Jun Buli had said that if Baili Weisheng hadn’t arrived within ten days, there was no point in coming at all.

Ten years—covering that distance would absolutely require flying speed!

But for Baili Weisheng, nothing was impossible. Five days later, he appeared at the southern border of Da Zhou.

Yet just as he crossed the border, he spotted two familiar figures approaching, and he froze instantly.

The difference was, the person across from him immediately broke into a run toward him.

“My son! My son, you’ve finally come back, Mother has finally gotten you back!” Lady Jinjiao called out, running toward Baili Weisheng.

To everyone’s surprise, Meng Duo’er, who had been standing beside her, moved even faster, nearly closing the distance to Baili Weisheng in an instant.

Unlike Lady Jinjiao’s loud, excited shouting, Meng Duo’er’s uncontainable excitement showed entirely on her face.

Her actions alone spoke volumes—she was a hundred times more excited than Lady Jinjiao, his own mother!

But it had to be admitted, she looked so foolish, so utterly foolish!

Rushing ahead of Lady Jinjiao in her excitement, she reached Baili Weisheng and simply stood there, dazed, unable to say a single word, just staring at him, unable to stop smiling with joy, smiling and smiling.

Anyone unfamiliar with the situation would have taken it for pure happiness—like newlyweds reuniting after a brief separation, rushing to embrace, so overjoyed it seemed almost absurd, running to her man, waiting for his embrace.

Meng Duo’er had never been the type to act so boldly, nor was she skilled at expressing her feelings. On any ordinary day, she never would have rushed forward like this—at most, she would have followed a step behind Lady Jinjiao.

But this time, she couldn’t control herself. No—more precisely, not only could she not control herself, she hadn’t even realized what she was doing, what she was in the middle of doing!

Everything was the most genuine expression, the truest outpouring of feeling!

Ten years!

Ten years, in the span of a human life, might not seem terribly long. But if you spent ten years longing for one person, was there anything in this world that could feel longer than that journey of the heart?

After all, back then, how reluctant she had been to leave, how desperately she had hoped that amnesiac, damnable scholar would ask her to stay.

But before she left, the damnable scholar had spoken—only it was to instruct her to keep that matter he’d asked about a secret, no matter what.

Back then, in his amnesia, he had asked her whether he had once been fond of Han Ziqing.

Ten years, and she still hadn’t forgotten how painful it had been to leave that day. The moment she returned to the dream clan, she’d begun secluded cultivation, throwing herself into training, keeping herself busy, pushing herself to hardship, trying to forget.

But helplessly, after a year, she found she simply couldn’t do it. Emerging from seclusion to ask after news from the capital of Da Zhou, she’d learned that Baili Weisheng had long since regained his memory, but had vanished without a trace along with Jun Beiyue and the others—possibly connected to the musical score Xuanyuan Lige had left behind.

From that point on, she’d simply waited.

In truth, if pressed seriously, she couldn’t say exactly what she was waiting for. She simply waited.

It seemed that as long as she kept waiting, her life would have something to look forward to, some reason to keep struggling on.

She waited nine years!

If ten years wasn’t enough to forget someone, perhaps it was time to stop forcing herself to forget at all?

Meng Duo’er didn’t know, didn’t understand.

At this moment, she simply stood there, foolishly, joyfully smiling, trembling with excitement, standing before Baili Weisheng, looking at him, her mind a complete blank save for pure joy!

The scene was so beautiful that even Lady Jinjiao unconsciously slowed her steps, holding back her own eagerness to see her son, unwilling to disturb them.

But reality was so much crueler.

Baili Weisheng seemed startled by Meng Duo’er’s sudden action, freezing for a moment before instinctively stepping back a full pace, his face full of suspicion, even a hint of wariness as he looked at her.

And it was precisely that retreat that shattered Meng Duo’er’s beautiful moment awake. Her heart clenched instantly, tight and aching!

Instinctively, she too stepped back, not knowing what to do, her face flushing bright red—not from shyness, but from humiliation.

Seeing this, Lady Jinjiao’s heart sank as well. She hurried forward, scolding sharply, “You wretched boy, all these years apart, and you’ve forgotten us? Don’t recognize us at all?”

That single word “us” dissolved Meng Duo’er’s embarrassment, while also warming her heart.

Lady Jinjiao was always so understanding, so warm and loving.

Only then did Baili Weisheng laugh awkwardly. “How could I forget!”

As he spoke, he stepped closer, glancing casually at Meng Duo’er, tactfully smoothing over the awkwardness with a joke. “I just got startled seeing her—she’s got to be past twenty and still looks so young! Heh heh, Miss Meng, you must be married by now, right?”

The awkwardness dissolved with these words, but they still stung.

Lady Jinjiao was furious enough to want to hit him, but being a mother, she had no time to dwell on it, waving Baili Weisheng over.

Baili Weisheng walked over with a smile, looking Lady Jinjiao up and down, saying tactfully, “Mother, you’ve aged quite a bit.”

Lady Jinjiao was both annoyed and amused—of course she’d aged; Baili Weisheng himself was nearly forty now, how could she not have aged?

Of course, though Baili Weisheng’s age had advanced, his appearance hadn’t—the constitution of a human-gu kept him permanently looking barely past twenty.

“You’ve aged too! Ha!” Lady Jinjiao said, giving Baili Weisheng a great big hug, finally turning serious. “Son, Mother has missed you!”

“I’ve missed you too!” Baili Weisheng said the word “missed” so generously—this was probably the first time he’d earnestly used that word at all!

Even when telling Ziqing he’d missed her, he always did so with a laugh, never quite seriously.

Meng Duo’er watched the mother and son embrace, watched Lady Jinjiao laughing while tears silently streamed down her face, feeling both comforted and bittersweet, and had to admit—also a little envious.

She couldn’t help wondering: aside from his mother, had this man ever embraced any other woman so earnestly?

After a good while, Lady Jinjiao finally released Baili Weisheng. She hadn’t forgotten Meng Duo’er either, and the moment she let go, immediately pulled Meng Duo’er over.

“Take a good look, do you remember her? While you had amnesia, she was the one taking care of you!” Lady Jinjiao said earnestly.

Baili Weisheng couldn’t help rolling his eyes—what a pointless question, hadn’t he already said he’d regained all his memories long ago?

Though he found the question tedious, he humored her anyway, saying, “Meng Duo’er! Of course I remember!”

To his surprise, Lady Jinjiao said, “I’m asking whether you remember that while you had amnesia, it was she who took care of you.”

Baili Weisheng, in truth, didn’t remember the events of that period very clearly—only vague impressions remained.

He nodded perfunctorily, but Meng Duo’er said, “Scholar, while you had amnesia, you asked me to keep a secret for you. Do you remember that?”