A carriage sped south from the west of the Western Qin Kingdom, kicking up clouds of dust.
The man and woman inside the carriage were Yi Shangyun and Mei Zhixuan, while the guards carefully drove the carriage from outside.
Perhaps due to excessive speed, the wheels suddenly lurched, causing the two people inside to sway violently. Yi Shangyun instinctively gripped the side of the carriage tightly. Mei Zhixuan quickly steadied her, then shouted, "Slow down!"
Yi Shangyun quickly stopped him, "It's alright, it's better to hurry on our way."
At this moment, Mei Zhixuan's deep eyes gradually focused on her, and finally slowly moved to her knees. Yi Shangyun seemed to notice this and covered them with her hands.
Mei Zhixuan hesitated for a moment before breaking the awkward silence, "I heard that you suffered from a serious leg ailment, young lady. I wonder how you are now?"
Yi Shangyun was startled and immediately looked up at the face covered by the butterfly mask, saying, "How did you know about this, young master?... Oh, you must have heard it from Manager Zhao, right?! Thank you for your concern, young master. I have already been cured by a prescription from a reclusive master."
"Really? That's wonderful!" Mei Zhixuan was overjoyed upon hearing the news.
Yi Shangyun smiled faintly at her, then lifted the curtain to look outside and asked, "How much longer until we reach Wanjiao Pavilion?"
For some reason, she felt increasingly panicked, as if something terrible was about to happen.
"Please calm down, Miss. My carriage is definitely faster than any other coachman on the street. Wanjiao Pavilion is not far ahead," Mei Zhixuan said calmly.
Seeing that Yi Shangyun remained uneasy and restless after hearing this, Mei Zhixuan tried to distract her, saying, "By the way, I haven't yet asked what your maiden name is, Miss..."
Sure enough, upon hearing this, Yi Shangyun hurriedly lowered the carriage curtain and turned around, saying, "This humble girl is Yi Shangyun. May I ask your honorable name, sir?"
Mei Zhixuan hesitated for a moment before saying, "My surname is... Jiang, and my given name is Zhixuan. If you don't mind, Miss, please call me Brother Jiang."
Feeling a sense of kinship, Yun smiled and said to him, "Alright, then Yun'er will call you Brother Jiang."
Yi Shangyun then raised her head and took a closer look at Mei Zhixuan. Looking at him so closely, she suddenly felt that she had seen the pair of eyes under the butterfly mask somewhere before.
After a slight hesitation, and with a touch of curiosity, she asked, "Brother Jiang, why do you wear a mask?"
Mei Zhixuan was taken aback upon hearing this, but immediately blurted out a question in return: "Then why does Yun'er wear a veil to show herself?"
"I... because Yun'er has a red birthmark on her face, and I was afraid it might offend others, so I did it." Yi Shangyun had lost count of how many times she had to explain this to others.
At this moment, Mei Zhixuan laughed and said, "Brother Jiang is just like Yun'er."
Yi Shangyun was startled upon hearing this, but then seemed somewhat apologetic. She looked up at him again and said, "Brother Jiang, you too... I'm sorry."
Mei Zhixuan asked in confusion, "Why is Yun'er apologizing?"
Yi Shangyun looked worried and said, "Yun'er shouldn't have brought up Brother Jiang's sad story. Yun'er was too abrupt."
Unexpectedly, Mei Zhixuan burst into another hearty laugh, and then said, "As the saying goes, you can't judge a book by its cover, and you can't measure the sea with a bushel. If you judge a person by their appearance, you'll lose Ziyu; if you judge a person by their words, you'll lose Zaiyu. How can people judge a person by their appearance? Besides, my brother and I are now in the same boat, so why should Yun'er hold a grudge over such a small matter?"
Hearing that he wasn't angry, Yi Shangyun felt relieved and gave him a charming smile.
But without realizing it, she silently looked down at the seemingly broken seven-colored gold and jade bracelet on her wrist.
At that moment, Mei Zhixuan's gaze also instantly followed hers, landing on the gold and jade bracelet on her wrist. He suddenly felt that the bracelet was so familiar, as if it were...
Once he came to his senses, Mei Zhixuan hesitated for a moment before saying, "Yun'er's gold-threaded jade bracelet looks particularly exquisite. I wonder where she got it from. Brother Jiang would also like one."
Upon hearing this, Yi Shangyun was stunned. She thought to herself that she definitely couldn't tell him that these were items from the future world that she brought with her when she traveled from the 21st century. So... she could only play along and pin it all on her father, Yi Shangkun, her deceased benefactor.
After a moment's thought, she blurted out, "This bracelet... was a gift from one of Father's deceased friends, so Yun'er doesn't know where to buy it?"
Eager to confirm, Mei Zhixuan asked, "Yun'er, could you please pick it so Brother Jiang can have a closer look?"
Although Yi Shangyun was secretly puzzled as to why a grown man would be so fascinated by such a girly trinket, she didn't hesitate to take it off and hand it to Mei Zhixuan.
For some reason, when Mei Zhixuan held it in his hands, he felt an overwhelming sense of intimacy, as if... his stepmother was right beside him, not having left, and it was filled with the beautiful aura of her loving kindness.
He was so excited that he couldn't speak. His eyes were fixed on the gold and jade bracelet in his hand, and he was stunned. He thought to himself, "Yes, that's it. It really is it. This seven-colored gold and jade bracelet is the one that my stepmother always wore. I never thought that it would not have left with her."
Seeing that Mei Zhixuan was so engrossed in looking at it, Yi Shangyun felt very puzzled and asked, "This bracelet is not a very valuable item in the world. Why is Brother Jiang so fascinated by it? By the way, judging from Brother Jiang's accent, he doesn't seem to be from Xiqin. Why are you wandering alone in this foreign land during the New Year, a time for family reunion?"
Upon hearing this, Mei Zhixuan slowly came to his senses and returned the gold and jade bracelet to her.
After a moment of contemplation, he looked up and gazed deeply into her eyes, saying, "Brother Jiang comes from Dongning Kingdom. He has come to Xiqin to find his sister who has been missing for 17 years."
Upon hearing this, Yi Shangyun was shocked and asked anxiously, "How could Brother Jiang's sister be lost in the Western Qin Kingdom? Could she have been abducted here? She's been missing for so long, her appearance must have changed by now. How are we supposed to find her?"
Mei Zhixuan sighed and shook his head. "She wasn't abducted; she was lost before she was even born."
Yi Shangyun asked in confusion, “What does it mean to say that she was lost before she was even born?”
Mei Zhixuan looked at her tenderly and said, "It's Brother Jiang's concubine. She came to the Western Qin Kingdom when she was six months pregnant. Later..."
Before Mei Zhixuan could finish speaking, Yi Shangyun said urgently, "Yun'er understands now. It must be that after Brother Jiang's aunt arrived in the Western Qin Kingdom, she gave birth to Brother Jiang's little sister and then accidentally lost her, right? How could she be so careless?"
After saying that, she frowned and lowered her head, her eyes showing a regretful expression.
Mei Zhixuan looked at her silently, his face full of hope, and said, "That's not the case. Brother Jiang's aunt suffered an accident and was forced to give birth to this child prematurely, which is why she passed away. Brother Jiang's sister was also entrusted to a couple by the dying aunt at that time. Later, she and that couple wandered to the Western Qin Kingdom and were never heard from again. Over the years, Brother Jiang has been searching for her in the Western Qin Kingdom, but unfortunately..."
Upon hearing this, Yi Shangyun was extremely shocked. Her beautiful phoenix eyes quickly rose and moved to Mei Zhixuan's face. She murmured, "I really didn't expect it to be like this. It's truly pitiful. But why would Brother Jiang's concubine, who is already six months pregnant, still risk her life to travel to a distant place?"
Mei Zhixuan thought for a moment, then his expression suddenly turned cold. He frowned and said, “Yun’er, you don’t know, but Brother Jiang’s aunt is strange. When we met her, she seemed to have…amnesia. She said she had no relatives in Dongning Kingdom and was an orphan. When asked where she came from, she had no memory of it. But then one day, she suddenly remembered her past and said she was originally from Xiqin Kingdom. Besides that, she didn’t want to tell her family anything else, only that she was anxious to return to Xiqin. At that time, her family calculated that by the time she arrived in Xiqin, she would be about to give birth, so they advised her to postpone her trip. But she wouldn’t listen, saying that she was very anxious and afraid that something important had happened in her hometown in Xiqin. She was depressed and couldn’t eat or drink. Father was afraid that something bad would happen to her if she continued like this, so in the end, he had no choice but to agree. But unexpectedly…something really happened on this trip, and she never returned…”
Yi Shangyun stared intently at Mei Zhixuan, listening with rapt attention. Mei Zhixuan, on the other hand, looked visibly somber. Over the years, whenever he thought of this incident, he could never truly let it go.
After a while, she came to her senses and asked again, "What exactly happened to Brother Jiang's aunt in Western Qin?"
At this point, his brows furrowed even more. "As for the specifics, Brother Jiang doesn't know either. The servants who went to Western Qin with my aunt back then, apart from her personal maid, were all highly skilled individuals carefully selected by the family, yet not a single one survived. We've been inquiring for many years and only managed to find out a little bit of information with great difficulty."
Yi Shangyun asked urgently, "Oh? What's the situation?"
"Because my aunt's regular letters home suddenly stopped, the family had a premonition that something might have happened to her. So they sent someone with her portrait to Xiqin to inquire everywhere. Who knew that the place where the incident happened was in an extremely remote suburb, with very few witnesses. They only learned from a woodcutter that my aunt gave birth to a baby girl with the help of a couple in the mountains, and then passed away suddenly. The couple, fearing that their enemies would come back, also moved away that same day with the newborn baby girl, who was still in swaddling clothes, and to this day... her whereabouts are unknown."
After Mei Zhixuan finished speaking, he sighed deeply.
Seeing his helplessness, Yi Shangyun comforted him, "Fortunately, we found out some news, which means there is hope. We should always look on the bright side. As long as there is hope, we will eventually see the light at the end of the tunnel. Yun'er believes that Brother Jiang will definitely be able to find his poor sister."
Upon hearing this, Mei Zhixuan finally came to his senses and turned to face Yi Shangyun, their eyes meeting, and they both smiled faintly.
After a moment, Mei Zhixuan asked again, "Then what brings Yun'er to Wanjiao Pavilion?"
Yi Shangyun was somewhat embarrassed. After a moment's hesitation, she said to him, "Yun'er is helping a poor little sister find news of her mother there?"
"How did her mother end up in such a place?" Mei Zhixuan asked, puzzled.
Yi Shangyun sighed, "It's a long story. In short, they are all pitiful people."
As they were talking, the carriage that had been speeding along the road suddenly slowed down.
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