Her plan succeeded.
Feng Qiuer was in high spirits.
Looking at Yan Ruyu's flawless profile, she gave it a smooch.
Before Yan Ruyu could come to his senses,
she wriggled and jumped down.
That puppet was truly a creature without emotions or the ability to hold grudges.
Seeing Feng Qiuer jump off Yan Ruyu, it was worried that she might fall, so it went over and hugged her.
Little Qiuer didn't let it hold her for long.
She wriggled free and let the puppet put her on the ground.
Little Qiuer looked at Yan Ruyu and then at the woman transformed from the puppet.
She asked, "Father, why do you keep this woman by your side?"
Yan Ruyu took Feng Qiuer's hand and walked back to the pavilion.
He said, "I created her with my own hands."
The figure and appearance of the puppet were carved bit by bit from the pear wood of Meilin Pear Garden on those drunken nights when he was in a daze.
He had no feelings for this puppet at all.
He just wanted to see this face.
This face that was exactly the same as Ning'er's.
Sometimes,
just looking at it from afar,
he could deceive himself into believing that Ning'er hadn't left and was still by his side.
However,
it was just wishful thinking and self - deception on his part.
"Father, tell little Qiuer honestly. Do you really have no feelings for this puppet at all?"
He stroked Feng Qiuer's head but didn't say a word.
Feng Qiuer repeated her question.
Looking at the little girl's serious expression,
Bai Ze beside them spoke up.
"Little girl, the number of times His Majesty the Emperor has seen this puppet in a year can be counted on one hand. If he really regarded this woman as his beloved, how could he have left her so neglected?"
"Ah?"
"His Majesty the Emperor is just too lonely and needs some emotion to comfort himself."
Even if this emotion
was just attached to the similar appearance left by the deceased Zhao Shuning.
"Father is such an outstanding person. Can he also feel lonely and need comfort like ordinary people?"
Bai Ze said, "He didn't need it before. His Majesty the Emperor was used to being alone. But since that woman appeared, she—"
"Bai Ze, have you done all the things I asked you to do?"
Bai Ze fell silent and symbolically shrugged his shoulders.
Little Qiuer was overjoyed.
She quietly leaned over to Bai Ze's ear and asked,
"Does that woman always like to wear crimson clothes?"
Bai Ze nodded.
"Is that woman extremely beautiful?"
Bai Ze nodded again.
"Does that woman have a pre - destined relationship with my father?"
Bai Ze nodded once more.
That's it.
"That woman must be my mother."
Feng Qiuer was extremely confident.
She was about to lean over to Bai Ze's ear again to ask for more useful information when she heard Yan Ruyu's voice.
"You don't need to be so quiet."
Even if she spoke in the softest voice,
he could still hear it.
Feng Qiuer stuck out her tongue.
Then, quite bravely, she patted Bai Ze on the body and said, "I understand."
Understood already?
Feng Qiuer knew that this puppet was just an incarnation of her mother. She remembered that her mother had said that, all in all, she should have three different faces.
Presumably, the appearance the puppet had transformed into before was one of her mother's faces.
Father was quite affectionate.
Feng Qiuer could tell.
He just looked at the puppet from afar. He really had no feelings for this puppet at all. Father was just using it to miss his mother.
In this way,
actually, this puppet
was quite pitiful.
During the days when mother was away, father could only remember his wife in this way.
Feng Qiuer walked towards the puppet and reached out her hand.
"Let's play together."
The puppet stood up and said, "Okay."
Watching the scene of little Qiuer playing with the puppet,
a little bit of the gloom in Yan Ruyu's heart dissipated.
At this moment,
Zhao Shuning was on her way to Hanshan Temple.
She borrowed the Huodou from the Xie family.
After all, she had no spiritual power now, and other beasts wouldn't listen to her.
That stupid Huodou
was still as stupid and violent as it used to be after several decades.
As soon as it saw Zhao Shuning,
it beat its chest like a gorilla and jumped up and down on the spot, extremely happy.
Zhao Shuning asked it to take her to Hanshan Temple outside Linjiang City.
This brute wasn't polite at all.
It just waved its big hand and threw Zhao Shuning onto its back.
Zhao Shuning was thrown so hard that her body slammed onto the Huodou's back. Fortunately, the fur on its back was thick enough, or else Zhao Shuning would have suffered internal injuries.
She hadn't even recovered from the shock yet.
The Huodou carried her on its back
and quickly rushed out of the city.
The wind was so strong.
It directly blew into Zhao Shuning's mouth.
Really,
if she hadn't known the Huodou for a long time,
Zhao Shuning would definitely have thought that the Huodou hated her so much that it wished to throw her to her death.
But—
Alas.
This stupid Huodou was discovered by her, and she had spent a lot of time with it. She knew its character best.
She carefully lay on the Huodou's back,
thinking that she was about to reach Hanshan Temple and soon see Buran. Zhao Shuning's heart couldn't help but become nervous.
She couldn't help but comfort herself.
"Zhao Shuning, there's nothing to be nervous about."
Seeing Buran
wasn't the first time.
Why was she acting like a shy young girl, with her heart pounding like a deer running wild?
Moreover,
she had already given birth to two children for Buran. She was no longer a young girl.
Zhao Shuning sighed.
Another strong gust of wind blew.
She quickly grabbed the Huodou's fur.
The jolting of the Huodou almost made her vomit out all her bile.
Outside Hanshan Temple,
the Huodou was howling and wanted to take her inside.
The distance from here to Hanshan Temple was only about a hundred meters.
Zhao Shuning stopped it.
This hundred - meter distance was just enough for her to catch her breath.
Without her abilities, she was so weak that she couldn't bear such a rough ride.
She told the Huodou to go back first.
She thought that after seeing Buran later, with Bai Ze around, she really wouldn't need the Huodou anymore. She couldn't stand this brute's rough way of carrying her now.
She walked up the steps step by step.
She was almost there.
There was a broad meadow.
There,
a cold and elegant man with green clothes and gray hair was holding a jade flute, smiling as he looked into the distance.
Zhao Shuning's hand that was about to wave froze in mid - air.
Laughter and joy filled the air.
This scene
was so familiar.
It completely overlapped with the picture on the silver plate she had seen in her memory.
Her heart suddenly ached.
Following Buran's gaze,
she saw a woman in coarse cloth clothes having a great time playing with little Qiuer.
And Buran
was looking at all this with a smile in his eyes.
That person wasn't me.
That person wasn't me—
These words
kept echoing in Zhao Shuning's ears.
She took a few steps back.
There were steps behind her.
By accident,
she slipped on her foot. Losing her balance, she fell backwards heavily.
"Ah~"
Zhao Shuning instinctively let out a scream.
At the same time, it attracted the attention of several people.
Seeing this, Feng Qiuer was overjoyed.
She shouted, "Mother."
Seeing this, Yan Ruyu's breath
instantly stopped completely.