Dreamlike

At the dinner table, Fang Ziweng's big round eyes rolled around, breaking the silence: "Mother, is our Chu State at war with others now? So can we win?"

He hadn't been to school for quite some time. Although he now felt that studying was not so boring, he naturally enjoyed having some free time.

Aunt Fang paused with her chopsticks in her hand and glanced at her son's innocent face with a smile: "Enjoy your meal, little kid, don't ask so many questions."

"Ziweng, eat more vegetables and don't be picky." Qiao Qingsheng forced a smile and gave Fang Ziweng some vegetables, but there was no smile in his eyes.

Fang Ziweng ate two mouthfuls of rice in a sullen manner, thinking to himself that he would figure it out himself, and muttered, "...If you don't want to tell me, then don't tell me. Besides, I'm not a child anymore."

After dinner, Aunt Fang asked Fang Ziweng to review the lessons left by the teacher. Soon, Aunt Fang and Qiao Qingsheng were the only ones left in the hall.

Aunt Fang sighed, looked at her taciturn nephew, and asked in a low voice: "Qingsheng, was the emperor really assassinated?"

Qiao Qingsheng nodded with a heavy face. Although ordinary people had no way of knowing about this, he was a minor official after all and knew some gossip.

Aunt Fang stared at the tea that was getting colder. Her eyes froze for a while before she murmured in a low voice, "You tyrant, God will take you away..."

Qiao Qingsheng seemed to have heard something, but he didn't hear it clearly. He immediately looked at the tired woman and asked, "Aunt, what did you say just now?"

Aunt Fang came to her senses, hurriedly avoided her nephew's gaze, and took a deep breath: "You heard it wrong."

"Oh, Qingsheng." Aunt Fang suddenly thought of something, and looked worried: "Have you found out where the Chongde Marquis's family moved to?"

Seeing that his aunt did not want to answer, Qiao Qingsheng suppressed his doubts and shook his head: "No."

It seems that the Mu family knew early on that there would be chaos in the capital one day, so they moved out of the Chongde Marquis Mansion.

If Mu An Ning had not written them a letter before, saying that she would be away from Beijing for a while, they would probably look for another opportunity to meet her.

"Forget it, this is fine." Madam Fang hesitated for a moment and rubbed her brows: "According to the current situation, it is probably better for An Ning to follow the Marquis' Mansion than to follow us."

They tried several times to recognize her as their relative and bring An Ning back to Qiao's house, but were interrupted each time.

Maybe God was blocking them.

Qiao Qingsheng pursed his lips and nodded, but secretly hated his own uselessness in his heart. His biological sister did not recognize him, and his sister, who he had been living with for more than ten years, also kept her distance from him.

Aunt Fang said, "You should go out less these days."

Qiao Qingsheng nodded in agreement. In the past few days, many people from Liang State had been discovered hiding in the capital.

Although the Dali Temple did not reveal too much, all the sensitive people noticed that something was wrong and stayed indoors.

Only those who are in financial difficulty still go out to set up stalls.

*

In the tent, Luo Zhiyan hid behind Tan Wenhuai, glanced at the masked man in a high position, mustered up her courage, and asked in a coquettish voice: "Sir, didn't we agree before that we would go to the capital?"

She looked around, and thought of the soldiers she had just met, and whispered softly: "This doesn't look like Shangjing..."

...it's more like a border pass.

Along the way, Tan Wenhuai was silent and asked her to say less, but she felt that since the man was willing to give them a ride, he was not a bad person.

The man took in her little movements, then casually glanced at the nervous Tan Wenhuai, and slowly curled his lips: "Miss Luo, where do you think this is?"

Luo Zhiyan opened her mouth and looked at Tan Wenhuai, her eyes seemed to say: You answer.

But before Tan Wenhuai could speak, Luo Zhiyan's hair stood on end and her eyes widened in disbelief: "You, how do you know my last name is Luo?"

They had been silent all the way and had never introduced themselves to each other. How did this man know her name?

Tan Wenhuai's face also turned pale, and he seemed to ignore the hands of Luo Zhiyan pulling at the corner of his clothes.

The man slowly turned the jade ring on his thumb and suddenly turned his gaze to Tan Wenhuai: "What do you think?"

Tan Wenhuai was stared at by those eyes and his body moved slightly unconsciously. He bowed and said, "Please explain it to me, sir."

He had felt that the man's kindness was inexplicable, but he and Luo Zhiyan were unarmed, so they had to temporarily agree to go with the man.

And now, he vaguely guessed that they should have been taken to the border, and were still in the camp of the Liang people.

But he couldn't figure out what this man intended, nor how he knew Luo Zhiyan's identity.

Under the surprised gazes of the two men, the man stood up, tugged at his cloak, and said slowly, "Come here, take him away."

In an instant, two soldiers with serious expressions walked in quickly and grabbed the boy and girl by the shoulders.

Both of her arms were strangled. Luo Zhiyan felt pain and looked at the man with angry eyes. She could no longer suppress the grievance and anger in her heart: "What are you doing?"

She began to doubt her own thoughts. Although this man seemed familiar, he didn't seem like a good person.

Tan Wenhuai also wanted to open his mouth, but his throat seemed to be blocked. After all, he had never faced someone who made him feel so oppressive.

"Don't be afraid, Miss Luo." The man walked up to Luo Zhiyan and smiled strangely, but spoke slowly, as if he was really trying to comfort her: "It's just that I will inconvenience you for two days."

*

evening.

A soldier who looked no more than fifteen or sixteen years old asked his companion while eating dry food: "By the way, why didn't I see Doctor Mu today?"

These days, Mu An Ning has been treating the injuries of some soldiers with obvious wounds. Her bandaging skills are better than those of the accompanying doctors, and many people are vying to have her bandage them.

But she didn't show up to treat anyone's injuries all day.

Another older soldier glanced at him and took a big bite of his food: "You don't know?"

Seeing the young soldier shaking his head in confusion, he could only say helplessly: "The granary caught fire last night, and Doctor Mu's tent was also burned down. The people of Liang are really too cunning."

The only thing to be thankful for was that the medicines made by Mu An Ning were not kept in her account. Therefore, the medicinal materials were not in short supply now, but they would not last long.

The young soldier suddenly opened his eyes wide, looked at the few rations that everyone was given, and then touched his unfilled stomach: "So that's why we are so hungry today..."

The old soldier nodded, took the last bite of the biscuit, and thought of the days of food shortage. He sighed and said, "Boy, eat and cherish it."

The young soldier looked worried again and asked, "Doctor Namu..."

The old soldier looked at him strangely and wiped the crumbs from his mouth: "Boy, listen to the advice from the person who came here, and collect your thoughts."

He added: "Well, let's wait and see tonight."

Just as another soldier looked confused and wanted to find out what was going on, a hurried figure suddenly passed by them.

The two men stood up in a hurry, but before they could utter the word "Gu", the man disappeared.

*

Mu An Ning had a very long dream.

In her dream, she hated Mu Wan'er, the new arrival, who was setting traps for her openly and covertly.

For example, deliberately falling into the water or deliberately falling down the stairs.

The strange thing is that everyone in the Marquis' Mansion trusts her and is unwilling to believe Mu Wan'er.

It was not until the news of Mu Wan'er's engagement to the Crown Prince came out that their attitude towards Mu Wan'er softened slightly.

After she broke off the engagement with Gu Huaizhi, she did not get engaged to Tan Wenhuai. Instead, she followed a man every day, and the Marquis's Mansion did not interfere too much.

She also saw that on the day of Mu Wan'er's wedding, she designed a plan to make the ignorant Mu Wan'er behave rudely and embarrass herself in front of all the guests, so that on the day Mu Wan'er returned home, her adoptive father, mother and grandmother did not look at her in a good mood.

Just when her heart ached, the scene suddenly changed.

Mu Wan'er was lying on the ground with wounds all over her body and tears all over her face, but she gritted her teeth tightly and refused to make any sound.

A woman wearing gold and silver on her head stood in front of her, looking very happy.

Floating in the air, Mu An Ning looked carefully and saw that the woman's belly was slightly bulging, as if she was pregnant.

Before she could think about it, the woman smiled and stared at the woman with messy hair on the ground: "Crown Princess, thanks to your sister, otherwise I would not have known that you were colluding with the man from Liang State."

"I didn't..." Mu Wan'er on the ground spoke word by word, but just three words seemed to have taken up all her strength.

The woman curled her lips slowly and glanced out the window nonchalantly: "After being tortured, the Crown Princess still doesn't acknowledge you?"

She looked the dying Mu Wan'er up and down, then suddenly stretched out her foot and kicked Mu Wan'er's stomach hard, then whispered: "Your Highness will not want the child in your belly. The one in my belly is the eldest grandson of the emperor."

As Mu Wan'er's tears continued to fall, the woman threw her a piece of white silk, glanced at the movement outside the door cautiously, and smiled happily: "This is a gift from His Highness to the Crown Princess. You can go with peace of mind. I will take good care of His Highness."

Mu Wan'er stared at the white silk on the ground without moving, but kept repeating: "Let me see His Highness..."

The next moment, the woman seemed a little impatient and stopped whispering: "Your Highness is busy with official duties. Does the Crown Princess think that Your Highness will still care about you?"

Before Mu Wan'er could say anything, the woman picked up the white silk and strangled her neck fiercely: "The one your highness loves now is me."

Mu An Ning froze in the air, motionless. It took him a while to react. He hurriedly stepped forward to stop the attack, but his hands went straight through the bodies of the two women on the ground.

Not long after, Mu Wan'er died in front of her, saying: "If there is an afterlife..."

Mu An Ning stared blankly at the girl's eyes, and whispered in a low voice: "Wan'er..."

At the same time, a voice rang in her ears, half crying and half laughing: "See, Mu An Ning, it's all thanks to you!"

"I want you to be forever without reincarnation."

As these words fell, the girl on the bed, whose forehead was covered with sweat, her eyelashes trembled constantly, and she suddenly opened her eyes.

She was stunned for a moment. It turned out to be a dream.

No, she had to ask Mu Wan'er for clarification.

She had a vague feeling that the mystery that had been lingering in her heart would finally have an answer.

She didn't even have time to think about why her head felt so heavy or why her arms were aching slightly. She hurriedly got up and put on her clothes.

However, just as she put on her shoes and socks, the curtains were suddenly pulled open.

She raised her eyes and looked, and suddenly bumped into the boy's bloodshot eyes at the door.

"Aning." Gu Huaizhi was stunned for a moment, and his tone was harsh, as if he was happy but also at a loss: "You woke up."