Glimpse into the past

Little Green snakes coiled around the doorway, while Little Little Green nestled naturally in the middle of its mother's thick tail, mirroring the posture of the mother and daughter inside the house.

Nestled in Jiang Li's arms, Sui Zhixu's cheeks flushed slightly as she protested softly, "I'm not a child anymore."

"You're still a child who hasn't grown up."

If you calculate her age, she was twenty-two in her previous life, and she'll be twenty in this life too, even though she always felt she was still young.

"Alright, even if I'm in my forties or fifties, I'm still Ah Niang's son."

Jiang Li hugged her. "Of course."

"I'm sorry." Sui Zhixu's fingertips landed on Jiang Li's shoulder. "Did you get a scar?"

She reached out to pull off Jiang Li's clothes, and the pale pink scars were clearly visible in her eyes.

"Are the doctors in the Prince's mansion really that useless?"

Jiang Li pondered for a moment, "It is quite useless."

Sui Zhixu hugged her tightly, looking sullen. "I lost my memory after waking up at the frozen lake. I thought you and Sima Xian were in cahoots. I didn't mean to hurt you. It's all Sima Xian's fault."

"Amnesia!" Jiang Li sat up abruptly, supporting Sui Zhixu, her voice tense. "What ice lake? How could you have amnesia?"

"Let me tell you slowly." Sui Zhixu briefly described what had happened, her fingers twisting together.

After a long while, Sui Zhixu looked up and met her worried eyes, and smiled, "I'm fine."

"But why haven't you regained your memories from those three years?" Jiang Li gently stroked her long hair. "I've been in seclusion for too long..."

I've grown so much that I've missed out on so much of you.

"It might need a catalyst." Sui Zhixu nestled in Jiang Li's arms, thinking about some things, and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"No wonder I thought of Ah Niang first."

Jiang Li smiled and said, "Of course, I'm the most important person to you."

"Mmm." Only three people knew about her amnesia: Ah Niang, her father, and her mother.

She didn't tell Xiao Furong, but told her father that it was because of a dispute with Sima Xian that she had no other choice.

I told Ah Niang because Ah Niang needs to be coaxed.

As for Xiao Furong, she secretly didn't want to tell him that she had initially approached him with the intention of deceiving him.

Thinking of this, Sui Zhixu nudged Jiang Li and asked her, "Good A-Nian, please don't make things difficult for Zi Rong, okay?"

Jiang Li pouted, "When did I make things difficult for him?"

"Don't even try. I can tell what you're up to with just one look."

Jiang Li turned over angrily, "I didn't."

Are you angry?

Sui Zhixu reached out and tried to pry her body apart, "A-Nian? A-Nian?"

"Jiang Li!"

Jiang Li: "Hmph, why did you call me?"

Sui Zhixu sat up and chuckled, her long, smooth hair cascading down her back. "It's someone who's been sulking all by themselves."

"snort."

She hugged her legs and said softly, "This marriage was arranged by him. At first, I really didn't like it. I didn't want to meet him, much less get married. I wanted you to bring me back, but you were in seclusion. I could only follow his wishes and marry Zirong. As Sima Xian said, the Fan family has simple relationships. Madam Fan doesn't care about worldly affairs and focuses on Buddhism. Fan Lingzhang is enthusiastic, outgoing, and generous. Although he comes from a merchant family, the Prince's Mansion has an awkward position. It's still a good marriage."

"Pah! He's more cunning than a hornet's nest. He clearly wants to use your marriage to make a deal and get money from the Fan family."

Jiang Li sat up in anger. When Sui Zhixu saw her speak, he teased, "So you're finally willing to talk?"

A smile tugged at the corners of her lips, her voice calm, "Actually, I know, I'm not so ignorant as to not know this. But I thought it was what I should do back then. If it weren't for him, I'd probably still be stuck in the Lu family's closed courtyard."

“He did more for me and Zirong. We’re not plants or trees, how could we be without feelings? Perhaps it wasn’t deep love, but I was willing to stay there, and I wanted to tell you that. But things are unpredictable. Thirteen Niang and the others passed away one after another. I was seriously ill and couldn’t wait for you. I always said hurtful things to him. I’m sorry for that. He was bewitched. I chose myself over him, and he chose me too… I betrayed his feelings.”

Jiang Li put her arm around her shoulder and patted it gently, "It's his honor that you chose him. Our Aling is so good, everyone will like you."

“Men are unreliable. Ah Niang is just worried about you. What if he betrays you one day?”

“I will kill him with my own hands, or at worst I will still have Ah Niang. If he betrays me, then he is no longer the little hibiscus I love. If it is not him, I will deal with him myself.”

Sui Zhi leaned quietly on her shoulder and murmured, "If only everything in life could be like it was before."

She closed her eyes, and Jiang Li's gentle voice rang in her ears, just like countless nights from her childhood.

"It will be alright, Ah Niang will not leave you."

At worst, she could simply ignore that damned Fan Lingzhang; if she couldn't see him, she could suppress her murderous intent.

Sui Zhixu nuzzled against Jiang Li, a sly glint in her eyes. "You've made up, hehe."

Ah-niang smells fragrant, like the peach blossom tree at the entrance.

The fragrant scent enveloped her, so Sui Zhixu didn't need to worry about anything, didn't need to be afraid of someone suddenly breaking in at night, and didn't need to worry about not being able to see the sun tomorrow.

She gradually drifted off to sleep, but her dreams were far from peaceful.

Sui He and Jiang Li pulled her from either side, their questioning voices echoing in her ears, "Who do you like best as your mother?"

I like them all.

"No, you can only choose one!"

...

"No! No, you can only choose one."

...

You can only choose one!

"Stop! Don't shout anymore. Why can't I have two mothers at the same time?" Sui Zhixu reached out to stop them.

“A-Nian is highly skilled in martial arts, and Mother is a brilliant strategist. Wouldn’t one being a scholar and the other a warrior be better able to protect me? And if I complain, I’ll have another way to resolve the issue.” Sui Zhixu covered her mouth after saying this. How could she have blurted out her true feelings?

"Although I don't like Ah Niang's bugs at all, when I was little I wished I could use them all as fertilizer for my flowers, but I didn't dare. I would never admit that I'm actually very afraid of them..."

"???" Sui Zhixu's body suddenly froze. What exactly did she just say?

The next second, she spoke again, "Mother, can you please do something about Fu Mingguang? Stop this endless cycle of disappearing without a trace. She's always investigating me, but is she investigating me? She's clearly investigating you! Enough is enough..."

Sui Zhixu frowned. What did she say? What was she just doing?

The next moment, she suddenly found herself in the mountains and forests, shaded by greenery, quiet and serene, with the faint sound of bells coming from a mountain temple.

She climbed the mountain steps one by one, but the temple was deserted. For some reason, a voice in her heart urged her to continue down.

She turned and walked into the temple's backyard, where her beloved sat in a chair with his back to her under a tree adorned with red ribbons in the distance.

"Why are you here, young master?"

As Xu approached, he realized that the person beneath him was not a chair, but a wheelchair.

She couldn't quite make out his face, but she felt like she'd seen him somewhere before.

"So it was Young Master Sui."

Sui Zhixu frowned slightly and asked tentatively, "When did you first see me, sir?"

"You probably haven't met me, but I'll always know about you. May I ask that you allow me to briefly introduce myself? I'm from Chang'an, my surname is Zhou, and my given name is Changyuan. I used to have some minor success in the court, and they all called me General Weiyuan."

Sui Zhixu took a few steps back, her eyelids trembling slightly. General Weiyuan, Zhou Changyuan, the elder brother of Consort Zhou—hadn't he passed away decades ago?

He chuckled, his voice gentle and soothing, "Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you."

Su Zhixu's thoughts were in disarray, and everyone and everything seemed like a tangled mess of threads, with no beginning or end in sight.

"May I ask, senior, how do you recognize me?"

Is it because she got older and started having supernatural or ghostly encounters?

"Of course we recognize each other in this life."

His gaze was filled with compassion, and his eyes held a strange sense of longing and closeness.

As far as Xu knew, Zhou Changyuan had passed away long ago, not long after Consort Zhou's death. Soon after, Zhou Changyuan's wife, Lady Chu, committed suicide out of love, and the Zhou family was deserted overnight, leaving the Emperor deeply grieved.

"What do you mean? What do you mean by 'this life'?"

Zhou Changyuan shook his head without answering, and pushed the wheelchair to make way for her.

"You should see for yourself rather than me telling you these things."

As Xu clenched his fist, the scene before him shifted. Behind Zhou Changyuan was no longer the large tree with red ribbons hanging from the gate, but instead a pipe leading to the gate of Chang'an.

It was a dream.

As Xu learned some Taoist teachings from Yueling, he realized that dreams are not without reason, especially when they involve General Weiyuan, Zhou Changyuan, who had passed away many years ago.

She turned and glanced at Zhou Changyuan. He smiled faintly, his eyes gentle beneath his sharp brows. She had heard of him from Chu Feixuan; he was beautiful, a sibling of Consort Zhou, and the two siblings had a deep bond. When the Zhou family fell on hard times, Zhou Changyuan was initially rejected by the military camp because of his appearance.

It was because Zhou Jing became a concubine of the Prince of Huai that he was promoted to the battlefield by the emperor at that time. On the battlefield, he always wore a ferocious mask, for fear that his appearance would not be able to intimidate the enemy.

He broke through enemy lines one after another and recovered lost territory from the previous dynasty. After the emperor ascended the throne, he was appointed as General Weiyuan. Unfortunately, his good fortune did not last long. He was framed by his colleagues on the battlefield less than two years later. He fell off his horse in a critical moment and lost both legs.

Sui Zhixu looked at the Chang'an city gate not far away. It was just a dream, so why should she leave?

She followed the crowd into Chang'an City, and when she arrived at the Prime Minister's residence, she looked up and saw that the plaque above her head read "Sui Residence".

Su Zhixu felt a chill run down his spine. The plaque of the Sui residence meant that this was at least before his father became prime minister.

She entered the Sui residence, but no one who passed by noticed her.

Sui Zhixu couldn't help but wonder, was she still a ghost in the dream?

When she went inside, she realized that the time was when she was just born.

She stood outside Sui He's delivery room, watching Cong Lan's unsteady body nearly faint.

Watching him panic and cry after Sui He gave birth, which made Sui He scold him, she touched the tip of her nose. It was such a scene back then, but this time, her period hadn't started.

Her full moon, her first birthday, and her monthly milestones hadn't arrived, and Sui Zhixu realized that something was really wrong.

The "life" that Zhou Changyuan spoke of was actually the one in which she was merely a follower of Zhixu.

Shock flashed in her eyes. She turned and ran to the Xuanping Prince's residence, but sure enough, she couldn't find her. As Lu Kou, she was born four years earlier than Sui Zhixu, so she should be at the Prince's residence at this time.

According to the lunar calendar, Sui Zhixu and Lu Kou's souls were separated into two. She had always wondered why the two halves of the soul could grow into adults separately and then merge into one at the age of eighteen.

It turns out she had a past life.