Chapter 182 Statue
In fact, Lan Wu had already roughly guessed some of it. Since Chu Mingheng could recover after being separated for three months, it meant that the two Chu Minghengs would become the same person, their memories would be connected, and there would be no longer a distinction between the two lives.
Although not explicitly stated in the letter, it occasionally gave Lan Wu hints, as if it was meant for her to discover them herself.
Lan Wu would be a fool if she didn't figure it out soon.
Thinking of Chu Mingheng in her past life in her dream, and then thinking of Chu Mingheng in the present life outside the dream, Lan Wu was not so sad anymore.
Since they've all become the same person, it means Master Huifan was right; her leaving Chu Mingheng did indeed help him recover.
But Chu Mingheng's life in his previous life was so pitiful that Lan Wu couldn't help but sigh whenever she thought of it.
Lan Wu hadn't opened the letter that Chu Mingheng had sent yet. She waited until all the palace servants had left before sitting down at the low table and finally opening it to take a look.
Outside the palace gates, the palace servants have been packing their things for the past few days, since they will be returning to the palace with the Empress in a few days.
"Today is the 29th, right? In two more days it will be April. By the time we return to the palace, the weather will be warm, and the flowers in the Imperial Garden will surely be in bloom."
"How could that be? Late March and early April is when the spring rains fall, and there will definitely be a rain then."
The palace servants were talking quietly outside the hall when they suddenly heard a sound of something hitting the ground inside. Without thinking, they rushed into the hall to see if the Empress was alright.
Lan Wu was reading Chu Mingheng's letter when she was caught off guard and saw that he had already set off from the capital to pick her up.
She was shocked and grabbed the letter to head out of the hall. Forgetting there was a step on the ground, she tripped and fell, knocking over a stack of books on the table in the process.
When the palace servants entered the hall and saw her, they quickly stepped forward and helped her up.
Lan Wu frowned as she got up, rubbing her elbow, which felt a little sore.
"Your Highness, why did you fall... Quickly, go and summon Physician Chen." Lianxi approached and helped her sit down on a chair, then hurriedly went to summon Physician Chen.
Lan Wu frowned as she looked at the letter in her hand, thinking to herself: It's all because of Chu Mingheng. He suddenly wrote a letter saying that he had already set off, even though he didn't say when he would come to pick her up in the letter he wrote to her last time.
"His Majesty said he has already come from the capital. If things go quickly, he should arrive in a few more days," Lan Wu said softly.
Lianxi couldn't help but laugh upon hearing this: "Isn't it a good thing that His Majesty came all the way to pick up the Empress? The Empress misses His Majesty so much, and she will be able to see him in a few days. No wonder the Empress is so excited."
Just as Lan Wu was about to say something, she saw Physician Chen approaching.
Chen Li examined her arm, touched it, and said, "It was just a bump, no bones were broken, some medicine will do."
Lan Wu nodded and then asked her, "It's not serious, is it? Will it get better in the next few days?"
Chen Li paused for a moment, looked at her carefully again, and asked, "Did Your Highness bump into the corner of the table? Did you knock over anything else?"
"My knee seems to be scraped a bit too..."
Chen Li applied medicine to the injury on her knee before saying, "The knee injury isn't serious, but Your Majesty's arm will probably need a few days to heal. Your Majesty should eat something light these days."
Lan Wu gave an "oh" and slightly bent her arm to take a look.
Hopefully, her injury will heal before Chu Mingheng comes to pick her up, otherwise he will definitely scold her again.
A light rain fell during the night, and raindrops dripped from the eaves onto the leaves of the trees outside the palace, making a pitter-patter sound.
Lan Wu was awakened by the sound of rain. She subconsciously propped herself up on her arms and sat up. Her arms hurt a little when she bent them, which immediately woke her up.
Looking out through the curtains beside the bed, she saw the dark sky and the faint glow of palace lanterns.
Is it raining?
Lan Wu pressed her head with her other hand—she hadn't been able to fall asleep today either.
Listening to the pitter-patter of the rain, Lan Wu felt a little irritated.
It was as if a string in her mind was taut, and the raindrops, like sharp stones, danced on that string, disturbing her peace.
In her previous life, a few days before she died, it rained just like this.
Lan Wu paused in her movements.
If you calculate carefully, was the day she died in her previous life the second or the third day of the fourth lunar month?
Lan Wu shivered.
As the night deepened and all was quiet, her thoughts became even more scattered. She thought about everything, and the things she didn't want to remember appeared more clearly in her mind at this moment, impossible to dispel or drive away.
It must have been on the second day of junior high school; it was a long-awaited sunny day.
No, why would she think about these things? It's all meaningless now. Those people can't hurt her anymore. She's been reborn and already knows the truth.
Moreover, she is currently on Changyong Mountain and will soon pass the anniversary of her death in her previous life, so nothing will go wrong.
Lan Wu lowered her eyes slightly, lay back down on the bed, curled up in the quilt, and kept telling herself not to think about it, but she couldn't help but think about it again and again.
The sound of rain outside the window didn't stop completely until dawn, and it was then that Lan Wu managed to get a short nap again.
When I opened my eyes again, it was almost noon.
Lan Wu was a little listless, and didn't go to Wuji Temple in the afternoon. She just looked at the gray sky outside the hall and became more and more upset.
As she sat on the chaise longue, a velvet blanket draped over her. Feeling listless in the afternoon, she couldn't concentrate on reading the book she was holding. Before she knew it, she had leaned her head to the side and gradually drifted off to sleep.
She said yesterday that she hadn't dreamt of him, but today her wish came true.
As the surrounding white mist dissipated, the familiar scene before her made her stop in her tracks.
This is Changyong Mountain.
More precisely, this is Wuji Temple.
The chanting of sutras grew clearer and clearer, exactly the same as the chanting she usually heard on the path she walked to the Hall of Longevity to pray for blessings.
Lan Wu looked around but didn't see Chu Mingheng, so she started walking along the road.
They arrived at the Hall of Longevity.
The golden palace was still empty and sparsely furnished, but now there was one more person inside.
Chu Mingheng was kneeling on a prayer mat in the hall, and the sound of dripping water could be heard from inside the hall, which seemed particularly abrupt in the otherwise silent space.
Lan Wu called out to him, not noticing his slight tremor, and quickly walked around him to stand in front of him.
When Lan Wu got to him, she noticed that his face looked noticeably older and that he was excessively pale.
Chu Mingheng looked down at the ground, as if he couldn't notice anything.
Lan Wu dared not think about how much time had passed, but judging from the fleeting glimpse of Chu Mingheng's face, it must have been quite a while.
Before she could even process what was happening, she looked around for a candle she could blow out.
But whether Chu Mingheng forgot or he had already decided that she would never appear again, not a single candle was lit in the golden palace.
If we don't have candles, could incense and candles work instead?
There was a thick curtain in front of them, obscuring the gods and Buddhas enshrined there.
Lan Wu tried to find incense and candles through the curtain, but as soon as she stepped inside, she seemed to sense something and looked up to see a golden statue. The statue was of a woman, beautiful, gentle, charming and elegant, which showed how much the person who sculpted the statue loved her.
But upon seeing that face, Lan Wu felt as if an invisible wind was shattering every bone in her body. Her heart pounded violently like a drumbeat, and she couldn't help feeling uneasy, lost, and even terrified. At the same time, she roughly guessed why Chu Mingheng had appeared here.
The statue is of herself.
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