At the foot of the mountain, a man and woman wearing straw raincoats and bamboo hats were chattering and bickering.
“We’ve come all this way, so why won’t you let me go up the mountain to see my second brother?” Huo Shuyi resentfully snapped off a tree branch and hurled it at Meng Qufei’s head.
He nimbly dodged aside, hiding behind a waist-high rock, sighing and lamenting: “Big sister, how many times have I told you—my feigning death is a matter of great importance. If you want to show yourself, at least wait until the situation at court has stabilized!”
“Every day it’s ‘wait and see, wait and see.’ It’s already been two months—who’s still desperately concerned about whether you’re dead or alive! Don’t think too highly of yourself!” Huo Shuyi, still angry, threw a wild fruit at him.
Meng Qufei caught it steadily and began crunching on it while saying: “Haven’t I already complied with you now that two months have passed and the situation has stabilized somewhat? I leaked news of us to your family, didn’t I? If you hadn’t been clamoring in my ear every day, I wouldn’t have planned to let anyone know about this at all! Aiya, just wait a little longer and I’ll let you go see them, all right?”
Huo Shuyi kicked a rock flying in frustration: “What sin did I commit in my past life to end up mixed up in this kind of thing!”
Speaking of it, it was truly too unlucky. Two months ago, she had mistakenly thought the person trapped in Xiping Mansion was Huo Liuxing and recklessly led troops to rush to the rescue, only to encounter Meng Qufei in the royal palace fighting alone against a hundred men.
Though it wasn’t Huo Liuxing, he was still one of their own. Moreover, at that time Meng Qufei was covered in blood, and in such a critical moment, she naturally couldn’t stand by and watch him die. So she fought a vicious battle alongside him.
But ultimately they were outnumbered, and they were soon completely annihilated.
Already at the end of his strength, Meng Qufei used his last breath to pull her into the sea of fire, creating a false impression to make the enemy think they had died, when in reality he hid with her among the pile of corpses and took advantage of the next day when Xiqiang transported the dead bodies out of the palace to escape.
After that, she had planned to immediately contact Huo Liuxing, but was repeatedly blocked by Meng Qufei.
He said that since the two of them had “died” together in the Xiqiang royal palace, if she suddenly came back to “life,” the court would inevitably become suspicious about his death.
“Is this how you treat your lifesaver?” The more Huo Shuyi thought about it, the angrier she became, glaring at him viciously. “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have saved you!”
This statement was actually quite accurate. If not for her accidental blunder that gave Meng Qufei a chance to catch his breath, he truly wouldn’t have been able to walk out of the Xiqiang royal palace alive.
He originally had indeed been prepared to die to fulfill the greater cause, planning to make the most of his remaining heat before death—kill as many as he could.
Meng Qufei stubbornly retorted: “Heh, you think I was dying to be saved by you? I was originally ‘unafraid of being shattered to pieces, wanting only to leave my integrity in the world’—even in death I would have died cleanly. After you interfered, to protect your life, I had to rush into the fire and bury myself among corpses. Even now I still smell!”
Huo Shuyi opened her mouth, about to argue further, when she suddenly saw his ear turn slightly to the side, his expression changing subtly.
“They’re coming, they’re coming down—retreat!” Meng Qufei stepped forward and grabbed her wrist, pulling her into a mad dash. They ran for three li before stopping, and he released her.
Huo Shuyi pointed at him, gasping for breath, too angry to speak.
This life of hiding—it was truly unbearable!
Finally catching her breath, she asked with restraint: “Will this trick of yours work? They didn’t see us show ourselves—can they be certain we’re still alive?”
Based solely on that boy’s few words, it naturally wouldn’t be enough to make Huo Liuxing certain, but…
Meng Qufei smiled confidently: “The household I had them visit has an old friend who will make Liuxing understand my hint.”
——
Huo Liuxing and Shen Lingzhen followed the boy to a single-door household of common cloth-clad people in the city.
Along the way, the two naturally both harbored a vague guess, but though the Hexi warfare had ceased, the world was still unsettled. Huo Liuxing was always cautious by nature and wouldn’t easily believe a child’s words, so upon arriving, he still had Jingmo and Jianjia enter first to investigate.
When Jingmo returned, his expression was astonished as he reported to Huo Liuxing inside the carriage: “My lord, guess who lives inside?”
“If I could guess, would I have sent you in to investigate?”
Jingmo choked and stopped playing coy: “Living inside are that boy’s grandfather and grandmother. That grandmother once served in the Huo household—she is precisely Lord Meng’s wet nurse from years ago.”
Shen Lingzhen froze. Her ability to remember everything she heard made her quickly recall what Meng Qufei had said to Huo Liuxing at the Bianjing Huo Mansion when Huo Liuxing was severely wounded by Ya Lichong—Hey, you know what, when I first got the news last night, I was really thinking that if you died like this it wouldn’t be bad. I’d immediately go find my old wet nurse and have her deceive everyone, saying that actually you were the Meng family’s master. That way I could be carefree and happy.
At that time, Meng Qufei had joked that he didn’t want to do this work of restoring the dynasty anymore. If Huo Liuxing died, he would have the wet nurse who was responsible for switching the children back then tell a lie and deceive everyone into thinking the switch had succeeded and Huo Liuxing was actually the orphan of the previous dynasty. That way, everyone wouldn’t have to fight to the death for the so-called great cause, and he could slip away like a cicada shedding its shell and become a truly useless wastrel.
Shen Lingzhen did indeed remember that Meng Qufei had said that when that wet nurse was carrying Huo Liuxing to the capital city years ago, she was discovered and intercepted halfway. Having failed to complete the task the Huo family entrusted to her, she felt guilty and later resigned and returned to the Hexi countryside.
So all the links matched up.
That man who resembled Huo Liuxing in appearance had led them to this wet nurse’s doorstep precisely to make them recall that discussion about “slipping away like a cicada shedding its shell.”
When Meng Qufei spoke of this matter, only Huo Liuxing and Shen Lingzhen were present.
In other words, the one who led them here could only be Meng Qufei.
After thinking through the cause and effect, Shen Lingzhen excitedly grabbed Huo Liuxing’s arm: “My lord, am I thinking correctly?”
The most relaxed and cheerful smile in two months appeared on Huo Liuxing’s face. He nodded at her, then said through gritted teeth: “That brat—it’s one thing for him to be carefree and happy himself, but he even dragged Shuyi into this mess. When we meet face to face someday, I’ll skin him alive.”
“Can’t we go find them right now?”
Huo Liuxing shook his head: “Hexi is still unsettled, and the situation in Bianjing hasn’t fully stabilized either. His not risking exposure now is a wise move. If we ruin the greater cause for a momentary reunion, all this effort will have been wasted.”
“Then let’s hurry home and write a secret letter to Qingyang so Father and Mother can set their minds at ease.”
Huo Liuxing nodded.
Having already investigated this household’s identity and understood Meng Qufei’s hint, the two felt there was no need to enter and disturb the family. They had Jingmo prepare to depart and return to the mansion.
But at this moment, they heard an old woman’s voice from outside the carriage: “Who’s outside the door—?”
Huo Liuxing glanced at Shen Lingzhen.
“Then my lord should go down and greet her. After all, she is an old friend.”
Huo Liuxing now followed Shen Lingzhen’s wishes in all matters, so he led her down from the carriage.
Unexpectedly, the old woman in hairpin and cotton skirt, upon seeing Shen Lingzhen, turned deathly pale in shock and stepped back, staring fixedly at her face with unblinking eyes.
Shen Lingzhen was startled by her expression and reaction, as if she’d seen a ghost, and instinctively wanted to hide. But considering this was an elder, she restrained herself from showing it.
The old woman stumbled forward: “Young lady… is it you, young lady? Have you returned?”
Shen Lingzhen froze.
What did she mean by “returned”? She had never been here before!
Huo Liuxing slightly shielded Shen Lingzhen behind him and was about to explain their identities to the old woman when he heard her speak again: “Twenty-nine years ago, that person was you, wasn’t it… was it you?”
Huo Liuxing and Shen Lingzhen were jolted by this sensitive number.
Twenty-nine years ago—that was precisely when Daqi changed dynasties and Huo Liuxing and Meng Qufei were born.
Shen Lingzhen felt goosebumps rise all over as she said blankly: “Old madam, are you mistaking me for someone else? I’m only seventeen years old.”
The old woman froze, her expression dazed as she muttered: “Oh, right, it is you, but also not you… That young lady said she came from many, many years in the future…”
Huo Liuxing’s brow jumped as he exchanged a glance with Shen Lingzhen. They both seemed to have thought of something.
“Old madam, what are you saying?” Huo Liuxing asked with furrowed brow, probing.
The old woman’s eyes gradually cleared. Recovering from the initial shock, she looked at Huo Liuxing and her eyes slowly reddened: “Does this mean you’re Liuxing?”
Huo Liuxing nodded: “How do you know?”
The old woman’s eyes immediately brimmed with tears: “I… I…” She looked at Shen Lingzhen again. “Because twenty-nine years ago, on the road while carrying you to the capital, I saw this young lady…”
Shen Lingzhen stood rooted to the spot.
If it were anyone else, they would surely think this old woman past her fifties had lost her mind. But she and Huo Liuxing were different.
They had personally experienced such incredible things before.
Shen Lingzhen slowly emerged from behind Huo Liuxing and walked before the old woman: “Look at me carefully. Are you truly not mistaken?”
The old woman examined her face carefully, nodding, then shaking her head, then nodding again: “At that time, you looked a few years older than now, in very poor health, thin as a skeleton, but it was indeed this face…”
Shen Lingzhen looked back at Huo Liuxing, seeing the same meaning in his eyes.
So it turned out that she was not the only one who had returned to the past—there was also her.
Shen Lingzhen held the old woman’s hand and said: “Old madam, may we come inside and hear you tell us about what happened back then?”
——
The old woman welcomed the two inside, poured them tea, and after collecting herself began to speak.
She said that back then, the plan to switch the two children had used a stratagem within a stratagem and should have had the opportunity to deceive the Bianjing imperial family. But on her way to the capital carrying Huo Liuxing, “Shen Lingzhen” appeared.
“At that time I was alone carrying Liuxing on a night road, preparing to hand him over to the contact person. Just as I was about to reach the place, I was stopped by that young lady who appeared from who knows where. She told me I couldn’t send this child to the capital.”
“I thought the plan had been exposed and was terrified, turning to flee. But that young lady knelt down before me, begging me to believe her, saying that if this child went to the capital, his whole life would be ruined.”
“She said she came from many, many years in the future. In her time, Liuxing went to the capital in place of Qufei, while Qufei remained at the border with the Huo family. The switch plan succeeded, but in the end, neither of them came to a good end.”
“I didn’t believe her at first, but that young lady cried so heart-wrenchingly, she truly didn’t seem like a bad person. So I asked her who she was. She said she should have been the betrothed of the Huo family’s second son, but because Liuxing and Qufei had exchanged identities, she was betrothed to Qufei at age fifteen.”
“I asked her if she was Qufei’s wife. She said no—after the emperor granted the marriage, she was abducted by bandits and suffered injuries all over her body. The wedding date was postponed. Before her injuries healed, her maternal grandmother died of illness, and to observe mourning she had to delay the wedding date again.”
“I asked again how she came to be here. She said she wasn’t clear either—she should have died, but perhaps heaven was kind and gave her a chance to change everything at the moment when her lamp oil was exhausted. She said heaven sent her to that night, to that location, and there must be a reason. She thought the way to change Liuxing’s fate was to prevent this switch.”
Shen Lingzhen and Huo Liuxing both sat in stunned silence.
“I was curious why someone so young had become like that. She said when she was abducted by bandits years ago, the injuries left her with chronic illness, and her body had deteriorated early. Being able to live until that day was already fortunate. Seeing her waxy yellow complexion and haggard appearance, truly like someone about to die, I felt compassion. Just as I was hesitating whether to believe her words, she could no longer hold on. With her last breath she begged me—please don’t send Liuxing to the capital. Then she breathed her last.”
The old woman’s expression became somewhat fearful as she reached this point: “I just watched her collapse before me, and then in the blink of an eye, her corpse disappeared—nothing remained, as if she had never appeared…”
Shen Lingzhen asked with difficulty: “Was it because of this that you believed her? The switch failed back then because you actually informed the imperial family?”
The old woman nodded and lowered her head in shame: “I didn’t know if what I did was right or wrong. Afterward, having no face to see the Huo family master again, I hid here and never spoke to anyone about that night. But over these years, I’ve repeatedly dreamed of that night, dreamed of that young lady’s face…”
All the mysteries were unveiled at this moment.
Huo Liuxing had been quite puzzled from the beginning. His act of returning to Peach Blossom Valley to save people should only have made his relationship with Shen Lingzhen become intimate earlier—there was no reason it should have changed the direction of so much political situation.
Now it all made sense.
It turned out that before he changed Shen Lingzhen’s fate, Shen Lingzhen had first changed his and Meng Qufei’s fates.
The one who made him become Grand General early and brought peace to Hexi early was not him, but that little girl who on a cold winter night used the last of her life to desperately beg for a turning point.
Fortunately now, those sufferings she would never have to endure again.
After a long silence, Huo Liuxing gently patted the old woman’s hand: “Thank you for being willing to believe her. Old madam, you did the right thing. Qufei, I, and all of Daqi must be grateful for what you did then.”
The old woman, who had felt guilty for most of her life, finally truly obtained release at this moment, tears streaming down as she said: “That’s good, that’s good…”
Huo Liuxing rose with Shen Lingzhen to take their leave.
All along the way, neither spoke until they walked out of the gate and saw that the drizzling rain of several days had actually stopped.
The sky after the rain was incomparably azure blue. Shen Lingzhen looked at the bright sky and suddenly said: “My lord, tomorrow will surely be fine weather, won’t it?”
Huo Liuxing took her hand, tilting his head with a smile: “Of course. From now on, every day will be fine weather.”
(——End of Main Text——)