Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

After two months of negotiations, the marriage of Princess Wencheng and Prince Zara was finally finalized. Their wedding was a fusion of the customs of Lingguo and Tang Dynasty. Princess Dalius and Prince Jiangxia, as the parents of the couple, accepted their kneeling worship.

Princess Da Liu was overwhelmed with emotions as she watched her grandson, who was dressed in gorgeous Lingnan clothes and holding a red silk scarf in his hand, looking at the Han princess who was covering her face with a peacock fan with a smile on his face.

"My second sister and I followed our father out to sell tea and accidentally entered this Wuliang Plateau. It was the 19th year of the Kaihuang period of the Sui Dynasty..." she said softly.

In the blink of an eye, her grandson actually married a princess of the Han family, although this Han country was no longer the country she remembered.

Prince Jiangxia was startled, and after thinking about it carefully, he was quite shocked: "It turns out that the old princess has been away from her hometown for more than 40 years!"

Concubine Da Liu looked confused, "At that time, it was rumored that the emperor had deposed the crown prince and was going to appoint Prince of Jin Yang Guang as the crown prince. Prince of Jin was kind and filial, and was also a great hero who destroyed the Chen Dynasty. My father was very happy and said that the Great Sui Dynasty would have a great and good emperor." She touched her silver hair and said self-deprecatingly, "I am really old, and I always say things that are inappropriate."

The King of Jiangxia County understood that the old woman in front of him was just reminiscing about her irretrievable youth, not about her former party. He smiled brightly and asked, "Where is the immortal home of the old princess?"

Princess Da Liu was stunned. No one had asked this question for many years. She thought hard for a while before finding the answer: "Fangzhou."

At night, the newlyweds entered the bridal chamber. In the second half of the night, all the laughter and joy faded away with the dimming lights. Concubine Da Liu sat by the window, her expression lonely and empty.

Fangzhou, Fangzhou...

The son who vowed to send her back to her parents' home turned into a handful of ashes, and her grandson found his own lover, so she seemed to have no worries anymore.

husband?

Senglun Gyalpo was more like her benefactor than a husband. After she gave birth to Gyaltsab, she repaid his kindness. Moreover, he soon favored other wives, and then Gesar's mother, Dragon Girl Guomu. Later, even Guomu fell out of favor and was replaced by other younger women.

It's so lonely.

The tea gardens in Fangzhou should be full of green at this time of year, right?

As I thought of this, I seemed to smell the fragrance of tea. That fragrance was different from the tea that Princess Wencheng brought as a dowry. It was the smell of the green mountains and fields of Fangzhou.

There seemed to be a song floating in the air: "Picking tea in February, the tea trees are green, and two sisters go out to enjoy the spring..."

The two sisters held hands, smiling like flowers, and jumped on the crisscrossing paths of the tea garden, reciting the tea-picking songs sung by the adults. Their voices were clear and full of innocence.

That is a memory of childhood.

Concubine Da Liu subconsciously continued, "The chirping of the sunbirds on the tree has made Cha Mei fall in love. I wonder who she will marry next year?"

She turned around and looked back. She saw a set of tea sets on the table, with tea smoke rising from the cups. Sitting beside the table was a beautiful lady in green clothes. She was the Tang Zhenren who escorted Princess Wencheng to her wedding.

But Concubine Da Liu didn't see any of this. Her pupils trembled as she tried her best to recognize the hazy figure not far away who was looking at her with tears in her eyes.

She was petite and slender, and very charming, exactly like the younger sister in my memory when she first parted with me.

"Sister Atang..." She cried out with trembling lips, tears rolling down her eyes, turning into white smoke and fading into the air.

Ghost, even tears are empty.

"You are..." Da Liufei's throat was choked with sobs, "Afu?"

The Liu family had two daughters. The eldest daughter was born when the crabapple blossomed, and the second daughter was born when the hibiscus blossomed. So they were named after flowers. As expected, they grew up to be as beautiful as flowers, attracting the young men near the tea mountain. I don’t know how many people’s dream girls they became.

Who could have imagined that the final fate of the two women was to be dragged into the boundless plateau by demons, one to die in a foreign land, and the other to grow old in the snow-capped mountains?

Concubine Da Liu tried to hug her sister. The hand passed through her body. She stared at her hand blankly, and after a moment, she covered her face with tears, "Afu, I'm sorry for you. My sister's Jiacha killed your son, and he was killed by the general of your son's country. This is all my retribution!"

Concubine Liu hugged her weakly. She was young and beautiful, while the other was old. However, she acted like a generous elder sister hugging her sad younger sister. "It's not your fault, nor Jiacha's. It's all the fault of the tyrant who went to war with other countries for sex. Sister, both of our sons were killed by him."

"Fortunately, the Heavenly Envoy and Gesar have killed that bastard and avenged our sons." She said gently, "Sister Atang, I have dreamed of going home all these years. The Heavenly Envoy has promised to send me back to Fang County. Are you willing to go back with me?"

One month later, Concubine Da Liu set off. The King of Jiangxia also wanted to return home with part of the army, so he took Concubine Da Liu with him, and Wen Jiao escorted them through the dangerous plateau at the same time, killing two birds with one stone.

Gesar respected this mother since he was young, just as Jiacha respected his mother Guomu. He packed a large cart of gold and jewelry for Da Liufei, and said reluctantly: "I entrust Liu Ama to you, you must take good care of her."

Prince Jiangxia bowed and said, "Lord of Ling State, rest assured. Madam Liu is my daughter of the Han family and the grandmother of our princess. It is reasonable for me to send her back to her hometown safely. I will also ask the court to confer a title on her to show the friendship between our two countries."

Zhu Mu asked curiously, "What can it be sealed with?"

"The First-Rank Lady is very stable," Prince Jiangxia added when he saw Zhumu and Gesar looking confused, "She is the oldest woman outside the royal family."

The simple and popular explanation made Gesar very satisfied: "This is worthy of Aunt Liu."

Feng Ji said nonchalantly, "Why don't you take those two little wolf cubs with you? Don't you think it's too noisy? In fact, this Fox King doesn't mind following you and helping you take care of those two kids."

"No need." Huo Ling'er replied cheerfully, "Ever since Mingcheng taught them a lesson, they have been behaving well."

Yuan Tiangang helplessly glanced at his guardian who wanted to follow him with his soul, shook his head, and said to Wen Jiao: "I have already informed the princess that I will take all the Yin-Yang Feng Shui masters to check all the mountains and rivers of the Wuliang Plateau. This guy may be lazy and wants to escape. Don't be fooled by him."

Feng Ji snorted twice from his nose: "I think you are judging me by your own standards. How does the saying go? Canines should help canines. This is called friendship."

Wen Jiao smiled lightly, passing by Feng Ji, and said to Yuan Tiangang: "This place is dangerous and full of monsters. Although geomancy is a great merit, it may take more than one or two years. If you need to borrow troops from them, then do so. Don't tire yourself out like I did when I selected auspicious sites for Your Majesty."

Yuan Tiangang chuckled and stroked the dust-avoiding beads on his waist: "I save it."

Princess Da Liu lowered the curtain and picked up the urns containing her sister and nephew's ashes.

Last night in her dream, she saw Jia Cha falling asleep silently, with a bright smile on his handsome face: "Mom, I can't send you off. I clearly promised you before that I would send you home to see you, and I broke my promise."

"Son, if you are willing, I can ask the king for your ashes and bring them back to Fangzhou," she said excitedly.

Jia Cha shook his head: "My child belongs to Ling Country. After death, he will ascend to heaven and protect Ling Country. When necessary, he will come down to earth to live and die for Ling Country again. Just like my mother belongs to Han land, the leaves that fall off the branches will always fall on the land of her hometown after being blown by the wind."