Sima Xing looked at Lu Qingyan in surprise and shook his head: "I have never been there. I only remember that when the late emperor was alive, he sent troops to Northern Qi. The third prince of Northern Qi, Sikong Ye, is still a hostage in my Great Jin."
Why are you suddenly asking me this?
“I once heard my mother mention that the western part of Northern Qi is a vast grassland. In spring, the lush green stretches for three thousand miles, and the horses return home with the fragrance of flowers on their hooves.” Lu Qingyan said with longing, “I don’t know if she has ever been there, but the look on her face when she talked about it made me very eager to go, so I really want to see what it’s like.”
But young women in their chambers rarely have the opportunity to go out, and after I get married, I'm afraid I'll have even less chance to go there. So, I wanted to ask if you've ever been there?
Lu Qingyan knew that Sima Xing had traveled to many places seeking medical treatment, but she didn't know if he had ever been to that grassland.
Sima Xing looked at Lu Qingyan and suddenly said, "Ayan, if there's a chance, I'll take you there. If there isn't, I'll still go see it for you and paint the scenery."
Lu Qingyan looked down at the lines on her hand, remaining silent for a moment. Then, she looked up and smiled sweetly, "Okay, then can you help me see how beautiful it is there?"
Lu Qingyan's mother had once been to the grasslands, where she fell deeply in love with someone. More than 20 years ago, before the Jin Kingdom and the Northern Qi Kingdom went to war, she, who was not yet of school age, buried a youthful, fruitless, yet unforgettable love there.
Later, she returned to the Lu Kingdom and entered the palace as a concubine. It was a long time before she had her daughter, Lu Qingyan.
Lu Qingyan touched the eagle bone whistle in her arms, and seemed to hear her mother's dying plea again: "Ayan, I really want to see him one more time, but I will never have the chance again. If you can see him, please return this to him for me! Remember to tell him that if there is an afterlife, I will stay far away from him and never meet him again. A person like him does not deserve to have other people's feelings."
In my memory, when my mother mentioned that person, her voice was sometimes sweet and sometimes poignant. She had given all the joys and sorrows of her life to that one person.
When this relationship ended, she still didn't know his name or his identity. But she still remembered his features and drew them out stroke by stroke: "Ayan, this is the person my mother has always loved. It's just that my mother's life was too tragic; she didn't understand him at all. Besides his appearance, she knew nothing else."
Lu Qingyan looked at her and said softly, "But you can't find that person just by looking at a painting."
She shook her head and said calmly, "I do hope you can meet him, but there are countless unexpected things in this world that will prevent you from meeting. This is our fate, whether it's deep or shallow, it's all up to fate. Even if we don't meet, it doesn't matter."
Recalling this, Lu Qingyan looked up at Sima Xing, who was sipping his wine, the firelight illuminating his jade-like face. She said, "Your wine flask doesn't look special, but it seems to me that there's an endless supply of wine inside."
Sima Xing laughed, "I only take a sip now and then, not to the point of being obsessed with it and living a life of drunken stupor, so of course I won't finish it so quickly. It's a pity about the jar of Liuli Zui I brought with me; it must have broken and spilled out during the fight." He shook his head regretfully, "Fine wine is rare indeed!"
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