In an instant, the expressions on the faces of the priests became more subtle than Pei Ming's.
A Taoist priest in white responded, his expression calm and his demeanor gentle and elegant. It was Xie Lian. Everyone greeted him, "Your Highness." "Your Highness."
Their expressions and words were all cautious and polite. Xie Lian also greeted everyone politely and went out to greet them, saying, "Master Rain Master."
The Rain Master led the tall black bull, the guardian mount, to the temporary shed and nodded slightly in this direction.
The black ox was also carrying large boxes of local specialties, specially sent here. It was said that eating them had miraculous effects on nourishing the guardians. Upon hearing this, some of the priests excitedly rushed to divide the items, while others remained untouched. Xie Lian did not move. The Rain Master said, "I brought something else for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
Xie Lian smiled and said, “Ah, thank you very much in advance! What is it?”
The Rain Master pulled something wrapped in a small piece of white cloth from his sleeve. As soon as he opened it, Xie Lian's eyes lit up. He said, "Thank you, Master Rain Master! I've been looking everywhere for this!"
Feng Xin came over to take a look and said, "Rare silk! Great! Your thing can finally be repaired!"
Xie Lian rummaged through his sleeves and pulled out two pieces of torn white silk. He said happily, "Yes, I've finally found the material to mend Ruo Xie! I'll go mend it right away!"
Feng Xin grabbed him and said, "You want to mend it? Forget it. What can you mend? Ask someone else to help you." He turned around and shouted, "Mu Qing! Come to work!"
Mu Qing walked over slowly and said coldly, "What? What do you mean? You want me to make up for it?"
Feng Xin said, "Isn't that your specialty?"
Mu Qing snorted, "You guys are too good at using people. You're treating me like a servant. I'm afraid you'll ask me to sweep the floor tomorrow."
Xie Lian laughed and said, "Forget it, forget it. I'll do it myself."
Mu Qing, however, had already taken the white silk from him and, rolling her eyes, went to look for needlework. Pei Ming then came over to say hello and tried to pat Black Ox, but the bull's massive teeth snapped, nearly severing his finger. Feeling frustrated, he hurried off. "General Pei, is your arm still healed?" asked Master Yu.
Xie Lian said, “No. He had originally agreed with Rong Guang that he would use the Ming Guang Sword, and besides demanding an apology from him, he would also have to pay with an arm. Although Rong Guang’s resentment eventually dissipated and he spared his arm out of courtesy, he was still badly injured.”
Master Yu said, "I see. No wonder General Pei looks so strange."
Xie Lian thought to himself, “That’s not why he’s acting so strange.”
It turned out Pei Ming was still resentful of being saved by the Rain Master from the fires at Tonglu Mountain and then Xianjing. A man who prided himself on being a man of integrity, he simply couldn't stand the slightest loss of face in front of a woman, especially one with whom he had a past grudge. Compared to the Rain Master, Xuan Ji's behavior was perhaps more tolerable to him. In short, he couldn't let go of the resentment, and the sight of the Rain Master made him feel uneasy, hence his strange expression.
However, Yu Shi had no idea what he cared about and always responded with a polite smile. The two of them were not on the same page at all, which was inexplicably funny.
Master Yu said, "By the way, Your Highness, how is Xuan Ji?"
Xie Lian asked, “Xuan Ji is imprisoned at the foot of the mountain. Do you want to go and see her?”
·
After the war, the demons and monsters that had fled from the various suppression areas were temporarily detained in a makeshift dungeon at the foot of Mount Taicang. Xie Lian led the way, but before they reached the dungeon, they heard a burst of harsh curses in the distance. Pei Su and Ban Yue sat at the door, both expressionless.
With the staffing situation so tight and insufficient, the two of them were sent to help guard the dungeon at the Heavenly Palace. Ke Mo was imprisoned in the dungeon. Seeing his enemy, he was extremely jealous. He hurled insults at the two men all day long, but they pretended not to understand and sat in a row like wooden figures. When they saw the two men approach, they all stood up and said, "Your Highness, Master of Rain."
The Rain Master handed them a box of local specialties. Xie Lian said, "Thank you for your hard work. Master Rain Master wanted to come and see Xuan Ji."
Pei Su hesitated for a moment and said, "Xuan Ji..."
Xie Lian sensed something was wrong: "What's wrong?"
The two entered the prison and found the place where Xuan Ji was imprisoned. They were both stunned. They saw that the prison was empty except for a tattered red wedding dress.
Pei Su said, "Xuan Ji, it disappeared last night."
It was incredible that Xuan Ji's resentment had dissipated. Just a short while ago, this woman's obsession was still so deep, choking Pei Ming and refusing to let go. Xie Lian said, "Perhaps she's finally figured it out."
She figured out how she had transformed over the past few hundred years from a valiant daughter of a military family into a mad, despised, and resentful woman. She must have felt immense shame, unable to bear looking back, at what she had lost and gained.
She hoped that the man who abandoned her would be moved or threatened by her and change his mind, but she suddenly realized that there was no room for maneuver from the beginning, and finally she figured it out.
However, she was able to stay in this world only because of her resentment towards Pei Ming. Once she figured it out, there was no need to stay any longer. It was quite boring to think about it.
The Rain Master sat down where he was, as if to offer her a prayer for salvation. After all, besides her, she was the only other person from the Rain Master Nation in the world. Xie Lian, not wanting to interrupt, withdrew.
·
After leaving, he saw Pei Su and Ban Yue munching on fruit grown in Yushi Township. Xie Lian went over to pick one, preparing to join them in the grind. Suddenly, he sensed something and turned sharply. He saw something flash by in the grass not far away, barely half a man's height.
Xie Lian immediately threw the fruit away, said, "Watch this!" and ran over.
The thing in the bushes sensed he had spotted it and fled even faster. Xie Lian could have caught up in eight steps, but after four, he realized who it was. His mind raced, and he slowed down.
After the thing had escaped for a while, he suddenly rushed out from the side, blocked its path, and said, "Miss Jianlan, are you planning to leave without saying goodbye?"
The person was none other than Jian Lan, who was stealthily holding the fetal spirit. Startled by Xie Lian's elusiveness, she exclaimed, "It's you!"
The white fetus was baring its teeth in her arms, as if about to attack. Jianlan held it down and said, "Are you here to stop me?"
Xie Lian didn't want her to be too alert, so he said, "Don't be nervous. I just want to give you something."
As he spoke, he handed over something and said, "Your son, Cuo Cuo, has a strong resentful power and needs to be controlled. Although it is now being purified, your cultivation level is not as high as his, so there is no guarantee that there will be no accidents. You need this thing to assist you."
It was a homemade amulet, and Xie Lian had even demonstrated its use to ensure it was safe. Jianlan looked at it, and her guard dropped slightly. After all, it was quite useful. After a moment's hesitation, she took it and said, "Thank you."
Xie Lian said, “No need. Simply shout three times, ‘Your Highness, please bless me,’ when you use it. That way, it will be registered in my name.”
“…”
Jianlan took a few steps, paused, and still couldn't help but turned back and asked: "Aren't you going to stop me? Why?"
Xie Lian waited for her to turn around, then asked instead, "Then why did you have to leave, Miss Jianlan? Feng Xin said he would take care of you, and he will keep his promise."
Jianlan's expression changed, and finally, she sighed and said, "I know he will. But forget it. I don't want to live with him anymore."
Xie Lian was stunned for a moment, then asked, “Now… you don’t like him at all?”
Jianlan was probably tired from running, so she sat down on the side of the road and said, "It has nothing to do with whether he likes it or not. I don't want to force him to tie us to his side."
Xie Lian also sat down beside her, thought for a moment, and said, "Feng Xin must really have loved you. Back then, he was so devastated, but he still refused to give up on you."
Hearing this, Jianlan seemed to recall something from long ago and smiled, "Now that you mention it, I remember it now. He was so stupid back then. He spent a long time saving money to buy me a night, but he moved a stool and sat opposite me all night, doing nothing but chatting with me. Everyone treated him like a joke, it was hilarious!"
Xie Lian also smiled and said, "See, I told you he really likes you."
Jianlan suppressed her smile and said, "What you said is all about the past. Just because I liked someone before doesn't mean I will like them forever. I don't want to be given charity and then be despised by others."
Xie Lian asked, “How could he dislike you? Don’t you know who Feng Xin is?”
Jian Lan said, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is not worldly, so of course you think too simply. He won't do that now, not even on the surface. But as time goes by, it's hard to say. If I wanted to find him, I would have gone to look for him long ago. It's not that rare in Nanyang Palace. There was a time when they were everywhere, but I don't want to.
"He's ascended, he's powerful, he's famous, but we're all ghosts now. Why would I bother looking for him? A priest with two ghosts, wouldn't that be embarrassing for him?
"I kicked him out when I was at my best. I thought it was great, arrogant. That way, I would always be like that in his heart, instead of like now, with heavy makeup and fine lines around the eyes."
She pulled at her face and said, "If he really acknowledged us, and he kept looking at my face every day, and Cuocuo was still like this, being held back by us, he would only become more and more tired and bored day by day, and one day he would even dislike us. Why bother? That would be too sad, wouldn't it?"
As they spoke, the fetal spirit kept licking her face with its wet tongue, which was both subtle and disgustingly playful and cute. But to most people, it would probably just be disgusting and unacceptable.
Jianlan also touched her son's bald head and said, "Anyway, I made mistakes, that's enough. Who made promises when they were young and ignorant that weren't vows of love and affection? They always talk about love, affection, and forever. But the longer I endure in this world, the more I understand that 'forever' is impossible, never possible. It's good enough to have happened. No one can really do it. I don't believe it anymore."
She said helplessly, "Feng Xin is a good person. It's just... it's really been too long. Nothing is the same anymore, so let it go."
Xie Lian listened silently, saying nothing, but in his heart he thought, “No.”
A voice in his heart said, "Forever does exist. Some people can truly achieve it. I believe it."
·
Jianlan still left with Cuo Cuo.
Xie Lian returned to see off the Rain Master, who had completed Xuan Ji's salvation, and then returned to Mount Taicang. He wanted to tell Feng Xin that Jian Lan had passed away, but he didn't see him. He was searching among the clamoring crowd when he heard someone shout, "Tai Hua, you're here! Are you free? Help me calculate!"
They were still arresting people and settling accounts. Lang Qianqiu could not avoid them and said from a distance, "Don't bring it to me. I have something to do. Find someone else!"
Xie Lian sighed, thinking he might as well try to calculate it. Unexpectedly, he had just taken a few steps when he heard a voice behind him say, "Master... His Royal Highness... The Crown Prince."
Xie Lian turned around and saw Lang Qianqiu standing behind him. He scratched his cheek and said, "Can I have a moment to talk?"
Xie Lian said, “Okay.”
So, he and Lang Qianqiu walked outside the shabby greenhouse. As they walked, Xie Lian asked, "How's Guzi? Is he okay?"
Lang Qianqiu smiled bitterly and said, "I don't know if it's good or not. This kid keeps asking me for his daddy. It's so pitiful, so I had no choice but to... collect the little bit of the Green Ghost's soul and put it in a lamp. Now he runs in front of me every day holding the lamp, asking me how to make the soul in the lamp grow! I really am..."
Seeing his depressed expression, it was understandable that he'd been through this. It was unclear why a man whose entire family had been murdered by Qi Rong would do such a thing. Xie Lian subconsciously wanted to pat him on the shoulder, but thinking about what he'd done in Yong'an, he restrained himself and said gently, "Thank you for your hard work. So, what do you want to talk to me about today?"
After hesitating for a moment, Lang Qianqiu reached into his arms, took out something, handed it to him, and said, "This."
Xie Lian's breath hitched slightly when he saw that thing.
It was a small, lustrous, and round deep red coral bead.
He trembled and said, "What is this...?!"
Lang Qianqiu said: "This coral bead is a secret treasure left by the founding ancestors of Yong'an."
Hearing this, Xie Lian finally realized that this was not the one Hua Cheng had dropped at the end of her hair, but the one he had given to Lang Ying.
It wasn't Huacheng's. He felt a sense of loss, but still accepted the bead. At this moment, Lang Qianqiu said, "My ancestors once said that the person who gave him this red coral bead was his benefactor, someone who had helped him. He was a very good person."
“…”
Lang Qianqiu continued, "But he still did something that caused that person to lose everything. The ancestor said he didn't regret doing it, he had to do it. But thinking about it later, he still felt a little sorry for that person."
“…”
Xie Lian asked, “And then?”
Lang Qianqiu said, "Then, that day in Xianjing, I looked closely at the bead at the end of Xueyu Tanhua's hair. The more I looked, the more it looked like the one my father left me. Later, I heard General Xuanzhen and the others say that this bead originally came with a pair and it was yours. So, I wanted to ask, is this yours?"
After a long pause, Xie Lian slowly nodded and said, "They're mine. They're a pair of beads my father, the Emperor, and my mother, the Empress, gave me when I was a child."
Lang Qianqiu scratched his hair and said, "Then... I'll give it back to you."
He still didn't know how to address Xie Lian. He returned the bead, hesitated for a moment, and then walked away silently. Xie Lian stood there, holding the red coral bead in his palm.
Over eight hundred years later, after many twists and turns, the other earring with crimson coral beads returned to his hands. It was his, and it remained his.
However, the other bead should have been there at this moment. They could have made a pair.
At this moment, Feng Xin's joyful voice came from the foot of the mountain: "Your Highness! Everyone! Come here quickly!"
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