Horse-head Wall Reflects the Qing Dynasty

Chapter 104 A Path Through Green Hills Embracing a Line of Pine Trees and Clouds: Who Will Extend the Long Dream?

"Master Cheng?"

When Cheng Heng woke up, he opened his eyes and saw the coachman's enlarged face. He looked out with a bit of confusion and saw that it was already late and a blue-purple hue covered the distant mountains.

"How far is it from the capital?" Cheng Heng was most worried about something happening on the way, and just wanted to get there as soon as possible... Once they reached the capital, everything would be alright.

"Lord Cheng, we're still far from the capital." The coachman, knowing Cheng Heng was a little drowsy, explained solicitously, "We've only been traveling for three to five days, and we're still halfway to the capital."

"We've reached the Yangtze River and need to cross it by boat."

"We'll need to change horses when we reach the post station in a few days before continuing our journey."

"Oh, okay..." Cheng Heng nodded, only then realizing that Ling Xiao was no longer in the carriage. "Where did Miss Ling go?"

"Miss Ling has already rested at the inn. Lord Cheng, you should also find a suitable room to stay in the inn and rest as soon as possible."

The coachman was used to long journeys, but he also knew that most of his passengers, apart from merchants who often traveled long distances, were exhausted by the long journey by the third or fifth day.

"Alright." Cheng Heng, who had been awakened, regained a moment of clarity and told the coachman to rest as well. On a long journey, they could not do without a carriage and horses, and even more so, they could not do without a skilled coachman.

With the help of the coachman, Cheng Heng got off the carriage and instructed, "You should rest early and make sure the horses have enough to eat and drink. If you don't have enough money, I will make up for it along the way."

"If the journey goes smoothly, there will be further rewards upon arrival in the capital."

"Thank you for your consideration, Lord Cheng." With extra pay for good work, the coachman was naturally even more motivated, and he even started humming local tunes while feeding the horses.

"Sir, would you like to stay at our inn?"

Feeling sleepy, Cheng Heng finally came to his senses when the shopkeeper called him. He nodded, took out a silver ingot, and was about to put it on the table.

"Were you with that girl earlier?"

"Hmm." Cheng Heng nodded, squinting. "That Miss Ling traveled with me, this money..."

"The young lady just approved it and gave me two adjacent rooms. Here are the keys. Please go upstairs directly."

"it is good."

Cheng Heng knew that Ling Xiao had money, and he didn't insist that Ling Xiao had to pay for it himself—Cheng Heng had paid for the car rental for the journey, and since Ling Xiao didn't want to owe him anything, Cheng Heng should at least give him that opportunity.

Watching Cheng Heng's departing figure, the shopkeeper frowned and pondered for a long time, still unable to understand the relationship between the two. Finally, he shook his head, put down the brush he was using to keep accounts, lifted the curtain, served himself dinner, and prepared to rest after eating...

After taking the key and going upstairs, Cheng Heng, as expected, collapsed onto the bed without even straightening his outer robe. He leaned against the bed and continued his sleep, which he hadn't finished in the carriage.

The aroma of food from downstairs wafted upstairs, invading everyone's nostrils. Even Cheng Hengxian, who hadn't eaten properly for several days, was affected in his sleep.

In a daze, Cheng Heng seemed to have arrived at a dried tofu shop he hadn't seen in a long time. Looking at the rows of neatly arranged dried tofu, he subconsciously wanted to take out some money from his pocket to buy some.

But all he saw was the shop owner shaking his head and waving his hand to refuse the money Cheng Heng offered.

"Aren't you selling this dried tofu?" Cheng Heng asked, somewhat puzzled. These shops were all small businesses; it was absolutely unacceptable for them to refuse his money just because he was a so-called newly appointed third-ranked scholar!

“For sale.”

The shopkeeper lifted another piece of gauze covering a bamboo basket, which was also filled with dried tofu, piece by piece, row by row, as neat as could be.

Normally, no matter how neatly these dried tofu pieces are arranged, there are always subtle differences between each one. They can't possibly be exactly the same, as if they were carved from a mold.

Cheng Heng felt something was strange and was about to ask when he saw wisps of white smoke finally rising from the dried tofu. This was even stranger. The dried tofu should have been hotter just now, so why did the mist only rise slowly when he thought of it?

Wait a minute, wasn't I already on my way to the capital? How did I end up in front of the dried tofu shop again out of nowhere?
Almost as soon as Cheng Heng realized he was dreaming, the shop owner in front of him gave him a strange and eerie smile, which startled Cheng Heng so much that he shuddered and leaned back with a frown.

"Stop moving, young man, you'll fall if you move again!"

"Hey buddy, watch your step. You dare take pictures here? What if you fall?"

Cheng Heng knew he was still dreaming, but the dream was changing too fast. In this dream, Huangshan was no longer the desolate place he usually dreamed of. Instead, it was Huangshan in his own time, a tourist hotspot with crowds of tourists and bustling crowds.

Drawed back to his senses by the surrounding tourists, Cheng Heng realized that he was standing on the back of a crucian carp in Huangshan.

Is Tian Du Peak open this year? Oh, it was Lotus Peak that was closed just now.

After thinking for a long time, Cheng Heng finally realized the danger of his current position. One wrong step and he could lose his life... The dream felt so real that Cheng Heng was afraid of the horror of falling, and he dared not move for a moment.

"Young man, why don't you go upstairs? There are people waiting behind you!"

"That's right, if you're scared, then don't come up. Now that you're here, blocking the way, how are we supposed to get through?"

"Autumn arrives in the empty pavilion, a locust tree stands alone. The sound of autumn leaves seems to tell of the passing years..."

"A dream of Nanke?" Cheng Heng was not fully conscious, but the impression of these opera lines in his mind did not fade at all.

"Could it be that we met in a dream? How can you believe what you're seeing?"

"Look at this bright and clear world before my eyes..."

It was another tune from Huangmei Opera. Looking at the bottomless cliffs on both sides buried by trees, Cheng Heng suddenly felt an absurd sense that he should jump down right now.

Eager to wake up, Cheng Heng reached out and grabbed the iron chain. The bare rocks offered no support, and Cheng Heng grew increasingly panicked.

I could only comfort myself that it was just a dream, and even if I fell, it wouldn't have any effect... Even if I died in the dream, at most I would just wake up.

"Young man, be careful, stand on the edge, or you'll fall."

"It would be good if we fell down, then no one could stop me... If we fall down, then no one could block our way, fall down, fall down quickly!"

The people and events in his dreams were always so absurd and illogical. Cheng Heng frowned, thinking to himself that he must have been under too much pressure lately and was exhausted from his journey, which was why he had such bizarre dreams.

It's a pity Guan Yin wasn't in my dream. If I could have met Guan Yin, perhaps she could have helped me when I was helpless...

"Go down, go down, fall down!" "Fall down, fall down, don't block the way!"

"Without him, no one could stop us!"

The cacophony gradually became more rhythmic, like the suona horn played during a funeral or wedding, bright and piercing. Cheng Heng couldn't bear it, yet he couldn't wake up at all.

The people who had been silently climbing the mountain all turned around at that moment, as if a magnet attracting iron filings, and all looked in Cheng Heng's direction, as if there was something about Cheng Heng that made everyone flock to him.

"do not come."

"What are you going to do?"

Behind him was a cliff, and Cheng Heng desperately tried to grab onto a straw to save himself, only to find that the bare rocky top had no possibility of plant growth, let alone vegetation that could support the weight of an adult.

A group of people drew closer and closer, and suddenly their opening and closing mouths transformed into the sound of a suona horn that Cheng Heng had just heard: "Beep beep beep!"

"Beep beep beep!"

"Beep beep beep!"

The crowd surged forward like a tidal wave, forcing Cheng Heng to retreat step by step, back and forth... until finally, when there was nowhere left to retreat, the "suona player" was practically pressed against Cheng Heng's face.

No matter how Cheng Heng tried to dodge, these "suona players" seemed to have built-in radar, all of them crowding in front of Cheng Heng.

"Beep beep beep!"

"Beep beep beep!"

With jackals in front and tigers behind, Cheng Heng knew he couldn't escape. Rather than die at the hands of a pack of monsters, he'd rather end it all.

With a resolute heart, Cheng Heng didn't look back and fell straight down the mountainside...

As his figure grew smaller and smaller until it was no longer clearly visible, Cheng Heng woke up from his dream.

The first light of day was already peeking out of the window, and Cheng Heng realized that his seemingly short dream had actually lasted all night, and it was now morning, time to set off!
"Beep beep beep!"

"Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!"

The sound of the suona still lingered in his ears, and Cheng Heng felt that something was very wrong—could it be that he hadn't woken up yet?

"Lord Cheng, Miss Ling is already waiting for you in the carriage."

Compared to Cheng Heng, Ling Xiao seemed to have inexhaustible energy. After watching the coachman harness the horses and get into the carriage, Ling Xiao then told the coachman to wake Cheng Heng up, giving the latter enough space to rest.

"What time is it?"

"Your Excellency, it's past 5 a.m.." The coachman glanced at the sky outside the window, then looked at Cheng Heng, who was still yawning repeatedly, and finally couldn't help but urge him, "Lord Cheng, let's hurry up and get going. If we delay any longer, we may not be able to reach the capital on time."

"Okay." Cheng Heng tried to look less listless, stretched, and continued to ponder his strange, unannounced dream while his gaze was still unfocused.

"Beep beep beep, beep beep beep!"

The sound of suona horns rang in his ears again, and Cheng Heng was now completely certain that he was still not fully awake. He raised his right foot and kicked his own foot hard.

"Ouch!" It hurts! This isn't a dream! Cheng Heng was completely jolted back to reality by his own kick.

It might not be a good thing to talk about something too bizarre, so Cheng Heng simply followed the coachman to the front of the carriage without saying a word, strode up, and saw Ling Xiao on the other side.

"By the way, is there any wedding or funeral taking place around here?" Cheng Heng lowered his hand from lifting the curtain, took a half step back, and looked at the carriage driver. "They even said I woke them up in their sleep. If it was for no reason, we should at least demand an explanation from them!"

Ling Xiao knew that Cheng Heng was not the type to get angry over trivial matters, so he peeked out and took a look, then left the matter alone.

"Judging from this tune, there must be a recent death in a family nearby... If Lord Cheng is superstitious, I will be careful to avoid it when I drive, so as not to offend you with this bad luck."

Cheng Heng wasn't the only one who hired a coachman at the inn. Several coachmen got together and inevitably started chatting about the "new things" happening in the area. These coachmen claimed to have found out by listening, but in reality, they had already heard the news.

"Since there's a recent death in the family, it's not considered unlucky. Just don't disturb the spirit of the deceased while driving." It seems that the noise outside the dream affected his sleep, which led to this bizarre dream. Cheng Heng breathed a sigh of relief.

If Huangshan has no spirit, it is the human heart that has a spirit. Every time I dream of Huangshan, there is always something that I and Guan Yin have to deal with.

Now he dreamt of Huangshan again. Could it really be just because of the few sounds of suona horns outside the dream? Cheng Heng tried to deceive himself and ignore this coincidence... but the sound of suona horns in his ears became more and more jarring.

"Beep beep beep!"

"Beep beep beep!"

The sounds were like those "suona players" rushing towards Cheng Heng's head in his dream. Cheng Heng felt a headache coming on, and recalling the scene in his dream made him feel even more apprehensive.

Turning his gaze to Ling Xiao, exchanging glances and confirming that the latter had no objections, Cheng Heng then spoke to the coachman: "Let's go back to the inn and rest for a day. Since we encountered a funeral on our way out, perhaps there's something wrong on the road ahead. We should stop for half a day."

Cheng Heng was not superstitious, but it was just a coincidence. He was worried that someone had set a trap for him and Ling Xiao.

"Yes."

"Once everything is done, go see if anyone knows anything about this family that recently lost a member."

"Yes, Lord Cheng."

The driver readily turned the horse around and headed towards the inn they had just left.

The horses were unloaded from the carriage and tied up in the stable in the backyard of the inn. The coachman then went to inquire about the identity of the newly deceased man, as Cheng Heng had requested.

This matter caused quite a stir in the village, and the driver quickly learned most of the details after making a few inquiries.

It turned out that she was the daughter of a family who lost her father at an early age. Her mother had raised her to marriageable age with the money her husband had saved up. But when they arrived at the bridal chamber, it suddenly caught fire and burned the bride beyond recognition.

The husband's family felt it was unlucky for the bride to die in the bridal chamber. The mother made a huge scene, but as a widow and her daughter, she was ultimately bullied and the matter was left unresolved. However, the mother did not want her daughter to die so mysteriously.

That's why this whole thing happened, all that fanfare, specifically to make this family, who wanted to downplay the incident, suffer a bit, and to let the surrounding villagers know that this family had cursed their new bride to death!
Cheng Heng felt a jolt in his heart as he listened—newlywed, deceased, mysterious… these common yet ordinary words, when put together, seemed to always string together an abnormal story.