Chapter 334 Choice
"It should be you?" Qiu Heng clenched her fists tightly upon hearing this.
She really wanted to slap him like she did with Yunxiang, but at this moment, she couldn't even lift her hand.
The person in front of her was her elder brother who taught her to read and write, and a teacher she looked up to.
"What do you mean?" she heard herself ask calmly.
Ling Yun pointed to his head: "There was a voice in my dream that said it was me."
Qiu Heng tried her best to keep her emotions in check: "You had Yunxiang push me into the deep pool, is that related to that voice?"
Ling Yun nodded silently.
Qiu Heng closed her eyes.
She fell into a deep pool and went to meet the Master thirty years later. The Master taught her many things and sent her back. The one who caused her to fall into the deep pool was Ling Yun, who said that he was the same person as the Master.
It turns out that her journey to thirty years in the future was not a miraculous escape from death, but rather a result of human manipulation.
Qiu Heng opened her eyes and met Ling Yun's gaze: "Then it's not a coincidence that you came from the capital to Suiyun County to recuperate?"
"no."
"Please start from the beginning, Brother Bai." Qiu Heng's eyes were full of sarcasm when she called out "Brother Bai."
Let her hear what is true about the person she met by chance in the deep mountains when she was young.
“I was weak from childhood, but I gradually grew up and improved my health. However, when I was fifteen, I started having a recurring dream in which a voice urged me to go to Suiyun County. At first, I ignored it, but my headaches became more and more severe. Later, I couldn’t bear it anymore, so I left the capital with the intention of giving it a try…” Ling Yun’s voice was gentle as he recounted the reasons for leaving the capital.
"I moved into a Taoist temple on Yunfeng Mountain, where I met you. My headaches disappeared, and I could focus on my studies and teach you to read. I loved the tranquil life in the temple, and I loved the wildflowers and herbs you brought me. I worried that the voice would reappear in my dreams, yet I also hoped that this peaceful time could last forever. Four years after we met, that voice still came..."
Lingyun recalled the fear and pain of that voice reappearing in her dream.
That was a nightmare, a nightmare from which he could not escape.
"He said that he is me thirty years in the future, the capital has moved south, and the Great Xia is on the verge of collapse. The only one who can change the fate of the country's demise is you. Only you can break the shackles of time, go to his side, and bring back what you have learned and known. And what I have to do is send you there."
Qiu Heng smiled: "You believed me."
She went to the Great Xia Dynasty thirty years later, and all the misery she witnessed, the hardships she endured, and the pressure she bore during those ten years were because of one person.
The so-called meeting, getting to know each other, and being together are nothing more than preparations for the push behind the scenes.
"Aheng." Ling Yun stared at the girl with a bleak smile, his eyes filled with unbearable pain. "I dare not disbelieve, I cannot disbelieve."
The headache that tormented him was real, and he couldn't ignore the crisis of national subjugation that the voice spoke of.
During that time, he was conflicted, struggled, and resisted, but he was also consciously desperate, knowing that he would eventually do it.
Ah Heng will not die, Ah Heng will come back.
He made a decision in his heart: if the voice had deceived him and Ah Heng had died in that deep pool, then he would give his life for her.
He knew it wasn't enough. If Ah Heng died, it wouldn't matter if he died a thousand times over; he could never atone for his sins against Ah Heng.
Fortunately, Ah Heng really did come back, just as the voice had said.
He secretly arranged for people to guard the deep pool for ten days, and then Aheng returned.
The voice didn't lie to him.
When they met again in the capital, Ah Heng maintained a distance on the surface, but the affection in her eyes remained unchanged.
Only he knew in his heart that even if Ah Heng didn't know what he had done, they could never go back to the pure joy of those four years spent together in the mountains.
He destroyed this friendship with his own hands, destroying the friendship he cherished so much.
"You know everything I'm going to do?" Qiu Heng's thick, fan-like eyelashes trembled slightly, her heart filled with a mixture of hatred and pain.
She faced countless hardships and walked alone.
He remained aloof, observing the situation with indifference.
Ling Yun's answer was unexpected: "No, I don't know."
Qiu Heng stared intently at him, trying to find out if he was lying, but she met a pair of eyes overflowing with guilt and pain.
"All I know is that you can go to my side thirty years in the future and bring back what you have learned. What you will do, what major events will happen in the future, and how to change the fate of the country's destruction—I don't know any of these. The messages that voice conveyed to me were limited; there were only three clear messages in total."
"three times?"
"The first time was when they urged me to go to Suiyun County, which was the beginning of my headaches. The second time was three years ago, when they urged me to push you into that deep pool. It was during that time that the Great Xia was facing the crisis of national subjugation."
"And the third time?"
“The third time—” Ling Yun paused, his gaze towards Qiu Heng extremely complicated, “The third time was during the autumn hunt.”
Autumn hunt?
Qiu Heng was taken aback, and a sudden thought occurred to her: "Your Highness! It's because you didn't die in the fire during the autumn hunt, and that voice reappeared, which is why your headache flared up during the hunt, right?"
Ling Yun nodded.
Ah Heng has always been so smart.
"What does that voice want you to do?" Qiu Heng asked.
Ling Yun remained silent.
Qiu Heng approached him, her gaze sharp as a knife: "So you're asking me to 'set things right' by killing the Crown Prince?"
After a long while, Ling Yun nodded slightly.
Qiu Heng's anger surged to the top of her head.
The gentleman who devoted himself to the crumbling Xia Dynasty, exhausting all his energy and effort, wanted the crown prince to die as originally intended so that the monarch he was assisting could succeed to the throne.
But what makes him think he's right?
It was just selfishness.
Fortunately, she realized it early.
Those future rulers and ministers will mold her into the blades they desire, but she is a person with flesh and blood and thoughts.
Qiu Heng wanted to cry, but she also wanted to laugh.
"Then why didn't you listen to him, and even—" In the empty courtyard, with no one else around, only the bright moon hanging high above their heads, Qiu Heng uttered the rest of her words in a low voice, "and even attacked Emperor Jingping when the Crown Prince was in a precarious situation?"
Ling Yun looked at Qiu Heng quietly; it was a gaze Qiu Heng knew well, gentle as water.
“Aheng, you worked so hard to save the Crown Prince, I trust your judgment.”
The voice claimed to be him from the future, but he never fully trusted his future self.
It was Aheng who went to the future thirty years later, it was Aheng who witnessed the devastation of the country, and it was Aheng who knew the major events of the past few decades.
He only realized that Ah Heng was the one who did the things she did after they were all over, and he had no idea what she would do next.
He couldn't help her at all, nor did he dare to interfere recklessly. And since Ah Heng was doing so well, how could he ruin her plans?
Therefore, even if the headache is excruciating and makes him wish he were dead, it doesn't matter.
"Trust my judgment..." Qiu Heng murmured, covering her face to hide the tears that were about to well up, "You are one person..."
They were clearly the same person, yet they made different choices, leaving her both resentful and unhappy.
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