Chapter 75 Qing Ping Yue (Part 5) - Details.
Ye Mu was startled by the sound and turned her head to look at him. His features were real, but his eyes were not very clear due to the weariness of sleeping for a long time. His eyelashes were half-covered, but he was definitely looking at her.
He was staring at her intently.
It's not a dream.
Ye Mu had far too many dreams that he had when he woke up.
Or, when she bent down to sew that sky-blue long gown for him, he gently called her Fourth Sister, and when she looked up, she would meet his clear, smiling eyes, as gentle as ever.
Or perhaps on an ordinary morning, she wakes up groggily, only to find herself looking into a pair of eyes that are already awake and gazing at her tenderly. He will hold her close and ask if she slept well last night and what she dreamed about.
Those imagined reunions were all warm, tender, and precious, and in these moments she would fully express her longing, and the two of them would embrace tightly again.
What an embarrassing situation!
Why did he have to wake up at this exact moment of all times?!
There's absolutely no way to defend myself!
Ye Mu had only bumped into Xiao Xie by chance, and then suddenly remembered the hidden dangers mentioned by the itinerant doctor. Overwhelmed by belated fear and self-blame, he could not help but feel grief.
That's exactly what he meant!
"You see it every day..." Xie Yicheng saw her stunned, her voice slightly hoarse, and was about to add more firewood, "...to mourn?"
What kind of talk is that?!
"Xie Yicheng!" Ye Mu was both embarrassed and angry. She hurriedly grabbed a thin blanket from the side and covered him with it, covering the source of the trouble.
Ye Mu leaned closer to him, her eyes still red, glaring at him with a reproachful tone, "You... how dare you say that! When I was crying my heart out by your side, thinking you were going to die, why didn't you wake up? When I talked to you day and night until my voice was hoarse, why didn't you wake up? Of all times, it had to be at this time..."
"Looks like I woke up at the wrong time," Xie Yicheng said suddenly. "Then I'll go into a coma for a while longer."
As he spoke, he actually slowly closed his eyes.
"You dare!" Ye Mu lunged forward, grabbing his eyelids with both hands without warning, her fingertips trembling slightly. "Xie Yicheng, I won't allow you to close your eyes anymore. You can only close your eyes at night. You're not allowed to sleep anymore! You dare to try sleeping again!"
Her breath brushed against his face, and Xie Yicheng was so annoyed by her that his eyelids trembled under her fingertips. A muffled laugh resonated from his chest, reaching Ye Mu directly.
He was really laughing.
It wasn't a dream, nor was it a hallucination; it was the laughter of Xie Yicheng, alive and well.
Ye Mu's playful hands suddenly lost their strength, and she seemed to have her spine removed, collapsing limply, her forehead pressed against his shoulder, and bursting into tears.
"You have no idea...you have no idea how I've gotten through these past few months..."
She sobbed incoherently, her tears quickly soaking his undergarment. "I thought you were dead... I couldn't even feel your heartbeat anymore, your hands were so cold, your body so chilly... Later, the miracle doctor said you weren't completely dead, but you had to endure the burning pain in your heart. I was so scared that I didn't dare sleep all night, checking your breathing, listening to your heartbeat, and feeling your pulse every now and then. That miracle doctor was terrifying; he said you might have brain damage from the fever, and that even if you woke up, you might not be a whole person... I talked to you every day, and wiped your body every day, but you didn't react at all..."
She sobbed intermittently and incoherently, pouring out all the fear and despair that she had buried deep in her heart and never told anyone before onto his chest.
To outsiders, she appeared calm, resilient, and methodically caring for him, firmly believing he would wake up. But in reality, she herself was uncertain.
He wouldn't wake up, so she would wait, day after day, month after month, year after year... until she lived a lifetime. This belief sustained her, but it also tormented her constantly.
Xie Yicheng neither laughed nor spoke.
He listened quietly, letting her sob on his body. His limbs were still heavy and numb from just waking up, and his head was still a little dizzy, but he could still hear every word of her sobs, and his heart couldn't help but ache.
Hsieh Yi-cheng tried to raise her arm and gently put her arms around her shoulders and back, which were trembling from crying.
Ye Mu cried even louder.
She finally felt for sure that he had really come back, that he could talk, laugh, and hug her.
What is more soul-stirring than a long-awaited reunion is the regaining of what was lost.
As darkness fell, the wailing gradually turned into sobs, and finally into intermittent gasps for breath.
Ye Mu nestled against his neck, tears still streaming down her face, but her emotions had gradually subsided.
Xie Yicheng waited until her breathing calmed down a bit before asking softly, "Who is this miracle doctor you mentioned?"
Ye Mu sniffed, propped himself up slightly, wiped his face haphazardly with the back of his hand, and began to recount the chance encounter in Qingyuan Town, the shocking incident in the dilapidated temple, the strange words and actions of the itinerant doctor, and his miraculous diagnosis.
Later, she suddenly remembered something, quickly got up, took out the dark string of Buddhist beads from the box, and handed it to him.
"Look, this is the miracle doctor's. He probably forgot to take it with him in his haste."
Xie Yicheng reached out and took the prayer beads, holding them in his palm. He looked up at Ye Mu and asked, "Don't you think they look familiar?"
Ye Mu's heart skipped a beat, and a sense of surprise and doubt suddenly rushed down his spine.
Of course she recognized it; this string of prayer beads was exactly the same as the one she had seen swaying in her blurred vision during her final moments in her previous life.
That was held by the monk who performed the ritual for her soul. How could Ke Cheng know that she was familiar with it?
"You..." Ye Mu's throat tightened.
An absurd idea was about to emerge.
Xie Yicheng coughed violently; her throat, still dry from waking up, was too parched to withstand the emotional turmoil.
Ye Mu hurriedly suppressed the turmoil in her heart, carefully helped him sit up a little, leaning against the raised bedding, and then rushed to the table to pour warm water, carefully feeding him a few sips.
Soothe the throat with warm water, and the cough gradually stops.
Xie Yicheng still felt a bitter taste in her mouth, so she washed her hands and brushed her teeth. After tidying up her appearance, she leaned against a soft pillow and breathed heavily.
However, he had finally shaken off the dejection of the past few months, and his features appeared more relaxed. Ye Mu watched from the side, but his heart was hanging in the air, waiting for him to finish his sentence.
Xie Yicheng paused for a moment, looking at her anxious face, and suddenly gave a very slight twitch at the corner of her mouth, and said in a low voice, "Fourth Sister, before that... could you help me put on my trousers first?"
He gestured to the blanket, somewhat helplessly, "I really don't have much strength right now."
Ye Mu then remembered that the wiping process had been interrupted halfway through.
She had completely forgotten that he wasn't wearing hakama yet, and when he brought it up, her ears instantly turned blush.
People tend to be very polite when they are in a difficult situation.
As she apologized, she hurriedly and hastily pulled back the covers, quickly straightening his lower garments and pulling up his trousers. Naturally, this resulted in some accidental contact, and it seemed…
It's not as soft as it was before.
Her mind wandered elsewhere. Perhaps because she had spent some time in the officialdom, she could always pick out the hidden meaning in what she heard. Did his phrase "not much strength" mean that he didn't have the strength to carry his own trousers, or that he didn't have the strength to do anything else?
She glanced at him quickly and saw that he was staring at her. Ye Mu blushed and hurriedly lowered her eyes, cursing herself for thinking that way. She felt her cheeks burning even more, as if she really cared about him so much.
Ye Mu hurriedly tied his belt, her fingers making two knots in her panic before finally securing it. Then she pulled the blanket up again, covering him completely below his collarbone, before letting out a long sigh of relief.
Xie Yicheng watched her flustered state, a smile playing on her lips. "Don't you see this every day? Bathing, dressing—what haven't you seen? And why are you so shy?"
His voice was low and hoarse, carrying the weariness of just waking up, but the teasing tone was clear.
"How can that be the same!" Ye Mu retorted immediately, her ears turning even redder. "You're not awake on weekdays, and no one's watching me, so naturally I don't feel anything. Besides, all I care about is your safety. I'm busy with my work, how can I think about anything else?"
Xie Yicheng's smile deepened. "Oh? So you've thought of something else now?"
His tone was certain; she had never been able to hide from him.
Ye Mu pounced on him, embarrassed and annoyed, "Don't talk about me, talk about you! What did you remember?"
The smile on Xie Yicheng's lips gradually faded, and her gaze lowered to the dark, heavy Buddhist prayer beads in her palm. "Perhaps it's something from a past life."
He was quietly observing his other life in his dream.
In his previous life, Xie Yicheng was still a monk in black robes, only older. At that time, he was already the Imperial Preceptor, highly trusted by the emperor. His first meeting with Ye Mu was at a grand wedding filled with music and revelry.
At that time, she was already married to another man through proper channels. Dressed in a phoenix coronet and embroidered robe, her red makeup was dazzling. The groom was Jiang Si, the newly appointed top scholar in the imperial examination. The top scholar pleaded with His Majesty to allow him, who was then the Imperial Preceptor, to recite a blessing for their wedding.
Xie Yicheng left.
Everyone around him bowed their heads and listened silently to the eulogy, creating a solemn atmosphere. Only the bride, who was half-concealing her face with a fan, was secretly peeking at him, which he had already noticed.
He presided over countless royal ceremonies and performed rituals to help countless princes and nobles pass on to the afterlife. What he saw most often were the cold, stiff faces of the deceased in their coffins.
This is my first time attending a wedding.
This is the first time I've ever seen a bride dressed in such a vibrant and lively way.
At first, only a pair of exquisitely drawn eyebrows and eyes were visible behind the fan. The way her eyes looked revealed a liveliness and cunning that did not belong to a newlywed, like a little fox sneaking out in the dark to spy on the human world.
Her gaze, filled with curiosity, began with his monk's shoes, slowly moving upwards, sweeping over the hem of his robe, then to his belt, and finally lingering on his fingers for a long time.
Just when he thought she would continue to secretly observe him like that, her gaze suddenly rose and met his lowered eyelids.
The moment their eyes met, she was like a forest sprite suddenly exposed to the light of day. She hurriedly raised her fan to cover her entire face, but her delicate earlobes along the edge of the fan quickly flushed red, as if they had been adorned with fresh rouge.
That little bit of red burned his eyes, making him lower them.
The bride will look like this from now on.
The next time I saw her, she was with her mother-in-law at the temple praying for a child.
By then, Ye Mu's complexion was no longer as radiant as it had been on her wedding night, and a faint melancholy lingered in her eyes. Her mother-in-law, a shrewd and capable old lady, pulled her to him and placed her intimate undergarment on his desk, requesting that it be blessed and consecrated. She said that if the daughter-in-law wore this item during their marital relations, the goddess of fertility would grant them a blessing...
He immediately kicked her absurd mother-in-law out, but it was also the first time he had ever touched such soft fabric, as if he could still feel the warmth of the woman's skin.
That subtle fragrance, like a tiny spark, was fueled by her tears, burning towards the strict rules and practices he had upheld for so many years.
He granted her request for peace and quiet and arranged a meditation room for her next to his residence.
So she began copying scriptures in the temple. At first, it was just to avoid the world, but gradually, the dim lamps, yellow scrolls, wooden fish, and chanting created a peaceful haven for her.
Xie Yicheng watched as her complexion improved day by day, and the colors of her clothes changed from a dull gray-blue to pale yellow, light green, and pinkish-white, becoming much more vibrant, as if she had regained her original radiance.
The young novices were inevitably drawn to her bright appearance. The temple supervisor found him, his brows furrowed, and said, "Grand Preceptor, the daily visits of this female guest are detrimental to the temple's reputation and discipline, and also disturb the monks' peace of mind. It would be best to ask her to return home as soon as possible."
He sat upright on the meditation cushion, his prayer beads never ceasing, only raising his eyes, "Temple rules are dead, but people's hearts are alive. She found a moment of peace here and did not do anything wrong. If any monks are moved or shaken by this, it is because their own guard is not firm, what does it have to do with others? Pass on my words: anyone who looks at a female guest for more than three breaths and talks about her in private, once discovered, will be made to stand in a horse stance outside the meditation hall for two hours and copy the Heart Sutra one hundred times."
After the order was given, the temple became much quieter. Those who were curious and restless quickly quieted down, and no one dared to question his decision.
Two months later, she fainted. He rushed over upon hearing the news, dismissed everyone else, and diagnosed that she was pregnant.
Ye Mu begged him again to stay in the temple to rest and prepare for childbirth. He looked at her lying in his quilt, her face flushed, which strangely softened the color of his cold and gray quilt.
Xie Yicheng once again agreed, seemingly against all odds, and went to great lengths to help her, even revising some of the temple rules and regulations, just so that she could stay legitimately.
But Xie Yicheng never touched the plain brocade quilt she had used. He locked it in the closet, sealing her fragrance in the bottom of the closet as well.
Ye Mu stayed at the temple for a long time, and we ended up spending much more time together.
He watched as she grew more plump day by day under his care, her face glowing with health, her belly gradually swelling, and the somber air about her was slowly replaced by the soft radiance of impending motherhood.
When the weather was fine, she would sit on the cushioned stone bench in the small courtyard outside the meditation room, basking in the sun. She would gently stroke her increasingly round belly with one hand, lower her head, and talk in a voice that only she and the child in her womb could hear.
Sunlight filtered through the bamboo leaves, casting dappled light on her lowered profile. At that moment, her expression was serene and beautiful, unlike that of an ordinary person.
He glanced at it from a distance, unable to look away for a moment.
I copied the Heart Sutra over and over again at night to punish myself for my greed for reading.
Her husband, Jiang Si, was an official in the court at the time, and was very busy with official duties. He would only take time to visit her on the mountain every ten days or so. On those days, she would get up early, do her makeup in front of the mirror, and then be somewhat absent-minded all day, frequently looking towards the temple gate.
Upon seeing Jiang Si, the joy in her eyes was so bright it could pierce the eyes of onlookers.
Perhaps there were no bystanders, just him all alone.
He walked away silently, but they were right next door; where else could he go?
The meditation room wasn't very soundproof, and he could vaguely hear flirtatious whispers coming from the other side. He knew, of course, that they were a married couple in name only, but upon hearing Jiang Si's voice, he inexplicably felt his breathing become uneven.
Once, when there was a slightly loud noise from next door, the wooden fish in his hand slipped from his grasp and hit the ground with a dull thud.
The noise from next door stopped abruptly.
It might not have been a mistake.
He composed himself and calmly explained to the young novice monk who had rushed over upon hearing the commotion, "It's alright, my hand slipped."
But he knew what he was thinking; he knew she was getting increasingly pregnant and he should be more careful.
In fact, there are many more dark thoughts at play that even they dare not examine closely. These delusions and selfish desires can probably only be clearly seen by the Buddha with his discerning eyes in the palace.
Later, perhaps because he was frequently disturbed, Jiang Si gradually came up the mountain less often.
He took good care of her, ensuring she had a rosy complexion and a safe pregnancy. A month before her due date, the Jiang family sent someone to pick her up, forcing her to return home.
On the day she left, a light rain was falling. She held onto Zijing's hand as she stepped into the sedan chair, glancing back at the temple gate. He was not in the temple.
He went to the back mountain.
Through the rain and the heavy shadows of the trees, he watched from afar as the small blue sedan chair carrying her gradually shrank along the mountain road, eventually disappearing completely into the vast rain and mountain mist.
On the day she gave birth, he did not chant sutras in the temple, but went to a teahouse across the street from the Jiang residence, sat by the window on the second floor, and ordered a pot of coarse tea.
Only when a loud cry of a newborn baby came from inside the Jiang residence, followed by servants running around spreading the good news, and bows and arrows symbolizing the joy of the birth of a son were hung at the door, did he get up and leave.
When we met again, my son was already 100 days old.
The Jiang family held a banquet, inviting many guests, and also sent an invitation to the Imperial Advisor as per custom. Amidst the congratulations and clamor, he spotted her in the distance.
She wore a crimson dress with a hundred children on it, held a baby in her arms, and sat to the side of the main seat, receiving congratulations from everyone.
It wasn't until Jiang Si led her into the flower hall that he noticed that although she was wearing makeup, it couldn't hide her haggardness and exhaustion. The dark circles under her eyes were even more pronounced than when she first came to the temple.
The plumpness she had painstakingly cultivated in the temple was gone; she was even thinner than before giving birth, and the gentle maternal glow she once possessed had been replaced by a deep weariness.
He wanted to question Jiang Si, but what position did he have?
After hesitating for a while, he could only say, "Lord Jiang, I once examined your pulse. She is already a light sleeper with many dreams, and now she gets up frequently at night. If this continues, I'm afraid it will damage her health."
For Xie Yicheng, this was already a plea.
She begged him to treat her well.
Jiang Si didn't take it seriously at the time, and she didn't defend herself. She reverted to being the noblewoman tightly bound by etiquette, family, and worldly views, and was pulled back into that brocade cage, slowly losing the brilliance he had glimpsed in the temple.
But he could only remain an observer.
A useless bystander, draped in a kasaya and holding prayer beads, yet still bound by worldly desires and attachments.
Not long after, the emperor intended to send envoys to the Western Regions to establish relations with the Buddhist kingdoms. He volunteered to go, thus avoiding the troubles of the capital.
Traveling westward, traversing the Gobi Desert, oases, and ancient cities, news from the capital was delivered to him every few days via Qiu Jing, crossing thousands of miles.
The letter was initially plain, simply stating that Jiang Si's official career was thriving, with promotions coming one after another, and that the Jiang family was experiencing a series of joyous events.
Later, the story unfolded between the lines, and Jiang Si rose to the highest ranks of officialdom, becoming the Grand Secretary.
The Grand Secretary married a second wife, while his first wife was divorced and sent back to her parents' home.
Later, the news became increasingly cruel. Jiang, the powerful chief minister, personally oversaw a long-standing case with far-reaching implications, and the once illustrious Yong'an Marquis's mansion was among those implicated, resulting in its confiscation and extermination.
The entire clan was exiled to the harsh, cold frontier. The daughter of the marquis, who had already been divorced, was not spared either. Along with the other women in the family, she was escorted on the road to exile in the frigid north.
When the last letter about this matter arrived, Xie Yicheng was in a small, sandy country in the Western Regions. Upon unfolding the letter and reading its contents, without hesitation, he immediately abandoned all his planned itinerary and religious negotiations.
Xie Yicheng sought an audience with the local king, a devout Buddhist, that very night. The king, who was awakened in the middle of the night, was astonished to see him in such a state of unprecedented panic. He had no time to explain in detail, only saying that an important friend of his had been in distress in the Central Plains and that his life was in danger, so he had to return east immediately.
Although the king felt regret, seeing that Xie Yicheng was determined to leave, he took out the country's most precious treasure, the black sandalwood prayer beads, and gave them to Xie Yicheng before parting, saying that the beads had been blessed by generations of eminent monks and had the power to turn bad luck into good.
That is, the string they are holding right now.
Xie Yicheng thanked him and embarked on his journey eastward. He braved wind, frost, rain, and snow all the way, never stopping, with only one thought in his mind: to find Ye Mu.
Mountains and passes block the way, and the journey is long.
When he finally found her, all he saw was a frail, dying body covered in tattered clothes, surrounded by crows. Her once bright eyes had completely lost their luster, staring blankly at the sky.
There is only exhalation, no inhalation.
He stood to one side, chanting the Rebirth Mantra for her. The chanting was low and gentle, and the prayer beads were turned. Her breath completely dissipated in his deep and sorrowful chanting.
Finally, silence returned.
She died in his palm, her last breath gone.
Upon hearing this, Ye Mu burst into tears. Before this, she had wondered if the monks she saw in her blurred vision when her soul was adrift in her past life, and the lingering chanting of sutras, might be related to him.
But each time the thought arose, she forcibly suppressed it. She secretly calculated the time; he should have been far away in the Western Regions by then, separated from her by thousands of miles from the bitterly cold northern lands where she had been exiled. They shouldn't have had any contact.
Unexpectedly, he abandoned everything and rushed there day and night, disregarding everything else.
Now, hearing this long-buried past life experience from him is completely different from what she imagined. She had always thought that she was just an insignificant passerby in Wen Kongxin's heart in her past life, but she didn't know that there were so many twists and turns in it.
Seeing Xie Yicheng's face, which was even paler than before due to recalling painful memories, and the fine beads of cold sweat on her forehead, Ye Mu's heart ached.
She could completely empathize with him, with the despair of being powerless to stop the passing of life. The memory of holding his cold body in the dilapidated temple months ago still haunted her; it was a grief etched into her very bones.
Ye Mu lightly removed her shoes, moved onto the couch, found a comfortable spot beside him, and nestled down. She placed her hand on the back of his slightly trembling hand and softly asked, "After I died, did you continue your journey to the Western Regions?"
Xie Yicheng shook his head and grasped her hand in return. "I found a sunny hillside near the exile village, built a tomb for you, and planted a circle of hardy wild chrysanthemums."
He remembered that she loved flowers. When she was at Baoxiang Temple, she loved to pick flowers in the back mountain. In spring, she would pick peach branches, in summer, she would look for orchids, and in autumn, she would pick chrysanthemums. She didn't care what kind of precious varieties they were, as long as they were blooming brightly, she would always pick a few branches to take back and put in the rough pottery jar in the meditation room.
"Later, I returned to secular life," Xie Yicheng continued. "In the town closest to the place of exile, I rented an adobe house and opened a small clinic."
"The place was very small, with only enough room for a consultation table and a medicine cabinet. Behind it, separated by a curtain, was where I lived. I treated patients and dispensed medicine for them. I charged whatever I wanted, but I didn't charge the poor exiles and their families a penny."
“It was freezing cold there, and there was a lack of medical care and medicine. I was often sick and injured. I spent my days seeing patients, collecting herbs, and processing them. I was very busy.”
Xie Yicheng twitched the corner of her mouth. "I treated their colds and bone pains, which caused my illness to worsen from overwork. Seeing them get better, I sometimes wonder, if someone had been able to treat you back then, would you have suffered less?"
Ye Mu remained silent. In truth, living to such an end in his previous life was not very meaningful.
"How old did you live to be in your previous life?"
Forty-two years old.
The poison in his family bloodline didn't spare him either. At first, Xie Yicheng managed to suppress it with his natural talent and medical skills, but the harsh cold of the north and years of hard work eventually caused the delayed damage to backfire.
"That winter was particularly cold, and the snow kept falling. I caught a cold but didn't pay much attention to it and continued to see patients as usual, until one morning, I coughed up blood in front of the medicine cabinet."
“I knew the time had come,” Xie Yicheng said. “I distributed the remaining medicinal herbs in the clinic to the poor people who often came to see me. On a clear morning after the snow, I walked back to the hillside where you rest in peace.”
I lay down before her grave, to share her grave.
Although he could not share a bed with her in life, they could at least be buried together in death.
Ye Mu wept bitterly, "Yi Cheng, your poison is cured. We will both live to be a hundred years old and be buried together."
Xie Yicheng hugged her, wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, and then heard her ask, "Then how do you know I also have memories of my past life?"
He had just asked her if she was familiar with Buddhist prayer beads.
Do you still remember the dumplings we had on New Year's Eve?
"How about dumplings?"
Xie Yicheng said, "You were drunk back then, and you leaned over to me and asked, 'Master, isn't your favorite food mushroom and tofu filling?'"
Xie Yicheng clearly remembers being stunned at the time, as he had never told her what his preferred flavor was.
In this dream, he realized that the root of the problem lay in his past life.
A mountain temple morning in a past life.
Xie Yicheng had just finished an all-night debate with a high monk and was exhausted both physically and mentally. When she pushed open her own courtyard gate, the gate of the neighboring courtyard suddenly opened, revealing a bright and smiling face.
“Master Wenkong,” her eyes sparkled, “you must be tired from the debate, right? Would you like to come to my courtyard for some breakfast? I made dumplings today.”
At that time, her belly was already slightly protruding. Due to pregnancy discomfort, she could not sleep soundly at night and got up early in the morning. She was also restless and often made some food for herself, but her cooking skills were really not good. She had never taken the initiative to invite him before.
He noticed the different look in her eyes and guessed that she had finally succeeded this time. He should have gone back to his room to rest, but he nodded and said, "Okay."
The dumplings were served quickly; they were plump and white, and looked quite neat.
He picked one up and put it in his mouth, then paused. The dough was a bit thick, and the filling was strangely seasoned. The flavors of the mushrooms and tofu didn't blend together; instead, they had a raw, astringent taste.
He has always had a very low appetite. He is fine with simple porridge and side dishes, or he is not bothered by delicacies. It is just a matter of filling his stomach for spiritual practice.
Even so, he knew perfectly well that the plate of dumplings in front of him was really quite unpalatable.
"How does it taste?" She rested her chin on her hands, staring at him with unblinking eyes, full of anticipation.
His Adam's apple bobbed slightly as he swallowed the filling, lowered his eyelashes, and replied indifferently, "Not bad."
To prove it was true, he silently ate the remaining dumplings in his bowl, one by one.
Seeing this, a relieved and happy smile bloomed on her face, and she immediately stood up, "And there's more! I specially wrapped some extra today!"
In the blink of an eye, another large plate was brought out, with a rough look revealing as many as twenty pieces.
He tightened his grip on the chopsticks for a moment, but said nothing. He picked up the chopsticks again and slowly finished the whole plate of dumplings.
As she cleared the dishes, her eyes crinkled with a mixture of pride and regret. "I never imagined Master loved mushroom and tofu filling so much! I should have made more... Next time, I'll definitely prepare more!"
However, when she returned to the Jiang residence, there was no next time.
He never touched dumplings with that filling again after that.
Upon hearing this, Ye Mu was first stunned, then very unconvinced, "No, no, you must be dreaming wrong. In my memory, you were clearly eating with great relish, one dish after another, without stopping your chopsticks. It looked so delicious."
Could I possibly dream wrong? Xie Yicheng couldn't help but laugh.
Hearing him laugh, Ye Mu became even more unconvinced. She said, as she was about to climb off him to knead the dough, "We've been lying here talking for so long. You just woke up, so you must be hungry. I'll go knead the dough and prepare the filling. Tonight, I'm going to let you try some authentic mushroom and tofu dumplings."
Xie Yicheng wrapped his arm around her, easily pulling her back to him, not letting her go. "I just woke up, and you're already punishing me like this?"
"Hmph," Ye Mu twisted her body, trying to break free, as his arm held her tightly. "Wasn't it delicious on New Year's Eve last year? Or were you just forcing yourself to swallow it and trying to coax me?"
"It wasn't an act, it really was delicious that time." Xie Yicheng's smile was somewhat restrained, and her breathing was a little erratic.
Ye Mu thought he was feeling unwell and looked at him with concern. Just as she was about to ask, she saw him hug her even tighter and whisper, "Fourth Sister, can you stop moving?"
Ye Mu was taken aback.
Even through the quilt, she could still feel the solidity.
Ye Mu suddenly froze in his arms.
She only briefly mentioned that he had gone through a tribulation, but didn't say how she guided him during his burning heart period, nor did she mention the itinerant doctor's words about being powerless.
How could he be powerless at the moment?
Ye Mu's face flushed, his mind racing. Maybe this was just a facade; he'd have to try it to know the truth.
"What are you thinking about?" Xie Yicheng saw her face suddenly darken, so he gently lifted her chin with one hand and made her look at him. "Tell me the truth."
His eyes seemed to see right through her thoughts. She always found it hard to lie to him. "It's nothing, just that itinerant doctor. He said that although you've survived this ordeal, you might have some lingering health problems and need to take good care of yourself."
What is the root cause of the illness?
Seeing her evasive gaze and recalling the scene when she woke up, Xie Yicheng immediately thought, "Is it related to it?"
"It's not a serious illness, don't worry too much."
“Although the family’s hidden illness is difficult to cure, I have never heard of any lingering health problems after it is cured,” Xie Yicheng raised an eyebrow slightly. “How did he come to this conclusion?”
"Because when I was helping you relieve your burning heart attack, I might have been too anxious..." Ye Mu blushed, "...I used too much force."
Xie Yicheng listened, his expression revealing neither joy nor sorrow, but the darkness in his eyes seemed to deepen.
He was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "How did you manage to alleviate the pressure?"
Ye Mu's eyelashes trembled.
He glanced at her flushed earlobes, just like when she secretly looked at him as a bride in her previous life, and Xie Yicheng suddenly became mischievous.
His fingertips gently caressed her chin. "Details."
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