“Do you remember when we met Master Shi and his wives’ son, Xiao Shitan, at Shi Family Village?” Mei Qing sat by the tree, softly asking Bi Zhen.
“Oh, yes! That Lady Shi was a fox spirit, right? Their son was so hard to conceive. I even served as his doctor for a while…” Bi Zhen suddenly recalled Mei Qing’s unique identity, which bore great resemblance to that child. She gasped in realization.
“Indeed,” Mei Qing replied. “A human and a spirit shouldn’t even be able to produce offspring. That Lady Shi endured unbearable pain to forcibly alter her physical form for just a brief moment, which allowed Xiao Shitan’s birth. However, even then, the child suffered many illnesses due to his mixed nature. Only after extensive treatments to unblock his meridians did he finally recover completely.”
“All my life, people have said my body wasn’t suited for cultivation, but no one ever told me why. It turns out I’m just like Xiao Shitan. Only difference is that someone did far more for me after my birth.”
Mei Qing gently stroked the tree trunk, tears streaming down his face.
“You mean… your mother cleared your meridians for you?” Bi Zhen asked softly.
“It must have been so. From what I know, my birth to Lady Xingxian and Prince Xian was actually part of Zhang Liusun’s plan. I was never told the full details, of course.”
“That’s natural. What mother in her right mind would give her own son away to be someone else’s avatar?”
“But my mother must have known they had plans for me. That’s why she begged Uncle Liu to send me away when the chance came, handing me over to Uncle Zhong. Yet… why did she die after sending me back? I suppose she must have exhausted all her energy saving me, which caused her to revert to her original form and lose her mind. Do you remember how she asked Uncle Liu to plant a potted plum blossom somewhere? That must have been her original body. Most likely, she was originally a plum tree in this valley. When Zhang Liusun opened this place, he took her as a disciple and used her to carry out his plans.”
After listening, Bi Zhen gently said to Mei Qing, “If your mother could see you now, grown up and coming back to visit her, she would surely be very happy.”
Mei Qing sighed softly. “But she probably doesn’t know that the moment I was born, Zhang Liusun tampered with me. My consciousness was secretly erased, and my body was ritually purified in a sacred cauldron. The child she sacrificed so much for… was destined never to know the truth of her sacrifice.”
Bi Zhen was shocked. “Right! You were mentally disabled since childhood, and only four years ago did you suddenly gain awareness. You weren’t the original Mei Qing, and certainly not Zhang Liusun. So… who exactly are you?”
“My body is definitely Mei Qing’s body,” Mei Qing replied, “so I am naturally my mother’s son. However… four years ago, Zhang Liusun secretly entered the imperial palace at night. Though he didn’t completely perish, his soul fled into a stone, leaving only a faint spiritual trace. I suppose my physical body, being connected to him, was somehow affected. As a result, a soul from five hundred years into the future accidentally entered this body…”
“From five hundred years into the future… who exactly are you?”
“That’s another story entirely…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~==~~~~=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=~~~
“Why does your dynasty have such long names? And what are those flying iron birds, moving iron carts… and something called computer bags and electric spider webs? Why is everything so chaotic? What exactly is a museum?”
“Well… it’s not that complicated, really. That’s just how things were back then. I worked at a museum studying ancient inscriptions, and I was even the youngest researcher there.”
“A researcher? What rank was that? Was it a high official position? Did you have multiple wives?”
“Not very high, just a clerical position, I suppose. And as for wives… well, to be honest, I didn’t have any. I was too poor to marry.”
“So what exactly did you do at the museum?”
“Just looked at a bunch of bronze artifacts, especially the inscriptions on them. One day, a new batch of bronze items arrived. Among the people that day was a young girl… she was so cool looking…”
“Cool looking? So you fell for her, didn’t you? Tell me, did you two… have something going on?”
“You wouldn’t believe it. Back then I was already in my thirties, and still very conservative. I had over a hundred arranged dates, held hands with about sixty of them, kissed around thirty, and actually been intimate with less than ten…”
“That’s conservative?! What about the non-conservative ones?”
“Oh man, you wouldn’t believe how bold those born in the 80s and 90s could be. This girl, for example—her eyes, her boldness… Well, I couldn’t resist. It was a huge battle, heaven and earth turned dark, sun and moon lost their light. Just when the outcome was still uncertain and we were locked in the heat of passion, suddenly… out of nowhere, a stone flew and hit me right on the head! I saw stars, heard bells and drums, colors exploded in my vision, and I felt dizzy and disoriented. When I finally opened my eyes, I realized—”
“I had ‘popped’ back in time five hundred years!”
…
“Why are you laughing, Bi Zhen?”
“I just think it’s so fortunate to be able to cultivate.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because cultivators can live long lives.”
“So living long is a good thing?”
“Exactly! If I live for five hundred years, I can see you as a little kid, running around naked, wetting the bed, growing up, holding hands with sixty girls, kissing thirty, and fooling around with a dozen seductive little fox spirits.
And finally—if you really do anything with that little fox spirit, then I’ll—”
Bi Zhen picked up a stone and waved it at Mei Qing. “I’ll secretly throw it at your head and scare the wits out of you!”
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