Chapter 397
These words made Chu Ruoyan's ears turn hot. She uncomfortably looked away, "Ahem, soon. I will head back after keeping my cousin company a little longer."
Meng Yang agreed and quickly left. Nanny Zhou sighed with a smile, "Your Highness has been gone for less than two days, and the Emperor is already this anxious. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, who would have believed it?"
Chu Ruoyan coughed lightly, just as she saw Chan helping Xue Ling walk inside.
"Cousin? Why did you come over, and this outfit..."
Xue Ling had changed into a plain, light-colored long dress. Her cloud-like hair cascaded down without a single hair accessory.
She gave a slight curtsy, "Your Highness, this subject wife... this subject daughter has come to bid you farewell."
"Bid farewell? Where are you going, cousin?"
"To a nunnery in the south. The abbess there is willing to take me in. I want to cultivate there with my hair intact."
Chu Ruoyan was stunned. Cultivating with one's hair intact was just one step away from shaving one's head to become a nun.
She was just thinking about how to persuade her otherwise, but Xue Ling seemed to see through her thoughts and smiled bitterly, "Your Highness, you don't need to trouble yourself anymore. Over the past two days, I have thought a lot... I always blamed him for not telling me anything, blamed him for harming our child, but in truth, I was also at fault. Since we married, even though his grandmother made things difficult for me in every way, he tried his best to protect me. It was just two times, two concealments, and I grew suspicious and cold-hearted, refusing to give him another chance to explain... In the end, I just didn't trust him enough."
Her voice choked with sobs by the end. Chu Ruoyan held her hand and comforted her, "Cousin, since things have come to this, let's not dwell on who is right and who is wrong anymore..."
Xue Ling sniffled hard, "I know, cousin Ruoyan. I just want to tell you that no matter what happens in the future, you must never follow my example!"
Chu Ruoyan nodded, "Rest assured, I won't."
Besides, Yan Zheng wouldn't be like Xie Zhizhou, hiding things from her under the self-righteous guise of doing it for her own good.
Xue Ling smiled through her tears and took out two pairs of tiger-head shoes from her clothes, "I originally made these for my unborn child. I've altered the design and re-sewn two pairs now. I hope you won't disdain them, cousin. Just treat it as a gift from this aunt to the nephews I haven't met yet!"
Chu Ruoyan immediately took them. Xue Ling took a step back and bowed to her, "Empress, this subject daughter... bids you farewell."
Chu Ruoyan's heart ached, "Cousin, have a safe journey."
Watching Chan help Xue Ling walk away, she felt a mixture of complex emotions and remained silent for a long time.
It wasn't until the imperial carriage was ready and they were preparing to leave the temple that Monk Liaokong came over.
He brought his palms together in greeting to Chu Ruoyan, then took a string of prayer beads from a little novice monk. "This string of Vajra Bodhi beads has been consecrated by this old monk before the Buddha. Please wear it with you, Benefactor Yun, it can spare you from one disaster."
Chu Ruoyan raised an eyebrow. She saw him bow again, "Amitabha, Benefactor Yun, do not overthink. Thanks to your awakening words yesterday, this old monk was able to see through anger and ignorance. This item is a token of gratitude, with absolutely no other intentions."
Only then did she let Nanny Zhou take it, and then she ordered everyone to step back.
"Master, since you want to express gratitude, could you speak plainly about what important thing you mentioned yesterday that I would lose?"
Liaokong's expression turned serious. He calculated on his fingers for a moment and shook his head, "This old monk does not know either. To tell you the truth, Benefactor Yun, your future fortune is just like your biological mother's—complicated and confusing, difficult to foresee any further."
Biological mother?
Chu Ruoyan finally remembered something. She narrowed her eyes and asked, "Master Liaokong, you once prophesied that my biological mother had the destiny of an Empress. But in the end, it seems she was only the Princess Consort of the Regent. Can this be considered a failure of your prophecy?"
Liaokong nodded, "Amitabha, you could say that. Back then, your esteemed mother, just like you, forcefully saved the Regent who was supposed to die before the age of twenty. After that, she was supposed to ascend to the Empress's throne, but because the Regent abdicated, she was never crowned. As for how it ended, this old monk need not say more, right?"
Chu Ruoyan's heart chilled, "Are you saying that I might become like her, a walking corpse?"
Liaokong shook his head, "This old monk does not know. The Way of Heaven is ruthless. Where you ultimately end up depends entirely on your personal fortune."
Chu Ruoyan breathed a sigh of relief and even had the mood to joke, "If Master had been willing to say this earlier, Yan Zheng wouldn't have suffered so much back then."
Surprise flashed in Liaokong's eyes, "Is Benefactor Yun not worried? This old monk only said it depends on fortune, but didn't specify if it would be good or bad."
"What's the use of worrying? What will come will eventually come. One can't live in constant fear all day, right?" Chu Ruoyan waved her hand and then blinked, "Besides, I believe that the heavens have eyes. As long as one is wholeheartedly good, cultivating oneself and helping others, the outcome won't be too bad."
Liaokong was truly shocked this time. Having practiced physiognomy for so long, he had never met someone as free-spirited as her.
By the time he snapped back to reality, the young woman had already walked to the courtyard gate. Her crisp voice floated back from afar, "The Way of Heaven is ruthless, but fortune lies in humanity. Master, when you have time, you might as well say more kind words. Perhaps you can save more people!"
Liaokong's entire body trembled. He closed his eyes, and after a long time, opened them and looked outside.
The little novice monk hurriedly followed him, "Master, where are you going?"
Liaokong raised his white eyebrows and said slowly, "Down the mountain."
He had been trapped in the temple for these years, obsessing over the accuracy of his physiognomy, and had actually lost his compassionate heart for far too long!
On the Ziyun Path, inside a carriage.
Chu Ruoyan toyed with the prayer beads in her hand and suddenly asked, "Nanny Zhou, what kind of people do you think the Regent and the Princess Consort were?"
She was too young when she went missing, so she had no impression of her biological parents at all.
Her second brother previously hated their biological father, so he absolutely refused to mention anything about him.
Nanny Zhou paused for a moment and said, "This old servant doesn't know the details either. I only heard that the Regent was extremely formidable and was known as a God of War on the battlefield. Furthermore, when he was around, whether it was the local noble clans or the Southern Barbarians, Western Frontiers, and Northern Rong, they were all very well-behaved. It was only after something happened to him that the world descended into chaos. As for the Princess Consort, I am not too clear..."
Chu Ruoyan nodded. She just thought that after finding her two brothers, she still needed to return to Mount Mei to take a look.
At this time, Heiya's figure appeared outside the carriage window. "Third Miss, someone is following us. They've been following us since we left the Huguo Temple."
Chu Ruoyan was not surprised at all, "Do you know who they are?"
Heiya fell silent for a moment, "They are agile, but their light-footwork techniques don't seem to be from the same school. They look like death-sworn assassins raised by certain families in the capital."
Hearing about death-sworn assassins, Nanny Zhou immediately became tense, but Chu Ruoyan just pursed her lips, "Let them follow. Let's see if we can bait out more people."
Heiya acknowledged the order. Nanny Zhou was stunned, "Your Highness, did you know early on that someone would follow us? Who has such great audacity?"
Chu Ruoyan smiled, "Many people have such great audacity. For example, the people of the Murong family, the former officials who supported them, and... my good cousin."
Actually, compared to the first two, she wanted to bait out the latter even more.
The Murong family was no longer a major force and would find it hard to achieve anything more. The real threat was Yun Zihao, who had the assistance of a supreme expert from the Western Frontiers!
It was just a pity that they were almost at the capital, and she still hadn't heard of anyone spotting him.
"Traitorous Empress! Die!"