After the two had dressed and gone out, Ding Xian was standing in the courtyard. Seeing Chu Li’s cold face and the extremely low atmospheric pressure around him, he knew that Chu Li was on the edge of fury.
Silently cursing his bad luck, he glanced at Mu Yunjin walking out behind Chu Li, her lips pursed and her cheeks still somewhat flushed.
It’s over, Ding Xian felt his head might not stay on his shoulders.
“Where are they?” Regarding the two who had suddenly interrupted his intimate moment, Chu Li spoke coolly, giving Ding Xian a sidelong glance.
Terrified, Ding Xian trembled and carefully pointed to a side hall.
Chu Li and Mu Yunjin walked over.
……
In the side hall, Bei Tang Wenfeng was sitting and drinking tea. Seeing Mu Yunjin and Chu Li enter, his eyes filled with a smile. Beside him, Jiang Qingxue sat up and looked at Bei Tang Wenfeng.
Understanding her look, Bei Tang Wenfeng put down his teacup and smiled at the two. “This king and Qingxue will be leaving at the fourth watch, and I thought we should bid you farewell before we go.”
…
…
The greatest gain from this trip to the Southern Court Nation was that his relationship with Mu Yunjin had eased considerably. But just as it improved, they faced parting, not knowing when they would meet again.
Although he very much wanted to invite Mu Yunjin to visit North Ming Nation, it wasn’t appropriate to bring this up now.
Jiang Qingxue looked at Mu Yunjin, holding a package in her hands. Her expression showed some hesitation, but finally, encouraged by Bei Tang Wenfeng’s gaze, she stepped forward.
“Yunjin, I made several pieces of clothing for you in my spare time. I wonder if you’ll like them…”
After speaking, Jiang Qingxue immediately added, “This time they’re all made of snow brocade…”
Mu Yunjin froze, recalling her casual remark at Water Cloud Temple not long ago that Jiang Qingxue had taken to heart. Her emotions were inexplicably complex.
She reached out to take the package from Jiang Qingxue, pursed her lips, and said, “Thank you…”
Seeing Mu Yunjin accept the package, Jiang Qingxue nodded repeatedly, unable to suppress the joy on her face. “The weather is getting cold, remember to wear them.”
“Mm.” Mu Yunjin nodded.
Chu Li watched Mu Yunjin from the side. Though her face didn’t show much expression, the fact that she accepted the package meant her heart had softened.
Bei Tang Wenfeng, seeing the mother and daughter breaking the ice, turned his gaze toward Chu Li. He opened his mouth, originally wanting to praise Chu Li for taking good care of Mu Yunjin, but as the words reached his lips, he suddenly felt his position wasn’t suitable for such comments.
After all, in all these years, he had never fulfilled a single day of his responsibility as a father.
“Yunjin, this is for you. In the future, if you come to North Ming Nation, you can use this token to enter the palace directly to find your father.” Bei Tang Wenfeng handed Mu Yunjin a golden token.
Mu Yunjin took it and similarly expressed her thanks.
After a simple farewell, Bei Tang Wenfeng and Jiang Qingxue left.
……
Back in their room, Mu Yunjin opened the package Jiang Qingxue had given her. The first thing she saw was a light blue snow brocade cotton garment with hibiscus flowers embroidered on the hem. The needlework was exquisite and delicate, the style simple yet elegant and otherworldly.
Looking further, there was also a light purple brocade skirt, equally simple in style, casual yet not lacking in elegance.
She had to admit, Mu Yunjin liked them.
After putting away the clothes, Mu Yunjin looked at the man who had been standing beside her, watching. She slightly pursed the corners of her lips, recalling what they were about to do before being interrupted. Mu Yunjin had now regained some of her rationality.
“I’m tired, let’s sleep.” Mu Yunjin changed out of her clothes, lay down on the bed, and yawned.
Chu Li glanced at her, laughed lightly, and lay down beside her, extinguishing the candles in the room.
The room fell into peaceful silence.
……
The next day was when they were to return to the Western Yuan Nation.
Early in the morning, Chu Li and Mu Yunjin went to Huang Yan’s room to check on his injuries. Although Huang Yan still appeared somewhat frail, Qingmeng said he would be fine after a few more days of rest.
All the subordinates of Fengyu Pavilion knew the method of traversing the invisible space. With a large portion of Fengyu Pavilion’s subordinates present for this journey, returning to Western Yuan Nation via the invisible space would save considerable effort.
As the group prepared to leave, the main gate of the courtyard house was gently knocked. When Ding Xian went to open it, there was no one outside, but a note was pasted on the door.
Ding Xian looked at the contents of the note, was stunned for a moment, then turned to Mu Yunjin. “Wang Fei, the Imperial Tutor invites you to his residence for a conversation now.”
Hearing this, Mu Yunjin rolled her eyes and dropped two words, “Not going.”
This Master Kong Shi and that Concubine Rong must be plotting something. Asking her to come at this juncture couldn’t bode well.
“There’s also a string of symbols below that I don’t understand…” Ding Xian handed the note to Mu Yunjin.
Mu Yunjin took the note and saw that Master Kong Shi had written a string of pinyin letters in the second line. The pinyin letters spelled out the three characters ‘Tian Shen Ling’ (Heavenly Divine Command).
Seeing this mysterious Heavenly Divine Command again, Mu Yunjin’s emotions were complex. She glanced at Chu Li, then tore the note into pieces.
Chu Li had seen these pinyin alphabet letters before. If he saw the contents of the note, he would make a connection between this Imperial Tutor An and Master Kong Shi.
Better not let Chu Li see it.
Seeing Mu Yunjin tear up the note, Chu Li raised an eyebrow. “What do you say?”
“How about I go take a look…?” After saying this, Mu Yunjin felt a bit uneasy; making such a large group wait for her was rather embarrassing.
“Mm.” Chu Li responded, nodding in agreement.
Seeing his agreement, Mu Yunjin hesitated no more. She gave an apologetic look to everyone, then quickly ran out.
“Your Highness, should we follow her to check?” Ding Xian asked hesitantly.
“No need.” Chu Li replied with certainty.
After leaving, Mu Yunjin hurriedly ran toward the Imperial Tutor’s residence, silently cursing the old man for not calling her earlier and choosing to do so right when they were about to depart.
When she reached the Imperial Tutor’s residence, the guards at the entrance did not stop her.
Mu Yunjin ran inside.
Entering, she saw no one in the main hall, so she changed direction toward the garden. Sure enough, she found Imperial Tutor An and Concubine Yue sitting in a pavilion playing chess.
Mu Yunjin pursed her lips, playing chess so early in the morning—they were in quite a good mood.
Seeing Mu Yunjin arrive, Imperial Tutor An and Concubine Yue both stopped what they were doing. Concubine Yue gave Mu Yunjin a faint glance, then directed her gaze to Imperial Tutor An.
“Why did you call me here?” Mu Yunjin sat down to the side, speaking irritably.
Imperial Tutor An looked at Concubine Yue. “You’d better tell her.”
Concubine Yue took a few breaths, finally looking at Mu Yunjin with traces of anger on her face. “I heard that yesterday Li’er’s people were ambushed on the outskirts?”
“Yes.” Mu Yunjin nodded in acknowledgment.
“Mu’er, didn’t this palace ask you to search for the whereabouts of the Heavenly Divine Command? Why did you have the Fengyu Pavilion subordinates stop searching? Don’t you also want Li’er to be well?”
Concubine Yue was somewhat angry. Initially, when Kong Shi had divined that Mu Yunjin was the Phoenix Star descended to the mortal world, and that her destiny was intertwined with Chu Li’s like the Red Luan Star, she thought Mu Yunjin was sent by heaven to help Chu Li unify his grand cause.
But now?
Such an important Heavenly Divine Command, if obtained, could summon the dead spirits and dead soldiers, perhaps instantly overthrowing this world.
Yet Mu Yunjin had halted the search, nearly causing Chu Li to suffer misfortune yesterday.
“I can be certain that everything I do is for Chu Li’s benefit, but as for you, I really can’t be sure.” Mu Yunjin coldly looked at Concubine Yue. The person before her was completely different from the Concubine Rong she had initially interacted with.
One could only say her acting had been too good back then.
“Li’er is this palace’s son. How could this palace harm him?” Concubine Yue hastily defended.
“That’s what you think…” Mu Yunjin dropped this sentence, then ignored Concubine Yue and looked toward Imperial Tutor An. “Is this why you summoned me today?”
Imperial Tutor An shook his head, smiled faintly, and spoke with a touch of mystery, “Do you know…”
“It was I who used the Heavenly Divine Command to summon you here from the twenty-first century.”
With a “boom,” Mu Yunjin felt her head explode. A sharp pain shot through her mind, causing her to involuntarily rub her temples.
Her mind suddenly recalled that Taoist Wind Xuan had once mentioned that in Master Kong Shi’s posthumous letter, he had written about seeing the Heavenly Divine Command at the time of his nirvana.
Calculating the dates, the day of Master Kong Shi’s nirvana coincided with her arrival in this strange world.
“Why did you bring me here?” Mu Yunjin glared, thinking that although life in the modern world was filled with shouting and fighting, it was still much more peaceful than here.
“This is your true belonging. I merely brought you back.” Imperial Tutor An smiled mysteriously. “However, after you arrived, that token disappeared…”
Mu Yunjin narrowed her eyes slightly, her gaze like water concealing fire. After a moment, she sneered coldly, glancing at Imperial Tutor An. “Do you know what you look like right now?”
Imperial Tutor An gave her a questioning look.
“Like a street charlatan, spouting nonsense. You don’t seem to lack money, so why are you spending your days mysteriously playing games with me?!”
“Insolent!” Concubine Yue, seeing Mu Yunjin’s scornful words, slapped the table.
Mu Yunjin equally glared at Concubine Yue, disregarding her status as a junior, rose, and angrily berated, “You two are suffering from early senility, playing at spirits and ghosts here!”
With that, Mu Yunjin swept her sleeves and turned to leave.
Although Concubine Yue didn’t fully understand what Mu Yunjin meant, she could roughly guess. She stood up, pointing at Mu Yunjin’s retreating, “Is this the person you found?”
Imperial Tutor An took a sip of tea, not responding to Mu Yunjin’s words, a profound depth flashing in his eyes.
……
Mu Yunjin quickly returned to the courtyard house. As soon as she entered, she saw everyone waiting for her and immediately gave them an apologetic look.
“I’m sorry for the long wait.”
Huang Yan was sitting in a chair, still covered with a blanket. Seeing Mu Yunjin return, he couldn’t help but ask, “What did the Imperial Tutor want to talk to you about?”
“That person is sick in the head, deliberately playing with me.” Mu Yunjin was still angry just thinking about it. To call her over so early in the morning just to be lectured by Concubine Yue.
Moreover, she was Chu Li’s birth mother, and nominally her… mother-in-law.
Thinking of having such a mother-in-law, Mu Yunjin felt a chill in her heart. She walked to Chu Li’s side and took his arm. “Shall we head back now?”
Seeing her earlier expression had been exceptionally vivid, Chu Li slowly curled his lips and nodded.
“Alright, let’s depart.” Qiqi stepped forward and handed the pearl chain to Mu Yunjin. Mu Yunjin took the pearl chain, tied it around her finger, and then helped Chu Li secure his.
When all preparations were complete, there was a flash of light around them, and the group that had been standing in the courtyard house vanished into thin air in an instant.
On the other side, behind a stone wall, Chu Qing witnessed this scene of people disappearing into thin air and silently remarked that it was incredible…