Chapter 71: Fang Buyu's body remained frozen in place. ...
Fang Buyu's body remained frozen in place.
After a long time, he slowly raised his hands, gently held the shoulders of the person in his arms, and separated the two of them a little.
The person before him tilted his head upwards, his tearful eyes staring straight into his. With just one glance, Fang Buyu recognized the owner of those eyes without needing any words.
"Tai Tiao..."
The next moment, he embraced the woman in front of him again, his arms so tight that he seemed to knead her into his bones and blood. "I thought... I would never see you again in this life..."
This hug came too late. Tang Zhao, or rather, Zhou Tiao, said nothing, simply wrapping his arms around his back and burying his cheek deeper into the crook of his neck.
Wasn't she the same? After that separation, she also thought that she would never see him again in this life.
The two of them hugged each other quietly like this, and it was unknown how long it took before they slowly separated.
Fang Buyu still held her shoulders tightly. Realizing how much force he was exerting, he loosened his grip slightly, his eyes never leaving her face.
"Tiaotiao," he said, studying her face carefully. "What on earth is going on?"
Zhou Tiao held his hand and led him to the inner room: "Let's talk inside."
The two sat down side by side on the bed.
Just as Zhou Tiao was about to pull her hand back, Fang Buyu gripped it tightly again. She looked up, meeting his gaze, fixed on her without blinking. His eyes were filled with the panic and cherishment of having lost and regained something.
Her heart softened, and she took his fingers in her palm and said softly, "Ayu, I'm here."
She said, "Actually, for the past ten years, I've been working as a lamp-keeper at Tanshan Temple. Keeping the lamps can help you accumulate merit, and I want to do that for my grandmother."
Tanshan Temple? Fang Buyu's heart was shocked. For the past ten years, he had gone to Tanshan Temple every year to light lanterns and pray for her, but he had never imagined that the distance between them had ever been so close.
Seeing his confusion, Zhou Tiao explained, "Ayu, actually, I've seen you every year when you come to offer lamps to me. But... before that, I drank Meng Po soup and forgot everything. I couldn't remember who you were then..."
Then you..." Fang Buyu's voice tightened slightly, "When did you remember this?"
"It was after that fall off the cliff..."
"After falling off the cliff?" His fingers unconsciously clenched together.
"Yeah." She nodded, "It's just that I had other tasks at the time, so..."
Zhou Tiao's eyes passed over Fang Buyu's jawline, and his voice gradually lowered: "Forgive me for not being able to recognize you."
A gust of night wind blew through the window lattice, and the branches of the crabapple tree outside the window swayed gently on the wall.
Zhou Tiao looked at the flickering light and shadows and continued, "After parting with you at the foot of the mountain, I returned to Tanshan Temple to continue keeping the lamp. My days seemed no different from before. Until one day, a man named Wen Wenxin came to the temple to burn incense and confess his sins..."
Wen Wenxin… Hearing this name, Fang Buyu’s expression obviously darkened.
Zhou Tiao felt his palm suddenly grow cold, so he gripped it tighter. "That day, he confessed before the Buddha, and I heard the truth about my grandmother's passing... So, I beg Master to allow me to return to the human world."
When Fang Buyu heard this, he was surprised and felt that there was God's will in everything.
When he first learned the truth from Wen Wenxin, he was filled with anger that could not be quenched. As a doctor, Wei Wenxin knew that the medicine was not suitable for the patient, but he still used it on the patient.
But then he thought, how could an ordinary doctor resist the oppression of power? Moreover, if Wen Wenxin had not retained a conscience, he would never have learned the truth, and Tiaotiao would never have returned to the human world, and they would never have the chance to meet again in this life...
When Zhou Tiao mentioned his grandmother, deep sorrow welled up in his eyes and his breathing became rapid.
Fang Buyu noticed her emotional fluctuations and silently took her into his arms.
Zhou Tiao had been trying hard to hold back her tears, but the moment she pressed against his chest, she could no longer hold them back. Warm tears silently slid down, soaking his shirt bit by bit. Fang Buyu said nothing, simply hugged her tighter.
When the sobbing subsided, Zhou Tiao stood up, wiped away the tears with his sleeve, and his eyes gradually became stern. "So, I want to seek justice for Grandma and those innocent people who died because of Wei Yuanxiu."
At this point, all the unusual behavior of the female doctor was explained. But Fang Buyu still had one thing in mind: "When did you learn your medical skills, and how did you become so skilled?"
"I begged my master for this," Zhou Tiao replied, "and this face. I've appeared before as Zhou Tiao's original form, and if I appear again, my identity as the female healer will be shattered. So my master taught me the art of disguise. Once I've avenged my great hatred, this technique will naturally become ineffective."
After hearing her story, and thinking about the recently popular saying of "reading a person's lifespan," Fang Buyu had already guessed her plan. A wave of unease swept through his heart.
"Tiaotiao, the Eastern Palace and the Imperial Palace are fraught with danger. This plan is far too dangerous. And..." He stared into her eyes. "What price did you pay for this... from that Grandmaster?"
Zhou Tiao's eyes flickered slightly, then he smiled: "Don't overthink it, there's no price to pay."
Seeing Fang Buyu's expression unchanged, she knew he didn't believe her, but she couldn't argue any further. She simply turned the conversation back to her previous question: "Ayu, there is danger, of course, but I have no way out."
"You can leave it to me..."
"Ayu," Zhou Tiao interrupted him, his eyes like those washed by autumn water, clear yet persistent, "I must personally avenge my grandmother."
He looked into the sparks in her eyes and knew that further persuasion was futile. However, he would not allow her to avoid the most unsettling question in his heart: "What happens after revenge?"
"After that..." Zhou Tiao's long eyelashes drooped, casting a faint shadow under his eyes.
After a moment of silence, she looked up again with a forced smile on her lips. "How about we retire to the mountains and forests from now on? Find a place with beautiful mountains and rivers, and live out the rest of our lives in peace and quiet?"
The vision in her words coincided with the future he had envisioned countless times, which should have been delightful. But as she spoke, her eyes kept wandering among the moonlight, never once meeting his gaze.
Zhou Tiao could feel Fang Buyu's gaze always on him, but he didn't dare look back, for fear that one glance would expose her lies.
Silence spread between the two. Just as Zhou Yao was getting more and more anxious, she heard him say:
"Tiaotiao, let's get married."
"Get married?" Zhou Tiao looked at him in surprise, but met a pair of extremely serious eyes.
Moonlight, like a thread, streamed through the half-open window lattice, spreading a silver frost across the ground. The evening breeze, carrying the delicate fragrance of the crabapple blossoms in the courtyard, swayed the candlelight, and cast a pair of graceful shadows on the wall.
Fang Buyu took her hand and walked to the window. The bright moonlight flowed between their clasped fingers. He knelt on one knee in this clear light. When he raised his head, his eyes reflected the moon in the sky and the person in front of him.
"Tiaotiao," his voice was made especially gentle by the night breeze, and he looked at her with burning eyes, "Heaven and earth are my witnesses, and the wind and moon are my proofs. Will you allow me to become your husband?"
"Ayu..."
Zhou Tiao's gentle call lingered in the night, and the echo gradually faded away, but she still did not answer.
Fang Buyu slowly lowered his gaze, moving from the empty desk to the dusty floor, and finally back to her plain clothes.
He lowered his head, a look of embarrassment on his face. "I know... right now and in this place, there are no formalities, no phoenix crown and red robe, and I can't even meet my parents..."
Zhou Tiao interrupted him and said three words.
"I do."
The moment the answer came, a gust of night wind blew in from the window, and the pink and white petals of the crabapple tree in the yard fluttered like snow, passing through the half-open window lattice and floating around the two of them.
In the rain of flowers, they looked at each other and smiled at each other.
He took her hand and led her to the brightest moonlight in front of the window. Their sleeves intertwined, and they knelt side by side among the swirling crabapple petals.
Under the moonlight, Zhou Tiao tilted his head slightly and cut off a strand of his black hair with scissors. The inky black hair fell into his palm.
Then Fang Buyu took the scissors and cut off a strand of hair in the same way.
The two exchanged hair amidst the flying petals, tying the two strands of hair into a heart-shaped knot.
In the bright moonlight, the oath is solemn.
Zhou Tiao held the hair knot in both hands and handed it to Fang Buyu:
"We are married as husband and wife."
Fang Buyu solemnly put the hair knot into his arms, and then handed the hair knot in his hand to Zhou Tiao with both hands.
Zhou Tiao reached out and took it. She raised her eyes, a faint smile on her lips, waiting for the words "love and affection are undoubted".
But I heard five words, each one pronounced with great emphasis, hammering into my heart like a chisel:
"Life and death are inseparable."
*
Under the same sky, Tuoba Xuan tossed and turned on his couch, unable to sleep. Ever since he had gone to report to Wei Yuanxiu that day, his heart felt as if it were entangled by countless threads, and he could not fall asleep for a long time.
He simply put on his clothes, pushed the door open, and walked out to the corridor alone.
The night wind blows through the valley, and the sound of the forest waves is as faint as a whisper.
He leaned on the railing and looked into the distance. The undulating mountain shadows in the darkness looked like dormant monsters, just like his restless heart at the moment.
Tang Zhao's eyes appeared before his eyes again——
Cold, sharp, restrained yet uncontrollable hatred.
He couldn't be mistaken. The look the so-called "female healer" had given him in the hall was more than just an ordinary glance. There was something there, something tightly suppressed, yet threatening to break free.
But he searched his memory and had no impression of this face.
Who is she?
And there was the "brother" beside her who wore a mask and kept his head down. Although he always appeared timid, he always made him feel an indescribable sense of familiarity.
That figure, that occasional aura... he must have seen it somewhere.
The masked man, the female doctor, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince... What kind of connection is there between these people?
"Your Highness's lifespan...I'm afraid it won't exceed seventy."
Tang Zhao's words in the hall rang in his ears again.
Is this woman desperate for life? Everyone in the world knows that the Crown Prince just turned sixty last year. Even if she could truly discern the secrets of heaven, how could she dare to bluntly declare in front of the future monarch that his life span would be less than ten years?
What was even more puzzling to him was that Wei Yuanxiu did not execute her on the spot.
When had he become so "magnanimous"? If he truly had a tolerant heart, why would he have refused to bend even a little when I begged him so earnestly, and why would he have refused to speak a word to His Majesty on behalf of the Wang family?
He was clearly the mastermind behind all of this, but in the end, he lost his position as prime minister and also caused Wang Xin to suffer such a tragic end.
Wang Xin... This name pierced his heart like a needle. A trace of deep guilt flashed across Tuoba Xuan's eyes.
He betrayed her after all.
Fortunately, His Majesty later changed his mind for some reason and did not implicate their Bin'er... Otherwise, even a tiger would not eat its own cubs. If Bin'er was also gone, he would probably never be able to redeem himself even if he died.
Wait a minute—His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, His Majesty the Emperor, life span…
A flash of lightning suddenly flashed through his mind, and Tuoba Xuan took a breath of cold air.
He seemed to... guess what this "female doctor" was trying to do!
He turned around suddenly and strode to the other side of the corridor.
The sound of rapid knocking on the door rang out in the quiet night.
Sun Zhiming rubbed his sleepy eyes and opened the door: "Prime Minister, what brings you to me so late at night?"
The word "Prime Minister" made Tuoba Xuan frown - it turned out that he was not fully awake yet.
"Sun Zhiming!" His face was solemn as he shouted loudly, "After daybreak, mobilize all your forces! Immediately investigate a female doctor named Tang Zhao! She, her so-called brother, their origins, and when they arrived in Weizhou! Find out everything one by one and report back immediately!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
