In the previous life, she was fed to dogs by her elder sister, and she was reborn to seek revenge

In this way, Nan Mingyu and Gulan spent the winter of that year by digging grass roots. It snowed heavily that winter, and all the branches of the sycamore tree in the yard were burned by their mother to keep warm.

The entire tree was bare with only a trunk left, making the whole yard look even more desolate.

In spring, when everything comes back to life, the courtyard, which should have been full of vitality, is still barren because of the killing of Nanmingyu and Gulan in winter. Only a few wild grasses are growing tenaciously.

It was at this time that the official physician of the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion, Doctor Bai, came looking for him. It turned out that the old Duke of Zhenguo had been claiming to the public that because Nan Mingyu had suddenly fallen ill, Gulan had taken Nan Mingyu to a nunnery for retreat.

For this reason, Doctor Bai searched all over Kyoto city and nearby temples, but he couldn't find the mother and daughter for more than half a year.

After some inquiries in the mansion, he finally learned where the mother and daughter had gone from the maid who first delivered food to Gulan and Nan Mingyu.

Doctor Bai not only secretly sent food, but also sent seeds and herbs. In this way, Gulan and Nan Mingyu finally lived a self-sufficient life in the courtyard.

Nan Mingyu also asked Doctor Bai to send her watermelon seeds. She happily planted the watermelon seeds in the yard, and took good care of it every day, weeding and fertilizing on time.

Summer came gradually. The watermelon seedling planted by Nanmingyu had begun to bear fruit. It grew a circle bigger every day. Nanmingyu hugged Gulan every day and said happily, "Mom, mom, you must be the first to eat the watermelon planted by Yu'er."

One summer afternoon, Nan Mingyu was lying next to Gulan, taking a lazily nap.

Suddenly, a group of old women and maids came. They all smiled and respectfully helped Nan Mingyu and Gulan change into new clothes.

Afterwards, she took Nan Mingyu and Gulan back to Cunxiangju, the compound where they first lived, and helped them wash and dress. Before Nan Mingyu had time to eat the melon, her and Gulan's lives returned to what they were before.

Everything in that courtyard seemed to have never happened. After Nan Mingyu came back, she often felt that it was a dream, until one day she secretly ran away and ran back to that courtyard.

At this time, the dilapidated courtyard had been locked. Nan Mingyu looked inside through the crack in the door and saw that the courtyard was filled with miscellaneous items, as if those miscellaneous items had always been piled up in the courtyard.

But the big watermelon in the corner, which had fallen naturally due to being overripe, had begun to rot quietly. Only that rotten watermelon reminded Nan Mingyu that all this had really happened.

The young Nan Mingyu didn’t know why this happened. It all seemed like a very long dream.

But when Nan Mingyu and Gulan returned to Cunxiangju again, Gulan seemed to have never laughed again. She seemed to be very busy every day. She would no longer hug Nan Mingyu at night and tell her interesting stories about the Western Regions, nor would she teach her the Western language.

Every time Nan Mingyu woke up late at night, she would watch Gulan secretly take out a pile of thick account books from under the bed and calculate with an abacus until the early morning.

Gulan began to sneak out frequently late at night, and Nan Mingyu developed the habit of waking up in the middle of the night. Sometimes she would see Gulan sitting alone at the desk doing accounts, and then Nan Mingyu would fall asleep peacefully listening to the clacking sound of Gulan's abacus.

Sometimes Nan Mingyu would wake up to find the room empty. At this moment, Nan Mingyu would know that Gulan had gone out again. Nan Mingyu would look at the candle burning beside the bed, watching it burn out little by little before falling asleep peacefully. Of course, sometimes Nan Mingyu would fall asleep before the candle burned out.

Every time Gulan came back from outside in the early morning, she would hug Nan Mingyu with her clothes on and cry silently. From then on, Nan Mingyu never saw Gulan smile again.

When she was young, she always couldn't understand why, even though their living environment had improved, Gulan was no longer as happy as she was in that small courtyard.

After Nan Mingyu and her mother moved back to Cunxiang Pavilion, her father, the old Duke Zhenguo, came only once. That was one afternoon. Although Nan Mingyu had not seen her father for a year, when she saw the old Duke Zhenguo, she still ran towards him with her arms outstretched as happily as usual.

But this time, her father did not lift her up happily as he did every time in the past. Instead, his cold eyes were filled with deep disgust. He gently turned sideways, avoiding Nan Mingyu who was rushing towards her enthusiastically, as if he was avoiding a dirty thing, with undisguised disgust on his face.

Nan Mingyu missed her target and her thin body fell heavily to the ground. Her chin hit Gulan's favorite armchair and blood gushed out immediately.

Gulan picked up Nan Mingyu expressionlessly without even looking at the old Duke Zhenguo. Instead, she ran towards Doctor Bai's courtyard holding Nan Mingyu. She ran so fast that her shoes fell off and she didn't have time to pick them up.

Gulan was running barefoot on the road holding Nan Mingyu in her arms. Her feet were bleeding from the pebbles on the road, but she still ran regardless.

Just a few days after this incident, Nan Mingyu woke up one day and found Gulan lying quietly beside her, lifeless.

No matter how Nan Mingyu cried and screamed, Gulan remained motionless. Her eyes were tightly closed, with the corners of her mouth slightly raised, as if she was smiling.

After Gulan left, the old Duke Zhenguo, despite criticism from outsiders, insisted on holding a grand and solemn funeral for her, just like the full moon banquet he held for Nan Mingyu.

The old Duke Zhenguo's hair turned white overnight, and he seemed to have aged ten years in an instant. From then on, he never recovered and spent his days drinking. Finally, he moved directly to Cunxiang Pavilion, where he has lived until now.

The emperor, who was still a prince at the time, also came. He stayed alone in front of Gulan's spirit for an entire afternoon. During that time, no one went in, and no one knew what he did inside.

Everyone only knew that the Fourth Prince at that time seemed like a different person after he left Gulan Ling. The Fourth Prince who only cared about romance was gone, and in his place was a Fourth Prince who was efficient and decisive in his work.

With his hard work, the Fourth Prince quickly stood out from the other princes, ascended the throne of the Crown Prince before the death of the previous emperor, and finally became the emperor.

After Gulan left, Nan Mingyu was thrown back into the small courtyard. Among all the people in the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion, only Doctor Bai remained close to her and taught her all the medical skills he had learned throughout his life.

The young Nan Mingyu was like the weeds in this dilapidated courtyard, growing randomly. She lost her mother when she was young, her father was also non-existent, and the servants in the mansion always looked for opportunities to bully her. In order to survive, she developed a cautious character and learned to read people's expressions since she was a child.

Often at night, Nan Mingyu would think of Gulan. At this time, she would start to recall the interesting stories about the Western Regions that Gulan had told her, and recall the Western Region dialect that Gulan had taught her over and over again in her heart.

Nan Mingyu had always thought that she must visit her mother's hometown and the Western Regions before she died, to see the beautiful scenery there with her own eyes, and then find the boy who watched the dragon dance with her mother.