Chapter 71

Yuan Heng turned around quickly and moved his lips: "Xiao..."

Xiao Ziyu stood there, but in just a few seconds, the surprise on his face faded away, and turned as cold as frost and snow: "It seems that I came at an untimely time."

The mooncake he made by himself was broken into pieces on the ground, but he was in no mood to clean it up. He tried his best to stay calm and endured it before rushing up to confront Yuan Heng.

He didn't dare to hear Yuan Heng's answer and turned around to escape.

Yuan Heng caught up with him in two or three steps, and Xiao Ziyu said sternly: "Don't come over here!"

Yuan Heng grabbed his wrist, his hoarse voice mixed with shock and anger: "If I don't come over, am I going to watch you leave?"

Xiao Ziyu suddenly shook him off and used his lightness skills to fly directly to the back mountain.

Yuan Heng followed closely behind. Two shadows, one white and one black, passed across the sky and were blurred by the twilight.

The full moon on the 15th is round and huge, yellow with a reddish hue, and it rises in the evening. The pilgrims began to go down the mountain in groups and go home to spend the reunion night.

Xiao Ziyu stopped on a thick tree trunk, panting. His whole body was shaking slightly and his hands and feet were numb. Yuan Heng landed steadily on the other side and approached him: "Nanzhu."

Hearing this name, Xiao Ziyu's pupils trembled. He was forced closer and his voice was cold: "Who are you?"

"No matter who I am, my feelings for you will not change." Yuan Heng held his wrist again, not daring to use force, as if he was holding a beam of light.

Xiao Ziyu struggled: "Let me go!"

The tree trunk was hanging high off the ground, and it was unstable. Yuan Heng was afraid of danger from pulling it, so he was unwilling to let go: "Zi Yu, listen to me..."

Pop.

Xiao Ziyu swung out his free left hand, hitting Yuan Heng's head to the side.

Xiao Ziyu had little strength left from his Qing Kung Fu attack, and his hands were still shaking from shock. The slap was not very powerful, but it was extremely loud. He was also stunned, and the surroundings instantly became quiet.

After a while, Yuan Heng turned around and saw the panic and trembling in the man's eyes. He asked in a low voice: "Did you vent your anger?"

Seeing that Xiao Ziyu did not struggle, he stepped forward and grabbed his waist, and the two of them flew to the top of the tree.

The view suddenly widens, the spire of Qingyun Temple is hidden in the twilight, and at sunset, a full moon hangs high in the sky.

Yuan Heng helped him sit down. He had not expected this situation to happen. He said frankly, "I really haven't lost my memory."

Xiao Ziyu didn't know whether to be angry or confused. He clenched his fists and placed them on his knees: "Why didn't you tell me?"

Without waiting for Yuan Heng to answer, he asked a series of questions: "When did you recover your memory? How long have you been hiding it? Did you recognize me when we first met in the bar?"

Yuan Heng showed rare patience. He covered Xiao Ziyu's fists with his big hands and answered the first question first: "Because I have done many wrong things."

Xiao Ziyu opened his eyes wide in confusion, but he couldn't control the tears accumulating in his eye sockets, which finally fell down and landed between their clasped palms.

Under the moonlight, all secrets were exposed. Yuan Heng confessed, "I recovered my memory when I was very young."

It started with some fragmented dreams. He always dreamed that he was killing people, slaughtering people, and repeatedly losing precious things. No one around him treated him sincerely, and the helplessness and fear of being abandoned always plagued this young child who had not yet been enlightened.

He became deep-minded and kept mumbling to himself. No one believed what he said and everyone thought he was a little lunatic. Yuan Qi'an asked someone to tell his fortune, but the fortune tellers were very secretive and only said that the child had a hard life and would bring bad luck to his relatives.

Xiao Ziyu's eyes trembled slightly, and deeper in his heart he couldn't bear it: "Did your father believe it?"

"Yuan Qi'an made his fortune in real estate and believed in Feng Shui," Yuan Heng said, "After that, he paid little attention to me, including my mother."

Mrs. Yuan suffered from mild depression after giving birth. Her child was not like an ordinary child, and her husband was sarcastic and mocking. She died within a few years under the heavy blows.

Yuan Heng folded his fingers together and said, "Then, Yuan Qi'an married Xue Jinling."

Xue Jinling has a sweet and innocent personality. She doesn't care about business matters and focuses on taking care of the household chores. She is also good-looking and won't lose face if you take her out.

She clung to the Yuan family like a dodder, cared for Yuan Heng as much as her own children, and fulfilled her duties as a stepmother.

Xiao Ziyu suddenly remembered something: "Then Yuan Ye..."

"Yuan Ye has not shown any signs of recovering his memory," Yuan Heng said, "I have brought him with me since he was a child, and I have not observed anything unusual about him."

Xiao Ziyu lowered his eyes, his voice was very soft, but every word was very clear, he asked: "As the Crown Prince of Liang, why didn't you ascend the throne in your previous life?"

"Why is the new emperor Yuan Ye?"

Yuan Heng was stunned: "How do you know..."

"Why, if I don't know, how long are you going to keep it secret from me?" Xiao Ziyu turned his head, his pale skin looked like jade under the moonlight, and his eyes questioned.

Yuan Heng stood up from the tree trunk and stretched out his hand to him: "Let's go..."

Xiao Ziyu's expression remained unchanged: "What?"

Yuan Heng sighed: "Take you to see Du Gui."

Leaving Qingyun Temple and walking about 500 meters towards the back mountain is the abbot's separate courtyard.

Compared with the disciples' rooms filled with smoke, Dugui's yard looked much more ordinary, with flat tiles and low walls. Apart from a few washed monk robes hanging out to dry in the yard, there was almost nothing related to Zen.

Dugui seemed to have anticipated their arrival and had poured tea in advance. There were three tea bowls in front of him, and the temperature was neither too hot nor too cold.

After sitting down, Du Gui first served tea to Wang Jun: "Mr. Xiao, I heard from Hua Zhen that you have been here once before."

Xiao Ziyu said calmly, "I didn't see you at the end of July."

Yuan Heng's expression changed slightly. He calculated the time and found out that it was the day when Xiao Ziyu went out alone and was tanned like a tomato.

Dugui blew on the tea slowly and said, "Everything is predetermined. There is no need to glare at me, Mr. Yuan. I didn't tell you because Qingyun Temple has the obligation to protect the privacy of pilgrims."

"In a society ruled by law, it is difficult to be a monk."

Xiao Ziyu had no intention of sipping his tea. His fingers pinched the edge of the tea bowl, his knuckles turning slightly white. "What happened back then?"

Du Gui did not answer in a hurry, but said: "Mr. Xiao must know Lan Hua Gai."

Xiao Ziyu paused. The orchid cover was a kind of heart-drilling poison. This was the kind that the King of Shu had given him back then. The poisonous insects roam in the blood and need to suck special orchid nectar every month, otherwise they will penetrate deep into the heart veins. When they attack, it will feel like being bitten by thousands of ants, causing excruciating pain.

Du Gui continued, "As far as I know, the nectar that the orchid needs to absorb is extremely rare. The orchid must be cultivated using a specific secret method. It blooms once every three years, and the nectar needs to be refined immediately after it is collected. This technology can only be mastered by the great witch of the Shu royal family."

Xiao Ziyu raised his voice slightly: "Master Dugui, what do you mean by this?"

The latter said slowly: "In addition to nectar, there is another way to inhibit the activity of the orchid cap and make it enter a dormant state."

Xiao Ziyu's heart sank, thinking back to his previous life when he was under house arrest and Yuan Heng would regularly make him take a special kind of pill, which was bitter, sweet and fishy, ​​and very large in size, requiring chewing before swallowing.

As if the truth was about to be revealed, Xiao Ziyu's voice trembled: "What is that?"

"Centipede legs, venomous snake molts, golden cicada wings, bat saliva... More importantly, there must be a medicinal ingredient," Du Gui said, "and that is the emperor's heart blood."

Yuan Heng was born with the soul of a dragon. Even though he was just an ordinary prince, he still had the blood of an emperor.

The air suddenly became quiet. After a long while, Xiao Ziyu finally found his voice. He looked at Yuan Heng and said, "You gave me food..."

“To be honest, that life-saving elixir was developed by me in my previous life.” Dugui said slowly.

Xiao Ziyu stared at him intently: "How do we get this blood?"

"Don't ask anymore," Yuan Heng put his hand on his shoulder, his touch was stiff, "Nanzhu, you are too nervous."

Xiao Ziyu didn't look at it, and repeated as if possessed by a demon: "How do I get it?"

"I have a special blood-drawing knife," Dugui dipped some tea and sketched on the table, "The handle is half a foot long. When drawing blood, it goes one inch into the flesh. Insert it into the ventricle and you can draw blood."

The water stains evaporated quickly, and the hideous marks on the blade gradually faded away, but Xiao Ziyu still saw that terrifying outline in front of his eyes. He was in a daze, as if he couldn't digest anything. He thought Yuan Heng used medicine to keep him alive in order to torture him, but he didn't expect that the medicine came from this source.

Yuan Heng sighed. If he had known this would be the result, he would have brought the person closer to him and said jokingly, "I have imprisoned you for three years and shed my heart's blood for you for three years. Does that count as a compensation for my demerits?"

Xiao Ziyu pushed him away, and some of the things that were not connected before and after became clear. He turned to Du Gui: "Yuan Heng's headache..."

"It is because of the blood from the heart," Du Gui explained. "Using blood to control the poisonous insect is like the soul-chopping, causing a defect in the soul that will never be eliminated in the next life, unless..."

"Unless what?" Xiao Ziyu asked.

“Unless your yin and yang are compatible with the person taking the medicine and your skin touches it, the symptoms can be relieved a little.” Dugui said.

Xiao Ziyu thought about how when Yuan Heng had a headache, all the imperial doctors were helpless, but he was always able to calm him down. It was not because of his superb massage skills, but because he had Yuan Heng’s heart blood in his body.

"The pills can suppress the poisonous insect, but they cannot completely remove it. The person who is poisoned will still be affected by it," Du Gui continued, "The only way to solve it is to find the person who poisoned the insect."

When Yuan Heng attacked Shu, he only attacked the royal family but did not harm the common people. It turned out that it was because... Xiao Ziyu almost crushed the teacup. He was so angry that he could not vent it. His internal organs were burning: "Yuan Heng, why didn't you tell me at that time?"

Yuan Heng said in a deep voice: "Given the situation at that time, would you believe me?"

Not only will they not believe it, they will also risk their lives to stop it. The five years that they spent together were true, and the three years that they became enemies were also true. Even Yuan Heng couldn't tell whether he used his own blood to save Xiao Ziyu out of hatred or for other reasons.

Xiao Ziyu maintained his shaky defense and said coldly: "Emperors and generals are so foolish in doing things."

"As long as you had any affection for me back then, it's not a pity to die." Yuan Heng leaned close to him, the light in his dark pupils clearly visible: "Do you dare to say you didn't?"

Xiao Ziyu's heart was shaken, his friendship with Yuan Heng in his previous life had been the source of his guilt, like a scar that had been hidden for years, now rotten and in tatters, now revealed in front of people. He couldn't control the bitterness in his heart, tears welled up, and his lips moved but he couldn't utter a word.

Yuan Heng hardened his heart and stopped letting him escape: "If not, you wouldn't have sacrificed yourself to fend off the assassin for me, wouldn't have deflected the sword, and wouldn't have comforted me every time I had a headache... You dare to say that you only want to sing "Moon over the Long Bridge" in this life, and where did the lingering love in the last four folds come from?"

Yuan Heng wiped away his tears, his palms scratching his thin face, and his voice seemed to be filled with blood: "Does liking me make you so uncomfortable?"

Xiao Ziyu completely collapsed: "But I feel guilty!"

"Xiao Jinchuan is fine now. He probably told you that I didn't make things difficult for them in my previous life," Yuan Heng stroked his long hair. "None of this is caused by you. The person who really made the mistake paid the price a thousand years ago."

"The King of Shu and the Great Witch were fortunate enough to become my drug test puppets. It took more than 500 days before I let them reincarnate," Dugui said, shaking his head. "Amitabha, the Buddha blames me."

Xiao Ziyu was dazed and stunned, with Yuan Heng holding his cheek, like a crystal and fragile glass statue.

"I've said before that having too high a moral sense is not a good thing," Yuan Heng looked at him, "I don't want you to feel guilty, blame yourself, fall into a vicious circle, and hide it because it's just my wishful thinking."

"Now you know, don't doubt yourself. It's okay if you don't want to admit something. Let's start over in this life."

Xiao Ziyu's cheeks were covered with tears, but he was not sad, but more of a sense of relief. Everything he had been struggling with, worried about, and had not had the time to speak about, all became insignificant.

"There's nothing wrong with admitting this," Xiao Ziyu also confessed, "Whether in the past life or this life, my feelings for you are true."

The hand that was on the cheek slid down to the shoulder, and he held the person tightly in his arms. Yuan Heng closed his eyes, his eyes were red, and his big hand held Xiao Ziyu's back, firmly and powerfully.

His long hair was held down by someone, causing his scalp to hurt. Xiao Ziyu leaned on Yuan Heng's chest, feeling the solidity of its broad, hard, warm chest.

After a long time, until the exhaled air became warm and humid, Yuan Heng finally let her go. The tip of her nose and the corners of her eyes were all red. When had this person ever cried like this? He whispered, "Are you scared?"

Xiao Ziyu shook his head, not forgetting to be angry: "You shouldn't have lied to me."

"I've already beaten you and asked you questions," Yuan Heng said, "Don't be angry with yourself, okay?"

Xiao Ziyu asked: "Does it hurt?"

Yuan Heng was stunned and asked, "What?"

"hand."

"You have the strength of a little rabbit," Yuan Heng grabbed his fingers and squeezed them, "but you gave me a fright."

"I'm sorry," Xiao Ziyu apologized solemnly, "I was impulsive."

"Then I should be the one to apologize," Yuan Heng lowered his head and touched his forehead to his, "If we really want to trace the root of the problem, there are still two lifetimes of messy accounts. Should we prioritize each one?"

They had been inseparable for a long time, and as a compensation, Xiao Ziyu raised his head and kissed Yuan Heng's cheek.