A life of two souls traveling through time

The gray sky suppressed the silver earth. Outside the wooden city, on the top of the peak, Mr. Sanxiu with silver hair and beard looked towards the north with a lost look, without saying a word.

"Master." Xiuming, the disciple behind the old man, handed over a glass of sake with an unusually heavy expression.

Sanxiu took the wine glass, held it halfway in front of his chest for a moment, sighed, lifted his sleeves and poured the wine in the glass to his feet: "Ying'er, I know you love this green plum wine the most, so I brought it for you again."

"Master, the dead are gone, and the living are like this. My sister's spirit in heaven doesn't want you to be so sad."

"Yes, it's time to let it go after five years..." Mr. Sanxiu looked up, his eyes filled with unspeakable sadness. His stiff old hands tightly grasped the empty wine glass, and he continued to sigh: "But every time I think of your senior sister as my teacher, my heart aches. If I had tried my best to stop her from going north, maybe she wouldn't be like this..."

"Master, please don't blame yourself. You know that Senior Sister is a very opinionated person. Master may not be able to stop her decision..."

Xiuming came to the medicine shop at the age of thirteen. Having just experienced the death of his parents, he healed his heartache under the gentle care of his senior sister. Although twenty years have passed, the appearance of his senior sister has become more and more blurred in his mind, but the care like that of a family member always warms his heart.

"This child is too stubborn, it's her fate... However, it was her stubbornness that moved me and made me accept her as my apprentice..." Recalling the past, the heartwarming scene of the master and apprentice being as close as father and daughter in the medicine store emerged in Sanxiu's mind, and there was a little more light in her eyes.

From the hilltops far away from the capital of Xiyue in the north, the solemn and ethereal sounds of bells and drums came, which seemed even more distant and long in the sky above this silver-white realm. On the peaceful and independent mountaintop stood a small temple with red walls and snow-capped tiles, named Yiying Temple.

At the foot of the mountain, wheels rumbled as a group of Western Moon Imperial Guards wearing yellow and blue inlaid armor slowly came escorting a golden carriage.

"Your Majesty, we're here." The golden carriage stopped steadily in front of the long steps of the temple, and the leader of the imperial guards, Fan Chong, waited respectfully in front of the carriage.

After a long while, a tall and strong old man with the majesty of Hercules came out of the carriage. He pursed his thin lips and looked at the temple on the mountain without saying a word. The sound of bells and drums rang in his ears, and a trace of loneliness flashed in his sharp eyes.

"Would you like us to welcome you in front of Emperor Xuanzong's palace?" Fan Chong took a half step forward and asked respectfully.

"No need." After saying these three words coldly, the middle-aged man lightly threw off the dark green cloak on his body and walked up the steps that had been cleared of snow long ago. A large group of people followed closely behind him.

The temple was brightly lit by candles, with thin smoke rising from the air. Behind the eternal lamp stood the spirit tablet of Concubine Leng. Yan Zongzheng, dressed in white, was kneeling beside the lamp copying scriptures.

"Your Highness, the Emperor is here." At this time, a gentle and simply dressed old lady hurried into the hall to report to Yan Zong.

This woman was Yan Zong's wet nurse and also Concubine Leng's most trusted maid in the palace during her lifetime. She was called Aunt Eli.

Yan Zong stopped writing when he heard the voice, and when he looked up at his mother's spirit tablet, he showed mixed emotions: although his father had made an exception to build this temple for his mother, it was actually just because of his guilt and uneasiness. He was not surprised that his father would come every year on the anniversary of his death, but his mother did not want to see him again before she died, which showed her determination. But as a son, he hoped that his father would always have a place for his mother in his heart. Every year on this day, he looked forward to seeing his mother, but he also felt guilty for violating his mother's wishes.

"Cough cough."

A light cough brought Yan Zong back from his tangled thoughts, and he realized that Emperor Yan had appeared in the hall.

"Father." Yan Zong hurriedly stood up and paid his respects to Emperor Yan, who was wearing a dark green cloak.

"Get up." Emperor Yan did not look at his son. He walked to the eternal lamp with a stern face, picked up three thin incense sticks and lit them.

As in previous years, Yan Zong stepped aside and waited quietly for his father to speak after he finished paying homage to his mother.

"I heard that you were injured while fighting bandits on the border?" Emperor Yan still had a stern face, but there was some concern in his eyes when he looked at his son.

"Thank you for your concern, father. The injury is not serious and I am fine now." Yan Zong replied indifferently with his head half lowered.

"That's good. A few days ago, I ordered you to go as an envoy to the Guyun Kingdom. Do you know what I meant?"

"Yes, I will obey your order."

"If you don't want to, just say it. I won't force you for your mother's sake."

"If we can win over the Guyun Kingdom, we can eliminate the worries of the Xiyue Kingdom in the rear. It is also the duty of our subjects to marry and stabilize the country. Since I was born in the royal family, I will serve the Xiyue Kingdom faithfully and marry Princess Liangling."

Emperor Yan looked at his son silently, no emotion visible in his cold and lonely eyes.

The son who was most like him and whom he once valued the most had been keeping distance from him for years because of his mother's affairs. Now, whether in front of others or behind their backs, the only relationship between father and son is that of a king and his subject, with no family affection at all.

"Now that you're back, stay a little longer."

"My son, I obey."

Yan Huang's displeasure was already apparent, and he was in no mood to continue such a cold conversation.

"Spend more time with your mother."

Emperor Yan looked back at the spirit tablet behind the eternal lamp, said these words lightly, and strode out of the temple.

When it was completely quiet outside, Yan Zong, who had been maintaining the courtesy between the emperor and his subjects, stood up and breathed a sigh of relief.

"So many years have passed, why is Your Highness doing this? After all, he is your father..." Aunt Eli walked into the hall and looked at Yan Zong with eyes full of heartache.

"Don't worry, nurse. I'm used to it." Yan Zong smiled at the old woman, a smile mixed with some bitterness.

His mother's death was a thorn in his heart forever. Facing his father, he could no longer pretend nothing had happened and continue the deep father-son love.

"Your Highness, are you sincere in wanting to marry the Princess of Guyun?" Aunt Eli sighed helplessly at first, then grabbed Yan Zong's hand and asked with concern.

"Since he wants me to marry him, I will. I don't want to bring up my mother and owe him a favor." Yan Zong's eyes suddenly turned cold.

"Does Your Highness like the princess?"

Yan Zong turned his head away evasively and fell silent as he looked at his mother's spirit tablet. He did not like Princess Liang Ling, and even because she danced the Hu Xuan dance, which he hated the most, he had no good feelings towards the spoiled princess at all.

"Your Highness, getting married is a major event in one's life. You can't act on impulse. How can I explain to your mother in the future if you put yourself in such a difficult situation?" Aunt Eli naturally understood Yan Zong's silence immediately. She turned around sadly and came to the spirit tablet, covering her face and crying.

"The one I'm going to marry is a princess of a country after all, how can I feel wronged? Besides, I've only met her once and I really can't say I like her. But who knows, maybe we'll be able to treat Princess Liang Ling with respect and dignity in the future." In order to reassure the wet nurse, the always proud Yan Zong had to say some words against his will to comfort her.

"Your Highness, when did you learn to comfort people like Master Fan?" Aunt Eli, who had watched Yan Zong grow up, could naturally recognize these awkward and insincere words of comfort, but she also understood Yan Zong's helplessness in the royal family and his precarious situation under the imperial power, so she forced back her tears and smiled softly.

"Wet nurse..." Yan Zong only responded to Aunt Eli's joke with silence. Then he looked up at the burning eternal lamp and murmured, "If my mother had not met my father back then, she would definitely be a wise doctor who saves the dying and the wounded, meet a husband who loves her, give birth to a pair of children, and live a comfortable and carefree life..." Yan Zong rarely showed a gentle smile when he was looking forward to it, but his eyes gradually turned red.

"If that's the case, then there is no His Highness."

"If it can bring my mother a happy and comfortable life, then it's fine."