Chapter 38: Telling a Story

“It’s not that I don’t care for you, it’s just that you are truly…”

Feng Mu was pulled up to sit down, let out a sigh, and slowly shook her head.

Li Yunli asked again, “When did Qingnian become the chief of Leopard Head Mountain?”

Feng Mu replied, “He… left secular life quite early. There had always been small-time bandits on Leopard Head Mountain, but a few years ago, when he went to offer incense, he quietly told me that he had already established contact with those bandits.”

Li Yunli fell into deep thought and remained silent.

Feng Mu became more anxious. “Your Highness, Qingnian has never done anything cruel or heinous. He is a monk and has never involved himself in the affairs of Leopard Head Mountain, let alone taken a life!”

“I know.”

Li Yunli responded absentmindedly, still lost in thought.

Seeing that she had nothing more to say, Feng Mu dared not speak further, nervously wringing the handkerchief in her hands.

Although Li Yunli and Gongliang Chong had reached a temporary agreement, Feng Mu was not present at the time and did not know the outcome of their conversation.

Moreover, Qingnian was also there when Li Yunli figured out his identity, making her even more uneasy.

The journey today had been pure torment for her.

As the carriage entered the city, it soon arrived at the government office gates.

When the coachman pulled the reins to stop, Feng Mu hesitantly looked at Li Yunli to see her reaction.

“Don’t worry. Gongliang Chong has already explained everything to me,” Li Yunli said, reaching out to gently squeeze Feng Mu’s hand in reassurance. She continued, “As for the matter between you and Qingnian, that is a private affair. Since the Yongzhou government office has never spread any rumors about it, I won’t either.”

Women in this era had difficult lives, and their reputation and purity were of utmost importance. Li Yunli understood her dilemma.

Feng Mu’s eyelashes trembled, and she gratefully said, “Thank you, Your Highness!”

“I will have to trouble Miss Feng to send someone to find Commander Yang and invite him to my courtyard. I need to speak with him.”

With that, Li Yunli stepped out of the carriage first.

“Yes, understood.” Feng Mu responded twice, quickly following suit and immediately sending someone to carry out the task.

Li Yunli and Yun Chu returned to the courtyard together.

As soon as they turned past the gate, they saw two maids, Ya Xiang and Jiang Xiang, directing a few guards who were moving things out of Li Yunli’s side chamber.

Everyone was busy, but upon seeing their mistress return, they immediately set down what they were carrying and bowed in greeting.

Li Yunli frowned. “What are you moving?”

Ya Xiang and Jiang Xiang exchanged glances, then nudged each other’s elbows, unsure if they should speak.

“Hmm?” Li Yunli’s brows knitted deeper.

Summoning her courage, Ya Xiang stammered, “Y-Your Highness, yesterday you ordered that the consort… should move out?”

Li Yunli was momentarily stunned.

Yun Chu, standing silently to the side, acted as if he were a wooden statue.

She suddenly remembered—yesterday, after Yun Chu confessed about his rebirth, she had been caught off guard and blurted out something about distancing herself from him.

These attendants were surprisingly efficient; while she was out today, they had already rushed to carry out the order?

However, after today’s events at Yongqing Temple, she and Yun Chu had already cleared up their misunderstandings. In fact, they had grown even closer. Now, returning together only to witness this “separation scene” was undeniably awkward.

Li Yunli coughed lightly and instructed, “There’s no need to move anything. The consort will still stay with me.”

Ya Xiang and Jiang Xiang exchanged another glance before carefully acknowledging the order and quickly rearranging things.

Li Yunli shifted slightly to the side, while Yun Chu adjusted his cloak and stood beside her.

At that moment, though they stood close, each was lost in their own thoughts.

Li Yunli rubbed the bridge of her nose. She hadn’t expected that a casual remark would result in such a chain of events affecting Yun Chu.

She suddenly recalled how, in the past, she had treated him with apparent harshness. Now, she wondered if all of it had truly been her own doing.

Take Wang Quan, the arrogant steward of the Princess’s residence, for example—he often threw his weight around and likely bullied Yun Chu behind her back.

Meanwhile, Yun Chu remained calm on the surface, but his heart was as soft as a feather’s touch.

He had never been one to worship gods or Buddha, yet today, in front of the Buddha, he had made two wishes:

One, that Li Yunli would see him.
Two, that Li Yunli would believe him.

Both of these wishes had come true at the gates of Yongqing Temple.

When Li Yunli declared, in front of the maids, that he would still be staying with her, though the words were meant for the servants, they resonated deeply with Yun Chu, leaving him with no regrets.

He glanced sideways at her, his gaze filled with warmth.

Sensing his stare, Li Yunli snapped out of her wandering thoughts.

Clearing her throat, she quickly said, “It was just a moment of anger before. I never meant to mistreat you. They just misunderstood my words.”

Yun Chu blinked, looking at her.

Mistreat him?

Li Yunli swiftly changed the topic. “By the way, earlier in the carriage, you called me—what were you going to say?”

The abrupt shift in conversation almost caught Yun Chu off guard.

Sighing internally at how quickly her mind worked, he refocused and recalled what he had wanted to say.

With his gaze slightly lowered, Yun Chu murmured, “Based on what Miss Feng said, doesn’t it seem like Qingnian knows too much? Predicting a natural disaster over a decade in advance… If it weren’t for the terrain of Yongzhou and prior environmental indicators, I would have suspected that he…”

“Suspected that he was like you,” Li Yunli completed the sentence for him. “If that’s truly the case, and he has already lived through a previous life, then everything would make sense.”

This thought had only just occurred to her. From the moment she encountered the people from Leopard Head Mountain, something had felt off.

Gongliang Chong had shown up uninvited but acted as if he was familiar with the situation. His attitude toward Yun Chu had also been difficult to decipher.

If, as they suspected, Qingnian was another person who had returned from a past life, then he would know what Yun Chu had done in the previous timeline. That would explain why Gongliang Chong, as the second-in-command of Leopard Head Mountain, harbored such hostility toward him.

Before taking his vows, Qingnian had been named Akong. He was the same young novice monk, Jingkong, who had appeared in Li Yunli’s dreams.

In this life, he had taken his vows earlier and, due to the monastic naming conventions, had advanced a generation in title, becoming Master Qingnian.

No wonder when she had asked around the temple, everyone had said there was no monk named Jingkong.

When she had inquired, she had unwittingly revealed herself to Qingnian, confirming for him that she, too, possessed memories of a past life—though hers were fragmented.

Suddenly, she thought of Wuyou’s pouch.

—Master Jingkong.

So, when Wuyou had come to bid her farewell before she left the capital, he had specifically instructed her to seek out someone in Yongzhou.

That someone was Qingnian.

He had known so much.

“This little monk has really become something else,” she muttered under her breath.

Yun Chu tilted his head. “What did Your Highness say?”

“Nothing—just reminiscing about old matters,” she said, feeling a newfound lightness in her heart.

Then, she smiled and asked, “Would you like to hear a story?”

Yun Chu looked at her curiously. “A story?”

“Once upon a time, there was a mountain, and on that mountain, there was a temple…”