"Brother Zhao, what's our next step?" Li Xue asked.
"Tomorrow morning, we will head to the temple thirty miles away to see if the monk sweeping the floor is General Li Ru."
Zhao Xian's words made Li Xue's heart tighten. If the sweeping monk in the temple wasn't her brother Li Ru, then she would have been happy for nothing.
After a sleepless night, Li Xue finally got up early as dawn broke.
To her surprise, Zhao Xian got up even earlier than her.
Zhao Xian did not bring many people with him when he went to the temple this time; it was still just Sun Heng and a few guards.
It was still quite hot this time of year, and since today wasn't an important day, there weren't many worshippers entering the temple. After leaving the city, they didn't encounter many people along the way.
Thirty miles is not a long distance, and they arrived quickly. The mountain in front of them was not very high, and the temple was halfway up the mountain, visible from a distance.
Zhao Xian parked the carriage at the foot of the mountain, and the group began to climb the mountain.
The area in front of the temple is very open, a vacant lot paved with bluestone slabs, which is very clean and spotless.
Instead of entering the temple immediately, the group stood on the open ground, gazing into the distance.
Although the imperial city is thirty miles away, it can be seen from here. No wonder the fool chose to become a monk here, because there is someone he longs for day and night thirty miles away.
At this moment, Li Xue's heart was racing. She wanted to see her brother immediately, but she was also afraid that seeing the sweeping monk would greatly disappoint her.
“It’s about time, let’s go into the temple,” Zhao Xian said.
Li Xue nodded, and the group immediately headed towards the temple entrance.
At this moment, the temple gate was open, revealing a huge courtyard. Not far from the gate was a large incense burner, where worshippers burned incense.
Sun Heng opened his bag, took out two sticks of incense, and handed them to Zhao Xian and Li Xue.
The two men took the incense sticks, lit them, and placed them in the incense burner, whereupon smoke began to swirl around.
At this moment, the bells began to ring in the bell tower. The temple has a rule that the monks in the bell tower will start ringing the bell when the first worshipper comes to offer incense each day.
There weren't many worshippers at this time, and there were only a few monks to be seen in the temple, with only a few older monks busy at work.
According to the Empress, there was a monk sweeping the floor in the temple. Li Xue looked around and found that the temple was clean inside and out, which meant that the monk had finished sweeping and had probably gone back to his meditation room to rest.
Li Xue decided to ask an old monk where the sweeping monk was now.
Just as Li Xue was looking around, she suddenly saw a tall monk carrying two buckets of water, walking briskly from outside the temple.
The monk carrying water darted past the crowd and headed to the temple's kitchen.
Upon seeing the monk, Li Xue was startled. Although she hadn't seen her brother for ten years, Li Ru had left a deep impression on her.
The water-carrying monk who just flashed past me—who else could he be but my brother?
Although her brother appeared taller than before, his physique and appearance had not changed much, so much so that Li Xue recognized him at a glance, but her brother did not notice her at all.
I've changed so much. I was only nine years old back then, just a little girl. Now I'm a grown woman. Will my brother still recognize me?
Li Xue suddenly turned around, grabbed Zhao Xian's hand, and excitedly said:
“Brother Zhao, that monk carrying water is my brother Li Ru. I’ve recognized him. There’s no mistake.”
Zhao Xian felt embarrassed after being grabbed by Li Xue. He understood Li Xue's feelings and spoke up.
"Princess, hurry and follow him, see if he can recognize you."
“Okay, I’ll be right there.” Li Xue released Zhao Xian’s hands and immediately followed.
“Sun Heng, you are a child. You can follow the princess and come to report any situation immediately.”
"Understood," Sun Heng nodded and followed behind Li Xue.
In the temple's kitchen, there were several large water vats. The monks carrying water would put down their carrying poles next to the vats, pour two buckets of water into the vats, and then pick up the empty buckets to continue carrying water down the mountain.
He was about to take a step when he saw a girl standing in front of him, looking at him with a face full of surprise.
"Princess!" the water-carrying monk exclaimed, and the carrying pole with two empty buckets slipped off his shoulder.
He quickly realized that the girl in front of him was definitely not a princess. She just looked very much like a princess. Besides, the princess was already thirty years old, so it was impossible for her to still be so young.
It seems that she looks very much like the princess, so much so that her brother mistook her for her at first glance. She wonders how well her brother's memories have recovered.
"Brother, it's me, Xue'er. Do you still recognize me?" Li Xue walked up to Li Ru, tears welling in her eyes, and slowly spoke.
“Xue’er…” Li Ru was completely bewildered. The girl in front of him was not a princess, but she seemed familiar, as if she were deep in his memory, but he couldn’t quite place her.
Seeing that her brother really couldn't remember her, Li Xue burst into tears. Li Ru was at a loss for what to do.
"Brother, I am your younger sister Li Xue. Father has sent me to bring you home."
"Father..."
Li Ru muttered to himself, "Sister, Father, then who am I?" Li Ru felt his brain couldn't keep up.
"I still remember ten years ago, when my brother and father led an expedition to the southwestern frontier. Before returning victorious, my brother rode his warhorse across the grassland."
Suddenly, a large number of rabbits sprang out of the grass and scattered in all directions, startling the brother's warhorse, which then began to gallop wildly.
By this time, the warhorse was out of control, and the older brother had no choice but to let it run wild. Finally, the older brother's warhorse charged into a valley...
As Li Xue recounted the story, she paid close attention to her brother's changes. Judging from his expression, Li Ru seemed to have remembered something.
When Li Xue mentioned that there were a large number of devils in Devil Valley, Li Ru immediately became nervous.
"Devils are everywhere, they're overwhelming me..."
Li Xue was overjoyed. It seemed that her guess was correct; her brother had mistakenly entered Devil's Valley and survived a near-death experience.
At this moment, Li Ru's brows were furrowed and his expression was pained, which made Li Xue worry.
Gradually, veins bulged on Li Ru's forehead and neck, and his expression became increasingly painful. He leaned against a nearby pillar and squatted down.
Li Xue was terrified and quickly stepped forward.
"Brother, what's wrong?"
In reality, Li Ru was enduring immense pain, but he remained silent and endured it with all his might.
Sun Heng, who was standing nearby, noticed something was wrong and quickly walked over. He was also shocked to see Li Ru's condition.
Although surprised, Sun Heng remained calm. He went behind Li Ru and began to massage the veins bulging on Li Ru's body.
Sun Heng often engages in medicinal herb harvesting and knows some massage techniques, which came in handy this time.
Seeing that Sun Heng's massage techniques were skillful, Li Xue felt relieved.
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