A scream rang out, prompting Kong Qingyan, who had been retreating, to step forward and shield Li An behind her.
He held a short knife to his chest, his eyes fixed sharply on the room from which the sound was coming.
"Brother!" Xiaoman ran to the room and tried to push open the door.
"Don't come in. Xiaoman, don't come in." A tired, trembling voice came from inside the house. "Xiaoman, listen to your brother, don't come in."
"Brother, I've called a doctor. Please let him in and take a look at you," Xiaoman said, banging on the door.
"No doctor, let's go, let's go." Dongzhi resisted seeing the doctor.
Li An walked around Kong Qing and reached the door.
"On the winter solstice, I am a traveling physician hired by your sister. My name is Li An, and I am from the capital. If you don't want to see your sister, may I just be allowed to enter?"
Silence filled the room.
"Are you really from the capital? What proof do you have?"
"Your question has stumped me," Li An laughed, wondering how he was supposed to prove it.
As Ang Lee pondered, all was quiet inside and outside the room.
"Watch out!" Kong Qing lunged at Li An, wielding her short sword to deflect short arrows shot from afar.
Before Li An could understand what was happening, Kong Qing pinned him down.
Then I heard a whooshing sound of arrows and the thud of arrows hitting flesh.
There are people injured.
Ang Lee wanted to go, but Kong Qing was firmly holding him back.
"Second Master, don't move." Kong Qing said, followed by a muffled groan.
The swishing sound disappeared, and then there was silence.
Li An shifted his position. "Kong Qing?"
The person on my back didn't react, and the smell of blood filled my nostrils.
Li An was startled, pushed Kong Qing away forcefully, and scrambled to his feet.
Kong Qing had three short arrows stuck in her back.
Li An panicked for a moment, but quickly calmed down and took out a life-saving pill to feed Kong Qing.
He opened the medicine box, took out the medicine, quickly administered an acupuncture, and began treatment.
While Li An was busy rescuing Kong Qing, he didn't notice the door behind him slowly opening.
On the restless winter solstice, I carefully and slowly opened the door.
His younger sister, covered in arrows, stared at him with wide eyes, as if asking, "Why won't you open the door, brother?"
"Xiaoman!" Dongzhi shouted, rushing over to hug her younger sister.
"Xiaoman! Xiaoman—" Dongzhi cried out, "Brother was wrong, it's all brother's fault, brother shouldn't have... ah—"
Ignoring Dongzhi's cries, Li An swiftly pierced Kong Qing's body with golden needles in his hand.
Kong Qing's breathing became steady, and Li An breathed a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
Ang Lee walks towards Xiaoman (the fourth solar term).
"What are you doing? Don't come any closer, get out!" Dongzhi shouted angrily.
"Let me see if there's any hope for your sister?" Li An reached out and felt Xiaoman's pulse.
I look forward to seeing Ang Lee on the winter solstice.
Ang Lee's face was grave. "She's not breathing."
"It's all your fault, you killed Xiaoman. I'm going to kill you—" Dongzhi lunged at Li An.
As the sun set, Chonglou and Lingyu followed Kongqing's markings and arrived at this desolate house.
Arrows littered the ground, and the stench of blood was overwhelming.
Ang Lee leaned against the wall, with Kong Qing, covered in blood, beside him.
"You two are just in time, tie them up."
Li An weakly pointed to Dong Zhi, who was struggling to break free not far away, covered in blood and with disheveled hair.
Chonglou and Lingyu tied the winter solstice tightly together and went to Li An's side to apologize.
"Your subordinate is late, please punish me, Second Master."
“I told you to go play, so it’s not your fault.” Li An waved his hand and pointed to Xiaoman lying next to Dongzhi.
"They dug a hole and buried the little girl."
Chonglou and Lingyu tensed up instantly when they saw the lifeless little girl.
He wanted to ask, but seeing Ang Lee's tired appearance, he swallowed his question and found a shovel.
"No, no!" Winter Solstice shouted. "Grain Buds, Grain Buds..."
"Xiaoman died because of you," Li An said calmly.
“No, I’m not, ah,” Dongzhi retorted, then suddenly her body convulsed, “Give it to me, give it to me quickly… I want it, I want it… give it to me,”
The difference in appearance before and after the winter solstice startled the three sober individuals.
Ang Lee regained his composure. "What do you want?"
"Yingmeng, give me Yingmeng, I want Yingmeng, Yingmeng, give me..."
What is "Yingmeng"?
"I want Yingmeng, give it to me, give it to me... Please, give it to me, give it to me..." Dongzhi murmured.
"Trade Xiaoman for Yingmeng?"
"No, you can't." Dongzhi shook her head. "Sister, you can't, you can't, you can't..."
"Is it really not possible?" Li An's voice carried a hint of temptation.
"No, no, huff, ha, huff huff... Give, give it all to you... Give me Yingmeng, Yingmeng, dream..." Dongzhi went from hesitating at the beginning to compromising later, with only Yingmeng in his mind.
"What is Yingmeng?" Lingyu asked, puzzled. What kind of good thing is Yingmeng that made Dongzhi abandon her own sister?
“Poison, a poison that seeps into the bone marrow.” Li An’s voice turned cold as he looked at Dong Zhi’s ugly state.
"If one wears the dream for too long, one will fall into a fantasy, become addicted to it, unable to extricate oneself, and become its slave."
Ang Lee knew about Yingmeng because Gu Cundong gave him a forbidden book.
The banned books contained records of poisons and rare medicines that could not be developed or circulated outside the country.
The number one character in the book is Yingmeng.
“Even if you take the Heartbreak Grass, Master can still save you. But if you take the Nightingale Dream, all Master can do is to end your life with his own hands.”
Gu Cundong's face was cold when he said this, and Li An kept it in mind.
"What exactly is the poison called 'Nighting Dream'?"
Do you know how the previous dynasty fell?
Ang Lee shook his head; he didn't know. He usually read medical books and wasn't familiar with historical texts.
"The reason for the extinction of the previous dynasty was that everyone from the royal family to the ministers was indulging in 'nightmare dreams'."
He was immersed in hallucinations every day, living in a daze and doing nothing productive.
Over time, their bodily functions weaken, turning them into monsters that are neither human nor ghost.
With the imperial court in disgrace, enemy countries seized the opportunity to invade.
The founding emperor of the Qing Dynasty submitted a memorial to the emperor, ordering a ban on people eating nightingales, and was subsequently exiled to a remote mountain area to serve as a garrison commander.
The founding emperor could not bear to see the people suffer so much.
They rallied resistance fighters, drove out the enemy forces, and established the Qing Dynasty.
On his first day on the throne, he ordered the destruction of all Yingmeng (a type of magical dream) and strictly forbade anyone from taking it.
Once discovered, they will be severely punished.
Officials in the court who used it were dismissed from their posts, had their homes confiscated, and were exiled.
A century has passed, and with the passing of the older generation, few people know about Yingmeng.
Gu Cundong knew this because his great-grandfather had been a physician in the previous dynasty. He had seen too many people who took Yingmeng suffer the same fate.
He specially recorded Yingmeng's dream and left behind the ancient family precepts.
The first rule is that any descendant of the Gu family who takes Yingmeng will die.
"When I first learned about Yingmeng, I thought my master was exaggerating." Li An chuckled and looked at the inhuman and ghostly Dongzhi.
Now Ang Lee can say that his mentor was too lenient.
"Second Master, should we kill him?" Ling Yu drew the soft knife from his waist.
"Spare his life for now," Li An stopped him, "He'll still be useful at the Winter Solstice."
"Bury Xiaoman. Let's go."
"Yes." Chonglou and Lingyu took shovels and dug a hole to bury Xiaoman.
After burying Xiaoman, Chonglou immediately picked up Kongqing.
Lingyu had no choice but to postpone the winter solstice.
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