Light Dance Jiajing

The group traveled day and night, and within two days they were out of the capital and at their next destination. The Wang family had several shops in this small town. The first thing Meng'er did after resting was to check Zaihou's wrist. She could faintly see a small black dot on the inside of his left wrist. Meng'er checked carefully, and the faster she checked, the more frightened she became. Although she was mentally prepared, she still felt despair at this moment. Was this the poison? She was stunned as if she had lost her soul. Zaihou still didn't know why they had to leave the palace. Although he had not had luxurious clothes and delicious food in the palace for the past two years, Zaihou had gotten used to it. Instead, he felt more relaxed and happy than when he was in the palace. He was quite reluctant to leave with Meng'er. Seeing Meng'er's expression, he was a little scared and timidly called her sister. Meng'er had tears in her eyes, but she didn't want Zaihou to see them, so she held him in her arms and wiped her eyes hurriedly. When she saw nothing unusual, she smiled and said to Zaihou, "Sister, you missed home as soon as you came out. I wonder if mother is okay now?"

Zaihou was obviously not used to the rush of the past few days, and said unhappily, "Sister, let's go back."

Mei'er said in a gentle tone: "Reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles, don't you want to travel to famous mountains and rivers?"

Zaihou thought for a while and said, "Yes, I want to go to all the places my sister mentioned, but I always feel sleepy." As he said that, he yawned again.

Mei'er's heart sank, wondering if Zaihou's sleepiness was related to the poison, and she said, "You've been in a hurry to travel these days. There's nothing to see in these places. Why waste time? I'd like to take you to travel around the south of the Yangtze River. There's heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below. How can you be broad-minded without knowledge? Besides, mother is sick. We can travel along the way and find famous doctors. Isn't that better?" Zaihou thought about it and thought that this was reasonable, so he didn't say anything else.

Two days later, news came that Luzhu and the assassin had both confessed, but they knew very little. Luzhu knew more. She said that Zaihou was indeed poisoned by the blood Gu. The art of using Gu really came from Miaojiang. The great wizard of this generation of Miao village was an extremely powerful figure. Blood Gu could not be raised by ordinary people. Meng'er and the others guessed that perhaps this blood Gu was raised by the great wizard. The Miao village was located deep in the mountains, surrounded by miasma all year round. It would be extremely difficult for them to enter the Miao village.

But no matter how difficult it was, Meng'er had to go. Zaiji had been planning this for a long time. Would he just ignore them after he knew they had left the palace? Meng'er didn't know how powerful Zaiji was. She could only hurry up and run away before Zaiji could react. Besides, she didn't believe that Zaiji's power could spread all over the country. The thugs around Zaiji seemed to be from the north. The further south they went, the safer they should be. Meng'er changed into men's clothes, arranged for a servant to ride with Zaihou, and they hurried south.

There is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below, Jiangnan is a prosperous place with small bridges, flowing water and misty rain. She liked the scenery of Jiangnan in her previous life. Meng'er looked at Zaihou with pity. After days of running around, Zaihou seemed to have lost some weight. Meng'er did not have any definite hopes for this trip to Miaojiang. If it was only for two years, why not let Zaihou live happily? Meng'er figured out a lot of things. She no longer urged Zaihou to study. She just wanted Zaihou to be a happy child and she would accompany him well.

After two days of rest, Meng'er and Zaihou were full of energy. Meng'er still wore men's clothes and took Zaihou and two servants to travel around the mountains and rivers. How could they not visit the West Lake when they were in Hangzhou? Walking on the Su Causeway, they saw the rippling water on both sides, the green mountains dripping with green in the hazy sky, the smoke rising from the trees, the sight of boats far and near, and the sound of melodious music coming from some pleasure boat. Meng'er closed her eyes tiredly, feeling the warm breath flowing in the river breeze. Zaihou also imitated Meng'er and sighed tiredly: "No wonder my sister often talks about Jiangnan. Sure enough, the smell is sweet."

Mei'er smiled and put her arm around Zaihou's small shoulder, saying, "The Ten Scenic Spots of West Lake were particularly prosperous in the Southern Song Dynasty. Look at the pagoda in the lake, there is a story behind it." Mei'er began to tell the legend of Xu Xian and Bai Niangzi, starting from when Xu Xian, who was four or five years old, rescued a frozen white snake, and then how the white snake cultivated into an adult and married Xu Xian to repay his gratitude. The white snake saved people and was very affectionate with Xu Xian, but the old monk Fahai tried every means to stop them. In the end, he used a pagoda to suppress Bai Niangzi under the pagoda. Mei'er told the story with great emotion, and the plots such as "encountering on the Broken Bridge", "stealing grass from Emei Mountain" and "flooding Jinshan Temple" were even more ups and downs. Zaihou listened with great interest, and at the end he angrily scolded Fahai.

Meng'er was about to say that the story couldn't be taken seriously, when someone beside her suddenly said, "I've never heard of such a story, but it's better than the storybook."

Mei'er looked in the direction of the voice and was startled. She had just been leaning on the railing and concentrating on telling the story, but she didn't realize that many listeners had gathered around her. At this time, an elderly gentleman came close to look at Mei'er and said disapprovingly, "Where did you hear this, young master? Although this story is interesting, a monster is a monster and it is bound to harm people. How could the monk Fahai be trapped in the navel of a lake crab? Can we see him by opening the crab shell? It's ridiculous. However, this script is indeed wonderful. It's just that it shouldn't be adapted from "Records of the Three Pagodas at West Lake."

A very young man continued: "I don't think we need to dwell on the word demon. This White Lady is as strong as any man and is better than many men. If she treats me like this, I don't care whether she is a human or a demon."

"My dear brother, you are confused. A demon is a demon. If she can be happy with you today, she won't harm you in the future." These young men gathered together, probably coming here to boat on the lake together, and they started arguing with each other.

Immediately, another young woman stood up and said, "So what if she's a monster? Can't she be loyal and righteous? I think this story is very well-written and really makes sense." She turned to Meng'er and said in a friendly manner, "Young master, you told the story very well, but I didn't hear the whole story. Could you please write it down?" As the woman spoke, she took out a purse from her sleeve and stuffed it into Meng'er's hand, saying, "I left in a hurry, so I only brought this. Take it and play with it, young master." Meng'er weighed it and estimated that there was some loose silver in the purse. Perhaps the woman thought that this was a lot because she was dressed casually and was a child. This woman usually sang and played in the streets to make a living, but she was not a prostitute. She was a bit like a street performer. In Suzhou and Hangzhou, the land of fireworks, she was very inconspicuous. After listening to Meng'er's story, she thought that if she made up the story into lyrics and sang it, she might make a lot of money.

Meng'er was dumbfounded. Could it be that people of this era had never heard of such a popular legend? It seemed that the version they had heard was different from the one she told. Meng'er quickly stuffed the purse back into the woman's hand, then pulled Zaihou out of the crowd and fled. How could their identities be revealed? Even the pass for this trip was tampered with by the Wang family. If they attracted attention by telling a story and were exposed, wouldn't they die unjustly?