On the bed, the eyes of the woman named Yi Shangyun, which had been tightly closed for many days and nights, suddenly opened slowly.
As if by some twist of fate, the soul seemed to have left the body and traveled to another unknown and mysterious space before finally returning to this physical form to continue the experience of time and space that truly belonged to it.
She opened her eyes and let out a long sigh of relief. After calming herself down, she struggled to sit up, only to find that her body felt incredibly heavy.
"It really was just a dream. This body feels so heavy and weak! It's nothing like the light and airy feeling in the dream." With that, he helplessly lay back down.
At this moment, scenes from that incredibly long dream came flooding back into my mind like a surging river.
In everyone's life, more or less, we've all had dreams that feel incredibly immersive. The illusions in these dreams can be bitter or sweet, joyful or sorrowful, triumphant or disheartening...
However, upon waking, even if we find our faces wet with tears, or a faint smile still lingers on our lips, or even if we are startled awake by our own laughter in the dream, we are still smiling for some reason...
But when we really want to know why we are so sad or happy, how much of the people and stories from our dreams can we remember?
However, Yi Shangyun, who had just had a great dream, still remembered the people and everything in her dream, the fairyland, and the magical scenes that could never exist in the mortal world.
"Was that dream just now... real? Could it be... as the Empress Dowager said, that I really am the descendant of the long-lost guardian of Western Qin? But I don't have that phoenix mark that all descendants of guardians have. And that graceful woman just now... she looks exactly like me, is she really my... mother?!"
Clearly, she was equally astonished that she had never had such a vivid dream before. Unconsciously, she stared blankly at the curtain above her head, involuntarily falling into the memory of the dream once again.
He stood there in a daze for a while, then suddenly came to his senses and immediately dismissed his wild thoughts: "Hmm, how could this be? This must just be a dream."
At this thought, her eyes shifted to the luxuriously decorated, comfortable, spacious, and bright interior of the tent. She felt the place looked vaguely familiar, and with a start, she stammered, "Where is this...?"
After resting for a while, I felt that I had regained some strength, so I tried again to drag my heavy body and slowly sit up.
Only then did he realize that he had finally been brought back to this gilded birdcage and locked up.
He propped himself up on the bed with one hand, gave a cold laugh at the empty tent except for himself, raised an eyebrow and muttered to himself, "What happened to the absolute freedom that was promised when we came? This person is indeed untrustworthy."
Shaking his head and sighing softly, he slowly moved backward, wanting to lean his soft body against a soft pillow. Unexpectedly, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught sight of a bronze military tally engraved with a spirited horse lying next to the pillow.
"This is the military tally of the Northern Lie Kingdom. The old king of Northern Lie actually entrusted such an important thing to him?! Could it be that he is the future successor that the old king has in mind?" Yi Shangyun picked it up and examined it for a moment, and said in surprise.
Recalling the whispers Tuoba Hong had made in his ear while he was unconscious, he gently scolded, "That careless fellow really doesn't care about matters of state at all, leaving such an important thing here."
So she quickly took out a silk handkerchief, carefully wrapped it up, and put it away.
Then she remembered the gentle and affectionate voice of the man that had been echoing in her ears during the days she was in a coma.
Then, her delicate eyebrows furrowed, and she murmured solemnly, "So, your true identity is the Second Prince of this vast grassland, Tuoba Hong. No wonder you've been hiding from me, only telling me that you're the son of a herdsman from this grassland. Your name is 'Hong,' and you have no surname. I was wondering, how could someone in this world not have a surname? Especially a man with such a noble air."
As she spoke, she let out a bitter laugh that sounded like self-mockery, and said, "Hmph, you have deceived me after all."
Although Yi Shangyun couldn't open her eyes during this time, she clearly heard and felt everything that was happening around her.
Recalling the tender words that Tuoba Hong had whispered in her ear over the past few days, words she could hardly bear, she felt her heart in turmoil.
If she were to stay here, Tuoba Hong could not force her if she did not wish to. But how could she possibly accept his many willing sacrifices with a clear conscience?
But when I think of Xuanyuan Han...
Suddenly, he felt a tightness in his chest, as if he could hardly breathe. He reached out and clenched his fist tightly against his chest, saying, "Even if I can bravely face everything, I don't know how to face your feelings. If we continue to stay here, we will both suffer unbearably in the end. I don't know why Your Highness suddenly launched a war against Beilie. Judging from the momentum, this time you are determined to bring Beilie under your control."
Thinking of this, she paused, and for some reason, she felt her shoulders trembling more and more violently, her hands clenching tighter and tighter, her heart sinking deeper and deeper: "Whether the land I'm standing on now still belongs to Beilie or changes hands to Xiqin in the near future, it's not a place for me to stay. The world is so vast, so where...where should I go? In this huge world, there isn't a single place that can accommodate me."
With this thought in mind, she suppressed her sorrow and heartache, bit her lip lightly, took a deep breath, and slowly closed her beautiful phoenix eyes, trying to calm herself down.
As the sun rises, the vast grassland outside the tent stretches out in a deep blue expanse. The lake is shrouded in mist, dappled with golden light. Wildflowers bloom in profusion on both sides of the lake, and water birds rise and fall. Everything is filled with a sense of freedom and tranquility.
Suddenly, she opened her eyes again, as if she had found a bright path to clarity from chaos, and she even raised her voice with some excitement.
"Yes, I want to leave here. The world is vast, and I believe there's always a place for me. So many people can live well in this world, am I any worse off than them? I have hands and feet, how could I possibly starve to death? This is just needless worry!"
Upon realizing this, she immediately became extremely alert, suddenly threw off the covers, and got up.
As soon as I got off the plane, I could faintly hear a series of sparse footsteps coming from outside, and the footsteps grew closer and closer.
She quickly went back to bed and obediently covered herself with the blanket again, pretending to still be asleep.
Before long, the clever maidservant was seen coming in early to serve them, carrying a basin of water in both hands as she walked over.
Yi Shangyun secretly peeked at her with one eye half-closed, then quickly closed it again.
She was familiar with this woman, because when she first arrived at this grassland, she had stayed in this very tent and was also taken care of by this maid.
The maidservant walked lightly past the screen beside the bed, put down the basin of water she was carrying, and just as she sat down on the edge of the bed, she reached out to check his pulse.
He stared wide-eyed at her face for a moment, then exclaimed in surprise, "Miss...Miss's face..."
"My face?" Upon hearing this, Yi Shangyun pondered for a moment before realizing that today was the first day the Rejuvenating Pill had lost its effects.
Suddenly, she opened her eyes and sat up on the couch, frantically reaching out to touch her face, anxiously asking, "My face, what happened to my face?"
The maid was so startled when she suddenly sat up as if she had risen from the dead that she fell heavily to the ground, trembling as if she had seen a ghost. She stared at her in terror and asked, "Miss, you...you...when did you wake up?"
However, Yi Shangyun did not answer her question. Instead, she stared into her eyes and anxiously asked, "What happened to my face?"
"Your face, yes, your face..." The maid was so shocked that she couldn't utter a complete sentence.
In a moment of panic, he swallowed hard, got up quickly, and hurriedly grabbed a small bronze mirror from the side, reflecting it onto Yi Shangyun's face.
"I... Rejuvenation Pill... Soul-Returning Pill... I... I really regained my original appearance! Not only that, but that creepy red birthmark has also disappeared!" Yi Shangyun said excitedly, incoherently, clearly stunned.
He stared intently at his reflection in the bronze mirror for a long time, making sure it wasn't a hallucination. He then looked at the maid with a puzzled expression and asked, "What's going on?"
The maid's lips twitched, and she smiled, revealing a face full of ignorance.
Just as Yi Shangyun was still deep in thought about this, the maid stepped forward and handed her a bronze mirror, saying regretfully, "What bad luck! The Second Prince just left and you woke up. If the Second Prince knew that you had not only regained your appearance but were a thousand times more beautiful than before, I believe he would be very happy."
As she was speaking, she suddenly turned to look at her, only to see that Yi Shangyun was not listening to her, but was instead scratching her shoulder. The maid asked in confusion, "What's wrong, Miss?"
Yi Shangyun also looked puzzled and said, "I don't know why, but after waking up, I always feel an unbearable itch on my shoulder!"
The maid thought for a moment, then seemed to suddenly understand, and said with a smile, "During the days you were unconscious, you had been experiencing recurring high fevers and sweating. His Highness the Second Prince was very worried about this and ordered me to take extra care of you. Although I have washed you every day, there are bound to be some oversights. Now that you are awake, why don't I help you bathe and change? A comfortable soak in hot water might just make you feel better."
"Hmm, that's fine!" Yi Shangyun nodded in agreement with the suggestion, but continued to rub her shoulder as she got off the bed to prepare for a bath...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com