As soon as she stepped out of the private room, she could feel the temperature drop significantly. A gust of wind blew head - on. Yi Zhici tightened her cape and hugged the small warming stove in her arms tightly.
Walking onto the street, Yi Zhici strolled aimlessly. A Taoist priest walked towards her. He seemed to be blind to the road and bumped right into Yi Zhici.
Strangely enough, although the Taoist priest was thin, he was quite tall. But when he bumped into Yi Zhici, she didn't feel any pain at all.
Yi Zhici instinctively felt that this Taoist priest was not an ordinary person. So she sized him up and helped him up. "Are you okay?"
The Taoist priest looked up at Yi Zhici, smiling. "Miss, do you want your fortune told?"
Yi Zhici nodded. "Sure, then tell my fortune."
The Taoist priest mumbled something while pretending to calculate with his fingers. He closed his eyes and muttered words that were just a jumble of sounds and couldn't be clearly heard. After a while, he opened his eyes, with a hint of disbelief in them. "Miss, you're destined to encounter a great disaster."
Yi Zhici had heard such things since she was a child. She was a bit scared at first, but having lived a smooth life for sixteen years and getting married without any problems, she didn't really believe in such things anymore.
The Taoist priest smiled. "Miss, do you not really believe me?"
Yi Zhici curled her lips. "I've heard too many such things, so naturally I don't believe them."
"You should believe precisely because you've heard them so many times," the Taoist priest still laughed heartily. He looked a bit crazy. "Fate has its own reasoning, and no one can tell if it's true or false. I'll give you a magic pouch. If you encounter a great disaster in the future, it can save your life."
Yi Zhici shook her head. "Master, no need. This magic pouch must be exchanged for something very important, right?"
"Not so, not so," the Taoist priest left like a gust of wind. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared, leaving only the magic pouch on the ground and a lingering word in the air, "The world is ever - changing. Cherish what you have."
Yi Zhici couldn't figure it out. She couldn't figure it out for a long time after that. She just thought this old man must have profound Taoist skills, but there was something wrong with his mind.
She picked up the magic pouch and continued strolling on her own.
When she passed by a teahouse, they were telling the story of *Three Lives and Three Worlds*. She had heard one version before but didn't hear the ending. So Yi Zhici walked in, intending to hear if the ending was a happy one.
As soon as she walked in and took a seat, a young man walked over with an incredulous look on his face. "Yuyang, is that you?"
The truth that Yi Zhici had always believed in was that for casual friends, it was better to forget each other than to help each other in difficult times. So for those friends she would probably never see again, she didn't even bother to remember their names.
Just like this young man right now, who looked happy, gentle, and refined.
Yi Zhici put on a polite smile. "Um, sorry, did you mistake me for someone else?"
The young man got excited. "Don't you recognize me? I'm Xu Ye. Don't you remember me? We met in Yingzhou. You even helped me solve a case in the yamen at that time. You said you'd wait for me in the capital. Don't you remember? It's only been less than a year!"
Yi Zhici racked her brains but still couldn't remember. It wasn't that her memory was bad. She had done too many such things, and there was nothing particularly remarkable for her to remember. Most importantly, so many things had happened in this year! From falling in love for the first time to getting married, so many things had happened. Who would remember such old - fashioned things!
Xu Ye sighed. "You said you'd wait for me in the capital. So I worked hard on official business and tried my best to get promoted, just because you said you'd wait for me in the capital. But... how could it end up like this?"
Yi Zhici seemed to have a bit of an impression. This Xu Ye was a man of real talent. He had just lost hope in the darkness of the officialdom. Yi Zhici had said some words about waiting for him in the capital just to encourage him.
But what she meant was not what Xu Ye understood! She meant waiting for him to come and drink together!!
"Wait a minute. You might have misunderstood," Yi Zhici took two steps back. "What I meant by waiting for you is not what you think. I'm already married."
"What? You said you'd wait for me," Xu Ye got excited again. "What's wrong with me? How could you get married first?!"
Xu Ye's eyes were blood - shot. He gasped for breath like a dying fish on the shore and even wanted to rush over to get closer to her.
Yi Zhici turned around and ran. This commotion was quite big. Those who were watching the show nearby stopped and thought Yi Zhici's drama was more interesting.
Xu Ye didn't chase after her, but the look of hurt on his face was very obvious.
After running all the way back to the Lin Mansion, Yi Zhici finally let out a sigh of relief. "What a crazy person. I regarded him as a friend, but he wants to pester me."
Zhong Qing was boiling white fungus soup in the kitchen. The fragrance filled the air. Seeing that there was quite a lot of soup, Yi Zhici prepared a portion and asked Shi Yi to send it to the Jinghou Mansion.