Under the auspices of Mu Fulan, Zhu Liuhu and Hua Niang became husband and wife that night.
The bright moon hangs in the sky, and the waves above Dongting Lake are like a dream. Mu Fulan sits facing the lamp, reading medical books alone in the medicine room.
Ah Da said that the last time Yao Weng came back was more than a year ago. During these years, Master was still a free and easy person, wandering around. We can only get a glimpse of the places he had set foot in from the medical records he left behind.
“… Traveling westward along the river for several months, we passed through Qilian and Yumen. Although the land is known to be sandy and barren, the customs and people along the way are also worth remembering…”
Mu Fulan read and read, gradually becoming absorbed in the text. At this moment, a notification came from outside.
The guard passed on the message that someone came to the ferry at the foot of the mountain to seek medical treatment and asked whether he could be let go.
She had just returned, so the news might not have spread yet, but the name of Junshan Medicine House was well-known far and wide. Without Yao Weng, Ah Da could still treat some common illnesses, so in the past few years, there was still an endless stream of people coming here to seek medical treatment.
Crossing the river and going up the mountain late at night, I think there must be an emergency.
Mu Fulan put down the medical record and asked the guards to bring people up.
She waited for a moment, and then heard footsteps in the courtyard. She looked up and saw the guards leading the patient in and stopping outside the threshold.
Mu Fulan took a look. The patient was wearing cloth clothes and straw sandals, with dishevelled hair and a thin body. He stood in the shadow outside the door, with his head lowered. Her face could not be seen clearly, but she felt that he should not be very old.
Mu Fulan asked the guard to bring the man in. The guard ordered the man to raise his hands and search him first.
The man silently raised his arms. After the guards searched him carefully and found nothing unusual, they led him in. The man stopped at the door, still with his head down, and said nothing.
"What's wrong with you?" Mu Fulan asked him.
Still no response.
Mu Fulan felt something was wrong. She had treated countless patients in her life and had seen all kinds of people seeking medical treatment, but she had never encountered anything like this.
This person gave her the feeling that he didn't come here to seek medical treatment.
She looked at the other person again, her eyes fell on the face hidden by messy hair that had never been raised from the beginning, and suddenly she felt a sense of déjà vu.
"Who are you? Raise your head." Her tone was cold. Several guards immediately stepped forward and drew their swords to cross the man's neck.
The man's shoulders trembled slightly, and slowly, he finally raised his head.
Even though they had not seen each other for many years, and even though the face in front of her was so thin that it was almost unrecognizable, and there was no trace of the prince or the elegant man in him, Mu Fulan still recognized him at the first sight.
"Zhao Xitai!" she blurted out in extreme surprise.
The man stared at her.
"I'm in this state now. Yesterday when I was facing the water, I couldn't even recognize myself. Thank you very much for remembering me." He said softly.
Mu Fulan looked at him for a moment and ordered the guards to let him go.
She said, “I thought you were dead.”
Zhao Xitai nodded: "Yes. I was chased by the pursuers and had no way to escape. The one who died was a substitute for me. I..."
He paused, a self-deprecating smile on his lips.
"I have never been very talented, but I am one of the best at escaping disasters. I fled from Dongdu to Jiangdu very early, and from Jiangdu to the south very early. I knew that no matter how hard I tried, failure would be the only outcome. In fact, when I arrived in the south, I was waiting for Xie Changgeng to send troops to attack me. At that time, he could have sent an army, and he could have easily destroyed my small court without having to do it himself."
"… Strangely, he didn't send troops right away. This allowed my little court to continue for a few more years. This time, I could have escaped again. I had prepared the place I would go to a long time ago, and I had the ship and the people ready."
"In that case, why don't you leave? What do you want to do here?"
"My lady..."
He stared at her for a long time, and finally opened his mouth and called her softly.
"Please forgive me for offending you, but I will still call you Princess. The time I miss most in my life should be the time when I met you in the palace when I was a child. Secondly, it is the time when I came here to seek medical treatment..."
He looked around.
"At that time, I thought that if I could live here, my life would be good. So many years have passed, and now I have to escape again. I asked myself, before I leave, should I take something I want with me? But what in this world can I take with me?"
"When I was young, everyone thought I would die young. Later, you cured my illness. But living like this is like a lost dog..."
He slowly turned his gaze to Mu Fulan.
At this time, there was a commotion outside the medicine house, and torches lit up in the courtyard. Yuan Handing led a group of soldiers and rushed in, heading towards this side.
"My lady, you just asked me what I wanted to do here. I don't know myself, I really don't know. I just wanted to come here, so I came..."
As he spoke, he seemed to be completely unaware of the people rushing towards him from behind. He just stared at the woman in front of him, his eyes gradually shining.
He took a sudden step, and with his arms outstretched, he walked toward her from the door.
"Stop, if you take another step forward, I will kill you without mercy—"
Yuan Handing shouted behind him, but he seemed not to hear him. Not only did he not stop, but his pace became even faster.
Yuan Handing no longer hesitated and immediately released the arrow in his hand.
"don't want-"
Mu Fulan suddenly realized something, stood up abruptly, and shouted. But it was too late. The sharp arrow, with great force, tore through the air and shot towards the figure in front of him like lightning. Almost in the blink of an eye, with a "puff", it pierced through his back without deviation.
Zhao Xitai stopped and stopped when he was about one person away from Mu Fulan. He looked at her and stood there for a moment. A smile gradually appeared on his lips, and then he fell to the ground.
Yuan Handing rushed in and saw that Zhao Xitai was dead. Mu Fulan was standing there. Apart from her pale face and slight trembling, she was safe and sound. He breathed a sigh of relief.
He ordered the soldiers to carry the man away.
Mu Fulan stared blankly at the pool of blood on the ground and whispered, "He has no ill will towards me. He probably came here just to seek death..."
Yuan Handing was startled, hesitated for a moment, and said, "It's my fault for being reckless. I received news tonight that Zhao Xitai might still be alive, or sneaked here for unknown purposes, and asked me to be on guard."
"Who gave you the news?"
"I don't know where it came from. So I didn't believe it at first, but I was afraid that you might not have enough manpower if something happened here, so I rushed over immediately. I didn't expect it to be true..."
Mu Fulan was lost in thought for a moment, then said, "I don't blame you. He sneaked in like this, so you should be on guard."
"Brother, please do me a favor and bury him with honor. This way, I can fulfill the friendship I had with him when I was young."
Yuan Handing agreed and advised her to go and rest.
Mu Fulan stopped him and said, "Brother Yuan, you've come at the right time. I have something else I want to discuss with you."
She had been thinking about this matter for a long time in her mind.
She said, "Brother, I brought my aunt's remains with me this time. When she was dying, her greatest wish was to return to Dongting Lake. The person she never forgot was your adoptive father. I want to bury her and Prime Minister Yuan together. I wonder if you can agree to this, brother?"
Yuan Handing seemed a little surprised at first. He looked at her calm face, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Before my adoptive father died, he told me to bury him on the nameless island deep in Dongting Lake. There is no one there, and there is only his grave. I was puzzled by this. Later, I sorted out his diary and writings. I learned from his few words that when he was young, he accompanied the King of Changsha to worship the lake god. They encountered a storm and drifted to the island. They stopped there to take shelter. Your aunt was also on the boat at that time. I guessed that place might be an unusual place for him."
He looked at Mu Fulan and said word by word: "Why shouldn't I?"
Mu Fulan smiled and said, "Thank you for your help, brother. I will choose an auspicious day and get it done."
…
A few days later, Mu Fulan boarded a large ship and, under the leadership of Yuan Handing, headed for the depths of Dongting Lake. After sailing for a day and a night, the ship finally reached an isolated island and stopped.
The island was not large, and from a distance it looked like a cluster of spires rising from the water, surrounded by jagged rocks. It was dawn when they landed on the island, with morning glow filling the sky and wild geese flying through the clouds. The old tomb of Prime Minister Yuan stood quietly at the highest point in the center of the island, facing the direction of Yuecheng.
Yuan Handing used a hoe to separate the old tomb, and Mu Fulan personally held the jar of incense bones she brought back from Shangjing and buried them.
The attendants had already built a row of tents for living on a flat land nearby. Mu Fulan would stay here for seven days and seven nights, and ask the monks who were traveling with her to recite the precious sutras. Yuan Handing was also going to come with her, but on the next day, a boat was sent from the city with a message that the leader of the Sanmiao had come, and this trip was specifically to visit Yuan Handing. Because of personal friendship, no messenger had been sent to convey the message before. Now the person is almost here, and will arrive in Yuecheng soon. Mu Fulan asked Yuan Handing to go back first, and agreed to pick her up on the last day.
She lived on this isolated island deep in Dongting Lake, and together with the monks, she prayed devoutly day and night for her aunt and her lover whom she would never see again until her death.
It was a late night. The monk had finished reciting the last scripture of the day, and the servants who were accompanying him had gone to sleep. Except for the guards who were on night watch, they were still standing at their respective sentries. The deep lake and the isolated island seemed to be out of the world.
Mu Fulan sat on a rock, looking towards Junshan Mountain.
The night wind from deep within the lake blew in all directions, blowing the corners of her clothes. She sat there, as if in a trance. She didn't even notice when the stars in the night sky disappeared and dark clouds gathered above her head.
The raindrops fell heavier and heavier, wetting her clothes. Water droplets gathered in her hair and on her eyebrows.
The water rolled into her eyes, causing her to feel a little bit of pain.
She blinked and was about to get up, when she suddenly felt as if there were two pairs of eyes looking at her from behind.
It's an extremely mysterious feeling.
This was not the first time she had felt this way in the past few days since landing on the island.
She turned around. Nothing.
Behind him, a dark lake was surging along the rocky shore, blown by the night wind.
Ah Mao came out of the tent, as if he had just been awakened from a dream. He rubbed his eyes and ran towards her, shouting, "It's raining! Be careful not to catch a cold!"