Princess Wanning
After Su Manyan finished drinking the medicine, she was coaxed back to sleep. When Xiao Lin closed the door, blocking out all the starlight outside, the room suddenly returned to darkness.
According to Xiao Lin, she was unconscious for a whole day and night. She blinked her big eyes and stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep.
People tend to have wild thoughts at night, especially when they are physically and mentally fragile.
Things happened so suddenly that everything turned out to be magical. How could Xiao Lin accept the secret of her being a girl so quickly?
Human nature is inherently despicable, and she has been somewhat affected by it.
I had tried so hard to conceal the truth, always worrying about how I would face it if it was exposed. But now the matter has been resolved suddenly, not only without any smoke of war, but even calmly.
Instead, she was confused: How could this happen?
She was terrified, yet also eagerly awaiting Xiao Lin's reaction after he learned her secret—she saw this as a test of his true feelings. She also understood her own naiveté; this method was clearly a self-defeating tactic, completely unrealistic and totally out of character for a time-traveling woman like her, a drifter without roots.
To put it in modern terms, she must be a complete love-brained person.
It was like she was standing ten thousand meters in the air, ready for eternal damnation, secretly hoping for a parachute to drop her safely into his arms. But then she accidentally fell, and when she looked up, she found herself on flat ground.
She must be crazy.
Su Manyan was so angry at his own thoughts that he laughed. He wailed and beat the quilt with his hands and feet. Then he buried his head in the quilt in a huff, trying to escape reality.
But as soon as she closed her eyes, Xiao Lin's face appeared in her mind again. She couldn't explain it, but she always felt that Xiao Lin's attitude towards her was different after she woke up.
Precisely because this "difference" is a better direction, when she saw the lingering sadness in his eyes, she became more and more confused - why was he sad?
After thinking about this for a while, she gradually fell asleep.
Outside, Xiao Lin held a round jade in his hand. The jade was translucent and shone with a warm luster under the bright moonlight.
——If Su Manyan saw it now, she would definitely recognize that it was the jade pendant she had found on the female corpse at the bottom of the well.
Xiao Lin frowned and stared at the jade pendant, stroking the jade surface with his thumb, then looked down at the identical jade pendant around his waist.
This jade pendant was left to her by his mother, and it was said to be a hand-me-down from his grandmother. As a family heirloom in the Quyi Marquisate, it had always been passed down only to the legitimate daughter, a rule that had remained unchanged for decades. It was only when his mother was dying, and he was the only remaining heir in the mansion, that the jade pendant came into his possession.
This reminded him of a forgotten rumor: his mother had a biological sister who was rumored to have died young and her whereabouts were unknown. But later, he overheard his grandfather's words and learned that his aunt might not have died young, but was imprisoned in the South.
If the rumors are true, then the origins of the two jade pendants might make sense.
"Your Highness, the body has been brought back and is temporarily stored in the unused woodshed next door."
As Si Ji approached, he saw Xiao Lin in a trance. He followed Xiao Lin's instructions and fished out the body from the bottom of the well. The flesh had long since vanished, leaving only a skeleton wrapped in a few rags.
"Your Highness, please rest assured that no one noticed the entire process." Xiao Lin had specifically reminded him before that he must be careful in this matter and must not make it public.
The discovery of an old corpse in the temple would have been a major event that caused panic, but since His Highness had given the order, he followed it without hesitation.
Under the moonlight, Si Ji vaguely caught a glimpse of two identical jade pendants in Xiao Lin's hands. His keen intuition as a secret guard allowed him to detect something unusual, and looking at the prince's handsome, tense face, he knew there was something else going on.
He understood: This matter was anything but simple. However serious, it would have to take precedence over Ah Yan's. In the past, matters involving secrets like this would have been classified as "important," something His Highness would have personally and immediately addressed. But now, the definition of "important" had changed.
After following Xiao Lin for so many years, this was the first time Si Ji had seen him so flustered. His emotions were so exposed, perhaps because he was being held back by his emotions, rather than the trivialities of the situation.
Your Highness tonight has only love in his eyes.
Even if you are in a high position, you cannot escape the shackles of emotions and desires.
A few jackdaws were startled and took off from the pine branches, flapping their wings and stirring the dark night. They flew across the bright moon and finally landed in a corner of the side courtyard of Ci'en Temple.
Monk Faxian, clad in worn robes, stood beneath a towering pine tree, a golden alms bowl in his hands. A faint light, coming from nowhere, fragmented the moonlight filtering through the cracks in the pine trees, casting a shadow on the monk's face, lending even his normally benevolent features a touch of mystery.
When Xiao Lin arrived here, he saw Faxian's mysterious posture.
The speaker might not have meant it, but the listener likely took it to heart. Yesterday, when Faxian said, "If you have any questions, feel free to ask me," Xiao Lin had a feeling it wasn't a casual remark. After all, the other party could even reveal his past life. Even if he wasn't a true immortal, he must be a semi-immortal who understood yin and yang.
He already had many questions in his mind, so he brought these two "tokens" and came to seek answers with sincerity.
And this master seemed to have predicted his coming and had been waiting here for a long time.
"Amitabha, how is Miss Su doing now?" Faxian clasped his hands together and spoke in a calm tone.
"Thank you for your guidance, Master. Ayan is fine now." Xiao Lin bowed respectfully.
"Young donor, do you have any doubts in your heart?"
Xiao Lin presented the jade pendants in his hand and explained the origins of the two jade pendants and the story of the female corpse at the bottom of the well. Faxian took the jade pendants calmly. Even after hearing the horrifying news of the "female corpse at the bottom of the well", he did not show any panic, as if he had already known everything.
"Young donor, when you see these two jade pendants, don't you have any thoughts?" He looked at Xiao Lin with his slightly cloudy eyes, and his gaze seemed to be able to see straight into people's hearts.
Xiao Lin knew that nothing could be hidden from this half-immortal, so he told him all his guesses and the secrets about his aunt.
A deep, hoarse laugh escaped the monk's throat, like the snapping of a dry branch, piercing the ear in its loneliness. He laughed for a long time before gradually stopping.
Faxian held the alms bowl in his hand, his gaze fixed on the white jade ring with a trace of nostalgia. "From what you said, my dear benefactor, do you think that Princess Wanning, as a descendant of the Emperor, can reveal such royal secrets to an unknown monk like me?"
Princess Wan Ning—it was none other than his aunt whom he had never met. Xiao Lin had never mentioned this name to anyone else, but Faxian had actually revealed it directly!
"I naturally believe in you, Master." Xiao Lin said anxiously, vaguely sensing a hidden meaning in the monk's words. "Master, what do you mean by this? Do you know Princess Wan Ning?"
"Of course I know her. Twenty years ago, I had the honor of meeting Princess Wan Ning, but at that time I didn't know she was Princess Wan Ning. Amitabha."
Twenty years ago again? Xiao Lin heard this, and a light bulb went off in his head, and an incredible idea suddenly emerged. He hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Master, are you talking about... Queen Shuyi?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Xiao Lin breathed a sigh of relief—even he felt that the statement was ridiculous. How could a legitimate daughter of a marquisate whose whereabouts were unknown in her early years, even if she had been rumored to have died young, suddenly become the Empress Shuyi of the enemy nation?
"Of course it's her."
boom!
For a moment, everything around him seemed to have fallen silent, all sounds blocked out, as if he were locked in an airtight box. Yet his eardrums were still beating, and he could clearly hear the subtlest sounds within his body—the vibrations of his chest from shock.
The master's words "Of course it's her" completely overturned his own denial.
What exactly is going on? How did Princess Wanning of the Hu Kingdom become Empress Shuyi of the Southern Kingdom? If this jade pendant is a token of identity, then the jade pendant found on the corpse at the bottom of the well... could it be...
"Could it be that the corpse in the well is...?"
The following words were too outrageous, and Xiao Lin really couldn't ask them out loud, but the unfinished guess clearly pointed to Princess Wan Ning.
Faxian smiled softly, tapping the alms bowl in his hand with his fingertips: "Don't worry, donor, Queen Shuyi has already been buried in peace."
"So where is she now?"
"Where else could the Queen end up?" Faxian asked in a rhetorical tone, as if he felt the question didn't need an answer.
"But how did Princess Wan Ning become Queen Shuyi? And why have I never heard of such a big thing?" Xiao Lin finally asked the biggest question in his mind.
Faxian still wore a serene smile, but when he heard this question, a hint of pity crossed his eyes, mingled with a subtle scorn. "Oh, I cannot dwell on these royal grudges. If you wish to understand, you might as well look back at where you came from. Perhaps you will find some enlightenment."
The way back? Xiao Lin was still pondering the meaning of these three words when Faxian spoke again:
"Please also bury the woman at the bottom of the well. She was Awan's maid, and I never expected she would die here. I thank you for this."
"I am sorry for her."
A sigh dissipated in the night wind.
"I have completed my mission, and it is time to let go..."
Xiao Lin was infected by this sudden sadness. The powerful monk looked up at the bright moon, his cloudy eyes reflecting the moonlight, and he was wondering what was going on in his mind.
Even bathed in the gentle moonlight, he exuded a lingering aura of death.
He might not live long. This thought popped up in Xiao Lin's mind uncontrollably.
A gust of wind blew by, picking up a few dead leaves. The dust made it impossible for Xiao Lin to open his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, Faxian was gone.
The pine tree was empty, leaving only the golden alms bowl, as if the person had never been there...
The next morning, Su Manyan woke up. After lying in bed for almost two days, she felt like her bones were giving out. She insisted on getting out of bed and walking around, despite others' objections.
"It's okay, it's okay. I'm fine now. The doctor said I can get out of bed and walk around."
As Su Manyan walked out, he turned around to argue with Yun Que. Before he could finish, he bumped into the person walking in the opposite direction with a "bang".
"Which doctor said that? How come I don't know?" A deep male voice suddenly came from above her head. Su Manyan looked up and saw Xiao Lin frowning and looking down at her.
"It's... the doctor who came yesterday..." Her voice became lower and lower, and her tone became more and more guilty.
How could Xiao Lin not see her little thoughts? He pulled her into the house and rubbed her forehead. The bump had already caused a small red spot.
"Does it hurt?"
Su Manyan's eyes fell on the two people's tightly clasped hands, and he couldn't even speak clearly: "Ah...? Ah, it doesn't hurt."
? !
This wasn't her imagination—Xiao Lin's attitude towards her was truly different! Did she lose her memory? She'd only disappeared for one night and slept for two days and nights, so how could their relationship progress so quickly?!
She was still half-dazed when Xiao Lin pulled her back into the house and tucked her into bed. His movements were smooth and effortless, without a single pause.
"You're just fine. You have to listen to the doctor, be good." Xiao Lin's eyes were deep and serious, and his voice was so gentle that it seemed like it could squeeze water out of it.
Su Manyan felt her ears burning, and quickly huddled under the covers, covering her mouth and nose, leaving only her dark eyes exposed. She whispered, "Oh."
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