Chapter 91 Soul Dream: Can you teach me?
With a clatter, Mingying, slightly distracted, dropped the medicine bowl in her hand, splashing brownish-yellow medicinal liquid all over her.
This was the medicine she brewed for the wounded soldiers. Despite her utmost care, the medicine bowl seemed to have grown legs and slipped out of her hand on its own.
Her heart sank, her breath hitched, and for some reason, a bad premonition crept into her mind.
"What's wrong?" He Lianqing came over and asked her.
After she was poisoned, he became increasingly worried about her health. Seeing that she was acting strangely, he took her pulse, but after taking her pulse, he did not see any signs of poisoning.
"I'm fine, I just felt a little panicked for a moment." Mingying wiped the medicine stains off her hands with a dry towel. Her face was pale and not looking good. "I guess I'm just too tired."
He Lianqing then told her to go and rest and have something to eat.
Mingying entered the tent and casually ate a few mouthfuls of cold rice and vegetables.
As dusk fell, moonlight filtered through the curtains and shone on the table, casting a solitary, lonely shadow.
For some reason, she had been feeling uneasy since the afternoon, and her only worry now was the situation at the front.
Could it be my brother?
Or perhaps it was him...
The further the imperial army advanced, the later the battle reports came back.
For several days in a row, she did not receive any battle reports. She began to lose her appetite, toss and turn in bed, and her eyes became bloodshot.
He Lianqing's words of comfort failed to put her at ease.
That day, a feeling of panic surged through her, so intense and profound, unlike anything she had ever experienced before. It seemed to be telling her that something bad was about to happen.
Since then, whenever she had nothing to do, she would travel from there to Langzhou and find a temple with a long history of worship, named Tanhua Temple.
She had never been to this temple before. She only saw the bustling crowds of worshippers and the endless stream of incense burning inside when she was at the foot of the mountain. So she followed the crowd up and offered a stick of incense.
The imperial court was at war with the Wuhuan, a fact known to everyone in the northwest. Many pilgrims prayed for a successful war and peace in the northwest.
Mingying inserted three incense sticks into the incense burner. Because their wishes were the same, she knelt on the prayer mat with the people, facing the gods and Buddhas, and kowtowed devoutly.
Just then, the bronze bell in the temple rang out, wisps of smoke rose, birds took flight, and the sound of the bell carried far and wide.
Mingying straightened up, put her hands together, closed her eyes, and silently recited something.
Then, we went down the mountain and headed back.
Thus, from the beginning of the month to the end, at midnight one day, a scout who had gone ahead returned to report that the army had returned in triumph.
Inside the camp, the firelight was as bright as day, and the cheers of the soldiers filled the long night.
Upon hearing this news, Mingying felt a surge of heat flow from the soles of her feet straight to her heart. Her mind felt like it was filled with a bell, which swayed and hummed loudly when struck.
She could finally breathe a sigh of relief and let out a pale smile.
Pressing his chest against his wildly beating heart, he stretched his lips into a wider grin.
We won! We finally won! That's great!
A surge of joy ignited the long night, burning through the dark sky and revealing the first rays of fiery red dawn.
As dawn broke, she joined a group of people outside the city to welcome the triumphant army. Despite the biting north wind and raging sandstorms, they were happy to do so.
Finally, the sound of horses' hooves came from ahead, and a vast army returned, led by Shen Mingshu.
The battlefield had exposed him to wind and sun, tanning his skin considerably. His arm appeared to be wounded by an arrow, wrapped in a bandage, and sunlight shimmered through his armor.
Upon seeing him, Mingying felt a great sense of relief, but a sharp pang of emotion welled up in her eyes, and she walked towards him.
Shen Mingshu dismounted and looked at her. "Aying, I'm back."
Returning victorious should have been the most joyous occasion, but for some reason, his voice was tinged with heaviness, and his brows were furrowed with a deep sense of unease.
Mingying asked him if he had suffered any more serious injuries, and all she received were reassuring answers.
But his lips were tightly pressed together, his face was solemn, and he showed no joy whatsoever. Gradually, Mingying also sensed that something was wrong.
All the generals had returned, but she hadn't seen Pei Xiaoyun. For some reason, thinking of him made her heart skip a beat.
She looked at Shen Mingshu, her eyes filled with lingering doubt.
Shen Mingshu could tell what she wanted to ask, and his voice was hoarse: "His Majesty was seriously injured and was knocked off a cliff by the Wuhuan people. His whereabouts are unknown."
Mingying stumbled, losing half her strength and falling onto his shoulder.
How could this be...?
Could it be that your restlessness that day was a premonition that this would happen?
Her head was throbbing, and for a moment, she couldn't hear the cheers of the people.
Pei Xiaoyun is ruthless, composed, and a master strategist. She once schemed against him with all her might, but he easily escaped unscathed and turned the tables on them all.
Is this person really going to die like this?
Could those eternal, unchanging, and endless green mountains really collapse overnight?
"Aying." Shen Mingshu helped her up, and after a moment of bitterness, he told her what he had learned.
That day, he rushed back to provide support, but he arrived a step too late.
Although Pei Xiaoyun's lieutenants fought valiantly and repelled the enemy, they all wept bitterly upon seeing him arrive.
He learned from them that Pei Xiaoyun had been poisoned and the enemy had launched a surprise attack while he was off guard. By the time they arrived, he and his horse had fallen off a cliff together.
They had been searching for people at the foot of the cliff for so many days, and they found the horse that had fallen to its death, the sword that had been broken in two, and the bones scattered all over the ground, gnawed by wild animals...
Privately, he did hate Pei Xiaoyun, but the thought that he, a dignified ruler of a country, would end up with his head separated from his body was heartbreaking.
In terms of public affairs, he died on the battlefield, so he can be considered a wise ruler.
This campaign wiped out the Wuhuan and captured dozens of cities. In order to bring this news back to the Northwest as soon as possible, he had no choice but to lead the troops in triumph.
Upon hearing this, Mingying mustered her last bit of strength and went to find He Lianqing.
The people of the Northwest were unaware of Pei Xiaoyun's death on the battlefield, but those around him gradually learned of it, such as He Lianqing.
Upon hearing the news, his expression was complex, and he let out a long sigh.
The ending wasn't hard to predict; although he didn't want it to be this way, it still happened.
If an ordinary person were poisoned by that kind of poison, almost no one could survive the onset of the poison unless they took the other person's blood as a medicinal guide. Even though Pei Xiaoyun's temperament was different from that of ordinary people, the battlefield was dangerous and no mistakes could be made.
He had anticipated this worst-case scenario when Pei Xiaoyun left.
So many people have left in just a few days. Whether they were enemies or friends, people he spent every day with or strangers he met by chance, he didn't want them to leave.
Mingying's eyes stung, her steps quickened, and her voice trembled slightly: "Doctor He, did he not bring the antidote with him when he went to war?"
There is an antidote for this poison. She had experienced the pain of the poison taking effect before, and the pain subsided quickly after taking the antidote. Pei Xiaoyun would not leave the antidote behind.
If he had taken drugs, how could this have happened? How could he have been knocked off the cliff and left with no trace of his body?
He Lianqing blinked her dry eyes, turned around and said to her, "I brought it."
Before Mingying could ask anything else, he blurted out, "He has been poisoned by several kinds of poisons before, and the toxins have accumulated in his body. Now that he is like this, perhaps the antidote is useless to him."
When Pei Xiaoyun left, he took his own blood and asked him to prepare the antidote. He also used another herb called Longevity Grass in the medicine. Longevity Grass is extremely precious and a great tonic, known as the antidote for half of the world's rare poisons.
The combination of the longevity herb, the medicinal guide, and the antidote, along with Mingying's continuous use for several years, gradually neutralized the twin poison.
When he left, Pei Xiaoyun had already made all the arrangements; he wouldn't let her die.
He wouldn't let him tell her the truth, and he wouldn't tell her either.
Otherwise, she would feel incredibly guilty.
Mingying's pupils were dark, and even her breath was cold.
The antidote is ineffective against him?
She had endured that heart-wrenching pain, so the antidote was useless against him? That's why he fell victim to the enemy's scheme and didn't even have a complete corpse.
She didn't realize that her own eyes were also moist for him.
She should have hated him.
But why did he keep appearing before her, begging for her forgiveness again and again? She drugged him, but the drug had no effect on him. He still remembered her. She didn't want anyone to save him, so he didn't hesitate to take poison for her, ultimately dying without a proper burial.
Her legs went limp, and the successive blows left her completely devastated. She covered her mouth and nose and broke down in tears, as if to release the grief that had been building up in her heart for so many days.
Everyone is gone, no one is left.
No one will bother her or restrain her anymore.
The land is peaceful and vast, and she has unimpeded access to return to her hometown with her family.
Isn't this what she always wanted?
But why, even though she had gotten what she wanted, did she not dare to reach out and accept it, or even want it to happen?
The frosty wind howled through the night, and the silence was eerie.
She knelt against the tent, half of her body numb, and for a moment she thought of many people, all of whom swirled in her mind.
Before she knew it, the desolate moonlight shone down, and she closed her heavy eyelids.
My dream was shattered, and I dreamt of many people. The last scene seemed to be in Pei Xiaoyun's study.
He was dressed in a dark blue casual suit, his black hair was half-loose, his figure was as straight as a pine tree, and his well-defined fingers held a wolf-hair brush, writing something.
She pushed open the door and walked towards him step by step. It was in the Duke's mansion in the capital. At that time, she was still his concubine.
“You’ve come.” He looked up, put down his pen, and waved to her.
Seeing him again, with his features real and unharmed, filled her heart with a jumble of emotions, complex and impossible to unravel.
The Duke's mansion was the most suffocating prison for her, and the beginning of her heartbreak.
He once personally uprooted the flowers she had planted, leaving her heart withered and parched.
She told him everything she wanted to say: "I hate your aloofness, I hate how you treat me like I'm at your beck and call, I hate your arrogance, cruelty, and obsession. I'm not your plaything. I have a heart too, I can feel warmth and pain, but you know none of that."
She loved him, feared him, hated him, and even tried to kill him.
No matter where they go, they can't escape it; no matter how many mountains and rivers separate them, fate can always bring them back together.
But this time, it's really over.
She still cannot forgive the pain he caused her.
A gentle smile slowly spread across his lips as he said, "Then, can you teach me? Shall we start over?"
She looked up at him, slightly stunned, unable to say anything.
Suddenly, she woke up, and bright sunlight streamed into her eyes. She realized that the carriage was shaking violently.
Two years later, she returned to the capital.
The funeral bell of Baima Temple rang as scheduled, its sound resounding throughout the imperial city. She heard it clearly; the bell struck thirteen times in a row, signifying national mourning.
When news of the late emperor's death reached the capital, the people knelt along the streets.
She touched her face and felt cold tears.
They've already been separated by death, so why talk about making peace and starting over?
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Author's Note: There will be two updates today, the second one at 10 PM.
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