Outside the pavilion, the sunlight filtered through layers of bamboo leaves and cast mottled shadows on the ground. The wind suddenly grew stronger, and the light and shadows swayed, as if a monk was chanting scriptures, seemingly indistinct.

There was an inexplicable solemnity in the atmosphere.

But Shen Qianchen felt a little panicked in her heart. She always felt that something beyond her control was about to happen soon and she didn't have much time left.

Her mind once again echoed with Master Juehui's words at the beginning of February: "Your husband's doom is only halfway resolved."

In other words, Gu Jue still has a calamity in his life, and it is a fatal calamity! A few months have passed, and the words that Master Juehui said have been engraved in Shen Qianchen's heart. She would think of it from time to time, and she has never let it go.

In her previous life, she did not believe in ghosts and gods. It was not until she was fortunate enough to be reborn that she changed her mind, began to believe in Buddhism, and started to have a sense of awe for some mysterious things.

Since there is her rebirth in this world, and there are outliers like Chu Qianhuang, there will also be enlightened masters like Master Juehui who know the past, the future, and even communicate with ghosts and gods.

Gu Jue also knew that Shen Qianchen was thinking about this matter, and always comforted her by saying:

“Everyone believes in fate, and I do too, but I don’t accept it.”

"I believe in myself and I believe in you. We can change our fate."

Yes. Whether it was Gu Jue or her, they were changing their fate step by step, taking a different path from their previous lives.

It can be seen that human destiny is not static.

Gu Jue refused to accept his fate, so she would follow him and refuse to accept his fate too.

Shen Qianchen stared blankly at Gu Jue who was feeding the fish. After a while, when the wind stopped, she came back to her senses. The pine nut candy in her mouth had completely melted, leaving only a faint sweet fragrance lingering in her mouth.

She took a pine nut candy from the oil paper bag through the handkerchief, put one into his mouth first, and then ate another one herself.

Gu Jue smiled slightly, his eyes soft, and asked, "Are you hungry?"

His voice was less cold than usual because of the sugar in his mouth, and had a hint of worldly flavor.

Gu Jue was born in a royal family, and the palace has strict rules. He has developed the habit of "not talking while eating and sleeping" since he was a child. If it were the old him, he would never talk when he was holding candy in his mouth. The years of fighting in the north changed Gu Jue a lot, and some of his delicateness was worn away, but some habits have never changed. According to Qin Yao, Gu Jue seems to be unsophisticated, but in fact he is very particular.

But now, Gu Jue would be a little different in front of her.

Shen Qianchen liked this "different" Gu Jue and smiled with curved lips.

She was about to speak when a goldfish in the pond suddenly jumped out of the water, swung its tail and water droplets to draw a beautiful arc on the water surface, and then fell into the water with a "splash". The sound seemed to say that they were hungry.

Shen Qianchen burst out laughing, her smile was brilliant, and she also grabbed a handful of broken butterfly cakes and threw them into the pond.

"I'm not hungry." She said with a smile, "But I'm thirsty. Let's go to the front and ask for a glass of water."

The reason why she said this was that she heard a monk talking to Jingfeng outside the bamboo forest. Master Yuande, the elder of Baiyun Temple, invited them to go to the main hall.

Gu Jue stood up and stretched out his hand to Shen Qianchen. Shen Qianchen held his hand, and the two walked out of the bamboo forest hand in hand.

The monk bowed apologetically to express his apology, and said that because the abbot was not in the temple, the affairs of the temple today would be temporarily presided over by Master Yuande.

The monk had other pilgrims to look for, so without saying a few words, he hurried away and ran to other rooms.

"Let's go." Gu Jue and the others walked in the opposite direction of the monk and headed towards the main hall. Jing Feng and Jiang Yuan followed closely behind them.

At this moment, Baiyun Temple was emptier and quieter than usual. Along the way, they only occasionally saw a few pilgrims hurrying towards the Main Hall.

Shen Qianchen held Gu Jue's hand tightly, and his chaotic mood gradually calmed down, with his eyes shining brightly.

It's already good! In this life, they met earlier than in the last life, and they have made each other better. Now they are together well, and they will be fine in the future.

Even if Gu Jue is destined to encounter another disaster, the two of them can change his fate.

Moreover, a person's life is only a few decades long, which can be said to be very short or very long. No one can guarantee that he will have a smooth life and live peacefully until the end of his life.

Shen Qianchen turned his head, smiled at Gu Jue, then moved his eyes downwards, unable to help but look at his chest, where the scar was.

If Gu Jue really had such a fatal disaster, then his fatal disaster in his previous life was this hidden injury plus poisoning.

The fragment of the arrow buried in his chest was the main reason for his continued weakness, but if he hadn't been poisoned, he would definitely have been able to hold on for another year. Maybe his master Lin Miao in his previous life would have had a chance to cure Gu Jue.

Shen Qianchen will never forget the pain that Gu Jue's death in her previous life brought her. At that time, even if it meant shortening her life by ten years, as long as it allowed Gu Jue to live one or two more years, she would be willing.

Shen Qianchen's eyes were still fixed on Gu Jue's left chest.

Of course, she couldn't see the scar through her clothes, but she remembered the location of the scar very clearly.

To this day, she still clearly remembers all the steps and details of the operation she performed on him to remove the fragment on the second day of the first lunar month. She even occasionally dreams of this scene in the middle of the night...

When she woke up from the dream, she would quietly put her hand on his chest and feel his heartbeat.

Shen Qianchen subconsciously squeezed Gu Jue's hand again, and once again told herself in her heart that she had succeeded, she had taken out the fragment that shouldn't have existed in his body!

So, if we eliminate this factor, what remains is "poison".

If Gu Jue is still halfway to death, could it be this poison?

Shen Qianchen didn't know when Gu Jue was poisoned in his previous life. At that time, when Su Mubai and the others found Master Lin Miao, when Lin Miao took Gu Jue's pulse, the poison in Gu Jue's body had already invaded his heart meridians and there was no cure.

She did not give up and started studying medicine.

Gu Jue picked her up and saved her life; but it was studying medicine that changed her.

Before studying medicine, she was a person who gave up easily. In order to save Gu Jue, she learned to persevere. No matter how hard, difficult or boring it was, she persisted and wished she could use every day as twenty-four hours.

Not only did she learn the medical skills of the Central Plains from Lin Miao, she also asked people to search for many medical and miscellaneous books in neighboring countries.

However, fate taught her a cruel lesson. No matter how hard she tried, she could not save Gu Jue.

Shen Qianchen couldn't help but want to check Gu Jue's pulse, wanting to make sure that Gu Jue was not poisoned. After hesitating for a while, he didn't put his fingers on his wrist after all, thinking: Let's wait until we return to the palace.

The two walked leisurely, passing a row of sycamore trees against the wind, and the magnificent Main Hall appeared in front of them.

The closer you get to the main hall, the more chaotic the surroundings become, with chaos and commotion everywhere.

They could see that the gate of the temple was reinforced by the monks with wooden sticks and boards, and there were two monks on the wall looking anxiously down the mountain.

Most of the pilgrims have gathered in the main hall, including men, women, young and old, ordinary people, officials and businessmen. Their lives should have no intersection, but now they are trapped together because of bandits surrounding the temple, and they are incompatible with each other.

Most of these people were from the capital, and they lived in a peaceful environment living under the emperor's feet. They had never encountered such a thrilling thing in their lives, and most of them looked terrified.

There was an air of uneasiness in the air.

The monks were still trying to calm the restless pilgrims in the main hall: "Please don't worry, someone has already gone down the mountain to report to the authorities. Don't move rashly."

However, the monks' dignity was not enough after all. The pilgrims shouted and questioned:

"Master, the bandits are not familiar with the terrain here, so we should quickly escape down the mountain from the back!"

"Yeah yeah."

"The bandits are ruthless and will kill without blinking an eye. I think this temple gate is not solid at all. If the bandits break in, we will be in trouble!"

"Stay here, isn't this just waiting to die?"

“…”

Anxiety and doubt seemed to be contagious. The more the pilgrims talked, the more uneasy they became. Their faces turned pale and they were terrified. They kept looking towards the gate of Baiyun Temple, as if they were afraid that the gate would be broken down from the outside at the next moment.

When the perfect couple Gu Jue and Shen Qianchen appeared outside the main hall, they attracted several curious glances. After all, looking at their clothes, appearance, and overall temperament, one could tell that this couple were not ordinary people.

Several hidden guards who had been hiding showed up. One of them, with a small mustache, strode up to Gu Jue and reported, "Master Jiu, the bandits are almost outside the temple. Split into three groups. One group is blocking the main gate, and the other two groups are surrounding Baiyun Temple from both sides."

The pilgrims also heard it and were shocked and even more terrified.

Gu Jue calmly took out a token from his sleeve and ordered, "Send someone to the Three Thousand Battalion to mobilize troops."

Since this nobleman has the ability to mobilize troops, it means that he must be an official. As long as the soldiers come, there are only a few hundred bandits outside, which is not a big deal at all. I am afraid that they will flee as soon as they see the traces of the soldiers! They are saved! The pilgrims seemed to have taken a reassurance pill and felt much more at ease.

The mustache guard took the token and withdrew, and asked a monk to lead the way: "Master, please take me to the back door."

Two other guards also followed them to the back door of the temple.

The pilgrims all watched them leave with expectant eyes, and they kept looking around until they could no longer see them.

Inside the main hall, some frightened pilgrims had already knelt down on their cushions, with their hands clasped together, and were praying to the gold-painted Buddha statue, muttering to themselves.

Other guards helped the monks maintain order in the temple and asked about the number of doors, monks, pilgrims, etc. in the temple.

The monks had no backbone at first, but now that Gu Jue's men were in charge, they calmed down a little and followed the guards' instructions to reinforce the gate and count the number of people. In particular, the four gates of the temple were guarded by guards, and all pilgrims who tried to open the door and escape were subdued.

Even though they knew someone had gone to ask for soldiers, everyone was still worried. After all, as long as the soldiers didn't arrive, they would be in unpredictable danger, just like an antelope being targeted by a ferocious beast.

The longer I waited, the more that suffocating fear grew.

This was true for the pilgrims, and also for Chu Qianhuang who was currently locked in the side room.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

The door of the wing room was locked again. Chu Qianhuang paced back and forth in the room anxiously, becoming more and more frightened and at a loss as to what to do.

She regretted a little bit, because she didn't ask Shen Qianchen to take her with her just because of her momentary self-esteem. She should have swallowed her pride and followed Shen Qianchen just now.

What to do? Chu Qianhuang walked back and forth twice in annoyance, and then looked outside through the crack of the door again. The few Xuanjia soldiers who usually guarded her were all gone. They followed Gu Jue and Shen Qianchen, probably to deal with the bandits, so they had no time to take care of her.

This is a rare opportunity! Chu Qianhuang bit her lower lip. She wanted to go out, but she was afraid that she would run into bandits.

After much hesitation, she made up her mind that she couldn't stay here. Staying here would be too passive. If bandits broke into the temple, wouldn't she, a weak woman, be at the mercy of others? Chu Qianhuang gritted her teeth, picked up a round stool, and smashed it heavily against the window frame with ice cracks.

"Boom! Boom!"

The window lattice was much more fragile than the frame, but she hit it twice hard and the wood broke.

Chu Qianhuang used a stool to dig around again, making a hole, and then jumped out of the window swiftly.

Chu Qianhuang had always known that this room was not an impregnable place. The trouble was the Black Armor Army soldiers guarding her. As long as she made any unusual movement, she would not be able to hide it from their eyes and ears. Until today, she finally found an opportunity.

The moment her feet touched the ground, she suddenly felt a sense of relief as if she had seen the light of day again.

Chu Qianhuang didn't dare to delay, and ran to the back temple with her skirt in hand. She planned to go to the kitchen in the back temple to find some food first, and then find a place to hide, and wait until the bandits were dealt with before leaving the temple...

Chu Qianhuang was very careful, keeping her eyes and ears open, especially trying to avoid the monks. The monks in Baiyun Temple all knew her, and if they saw her, they would either capture her or go to Shen Qianchen to inform him, and then she would not be able to escape.

After avoiding another monk, Chu Qianhuang quickly walked through a grove of hibiscus trees. Unexpectedly, he ran into another woman who came out of the Sutra Library.

The woman was wearing a willow-colored jacket with dark patterns and her hair was tied up in a crescent-shaped bun. She had no jewelry on her body except for a silver hairpin inlaid with jade. Her simple and elegant dress made her face look beautiful and graceful, and her temperament gentle.

"Sister Huang!" the woman called out in surprise, her voice soft.

“…” Chu Qianhuang widened her eyes in disbelief. She never expected that she would meet Aunt Jiang in Baiyun Temple.

Chu Qianhuang's face was as dark as water, and her expression was somewhat complicated. For a moment, shock, anger, disbelief and other emotions crossed her face.

She really treated Aunt Jiang as her own mother before, and felt sorry for her having her husband taken away by Shen Zhi, and felt sorry for her having been humbled and served Shen Zhi for more than ten years...

It was not until Concubine Chu told her the truth about the twins not long ago that she realized that Aunt Jiang had been deceiving her, using her, and even torturing her.

It’s just her fault for being stupid and being misled by the dream!

Chu Qianhuang clenched her fists tightly, her eyes changing from uncertain to bright, and the negative emotions in her heart piled up like waves, almost swallowing her up.

The two looked at each other, and no one spoke for a long time.

After a moment, Chu Qianhuang suppressed the rage in her heart and turned around to leave, but Aunt Jiang called out to her, "Sister Huang!"

Aunt Jiang also didn't expect to meet Chu Qianhuang here, and her face was filled with surprise.

She took two steps towards Chu Qianhuang, tears welling up in her eyes again, and asked pitifully, "How have you been lately? I have been thinking about you and worried about you these days."

"I thought you were... imprisoned in the palace..."

Aunt Jiang's words were half true and half false, and her tearful eyes made her seem sincere and heartfelt.

She knew that Chu Qianhuang had returned to Beijing, and she also knew that Chu Qianhuang had been kept in the palace by Gu Nanjin. On the day of the ceremony to establish the empress, the old lady tried to find out what Shen Qianchen said, but Shen Qianchen did not respond, and the old lady had no choice but to complain to Aunt Jiang after returning home, saying how unfilial Shen Qianchen was.

Chu Qianhuang's eyelashes trembled violently. She originally didn't want to pay attention to Aunt Jiang, but after hearing her sob and complain, she changed her mind.

She glared at Aunt Jiang and asked, "Don't you really know I'm here?"

"Of course I don't know." Aunt Jiang quickly denied it, her expression sincere, "If I knew, I would have come here to see you a long time ago."

Chu Qianhuang's gaze became even colder and sharper, staring at Aunt Jiang's face, sneering, "Since you said you didn't know, then just pretend you don't know."

Aunt Jiang's eyelashes fluttered like butterflies, and she could tell that Chu Qianhuang's tone was not right. Chu Qianhuang had always been filial and considerate to her, and had never spoken to her like this before.

"Sister Huang, what's wrong with you?" Aunt Jiang took another step closer to Chu Qianhuang, her tone soft and lingering, like catkins and silk, "Are you blaming me for not coming to see you? Or are you blaming me for not being able to bring you back home?"

"In fact, I asked your grandmother to find your second sister, but after your grandmother came back from the palace, she scolded me instead..."

She looked weak and innocent. She didn't say a bad word about Shen Qianchen. She took credit for herself with a few words and also played the victim.

If it were the Chu Qianhuang in the past, she would only feel pity for Aunt Jiang, thinking that she was a weak woman who was isolated and helpless, and that her life in the Marquis' Mansion was not easy. But now that Chu Qianhuang knows the truth, when she thinks about what Aunt Jiang said, she feels that it is simply "the fragrance of tea is overflowing."

In the past, she seemed to be blinded and had no idea that anything was wrong, so she was taken advantage of by the other party time and time again.

It was as if someone poured a bucket of hot oil on her heart, and Chu Qianhuang's anger was immediately aroused.

Chu Qianhuang sneered, her face covered with a layer of ice, and asked slowly, "Do you think I'm as easy to fool as a fool?"

After being extremely angry, Chu Qianhuang calmed down instead. After all, she had known the truth for some time, and the time when she hated and loathed it the most had passed.

"..." Aunt Jiang was confused. She didn't understand why Chu Qianhuang was so angry today when she was fine the last time she saw her. Could it be that she guessed Chu Lingxiao...

"How long are you going to lie to me?" Chu Qianhuang said as she took a step closer to Aunt Jiang. "You keep pretending in front of me time and time again. Do you really think that no one knows what you and father did? The net of heaven is vast and wide, and nothing can escape it!"

She was half a head taller than Aunt Jiang. When she was backlit, her shadow cast over Aunt Jiang, and her face looked a little dark in the shadow.

As if struck by lightning, Aunt Jiang's face suddenly changed and she bit her lips hard.

She understands!

Chu Qianhuang was not talking about Chu Lingxiao's "stroke", but the incident that happened fifteen years ago.

Chu Qianhuang already knew everything... no matter how she knew it.

"..." The handkerchief in Aunt Jiang's hand was completely crumpled, and there seemed to be a storm in her eyes.

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, her expression had calmed down, her posture was elegant and upright, no longer showing her usual fragility.

For the first time, Chu Qianhuang realized what a good actor was, and finally realized deeply that she had never known Jiang Minshan.

Aunt Jiang said nothing, and didn't even look at Chu Qianhuang anymore. She walked straight past her with an expression of "there's no point in talking if you don't agree with me".

Her nonchalant attitude angered Chu Qianhuang again.

"Wait!" Chu Qianhuang suddenly made a move and grabbed Aunt Jiang's right wrist tightly.

"Is there anything wrong?" Aunt Jiang asked indifferently. Her eyes and attitude seemed as if she was looking at a rude and troubled child, or a stranger she had never met before.

“…” Chu Qianhuang felt like there was something stuck in his throat, a ball of anger was stuck in his chest, and his face turned pale and blue.

(End of this chapter)