Chapter 103 The Truth! She bore the infamy of betraying her clan, all to protect your lifelong peace!
Bai Jinghong personally stepped forward and extended his hand, marked by the passage of time, to help Su Wanqing up.
In those eyes that had witnessed nearly a century of vicissitudes, all scrutiny and majesty had faded, leaving only an irrepressible excitement and satisfaction.
"Good boy, good boy!"
He said "good" twice, his voice trembling uncontrollably.
"You not only passed the test, but you are also a hero of the Bai family. It is our Bai family that has wronged you."
As soon as he finished speaking, the heavy stone doors of the Trial Hall opened to both sides with a loud "boom".
Golden sunlight, mixed with fresh air, surged in like a tidal wave.
Lu Zhanting's tall and imposing figure stood against the light, appearing at the doorway immediately.
His gaze pierced through the crowd like a sharp sword, past the elders with their varied expressions, and fixed firmly on Su Wanqing in the center of the hall.
Once he confirmed that she was safe and sound, though her eyes were red, his heart, which had been pounding in his chest, finally returned to its normal state.
The man strode over with his long legs.
He ignored everyone else, walked straight to Su Wanqing, and grabbed her hand.
Her fingertips were icy cold.
Lu Zhanting rubbed her hard with his rough fingertips, trying to transfer all his body heat and strength to her.
The Bai family members looked at the man who had appeared out of nowhere, whose domineering aura was suffocating, with mixed expressions.
The chilling aura emanating from him, forged in iron and blood, clashed sharply with the refined and otherworldly atmosphere of the Bai family.
But when he looked at Su Wanqing, the focus and gentleness with which he saw only her in the whole world made it impossible for anyone to feel any aversion.
Especially Bai Zhi, when she looked at Lu Zhanting's appearance and recalled the heart palpitation she felt when his gaze swept over her, the jealousy and resentment in her heart quietly faded away.
"Child, come with me."
Bai Jinghong didn't care about Lu Zhanting's "rudeness" at all; on the contrary, he showed a hint of appreciation for Lu's completely protective attitude.
He turned around, his dragon-headed cane tapping on the bluestone slabs, and personally led the way.
"It's time to return some things to their rightful owners."
Su Wanqing grasped Lu Zhanting's broad hand, interlocked their fingers, and followed him.
Bai Qishan and several other elders exchanged glances and silently followed behind. They were going to witness a secret that had been sealed away for nearly thirty years.
The group passed through the main hall, but instead of heading to any pavilions or towers, they went around to an extremely secluded corner of the back mountain.
This place is almost completely submerged by ancient trees and vines with intertwined roots.
Bai Jinghong stood before a stone wall covered in moss, stretched out his withered hand, and pressed down on several seemingly ordinary protrusions on the stone wall in a mysterious order.
"Buzz—"
The stone wall emitted a low tremor.
The once seamless wall suddenly cracked open in the middle and slowly receded to both sides.
A deep, narrow passage, barely wide enough for one person to pass through, appeared before them.
A rich, almost overwhelming medicinal fragrance, mixed with a refreshing spiritual energy, wafted towards us.
The vitality contained within this aura caused the space within Su Wanqing's body to resonate with joy.
"This is where your mother used to live in seclusion, 'Wanyun Xiaozhu'."
Bai Jinghong's voice was tinged with nostalgia and sadness.
"After she left, I sealed this place off, and no one but me can enter. Everything here is exactly as it was when she left."
Mother……
Su Wanqing's heart was gripped tightly by those two words.
She released Lu Zhanting's hand, as if drawn by an invisible force, and stepped into the deep passage.
Lu Zhanting's eyes were deep as he followed closely behind, shielding her from all sight from behind.
The passage was short, but the view suddenly opened up at the end.
This is a small, independent courtyard shrouded in an invisible array.
The courtyard is only about an acre in size, yet it encapsulates the essence of all four seasons.
In the center stands a huge crabapple tree, which, despite not being in bloom, is covered in layers upon layers of blossoms. Pink and white petals drift down in the wind, like a dream one does not wish to wake from.
Beneath the tree lies a clear pool, shrouded in mist, a small, enchanting spring.
In the corner, various rare medicinal herbs, which are priceless in the outside world, are well cared for and grow wildly.
At the end of the courtyard stands a small two-story bamboo house, quietly nestled under the dense shade of a crabapple tree.
Time seems to stand still here.
Su Wanqing stood in the courtyard, breathing in the air that shared the same source as the spiritual spring in her own space, and her eyes instantly welled up with tears.
She could clearly feel that every blade of grass and every tree here was imbued with her mother's presence.
It was a gentle yet powerful feeling, yet it also carried a deep sense of loneliness.
She pushed open the slightly ajar door of the bamboo house.
With a creak, it seemed as if the dusty years had been pushed open.
The first floor is a study, with bookshelves on all four walls reaching to the ceiling, densely packed with thread-bound ancient books and handwritten notes.
On an antique desk, the writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone are neatly arranged, as if the owner had just left.
Su Wanqing's gaze was firmly drawn to a sandalwood box on the desk.
She walked over and opened the box with trembling fingertips.
There were no jewelry secrets inside, only a thick stack of yellowed manuscripts and a small item wrapped in a brocade handkerchief.
She picked up the stack of manuscripts.
The top sheet of paper contained only one line of elegant and naturally graceful handwriting.
"To my daughter, Wanqing."
Just five words.
Su Wanqing could no longer stand. All her strength was instantly drained. She covered her mouth to keep herself from making a sound, but her body trembled violently.
Tears fell without warning.
This is a letter her mother left for her.
A strong, powerful arm wrapped around her from behind, pulling her into a firm yet warm chest.
Lu Zhanting said nothing, but gently placed her head against his heart so she could hear his steady and powerful heartbeat.
Su Wanqing leaned against him, her hands trembling, and turned to the second page.
"My child, by the time you read this letter, countless years will have passed. Please forgive your mother for leaving without saying goodbye, and forgive my absence from your life."
Su Wanqing's tears blurred the words.
Resentment? She had harbored resentment for twenty years!
She thought she was rejected and unwanted.
She continued reading.
"I know you must have many questions in your heart. My Bai family's medical skills are unparalleled in the world, yet we cannot fathom the secrets of heaven or fathom the human heart. I discovered by chance that there is a deadly curse hidden in the bloodline of our family—every three generations, there will be a woman of extraordinary talent who exhausts her energy to save others and dies young. They save countless people, but they cannot save themselves. And I am the 'chosen one' of this generation."
A curse?!
Su Wanqing's pupils suddenly contracted!
“I don’t believe in fate, and I’m unwilling to become a sacrifice to destiny. I searched through ancient books and finally found a glimmer of hope—that is, to combine the purest ‘spiritual bloodline’ of the Bai family with the most yang and masculine ‘pure heart’ of the outside world, and the offspring born might be able to break this shackle. For this reason, I met your father. He was an upright and good man, a pure soldier… He didn’t know my plan, he simply fell in love with me. And I, in this encounter that began with calculation, also gave away my true heart.”
So that's how it is!
She was not an accident, but a carefully planned act of hope to break free from fate!
"But I discovered that the power of the curse was far greater than I had imagined. Like a leech, it began to turn against your father. In order to protect him, and also to allow you to escape the fate of the Bai family and grow up in a healthy, normal world, I had no choice but to leave."
“I took half of the family’s rare pharmacopoeia with me, making it look like I had betrayed the family and fled, taking all the blame upon myself. That way, the family will stop looking for me, and you can safely disappear into the crowd.”
Upon seeing this, Su Wanqing could no longer contain herself.
She leaned against Lu Zhanting's chest, her suppressed sobs turning into a torrent of heart-wrenching cries.
It turns out she wasn't abandoned.
Never has been.
Her mother, a woman she had never met, used the stigma of betraying her clan, the excruciating pain of separation from her flesh and blood, and her entire life to pave a seemingly ordinary but actually profoundly loving path of freedom for her.
Her innate medical talent and her self-taught understanding of pharmacology all found their source at this moment.
That was the inheritance of bloodline, the deepest mark her mother left on her.
Lu Zhanting held her tightly, letting her tears soak his shirt, his heart clenching with pain.
He couldn't say anything, he could only kiss the top of her head again and again, using his heartbeat to tell her that no matter what happened in the past, he would always be there for her in the future.
After a long while, the crying gradually subsided.
Su Wanqing wiped away her tears and her gaze fell once again on the sandalwood box.
She opened the small item that was carefully wrapped in a silk handkerchief.
It was a small silver needle, warm and smooth all over, with a delicate begonia flower carved at the end.
When Su Wanqing's fingertips touched it, the silver needle emitted a slight hum, and the begonia flower at the end of the needle seemed to come alive.
A warm breath seeped into her body through her fingertips, instantly filling her limbs and bones.
A thunderous roar exploded in her mind!
A set of incredibly complex and profound acupuncture techniques emerged like a flood bursting its banks, clearly imprinted deep within her soul—the Nine Needles of the Spiritual Heart!
This is not a gift, this is an awakening!
It was through the combined effect of bloodline and tokens that her innate inheritance was activated!
She picked up the journal on the table and turned the pages one by one.
It contains not only profound medical theories, but also a mother's reverence for life, compassion for patients, and records of countless experiments that started anew after repeated failures.
This goes beyond the scope of medical skills.
This is the crystallization of a great woman's thoughts, a crown she forged for her daughter with her life and love.
After an unknown amount of time, Bai Jinghong and Bai Qishan appeared at the entrance of the bamboo house.
They didn't come in; they just stood quietly outside, their expressions solemn.
“Child,” Bai Jinghong said, his voice filled with guilt, “your mother… was the most brilliant genius in the Bai family in the last hundred years. We all thought she betrayed the family for love, but we didn’t know that she carried such a heavy secret all by herself.”
Bai Qishan sighed deeply: "These handwritten notes left by your mother represent an innovation and breakthrough in traditional medicine, and their value is immeasurable. Now, they all belong to you. Child, you have not only inherited her bloodline, but also her wisdom and integrity. From this day forward, you are the sole heir of the Bai family's 'Lingxin' lineage."
Su Wanqing held her mother's handwritten notes tightly in her arms.
She looked up at Lu Zhanting.
Those eyes, washed clean by tears, no longer held confusion and sorrow; instead, they held an unprecedented determination and sharpness.
She was no longer Su Wanqing, who knew nothing about her own background.
She knew where she came from and found her direction for the future.
She will carry her mother's love and expectations, and use everything she has inherited to protect those she wants to protect, and to create a brand new era that belongs to her.
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