105 A Wisp of Soul from Another World
◎Beneath the gentleman's skin lies a mismatched soul.◎
In early summer, the millet and wheat seedlings in the capital city sprout tender green shoots. The sky is azure, and the sunlight shines on the vast fields of millet and wheat, their growth a delightful sight.
Li Shi, wearing a straw hat, stood on the edge of the field, looking at the boundless fields with satisfaction. "This year the weather has been favorable; we're sure to have a good harvest this autumn!"
Standing under this alien sky, it seemed no different from when he was instructing students at the Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
Since recovering from her injuries, Qi Gu felt that she had shown far too little concern for her father since returning to the capital. That day, her father looked sorrowful and said that he didn't know what to do if something happened to her.
Qi Gu knew that her father only had her, and recently, she had been pondering something.
Today, my father was dressed in coarse linen clothes and straw sandals, wearing a bamboo hat. If someone didn't know him, they would just think he was an ordinary farmer.
This seemingly ordinary person saved her without expecting anything in return, raised her to adulthood, and treated her with all his heart.
"Father?" Qi Gu called out tentatively.
Li Shi turned around and said, "Why are you hesitating? Just say what you have to say, Little Qi Gu."
The shadow of the straw hat made the father's face appear even thinner. "Father, have you ever considered finding me another... mother..."
"Hmm?" Li Shi turned around, his expression unreadable. Qi Gu felt a little guilty, perhaps her father still missed her deceased mother and sister.
She felt a pang of guilt. She had taken her sister's place and now wanted her father to marry. If her mother and sister knew this in the afterlife, would they blame her?
But, but, she hoped that her father would no longer be alone, and that he would never again look at the empty sky in the distance.
For some reason, every time her father gave her that look, she felt that he was like an old Taoist priest about to ascend to immortality, even though he didn't seem like someone who liked to cultivate in seclusion.
Just when she thought her father was going to be angry, Li Shi suddenly burst into laughter: "Hahaha!!!" He leaned closer to Qi Gu and said with a sly smile: "Qi Gu, your father only likes stunning beauties. With my current rank, my handsome appearance, and my dashing looks, don't you think many beauties would be willing to marry me?"
Qi Gu laughed awkwardly. "Heh heh, what teacher's wife and sister? Father probably didn't even think about it!"
"Father, just pretend I didn't say anything."
"How can you pretend you didn't say anything? You clearly said, 'Quickly, arrange blind dates for me. I can go on eight blind dates a day. I must choose a gentle, virtuous, beautiful, and intelligent woman who can talk to me about poetry and philosophy. Oh my, then my father's life will have been worthwhile.'"
Li Shi was like a rat about to steal an oil jar, his rat-like eyes gleaming with cunning, and his mouth full of lewdness.
"Father, you..."
"Hey, isn't this Her Highness the First Princess?" A somewhat familiar voice came from behind.
Qi Gu and Li Shi turned around, and not far away, Xi Lin Hou, dressed in a simple jade-colored Taoist robe, walked towards them.
She didn't look like a noblewoman; she didn't even bring any maids or servants with her when she went out.
Qi Gu asked, "Why is Marquis Xilin here?" She then introduced him to Marquis Xilin, saying, "Marquis Xilin, this is my master. I was raised by him when I was living among the common people, which allowed me to grow up safely."
Li Shiyuan had met the Marquis of Xilin at the Marquis of Quzhou's birthday banquet that day. He came from a world that believed in science, valued the Five Stresses and Four Beauties, and rejected feudal superstitions. He didn't really believe in these mystical things.
Marquis Xilin looked at Li Shi. This man had an ordinary appearance, but his demeanor was quite incongruous with his appearance.
Especially with the faint smile on his lips, he exuded an unrestrained and carefree spirit.
What an extraordinary person! She had seen so many faces, but she had never encountered such a strange face before. No, in fact, the face and the demeanor were completely incompatible, as if they were two completely different people!
A glint of excitement flashed in Xi Linhou's eyes. "Mr. Li, may I ask for your birth date and time?"
Qi Gu asked curiously, "Does the Marquis of Xilin want to tell my father's fortune?"
"Hahaha, I am truly honored to have the Marquis of Xilin tell my fortune." Li Shi grinned from ear to ear, glancing at Qi Gu: "Coincidentally, the Marquis of Xilin can also tell my marriage fortune."
He rolled his eyes slightly and said, "I was born at 1:15 AM on the first day of the fourth month of the year Gui Si."
Qi Gu looked at Xi Lin Hou, who chuckled and said, "Mr. Li is unconventional and unrestrained, so I suppose he doesn't believe me."
Qi Gu didn't understand, but then she realized what was going on. "Father, how can you just say your birth date and time like that?"
Li Shi chuckled, "I didn't expect that the Marquis of Xilin would guess at a glance that my birthday was fake?"
Marquis Xilin was not angry. Instead, he said, "Never mind. You come from an extraordinary place, so your personality is naturally different from others."
Li Shi said, "It's not that I didn't want to tell Marquis Xilin, it's just that I've long forgotten my birth year. Farmers don't care about such things." Marquis Xilin's words were ambiguous, which alerted Li Shi.
Marquis Xilin gave Li Shi a profound look and said, “Sir, have you truly forgotten where you came from and when you arrived? I’m afraid that’s not entirely true.”
Li Shiben kept his distance from such a "master," but unexpectedly, she seemed to know about his background... Li Shiben was overwhelmed with emotions and tentatively asked, "Could it be that Xi Linhao is also... a fellow townsman?"
"Hahaha!" Marquis Xilin laughed a few times. "That's not it. It's just that I can see that beneath your skin, sir, lies a soul that doesn't quite match."
The ancient master was truly skilled; she could tell at a glance that he didn't belong to this world, and that he had taken over the body of the original person!
Li Shi withdrew his earlier jest and earnestly cupped his hands, saying, "You, you, Marquis of Xilin truly lives up to his reputation. I, Li Shi, am convinced. Please forgive my narrow-mindedness just now."
Qi Gu couldn't understand the cryptic conversation between the two. She looked at Xi Lin Hou and then at her father. "Father, what are you talking about? What do you mean by my body being inhabited by an unsuitable soul? What's going on?"
She anxiously asked Marquis Xilin, "Will Father be in any trouble? Can Marquis Xilin help Father?"
Marquis Xilin shook his head. “Princess, do not worry. You should know that some things will naturally return to their proper place when the time comes.”
Li Shi felt a jolt run through his body, goosebumps spreading from the soles of his feet to his scalp.
"Everyone back to your place!" What does that mean? Li Shi wanted to ask again.
But Marquis Xilin didn't want to say anything more. She looked at the boundless, tender yellow fields and said, "Mr. Li has brought blessings to the people of the Great Jin Dynasty. He will be rewarded in the future."
After saying this, Marquis Xilin left without any maids or servants, leaving behind only Li Shi, who was deeply shocked, and Qi Gu, who felt that something was wrong but couldn't quite put her finger on it.
Li Shi stared blankly in the direction where Marquis Xilin had left for a moment, then came to his senses and said, "It's getting late, let's go back."
Qi Gu escorted her father back to the Sima residence, and then returned to Changyang Palace herself.
Sitting on her horse, she thought that she must visit Marquis Xilin again another day to see if there was any way to ensure her father's safety and health.
As the carriage entered Changyang Palace, a cry was suddenly heard. Hongyan's low, scolding voice rang out from outside, "Who is making such a fuss here, disturbing the princess's dignity?"
The crying stopped immediately, and the carriage slowly started moving again. A gust of wind blew open the carriage curtains, and Qi Gu saw the white cloth covering the side of the palace road.
"Stop the carriage!" The carriage stopped, and Qi Gu stepped out of it.
Pointing to a row of corpses covered with white sheets on the ground, he frowned and asked with a grim expression, "What happened here!"
The old eunuch kneeling on the ground looked somewhat familiar. He kowtowed and said, "Princess, please calm down. It was my ignorance of the rules that disturbed you. Please punish me."
Qi Gu had a guess in her mind, and she said to Fu Lian, "Fu Lian, go and lift the white cloth!"
Fulian hesitated for a moment, looking at the pale-faced princess, but the princess's eyes were unyielding. She stepped forward and lifted a corner of the white cloth.
She looked at the princess beside her with concern, thinking, "Perhaps it's best not to let the princess see this."
Just as they were about to cover it with the white cloth again, they heard Qi Gu say, "Open it!"
Fu Lian had no choice but to lift the white cloth, revealing six bloody and mangled faces, but still recognizable as youthful.
Hongyan recognized them as the eunuchs who had been sweeping snow along the roadside when they left the palace that day. The princess had taken pity on them because of their young age and had even given them a reward. Little did she expect that so little time had passed and they would all...
A thick cloud drifted over Changyang Palace, blocking out the sunlight and casting shadows on Qi Gu's face.
Her legs felt weak. In her previous life, she had experienced the palace coup and witnessed rivers of blood. But these six young eunuchs, who looked no more than six or seven years old, were arranged in a row in the magnificent Changyang Palace.
Against the backdrop of these gray, high walls, their corpses appeared both insignificant and overwhelmingly large, a sight that horrified Qi Gu.
"Ugh!" Qi Gu, supporting the carriage, felt her heart churning, the six gruesome faces of the dead haunting her mind.
"Princess! Are you alright?" Hongyan asked worriedly as she helped the princess up.
Suddenly, a hand came across and put its arm around Qi Gu's shoulder. Qi Gu looked up and saw that it was Sima Hong.
He glanced coldly at Fu Lian and said, "Hurry up and cover her with the white cloth and carry her away."
Qi Gu felt as if her entire body was covered in a thick layer of frost, cold from head to toe. "What...what did they do? Who would do this to six people..."
Sima Hong sighed, "They offended Prince Yi." He looked at Qi Gu with concern, his eyes filled with gloom. Prince Yi had entered the palace today, and a few eunuchs had startled his horse while sweeping the floor, almost causing Prince Yi to fall off.
He then ordered his men to give each of them thirty strokes of the cane. The young eunuch was already young and his body was not yet fully developed, so he could not withstand such a heavy punishment and was beaten to death.
By the time the Empress found out, the six eunuchs were already dead.
Qi Gu gripped Sima Hong's wrist tightly. "Just for such a trivial matter, he beat six eunuchs to death? Six lives?"
Sima Hong glanced at the old eunuch still kneeling on the ground. Those six eunuchs were indeed innocent, becoming victims of the power struggle between Prince Yi and the Empress.
The incident happened this morning, and three or four hours have passed since then, yet these six eunuchs have still not been buried.
The elderly eunuch deliberately waited for Qi Gu on the road.
This has caused Qi Gu such fear; she deserves to die a thousand deaths.
"I'll take you back to the palace first. We'll handle the rest later. Don't worry, I'll order a grand funeral for the six of them and send a generous sum of money to their families so they can rest in peace after death."
Large tears streamed down Qi Gu's face. "Rest in peace? How can they rest in peace? They're still so young, just six or seven years old! How could the Prince of Yi be so heartless? This man is a beast!"
Qi Gu's tears fell onto Sima Hong's hand, burning his heart as if it were tightening. "It's all my fault. Prince Yi will soon receive the punishment he deserves. When that time comes, he will go to the underworld to apologize to those he killed..." A dark, oppressive aura gathered in her eyes.
Sima Hong gently wiped away the tears from Qi Gu's chin, picked her up and carried her horizontally, saying to Fu Lian, "Go and tell the Empress that the princess was frightened, and I will send her back to the palace."
He then said to Atai, "Go and keep an eye on the matter of the young eunuch's burial."
Upon arriving at the Jade Flower Palace, Sima Hong felt the person in his arms trembling slightly. Looking into her empty eyes, Sima Hong immediately wanted to tear the Prince of Yi and the Guo family to pieces.
He placed her on the bed, and Hongyan had already ordered someone to bring water. She wrung out a handkerchief to wipe Qi Gu's face.
Sima Hong took the handkerchief and gently wiped Qi Gu's face. He then covered her with a blanket and kissed her forehead. "Don't be afraid, Qi Gu."
Hongyan stood aside, filled with regret. She lowered her head and choked out, "That day when we left the palace, the princess saw that the young eunuchs were so young and their hands and faces were red from the cold. She felt sorry for them and asked me to give them money. She even leaned on the carriage and watched the young eunuchs playing and frolicking with a smile. I never expected to run into them today..."
"The princess is kind-hearted. Next time, don't let her see something like this."
He touched her forehead and thankfully she didn't have a fever. He only regretted that he couldn't stay in the palace.
He turned to Hongyan and instructed, "Have the physician prepare a calming soup for the princess tonight."
[Author's Note]
The countdown to the final major plot point is on!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
