Villain, be good! I'm here to give birth to a baby [Quick Wear]

Chapter 168 White Crane Extra

Spring of the eighteenth year of Yongning.

It is the eighteenth year since Yang Li passed away, and also the first year since Liu'er left me.

Liu'er is the child of Yang Li and I, and I named him Lin Liu.

I never expected him to achieve anything when he grew up. I just wanted to live his life with him in peace and safety, like an ordinary mother and son, because the money left by Yang Li is enough for the two of us to live a peaceful life.

However, things did not go as planned. Liu'er left me and went to the capital to take the imperial examination.

He doesn't belong to the small mountain village, nor does he belong to me.

He belonged to the Xia Dynasty and to the people.

I had anticipated this day would come a long time ago.

……

Liu'er has been smart and studious since he was young. He is interested in everything, especially my guqin. He especially likes to pester me to play the guqin for him.

The song Liu'er likes to hear me play the most is called "Qingli", which is the song I played for Yang Li on his birthday. Yang Li liked it, and I didn't expect Liu'er to like it too.

I taught him how to play the piano, how to read, how to behave... I also taught him to plant a small plum tree in front of the wooden house where we lived.

Every time Liu'er came home from school, he would water and fertilize the tree. He took good care of the small plum tree, unlike his father who left it half-dead.

Liu'er can be said to be a child who does not require me to worry too much. He is very sensible, will take the initiative to help with things, and never asks me who his father is.

He adds some color to my life which could have been boring, and I often feel that it's not bad to live like this.

Until one day Liuer told me that he liked Lord Yang Li and he wanted to be a person like Lord Yang Li.

Liu'er had never met Yang Li, he just fell in love with this person after listening to other people's stories.

Speaking of Yang Li, he seemed to have made a lot of mistakes. He was demoted many times because he was too upright. Fortunately, he worked hard to return to his official position. He was a man with a bumpy career but eventually saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

Many people like to use Yang Li's experience to encourage themselves. It is normal for Liu'er to like this. After all, the teacher in the only school in this small mountain village likes to talk about Yang Li. Yang Li seems to have become a typical representative figure in the hearts of many people who feel their talents are not recognized.

The opposite of Yang Li is a man named Li Tong, who is eloquent, good at judging the situation, and has been promoted all the way without many ups and downs.

These two people, collectively known as "the clear wind and bright moon", were said to have a good personal relationship. It is hard to say that Yang Li's several comebacks had nothing to do with Li Tong.

As for why Li Tong helped him so much, people explained that they hit it off at first sight and became each other's confidants.

But Li Tong never came out to admit it. He just smiled and passed it off, making people wonder whether he admitted it or not.

Liu'er also liked Li Tong very much. He thought it was amazing that a man of such a humble origin could step by step rise to the same high official position as Yang Li. He thought he was an outstanding adult.

He also wanted to be like Li Tong, starting from a commoner with no background and gradually becoming a high-ranking official praised by the people.

At that time I knew that this child might not be able to stay on his own for long. He is a child with his own ideas and should not be confined to this small mountain village.

As Liu'er grew up, he became more and more like Yang Li, but his temperament was somewhat like Yang Li, being more naive and ignorant of worldly affairs.

Later, he always started to look at me with a hesitant and cautious look, as if he had something to say to me but didn't dare to.

I know what he wants to say, but he doesn't say it, so I pretend not to know what he is thinking and live my life as a deaf and dumb.

Finally, when he was eighteen years old.

He plucked up the courage to tell me his thoughts.

"Mom, I want to go to the capital to take the exam. I want to become a civil servant like Lord Yang Li and Lord Li Tong. Even if I fail, I don't want to be a mediocre person here, so I must leave here... Please respect my decision, okay?"

"When I become successful, I will come back to pick you up."

Liu'er made a promise to me, and his grey eyes looked at me firmly. He was actually a very stubborn child at heart. He must have thought about it for a long time before deciding to tell me this. He would leave even if I didn't agree.

I knew I couldn't keep him, so I nodded.

I respect him as I respected his father.

I personally saw him off and told him to bring more clothes so as not to catch a cold. As for the ups and downs in officialdom... I didn't say a word. I didn't understand these things and it would be useless to say them. I could only ask him to take a letter from me and ask someone to pass it to a eunuch named "Wang Lian" in the palace if anything happened. I said that I had some friendship with him and might be able to help him.

Of course, if possible, I hope that the letter Liu'er brought will never be seen by Wang Lian in this life.

But Liu'er was still too young and had little experience in the small mountain village. Only one month after he left, my letter reached Wang Lian's hands.

Wang Lian had become a eunuch much loved by the emperor and could no longer be called the little eunuch. He came to the small mountain village to visit me and told me about Liu'er.

Because of saving someone, that child offended the Lin family, the Lin family I used to work for, and the person offended was the child born to Princess Changle.

I heard that when the new emperor just ascended the throne, the eldest princess threatened to divorce the Lin family, but the matter was later dropped. However, all the concubines in the Lin family were dismissed. The following year, the eldest princess, who had been childless, became pregnant and gave birth to a son, who was spoiled by her to the point of lawlessness.

The person Liu'er offended was her son, a cynical and dissolute young man, who wanted to rob a woman but was stopped by Liu'er, so his good plan was ruined. In a rage, the man ordered people to tie up Liu'er and beat him up.

Fortunately, Li Tong passed by and saved him.

Later, Liu'er was retaliated by the other party and was imprisoned in an underground dungeon. The letter was still left in the inn. It was Li Tong who went to find him and found the letter, and then handed it to Wang Lian.

And Liu'er was naturally rescued again by Li Tong.

Liu'er also wrote a letter and asked Wang Lian to bring it to me. He said that he was doing well and told me not to worry. Lord Li Tong and Lord Yang Li took good care of him and praised his beautiful eyes... Especially Lord Li Tong, he also gave Liu'er a white jade flute.

Wang Lian also told me not to worry, he would help take care of Liuer, so I could rest assured.

I could only nod.

I don't want to go to the capital, I just want to stay in this small mountain village.

Even after Liuer finally realized his dream of becoming a civil servant, I refused to go there. I didn't like it there. I only wanted to stay here.

It’s winter again.

The letter Liu'er sent me said that he had married and would bring her to see me in the early spring of next year.

I looked at my increasingly thin body, sighed, and put the letters in the wooden box, which was full of letters from Liu'er to me.

Outside the wooden house, I saw that the plum tree that Liuer planted when he was a child was growing stronger and stronger, and every time it snowed, the branches would be full of plum blossoms.

A few times I saw a white crane perched under a tree. It was a very beautiful white crane, so beautiful that I could no longer see it when I got closer.

Where do the white cranes come from in winter?

I am getting old and hallucinating.

I wrapped the guqin in gray cloth and had someone deliver it to Liu'er as a gift to my daughter-in-law.

I heard from Liuer that my daughter-in-law can also play the piano, and she made the song "Qingli" a famous song that is circulated in the streets and alleys. She asked Liuer to ask me what this song means, and I replied: it means innocence.

I hope that one day, someone can understand Yang Li’s innocence from this song. He loved cleanliness, and he should be clean even when he died.

Unfortunately, I know I am dreaming. Yang Li cannot be cleansed. No one will associate the noble and arrogant person in my song with Yang Li.

I picked up a fallen plum blossom on the ground and suddenly started coughing.

I thought I might not survive this winter. I looked up and saw the white crane again. It was the first time it was so close to me. I saw it picked up a plum blossom from the ground with its beak and placed it carefully in the palm of my hand.

I smiled slightly and wanted to reach out to touch it, but I felt nothing. It was just my own illusion.

White crane, also known as snow crane.

But it shouldn't appear in this cold winter.

I dressed myself up neatly, combed my hair neatly, lay on the bed, and looked at the falling snow outside the window.

I'm waiting for someone.

Waiting for someone who died early.

I heard that the person I want to see most before I die will come to pick me up.

I placed the plum blossom wood hairpin that Yang Li had given me next to my pillow, hoping that Yang Li would not be so blind as to mistakenly pick the wrong person and would recognize my aging face.

As my breathing became weak, I saw a white crane approaching me, still with that cautious look.

I smiled and held out my hand.

The soul left the body and spoke for the first time.

"Let's go home."

But the next moment, the white crane turned into smoke and disappeared.

[The thousand-year-old crane has yet to return, but the hundred-year-old plum blossoms are still there. ]

[I wish to go home with the cranes, but there are no cranes to go home with.]

【The plane ends.】

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Author's words:

Well, you can cry now.

I'll modify this plane when I have time. See you in the next plane, my little cuties!