact, he is not unable to accept such a situation.
In the future, if there is a change in Changsha, he will help with all his strength. In this way, he will not let down the old Changsha King's original intention of marrying his daughter to him and his kindness in supporting him.
However, everyone knew his relationship with the State of Changsha, including Empress Liu and the Liu family behind her. The struggles among various parties had already become a balance. He was walking in the middle of it, and during the critical period of planning, it was better for him to remain silent and respond to all changes with the unchanging approach.
If news of a divorce were to come out, it would undoubtedly trigger all kinds of speculation and suspicion, and even break this balance.
This will be a big trouble for him.
So after thinking it over, he decided to maintain this marriage, resolve the matter as soon as possible, and take the Mu girl back.
Xie Changgeng came to the door of the bedroom of the Changsha king's daughter, his wife whom he had not seen since his marriage. He glanced at the maid beside him who was supposed to lead the way but refused to move out of the way.
Mother Mu had vaguely guessed the princess's actions.
But she couldn't believe it. Why would the princess be so determined just because the Xie family expressed the intention to take a concubine
She was more worried that the princess would hurt herself.
If necessary, she would not hesitate even to sacrifice her life for the princess.
But since the morning she left Xie's house, the princess seemed to no longer need her protection.
She also understood that she was powerless to protect him.
Mother Mu met the two glances the man cast at her, and a feeling of sadness and uneasiness welled up in her heart.
She calmed herself down, said loudly into the house, "My son-in-law is here," and then took a few steps back.
Xie Changgeng raised his hand, pushed open the half-closed door in front of him, stepped over the threshold and walked in.
The room was warm and lighted. In the outer corners, there was an incense table on each side. On the left was an incense burner emitting faint smoke, and on the right was a jade vase holding a branch of wintersweet.
The fragrance of incense and plum blossoms interweaves with each other, refreshing and refreshing.
Xie Changgeng stopped at the door and stood there for a moment, hearing no sound.
He raised his eyes and looked inside through the door in front of him that separated the inside and the outside.
There, a scented curtain was half hanging and half suspended, making the inner room dim.
There was still no one in sight, only a candle flame flickering faintly through the curtains, as if guiding him inside.
Xie Changgeng took a step forward, walked to the curtain, stretched out his hand to push it open, and was about to go in when his footsteps suddenly paused and he stopped again.
This is a woman's boudoir with extremely exquisite furnishings.
Opposite the bed, there is a beauty couch with a silver lamp beside it and a snow-white felt spread on it.
A woman, with a face as white as jade and wrists as white as frost, holding a scroll in her hand, half leaning and half sitting on the beauty couch, flipping through the scroll in her hand leisurely under the light of a silver lamp.
She looked like a girl of fifteen or sixteen, but she was dressed like a young woman. She had a light silk cape draped loosely over her shoulders, a pomegranate skirt tied around her waist, and her long hair tied up in a lazy bun. The gold hairpin seemed to be too heavy to fall down, and her black hair was piled up on the side of her jade neck.
She seemed to be unaware of Xie Changgeng's arrival. Even when he opened the curtain and stood by the door, she did not react at all, not even raising her eyelids to look at him.
She only turned a page of the book in her hand. The two bracelets on her jade wrists gently knocked against each other as she turned the page, making a slight and pleasant collision sound.
Xie Changgeng didn't expect that what would greet him would be such a scene.
I never expected that the Mu girl would behave like this.
His eyes moved from her face, across her body, and finally to her feet.
Her feet were exposed under her pomegranate skirt.
She was not wearing socks, and her pair of small, snow-white bare feet were stepping on the felt without any cover, like a pair of young pigeons lying quietly in the snow. Besides being beautiful, to men, it naturally revealed another, subtle implicit meaning.
Xie Changgeng's eyes were a little gloomy. He stared at her feet for a moment, finally retracted his gaze, walked over, raised his hand, took the book from her hand and put it aside.
"Are you Mu?"
He asked, looking down at the beauty on the couch.
Mu Fulan was still leaning there, she raised her eyelids and looked at him, but did not respond.
Her attitude was extremely disrespectful.
Exactly the same as her brother the king.
After arriving in Changsha, even though he was treated coldly and was scolded by Mu Xuanqing, with spit flying on his face, Xie Changgeng did not get angry at all and remained calm.
Only at this moment, when he saw this Mu family girl treating him in the same manner, he suddenly felt unhappy, just like the unhappiness he felt when he first returned home and learned that his newlywed wife had left without saying goodbye.
His expression seemed even gentler.
He stared into the woman's beautiful eyes and slowly sat down next to her.
"Mu, on our wedding night, I shouldn't have left you, but you also know that the emperor's order is difficult to obey and I have no choice. Last month, I finally returned home, but you were gone..."
Xie Changgeng paused for a moment, and continued in the gentlest tone he could, "I know my mother has made you angry. You don't have to be so fussy about Qi's daughter. If you don't want to, how could I go against your wishes and force her to come here? Besides, I didn't mean to do that. You and I are husband and wife, so even if you are dissatisfied, wait until I get home. Is there anything you can't tell me?"
Mu Fulan smiled but still didn't respond to him.
There was silence in the room for a moment.
Xie Changgeng stretched out his hand, and pressed his slightly calloused palm on the back of her bare foot that was sticking out from under her skirt.
He slowly tightened his palm, grasped one of her snow-white feet, and squeezed it gently.
"Lan'er..."
He called her by her nickname softly.
Mu Fulan bent her knees, and her bare feet slipped out of his palm like a slippery fish.
She pulled her skirt down, and her feet were completely covered by the skirt, leaving no trace.
Xie Changgeng watched her movements, his eyes becoming more profound, his Adam's apple moving slightly, he withdrew his hand, raised his arm instead, and slowly pulled out a golden hairpin stuck in her bun.
Her long hair fell like a waterfall.
He took hold of her cool black hair, gathered half of her soft body into his arms, and leaned his handsome face over to her, his lips touching her ear, and whispered, "Lan'er, don't be angry. I really let you down this time. I came here right after I got home, just to pick you up. Come back with me tomorrow. From now on, we can discuss everything."
Mu Fulan suddenly exerted force, pushed him away, sneered, and spoke the first words of the night.
"Xie Changgeng, why don't you look in the mirror? Do you think you are such a good person? Do I really want to be your wife?"
Xie Changgeng was just sitting beside the couch. He was not prepared for a moment and was pushed off the couch by her palms. He looked very embarrassed.
He slowly raised his head and saw that she had turned her head and was looking at him with disdainful eyes.
A jade-like face can captivate everyone without any effort.