meet at a fork

Chapter 11

Taocheng

I almost forgot what that person looked like

It's been 20 years since the summer I turned 17.Leyin left with her beloved guard in the third year of her marriage, leaving her eldest son with the guard as part of the deal and never returning to Beijing.Now I am a widower raising a 15-year-old son alone.

I sometimes wonder if that person is really as handsome as I remember, after all, I don't remember him very much.

The only thing I remember is probably the eve of the big wedding, I seem to have a very strange dream.I forgot the content of the dream, and I faintly felt that I was very happy at that time, as if the most secret dream in my heart had finally come true. In the dream, there was a person who kept telling me in my ear, don’t forget me. Can't forget.

When I woke up that morning, I felt in a trance. On the table in front of the bed was a stalk tied with a red string. It was blooming vigorously. Its life stopped at its most beautiful moment, but I didn’t know it anymore. Who wins that bet.I want to go out, I want to find Jinnian, but when I go out, I suddenly feel that everything in front of me seems a little strange

The next day, when I came to the lake, the familiar painting boat had disappeared. Passers-by said that the painting boat disappeared two days before my wedding, and that person died.

I have almost forgotten about him, but as a frivolity in my youth, I would occasionally try to draw him, and after I drew it, I would circle it and put it in the study, never to open it again.Sometimes I find it funny that his green temples and red face are painted, but mine has been covered with frost and snow.

Every summer I still go there to admire the lotus. I asked many people, and they said that the weather was very warm that year, and the lotus flower could grow lotus seeds. I won the bet that year.

I sometimes feel like he's alive, but laugh at myself for being delusional.

"Stop here?" The boatman interrupted my memory

Now I am admiring the lotus on the lake

"Here it is" I said

"Is the master also here to commemorate that actor?" The boatman asked.

"Are there many people?" I asked

"Hey, there were quite a few in the first few years, but then there were not many people. It is said that he was the best singer among all the actors in the world. Many people admired him. If he hadn't caught up with the princess's wedding when he died, the children in Beijing would have planned to do it for him. "It's strange to say, the troupe cremated him and took him away. It is said that it was his request, but think about it, my lord, who wants to be turned into ashes after death?"

"He doesn't want to be buried here," I murmured

"Ah, sir?" the boatman asked, "What did you say?"

"It's nothing, boatman, let's go back," I said

The boatman nodded and turned the boat around

Probably because it was spinning too fast, I felt dizzy and my heart throbbed.

The servant quickly helped me up: "Master, what's wrong with you?"

"It's okay." I waved my hand, but suddenly felt as if something had disappeared thousands of miles away

"Master, can you rest?" the servant asked

"No," I said, "Go to the General's Mansion"

Now I don't have time to rest, my relatives are fighting for power with the royal family, and there are civil strife in the country. For the sake of the Tao family, I can't fail.

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