Chapter 59 Listening to the Gravesites: A Thousand Years, Ten Thousand Years, the Praise of Pepper Blossoms.

"So, explain the whole story to me?"

Qin Lan coughed twice before regaining her normal voice: "Yu Guaiguai was kidnapped by human traffickers and almost became someone else's wife. But she met Lin Yi on the way and fell in love with her. Lin Yi sent the criminal gang to prison, and there was a conflict in the process. Now it seems that the human trafficker hates Lin Yi, and by extension, he hates Yu Jintang."

"I see." Jiang Yan nodded. "So what was the play you were just acting out?"

Qin Lan explained Yu Jintang's idea of ​​luring the snake out of its hole.

"I didn't expect Teacher Yu to handle it this way... I thought she would call the police directly, which would be too troublesome."

"But we can ensure the safety of Lu Xi's family. They are facing vicious criminals, so we cannot take any chances."

She thought for a moment and then said, "If Yu Guaiguai doesn't bring up Lin Yi, you shouldn't either."

Jiang Yan nodded: "It seems she has deep feelings for Lin Yi."

“It’s not just because of love, but more of an admiration and a belief.” Qin Lan thought for a moment, her tone somewhat emotional: “Yu Jintang will become a pin, inseparable from that person’s guidance. Actually, she’s quite contradictory. She has a very high sense of morality and many utopian ideas. But she’s also very realistic because she knows that it’s just a world in her dreams. Everything she desires, including peace and friendship, women’s rights, eliminating discrimination, eliminating crime, etc., is mostly impossible to achieve.”

They'd played together since childhood and shared similar values. They had the same ideas as Yu Jintang and would help women within their capabilities, but unlike Lin Yi, they wouldn't make these things their sole purpose in life. In peaceful times, teenagers should be busy enjoying their youth; no one would waste their prime years turning into someone who sacrifices themselves for others.

Jiang Yan said thoughtfully, "Now only Teacher Xiahou doesn't know. She must be very worried. She just carried Teacher Yu to the ambulance."

Xiahou Cheng was indeed extremely anxious, especially after she got into the car and was still clinging to the door talking to Qin Lan and the others. When she turned her head and saw that Yu Jintang had actually sat up, she was immediately terrified.

"He's come back to life!" she screamed, shoving Yu Jintang back down. "Doctor! Nurse! What's wrong with him?!"

“This is asymptomatic.” Yu Jintang sat up again speechlessly. “I’m fine, stop howling. Also, take that hand off my chest…”

Xiahou Cheng: "Quick! Give her a sedative injection! It's probably possession!"

The nurse also took off her mask: "Ms. Yu, your friend has a really... really unique personality... haha..."

Yu Jintang: "I accept your praise on her behalf. Please carry me into the emergency room later, and then into the ward in an hour or two."

"Don't worry, Mr. Yu has arranged everything," the nurse said.

Xiahou Cheng shrank back in the corner in terror: "What kind of vehicle am I on?"

Yu Jintang: "Alright, kid, go play in the mud. Take your hands off me!!"

Xiahou Cheng reluctantly moved her hand away.

News of director Yu Jintang vomiting blood and fainting at the wrap party quickly became a trending topic, only to be overshadowed by the hashtag #MotherInLawAndDaughterInLawCP two hours later. It was said that when Director Yu was carried out, his lips were black, as if he had been poisoned.

It is said that the police have launched an investigation.

Friends put aside their work to come and visit.

Song Man and Yang Xingji arrived in Longcheng one after the other. When they entered the ward, they saw the same group of people eating bananas and apples. Some were lying on the hospital bed, while others were squatting on the windowsill. Some were sitting on the hospital bed, while still others were sitting on the bed. Oh, and there was even one person standing on the bedside table, cosplaying as a Greek statue.

"Am I seeing things?" Song Man squeezed her eyes shut. "Yang'er, can you help me see who's that person squatting on the windowsill eating a banana?"

Yang Xingji said with a complicated expression, "It seems to be the one that got poisoned in the news."

"And who is this person lying in the hospital bed?"

Qin Lan: "Hi."

Jiang Yan sat with her legs crossed next to him, cutting an apple into small pieces. Qin Lan was responsible for opening her mouth and eating it.

Yang Xingji: "Old Qin, are you injured? Why are you lying there?"

Qin Lan: "I'm tired, I'm going to lie down for a while."

“Something dirty has gotten into this room.” Song Man stared straight at Xiahou Cheng, who was standing on the bedside table looking down at her.

"Hello, I'm Xiahou Cheng." Xiahou Cheng smiled wickedly.

"Hello, Song Man," Song Man said quietly.

Yang Xingji's lips trembled: "...Chengzi, you are still so unique."

"I used to always stand out from the crowd, but now I've found another crane." Xiahou Cheng chuckled, pointing at Yu Jintang: "Yangzi, don't you think we're a perfect match?"

Yang Xingji nodded silently: "A perfect match."

Song Man: "I feel like Qin Lan has been mildly infected."

Yang Xingji: "So, can anyone explain to us what's going on between you two?"

Xiahou Cheng: "I'm meditating, it's inconvenient for me."

Jiang Yan: "When you're cutting fruit, you're more likely to cut your hand if you keep talking."

Qin Lan closed her eyes for a short rest: "Whoever is the patient should explain."

Yu Jintang: "OK. This all started a few months ago, a few months ago..."

＊

Seeing that Yu Jintang was alright, Yang Xingji went back, but Song Man, contrary to his usual behavior, stayed for a few days.

Qin Lan could tell that she had something to say, so she waited for her to speak.

The film crew was still shooting, and Qin Lan couldn't stay in the hospital for long, so she returned to the film set with Jiang Yan.

Yu Jintang always had a few backup plans, so Qin Lan and the assistant director immediately stepped in as soon as she was admitted to the hospital. The assistant director took over directing, while Qin Lan handled the daily work of the crew, running around all day and almost dying of exhaustion.

Seeing that she looked normal, the crew members calmed down and continued filming.

Two of the three main actors have already finished filming, leaving only Jiang Yan.

Seeing that everything was ready and the actors were in place, the assistant director shouted, "Okay, get ready to film!"

Qin Lan sat in Yu Jintang's seat, acting as a bully.

Li Longji was determined to eliminate all of Empress Wei's power. Blood flowed all night, and lives were lost both inside and outside the palace.

At dawn, Princess Taiping got up, changed her clothes, and boarded her carriage to enter the palace.

People were filled with anxiety along the way, whispering among themselves and spreading all sorts of rumors.

Princess Taiping sat in the carriage with her eyes closed, resting.

Prince Xiang, Li Dan, also entered the palace at the same time, and the two of them saw Li Longji, who was covered in blood, one after the other.

The moment Taiping saw him, she was startled. Li Dan was even more shocked, having been kept in the dark from the beginning. Li Longji greeted the two men and then comforted his frightened father. The father and son embraced and wept bitterly, but Taiping interrupted them: "Where is Shangguan Wan'er?"

Li Longji slowly released his father, looked at her, and opened his mouth as if to speak.

Taiping's heart sank rapidly.

She staggered among the corpses, sometimes running wildly, sometimes walking slowly, her expression so terrifying that even the guards dared not come forward to help her.

Ignoring the bloodstains, the noble imperial princess lifted her skirt and struggled to reach the commander's flag, staring with bloodshot eyes at the mangled body that had been separated from its head.

The sound of weeping came from outside the palace walls, but no one knew who it was.

Large tears rolled down her cheeks as she trembled and bent down, trying to identify the corpse. But there was no need to identify it; amidst the blood and gore, only her Wan'er exuded fragrance.

Wan'er loved incense, and even her collection of books smelled wonderful. She recognized the fragrance on Wan'er.

Among the severed limbs, there was a beautiful, blood-stained head...

Princess Taiping let out a terrible scream and fainted before she could even touch the corpse.

"Cut!" the assistant director shouted. "Everyone, take a break!"

Qin Lan, covered in dust, got up and wiped her face with the towel Xiao Qing handed her.

Jiang Yan didn't get up, but rolled over on the ground and curled up facing the direction where there were fewer people.

Everyone fell silent, and even passersby lowered their voices; suppressed sobs could be faintly heard.

Her assistant shielded Jiang Yan's face with her body, looking as helpless as a child.

The way Qin Lan walked over was like a savior to her assistant: "You should go and rest first."

The assistant left quickly.

Qin Lan squatted down and patted her back gently, saying, "Okay, okay, it's all over, you're done patting."

Jiang Yan covered her face with her arm, her whole body convulsing.

"How about we go to my RV? I'll try to coax you." Qin Lan's heart softened completely, and she patted her on the shoulder: "I'll carry you on my back, you don't need to show your face."

Jiang Yan still refused to speak. Qin Lan asked Xiao Qing for a mask and put it on her, then picked her up and carried her to the RV. Her expression was so open and oblivious that no one dared to look at them openly; instead, question marks appeared all over their heads.

"They went to the RV again." The second palace maid said solemnly, "This is the twenty-third time Teacher Jiang has gone up to Teacher Qin's RV this month."

The palace maid No. 3 wrote, describing the afterimage of her fingers: "This RV is truly both a house and a vehicle."

Palace Maid #1: "Teacher Qin is so girlfriend-like, he just carried the heartbroken Teacher Jiang away like that."

Palace Maid No. 3: "It feels like Teacher Qin could pick up Teacher Jiang with one hand."

Palace Maid #1: "Look at Teacher Qin's hands, with their veins bulging..."

Palace Maid #2: "I've never seen Teacher Jiang so hard to get out of character, so heartbroken."

Both sides' supporters are still stubbornly insisting: "It's normal for colleagues to help each other out of the drama. This only shows that our Lanlan is especially kind and loving."

After the car door closed, Jiang Yan's suppressed sobs gradually turned into a deafening roar.

Qin Lan initially tried to calm her down, but later simply gave up and let her cry and wail. She herself rarely had moments where she couldn't get out of character and rarely shed tears, so she didn't quite understand Jiang Yan's heart-wrenching crying and could only keep wiping away her tears: "Sigh, I'm still here, aren't I?"

"Look, I'm not dead." She showed Jiang Yan the fake wound on her neck, rubbed it with her thumb, and scraped off a layer of blood: "Fake."

Although she was lying there pretending to be a corpse, the special effects in post-production would separate her head from her body.

"I...I'm mainly saddened by Taiping's passing," Jiang Yan said haltingly. "She...she has lost Wan'er forever."

Qin Lan was moved and remained silent for a moment: "At least we remember them. Whatever the true nature of their relationship in history, their epitaphs prove that they were once very close."

＊

After the Tanglong Coup, Crown Prince Li Chongmao was deposed, and Li Dan ascended the throne as Emperor Ruizong of Tang.

Princess Taiping once again rendered a great service to the emperor, but when everyone wanted to come and celebrate, the princess's residence was closed.

The servants, armed with sticks, rudely drove everyone away.

"I've already said His Highness doesn't receive guests!"

Li Longji came several times, but he never stepped inside. Even the emperor's carriage was stopped at the gate.

The servants dared not be rude, but Li Dan was very humble: "At least let them know that Fourth Brother has come to apologize."

The result of the announcement was summed up in two words: "Disappeared."

"His Highness is in a bad mood," the servants explained cautiously, not daring to offend the emperor.

Li Dan left helplessly, and the next day he tried to make amends by increasing Princess Taiping's fiefdom to ten thousand households.

Never before in history has a princess achieved such great merit, power, and wealth, establishing her own government and residence as a princess, holding a position equivalent to a prince, and being hailed as a protector of the nation!

Li Dan felt he had run out of titles to bestow, so he also granted titles to Princess Taiping's adult sons, and made Princess Taiping participate in politics, consulting her on every major matter. Taiping's power not only surpassed that of the prime minister and the crown prince, but even almost exceeded that of Li Dan himself.

Later, Taiping finally agreed to meet Li Dan and requested a lavish burial for Shangguan Wan'er.

Seeing his sister so heartbroken, Li Dan naturally wouldn't object and actively tried to exonerate Shangguan Wan'er, effectively slapping Li Longji in the face.

Princess Taiping personally kept vigil over the coffin. On the day of the burial, white paper filled the sky like snowflakes, and all the paper burned contained the same sentence.

"May the emperor accompany the emperor year after year, and may peace and prosperity last forever."

She knelt before the grave, sobbing uncontrollably, "It's all my fault..."

The Xiang River has run dry, and the Wanwei Mountains have collapsed.

Pearls sink and break, jade shatters and pieces are lost.

I gazed upon the pines and cypresses, and listened quietly to the sounds of the graves.

May the pepper blossoms sing praises for a thousand years to come.

She buried Shangguan Wan'er in her family cemetery and wrote a deeply emotional epitaph for her.

He then requested Li Dan to collect Wan'er's poems. By the time of Li Longji, the collection was completed, and the famous prime minister Zhang Yue wrote a preface for it.

“Even the best preface can’t compare to the lyrics that Taiping wrote for her.” Jiang Yan said softly: “Gazing at the pines and cypresses, listening quietly to the tomb.”

Qin Lan said, "I thought you would prefer 'Long live the emperor, may pepper flowers sing praises'."

Jiang Yan gazed into the distance, lost in thought: "Because when I knelt before the tombstone, this sentence was all I could think of."

Qin Lan remained silent for a moment, then patted her shoulder reassuringly: "Let's go pick up Yu Guaiguai from the hospital."

Number 4750 was imprisoned again for suspected murder and kidnapping. As for Lü Xi, Yu Jintang kept the fact that she poisoned Xiahou Cheng a secret from the police.

Lu Xi thanked her with embarrassment, but Yu Jintang didn't even look at her: "Turn around ninety degrees, your benefactor is over there."

Xiahou Cheng waved to her: "Hey little brat, I'm here to protect you."

Feeling ashamed and embarrassed, Lu Xi whispered a thank you and left.

Why not expose her?

Yu Jintang lay on the bed with her hands behind her head, chewing a piece of gum.

Xiahou Cheng started blowing bubbles: "Didn't Teacher Tangtang also choose to give her another chance?"

“That’s because you didn’t actually get into trouble.” Yu Jintang lazily crossed her legs. “She was also coerced. I’m a bit magnanimous but also a bit vengeful. Going to jail would be too harsh an outcome, but she’s lost her eligibility for a guaranteed admission.”

"Teacher Tangtang cares about me?" Xiahou Cheng's eyes lit up. "If something really happens to me, will Teacher Tangtang be worried?"

“Yes.” Yu Jintang replied without hesitation: “Putting everything else aside, you’re still on set, so I have to take responsibility.”

"Then let's talk about something else," Xiahou Cheng said hastily.

“I’m nervous about personal matters too.” Yu Jintang didn’t hesitate at all: “As a friend…”

"What kind of friend?" Xiahou Cheng didn't give her a second to process the question.

"Friends who are still in the ambiguous stage." Yu Jintang answered crisply: "The kind that's different from ordinary friends."

The two stared at each other, neither speaking. One sat on the windowsill, the other lay on the bed with his legs crossed. Finally, someone at the door couldn't bear it any longer and asked, "Is that all?"

Jiang Yan also said, "Teacher Xiahou, your performance has greatly disappointed me."

Qin Lan walked in: "What are you standing there for? Let's press our advantage!"

Xiahou Cheng raised an eyebrow but remained silent.

"Don't try to charm me," Qin Lan said coldly. "Is the one who got poisoned feeling any better? I'm not asking about your health, I'm mainly asking about your brain."

Yu Jintang pointed at Qin Lan and asked Jiang Yan, "Is this how she always talks? Aren't you going to do anything about it?"

"Why should we care?" Jiang Yan asked, looking surprised. "She's so cute."

Yu Jintang almost fainted.

Qin Lan: "What time will you be discharged from the hospital?"

"Let's go now." Yu Jintang jumped out of bed. "I'm so weak from lying in bed, I really want to throw myself into my work!"

"I'm just bored." Qin Lan walked out. "I'm going to see a doctor and have them arrange some brain treatment for you."

Jiang Yan: "I support it."

"Don't ruin my one and only Teacher Tangtang's condition," Xiahou Cheng said. "If she becomes normal, who am I going to date?"

Qin Lan walked away speechlessly, only to bump into Song Man.

The man, looking preoccupied, pulled her outside, stopping only when they reached the fire escape. "I need your help," he said.

"Speak." Qin Lan raised her chin.

"Could you ask Yun Chui to come back?" Song Man's expression was conflicted.

"I...I want to see her."

Qin Lan was truly surprised this time. She had expected Song Man to mention Yun Chui, but she didn't expect him to back down so easily.

"Seriously, Song Man, you're actually giving in?"

Song Man looked to the side and said, "It's all your fault for keeping it from me. When I heard that Sister Yu was hospitalized, I felt very anxious. I thought that if something happened to Yun Chui, I wouldn't be able to stay calm."

She said softly, "I hated her for three years, but I also miss her very much."

Song Man waited three years for Yun Chui to come and coax her, but he never came. She had originally planned to remain proud, but she found herself withering away in her lonely years.

The most important thing in Song Man's life was dancing. Before, with Yun Chui around, it felt noble and joyful. Later, Yun Chui left, taking her joy with him. Now, when she dances, she unconsciously thinks of the arms that held her waist, and when she stands on the high podium raising the trophy, she always feels that there should be someone else by her side.

She still loves dancing passionately, but she is becoming increasingly lonely.

So Song Man, who had never yielded in her life, learned to bow her head this time.

Qin Lan patted her hair: "We all want you two to make up more than anyone else."

On her way home from the hospital, she kept thinking about how to resolve the situation.

She racked her brains to no avail, so she consulted with Yu Jintang: "Song Man wants to see Yun Chui, do you have any good ideas?"

Yu Jintang: "As far as I know, Yun Chui doesn't even come back for the New Year."

Qin Lan was even more worried: "What should we do then?"

The way they became such bitter enemies back then, it was truly frustrating...

She suddenly remembered Jiang Yan: "You and Yun Chui have a good relationship, isn't there any way to get her to meet Song Man?"

Jiang Yan let out a soft "Ah," and remained silent for a long time, seemingly lost in thought.

Yu Jintang said with great interest, "I do have a plan that can both allow the two of them to meet and quickly warm up their relationship in a short period of time, but I don't know how to trick Yun Chui into agreeing."

After listening to her idea, Jiang Yan remained silent for a long time before saying something surprising: "I should be able to persuade Yun Chui, but you need to prepare the rest."

"Wow! That's great!" Yu Jintang exclaimed excitedly, "You're like the omnipotent Genie lamp!"

The carriage was quiet for about five minutes when Yu Jintang suddenly jumped up.

Ignoring the large bump on her head, she frantically shook Qin Lan: "Give me the iPad! I've come up with a really, really great idea! Hurry! There's no time to lose, let me write it down! No! Don't let it slip away!"

Qin Lan said to the driver, "Turn around and go back to the hospital, quick. We can't delay treating a brain disease."

Jiang Yan: "This time I really support you."