The night gradually faded, the stars disappeared, and the sky slowly turned white, eventually becoming bright.
Today is the Lantern Festival, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
In Taohuadian Village, located on the southeastern border of Western Qin, spring is in full bloom, and a crystal-clear stream flows merrily through the village.
As the first rays of morning sunlight gently fell upon this seemingly secluded and tranquil land, the respected old woman in the village slowly opened her eyes, and in her dazed state, she seemed to hear a woman's murmur.
So she propped herself up and called softly towards the door, "Huan'er, Huan'er..." but there was no response.
Just as she was wondering about it, she suddenly remembered, "Oh, how could I forget? Huan'er went to the City God Temple to find the high monk yesterday morning and hasn't returned yet!"
After muttering to herself for a while, she seemed to remember that there was another person in her room. She quickly got up, dressed herself, and walked over to the unconscious woman on the small bed in the room.
It's strange, though. She had carefully examined the woman's entire body and found that her pulse had returned to a steady and moderate state yesterday, her high fever had subsided, and there were no injuries or illnesses on her body. So why couldn't she wake up?
The old woman had tried everything she could, but to no avail. It seemed that all she could do now was wait for the high monk to come and take a look.
But as soon as he got closer, he saw that the woman on the bed had started trembling again, and seemed to be muttering something.
Upon seeing this urgent situation, the old woman frowned, quickly bent down, touched the forehead of the person in question, then touched her own forehead, and muttered in puzzlement, "No fever?"
Then, she sat down next to him again and took his pulse once more. "His pulse is normal."
Then, I reached out and flipped his eyelids over, but he looked as if he were in a deep sleep.
But two days and two nights have passed since she was rescued from the river. She should have been awake by yesterday morning, but another day and night have already passed.
At this thought, the old woman's brows furrowed deeper and deeper, and her heart grew increasingly worried.
This scene was something she had never seen or heard of before. "What exactly is going on?... All these years, I have been unable to return home, unable to acknowledge my son, and have been hiding my identity and waiting here for you for eight years. Finally, I have seen you in this world. You must not be hurt. You must wake up safely. All the people of the Western Qin Kingdom are waiting for you!"
As she spoke, two lines of sorrowful tears silently slid down her face. She then raised her head slightly, her eyes slowly closing, and her lips twitched slightly.
Just then, the murmurs from the frail woman lying unconscious on the bed suddenly became clear:
"No, Wei Mingxuan, he is not you, and you are not him. I only want you, I only want you for all eternity. Come back, please come back..."
“Yun’er understands Your Highness’s feelings, but Your Highness is a person with too much sorrow in your heart. Yun’er will also leave this place sooner or later, just like a fleeting shadow, a person without a tomorrow. Life is long, and how can Yun’er, who is so helpless, make any promises to Your Highness? Being together will only add to the pain in the end, how can Yun’er bear it?! Therefore, Yun’er will forget everything that happened tonight, and please Your Highness, never remember it again in this life.”
"In the days to come, Your Highness, could you please stop being so sad and stop closing your heart? That way, Your Highness won't be so lonely. Your Highness should smile more often; Your Highness's smile is truly beautiful. Yun'er thinks that the woman who fell off the cliff to save Your Highness, who was about to give birth, if she were still alive, she wouldn't want to see Your Highness in this mad state today..."
"Your Highness, please let go, I beg you. If this continues, we will both die. I don't care if I die, I only beg Your Highness to live. There are many more people in this world who need Your Highness. For my sake, Your Highness is not worth such a sacrifice. Please do not fail that woman's dying wish."
"What is destined to be yours will be yours, and what is not, you cannot force. Cause and effect, reincarnation, a hundred-life covenant, flowers bloom and wither, since it has come, make the best of it."
"Who are you? Who are you! Who are you..."
Upon hearing this, the old woman suddenly opened her eyes, staring blankly at the woman on the bed, momentarily stunned.
After a long, stunned silence, she watched as the woman finally calmed down, fell silent, and drifted back into a deep sleep. Only then did she come to her senses and murmur tremulously, "Wei Mingxuan? His Highness? Prince Qin? Or Hao'er? Or perhaps Yue'er?... This sounds like a fragment of what she said before she died; she told him to let go, or he would die. No, it couldn't be Hao'er, he's so young. Yue'er is a girl, it couldn't be her."
"Then it can only be... Han'er, she actually knows Han'er..." Upon thinking of this, the old woman's eyes widened in disbelief.
Years later, when the old woman heard news about the Western Qin royal family from another person, especially from the woman in front of her, she couldn't help but burst into tears.
Suddenly, a series of urgent knocks came from the courtyard.
The old woman quickly wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, got up, and slowly walked out the door.
As soon as she reached the door, a clear, bell-like voice called out from outside, "Madam, please open the door! It's Huan'er."
Upon hearing this, the old woman paused for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. After a short while, she suddenly exclaimed with delight, "Huan'er, it was Huan'er who brought Master Xuan Kong back! That's wonderful, truly wonderful!"
Perhaps due to excessive excitement, he nearly tripped over himself when he started to move again, and then quickly reached out to open the door.
However, upon opening the door, she was immediately taken aback. She hurriedly stepped over Huan'er's petite body and carefully looked around behind her.
A moment later, just as she was about to speak, Huan'er interrupted her with a dejected look, saying, "Madam, don't bother looking anymore. That Master Xuan Kong didn't come at all."
Unexpectedly, the usually kind and gentle old woman, for the first time in many years, lost her temper and shouted at Huan'er, saying, "Nonsense! He didn't come? How could that be? Back then, Master Xuankong personally brought me to this secluded Peach Blossom Village. Before leaving, he repeatedly told me to remember that when the Purple Light appears in this place, I must go to the City God Temple to find him and meet him here to break the seal and save all living beings. Now that the Purple Light has appeared, how could he not come?"
Huan'er seemed to disregard her master's reprimand, feeling that she had started before dawn and had traveled a long way, and her throat was so dry it felt like it was about to burst into flames.
As soon as she stepped through the door, she frowned and hurried into the house, with the old woman following behind her, talking incessantly.
Huan'er went inside, poured herself a bowl of water and drank it all in one gulp. Only then did she feel as if she had finally come back to life.
Then, she wiped the residue from the corner of her mouth with her sleeve before approaching the old woman, helping her up by the arm, and pressing her down to sit on the table. While patting her back with her two small fists, she said, "Don't rush, madam. Let Huan'er catch her breath before you speak slowly."
Upon hearing this, the old woman finally breathed a sigh of relief, seemingly calming down somewhat, and asked, "What exactly happened?"
While massaging her back, Huan'er recalled softly, "It was like this: Yesterday afternoon, after Huan'er arrived at the City God Temple in the south of the city, a monk only told Huan'er that Master Xuankong had gone on a journey and didn't know when he would return. But before Huan'er could finish speaking, they just left Huan'er aside like that..."
Before Huan'er could finish speaking, the old woman angrily rebuked her again, "Didn't you tell them where you came from?"
Huan'er hurriedly said, "There's no time to say anything. They only said that the Princess Consort of the Prince of Qin's Mansion is going to the temple to offer incense and pray for His Highness the Prince of Qin, and the monks in the temple are all going to prepare for it."
"The Prince of Qin's residence? The Princess of Qin?...The Prince of Qin has already married?" Upon hearing this, the old woman was suddenly startled and exclaimed in surprise.
"I heard that Princess Qin was betrothed by the current emperor and has an extremely noble status. She is Princess Yongle of the wealthy Dongning Kingdom!" Huan'er said with envy.
However, the old woman thought for a moment and said with a disdainful look, "Hmph, a weasel paying respects to a chicken is probably not up to any good intentions."
Huan'er, of course, didn't understand the deeper meaning, so she frowned, pouted, and continued, seemingly quite aggrieved, "Later, it got dark, and Huan'er still hadn't heard from anyone. Getting anxious, she decided to go out and ask someone again. This time, on the way, she met a young novice monk. The novice monk immediately recognized Huan'er as coming from Peach Blossom Village—how amazing! He told Huan'er that Master Xuankong had instructed him before he left, saying that if any benefactors from Peach Blossom Village came looking for her, she shouldn't wait for him. He said…what…"
Huan'er seemed to suddenly forget what he said. He stopped what he was doing, scratched his forehead, and after a long while, he finally remembered and exclaimed, "Oh, right, the little monk said... everything is predestined, and we will meet again if we are destined to. He told me to come back in peace."
"Everything is predestined, and we will meet again if we are destined to?" the old woman repeated Huan'er's words, puzzled.
Huan'er nodded emphatically and said with certainty, "Yes, everything is predestined, and we will meet again if we are destined to. That's what the little novice monk said, so he must be right."
"Is there anything else besides this?" The old woman pondered for a long time, but in the end, she was still very anxious and asked.
Huan'er touched her forehead again and thought carefully for a long time. Finally, she seemed a little unsure, so she lowered her voice and murmured, "When that little novice monk turned to leave, he muttered something. Huan'er doesn't know if that counts?"
"What did you say?" the old woman asked hurriedly.
Huan'er recalled, "The true dragon emerges from the sea, the spiritual realm is unified, the phoenix rises from the ashes, reborn from the flames, life is death, and death is life..."
"The true dragon emerges from the sea, the spirit is unified, the phoenix is reborn from the ashes, life is death, and death is life..." the old woman repeated as she pondered.
Just then, the woman on the small bed next to them quietly opened her eyes and sat up upright...
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